Sacred Stone Domain

2010-12-31T09:45:00.001+08:00

LOCK STOCK BARREL

Migrating to http://sacredstone.tumblr.com/

2010-12-25T15:18:00.003+08:00

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT XMAS THAT MAKES YOU WISH IT WAS XMAS EVERYDAY

folks and sis are in town for xmas.
went to the zoo and the museums, which was fantastic.
these are the two places i would have worked at if i didnt study to be an engineer.
i would have been a vet or a historian.
i love animals and history, especially violent history.
but somewhere along the way i realised stitching up road kill for a living wasnt much fun.
and history's only fun when you hear it for the first time.
travelling with dad can get qt tiresome at times tho.
he's the kind of person that would negotiate with the tooth fairy for another dollar, or ask santa for one more present..

this festive season, let us forget everything.
we all have our joys, our grief, our loves, our hates, our assuredness, our insecurities, our wisdom, our foolishness, our confidence, our uncertainties.
we live in a myriad of emotions, an anthology of experience.
let us all start from zero.
let us live again.

2010-12-12T16:10:00.003+08:00

FOR SPRATA!! (singapore-prata)

gave a presentation at work this week on singapore gas ops.
i'd say it was a good show. two of the bosses, phil corvin and greg bowyer came up to pat me on the back among several others. norman, one of the Principal Engrs, who came here from singapore 30yrs ago, was beaming like a proud dad, that made me feel awfully good.

speaking of singapore,
had prata which was not prata this week,
cost 5 frickin bucks!
i can eat 5 pratas for that price back home.. telor.

yet speaking of prata,
caught don on dvd over the weekend.
it was fantastic.
kia ho?
it's actually a remake of the 1978 picture starring amitabh bachaan, now led by srk.
my fav quote,

"it's not only difficult to catch don, it is impossible. ~ahh... mangali.. bangali.. cholli cholli.. heeeheeeheee.. hey!!~"

2010-12-08T20:21:00.004+08:00

WHAT'S MY RELIGION? I WATCH OPRAH

i've had enough of oprahs face splashed across the metropolitan.
as if the recent freak rain wasnt enough,
now it's raining the big O all over.
she's been travelling the states to meet the respective premiers
then she's coming to syd to bring us the holy spirit, nourish our souls with her words of wisdom, maybe give out some insanely extravagant door gifts as well.
pope?? what pope? who's the pope?
ohh.. but yea.. yea.. we know oprah..
i would not walk across the street to see oprah.

btw http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10692465
phweet phweet~ now thats what im talkin about..
fuck it's time to unscrew the kitchen sink and hurl it at the rest of the world ABs!
men and women both.
what am i talking about? im a frenchie.
see. the power of advertising.

2010-12-05T20:20:00.004+08:00

MOMO

should've left a moustache in november
bet i'd have been pretty darn swanky
and also avoided razor rash
abe did not look good in it at the office, that's why i didnt do it
sigh.. hesitation begets loss
mecember?

well then again there's orlando
who has manuary, mebruary, err.. march? etc. okay you get the point

2010-11-28T19:04:00.002+08:00

普通话

i've always wondered what was it that people had with redheads,
them being the pun of jokes, bullied at school and all that.
now that there are several of them around, i finally know why.
they hurt the eyes dammit.
they're not ugly or anything, im not saying that,
and im not being discriminatory, God knows im the least of that.
com'on, im a chink in a foreign land for crying out loud.
but those ginger people just hurt my eyes man.
demon children of leprechauns..

im also peeved that just when im in town, the waratahs take a break from union season. everyone then switches to watch the ashes.
cricket comprehesively summed up, is a game that lasts for five days, involves a bunch of guys who do nothing most of the match, as they take turns to try and knock over three sticks stuffed in the ground, while the other team guards with a paddle. i swear only 0.3424322% of people in the world knows what goes on in cricket.
btw after five days, the match may end in a draw. well, there goes five days for every sad sod who wasted their time either playing or watching.

snitha invited me to macquarie u for badminton during the week. its a social comp thingy, like tennis at artarmon, but this time it wasnt that good. i got bitch slapped by viets and indos so badly its not funny. by the end of the third set i was making air swings and rubbing my eyes pretending it was the ceiling lights. she invited me again for next weeks session, i dont know how to tell her that i dont like being a whip ass boy.
i enjoy playing tennis with 70 year olds more.
its like doing differential equations in front of kindergarten kids,
waatttaahh... kickasss biatch!!

2010-11-22T22:00:00.001+08:00

ALL THE SMALL THINGS ADD UP

went for social competition tennis at artarmon club on sat,
one of my senior manager karl's the golden oldies captain.
this is how it works. you come down anytime from 2 to 10, and they'll pair you up at random to play against another doubles opponent in one set matches.
won my first match 6-5, woot!
but got totalled in the subsequent two matches when karl partnered me.
he kept going "stick to the net son, stick to the net", which kinda annoyed me.
firstly, im not your son,
secondly, i played a lot better when you weren't bitching down my neck.
but it's all in good faith and he did lend me his racket to keep, double woot!

i think everyone should write horoscopes like jonathan cainer from the daily telegraph. not that it's accurate, i mean everyone knows it's bull. furthermore, when you read it, you soon realise he doesn't exactly tell you anything haha. the reason why cainer is excellent is because every snippet he writes is strongly positive and always encouraging. thats exactly what horoscopes should be, to bring the best out of individuals because the future is what we make of it.
btw the daily telegraph is awesome. it's the local tabloid, and in my opinion, it's better than any of the broadsheets. i'm a cheapo, so i'll try to read it in the pantry every morning before it becomes spill wipe, otherwise i'll still grudgingly fork out a buck to buy it at the news stand along my street.

2010-11-14T19:45:00.002+08:00

I LIKE CALAMARI

squids, also known as deliciousi veri, are invertebrates that swarm our seas.
please note that squids are not octopuses. an octopus would be deeply insulted to be mistaken for a squid, just as a table tennis paddler is insulted when told he plays ping pong.

squids are the turkeys of the sea,
they're both brainless and serve no purpose, except to be eaten.
i like to live therefore i like to eat.
i like to eat therefore i like turkey.
i like turkey therefore i like squid.
i like squid therefore i like calamari.
the wonders of logic.
calamari has to the what the light bulb was to thomas edison as to the man who first thought of cooking chopped squid and giving it a fancy french (spanish? italian? zimbabwean?) name.

why would God make squids the way they are anyway?
they are so weird.
they have eight legs, piss ink and light up when they're horny.
He must have thought it was kinda funny.
well it is.
thank God He made them tasty.

2010-11-08T22:29:00.002+08:00

PENGUINS

why the company made me stay in kent street i have no idea. and it costs a bomb for them too. it's like downtown shenton way here, everyones go-go-go, walking fast, money money money. i'm not that sort. if i wanted to be a banker i'd have been one, turns out i lay pipes for a living, and i say that in a good way.

it's people like jeff gould who inspire me. the cranky old bloke brought me out in the field on friday and we had quite the chat. jeffs worked in the company for 23 years now and he simply loves what he does. but the everyman that he is, he still complains about the cost of living, traffic, his 1.5hr drive to work daily. he tells me with pride that his son's going to be working for a sub-contractor soon. he is extremely nostalgic about how the company used to have distributed depots and now all we have are a centralised office and rented stores. i empathise with him but thats the way of the new economy, lean and efficient.jeff brings to mind mr.tay and zain back home. how these guys keep loving their job is something i want to have, whether i stay with the company or not. it's just occurred to me im only a baby compared to them, a young turk, i've hardly worked past a year.

anyway, got out and about over the weekend. im not the touristy sort. i hardly ever take any photos and i only go to places where i wanna go. crowds stress me really, especially tourists.

went to maroubra to do squat nothing the entire sat. this may become a trend if the weather holds. the beaches here arent as good as goa but they okay. wanted to go learn surfing but i'm not exactly keen on being put with the 8 year olds, so i'll stick with what i do best for now, swimming.

went for sunday service at st.josephs, which is great cos i havent any friends here. they were really nice and all, inviting me to sing for the chior, go for fri bible class and have lunch. the more i attend churches in anglo-european countries, the more i realise how much we take for granted the health of our church back home. i mean these churches have roaming priests who are asian/african and the congregation hardly hits 200 on a good day.

went to the galleries too. most of them had period art which doesnt really interest me. the white rabbit gallery has very good contemporary pop art though, that was much more appealing.

still havent gone to taronga, i really wanna see the animals.

