慾望街車

Your car is just to get you from point A to point B; my car is to get me there in style...


I have been looking to get a car for the past few months, sgCarMart was a permanent tab in my browser for the past weeks looking at cars within the $10k to $30k range...

My first encounter was these 2 red S13s shortly before my birthday... The first one was bad, the bumper was sagging and it seems like it went through a minor accident... The second was perfect!! I can see that the owner really took care of the car... There were a few exterior aesthetic touch-ups to be done but no real biggie...

I went back that day and asked my dad to lend me the money to buy the car... My dad didn't even want to hear me explain and just said a car this old is useless... I told him these type of cars won't ever die off as there is always demand... I've seen 2 cars and this is significantly better that the other and I asked him to view them both... He said he already know that both cars are bad before even viewing them... I went overseas the next day for my birthday...

When I came back, my brother has sort of convinced my father to buy the car... We talked over dinner and he kept telling everyone that I treated him like a fool by saying that he won't understand... "How can I understand when you don't explain anything? If you think I don't understand then explain it to me." Like hell I did... Or at least I tried... How do you begin to explain something to someone when they don't even want to listen?

Any way, I found another S13 last week...


This one...

It was a disappointment, much like the first red S13 I saw... In fact, the repairs would be much higher than that...

Next, there's this Honda Prelude:


Yep, that's me...

There's still 9 years to the COE and the owner is willing to let go at $24k!! I went to view the car yesterday and its still in a very good condition... I went back to tell my dad and his face lighted up immediately (Finally I know what this phrase means)... He asked for my mum as he does not have the cash now... My mum came in and said no... I didn't know to laugh or to cry at that point of time... She didn't want to listen to any reason - an old car is an old car... There's a very high possibility that old cars will need frequent repairs and my salary might not even be enough to pay for that... She's right though, I can't refute that...

The reason I'm happy when she said no? She allowed me to get the Koup...


Tada!!

I've tested the Koup last Saturday, and its pretty good... Even my brother who is 1.8m can fit comfortably in the back seats - this is a 5-seater coupé rather than the normal 2+2... Power wise? Well, anything is better than my dad's Mégane... Now I'm just waiting for a great promotion to come out then I'll go down to sign straight away... I really hope it'll be soon before my mum regrets her decision...

多四天

4 more days...


Looking at the countdown on the right, there's only 4 more days left... I doubt more 10 people remember this though...

Oh well, I'm not unhappy about this... Actually I am, but there are other stuff to keep me happy... In fact, this might be the best birthday of my life... Can't wait for the weekend to come... Woohoo!!!

尋鬼 - 農曆六月十九

Ghost Hunt - 09/08/09


2 posts in a day?!? Haha...

This ghost hunt on National Day includes the addition of 2 new members, Lawrence and Chong... Including Brandon and Kailing, the 5 of us ventured forth to our first destination, old Fuchun Primary School...


Is that a camera or a laser gun?

This school has not been in used for many years and was left standing there... It looks pretty well maintained without any broken windows nor peeled paint... In fact, the paint looks like it was done last month... Actually, I couldn't really tell since it was late at night... :P

We circled all the way to the front and couldn't find any point of entry except the fence in the middle... There were too many people watching there and the slope was pretty steep which would post some difficulty for me let alone the 2 girls... We circled back to the rear gate where Brandon was talking about how we can climb over the fence since there is a small space where there's no barb wire... They were also discussing about something which I don't really remember as I was busy untangling a part of the fence which was cut before... After 10 minutes, I finally made a big enough opening for us to go through...


Its dawn already?!?

Don't be misled by the above picture, that night was a lot darker than that... I don't remember what setting I used to take that picture, probably was frustrated and just used auto... The place was pretty well sealed, with all openings locked... There wasn't anything interesting about this place since we couldn't get into the building, definitely nothing eerie except for the slow exposure photo of Brandon's "ghost"...


This is in fact pretty spooky...


Crap... Shutters behind the door...

