Never-Ending Time

my blog have shifted!

2009-12-06T18:47:00.001+08:00

Well people, I have shifted over to my new blog - http://james.amourchaleur.com/

So from now on, please change your bookmarks/link to that link. Thanks alot!

There won't be a tag/chat box there. You can always leave a comment there.

Please note that the design/outlook is very simple. Please bear with it. It will take some time to improve on it. (It may take ages..haha)

end of my exams!!

2009-12-01T18:49:00.003+08:00

yeah! today is my last day of my exams!! yippeee!! and what a way to end it with a super easy paper... almost half of the cohort left the examination hall before me.. I leave the examination hall around 40mins earlier - meaning i spent 1hr20mins inside.. Where i know many spent only around an hour before they left the hall....

but hack care liao.. enjoy.. oh ya, i have some plans to do this month of holidays.. first thing is for my IPPT which is realllll soon - 9th dec.. haha.. other than that, i plan to do up my blog ( setting it up somewhere else, will post the details once everything is done, which i don't know when..haha)

also, i plan to read up and learn about C language and how to do CSS... will find online tutorials ba...

anyway, to those who are still mugging for exams.. jia you!!

5 days to my first exam paper in NTU

2009-11-14T20:33:00.002+08:00

Today is the 14 Nov le, my first paper is on 19th Nov. left 5 more days to do all my last minute revisions for my papers. I'm having 2 papers on 19th. Maths Module ( Core) and Principle of Economics ( Elective) . first paper : 1-3pm, second paper 5-730pm... after tat i think i will be brain tired le.. haha

Well, to all those mugging for exams. Good luck and jia you!!

random rant

2009-11-11T20:32:00.002+08:00

This blog is a random rant of the recent facebook game I am playing - MouseHunt - It's sooooo addictive...hahaha..

It's a game where u can only click and sound a hunter's horn every 15mins - in order to catch a mouse using a cheese, trap & base.

You will be tempted to always another 15mins longer to horn one more time. Before you realised it, an hour has past.. hahah

The following table is an analysis(online tool) of my catch rate for the past 12hours:

Hunt outcome		Cheese usage
Failed to attract	24 (45.28%)	Went stale	4 (12.12%)
Did attract but failed to catch	8 (15.09%)	Bait pcs stolen	8 (24.24%)
Did attract but failed to catch	8 (15.09%)	Extra pcs stolen	0 (0%)
Did attract and did catch	21 (39.62%)	Fruitful hunt	21 (63.64%)
Number of hunts	53 (100%)	Cheese used	33 (100%)

Very bad lei - Failed to attract mouse for 45%.

Only caught around 40% of the time.

finally

2009-11-06T12:05:00.004+08:00

finally, after hours of downloading my student copy for windows7... i wasted around 5hours because I downloaded the wrong version. I downloaded the 64-bit Windows7. So, I spent another 5hours in downloading the 32-bit Windows 7.

You must be wondering why I can get a copy of Windows 7. Its a collaboration between NTU's School of Computing and MSDN - Microsoft Development Network. You can know more by searching MSDNAA ( MSDN Academic Alliance).

Well, I shall comment about the new OS.. It took around 40mins to install. But I felt could be faster because it backup-ed all my system files in Vista, which I already did before hand. After installing, I had to download quite a number of software, Anti-virus.

List of softwares now on my Windows7

AVG Free9.0
CCleaner
Spybot - Search & Destroy

Adobe Photoshop Elements
DestroyTwitter
Eclipse

Firefox 3.5 ( wanted to try 3.6beta but certain plug-ins not for 3.6beta yet)
MSN messenger
Skype

And I went to check the Windows Experience Index - my score was 5.4! I felt this is a significant improvement from Vista. Based on my memory, my score in Vista was below 4.0

Yes, Windows7 is still Windows. There are still lots of security issues and driver compatibility issues. I spent close to 2 hours in searching online and find the correct drivers for those which Windows7 don't recgonise.

But finally its done. And well, the task bar has improved. Only problem is that its difficult to differentiate the icons that are pinned to task bar from the icons that are currently running. And all those Aero stuff - I feel it's just extra stuff, only adds on to the "feel good" factor.

The only problem which I can't fixed is that under My Computer - System properties. It stated that out of the 4.00GB RAM installed, only 2.96GB is usable. I read on forums, some said it might have got to do with the 32-bit/64-bit version. Some said this might be rectified in the BIOS, which I am not comfortable in adjusting. So I left this problem alone as even with 3GB, it felt like Vista's 4GB!

food stalls and their food....

2009-11-01T10:53:00.002+08:00

well, today i shall comment about food - one of my favourite past- time..haha..

There are always stalls that serve good food and/or good service... and if that happens, my family will usually frequent those stalls, take for example Clementi Blk 328 Claypot Chicken Rice, West Coast Fish Head Bee Hoon, Tanah Jurong Market's "Cai Fan/Zhou" , Bukit Batok Central Chicken Rice etc...

Usually, it's my dad who can appreciate good food.. he will like comment alot on the food, if he were to try new food... and his most important criteria is - value for money.. so the above stated stalls.. good food and sure value for money de! hahah

But I realised something, there were much more stalls that served good food in the past.. but after time, some of them - the quality and quantity startsto drop...the worst case is that when there are newspaper recommendations or certain particular stall appeared on tv for their food.. this could only mean that the price of the food will increase...

sometimes after time, the owner may just franchise or just sell their stall, because they don't want to work so hard as they have earned enough money..that's when the food quality/quantity drops and price increases... not to mention poor service due to **i*a staff... that very saddening, from a customer point of view...

but from the stall owner point of view - its good.. their hard work had paid off...working super long hours every day, preparation work for each day's work...

thats why when there are food recommendations on the newspaper or tv or any media for that matter.. what i'm afraid is that it eventually leads to dropping of the food's standard... so maybe when you see food recommendations, might want to try before it's too late....

late post for sat (24 oct 09)

2009-10-26T09:30:00.003+08:00

well, i shall blog a little about my outing with my sec school friends, which was on Sat ( 24th Oct 09).. to celebrate a belated birthday party for Sharon... we went to K box @ Clementi.. (from around 2p.m. cuz i was a little late..hehe to 645pm) K box session was quite fun.. but the room quite cold..haha..

After singing, we took bus 106 to Heeren, to eat Pasta De Waraku.. we thought it would be crowded as it was a sat night.. but it was empty.. haha. when we reached there.. it was around 730p.m. or so le.. all of us were hungry le.. so we ate first, without waiting for Pui Han.. Pui Han came along later, slightly after 8pm... she said she only slept one hour cuz she was the official for a race event..(can't remember the name le.. oops)

well, I ordered the salmon and salmon roe pasta. The pasta came with cream soup. The pasta was nice, and the cream soup wasn't too thick..so its not bad... all of us had student card.. so we were entitled 25% off...but actually it wasn't THAT alot of discount.. let me explain what i mean.

25% discount was before applying 10% service & 7% GST. furthermore, the 7% GST is applied on top of the 10% service charge as "service charge are taxable". So let x be the price of pasta on the menu.

Final price = x * (0.75) * (1.10) * (1.07) = (0.88275) x

Therefore, the overall discount was 11.725%...which I personally felt it wasn't that much.. cuz my pasta was $12.80, in the end i paid $11.30 ( savings of $1.50 only)

Yeah, 25% discount is better than nothing.. but its just me la... $11 bucks for a bowl of pasta, a bowl of salad, which was nice by the way... i won't frequent it as it's a tad too expensive...

ok.. lets not talk about maths.. after tat, we didn't know wad to do. as it was around 930pm.. some said have to reach home early.. so some of them suggested walking from Heeren all the way to raffles city... only got one person complain( shall not mention names.. haha)

and walk we did... and we chatted along the way walking there.. quite a nice experience.. but by the time we reached the mrt station.. we had to drink water and sit down..hahah.. so we took the train and headed home...

it was nice and fun meeting up with them( my sec school friends) again.. and the next time we would be meeting will be the class gathering yl and I are organising... which is on 21st Dec...

so now, have to study hard.. oh ya.. talking abt study.. i took some time to blog this.. as i decided i had to read up for my econs quiz which was today(monday).. but last night, when i wanted to sign in and blog.. its either my internet ( singnet) was becoming "turtle-speed" or the problem is with blogshop itself.. it took ages to sign in blogshop.. and after signing in, the page wasn't loaded properly... i can't click anything inside the dashboard... so i gave up blogging last night..

Twitter

2009-10-23T10:34:00.002+08:00

Finally, one month of paid study for using Twitter is over! yeah.. got my total $57 bucks for creating twitter account, and logging in to read tweets from the pple i follow(presetted) everyday for a month.. den did a survey and practice...

well, i felt twitter is interesting and i decided to keep my account.. haha.. but now i have to delete my 70 over tweets.. cuz everyday i log in.. have to tweet "start reading" and "finished reading" ..hahah..

anyway, twitter got a new function!!! it's the list.. meaning now you can arrange your friends to groups.. so that you can control which group of pple to see your tweets.. or u can alternatively tweet different stuff to different groups... i think tats a great improvement man...

so, anyone who is using twitter can tell me your account, den i add u? i think for now i won't be tweeting much yet...hahah..

after Singapore Idol

2009-10-22T21:58:00.005+08:00

Last night, my parents and I watched Singapore Idol... for those who don't believe in Singapore Talent.. you should just try to watch one episode.. and pay attention to the girls... they ARE good.. not to mention, some of them have the looks too...

Nevertheless, I believe one of the moving performances that night was by Charles 'Stitch' Wong.. He said "Fall for you" - by Secondhand Serenade.. I found the video, with lyrics... so that can learn the song too! hahah.. enjoy it!

driving & shopping experience

2009-10-18T20:19:00.002+08:00

well, ytd (17th Oct), i was able to use my dad's car.. cuz my parents went overseas on fri(16th Oct), and will be coming back on tue.

Talking about fri, i was the one who drove the car and sent my parents to Changi Airport on friday morning..got drive there once before, so i knew the way there. no problems.. long journey and abit tiring for leg..haha..

on sat, i got the car and got to go out with sophie! yeah!... we met in JP, at around 1pm. she had tuition in the morning...we had Thai Express for lunch..i ate the curry soft shell crab with rice.. just as nice..my dear ate beef kway teow(not tat nice, can get the same standard or even better at outside tze char stall) and ordered a chendol ( tooooo sweet cuz of the coconut, though she likes it..)

after lunch, walked around to find laptop case for me.. but can't get any nice-looking one... sainz... so we headed to our next destination - marina square.

I missed out the marina car park the first time.. i didn't realised there was another entrance on the left... i only saw a car park entrance on the right side, which needed me to cut 4 lanes, which i felt it was crazy...nevertheless, we reached there just in time for our movie - Cloudy with a chance of meatballs (3D)... it was both my dear & I first time watching a 3D movie in GV... well, the experience was not too bad... not to mention there was an movie trailer that was in 3D too.. the movie was quite funny at times - like the monkey who got a fetish for moustache and loves gummy bears..however, the plot was veri simple...

after the movie, which ended at around 6pm... my plan was to head to marina barrage to watch sunset.. but i got lost, i didn't know how to get to ECP as there was a number of exits out of the carpark in Marina Square... so like spent an hour circling around kallang, suntect city, nicoll highway area... Oops!hahah...

When we FINALLY reached marina barrage.. it was already at night -730pm.. no more sun set.. but we still just stroll along the circular thingy( i have no idea how to describe that).. just spent some time enjoying the breeze..it may sound bad, but i have to comment that there were many "blanga" workers there..haha..

after that, we headed back the to west... ate our quick dinner at a popular tze char stall behind holland village, which sold XO fish head bee hoon... but i was disappointed that the standard of the XO bee hoon really dropped le.. become lousy le.. i DON'T reccommend to eat there... it's a no-no...

we ate a quick dinner as we wanted to rush to our next destination - ice cream shop at Serene Centre... it closes at 10pm... i think we finished our dinner at around 930pm.. so we had to rush there.. haha... and thankfully the stall, which is called Island Creamery, was still open when we reached.. and i suggested buying two tubs of ice cream back.. for sophie and her family to try.. one tub is 500ml...

This stall i really recommend.. the ice cream is great - no preservatives, no egg, no China product(it was written there, i swear), no artifical flavouring or colouring.... not to mention they have various unique flavours like - Teh Terih, Bulut Hitam, Burnt Caramel, and many more... you can type "Island Creamery" in yahoo/google - you should be able to get reviews of that stall... anyone interested.. the address is :
10 Jalan Serene
Serene Centre #01-01
Telephone: 6468-8859

Well, overall for ytd, the driving experience was not too bad.. learn to recgonise more roads and places.. a bad thing was i got lost for quite a while, resulting in not being able to see the sun set at marina barrage...next time lo..haha..

Let's talk about today -Sunday (18 Oct 09)... i drove over to sophie's house for lunch, with her sisters and mum... after lunch, sophie asked us to derive a general equation for a "O" level maths question.. so that she can teach her tutee using that general formula...so wasting our brain cells and time lo..hahaha.. well, after tat, I drove sophie and her family to JP... our purpose - Shopping!! cuz my dear's elder sister got member discount for G2000... 50% off for up to $500.. at first we thought it was $500 before discount.. but the cashier later told us we can spend up to $500 AFTER discount!!! means we could spend up to $1k on retail price and enjoy 50% discount.. wow!!! so good!!hahah...

so everyone went in and out of the fiting room numerous times to try out this and that..hahah.and in the end, we paid around $350... meaning it was around $700 in retail price.. wow... a "historic moment".. haha.. for me, i spent $90 for 2 long pants(the casual type) - 1 dark blue, 1 black plus a patterened short sleeve shirt (small black circles).. i was really happy.. got to have new and good clothes.. i all along feel that G2000 clothes generally are quite good quality de.. that can be said for clothes that are formal or semi-formal... for those "everyday wear" kinda of clothes.. sometimes i feel the clothes are not veri good quality de... have to see.,.

