That's all folks

After 4 years of university, 2 1/2 years of NS, 2 years of junior college, 4 years of secondary school, 6 years of primary school, and not forgetting 2 years in kindergarten and 1 year in nursery, my school life is now finally over. Yippie, today is my last paper of university, which also means that after this, I'm sort of officially regarded as an unemployed, sianz. So just now after the paper, I went to cut my hair at the usual storm, at TM. Well I think its because I'm in a good mood, thats why I was actually swayed by the hair stylist to dye my hair. Damn, the whole thing cost me $75. Its been a long time since I dyed my hair in a salon. Now I look a bit Ah Beng, hahaha. Well its a new look though, wonder how my mum will react when she sees me, haha. Later will be heading down to Holland V, Wala wala with Alvin and gang. Guess it will also be the unveiling of my new look.

12 hours

Yup I know the title of this entry sounds something like the title of some Eric Khoo movie, but I just wanna share my joy, in approximately 12 hours, I am no longer a student. Finally I see light at the end of the tunnel... Wahahaha... after more than 10 years of education, the time has finally come for me to change the course of road I am taking, and venture into the unchartered waters. To see the dark dark side of life, where we have struggle to wake up early in the morning everyday so that we make it for work on time, and work our ass off to gain promotion and to get the little bit of pay increment. All this just to bring home the bread and butter, to to make ends meet, to pay for our phone bills, water and electricity bills, housing loans, car expenses, education loans, insurance, and the list goes on and on. Even before I find work, I am stuck with tons of loans to repay, hmmmm not the best position to be in, but thats life in Singapore for you. You work and work and work and work to pay the loans, and after you manage to repay everything, you are already lying in the coffin, just waiting for the guys to hammer in the final nails. What a scary thought.

Final lap

Trying to make the dash to the finish line. After a 4 year run, now is the time I make the sprint. The mind has been made up, but the body is weak. I keep wanting to do other stuff than to hit my books, what the fuck is wrong with me. Damn! Its just 2 days to my last and final paper in university, and I am doing everything else but study. In the past few days, I've went shopping for clothes, painted and cleaned part of my room, just this morning I was painting a little bit more of my room. Haiz, buck up lah you bastard, last paper already still want to slack. Okie after writing this entry, I will change up and go to IKEA to study, yup, thats what I'll do. Oh yah, I haven't called Starhub to tell them of the irritating phone calls. Okok I'll have to find time for that as well. 加油盛隆!!!!

New life with new room

Even though I'm in the middle of my final exams, I still found time (don't ask me why) to paint my room. Well half my room, to be exact. This time round I've picked the colour feisty orange for my room. Its such a bright colour, and this is the first time I've picked a colour this glaring for my room. Its a pretty refreshing change, of course my dad is complaining that it makes my room look hot, as in warm that kinda of hot, but I just love it. I see it as HOT, as in smoking hot! haha. Well today the delivery man sent the cupboard that my mum pick from my 3rd aunt's place, she sort of sold her place and now she's living in Chicago, so every family gets to go pick up furniture from the house because it would be quite a waste to throw away everything. So my mum picked up the wardrobe, bed mattress and a full length mirror. The wardrobe was to go into my room (my mum had wanted to put in my bro's room then take out the wardrobe in his room and transfer that to my room, but it was just too difficult), but I told my mum that I had all along wanted to paint my room. So we hurriedly went to the market to get 2 tins of paint, and started painting my room. Just the side which the wardrobe was going to be in, we decided to complete the rest of the room some other time (need I remind you again that I'm in the middle of my exam). But really, whether I paint the whole room a not is not the issue, because I still had to clean up some parts of my room and arrange the stuff into the wardrobe, so ultimately I still didn't touch my books till like 1am. And so practically I wasted yet another day. But let me emphasis again that I love the orange colour, simply perfect. Imran has promised to help me draw on my walls, and I have thought of the perfect thing for him to draw - a tiki. Wahahaha, to go with my current theme. Hopefully he'll be able to draw that out, I have faith in him. Actually I had taken photos of today's paint session, but I'm not sure if my sd card is working. The last time I inserted the card into my lappie, my whole lappie just hanged (remember there was an entry I mention about the scary blue screen), so I'm not too keen to testing it again. I'm waiting to test it in school next week, hahaha.

Name changed

After months of thought, I finally decided on the new name of my blog: Orang Tiki!!! Yup, I've incorporated some of the things that I like, and that fascinates me. One of course if the Tiki. I don't know why, but I just find this Polynesian thingy very interesting. Another is orange, one of my favorite colour. I was contemplating between orange and purple, but decided on orange. Erm because I just love it. But as can be seen from my side logo, I've incorporated both orange and purple together. Yup, I did that logo myself, with the little photoshop skills that I have, and yes, all I had to do was search for the pics online, paste, add a few words. And don't tell me if the colours don't match, I don't care, I'm colour blind anyway, I like it as it is, wahahaha. I know that the Tiki that I found is not exactly orange in colour, but its the best I could get. I tried using photoshop to make it as orange as I could. Actually I had wanted to change the entire colour scheme of the blog to fit the theme, but I just changed it to green not too long ago, so I think I'll keep it this way for now. So check out the new theme! =)

Blog counter

I've realise that there are actually people who read my crap. Thats surprising, because I don't out my blog address. Well I got that hint from my blog counter, because I'm supposed to be the only one that goes to my blog, so today I sense that the number is a running a little faster. I even got a comment on my entry, but I went to check out his blog and it doesn't exist. So probably not really a lot of people, maybe just another 1 or 2. But anyway to tackle this, I've installed a new counter on my blog. This counter works better than the previous one, it even draws the graphs of of the blog traffic for me and rates the number of first time visitors, pretty cool stuff. For all you bimbos and himbos who cannot figure out what this means, please check online yourself, hahaha. Anyway the previous counter's last hit was 113 (This is just a reminder to myself).

I'm so lucky

Before I begin my topic proper, let me first clear a few stuff. Firstly, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank this little boy who was really kind enough to tell me that I dropped my money on the floor instead of taking it and run away. Thank you for being so kind to this poor man here. Keep up the good deeds dude. The thing was that I went shopping with Imran today at Bugis. I finally bought this cardigan, I had wanted to get one quite some time ago, so it sort of dragged till now. After Bugis, we walked over to City Hall to shop more (of course I didn't buy anything there, too ex for me, I'm on a budget remember). Yup, had a great day shopping, its just so unusual for me to be shopping now. I have never in my life went shopping in the middle of an exam period, but I must say it felt great. There were so many clothes I wanted to buy, but I had to restrain myself, not only because of the money but also because I really have too many clothes at home (think Shanghai and US). After shopping we went over to Haji Lane (which also means that we walked back to Bugis and even down a little further) to have dinner (well my car was also parked there anyway). I must say that Haji Lane is a pretty cool place, must go there more often, in fact we made a pact to go there next week to another restaurant that serves Moroccan food. This time round we had dinner at Blue Jazz, great food, good atmosphere and ambiance, loads of ex-pats, there's even a band at night. I had the Grilled Dory fish, Imran had the Grilled chicken. Food was fabulous, the portions were just right for me. After dinner we headed over to Pasir Ris, Imran wanted to meet his friend there as well, so I dropped him over there (I stay in Pasir Ris if you didn't realise). And as usual, after I came back I parked my car at my grandma's place and walked home. When I reached home, I realise that I had left my home keys in the car. I called my mum only to find out that she had just left the office, then I tried to call my bro but he didn't pick up the phone. So no choice, I had to wait. Well in the end I decided to walk over to the market to grab a drink while I wait (my mum would take at least an hour to reach home). While taking my cash out of my wallet, my coins fell out, together with my cards and all... I was so damned. I had already picked up everything, but I think my notes few out of my hand while I was standing up. So there was this kind little boy who told me that my money was on the floor. Soooo sweet. BUT he called me an uncle! Basket, there goes my happy ending to this episode. Well Thank you boy, though I don't think you'll ever see this entry.

