Merry X'mas Y'all!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Hope you had an enjoyable christmas 2005! The year's coming to an end so better start thinking of your resolutions!

Spent the weekend on a local getaway with the girlfriend. Got us both a 3 days 2 nights stay at the Plaza Park Royal(heng got staff discount so quite ok). Really fun and it almost feels like you're overseas anyways. Sorry if I wasn't free for the rest of you over the weekend. Hehe.

So the new year's coming.

What are YOUR resolutions for 2006?

iNano-ed

So small! 

Words can't describe my latest baby.

Its so small, so cute, so handy...wah lao...

Bought it for half normal price(should've ordered a couple more sets) and its been well worth it so far. Okie so the manual and instructions are all in Japanese but what the hey its not too hard to fiddle around with.

Christmas pressie for myself. How apt...

*gush*

Serendipity

I think I used this title for a blog entry once. I suppose its appropriate for this current entry too.

Without it I wouldn't imagine any other way that I could possibly catch up with my good friends from way back when.

Without it I wouldn't feel the impetus to blog immediately upon arrival home.

I am blessed.

So there I was after my tiring(and somewhat fruitless, but warranting another story) roadshow, had met up with June for a brief chat and get the Border's postcard from her, I was hungry and alone.

Was walking around deciding what I should eat and really couldn't decide. Then I came across this Jap outlet called Pepper Lunch which looked like the least crowded of all shops in Orchard Road. I figure if an outlet has a name with 'Lunch' in it, no one would have it for dinner.

If anyone's eaten at either the Taka or Shaw outlets, you'd realise that you have to order your food first and then go find your seat. So I ordered my pepper beef rice(extremely salty) and headed to my allocated seat, which was a counter seat since I was terrbly alone.

And lo and behold who was there seating beside my allocated seat? It was Steven and Amy! Waaaah. Super surprised. They also just ordered their food and they were seating right beside me! If its not pure coincidence and chance then I know not what to say.

*Nothing to say*

Then we chatted lor. In Amy's words, both Steven and my maturity level suddenly dropped back to 10yr old kids level. We are, afterall, a very potent combination. Steven going to be a pilot(really really!), Amy still teaching.

I learnt from them that the movie Pride and Prejudice is good, and Aeon Flux is fuck shite. Then again they thought Chicken Little was good. Brrrr....

I also learnt that when you want your friends to stop teasing you just start selling them investments or insurance. Insurance especially works wonders.

I also learnt that friends who have seen you gamble in Genting will never, ever, buy investments from you.

I also learnt that everyone has barely any time to catch up with one another anymore. Work is ever consuming. So both of them are damn lucky they are so free for each other now. Eh?

It's wonderful to have such moments when you least expect it. Chancing upon a couple of good friends and catching up with the old days albeit over oily food and drinks.

We are a lucky bunch blessed with the grace of serendipity.

November, O'Yeah?

I gotta say November's been a good month. Worked hell hard and its should be worth it. Hopefully December will be just as good if not better. Though judging from the last coupla days I'll be lucky if I just scrape past my threshold.

Haven't been doing much other than work lately.

The weekend was great. Worked the usually halfday banking hours and then whisked off to VJC for basketball. After almost a three month layoff from the regular game I still can mix it up with the best. Not bad for an old bag like myself. But was too tired to do anything else thereafter. Thankfully the girlfriend bothered to come over to enjoy a good french movie(The Chorus).

Sunday was another nuah day(my offdays are more often than not nuah), spent the afternoon crooning at K-box(bloody cheap K-lunch package), then shopped around till late. At night was another movie night at home, this time a rerun of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Brilliant show. I won't need any of those treatment what with my lousy memory hehe.

*sneezed*

Am sick. The flu. Getting better already though.

Spend alot of time in office these days. I wonder if my life is gonna be like that from now on? Where will I be a year on? What will I be doing? The same thing? Hmm...I really wonder.

I still have dreams of earning my first million before I'm thirty. How? I dunno but I only have four more years to go and I'm not even 10% on my way there. Even with my super high-risk mega portfolio of investments I'm really not flying towards the million-dollar mark as yet.

*sigh*

So anyway selling investments and insurance is fun and fulfilling. Its all that I've ever envisioned myself doing, and more! Housing loans and servicing though, on the other hand, are a total bitch. Very extra work and very tediously unrewarding.

Life is dandy. And good. Now if only I strike Toto...

I.R.O.N.Y.

I really only need you.

IRONY is when you sell insurance to a Prudential advisor.

Thats been done.

I'm Still Alive

Yes I am.

Just busy cheonging while there's money to make that's all.

An Excellent Movie

An Excellent Movie 

If you missed out on today's totally excellent exciting happening ultra-fun hall 8 alumni gathering to sentosa, wah lan eh, you missed out on alot siah!!!

Haha.

Okie so the attendence wasn't like the whole world(which everyone claims I told them!), but we had a larger than expected crowd nonetheless! 13 people in all! That's not bad if you consider that the whole idea was hatch two nights before while driving chun home and wondering what we can do on this public holiday.

So there we were playing beach volleyball(I bought this ultra cool Adidas beach volleyball for only $29) in the hot sand. The sun was unusually hot today and we all walked away super duper roasted. Lots of bikini babes, hot hunks and erm..pet dogs(real ones!). Heck, we even saw Tay Ping Hui, Ix Shen and Ericia Lee lor! Think they were filming something there.

So it was a nice outing in all, good to meet up with everyone after so long never talk cock. Its always like old times again when we meet up and talk cock. Even the jokes are the same but we still laugh like we heard them for the first time.

Afterthat we even went to Macs at Harbourfront for a super gossip session! Haha. So baguah everyone getting themselves updated from everyone else! Haha.

Okie. End of our outing liaoz.

Then the excellent movie began...

Okie lah, no movie, but as drama as an exciting action movie maybe.

Leon offered to drive a few of us home. Namely Corrinne, Hwi Kiat, Thomas, Chun and myself. Along the way heading towards the ECP we started hearing this really loud grinding noise coming from below our van. It became so loud that in the end Leon had to stop the van and Hwi Kiat had to get out to check...

...then we found that we had a flat tyre!

Wah!

So exciting! First time we get the chance to change a flat tyre!!!

So as you can see in the pix, there we were changing the spare tyre!!!

SO EXCITING!

The triangle that we put about 25m away caused abit of traffic problems, but think lucky we put it there lah, else some errant driver might've crashed into us. And to add to all the excitement, there was a ton of mosquitoes! All cos Leon stopped beside a huge drain. Wah xianz. Means we had to work fast because we were getting bitten left right and centre(even my butt)! Sibeh alot alot of mosquito bites. Hahaha.

In the end we took about half an hour(first 1 minute was panic) to get everything settle. So zhai!!! Hahaha, then we drove to Shell in Siglap and celebrated with Minute Maid's lemonade!!!

So that basically summed up my Deepavali.

And this one especially for Mr Tan "I keep repeating myself" Hwi Kiat,

Little known to those 6 graduates, thee flat tyre incident would only be the beginning of their adventures....

Sales Is Tough As Egg

Okie, I dunno how many times you'll hear me telling you this, but yeah, sales is definitely tough as shite. And believe me I can harp on this sordid fact till the cows come home.

I've been busting my ass for the last 3 weeks since I was finally thrown onto ground zero to walk my talk. Everything they said about this job is true and more. I hardly knock off before 9pm and if I do its because I've got training elsewhere. My poor calves shoulders and thighs have hardly seen the sun all week man. Then everyday gotta worry about hitting my targets and closing whatever sales we can close.

Last weekend I had my first day off(sunday) and before that I realised that I had worked 13 consecutive days. Wah seh.

K lah enough of demoralizing shite. I mean I did choose this path afterall so who am I to complain?

If there's any good side to it all its that I'm not regretting my decision to jump on the sales wagon...yet. The money's not too bad either. I get lotsa freebies. And I save alot of money because I've got no time to do anything else.

My branch manager is also really a chump. Somewhat encouraging(in a weird masochistic way), and even helps out wherever he can, notably at point of closure of sales. And a really good and effective coach too I gotta say. So wheh he ask me to stay back to teleconsult I really can't refuse. Afterall if I hit threshold this month its 'cause of all his help, encouragement and coaching lah...and I'm almost there liaoz...

Haiz.

Last weekend was a great weekend spent with the girlfriend. Been neglecting her quite alot due to work constraints, and we sure as hell spent it like we were making up for all that absence! Hehe. We watched a movie, went for an early morning jog(8am), breakfast at siglap, k-lunch, played pool, the works...

Oh yeah, and watched Flight Plan. Its...erm...okie lah. Its not lousy enough for me to tell you not to watch it, and yet its not good enough to warrant a really strong recommendation to cath it either. So you go decide whether you wanna catch it or not. But I know everyone wants to find out what really happened to Jodie Foster's daughter because the trailer was what enticed me to catch the show too(okie so the gf wanted to watch it also), but I shan't spoil it for those of you who wanna catch it. If you really wanna know and don't wanna waste $19 on a good weekend, then ask me lor. Haha.

