Christmas

Its been too long since we had a Christmas Feast cum get together. And we really really stuffed ourselves with food. There wasn't like a huge variety but, the quality and quantity made up for it.

In the picture, a whole leg of ham ( only a portion sliced up here ), Bavarian roast beef (I call it barbarian roast, carved by yours truly), Turkey, a whole plate of assorted sushi and Japanese styled salad!



Not to forget the fresh cut salmon. My uncle said it was salmon belly or something. I understand not.



For desserts, there was fruits, almond longan, and some mango log cake thing. All that accompanied by fine red wine and Ice wine. Unfortunately, I had to skip the alcohol due to headache and panadol. BUMMER!

Spent Tuesday in school training for AAS competition. Got all wet from top to toe, external to internal. Shooting went reasonably well, though I wasn't quite focused. Competition was coming up and I was really feeling the state of unpreparedness.

Went out straight after training in my soaked black fatigues and soaked boots. Yes, even my boots got soaked cos the leather was getting too seasoned to be water proof. Managed to change into another polo-shirt tho. Thankfully I anticipated that one. Headed down to Plaza Singapura, tired as hell for dinner.

I've been moved under Ronghui's (BRUDDER BEAR, now FUDDER BEAR) cell after coming down from Adrian's G12. A slight relieve since I really didn like the pressure of being at the 144 level. Got to know a little bit more about my new brothers and mother bear as well. =D I actually do feel excited about this new start, and look forward to the year ahead with them. Oh. Did I mention i had the fluffy freshly baked waffles with them at Gelare's? MUAHHAHAAHA.


Today: Wednesday, 28th Dec was interview day at NCS. Got up a lil earlier than usual to head down to NCS to meet the project manager in charge of me. Had a reasonably chatty interview, and got to know them a lil better. My direct supervisor is an indonesian bloke who used to do compound archery for fun. Not bad, at least SOMEthing in common i guess.

Headed down to Funan to visit B.S Moey to get my new contacts done up. I'm kinda a little overdue for that. The new set is gonna cost me a hundred and sixty bucks for a year's supply!! A little steeper than usual.. =/ Then the urge to buy Falcon 4.0 Allied Force hit me. I explored Funan to its entirety and could not find a single shop that sold it!

Because of that, I nearly lost my life today. I decided to head off to Sim Lim to try my luck there. Instead of following Martin's instruction to head there via 851, i took 147 instead. I asked the driver if 147 stopped near Sim Lim, and the ugly, pig faced/brained driver said yes, and I had to alight near Teck Kar Market... (Like where the hell is that?!) I said, "Where's that? Can tell me when to alight?" The hard of hearing S.O.B didn't nod or reply... and I stupidly assumed he heard me.

By the time I got suspicious, it was too late. The driver said, "Pass long long ago already, why didn you alight?" My face had WTF written all over it. I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE IT WAS!! And the driver just casually said, "Aiya, den cross opposite and take the bus there lar." HE DIDN'T EVEN APOLOGISE! Argh.

Frustrated as hell, I got off the bus and ended up walking around the area trying to orientate myself to where I was. Fortunately, I figured out Potong Pasir MRT was nearby, and decided to call it a day and head home. It was on this return leg, that I nearly got RUN DOWN BY A WHITE VOLVO S60!! To top it off, this IMPUDENT driver HONKED! me as I was strolled towards the sidewalk.

Two choices of instant reactions came to me by then.



1. Ignore and walk away


2. Turn around and flip the finger

As I turned around and squinted to see who the driver was, that impudent driver started waving something from behind his windshield. I assumed it was an offensive gesture and was really getting pissed. Down came the window, a hand popped out, but it wasn't the finger. Comically, a head popped out to reveal my would be assassin. None other than my dear sister, Bernice Tay!! I think both of us communicated the same message to each other before we opened our mouths, "WTH R U DOING HERE?!" (OKAY, I exaggerated the parts above with bits and pieces of my thoughts while I that happened, and she didn't really try to run me down.)