Now to my case proper: I'd like to just bitch about a call I got this morning. Basically I've been getting calls from this jewellery company called Bi Er Si Chu Bao Gong Si (read it in chinese, duh!). They first called me like 2 months back to first tell me that I had bought something with them (or was it that I sign up for some coupon thingy), so I was selected to take part in some lucky draw in Malacca. And they wanted to invite me to the lucky draw. Of course deep inside I know that I never bought anything of any sort, its so obvious its a scam, but I just played along and told them that I couldn't make it because I was too busy. And they replied that its ok, they will send in the lucky draw on my behalf and will let me know of the outcome. About a week later, they called again to say that I am super lucky that my lucky draw had actually won some top 5 prize in the draw (oh wow, lucky me!). And the prize was I don't know how much worth of gold, if I remembered correctly its quite a few thousand dollars. So they asked if I can make it down to their office somewhere in Malaysia or Hong Kong to collect the prize, and of course I said cannot. So they gave me another option. To open an account in HK, then tell them the account number so that they can transfer the cash worth of the gold into that account. They made it so real, even have their own website and created for me an online account and password. And I continued to play along to say that I'll do that in a few days time, now busy. One or two weeks later they called again to ask me if I've done the account, and I said no, I am busy now. And again they asked me to hurry up because everyone else has collected their gifts already. And then every few days they call me to ask if I've done the account. I thought they should have gotten the idea that I was not prepared to be fooled by them already, and they should just give up, but nooooo, they just kept calling. So this morning, when I had just awoken I got a call from them again to ask if I've done the account. Having just woke up (and I am telling you, I hate talking too much when I just wake up, I need some stoning time to warm up), and being in the middle of my exam period, this call is the last thing I need. So I just told them nicely that I haven't done my account, and they asked me if I'm really interested. So I tell them why not you give the prize away to another person or to the charity. It was really pissing me off already. Then he said,

"So now you want to give away the prize? Are you sure?"

I said, "Yes, give it to someone else"

Him, "So all this while you are just playing with us"

Me, "Huh?!? Can you say that again I can't hear properly"
(I really couldn't hear properly, he was speaking too fast, I only managed to figure what he was saying after the entire conversation)

Him, "You @#%#^#&$%&$&"
(I don't know what he was saying, but I reckon he was scolding me)
and finally, *click* he just hung up on me. What a bitch!!! One of the Ultimate things that I hate is getting hung up on the phone. If its because you hp got no more battery, or you accidentally press the wrong button on your phone, I can understand. But not hang up in the middle of a conversation. Ultimate rudeness that I cannot stand. If not for the fact that I do not have his number (his number doesn't show on my hp) I would have called back and give him a piece of my mind. That phone call left me fuming. Luckily I had already arranged to meet up with Imran for shopping, or my whole day would have been spoilt by that bastard. So all you people out there, do becareful if you gets calls from these fuckers. Btw did I mention that I got another call not too long ago, supposedly from Ceasers hotel in Macau (I've did a check, this hotel doesn't even exist in Macau). Apperantly I also signed up some thingy which I never can remember, and this time I was invited to attend the lucky draw ceremony in Macau, its like wow, my life is changing. I'm getting luckier by the day, because this time I won a BMW in Macau. How lucky can I get. Well this time they said that because I was not a Macau citizen, so they would convert the value to cash and issue a check to me. And this would be sent out by their lawyers. So once I received the check, I was supposed to call the hotel and let them know that I have received the check. Of course I didn't receive anything, and so the last time they called me to ask why haven't I call the company (duh! because I didn't get anything, like they don't know). So I told them that I did not get any parcel or check, and they told me to call their lawyer to check with him. I of course didn't bother to call, one reason being, its a foreign number. This means I'll have to make an international call, another reason being, the number she gave me had the same first 5 number. Well I don't know about Macau, but in SG (I think its also the same in many countries) the first few number of an area is the same to represent the district, of course there are a few exceptions. But generally, the first few numbers of the telephone number of the same area should be the same. Having 5 numbers similar is indicative that there is a high chance that they are very near each other, or even the possibility that they may even be sitting next to one another. Alamak, they should at least try to make this more real lah. So I can't be bothered with them, they'll probably call again and this time I'll make sure whoever is on the line gets it from me, assholes. Think I better call Starhub to inform them of all these scams around, maybe even write to the papers. More people should know about this to prevent anyone from falling into their traps. Yup, I'll call Starhub tomorrow, thats exactly what I'll do, also to ask them for an explanation as to why my number is being given out so easily to everyone. Not only these scams, I've been getting calls from insurances companies, banks, loans, credit cards, all sorts of rubbish. And they like to call at the most inappropriate timings, like when I'm in the toilet doing my business or when I'm in a lecture. Utmost Irritating!!! Argh!

Okie letting that out makes me feel so much better. Enough of bitching today. I'll save some for next time!

Fashion

In fashion, one day you're in and the next day you're out. How true is that... Just before I leave for my usual study session, I thought I'll just write a simple entry about fashion (well because I was doing my hair just now, and I was thinking that my hair looks like the Ah Beng center parting in the 90s). Since young I have been very much into fashion, though my body doesn't allow it (need I remind all of you that I was once fat). I grew up in the era of pointed combs and center partings. These were the essentials that all budding teenagers must have. You will be like alienated if you're spotted without them. I too, joined in the convoy. I always had a comb in my wallet so that I could comb my hair whenever I'm in the toilet (as if its gonna make me look better), and I shifted my natural side parting to the center lane so as to fit the crowd. Now thinking back, it was kinda funny how we react to all these trends. Now of course, if you are still have a comb behind your pocket, it'll not be cool anymore but more of weird. In fact, when was the last time I used a comb, its all about styling your hair with your hands, so they look more natural. Center partings are also out, so I too thought I should just let nature take its place, and let my parting fall onto where it originally was. Well I still have my bad hair days, and the occasionally fall victim to fashion disasters, but I try to minimise those times. Though I love to be on the streets looking my best, but I just age has caught up on me (erm, I don't know why I keep saying this, but I'm only 25 and I feel old), laziness has got the better of me, and so I just go for the most comfortable wear. They always say that you'll look your best when you are comfortable in the clothes you wear. This is so not true. Please stop kidding yourself. I can be comfortable in singlet, shorts and slippers, but does that mean it'll make me look good on Orchard Road. So I say that line just doesn't apply. Well thats all I have to say, hmmm I really have no idea what's the purpose of this entry, but I just it makes some interesting read. Good luck!

