Quiz time!!

What's the meaning of 'Philanderer'??

a) a person who does benevolent deeds annonymously

b) a person who flirts and have relationships with many women

c) a person who collects and studies stamps

d) none of the above

The Realist Meaing of Christmas

In the last post, i left off by saying how hard it was to get Christmas gifts to exchange in the working environment. Unlike giving gifts from parents to children, getting something appropriate and within budget is sometimes hard in this modern times. So to solve this issue, the working adults have come up with a 'wishing tree' or 'wish list' kinda of thing.

This 'wishing tree' or 'wish list' allows colleagues to state what they want as their Christmas gift. Usually there is a limited budget so everyone gets somewhat the same value and nobody is on the losing or wining side of the exchange. On the gift exchange day itself, people get together to eat and drink. While not to spoil the mood, the gift exchange maintains or improves it by allowing receivers to get what they 'wished for'.

So what is the true meaning of the Christmas spirit now? In the past, i was taught that Christmas was the celebration of Jesus Christ birth. His birth was considered the saviour of Man. That is why we sing praises to him and to God on the eve and the day itself.

Now... I think that has waned pretty much. We have changed and accepted the way how people look at this day. The marketing and media has take upon their shoulders to make use of this festive period to garner more sales or publicity. People celebrate the mood whether if they do or do not believe in The Nativity Story. The real world has changed. We celebrate it no matter what, get together with family and friends. Have dinner together and make merry. Maybe that is how we explain why there 'Merry' comes together with 'Christmas'.

So what is my stand? Where do i stand in this Christmas spirit? I'm on the limbo of both, sitting on the fence of both the religious and realist sides. Family members gather together to have dinner and catch up. I see my cousins and nephews whom i doubt remembers me much. But... That is how i celebrate Christmas. That is how i see Christmas through my eyes.

Christmas = Mad rush for Christmas Presents

I'll usually save up for my Christmas spendings. Such like start saving $5 a week and end up with more than $100 for my presents shopping spree. This year, i'm torn with last minute spendings. Such has caused quite a dent in my wallet. Well... Less shopping for myself and more running, swimming and staying home to relax then.

I started my Christmas shopping early this year, had lots of time on hand to burn anyway. It felt like the entire Singapore was out shopping instead of staying at home. Car parking was limited, the malls were crowded and patrons were lining up outside restaurants. I manage to get what i need before i escaped the massive crowd. I came to conclude why is Christmas not only a religious or festive mode, but also a marketing and sales upturn too.

The Christmas spirit is about sharing the love with friends and family. Sharing what you have with strangers and making them feel the warmth in their hearts though its cold outside. But in sunny Singapore, there is seldom a cold moment. It is cold when it is raining, else it's just another hot and humid day. And... With the festive season, companies used it to foster better working relationships by having Christmas dinners and presents exchange programme. This... Became a huge problem for most of my friends.

As you are working in an environment where you see the same people 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. That adds up to more than 40 hours a week if you include overtime. So now you are tasked 'involuntarily' to buy a Christmas present to exchange. What you do? Plus it is always hard when buying gifts for friends of the opposite sex, especially the guys. Guys get it easy as there are tons of stuff marketed at the female population of this world. But the guys usually wants something small yet so expensive. So in comes the unisex gifts such as the daries, calendars, fancy notebooks, etc. These are not only considered the 'safe zone' of gifts for the mysterious receiver, also playing it safe by the mysterious giver.

In the next post, i shall talk more about this gift exchange programme. How it has improved, what it meant now to celebrate Christmas with working colleagues and how the real world changed the true meaning of The Christmas Spirit.

Boom De Ya Da!

Love this commercial when i returned back to SG and started watching some of my favourite TV channels such as Nat Geo and Discovery channels. There is this song that really get me hooked on to it. Check it out, its kinda nice and catchy.

Click here to see the tv commercial

So i survived...

Yea... After a gruelling 42km of pain, i survived through it all. Though it was not all fine and dandy, it was still an achievement. If you ask me now if i wanna do it again next year, i wouldn't agree on it. Maybe another 2-3 months, perhaps i'm sane enough to sign up for it again.

So this major event has passed... Next on list are Christmas Dinner. There are lots of things for me to do, stuff that involves me and stuff that do not. It is tough to make decisions when you do not know the imminent outcomes are. This adds further stress to the planning and execution i have to do.

During the marathon, i have thought of disappearing again. Take my passport, enough clothes and begin on a journey. Get away from all the mobile phones, all the MSN, all the emailing and just disappear. I remember vividly how my parents missed me while i was away, backpacking for my 1st time, for two months. My parents only bothered to find out where i was when they didn't see me for consecutively two days. Well... Back then, i did leave a message for them. In case they report to the police or otherwise.

Times have changed... Back then, i was a young kid. Nothing to be responsible for, nothing to fight for, nothing to work hard for. All i had was time, freedom and my friends. How i miss those days...

Whoa... It's one month since last post!!

I just realise i had a blog myself. Guess i have been too busy with stuff and such that i simply forgotten to update this online diary of mine. Alright, shall keep make this post simple and summarise what i have done in the past week.

Nov 9th - Nov 15th
Came home on a early flight and went out for dinner with my parents. Had quite a nice dinner as it was quite a long time since i had good food. Muahahaha... Also met up with friends to catch up. Had dinner together and lots of chatting again.

Nov 16th - Nov 21st
It was another week of hectic meet ups. Met up with my gang of friends from Melbourne for dinner, had crab which i missed pretty badly. Also a small meeting up with my old friends from my internship days. It has been quite a long time since we last met, the last round when i was back, i didn't had time to meet them so i was glad to meet them and find all of them doing very well in life. On the 21st, it was my trip to Sydney on the A380. More in the next paragraph.

Nov 22 - Nov 29th
I was in Sydney. The plane ride was amazing. Best flight experience ever. The size of the seats, the quality of the food and the ambience... It was something that set the bar higher. I've taken business class before but this is waaaaay beyond that level. Enjoyed myself while in Sydney and met up with a friend which i have not met since 2003. 5 years can really make a lot of difference. And the weekends of the week was spent shopping at the IT sale. Didn't buy alot but i did buy what i needed.

Nov 30 - Dec 7th
Nothing much happened this week but it was more of recuperating from all that travelling. Had an offer for internship which i rejected. Yea... I know, dumb choice but i believe that work can always come later, family, friends and loved ones always come first. Yesterday and today was out and about. And this weekend is gonna be a rush of events for me again. Wedding dinner and the standard chartered marathon. If i survive and live through the marathon, i will make sure i post online again. Else check for my news on the papers!! Hahaha...

Everything is Over!!

Finally... I've survived through the past two weeks. Had very little sleep everyday. Living on Redbull and coffee diet most of the time. Plus all those addicitive Red Rock Deli Chips. Now i'm coming back and i've planned so much stuff to do. Hopefully, everything goes as planned.

Can't wait to see all my friends back in SG.

2 More Freakin' Weeks

Another 2 weeks...

Just endure another 2 weeks...

Another 2 weeks and everything will be fine and dandy...

2 weeks... 2 weeks...

Everything will be done and gone after 2 weeks...

I'm so gonna destroy myself in this 2 weeks...

The First Challenge

Tomorrow will be my first paper of this month.

Hopefully everything goes as well as i have planned or goes according to what i have studied.

No matter what, i'm not going to hurt my mood on Friday nite for TGIF happy hour!! Haha...

The Exam Hurdle

Every student will go through hurdles while they are pursuing their education. Be it a Diploma or degree, there are bound to be hurdles to jump over. Each hurdle is like a milestone in your quest for better knowledge, a step closer to achieving your dream.

And it is this hurdle that marks the end of a section of that quest, that race. The exam hurdle. The exams can be something of a jitter to some people while it can be a written vomit of memorised knowledge. I've seen people written page after page in an exam. And i ask myself, why do i not do the same as them? Why not memorise and vomit the knowledge out.

It dawned on me that i could not do that. I'm the kind where i would like to understand the concepts and apply it in my own context. I hate memorising, that's why i'm very bad at it. But sometimes when it comes to the exams, there are bound to be stuff where you have to memorise. It is unevitable. That is when i have to succumb to the pressures of the exam and push myself to complete this part of the quest. My quest for gold where knowledge is gold.

Arghz... Whats wrong with me?!?!

Stuff doesn't seem to be working towards my favour. All started two weeks ago when together with my friends, are not allowed to enter the club where it was retro night. My kind of music!! After that, i had a bad hair cut which was quite a regret for me. Next time i heading to a more renowned hairdresser.

The next day i had a bad injury on my right calf. The calf was swollen very badly and i thought it was just bruising so i stopped running or playing soccer. Until about four nights go, i realise that there are purple patches on the sides of my ankles. Slightly worried, i made an appointment with the school doctor The doctor check my calf and told me that there is internal bleeding that caused the purple patches at the ankle area. He is unsure if there is a crack to my bone but he arranged an x-ray to make sure. His advise to me is not to participate in any sports at the moment... Which means no soccer games or marathon training for me.