I think Eunice was in the car as well, together with her grandmother or something. We all waved and bid farewell to this chance encounter. Yes, her grandmother waved too... LOL!

I guess that funny incident really made my spoiled day with that stupid bus driver a lot better. Took the train to Serangoon, switched a bus and got home in one piece. No more WHITE VOLVO S60s trying to run me down. Got home, and joined my brother in our campaign to conquer the world in CIV4.

*PS Bern, don't drive too fast when you see me hor. Foot off the gas, and be nice. I'm not your mortal enemy... yet. =D * listening to the rain... 12:03 AM 0 comments

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Happy Day!

Work up early for training today. I meant to get up an hours earlier but I failed come back from Lalaland in time. Trouble going thru immigration. =D Managed to reach School around 9.30, which is quite early by my standard. I'm usually late for everything.

Training was as usual. Started off at 30m shooting the 80cm face. Unfortunately, got some form trouble lar... haiz. Took me a good half day correct my form. By afternoon I managed to shift up to 50m. Honestly, its my first time shooting 50m, and I think I did okay. With a few more practices, I think I should be able to keep my shots within red for 50m. Then... craving for happy food kicked in all of a sudden...

It sort of just popped in my head out of the blue. So it also just popped out of my mouth. Managed to get Bern, BK, n WY down to Venezia to grow fat with me. Had a good time chilling out with them. Man! It seems like ages since we last did that! All the while we've only been meeting at trainings.

Managed to get to Sue's place in time for our Lao Jiao Gamer's gathering. Its been quite a while since I saw them! For some reason, when we gather... things get crazy. It was a good night to laugh, joke and catch up. Watch silly movies, taking retarded photos, and posing with Sue's catfish. (CATFISH?!!) Haven't seen a few of them in such a long time, and my poor memory doesn't help. Poor Archangel... I almost forgot him and the first thing I said to him was, "You had hair last time rite?" (2 week old recruit. KNOCK IT DOWN!)

Oh, first blood tonight too! I killed a cockroach that had the gall to harass Rinoa. The cockroach, no doubt mexican, was well trained too. Immediately after being flushed out of his observation post, retreated straight into the corner of the wall with military precision. I fired the shot ( a slipper actually, no idea whose) despite not having a clear shot. Hardly damaged him and he snapped out of the wall into the open. Good reflexes but poor selection of cover! I got the slipper and deliver the 2nd decisive blow. Archangel followed up with a mop thingy and finished our mexican friend for good. Adios Amigo!

Managed to piah cab home before my mom n dad became flustered. So everything was peaceful at home as well. Its been a good day. I'm happy. listening to the rain... 12:54 AM 0 comments

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wooopeee....

Got a call early this morning from NCS. It seems like I will be able to do my ITP there after all. Had to get up to fax them my resume, transcripts n stuff. Hopefully things will work out A-okay.

Spent much of today just slacking away, playing NavyField and ocassionally managing some ITP related admin matters. Managed to buy my brooklyn light cruiser! MAN IT PWNS THE DDS!!! (except those with gold bars) Can finish off most DDs with 4 volley from my 5 triple 6" guns. With Heavy HE shells, they don't stand a chance!

Its nice spending the whole day at home, pretty much doing nothing productive. I wish my whole life could be that relaxed and still be as rich as hell. Yeah, in my dreams, I know. I'll go work on dreaming that now. listening to the rain... 3:00 AM 0 comments

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Watch sugar sink

Ha. Was damn bored after service yesterday and ended up going out with Nessa, Amanda and their dad for lunch. Of all the places to eat, Amanda suggested Maxwell market... Oh well. BUt hey, their Fish bee hoon there was fantastic. Really must try.

Ended up slacking at Gloria Jean's cafe after lunch. Shiok sia, I have to admit I seldom go down to city hall and I didn't know there was that much good food there. We sat there rotted and grew fat for an hour or two I think. Doing stupid stuff and sharing lame jokes. eg. What is a crippled prawn? "LAME Siah"

Some stupid stuff like watching sugar sink in foam...