David Tutera

I wonder if anyone has also watched this show called "David Tutera - the party planner" on discovery travel and living. Well at least I have. Been following this show religiously for some time, although I really don't know why I do it, because everytime during and after the show I'll complain about the show. I mean having a nice party location with a theme is always welcome, but is it practical to go that far. Does every party need to have a huge chandelier, tons of candles, place cards to tell everyone where he's supposed to sit, and their very own martini. Of course I admit that if someone close to me were to do something like that (erm the surprise theme party) for me, I'll be super touched and remember it for life, especially if I have my own martini - I'll call it the loongtini, wahahaha. Sometimes David goes a little too far, showing his gay diva-ish side. And when I say far, I mean things like flying empty wooden barrels from the other end of America to New Jersey, to use them as cocktail tables. And according to David, "these barrels are absolutely essential for the party." yah sure, the barrels go well with the cowboy theme, but essential? The party can still go on without the barrels right?!? And also to go to the extent to buy metal trays because the silver ones that normally came with those buffets don't match the theme. He was making a big huha over the trays, saying that it would just spoil everything. Huh?? Sorry maybe its just me, but isn't it a bit of a wasteful to buy things like these just for a single purpose. After buying like 10 metal (actually they look more like iron, okie thats also a metal *bish) trays, when is the next time you are going to use it. What if the next party you have has a cartoon theme, then the metal trays do not fit into that theme, so what, buy another set of trays to fit that theme. Ridiculous right. Oh yah, and did I mention that David is sooooo gay, and I don't just mean happy. For those who know me well enough knows that I'm not homophobic, so I'm comfortable with having gay and lesbian friends, and that I've even visited gay clubs before, and from my experience David's actions are just so gay bottom (ie the one who gets fucked in the ass). Being gay is one thing, being a sissy is another, and I can't stand sissy guys. David can be seen flirting with the guys on tv, omg, hold back a little dude, spare a thought for us. Hmmmm, I just cannot understand. But god made men difficult to understand, which is why I too do not understand why I am still staying up till 2am everyday, literally, to catch the show. I just wonder why.... hmmmmmm

Broken alarm

Recently I've noticed something, actually I've noticed this for some time but didn't thought I'll write on it. And that is on the alarm systems that most cars, homes and shopping centers have. Going back to basics, the purpose of these alarms is to alert the owner or the people in the surrounding about an emergency. But it seems that the alarm nowadays is losing its effect. Just earlier on, one of the car alarms at the carpark near my place went off, and it was like ringing forever, and no one seem to be bothered with it. Its like they think its just another spolit alarm. Then the last few times when I was a IKEA, the alarm also went off, but no one seem to bother at all. People were still shopping at the show rooms, others were continuing to eat at the cafe, and we just got on with our studies. All as if nothing has happened. I mean what if there was a real emergency! What if there was a fire or hostage or terrorist or bomb!!! The issue here is not whether the alarm was faulty, or whether it was an exercise to prepare us for the real thing, but the real issue here is that whenever we hear an alarm we somehow think that," aiya, its nothing lah, must be alarm spoil." or "aiya another exercise, one year have to do how many exercises, I got a lot of work to clear in office leh. Haiz, let me get my wallet first, later can go for lunch". There is no sense of urgency, and people are not taking the alarms seriously enough. In a case of a real fire, they can forget about having lunch, because they might just end up on the lunch menu themselves. So sometimes I wonder, is our sense of self defence weakening, are we taking the safety of our country for granted, is the whole total defence thingy actually working??? From the looks of it, we are lagging behind in terms of total defence, and we tend to take this safe environment for granted. Something as terrible as 911 can happen anytime, and I think something needs to be done to address this issue. Again I'm not preaching anything here, I keep to my stand that I am no pastor and saint, in fact I am also at fault to this problem, so let us all work towards a safer environment k. So anyone wanna go for lunch?

A little too friendly?

Okie I've just written a whole long passage and now its all gone. Damn it. My comp just blacked out, I mean blued out. Suddenly the scary blue screen came out. I was soooo worried that my lappie was dead again. Luckily its still working. Heng ah!

Anyway let me try to remember what I was saying, I'll just give summary of everything, tired to repeat everything. Well I got an email today from my ex-boss from MHA - Pauline. Yup she was telling us that her NS boy was getting a little freaky these days. He's been coming over to her cubicle to tell her about his problems, everything from at home, to in office, outside. Basically all his problems. So Pauline does get pretty busy at times, so sometimes she'll just give him some words of encouragement or just some simple ideas, mainly targeted at trying to get him to go away. But it seems that he's taking them very seriously! To the extent that he'll sometimes message her late in the night with thank you messages and things like that. Hmmmm a little freaky right, and did I mention that Pauline is married with 2 adorable kids (or brats, hahaha Pauline's so gonna kill me if she read this. She's got 1 boy and 1 gal). I think there is a line between giving some counseling advice and getting freaked out by the people you counsel. This boy seems to fall into the latter category. And this has been going on for quite some time. Pauline was already talking about this since we met her during CNY, just that the problem seem to have gotten worse now.

I've of course advised Pauline to talk to him about it, just tell him that maybe there's a problem here. And of course I suggest that she does this subtly, definitely not the direct approach. Later the 想不开, who knows what he'll do. From the looks of it, he's a pretty emo person, so cannot be too direct with him. I suggested Pauline to ask his office buddy to talk to him or something, to find out if he needs any help. I'm not boasting about my batch here, but from the feedback I get from my ex-bosses (not only Pauline, I'm in contact with some of the rest as well), it seems that the quality of the boys coming to MHA have gone down a little. And there seem to be more weird people in MHA these days. For instance, calling this kid in question a weirdo is definitely not an overstatement. Well thats that, hope Pauline can settle this soon, but then again if she settles this, then we would not have anymore interesting stories to hear when we meet up next time, hahahaa.

