cRu3|+y™ BLACK DEATH

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Alright everyone! As promised, here's my long awaited (I hope it is) post.

How should I start?

Ok, my trip to China was from the 04th Oct to the 17th Oct. It's a 14 days trip, with 11 days at Huairou and 3 days a Beijing city for R&R.

For day 1, we gathered at the airport as early as 0700hrs and took our 6h long flight to Beijing. Upon reaching, we took a 1h+ long bus ride to Huairou and then to the town we are residing in, Cha Wu.

In the plane

The plane we took

When we reached Cha Wu, it was already night time. We proceeded on for dinner with the Kindergarten's principal and a senior teacher. The dinner was really sumptuous! It was a +/-20 course meal, and most of us ate to our fill till we can barely walk properly.

Part of the "multi-courses" meal

We all resided in a dorm for the railway workers at Cha Wu. It was really great that we were at least given accommodation at somewhere near the kindergarten. Not only if it was by "关系" (relations) between the principal and the officials, we wouldn't even be allowed to live there. The rooms in the dorms are nice, and the toilets were very clean. Just one problem was that, there's no shower area in the dorm itself. We need to walk to an opposite dorm's shower house for shower. Furthermore, we were only permitted to bathe on even days (Tue, Thu and Sat). However, if we really need to bather badly during the odd days, it's still possible to bathe under ice cold water in the drom's toilet, using a water hose.

Me and my roommate, Marcus in our room. The cup noodles there cost about 80c sing. But it is quite salty and is not as tasty as our local cup noodles. The only thing great about it was that, there's a vacuum packed egg in it :]

See those solar panels on the building? Those are solar panels that heat up water for the shower house. I realized this only during the last day at Cha Wu.

The dorm we resided in

The town where the railway workers reside in. And that's also where the kindergarten is situated in

Living quarters of the railway workers

The kindergarten

As so, for the next few days from day 2 to day 5 (5th-8th Oct), we spent our days scraping, sanding and white-washing the mounted boards on the walls, so as to prepare them for our murals. If I was not wrong, we also started some parts of our murals.

From inside, Me, Timothy(My team leader) and Darren Chew (My other roommate) scraping the mounting board.

From left, Gary, Lin Keong (My bangla head :]), Gervissa, Me, Darren Cheonng and Timothy scraping the outer railings, preparing it for painting

The breakfast we had for those days

Oh ya, I forgot to include, on the 3rd day, Team 2, which consist of people from Temasek Poly, James Cook University (a private university) and some adult volunteers arrived.

On the 6th day (9th Oct), we all went out for our first R&R trip to the Great Wall of China and also an Orchard. The part of the Great Wall of China we went to was at Huairou. It's a forbidden zone, very little tourist, or rather trekkers can be seen there. However, the scenery there was superb!

Behind me, lies the Great wall of China

Magnificent isn't it?

On the Great Wall of China, we put off firecrackers. That was rather the first time in my life that I've heard and see a firecracker being put off with my bare ears and eyes.

After the tiring hike to the Great Wall of China, we went for lunch at a restaurant nearby and had a sumptuous meal. Next, we proceeded on to an Orchard.

A fish pond

Corns

Lettuce

If you were to look closely, there were actually 3 emus in the middle of the picture

Nice huh?

After our excursion, we returned to our dorm for a short break. After which, we proceeded on to the Kindergarten for our dinner.

After dinner, we had a special guest lecturer, Dong Feng from the University of Bei Jing delivering us a lecture on China's Urbanization. He was a rather interesting person.

Having been to Singapore for 6 years, he was rather familiar to stuff in Singapore. Several stuff he said about Singapore as compared to China were rather true. The lecture was mainly regarding the topic on rural-urban migration. These stuff reminds me of my Geography last year. However, it's just that they were from a first person point of view, delivered to me. To me, his lecture was very interesting, I've been listening attentively to it for the whole time. However, as of the rest, I could see a lot of them either dozing off or were doing their own stuff, such as playing with their phone, etc...

As of the weekends, during the 7th and 8th day, we were again, back to work; back to scraping, painting...

A 3 wheeled lorry I saw at the town

On the night of day 8, we had a cultural exchange session with the teachers and staffs of the kindergarten. It was really interesting to learn little by little of the different dialects of the different teachers who came from different parts of the neighboring provinces. And we had a fun filled night.

See, the way the tables were arranged really looked as if that its a business conference or something. This really shows the seriousness of our host

On the 12th Oct, Mon, 9th day, we went to a national park. On our way there, the rear axle of the minibus we boarded broke on the way. It was rather fortunate of us that the bus was not maneuvering at high speed, and was able to safely pull over to a halt by the roadside. Else, I suppose, I'd most probably be dead by now.