Watching very closely apparently.


Anyways, I discovered that Isaac is the potential to be a good photographer. I told him how to hold the camera steady to take pictures, and he caught on quick! This was his first picture of me!



And this is the looney uncle and his nutty nephew.


Alright, time for dinner. Looks like I'll blog about today, tomorrow. listening to the rain... 6:30 PM 0 comments

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SAFSA Archery Championships

Disappointing performance by all the guys standard teams. None of us would have made it to team event IF there was one. Everybody performed below expectations and had pretty low team scores. Nevertheless, it was a good exposure for the year 1s.

The first round was pretty horrible for me. Score for 2 of my ends hit the low 40s, which resulted in a total of 294. Had quite a few 5's as well. The usual standard i set for myself is that anything below 8 is a bad shot. I had a total of 11 of those.

Stressed myself out totally trying to figure out what happened. Was kinda desperate and prayed pretty for a solution. The solution was an awkward one, but it worked. Prayer works! 2nd round was fantabulous. I had only 2 badshots, and majority of the shots were in the 9 and 10 region. Mad 318 in the 2nd end.

I only regret that I didn't do that in the first round in the first place. Sharks.

Juan score very well in the girls standard class. She racked a total score of 638. Very very very good results. She trains hard and sets very high standards for a herself. I'm not surprised that she did as well as she did. If there is one thing similar between me and Juan, is that we stress ourselves out pretty badly during training. We train until our face turn black, and become extremely pissed off with our shooting. Not always a good thing.

But hey, if it works, it works. listening to the rain... 1:46 AM 0 comments

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Worried? No....

Went to TBAC to train after school today. And after the evening of practice, I have to admit, there is cause for concern. MAJORITY of my shots are skewing to the right into the red region when they should rightfully be in the gold. Damn.

Hafiz mentioned something about a finger anchoring problem, and I decided to explore that. Turned out that it was indeed related to how I had wrapped my fingers around the string. I have no idea why though... Its somewhat fixed now already, with majority of the shots in the gold. Hope it stays that way on Saturday.

To be honest, I don't feel that I should participate in this competition at all. Not just because I have not be training frequently enough, but theres a lot of bullshit going thru my head now. Some of these thoughts have a stupid habit of floating by whenever I'm about to release.

Anyways, submitted my stupid boating theory project already. And still got flash to work on... from the way it looks, I have up til Friday to get it done. Saturday and Sunday might be too hectic to do anything about it. Gonna be one kinda stupid busy this weekend. I hate it when life dictates the pace which I have to move.

Semi-good day. Had fun training and hanging out with the archers at dinner. Okay, I really need to be nicer to Adelia. Beginning to feel guilty for suaning her so much. Hard to resist lar, she's so easy to suan... lol. Luckily she can take a joke.... somewhat.

Knocked out on the bus trip back home. Was really tired out... could hardly stay awake. Still, somehow my soulless body managed to find its way back to this concrete structure called home. Only to discover I had missed a scrumtuous turkey dinner. Sharks... and it ain't even Christmas yet.

我只恨我自己逃不出这监狱。。。 listening to the rain... 12:41 AM 0 comments

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Another Project down

Spent the last couple of hours working on my Boating Theory project. The first part was pretty simple, just giving lat/long coordinates of buoys, marks, key features etc. The passage planning was a bitch! Argh. Glad thats finally over though. Need to worry on my Flash project and assignments next.

Had to fight the urge to skip school this morning. Really didn't feel like going to school at all. Come to think of it, I don't feel like doing anything except sleep lately. I just want to sleep and sleep and sleep. Getting old liao I guess.

2006 has been a good year thus far. Things that I didn't expect to fare well, fared better than I could ever expect or hope. Things that I thought would fare well, placed much hope in, turned out to be a heartbreak. A resounding let down. Despite that, I've found many new friends in the people around me. Fellow rats who are running this stupid rat race. Friends who shared so much in common with me.