2010-11-03T20:37:00.000+08:00

Day 2

more or less settled in. got the apartment and the car. internets hooked on, phone homes linked up. fridge stocked, with diet coke, juice, timtams and vinegar chips. yeah im pretty much ready for an apocalypse.

they've put me up downtown so everythings nearby, except work. still getting my bearings around the office, but ppl are really nice. went on site with dave today to look at the stations. i honestly think we do things better than they do, aptitude-wise, maybe their work attitudes better. dont know why im here. anw they said i came on a good day since it was the melbourne cup yesterday, a horserace held annualy that stops the nation. well im flattered.

meals are ok. have a feeling i will be eating a lot on nandos for the next couple of months. and i do mean A LOT, since theres one just opposite my apartment. probably a lot of kebabs as well, i feel the kebabness in me rearing its high calorie head again ala holland. just this afternoon, i took a whole 30min to finish my lunch of kebab and chips, purely eating. but no worries, the apartment has a gym and a pool so will probably be working out quite a bit.

the music they play here is shite. during the drive home, the aussie version of muttons comes on. before bedtime radios decent enough. richard merzac plays sappy love songs from the 80s/90s. the dedications people make on air are really entertaining, considering tv's no good. 1/3 of declarations are either gay/lesbian, and merzac reads all with a dead straight voice.

probably check out some watering holes with debs friend over the weekend. plus taronga. dont know why im so excited to see the animals, even more so than the galleries surprisingly.

2010-10-14T00:40:00.004+08:00

ADOU ADOU

been thinking of how to occupy my weekends in sydney
and i might have found the answer.
i shall be a busker!
but i've got nothing performance-worthy
except stoning
so that'll probably have to do
like one of those silver painted bozos standing on a pedestal and bowing when you drop a coin, yea one of those
but then again its not much fun

i recently read a book which said
"the essense of genius is taking one thing at a time in the midst of chaos"
so simple yet so true those words

2010-09-21T18:53:00.001+08:00

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

-Rudyard Kipling

2010-09-12T22:14:00.002+08:00

OUTER SPACE

chin nominated me for higher office today, i should be elated right, but why am i still so ambivalent. im not saying that i feel awful, but its just that good things dont make me happy nor do bad things make me sad any more

matthew, matthew.. whats wrong with you..
can you pls stop being so dead
can you pls stop being in your own realm
theres a fine line between strength and being a walking zombie
you have to eliminate the torturing silence

yet all i can think of now is escaping to my tree house
i just wanna go away for awhile
i'm almost there
but when im up there i know i'll peep out to look at the kids in the playground

i really miss those days.

2010-09-09T22:10:00.003+08:00

WHEN I GROW UP

shi 太: "你有几立birdie?"
me: "没有leh.."
shi 太: "huh? 你没有birdie ar? heehee"
me: (dumbfounded what the fuck)

scolded by lao ah bengs
teased by lao ah lians
i wanna be like you all when i grow up

2010-08-23T00:42:00.005+08:00

AB 29-22

rah rah!! woot woot!!..
but for crissake, you've won the tri-nations enough times alr
please just win the RWC next year on your own friggin turf will ya

i really need to start focusing when people are talking to me
im always thinking of all sorts of other shit or drift into my own limbo land
this is starting to cause real problems.

2010-08-17T10:00:00.002+08:00

2010-08-16T11:29:00.001+08:00

the longest day...

2010-07-10T00:38:00.003+08:00

dont judge me
there's no black and white
everyone's a shade of grey.

i still know what honour is
if i am told not to
i will stop
otherwise all is fair game.

2010-06-21T21:19:00.002+08:00

WHAT DO I REALLY WANT?

this is a promise i make.
now here's someone i like, so i'm gonna make the best of it.
tonight's the last night i look back.
so frankly i don't give a damn.

2010-06-05T21:24:00.002+08:00

2010-05-21T18:21:00.007+08:00

OZZIE OZZIE OZZIE.. OI! OI! OI!

awesomeness.

day 1: arrive in melbourne. art gallery hopping.
day 2: melbourne city. shopping at harbourtown outlet mall. crab claypot rice dinner.
day 3: site visit to SP Ausnet. shopping at fitzroy. steamboat feast at chings.
day 4: golf at yarra bend. pubbing with sean.
day 5: great ocean road trip. 12 apostles.
day 6: road trip to warook farm and phillip's island. penguin parade. dinner at tenren.
day 7: breakfast at the european cafe. footy match at mcg. movie and club hopping at cao gao++ with shaan, tally, ash, ravi and ahmed. cruising in shaans pimped ford, windows down, music blasting along st kilda's. pissed drunk.
day 8: melbourne withdrawal symptoms kick in.

God gave me more than i asked for.
one word to describe this trip,
indulgence.

2010-04-23T00:11:00.002+08:00

BEADS OF WATER ON A LEAF

lunched with banny, stanley and lih hau today. we talked shop. again i'm affirmed that circumstances indeed shapes a person life over time. ppl don't neccessarily have innate aspirations. ppl are influenced by where they are now to move in where they want to be tomorrow. priorities of what they want to have are very much based on what they have now. yes human beings have pre-dispositions and inclinations, but they are weak. environment is much stronger.
this is the path i've been seemingly handed. would i have wanted it any other way? maybe. but as one thing pushes a person to take another step forward in a certain direction, the results are compounded and at the end of the day you'll find yourself somewhere different, sometimes vastly different, from where another similar person who started from exactly the same place as you is now.

2010-04-10T22:44:00.005+08:00

DAI LO

the past few weeks have been busy with network pigging ops and exams. but its been pretty quiet after easter so time to hit the greens again woot!
for the unfamiliar, PIG is short for pipeline inspection gauge and involves launching this from jurong island to senoko over 3 weeks, quite a learning experience.

anw, just a shout out

these guys

will woop these lady boys asses anytime

2010-03-20T12:36:00.005+08:00

BUA GIAOW

went to rws last night after my business paper.
its amazing what sentosa has morphed into simply within 3yrs, amazing. thats why i say.. we whole day scold gahmen scold gahmen.. actually small lee and his pap is good one..
anw the place is really a playground for the rich, siphoning money from tycoons and their wives, especially their wives, through retail outlets like longines, vertu, shanghai tang. THIS IS DEEPLY AGAINST MY SOCIALIST IDEALS! so i have decided to understand the capitalist pig of an enemy better by penetrating their hellish domain of indulgence.
my only gripe is the $100 levy. its really qt unneccessary, and they dont even serve sandwiches or cocktail inside for free man, only coffee and water, what cheapskates. played bacarrat first. that is one muthafuckin game of balls sia, min bet $100. played a couple of hands, broke even with my chips then bailed. aunties ard me were like dishing out thousands scaring away ikan bilis like me. i then played roullete the whole night, smaller bet so die slower haha. the trick to roullete is this, you always bet on a number to try for 1 to 37 payout, but cover your stakes with another high probability bet with 2 to 1 payout e.g. dozens, odd/even or colour. despite all my infinite wisdom, i lost qt a bit there. i still believe in my theory though, there in lies the foolishness of gamblers.

so much for an eye-opener. i won't be back there anytime soon though.

2010-03-10T00:47:00.003+08:00

BE A MAN, DO THE RIGHT THING

my analysis to why tiger woods and jack neo became so pathetic in such a short span a time. they flinched when the barrel was between their eyes.

Rule number one:
when you fuck up, do not balk. own up bare faced like a man, point the middle finger to the press, and say,
"ok sorry i fucked up, whatcha gonna do about it?"
nobody's gonna make fun of you then.
they may curse at you, but they sure as hell ain't gonna laugh at you balls.

did anyone laugh at gene simmons when he put away tons of poon?

i aint saying screwing ard is right, but hey you fucked up already anw, nothing you do or says gonna make things right. dont let them push you ard man, that aint cool, you're just embarassing yourself.