Lastly, i just finished my assignment today. I started yesterday and finished just two hours before the submission closing. So i packed up and do some last min grocery shopping. Walked back home with 1.5kg of chicken meat and 2L of orange juice which is quite a tiring walk home. As i reach home, i unpack my bag, i realise i left my power cord in school!! Arghz!!! A friend of mine is heading back to school to see if the power cord is still there. Hopefully he can get the cord for me to save me from losing A$120 power cord.

Singapore Day

It was a day that Singapore was located in Melbourne for one day. That was one day that i felt i was kinda back home, eating my favourite food with friends. Even the servers or the food stall helpers are speaking Singlish, which help made the event feeling more Singaporean. Another plus point that this was definitely Singapore Day meant for Singaporeans, THE FOOD WAS FREE!!!

The menu for food was amazing! We had chilli crab, hokkien mee, char kway teow, chicken rice, nasi lemak, lasksa, prata, etc. Plenty of food that i love. I was like a pig! The throng of people there... It was frantic, at one point i had to queue up almost an hour for a small plate of chilli crab. Though some of the foods weren't very tasty but they still tasted like what they are. Singapore artistes came down to perform while we had our food. We were entertained by Phua Chu Kang, Hady Mirza (i think thats how it's spelt), Electrico and Dick Lee. As usual, Singaporeans tend to complain but it was more on the lack of tables and chairs but it was nice and it felt like having pinics.

My personal thoughts of this event while i was enjoying my food, looking at the number of Singaporeans here and the size of the event, it bring me back how much i love my country. Which country would bring people from almost all walks of life, fly almost six hours to a foreign city for a week and entertain or cook for people there? Not only that, the size of our country to make such an event possible is even more amazing. I am thankful for the people who came down to make that event successful. Also... I am proud to show my friends that Singapore is able to make such an event possible, let them try out the Singapore food and the culture.

The MOST Memorable Night, EVER!

The night started last night. The plan was to meet with five other soccer mates and go for a retro clubbing party in the city. I bough the tickets in advance and decided to collect the tickets when i meet the organiser. The catch was priority entry before 10.30pm. One of the mates was late and we ended up setting off late. It was quite a walk from the train station to the clubbing area. So after 15 minutes of walking, i called up my friend when i didn't see her outside the club. That was when we are 15 minutes earlier than the priority cut off timing. She came slightly past 10.45pm which resulted us having to queue up for entry.

So we took our tickets and started queuing up. We were pretty hyped to enter the club as the theme was 80's music, mambo and retro. When it was near our time, the door bitch said there was a restriction. Entry from that point onwards should be a ratio of one girl and one guy. That created a serious problem for us, we are six guys and no girls. My friend entered the club without even telling us or helping us for entry. I don't expect her to bring us in but i told her if we do not enter the club, i demand a full refund. She agreed to it without any complains since she was late. After queuing and hunting for girls the next 90 minutes, we decided to leave the club and go somewhere else. It was our first let down of the night.

Si we went to the city in search of another place to sit and have a drink. We can't think of any other place so we went to one that we know. When we arrived there, it was almost closing time. We were pretty desperate so we just entered a club that was nearby. It was another mistake. The club was empty, the dancefloor had so much space, you can actually move around easily with no resistance. The music was not bad until it went from bad to worse. It started with house, followed by R&B than it was raggae than it went back to raggae again. The music change was 10-15 minutes in a period. I was there for 45 minutes and i was suffering. Our second let down of the night.

In the end, we decided to go to our final resort, to a place in Chinatown where a shop with LAN capabilities and PS2 for play. Interesting concept but the place is badly maintained. The computers are bad and the place is not cleaned properly. It was quite an uplift for the events that happened before. Plus most of us had not played PS2 Winning Eleven for awhile and that felt pretty good. We enjoyed ourselves and created lots of crazy goals. Something we didn't expect for the night but it was at least something to curb our sadness.

Just before we head back home, we went to a nearby Macdonald's for breakfast. At the end of our meal, a guy walked in and started greeting us in Mandarin. He came over to us, he touched our head and said, 'We are the living children of the living God.' Than he blessed us by kissing our head. I was one of the lucky ones... What a way to end the night of events...

This has to go down as one of the worst night ever.

A380 Business Class Flight!! Woot~~

I call back home just to find out how is my family doing and about the trip to Sydney with the Carlsberg HQ staff. My mom updated me that we will be taking the A380, business class.

The initial plan was me meeting them in Sydney. But with the current plan that they are taking the business class seats in the A380 from SG to Sydney. Plan has changed! I have decided to go back early so that i can join my mom to try the A380 plus business class!

Hehe....

Beijing Paralympics

I've been working on my assignment for the past week. So while doing, i like to have the TV on or music playing so it does not sound very silent in my room. Sometimes the telly does not have much to see or nothing nice to watch. So i just have it on while i concentrate on my work.

Once awhile i will see what is it that im tuning to. Recently the Beijing Paralympics is on. Not live coverage but recorded telecast of the games. I was appalled at how strong the paralympians are. How mentally and physically strong. A man from Australia ran 200m at 20 seconds to break the world record. His diability? Cerebal palsy. I doubt i can do 20 seconds for 200m. Another one was this lady who was on the speeder wheelchair (i don't know what its called), she broke three world records in a single day. Each event is only 60 minutes difference. Amazing... They are seriously stronger. I am seriously amazed at what i've seen.

Guess this is what it means by if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger.

Lonely Nights

I have been spending lots of time with my assignments for the past few nights. Rushing them to meet the deadline given by my lecturer. I guess it is part of my life as a uni student. My friend has given me this to think about, lonely nights with only my assignments to accompany me. I wonder... After my life as a undergrad student, what lies ahead of me. Will i be working so badly that i have only work to accompany me at night? Or i have enough social lifestyle to prevent lonely nights from ever happening again. Guess this is something i won't know.

Happy Father's Day

As a young boy, i have never quite appreciate Father's Day as much as Mother's Day. I do not know why... I have always looked up to my big man but i have never celebrated Father's Day. Even if it is, its just a simple dinner like any other weekend. This time... The feeling is rather intrigue. I was planning to call him near the evening time of the day. In the end, he called me in the mid-noon.

We chatted a little bit over the phone. He asked me about my school work, my lifestyle and my overall well-being. As usual, its always the good stuff. Half-truths here and there to make it rosy for him to hear. Do not wish him to worry about me when he has so much to worry about already.

At the ending of our conversation, he asked when will i be going back home. I could not give him a definite answer as the exam timetable has yet to be released. He told me that the Carlsberg HQ is having the incentive trip this year to Sydney. They will be heading there around mid-november. The plan is simple... I fly domestically to Sydney to join my Mom in the trip and then fly back together with her. That way i can save on the trip back to home. Then the flight back here next year will be an open-return flight. Well... It's something that i have not expected...

You win some, you lose some...

We played our most feared game last night. It was against the champions of the league last season. They were really good. The passing was good, the central midfielders were amazing. The defenders did a great job preventing all sorts of attacks against their goal front.

We played our best. We put in our best players and played with all our heart. I didn't get to play as coach decided to put in all the good players. The plan was to hold them up as long as possible and play counter attacking. We did manage to complete what we planned but they played really well. In the end, we lost 3-0 to them. Even though it was a loss, they said we gave them the most enjoyable game. We gave them a hard game and they seriously fought for the win. Guess losing by three is much better than losing 10. Hehe...

Nike Human Race and First Day of Spring

Today was the day. 25 countries ran on this day. A total of 1 million participants. I'm one of them. One of contributors to his world record event.

It was a chilly morning when i woke up. It rained pretty heavily during the early hours of the morning. I can hear the clashing of the raindrops on my windows before i drift off to sleep. I changed into my gear and left home with lots of excitement and hope. The rained had stop before i dropped of the station near the starting point. While walking there, you can see many others wearing the same. They too share the same feeling as i do. Once im there, i checked in my bag and proceeded to the starting point.

The temperature was getting better. It was definitely not as cold as my training days. It is the last day of winter anyway. So as i stepped into the back of the crowd where everybody waited for the gun to fire off. Some final stretches and the race started. The running course took us round the botanical gardens, into the city, off to another garden and back to the botanical gardens. It felt like i'm running back home when the marathons are usually held in the city limits.

After 55mins, i've arrived at the finishing line. Its been awhile since i've ran that fast and that long. The fastest guy in Melbourne was 32mins, so im aiming to at least hit 45mins for my next 10km run. The ultimate goal is still the 42km marathon at the end of the year. I will look forward to seeing my friends back in Singapore where we complete the marathon together.