Had dinner together with sophie and her family... her dad came along after his work.. ate dinner at the kopi-tiam @ the new wing.. after tat.. ate desserts at "Ji De Chi" .. ate a durian dessert with pamelo.. the durian filling was veri rich... can only eat once in a while...hahah

Well, tat was how my weekends ended.. didn't study at all.. which is quite bad.. as i still have quite alot to catch up, esp for my java.. have to cheong le...haha..

P.S. sorry no pics for you all to see.. as sophie used her camera to take photos... so its not with me...

time flies...

2009-10-09T21:17:00.003+08:00

well, time really flies... today is 9-0ct-09... this means I am together with my dearest sophie for 3 and a half years!! wow and yeah! haha..

just announcing that special event... hehe.. ^^

driving experience

2009-10-02T21:08:00.002+08:00

well, today my sis is going to Bali with one of her friend.. for 3days.. leaving today evening and coming back on Monday... my parents and i sent her off.. and i was the driver! haha

we set off at around 5pm.. when we reached PIE, near bukit timah road, already jammed le... think its because of a accident... den after tat, there was the usual "after-work" traffic jam after steven's road... zzz... it was really a new experience to drive in the highway during peak hours.. but thankfully no accident, only a few hard brakes.. haha

After driving from my house to Changi Airport, we had our dinner at Popeye's @ T1. I really like the "biscuit", my dad dun like it, say its too dry, and "press the biscuit abit, it break already". The whipped potato was good also, just tat it reminded me of an instant-made whipped potato i took during my duty days in CDS..hahah...

After dinner, i drove back.. and now is to Yew Tee. my mum needs to go there. and again, yes again, there was traffic jam in PIE along the way back.. cuz it was around 7plus when i started driving back from Changi...

Can be frustrating and tiring to drive in traffic jams... tats when i will appreciate the benefits of public transport..hahah..my dad said " if there were to be an accident on the expressway, you could be delayed for an hour"

But nevertheless, the car and everyone's lives were safe and sound.. haha.. today was the most and longest time i was on the wheel.. good but tiring experience... but soon, there will be another time.... when i have to send my parents to Changi Airport.. they going to "Hai Nan" ( not sure about the spelling.. but its the place where the famous Chicken Rice originated from)

might consider

2009-09-21T16:07:00.003+08:00

well, i know i haven't been blogging much... being veri lazy.. and also i feel that there aren't many readers for my blog..haha...

I feel that blogspot quite lousy... there was one period of time i can't seem to log in.. and can't post... yinboon suggested me to switch over to WordPress... I might consider changing...

If i were to change, i would also want to change my blog layout and everything.. might even start anew(meaning deleting all my post in blogspot) If possible, I would want to make my blog looks nice nice.. I want to include more colours and pictures...even if there are no readers for my blog, i myself visit my blog feel happy also good...hahah

but i think, after completing my new blog(if i do), i will be very satisified with myself le..hahah

complain

2009-09-01T20:06:00.000+08:00

well, its been ages since i last post an entry abt blog.. being really lazy.. and somehow the blogspot like weird weird.. everytime can't load properly.. i log in blogger, all the graphics can't load.. its like a site map lo... lousy...haha

but anyway, ytd i was shocked to find out that DBS/ bank interest rate drop le.. now normal savings bank interest rate is 1% (drop from 1.25%) and the MySavings account rates drop from 1.25%(can't remember the previous interest rate)... so sadded... need to find ways to make my money work for me man....

surprise visit by NEA

2009-08-03T09:47:00.000+08:00

this morning, there is a staff from National Environment Agency(NEA) came knocking on my door. He said he came to conduct a spot check on mosquito breeding areas. Quite shocked. My dad said they have been conducting spot checks monthly. So often. haha..

movie date & window shopping with sophie

2009-07-22T10:35:00.000+08:00

ytd went to shaw house to watch Harry Potter & the Half-blood prince with dear...the movie was so-so only.. transformers still much better than harry potter... cuz i didn't read the harry potter book, i dun really understand what is going on... i do not know the significance of the half-blood prince.. so wad if u are the half-blood prince??

after that, dear and i went to the newly open ION to walk see walk see... looks veri posh... there are 8 levels, level 1-4 & B1-B4... the top 4 storeys are meant for high-end pple, veri expensive brands... the basements levels look more suited to normal typical singaporeans.. should walk around to see how the new place looks like...

class outing at sentosa

2009-06-28T09:12:00.008+08:00

hmmm, had a class outing at sentosa ytd... not many pple turned up.. at 2pm, there were chia wen, kenny, alwyn, wee siang, wee cheng, hui zhen, xiao min and li hong and me...went to giant to buy some snacks and drinks...

went to palawan beach.. there were a number of tents set up there.. there was a event that have ended.. so we made use of the tent there for shelther... starting, we all sat down to eat food prepaared by li hong, xiao min and chia wen.. thanks for putting in the effort to prepare food!

after tat, some of us played "frisbe", not sure of the spelling, passing here and there.. den the gals played "uglydoll".. soon later all of us played together... play till quite high and fun..haha after uglydoll.. we played bang! abit harder to learn and play.. but managed to play one round.. by den its around 5plus or 6 le.. den we decided to play some sports... frisbee team play...

before we know it, the sky turned dark.. and we had to sit and eat in darkness... ate "handphone light dinner".. will be uploading the pics i took with my hp later... only a few... at first, the reason why we met at 2pm is cuz want to stay overnight de..

but in the end only hui zhen is the one who wants to stay over.. a few of us, including me is ok-ok.. but see so little pple also dun want stay le.. den we managed to catch the last sentosa express back to vivo city.. den we hanged around at vivocity till 1115.. den we managed to catch the last train connecting from harbour front to outram, heading to joo koon.. reached je, its also the last train to ang mo kio le..haha.. lucky we dun need to spend more money on cab fee..haha hmmm, overall i feel this outing wasn't really fun ba.. i think if we have known the attendence won't be that good and pple dun want to stay over.. should had met up in the morning... den just play frisbee and sun tan.hahah

it's been a while

2009-06-17T23:00:00.002+08:00

it's been a while since i knocked off work at 5pm.. almost every day i had been working ot till 630pm.. by the time i reach home is around 715pm.. have dinner outside with my family it would be around 830-9pm...

i was really grateful that i could leave work early today... and i get to spend more family time.. and i was able to settle some paper for my matriculation for NTU...

i guess i am more of a "family" guy who cherish time spent with family.. i feel safe, happy with my family.. its not easy to have to whole family - my parents, sister and i to be able to sit down and have meals together.. thats what i will always cherish....

wohoo! new laptop!!

2009-06-14T21:30:00.002+08:00

well, today went down to suntec to buy laptop.. went down first day to take all the brochures.. at first, i was confused.. on whether to buy laptop now or buy from school... some of my friends say buy from uni cheaper.. some say the model/parts that uni give are older and not so good.. and the list of pros and cons for buying from uni goes on...

but nevertheless, i still decided to buy from the PC show.. and my choice is Lenovo Y450 series..

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8700 [2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache]
4GB DDR3 SDRAM
500GB SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce GT 130M 512MB
14.1 inch
weighs 2.1kg with 6-cell Li-ion battery

those are the main features.. others not so important...

and most importantly - Price. $1599.. that includes freebies like 250GB 2.5" external HDD, a mouse (cheapo de) and a portable speaker(better than nothing)

wohoo! i passed!

2009-06-08T21:02:00.003+08:00

yeah! i passed my driving pratical test.. i took automatic car and @ ubi.. i know alot of u will start asking "why learn auto?" "why take at ubi?" ...

for the first question, i think cuz i listen to my dad.. he said like now more and more cars are auto le... and "even if u have a manual license and driving auto car.. many of the friends i know aren't confident of driving back a maual car" well, there will be many reasons u can give that its better to learn a manual car.. but well.. i think auto is good for me.. ^^

why ubi? this one is cuz my instructor say de... haha... den i just follow lo.. otherwise veri hard to learn lesson.. he will be like keep asking me to take @ ubi and everything...

but nevertheless.. i passed le.. i got 16 points.. acutally i must admit i was lucky to pass.. can say the instructor was lenient.. he could have failed me if he was veri strict....

reflections

2009-05-30T22:28:00.002+08:00

well, ytd i was online on fb.... i was looking at benjamin's uploaded pics of sec school life.. really brought back memories.. and of course " i look that weird/nerdy/funny in sec school life?" thoughts came out in my mind.. but thats not the main point...

well, i am not sure whether i regretted playing more and having more fun in secondary school.. now like reflecting back.. it seems like secondary school days were the only time when u could really havoc..

there are many memories i can never forget.. some memories that bring sadness.. but many that will never fail to bring a smile on my face whenever i think of it... like the time after school hours, before self-study period.. in sec 1-2.. i remember that yl, me, kenneth, jeremy and maybe others(can't remember) will like play catching and even splash water at each other.. haha

and of course the fun and unforgettable water war during sec 4... haha.. i remember claire acted as if she injured her ankle.. den in the end it was a trap to attack me with water when i m not prepare.. hump!

hmmm, looking at where i am now.. maybe i can say that i shouldn't have spent so much time and effort on swimming training.. cuz now.. its all gone down the drain.. because of my ear condition.. swimming isn't the same feeling anymore...

but well.. we cannot turn back time.. what's done is done... I guess we can only learn from own mistakes and pple's mistakes, and keep moving forward...

tioman trip

2009-05-11T22:18:00.004+08:00

Well, this is a veri old post.. didn't have the time and energy to post.. haha

well, went to tioman, from 8-10may with sophie and her classmates... quite fun... really nice corals and fishes... great experience snorkelling and witnessing the beauty of Mother Nature...

Enjoyed myself... swimming around in the sea.. that's something i really missed.. or rather miss swimming.. even since my ear op.. i didn't listen to mp3.. and didn't swim... during my previous medical appointment with the doctor, he said i could swim.. i was stunned.. i asked him again.. and double confirmed.. he said "yes".. i was so elated...

I did went to swimming.. i have to admit there's a funny feeling.. but its better than not being able to swim at all...

Well, lets not digress from my topic- holiday trip.. overall its fun and relaxing.. though it was packed with itenary.. did a couple of stuff like snorkelling, looking at pple fishing, eating fresh seafoods ( the best!) , went to the marine park to see the fishes, snorkelling, treakking a little, dipping into icy water....

sidetrack abit again.. now i am listening to music, through com.. not ear phones of course... but i am listening to old old songs.. by A1, M2m, and old songs from SHE, Jay chou... den it just occured to me that time flies... some songs did brought back memories...

busy busy

2009-04-25T22:15:00.002+08:00

well, its been ages since i last blog... my apologies.. i found a part-time job.. a month ago.. as a quality inspector at Abbott.. though it sounds really great.. but the work there is tedious and tough..can say its like manual labour.. job scope is easy, just tat you keep doing and doing whole day all day without rest...

furthermore, i'm helping sophie to give tution to one of her students.. so that she got more time to study for exams... so after work, give tuition.. at times it really very tiring... but nvm ba.. earn more money..hahah

Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love

2009-04-13T21:01:00.006+08:00

I know its a old song, but still like it. She's a very powerful singer.. and she is very young! (just turned 24 very recently) She has a bright future ahead..

"But something happened for the very first time with you, my heart melted into the ground found something true, and everyone's looking around thinking I'm going crazy.

But I don't care what they say, I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away but they don't know the truth..."

photos...

2009-04-09T22:27:00.002+08:00

well, my photos taken during my birthday party are uploaded on facebook...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74597&id=682111918&l=2bd7b5d759

and ya.. if possible.. can help me friend to help vote for her blog for a contest...

go to this websaite, under "hand drawing style" vote for "amour chaleur"
http://wpwebhost.com/best-wordpress-design-awards-time-to-vote/

Thanks alot!

my birthday

2009-04-08T21:17:00.002+08:00

well, its 8th april... i've turned 21 today... well not much feeling ba.. more of just tired...cuz have been going out and busy since last sat... every weekday also reached home late.. either due to tuition or working ot.... well just a short post today.. i'm really feeling veri tired...

my chalet unti no..

2009-04-03T21:15:00.001+08:00

update update.. my chalet unit no. for my birthday party is S-05... for those who have forgotten.. its at pasir ris costa sands resort... can come anytime after 5pm... see ya there!

Need help in doing online survey

2009-03-21T10:26:00.001+08:00

People! i need everyone's help in doing a short online survey.. i'm helping out my friend in his small project... if possible pass around the link.. THANKS!!

http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=b3649ce7-7d25-4542-9447-2dcacf42ca7d

finding Web Designer

2009-03-19T16:09:00.002+08:00

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

I am finding people to help me to create a website. I would need to create a database, for like members' area to log in. Main idea for the website will have shopping cart and might need applet to view the items for sale.

Those who know, or know of friends who are experienced in web design, please tell/contact me ASAP!! Quite urgent!!

"chase dreams"

2009-03-16T09:50:00.002+08:00

I was surfing online on dreams, cuz nothing much to do..haha.. then i found this website - dreammoods.com

the site have a whole list of analysis of what your dreams might mean...i just copy one of the dreams which i think its quite common....

"I'm Being Chased"

Chase dreams is one of several common dream themes. As with most of the common dreams, they often stem from feelings of anxiety in your walking life. Running is an instinctive response to physical threats in your environment. In these dreams, you can be pursued by an attacker, an animal or an unknown figure, who wants to hurt or possibly kill you. In turn, you run, hide or try to outwit your pursuer. Your actions in the dream parallel how you respond to pressure and cope with fears, stress or various situations in your waking life. Instead of confronting the situation, you are running away and avoiding it. Ask yourself who is the one chasing you so that you can gain understanding and insight on the source of your fears and anxieties.