Hopefully will have at least the next few sundays off. Anyone wanna catch me in action on any given sunday can just drop by the branch at Orchard @ Somerset.

Bleahz.

Luck

Luck

Luck is when Opportunity meets Preparation.

Stressed

Haiz...

Life as a salesman is indeed tough. Maybe even tougher than I thought.

Hardly any time for my other things.

Always rushing like mad.

And I've got absolutely no life.

And things might actually get worse...

*sigh*

My New Handphone

My New Handphone 

Happy.

Just bought my business phone. Its the latest Sony Ericsson K300i! For all my business needs and usage. Cheap too!

Got camera, video recording, addictive java games, music dj, scheduler, and lotsa other rubbish. All for $38. Wah.

Training's in its final week. Next week onwards its gonna be slogging for sales liaoz. Haiz. Anybody got anything that they need insurance, investment or home loans or what from my place just gimme a buzz hor. Hehe.

Erm. Oh yah, if you're wondering what's my biz number, its 3907 X 17 X 81 X 18.

Ha.

Watched Corpse Bride over the weekend. Wah lao, its helluva good siah(pardon pun). Really niiiiiiiiiiiccccccccceeeeeeeee!!!! I would recommend it to the whole wide world but everyone will just doubt me. Humph. Sure its a tad predictable, but everything else's so good there's nothing(hardly any) not to like about it! Haha. If you liked Nightmare Before Christmas and anything Jim Henson then this show is so super for you lor!! *gush gush*

Oh yah and brudder Redtail, we really gotta get together some time(where we dun have to force each other to drink so much alcohol or dance so much) to exercise or something. I think I have a belly liaoz. Big one. Dun pray pray.

Alumni soccer would be a terrrific idea. But who else would be onz?

Of Sprained Shoulders And Torn Tissues

as i jumped and grabbed another rebound in the sweltering afternoon sun all i remembered was hearing this unearthly sound of paper slowly tearing.

'cept there was no paper anywhere in sight. instead the sound came from inside of my right shoulder. wah xianz. even jinde heard that strange sound. it's times like this that you know you're not the only one who knows things're bad. tore some fibres in there. what a stinkin' bitch.

clutched my right arm tight tight and groaned loud loud.

anyway told parents and they fetched me from tjc to eas*shor* hospital cuz there my company insurance reimburses. but the doctor was seriously crap lah. where got everything also so simple just use icepack and numb it? and guess what medicine she prescribed? painkillers. fuck. sure wasn't solving my problem she.

then got shipped to fortune centre in town to see pa's regular chinese medicine sinseh. this was a different story. used funny devices to suck out bad air and stuff and lo and behold, my arm was okie liaoz! still painful but could lift it up liaoz! happy!

now my right shoulder's all plastered up with chinese medicinal plaster. hope tomorrow will be ok liaoz.

bummer.

TPB 04/05

TPB 04/05 

this is my posse picture!

just came back from playing soccer with my mates from training. damn tired. its been 6 weeks since i started. now we're down to the final two weeks and i've really learned so much from this place. the people i've met and the friendships i've forged have been extremely valuable. the experiences i've had and the things i've seen i will take with me down this challenging path that is my career.

i can't help but reflect with a tinge of sadness that my 2 mth training course is finally coming to its final stages. next week we're learning the systems and working on some selling techniques and that would be it. the gist of the course has been long and arduous, the cmfas exams especially. but i'm glad most of us have gotten that outta the way and most of us are finally qualified to sell.

the past week has been very interesting. learned all about the different insurance policies that we will be selling and comparing them to products in the market. while the first 4 weeks we were just drilled on how insurance, home loans and investments worked in general, the next two weeks have been more of an intense cramming of products that we will be selling. and i must admit that we've indeed got good products that we ourselves are confident of selling.

the whole lot of us have really come a long way since we met on day one. this picture is of us celebrating esther's birthday(she's holding that white shirt). its the one picture i have where the most of us are in, so its the best picture i've got of our class.

most of us came in with little sales experience and some were fresh grads outta uni. which is why we're on the trainee course which is so much more comprehensive. it just means that they take our tiny inexperienced hands and walk every step of the way with us. a good move indeed.

now we're all talking investments, insurance and argueing about our different perceptions and thoughts on the different products we have and whatever's available in the market and why whichever is better.

take today's talk by nelson raj of axa about term insurance and hospital cash. after the last 3 intensive days of insurance training we had our minds set on whole life policies and endowments being the way to go. then in comes this feminine young chap who takes our ideas and mindsets and throws it out the window! i must say i was really impressed by the way he totally dissed the idea that whole life policies arn't the way to go. now i'm thinking that he has a good point. though i still don't agree with some of his ideals, i still thought today's session was refreshing and provided a fresh angle to the insurance plans i'm gonna buy for myself and recommend to other people.

sometimes you can find a whole new world just by looking at the other side of the coin.

then the different talks by all the fund house managers have also swayed my thinking that unit trusts are crap. i used to think they were definite losing money instruments. but after you learn of how they work and look at their specific functions and objectives, they end up being the healthier choice of a host of investment vehicles. which is a very good thing. in fact i'm looking to invest in them as well.

at the end of the day, i realised that a host of banking products, namely the insurance and investments, are there to help the public in general grow their wealth. but yet many are afraid or averse to them because they have the mindset that the bank is out to scam their money only.

well me the insider says that, it is true that banks aim to earn money from the very products they sell(else how are they gonna survive just merely keeping your money and paying you interest for your deposits?), but the bank always makes sure that while they earn, their customers must also earn(albeit less than what the banks would earn). but at the end of the day, everyone's gonna be happy watching their money grow. else the bank's not gonna have much of a reputation left if what it sells always ends up wasting customers money.

alot of inspiring stuff i've seen and learnt in my time here and so muc i'd like to share, but there's still an awfully long way to go before i reach my first million(haha) and i'm kinda tired writing so much. still, its a start, and a good one at that. hopefully 5 years on, you people will have seen me make something of myself.

come carpe diem, baby.

All Cleared!!!

so happpppppppppiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

cleared HI today.

bloody happy.

dunno how i'm gonna celebrate.

whhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Another One Down, Final Paper Left

whooooot!

passed m8! whoo! happy.

last paper on tuesday. gotta piah for that.

been posted to mount elizabeth branch. sounds not too bad. best of luck to me!!!

branch observation tomorrow.

oh and from the words of my dearest, i'm a cash cow! moo moo moo!!!

Sept 11 Remembered

Me, at the site of the New York World Trade Centre on sept 11th 2004  

was reading yesterday's papers about sept 11th being remembered. kinda made me think of that tragic event.

remembered i was having scrabble training when the news broke back in 2001. was one of the late night trainings we had. after i heard the news i still wasn't very shocked until i went up to my room later that night and watched the endless updates on channel news asia. was really tragic.

in the summer of 2003, coincidence would actually play a part in me encountering this tragic event again. this time i was already nearing the 4th month of my travels in the usa with campusa, where i had worked as a camp counselor in colorado(those who've followed my blog would know), and i was with joe, my trustee companion, road-tripping the northwestern u s of a in our tiny chevrolet.

we had planned our visit to long island, new york to meet up with a couple of joe's frens, stacy et al, who would put us up for a short period. we were subsequently chased out of our quarters and had to sleep in our car(again!), but thats another story.

so on the night of sept 10th we actually decided to drive down to manhattan to looksee, obviously not knowing the significance of the date. its about an hour's drive from long island, so it wasn't to tough a drive but by the time we drove over the brooklyn bridge it was almost midnight liaoz(dun ask why we started off so late).

so we were just driving around the city of manhattan amongst its horrid traffic conditions and wondering why the hell there were traffic jams in the city at 1am? then we saw people celebrating, and fire engines driving around blaring their horns. and STILL we didn't realise what was going on.

it was only when we drove to the site of the twin towers, that we realised that it was already sept 11th. and on that very site, two extremely strong bright blue lights shot through the sky and illuminated the night light. it was a fascinating atmosphere, with throngs of people crowding the site, and our car having to battle the traffic.

as if an omen of commemoration, these bright lights that soared into infinity attracted thousands and thousands of birds that flew in circles around these lights and created a magical effect of confetti that defied gravity. in fact we didn't even realise they were birds till someone told us.

so that explained the crowds. and even on our way home(to long island) we could still see the blue lights from miles and miles away.

anyhow, thats what that picture above represents. me, stopping along the road to take a picture with the two giant beams behind me. abit blur(lousy camera) but very significant nonetheless. its a sombre feeling to be standing on the grounds where thousands perished so innocently a couple of years ago.

let those who perished rest in peace.