Its been 4 years too long since I've broken the promise to myself. And now, I've gotten worn out again... who is gonna save me now? 4 years just like that, in a blink.

只想像过去告别。 去寻找属于我自己的一个角落。 listening to the rain... 1:18 AM 0 comments

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SAF's new MBTs!

Finally! Mindef has announced that they will purchase 66 refurbished Leopard 2A4 Main Battle Tanks from Germany! Mindef has always been tight lipped with anything regarding MBTs, and I was pleasantly surprised that they decided to announce this piece of information. They however refuse to acknowledge their previous MBT.

More information about the Leo2A4 can be found here.

School sucks as usual. I was really late for dreamweaver class this morning. Not like I NEED to attend the class anyways, I'm already proficient in it.

Got the headache of a lifetime when I saw the robot for my MAD project. I'm supposed to code a bluetooth remote control for it.... Totally sianed out when I saw it. I shall procrastinate a lil further before getting to work on it. I really am not in the mood to do anything productive lately.

I shall admit it. Mood's been horrible of late. Christmas is coming and I wish it wouldn't . The new year is coming, and I wish that wouldn't either. I find the celebration of meaningless dates in a meaningless life, meaningless.

我只想runaway。。。 But where can I run to? Running out of places to run to. Let me sleep. listening to the rain... 12:24 AM 0 comments

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Long training day

Spent the large bulk of my afternoon and evening shooting in school. Was doing okay until the last few ends. Arms were worn out... so my arrows kinda spreading out quite a lot. Not to mention the subsequent lack of focus on the shots.

Talked to some of the year "half" juniors in club. I felt kinda bad that they were such an isolated bunch. Apart from the year 1s and the rest of the club. Went over to say hi, give a bit of coaching and chit chat with them a bit. I dropped them the question as well. "Did u choose to be a competitive archer?" And I was quite surprised that they still decided to commit to come for trainings early despite being isolated like that. I like their spirit. I supposed that influenced my decision as well.

It seems a lot of people are having a bad day, week or fortnight. I guess its that period of semester where everybody realises they have a lot of outstanding work to deliver. Same here. I've got 2 post it notes stuck to my desktop now, reminding me to work on my project and assignment. Not like it really helps lar, considering I ignore it largely when I'm home. I confess... I'm a procrastinator.

Been skipping school a lot lately. Can't seem to wake up on time. Heh. And I think it has something to do with sleeping THIS late. LOL! Yeah, my attitude is beginning to suck man... Need to buck up!! Waiting for the stack of warning letters to arrive. Should be anytime next week... heh.

It seems I've slipped and fallen a lot lately. More than I dare to admit... Do I really feel better off now? I made a lot of decisions after being disappointed and hung out to dry. Decisions that I made without much careful deliberation. I was too sad and disappointed to worry about the consequences of certain courses of action. Damn. As Murphy would put it, one mistake inevitably leads to another. listening to the rain... 1:13 AM 0 comments

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New canaries

Just went down for a snack and I saw the new pets my sister bought. 2 New canaries. I say they'll buy the farm in less than a month.



I tot i daw a puddy cat. listening to the rain... 12:04 AM 0 comments

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I'm EVIL! I KNEW IT!

I saw this quiz on Bern's blog. And I couldn't hold back my fingers from clicking away at it despite never quite believing in them.

I know this is a lil cliche. But do not believe what you are about to read. (Every Liar tells a gullible person that, to hopefully convince those fools that they are not really a liar.)











I offer no apologies though. listening to the rain... 7:59 PM 0 comments

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O.O

This is the 35th hour without sleep. Feels sucky. Feel disorientated and like puking whenever I'm on the bus. The long day is over, and I'm gonna catch a lil nap once my hair dries. Walking corpse...

Was supposed to go for Shravan's dance concert thing later. Somehow, I doubt I can make it anymore... wasted 10 bucks.