2010-02-20T11:05:00.003+08:00

HORSEPLAY

we're midway into cny and the celebrations are just about over.

went up to austin with jeff and stanley yesterday. had trouble at first with the ping G5. but after getting used to it, that thing burns rubber man! scored a 121, which is ok for me la. had wildboar meat after that, kena cheated sia, couldnt tell the diff between wild pork and tamed pork. sometimes i think m'sia has so much more potential than s'pore, just that under inept governance, things are so lousy, otherwise i honestly wouldnt mind reconverting back to malaysian citizenship.

liwei and mingwei invited us down to lunar 2 weekends in a row
opened 7 bottles of top grade liquor, fantastic
the thing about good liquor is that you feel perfectly normal the day after
anw lunar is the best ktv in the world
in the private room you can see the stage performance outside while crooning
its so damn cheesy that its really good
aiyo~.. aiyo~.. maiyo~..
embracing the china roots in me, so you see, its not all bad

then went to zouk on wed for drinks with matthias and some others. i had no idea how badly zouks doing now. we were running up to midnight and the dancefloor at zouk was sparse, save a few mambo kings (dont they know its 2010!). phuture was no better, it was crowded, but nobody was dancing. to make matters worse, the dj blasted the music to make it seem all better. fucking couldnt hear half the things boss was telling me the next day, hmm maybe its a good thing..

ok enough partying, exams are in less than a months time and i dont wanna be wasting dads money. sometimes it can get really tiring, thrice a week after work till 10, 2 to 5 on some saturdays, and i've another 1.5yrs to go. ive sacrificed a great deal for this, such as cut back on tennis sessions, L4D with the church ppl, touch w the guys, things that i much enjoy doing. i just hope it pays of.

another year has past and im 26 alr..
ben's ruckus made me have a passing thought about you
it all seems like something that happened to someone else now.

2010-01-29T00:59:00.002+08:00

BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO TECHNOLOGY

they need to come out with a movie soon!!

2010-01-09T13:46:00.006+08:00

FLAME THAT BULLSHIT

you rubbed sulphur into my eyes..
i will never forgive you.

2010-01-02T18:33:00.001+08:00

TMCC GARDEN COURSE

2009-12-30T12:54:00.002+08:00

SHAYTARD

watched shaytards earlier and it made me kinda sad, sigh.

on a brighter note,
playing at tmcc with ron and liz tmr!

2009-12-27T20:16:00.002+08:00

JIZZED IN MY PANTS

saw this today..
kana tua kee
as big a baby's head
but also costs as much as a baby's head

had a run in the park with bedok king boys on boxing day
havent played since balling in holland
remembered how much i loved the game
this one really jizz in pants..

2009-11-09T21:57:00.004+08:00

JETS AND SHARKS

remember in sec school, there were the good boys who studied hard and attended football trainings regularly, spoke well and did the right things. and then there were those ruffians who smoked and chased skirts, frequented the arcade and computer shops, failed all the tests but still did well when it counted?
well its happening again in the office. i prefer hanging out with the good boys. but the streetsmarts like me too. unfortunately what they talk about makes me extremely uncomfortable, although the fact that they talk about their affairs in front of me speaks volumes. i dont want ppl to think that im like them. balancing is a fine art. welcome to the real world.

i never forgot this documentary on tv about this guy who spent over 20 years fixing broken wheelchairs for old folks who paid him peanuts. he always had so many wheelchairs to repair that he hardly had time to relax. initially i thought that was really stupid. but then, i realised, no, thats kinda neat, he truely enjoyed what he did and they loved him so much for doing so. though i cant say exxon mobil and soxal will love me for laying pipes to feed them gas hahaha

God, its moments like these when i need Your guidiance the most
cant seem to grasp You lately..
let me do You proud.

2009-11-01T14:39:00.002+08:00

when i first watched massa's interview at the F1 this yr, it struck me as kinda familiar.. now i know why!!!

now you know why also!

2009-10-26T22:38:00.006+08:00

yes! after two months of repeated 4 hour meetings thrice weekly, the committee has completed its work and presented its proposal to the ceo by none other than aku. nobody dared to do so except me, you know why? cos ive got the biggest balls, thats why! hell yeah!
my ceo is gods gift to the anal retentive, cos once he fucks you, you will not stop shitting in your pants. and he fucks just about anybody and everybody. despite being hurled everything save a rock and a spanner, i survived relatively unscathed. all those old foggy cowards! anyway, i wasnt dancing for him la, i was dancing for all the other bigwigs that will probably sit in his seat when he retires in several years time. now they know that Matthew "fucking no fear" Loong can take a beating over and over again, yet sell a 20 slide pitch without batting an eyelid.
now i finally have a breather although more works coming up.
spent the weekend at orna with dad. its much easier than austin but also much longer and wider.

2009-09-02T00:19:00.002+08:00

ESCAPING FROM ESCAPE

ive closed my eyes for so long now
just to escape
i cant really remember how to open them anymore
but i want to.
c'est la vie

2009-08-22T12:57:00.000+08:00

CHIT GUEY KOTAI

puked,
at the entrance to my office
on some random auntie
on my boss
then drove all the way home with my mind halfway in space

thats one fucked up night, but helluva night i say!

now i have to rush out to meet my folks to take the family potrait
i feel as if a dinosaur shat on my head
great.

2009-08-05T01:07:00.006+08:00

THE ART OF RAMBAT

went back to hq for tea with ah gong and the other dons today
ah gong as usual came in with his machine gun ready to fire at will
luckily he only took a pot shot at me by saying that i played too much ball in sch and asked me about this yrs scc7s
then he started bitch slapping the two lady bosses like nobody's business, supported by his artillery man throwing stones from behind
wayang sia.. besides ah gong, only he talked the most.. bloody hypocrite even spoke about participating in worship services..

i like it how in a desperate grasp she said, "yes i'll definitely head down to ion to buy the dvd"
no way she's actually going down
no fucking way hahaha
anw the movie's called outsourced

i could only think of one thing throughout the entire meeting la
hear thee, hear thee..
new record,
hit a 200 today, my new katanas rock, they were a steal too
going up to jb again on monday woohoo!

2009-06-26T00:54:00.002+08:00

when i grow up,
i'm gonna build the world's shiniest car,
to drive me to the edge of the earth.
when i grow up,
i'm gonna build the world's biggest ship,
to sail me to where the seas spill over.
when i grow up,
i'm gonna build the world's fastest plane,
to fly me to highest mountains.
when i grow up,
i'm gonna build the world's lightest spaceship,
to float me to the galaxy's farthest star.
then i shall drift home once again in a hot air baloon filled with treasures..
when i grow up..

2009-06-14T23:34:00.002+08:00

my.. life really is transient..
was in church today and fr.angel was talking about someone who had committed suicide by jumping off a building. as always, i wasnt really paying attention and didnt think much of it.
later i heard from a friend that a former teammate had just passed away, allegedly from from "unnatural causes". news reports said he was found dead at a void deck. father was talking about my friend.
my god..

elisha, rip.

2009-05-27T23:34:00.003+08:00

OM SHANTI OM

back from the land of chocolate people to banana milkshake country

for a 69Rs vcd this show is fantastic!!
fantastic plot, fantastic music, fantastic comedy, fantastic cast
"ok you have big gun, but i shotgun murugan.. mind it!"
lol.. wtf?!

2009-05-02T14:14:00.003+08:00

WE GO

delhi-rishikesh-goa-hampi-bangalore-jaipur-agra-delhi

plus going for test drive today too! :))

2009-04-28T02:50:00.002+08:00

was with sam and the rest at dereks the other night, and liz asked me how it feels like to be graduating, concluding 16 years of basic schooling entering the big ocean. it made me reflect about it for the first time, a little i guess. reflection is good sometimes but its also important to remember that one doesn't trip on the stone behind, its the stone ahead thats important. not to mention when you look back too much, you get a neckache ;)

well for the sake of things, i shall say that im thankful for everything, good and bad all, so cliche..
but seriously, to me, there's really no big deal in graduating. not that im trying to play coy or act cool or anything here, but i mean, when we cross a traffic light on green, do we think much about it? no we dont, we just cross the road, go on to the next traffic light, and wait to cross the next. we dont go like "ahh.. that was a good crossing.." right? hahaha not sure thats a good analogy but yeah, you get what i mean. im not saying that schooling, or in particular university, wasnt special to me, im sure i'll miss it, just as i oddly miss my time in the army. what im saying is life goes on, nobody's head's gonna explode, manna isnt gonna fall from the sky, we still have to get up and do what we have to do tomorrow.

no need to always talk so much about life, when the time comes to "cross a traffic light" haha, we all know deep within ourselves what we have to do, just go in and get the job done. it may be very tough and theres disillusionment at times, but as long as we believe in what we are doing and dont stop walking, we will succeed in God's own way.

