went surf n sweat today! saw so many long lost friends there. one of my team members couldnt make it coz he din sleep the previous night. luckily one of my friends filled in for him and they didnt check. we joined the ultimate frisbee competition coz the beach volleyball was full le. at first i just wanted to get the goodie bag and then go off but little did i know that they were interested to play also...haha. so we played 2 matches. we won the first match easily (4-0) after the initial nerves. just when we thought we might have a chance of progressing to the quarter finals, we met in my opinion the best team at the competition. their passing were so accurate and they could even curl the frisbee round our players to score. after the match we saw they were wearing some ultimate frisbee event t shirts and gathered that they were experienced players...haha. at least we felt better after losing 5-0. played for my friend's team also. after winning one match, they decided to leave. it was a waste coz the other team in the group had a walkover and so my friend's team were automatically given the quarter final berth. anyway the goodie bag was beyond my expectations. there were a event singlet, one copy of cleo and fhm each, a ripcurl diary/calendar, one box of vitamin c tablets, many packets of sample instant beverage and some vouchers from the sponsors. all this for just a participation fee of only $4!! haha maybe im just a cheapskate. had an enjoyable time there catching up with old friends, soaking up the sun's rays, watching volleyball and babes ;) and of coz playing frisbee.
now im looking forward to the next beach event, "waikiki" by smu. hope that im in time for the registration for beach volleyball this time round :)
thoughts running wild11:37 PM
now that i have finished "angels and demons", im suddenly left with nothing to read. im feeling a void here, an emptiness. haha maybe thats the side effect of reading 2 great books in a row and now im suffering from withdrawal syndrome. it seemed like the other 2 books by dan brown aint as good as these 2 books and im divided over whether to spend money to buy them. quick someone recommend me a worthy read. meantime im poring over the various local men's magazines to pass time (duh!).
its been an uneventful week so far. training, lessons, work and some shopping. i dun usually buy clothes specifically for new year but the tempting sales and discounts were just irresistible. hmm...maybe come sunday something interesting will happen at the surf and sweat. yea im going to the annual ntu surf and sweat event at sunset bay. lotsa babes and goodies. come join us! its arguably the largest beach event(other than parties like zoukout and nye countdown) in singapore with 1200+ participants this year ;). cya there!
thoughts running wild1:54 AM
finally started work on wed at the cafe cartel. hmm...it was quite slack on a weekday evening so i had all the time to learn. worked on thu and fri too. it was so much more busy on the eve of a public holiday rather than the public holiday itself. i think i will never work on the eve of a public holiday again...haha. my frens invited me to a chalet at pasir ris on fri but i couldnt make it as i was working. *sighs*. at least i can take consolation in that im getting double pay.
anyway i rushed down to the chalet after work at 11pm. had to take a cab to the chalet when i reached pasir ris interchange because i sms-ed and called 3 persons but none of them replied or answered my calls so i missed the last bus :( .and i couldnt find a freaking 7-11 at white sands. i thought they were everywhere? how the hell they missed out on pasir ris "central"? saw a 7-11 en route to pasir ris park but the driver refused to make a illegal u-turn so i didnt manage to get red bulls for the bottle of vodka i brought. wat a good way to start the chalet.
spent the first night singing some ktv and getting myself and others wasted on alcohol ;) . managed to get one guy to drink until he started to do silly things and vomitted. finger guessing with a person "high" on alcohol was so amusing...haha. tried to get another ger drunk also but didnt really go overboard coz she's barely 18 and i treat her like an younger sis...hee. after toking lotsa crap, we finally slept at around 7am.
the 2nd day afternoon was spent at the beach. flying kites, suntanning and playing ultimate frisbee. i just love the sun, sand and the sea! it feels so good to lie there and suntan with the sea breeze grazing ur skin. got sunburnt though :( . it was also the first time i got a kite flying so high and the first time i played ultimate frisbee...so fun! after a self cooked dinner, we went for a walk at pasir ris park and fisherman village. looks like my favourite pub at fisherman village has closed down. haven been there for so long. wanted to watch "my girl" vcd we bought in the afternoon but most of us fell asleep during the show. the movie was quite slow and given our physical state, it was pure sleep-inducing. after having a giant earthquake at swenson the next day, the chalet finally came to an end for us.
photos coming up ;)
thoughts running wild11:42 PM
was too busy to blog these few days so its gonna be a long entry...