Men's problems

I had initially wanted to blog about my dinner with Imran aka the next-big-thing malay blogger in town. Haha. He told me that he's been getting quite a few weird looks in school these days and was recently invited by the malay community to meet up to discuss on some malay issues. So not him! Haha, but I think I'll save that to my next entry, today I want to blog about a problem that majority of men will face at a certain point of time in life, only that sometimes it come a little earlier. Like in my case, its here just a little too early, come on I'm on 25 this year, I still have quite a few years ahead of me, and I hope I don't have to life with this problem throughout. And please I'm not talking about male menopause, erectile dysfunction or low sperm count ok, I assure you that if you get a hot babe in front of me, I can satisfy her and get her pregnant. The issue I'm talking about today is on hair loss. Somehow there is this close link between alot of males and high forehead, so much so that it makes us look like we're losing hair. For me, I'm the typical 'M' shape. As in the 2 corners of my forehead go higher than my front, so this makes the sides look pretty empty. Of course I've been doing my cover up all the time but every now and then it still get quite obvious. And that is irritating. Already made a pact with beng to go yun nan to solve our problems, hahaha. But I've also heard that these hair hospitals are not as effective as they advertise to be. Haiz, why must this happen to me, I'm only in my mid 20s now, don't this only happen to those old men who are enjoying the fruits of their life's toil. You know how difficult it can be to play cover up all the time, there is a limit on the hair styles that I can do. I tried having short hair, it was good because the empty patch didn't show, and I think I look alright in short hair, but the problem is I have to constantly maintain the length,. Once the hair start growing a little longer, the patch gets more obvious. For the rest of the time, I'm usually in mid length hair (ie its too long to be called short hair, but its too short to be called long hair). This length allows me to cover up the patches but I do not have very dense and thick hair. So the patches are still visible through the spaces between the hair, and I have to spend quite some time to adjust my fringe to cover it up nicely so that it looks filled and not fake. As my friend would put it, it should not be as fake as a fake gucci from petaling street. Yup, these are the everyday problems that I face. And that is why I usually have to spend up to 15 mins to do my hair before going out. So sometimes I'll just choose to don a cap and go out. Not that I love to wear one, but just to save me the time to cover up. Well my aunt just introduced me to this chinese herbal wine thingy that she said might help, so I'm not taking any chances, hopefully I'll see some results soon.

1 down, 1 more to go

Yesterday was the first paper for this semester. It was high vacuum. Don't know if its because I'm taking too little modules this semester or is it because I'm nearing the end of my school life, but this semester has generally been a pretty slack half a year. Usually by this time of the semester I'll be frantically studying and reading and digging into my books, but this semester I'm still playing games and watching TV up till now. Throughout the 25 years of my life I've taken countless exams and test and this has got to be one of the most relaxed exams I've taken in my life. Don't get me wrong, I'm still worried about my results and I'm still studying hard for the papers, only that the feeling thats going into the exams is not exactly the same. Even my mum was telling me last night," I thought you are having exams now, how come always see you watching TV". haha. Well I just hope that this semester will be a good semester. Yesterday I wouldn't say that I did very well, I don't think I managed to write an A paper, so I can only hope for the best.

Anyway just before I left home for the paper yesterday, I took some photos of myself (who else) and some of the things I bring into an exam. I thought it would be interesting to blog about of the exam must-haves for me, and some of the taboos that I have during the exam period. Hmmm lets see if we have anything in common....

One of the must haves in an exam is definitely my water bottle. Don't want to be like thirsty inside. But then again, drinking too much will result in going to the toilet too much during the paper (don't look at me like that, it happened to me before)

Watch. To take note of the time of course. Although there is always a clock in the exam hall, but if you sway sway sit behind the pillar or is too far at the back, you might not be able to see the time. Time management is super important in an exam. (again this happened to me before)

How in the world would anyone go into an exam without a pencil case. Erm I know my pencil case is a little bigger than others, but I prepared everything inside. I think I got at least double of every stationary.

Notes. These are super important especially if its an open book exam. Well if its not, then you can read a little bit of it just before the paper (while ya waiting for the hall door to open), though I do not recommend this. I'm just afraid that I'll see some points that I did not read about before in my whole life.

This is quite important to me. Tissue paper. Sometimes my nose just lose control in the exam hall, and it can get quite messy and irritating when this is not present.

Of course, no exam is complete without Brand's essence of chicken. I must have one of these before the paper. I don't know why, but guess its a tradition thingy.

Never underestimate the power of the air con in the exam hall. Always bring a sweater to guard against the cold. Shivering throughout the paper is not going to help you during the paper in any way. Mmmm I do have a lot of sweaters at home, this is just one of the many. I have this thing about buying sweaters, been telling myself to stop buying (I'm in SG anyway, its like hot here, don't know why I like to buy them so much)

This is me just before I left my place. I took a nerdy photo of myself with the glasses on (I don't wear glasses, those are my dad's glasses, haha), and another photo without the glasses. If there's one thing thats very important during exam days, its grooming. I always take the trouble to make sure that my hair is ok, and that my shirt and jeans match. This is very important during exams, I believe that when I look good, I feel good, annd I'll do better in the paper, hahahaha. Well at least I hope so. I have quite a few taboos for exams, think I'm actually pretty phan tang. Another thing about exams is that I don't cut my finger nails for hair when it is very near the exams (even more so during the exam period). I believe that I know everything at my fingertips, so if I cut my nails, I lose some knowledge. Haha, sometimes I wonder how I manage to come up all this. And I'll always make sure I go to the Guan Yin temple at bugis before the exams to light some joss sticks and pray for the papers. I admit that I'm not a very religious person, I use to attend an Anglican school for 12 years, my kindergarten is in a church, my brother is christian, my family is largely buddhist, I used to go to sunday services of my friend's church (my very good friend, Alvin, who used to ask me along), I go for many of my friend's cell group gathering. From the looks of it, I going in the direction of the chapel, but nooooo, I'm still a free thinker, and I think I'm more inclined towards the buddhist side ( my parents play big part in this). Not only for the exams, usually if there is anything big that's coming up, like our family going for holiday or something like that, I'll go to the Guan Yin temple to pray, just for health and safety. Well it doesn't hurt right.
After the paper we went for kopi (they had lunch/dinner/high tea, whatever you want to call it) at canteen A. DY was eating this steak that he can't bite off, he ending up looking at the chinese ghost with the long tongue 黑白无偿, hahahaha.
So now its just one more paper to go, and thats 14 days aways. Gotta also prepare for my last presentation, just got my date, its on the 7th of May at 1pm. My big day!!!!

IKEA

Today... I mean yesterday I went to my absolute favorite place to study in the east - IKEA Tamp. Love that place. Weekdays are quiet, there's air-con, I get free flow of drinks (I go the IKEA friends card, and the ticketing machine is not working, so all I have to do is flash my card to get a drink, haha, but they are not losing anything for those few cups of drinks rite), there's free parking, its near my house, and did i mention the $1 hotdog. Well you can see that this is the ultimate study place. So why in the world have I been going to Beauty World and school to study for??? Haha. Of course I know the answer, its company. My whole gang is in school these days. Well yesterday Sean joined me in IKEA. Its good to have someone to study with, makes the process less boring. At least when we're bored, we can chat a little. I can say that the trip was pretty effective. I went through quite a few chapters, hopefully can remember what I've studied, haha.

Then when I came home just now, I tried to study another chapter before going to sleep, so that I would have less to cover today, I still remember the section on sorption pumps. Well I thought it looks a little important, so I went ahead to memorise the use of it. Then after that I went to check the notes that my friend wrote. In big words it read," Sorption pumps - Not impt". WTF!! Damn it, wasted my time and brain cells on that topic. Well thats the problem when I don't attend class myself. Ok gotta sleep early (not very, its already like 3am now), another long day today. Today's D-day eve. So I'll have to make my final preparations for the war!!!!