The pursuer or attacker who is chasing you in your dream may also represent an aspect of yourself. Your own feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and possibly love, can assume the appearance of threatening figure. The shadowy figure can also symbolize rejected characteristics of your self. You may be projecting these feelings onto the unknown chaser.

If you are the one doing the chasing, then the dream may highlight your drive and ambition to go after something you want. Or perhaps the dream suggests that you are falling behind and having to catch up with everyone else.

Consider the distance or gap between you and your pursuer. This indicates your closeness to the issue. If the pursuer is gaining on you, then it suggests that the problem is not going to go away. The problem will surround you until you confront and address it. However, if you are able to widen the gap between your pursuer, then the problem is becoming less and less of an issue. You are able to successful distance yourself from the problem. In essence, the problem is fading away.

A more direct analysis of chase dreams is the fear of being attacked. Such dreams are more common among women than men, who may feel physically vulnerable in the urban environment. These dreams are inspired by fears of violence and sexual assault in which we are so over-exposed from the media, which magnifies such fears.

It's Friday the 13th AGAIN!!!

2009-03-13T15:47:00.002+08:00

5 Facts About Friday the 13th
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090312/sc_livescience/5factsaboutfridaythe13th

21st Birthday Party Invitation

2009-03-11T13:02:00.013+08:00

[Click on the picture to see a BIG view of the picture]

**Last Updated on 28th March**
-----
Most likely there won't be any games ba, can't think of any. And I feel everybody will just stick to their own group of friends, even if there's games. So must as well, I go around chit chatting with you all? maybe take lots of photos...haha....

oh ya.. my dad has invited some of my relatives along for my birthday party. And most likely my 2 younger cousins will come. They are 2 naughty boys - one studying pri 4, the other pri 6..

---
Map of the location: http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_1972/travel_site_141967/

How to get there:
Take train to Pasir Ris Mrt station. Next, walk to the bus terminal and find bus no. 354. It states clearly that it goes to downtown east. You'll alight at the bus stop at Downtown East(just after the round about).

From there, walk towards the downtown east chalet direction. There is a small walkway crossing the canal to reach Pasir Ris chalet. ( Am I right about this part??)

Alternatively, there are free shuttle bus service from Pasir Ris MRT (Taxi Stand) to Costa Sands Resorts (Pasir Ris). **BUT!!, if at that timing got no shuttle bus, pls dun kill me.. i just copy the timing stated on the leaflet de... anything find the management.**

The timings are as of shown below:
1515
1545
1615
1715
1915
1945
2015
2045
2115
2145
2215
2245

Bus Timing from Costa Sands Resort( Pasir Ris) to Pasir Ris MRT (Taxi Stand) a.k.a going back home are as of shown below:
1900
1930
2000
2030
2100
2130
2200
2230
2300

8D7N trip to China - GuangXi

2009-03-10T23:16:00.001+08:00

Well, I went with my family to China for a week.. from 28th Feb to 7 Mar... well, in short.. the trip was freezing... and now I'm beginning to appreciate Nature and tea drinking more... was very amazed what beauty Mother Nature can do....and for tea drinking... it's because, everyday in China, we drank chinese tea... numerous kinds of tea... just no coffee....

DAY 1

Took a 3.5hr flight to Nan Ning, 1800H-2135H... took Shen Zhen Airlines... it's a very small plane.. the plane is split into 2 sides of 3 seats each.. separated by a narrow walkway which is meant for only one person to walk ... and of course, they did served drinks and meal... but for the drinks.. really lousy and not cold.. I'll give 3/10... for the meal, there was a choice of fish or chicken.. i took fish - which was surprisingly nice.. 6.5/10... as the flight was heading back to China, there were many China people... and if you thought Singaporeans were kiasu, wait till you see them...

Upon touching down, we saw our tour guide.. and realised our tour group is comprised of 11 people... ( 2 + 2 + 3 + 4), youngest was a 18year old guy, oldest was a 66year old grandpa...

While on the way to the hotel, the tour guide introduced himself and brief us about what's Guang Xi's speciality - 山水, 山歌, 少数民族 - 壮族. He also told us that many tour groups complain of the water, not able to adapt to the water here. So he suggested us to drink a glass of boiled water every night in the hotel to help to adjust to the water in GuangXi. One thing I have to say is the tour bus. Its a mini bus of seating capacity of max. 15 including driver.. the seats weren't comfortable and it really affected us as there were much travelling on mountainous road for this tour....

The hotel - Hua Xing Hotel was ok ok.. but it was veri noisy.. its a common practice there for cars/bus/vans to honk whenever they are overtaking another vehicle or just switching lane.. so i couldn't sleep well that night...

DAY 2

So today was the actual first day of the tour... ate breakfast at hotel, which was quite disappointing.. after that, we took 4hr coach jouney to reach De Tian Waterfall. As the coach seats wasn't that comfortable, all of us were aching from seating so long...

But well, the waterfall was quite nice and interesting. Its the largest trans-national waterfall in Asia, and 2nd largest trans-national waterfall in the World. It stretches across China and Vietnam. So its like you could have one feet in China, the other in vietnam.

Lunch was something different. It was mixed China/Vietnam cuisine. Not really suitable for Singaporean taste ba... Took another 4hr journey back to hotel. Super rocky ride.. during the trip back to the hotel, the tour guide played a drama serial on the coach for us to see.. its called "shi wan [xx] qin yuan" [dun know how to pronounce the 3rd word..haha]

the drama serial is a very old one.. its about tourism company advertising for Cruise Ship.. their idea was the Love Boat... the main actor and actoress got married on the criuse just after knowing each other on the cruise and pa-tor for that 7days on the cruise....

Upon reaching the hotel, it was already dinner time..it was surprisingly nice as compared to the lousy breakfast..haha..

After that, we managed to go to a night market... its called 山路night market... it was just one long stretch of road where they sold quite alot of stuff to eat... like pigeon meat, lots of seafood like octopus, oysters etc, smelly tofu, BBQ or roasted seafood/vegetables, alligator meat...

Day 3
Ate the same breakfast at the hotel.. Then sat all the way to our next destination - Merryland Resort Hotel. It's our one and only 5 star hotel we will be staying in the whole trip... took 3hours plus to reach a restuarant located along the highway.. not tat nice... den another 4hours or so to finally reach MerryLand Resort Hotel. Oh ya, the hotel is at Gui Lin. And boy, the temperature is freezing.. its 4-6degrees plus the wind, its really very very cold there...

well, the hotel definitely looks better, cleaner.. more facilities.. there were gym, billard & mahjong room.. dinner at the hotel was not bad.. service was good... oh ya, there was a night show (free of charge).. so we went... nothing special la... there were perfomance like dart-throwing which is lousy (target was very near), there were girls dancing, a young girl doing balancing act - which i feel its the best perfomance... and there were singing.. which was .......no comments...

it was free and easy since we reached the hotel.. but there wasn't much things to do.. there is a amusement park and golf course.. but the amusement park closes at 5pm... we are only going there the next morning... so i felt that today it was wasted as we didn't see anything.. it was just travelling.. and enjoying the hotel facilities....

Day 4
Breakfast at the hotel was of course good!! they served both international and chinese cuisine..
after breakfast, went to the theme park!! wohooo!!

It was drizzling, and frezzing... luckily there was a store there selling gloves.. and my mum bought a pair for my sis and i....

imagine sitting a roller coaster in such freezing temperatures... imagine anything you touch, from the seat, handle are icy cold... it's a torture to try all the rides... there was a bungee jumping.. but i dare not try.. cuz i was already freezing... i can't imagine me falling through such cold air... i think i will sure catch cold and fall ill....

Ate lunch at the Merryland hotel = disappointing... after tat, it was sitting in coach again... the whole journey in Gui Lin was very cold... it was due to the rain and the wind...

went to a foot reflexology, this one is brought by the tour guide, it wasn't in the itneray... so that the tour guide can earn side income lo.. the water was really hot.. took a very long time for me to get used to the heat before i put in my whole feet...

we ate dinner @ the hotel - Gui Lin City Garden Hotel.. it was nice, suit our taste.. there were sweet and sour fish, curry tofu, claypot eggplant....we saw a show @ Dreamlike Theatre.. the title of the show is " meng huan li jiang".. its very nice and interesting... interesting use of the colour lightings... there were skillful acrobatics, ballet and dance... the show was 75mins.. the last 10-15mins was a little draggy.. but overall the show was nice...

after the show, the tour guide told us where we could shop.. but we didn't.. cuz it was raining and just too cold..hahahah... actually, this trip really no shopping de.. only got a few.. like wad's stated in the itenary - chinese tea, silk, chopping knife, herbal medicine....i intend to find something for my dear.. but reallie never see anything really nice...

Day 5
Breakfast at this hotel was even worst than the Hua Xing hotel..hahah.. travelled around 2hrs to the mountaineous area to a minority race village - Zhuang Jia village... saw terraced paddy fields, and how the villlages live their lives...

The 2 photos above are pictures of 2 tour groups.. mine and another from Malaysia.. joining together to sing along with the ah mei of their village... it was fun and entertaining...

Lunch was their special steamboat.. just so perfect for the weather.. ^^..and a good change of food.. as we had been eating the same few food - chicken duck fish and many type of vegetables... they served their wine - rice wine... it was very sweet and nice.. just able to warm up the whole body...

Came back from the mountain area... went to 2 places where the tour guide could earn commission... went to a silk and chopping knife shop... no one bought anything from that two shops... as in we dun need those, why would we buy???

Cuz after visiting the 2 shops.. the tour guide talked to us in the coach.. he openly told us that they earn extra income from such shop and want us to buy stuff.. to help them.. i personally didn't like that move... we will only buy stuff that we would use and not just buy to help you ma...
next destination was the foot reflexology centre... this time was the real food reflexology.. it was very good and relaxing.... maybe should try in Singapore too..haha..

We ate our dinner at a restaurant... their speciality was 3 different "mi fen" or bee hoon... actually nothing very spectacular.. its like normal fish slice bee hoon, fried been hoon and dry bee hoon.....

we had free and easy time after the dinner.. so we decided to go walk walk around their "pasar malam".. they didn't sell special stuff.. we came across a few stalls selling a special kind of egg.. its a plant inside with auspicious words on the leaves.. my dad asked me to buy 3 of that for my dear and her sisters.. i felt that they would like or use it.. so i didn't buy...

thoughts and feelings so far:

~ our tour guide is not very hardworking.
~ weather is too cold for me.. till now, we still havn't seen the sun at all...
~ [emo part] I feel that LOVE is when you are freezing in cold weather and rain, you feel warmth from inside from when other people put you before them.

E.g. buying gloves for you like my mum did, lending his/her jacket pocket for your hands to hide to keep warm....

Day 6
According to the local news, there will be heavy rain the next few days. But while waiting @ hotel lobby, we finally saw the sun for the first time during the whole trip..haha...

Wemt sight-seeing.. and also went to "shopping", brought by the tour guide... even went to a park, while walking through the park, there was an exhibition place selling jade... my tour group didn't buy much... den as expected, the tour guide wasn't tat happy... but well, hack care...

went to a place where we all sat a bamboo raft to enjoy the river scene, to sing "shan ge" with ah mei while on the raft... and we saw a certain kind of bird catching the fish in the river... there was hot tea, and peanuts served on the raft... but it was veri windy and cold.. so mainly we drank the tea... hahah..

but the cruel thing is that they tie their neck area so that they can't swallow the fish..after catching.. the trainer will squeeze the fish out of the bird's throat... ouch... below are the few photos..

after tat.... we went to another place.. to take a river cruise to witness the best scenery... the scenes are super breathe-taking man... there's a famous saying..

[桂林山水甲天下] - "Guilin’s scenery is best in the world."

At night, we went to an open-air threatre to watch the famous "liu san jie". the famous movie was directed by Zhang Yimou, using the scenery of the mountain and rivers so beautifully.. it was drizzling at first, so they distributed disposable raincoat... while during the show... we had free lightning and thunder effects... it did rained periodically throughout the show, but many of the spectators perservered to watch on.. but there was one downpour, and everyone started to run and seek shelter... it was chaotic and reallie wet...

upon reaching the coach, we were driven back to the hotel to have a hot shower and rest... so that won't catch any cold... so tats how day 6 ended.....

Day 7
Well, today was considered the last day of the tour and day 8 was mainly taking breakfast and then taking afternoon flight back to Singapore....

Today breakfast was a little special.. we have to sit together as a group to have our breakfast.. all the time breakfast was buffet dinner...

After breakfast, we went to Silver Limestone Cave.. its very nice, you will be amazed by the beauty of nature...we took around an hour to walk the whole cave.. tiring but worth it...

after the 1hr walk, we at lunch at a restaurant... not tat nice... maybe cuz eat till very sianz le.. every meal was like the same few dishes.. fish, chicken, duck, vegetables - many kinds...

next was the long and tiring 5.5-6hr journey back to Nan Ning...oh ya..after dinner, we went to a dvd/vcd stall and buy lots of dvd bacl..haha.. now got lots of show to watch at home..haha.. finally can watch Red Cliff.. missed that when it was released in cinemas...

Day 8
well, nothing much.. went to a park to see the scenery and see what do the pple do in the park... there were many old pple singing songs and performing.. there were none jogging..haha.. maybe too cold, or they dun have the habit to exercise....

after tat, went to airport.. which was quite disappointing.. i thought maybe could find something for my dear and her family.. but after checking in, it was straight to the waiting area.. there was a small duty-free shop.. selling electronics.. there wasn't any proper food/drink stalls.. there was a small stall selling cup noodles and some drinks....tats all... reallie bad impression....

well, finally typed out the blog of my 8D7N holiday.. lazy and keep procastinating.. well, for the photos.. i uploaded to my facebook account... can go and see - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69419&id=682111918&l=8a980

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69422&id=682111918&l=bd95c

some articles to read and ponder

2009-03-10T09:59:00.002+08:00

These articles i bumped into while browsing AsiaOne website... makes ponder about the power of love....