Not feeling well. Will away in Lalaland... Wake me up when I'm dead. listening to the rain... 4:28 PM 0 comments

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I hate mornings

There are invariably 2 types of people. The morning people and the non-morning people. Morning people are the sort that enjoy getting up early in the morning, bright and chirpy, ready to embrace the challenges of the new day. They are the people who feel happy to greet the Sun as it creeps above the horizon every dawn.

Then there are the non-morning people. They are often late sleepers who prefer the comfort and peace of dusk than the morning ensemble of noise of the city coming to life. They hate to get up in the morning and would be more than content spending the mornings between their sheets, snoozing away til late afternoon. When forced to get up in the morning, they are grouchy, and dangerous people.

I belong to the 2nd category. I slept at 3am last night, and woke up at 6.30am. I got up, and spent the next 10 mins debating with myself whether to go to school or not. Unfortunately, my attendence hasn't been too good, I crawled out of bed to get ready for school. I hate mornings. I hate the 74 bus service in the morning. Always overcrowded. Full of rude and stinky people who like to push and shove too much.

Spent much of today mulling and working on the interface of my MAD project (pun intended). Bluetooth is such a bitch to work with. I can't take it anymore! I NEED TO DESTRESS!!! I NEED TO SHOOT PEOPLE!! DIE U STINKY 74 BUS FREAKS!! TAKE OTHER BUSES to the DAMN MRT STATION! 74 is NOT the only bus that goes to AMK station.

And to those MRT Track jumpers. You're NOT DOING ME A FAVOR by making everyone board buses instead of the MRT! It takes too bloody long to SCRAPE YOUR Worthless REMAINS off the tracks. If you want to die, COME TO ME! I'll introduce you to my Beretta!

Seriously, the govt should consider starting a NATIONAL SUICIDE CENTRE. You wanna die, you go there, sign a form, pledge your organs. And then they can BLEED you to death so that your blood's not wasted either. You happy! (and dead), me Happy! Win win situation! Lets put this forward to the parliament. listening to the rain... 11:28 PM 0 comments

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Wedding Bells!

Wooo! Attended Ms Junie's wedding yesterday at Grand Plaza Hotel. Really fabulous occasion! Wish them all the best and a Blessed marriage with lots of lil kiddos! WOO!

Spent a bomb yesterday. There goes bow fund... hahaha. All Lionel's fault for allowing me to go to Challenger. I went there, and I was seduced by the audio section. The sudden urge to buy a pair of speakers with subwoofer over came and I gave into my temptation. Now I have a brand new Evo 5!! Not the car... Its a Sonic Gear Evo 5, 2.1 sound system. And it "only" costs $59.90!! As for why I bought it, and how I got seduced... I have no idea. I guess I'm an impulsive buyer. But hey! Its got the most powerful bass and clarity for sound systems of that range! WOOO!

Let see it!



Unpacked and mounted



Dropped by at my old place at Tiong Bahru as well. The place has really changed alot since the last time I dropped by. Spent a quite a bit of time flipping thru some old junk of mine, trying to recall stuff that happen in the past. And I did remember quite a bit... Oh, apparently my elder sis bought 2 new rabbits. Really adorable, plump and juicy looking too. =D

Meet Kim kim.



And Jin jiN. Pardon how he looks... My sis had him castrated recently... Poor ol boy.



Dug up some really old stuff. Like... An old exercise book from Gan Eng Seng Sch.



And whats in it? NIGHTMARE!



I always hated math... Anyways. I saw this one in an old notebook of mine. A lil poem I wrote on sleepless nights. Yes, I've a history of sleeping problems.



And this one... My first heartbreak, first rejection. It was a lil birthday gift I made for a girl I liked in secondary school. Unfortunately, she didn't want it. =/



Sad huh. Oh wells, I've got a bad star over me I guess.

Caught Happy Feet with my sis after dinner b4 heading home. Its a really nice movie. In fact, I'd say its more like a musical! I can see why the Penguins owned Agent 007.