130105
finally donated blood on thu after a failed attempt on wed. went during lunch hour on wed but the queue was super long and they told us we wont be able to finish in an hour. so i went back again on thu morning after my one and only lesson. its only my 2nd blood donation and my 1st one without any incentive. yes the 1st donation was driven by an off day while i was still in the army ;) . anyway the process was smooth and relatively painless. felt good knowing i will be able to help someone :) .
went shopping for jianshun's present in the evening. happened that alicia and diana were free so i asked them along. tink one of my friends saw me with the 2 young gers and she teased me about it the next day -_-"'. oh pls...im not into gers 5 years younger than me. anyway we were looking for a jacket for js as he only has a pathetic nike purple windbreaker that he's using for years. alicia was constantly bugging me that i was looking at my own stuff while shopping for js's. relak la ger...the fun in buying presents is in the shopping mah. had a hard time choosing one as alicia's and diana's tastes were so off from mine. they liked plain and simple designs (read: all black with a small brand logo) whereas i would prefer a neutral colour with some small details on the sweater (read: simple but not plain) considering js is a relatively conservative dresser. i was having a hard time convincing the 2 of them that the design i liked is not outrageous but just slightly fashionable...haha. lucky jianhong came along and supported me. bought a black ripcurl jacket in the end.
140105
happy bday js! organised a gathering for him at the ma maison at parco bugis junction with the mumbo ppl. its a western japanese restaurant with nice ambience but the food were ok at best. their specialties didnt do anything to whip up our appetite and the rest of their food passable. the service was good though. the staff was very accomodating and arranged the tables for us even though it caused much inconvenience for them. there was even a complimentary brownie for the bday boy. the dinner ended quite late as everyone was late and we took a long time deciding what to eat among us. *sighs* thats wat i hate about big gatherings.
went to watch meet the fockers after the dinner. only seats second row from the front were available as we went to buy the tickets only 5 mins before the showtime. even then i enjoyed the show. damn funny. im fockerised ;) .
bday boy and his gf luojia
the drink we concocted for the bday boy
the complimentary brownie. its either the flash's too bright or im too white. damn!! need to tan more
the ripcurl sweater :)
150105
went to play in the soccer tournament organised by seg in the late morning. wasnt really that keen as it would mean spoiling my beach day because our match starts only at 11am and we might have more matches if we win the 1st one. as expected we lost 2-1 but it was a hard fought match even though our "rusty-ness" showed. reached home at 12 plus not knowing whether to join my friends at sentosa. went down in the end as i wanted a tan badly. didnt play vball much as these are not my regular vball khakis. had a fun time playing captain's ball with a frisbee with them however. went back triumphant with a slightly tanned body :)
today
spend the day catching up on sleep and reading. basically just slacking at home. watched the live tiger cup match on tv too. finally a trophy for our national soccer. its been a looong time. they deserved to be the champions. this is a young side with brimming talents and iron determination. their determination was much tested in the semi finals against myanmar which had the unprofessional myanmarese players playing with the intention to break the legs of our players. even though the referee was oblivious to the fouls, our players stood strong and calm to win both legs of the semi. that alone was deserving of the championship.
hee...went for a jog after the match to kickstart a new week with renewed energy. feeling refreshed and all ready now ;)
thoughts running wild1:33 AM
finally finished dan brown's "the da vinci code" after 3 days of carrying it wherever i go. carried it so that i can read it whenever i have the time: during boring lectures, breaks, at the bus stops. in the end my thirst to finish the book overcame sound judgement and i read the book till 3am last night. and the aftereffect of that? missed my 9am and 10am lecture coz i forgot to set the alarm in my weary state. i'd say its worth every trouble! one of the best suspense thriller i've read - gripping language, unexpected twists, clever riddles - everything that it should have and more. no wonder his novels are so frequently acclaimed and topped so many bestselling charts. on a side note, i want to mention jeffrey deaver's "the devil's teardrop". that is my favourite suspense thriller before i read "the da vinci code". its comparable to "the da vinci code" on many fronts but i think its not receiving the recognition it deserved in singapore. maybe its because i didnt notice the book when it first came out in 1999. highly recommended read if you like this genre and the good thing is it is available in many libraries as opposed to "the da vinci code" which is overly borrowed. after that you might want to try "the vanished man"; a more recent offering by jeffrey deaver. as for me, im going to start on "angels and demons" by dan brown which i've just bought ;) .