Confession of a second wife: http://www.divaasia.com/article/2333

Lessons from a 21-year-old husband: http://www.divaasia.com/article/2180

Settler's Cafe

2009-02-27T20:53:00.003+08:00

Well, on Wednesday night.. i met up with my jc classmates at Clark Quay mrt station.. meeting up to play board games at Settler's Cafe... in the end, there were around 10-11 pple who turned up.. not bad lei...

there was "snack feast" on that night.. for $13.90 you can order unlimited snacks and 4hours of game playing ( from 6-10pm).. hmmm, the snacks were not bad... the pepper fries and onion rings were among many favourites.. but one thing is that they dun serve serviettes, at least for our table.. not sure about other tables... cuz we have to use our fingers to eat those snacks.. and to eat while playing.. you will definitely spoilt the board game with your oily fingers.. but well.. the games are not mine.. hhahahah...

hmmm, what games did we played? 4 of us, yw, ry, chia wen and I played an interesting game called "shadows over Camelot" . this game is different as all players collaborate to defeat the game.. the game has many mini war/quest that is happening simultaneously..the game takes approximately 60mins.. a little longer when we first played, as we weren't sure of many stuff.. and we lost.. den we tried 2nd time.. at a much faster pace.. and we won.. haha...

we played the more simplified version.. we didn't include traitors. who will help the evil side... and if we played with traitors.. its not a automatic win if there are 7white swords on the round table... as the traitor can change 2 white to black swords..

well, i went online to search.. and found there's an expansion for the game. its called "merlin's company"

Credit Card debts ballooning

2009-02-26T17:26:00.002+08:00

this is taken from Straits Time Home section...its talking about credit card debts...I will just summarise and state the facts...

"Credit card debt hit an estimated S$3.4 Billion last Dec, the highest for that month in 20 years."

~ No. of credit cards rose 11% last year, but rollover balances jumped more than 13%
FYI - Rollover balances are unpaid amounts that subject to (high) interest charges.

~ easy availability of credit puts people in a "state of denial" - even amoung thsoe who know they are spending more than they should.

~ when high earners used to a lavish lifestyle, when their income changes, they are not prepared to make the changes in their lifestyle, and hope the situation will improve - which rarely happens....

my dad always tell me that, once you start to have credit card debts, its really very hard to get out of it.. just by the fact of the fees and high interest rate credit card charges you.."it's like a legalised loan shark.. if you don't pay your bills on time..."

K-20

2009-02-21T10:52:00.005+08:00

well, i went out with Roy ytd evening.. met him at Harbour Front.. den we went to Banquet to have our dinneer.. ate western food.. one thing weird about the pricing of the western food is that the chicken is priced more expensive than the fish... the chicken chop was $6.50 whereas a fish & chips was $5... so i just ordered fish, grilled black pepper fish... which was taste and quite a big portion... NICE!

den we went to vivo, but the queue at the ticketting counter was super long.. tried using the AXS station to book tickets at tiong bahru.. but they keep on saying "unable to process transcation"....

so bo pian, have to go down to buy, cuz we scared by the time we go down, maybe no more tickets... but we managed to get "not bad seats" at tiong bahru... watched K-20 at 2040H... the movie was around 2hours...

story line was not bad.. graphics look real... it was abit like "Da Vinci" meet "Spiderman" movie.. you go watch it and you will understand what i mean...

** oh ya.. through the whole night, roy keep pestering me to create Facebook account.. say its fun etc etc.. i said i didn't want to create as i feel it takes up time... personal choice la.. but after much pestering me.. i said i will create an account... and it is done --http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Kong/682111918#

It's back..... (oh no...)

2009-02-16T15:41:00.002+08:00

Yes, its back... the Haze is back... this morning when i woke up and looked outside the window.. it was very hazy/foggy... i strongly believe its the haze...

No wonder my family is down with cough.. everyone, except me, is coughing all of the sudden...so pple, pls drink more water, if possible get some vitamin pills.. as they always say "health is wealth"

Finally....

2009-02-11T19:44:00.003+08:00

Finally, its 110209... and i have ord-ed le...looking back all the "stuff" that i went through for the past 1year 10 months... i have to admit i learnt and grown alot... grown mentally and emotionally...

Well, "stuff" seems like a understatement... its more of "high's" and many many "lows"... tekong was a chalet and i had fun.. during field camp, route march and all those time slacking in bunk....

after being posted to SSC, there's where all the shit starts to fall...

~my blister on my hand - ironically, i have to thank Leon, cuz for him i learned to be mentally stronger and conquer one of my fears.

~all the stupid "R&D" in SSC.

~the shocking posting to CDS = start of "shit-ier" shit

~becoming full fledged SS13 in platoon 1 = start of 7D = start of anyone's nightmare or "shit-mare"

~managed to survive countless shitty 7D's and the one and only stupid Company Shortest Man

~went through ear surgery - i would like to thank my family & my dear who supported me alot through those time... not to mention yl & roy who visited me when i was lying on the bed in NUH

~went through another ear surgery

Well, as we all know... even after eating good food, sometimes it still turns to shit... likewise for my experiences - there were good and memorable moments...

= driving RHIBS [best memory in my NS]
= doing duty @ romeo
= spending time in camp with my camp mates, knowing that each of us are in the same shit really comforts us , as we are not alone.
= meeting up with camp mates[ although we are seeing each other for 7days straight in camp, we still meet up in much more happier, fun places as compared to camp]
= doing some stuns which cannot be blogged about, otherwise it would land me in SERIOUS SHIT.

So sorry for the over-usage of the word "SHIT". Cuz its a long story describing what we SEA SOLDIERS do, and i do not want to get into any trouble if i reveal sensitive info... nevertheless, this will be my "shittest" post... i promise you, there won't be any more "shit" in my future posts, as i know my life in the future will be MUCH better...

old post...

2009-01-27T23:31:00.007+08:00

this is a post of a gathering i had with my sec school friends on 24th jan.. this gathering was more of a farewell meeting for Huai An, who will be going to Australia to study business. I met up with Huaian, Ben, Yee Loong, Pui Han, Sharon, Jess & Yin Boon... we ate lunch at Ding Tai Feng @ Paragon.. den we played a while of pool @ lucky plaza before i head home to have own family reunioun dinner... oh ya, we made a scrap-book for huai an, all of us made/wrote a page of what we want to say to him and all combine into a book for him.... sweet right? hahah

hmmm, shall share what i did on today( chu er ) , cuz chu yi nothing much.. just the normal visiting... hmmm, around lunch time, my family headed to uncle tony's house for cny visiting.... saw desiree, michael & tresha... and i managed to meet up with my old swimming friends.. some changed quite a bit.. some looked the same... but well, as they always said... time flies.. "so fast going to ORD le ar?" all of them asked me that.. haah.. like 2 years just past by in a blink of an eye.. yeah.. agree with them, time flies. so better cherish your time.. and ensure your time is well spent.. can't turn back time...

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T10:34:00.002+08:00

well, shall blog a short post about what i did for chinese new year eve... went with my mum to my mum's side reunioun dinner at katong gardens... my dad and sis went to my dad's side for reunioun dinner at one of my cousin's condominium unit...

i changed my old and torn wallet le.. actually i planned to change only when i ord.. for the reason of having a new change after ord.. but i feel new year should have a new wallet to hold money for the new year..haah. so i changed to the new wallet my dear bought for me as my christmas present...

the significant thing is tat i went to drink for the first time! haha.. may not sound tat spectacular to you.. but it's my first time ma.. my elder cousins brought me along with them, to a nearby bar to drink... guess what, we open a bottle of vodka with mixer: red bull... total 5 of us share that bottle... at first, i drink still ok.. just face become hot...still can walk back to the car.. but upon reaching back my cousin house, i can't take it.. very giddy.. nearly fainted/black out...vision very very blur.. only can see black outline of people, can hear them talking to me...i wanted to vomit but couldn't...

but in the end vomitted at my dear house outside...cuz my dad fetched me there, to give bak gua to my dear's family.. but upon reaching there.. really uncomfortable.. den vomit... so sorry dear... to vomitted outside your house!!

at home.. wanted to vomit, but couldn't again.. ahah.. so just took a hot shower and slept.. but in the end slept for a while.. woke up at around 3+... realised my mum was watching tv, she said she couldn't sleep... i went back to lie down but couldn't sleep... think its cuz of the red bull ba... den i ate biscuit cuz was hungry.. haah.. finally slept at around 5+...

yup yup.. end of my interesting story... tml i will post about any more interesting happenings for my chu yi..

Singapore 20.5b Resilience Package

2009-01-23T08:30:00.002+08:00

For the first time ever, the Government is using its past reserves to help pay for the Budget's one-off short term measures. It has drawn $4.9b from reserves are for the Jobs Credit scheme and Special Risk-Sharing Initiative.

**Disclaimer**
All the information below are taken from The Straits Time and the information here not all-inclusive. [Try summarising the amount of information from 5+12 pages]. TO GET THE WHOLE PICTURE, READ THE PAPERS. Its a good habit to read the papers!!!!

A total of $20.5b resilience package is spilt up into

$5.1b for saving jobs
$2.6b for helping families
$5.8b + $2.6b for helping companies
$4.4b for investing in the future

Jobs Credit scheme

- Temporary one-year scheme ( could be extended, in some form, next year if the downturn continues)

- direct cash grants of 12% of an employee's(Singaporean and PRs only) monthly wage, with a cap of $2,500 per employee. [works out to max 300/month/employee or equivalent to 9% cut to their CPF contribution rate]

- 120,000 employers to benefit

Reason for doing so

save jobs by helping companies keep their workers
as $2,500 is the median monthly wage in Singapore, this allows employers to enjoy full 12% wage subsidy
as opposed to cutting CPF rates, Jobs Credit scheme helps to reduce overall payroll cost WHILE preserving the retirement fund of employees.

Another $750m will go to fund training & upgrading courses for workers of various skills & education level.

Another $150m will go to low-wage workers in form of a Special Workfare payout to top up their incomes.

Special Risk-Sharing incentive

For the first time, the Government will get involved in trade financing and unsecured loans. The Government will take on a fair amount of risk in bank lending but will not take over the lending business.

New Bridging Loan Programme will cater to loans of up to $5m, up from $500,000, while Government's share of risk on these loans will increase from 50% to 80%.

Coroprate Benefits

Property

40% property tax rebate for industrial & commercial properties
15% rental rebate to companies leasing prperties, land and market stalls
Property tax for land under development deferred for 2 years

Tax Help

Corporate tax cut from 18% to 17%
All foreign-sourced income exempted from tax for one year when remitted to Singapore

Transport

30% road tax rebate for good vehicles,buses & taxis for 1 year
Diesel tax for unhired taxis waived for 1 year
Tax exemption for CNG vehicles extended until end-2011

Grants & Training Schemes

$45m to be added to Maritime Cluster Fund
$230m Singapore Media Fusion fund to give grants to local enterpirses & build up media talent base
$200m in test-bedding fund
$400m top-up of National Research Fund

Direct help for families

GST Credits & Senior Citizens' Bonus to double [Cost - $580m]
20% personal income tax rebate [Cost - $457m]
Housing grant for first-time HDB flat buyers raised from $30,000 to $40,000 [Cost- $150]
40% property tax rebate for onwer-occupied homes [Cos $75m]
Up to 4.5months of conservancy charges waived for 1-3room HDB flats; waivers for larger flats up to 2months
Families renting 1 & 2 room flats will get up to 4months of rent waived

Help for the vulnerable

$100m for Eldercare & $100m for Medifund
$20m in financial aid schemes for needy students
$10m for Public Transport Fund
Public Assistance raised to $360/month [increase of $30]
Government pensioners to get $240/month [increase of $20]

More support for social welfare

Tax deductions for donatiosn to charity raised to 250% from 200%
$15m for government-funded voluntary welfare organisations
$9m for selp-help groups
$7m for grassroots to provide aid

ORD treat

2009-01-21T13:10:00.002+08:00

well, yesterday evening, i went out with my camp mates, it was my batch's ORD treat for the whole platoon. it's a tradition to treat our juniors when we are going to ORD.

caught up with a few of them, very long never see them le.. some were talking about their job experiences, some were talking about their seniors creating a facebook account for our vocation, and the display pic was my friends face... we took a couple of photos, had fun eating and chatting..

oh ya. we ate at our friend's dad's restaurant - lai fa seafood restaurant, at Geylang Lorong 34. we had 4 tables full.( we told our friend- wei ting, expecting 48 , but in the end 40 turned up. felt a little bad that he has to cover the cost for the remaining 8 people's share) we had a 6course dinner - deep fried sambal fish, herbal chicken( nice!) , kai lan, cereal prawns( nice nice!!), fried tofu, chilli crab ( fresh and best!)

and the total cost was cheap, mainly cuz its we are wei ting's friends. so charge us much cheaper... 4 tables plus drinks total $600...

after that, we went to a nearby lan shop and played :left 4 dead.. first time playing.. quite scary as never seen the game before.. but after a while really fun and exciting.. some of them were shouting here and there... haah.. game quite fun but need to be in teams of 4 and 4 only. no more no less... thats the drawback of the game.....

oh ya.. my friends were asking me "you not sianz meh, everyday stay at home..."

well, true. ytd was my first day going out since my surgery, without my family/parents... everyday since my surgery, i just went out with family to have meals and maybe walk walk a little with them.. den go home le... but i managed to accomplish many things at home... i completed my resume, with help of roy, completing my goals setting( which took up most of my time), read books, and of course played a fair share of computer games and online game ^^...i quite like staying at home doing my own stuff.. surfing net, reading up on my interest etc.. can say its my own personal time ba...

