Logging what I've done so far.

The past few days have gone by in a whirlwind. I sort of remember everything in the back of my mind, but that's it. They're just buried there, and I only remember them when they're mentioned again. And these are the days that'll be gone soon, the days that I want to feel nostalgic about when I go back to school as an ex-Rafflesian and give a talk as CEO of Microsoft.

Since my blog was meant to be a log of what has happened in my life, I will log down what I've been doing over the past few weeks, this horrendously boring June that was supposed to be the best part of the year apart from the end-of-year periods.

I have about no recollection of what I did in the first week. If I remember right, I wasted it away stoning at home, watching movies, and the like. All I remember is I had my one and only day of work, and then I went over to Ruijie's house on the Tuesday/Thursday(can't remember which) of that week. (By the way, Ruijie is suffering from low blog hits! View his blog here.) The rest was wasted away. I barely started on work.

The second week was better, albeit slightly. Class gathering on Monday was good fun. Mahjong, Halo 2 on Xbox, Halo 3 on Xbox 360, Super Smash Bros and WiiSports on Nitendo Wii and Singapore vs Uzbekistan at home. Me, Shao Chun and Teo Hong came up with a way to ask each other for specific tiles in a game of Mahjong, turning the odds against the only other player. It didn't work. Thanks to Jingxian for allowing us to wreck his house and letting us stay till late.

I had a primary school class reunion, sort of. Except that this one only involved the guys from my class in primary school. That makes ten guys, out of the class of forty one. This reunion was meant to be a "goodbye" thing for one of my ex-classmates who's leaving for China in two months. We headed down to Orchard Cineleisure and rented one of the E2max chambers for two hours, having a computer game party. Typical geek fun. But I like that.

Friday was supposed to be a meeting to prepare the more detailed procedure for our Service Learning Research Education lessons, in which we're giving lessons for primary school students and trying to get them to learn through music. The meeting ended up as a DD Crew+1 gathering. (DD Crew+1 means me, Jason, Lennie, Daniel, Yisin) Minimal work, more Xbox 360. But I like that.

Yesterday Jason treated a bunch of people to teppanyaki buffet. Superb.

And, I've been swimming every Saturday now. Trying to straighten out my problems with the Butterfly stroke and attempting one lap with it. Butterfly really does wonders for your physique.

I know you must enjoy reading about my life when you've read till here!

I am currently listening to a live broadcast of Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

Listening.

Being the poor man that I am who cannot afford cable television, I have to listen to the match to be updated on the game. Definitely beats going online and checking the results and Top 5 Plays after the match, of course.

And currently, the Lakers are down by 15. If you ask me, IMHO, this game is good as gone. Not that I'm anti-Celtics. I'm just pro-Lakers. MVP ftw please.

Baby(Google) come back!

My Internet browsing process has been a nightmare recently. I don't know what is coming over this computer, but one day Internet Explorer suddenly just baulks on me and stops working properly. I can't Google with Internet Explorer, can't use Yahoo, AOL, MSN, or any search engine. Imagine that! Life without search engines! I only just realised the key role of these entities in my life. It's not only that I can't Google, but no other search engine lets me through. Everytime I type something in the form, the results never load.

And what's life like without them?

Let me demonstrate. First, after watching exquisitely beautiful Odette Yustman on Cloverfield just a few weeks ago, I wanted to see her biography, and filmography, and stuff. So I head on down to Google, and key in the search term "Odette Yustman". Nothing shows up, just a blank screen that fails to load even after about 5 minutes. And then I, trying to find a way around this, go to all the other major search engines on the web that I know of and attempt the search, but to no avail.

This meant I had to fall back on sites I already knew of, most of which were very generic sites like Imdb.com and the all-powerful-but-boring-and-with-few-pictures Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not suited for a task like this because there are annoyingly few pictures and when I search for a beautiful actress, I don't want to just see words and data.

See the reliance on even a sub-category of the World Wide Web? It's not enough if I have the Internet, with its billions of websites and infinite information. So what if there's Web 2.0? I need a search engine. Need with the capital N.

Technology is taking over the world.

Maybe it's Skynet. Forgive me for saying that, but I just finished watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles over the past three days. And even I, being the noncomittal, occasional sci-fi type of guy, was hooked to the series. You have to watch it to know what I'm talking about, but the concept of the time travelling is too cool, and the way time travel interlinks the characters fates is awesome to ponder(for geek me). Summer Glau does a perfect, deadpan job as the robot from the future, and is good eyecandy even though I wouldn't call her pretty.