2009-04-19T13:26:00.001+08:00

was watching the young turks as i so religiously do, and they were showing this:

Susan Boyle on Britains Got Talent 2009!! Incredible Voice!! @ Yahoo! Video

oh my god...
i teared when i saw this.
fuck y'all not cried okay, just tear only..

to anyone who ever thought that he or she wasnt good enough, which includes everybody some time or another, susan boyle puts us all to shame. just google her name and you will know what i mean. there are so many grown ass men and women saying that they were moved to tears when they saw her on BGT last saturday. and you read her story make you wanna cry summore. not like lance armstrong recover from cancer win tour de france kind of touching sia, thats oversold alr. this one is just so pure and simple la.. the same kids that made fun of her are now giving her high fives along the street. i love her reply when asked on cbs what she felt when nobody took her seriously, she just said, "you have to take yourself seriously no matter what, its very important."

here's her track on a charity cd made 10 years ago in her ulu blackburn village. only 1000 copies, i think even channel 8 little nonya piece of shit OST also produce more cds.. where on earth has she been hiding all this while man im thinking. now they are saying that her first album has already unofficially hit platinum before her even being signed for recording.

as one tyt turk commented,
"at first when i saw her step on the stage, i thought she was a little mad. after she stepped off, i realised that everyone except her was mad."

maybe im taking it over the top here..
you decide for yourselves

2009-04-15T18:36:00.003+08:00

DAY DREAMS NIGHT DREAMS AFTERNOON DREAMS

the new Ferrari F450
phoar.. shiok..

plus the harlem globetrotters are gonna be here when im out of town.. aww man..
for the uninitiated, the harlem globetrotters are only the most entertaining sports act in the world. even for a non bball fan like me, id really like to see them. they should have a troupe for rugby, but ppl would probably get very hurt.

2009-04-12T12:34:00.004+08:00

BOOM BOOM WITH THE BRIDESMAID

since i started on sunday school, i've begun to think a lot more about my faith.
this easter just topped it off.
do i believe in God, definitely.
do i believe that jesus is God and he saved us by resurrecting, maybe.
do i believe that only christians go to heaven, no.
dont give me that john 14:6 crap, i know it well enough. i am taking that way, but thats not the only way.
my faith has not weakened, if anything i feel that it might have matured to reflect what religion truely is.
dont ever let the church tell you how to believe, ultimatelyt its between God and you, nobodys 100% right on religion. christians may have got it 80% right, buddhists 50%, hindus maybe 30%, some more than others. but to say that only if you get it more than 50% right can you go to heaven is pure selfish and ppl who say so are the worst.
"nobody believes about something in only one certain way, anybody who does so is an idiot." -chris tucker
even more so if he believes in a certain way based on the history of a bunch of people half the world away whom he has never met.

~they tried to make me go to rehab but i said no.. no.. no..~
very nice... very nice...
in the face of krauts
singapore 1 germany 0
thank you thank you
glad i decided to head down to the after party ;)

2009-04-09T12:00:00.008+08:00

ULTIMATEBESTESTINTHEWORLDNOBODYCANFUCKINGBEATITTIMEMACHINE

who wants to go back in time to stop hitler?
who wants to go back in time to meet elvis?
who wants to go back in time to invent paper?
now you can my friend! now you can..

plastic bags are the worst invention in the world. once they're issued, they are really quite useless besides packing trash. they've actually developed a bio-degradable kind but its not in the market yet, and probably wont be anytime soon since it'll be at least 10cents more than the regular kind. thats a lot for a plastic bag, not to mention shops that use up to hundreds a day.

which reminds me, was walking to get my groceries the other day when i saw a bunch of kids in the courts below having taekwando lessons. in fact, one 8-ish year old girl was being graded for her green kup.
when i was a kid, i used to think taekwando was so cool, and wished my folks would send me to one of those tkd schools at the cc.
now i realise you dont need a stupid belt to fight, you just gotta beat the shit out of outta the other guy.

went up to austin hills again with dad last monday too and it was awesome! christianing my new set, i think i scored about a 150 that day. maybe 250? haha. although i lost quite a few balls, lets just leave at "quite a few" la huh, it was loads of fun, especially the 15th, which is on an isle. anyway, uncle henry asked me to go along for deep sea fishing in june.

also! vijay chandrasekhar gopal rangasamy muthoo curry here i come man! woot!

2009-03-09T19:57:00.002+08:00

CANDY

Like the primary school kid who just has to buy those WWE stickers at the tuckshop, i just had to buy this at the downstairs mama store when i saw it today..

80cents for some cheap candy and one helluva cool box is pretty worth the dough

obama is the black currant president of the united states get it? currant=current? get it? hahahahah
btw, obama is also halal

HEYY! it just occurred to me! i bought this at the mama store rt? and this mama store supports obama rt? so it should be known as the omama store! hahahaha!
OOOOO...MAMA!

2009-03-03T22:37:00.004+08:00

MADE IN JAPAN

exciting stuff happened at home while i was away today!
its been a long time since i had such journalistic fodder, so please indulge me

"Unexploded bomb found in Clementi construction site

What's believed to be an unexploded bomb was discovered at a construction site in Commonwealth Avenue West yesterday afternoon.

Construction next to Nan Hua High School came to a halt at around 5 PM, and the police and army were called in soon after.

Eyewitness Kevin Magnus, who stays on the 18th floor of an HDB block facing the construction site, has been monitoring the situation using binoculars since last night.

Speaking to 938LIVE, Mr Magnus, who handled ordinances during his national service stint, believes he saw a bomb uncovered by the excavators.

"I peered down, and there seems to be a bit of, some commotion with the site supervisors. Thereafter the excavators stopped with their digging. And I was at the balcony peering down and I had a clear look. After they had cleared the earth, and they found a piece of cylindrical material. It looks cylindrical with fins. It looks like a bomb, 60 to 80 pounder."

Mr Magnus said that four men from the Bomb Disposal Unit were brought in, and the whole area was cordoned off by the police.

As of 12.30pm today, officers from the Singapore Armed Forces were seen digging a trench about a kilometre away from the bomb location.

Mr Magnus believes the trench will be used to detonate the bomb.

"There is a trench, which looks like what we used in the Armed Forces, a "shell scrap". I'm not too sure how deep it is. Surrounding it, there are concrete blocks, where you use concrete blocks to do weight piling. To do soil testing, there are 8 of them. And to the right of the concrete blocks, there are national service men filling up the sand bags with the earth from the construction site."

Police have confirmed that a "war relic" has been found, but were unable to provide further details.

Operations are currently ongoing to secure the site.

Police add that members of the public are advised not to be alarmed.

--938Live "

first of all, i want ask mr. kevin magnus what the fuck exactly was he "monitoring" with his binos "since last night". cos i stay next to you mr. magnus, and i slept late last night, and there was nothing going on down there except thai and indian workers taking their nightly shower.
second of all, i love it how seven eighth of this report is based the expert opinion of mr. kevin "the magnum" magnus and only the last three lines had the word police. whoa he even can tell just by looking at the bomb from the 18th floor that it was a"60 to 80 pounder"
hilarious!

here's another report ,

"World War 2 relic found at Clementi Ave 1 construction site

There was plenty of police and military activity around Clementi Avenue 1 and Commonwealth Avenue West on Tuesday. The cause for the alarm was an unexploded World War 2 relic.

The war relic was discovered at about 6pm on Monday at a construction site near Block 411 Commonwealth Avenue West.

Experts from the Singapore Armed Forces said it was a Japanese aerial bomb dating from the Second World War.

Usually, when a war relic is discovered, it is taken to a military live firing range to be disposed of. But bomb disposal specialists decided it was actually safer to carry out the operation at the site itself this time around.

That was because the fuse had already been activated, so transporting the 50-kilogramme bomb could be risky.

To be safe, SAF personnel moved the relic to another part of the site, away from the residential block.

The plan was to cut open the relic's steel casing and gently burn away the explosives. But in the process the bomb unexpectedly exploded at about 5:30pm. Fortunately sandbags ensured that no harm came about.

Earlier in the day, police had diverted traffic away from nearby Clementi Road and construction work on the site had to be halted.

Students from neighbouring NUS High School of Mathematics and Science were also asked to leave their campus.