Look properly, the axle actually broke!

We were transferred to another bus and proceeded on to the national park...

Our objective of that trip was to climb up the mountain for our goal, which is a waterfall.

Despite the fact that the way up was rather tiring, there were several superb scenery to see.

Stairway to heaven?

What a big millipede!

After a long long long hike up, the small group of mine finally reached the waterfall. However, all of us were rather disappointed when we saw the waterfall. As it was rather pathetic looking. It was not as magnificent as what we thought...

Well, here's the pathetic waterfall all of us anticipated for throughout the hike.

All of us stopped there to rest. Some went up the waterfall to draw some water, and I too, went up to get some water. After collecting a full bottle of water, it was rather unlucky of me to loose my balance and grip halfway when descending and dropped my bottle into the plunge pool. At that moment, I was like,"FUCK! CHEE BYE! KNN! @*#&$)%&#%*%&^@...!"

I was really thankful that Darren Cheong actually came over to help me retrieve my bottle, however, after helping me, something worse happened to him. Some shit from some fucker who shitted by the waterfall got stained onto his pants. It was damn gross and smelly! Hence, feeling bad, I offered to wash his pants for him after we got back to the dorms.

We had lunch after that and next, we proceeded on to Huairou city to visit a reservoir.

Well, the reservoir was mainly just a coast. But there were quite a few interesting things there.

Meow meow...

Captured sea animals sold by roadside vendors. The irony was, these animals were to be freed in the reservoir once purchased

We went to a nearby shopping center to shop after that and off to a nearby KFC for dinner.

Jing Bei Shopping Mall

Arsenal shop which sell mainly sports apparel with Arsenal's logo and designs on it.

The school kids there

KFC!!! The chicken there tasted very different from those in Singapore and what's better, they had double zinger burger and egg tarts sold as dessert.

After dinner, we went back to our dorms to rest and ended our day 9.

On the 10th day, we went back to work; with our usual scraping and painting...

The sunset of day 10

On that night, we had our 2nd cultural exchange session with the teachers. We shared about Islamic beliefs and Hinduism to the teachers and after that, we had a fun filled time putting off fire crackers and FIREWORKS!!!

On day 11, it's finally the last day of work for us, which was the final painting job of painting the less corroded parts of the older playground. However, before working, a small observation of the kids were arranged for us during their lesson time. That was like our first time, throughout the whole trip, being able to at least interact with the kids. Reason being was that, due to widespread of the H1N1 influenza, we were initially not allowed to interact with the kids at all. And hence, interacting with the kids was rather a big thing!

Cute huh?

The kids lining up for their next activity

Actually by day 10, all the murals we painted were also done. And here they are...

These were designed by our team member, Roliah. Its basically designed according to the nursery rhyme, Old MacDonald.

This particular set of 3 were drawn according to the story of, The Ugly Duckling.

I colored the little maroon house at the top left of this piece. Really hard man!

As of the last 3 murals, they were mainly made up of stuff copied from the textbooks used for teaching the kids. So it was kinda like a free drawing to us

This is my favorite piece. As I spent the most efforts in painting this. The girl together with the bike was painted by me. And it was not at all easy when it comes to the toning and stuff of the bike and the girl's clothes

Well, as of this, I contributed to it by drawning those bubbles, corals and the seaweeds :] nothing much though

After finishing our work and final touches. We spent our time playing with the kids at the newly constructed playground. Seeing the innocence of those kids really reminded me of my childhood memories.

A bunch of adults playing with small kids

Candid shot

At about evening time, we packed our stuff and went on a small excursion to a few farms.

At the first stop, we went to a dragon fruit farm to harvest and purchase some fresh dragon fruit.

Dragon fruits were planted in those cylindrical shaped structures

These are dragon fruit plants with ripe dragon fruit (in pink) on it. I didn't even know that its plant actually looks like that

Well, the dragon fruits were very sweet and tasty... After that, we went on to the principal friend's farm. Its really a very big farm full of vegetables such as corns, carrots, radish, etc...

Children of The Corn

A even bigger and heavier radish was harvested, however, I do not have a photo of it.

After the farm visit, we went to a restaurant for a farewell dinner and once again ate to our fill.

The next day, it was our last day at Cha Wu. We started our day by visiting the nearby train station. That was also know as the source of all the noises(horns from the trains) at night that barred us from sleeping properly during those days.

Cha Wu Station

That's indeed a big ass train station!