Oh... Did i mention that tomorrow will be the first day of Spring? Okie. Tomorrow will be the first day of Spring. NO MORE BONE CHILLING DAYS!!

I do not comprehend...

I do not comprehend how life works. You tend to look one side and the other side evolves or change without you knowing it. When you turn back to look at it, it just makes you feel uneasy, a tinge of unfamiliarity and uncertainty. That's why i do not question how life works, i just accept it and move along with the flow.

I do not comprehend how fate works. It binds time and events together. Some people believe in it, some people do not. I'm one of the latter, always thinking that fate is just another word. Another word people used to simply summarise. That's why i do not question how fate works, i just accept it and move along with the flow.

I do not comprehend how luck works. From life and death issues to items of monetary value. We look at how lucky or unlucky we are in life and compare with each other. Sometimes we blame ourselves for being unlucky, sometimes we blame objects or even loved ones. That's why i do not question how luck works. If it works in favour for me, i appreciate it. If not, i'll just accept it and move along with the flow.

I do not comprehend how love works. It is something that couples share. It is something that all living things share. We love not because we have to, because we want to. We want to because we have a feeling that cannot be described. It cannot be described because it is something we are unable to explain. That's why i do not question how love works. I just accept it and put in as much effort into it as i can.

My First Varsity Goal

Match just ended three hours ago. The score, 5-3. My name is included in the score sheet. Haha... It's been awhile since that feeling has been felt. The opposition team wasn't really good so coach didn't put in the first team players in to play. The only ones are the goalkeeper(which was substituted in with 20mins to play), the captain of the team and two central defenders.

So i manage to play the entire match. We dominated the game most of the time and it was 3-0 during half-time. We were too confident and allowed 2 easy goals for them. Captain wasn't really happy with that and he made a very bad tackle in the box which resulted in a penalty. So they pulled to tied. When the kick off started, i was free on the right. I guess nobody wants to mark this small little asian kid. Hehe... So i was picked out and i took a crack shot at the goal. It was fantastic, just outside the penalty box and it went into the net. The feeling was fantastic. 4-3 now.

Nearing the ending of the game, i was part of the play that lead to a fantastic goal. I got the ball at my half of the field and started sprinting up field. Passed to the centre and it was pushed up to the strikers. The strikers played perfect one-two and they put the ball behind the line. An amazing goal but the strikers.

No matter what, it is still a match with a lack lustre team. No point celebrating like it is the finals. Two weeks time we will be facing our toughest opponents, champions for last year's tournement. Hopefully we won't be muscled or out-classed, but im sure we will put in our best effort to secure at least a point.

National Day Rally Speech

I missed out on the National Day Rally Speech due to my current location in Australia and the Olympic games in Beijing where our Singapore women's peddlers contest with China for the gold medals. No matter, i went online to read the transcript of our Prime Minister's speech today.

When i was young, i have never liked to listen to what our PM has to say. I would often run off to play games, watch movie or even read a book. It is until i was forced to listen to one of the speech and write a reflection about the speech in secondary school days. That speech was given by the previous PM, MM Goh. I have to say his speech changed way of thinking about Singapore and about my future. About what i want to do and what i can achieve with the help of the government. The next day, i started writing my reflections. It was suppose to be a 500 words essay but i submitted an essay that equates to four copies of the required word limit. My teacher said she was amazed at my reflections. But she warned me not to write that much the next time. Haha...

This time, i would not write that much about the speech. I have decided to keep my reflections to myself and remind myself of the goals i have been aiming for. It took me about one hour to complete reading the transcript. The only part that will drill deep inside me is this ending conclusion to the speech.


Ours is an improbable nation. We are a small country in an uncertain world, we always worry about the future, we never take anything for granted. Many people have put heart and soul into building what we have today. And through hard work and clear thinking, we've created something unique and something precious in Singapore, a home for all of us. Our forefathers have planted the trees which now provide the shade which we now enjoy. It's now our duty to plant trees and grow them, trees which will give hope and strength to a new generation. And you should do this not because you happen to be born here or because you happen to hold a red passport but because you believe in this mission, you believe in this ideal, you believe that Singapore is something special and worth fighting for. As Mr Rajaratnam said once, because "being Singaporean is not a matter of ancestry but of conviction and choice".


I know National Day has passed more than 9 days ago. But i have to say, being proud of my nationality is not just on that day itself, it is everyday of the year. Nothing comes closer than that...

Recent Events...

After that party on the 9th of August, there are a couple of events i would like to record down on this online journal of mine. With the start of the Olympics, i see myself as a track and field athlete. I've started on my 400m hurdles race and i've only jumped pass one hurdle... Well, hopefully the next hurdle would not be that difficult. The last hurdle before i finish the race is a huge one. That will require lots of skill and strength to overcome. With the support of friends, i should be able to clear the last one alot easier.

The landlord replaced my chair finally. After two weeks, he finally bought a new chair and its rather good. It's been awhile since i've sat on a good comfy computer chair. Hehe... The ones in school are good but i only get to sit on them for that tutorial class. Plus it is always the case that you want to get out of the class as soon as possible. Well... New chair is here and im sooo enjoying it. Haha...

Last night, i was in the city attending Jason Mraz concert. His concert was amazing. Even though we sat waaaay back at the last row of seats, it was still amazing!! He belted out a few of his famous hits and we sang along in certain songs. In between songs, he crack a few jokes which made his concert all so enjoyable. It ended around 11pm which was late and only reached home at 1am. Well... I do not mind attending another of his concert. He is really good at entertaining crowds.

The Patriot Inside Me

There are dates that i look forward to every year. No matter where i am, those dates are noted in whatever possible way. Dates such as the Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, birthdays, etc. No doubt the important dates will increase as we progress in life but i always look forward to August 9th of every year. That is the day we celebrate our independence, our freedom and our home.

Since my arrival to Melbourne six months ago, i've wondered how would i get to see the National Day Parade(NDP). I've always looked forward to watching the NDP as it signifies how great our country is. How much our people love our country and how spectacular a small country can celebrate the independence together as one. My answer came from a close friend of mine who is the organiser of the NDP party in Melbourne city. It was the answer i was waiting so long.

On the very day itself, there was hundreds of Singaporeans there. I've met up with all my friends and we chatted while we had food and drinks. It was great to see my friends but the main highlight was to watch the NDP on a live feed. It was really cool to watch it in a foreign country. My friends and i had mini flags and we waved about while we sing some of the songs. In Singapore when they stood up to sing the National Anthem, we all stood up and started singing it too. I can see that no matter how far we are, we are true blood Singaporeans. Nothing could ever disrupt this loyalty and patriotism for a country so small yet so influential.

My best moment was the closing of the parade when we sing a medley of songs and end with a recital of the National Pledge and a last round of the National Anthem. I felt like i was back home, together with my family and friends. I realise that i belong back to Singapore. The patriot inside has awaken yet again.

It's Running Out!!

I running out of my moisturiser. If anybody can find it in or anywhere else, please let me know. I use the moisturiser from The Face Shop and its really good. Below is the photo of the product and the link of the product.

http://thefaceshopen.com/skin/detail_view.php?pCate1=5&pCate2=1&pCategory=138&number=1852

Dilemma

As if im not having one that has haunted me since the start of the year, im having another being piled up on me. If i have not made my commitments for my soccer and marathon participation, i would not have fallen into this dilemma.

I'm being encouraged to take over the presidency of the Singapore students club at my uni. It's not an easy job, as i see my friend, the current President, is struggling with school work and drowned in the club's work. I do not want to fall into the same position as him.

He has told me before that he hope i take over the position. If there is no successor, the club will have to close. That will be very sad to see this club being closed down due to no sucessor and my friend failing to finish his presidency as he has no sucessor.

Arghz... I need advice! And i need it fast!!

Ski Trip: More Trip, Less Ski Continues...

Day 2
After a good rest, we woke up early to have brekky at the lounge area. It was simple pancakes and eggs. I can still feel all my sores and my aches. It was really bad. I was tired and sore all over. After brekky, we headed back to our rooms and i fall asleep again. I was really tired. In the end, i went out in the afternoon when it was not so cold.

This time i borrowed my friend's snowboard and took it out for a try. Another friend was snowboarding the previous day and she joined me. Or should i say, she accompanied me while i fall and tumble. Hehe...

I took the snowboard up the ski lift and put them on. The first try i fall on my ass really really hard. I can hear the bump! But i kept trying no matter what... Stood up and tried again all over. Kept falling and tumbling but i told myself i have to at least snowboard a small distance before i give up. Until i tumbled pretty badly on my belly that felt like a jab, i decided to sit up and look at how those pros do it. I had almost took off my board before my friend came up to me and gave me some advice. I took it and slowly i was controlling the board rather good. I was snowboarding but not as cool as you would have imagined.

After two runs down the mountain and i changed back to my skis. I sucked at snowboarding but i liked the adrenaline while going down on my skis. It is a feeling you cannot describe. I would love to do skiing or snowboarding again. But i guess i have to wait till the next season...