Go Google her if you want. In my opinion, TSCC is an awesome geek show, and a rather good sci-fi series. And if you've kept up with the Terminator series(even though the first movie was way back in 1984), it's the show for you.

Oh, I can't get pictures of Summer Glau now because I lack a search engine.

hol-lee-day!

I haven't posted in a while even though I haven't had much to do since I recovered from my illness a few days ago.

So I made a full recovery by Saturday, and then went to work on Sunday with Vince. Work was pretty horrid. It was Munchy Cafe at Singapore Expo. And I realised that it is super stressful to work in the food industry because you must be really clean and then still have to serve customers and wash plates and clear tables. I think I'd prefer my previous holiday job, but I don't have enough time this holiday to make a significant amount of money working as a retail assistant.

Work seems to have stopped though, after I went home on Sunday. The cafe was open for the show Dora the Explorer, but supposedly that show has had a very bad reception. So they're not opening for the whole of this week. Until Saturday, maybe. Which will be the last day of the show anyway. This means that I take home one day of pay, assuming I don't get to work on Saturday. Understandably, not a lot of money.

My hair still hasn't grown back. I got it trimmed so that I would look neater, but now it just stands up near the edges and I look like a goofball. The previous cut was macho at least. All I need now is for it to grow longer. Hopefully, it'll be back to normal by the end of the holidays.

Rui Jie is reawakened! Visit him at www.whattalkingyou.com! I went to his house and watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle yesterday. It was stupendously hilarious. I need to watch Guantanomo Bay NAO.

Should have ate an apple yesterday to keep the doctor away.

I woke up at 4am this morning with a horrible pain in my fourth toe on my left foot. Since I had already resolved not to go to school the next day anyway, because life had been tough for me juggling listening in lessons with rushing to the toilet for the past two days, I thought nothing was wrong and it was probably me not lying in a proper sleeping position.

I woke up at 8am to find that now the third toe had also been afflicted and it was in similar/worse pain. Which means that both toes hurt, were red and tender and swollen. Absolutely intolerable. I read about the symptoms on the net, and to my shock it sounded just like symptoms of gout, which is more commonly found in men aged 40 and above. (Gout is a type of arthritis caused by the formation of uric acid crystals at joint areas due to high uric acid levels in the blood. It usually forms near at the toe joints where there is less blood circulation. The crystals then inflame surrounding tissue and cause the area to swell, become tender and become sensitive.)

The bright side was that after taking just one dose of loperamide yesterday, the stomach churning and the diarrhea seems to have stopped. Still, I didn't want to take any risks with my toe because it was still hurting pretty bad, and I went to see the doctor. This time I went to the polyclinic since I'm not going to school, and I would have time to wait.

Reached the polyclinic at 1115 in the morning, and collected my medicines from the pharmacy at 1400. By the time I went in for consultation, my toes no longer hurt, and I had half a mind to just go home. Playing my PSP on the uncomfortable clinic chairs for two hours made my neck ache, and there was no air-conditioning in the clinic. Polyclinic charged about 5 dollars, the private clinic would have charged 25 dollars for about 20 minutes wait. I wonder.

But, I feel better now and I'll be back in school tomorrow (if nothing goes wrong)!

We got balls.

I just read about how Dawn Yang earns $5000 to $6000 a month blogging.

Blogging alone!

I need to earn some money this June. Anyone want tuition? Please? Let me give you tuition? (Maybe if you're in primary school or about there)

There was House Meeting 2 today, and me, being the Buckley Aesthetics Captain, had to step forward to publicise about Dramafeste in July. And Aaron(the House Captain) asks, "Who is interested in taking part? Stand up now." Then Zachary Teo, the Secondary Three Raffles Player just stands up (this was all premediated) and I say, "You got balls!" into the microphone (this was a spur-of-the-moment thing), which I don't think was very appropriate. As in, there were teachers.

So I just displayed my crudeness and lack of social etiquette (and self-control) in front of 300-odd people who did not pon assembly.

Oh, and. I vomited violently and had liquid faeces before coming to school this morning. So I was feeling queasy the whole of today and my digestive system has never been in such a state. I was not emo or exhausted or anything, just wasn't feeling well. If you noticed, thanks for your concern! Although it's good if you didn't notice, it means I've been covering it pretty well.

Swim, swam, swum

In a desperate attempt to keep fit after my (horribly) dismal 2.4 km run timing, I headed for the pool on Saturday afternoon.