After that, we went back to the kindergarten for breakfast and our final interactions with the kids. My group did a art lesson with the junior group(class of 3 years old kids). It was kinda heartwarming to see the innocent look of the kids doing their stuff. I was just wondering if I was like that back then when I was young...

Mr Chew in action...

Next, we had a few group photos at the playground before we bade farewell from the kindergarten. And lastly our last lunch at the kindergarten, before we return to our dorms to get out stuff and depart from Cha Wu.

Group photo with everyone. (sorry for the lousy quality. I don't own a scanner)

Kitchen staff, 王园长, me, another teacher(sorry that I forgot their names)

For our departure from the kindergarten, some of us broke down and cried. I was too, sad that we had to leave after having served there for such a long time. Such feelings was kind of like a De-ja-vu to me when my team at Cambodia back then in 2006 was leaving the Methodist school at Phnom Penh...

After our departure from Cha Wu, we took a 2hrs long bus ride into Bei Jing city. And that marks the start of our 2 day R&R. Our first stop was at the "Temple of Heaven". That temple was built in the Ming dynasty for the royalties to worship the gods. However, in present day, its converted into a park, opened to public.

Temple of Heaven

Old people playing cards

Trademark building for the Temple of Heaven. Its the temple for the God of Harvest

Marcus, Roliah, Darren Chew, Lin Keong, Ee Von and Me

A group of people 'Jamming' in the China way

Shadow of The Day

Finally found a China flag to add into my collection of flags

Next we went to check in to our hotel. On our way, I saw several unique looking buildings. And when I say several, its really so much that I got confused what exactly that building was built for.

That's actually a 'pair' of shopping centers, such unique building can be seen literally everywhere in Beijing

After checking in, we went to a nearby steamboat restaurant for our 重庆麻辣(Chongqin extra spicy) steamboat dinner.

Beijing Spice Girls, the name is already intimidating enough

In Singapore, I've too, eaten 重庆麻辣火锅. But this one I ate was real terror! We had 2 types of soup bases, one was the extra spicy chili oil soup base and the other was the chicken broth. The chicken broth was just like the normal steamboat we usually eat. But the chili oil base... woah ho! Real terror! Its so damn freaking spicy that it scratches my throat, incapacitate my tongue and burns my lips. Most people at my table totally couldn't take it. While what I did was to tolerate with it and was in fact kinda enjoying the spicy sensation in the end. I've never tried anything so extreme before!

After dinner, we took a bus to a nearby shopping center for foot reflexology. Up till then, I've never been to any of sort foot reflexology or body massage services before and was kind of nervous that it will hurt a lot...

In the public bus...

Its the first time for all of us

After the reflexology, I felt totally refreshed. However, MY BALLS HURTS! There was one procedure where my left and right thighs were flexed to the left and right respectively. That made my thighs squeeze my balls and it was really painful!

Next, as there was no more bus services, we walked back to our hotel and had a good night's rest.

At the 13th day, I woke up early with my team leader, Timothy together with Kristeen and my other team leader, Jesslyn to get breakfast for the team from a nearby diner. And next, we set off to the Tienanmen Square and also our visit to the Forbidden city.

CCTV building. Unique architecture huh?

Tienanmen Square

Entrance to the Forbidden City

For our tour in the Forbidden City, I personally felt that it was rather boring. But those stories from our tour guide made things more interesting for us. Basically, for those who are really so 'mountain tortoise' to not know what on earth is the Forbidden City, its basically the palace where the royalties such as the emperor, empress, prince, princess, etc... lived in during ancient times. I suppose pictures speaks more than words, so for this part, it'd be just pictures and captions...

Soldiers marching with their ultra solid slow march

Us, walking on the 'Dragon's Vein' That's the straight road where only the Emperor or Scholars or the Empress were allowed to walk on

If you noticed, all structures in the palace looks similar. That's why its somehow boring to keep taking photos of the buildings in the palace

Our tour guide explaining the plan of the palace

According to our guide, this is the only remaining authentic throne in the palace

After our tour in the Forbidden City, we climbed up a hill opposite to the Forbidden City. Over there, the full view of the forbidden city can be seen, and it was magnificent!

This is certainly more interesting than touring around the palace

We went for lunch after that at a nearby eatery and then to "Slik Street" Market to shop.