Untitled

Untitled
- Simple Plan

I open my eyes
I try to see but I’m blinded by the white light
I can’t remember how
I can’t remember why
I’m lying here tonight

And I can’t stand the pain
And I can’t make it go away
No I can’t stand the pain

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I’ve got no where to run
The night goes on
As I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

Everybody’s screaming
I try to make a sound but no one hears me
I’m slipping off the edge
I’m hanging by a thread
I wanna start this over again

So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered
And I can’t explain what happened
And I can’t erase the things that I’ve done
No I can’t

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I’ve got no where to run
The night goes on
As I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes
I’ve got no where to run
The night goes on
As I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

-------------------------------------------------------

funny such a simple song evokes the emotions that alot of us want to scream out so loud. i'm sure everyone's got their own untitled moment. a moment when this song screams all that they want to scream.

this is my moment.

can't retake HI this thursday or even friday as i would've liked to. wanted to get it over with as soon as possible so i can focus on the rest of the training schedule. earliest is week after next, and i've booked my slot for tuesday week after. fucking hell. now i got to restudy everything again, and then still gotta get past M8 next week. the only good thing is i have passed M5 that is on thursday, so i get the whole thursday off(its off-in-lieu make up for the previous saturday).

feel like crap to be hampered with this failure when others have passed it. sure, others may have failed other papers that i have passed but the feeling downright sucks man. it always sucks to lag behind.

Failed HI. Xianz.

wah lan. just failed my HI paper.

fuck.

hate failing.

KNNBCCB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Down, Two To Go

passed m9 paper today. i dun think it was very easy. quite alot of people failed. hope they all passed the next time. next up is HI and m8 liaoz. all the best to myself!

Quickie Update

long time no post.

training is into 3rd week liaoz. still fun. hectic and crazy. but fun. cmfas exams are next. lotsa studying.

uncle jason came over to visit. family of 6 invaded our house. had to sleep in pa's room. was fun though, them 4 kids.

chun's birthday came and went. she wasn't having a good time at home. hope i cheered her up a tad bit.

peking duck at lao bei jing @ novena is simply fantastic. mouth-watering, sumptuous and delicately delicious. expensive though.

yup. thats about it...update again soon.

Its Only Just Begun

work start liao.

been too tired to blog. the training will be for 2 months and its a 5day week from 9 to 630 each day. quite xiong and very tiring(maybe too long never work liao). but its fun, interesting and most importantly, challenging. each time training begins at 9am, i feel like i'm participating in an episode of the apprentice. the atmosphere is one that feels competitive and cut-throat.

my fellow colleagues are friendly and nice. but somehow you get the feel that everyone is putting out their strongest front for the rest of the class to see. 24 of us in total. because everyone wants to achieve to be the best, earn the most and climb the furthest. everyone looks like they know what they're in for and no one wants to give way for anyone to climb over them. you can see that desire in many of their faces. very ambitious. i like alot. thats exactly how i want it and what i want to face. everyone's very capable, especially in this line, everyone speaks well, carry themselves well and like to draw attention and speak their minds. there arn't many pessimistic people around and if there were the rest of us wouldn't mind the competition being reduced.

the training i do enjoy more than my previous place. maybe its because i'm more interested in what's being taught now, but then again my previous background did help me get the job. still everyone's quite friendly, trainers are nice and handhold you all around, syllabus easy to follow and practical. i can't ask for more.

these are very exciting times and i'm eager to find out how high i can soar and what the furthest possibilities are.

wish me tons of luck!

among other updates, the dear lost here bag while jogging in yio chu kang stadium. dearest all, in future should you go jogging please please please dun ever put your belongings on the grandstand ever again(even if you used to). there are bound to be lockers somewhere.

hope the theiving bastards grow obscene pus-dripping pimples and burn in hell.

Friday Rant

suffered a severe beating at the hands of the brutal stock market today. i must thank my wonderful buddy novice trader brudder tan for entertaining and exchanging analyses with me the last week...its been fun bro.

haiz.

went to yio chu kang stadium for a jog today. no, i haven't moved house. its that nice sporty stadium that you see when the mrt passes by yio chu kang mrt station. oh you haven't ever been there? hmm its not that bad you know, the people up north actually have running fresh water and their provision shops sell newspapers! some toilets there still don't have toilet paper though. hmph.

joined chun for our planned(may still fail) weekly exercise together. being the nuahster meant i only jogged 4-5 rounds and claim i jogged 6, then walk the next couple of rounds and claim that i was doing sprints. then sneak back to where we put our bags to hide while the dear runs out the last coupla rounds. but hey, got sweat can liao. and sweat i did siah! until underpants also wet. make my backside so itchy.

my holiday has almost ended liaoz. monday start work again. so excited! hope it'll all go well for me in my new place of work. no more bao tohing of where i'm working, at least lidat i can describe my new working life without offending anyone. if you still dunno where i'm working you can erm, ask me in person, or email me or something lah.

ms tiong bock lian is jioing people to go out for dinner this coming sunday as well as go watch the fireworks. dinner will probably be at the esplanade and there's gonna be alot alot alot of people(i kid you not). those who want to come please please please try to join us, we need more people(its not cuz we dun have enuff ppl ok?). just give me or her or someone else whom you think is going(he/she is probably going lah, if not jio him/her too!) a buzz on the mobile about the time and place. or if you're gonna be in the area might as well join us for a brief get-together?

speaking of fireworks, here's a blog that everyone has be recommending to everyone as a must read. funny as shite.

i think someone's really gotta write to the media about that new president that the only hope he has of becoming president is fat hope man. i mean if your previous company has to clarify in our nation builder that you actually weren't good enough, then you really wanna dispute what? and then hyflux comes out and clarifies his short tenure with them(2mths, thats shorter than me in my previous workplace). olivia lum says he's a mere aquiantance when he previously said they were "good friends"? then got lawyer want to sue him somemore. shiok lah, lidat wanna be president?

you ask me to name where nathan used to work for i think hard hard also cannot, but i dun care, i still think nathan has more credibility now. right now this guy has the credibility rivaling that of a pirated dvd from jb lor.

haiz i'm ranting.

okie i'm off to play scrabble online. if anyone wants to play against me(friendly only okie?), do let me know and i will teach you how and where to download the software program(its in one of my links) and even teach you how to cheat online(you're free to cheat against me).

Eski

after all the whining for the last coupla months about how much i wanted to check out the newest bar in town - eski bar - i finally got to see it. we went to the one at tanjong pagar, supposedly the original.

boy was i disappointed.

it was really really small and cramp, like the size of a cargo container(maybe even the container's bigger) and even still its divided into 2 parts, the chilly part that's like 1-2 degrees celcius and the normal chill out behind(with aircon of course).

the chilly part was a good touch and seems like the reason why everyone was popping by. wednesday night between 9-11pm we were there and there weren't more than 20 people in the bar at any one time. maybe wednesday nights are its most unhappening nights.

you can see your breath while you talk in the chilly room. and cuz it was really cold, wearing the normal shirt and pants was definitely insufficient. though they offer parka jackets for free...and if you bring your own you actually get discounts off drinks. but its so small you can feel the waitresses eyes on you 24/7(maybe cuz we were the only patrons in the bar at times!).

that was the good part.

the chill out portion was even smaller though its furnished to look bigger than it really was. we had a nice little seat near the exit of the chilly room. drinks weren't cheap(guess you pay for the chiller), $12 for a tiger/heineken and $14 for an erdinger and up, $40 for a jug a house pour.

the biggest downsides were firstly, the service sucked big time. the only waitress in the bloody chill outt room had her vampire eyes fixated on us almost the whole time, as if we were gonna run of with their heaviest bar stool. i mean hello, we aren't on television lor! and then every now and then, and i mean a VERY frequent(4-5min) now and then, she would take two steps right to the side of our table and lift our beer bottles to see if they were empty. i mean, wah lao eh, eager beaver siah! i like to sip slowly slowly can? and she did it so damn many times it kinda pissed us all off.

secondly, this is one of the few bars i know where you are charged the 10% service charge(what service?), the 5% gst, and the 1% dunno-what charge. wah lao what a rip-off, our order of 2 tiger and 1 erdinger(menu total would have been $38) came up to $45. wah lao. i dun remember many other pubs charging all these charges for drinks and house pours. isn't it supposed to be a single nett charge? i'm not in a bloody restaurant you know. hmph.

thirdly, the toilet sucks big time. its like the last corner of the bar. last last last corner inside inside tiny tiny little cubicle. i mean its so damn small, that after you close and lock the toilet door(its unisex), you STILL can't stand in front of the toilet bowl to pee because there is no space. so the furthest you can stnad is at a 45degree angle by the toilet bowl.

and the best part of all?! because there is no push button flush, the flush can only be activated by sensor. oh dear! how? you can't stand in front to activate the sensor in the first place?! soooo, there is a little note there that tells the user to place his hand in front of the sensor for 10 seconds after he has peed. such brilliance! i never could have thought of that. only saving grace? the tap is automatic sensor too.

haha.

the insensitive irony of the sanitory sensor.

so in the end as we were about to leave we took our still-got-abit-left beer bottles(to spite that lousy waitress) with us to the chilly part and hung out for awhile to see how long we could hang around in that cold.

think we didn't last 10minutes in that freaking freezer. brrr.

in all, i'm proud to say i've been here, done this, dun think i'll come back again. and i'm not speaking for myself here.

once bitten, twice shy.

on a better note, it was a good meeting for myself, steph, june and jeff. haven't met up in a really long time and each of us had our stories to tell of whatever we've been up to. jeff was with dbs and doing pretty good, steph's our sole survivor and june's working in borders. kewl.