At the end of the day, the mountain got a rush of fog and it was really bad. Visibility was really difficult and it would be very dangerous if any accidents were to happen. So we took the ski lift back down. We handed back all our equipment and went back to the lodge to clean up and have dinner.

Dinner was another amazing experience. If you check out my Facebook photos, you would see how small that piece of fish is. Haha... It was lucky that i chose the chicken pastry. Haha... After dinner, a couple of friends and I sat down and started drinking wine. It was nice to drink with friends and chat about anything under the sun. We talked about clubbing scenes in Singapore to girls from the Orient. It was incredible how two bottles of wine can open up people.

Day 3
We woke up and had brekky soon after. It was bacon, eggs and beans. Something like a mini American Breakfast. Too bad no sausages... We packed our stuff, had a little snowball fight and checked out of the lodge soon after. Frantically took photos with everyone as we would not see each other(there are other Singaporeans from other Unis) and also exchanged contact. I hope to keep in contact with them and enjoy more happy times with them again.

Ski Trip: Less Ski, More Trip

I was away for three days since last friday. Went up a mountain with the student association. It was rather expensive but at least it was extremely memorable. Though it was not my first time to see snow, it was my first time skiing and snowboarding. And i sum it up with a one word, ouch!

Day 1
My friends from the city came over to my place. The bus was scheduled to come around 2am near my place. So they came here early to rest and prepare to go together. Near 1.45am, we carried our stuff and boarded the bus. Our five hour journey to the mountain has begun. I couldn't sleep very well on the bus and woke up near dawn and saw the sun rise over the mountains. It was an amazing sight.

We arrived at the place and it was freezing. I was underdressed and i could feel the chills biting my body. Good thing a friend of mine brought extra jackets and borrowed me one. Owe him one... We dropped our bags and got fitted with our equipment. I opted for skis as i was advised that skiing was much easier. Plus if i wanted to try snowboarding, i could switch with my friend. As i got my skis, i put them on. It was tough as the snow was making it hard for my boots to clip onto the skis itself. I took awhile to get them on. The easy part was conquered, next comes the hard part; moving on your skis. I had them on and took some time to get used to them on the snow. Then we get on the ski lift and up to the mountains we go.

Up there, i decided to try out without even attending the lesson. I fell down plenty of times as i have no experience. After a few tips from a few friends and strangers, i got the hang of it. So i challenged myself and went a little faster. As they say, the faster you are, the harder you fall. I have to agree on that... I fell a few times and kinda hurt my myself. I ended the day with a run down the simple slope and my target is not to fall. I finished the course and only fell in the end as i was stopping. It was an amazing adrenaline rush! Haha...

At the end of the day, i took off my skis and went back to the lodge. We were given our rooms, washed up for dinner and went to bed soon. The lodge was kinda like a backpackers' motel. The beds were extremely bad and the rooms were really pathetic. I guess that is the cheapest we can get during the peak season of winter. Well... More about my ski trip on the next post.

Im Chosen and Hunted!!

This blog consists of two parts, chosen and hunted. I will explain both parts as much as i can.

Chosen
Last friday was suppose to be the tryouts, but it was pouring so we had indoor training again. I always liked indoor training as the game is faster and more about personal skills. I'm not always good at personal level but i love to team up with players whom i can communicate and work together effectively. Enough about me, the tryout was postponed to today. The guys were split into two teams by the coach and we were playing a game against each other. The game ended in 2-2 after an hour. After that the coach shifted players around and we continued the 2nd part of the game. My team lost 4-2.

It was pretty easy to spot that the other team was the first eleven. Ended the tryouts with the coach confirming the first eleven and the second eleven. I didn't want to be the first eleven as i would have to attend extra trainings which i cannot afford at the moment. So i hoped for the second eleven. My name was the first the to be called out. Coach said to me that i can run alot but i have to work on my ball control and cutting in. He told me to work hard on placing my crossings too. Well... I could not ask for more now. At least i can await my chance to play for the school.

Hunted
Word of my running got on quickly. I joined the Nike Human Race as my friends in Singapore are doing it, my brother is doing it plus a close friend of is joining too. So i just want to there for the t-shirt and the participation. I joined the run and my friends introduce me to the running captain of Monash University. He tells me that i was hunted by him to run the Standard Chartered Marathon in Singapore at the end of the year. The perks of joining the run under Monash; free registration, running clinics and commendation letter on representing Monash University. Cool! So i guess i will be seeing my friends at the end of the year at Padang. No more oily food for me!! Darn...

Seven days has passed...

I have endured the cold for the past seven days. It really has caused me to change my lifestyle rather drastically. I eat more, i sleep more and i drink more fluids. It really is something different from previously. Well... Other than the cold, nothing has changed much.

Some activities that I have line up:
Ski Trip
Students Association Singapore AGM
More eating adventures

Good luck for me and hopefully i return in one piece after the ski trip.

Yesterday's, Today's and Tomorrow's Weather Forecast: COLD!!!

The title says it all... It's extremely cold now. Everyday is cold. Even now as im blogging, it's raining!! It adds on to the cold im already suffering from! Arghz... My buddy in Hungary warned me about the cold, it will cause me to turn nasty and tire out easily. I expected it anyway... I would say my friends are having both but im still just suffering from tiring out. Guess we are all accustomed to sleeping or feeling sleepy when the temperature drops.

Even with 2 layers from top to bottom... Im still suffering from the cold... Damn...

Back in Melbourne

18 months ago, this place was a target for me. I wanted to come over here to study and learn to be independent. I've achieved my dream 6 months ago. Now i am kinda regretting it. I've returned for the 2nd semester of the year and im already missing Singapore alot alot. My friends, my family, my favourite food, my favourite hangouts and my bed. Not to mention my fast paced internet speed with unlimited download capacity. Sigh... Internet here is slow and limited...

Courage

I have always boasted that i have plenty of it. But when i want to find the moment and the strength to say what i want. I couldn't find it. Well... Guess courage is just another word i hang on my lips...

Back from Taipei

I've been to Taipei(TP) twice and the last trip was my third. I would say my last trip was the best. Why? Simple... My friends. I have my friends to accompany me. We really spent good times together and created lots of jokes. We went to so many different places, ate so much and bought so much stuff. I went to their IT street and found out that the IT stuff is not cheaper. So its still the same as SG.

What i love there was the food and the shopping, not leaving out the girls. Haha... Oyster egg, milk tea, sausages, grilled meat, Ah Zhong Mien Sian, Ah Ge, etc. Those are the foods i love to eat anytime! Shopping is always fun, no matter where. I would prefer Bangkok for shopping, but just purely buying Onitsuka Tiger products, TP wins hands down. A pair of Tigers cost less than $50! Imagine how much it would have cost me in SG or anywhere else. If selling at $50 and the owner is still earning, i would say those operating the boutique store would definitely earn alot. ALOT!

Male fashion over at TP does not suit me, they dress very 'attractively'. I would not know if the word attractive would describe their dress sense but they dress in a way that would attract attention to themselves. Maybe its their culture for both sexes to dress 'attractively'.

Accomplishments

I have accomplished a few things after a week here in Singapore. Certain foods has been eaten, friends has been met and media stuff have been downloaded on the ACTUAL broadband speed.

So i have left with two weeks. Many more things to do, more friends to meet up, more food to eat and definitely a very important issue to settle. Hopefully it is settled before i go back to SG.

Singapore, I miss You!!

I have finally returned back home. It is something that i have been looking forward like one month. Upon returning, i have been eating all the nice food i have missed so much. But the bad thing is that all the foods i missed are all junk food. SERIOUS junk food. Hehe...

On My Way Home...

A little more and im gonna go back home to eat all the food that i like. Oh, and meet my friends who miss me. Hahah...

Saturated

Im saturated. Fully saturated. I cannot absorb anymore. Feels like a 20GB harddisk trying to squeeze 160GB of files. ARGHZ!!!!!

Tagged...

Got tagged, so here it goes.


1. What do you want to do now?
Dinner perhaps, or continue studying

2. Define cute?
Comes naturally, no doubt about it.

3. Do you hate your friends sometimes?
Yea... With them as enemies, who needs friends. Or issit the other way... Hmm...

4. Where do you wish to die?
Come back to me when i'm 70

5. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?
Not believe, i've seen it with my own eyes.