On our way to Silk Street, I saw this unique looking building, its the China National Offshore Oil Corporation's building

Silk Street is indeed a totally crappy place to shop at. Initially, my impression of Silk Street is a 'pasar malam' type of shopping where you can find those cheap and nice brandless stuff(which I always wear). But I was wrong, its actually a big assed shopping center full of overpriced pirated goods. Its like the folks there literally sell those fake goods at the price of the real ones. Just for an instance, my team leader, Timothy thorn his bag, hence, he wanted to buy a new simple and cheap bad to store his stuff. When he told the store keeper that he wanted to buy a new bag, the store keeper immediately took a fake Tumi bag for him. She claimed that its genuine leather and was trying to charge him 1840RMB for it. That's freaking +/-S$368! Who would spend so much for fake goods?! Initially we rejected her and decided to walk away, but that c**t just refuses to let us off. She was like desperately pulling tight onto Timothy's arm. Seeing her f'ed up attitude, I got kinda furious and was like saying with raised voice in madarin,"What my friend over here wanted is just a SIMPLE bag to put his stuff. He don't need such an expensive bag!" to her.

After a while a few others in our group came and was like trying to bargain further for him. In the end, the bag was still purchased at 200 RMB, which is still kinda overpriced to me. Seeing such f'ed up people there, I was kinda totally discouraged to buy anything there. In the end, what I got was just a new belt for 80RMB, a book titled, "Quotations From Chairman Mou"(the little red book) as a souvenir and 300++RMB worth of goodies to eat. While others blew quite a lot of money on those overpriced fake goods. Some even blew 1K+RMB for those stuff!

The name of this place can be deceiving

After shopping at that f'ed up place, we went to Lao She Tea House, 老舍茶馆, for a cultural performance with stuff such as Sze Chuan face changing, 四川变脸, acrobat, Chinese Oprah, etc... Somehow, I felt that it was not worth it spending 200+RMB for those stuff, as they were basically stuff that I've seen even in Singapore. But what's done is done... Else, we could have put better use to those money.

Lao She Tea House

The woman on the left was playing bowls and cups as her instrument

Sorry, I can't take any photos during the performances. So what I could do was to only take a photo of the hall

We went to buy KFC for dinner after that and went back to our hotel for a good night's rest.

The next day which was the last day, we woke up early for our small free and easy. All of us traveled in small groups and started off with breakfast at a restaurant near our hotel. Next, we just simply roam about the place for some last minute shopping and then went back to our hotel to check out. After that, we proceeded on to the airport for our flight back.

Beijing International Airport

I met Kok Wei from SP Rotaract club at the airport. He was returning from his Overseas Industrial Training Program (OITP) and took the same flight as me.

And so, that marks the end of our trip.

Here are some funny signs I saw there...

I took this on the first day at the airport... So does the lift stop at 1F?

I took this at the steamboat restaurant at the 12th day... So is the place going to be covered by landslide anytime or what...?

[DEATH]

Monday, October 19, 2009

Hi everyone!

I am back!

Actually, I've been back since last Saturday night, but I was so damn tired and busy that I needed some time to rest and pack my stuff before I even make a post in my blog.

Its been 2 weeks since I last posted. However, the feeling was just as if like I just posted last week.

Everything went on very fast over there. In a flash, 2 weeks went by and my vacation is over.

School just started today and it was a rather boring day for me.

A full coverage of my trip will be posted on most probably, this Saturday, after I harvest more photos from the rest in my team.

And so, see ya!

[DEATH]

Saturday, October 03, 2009

This would most probably be my final post for my 6 weeks long vacation.

And ya, why final post?

Well, I'd be flying off to China tomorrow for my community service and will be back only after 2 weeks, which is also the end of my vacations already.

I'd most probably be missing you guys out there in Singapore during my 2 weeks there. Or maybe not? haha :]

This vacation was kind of a busy one for me. I literally spent everyday of it out doing my stuff. And I did not really play so much this time.

This week itself was already a busy one for me. My club, SP Stage Crew (formerly known as SP Roadies) signed me up for a 3 days long workshop regarding stage performance.

In this workshop, we were trained on vocals skills, acting skills and confidence building. These stuff were very fun, and I enjoyed them all!

At the final day of the workshop, which was yesterday, all the 3 groups were made to each perform a music (band) item, drama item, singing item and a random item out of the team's creativity. I did not perform, but instead, I broke out from my team and was designated for my backstage duties.

Yesterday was also my first time being a backstage crew as an AV crew. It was a rather different feeling from my backstage experiences I had back then when I was in NP. Hence, I was kinda nervous, but luckily everything went on fine.

On Wednesday night, it was a rather interesting night not to be forgotten. My DPA friends and I had a small meet up and dinner together. We had steamboat at Marina Square and some slacking at Esplanade, by the bay till 2300++, when we rushed to the MRT station to catch the final few trains home.

It's been a long time since I last met them and there were so many stuff to talk about! Everybody went on separate paths after DPA to different courses and classes. And each and everyone of us had hell lots of stuff to share regarding our different poly lives. Some enjoyed theirs some hate theirs and were like longing for poly life to be like DPA life...