And it was pretty fine, I must say. I haven't swum in ages and I swam 30 laps of breastroke at a leisurely pace. Without exerting myself. Of course, that's the easy part. I still can barely do 2 laps of freestyle and 1 lap of butterfly, which is utterly demoralising and it demolishes your ego in an instant if you swim halfway through a lap and have to stop in the middle for air. I also attempted to swim the breadth of the pool on the bottom without coming up for air. So I swam halfway and then when I ran out of air, reflex made me gulp down a large mouthful of chlorinated water. I went up immediately and coughed very loudly, attracting the attention of just about everyone in the vicinity.

Apart from such silly misadventures, I've been down to Sim Lim trying to look for a new computer that won't give me headaches and create additional stress. And let me play up-to-date games(my current computer has the specifications of a 2003 PC).

And I finished watching Cloverfield on my PSP this morning after waking up at 0430 and being unable to get back to sleep. Having it on your PSP is cool because you can turn your PSP around to the way the camera moves, and you won't get dizzy so easily. Odette Yustman is like Megan Fox, but prettier. Wow.

And the Boston Celtics are into the Conference Finals! Go home, Lebron!

I've been turned daft.

I went to Matthew's blog, wanted to post a comment, and leave my link with my name. And then I realised I'd already forgotten my blog URL.

What just two weeks can do to you. I'm completely muddle-headed now after sleeping past 12 every single night for a week. In case you don't know, I'm a total pig. I neeed sleep. 7 to 8 hours a day so that I can live to a ripe old age(108- so I can live to see the year 2100). And my bedtime is usually 2230. So the lack of sleep has forced me into taking one lesson a day as my new nap time.

On a sidenote, my PSP was fixed yesterday! I paid 10 dollars for a simple process that I could probably have done myself in 15 minutes! I feel euphoric! I feel daft!

Put me to sleep nowwwwwww.

To Hell and back

It's been 17 days since I last posted. That's two weeks and three days! In case you all don't know though, it's been double Hell Week for RI boys for the past two weeks, and today, being Friday, marks the end of my Hell Weeks.

I only have my chemistry OBA, history assignment and book club synthesis due next week. Which is actually pretty bad for a normal school week, but after you pull through Hell Week(s), this is frog's legs. Coincidentally, we have a long weekend! I'll be slowly cutting the flow of glucose to my brain cells by producing massive amounts of insulin in a localised area so that I can fully turn off by the start of the June holidays, which is just one more week.

Everyone is going about raving about how their June holidays are going to be so packed that they won't have time to do anything and how their June holidays aren't very much like a holiday at all. Well, I think I'm going to be pretty free during the June holidays. So free, in fact, that I'll actually have some time to read the Chinese novel(the Chinese department makes us buy one annually) and learn how to write a proper Chinese essay in preparation for the O Level Prelims. Which is good!

And I was walking home from the bus stop after school today in a narrow back alley, and I was just listening to music with earphones, and minding my own business. Suddenly something so damn loud just rings through the air and even with my music turned on, my adrenal gland almost exploded. So I turn around in shock and look at the source of the noise. And it was a big, black, scary German Shepard that looked like it was out of I Am Legend, and was chasing after me with the horsepower of a Maserati. So I ran and fumbled with my gate lock and got into my house milliseconds before the dog got to me.

Actually, the dog was a small white Schnauzer. And it was behind a gate. So the above is all made up. Except the adrenal gland thing, because it really did bark very loudly.

Sorry, I couldn't think of much to talk about so I decided to bull my way a little.

Today the DD Crew went over to Club Rainbow to meet our VWO for RESL (lots of abbreviations). We're holding some lessons for kids aged 5 to 9, using music to allow them to learn stuff such as the times table and sentence structure better. So we managed to borrow a few primary school English workbooks back to refer to and create a sort of outline.

And I look through the book's content page and am dumbfounded. What exactly are:

• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possesive adjectives
• Possesive pronouns
• Reciprocal pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Modals
• Prepositions
• Determiners
• Present perfect tense
• Future perfect tense
• ...

Mmhmm. I know how to speak and write English but I don't know what all those mean. Interesting eh? And it's all from a Primary 3 workbook. If you know, don't flame me for being stupid. As in, I can infer some meanings from the adjectives used above but I just don't remember ever learning stuff like that in primary school.

Okay anyway, I am really very very happy that the stress has gone down. On another note, though, I think my hair is growing ever so slowly; it still looks like a crew cut and there's only one week left to June holidays. This just mean that when I'm out during the June holidays people will look at me and think I'm an NSman.

Which might be good! I might be able to go watch Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanomo Bay! Hurrah.

Back from my (temporary) hibernation.

I started this post four days ago, the photos didn't want to upload, so I'm back again, hoping that the photos will work. Whether they do or not, I'm going to post anyway.