I hoped to see some of my old friends around Tiong Bahru Plaza, at places where I used to hang out with them. Took a bit of extra time to walk around to look for them, just feeling hopeful that I'd see a few familiar faces. Fat hope lar...

Instead, I ran in to James and Kailing... LOL!

Oh wells, thats all for now. I'm gonna enjoy my new sound system. listening to the rain... 12:51 PM 0 comments

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Slack sia...

I pretty much spent the entire week play Civilization 4 and Navy Field. Hardly got down to working at all. I practically missed 2 whole days worth of classes from waking up late. I think thats gonna hurt me a lil by falling back off my work so much.

Come to think of it, I really have a lot of work in queue. I need to get my Flash skill reviews done, finish up my project builder demo. Then there is there is the MAD project. Now that one's tricky. Til now, I have no idea how I want the bluetooth thing to work. Dammit. I need to stop procrastinating. I need to sleep ealier too.

I practically slept at 3am every night this entire week. My brother seems so free in his 3rd year that he doesn't have to attend class, nor worry about FYP or whatever. So he spends a large portion of the night playing navy field. Of course, once I see him play, my itchy fingers would lead me to join him. And thats how I end up staying up late. So people, if you see me awake past midnight, please bugger me to go to bed. I need to catch up with my classes.

It seems like its gonna be another long day tomorrow. Need to go to church, then go for my lecturer's wedding dinner. Its gonna be a full day out for me. *yawn*

Good grief. Its 2am already. Time for me to hit the sack. Ahhhhhh!!!

Standard Chartered run tomorrow, Thank God I'm not going. *phew* listening to the rain... 2:07 AM 0 comments

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*SneeZe* ... brain plops out.

I don't know why I find this hilarious... I just do.



Spent like 5 hour in school waiting. Waiting to see a lecturer to consider if I wanna join in his FYP project. It sounds good, but I can't seem to make up my mind. Time is running out for me to select FYP, I need to come to a decision soon. AHhh!

Ate quite a bit to eat in school today. Had Chicken rice for lunch and then a Japanese Cod Fillet bun... *God knows its not Japanese Cod.* And a bag of fries. I'm gonna grow sideways, there's no avoiding it. I shall embrace my fate... FEED ME!

Oh a bit of good news. I collected my award for year 1's academic results! $200 richer!! WoO HOO!! If it wasn't for the cheque, I wouldn't have bothered myself to attend and collect. Now that I have $200 more, what should I do? *slowly ponder*

*Pondering to... Existentialism* Very interesting philosophical movement there. Do a search on wiki if u have the time to boggle ur mind. Its a bit hard to accept at first, cos its not totally rational. It proposes that existence precedes essence. That a man exists before his existence has any meaning or value. I like this part that says, "Man defines the value or meaning of both his existence and the world around him in his own subjectivity, and wanders between choice, freedom, and existential angst" And to extremes, a man's existence can have so little meaning, that he may actually create obstacles for himself so that he can overcome them to escape the boredom of a meaningless life. Self created victories that are eventually, meaningless. Yes, I've said it. LIFE IS MEANINGLESS.

It makes me wonder sometimes. All that I've gone through, all the obstacles, the crap... how much of it was forced upon me by fate and destiny. And how much of it was self imposed to help me kill time.

Strangely though, the Sith (race of really evil guys in Star Wars) Philosophy, code and mantra, embraces existentialism. A slightly more warped form. The Sith Code itself imposes a harsh and cruel view of the world, and emboldens an aggressive posture to overcome its challengers.

The Sith Code
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

The Existentialist focuses on Anger and despair as key emotions. Again, like the Existentialist, the Sith focuses very much on the quest for passion and freedom, and the concept of defining one's own destiny. We all crave the power. We all desire to create and destroy as we please. In a way, all of us are very much "Sith." Or at least, I AM. listening to the rain... 1:00 AM 0 comments

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