'twas fun i say.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

this age guesser is so precise! darn i was hoping for an 18 or 19...haiz...there goes my young-at-heart status. but hey! i chose sponge bob square pants for the first question!

You Are 26 Years Old

26 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Happy Birthday Singapore!

today chun and i watched the ndp at my place. i think i missed last year's parade on tv so was kinda looking forward to watching it this time around. i'm definitely not keen about that new dance that rui en and taufik are coaxing every mother's son to do but the song isnt too bad.

but today's show all the performers looked like they were lip-synching? yes?

the ndp was really nice to watch. i always enjoy them. makes me feel so patriotic and all and i love to sing along to all those songs since primary school, sing majulah singapura(think i almost forgot some of the words liao), recite the pledge...

aiyah but now they combine a few selected singapore songs into a short medley...haiz. dun have one nation one people one singapore, or the one that starts with "there was a time when people said that singapore wun make it..." remember that one? or count on me singapore! also dun have right? what about last year's we will get there?

actually i think watching the ndp makes me pity the people who have gotta stand on parade siah, gotta stand at attention and wait for the ministers, prime minister, president, then sing malay songs, chinese songs, indian songs, then english songs and still cannot go yet! sibeh xiong!

the mobile column also very long never watch liao. i liked it alot. all the lousy tanks and canons that we have. i think they have been driving the same vehicles(sans modifications in the early days) since our independence. nonetheless i like to watch armoured vehicles and weapons roll over our roads - as long as they're ours.

big thank you to ma and pa for buying boon tong kee back for us to enjoy! while we watch the parade uninterrupted.

all in all it was a good show. i think the crowds at yishun, tampines, jurong east, marina all fully enjoyed themselves. goodness even wave also can wave into some dunno what lousy record. pity the marina people for the long walk to the mrt though.

and guess what flew by our house today?


eh, even at home also got live ndp showcase, dun pray pray hor. chinook leh, wah lao. 

Our Bus Is Coming

this is our lame attempt over the weekend to see who had a better "i think our bus is coming" look at a busstop off bras basah road. as you can see the guy behind us thinks we're completely off our blocks!

weekend was fun!

sprained ankle nevermind still can go out to town and have tons of fun. charlie and the chocolate factory was really good and entertaining. maybe its the midnight show.maybe its cuz i watched the futurama spoof(the one about slurm) one too many times at home.


our attempt to see who has got the 'i think our bus is coming' look.  

so who do you think looks more convincing? me right?! 

Sprained Ankle

sprained ankle while balling yesterday. damn xianz. damn irritating. think saturday was damn jinxed. out of the 14 of us about half of the lot had injuries. mostly sprains. some say its cuz its the 7th month liaoz. haiz xianz leh lousy ankle. now gotta recoup fast enough to play by next saturday again. hate ankle injuries.

hwi kiat posted a typical friday conversation. long live all novice SGX day traders!!! this is an insight into what we will be messaging each other in 40-50 years time.

Soliloquy

so·lil·o·quy (sə-lĭl'ə-kwē)
n., pl. -quies.

A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.
A specific speech or piece of writing in this form of discourse.
The act of speaking to oneself.
[Late Latin sōliloquium : Latin sōlus, alone + Latin loquī, to speak.]

soliloquy, the speech by a character in a literary composition, usually a play, delivered while the speaker is either alone addressing the audience directly or the other actors are silent. It is most commonly used to reveal the innermost concerns or thoughts of the speaker, thus pointing up the drama of internal conflict, as in Richard III's opening speech, “Now is the winter of our discontent.” The form was quite popular in Elizabethan drama, notably in the plays of Shakespeare. The soliloquy may also act simply as a vehicle for information about absent characters or events occurring at some other time or place. In the modern theater the soliloquy has tended to disappear completely, although experimentations in its use were attempted by such playwrights as Eugene O'Neill, who sought through the soliloquy to achieve a greater psychological realism.

The noun soliloquy has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: speech you make to yourself
Synonym: monologue

Meaning #2: a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i'm bored
how bored?
very bored.
poor little me.
bored bored bored.
very very bored.
bores boring bored.
am i really that bored?
i'm bored.

on a more interesting note, i found out that krispy kreme is really a us and canadian product and NOT a malaysian-almost-every-'c'-must-use-'k' product in their looks-really-interesting-but-totally-isn't extremely uninteresting website.

oh. and its raining cats and dogs.

*sigh*

Repeat Last 4

counting down the days before i start work again. been sleeping in and enjoying life the last week or so. damn nuah. so nuah that my daily routine is becoming just that - a strict routine.

wake up,
turn on computer,
check into my phillip securities account,
look at stock prices,
check into refco fx account,
buy a couple of lots,
go outside read newspapers,
parents come home with food,
eat food,
brush teeth,
wash face,
back at comp,
turn on scrabble program,
search for latest stock analyses,
monitor stocks,
monitor fx movements,
play scrabble,
read stock analyses,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
repeat last 4,
5pm market closes,
get ready to go out for program of the day.

wah sad life siah.

Youthful Speak

last night i sang guang liang's tong hua .

twice.

the mtv damn sad.

if your nose bleeds means you are going to die. but my fren says its cuz she wear jacket scarf and headwarmer-thingy on auditorium stage(its supposed to be damn hot up there) then kenna heatstroke. hmm...

then there is the part where her blood(or maybe she was holding tomato ketchup in her hand) drips 3 times on the exact same spot. where got such thing wan? she lng(lai na ge) meh? and we even analyse that if drip from nosebleed means that her nose bleed so jialat until flow from nose to mouth then neck(which her clothes would have soaked up) then maybe down arms and then drip from fingers. either that or while he carry her her face facing downwards like sweat drip then maybe could drip from her chin. hmm...

next time if a girl grabs your head and screams(saliva et al) in your face bang wo ban jia!, you really must help cuz firstly, she knows she is gonna die and you don't, and secondly she must like you, so dunt act dumb and act cute.

one other possible reason she might have died is cuz she sit at the back of the lorry. stupid eeediot, everyone knows taiwan's air so darn polluted lor, want to sit outside also wear a facemask like everyone else mah! hmm...

and the last part after she hear his song over the handphone we suspect it was touching/lullabyish that she fell gently to sleep. so sweet. hmm...

even after last night we are still debating whether the girl really got die in the end anot. each time we watch the mtv the last part gets cut off halfway wan. knn.

lousy ktv.

oh yah and i can proudly say that i have an ex-colleague who is an f4 and energy die-hard fan *swoon*, got go for all concerts, buy most expensive tix, rent hotel to stake them out and go for all their autograph sessions.

only never go airport welcome them thats all.

that makes her just a pseudo-fan.

The MP110 Canon

yesterday was a quirky day.

breakfast was at a little coffeeshop at jalan besar, really old and rundown. it only had 3 stalls open, including the drink stall itself. the other was a 24-hour prawn mee stall, and a chicken rice stall selling chicken rice balls and dishes served kway chap style.

interesting.

anyway chun and i had a really nice old-school breakfast. i had prawn mee. and we shared old-school kaya toast and half boiled eggs along with teh-c for me and kopi-o for her. damn long never had such a breakfast liaoz. those of you from my generation should remember that our papas used to teach us to pour our hot tea into the saucer where we ate our half-boiled eggs and drink off the saucer. that's right, our father's all went to the same father training camp to teach their kids these kinda cool things. no wonder ya kun so popular.

breakfast was nice cuz we were dry and everyone coming into the coffeeshop wuz wet since it was raining jialat jialat outside. would've been even better if i had the sunday times with me. but an enjoyment nonetheless.

when the rain stopped we walked over to sim lim square. only 5min walk. super alot of people. and we started our search for a new printer. we actually had our eyes fixed on the canon mp110 model liaoz which was retailing for $229(no free gifts) in courts that we saw the day before.

so like super aunties in a bargain store, both of us went straight to the top floor and worked our way down. i think they had computer products all the way down to the 4th floor. so wherever we saw that canon model we would ask for a price and bargain abit first to 'test water'. of course we also took note of other similar models by other brands - canon mp110 was a low-end 3-in-1 printer - pretending to compare the epson x-smtg3500 and another hp version as well.