Singapore Budget'09

2009-01-20T10:27:00.002+08:00

Well, i'm getting more interested to know what will be revealed during Singapore Budget'09... many hope for many different changes that will benefit themselves... some were [taken from Straits Time Home 19th Jan 2009]:

- freeze increase in university fees
- helps young entrepreneurs in setting up their businesses
- more financial assitance for the bottom 20% of Singapore households
- spur job creation

An interesting note that taiwan gave out shopping vouchers to every citizens, to be exact S$160, in hope to spur domestic spending to spur the economy. in addition, with the upcoming sworning in of the new American's 44th President, Mr Obama it will be interesting to see how Singapore response to the global situation.

well, personally, i am hoping the Singapore Budget will address some issues
- helping the low-income household group
= maybe by offering cash rebates, or lowing electricity/water bills for 12months
- reduce cost of operating businesses
= reduce office space rentals
- make changes to the CPF structure
= option to lower employee contributions to have more "take home pay"
= more options to use CPF as payment - education, business set up, medical cost

ear surgery

2009-01-18T20:54:00.003+08:00

well, i had an ear surgery [ my 2nd one so far] on 150109.. the purpose was to insert a titanium alloy inside my right ear to improve me hearing...

but after i woke up from the general anesthetics, the doc told me bad news. when he open up my middle ear, he realised there were still skin growth in my middle ear, which is a bad sign. and there were skin on the foot plate of my ear. he planned to place the alloy at the foot plate. he didn't want to risk permament hearing loss if he try removing those skins on the foot plate. so he didn't went on with the operation...

so to conclue, my 2nd operation wasn't successful as now the doc realised my condition is back to square one.. and he did suggested that i may consider wearing hearing aids instead...

**after discussing with yl and doing some reading on the net.. i realised that my doctor knows what he is doing. he had plans on what to do with my condition all along. my condition is not uncommon and he is actually doing everything in his best ability.

am going back on wed to see the doc for a review and follow-up.. hopefully he can come up with good solutions...

update

2008-12-25T21:05:00.002+08:00

well, christmas season is here... managed to meet up with some of my friends which i havn't seen for quite some time... but i didn't managed to meet up with some other friends... and particulary one of my friends was very disappointed in me... but well, no use brooding over it... i do not have many days to meet up with friends.. as my first priority is my family, then my dear.. not to mention my own time to do my own interest work like reading, checking emails... i have already cut down alot of computer and online usage time to do other stuff le... can't wait to ord to have more fixed and stable timing...

talking about ord..i already have some plans to do after i ord.. and now i am preparing my resume.. hopefully by the next time i book out i can start sending out resume... also, i am looking for tuition.. anyone got lobang??

well, 2008 is coming to an end... and i am going to turn 21.. sound old.. but nvm... 21 means another phase of my life... i'm doing detailed goals and planning for myself and when i'm done.. i will update it on my blog's "to-do list"

my personality report

2008-12-20T23:17:00.004+08:00

i took a personality report and it said these:

At a Glance

• Punctual, completes work on time.

• Detailed, meticulous and observant, quick to pick out abnormalities.

• Empathetic, understanding, helpful and supportive.

• Quiet and reserved, prefers own company.

• Not concerned with rank, title or position.

• Sees people as nice and friendly, not comfortable to wheel and deal.

• Likes intellectual discussions, likes to explore ideas.

• Less expressive verbally.

While at Work

Mr Kong is prepared to put in hard work moderately but he may at times prefer to work at his own pace.

Time is a major concern for Mr Kong. He is frequently punctual and even early for appointments. When time is critical, he moves quickly and acts promptly. Having a sense of urgency means that Mr Kong pushes to get things done when there is a deadline and allocates time properly when planning or organising activities. He can be depended upon to get work done on schedule.

Mr Kong generally will persist with work until it is completed but may at times not complete his tasks.

Mr Kong is likely to be quality-conscious and achievement-oriented. He is motivated to produce work that is of a high standard. He is observant, quick to spot errors and critical where work is concerned. He is likely to be meticulous, careful and pre-occupied with detail.

Mr Kong is generally objective but may at times be emotional.

Mr Kong is sympathetic and considerate towards others. He is also likely to be tolerant, understanding and forgiving. Mr Kong lends support and offers help readily. He often lends a listening ear to others and is concerned about their welfare. He is also charitable.

Being a shy, quiet and reserved person, Mr Kong prefers his own company and feels awkward when meeting people for the first time. In social gatherings, he tends to stay in the background.

Mr Kong selectively forms strong bonds with people although these bonds may not be very deep.

Mr Kong is moderately serious about his responsibilities and selectively takes ownership of his work.

Mr Kong does not care much about how people view him or whether they respect him or not. He focuses on what he wants to do for himself. He is unconcerned with issues of ranks, positions or titles. Status symbols are unimportant for him. He does not draw attention to himself and dresses moderately and simply.

Mr Kong sees people as friendly, reliable and honest. He is trusting and believes what people say. He tends to be unsuspecting of people.s behaviour and motives. He is uncomfortable when he has to wheel and deal.

Mr Kong's leadership qualities are moderate and he is sometimes able to get the support of people.

Intellectually inquisitive and extremely interested in knowledge acquisition, Mr Kong enjoys discussing hypothetical or theoretical issues. He is conceptual and likes to explore abstract ideas. Mr Kong is a thinker, creative and inventive of ideas. He enjoys reading and is happiest sourcing for new ideas and information.

Mr Kong puts in effort to plan ahead some of the times. He may at times not be as detailed in his planning.

Mr Kong is not an expressive person and may have difficulty expressing his ideas, thoughts or plans. His language ability may not be strong and he could be described as a person of few words.

Mr Kong is generally able to tolerate some uncertainty although he would be uncomfortable if uncertainty or changes increase.

WORK RELATIONS
A Hard Work 14 D Affection 13
B Time 17 E Empathy 16
C Finish Job 12 F Sociability 5
P Good Work 16 G Loyalty 12

CONTROL THOUGHT
H Dominance 14 L Abstraction 18
I Status 9 M Planning-Organizing 15
J Politics 7 N Exposition 7
K Leadership 14 O Tolerance Ambiguity 11

Visualization

Cashflow 101 & 202

2008-12-19T10:11:00.002+08:00

well, book out quite early on thurs... had to go medical centre to take a flu vacine jab...den can leave le... rt was postponed to sat.. irritating lo.. have to go back camp on sat for an hour or so of RT..

but well, rest at home for a while, den went to ry's house to play cash flow.. al, cy,sophie and i played with ry... played 2 rounds (lasted around 3hrs).. 1st round was cashflow 101, 2nd round was 202...

101 was more simple but not as fun as 202... though 202 had to do more stuff and more changes... but every player have more options and decisions to make...overall fun game.. but sophie did comment that maybe playing a few more times den will get sainz of it... it's like monopoly, just a more complex version kinda game...

all my memory gone...

2008-12-09T21:25:00.002+08:00

well, after settling all the computer stuff... it was time to move the old desktop to my room... and so the laptop i was using - passing to my sister to use...

when tranfering all my important documents like pictures, information, research etc, to my external hard disk.. it was ok and no problem.. but when it comes to transferring to the desktop... it couldn't detect the hard disk.. tats when the problem occured...

my dad helped me to go back to sim lim - thats where we bought the external hard disk casing for the external hard disk... to our horror, the shop owner said the drive is gone.. 99% gone case.. if really want to retrieve the data found inside.. its still possible.. but have to pay around 200 bucks to send to retrieve...

i am not sure whether the information and research i have done is worth 200bucks.. so i hack care... i just take this as a new begining of my start [going to ord le] haha...

have plans to do lots of stuff when i return back to civiliian life... muahahah...

spring cleaning

2008-12-07T19:56:00.002+08:00

well, today i was at home the whole day.. never go out.. guai hor? haha

no la.. i had things to do.. need to help me dad to fix and set up the computer stuff... he bought a set from SITEX. den waited for me to book out to set up some stuff like the email account, wireless network etc etc....

so today was helping my dad to shift the old desktop to my room.. cuz the new set is in the living room... one sad thing we found out that the removable hard drive spoilt.. no power supply to the hard drive.. sainz lo.. all the important documents are inside that hard drive... so tml will be going to sim lim to find out the problem and fix...

its either the housing spoilt due to the interface short circuit or spoilt or worst case scenario is that the hard drive itself is "fried" = information gone = saded...

oh ya..apart from helping to set up the computer stuff.. i decided to spring cleaning my room... always never ending stuff to throw away..but while clearing my stuff, i realised i kept quite alot of funny funny stuff... haha...

some of the funny stuff dated back to my sec school days... i still kept letters from my fellow prefects who i exchanged letters with, and i was shocked to find a letter from jesslyn... is during sec 4... in addition, i digged out many neo prints i had taken from the past.. my very first neo print was with my best friend in pri schol- kc.. wonder how's he man. maybe i should try to call up my primary school friends to meet up...

there were other neo prints also.. during sec school, with yl, chin chin and jeannie..also with mel, xl, hui xian, meng how... now looking at those pictures really brought back many happy memories... and ya. i heard yl thought of planning a meeting with the sec school classmates... wohooo!! can't wait for it.. hopefully the attendence would be fantanstic... ^^

board game

2008-12-06T22:05:00.002+08:00

well, today sophie and i went to my friend's house to play a board game... well, its an educational and fun game. the game is called CASHFLOW 101 & 202 [expansion set]

*p.s* its a freaking expensive game set and expansion..not worth it to me.. but to rich pple like ry.. its ok to him.. haha*

well, it was fun playing CASHFLOW... earning money to get out of the rat race and den to chase your dream....put one tedious thing is that you have to write and erase veri frequently.. and surprisngly, RY's house NO ERASER?!?!?! haha

next time we play, we will bring our own stationaries- pencil, eraser and calculator ( have to calculate incomes, expenditures etc etc)

anyone interested can tag... maybe can try organise a gathering to play..haha...

oh ya, we did'nt get to play citadels due to shortage of time.. citadels is also a fun game.. its best to play with 4-6 players..can really play mind games with people...

2008-11-22T22:20:00.002+08:00

well, it's been ages since i last posted an entry.. haha.. hmmm, to summarise everything.. many events happened.. most of them were happy stuff.. like how my dear planned a mission surprise for me... ^^ and many many more... ( lazy to think and type out other events.. hahaa)

now just updating my blog and changing the layout a little bit aka doing some "area-cleaning" for my blog... haha...

sad events...

2008-10-25T23:16:00.003+08:00

well, today is a sad day for me...the only happy thing was that i passed my powered pleasure craft driver license today... though its a barely pass... but i still made it..haha

but right after i told my friends i passed... i realised my ring was missing... i was so sainz.. i tried to find by backtracking all the way back to the test area.. but stil can't find it... den from there, i got veri sad and paranoid... thinking it was a bad omen...and start to imagining things.. and i got veri affected and sad...

well, to keep things short.. this week plus last week, can say it was one of my saddest week for quitee some time le.. last week was i was in camp.. i broke down over camp stuff/issues.. being veri tired, both emotionally and physcially...

and now, over some issues with my gf... but well, hopefully everything will go well... these few stuff made me think of many stuffs...both past and present....

one friend asked me this question "If there's one thing you can change in the past, wad would it be?"

i answered directly " this one have to think. there are too many things i would want to change. have to choose correctly"

update update

2008-09-28T20:30:00.003+08:00

well, shall update abit... fri night i went for a wedding dinner with my gf... the bride is my dear's colleague went she was working part time at NETS...when she first invited us, both my dear and i felt quite weird like cuz I not close to the bride.. only seen her twice...hahah.. but nevertheless, still went... anyway, the wedding dinner was at carlton hotel.

hmmmm, the dinner started at around 8plus... the food was so-so... have taken much better food at other wedding dinners... the service was mediocre.. maybe it was just that particular staff that was assigned to our table... in conclusion, the feeling was quite fresh.. cuz i never i would go for a wedding dinner with my gf.. haha..and while walking back to the mrt at city hall, i saw JEREMY FONG!!! so long never see him... still looked the same, just more slim... should really contact the "F4" from my primary school....

here are 2 pics of my dear and i which was taken before both of us went to Carlton Hotel.

sat.. stayed at home whole day... guai or no life? hah.. hmmm, i watched anime at home.. quite old anime - Rave... doubt many people heard of that... den my dear joined my family for dinner at jurong point Pizza Hut.. den dear n i went to catch a movie- Mama Mia.. it was quite funny.. and if you listen to ABBA songs.. i bet you would appreciate and connect better to this movie.. but one comment, i didn't know Pierce Brosnan could sing... haha..no offense to any of his fans...

today - sunday.. also stayed at home.. watched Rave, did abit of my dreaded Power Boat Theory Test questions... went to westmall with my mum to buy back dinner.. cuz my dad want to stay at home to watch the F1 Race... and guess wad? i bumped into May Chua and her family, consisting of her mum, bro and bro's gf... she said i looked different - look taller..hahahh.. i guess she last saw me was maybe around 3years back..

how do you judge someone's character?

2008-09-25T18:42:00.002+08:00

well, during this duty week quite alot of things happened... oh ya.. before i forget (again)

Happy belated birthday to my mum and sis... i totally forgotten to wish them happy birthday during my one week duty in camp...still owe them a treat/present..reallie dun know what can i get for them...

apart from that, one thing tat made me think/ponder.. sometimes people judge others based on what they personally see or hear from their peers... but is it right to jump to conclusion that a particular person is so-and-so based on what you see or hear?

cuz sometimes we do not see what they do "behind the scenes" or when we didn't notice them..

how would you feeel if people judge you based on what they see of you? i believe many will be sad/unjustified... but i think thats reality and the true harsh fact of society...

failed again!!!