My old blog

Just when I was thinking of why I have been blogging all this while, I came across my old blog. OMG. That was like way back in Sept 2005. That was my very first blog (erm its not like I had many blogs, that was the first, this one that you're looking at is the 2nd, hahaha). Initially when I wanted to get back to blogging, I had considered getting back that blog but I can't find it. I don't know if it was the password or user email I got wrong, but I just couldn't find open it. So just now I just tried to type my old blog address in and I'm so surprise that my blog is still around!!! Was reading through some of the articles that I had written (again about my life then), I was in my second year in university, and it don on me that my life was so bleak then. Most of the articles were so sad and disheartening. OMG. I had such a gloomy life. Well maybe this is the reason why I blog, so that I can have some memories of the past, to remind me of how I felt at this point of time.

Anyway I have no idea how long my old blog will be around still, but the blog address is www.darkwing1983.blogspot.com

Why???

Hmmm, sometimes I really think to myself," Why am I blogging??" I mean I do not have the most exciting life, whenever I'm free nobody ask me out, even the number of phone calls I get are only a fraction of other people. So what is there for me to blog about. I remember when I first had the idea of blogging, I knew that I was going to be lazy after sometime and just quit (which was one reason that delayed my blogging life), and I only wanted this to be an online diary for me to keep track of my life. Just to write down some things that happen in my life, and give me an avenue to bitch about the people around me. And it is precisely this reason that kept me from giving out my blog address to my friends. Everytime someone ask me if I blog, I'll either say nope or that its a private blog. I guess I've seen things through, and now I'm slowly starting to open up just a little. I not as afraid to let others know how I feel and my inner thoughts, and to really find out about me. But now the question is whether it is too little too late. Hmmm.....

Final exams in 3 days!

As the footsteps of my final examinations draw closer, I have also been studying harder (well at least I try to). This semester is a little different, we no longer stick to beauty world as our study hide-out, in fact this year, we rarely go to beauty world. The new kid on the block is NTU canteen B. Its a little bit further than beauty world, but the guys just want to make use of the internet for games. I did take some pics with my phone, so I'll just share some of our study pics here.

Saw this dead rat at the stairway lobby last night at canteen B

These are from beauty world.
My Tazmanian Devil toy

Vivian and Shy

Me taking photos of myself when I'm bored from studying

Shy blocking her face

This looks like the prayer joss sticks, haha.

Tried to get an artistic look from the coffee and coke. Failed!

STOP BUYING ANIMAL FUR

I was studying just now (okie I admit I was watching TV just now), and I remembered that I had to send this email to Alvin. I logged on to my email and I saw this mail titled 'Pls read... shed my tear watching it...'. It was sent by Alvin and Serene. OMG, after I watched it, and I swear I'm not exaggerating it, I felt like puking. The link opens up to a page on the shocking look inside chinese fur farms, and there a video on the website. I don't know how authentic the website is, but thats not the point. The video is really damn gross it shows animals being skinned alive and the poor look on their dying face really had an impact on me. I'm not trying to be a saint here neither have I ever been close to being one, but I really think people should think twice about buying fur. Although I'm chinese but this trade cannot be supported. Animals are being skinned alive here. The helpless look on their faces, and the squalling sounds that they make do sends chills down my spine. The video is not meant for the faint hearted, if you do not want to view it, at least read the article. I think something needs to be done to help these poor creatures. So people, please watch and the next time you ever come across a fur trader, think about the look on these animals.

Webby: http://www.furisdead.com/feat/ChineseFurFarms/

omg, I can't get the picture outta my head now, damn. I think the fur trade is not the only trade in the world that is gruesome, so the next time i buy something, I'll remember to think of how the product came about.

One Million Dollars

Last night I was again studying in school with, you-know-who. Yup, its the usual gang, only that cy didn't come because he couldn't wake up, hahaha. Anyway, myself, DY and Sean were talking and the topic of what I would if I had a million dollars popped up. It is actually quite an interesting thought. I mean I sure almost everyone would have at one point of time in his life thought about what he would do if he had a million dollars. And pls don't tell that you are going to open up an orphanage, or help build a hospital in Kenya. I not trying to doubt that there will be some people who aspire to do this type of charitable work when they are rich, but the question is - how many. How many people would be so willing to give up that kind of money for a greater cause. Having said that, let me just make a point to encourage all you crap readers, who bother to read all that I've written, to donate generously and do charitable work whenever possible. Something which I must also try to practice. For all those who know me, you've probably not seen me do anything like I've just preached. Well you are right, I do not. And this is reflected in our talk which I will be touching on now. You can see that we arn't all that charitable, hahaha. Hey guys we better buck up k. World peace. But I'll try to do more of it in the future, ok. Well back to yesterday. We were on the topic of what I would do if I strike a million dollars in Toto.

For Sean, he said,
" Wah if I strike Toto 1 million dollars I go buy a unit in the condo opposite Sentosa. Very nice!"

then DY said,
"Aiya, if I got the million dollars, I buy a island. Malaysia got some islands seliing for like 700k. There are even some islands selling at 200k, but thats in Canada."

Of course I made the most practical suggestion, I said,
"Erm if I had a million dollars the first thing I would do is to withdraw everything out, take a photo with it and sleep with it for a night. Then I'll decide what to do with it."

Hahaha. Well that comment drew some laughs from the guys. But I'm not kidding, I really mean what I say. How many times in your life will you be able to see a million dollars in cold hard cash. I think its worth at least a photo, haha. Then I suggested to draw the money out in $2 bills (so that the volume looks more), so I can paste it all over my room. Haha. But of course those are just dreams. Something you can think a about once in a while, then later you'll still have to get back to reality. Money doesn't fall from the sky, you've gotta work for it. You can strike Toto and 4D, but have you considered how much you have already invested in it thoughout your life. It could be much more than a million. So SL, quit dreaming and start working. Exams in 7 days!

More job searches underway

If you've noticed that the timing of this post to the previous one is super close, and that it is impossible for me to write such a long post in such a short time, you are right, hahaha. I had wanted to post this together with the previous post, but at the last minute I decided to create a separate post instead.

You guys know that I've been actively looking around for a job lately, I've been posting quite a few blogs on it. Yesterday morning went to BAT for the first round of interview, it was a test of english and maths. The first paper was the english paper, we had to read several short passages and answer yes/no/don't know questions. It is mainly to test how well we can abstract information from readings, given a short time frame. The second paper was the maths paper. For this they gave us many different types of graphs and index and we're required to answer questions that need us to abstract information from the tables. It is to test how well we can process information and our analytical ability.