after combing the 4 levels, our search narrowed to a store that quoted us $205(haven't bargain for free gifts, no usb cable), one that quoted $199(no free gifts/usb cable, if want free gifts, $219) and one that quoted $210(free gifts + usb cable). the free gifts were a simcard back-up reader and a 128mb thumbdrive.

we decided to go back and whack the $205 to see if we could get all the gifts and cables, else we will buy from the $210 one. the guy at the $205 one was an old man and he drives a really hard bargain. i mean i really think i'm not bad a bargaining(quite good in fact!), when me and chun powers combine all uncles(chun+) and aunties(me+) sure die jialat jialat wan. but the old man killed both of us with his sob story.

he started by saying he was an honest man and would not charge us any more than what he should(everyone says that), but then we said if he threw in the usb cable for free then we would buy it straightaway. but cannot! the usb cable is originally $5 but he will give us $3 since we drive a hard bargain. wah piangz but when we asked him to give free again he this time sprang his killer story.

he told us he really was earning very little commission liaoz and he was juggling 2 jobs besides this one. on weekends he works in sim lim, weekdays he works in bras basah selling sports equipment and at night he works as security guard.

why?

cuz his son is studying in australia, daughter going to ntu this year, and one more kid in sec 2 only. need to earn lotsa money to support all his kids and wife.

xianz.

lose liao.

chun and i look at eash other. i look at her. she look at me.

lose liao.

to add oil to his fire power, he gave me his name card.

on the front is his name with his bras basah cmpny name and logo.

on the back is his name with his sim lim cmpny name and logo.

nothing to say.

so it ended just like that. no more bargaining. final price for the canon mp110, $208 + simcard back-up reader + 128mb thumb drive + usb cable. the uncle still very nice. say if we need badminton racquets or even badminton lessons, go look him up at bras basah.

he will give us discount.

-----------------------------------------------------

okie so uncle won. but then me and chun also quite gan yuan to let him make our sale. anyway it was the best deal too, and at the end of the day it was only a coupla dollars difference just to satiate the ego. after listening to his power pitch, i wouldn't even mind paying a few more dollars if it all went into his commission.

anyway...

so we were dandy and happy at the good printer deal and the free gifts and all. now the problem was in collecting the free gift. we had to go to canon's head retail office at funan, formerly the it mall, now the digitalife mall.

so we decided to walk to funan since there wasn't a straight bus there. and it was quite near. taxi wuz hard to get.

and there we were, two super aunties lugging the humongous box all the way to funan. as the box had two handles on each end, chun carried one end while i held on to the other, walking abreast along the pavements.

i think alot of people were staring at us as though we were advertising for canon, cuz people had to avoid us when we were coming through.

haha.

the printer wasn't THAT heavy, just that is was quite large and came in a gigantic box thats all.

by the time we reached funan we were so glad for the aircon man!

the canon retail shop looked like they were expecting us. however, the 128mb thumbdrive was temporarily out of stock! :( so i had to fill in my address and they would mail it to me in 2 weeks. then i was also entitled to a sure-win scratch draw which i won some crap photo paper, but also got chance to win car leh! dun pray pray!.

so that was that.

after it all, we lugged the printer to the busstop and took the no36 home.

the printer works great! and now its sitting pretty in my room!!!

and thats the end of my quirky story.

The Last Time

today was my last day at work.

somehow feel abit quite sad that i'm leaving afterall. its been almost 10mths of good fun, vast experience gained and lots of learning. i went around like the paparazzi taking photos with the whole world for memories sake. i sure am gonna miss everyone.

this is me with my fav buddies yvonne and serene! too bad i can't post more pix but i'll treasure all the memories and experiences forever!

*sobz*

oh and...erm..well...its my birthday too 

V Is For Volunteer

Hi,

I read with interest your article in today's Straits Times of the participation of the Nature Society at Semakau Landfill.

I am currently serving out my final week at my present job in a bank and will only be starting my new job in another bank only 3 weeks later and henceforth am quite interested to volunteer my time during this transitional period to help out in any projects that your honourable society may be running at present, preferably one that would allow me to experience more of nature.

I am an avid nature fan and enjoy hiking and trekking and have gone on trips within the SEA region as well as the United States and am physically fit. I'm also good with most hands-on volunteer efforts and have participated in numerous volunteer activities previously.

I look forward to a positive reply and can be contacted either by email or handphone at 9XXXXXXX most times of the day. Thank you for your attention.

Regards,

Lum Chee Yong

4th Last Day

today is my fourth last day in office.

wah.

3 weeks of bumming after that.

wonder what i can be up to?

Rockson the Rockstar

picked up this blog thru mr brown. his blog about the nkf basically says all that i ever thought about expressing in words. in fact i liked what he said so much i even left this comment:

wah rockson your blog damn power siah...

i am also one of the rest of singapore who kenna swindled, somemore for the last 8 years since i was a small kid in jc just hoping that my peanuts can really make a difference to some needy person's life...

i really salute to all singaporeans siah. 2005 will be known as the year everyone kenna dua by nkf jialat jialat...

and now we know why there are 3 nkf shows this year...1st one is to pay ttd his annual fees, 2nd one is for the board of directors, then the 3rd one is to thank every mother son and daughter for contributing to the ttd and board fund(3rd one no need to show how much is raised, but if got donations then it will go tothe board)

doesn't it make u wonder if ttd got 12mth bonus, does the entire workforce at nkf get 12mths? i really dun mind if the nurses who always help out the needy patients get 12mths bonus cuz i seen them work damn hard and they can still give u a smile after a hard days work.

doesn't it make u wonder does ttd and the board of directors ever make any donations themselves to nkf or any other charities?

my hope now is that the needy patients will not have to suffer because of ttd and his board. i cancelled my mthly donations after 8 yrs. i really am sorry to all patients under nkf but i promise i will donate to another charity that i feel is more needy. i just cannot tahan the fact that i have been lied to all these years...patients numbers, the reserves, and yet ttd still refused to admit that he and his board had lied to the public(he kept trying to give an open-ended answer in court) in my eyes ttd and his board made all the needy patients their pawn to get more donations in to fund their excessive lifestyles.

but i think this whole incident has made singaporeans closer to one another. i am proud to be singaporean and i love singapore!

right.

when i grow up i also wanna be ceo of nkf.

Yao jiu ling ling your chao chee bye lah!

rally cry of 2005.

count on me man, singapore.

McDay

ok i admit it.

today i only had two full meals.

both were macdonald's $5 value meal of the week: the big mac EVM.

wah seh i even use their acronyms.

max member points.

i am ashamed.

Keys To My Heart

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to good manners and elegance.

In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you.

You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.

Your ideal relationship is traditional. Without saying anything, both of you communicate with your hearts.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

okie so its my off day from work today...just lemme be boliao...*whines*

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

just watched the dvd last night.

i've gotta say i really didn't like it at first. somehow it all looked like a typical indie artsy flick to me. some boring drama i don't normally appreciate. in fact i skipped a scene and jumped to scene 5 where the movie credits began(told you it was artsy) and the movie kinda started for me.

i dunno what is it with the show but by the end of it i was thinking to myself what a good and powerful show this was. its the kinda show like magnolia(tom cruise) and the butterfly effect(ashton kutcher), the make-you-think-about-alot-of-what-ifs-and-whys kinda show. i don't normally digest these shows so easily.

i thought the concept was refreshing. if there was a day that technology allowed for the washing away of a certain memory in our lives and we'd wake up the next day not having any recollection of the memory one bit. would people bite into this trend like a hungry cow? or would we all shun it for any perceived lack of ethics. i dunno. i do wonder to myself if there're bitter memories that i would like to erase, events that i'd like to seriously think that it never happened before. i dunno. i was up till abit late. but no leh, couldn't come up with anything. my memory may be like a sieve but whatever i have inside for better or worse i'd like to keep, thank you.

so maybe thats why it was only when joel realised that he'd lose forever certain memories of clementine(oh my darling, oh my darling) that he thought he wanted to lose because they were bitter and spiteful, that he wanted to take them all back. perhaps there were things in these upsetting events that were worth keeping? perhaps there were little things in these memories that contributed to the person he is today. and without those memories, would a person be the same again after they were erased? i don't think so.

perhaps that is why they say there is a silver lining around every dark cloud. in the optimistic point of view, regardless of how sad, bitter or miserable an event has occured, there is always something positive to look forward to. but only if you care to find it. the end of something is always the beginning of something else. a better thing perhaps? depends on how you look at it. many people get down and depressed easily these days. they get knocked and they fall by the wayside, thinking life is no use going on. but the strong rise again to face the next, tougher challenge. what doesn't kill you will only makes you stronger. and stronger you will definitely be for every experience point gained in the course of your life, be it mentally or physically(well mostly mentally would be best)...

okie so i liked the movie. i liked the movie so much i went back to the start and watch the movie all over till the opening credits of scene 5. then i couldn't sleep for quite long.

haha.

on a lighter note, i'm just back from my ippt at bedok camp.

almost died running the 2.4km. but lo and behold, i did well enough to earn $200!! whoohoo! kudos to lincoln for encouraging me and inspiring me to cheong the final lap(i thought i didnt have a chance in hell!). felt super faint and had to rest by the steps for quite awhile before i could stagger to the upper east coast hawker centre for drinks. still, it was an ippt worth going for. yay money!

lincoln the chao turtle may be inspirational. we were doing sit-ups and now at bedok sibeh hi-tech siah all the stations all computerised and every sit-up or chin-up got sensor wan leh...mai xiao xiao. anyway the chao turtle and i were side by side doing sit-ups then we hit 40 and we had max points but he did one more, so i did one more to tie his score, but upone seeing me do so he did one more...so i did one more again and he noticed and did one more...on and on until i hit 43 sit-ups and he hit 44 and i gave up. sibeh boliao. haha. you win lah!

going for basketball at vjc next!