Experts said war relics are a relatively common find in Singapore, but this was one of the rare occasions where a public disposal was necessary. The last occasion was in 2004"

this report is so much better.
the only joke is, how come the entire NUS high school was evacuated while the newtown sec boys are still playing soccer during lunchtime?? NUS high is on the other side of the expressway man, newtown sec is just next to the field!!
fucking elitists.

to think i played catch with the dogs on that field while it was still empty, wasiktar.. could have been blown to bits la..

2009-02-23T15:20:00.002+08:00

ireland and wales still on course for grand slam/triple crown

2009-02-06T01:59:00.002+08:00

TOO MUCH LAMB AND SUFFLE

H cup round 6
Uploaded by guettebaRD

watched the med-law match this week and gawd.. how i miss the game.. really.

also,

MAAD this weekend
Kommen ihr! Kommen ihr!
cos it's gonna be

2009-01-21T17:49:00.004+08:00

Q: WHY DID GOD CREATE MAN?

preparing for next weeks class when i saw this..

A: it was a mistake. he was trying to make another variety of ape but forgot where He put the hair.

the mystery of life is answered!

2009-01-16T00:10:00.005+08:00

are you shitting me? fyi the "terror" in the articles about islamic terror..

stop this nonsense man
whys everyone so afraid of israel in the first place?
if you speak out against israel, it doesnt mean you're anti-semitic,
God's gonna send down lightning bolts to burn anyone who's not israeli?
He prob forgot to tell them that He protects everyone else now too

2009-01-14T02:02:00.002+08:00

SMOKING GRASS

2009-01-07T10:26:00.007+08:00

THAT'S ONE FOR THE ALBUM!

my HR manager woke me up early this morning to ask me about this photo, which she thought had been doctored with my face over, concerned that i might be bothered by it, since it's been circulating in the mail, quote en quote possibly company mail too haha.

what?
no that's me sista, that's me alright the whole package no photoshop no nothing
and it doesnt bother me a single iota!
she was like, "the words below not very good ar, not very good."
had no idea what she was talking about at first but hahahahha "fake cheesepies" that's a good one hahahah "cheesepies" get it? get it?
kudos to the dude who thought of it man!

oh she's such a prude... hahaha
this is hilarious

going pengerang tmr!

2009-01-05T01:17:00.016+08:00

i unknowingly flirted with my hotshot 37 year old accountant cousin today, right under my fav aunts nose, right in her house. it was a really boring evening until my cousin started talking to me about movies. somehow we moved on to music and clubbing, dragonfly and of course scorpion x. then somewhere along the way i said, "so how was it like during your time, which was not too long ago, sure pick up a lot of guys right?". that was when she started giggling and blushing like a jc girl. only realised it when my dad chastised me after we got home, "wah you got a lot to talk to piu je ar?"
very very wrong hahaha...
very very very weird hahaha...
guess im not my aunts favourite anymore hahaha...

also,
my two cents worth on a little current affairs here. the israelis should really stop their raids and tank build up along the gaza border. its like using a machine gun to kill a bug for biting you. im christian but that doesnt mean i must be zionist, unlike those pinheaded yankee crazies, go read up on history.

2008-12-16T13:17:00.004+08:00

TVB JUNKIE MONKEY

i am very qualified to solve homicide cases already
CID please hire me

and (drumroll please)
tadaa..!

fresh off the press

i am also very good at interpreting tonnes of papers written in alien language sent down to earth through evil alien demons disguised as human beings, some indian, some chinese, so that we will all have a mental overload and our brains will explode and they can take over the world.

for example,
alien language : english
trifluoromethylsulfonyl = fuck it (v)
imidazolium cations = fuck it (adj)
4,4’-bis(2-(4-tert-butyloxyphenyl)ethenyl)- 2,2’-bipyridine = i went to the market to buy some vegetables to cook and they were very fresh

2008-12-04T14:27:00.002+08:00

2008-11-23T03:25:00.004+08:00

i sat for my ethics paper today
and there was this essay question:
a) will you sell out your former employers (say company A) secrets to your current employer (say company B)?
b) if you were the boss of company B, would you use corporate secrets from company A given by an employee formerly employed by company A?
well for a.) its clearly wrong, although technically no non-disclosure form was signed so yea.. but anyhow as you would see, its clearly wrong
but for b.) hell, i'd do it in a blink of an eye!
but after the paper, the guys and i had a whole debate on this and i told them "hey there's no right or wrong answer okay so chill" but they were all "but we write what the examiners want us to, both cases are morally wrong"

so thats what really ticked me off, okay a little at least

and the other day,
one of them criticised me for giving an overly agressive presentation just because i used the word "bad" on the other teams design flaws and that i blew up our designs positives too much.
okay i admit, that was not tactful of me, my bad. but com'on how on earth can you blow up your positives too much, com'on seriously?

dont get me wrong, im totally cool with the guys, i mean i love them man, they're a great bunch
what im not cool with is the attitude.
thats exactly whats entirely wrong with the system man
conformity, submission and all that shit
and then they go on about how locals dont get the same perks as foreign talents do
because you are a bunch of yes-men with no mind of your own thats why!
in politics especially, especially in politics.
there was this guy who made an excellent point in the today paper the other day countering the PM's views that bipartisan is not for singapore because that would split the talent. he said quote "if the government were to one day actually fail, there would be no time nor talent then to form an alternative". excellent, kudos to you man, in your face!

okay im being kinda a man bitch here, and its probably unfair to a good many people out there. too much cenk uygers turning me into a hater.
i mean for starters, who am i even to criticise them. but im just saying, im just saying. well you get the point.

2008-11-11T22:36:00.005+08:00

okay so shitty posts aside

i had an important presentation today and we were all psyched up preparing for it. just before starting, brandon, sam and i went out for a fiver, only to be handed free cans of red bull and coffee for some promotion thingy. cheapos as we were, we gladly accepted
bad ideaooooo...
we ended up twitching the entire thing through

on second thought,
i cannot see how this post is not also shitty,
but hell, i think its also quite funny la

so everyones in on the US political commentary
no no no no...
you guys aint heard nothing until you've heard it from the turk
cenk uygurs the man!
http://www.theyoungturks.com/

ohh and jades pregnant btw!
earthvisions sia..

2008-11-05T00:32:00.004+08:00

argh...
how come the first time we are finally open is also the last time?
it stings man
i just wanna drown myself in work
and run away again
far far far away
the farther the better
forever and never come back

"i cannot hear, cannot hear.. i am in denial, i am in denial.."
:)

"The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again."
- Proverbs 24:16
i pray for the love of Your divine mercy God, that this is true

2008-11-03T22:06:00.004+08:00

WE COULD BE HEROES, JUST FOR ONE DAY..

went for the 2-day asian youth energy summit last week
really learnt quite a bit i must say
surprised that so many young ppl are actually interested in solar energy and the sorts
maybe it's for the money
but i say whatever drives works man
meeting michael gratzel tmr btw!

i can remember
standing by the wall
and the guns shot above our heads

2008-10-22T00:54:00.000+08:00

what the hell just happened in a fortnight?

2008-10-17T22:25:00.002+08:00

WHATS THAT COMING OVER THE HILL IS IT A MONSTER IS IT A MONSTER?

finally!
rolling into competition in two weeks

2008-10-09T01:31:00.005+08:00

"WHY AM I DRESSED LIKE A BUG? I HAVE NO IDEA."

omg it's finally airing here!!
hahaha..
MAJIDE!!!!!

2008-10-02T02:14:00.003+08:00

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom." - Matt 18:1

why is something so simple so difficult to be?
we can be engineers, rocket scientists, poets all,
but none of us can remember how it was to be childlike?

they say, as with age, we grow with wisdom.
i say we grow more stupid by the day,
the more we know, the less we actually understand.

2008-09-22T16:59:00.003+08:00

WE AIN'T NUTHIN BUT MAMMALS..

i know my blog is full of kaiser and jade alr, but this one i definitely must put up la hahaha. i swear they were humping just now when put them back in the loo, cos i heard loud yelping for quite a long time!
plus he was having a boner the whole time i brought them out for a walk earlier.
kaiser is the new edison chen la.
so exciting!

yes yes this is very juvenile..

this certainly brought a lot of smiles after a very tough morning.

my sup satya wasted my entire morning again.. he think i very free is it? he summore dare to ask me why i look so sleepy. that perpetual drawling pothead asking me why i look so sleepy?! what the fuck man. you know why i look so sleepy? cos you fucking told me to meet you at 9 early in the morning, then tell me i need to get a form which i left at home and i had to run back get it and almost kena knock down by this chao cheebye alfa romeo and then come and then find that you are out of nus alr getting dunno what shit and then i keep calling you but you never pick up then when i see you you tell me you talking on the phone with your mother in india. he really told me that last bit. in the end he tell me to come back on wed to work on the solar cells. chao cheebye that satay satya.

luckily i come back can watch animal porn.