We left the place without any rewards and decided to go Old Changi Hospital since the new members haven't been there before... On the way there, Brandon was hungry so we had a pit stop at Changi Village to refuel... Reached around 1.30am and only saw one transvestite... So late and still haven't start work?

After refuelling, we explored OCH... I scared a group of Malay and a group of Indians by throwing to the roof of the porch a stone and a piece of glass respectively... They were immediately silent then started talking even louder... Haha... As if we couldn't tell that they were scared... Forgive me for being childish, but that's what I do there when I wasn't scared - I scare others...

When we reached the 5th floor, I was freaked out by the sight of the coloured flags hung across the entire room... I first thought it was hung by some cult when they did their ritual there and didn't dare to enter the room... After exploring some more, we found more flags hung all over... On closer inspection, I realised its written in Thai, or at least it looks so at that moment... Not sure who would want to do that though, probably some shooting or sorts...



Happy National Day!!! Erm... Those flags look somewhat different...

Well, another uneventful ghost hunt... These events are getting boring, maybe I should stop organising them already...

過度過期的書評

Long overdue book review...


Its that time of the year again and I'll have to take my IPPT... Well, its a birthday present from the government so I'm not complaining (though I got the present 2 months in advance)...

Was surprised when someone called my name while I was doing my warm ups, looked up and saw Shu Qiang!!! What coincidence - he is my Secondary School classmate and the best part is his birthday is 2 days after mine!!! Normally it wouldn't be much of a surprise if I were to do it in August, but its only June!!! We did the statics individually but the 2.4km run together... I was quite worried that I couldn't make the Silver timing as my previous days' training didn't give me much confidence... Humble him said he didn't have much confidence either, so we were to pace each other...


The results...

Compared with previous year's results, I've not worsen much... I know... I'm 30 seconds slower... Then again, its not like you can achieve much in 30 seconds, other than storming a hijacked plane and killing all 4 hijackers with hostages and commandos uninjured... Hey, at least 2 years past the age of a CAT X and I can still obtain the Silver timing for it is some achievement by itself...

*****************************

I've long finished "Empire of Lies", its a boring read I would say... Sure, there are lots of action and suspense, but it just moves very slowly like what I said previously... That is until yesterday that I read Andrew Klavan's blog and understood his mind... This book and most of his others are written to scorn the modern leftist America... There's just so much resentment in the current media, politics and everyone that I can't really explain properly myself... I pretty much agree with him; except his extreme racism...

Its not like I condemn racism like "the majority Americans" he described, but it is just not fair to condemn every other race/religion because of a particular group... The way I read it, it seems like he is thinking that Americans are the only humans and Christianity is the only true religion... For the record, I have nothing against Americans or Christianity... I agree that when reporting about terrorists, they should just use the word "terrorists"... However, being a Muslim is NOT equal to being a terrorist!!! Can someone please kidnap him to Singapore and let him witness how we can live harmoniously "regardless of race, language or religion"?

This doesn't make me hate him or anything, its just because of the environment that he resides in that gave him his views... Hopefully putting him in another environment will give him other views...

Right... I still love his works and I found out that there really is a sequel to "Dynamite Road"... "Dynamite Road" is the first of a 3-part series, the second being "Shotgun Alley" and the third, "Damnation Street"... The problem is "Shotgun Alley" is not available in the National Library neither I can find it in any of the Tertiary libraries!!! I'll have to search all the small private book stores but most probably not gonna get to read it at all... Still, can't wait to read the 2nd book of the "Homelander" series...

書蟲

"There are more crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." ~Joseph Brodsky


I'm on my third book this month, think I've fallen in love with Andrew Klavan...

I've finished "Dynamite Road" and am 60% through "Empire of Lies"... "Dynamite Road" was very exciting, the whole story was a build-up to the climax... The tension was present throughout the whole story without letting up, just like "The Last Thing I Remember"... The ending though makes it seem like there would be a sequel to this book, leaving something not settled and already budding, there should be another book to finish it up!!!