2008-09-16T21:00:00.003+08:00

sigh... today was my 3rd time taking the PPCDL test.. and failed again.. sigh... reallie veri sianz and frustrated with myself... it reallie see your luck de.. if you tio easy questions- you can pass.. if difficult, u will just fail by 1-2 marks.. if guess those hard questions correctly, still can pass.... reallie veri phek chek..

but anyway, happy birthday xueli.. may all your dreams come true...

Singapore Flyer and Shokudo

2008-09-14T10:24:00.010+08:00

Ytd ( sat ) went out with my dear... went to two main places... Singapore Flyer and Shokudo...

but before that, we were shopping at Bugis.. hoping to find birthday present.. for my sis n mum, and for her sister...couldn't find any present.. oh ya... i saw Zhi Xiong and his gf walking at OG Bugis...haha

my dear got discount for the tickets from her friend's friend... we took the 6pm time slot.. sophie was so like a tourist like tat.. fascinated by every small small thing.. she also did buy souvenirs from the retail shop... haha...oops let a big secret..haha.. oh ya.. while queuing up... i saw choon yew, and his gf, and his gf's mum ( i think, its either his or his gf's mum ) also queuing up for the Singapore Flyer... its a small world after all...

the overall experience of the ride was cool... the view is nice.. but when the IR resort is up.. [expected completion Oct 2009 ] the view would be even more spectacular!! if anyone of you are interested to go and try the Singapore flyer.. i reccommend to go at night.. it would be nicer.. and the pics would look nicer cuz no more sunlight...

there were a couple of ways to go there... from the website - http://www.singaporeflyer.com/ . There are shuttle buses, SMRT buses, or you can walk... but walking there was a little difficult cuz of the construction of the F1 stuff...

[ sorry ar... the sizing of the photos abit off... i just agar agar edit the size only.]

oh ya.. there's popeye at Singapore Flyer... those who went to Changi Airport would know wha'ts popeye.. abit like KFC, but nicer.. there's a bun.. i quite like it.. haha

anything, my dear n i ate at shokudo... I've heard quite abit abit it.. saying quite ex, main course not nice.. but dessert not bad....

well, we shared
1) Salmon Omu Rice
2) Plain Rosti
3) Tebasaki (chicken wing)
4) Quail egg roll with bacon (stick)
5) Prawn roll with bacon (stick)
6) Combo 1 Assorted Veg
7) Shokudo tofu cheese cake
8) Green Tea Ice-cream & Red Breen on Crepe

Of all, i like the sticks food ( 3-5) , the prawn was fresh and crunchy... the plain rosti was not bad.. the salmon omu rice wasn't that good... the veg was so-so. The Tofu Cheese cake is nice, it comes with a strawberry sause.. but i don't taste any tofu in the cheese cake..haha.. the crepe was not tat nice lei.. not crispy de. its like pancake kinda texture.. and i have taken before green tea ice-cream and red breen...

so overall experience.. not tat nice ba.. i believe Marche better although i haven't tried the curent Vivocity outlet.. yup... tats about all ba...

An Eventful Week In Camp

2008-09-11T21:18:00.003+08:00

well, this week in camp was very happening... First thing first, i met with an accident during my ops duty. Had a cut on my upper left lips. Went to CGH A&E to recieve treatment. After that went back to camp. Got status - light duty a week plus.... my PC offered me one day off to go home and rest... I thought about it, actually quite troublesome. cuz i stay so far... and have to send arms, pack my stuff etc... so i told him i would rather stay at my duty station and rest..

and indeed the romeo ic let me rest and slack... don't allow me to do anything.. so i really rested and slacked and rotted for 2 days.. during tat 2 days.. most of the time i was watching vcd, cheong anime...hahah... i managed to watch "1 litres of tears" - missed a few episodes but i watched the ending... "Gundam 00" - though i never watch Gundam before.. and i also missed the last 5 episodes... no time to finish watching....

but i also managed to watch some movies... love guru - lame moive, be kind rewind - lame but still got some touching moments , hell boy 2 - the one that i wanted to watch but didn't catch it, my sassy girl [hollywood version]... yeah i guess thats about it...

on one of the nights.. my dear was sharing with me..talking about serious stuff.. and i have to admit... things start to surface after avoiding dealing with the issue in the past.. and i have to admit it is affecting both of us alot..

also during this duty week, AX and SC and I did discuss about matters of the heart.. and they really made me think alot... some of the questions they asked me

"what's the reason you like a gal" - "is there really a solid reason? or just that feeling?"
--"is it when you are happy with her, carefree etc.. or when you feel empty or maybe can't live without her?

"how do you know when a girl like you?"

"have you ever shared a straw with a girl that is not your gf?"
- "are girls very affected if share straw with them?"

"how similar or different are you from your gf?"

there were many more questions.. but those are the ones i could think of offhand...it really made me think...in many aspects.. in relationship, in my goals and priorities in life...

***the follow part of this post is more of directed to the romeo guys***
well, when i had a choice to choose to go home and rest for a day.. i chose to stay in romeo... mainly cuz its troublesome to book out and in , considering how far i stay... but den i realised that the time spent in Romeo this week was very fun... i laughed alot.. can really get along and just chat with every single guy in Romeo station this week.. which its a really rare thing.... maybe cuz batch 11 left le... so lesser trouble? but anyway... i feel happy with the Romeo crew now...

Wall.E

2008-08-31T21:55:00.002+08:00

well, i watched Wall.E with my dear on sat afternoon.. 1640 at the Cathay Picture House. Hmmm, well, the movie was so-so la... cute characters.... but i have to admit, it feels weird with such little speech/dialouge....

comparing with Cars. I think i would prefer Cars. I feel Cars was a more funny and better storyline as compared to Wall.E ... Wall.E storyline is very simple and predictable...

well, shall talk about other issue... today i read the papers.. there was a section about the society, being more exposed to the Internet and developing addiction.. and one page on investing : Fear is a loser....

i was just thinking... whether are we becoming more and more like robots... just following the majority, not willing to take risks. people doing things so that they will be accepted by their peers - the feeling of social acceptance...

I believe all of us, in the past , had done something or bought something cuz everybody is doing that or buying that eh? for example, there was a crazy fade of bubble tea last time... and those wrist bands...and maybe now the latest phone - iPhone.... I believe some will just buy cuz its the latest and coolest thing in town... are we wrong to do that or think that way ???

I really don't know...

I didn't know...

2008-08-19T21:58:00.002+08:00

well, i must admit its been ages since i have been quite free to stay online for hours.. just relaxing... and i decided to read my friends blogs... surprising i've missed out lots of stuff that have happened to my friends.. which i feel a little embarassed.. cuz i've always been busy doing my own stuff... caring for myself...

here are some of the things i found out today
-kenny looks quite on with his running regime.. and dun so sad about your driving test. one of my friend also failed on the first time.. cuz he stopped for a pedestrain le, den she don't want to cross.. when he start to move den she cross... den fail... this kind of thing is sway de...

- chin chin is studying at Melbourne, as a 3rd year student wor.. not bad not bad...

-jesslyn looks the same.. just one comment.. can't see the youtube video in your blog!!

- xueli changed job le.. and got a "sugarcane" hahaha...

- benjamin, funny post regarding the olympics de.. how u get the "auntie" picture..careful ar.. later tio sue ar...

happy birthday!

2008-08-16T00:58:00.002+08:00

hey chee how/cheese pao/squritle pao, happy birthday!!!

We still havn't tau pok you yet..haha.. dun worry.. it will come...

anyway, book out on thursday. went out with my camp mates.. batch 12 n 13 [my batch ] went to downtown east sakura.. eat with birthday boy chee how.. ate quite alot.. sat from 6pm to around 9pm..hahaha..heheh.. food variety is quite alot.. but quality is okok.. i still prefer the sakura outlet at clementi woods.. the best!! haha

den tonight, had my powerboat theory re-test, failed again.. first time failed by 1 mark.. this time failed by 3 marks.. this time i only spent one morning studying.. so i sorta deserved it...

after that, met up with 2 other guys to watch movie.. 5 guys of us watched 12 Lotus... ok la.. surprisingly long - almost 2 hours... quite a cheapo movie.. storyline easy to follow... some parts quite funny and not to mention lame... i belive my parents that generation would appreciate this movie better than me..

i had fun the past 2 days... fully utilising the time outside camp..haha.. i reached home at around 1240am.. didn't went online ever since i book out.. need to check email. inbox flooding le...

class outing

2008-08-02T23:39:00.002+08:00

yeah... met up with my jc class today.. was quite surprised so many pple turned up... in the end got all the 8 girls, wee cheeng, wee siang, hong sheng, rui yuan, wei hou, dian xue, kenneth , xiao qing, chak yong, kenny, and me.

we went to minds cafe... just near THE CATHAY, opposite paradiz centre...

we played for 3 hours.. but only played 2 games.. haha.. "i am the boss" and "sequence" .. we spent more than 2 hours playing "i am the boss" .. quite funny.. keep laughing... "sequence" was much more quick and can involve all the 9 of us sitting at the table...

in conclusion.. the company was great.. just tat the place wasn't tat great.. the air-conditioning really sucks.. when i just enterd.. i already feel warm.. when we start to get high.. it gets even warmer.... service wise.. is so-so la.. but one thing is the price ba.. after 10% discount, the bill for 8 guys was $169. we had our meals there and played for 3 hours... so each person paid about $21

personally i felt that it was a little expensive... compared to pit-stop.. it was cheaper there.. though its slightly smaller there.. but the food there was tastier and bigger portion.. better experience at pit-stop

and oh ya.. saw shawn , my camp mate there.. he was with his group of friends.. he started playing a little earlier than me..

Link : http://pitstopcafeinfo.blogspot.com/

its friday and its my book out!!

2008-08-02T12:28:00.003+08:00

yeah!! finally book out le.. after one week of duty... i typed out this post on sat and not fri cuz tired... so the "today" is friday...

hmmm, today planned to meet my gf for movie at 7pm at THE Cathay...

today when going home after booking out of camp.. i think i saw mei lin.. if i see correctly.. saw her at JE mrt station.. at around 4plus...

Den went home to bath and change... den met my gf at taka... my dear spent the whole of friday to make a sweet gift for me.. thanks so much dear!!!

when we reached douby ghaut mrt station.. saw two of my camp mates... yong nan [ the super zi high guy ] and Aix xin [ dun know how to spell his name.. haha ps ps ] i know my camp mates meeting up at PS... watching mummy.. but my dear already planned to watch mummy together with me le.. so can't go with them....

the movie we watched was Dark Knight.. at 7pm.. it was a great movie.. nice plot and quite alot of actions.

after the movie when waking back to PS.. i saw tiffany ng.. but she looked like she didn't want to see me like tat..haha.. nvm ba..

JC class outing!

2008-07-21T09:28:00.002+08:00

well, hearf from ry that there will be a class outing on 2nd Aug... Yes la! finally i can go for the class outing... SO SO SO MANY times the class outing i in camp.. so sianz lo.....

but other than the date.. no other details confirmed... sainz.. scarly later cancelled.. den i -_-'''

anyone interested or got ideas on where to go and do.. pls pls sms ry...thank you veri much...

yes la!

2008-07-09T11:02:00.002+08:00

yes la! i think so far this is the record [ though i know it would be broken ] , out of 3 weeks, i stayed in camp for 18days.. for some of them were 19days.. cuz i took taxi from last night... reached home at around 1am...

but i know this record will be broken... in around oct/nov... where it will be full 21days stay in....wohoo.. quote from my friend " 'wo da pian' in camp more than in my house"

but i shall not talk about sad stuff... shall talk about hapy stuff... there have been much media coverage about the movie Hell-boy 2.. after watching the first movie.. i was expecting the 2nd movie..haha. yeah!! luckily they did made the 2nd movie.. and much more monsters than the first..hahah..

i forget most of the details of the first movie.. but i heard channel 5 showing hellboy 1 this sunday..hah..^^

"I feel loved when..."

2008-06-25T21:46:00.002+08:00

Well, my dear showed me a site to view... and there were a couple of pages to read.. what striked me the most was one article about "do you feel loved?"

url: http://www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/couples/love_index.shtml

i believe people have different expectations or ways that they feel loved. some want to be showered with gifts. some want the emotional care and concern.....

Well, i guess for me i feel loved people show thoughts for my emotions and feelings. and when people care for me. i think since young i went through quite alot and tough times. and tat point of time, i didnt have anyone to turn to... i think tats why i would turn to find a gf/partner who might care for me, listen to me when i am down....some of u may find me stupid or dumb.. but well, i guess many of us are affected by events that happened to us when we were young... we might still remember every single details till this day........

had some problems with IE

2008-06-24T13:27:00.003+08:00

well, didn't blog much the past few days... had some problems with the Internet Explorer.... now finally can surf the net and run Java programs correctly...

i did watched 2 movies recently... Kung Fu Panda with my dear... and Get Smart with my camp mates..