Nostalgia

okie so i can't stop blogging this easily. some things are just too blog-worthy.

went for dinner with the whole family today. been quite long since we've eaten out together all five of us. went to lavender food court and all of us ate turtle soup with yam rice et al. its been a long time since i ever had that stuff(you can see where this is going). not since we stopped eating at our regular turtle joint opposite katong mall because of some reports that turtle soup was high in mercury content(wait. was that shark's fin?!) anyway yeah, haven't eaten chao turtle for such a long time. and then we also had roasted chicken wings(the after midnite cheong at bak chor mee blk 85 type), some costly fishcake and finally some recommended pancake, courtesy of mom and dad.

talked about what i'll be doing in future, talked about fen and chuen's entering university, talked about the singapore economy, talked about chuen and fen's course and future. quite alot of stuff.

its been awhile.

so anyway we had a great dinner and chit-chat. then it was time to go home. then just on the way back, dad reminded me that his old house was just around the corner and how we used to go there for family gatherings. so i just asked if it was still around and one thing led to another and before you know it we turned a right and went into the dark banglah area in search of the site of my dad's old house.

now his old house used to be the gathering place for everyone in my dad's side of the family when my dad's mom was still alive(dad's dad passed on before i was born). i can roughly remember the times, playing with my cousins and everyone making merry over mahjong peanuts and beer(not for the kids though). absolutely old school bell-bottoms yonex shorts and all. back then it was the tallest new hdb flat(6 storey) in the jalan besar area. pretty swank if you'd ask me.

its since been torn down quite a good 10 years ago to make way for new and taller hdb flats liao. however when we reached there we still saw certain things that were familiar to me. like the old shophouse where i used to buy sweets from. i remember they cost 10c for 3 crummy sweets. the old couple who owns it actually still owns it though i doubt they remember me. apart from that the only other surviving construction i could remember was the alley way past the old playground. nothing much about it except that i've seen it enough to remember it. aside from that everything else was now flat soil. construction still underway.

i think about 10 years ago when they decided to tear this place down dad did bring me over one final time to take a look and he kinda videotaped the place just for memories sake. wonder if we still have those tapes.

aside from that we also drove past the new world amusement park. if anyone recollects anything about this place do let me know. i only know that i used to go there pretty often with my cousins and with my parents. details i dunno. for now, only the run down chained up entrance serves as living memory of its existence. mom says there're building something else in there.

from there we thought that it might be a good idea to visit the first house that my parents bought! it was pretty close by, at serangoon, called jalan riang. which was beside jalan ria. haha imagine trying to direct friends to your place - "you said ria or riang?!".

now this place hasn't changed much but that the people living there have renovated the place quite abit. old terrace neighbourhood. landed property. pretty lousy location if you'd asked me. i think i remember dad saying this place wasn't very 'clean'. still for the life of me i never could remember where on earth this place was until today. and not much has changed. its still bloody ulu.

by then i thought my bro and sis were kinda bored so i kinda suggested that since we were all together we might as well visit some place that even fen could remember. so we decided to make a trip down to fairways. our third place of residence prior to us moving to mandarin gardens. those were pretty grim times but even then dad still tried to make things work out. i mean fairways was a good condo mind you. just that its situated in telok blangah, a far cry from the serenity of the east if you'd ask me. then again it was near to dad's workplace and my primary school(where else but blangah rise pri sch).

we got to the gates and the guards thought we were residents(i think alumni residents get in free of checks too) so he let us in. we decided to go in and walk the grounds abit. dad could still remember we lived on the 8th floor. unit number #08-09. so auspicious. no wonder the times got better for us. the place hasn't changed much. everything looks alot smaller now that we're so old. bro's able to recollect more of what's been going on. fen was born while we were living here only to move a year later so she's still not seen anything familiar.

we even took the lift up to the very apartment we lived in! the walk from the lift to the old apartment was really familiar to me. and i did like that place. had a really good friend there though i never did bother to keep in contact with him. can't even remember his name.

*sigh*

finally we found that the whole market and shophouses behind fairways have changed so much we just had to drop by to take a look. gosh boy has it changed. the market is undergoing semi-renovation, but everything else looks so dead that the place looked like a ghost town. somehow people say the fengshui of the place has been turned bad by the reconstruction of the place.

the surprising part was that some of the shopowners actually recognised mom and dad! dad even had a pretty long chat with the old spectacle shop uncle and auntie he used to visit. but everyone says the place has become a ghost town since the renovations and reconstruction. true enough the feng shui of the place seemed to have altered quite alot. really just doesn't feel good around there.

in any case dad bought some durians to celebrate he occasion(he always does when he thinks its a good occasion)!

so the whole trip was a pretty nostalgic trip down memory lane. really good bonding session with the family, and got to relive some old memories. all in all we had a great family today. i'm so blessed with such a wonderful family.

*sigh*

and i'm almost past a quarter of a century old already. into the next phase i go...

so the new blog of mine should appease more people. and hopefully people are satisfied with what i've changed in my blog.

back to work tomorrow.

this was taken while we were sun-tanning under the freezing sun in the gold coast.  

Notice

dear all.

due to the sensitivity of certain issues at this moment in time, there will be a stoppage of posts on this site until further notice.

sincere apologies for inconveniences caused to anyone affected.

The Graveyard II

still hanging on...

nnnggggghhh......

The Graveyard

wah.

working the graveyard shift is way xiong siah. and xianz. and tiring.

xianz.

does anyone know why my blogger home page is entirely in chinese?

bloody hell.

2nd Picture Up!

remember my usa trip? yeah, well this is actually my vote for picture of the trip. this is on my accent up mt katahdin with joe, my trusty usa roadtrip companion and there you see that lucky dude in the picture. lucky dog. behind him is the state of maine. 

1st Picture Up!

Okay i've finally downloaded and learnt to post pix. but i'm still too lazy to post too many pix. so this is my vote for picture of the trip. this is goldcoast taken on the first day when we arrived. 

Mambo MaMa

okay, so when did blogger get bought over by some chinese corporation?!?! is china really taking over the world?

yay! i got the comp in my room installed with internet access!! whoo!!! means now chuen's comp mine nad pa's all have access to the www.

anyway last night when to mambo with chun and fen. supposed to show a thing or two to fen about what clubbing is all about. got off to a bad start when i met up with them at cityhall and walked towards mhd sultan. geez.

must be getting old.

in all it was pretty okie. pity the good music only started as we were about to leave. we downed 1 flamer(chun had 2) and shared 2 jugs of vodka ribena. was quite a good session but guess cheonging's not fen's thing lah.

surpirisingly zouk wasn't crowded till like after midnite. anyone knows why?

the other highlight yesterday was my meeting with wenli noor and meijiao to discuss meijiao and myself's hosting of noor and wenli's wedding. i'm actually pretty surprised that the program has not been confirmed and quite alot of things still haven't been settled. still i'm really happy for them that they're getting married.

for the uninitiated, wenli and noor were my primary school mates. same class with wenli since pri 4 and same class with noor in pri 6. and they both sat beside each other in pri 6 somemore. and now they're getting married. so cool rite?

so over dinner at this halal thai restaurant at cityhall call sakura(if any of you intend to have something there, erm, i'd say the food is only so-so) we kinda decided on quite alot of things. alot of details meijiao and myself will have to work out ourselves. quite sketchy most things seem. haiz just hope i dun crack some really cold and inappropriate joke and silence that whole ballroom with only cricket sounds. no one would invite me to emcee at weddings ever again.

was bad enough that i though alcohol was gonna be served. noor, incidentally is muslim. and so is wenli now.

ha.

weddings next saturday! so soon! and meijiao and i are only gonna rehearse like erm, 2-3hrs before the wedding? ho-boy...but hte good thing is that its gonna be pretty simple lah, nothing really exceptionally fancy, just the simple cut cake, speech and champagne toast thats all.

so meijiao and i thought about how we'd just pepper our introductions and appearances with retro banter, like

* how we used to squat along the school carpark roadside to brush our teeth to the tune of the dental nurse's "up-2-3-4, down-2-3-4!".