The first test was actually not as difficult as I thought it would be (remember SIA), but I guess time was a big factor. I didn't have time to look through my paper after I had finished. And I could not find answers to some of the questions. The maths test, erm I wouldn't say easy, but its not difficult. Again the main issue is the time. Most of the question were do-able, a few needed more thought, but overall it was not difficult. Sadly I didn't manage to finish the whole paper, I think I left like 4 questions blank. Haiz, but I'm really not banging on getting a position at BAT. Not that I'm not interested, but that competition is very high. There so many people taking the test yesterday, and we are not the only batch. There have been a few batches ahead of us already. So I guess that would be the last time I see BAT. Haiz~ Another job opening is being recommended by Aunt Susan. Her ex-colleague is working in Morgen Stanly, so she helped to ask if there are any openings there. Well, it appears that there are openings and Aunt Susan ask me to see if any position interest me, so she can help to submit my resume to her friend. I've just sent to her my choice, but again its interest vs practicalism. I hear from my bro that his friend had applied to Morgen Stanly before, and they had 13 rounds of interview. His friend failed at the 8th round. OMG. What a waste of time. Seriously I cannot think of a reason of having 13 rounds of interview. I know that every one wants to be able to hire the best candidate, some one who can fit into the company culture straight away and work hard for the company. But is 13 rounds of interview really necessary? I agree that just one interview might not be sufficient to see how a person is going to fit into the company, but I think 5 rounds is a pretty good gauge already. For 13 rounds, its like you are getting interviewed by every department head in the company and even before you join the company, you've already know everyone there. Okie just based on the perception of one interviewer is not enough, but don't you think 5-8 or 9 or more people (and mind you, when I say 1 round of interview, it does not mean that everytime its 1-to-1, it can be 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 or even more) is pretty assuring. You can have up to 300000 interviews, there will always be something that you don't know about the interviewee, so why don't we just give them the benefit of doubt. I know that a lot of companies will disagree with me on this, but I don't care gonna say it away. Having so many rounds of interviews is a waste of time for both the interviewee and interviewer, it is also a waste on resources of the company. I think it should not be a case of asking for an interview for the sake of having an interview, but only call for more when absolutely required. If by level 5 or 6 is enough, then stop there, there is no need to do 13 rounds just for the sake of making up numbers.

After being in the job market of quite a while this year, I must admit that it is a little demoralizing. I've applied to countless companies. Very few replied, even fewer had asked me to go for an interview. And I almost failed through all my interviews. When I sit down and think to myself, I really don't know what is wrong with me that makes no one want to hire me. I know I do not have excellent grades (well they always say that grades arn't everything, and that they don't just look at grades), but I think my grades are decent. I do not look good, but I don't look terrible either to make them dislike my appearance. I think I do present myself alright in front of the interviewers, giving them almost whatever information that they need about me. So what is wrong with me??? I think I'm suffering from the median problem. I'm like in the situation where I'm not the best candidate, but neither am I the worst. So I'm like part of the group of people who fall in the center of everyone. And it just happens that this is the largest group. Haiz~ And the biggest problem is if you try to apply for a job in a big company, they only want the best (which is not me), and if I lower my expectation to apply for a lower scale of job I get funny comments by people around me on why I choose this type of job when I am a graduate. Sometimes I'm a little tired by all these comments made by others. I know that they mean well, but it just gets annoying when people who do not seem to understand the situation. Just recently, my youngest uncle (xiao gu), was talking to me and he told me,

" aiya don't look for job already lah, come out and ping yourself."

Come on lah, thats your idea because you have the money to do it. My reply was of course,

" Please leh, no money I use what to start."

Then we were talking about the job market, and they were asking me on what I felt on an engineer's job, so I told them what I felt. Things like its mundane and dry, and that the pay and bonus are usually not very high. And Xiao gu had to comment again. He said that why are we asking how much the company can pay us for our bonus. Right now you should be looking at what job you are doing and learn as much as possible then change to another job, and then your pay will rise. Please, you think I don't know that. But again its back to the question of practicalism. Ideally for a first job we would like to choose a job that allows us to learn as much as possible. But if this type of job is only to pay me $1000 a month should I take it up. You can say that in the long term it will benefit you greatly, and ultimately you'll probably be earning more, but who knows about the future. Many times he makes comments based on his own family financial situation. He is rich, he has the money, he has his own company, but that is not the same for us. We have to be practical, at the end of the day we need to be bringing the dough home. And its not like he has not been in the same type situation before. Before his company got off, he was in a similar situation (only a little better than our situation, my family is not the richest around, but we are not poor. You can say its stable). So I am expecting him to know better than to say things that are so irritating. Even though I know that what he says makes sense and that it will be good if I can follow. But it gets annoying when you come to feel that he seem to be making comments solely based on his perception that all of us are the same financially. I think he should try to be a little more tactful in his speech because what he says can not only be annoying, sometimes it does hurt a little.

Down with FYP

I officially announce that I HAVE FINISHED WITH MY FYP!!!!!!!! Yah! After 24 months of toil and hard work plus sleepless nights (yah right, like I'm so hardworking), I've finally finished with my report last night. The feeling of finishing the report is really good, its like a stone, I mean huge bolder off your back. Now its time to get serious with my other school work. Exams start next week and I have started studying (note that I'm not using the word revising because I haven't even looked at the notes before in this entire term). Gotta get my act together and start being serious. CY says that he has finished looking through the lecture notes for High Vac (envious), well I'm still on chapter 9, got another 4 or 5 more chapters to go. Jia You!!!!!!!!

Sydney by Diva

I was just having my dinner and watching Discovery Travel & Living. I can't remember the name of the show, but it was traveling (duh!). So a section of the episode is on traveling in Sydney, Australia and they introduced this very interesting travel package that is available. Its called Sydney by Diva. Well I went to googled the name and I found their webby: http://sydneybydivatours.com. Yah, I think its a pretty cool and different travel package. Basically when you sign up for this travel package, it will take you around Sydney to the many places of attraction, like any other travel packages around, but the cool thing is that you'll be guided by one of Sydney's Drag queens. How cool is that. There was a scene showing the drag queen asking everyone to reach under their seat to take out the safety helmet, which was actually a colourful wig. And everyone had to wear the wig to wherever they went. Hmmmm, think if I were to visit Sydney next time, I should try out their services. But I think the only person who will probably find this cool will be Imran. hahaha.

李玖哲 - 围墙

Just felt like sharing a song that I think is pretty nice. I haven't figured out how to include a music player in my blog. So for those interested in the song, you can just find somewhere to stream the song. Don't download ok, I'm like soooo against piracy (yah rite!). Here are the lyrics:

不知不觉又过了几天
我想我习惯了忽略
去忽略没你的时间

不近不远走在谁身边
我想我适应了一切
这一切没你的时间

某条路某条街 某首歌某间店
某种熟悉但如今 却刺眼
不碰触不跨越 为自己留一些 安全界线

谁都以为不听不看 也就没感觉
一转身 才发现 空气里面
依旧飘散着记忆的气味

谁有所谓或无所谓 也不能改变
原来是我 在爱上你的那瞬间
就困在围墙里面

某条路某条街 某首歌某间店
某种熟悉但如今 却刺眼
不碰触不跨越 为自己留一些 安全界线

谁都以为不听不看 也就没感觉
一转身 才发现 空气里面
依旧飘散着记忆的气味

谁有所谓或无所谓 也不能改变
原来是我 在爱上你的那瞬间
就困在围墙里面

谁都以为不听不看 也就没感觉
一转身 才发现 空气里面
依旧飘散着记忆的气味

谁有所谓或无所谓 也不能改变
原来是我 在爱上你的那瞬间
就困在围墙里面
多可悲 围墙都在 对不对

Viwawa

Yup, I know that I just said that I wanted to do my report, but just now was playing Viwawa, hahah. Introducing this pretty cool server that allows users to play various games such as Dai Di and Mahjong online with people all around the world. Actually I've already come to know of this site quite some time ago, but I only tried it out just now. I must say that its pretty cool. The characters are quite cute. The game reminds me of 明星三缺一. Hahaha. Okok, I really need to do my report already. NO MORE GAMES!!!!!!