Kung Fu Panda is super funny... Po is reallie veri funny.. maybe cuz its also "voiced-over" by Jack Black.. i don't mind watching it again..haha

Get Smart isn't tat nice, as compared to Kung Fu Panda... a little bit funny but story plot not interesting at all...

the other time i blog about no time no time... after much consideration... actally my vocation is okok..in-camp time + time outside camp is around the same as other normal vocation.. but just tat my time outside camp is veri unpredictable....this way, i can't do much stuff like booking driving lessons.. [ i dun like to keep booking and den cancelling at the last min.. later still need to pay ]

talking about vocation.. there was an announcement from the higher management in our camp, warning us about blogging or posting online information/details of camp stuff... so from now on.. i will try not to blog about my camp stuff.. to keep myself from danger and not to bore u readers from the SAME OLD TOPIC - NS LIFE.

today, i had off.. so resting at home.. if my dear wern't on holidays.. i think i would be meeting her.. but nvm la.. stay at home.. set up my laptop [ now using the laptop instead of the laggy desktop ] and i m trying to learn JAVA.. seem to be having problems with the basic stuff.. die liao...

dear went for holidays

2008-06-22T16:45:00.003+08:00

well, my dear went for holiday.. genting.. from sun till tue.... so can't see her for the next few days...sob sob

but one thing which is making me pek chek is my laptop.. dun know why can't seem to surf internet.... wehn i was abt to solve the microsoft office problem... now the internet explorer got problem.. sigh.. dun know whether its the OS - Vista lousy or just some software bugs/crew up...

anyway, i have decided not to get any non-camera hp.. shall just stick to my dear's nokia 8320 hp... haha.. cuz its from her..haha.. no la.. just tat i feel not worth to buy a hp just to use in camp... now getting more n more broke.. must save more or find means to earn more money...

Movie: Narnia

2008-06-09T22:24:00.002+08:00

well, today i met up with roy ... to borrow some cd from him. and watched a movie - narnia...

cuz i did wanted to wach that movie.. but my dear like have not much time... but nevertheless, the movie was quite nice...

different from the first movie- which i felt to be a little childish in the plot... this time the movie: Prince Caspian was more matured and a little more dark...but just like the first movie.. it show some Christian values in the movie..

overall, the movie was not bad.. quite worth actually.. cuz its almost 2.5hours long... i think i would give 7.5 out of 10 points.

time is an issue

2008-06-06T22:00:00.003+08:00

well, i realised i have been saying "no time" quite a no. of times... den i think further...

everybody has the same amount of time - 24hours. it depends on how we want to use it. and what are our priorities.

for my present situation, i will be in camp for 7days straight - friday to the next friday. den bok out. sat and sun is my off... then monday- thursday is 8-5 aka training week. den the 7day duty cycle starts again on friday.

for example, today is friday. i just book out after doing duty in camp for 7days striaght.. tml and sun is my off... monday to thurs is 8-5... den friday start 7days again..

looking at the amount of time i have... technically i have sat sun plus the weekday nights..usually the book out friday is for me to rest at home.. check email surf net and see got any new games/movie to dl....

now come to priorities for my time.. well, i guess i put my family at first place as i really really rarely see them.. its not as if i m working adult where i have to work long hours. its just because of my alternate week in camp. quite hard to see my whole family.. sometimes my dad not at home, sometimes my sis not at home...

next, following behind closely is my dearest sophie.. well, now since she is working part time and giving tuition.. rarely got time to talk to her.. so usually tat sat is so-called reserved for her..haha..only get to meet her once every 2 weeks lei....

sometimes sunday is spend time with family or just rest at home... i realised that i haven't been meeting up with friends or spending time with friends... maybe i should meet up with them whenever i got the time.

but maybe through this s*cky vocation.. i get to learn to prioritise my time and learn the value of time... maybe after ord and when start to study... i might not have much difficulties with coping with the tight and busy schdule... i dun know till i experience it myself...

there are many things i want to do but i feel that i dun have the time...

1) learn my driving [ stopped for monts le]
2) spend time meeting up with my friends [ eons since last see them ]
3) spend time on my biz
4) read up more about financial planning and investing [ interested in them ]

Update on my ear

2008-05-26T14:57:00.002+08:00

Well, this late morning i had an appointment to follow up on my ear... but morning got TH Test and IMT for tml's range.. have to miss it... wasted.. cuz its a new weapon live range for most of us... its P226...

But anyway, the doc said my ear is healing well.. and did a hearing test... results were expected.. a drop in hearing in the right ear before the op.. he wasn't surprised as he expected it and explained why...

I asked would such incident happen again.. and whether my left ear will have such thing too... he said that there is a chance that it might happen in the same ear again.. since now my right ear is modified and it may lose the natural ability to "clean itself" of tissue and dirt. A normal healthy ear is "self-cleaning" , meaning tissue and dirt with automatically drop out of the ear and not stay or get stucked inside the ear...

He said that currently.. every 6 moths.. i would have to go see an ENT surgeon to clean my ear inside to prevent any detoriation of my ear... and maybe in a years time, he might consider an op to improve my hearing... he told me that for my case, its required to have long term follow up to monitor the situation.

the chances of this happening to my left ear is low but still probable.. he will monitor my left ear too...

Sleepy brain prone to sudden shutdowns study

2008-05-25T15:27:00.000+08:00

This was an article that i saw on the Internet, just wanted to share with you all.

Url of article :http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080520/hl_nm/brain_sleep_dc;_ylt=AiN_RzsRT7o4WYnRbmXHqMLVJRIF

By Julie Steenhuysen Tue May 20, 6:53 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Being deprived of sleep even for one night makes the brain unstable and prone to sudden shutdowns akin to a power failure -- brief lapses that hover between sleep and wakefulness, researchers said on Tuesday.

"It's as though it is both asleep and awake and they are switching between each other very rapidly," said David Dinges of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"Imagine you are sitting in a room watching a movie with the lights on. In a stable brain, the lights stay on all the time. In a sleepy brain, the lights suddenly go off," Dinges said in a telephone interview.

The findings suggest that people who are sleep-deprived alternate between periods of near-normal brain function and dramatic lapses in attention and visual processing.

"This involves more structures changing than we've ever seen before, but changing just during these lapses," Dinges said.

He and colleagues did brain imaging studies on 24 adults who performed simple tasks involving visual attention when they were well rested and when they had missed a night's sleep.

The researchers used a type of brain imaging known as functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which measures blood flow in the brain.

They found significant, momentary lapses in several areas of the brain, which seemed to frequently falter when the people were deprived of sleep, but not when these same people were well rested.

"These people are not lying in bed. They are sitting up doing a task they learned and they are working very hard at doing their best," Dinges said.

He said the lapses seem to suggest that loss of sleep renders the brain incapable of fully fending off the involuntary drive to sleep.

He said the study makes it clear how dangerous sleep deprivation can be while driving on the highway, when even a four-second lapse could lead to a major accident.
(Editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)

7 bucks for a plate of rice?

2008-05-13T10:51:00.002+08:00

well, just ranting on behalf of my dad.. .my dad and i ate at a kopi-tiam ( shall not disclose which outlet, otherwise later tio charge) ... den my dad ordered "cai fan". he ordered a piece of fish, steamed egg and a vegetable.. when the staff said it cost $7 bucks. he was shocked and asked how come so ex.

the staff explained saying that the fish itself is $3.50, and the rice+steamed egg+vege cost another $3.50. omg... no comments.....

just updating a little

2008-05-11T16:31:00.002+08:00

well, just updating a litte... finally went back to do duty after resting 2 weeks... well, my ear didn't give much problem... just tat sometimes got problem hearing wad people are saying.. esp when they are talking on my right side....

will be going to visit the doc tml for a follow up.. hopefully all goes well....

people, i need your help

2008-04-27T21:44:00.001+08:00

hi, i need your help... its not very hard to do.. please help me to read and answer my poll found on the top right of my blog... asking about the idea of selling gift boxes online...

and another favour i would need to ask all those students from JJC... for those who still holding on to their 16PF file... could u just tag my blog or contact me? cuz i need to extract some text from the report... i am gathering some info for my online biz work... thanks in advance.. ^^

Ear Operation Successful?

2008-04-19T21:11:00.003+08:00

well, my ear op was successful. as the doctor found out what they wanted to know - the cause of my loss of hearing in my right ear.

the doctor found out that my condition of the Cholesteatoma was quite bad... the initial findings last ear was that one of the 3 middle ear bones was missing...but the doctor discussed with the board of directors, and concluded i was born with this missing bone...

but after the surgery.. the doctor told me that my condition was quite bad.. my ear drum was already retracted very inwards and there were lots of skin and water in my middle ear... and my tat missing bone was "eaten" up due to the infection of the skin present inside my middle ear..

in short.. my condition was quite bad.. but luckily still.. the op still has to be done otherwise it will become worser..

now i m resting at home... with dressing around my right ear... can't bath properly... can't do lots of stuff as it will affect my ear... can't wear my specs too... so can't see things properly.... can't make fast movement... can't chew fast... can't bend down my head.. otherwise blood will flow out of my right ear... sigh......

now i'm just curious how did this happen to me....

Having my ear surgery

2008-04-15T08:52:00.002+08:00

well, just to inform u guys.. i will going for an ear surgery this thurs - 17th april. Why do i need to do so? Cuz the doctor said i have Cholesteatoma. He said luckily i did regular follow up and he managed to detect this on a fairly early stage. Anyway, wish me luck and hopefully the surgery will be smooth n good. ^^

anyway, i went to search abit on Cholesteatoma. Here are some few sites

http://www.earsite.com/tumors/cholesteatoma.html

http://www.earsurgery.org/cholest.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesteatoma

[If you are lazy to click and read the whole chunk... i took out the main important parts and compile JUST for you all ^^. ]

Cholesteatoma

It is a benign growth of skin in an abnormal location such as the middle ear or petrous apex.

The bone behind the ear is called the mastoid bone. It connects to the middle ear. In a healthy ear, it is filled with air. In most cases of cholesteatoma, the mastoid bone is filled with irritated mucous membranes and cholesteatoma itself often grows into this bone.

There are two types: congenital and acquired. Acquired cholesteatomas can be caused by a tear or retraction of the ear drum. For my case i think mine is congenital - born like this.

Complications from untreated cholesteatoma

Erosion of the ossicles or bones behind the eardrum can lead to a conductive hearing loss. The bone over the facial nerve can also be destroyed and a facial paralysis can result.

Surgical Outcomes

Whenever surgery is performed for cholesteatoma, there are three possible results of surgery depending on what is found during the operation.

If the cholesteatoma is small and can be removed entirely in one piece, the eardrum and the ossicles are reconstructed all in one operation.

If the cholesteatoma can be removed only in pieces, there is always a chance cholesteatoma fragments left behind may regrow at a later time. In this case it is doctors' preference to have a "2nd look" op, where they will have another op to see whether is there any regrowth of the Chlesteatoma.

If the cholesteatoma is rather extensive and adherent to the inner ear or facial nerve, it may not be possible to remove the entire cholesteatoma and a radical mastoidectomy is performed. In short, it will be quite a bad case and complex stuff needs to be done.

Even after careful microscopic surgical removal, 10% to 20% of cholesteatomas may recur, which then require follow-up checks and/or treatment.

outing with my dear!

2008-04-12T22:49:00.002+08:00

yeah! finally can meet up with my dear.. around 1 week plus to 2 weeks never see her le... so sad case... some more i can't celebrate my bday, or her bday or our anniversary together... in camp doing duties... veri veri sad case hor?

but nvm lo.. no choice... today met up with her in the afternoon.. she had to give tuition in the morning... den went to ps, had lunch at subway den we watch "Definitely, Maybe". The movie is just ok-ok. just tat the daughter quite cute...

my dear gave me a little surprise by getting a small gift to tie on my hp.. haha.. thanks alot dear... had dinner at NYDC... so sorry.. ordered wrongly.. in the end never get to eat cheese cake as planned...

talking about surprises... to my dear, i will try my best to give u more surprises.. i will try to change...

long time never blog

2008-04-12T10:09:00.004+08:00

sorry for the super-late update... cuz stay in TOO MANY days in camp le.. sigh... but well, now at least i am happy tat got some purpose in my vocation... now i am in the RHIBS team... sorta feel more important as our roles are much more important now...

more important means more responsibility... but at least i am looking forward to work together with the team... i know you all must be wondering wads the RHIBS team... in short, its just a team of member tat will drive small patrol boat boat for a couple of purposes...

but now its gonna be a more and more busy time with camp stuff... standby week will be veri busy too... sigh.. not enuff time... but as always, everyone would say "not enuff time" eh? i guess its just human nature.. ;)

just complaining

2008-04-01T18:00:00.001+08:00

hiaz... BSC life just get worser and worser... hiaz... now i just SAF = SERVE AND FORGET

"Welcome to BSC"

2008-03-19T20:43:00.002+08:00

Well, just ignore me.. i just want to complain about my vocation: Sea Soldier Course - BSC. [ its typical of Singaporeans to complian eh? ]

just some of the sucky details of my vocation:

~ 7 days stay in camp doing base defense ops = freaking mentally & physically draining
~ "off" often eaten = kanna qie by BSC
~ "leave" can only be applied on non-duty non-important training days = limited days to apply leave. last year my leave kanna eaten.
~ cannot apply more than 3 days of consecutive leave = cannot apply long leave to ORD earlier
~ 1 year will have 14 live ranges to attend
~ 1 year will have 2 "low-key defence mission" and 1 "high-key defence mission" = more stay in than you can ever imagine

good details of my vocation:

~ standby week if no programmes can book out early.
~ still thinking of things to add.

6km run

2008-03-17T18:52:00.001+08:00

well, today i had a 6km run.. part of platoon training.. it was an achievement for me to complete it.. cuz never run tat far before.. my timing was 32:05 .. i think veri slow.. but nvm.. haha..

My first pratical driving lessons

2008-03-15T17:31:00.002+08:00

Well, today was my first driving lesson. bcos of the lesson i couldn't go out with my dear.. cuz the lessons is from 3-430pm.. go out also go out for a while only... sigh...

but well.. first lesson learnt quite abit.. tried braking n turning in a open carpark for around 20mins. Den started driving on the road le... of course with assistance from the driving instructor. Was anxious while driving on the road.. Brake too hard a few times.. and i know i was driving veri slowly on the road..haha.. hehe..

the instructor is not bad.. patient and explain well.. but just tat he is too busy.. veri hard to book timeslot with him de... on top of tat.. cuz of my stupid vocation.. limited days to book timeslot... i thought i could have more lessons during my standby week.. but he is as busy on weekdays n weekends...