* religiously watch he-man, transformers, mask, carebears, aksi mat yo-yo, bin fen ba san, ko pi oh.

* how cheap food in the canteen was, 10c drinks, 20c noodles, 30c prata, but 50c yakult, though back then got free toy.

* poll the audience to see how many people were actually members of the bookworm club.

* how we loved magazines and books like young generation, bookworm books, noddy, hardy boys, nancy drew, magic faraway tree.

* how last time textbooks had stupid characters like mr wally mr magoo and mr yakki and the standard names were always peter raju peihua ali mary fatimah. fatimah was always the fat character.

* how last time once recess was over the bell rang once and everyone had to freeze while the prefects go around catching people who were still moving. only after the 2nd bell then everyone could move again. si beh boliao.

* how we would collect and play rubber and bottlecaps. lotsa skill involved.

and list goes on and on and on...

We've Come In From The Coast

time to blog about the goldcoast trip!

its was sooooooooooooooooooooo fun!!!

would love to put up some pix but i still am too lazy to learn.

so anyway we flew off by emirates and the 7hour ride was really long, tedious and tight. but once we touched down at brisbane we quickly got our car, a nice little 1.8 ford laser thats really easy to manage, and headed off to search for the goldcoast and our supposed villa.

okay so we were abit apprehensive about the villa that we're about to stay cuz the brochure says its 5-star with underground carpark indoor heated pool blah blah and jaccuzzi and the size of the room is like a hotel suite and blah(which later did turn out to be true), and therefore weren't expecting much. it took us 1 hour to get to goldcoast and another hour to find the damn villa that is royal woods resort. thats right. lost in the woods resort. took us forever and a lot and i mean alot of wrong turns(largely because of my 'instincts' - joe should know only too well). and when we finally found the place it was actually nicely tucked in a residential inner coast of sufer's paradise about 5 minutes from the coast. which was alright.

and lo and behold the villa was the nicest cutest looking shag pad. wait. nicest looking suite in the whole wide world! its got a huge bedroom, living room cum kitchen and attached bathroom! it had all sorts of amenities you name it you got it! toaster, kettle, pots, pans, refridgerator, microwave, fryer, oven, literally everything plus the kitchen sink. heck, the basement garage even had a washing machine and clothes dryer lor! wah so shiok...

okie okie, then after oohing and aahing about all the stuff that was available to us, namely huge money savings by cooking dinner in our pad every night, we decided to head down to the coast to check it out.

gold coast and namely surfer's paradise and main beach are pretty cool places. abit pricey but a joy to walk along. the weather there macham like genting in the day, and very cold at night. lotsa surfers and surfer wannabes, lotsa tourists too. but the beach is definitely the main draw, really windy(cold), fine sand and huge surfs. and it wasn't very crowded either.

i think we called it a day after that. the place starts to get dark around 4pm, so its really very evening feeling by 4+..i think we went to a nearby supermarker that sold $5 bread and $5/pkt hotdogs - action supermarket - to stock up on groceries(of course not everything was THAT expensive).

day 2: brisbane

drove back to brisbane. it was a sunday. we drove there really early like 8+ so when we got there the place was quite deserted and at first we thought that sundays were indeed a day of rest and nothing opened. but thats not true. we parked our car in a carpark in the heart of town for a full day(only $7 on weekend) and went on a city tour by foot. saw all kinds of heritage stuff(i'm lousy with names), buildings and blah, went ot queens street mall and asked the information booth what was the best way to walk brisbane in a day, walked to botanic gardens, parliament house, goodwill bridge, victoria bridge, little stanley street, cityhall, and lotsa other names of places i can't recall. i think we were on an army exercise like exercise longwalk or something. but i gotta say the girlfren has stamina siah.

at night we cooked dinner. pasta and stuff with brocolli and ham. was not too bad(i have to say this else someone might chop me up).

day 3: seaworld

seaworld was great! such fun! we went there really early before it opened but even still there was a long queue liao. cuz last monday was the queen's birthday so it was a public holiday. got all sorts of sea stuff and birds and blah. dugong, penguins, sharks, polar bears, dolphins, seals and all things sea.

highlight of the park was shark bay where we saw lots and lots of sharks from beneath the surface. but bock lian says it pales in comparison with hong kong's hai yang gong yuan(ocean park?). but then i've never been there before. so there.

the girlfren's first corkscrew roller coaster ride too. exhiliarating. then again any roller coaster with the super uncreative name 'corkscrew' is bound to be underestimated.

day 4: movieworld

this was probably the most disappointing day of all. i've been here before like way back when policemen wore shorts and carried girlie whistles and by golly the lousy place has hardly changed.

boo! hiss!

they've only added a few tacky performances and a matrix exhibit and batman 'the ride' has become batman 'the ride 2' which was more memorable than the first only because it sucked bigger time.

the park was so small and unentertaining that we rode and watched everything(yes. even the road runner roller coaster for kids) by 2.30pm. so we left to go for lunch opposite at kfc.

just wanna say kfc down under DOES NOT have my beloved cheese fries.

after lunch we both decided that we needed to make our AUD$60 entrance fees worth it so we went back for more. nothing really new but covered a few other little things.

bleah.

highlight of the park was the lethal weapon 4 ride which we took twice. which incidentally garners the "roller coaster ride of the trip" award. awesome.

at night we went to the jupiter conrad. the only casino on the goldcoast. smaller than any casino i've seen but still had fun at the slot machines for a while.

day 5: harbourtown / lamington national park

we were supposed to go to dreamworld today, but it rained!! boohoohoohoo! we were quite sad especially at the gates where we were hoping that the rain would stop. and some of the rides were closed due to the rain. hmph.

so instead we went to the largest facory outlet cum shopping mall in the area - harbourtown! didn't buy much. the girlfren bought a mambo bag for $10 and a pair of oohseh-but-not-as-oohseh-as-mine sunglasses. then went to woolworths to buy more groceries.

by afternoon the rain cleared and we decided to make the most of the day by going to lamington national park. its in the hinterland and its got mountains valleys gorges and blah. was a good nature day. we actually walked a cave trail(wasn't that much caves) that was about 5km(told you the girlfren had stamina!) and saw wild turkeys, wild wallabies among other flora and fauna. was quite a nice trip along the countryside. we also visted hinze dam - its a dam - which was quite charming.

at night we met up with bock lian and ryan over dinner who were incidentally on a road trip like we are except they've spent alot more time in their car driving to sydney and all but i guess i prefer to spend more time here on the coast after that 3mth road trip in the usa. but it was fun catching up with them and exchanging stories and blah. then we also walked the 'pasar malam' at surfers paradise where they sold all kinds or quirky arts and crafts, and i learned how to make a bird sound(quack quack).

day 6: dreamworld

yes! the day we were waiting for. really sunny day and a funshine morning.

we got there early and it was thronging with people. we got off to a bad start and we thought it was gonna be that way for the rest of the day. the first ride - tower of terror- we went to queue for was shut down indefinitely for maintenance so we lost about 15mins there alone. then the next ride which was the claw, was delayed by a man with an iron leg. yes. its true.

anyway we waited for about half an hour just to get on that ride. but when we finally got on, it was well worth it! the claw is like a swinging pendulum where you sit at the end of the pendulum in a circular fashion and it swings wildly sideways while you rotate, which is scarier than i can ever describe it. but suffice to say if you can scream and the tears from your eyes actually splash at the person next to you while the person next to you's saliva spills and splashes at the person next to her, then the ride is confirmed scary wan. the next ride was the cyclone which was the crappiest and most painful rollercoaster ride in quite awhile, which was made worse by the tedious 45 minute wait(the girlfren and i actually played an assortment of silly games during the wait like ji ko pah and i spy with my little eye).

from then on it was all smooth sailing...the rest of the rides we took only needed waiting for about 10minutes tops. the wipeout, vortex and then abracadabra, the giant drop - world's tallest drop @ 120m, according to the guinness book of recs and blah - had no queue at all, possibly cause it was so darn scary, but we took the ride twice! from the two different angles from the top! haha. i mean the ride slowly takes you up and then once you are up there it stops for 25sec(which is an awfully long time when you're up there) and then releases and you go screaming aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *deep breath* aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh all the way down. thats how long the ride was.

the other ride that was amazing was the tower of terror. its got some jet engine propulsion that allows it to accelerate at breakneck speed in a matter of seconds. i think the whole ride was only 7 seconds, but its the speed that was so thrilling cuz while you're flying forwards with your mouth screaming wide open it goes all over the place like an upside down umbrella. thats how fast the rocket was. in the end we took the ride 3 times.

the good thing about dreamworld is that apart from all this puke-inducing, stomach-churning rides, there is another different themed world that takes you to nature's side. you get to see all sorts of australian animals(i swear that the wombat could have been a man dressed in a bear suit) and you get to touch and brudder up with kangeroos for free! koalas cost $20 though. cheap bastards.

so at the end of the day dreamworld is my world of the trip! haha

the highlight of hte day was when we went for our 2nd tower of terror ride it was supposed to be the FINAL RIDE before the park closes.however after that ride there were 2 more people in the queue that were allowed to go so there was space in the vehicle. however the attendant didn't want to let us ride again but then this indian family started pleading and exclaiming "we're from india!" then the attendant softened, so expectedly i turn on the charm and pleaded along and said "we're from singapore!" and that did the trick! we got a third and final ride before the park closed. fantastic. the funny thing was that the attendant actually thought that singapore was further than india! hahaha "wow! thats even further than india!"