Ps: I've added the link to Viwawa on this blog already, check it out, maybe next time can arrange an online mahjong session, wahahahaha.

Tired

I'm like soooo fucking tired. I just blogged this morning (when I just reached home) about some friendship thingy. Well basically now I'm still super tired. I had wanted to do my report this afternoon, but ended up doing nothing (as usual). Then I told myself that I'll sleep 1st, so that I would have the energy to do my report through the night, but now I'm still so tired that I feel like going to sleep now. OMG what am I going to do. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Okok lets not waste anymore time tonight, no matter what I'll have to accomplish something tonight, I cannot let this night go to waste, blog another time! Chao!

H2H

I've just got home from school. Yes I know that its like 6am in the morning now, I was 'studying' in school just now. Well at 4 they started playing Tower Defense, so basically all form of studying stopped at that period. I didn't play though, lent my lappie to Sean to play. Not that I'm not interested to play but I know that I'm not that good a player and also because I know that Sean is more gian to play. So I just watch him play. The funny thing is during the ride home, I talked a lot to Sean, and I shared with him a lot about what I felt about the Europe trip. For those who know me, I don't normally share what I think to the people around me. Especially when I know that the guy knows the other parties as well. I told him quite a bit of what I felt will pose problems for the trip. I mean for the trip, although I agree with the arrangements, but I feel that many areas could have been done differently. I know that I'm not the best planner around and many times what I think might not be the most correct ideas, but I feel that sometimes I do give certain valid points. But anyway thats not the issue for this blog entry. The main point of this entry is that its funny that I would share so much to him because normally I'll just keep my mouth shut. Of course you'll be saying I'm a hypocrite because here I am saying that I tend to keep my feelings to myself and on the other hand I've blogged a lengthy entry about the plans yesterday. And basically the blog entry can be seen by the entire world. But I know that my friends don't have my blog address, and none of them will read whatever that I write here, thats why I got the courage to write them, hahahaha. I really don't know why I've said so much. Maybe I just want someone to know what I really felt, or maybe I just want to let off some inert feelings inside of me. I don't know. But in case they do see this entry by chance, let me just state here that THERE IS NO CONFLICT BETWEEN ANYONE OF US. hahahaha. The great thing is that everyone is pretty easy going, so we do get along pretty well. However, its also because we are a little too easy going that landed us here, haha. I do not have big problems about the plans, but just some concerns that we will face some problems when we are in Europe and also the higher cost that we will incur because of our current plans. But having said that since we can't change our bookings anymore, we'll just have to work around the bookings, and in Project Runway's sense "make it work".

Well Sean is a pretty good chap to talk heart to heart. Somehow, I just poured out a lot to him (of course its about the trip lah, have not gone to other stuff), although I still reserved some parts of my thought, but it is already a miracle that I actually said that much (soooooo unlike me). But I must say that it does feel pretty good to let out some feelings once in a while. The other party may not feel the same way, he might find all that I said as nonsense. But it does feel good that you can think that someone is willing to listen and just take in what you have to say. So I must say that the conservation in the car was pretty relieving. Ever since Alvin got together with Ash, I've more or less lost a close friend that I can pour my heart out to. He used to be the person I turn to when I'm in desperate need to pour out my thoughts to, but now he's got someone more important in his life. Well he's still one of my best friend around, but its just not the same anymore. Hmmmm, I think I better not get into the best friend issue in this entry. Maybe will blog about it in the future. But, yah, its not the same anymore. So I find that Sean has the potential to be a listener, he listens and gives some ideas and thought. CY is another great friend, he is someone you can engage in Heart to Heart as well. But I guess his image as being 无理头 does not help in this matter. Sometimes you really don't know whether he is really interested in listening to you stories. Maybe its because our speech more-ofthen-than-not revolves around non-serious and unimportant stuff. I blog more about friendships another time. This topic needs a little more in depth thought, hahahaha.

Okok, I think its time to end this entry now, its now a quarter to 7am, dawn is going to break any time now, think I better head to bed, I still a long day ahead (cannot wake up too late), will need to try to finish up my FYP today. Just one last thing, Fuck my prof, everytime see him I have so much to do. Asshole! After seeing him yesterday, suddenly my FYP has so much more to cover. Damn it! Gotta buck up, just less than a month more to the end of school life. 加油!!!!!!! Okie good night, erm I mean good morning. =)

Europe planning

Well for anyone who actually bothers to follow this blog (Although I hate to admit it, but really I think no one reads all my crap), you'll would know that I'll be going to travel Europe for my grad trip. After the initial planning, I've come to realise that this is going to be a luxury backpacking trip. Initially we had estimated the entire cost to come to about 6k, but from the looks of things, I'm raising the estimated cost to about 7k. Well I guess the group that I'm going with is not really a live hard group. I have some experience in backpacking (sort of) during my time in China, so I know what it like is to live in less that comfortable situations just to save some cash but this group don’t seem to think that way. Saving the bits and pieces are of utmost importance when backpacking, especially when we're going to an expensive place like Europe and when we'll be there for close to 50 days. Below I shall analysis some things that I think can be done better. Of course when I try to voice out a little of my experience, they had their reasons for doing otherwise. So you can say that my suggestions were put to rest and the consequence is of course higher cost.

One of the problems that I have is the choice of booking all the hostels now. The reasons they gave was that because the time that we are going is considered a peak period, so they were worried that we would not be able to find a place to stay there if we didn’t book the hostels now. Can you imagine booking a month’s worth of hostels at this time. This is not the wisest thing to do during backpacking, the reason being that our schedules will all be locked by the hostel bookings. I can imagine ourselves rushing to each hostel to make sure that we manage to check in (because we’ve paid the deposit). Being foreign to that country, sometimes we have no idea how much we would want to see a country and we do not know if something urgent might crop up. So basically with all the hostels booked, we’ll have to make 100% sure that we follow the dates at the hostels accurately or else if one goes wrong, the entire schedule will break down. My suggestion, which was shot down, was to book the first week’s hostels, then we book the rest of the hostels while we are travelling there ie book as we travel. This gives us more flexibility and it will make things easier for us.

Another problem that I have is the fact that they didn’t book any overnight train rides. . This is the ultimate sin for backpacking. The reasons they gave for this is because we do not have enough time to check the train schedules and that we might have to change trains along the way, so if we miss a stop we might not know where we end up. This is just crap. They told me that they have decided that we will be taking the plane for any train ride that is more than 4 hrs to save time, wah!!! Because the plane ride is only 20 pounds as compared to the 36 pounds for the train ride. Excuse me, if you do your maths correctly, the 36 pounds includes your lodging (which is about S$50 a night) + transport. Getting on overnight trains not only saves on the lodging fees, you’ll also save a lot on travelling time. Already we have to make sure that we get to the hostels on time, which also means that we will probably have to take day train rides. Can you just see how much time will be wasted traveling? I can only imagine us rushing from place to place when we’re there, it will not be easy to take in a lot from this trip.