2008-09-18T00:51:00.002+08:00

kaiser is really so stupid la hahahaha
last week i swung a clenched fist pretending i had a ball in my hand and he searched for it for a full 10mins!
so this week i finally got him a real ball.

dumb mutt..

2008-09-03T00:13:00.003+08:00

was at ps times last weekend and saw this

bloody fantastic,
pun unintended

2008-08-30T14:43:00.002+08:00

BUNNY SUICIDES

God help us all..
the worlds will look up and shout "save us!"
and all will whisper "no."
- the watchmen

2008-08-22T00:54:00.003+08:00

DOG MEAT

kaisers the one in brown, jades the one in white

on more important matters,
all blacks 19 - boks 0 !
the match was scrappy
but tendai mtawarira aka the beast
macam monster sia

he will make dog meat out of you.

2008-08-18T22:31:00.006+08:00

thats it la...
lee hsien loong advertise on national tv during ndp rally that he got facebook sure kena spam until his mailbox burst ar...

i so fucking have powerful friends now hahahahahahahaha!!!

i shall then race him everyday on petrolhead and upgrade my car.

2008-08-18T00:36:00.004+08:00

CHIT GUEY

caught "a month of hungry ghosts" at old school today and its a must catch.
i dont think its just me, cos many young people i know are getting interested in kotais, purely for the novelty and performances, regardless of race or religion. if anything's to go by, "881" and the upcoming "12 lotus" with their hokkien songs are ringing tunes all around. and these kotai emcees and singers are freakin mega stars in the industry, even i know who wang lei and liu jing jing are now haha.
i say, uncool is the new cool man.
pity i missed the one at the senoko plant this year. must try to watch one next year.

heres a snippet i found online. the guy in the hat is wang lei, the ryan seacrest of kotai. its mostly in mandarin so should be understandable la

2008-08-14T01:17:00.000+08:00

i wish i was kaiser

2008-08-11T01:09:00.008+08:00

CADDY

kaiser and jade are simply fantastic fun!
i played with them on my lap while watching China vs. US BBall on telly today, and they were scampering all over!
hmm.. maybe i shall buy some treats or clothes for them..

2008-07-31T00:14:00.005+08:00

BALIK KAMPONG

theres this old guy who's been coming down by the pool every evening,
he does nothing but watch me do my laps after work
really giving me the creeps...
reminds of somebody...

or maybe he's just reminiscing his former glory haha

last day tomorrow!
and what better place to end off than my favourite two storey kampong office at tiong bahru.
at senoko, everything goes on at a faster pace, everybody's running again before their feet cools.
but tiong bahru's
where work starts half an hour later,
where they provide one huge packet of nasi lemak with two ikans and an ayam drumstick for breakfast
where there is always a spread of old chang kee curry puff, nonya kueh kuehs and goreng pisang
where kopi peng and teh si never runs dry
and where all the pak ciks rokko rokko as they sit and watch the redhill office girls go by
i love going there on course,
aku kampong boy lah..

2008-07-21T14:22:00.006+08:00

PON-THE-REPLAY

woke up this morning still having a cold
so decided to tell my sup im calling in sick and play hookie today.
forgot how fun it was not going to work while everyone is,
so glad i did it whoopie-doo!

anyway, im only left with two weeks of work.
kinda liked the time there at my woodlands out-of-this-orbit-and-galaxy space station.
really learnt a lot visiting places like jurong island and the southern islands.
the most important lesson ive learnt though, is that im still a small tuna in the sea.
also, i know this is gonna sound ridiculous,
but the view of the straits of johor out of my window every morning is something im gonna miss.

glad to be heading back to school, moving back this weekend.
the design teams eager to get together again to work on our robot, plus i have my thesis on solar cells.
life can get a little tight when you have an 8 to 6.

2008-07-05T14:38:00.003+08:00

WHERE ARE THE PUMAS?

Tri-nations seasons up again!
but it very well should have been the quad-nations.
after their impressive run last year, argentina should have been allowed entry into the tri-nations.
killing one another for sport or teaching kids to love one another on a lovely sunny saturday afternoon,
hmm thats a tough one..

2008-06-24T20:03:00.004+08:00

GEM

Caption:
"TRISOME TECHNICAL SERVICES & SUPPLY"
"METHOD OF STATEMENT FOR 12-inch ACTUATOR STROKING TEST"

can you blame me for smiling throughout the meeting?

2008-06-22T15:57:00.007+08:00

LNG

2008-06-14T14:20:00.006+08:00

ORANJE POWER

the dutch are on fire!
Netherlands 3 - Italy 0
Netherlands 4 - France 1

okay we have all officially got our poker names now,
Karen "Skankwhore" Wong
Ian Tang "~tang tang tang~"
Merlyn "aye" Tong
Kenneth "buay" Soo
Seb "Slayer" Xu a.k.a "Big Dick"
Matt "the money" Loong

btw check this out, next time im bringing my laptop along alr

http://www.betcalc.com/cardscalc.php

2008-06-09T23:44:00.002+08:00

THE KIDS AREN'T ALL RIGHT

wow..
dad struck a very raw nerve today..
and struck it really hard too..
good-willed but unintentionally brutal .

2008-06-05T23:28:00.005+08:00

RUBBERBAND MAN

first week on the job.
i'm at senoko now by the way,
"see-no-what?"
its somewhere between yishun, woodlands and mars, closer to mars la.
i have to sort out 6mths worth of paperwork 8hrs a day.

but once i'm done with the updates, i'll get to start programming the database that compiles it.
hmm.. somehow that sounded much cooler in my head..
this is sad.

actually its not all that bad.
was initially sulking for not being sent to town,
but now im starting to think that this place is good.
for starters, its where all the action is and i get to learn a lot, going out to site tmr.
everyone still remembers me for LVOS from three years back, they still use it!
wow.. its been three years, back when i had ash hair..
also realised it only takes 40min to get there by public transport, so not too bad.

i try to think about eddie steeples and steve carell/michael scott when i get bored.

2008-05-22T21:29:00.003+08:00

BACK IT UP

it's been the greatest adventure ever!
but i have to go home now, and about time.

adieu~

2008-05-01T00:45:00.011+08:00

FRANKS

exams are over and its time to blaze the trail again

w.germany : berlin-frankfurt
e.germany: munchen-stuttgart

milan-florence-vatican-rome

also,
i'm coming home!
real pity the internship fell through, i'm gonna miss this place.
but then again i miss home too, so i'm happy either way.

thought i'd just share with everyone an a-z on my experiences here in eindhoven too:
A - Albert Hienz = supermarket chain
B - Bicycles = bicycles outnumber people here
C - C&A = budget clothes store
D - Danku velt = first dutch word i learnt
E - ESRC Elephants = my club
F - the Fuckers who stole my bike
G - Gruze beer = sweet belgian fruit beer
H - Herring = raw fish special to the dutch
I - ICTheek = schools free printing service
J - Janitor Smits = psycho overly-friendly-to-chinese-students-because-he-wants-to-earn-money-from cutting-their-hair-for-five-bucks-thinking-that-all-chinks-are-cheapos-who-don't-really-care-how-their-hair-looks janitor, who probably learnt haircutting from a manual. not all chinks are chinks hokay.. thats why i never cut my hair.
K - Katherina Kirk = the church i attend
L - Lays = everything here is overpriced except lays
M - Marijuana = need i say more?
N - Nua-ness = the weather, the ppl, the culture
O - On the right side of the road, always remember, on the right side.
P - PSV = they won the title when we were here
Q - Queen's day holiday = which is today. i dunno what to put for Q la..
R - Renault = half the cars here are renaults
S - Snow = is not a nice thing
T - Texas Hold'em = gambling is the best form of entertainment
U - Understanding the passion of engineering = the profs here speak about topics, so boring i could kill myself listening, with energy of madmen.
V - Volkswagen = half the cars here are volkswagens, the other half are renaults
W - Wine = is cheaper than coke
X - eXperimental psychology = is rubbish
Y - Young 13 yr old kids trashing us in street soccer. twenty years down the road this will have repercussions. they will tell their kids that chinks suck at soccer and this will become a stereotype. i am sorry, we should never have challenged them.
Z - Ze most expensive stationary in the world

2008-04-28T00:06:00.008+08:00

WALKABOUT

i know this is reeaally... overdue but since the weathers been fantastic lately and either way im leaving eindhoven soon, thought i'd just take a few shots for remembrance.

my room with a balcony out to the yard

swammerdamstraat 5612PT

my bike , my second one in fact.
the first got stolen by some motherfuckers.

joint 3min away, with a 24hr kebab place next door.
eindhoven has so brought out the kebab-ness in me..

and this is where i buy my groceries

bought the world's coolest jacket for €18 at c&a the other day too,
thought it was a steal.
now i know why they were selling it at €18,
cos nobody needs a jacket now thats why..

this entire week has been spent studying. im done with my fuels & lubes and solar cell papers (doesnt it sound like so much fun?).. cognitive science project is complete too. so i only have my environmental psych and microscopy papers left.
two more papers.. two more!

then i'll be off to berlin!!!