6. What impossible things you wish to do?
Travel to space, walk on water

7. Your most sensitive part?
You know... That part that becomes 10 times bigger. The retina.

8. Are you happy with your life now?
Delighted.

9. What if your crush asked you out?
Than its a date.

10. Describe your other half.
Well... She gotta be slim, beautiful, smart and able to accept my constant jokes.

11. What feelings do you hate the most?
Guilt.

12. Do you cherish every friendship of yours?
No doubt.

13. What are you looking forward to in the coming weeks?
Using my own computer with the ACTUAL broadband speed, sleeping on my bed, eating all the food i miss, going to Taipei and going skiing

14. The most important thing in your life.
People. People that is part of my life.

15. Who do you hope to always be there for you?
The person whom i least expect.

16. Do you find life meaningless?
No

17. Who do you love the most?
Family and friends.

18. What's the most gross thing you've done?
Peeing in a swimming pool.

19. What's your greatest wish?
Live the Singaporean Dream

20. The sweetest thing you ever did for someone.
Quite a few, but i guess buying a bag of sugar for my mom counts right?

21. Your favourite animal at the zoo:
Lion

22. What is your favourite colour?
Black

Euro 2008 has started...

Euro has started, which means my exam is gonna start soon. It will be my first paper of the semester. Im kinda geared up for it but i feel i've not prepared enough. Well... Im pretty sure i can pass it. The paper is 50% of my total grade and the other half is assignments and tutorial participation. Apart from the paper, i've known that i've got at least 40% of the total grades. So its pretty easy to pass this unit. The paper... It consists of 10 MCQs, 30% of the paper, and four short/long answer questions. No way am i not able to get at least 50% for the paper. Furthermore i studied this topic when i was in my Poly days. That is why i felt like i was a little too lenient and slack... Well... I will only know when i enter the exam hall then...

Oh... My exam hall is located at the racecourse. I wonder... If im bored, maybe i will look out the window to view the horses doing their practice runs. Hahaha...

Fuse Hunt Day

The night before, i was studying at the library. My friend notified me that the power is out and i realise it too. Initially we thought the librarians switched off the electricity to our outlet, but the truth is that the fuse in my charger blew. Well... I found that out only when i went back home. Since its just a fuse, it should not be hard to find a replacement. Well... It is.

I started my fuse hunt right after breakfast. So i grabbed my friend's car and went to first place. It didn't carry fuses or small electrical parts. So i went to a nearby shopping centre, hoping my chances of finding it is higher. Well... None of the electrical stores have it too. Dang...

So i went back to a nearby hardware store and asked, they do not carry it and gave me directions to another location nearby. When i drove there, i was stunned... The store moved to the western part of the city. ARGHZ!!! I called a friend to find out another place. That place is 30 mins drive. I have never went to that place before. So i drove and finally found the place. It was huge. They are like the American Kmart. Shelves were stacked high and there was a ton of stuff. So much stuff that they do not carry the fuse. A big blow to me...

The assistant was very helpful and gave me diretions to another place. An electronics and electrical store. I can still remember his last sentece to me, 'If JayCar does not carry it, the whole of Australia will not have it.' It gave me alot of hope. I believed in what he said too. If the store does not carry it, im gonna go bonkers!

I managed to find the store which is roughly 10mins drive. I went into the store and they really is live up to their reputation. They sell alot of electrical stuff. Small parts too. So i thought this would me the place. It would be the one that will carry the fuse i want. When i step up to the counter, i gave the assistant the fuse i was finding. He looked around all the small little drawers where you keep small parts. He searched again. Then he turned to me saying that the store does not carry 3A fuses. DAMN IT!!!

So i drove back home, feeling all lost and down. I went back to my place, grabbed my entire charger unit and went out again. I went back to the first place to look for a replacement. Hoping that at least they have the replacement power cable for my charger. Turns out they do not sell power cable. They have the charger unit fit for a range of computers. When i brought it to the counter, it cost me a whopping A$100 for it. After an entire day, 5hours of driving to six different places and i ended up paying so much for a charger. I wonder why such a thing happen to me when im so near the exams...

My Final Weekend

This weekend is my final enjoyment weekend. After this week, im going to study full steam as what i had done last semester for my exams. I enjoyed myself pretty much this week...

A nearby shopping centre that i always visit had a midnight sale, 20% off mall wide. So i took time to visit the mall and bought a couple of stuff. A jacket, sweater and a pair of Havaianas slippers. The jacket was on 50% discount, sweater on 30% while the slippers were on 15%. With such discount, its hard not to buy them.

The following day, i had friends over for lunch. They came from Singapore and started touring and enjoying themselves for the past two weeks. I've met them last week and this week i meet them again before they fly back to SG. Than the preparation of the pranks and celebration begin...

We decorated my friend's place. We placed a big shiny "Happy Birthday" banner with music playing at the back. Than we ambushed her in her room. When she came in to the room, we blasted our party poppers. That was the start of celebration of birthdays.

The next morning, i woke up early to continue our series of pranks and surprises. Together with another friend, we came to her car and started sticking stickers of ducks, monkey and bananas on her car. It was hilarious... She liked it pretty much, guess i can say i can start my own custom design workshop for cars soon. Hehe...

Night time arrives and we had dinner at this place called Greasy Joe's. It is famous for their tasty ribs and big burgers. One word to describe it, dissapointing. The ribs were slightly overdone and the meat was tough. The chicken we ordered was undercooked and we got it sent back. The meat used for the burgers had a strong beef smell. It overpowered even the sauces. The crispy salmon was not done well either... It tasted like half-cooked salmon. The only good dish we had was the wedges and the plate of chicken wings. The rest... Dissapointment. Eight diners and we were charged almost A$200. Well, lesson learnt, never to go back there again.

After dinner we drove to the city and we went to Crown's Casino. Before heading into the casino, we had desserts and drinks. We ordered cakes, tea and a bottle of wine. It was more satisfying than dinner except for the slightly poor service. The waiter gave us a corner which does not have a heater. It was really cold for some of the girls. When we called for the bill, they did not print out our bill. We could simply walk out of the cafe and nobody would know. But i was honest and i paid for the bill. It was pretty sad that such great food is not matched by great service.

In the casino, we watched people playing at the tables. The girls went to play pokies, a.k.a. jackpot machines. The guys, we headed to the blackjack tables. We started with $50. We all said we are prepared to lose up to $50. So we went up to the $10 table and started playing. I was on a streak and stopped shortly after i have won roughly $50. So i told my friends, i've decided to stop. The croupier wanted me to continue, i simply told him i had won my lunch money for the week. Hahahaa...

Final Assignment Push

I've decided to push for my final assignment. Even decided to skip soccer training to work on my assignment. I realise that even with the training, im kinda putting on weight. So i sat down at a coffee joint one day and decided to take a breather from mt assignment work. Look back on the past few days and i realise that it was my diet and snacking to keep awake in the nights.

The nachos, the sweet drinks, the occasional beer. All culprits of my weight gain. The cold is not helping too. I cannot do jogs due to the cold. Maybe i have to pay for gym entries soon.

Assignment work is going to end next week. Im going to finish up whatever i need to do and hit full steam ahead for revision for exams.

What the *beeeeeeeeeep* X 2

Presentation day, Monday

I finally see my missing groupmate. He comes only at the moment he is required. Damn... And when we are preparing for presentation, he pretends to make himself useful. Standing behind me, looking interested. When presentation time, he just stands behind and keeps quiet. Even though he doesn't know anything, he just stands there and keeps quiet. Not bad for keeping quiet, doing nothing and still get full marks for it.

Another Assignment Presentation Meeting, Tuesday

I was suppose to wait for my groupmates at 6pm. They came late. I was in school since 12pm and im really tired. I waited till 6.30pm and we finally started. In the end, i ended at 8pm which made me so hungry and tired. I went home ate and slept. Didn't do anything good...

Assignment Presentation, Wednesday

I got played out. Group members said wear smart casual. I asked, jeans and short-sleeved. They said yes. When i finally see them, they are in jeans and long-sleeved. ARGHZ!!! Great then... I then decided to do more during the presentation. In the end, my tutor found my presentation much better than my groupmates. Hope he doesn't mark me down on attire.

What the *beeeep*...

It's only Thursday and i have received lots of crap from one of my group assignment members. 'I'm not free to meet', 'I'm busy so i can't meet', 'My friend had an accident so i can't come.' Everyday i learn a new excuse... Sick of excuses.

So i wrote in to my tutor last night. Arranged an appointment with him to discuss about my situation. We met today and we discussed on what he will do to them. He told me he will grade them down on the presentation. He will ask them questions so as to back the reasons of marking them down. Also, a peer evaluation sheet will be used to mark them down too. Overall, my groupmate and I would still get the marks even if we do not meet all of the requirements.

I asked if it is possible to reduce the requirements if its just the both of us. He said he will consider it. But if we can 2-man this assignment he will award higher marks.

Hmm... Guess I will be spending lots of time in school from now on...

Beginning of the End

It is the start of May, that means its another month before the exam period starts. Im still plagued by the assignments i have on hand. It is not alot but it's still stressful to have assignments on hand. Slowly but surely, i will finish them and go on to full steam study.

Well... To good grades and more fun in June!

Strike Three!! Your OUT!!