"Empire of Lies" however, is a disappointment... There was a lot of laying of the background, most of it pointless... Pointless description of the surroundings, of the grass, the flowers... There wasn't much action until almost half-way through the book, and on the way to that, it was very, very boring... Maybe its because I have not finished the book, maybe those descriptions are pieces of puzzles that would fall in place during the last part of the story like what he usually does... Well, I do hope so, else the book could just had been shortened to half of its size...

Right... Enough of the books, back to my life... I realised that reading books had indeed made me more dull like bookworms always do... Usually during my free time, mostly the time during transit from one place to the other, my mind will be working at full capacity... It would either be thinking about a new strategy for that game I was playing or plotting a scheme to take over the world (no, they are not the same!!!)... Now whenever I have any free time, I will be reading that book on my hand... And I carry that book to almost everywhere!!!

I had neglected to plan for anything these days and it had made someone very sad... I'm so sorry... I will change for the better...

最後的回憶

The Last Thing I Remember...

"The Last Thing I Remember" is a book by Andrew Klavan, the first of his "Homelander" series... This is also the first book I've read in years...

Was at the library last Friday and this book caught my eye... It was displayed on the wall where all the new books would be, near the entrance... My first impression from the cover of the book was a story about graffiti art... I have recently gained an interest in graffiti art, thinking that this book can give me some influence and ideas... However, after reading the blurb, the book wasn't what I expected (mummy didn't tell u to never judge a book by its cover?)... I'll just quote the blurb here then:

"All Charlie West usually has to worry about is getting good grades and not making a fool of himself in front of the prettiest girl in class. He's never been in trouble.

Until now.

Dazed and confused, Charlie wakes up strapped to a chair in a windowless cell. The last thing he remembers is falling asleep in his bedroom. Now he's aching all over, covered in blood, and, worse, someone behind the door has just ordered his death.

Charlie knows this is no nightmare: it is terrifyingly real. What he doesn't know is how he got here and, more importantly, how he's going to get out..."

Seems like a very interesting adventure waiting to explode... I knew I didn't have much time on my hands to play games, much less read a book... However, I couldn't bear to put it back up on the shelf; I just have to borrow this book...

This book tells a story of what most teenage boys would imagine all day, being a martial arts exponent, having a nice life with everything to look forward to, and then suddenly thrown into chaos, fighting for your life, being a hero... Man... I don't know if every boy secretly wishes for that kind of life but I sure did and I still do... I'm not as fit as I used to be though, I probably couldn't last past the first day... Would probably die in some underground cave, stuck in between some rocks with my corpse never to be found again...

I always believe that the best command of English isn't the ability to use big words, but rather using simple words to achieve more than what the big words could... The story was fast-paced and it helps that the words were kept simple, I didn't have to process the words much... Every word I read was like a stroke of the brush, painting a picture in my mind... The characters and events were very believable, almost like reading a biography of a seasoned war-dog telling the story of when he was captured...

Too bad this book is only the first of his series, meaning the story stopped before it was ended... I hope the rest of the series comes out soon before I even forget all about it... Anyone can shed some light on when the next book will be out and how many parts are there to this series?

Never thought I'll be doing a book review again at this age... Haha...

尋鬼

Ghost Hunt...


Last Saturday was another Ghost Hunting trip organized by me... It was an impromptu thing as I only started contacting everyone at 5 and the outing was confirmed at 9.30... There would be 3 planned destinations for this trip, Old Tanglin Camp, Old Brunei Hostel and Robert Barracks... Everyone arrived at 12 with the exception of Brandan who came slightly late... I almost forgotten Joanne until Winnie asked if there was supposed to be 2 other girls...

1^st stop was Old Tanglin Camp... The place was fully fenced up and the fence isn’t like other places where it’s old and will disintegrate with a kick or 2... In fact, the fence was pretty sturdy and new, no signs of rust at all except this inconsistency near to the gate... We reckon someone has cut it before and it was mended, not much of a problem to un-mend is again...

I found a pair of pliers in my car and used it to initiate the dismantling of the fence while the rest was done by Winnie’s boyfriend (was his name Brian?)... He opened up the fence pretty quickly though we may need to squeeze a little... After considering Vincent’s size, he got to work again and made such a big hole that everyone could easily walk through it without as much as a hair touching the wires...