I guess I have a certain expectation of backpacking, and from my experience this is not really considered backpacking. Backpacking is not just about taking a few train rides to experience it and staying in hostels, it is a lot about have flexibility to enjoy the country and experience how people in a different country live during that short span of time there. Flying around in planes and rushing to get to hostels is definitely not backpacking, in fact its far from it, which is why I’m not expecting much from this trip this time. Initially I thought that DY will have much better idea of backpacking because he had been to Shanghai for GIP as well, and that he’s pretty well travelled. Well it seems that all the while they had been luxury travelers that this is probably the first they are trying out something like this. You can say that I’m a little disappointed, but what to do, everything is booked already, I know that I have not been heavily involved in the planning because I was busy with my report then (and because they always meet in school, which is so far away from me). Well I can’t change whatever has been set, I can only try to make the best of it. Hopefully we’ll be able to get something good out of this. One thing for sure, this trip is going to be fun. Going for a trip with friends is always a fun thing, I mean its not always that we’ll be able to do things like this. So here’s wishing us a great trip ahead!

Rename

Well I'm in the midst of renaming my blog. Just feel that using my name for the blog is not cool enough, hahaha, so if anyone (if there are anyone out there who bothers to read my crap) got any good names for a blog, do put it down on my tag or msg me pls. I've already progressed to upgrade my blog, so I think I should change the name to mark a new start. Huat Ah!

Kidz

Before I begin, let me just take a moment to wish one of my bestest friend Alvin a very big happy birthday. Hey dude, enjoy yaself today, exams are around the corner, so you'll probably be able to only enjoy today (and maybe on the 17th of this month because its Ash's birthday) and work hard for the rest of the month. Haha. Happy Birthday!!! And also congrats to Dennis for going to his first appointment with HDB today. I have no idea what does a first appointment mean, does he get his key today or is he signing the papers or is it just a normal meeting. Well what the heck, its gotta be something big cause he seems pretty happy, well congrats to him. Hope its not some April fool's joke that HDB is playing on him. Wahahahaha.

Okie back to today's topic on kids. Well not too long ago, It was just a few days back. I went for Qing ming with my family, and on the trip I met a few of my cousins. Well for those who know my family, well for my generation, its like differentiated into 2 different groups. I guess its this funny thing called age gap, the older kids (I'd like to think that I'm still a kid although I'm already 25) belong to 1 group and those below 16 seem to belong to another group of their own. To simplify things I'll split the people in my mum's side to the 2 groups.

Oldies: My bro, myself, Melyvn.
Youngsters: Tyrone (I have no idea if got the spelling correct), Jocelyn, Nicholas

These are the 2 basic groups around, of course you'll find that not everyone is included in the list. Well thats because there a number of others who just don't belong to any group. For example: Gerald (seem to be in a world of his own), the 3 from 4th uncle (who seem to be in their own worlds as well, but I guess their closer to the youngsters), not forgetting Qing Yang and Qing Long (I don't even know if I got their names correct), I don't even see them often, and of course Debbie, John, Ashley and Natalie who are constantly overseas thus not easy to put them in any group.

It seems that even though we are in the same generation, our thinkings differ a lot. Conflicting interest has resulted in us not having any common topics to talk about, so you can see easily that we are not as close. But thats not all, another thing that is bothering me is the way kids are being brought up nowadays. Maybe I'm just too old fashioned to say this, but I feel that kids that were brought up using the ways of my time (wah like I very old liao) tend to be more polite and courteous towards the older people. Like myself (Let me just say that I'm not trying to sell myself here ok, its just my observation), my group tend to listen to elders when they talk, and not rebut to everything that others say. Our actions just don't seem so rebellious. This is somewhat different from the kids nowadays. Now I'm seeing my younger cousins talk back to elders, hit their daddies while their dads are driving, arguing to almost everything that they don't see fit. In the early stages it may all seem like their pretty cute to talk that way, but as this continues, I just get pretty irritated because sometimes what I am trying to teach them is how they can progress in life. I'm not some life guru but I guess my existence in this planet thus far has rendered myself enough position to speak of some things about growing up. And really, I think something that is lacking in many of the kids nowadays is the ability to listen. Ideally children should learn to speak up, this will definitely be helpful to them in the future. But they should also master the art of listening. Sometimes it will do them good to just shut up and listen to what others have to say. It gets utmost annoying when you try hard to teach a value to someone and they don't listen. Well that being said, I am not the kids father, so in what position am I to teach them all these facts of life. Their mums and dads have even more experience than myself, so who am I to be doing all this. I just feel that as parents, they tend to love their children too much to scold them (what they call 爱的教育), they try to talk sense to them to make them understand. But seriously I don't believe in that, or maybe just to some extent. I still think that some form of caning and scolding is required in the upbringing of the child. If there is one thing I cannot stand, its children who don't behave and don't listen. I find that most parents nowadays pamper their kids too much, to the extent that they are overly protected from the realities of this world. I mean although child life is short-lived and as children they should be enjoying their childhood but whats the point of making them believe that they are princes and princesses living in castles, and whoever opposes them will have to beheaded. I think some values should be inculcated in them while they are still little. When they get a little older, it will be even more difficult to change the mindset that they have.

I guess I have to attribute my bitchiness to Imran, now I do get irritated sometimes when I find that things are not the way they are supposed to be. But what can I do when I encounter things like this. If I speak out it might strain my relationship with my relatives and I might just get my arteries choked and I'll be vomiting blood because these brats don't listen, if I don't speak up I just can't bear to see the young ones degrade themselves further (they are still my family).

Haiz, the sad truth about life, sometimes its just difficult to be Mr Nice Guy.

More changes

Well as you can see now, my blog is getting more and more complicated. Wahahaha. I've added my photo (not that I really like to show the world how I look like, but wanna personalise my blog a little). Another new feature on my blog is the hot links, yup these are just some sites that I find interesting and visit pretty often, of course I've excluded the porn sites that I go to, thats not really suitable to be added in my blog, hahahaha. Also added a tag board to my blog. So all you peeps, if you really have something that you want to say, you can tag it in my tagboard. Actually I really wonder if anyone will write here, but what the heck. Woah, I'm like a techno geek now. I'm like getting so smart with all these computer stuff, hahaha. Oh yah, for anyone who actually manages to find this blog, and actually spends a few minutes of his/her life reading about my most exciting life, please also click on the advertisements and visit the sites on adsense, even for just a few seconds. Yup, helps me to earn a few cents from this please. Thanks a million for your support!

Friends :: April Fool!

Well I found this on Facebook, and thought it was really interesting, so I decided to post it here! Oh yah, its past 12 already, which means that its now 1st April!!! Happy April's Fools!!!!