leaving on a (tukrish airlines!!!!) jetplane

I'm taking Gabriel's advice and not wearing a Liverpool jersey into Istanbul. But I'm keeping it in my bag! If we somehow visit the stadium I'll pull it on long enough for a photo. Call me a coward. I don't want to have to FedEx myself home, one piece at a time.

See you guys in ten days!

N.E.R.D

Call me a geek but I think bookstores are my most favourite place in the world. Nothing beats browsing among rows and rows of beautiful books, everyone a window, no, a portal to a whole new world, a whole different dimension. Tales of life boats and Royal Bengal tigers; of mass murders and white cotton panties; tales of mentally retarded kids and white laboratory mice; of life, death and in between. There's just something about standing there in front of the shelves gazing at all the titles there, browsing through em...and wishing I could buy them all. Plug in the iPod and everything just becomes so surreal. As if I'm in a world all of my own, free to open up any of those portals and disappear.....free to never return if I didn't want to

Turkey tomorrow and the amount of winter clothing my parents are throwing at me everyday, I'll weigh more than an African elephant on protein shakes if I wear em all, but with twice the mass.

the remains of the day

Sometimes I wonder just how companionship is supposed to beat solitude. And yet sometimes I seem to know perfectly well.

constantinople

This trip to Turkey is turning my family all topsy turvey. The weather decided to throw a curve ball at my parents plans to just miss winter and now its snowing in Istanbul. So all the conversation I ever hear nowadays at home is stuff about how there are record low temperatures in Europe right now. And of course the neverending incessant nagging..

Have you gotten your winter clothes yet? Jacket, gloves, the head thing?

Err...no

Why you always so lazy! Better borrow from your friends, you want to buy you pay yourself ah...whole life so lazy...like slug like that...and thats another thing....your room is soooooo messy!...

But..

Why? Not happy is it? Not happy move out la! Go ahead..so old already..drop out of school and go and work la...

.......

Don't come and give me that face!...come back here!....

I wonder if I should just resort to that age old natural way of maintaining heat. Shivering.

there

Yesterday was a reminder of everything I've been missing for the past two months or so. Exams ended yesterday with a fairly straightforward Political Science paper. Well at least I didn't have to use all that much smoke. But anyway, headed down to meet Luke, Alan and Judy at Timbre. Jeremy Monteiro and his band were playing there and boy were they good stuff. I can't believe its been months since I've just sat somewhere whiling the night away with friends, good music and an Erdinger or two. Throw in discovering the Freemason headquarters of Singapore - some organisation akin to the Priory of Scion - , scaring the ROM security guard out of his slumber, singing Play That Funky Music White Guy! along with some busker at 2 am in the morning and discussing the relationship between armpit hair and a certain sleeveless white uniform and it makes for a well deserved and long awaited great night out. Oh and throw in some rockin blues and frikkin funny jokes from Crazy Elephant!

How does Sinead O'Connor part her hair?

She squats.

almost there

How worried am I? I'm worried that I'm not worried that I'm not worried. I just seem to take everything with the most nonchalent air and I'm not real sure whether or not thats good. Just had 4 papers in 5 days and finally some room to breathe. The funny thing is, I'll be darned if I could say I was really feeling a lot of pressure or anything. I just feel so....well... relaxed. I knew I hadn't completed al my revision for any of the papers and yet I felt so assured that they'd be ok. Yesterday during my History paper when I realised I didn't know what on earth to say, I just sat back, relaxed, and spilt forth 5 pages of pure, grenade quality smoke. I've still got a helluva lot to cover for Political Science and I'm still fiddling around with itunes, staring into space....and watching Lost like it was going out of style.

Ah well, I did pray for peace of mind after all.....

obituary

Goodbye Dr Tan Chin Tuan. Heaven is a better place because of you.

frail

These days I seem to be getting tired more and more easily. Spent the whole day studying yesterday and only went down to Marina Bay in the evening for one helluva steamboat with the cell group and yet on the mrt back home I felt as if my entire body would just give up the ghost. Felt too tired even to drag myself up to get off the train at my stop. It wasn't just a physical thing either, my head felt as if a whole herd of wild rhinos decided to have mambo night inside my skull. The music from iPod ceased being enjoyable and started becoming really loud and irritating. Its been like that for days already. Not even ice cream helps anymore. Not that I get to eat it much. Been forcing myself to stay away from it seeing how I havn't exactly been the most active of people these past few weeks.

18th - Philosophy
19th - Sociology
21st - Samurai
22nd - History
25th - Political Science

5 exams in 7 days. That and having to memorise the script for the YF Drama coming up in December. And worship practice for the YF camp. I know other people have it much worse, but somehow I feel as if I'm up to my neck. Guess I havn't fully made the transition from mindless cannon fodder to self sufficient univeristy undergraduate. I feel the headache coming back.