*roll eyes*

day 7: goldcoast

we thought of surfing but didn't know where to start and surfer's paradise was the perfect place to! for AUD$50/pax we actually got surfing lessons, boards, wetsuits and the works! and since it was the early 930am class we got lucky and there were only 2 other people in the class!! so shiok! so we had our instructor kelly who taught us how to surf first dryrun on sand then sample in shallow knee deep waves then further to waistdeep. but lemme tell you at kneedeep the waves are already very strong and can hit you like a truck liao. surfing was really fun and addictive thought the water was really really cold. if not for the wetsuit, sure freeze to death wan.

at the end of the afternoon i was able to stand on my board and surf a full wave from wave to shore! whooo! surely must do it again if i come back. so by the end of our lesson i was actually awarded the 'best surfer' award! while the girlfren was awarded 'biggest wipeout' award(means kenna thrown around like a rag doll by the waves the most jialat jialat) wahahahahaha.

then after that we drove down to coolangatta to see point danger and the waves there are lagi power and the surfers and all damn pro wan.

day 8: sunshine coast

today we fly home in the evening. drove for 4 hours up to sunshine coast. all the way to noosa heads. very nice coast. less tourists and nice beaches too. we hiked all the way to hell's gates in noosa national park. very nice and calming.

so that was basically our whole trip in a nutshell. fun right?!?!?!

phew.

xiong.

i am tired liao. will blog more if i have more time.

oh yah and finally to all the lucky readers who have managed to scroll down so far and actually read all the crap i've written, the girlfren's blog has all the pix from the trip! enjoy!

Goldcoast Countdown : 1 Day

waaaah!!! tomorrow flying off liaoz!!!

went to buy toothpaste from sun plaza just now...waaaaahhh so excited...

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

*cough*

*wheeze*

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

hope it'll be an enjoyable trip!!!

Mummy's Birthday!

its mummy's birthday tomorrow!

so we've kinda planned a little surprise for her by barging into her room at the stroke of midnight with a candle lit cake. sounds good right? thats why i'm typing this blog waiting till its time. and hopefully pa can occupy mummy so that she doesn't sleep early...hehe. hope it all goes to plan. best part is the cake that chuen chose is in the shape of a chinese teapot. so cute!!! been quite awhile since we last celebrated anyone's birthday with a birthday cake so this should be a nice surprise for mummy.

happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to mummy,
happy birthday to you!

MuackZ!

Goldcoast Countdown : 6 Days

whooooo!!!!

goldcoast here i come!!! very excited for the trip. there's so much i wanna do there siah. choot choot!

house is undergoing renovation. new wallpaper looks good. i just try to make like wallpaper and try not to interfere too much with things lest i mess things up. but definitely looks good! and breakfast outside our balcony is a great touch.

have signed on with the blue bank liaoz. i think i'm as desperate to get a job in that role(which the blue bank offered) as the blue bank is to get me. haiz. anyway i'll be leaving my current job soon. the countdown begins...

yay!

watched hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the other day. that was really crap. anyone interested in details should read xiaxue's blog about her thunderous rant about the show's discrepencies. madagasccar was also disappointing. cute. but disappointing.

not really in a blogging mood now. it sucks to work on a sunday.

there's this really interesting story about how chun wanted to buy her everbeloved nokia 7610 hp and then the hp shop seller just killed the sale by telling us why the nokia 7610 sucked(coz it hangs often and it kenna virus easily). its really interesting but somehow aside from the both of us(and maybe the poor salesman), no one else can appreciate how interesting the situation was. haiz.

The Disappointment That Is The FA Cup Final

sad.

thats all that can describe last night's match. somehow knew it would come down to penalty kicks and knew thats the way arsenal wanted it. and jens lehman, gotta give it to him lah knn everything throw at him also he can keep out. knn everything just wasnt going our way one bit. i wonder what we can win next year. haiz. but at least rooney and ronaldo are bright sparks lah but fletcher silvestre and roy carroll can go suck a vacuum cleaner. scholesy must feel like crap. and rio was crying. what a crybaby. so sad that the better team lost. we had more chances. if only van the man took at least one of those chances. and the only one that he finally headed on target was right into lundjberg's head and ricochet off the crossbar. missed so many easy freebies. fox in the box my ass. ronaldo hit the post. rooney piledrivers got saved time and again. giggs was nonexistent. so many set pieces missed and wasted and blasted into row z. even roy keane also kenna crowded out 2m away from goal. xainz. even the espn commentator also said that nothing is fair in the fa cup.

shite.

I'm a Cheer Bear!

i didnt know this bear was called cheer bear...i always thought he was rainbow bear or something...

	Cheer Bear You're the Care Bear cheerleader! Your spunky personality and optimisim lifts everyone's spirit. Though you want everyone to be happy, you stand your ground on issues you feel strongly about and this can bring disunity among your friends. Despite this, you are a true believer in working together.
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

Star Wars III Damn Power!

watched star wars revenge of hte sith last night with jinde. we got free tix to this exclusive screening by jp morgan from chun(thx dear!) and it was such a great experience! we got there early and there was a reception for all the people going for the screening so we just helped ourselves with the food. they also dished out goodie bags - with lightsabers! - but they didnt give any to us cuz they were for kids. sadz, after the movie we tried to go back to the goodie bag counter but alas they closed shop le. darn it! the movie's fantastic, being the star wars fan that i am, except if any of you intend to watch it in lido make sure you get seats in the centre, anywhere else(ours were at the extreme left) and you sure kenna neckache wan.

now i wanna watch a new hope again. haven't watched it in a long time.

from where i last left off regarding my fading job search, i got a desperate call from a local blue bank. gosh you know when a bank is desperate for you to join them when in their first interview,
(A) they are still interested in me after i don't bother to wear my tie and my sleeves are crumpled from having been folded up to arms the whole day,
(B) the sales manager and hr manager bicker in front of me about which training slot to put me in,
(C) they ask me how much i would have to pay if i left my current job immediately,
(D) they cut the red tape and go straight to confirming if i would like to join them.
the only problem was that they refused to give any details about remuneration though i kind of indicated that if i were to get anything less than what i was getting now they can say goodbye to me. dunno lah i kinda dun wanna join them cuz of all the stuff i've heard and how sucky they are in terms of thresholds and incentives, then again i really need the job to kickstart what i've always wanted to do and i know the orange bank doesn't want me while the red bank thinks i've given up on them.

shite.

doesn't leave me with much choice does it?

anyway i verbally accepted their offer so far but nothing's confirmed till the contract's been signed. payday today and my pay cheques the fatest ever! wah....makes me think maybe the job pays better than i thought. but then no prospects also no use right?

wenli sent out an email annoucing her wedding with mhd noor a coupla days back. her wedding's gonna be on july 2nd! wah so soon siah. if you haven't been following my blog, i'm supposed to be the honourable mc for their wedding together with meijiao. wah lao i think i haven't seen her since like when we left primary school siah how to have mc chemistry? really honoured hat she asked me to do it though i really took quite a long time before i agreed to it. hmm maybe she might find another substitute then i won't need to do it for her haha. in any case i hope i won't get the onstage jitters and say something really wrong cuz i think its gonna be a void deck wedding so sekali i same crack some racist joke(econ mini-mat) then i'm the only one laughing on stage while everyone suddenly turn silent and i can hear the crickets chirping...wah die siah...

goldcoast is confirmed!!! wheeeee!! leaving on the 10th coming back on the 19th!!! wheee...we've got a car for the whole trip, we've got a lovely villa to stay in(ooh jaccuzzi), and we're flying emirates!(do the stewardesses really dress in veils nd you can only see their eyes?!?!) haha. and we're going to dreamworld! movieworld! seaworld! whooo!! choot choot!!! maybe dreamworld twice!!!! choot choot!!! hahaha so excited about the trip. i wanna go do bungeeing jumping and try some outrageous stunts man!!!!

after this trip gotta start working hard liaoz and save lotsa money to buy a cheap car...haiz...who ask the gf to live so far in the north...maybe the gahmen might buld another northeast line connecting sembawang to marine parade, then the two NEL will crisscross like an X! so cool!

okie its time for bball at vjc...