It's really sad that all of us were not of the same course and class. As I can say, my DPA friends are one of the coolest bunch of people I've met!

And so, that's all for this week. See you all two weeks later!

[DEATH]

Monday, September 28, 2009

Hi guys! Ever wondered how is it like to be drunk?

Actually I too, do not have the answer, but I was somehow semi drunk for some occasions this week.

My Family were all away for a short holiday at Vietnam from the Sept 23rd morning till the 27th afternoon.

Hence, I was all alone at home for these 4 days.

It was total freedom for myself! But of course, there was still some control I set myself.

For the first day, Wednesday, it was still all normal, as I had a meeting for my China trip in campus during the afternoon. By the time I was back, it was already the evening when I bought my dinner and retired for the day watching TV, playing my guitar, facebooking, etc...

During the 2nd day, Thursday, I spent my day slacking and lazing at home, watching movies with my com. It was until the evening when I left for Penisular, Music Theme, to fix my acoustic guitar. I spent $15 for my guitar's truss rod to be adjusted so as to straighten the guitar neck and also my guitar's saddle to be replaced and lowered. All these reduces the action of my guitar and its more 'playable' than the past. I also spent $6.50 on a .010 gauge copper strings which produces a real bright tone, which is also something I want.

Trip there also made me realize that my guitar is considered as the 'better' acoustic guitar in the line of TGM acoustics. It's actually already off production since 2006 and since then, several models after my guitar, TGM V2-RD, doesn't sound as good as my guitar. So, despite it being cheap, I will really treasure that guitar man!

The brand new look of my acoustic guitar

Brand new copper wounded strings for a brighter tone

Saddle replaced and lowered.

After leaving Penisular, I intended to have dinner at Beach Road Hawker Centre. I walked all the way there, and along the way, I passed by Kampong Glam, Arab Street area, and saw several 'Shisha' bar, and many people 'shisha-ing' at those bars. It was kind of weird for people to sit at an area, lazing around smoking for 2 hours. And I just wonder, what's so good about smoking, let alone 'shisha'? Next, when I was about to reach Beach Road Hawker, at Jalan Sultan, I chanced upon a shop with several old posters of Music fest and very old metal band posters. These stuff sparked off my curiosity and hence I entered the shop to 'look around'. Self printed tees and a few genres like grindcore, death metal, black metal, hardcore CD were also sold there. Next I talked to the owner of that shop. He is a Malay man in his later 30s by the name of Jam. His shop is actually more of his studio where he designs and prints Tees for events, or for his other customers with minor jobs like class tees or even personal self designed tees. We had a long chat, talking about music, metal, life, etc... He is indeed a nice guy to talk to, and maybe I can even approach him in future if I were to request for some T-shirt printing services.

Ignite Inc.

57 Jalan Sultan

Singapore 198978

igniteprod@yahoo.com.sg

myspace.com/igniteprod

After realizing that it was freaking late at like 2240 already, I decided to take a bus home and order MC for dinner (cum supper) instead.

On my way back, I bought a bottle of 340ml Jack Daniels and sprite for some high time later.

While eating, I was chatting with Jon over MSN, and as I took my first gulp of the raw whiskey after my meal, but I was still ok after that. Next I had a few rounds of it mixed with sprite and also another gulp of raw whiskey until it's like half drained.

Those stuff made my head spinning, made me unable to type properly and my head felt kinda heavy through it, but I was totally so high that I can't sleep even after watching a movie and playing Gears of War. It was until 0400hrs when I decided to sleep...

The next day, Friday, I woke up at 0900hrs and straightaway tidied up the mess I made on my study table from the previous night.

Jon came to my house to thon during the afternoon. We kinda slacked around doing nothing much. It was only after dinner, after he went home to get a change and me getting another bottle of whiskey(some cheap ass ones) and some snacks, then the real thing starts.

He brought his X Japan Last Live DVD to my place, and we were like snacking and with me drinking through the whole thing.

Again, I kinda got myself semi drunk after drinking too much again. That cheap ass whiskey I bought tasted much thinner than the Jack Daniel's I bought the previous night. Thinking that it's lighter, I gulped quite a lot of it down raw. To make things worse, I drank lots of coke, and that totally made me kinda crazy to laugh like a dumb fuck after saying some stupid stuff, and even saying several stuff in my mind. and of course I got very VERY high, and again I can't sleep. We were like awake till 0600hrs when we finally then took at nap till like 0900hrs when I woke up and him waking up at about 1000hrs (this is also where I wonder what made him awake when he did not drink a single drop of alcohol). That was crazy, but I am really sure that I am still conscious when I said those stupid stuff to him and it was just me being so high that I can't control myself to say those stuff or maybe rant those stuff out.