Anyway, to anyone who might be interested in my thespian debut, the drama's on Monday the 26th of December at the MGS auditorium. The one at Blackmore Drive. According to my sis, MGS primary's located somewhere else now for some reason or another. And its FREE! So you won't have to worry about paying good money to watch me flub my lines.

I hear the books calling. I tender my temporary retreat from the realm of human existence.

the return

Today marked the first time in 5 weeks that I've stepped on the street soccer court. FIVE WHOLE WEEKS since I've been injured. Too long...too long. But on the bright side, it just makes returning all the more sweet! Feel so frikkin good now. Everyday should feel this good.

suck shit mao

My already decidedly unflattering view of Chinapeople has just been dropped several levels further.
Was happily listnening to my iPod (yes dear i mentioned you) and reading while waiting for the train to arrive when this Chinawoman stomped out in front of me and curtly asked, in accented Chinese, to borrow my phone to make a job enquiry. She was carrying a cut out from the Chinese newspaper with what looked like job ads all over. I'd heard about all those cases of the borrower making hugely expensive overseas calls or running off with the phone and all, but as usual...I'm too frikkin nice.. so I lent it to her rather reluctantly.
Making sure she was never more than 2 m away from me and watching her intently just to be sure, I watched her make three calls instead of just one. But of course I'm too nice. Then the train came and I asked for my phone back politely, at which point she waved me away and refused to reply me and carried on talking to God knows who. The train closed its doors and moved off, leaving me standing there staring at this frikkin Mao-lover and getting really really pissed off. I tried asking politely again and this time she actually completely ignored me and started dialing a 4th number! Luckily, my eternally rebellious phone decided this would be a good time to piss someone off and so 'sim car rejected' started flashing on the screen. Only after trying to make the call 3 or 4 times did she realise the phone had ceased to work, whereupon she gave me a disgusted look, slapped the phone back in my outstretched hand and walked off without a word. Not even a 'thank you' or anything. I was completely flabbergasted, and more than a little angry. But I figured there wasn't much I could do other than cause a scene, and I was in a rush. So I got back to reading.
But it doesn't end here. While reading, an Indian and a Malay woman came up to me asking whether or not I still had my phone. Seeing my astonished expression they explained that they had seen the entire incident; in fact Comrade Cellphone had initially posed the same question to them but they had no phone. Seeing her approach me while they made their way into the train I missed, they quickly alighted at the next stop and headed back to help me out just in case! Like...WOW! Those Mao hugging ching chongs might have hit rock bottom in my book, but Singaporeans just gave themselves something else to brag about. A Malay and an Indian coming to help out a Chinese.

If this don't make ol Uncle Lee's chest swell I don't know what will

wow

Its unbelievable. Yesterday was the final history lecture of the semester, marking the end of the HY1101 module, and when the lecturere mentioned just that, I actually felt a twinge of regret! I actually almost wished I could have the lectures go on. The past two months or so, Prof Pharrell and Prof Lockhart have made every single history lecture seem like the telling of this huge, magnificent and fascinating story, so much so that every lecture makes you begging for more. The two make such an unlikely pair. Pharrell's a huge, jolly green( he was in the Canadian Army) giant who has a voice that makes his lectures sound like some swashbuckling adventure. And then there's Lockhart, a self confessed geek who wears his pants somewhere around his ears. He lives up to the look too, he can read and speak in 7 different languages and has a photographic memory. His lectures are always riproaringly funny as he peppers all of em with bits of Americanised Singlish and he's definitely the nicest educator I've ever met in NUS. Among all the doors lining the long corridors of the History department, his is the only one thats permanently open.

I'm really going to miss them...

well at least now i have silky smooth skin round the ankles 

i know everybody loves the soft white sand...but this is ridiculous. 

pasir ris park 

tampines safra...4.81km and 2 hours from starting point 

never thought maggi mee would start tasting this good again...thats bad right? 

a real live stick insect!....looks just like..just like.....a stick... 

oh come on...i look damn garang right? 

what the!...the finish line's the other way!!!!!!!! 

not exactly the superstar virgo...but it'll do 

hoi you! zuo gang la, kua simi kua! 