thoughts running wild12:35 AM
went car washing again at teck ghee cc! had so much fun compared to last fri. a lot of new ppl joined us too. there wasnt rain today except for a short shower during lunch time. definately a rewarding day in terms of monetary proceeds. but whats a mumbo activity without crazy fun? water was flying all over as we splashed and played with the water even while we washed around 100 cars ;) . after we called it a day, we dragged our tired and aching bodies to the coffee shop to have our dinner. but still in high spirits no doubt. after finishing our food, our table started playing games. i knew i wouldnt lose at the games so i began thinking of forfeits. saw the hor fun that zhaomin couldnt finish and suddenly had an idea. i began adding some chicken wing bones to the hor fun and everyone started adding in stuff. the end result was a hor fun, bones, milo, chili, light soy sauce mixture. the forfeit was to drink a small teaspoon of the gravy of the "cocktail" :p . made almost everyone drank it :p . had some more stupid games with the whole group b4 going home.
the yandao tong car washing team : )
car wash preparation
"the cocktail"
its a wonder how such an event can unite the globe. anyone and everyone is doing their part for the tsunami victims. organisations and individuals alike. on a smaller scale, singapore poly raised around 50k from car washing and various donation drives (saw the report on yesterday's news). developed countries are pledging hundreds of millions. single donations ranging from the $100 from justin today(was really unexpected as he did not want us to wash his car) to the us 10 million by michael schumacher are coming in. im not someone who is moved easily. all those charity performances by the mediacorp artistes and those "tear-jerkers" short clips shown during those charity show never did make me feel the sympathy they deserved. maybe its the presentation of the shows and their desperate attempts to coerce our sympathy that turns me off. i'd rather make a donation any other time of the year. but this recent tragedy has made me want to do more for the victims than is within my own financial means. i had been taking many things in life for granted, including the safe and peaceful environment that is singapore. we are really so fortunate compared to those war stricken countries and areas at the mercy of the forces of nature. so i wish to make use of whatever free time that i have to help those whose lives have changed significantly by this tragedy. and when u're doing charity, the motivation and satisfaction u get is cumulative. it just gets better and better.
this is one event that has really brought out the best in man.......
thoughts running wild1:02 AM
hmm...this week was rather mundane. in other words, boring. what can u expect from school? before i launch into a 1500 words essay on why the singapore education system sucks, i shall write about other stuff. on 2nd thoughts, i think i can't stop myself from ranting. wth! i just handed in 2 1500 words meaningless, absurd, pointless assignments and 6 competency reports. 1500 words aint too much for me at all. i can easily blog a thousand words for a week's entry remember? what is the point of giving us an assignment where all we do is cut and paste things from the internet? and the other one on our reflection of our personal experiences? what do u take us for? primary school kids? boys and gers, write down what u have learnt today to show ur daddy and mummy. do companies ask u for your working experience and then tell u to write a report on the things u have learnt during the years? the 6 competency reports. didnt we have enough of "how to do xxx x-ray" passages studied during the exams? shouldnt attachment be just about hands-on experience? i wanna do more x-ray instead of writing those stupid reports. phew~! felt so much better after kpkb ;) . damn i must have sounded so childish. i dont really mean all that lah...just complaining after sacrificing so many hours of my sleep ;)
went rollerblading today. fell and injured my knee. so suay. havent fell while doing normal skating for a long long time. i was always telling ppl theres no need to wear knee pad coz u will only fall on ur back and never on ur face one. didnt even know how i can fall on my face. im so injury prone now *sighs*.
hehe accomplished one of my new year resolutions. got a part time job at cafe cartel. nothing to rave about but at least its a start and i think it will be quite fun also. shall update more when i start work. hmm...time for me to sleep...tiring day.
till then....