Henceforth, I tell myself, I should never drink like such a dumb fuck in future or I am really gonna get myself drunk and do some stupid stuff in no time.

We slacked till lunch and then I left for campus for my China trip meeting and him off to home.

After not sleeping for so damn long and also those dosage of hard liquor, I kinda had a hangover with my dizzy spells along my way in the train. I can't help but to doze off in train until I reach campus. I should say, I wasn't very awake during my meeting and was totally shagged when I reached home. I ate, watch TV, facebook till like 2300 and just simply dozed off till Sunday morn when I left for work and hence ending my 'freedom' and then went home at like 1930 hrs after my guitar lessons and my late late lunch cum tea.

So, those 4 days have been kinda freaky for me. It's really not nice(or maybe nice to a small extent) drinking excessively; getting myself crazy. However, I was kinda happy that I had the discipline to tidy up the place and also to do housework, and I think in future, I can live on my own man!

Just a small coverage, on the 22nd, Tuesday, it was my Roadies training in the evening. We got the stage lights at the Mobley Amphitheater working and had a full band set-up for a live band to jam. Next me together with seniors, their jamming friends and some of the other roadies members went to West Coast area for prata supper and Ice Cream. I had lots fun with them talking cock and was like only home at about 0000hrs.

And so, this week was kinda crazy and I wouldn't mind having another week like this man!!!

[DEATH]

Saturday, September 19, 2009

This week had been really crazy for me!

I was out for literally everyday... Monday for tuition, Tuesday for Roadies, Wed for Rotaract and Roadies, Thurs for tuition again, yesterday out with Jon and Seng Hong and Today for blood donation and a wasted trip to campus.

Wednesday was hell of a day teaching a whole bunch of rowdy lower primary kids for Rotaract during noon time. And it was kind of a wasted trip back to campus for Roadies after that. As the night event we initially had on Wednesday was canceled right on the last minute due to bad weather.

Yesterday was another funny day for me. I intended to donate blood during yesterday's morning and then meet Jon after that to hang out. When I was already at HSA's Blood Bank, I was rejected for donation. As I had Typhoid and Tetanus vaccination on 05/09, which made me unfit for blood donation until 19/09, and that's today. Hence, I booked an appointment for blood donation today and went to Dohby Ghaut to meet Jon.

We watched this animated movie "9", a show regarding the end of humanity and robots being what that remains on earth. It was quite a nice show to watch, and it's something suitable for all ages.

Next, we went to meet Seng Hong at Suntec. Both of us walked all the way from Plaza Singapura to Suntec. Initially, we could have walked straight to Suntec, but it was a stupid 'bet' I had with Jon, with me saying that La Selle SIA is next to Sim Lim and Jon saying that it's next to Iluma. So to prove it to him that I was right, we changed our course towards the Bugis direction. What's worse was that, we in the end just called off the bet halfway and carried on with our journey. So it was really stupid that we changed our course for nothing and made a big detour.

We met Seng Hong at Suntec in the end. His prelims just ended with the last paper yesterday, and so, that's was also the reason why he can be out with us. We went for the food fair over there and were really disappointed with it. As the food varieties was damn limited and the prices of everything were so heavily jacked up.

We had our dinner there however and went to Marina to slack after that. Next, we went home. It was seriously a boring day out actually. Real meaningless!

Today, I over slept and was late for my blood donation's appointment. When I reached Outram Park, it was raining badly, but luckily, HSA is only a stone's throw away from the MRT station, so it wasn't that bad either.

Blood donation went by faster than expected. And I went to campus after that.

I had lunch at food court 5 and killed some time playing Gears of War over there till 1400hrs.

Thinking that there was a meeting just now, I went to DSD, Department of Student Development (formerly known as SAA, Student Alumni Affairs). When I was there, I was still blindly wondering where on earth everybody were. And so I sms a few of my team mates. As one of them replied asking me if there was a meeting today, I then realized that the meeting today was actually postponed to next Wednesday.

That was really dumb of me, and so... I went home and ended my day at home doing nothing much but to sleep, eat, watch TV, blog...

And so that's my week... Really busy and freaky.

[DEATH]

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Hi everyone!

One week of my holidays just went by...

The week was kind of funny. My parents were off for holidays at China for 9 days since Monday. And so, that also marks my self-reliant days. This went on for 1 week already, where I've been doing most of the housework, such as the laundry and cooking. I was kinda sick of doing them! Especially the laundry. As it was really stupid to wait by the washing machine to wash the clothes, and it takes up about half an hour everyday!