Today had to be the day. It had to be one of the worst day in 2008.

I had to buy lunch at a nearby Subway. When i was inside the store, it was kinda long queue. So i was practically standing by the front of the door. Then this old lady came. She stood next to me waiting for the door to open. So i told her the door was not automatic, it requires pushing out. Then i stood next to her and started pushing the door for her. Next moment she shouted at point blank range into my face, "WAIT!!" Im totally stunned and explained myself that i was trying to hold the door for her to walk out. She walked out and did not even say thank you. I was confused. A guy who was infront of me in the line went 'Pfft...' Strike One.

After lunch had this group meeting that i needed to attend. So i was discussuing with my mates then they decided to take a break. So i went down to the vending machines and wanted to get a bag of chips. I saw what i wanted, inserted my $2 coin and pressed the buttons for my selection. The bag of chips moved out but IT DID NOT DROP!! I was furious! I banged a little on the vending machine and hoped it will drop but it didn't. Then i thought maybe i could buy another packet, than i realise i didn't have that much coins left. Strike TWO!

Dinner... Neighbours came over to my place for steak dinners. It was amazing that i manage to cook six pieces of steak and all enjoyed it. Yea, beef is my forte. As usual, i had to clean up the dishes. Tonight there was a hell lot of dishes to clean. So i started washing up the dishes. While piling up the dishes on the rack, i accidentally dropped the ceramic soup spoons! I tried cushioning it with my foot but to no avail, it shattered to pieces. Worse still... I stepped on one of it. So i stopped washing up and started sweeping the pieces. I threw away the big pieces and sweeped the smaller pieces out of my room. Than i realise my floor has red patches on it. I was bleeding. Damn... It was a very small cut so i applied a piece of plaster over it. STRIKE THREE!!!

Hopefully things get better from tomorrow onwards.

Another KTV Nite

Been a stressful week and decided to go for a KTV nite. Since the next day is a public holiday (ANZAC Day) so why not make the most of it. We sang and danced. We rocked and rolled. And finally the tiredness took over us and we just went back home. Had loads of fun. I have this feeling we will do it again pretty soon.

I've Decided: NO DEAL!!

Title says it all... NO DEAL! Hopefully, i made the correct decision...

Should I stay? Or should I go?

With so much happening the past few days, im kinda confused... Im not sure whether i should stay put or i should go to my next destination... Well... Hopefully i can figure a solution out and be clear of what is the whole situation then.

Exciting Week

Nothing much to update this week... One of my most exciting week ever! Having late nights with assignments. And upcoming i have dates with group assignments. I will try to post photos if possible.

:D

The Day Where Melbourne Blew Me Off

It was 2nd April, wednesday. It is any other normal day in Melbourne. The sky was clear with cool breeze. I woke up early and prepared for breakfast. After breakfast, i was back to rushing my tutorial for the tutorial ahead. As i proceed out to school, there were strong winds blowing everywhere. It was crazy... Sand pelted my face as if needles were poking me. As i took cover with my hoodie, i looked on the ground and saw tiny glass shards moving on the floor. It dawned on me on a 'what if' scenario... 'What if a glass shard flying and hit me in the face?' In the end, i decided to take the tram to school instead of walking.

It was all well in school until a power failure came unexpectedly. The network was down and everything in school came to a complete halt. The school administration had to evacuate students out of the building, classes had to be cancelled as nobody can enter the rooms. It was bad... And my area was affected too. Power was out since 2pm and it only returned at 8.30pm.

The winds were really bad so i had to accompany a neighbour home. She wanted to take the tram but the wait for simply too long for her to endure, so we ended up walking. She was really small, skinny and light-weighted. During the walk, i had to push her a little to continue walking as the winds just impeded our advance.

Back at home, my neighbours and i had candlelight dinner. It was something i had never expected in my whole life. Now i realise the neccessity of power and backup sources if ever needed. I have never thought of electricity blackout backups. So after that night, i am prepared. Candles, lighters, torchlights and such.

The next day, the papers reported a few victims due to the strong winds which includes:

An old granny being crushed to death by a wall of bricks

A man died of electric shock while he was hiding in a telephone booth. Apparently the wind broke a powerline and it fell on top of the booth.

Another man was under a crane when the winds topple the crane over.

And many many more debris that fell from trees, tall buildings and construction sites. Thank god im only experiencing power shortage.

Birthday Party and Visit to our Association's Sponsor

We celebrated one of our friend's birthday and made a big bang out of it. We had a bbq at a friend's place and after that we went clubbing at a club which was sponsoring our association. Imagine an academic club is being sponsored by a clubbing club. SG pple really is power...

BBQ Party
We knew that she never had a good birthday party we decided to throw a big one for her. We prepared 23 presents for all the years we didn't celebrate with her. The presents included a pair of heels, new webcam, a top, etc. The BBQ was also part of her present and her last present was her boyfriend who travelled all the way from Italy to celebrate her birthday. It was such a happy moment she wanted to cry but held her tears back. Seeing her being so happy, some of the girls teared a little too. Haha... But the guys were happy for her but i guess he has set a very high standard for the other attached girls here. Sadly i do not have the photo of her and her boyfriend. I only took a video and uploading a hi-res video will kill my net connection speed. So make do with the photos ar...


The 20 presents we prepared.


The present presentation ceremony


The BBQ area


Our Tiramisu cake. Made it too big and didn't have enough time to cool it.

Clubbing @ Seven
After that we headed to the club. It was a long queue but we had reserved a table. That means we can enter the club without queuing. Like express lane, we walked past the queue and entered the club. It was not as great at the other week's one. But the good thing is that we got a table and its nice having a place to sit down, enjoy the music and finish up the whisky. Haha...









The second last photo was taken as most of them were semi-drunk. I wanted to photoshop myself in but could not find the time to do so... Well... Next time then.

Friendly Fire by Paintball

Attended a paintball event with the student's association. It was pretty cheap for 200 rounds of paintballs. Even though we never made up the 20 pax minimum limit to get our own referee, the staff there just gave us our own game and match. So we got our gear and before heading to the battlefields, the girls were given chest guards. Nothing for the guys, not even a cup. It was that dangerous for the guys that day.

So we loaded up and started playing. I guess we had lots of fun. Seriously lots of fun until my teammate shot me in the temple of my head from the back! It was a serious ouch! I mean, seriously painful.

But i didn't knew there were two girls who were so garang on paintballing. They are like shoot and move with me. It was nice pairing up with them. I think its good teamwork i guess. Haha...

Easter Weekend Celebration

Wow... What a weekend! Easter is like any other normal days in Singapore but i really celebrated hard. It felt so much like going overseas and really spending my time fully. It all started on Thursday...

20th March, Thursday
I went to Crowns Casino Hotel to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was his 23rd birthday and we decided to have a nice spread with him. The spread was amazing and we really had a good time eating there. Check out the photos!!







After dinner, we went to Kbox for karaoke. The package was 6pm-4am and each persons have 2 drink complimentary. The drinks includes alcoholic drinks too. The cost was about A$25(S$32) per person which was very worth it. Even though we started singing at 10pm, it was still worth it.







21st March, Friday
The plans was to have bbq at one of my friend's place. But the shops are all closed due to Easter, so we had to change plans. So they came over to my place again for potluck. This time we had another spread of food, ranging from pizza, fried rice and baked salmon to chicken soup and butter garlic mushrooms. It was an amazing spread. Too bad i didn't take any photos, they are all on my friend's cam.

Than we head to another friend's place. The others wanted to play mahjong while those not playing just tagged along. His place have the Wii machine and we played with it. Im not a fan of mahjong so i was playing with the Wii.

22nd March, Saturday
The bed finally arrived at my place. The guy who i arranged for delivering was a letdown. He really just want to earn my money. A very bad experience with him. He still have the guts to tell my friends about him. I doubt i'll ever gonna let other know about him.

Than i joined my friends for shopping at a factory outlet shopping centre. Lots of discounted products but the sizes and designs does not attracts me. I only bought a sweater top as its cold most of the time here in Melbourne. Quite cheap and looks better than the one i brought over. After all the shopping, we went to have dinner together. It was pancakes with fish and chicken, very bad combo... Lots of carbo... And for desserts, we had more pancakes!! This time with ice cream and apples. I really packed lots of sinful food...





23rd March, Sunday
I had a nice sleep on my 'new' bed! It was really good. Much better than the sinking matteress. Haha... Had to wake up early as we arranged to have lunch together. We had dim sum lunch. The food was okie but the beancurd dessert was amazing good. It was extremely smooth. It had this tint of ginger but not that strong. I seriously loved it. Too bad they didn't serve up you tiao.