thoughts running wild2:10 AM
a new template for the new year. thanks to pamela who taught me how to change it. finally had time to blog after almost a week. got so much to blog abt~
my attachment stint at alexandra hospital was a wondrous experience. the staff there were all very friendly and keen to impart their knowledge. the supervisor, lily, was especially nice and made us feel so at home by joking with us, treating us chocolates for christmas etc. most importantly she gave us the freedom to handle a case by ourself, even those that we had not learnt in school yet. finally i was given the chance to practise what i have learnt during the past 2 weeks. we were supposed to work half day on the 31st but she signed our books on the 30th as she was taking leave on the 31st and hinted to us that she will not know whether we report for work on the 31st. in the end none of us went ;) .
had a rather quiet but meaningful new year eve celebration. the mumbo ppl met at 8am at east coast park to raise fund for the tsunami victims by washing one car for $10. when i reached the macdonalds at 1.30pm, there was no one in sight. i only realised they were at carpark e2 beside the hawker centre only after calling them. sian 1/2!!! i assumed that they will be washing at a carpark near the macdonalds since they met there in the morning. boy was i wrong! it was drizzling somemore. so i walked all of half an hour in the rain over to the carpark. got down to work immediately after reaching the carpark to make up for lost time. around 3 plus, a carpark warden (erm...those that issue summon for illegal parking) came up to us and told us we are not allowed to wash cars in public. after explaining our cause to her and showing her our permit to raise fund for the red cross society, she still refused to turn a blind eye. so we had to pack our stuff and leave. it was fine by us as we needed to start preparing for steamboat at diana's house but we couldnt help but feel we could have done much more for the victims. all in all we managed to raise around $1k which i tink was quite commendable as we had to pause many times due to the rain.
next came the preparation for the steamboat at diana's house. most of them went to diana's house to bathe while a few of us went to buy food at tampines mall's ntuc. after buying and preparing the food, we finally had our dinner at around 9.30pm. diana's uncle was kind enough to lend us his lorry and we drove to downtown east in 2 batches as there were just too many of us. by the time the 2nd group reached the place, the countdown was already over. so we started the scavenger hunt organised by ling and david. they were already hyping the game to be very exciting and fun a few days before so we were really expecting something good. when we got the list, everyone was visibly disappointed. the list comprised of many bbq food items. so its going to be a begging session for food huh? i dun mind asking for silly stuff from strangers and embarassing myself in public but to ask for food from them? its almost like begging. not wanting to upset the organisers, we decide to give it our best. we climbed the fence over to the chalet area coz we dun wanna pay :p . it was quite an experience trying not to get caught...haha. we went around the bbq pits asking for our required items and surprisingly the ppl were very sporting and cheeky ;) . they were willing to give us the food but only after making us drink liquor or some other teasing acts. we managed to get many of the food that we never dreamt of getting. we din mind that there was a group who got more items than us coz we enjoyed ourself :) . but the other groups were a let down and the total items the other 5 groups collected was pathetic. as expected the organisers were disappointed and i was also taken aback by their actions. here they are, the so-called "lao jiao" of the camp, giving such a negative response. they are supposed to be the crazy and siao on ppl who will lead the rest with enthusiasm. anyway after the game we went back to diana's house to wash up and rested for a couple of hours b4 going for breakfast. took a long bus ride home and slept all the way till 5pm after which i met some of them for dinner at chomp chomp.
hell, my report is due today but i din bother to finish it coz i knew the lecturer will extend the deadline. haha i tink i really must wait till the last last minute before i will panick. tats becoz im a high "perceiving" person :p (for those of u who dunno, go and do the personality test i recommend a few posts back). went for vball training today. din wanted to go at 1st coz my ankle haven recovered fully so i went home at 3 after my last class. i was debating whether to go and in the end i went coz i really wanted to play. im glad i did coz i feel that i played better than the last lousy session i had :) . my ankle still hurts a bit after i took off the ankle guard but i tink it was worth it. looking forward to next mon~.
ok i shall end this long post with my new year resolutions. i shall be more realistic and not say something like "hope that there will not be any more natural disaster" which everyone else is saying (as if i can actually realise my resolutions :p )
1)To get better at volleyball and get into the semis of the ivp
2)To juggle a part time job to subsidise my huge monthly expenditure or to cut down on my expenditure.
3)To appreciate the ppl around me more and not take them for granted (which sometimes im guilty of)
4)And lastly to enjoy myself as much as i can ;p. life is short~ ;) ;)
thoughts running wild12:03 AM