ken aka BUFF teaching the finer points of trying to get 10 people on 2 kayaks 

well thats one way to keep your butt clean 

i have no idea why we look so happy...me,anita,erina and azmi 

so off we go then 

a can, a fork, and one helluva knock 

notice who're the ones displaying abject misery... and the fun's just started 

NYAA

I'm still feeling the effects of a particularly exhausting weekend of the likes I havn't had since probably army days. Went for work as an instructor at Yio Chu Kang Secondary's NYAA camp where I learnt that whoever said that girls were less suited for the outdoors than guys must have been stark raving mad, and possibly, and possibly gay as well. The reality is astounding. In 2 whole days of seemingly endless walking, struggling with heavy loads, sand over just about everything, not exactly gourmet food and living like one of those guys who got chased off Changi Beach recently, it was the GUYS who were doing most of the whining. The girls walked faster, carried more, complained far less and took the lead roles almost immediately. They even opted to try and run the whole first NavEx when I told em we were running out of time. Most of the guys lagged behind heaving for breath. Well at least that was the girls in my group. Don't know about the others, but they have no idea just how proud of them I was when they finally completed their last objective. A NavEx that one of the guys chickened out of, complaining of a headache.
Went down for the Lisa Ono concert yesterday. Must say I was a little disappointed. Turns out English isn't exactly her language of choice and she was struggling to communicate with the audience. Resulted in her projecting almost no stage presence whatsoever, not entirely made up for by the exceedingly good music. Kinda like listening to a CD, live...

my new companion for those long lonely bus trips. hello sweetie. 

10 Reasons Why An iPod is Better Than A Girl

1. iPods don't mind if you check out other iPods. Don't mind if you play around with em too.

2. iPods don't bring you home to meet the parents.

3. iPods don't get drunk in clubs, puke all over your clothes and have hangovers the next morning.

4. iPods like whatever music you like.

5. iPods don't mind if you fall asleep while they're talking.

6. iPods are ok if you ignore them for a bit.

7. iPods don't talk incessantly about their exs and all the lovely moments they had.

8. iPods never get fat. Or fatter.

9. iPods don't mind you sticking things in them whenever you like it.

10. iPods don't mind if You get fat. Or fatter.

j krunch

This is not good. Been going out for supper the past two nights and clocking a helluva lot of mileage on the car. A car I'm supposed to be banned from till I get my own. And yes, my dad is the sort of anal person who takes note of the odometer every single day.
Anyway, was out with Gabe, Mark and Shaun for supper on Monday. Get a load of this, from Hillview to Hwa Chong to send my sis to a hallowen party, then from Hwa Chong to NTU!!! And then from NTU to Changi! And then to Asteroids in Katong for dotav(6.19!!! wah i'm super outdated man) and back to Changi to send Shaun back. All the way back to NTU again for Mark and half my tank gone. Fwah. 31 bucks. The great thing is, I actually lost my bearings on the way to Changi Village, which essentialy means....ORD LOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Woo! I havn't been to that godforsaken place for 7 months already!
Went with Nicole yesterday who insisted on going to Jalan Kayu for prata...from Choa Chu Kang.

"You know how to get there? Because I don't."

"Yah don't worry I'll guide you, and we're playing my cd!"

5 mins after passing the KJE exit on the PIE

"Um, you know what...I think we were supposed to take that exit...Oh wait, Ang Mo Kio Ave 3! Can go by there!"

So I take the exit and (duh) pretty soon we're cruising around with Nicole confidently proclaiming Jalan Kayu is 'somewhere nearby'

"Eh go to AMK MRT and I know how to go from there."

"Go to Yio Chu Kang MRT. I know how to go from there"

....somewhere near Yishun MRT...

"Um....how about we head back to the expressway and try to figure out from there?...."

"........."

There is a reason Amelia Earhart was never heard from ever again......

cheesecake story

One bright sunny Saturday morning, two guys set off to bake a cake. One of the guys had no idea what sort of cake it was, just that it was a cake. The other guy didn't know what recipe it was supposed to be so he went and googled it. So anyway, one of the guys (the older, taller, handsomer of the two) went over to the other one's place because everytime he used the oven in his kitchen, all the power in the house would shut down and his mother would blow up. After some time hassling with security guard, who thought that the guy was a frikkin ah beng, they were finally ready to start.





"Mmmm, sour cream and cream cheese..............wah..oh yes. Sour cream, cream cheese, peanut butter, chocolate chips, vanilla essence, sugar...

"Sugar? Oh shite sugar!"

Which perpetuated a little frenzied search around the kitchen and ended with them having to use cane sugar, which cost three times more than normal. Bitch. But onward.






ITS MIXING TIME!!!!


"Wah that looks good man. Mmm.."

"Oh shit we didn't put in the sugar!"

"Hmm, did we put in the eggs either?"

"Eggs?"

"Oh boy..."

But this is a nice disney-like family story with a happy ending and none of those frikkin Emily Rose style trailers.


Would you get a load of that, my first cheesecake...no the cheese 'pudding last' time not counted.


Instant diabetes anyone?

This post just took me a frikkin long time to do...