On Guanwei's blog the faces of the couple are censored. I didn't censor them because I am too lazy, and everyone knows anyway. That was April 18th, at RGS Masquerade. (Yes the photos upload!)

So that was before I went botak. Many people have been telling me that I'm not exactly botak- I just got a crew cut. Agreed. Still, I miss my hair. And Guanwei, Boontiong, Teohong, Yi Fan and Bing Yang have all joined the cult of Having-No-Hair. (I must have started this buzzcut cult, thank you!) And yet by now, my hair has grown back to almost a third it's original length, and I'm going to have to cut it in about two weeks time if I don't want it popping out like an Afro. A straight-haired one.

After a bunch of us went botak (the first batch), we weren't going to just let our hair grow back and forget ourselves ever looking like NSmen-looking chaps, right?

Tadah! This was meant for us to look like jailbirds. We wanted to make cards with our names to hold up, which would be pretty cool, but heck, we couldn't be bothered much. I think my head looks several times smaller with so little hair.






A happy one! :D

Hellyeah.


That was some time ago, back when I just got my haircut. That week, it was just rehearsals and school, and both again the next day. I spent more time out than my sleeping hours at home, which I believe is the case for anyone with a major commitment.


But Friday was the first show (25th April) and I must say it went pretty smoothly. A few hiccups, but if not an alright show. Saturday matinee went well and we(the cast) sort of learnt to warm up to the audience when they warm up to us. And then there was Saturday night show, which was super awesome. Like, after it was over, half the audience gave us a standing ovation(albeit many of them from 4K but stilllllll) and we had the loudest laughter of all the three shows. It felt superb after the whole thing was over and then there're no more rehearsals and 9 'o clock nights in school for some time to come!

Thanks to the 4F guys Jing Xian, Lincoln, Clarence, Bing Yang, Ryan, Kelvin, Yi Fan, Guan Wei, Daniel, Hao Qin, Chee Yeow and whoever else(I'm not sure if that's all). And Jason, Gerald, Sng Yi and Si Yuan. Who all came for the Saturday matinee. And Mr Chang haha! And Brandon, Miin, Naman and Jonathan who came for Saturday night.

This is like the only photo I took, with Miin and Brandon.

Myself, happy!

After that and all the packing up and bumping out I went to the Clarke Quay area to meet Miin and Brandon. Which was so retarded, because we ate nothing and just took a Big Walk in the humid night weather and wasted time.

Alright, so that was over and I am all the free-er to study for and do all my assignments which are due over the next two weeks.

Sunday was spent cramming for chemistry test on Monday. The whole Sunday. Somewhat.

Then monday was NAPFA test. I kept my consistent 25 points for five stations, just the same as the last two years. Which I wasn't exactly expecting because this is my first year doing pullups. But never mind, I just need a B for 2.4km run to maintain my 29 points(also the same as the last two years), or a C for a Gold! Easy. (:

Today being a Friday, and just after Labour Day, and a very very slack, turn-off day, I had a very turn-off day in school. And there was RJC Chinese Drama performance in the evening, with a guest performance by the RI Chinese Drama Circle. Before all that, school ended at 1245. Guess what I did in between!

I watched Iron Man today, hooray. And like, the show is awesome. I think it's of the same standard as Transformers last year, or slightly better. It has a deeper plot, and very cool science stuff. You might choose to evaluate my viewpoint as slightly biased, because I am a geek sort of guy, but I must point out that I've never been much of an Iron Man fan in the past(apart from the occasional The Avengers comics, left) and yet I am saying this. Iron Man is a must-watch for any blockbuster junkie, or sci-fi lovers. (Strictly from my POV only.)

Then the Chinese Drama wasn't too bad. In the beginning it was really boring, and I think I might have slept if not for having Shao Chun beside me who would come up with the occasional wisecrack. Then the second half came and everyone became wide awake. The play in the second half is literally translated (by Shao Chun) as Forbidden Love. Guess what? It's gay love. There's this guy who can't understand his feelings for his friend and he thinks he loves that friend. When it's put in Chinese it sounds better, okay. Then Shao Chun and Guan Wei got all horny and started talking about all the sick stuff(NOT gay stuff). I think Shao Chun gets EXTRA horny when it's dark or at night.

But the whole thing was pretty alright I guess. Not exactly worth 10 dollars, I think I'd pay 5. Which is a pass after all.

Sorry about the long, long break I just took. Commitments, commitments and commitments. I still have two tests the next week and a whole load of work to hand up. Which means my blog hits drop like crazy. You know, when I don't blog for a couple of days, the hits dwindle and dwindle then once I post, they shoot up after a day's delay.

See you back in a few days, though!