After that i went to my friend's place to bake muffins for the next day's trip. He had an oven which was perfect for baking stuff. Im definitely going back again to mess up his kitchen





And then we joined a couple of friends for clubbing night. It was pretty fun and i had lots of drinks. And the best part about it was they was showing Man Utd vs Liverpool game in the club! It was like killing two birds with one stone. After that i was dragged to the dance floor and they started dancing. I just merely stand and concentrated on my game. Haha... But it was my style to buy one round of drinks for the ladies. I don't mind buying drinks for them but it was me who drank a fair bit more. That was expensive.





There is still lots to post. Im lagging behind on dates. Man, im just getting too busy now. Haha...

Got myself a set of wheels!

Last sunday, i got myself a set of wheels. By hearing this, it does sounds like i've got a car but its a 2 wheeler. It's not a motorbike but a human-powered bicycle. Its quarter of a price of a cheap car but at least i wun be paying for petrol. Petrol is priced pretty good but still expensive. Here is my bike...



Its not fantastic but a bike like this would cost quite a bit in SG. Trek brand with RST suspension. Im gonna upgrade the seating and maybe install a back warning light later on. But for now, its good enough transport to school and back.

And last week on Friday, it was suppose to be a Movie night. Yes, the movie night was carried out but it was the after hours special that was fun. Hehe... Too many photos to post up, here is the link for the photos.

http://www.sasmonash.com/Movie%20Night.php

Lots of pretty girls ar... Too bad most of them are taken le. Haizz....

Potluck at my Place

On the day which i will be celebrating birthday for that OLD person, i managed to have as much fun with friends here coming over to my place to have dinner together. They brought food over and we simply ate, joked and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. On the menu was Curry Chicken, Salad, Fried Rice and for desserts, we had chocolate fondue and profiteroles. I think its spelt like that cause when i first heard it, i thought he was bringing prostitutes. LOL!!

Some random photos...






It was pretty happening with around nine of us partying at my balcony. We had so much fun, the chocolate fondue hardened while we are sharing stories. Lots of stories were shared and we got into talking about B.O. Yes, body odour. Imagine a girl with body odour? And her aim is wanna be FHM cover girl! Plus she does not have this amazing figure. Small boobs, no hips and i don't see the ass anywhere. How to be FHM cover girl? More like FHM wannabe. Haha...

edited 17th Mar

New Overseas Student = Constant Shopping

You cannot deny it. I mean, i have been doing lots of shopping to fill up all the holes in my accomodation, clothes to fight the weather and most of all my big appetite which i think i reduced it. I cannot eat too much now. It hurts the wallet you see...

Past few days have not been doing much shopping as i did my grocery shopping on Sunday. Carried quite alot back and spent more than 100+. Well... Its alot cheaper than eating out.

Today im gonna visit a friend to see if his old bed will be my new bed. Hopefully i find out how to move the bed from his place to my place. Hehe...

The Weekends...

Well, the last weekend was better spent than the previous one. I joined a friend of mine to meet friends of hers' at Ikea. I wanted to get a new bed, skillet pan, chopping board and a dish dryer tray. But after some advice from them, i skipped on the bed and skillet and bought a set of chopping board. I totally forgot about the dish dryer tray. Dang...

And since one of them is driving, i decided to buy a quilt and a quilt cover. No more cold nights now! Hehe... After that, we went to their place in the city. Played a few rounds of card games on their poker table. I always wanted to own one private poker table but its just too expensive to have one.

Than we went to this japanese ramen restaurant. The restuarant shop is called Momotarou, it sounds so much like Hamtaro. The chef was really good at cooking the ramen. I ordered the pork and vege ramen in white soup. It was very good. The ramen doesn't taste like maggi mee and the pork slice was big and juicy. The group of us ordered 1 dozen of gyoza. Also damn nice... Haha...

Beach Day on a Cold Summer Day

It's all summarised in that sentence above. I joined a group of students from Singapore in their event of a beach day. Following the lead of the president who brought a group of around 10+ to the beach, we got to know other students from other faculties and a few of them are pretty interesting too.

Upon arrival at the beach, it was blowing strong cold winds. The guys in our group are freezing let alone the girls. So most of the girls huddle up and keep close together. Well, the guys as usual, just stayed strong and braved the cold winds.

The club organised us into 2 teams. Than we started playing games and getting to knoew more about each other. It was then that i realise most of them are staying near my place, some 15mins walk away. And the best part, a girl is staying at the same place as me. Too bad she is attached and her boyfriend is coming over next week.

While playing games, one of the club member helped to start the barbeque and started cooking the sausages. The sad thing is they bought raw sausages which took pretty long to cook with that small bbq set. So that was the negative point but the crowd and the members made up for the lack of cooked food. Hehe...

It was nice to see Singaporeans here and coming together to orgainse events. I will be joining them in lots of different events im sure... With free food and lots of company, what else could i ask for in a club?

Yea! A present!!

Past few days had been pretty good. Since the start of school, i got things planned out for me. At least i won't be staying home doing nothing. A couple of things happened the past 3 days.

On Tuesday, the smoke alarm was activated and the entire building of students had to evacuate. I didn't know what to do and just walked out with my t-shirt and shorts. Nothing seem to be burning and i see others wearing their jackets out, they even got their mobile and wallets out. All i got was my house keys! Then there was cold winds blowing at us. Soon the fire brigade came, they checked the system and told us it was a false alarm. I was almost a popsicle... So that was that and i went on to finish up my reading. And it happened again! At 4.20am in the morning! This time im smarter, i took my stuff, wore a jacket, even brought my blanket out. And like the previous time, it was another false alarm. Disturbed my sleep totally...

Today i went to this shopping mall that my friends recommended, they say its so big you will have to take 2 days to fully explore it. So i did some research on it, found out the directions to the place and start my journey to the place today. It was huge...


This is taken around 400m away from the mall. The entire building IS the mall.

The building is made of 2 supermarkets, 2 major retailers and over 100 different stores with like 4 food courts. Vivocity to me now looks so small... Haha... I didnt't buy much there, just went to venture and look around. Didn't manage to completely walk the entire place. But i realise something, unlike Singapore, every corner you will see a Mcdonalds. Over here, they are hard to find. Even the shopping centre doesn't have one. And in the city, its like only 2-3 outlets.


Then another surprise came to me... My uncle sent me a welcome gift.

Now i get to venture around even better! Muahahaha!! Thanks!

First Day of School!!!

It was my first day of school here in Melbourne. I got my timetable today and i get to plan it! Yay! So i crammed all my lesson dates into Mon-Wed, leaving thur, fri, sat and sun free. FREE!!! I repeat myself again, thur to sun free!! Haha...

Lectures are like back to poly life. Lecturer, lecture hall, hundreds of students. But the difference is that the students here are younger. I mean almost five years younger than me. There are those other working adults back to studyin but im like the older person among the younger crowd. i realise something too. I see my old self inside them. Paying for school fees but still wanna sleep through lectures. Coming in late and just stroll in to class. Well, things are different now. I've thrown away these bad habits and now felt like some good boy studying hard. Haha...

Lastly, i just wanna share the new experience i had today. In the Uni, there is this open lecture theatre. The only wall that is opaque is the projection wall. The other three sides are all glass. I mean i can see outside clearly. One thing it helps is that you won't fall asleep easily as you can look out to see the amazing view. Its something so new that i feel like going back there again. I will try to get a photo of the place as soon as possible.

1 Week has passed...

I have finally survived the 1st 7 days of my life here in Melbourne. Not a very foreign land but still all alone. It does feel lonely sometimes, but the worst part is during sleep time. Its the time duration where you are awake and falling asleep. That is the time where 'miss' and 'lonliness' starts to creeps in. Then eventually, i will drift off to sleep and start all over again the next day.

As i have shifted to a new place, i took a few pictures of the area. Oh refresh or reload the page if the pictures are skewed. No photoshop due to somebody...


Open the door and this is what you see


My bed


Opposite view of my room, cupboard with mirror and far right is the kitchen


Lastly, full length windows with a HUGE balcony space.

So now i cook my own dinner while having a comfortable personal space i call home for now. But the thing i need now is a bed, as you can see they only provide a mattress. Its sinking in the centre which causes my tailbone to hurt sometimes due to it hitting the supporter poles. Well, im getting a new one if possible. Hopefully by next week im sleeping on a nice spring mattress bed.

Hey Ho From Melbourne

Wow... So much things to blog, guess i gotta do a quick one with photos to explain the rest.

After passing through the security, i did not want to look back. I just wanted to walk to my gate and get up on my plane as quick as i could. But looking at the scene around me, i got a feeling my friends would wanna do the same too. They wanna wave crazily to me while i wave back and see them for one last look. So i turned around, saw them waving their most sincere goodbyes at me. With each wave, a blessing from them to me. And i feel blessed to have friends like them.



Upon arrival at the airport, i contacted my airport pick up and soon was driven to my motel. Nothing spectacular... Below is the photo, you can see its somewhat 2-3times the size of my home toilet. The bed was lousy, the TV was sucky and there was only 1 power socket. Guess they didn't want me to use too much electricity.