Passed my final theory test.

2008-03-05T17:45:00.001+08:00

Wohoo! Passed my final theory test. I was a little nervous as i didn't really prepared alot. Luckily still can pass. Hahah. Hehe.

Now its my driving test le.. havn't start any practical lesson.. but luckily for me. i can have more days to learn driving due to my vocation hehe.

Find private driving instructor [automatic]

2008-03-02T17:15:00.002+08:00

hi,

I am taking my final theory test this coming wed 5th march. Not much confidence as i didn't prepare much for it. Lazy and abit busy too. Hahah.

But till now i have not started on my practical. Cuz i didn't go and find any private driving instructor. So now i abit panic and rushing to find one.

So anyone know of good private driving instructor ( btw, i learning automatic) , can tell me? will deeply appreciate it!!!

Singapore won!

2008-02-21T21:15:00.001+08:00

wow.. Singapore won the bid for the first Youth Olympics Games in 2010. Though i didn't follow much into this event. I am happy and proud that Singapore won the bid.

This means the construction industry will earn big bucks. More people will know about Singapore, and more tourist will come visit the "red dot". So more revenue. Singapore earn more!! Wohoo!!

haha.. abit crap in that paragraph. But seriously, this means more exposure and revenue for us Singapore.

Sorry for not updating

2008-02-06T23:02:00.000+08:00

Well, sorry for not updating my blog for quite some time. Hope you all dun mind. [ But maybe there aren't many readers in the first place... haha ]

Its gonna be CNY soon le... lucky for my platoon.. still get to eat reunion dinner and have free for chu xi... will be booking back in camp on fri early morning... den will only book out the following friday...

Anyway, talking about reunion dinner. I had my reunion dinner at my dad's side de uncle house. My mum and my sis went to my mum's side to have reunion dinner.

Past few years we had our reunion dinner outside. Somtimes not good experience - waiting very long for customers before us to finish, waited very long for our food to come, food not nice etc. So my uncle n aunt suggested eating at someone's home. However, the food was mainly bought from different food stalls. Have to admit it wasn't that nice. I didn't eat much during the dinner. Oh ya, of course, never fail to "lou hei".. haha..

I was wondering, where do you readers have your reunion dinner? any good suggestions? maybe next CNY can suggest to my family.

What drives you?

2008-01-23T20:45:00.000+08:00

When I set up my wish list. I was stumbled. I just couldn't think much for my wish list. Does this mean I don't have goals and wishes in my life? [ I really hope not ]

This question realy made me think - What drives you? [ not advertisement of any petrol station hor ^^ ]

Hopefully I can get some inspirations from you all readers sharing. Thanks in advance. Really appreciate it

Too busy setting up my PSP Slim

2008-01-18T16:39:00.000+08:00

so sorry.. veri long never blog though i wanted to post... too excited our my psp slim le...hahah..heheh

Bought my psp slim on sunday evening... bought a felicia blue one.. including all the accessories + 4GB [ Lexar ] for $390. I find the price quite good... the i was busy uploading games to my console..heheh.

Anyway, what i wanted to blog was on friday afternooon, i saw Dian Xue at the e-mart at my camp. So long never see him le. My last time seeing him was when i was still in SSC which was around Oct/Nov last year. Can't remember the exact date. Currently, he is posted to Tuas Naval Base for course.

PSP : Should I buy or not?

2008-01-16T14:52:00.001+08:00

now, i feel the peer pressure to get a PSP lei. In camp, during rest time, 90% of my platoon mates who have PSP would be busy playing. Either the ever famous : Monster Hunter 2 , or Pro Evolution Soccer.

But i'm afraid tat if i buy den when i go uni i wont use it very often, then very wasted. not willing to spend 300+ on a PSP Slim lei. [ Correct me if i am wrong about the pricing ]

I am quite decided to buy a first-hand PSP Slim. But dun know whether should tell my dad. I think later
he say wait till offer or IT show - which is in March.
Have to wait for another month......

*updated*

got one of my friend who is "ord-ing" wanting to sell his pink psp. I confirm with him le. he bought from his friend. So if i buy from him
its 3rd hand. He is selling around $110.

I asked around my friends. One of them said can buy one PSP slim for around $290 after mod.

enjoying life

2008-01-13T22:01:00.000+08:00

you must be wondering what did I eat for the past few days, ever since i removed my wisdom teeth.

You are in for a surprise. hahah. the past 2 days. my teeth aren't aching tat much. So i decided not to eat anymore liquid food and eat proper food!! YEAH!!

so i ate proper food like rice. noodles but of course, i still can't eat it while its very hot. I am afraid it will burn my wound area...

but i did enjoy good food at Crystal Jade, Swensens, NYDC , Cafe Cartel..

haha... oh ya.. talking about Cafe Cartel. Dun know whether you all know, ( dun scold me slow k? cuz i rarely go Cafe Cartel de)

Now got promotion. the Louis Ribs ( that famous top 100 dishes award dish de ) is on offer. $12.80 only! for a limited time offer...

What to do when i ORD?

2008-01-09T17:31:00.000+08:00

Well, i was staying at home whole day.. Resting. Using computer, doing my online website and business.

Then I just started to think, what can I do after i ORD. I know it's still quite long time but I'm just planning ahead. Anyone just give suggestions to me. Would gladly appreciate it!!

I thought of giving tuition to students, maybe even conduct swimming lessons for kids, maybe find a part-time job [ likely through job agencies ] , maybe I also can use my free time to concentrate on my online business because it's progressing :)

Wisdom Tooth Extraction

2008-01-07T18:32:00.000+08:00

Today is the day where i went for my first surgery - Wisdom Tooth Surgery.

Reached National Dental Centre at 0730AM. Took my weight, blood pressure, temperature. After that, the doctor brief me and my dad regarding the operation.

Following that, i have to change to the gown. [ which was blue in colour ] . Waited for a while for my turn to go into the operation threatre. Oh ya, before entering , the nurse got spray e liquid into my nose to numb the area.

Upon entering the operation threatre, i was asked to lie down. Then the lady who is in charge of the anesthesia. She poke two needles into my left arm, den asked me to breath in some gas from the "oxygen mask" , after that she released the anesthesia in the arm. It felt as though it was burning. I "tahan" for a few seconds, then know my vision blurring le. Den after that i knock out le.

Once i wake up again, the operation was over and i was lying on the bed. Was pushed to the resting area for the anesthesia effect to wear off.

After sleeping for a while, the nurse came to change my guaze in my mouth. Den she gave me glucose water to drink, cuz i didn't eat anything for the whole day.

Soon after, my dad and sis came. Changed out of clothes and the doctor talked to me for a while and i am free to go. left there around 3 plus.

Yup yup... so overall the surgery was fast. Didn't felt any pain as i was sleeping. But now, i do feel some pain as the effect has wear off. I was giving anti-biotics and pain killers to take after every meals. But now also can't eat much. :( sob sob... hopefully will recover asap...

Outing at Sentosa

2008-01-06T14:54:00.000+08:00

Well, yesterday went out with a couple of friends - , Jin Lin, Mei Hong, Sophie, Xin Rui, Hong yi, Kok Sin, to go Sentosa to suntan. It was Hong Yi's idea.

We reached Palawan Beach at around 12Noon, it was very sunny and we decided to eat the food that we brought there. After eating, den we start to have a dip in the water. But sadly, we only played for a very short while. It was cloudy at rained. We didn't even tan much. :(

So, at around 4 plus, Kok Sin suggested to go play board games and Xin Rui suggested going to Pit Stop at Clark Quay. It was a little "ulu" but the place was cosy. We started playing at around 630pm.. we played for 3hours. It was fun. Played many funny games like "Ugly Doll" , "Galloping Pigs", " "Saboutuer" etc.

You can check out their online blog - http://pitstopcafe.blogspot.com/

Overall, I enjoyed myself yesterday. It was fun. Laughed alot. ^^

First Book Out of 2008

2008-01-06T08:52:00.000+08:00

Well, had to spend my new year in camp doing guard duty... luckily i was posted to a slack duty station... LUCKY me!! hehe... watched ALOT of vcd/dvds during my rest time...hahah.. just to list those i remember:

1) "Dou Yu" [ Outsiders ] - It's a drama serial actually.

2) DreamGirls

3) Mr & Mrs Smith

4) I am Legend

5) My Best Friend's Wedding

6) "Hei Se Hui" [ Election ] - the chinese show that was on Channel 8 Sat 05 Jan 10pm

7) Alexander

Christmas Presents

2007-12-28T00:06:00.000+08:00

Well, it's Christmas season. And what's Christmas without presents?

For me, this year I have been a good boy.. recieve a no. of presents..haha.. will list them down all those presents i remember...and will upload pics of some of the presents.

1) A pair of Brown Kappa Shoes [ From my dear ]

2) A REALLY NICE CYMA watch [ From my dad ]

3) A Mug + USB Cup Warmer [ Gift exchange ]

4) USB LED light + Fan ( 2-in-1) [ Gift exchange ]

5) JIM BEAN Coffe Mug and Gran's Fudge [ From YL ]

6) OP Shirt ( Size just nice, my mum asked me whether want to change a bigger size. I said it's fitting and I'm ok with it ;) )

7) Converse Shirt ( size too small, i can't wear M size )

8) Travel Kit accessories like pocket tooth brush and shaver

Yup yup.. just sharing my happy moments with you all readers... :)

Christmas Dinner

2007-12-25T21:44:00.000+08:00

Well, its christmas le. Like what my close friend, Roy , always said " Christmas has been over commercialised."

Yes, that's true. Like I did spread the message to friends a few years ago " Christmas is the day Jesus Christ was born." and it's not about gift exchange, eating turkey etc.

But it just happened that Christmas is at the end of the year, where working adults get their bonuses, children enjoying their school holidays. So family can get to go out, enjoy and buy gifts for one another.

This year, Christmas is special, something that I hoped for - Dinner at home with the whole family. All along I just want to have a home-cooked dinner by my mum and sitting down eating together as a family. Ever since I enlisted into NS, my family rarely had "family time" when all of us are able to go out for dinner. I believe my dad also feel that way, just that he keep it inside.

My mum suggested ordering food from Cold Storage, then she just prepared abit. and vola, a wonderful dinner is ready!! Really enjoy the dinner, had pork ribs, turkey ham, shepard's pie, beef lagsana [dun know how to spell ] + white wine, even log cake!!!haha

Although the whole day i was at home.. i was happy.. really... maybe different people have different expectations...

i talked to my friend, Bo Rong, he was sad that he didn't get to countdown to christmas last night at orchard as he was in camp...he said it was his first time tat he didn't countdown in orchard..

how did you spend your xmas and xmas eve?

Sinking Of Japan

2007-12-22T16:30:00.000+08:00

Today i shall talk about a movie, Sinking of Japan, i watched at home during one of my previous weekends. [ I didn't blog about it back then cuz I didn't had enough time and only till now that i realised I haven't type out a blog about it ]

This show is quite interesting. The main characthers are the female lead - Reiko ( a member of rescue team), and the male lead - Toshiro (a pilot of a deep sea submarine).

Scientists predict that Japan will sink within 40 years, due to subduction of a tectonic plate to the west. However, Dr. Tadokoro, who leads an oceanic scientific team that includes Toshiro, calculates that this will happen far sooner, in only 338.54 days.

As further earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions devastate Japan, the government pleads with other countries to take refugees. And Dr. Tadokoro's plan to blow holes in the disintegrating tectonic tectonic plate is the best remaining hope to not only save the people, but what remains of the country itself.

Toshiro is offered a job in England and wants Reiko to come with him, but Reiko feels bound to help others and refuses to leave. Fellow submarine pilot Shinji Yuki also turns down Toshiro's offer to work with him in England. Even Toshiro's Mum decided to stay in Japan, when earthquakes and tsunamis are happening everywhere. Her reason is that she want to stay and die in the house where all the memories of her late husband is.

What's so nice about this movie is you can see the spirit of patriotism and passion for their job. Will we ever see this in Singapore?

Will we run and leave when Singapore is in danger? What's the value of our life? I really have no answer.

* Plot summary adapted from : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473064/plotsummary

It's so nice to hear from my dear

2007-12-22T07:44:00.000+08:00

Well, as you all might know. My dear went overseas le. Went to HK on 19th December.

But, she still sms me! Hehe. She said her sis bought her a "hi-card" at there. So she is using the hi card to sms me. I did reply her once or twice. Didn't dare to send too much sms. Scared later the bill come i will faint. Haha.

But to all her friends reading my blog, she is perfectly safe and sound there. Doing well - going to ocean park , a theme park , today. Weather there isn't that cold.

Anyway, to all my readers. Enjoy your x'mas well!!

Christmas parties with my dear

2007-12-16T00:46:00.000+08:00

Today is a busy day for me and my dear. She had two christmas parties and she invited me along. First was with her ex-colleagues at NETS. The second party was with her jc classmates.

First christmas party it was fun. I had been to the host's house before and seen many familar faces when my dear and i reached there. We thought we were late cuz we had last mintue shopping for the gifts for the gift exchanges, but many people were even more later than us. Haha. Had fun there, took a couple of pictures [ will upload it when i recieved the pictures ]

After that, we went to North Point to have last minute shopping for the gifts for the gift exchange with my dear's classmates. Had to rush as we were late, but managed to find the presents. Went there, chat quite abit with the guys. As always, asking the guys how's NS life, what are they doing etc. But after a while, some of us got bored, as there weren't enough seats and there were no plans to do anything other than the BBQ. So those who were helping to BBQ got their self entertainment. Haha.

Overall, its been a busy but fun day. Catching up with some old friends and just laughing at jokes.

Just a side note, I won't be able to see my dear till 26th dec. Cause of my 7D duty cycle and she is going overseas from 19-26th dec. So it will be almost 2weeks later than i can see her.. :(