2008-04-13T02:36:00.003+08:00

SUNNY SIDE UP

sun's out a lot more lately and im enjoying the weather!
realised that im very affected by the weather. in singapore, its hot and wet all year round so im used to it alr. here, when its gloomy, i really tak boleh sia.. when the suns up and shining, every thing is good.
took a break from the books last weekend to cycle up to nuenen, a little village on the outskirts of eindhoven.

also, been speaking with narvik about the internship and it seems like i'll be staying on in the netherlands for a while longer than pre-planned. if things turn out well, i'll only be heading back to singapore on the 8th of august, three weeks later than the original 23rd of july.
meanwhile, went down to breda to search for a room. it looks like a really nice place to live in with a park and grote markt in the centruum, though its an hour away from heerle, where the factory is. its not as rowdy as amsterdam, not as industrial as eindhoven, yet not as dead as roosendaal. anw the work permit is still in the works so nothing is concrete yet, we'll see how it goes.

God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline
-2 Timothy 1:7

2008-04-07T07:16:00.000+08:00

coolest shit ever.

2008-04-04T09:05:00.007+08:00

MORE BIKE WOES

been having some tough luck with all sorts of stuff the past month so called home and had a good chat with dad yesterday. speaking with dad always puts things into perspective. perhaps i dont say it often enough, but i do miss home sometimes. its times like these that makes me wanna go home to my folks for the weekend, except that now they're 3421412341 miles away.

people here really dont know how to make money. i go to a bike shop to fix a bike and the guy tells me i have to wait 4 weeks to get a rim changed even though he has the stock right there cos the mechanics fully booked. even changing a lorry's rim also dont take so long. figuring how many bikes there are around, there're only a measely 5 shops in the entire eindhoven! fuck man, if it were me, i'd tell all my kids to quit school and set up shop at every street corner waiting for bikes to break down. then i'll tell my kid's kids to the same. dunno what the hell they thinking, especially the turks and chinks, whole day only set up kebab stalls and takeaways, its easier to fix a bike some more la..

again surprised reactions that i've been in the army.
yes yes im quite the killing machine.
i'd empty a browning into a jeepers head and kill an entire army any day,
like rambo.
ARRRRRRGGHHHHH!!! bang bang!

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all, I'm trying to get some rest

2008-04-01T01:35:00.011+08:00

OFFICIALLY SPRING!!

somehow spring just makes everything cheerier, though nothings actually changed that much.
and so begins daylight savings.

the amount of trash my kazakh housemates kairat and ainar throw away is really really scary. i, yes i, have to clear the bin almost every other day. nah.. i dont really mind it, but thing is, within a week, we have at least three large garbage bags by the sidewalk. how can two ppl produce so much rubbish?? they have three jars of jam, all the same flavours, all opened, meaning that they start on the new one before even finishing the old one. and thats not considering the nutella, the honey blah blah. the bathroom is filled with bottles of half used shampoos and God knows what. i mean, they are very nice ppl, who incidently let me use some of their stuff heheh, but come'on, save the world man!
well, its definitely not me, i am a hassle free person, i love things that dont come in too many packages, and im too cheap to buy more than i can finish.
this is consumerism to the max i tell ya..

2008-03-29T08:47:00.004+08:00

A LITTLE HEAVY

two mormon missionaries from america knocked on my door this week. we had a short chat and they gave me a copy of their supplementary scripture to read, "the book of mormons". no they werent imposing or anything and i sort of enjoyed the discussion actually. interesting though controversial, mormons believe in the restoration of the church through a prophet by the name of joseph smith from the 1800s.
well, my personal take on religion is this, whoever is not against God is for God. religion is supposed to be simple, dont complicate things. i know my beliefs, that will not change, and i dont try to change minor details in the beliefs of others unless they're glaringly wrong. i dont care what others say about mine either. cos frankly, God aint gonna be picky with the details. then again thats my take, i keep an open mind.
on a separate note,
dont mistake human folly for God's will, it's not.

also,
some update.
went for my last training yesterday cos exams are up in a couple of weeks and its time to hit the books. its not that easy to pass the mods here sia.. some stuff are really tough plus the ppl here are really smart.

2008-03-25T09:25:00.003+08:00

MECCA

so concludes my easter travels to london. frigid weather but lovely sights with good company.
stayed at aunts beckenham lodge, which was really cosy and quaint, the kind of typical english cottage. but realised i was so busy running about, i didnt take any photos of the lodge itself!

inner londons a rough place though. tough crowd, cluttered streets, lotsa homeless ppl. phone got picked on the subway too la.. i really liked that phone, even though it was old and worn out. only my dutch €5 top up sim in there so guess it'll be alright.

weather update. nao hia.. tell me spring coming, spring coming, its getting colder and colder everyday la. okok i know i know, enough of me bitching about the weather alr hah.

these are the things we lost in the fire

*edit*

see what i mean, i wake up to find my backyard covered with snow.

2008-03-20T03:01:00.003+08:00

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN HER FASCIST REGIME

full time review of the six-nations:

italy- valiant effort by the perennial wooden spoon winners. victory over scotland. good showing by andrea marcato, poor showing by canale who has hands like butter. need to take care of the ball.

scotland- nice jersey but played as though they were there to fill the numbers. only the calcutta cup victory over england to show for in this tournament.

ireland- last years triple crown victors again unlucky following a dismal world cup. key players like o'driscol and o'gara seem tired.

france- on good days they're brilliant, on bad days they're shit. still, lovely flowing backline moves.

england- always the poor bitch beaten up by the media, especially wilkinson. com'on give them a break.. i thought they did okay. cipriani to fill wilko's boots in time to come.

wales- deserving grand slam winners. certainly rid off their world cup deamons, where they were hugely unlucky. player of the tournament shane williams is fantastic.

crymu am blyth!

off to london
~jolly-good-tally-ho~
i say walter, can you get me a cup of tea with a spot of milk please?

we're the flowers in the dustbin
we're the poison in your human machine

2008-03-15T21:49:00.002+08:00

COMING SOON!

why did they skip straight to prince caspian?
they really should have made a movie out of every book.

2008-03-11T08:58:00.006+08:00

BACK FROM FIGHTING THE KRAUTS

utrecht-caen-bayeux-antwerp

the trip to normandy was a very wet one.. like i said springs coming. it rained everywhere i went. european rain isnt heavy, which is good, cos you can carry on walking, but it also makes walking terribly cold.

its sombering how 60 years on, wounds are still so raw here

but here's something i saw at utrecht to lighten up the mood!

well.. its about time somebody thought of it..

also,
pokernightpokernightpokernightpokernightpokernight..
yeah balls! let's keep the money moving baby.. to me.
im addicted to poker alr, cham..