After that, i went to register in my school and also my life in Melbourne alone. Good thing i learnt all the life skills before coming over. Well, not all exactly. I guess i still have to consult a few people here and there. While finding my future accomodation, im stumble upon a sign saying there is a free concert in a park nearby. So i went over with my bag of chips and a bottle of coke. But i was overwhelmed by the attendence there. There are families all over! I would say roughly 1000 people are there watching the concert. All with their nice picnic floor mats, wine, assortment of cheeses and all kinds of food and fruits. Its pathetic comparing them with me.


Yea, there were lots of insects flying around that night. Too small to even be seen by the naked eye.

So today i went to the city to do some sightseeing. It was an adventure to see the city on foot. I gotta learn everything all over again. Like where to get the free busses and trams, where to find the cheapest food, etc. An adventure all over... And i set myself a target that i must bring back a pillow today, the motel's pillow is totally flat. So i went out and bought myself a nice comfy pillow. Yeah!



Well... Thats all for now. Hopefully i get a place to stay as soon as possible. I want to get out of this crummy place!

Korean Trip Experience

During the CNY period, i planned a Korean trip for my parents and my immediate family members. A total of 11 people, including me, went for this trip. Only my aunt has been on Korean soil, so most of the things i would consult her for advice. As for photos, i will post a link to the album. It's difficult to link photos to the days so just see it after reading this post or vice-versa.

Flight Day:
Flight was on 8am, so we had to check-in by 6am. Our flight was at Terminal 3, the new terminal. Its very nice and very spacious. Though it was only catering to Singapore Airlines flights the service is still slow and there is always a long queue to check-in. Everything was smooth and dandy and we are on our way to Incheon, Seoul.

Upon arrival at Seoul, you can really feel the winter chill. Its like 2-5 degrees in the day and below 0 in the night. So i guess you can say its really, really cold. We paid for airport transfer which is actually a bus loops around Seoul city. Amazing that our hotel is just outside the busstop. Check-in to hotel and we are all hungry as its dinner time. Dinner was settled in a korean bbq styled restaurant. Dad ordered too much as he was hungry. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and rested for the night.

Day 2:
Started with meeting my family members for breakfast. We had breakfast at starbucks. It was pretty cheap as breakfast for 2 included regular latte and cuppa, bagel, sausage crossaint and espresso shot cupcake. After breakfast we proceeded to Nandaemun market for a little shopping. As it was the first day of CNY, all shops were not opened. It was almost like a ghost town. We walked around except a few stalls are open. Finally, my mom crashed into one of the stalls selling Korean fare and bought a big bag of stuff. Meanwhile i visit the Nandaemun gate. It was rather impressive. Few centuries old structure still surviving till today. Took a few photos and seperated with my family.

Our group seperated into 3 parts, my parents, aunt and grand-aunt went to the casino. My uncles family and cousin went on another part of shopping trip. My brother and I went walking just about everywhere. While on the way i bought some strawberries. Imagine a lunchbox size portion of strawberries for only $7! What a steal... Bought 1 box and happily continued our way back to our hotel. Along the road picked up some roadside foodstalls. See photos for more explanation.

Day3:
As planned, my brother and I decided to climb one of the peak in Seoul. The mount is call namsam park. Situated just south of the CBD area and at 200m above sea level. An adventure junkie like me would never give this a miss. So we started our journey after breakfast at Coffeebean joint. Halfway through, my brother was panting and than he saw hope of going up the top without sweating a bead of sweat, cable car. I would say its more of a gondola. I cursed at him and told him i will pay for the ascent to the top but we will walk down. Up the cable car and up to the top. At the top, we went up to the Seoul Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world. It was a spectacular view from there. You can see the whole of Seoul city and the surrounding distant residential area. At the top, i realise something. The sight was almost the same as what i saw at Taipei 101 tower. The city has a river flowing through it and surrounded by natural obstacles of stone. I guess that is how a capital was chosen, abundant life with the river and natural defenses of mountains.

We came down from the tower and looked around the base of the tower. It was then i saw something unique. On the fence, there was thousands of locks on it. Im confused and wondering why the heck do Koreans put a padlocks on these fences for? Than i saw a mandarin speaking guide so i made my way there and listened on his explanation. The padlocks are locked here by couples, it meant to them eternal love. All locks will have 2 keys at least and if one day they are truly seperated, one of them will come here and unlock it. It is like a token of love. It also shows how romantic Koreans are. Hehe...

In the afternoon, my dad requested to see the palace. Da Chang Jin made him want to look how magnificent the place is. So we got into a taxi and went to the palace. It was lucky enough for us to be there just nice to see the change of palace guards ceremony. Something interesting and special. Comparing that to our change of guards parade at the Istana, its like comparing shrimp and lobster. After touring the palace grounds, my mom decided to give a treat. She won quite abit during the the previous day at the casino. So we had the international buffet. The spread was amazing. I never had so much tuna belly sashimi in my life. Great buffet. Damage? $70/pax. Ouch! Still lots of leftovers for my mom in her winnings. So my parents contined the night to try their luck while i walked back to the hotel with my brother. On the way back, we saw snow! Yes. snow! Haha... After so many years of my life, its my first ever seeing snowflakes falling on to me. It was a wonderful experience.

Day 3:
It's now the 3rd day of CNY. Most of the shops are opened now. It was the last day in Korea. So i decided to tell my parents of my plan. Main objective is to go to their Coex tower to buy kimchi and visit Lotte World for once. In the morning, we went to a local shopping centre as my cousin wanted to buy a toy. Lotte Mart was the name of the store and the prices there are pretty reasonable. After checkout, there is this packing station. Empty cardboard boxes is stacked neatly by the side. You can take box, put whatever you want inside and carry it home. They even include free tape! That is what i call cash and carry. Haha... We carried everything in plastic bags and head back to the hotel.

We continued our journey to Coex Tower and Lotte World. At the Coex Tower, the shopping area is huge! It's comparable to Vivocity except its only one level. I kept trying to find the Kimchi museum but its hard to locate it. Hunger overwhelmed us and we finally head to Mcdonalds for lunch. I had shrimp burger while my brother tried their tomato and bacon big mac. Interestingly, they big mac had a cardboard ring around it. Making it hard to topple while still keeping the cut lettuce inside. We ate at the location so the server gave us plastic cups for our coke. Its nice to see them save the environment. After lunch, we continued our search for the museum. Finally submitted to asking the information counter. The lady showed me the way and when we are there, its closed. So sad... Then we proceeded to Lotte World. Finally got tickets to their famous themepark. Shan't say more, the pictures tell a thousand words.

Finally, we head back to our hotel late into the night. We went into this 24hr Korean Restaurant. Ate the BiBimBap as they are famous for it. After that, we went back to the hotel and packed our stuff for departure the next day.

Day 4:
We woke up and had our last breakfast in Seoul City. Heard of a chicken store that sells good baked chicken. So we had the set for brunch. Overall it tasted simple. Not as good as Cute Chicken in Clementi. Then we shopped for one last time and went back to the hotel. Packed our stuff and left Seoul City with so much still waiting to be discovered.

The photo album link:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v395/scopion/Korea%20Trip/

I will pay for damages...

Today i had quite a lineup for my day. I brought a friend to pick up her boyfriend from the airport early in the morning. It was a unique experience i must say, but to see the smiles and happiness is worth the time. Too bad i didn't bring along a camera...

During noon, i had dental appointment. Pulled out the old bands and installed a new set of bands. Seems i have to extend that removal of braces date further, but its a small sacrifice for greater study and the adventure of a lifetime. Lunch was settled in PS, had the Ayam Panggang in the foodcourt. Gonna miss local fare very soon.

After lunch i went a little shopping to justify the buying of new clothes during Chinese New Year. I bought a box of cherries from the supermart and in the midst dropped two boxes. A lady came up to me and demanded i pay for the two boxes as nobody will buy. I simply stayed calm and told her, i will pay for the damages. She stared at me with those poison tipped eyes and started picking out the spoiled cherries. A total of four. Than i said, you weigh them and i will pay for it. Then the supervisor came and intervened and said that its okie, i will not be charged for it. So remember kiddies, when you break something, you have the right to pay for the damages.

Lastly i went to see my usual physician. A little injury on my shoulder which is a huge pain in the past two weeks. So i had to get treatment for it. Accupunture to the rescue again! Yea! But its not miricle cure like the movies but im feeling better now.

My new Toy... Woot~

My ex-classmates all gave this as my farewell gift. It was something that i have been bugging one or two of them. Actually im joking as to getting it but they still went on to get for it. I liked it very much and as promised, i have to bring this new toy to Melbourne with me.



Yup, its the Tickle-me Elmo. YAY!!! Loads of fun and laughter just looking at it laughing. And its the Xtra Special edition too. 6 different specials waiting to be discovered.