Other than that, I've been kinda busy with my CCAs stuff and my China Trip stuff, with all the meetings, preparations, trainings etc... Kinda tired with them actually...

So, this holiday wasn't really 100% relaxation for me :[

Something really funny happened. I intended to organize a night cycling expedition on Thursday night till Friday morning. So of course, what I did firstly was to call up some people for it. I first contacted, Jon, and he was ok with it. Next Nigel, who was also ok with it. And then Kae Jian, who was too, ok with it. So as I thought that there were 4 of us, a even number amount of people (for such expedition, it's better to pair people up, instead of having an odd-number amount of people, where there will be someone left out when we were paired up) and were already set for the expedition, Nigel suddenly called me, saying that he wanted to back out due to reason such as the 7th lunar month being "unsafe", and stuff (well, if you don't know, in Taoist beliefs, the 7th lunar month was known to be the month when beings from the neither world rise up to earth for a visit)... So I decided to approach Yip Han for it, but he turned me down, saying that he was tired after a camp. Next, as I called Jon, telling him the situation, he too backed up, telling me that even if there were 4 of us, there were too little people, etc... And hence, The expedition was canceled, and was postponed to some times like December when I would be my semester 2 mid semester break and Nigel's post 'O' Levels long holidays.

For these few days, I've been also running for a bit to keep fit. However, for now, I decided to not time myself when I was running, but to instead train more on my stamina by trying to jog over a longer distance (rather than my usual 3km). And also to run at night/mid-night, before I sleep, rather than to run before sunrise, by waking up damn early for it. I started off with 5km on last Sunday/Monday, 6km on Tuesday/Wednesday and 6km just now, on Saturday/Sunday(today). It really felt so nice to sweat everything off during such insanely hot days, and it was really rewarding to endure through such distances. Maybe in no time, I will try to increase my distances, and eventually, I will be able to run for those running events!

And so, here are some of the highlights from me for this week, do expect more next week :]

[DEATH]

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Hello everybody! Exams are all over! And so, here's the end of my first semester in poly.

With exams all over for now, I am going to put my books aside and concentrate on my CCA, China Trip more, and also to get time off having fun, re-connecting with old friends, etc...

Of course, I am also going to spend more time sitting with my guitar, practicing it! I will try my best to master a few more songs and skills, which will enable me to be more experienced.

My vacation would be 6 weeks long. It's not very long as compared to my post 'O' Levels break, but I am sure, it would be enough for me to relax and breathe.

Of the 6 weeks, I would be also spending 2 weeks at Huairou, China, somewhere at the outskirts of Beijing, to serve for my Overseas Community Service, OCS. And to me, now is then the time that I can really give in 100% for all the preparations for the trip. Which means, yes... I've been just fucking around all these while for almost all the prep sessions, and wasn't really paying much attention to them. Really sorry man!

Well, back to the main topic, so for these days, I will be still kinda busy with several non-academical things in campus. And this means, I am actually too busy to even go get a part time job for myself! This is kinda crazy, but I think this would not be much of a problem. As I suppose my time wouldn't be wasted off anyway.

I gotta really cherish all my vacations man! As that's then the time when I can take time off, relax and get back into the real me!

[DEATH]

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Alright, so my final revision week passed so fast; faster than expected!

This week was kind of boring and drab for me. I've been just practicing on past year papers for my E. Tech and for Thermofluids.

The attendance for my class dropped drastically for this week and the class was quite quiet suddenly.

Thursday was the funniest day for me. As I was the only one in the whole damn class reporting for C. Programming revisions session. It was kinda weird, as the whole class was damn quiet, and it was like I was just sitting alone at a side doing my practices, when my lecturer was also sitting at her desk doing her stuff.

Only interesting thing for the week was, last night, Nigel, Hong Siang, Kae Jian and I met up for dinner to 'celebrate' Hong Siang's birthday on Sunday and Nigel's on Monday. We had a great time reminiscing the past and also quite some time at the pavilion near Aljunied Crescent Block 108 looking at Kae Jian and Hong Siang practicing street dancing (sorry, that's not my thing and I don't exactly know what's their dance genre).

As of today, I spent my whole day practicing past year papers and also to study.

Monday would be my first paper, Thermofluids 1 and then with all 6 papers, my exams will end at the following Friday with Engineering Maths 1.

[DEATH]

Saturday, August 15, 2009

To all regular readers out there (which I don't think there is a lot either), sorry for not posting for these few days. I've been too busy with my school work; with those projects, practices, etc...