2008-03-05T03:28:00.004+08:00

COLDEST NIGHT IN EINDHOVEN BEFORE SPRING A DING DING

was all raring to go for a run in the ball park earlier, but then once i stepped out of the house,
"cannot. i surrender."
its zero-zilch-nada-ling-kosong-yuandabunena degree celcius today! windchill of minus 5. and it was snowing, not flaky romantic kinda of snow, but damn i wanna go back in kinda snow. thats why im now all warm and snug in my room typing this post.
anyhoe.. im told springs coming soon, thats why its getting so wet and cold. odd logic but who am i to say? i come from a land where its okay to walk outdoors topless without your nips falling off.
hey hey btw i received clearance from sru to play in the netherlands after all!

after slightly over a month, folks have been asking what i do here, how its like blah blah.. frankly, theres not much difference la. i go to school everyday to sit for class half awake, training days go training. trainings like the highlight of my week, thats why i keep blogging about it, not cos i wanna exy beyley or what. sunday go church, once in a while go to their "zouk" to chill. exactly same things i do back home. boring huh? yeah but really nothing that different la..
works beginning to pile up though, so ive got my hands full now. two psych papers to write. i read and read but have no idea what they're talking about. i simply cant understand whats the use of justifying whether the mind is part of the physical body or not. my mind can be part of my ass for all i care and it still wouldnt matter a thing to me.

well, at least term breaks coming up. the others have exams and sams meaning to catch a psv match, so thought id go down to normandy and antwerp myself. it'd be fun to see the d-day beaches. i like history, its like a mega storybook, like a storybook of the world man. if historians could earn more money, i think i would have been a historian.

i think my heater not working sia.. nabei..

"It's only when we conquer the weather, or move to a favorable climate, that we understand its tyranny."
- Walden Two

2008-02-29T00:27:00.009+08:00

heard that we have our very own michael schofield back home
only in singapore la..
only in singapore.

because of racial sensitivity, i cannot make fun of the mat or the bai

kinda miss the quirks back home
i even felt a little sad when my ntuc plastic bag tore in my boot bag that day la, now i have to use one from albert hienz

MISS WHAMPOA MARKET HOKKIEN MEE SEE KOR PUA AI HIAM!!

2008-02-23T13:27:00.009+08:00

SILENCIUM!.. SILENCIUM!..

was invited to an esrc meeting yesterday!
standing in a circle dressed in club jackets and ties, holding a pint of beer in one hand while holding a club booklet in the other, to sing dirty incestious off key dutch and english songs about fucking your friends mother and semen, everyone resembled a drunken chior of prep school kids more than anything. there're even weird house rules like no leaning against the bar, keeping your booklet closed when not in use and using only your elbow to point at a person.
the experience was truly novel.
heard that lionel pohs training in maastricht with the maraboes too. he's a far better player than i am. but its really good to know that there are other nuts like me around.
btw fyi, its no joke cycling drunk..

well anw, things here have been moving pretty boringly otherwise. school works tough, especially this masters module about fuels and lubes. they macam think we all have ten years working experience in ferrari or something la, everything also expect us to know, cheebye feel damn stupid.. considering dropping this mod to go home and specialise in themal and energy, luckily i took special sem so i can afford to do so. but we'll see how.

was also thoroughly offended during dinner at shashi's place yesterday. jess and shashi were taking photos of the food and all and this portuguese exchange student actually had the audacity to suggest that the japs (or, i may be wrong, but i interpret as asians in general) like to take photos when they're abroad so that they can show ppl back home where they've been. he went like "ahh.. fuji.. fuji.." (reference to the camera). im usually a pretty chill guy, but yesterday i honestly felt like giving this joker a slap in the face. i give shashi face so i told him politely that i didnt think so, but i felt like telling him off, " fuck you la! firstly, not all asians do that, i dont. secondly the japs are the ones who gave you your ps and digicams okay, what did you bloody conquistadors invent other than quesadillas?"

interesting update of the day no. 2:
I HAVE BEEN MOBILISED!
haha seriously man,
forgot to apply for exit permit haha
but its settled with cmpb alr la, no need to get charged, no need to pay saf $50 any more la..

2008-02-20T19:22:00.002+08:00

BRIGHT LIGHTS

3 degrees, 3 fucking degrees..
madness.. there were ice crystals on the ground

2008-02-16T22:51:00.003+08:00

STORY SO FAR

my best investment for exchange so far is without a doubt the S$10 computer speakers from popular before i left. canto is the music of the hour. its not that i really like it or anything, it just makes me feel at home. weird.. i know.. it gets quiet here at night when my two kazak housemates are out, and when nothings on at jordan's (our pseudo singapore embassy slash community centre aka singapore huey kuan). back home theres always the comforting sound of cars along the main road, or the occassional cat squeal. here, its so cold, the cats dont even bother to go out, just nua in their cat hole or whatever. no internet and tv some more, although lately ive been tapping on one of the wireless accounts in the block.

i also realised that its not actually possible for a human being to eat boiled food everyday, God didnt make us that way. so yesterday i made myself a ramlee burger for lunch, and for dinner i stir fried chicken with sambal soy sauce. getting better, im getting better haha. went to the flea market to get more goodies this morning. no im not concerned about getting fat, cos i have to cycle to every damn place i go, it takes me 20 mins to cycle to school, welcome to the 60s..

school works getting tough. who ever said angmohs are slack sia.. here all like macam white colour prc. i really need to sit down and start mugging, or at least start doing readings to pass. to think that its only the second week of classes.

btw,

SIX NATIONS IS ON!!!
sadly they dont show it here
twickenham.. dont worry, daddy's coming daddy's coming..

2008-02-11T21:48:00.000+08:00

EUROTRIP

back from our one week trail across western continental europe, west of holland. its been a great adventure! covered rotterdam, paris, nice, monaco, geneva, bern, luzern, basel, zurich, strassbourg and brussels.

Holland
rotterdam: scenic port city of holland where vedors sell fresh steamed mussels and fat herring at cheap prices in the flea market. peaceful and laidback unlike amsterdam and eindhoven; even the folks are much friendlier. my fav place in holland thus far. they also have a chinatown where you can find eggtarts and fried popiah among many other treats from home at a ridiculously high price.

France
paris: romantic city of love. visited it on museum day, which meant that all museums were free of charge! including the louvre, housing the all famous mona lisa. contrary to popular belief, the french to be really friendly people, willing to help us, even conversing in english.

nice-monaco: border town of france and the principality of monaco. played roulette and slot machines in monte carlo. cyrus lost €250 straight in five spins. also walked through prince raniers collection of fancy cars.

strasbourg: stop over old town with unique architecture.

Switzerland
geneva: house of the UN in switzerland. it was also the seat of john calvin during the reformation. the streets full of branded watch shops, not the ordinary kind of branded for the rich, but those kind for the super duper rich, like chopard, cartier and patek philipe. rolex is a 'siao3 ca-se' there.

bern: capital of switzerland. there is a fountain every 20 metres spouting spring water. the water tastes incredibly refreshing, seriously, the kind you pay 3 bucks for 750ml kind back home.

luzern: lake town bordered by the alps, where we viewed picasos art. he's a genious but sometimes i just cant get his art, many of them seem like stuff you see scrawled behind public toilet doors, those rough sketches of naked women in suggestive poses and all.

basel: northern town close to france where we visited the paupenhaus, showcasing dollhouses and teddy bears dating back to the early 19th century.

zurich: important banking city filled with rich people and fast cars.

Belgium
brussels: capital of belgium with a rather rough edge. the people there are tastefully grunge in a bohemian way. denise took me out for drinks with her erasmus friends while the guys were in luxembourg. belgiums known for two things, beer and chocolate. the belgians drink this cool sweet fruit beer, called grueze or kriek or something like that.

back in eindhoven,
finally getting my apartment today, theres a park just behind. the whole load of us have been putting up at jordans and cyrus's. thanks to jess's rice cooker, we've been having singaporean food regularly, like chicken curry, teriyaki chicken, cabbage with oyster sauce blah blah.. occassionally we have burger night, which is great, cos for €1.50, we whip up two huge burgers each with cheese, egg, and thick merlot soaked beef patties. josh and jordan are great cooks, the rest of us just wash up, the girls cant cook to save their lives. not that i can very well either, but frankly i'm quite contented with boiled potatoes + boiled chicken breast with soy sauce + salad daily. call it lazy, i call it pragmatic. all the neccessary carbo, protein and vitamins in a meal, and boiling is the healthiest, you cant go wrong.

missed chinese new year this year. a real pity. never took it that seriously, but once you leave home, being chinese does mean something. now i understand why many overseas chinese often try to amplify their chinese-ness, not that over-amplifying is a good thing. its an identity, it defines who you are. people respect you more when you know who you are and are proud of it.

weathers been really good too, suns out almost everyday now, i can even walk about school with only a polo tee and jeans. hope it stays that way.

btw update on the bike situation, got a bike alr! bought a spoilt bike and have to repair it. it'll cost more than more than a stolen one though.