Exams are coming, and I suppose you guys will not see me post for quite some time too after today, till the end of my exams 3 weeks later.

I was really fucked after this week man! It was like 2 presentations, one on Wednesday and Thursday.

Monday was a holiday, and my class and I went to cycle at ECP. However, we did not go too far. We merely stopped at the Changi MOE campsite area, and then turned back to ECP for dinner. Tuesday was rather a long day of maths and some roadies stock taking stuff... Speaking about roadies, SP Roadies is a newly formed CCA by a committee students and a new staff at SAA (Student Alumni Affairs). I am part of the committee of people, and that will be my primary CCA for now.

Wednesday was an even longer day. Despite ending lessons at 1100hrs, we all went to BMTC(Basic Military Training Centre) at Tekong for my ONOW excursion. Over there, I got to see the military camp out there and those stuff that I'll expect to see, use and train on in a few years to come.

It was an interesting trip, but what's fucked up was that I need to write a 300< words reflection regarding the excursion.

Thursday was kinda crazy, I carried my amp, guitar, laptop and my usual study notes to campus for my CRS (Critical Reasoning Skills) presentation.

Now, you guys must be wondering, why on earth did I bring my guitar and even my amp for. Well, it seriously for part of my presentation...

My team was supposed to present stuff regarding E-learning not being to best teaching method. And hence, for the intro, we decided to play the first part of "Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends" from the MP3 to everyone. Then, when the distortion part comes in, I'll start playing my guitar and then the other 2 members of mine will sing, all the way till the end of the guitar solos. The rationale over that was to make people bored over listening to the MP3 and then to capture back everyone's attention when we start performing. As this is also similar to E-learning being like the MP3, which is less interactive, while live classroom teaching by a teacher being more interactive. However, for a part of the intro and the solo, I kinda screwed up, due to the fact that I was too nervous, and failed to deliver a nice act for everyone.

The part of getting everything home was also a pain... everything's so damn heavy, and by the time I reached home, I was already drenched in perspiration.

Yesterday, I kinda slacked off my day, chatting with Bennie and Jason, both my DPA friends for the afternoon, and then went home to continue slacking. Maybe it was because that I was too tired. Hence I was not at all in the mood to study for the whole day...

And so... starting from today, I'll be studying hard for my exams!

And within no time, it'll all be over, and there goes my semester 1.

[DEATH]

Monday, August 03, 2009

Hi there, kind of a late post for last week, and without knowing, another week passed.

Here's just one thing you guys would be wondering, why does all my introduction for every week's post sound the same? Well, personally, I seriously too don't understand why. Maybe it's also due to the fact that my life is kinda repetitive between school, guitar, home, fooling around over nothing, blah blah...

I can admit, I'm kind of a "no-life" person. But before saying that, a few interesting things did happen last week.

Last Tuesday, my guitar teacher was finally teaching us harder stuff. What I mean for harder is 'Carlos Santana - Black Magic Woman'. If it's anything by him, all that I can say is that they are not easy stuff. And to really master them, I will need several years of practice and learning to fulfill it. Hence, I spent my Sunday morning and a moment ago, Monday night to practice part of it, and managed to play the first solos of the song. However, it's still not perfected yet, with wrong notes and timings played on and off.

Saturday was kind of a long day for me. As it was my 3rd meeting for my China trip.

I was kinda glad that the meeting was at somewhere near my house at lor 21 Geylang. As its very near to my house.

That place is actually called 'High Point' and is located at somewhere near Aljunied MRT. It's a halfway home for ex-offenders.

That place is very quiet during the afternoon, and it was so quiet that it's also hard for me to believe that its actually situated at the core of Geylang where its surrounded by roads.

Going there was quite of a different experience for me. As I met some strong-willed gentlemen over there. There was this China migrant worker whom I met, he was injured during work and hence, is unable to work. Furthermore, he was also admitted to the hospital due to his injury during work. However, despite the fact that he was out of a job and was in debt to the hospital, he was still strong-willed enough to not want to accept any help from others, and it was like after several persuasions when he decided to work there in exchange for food coupons.

We spent some time discussing and listening to others sharing about China and then, we were also given a treat to... something unexpected... FERMENTED TOFU!

Actually I love it! It's something that I had not ate for years, and having had the chance to eat it last Saturday was really a joy! Despite the fact that most people hates it...

Today was again, quite of a boring day. Nothing much happened, except that I felt really great after running 3 km when I got home. It took me 13:00.98 to clear that, and was obviously faster than last Thursday, where I clocked a 13:30.

And ok, that's the end of my sharing today, next update in a week's time :]

[DEATH]