We walked in and proceed to the main building... There was a parade square, not very big when parade squares are concerned... We were about to enter the building when I noticed a ring of red lights to our left... Crap... Infrared Camera... We turned around and quickly headed out... Now that I think about it, that camera could probably see my license plate number... Sianzz... From the time we started tearing down the fence to the time I saw the camera was a good half an hour or so, more than enough time for the Police to arrive but no one appeared... The guards were probably asleep ba...

2^nd stop was the Brunei Hostel... There wasn’t any barrier to enter the Hostel and we went in without much hesitation... As an abandoned hostel, I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be any security cameras at this place... This place is in the middle of a high income residential area and directly opposite was a house with a security hut... The security guard most probably saw us so Vincent and Joanne stayed outside in case the Police came... The buildings were broken down with some dangers of it collapsing... They were pretty big with low ceilings but not much paranormal activities though...

3^rd stop was Bukit Brown Cemetery... It was suggested by Vincent as he had previously mentioned he’ll bring us there on the forums... We stopped at the entrance which was pretty intimidating... The roads were very narrow and there wasn’t any place where we could have parked our cars and take a stroll around... After a few junctions, I immediately noticed we’ve been on the same road before... I could recognize the trees and potholes while my passengers didn’t believe me until they saw the same shed and statues along the way... I was actually quite happy that something is going to happen... To my disappointment, it was just a wrong turn and we got out of the cemetery without any problems...

4^th stop was Robert Barracks... We reached there and realized the place was demolished and some construction was underway... Since we were at Changi, we decided to go OCH after much lazing around...

At OCH, only a group of 9 went in while the rest stayed outside... Jack as usual went off on his own... We found candles on the 2nd floor of the SAF wing and that is when JJ and Winnie saw a darting shadow... They kept saying there was someone at the direction the shadow darted to but saw no one... It was 4.30 in the morning and there couldn’t be anyone else in the building besides us... Furthermore, they had previously spotted Jack taking pictures downstairs so it couldn’t be him... After much thinking, JJ and Winnie both realized that something was not right... The irritatingly noisy JJ went silent for the rest of the trip after this incident...

When I saw an offering altar set up in one of the rooms, my hair stood on its ends and I felt very uncomfortable staring at it... I wanted to get out of that place badly but stepped to the side and waited for the others to take pictures of the altar... I was fine as long as I wasn’t looking at the altar... We carried walking around with nothing else interesting happening until we decided to go up to the roof top... That is when we spotted the 2nd altar set up at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the rooftop... We didn’t want to disturb the setup and left the compound at 5.30am...

After so many trips to OCH, the place no longer scares us but Brandan said that he felt quite uneasy during this particular trip... Seems like the candles and altars had some particular effect to this long over explored place...

又出現了

I have not disappeared...


Went to the IT Show at Suntec on its first day, Thursday, to recce the grounds... This time I wanted to get a graphics card, cpu cooler and a new power supply to power these devices...
Though it was only the first day, it was already quite packed with people...

The IT show this year is very disappointing - there wasn't much choices... I wanted to get a GeForce 9600GT and there's only offerings from Palit and XFX... The XFX version was very expensive and the Palit version is only slightly cheaper than usual... Larry and I decide to head home and go back again on Sunday in hope of a price drop...

Friday was one of the worst days of life; I felt even worse than when I failed my A'levels... My mum found bed bugs all over my bed when changing sheets... In case anyone else has this misconception, "Bedbugs have been erroneously associated with filth in the mistaken notion that this attracts them." - Wikipedia. The most probable source we can think of is the budget hotel in Batam where I stay when I was there... That hotel certainly isn't very clean and is very possible to be the source...

My mood was very bad as I was at a loss... My bed, my comfort zone, had been invaded and I am being kept out of it... The mattress and the bed frame had to go, my bedroom isolated for at least a week and me banished to the sofa... I'm sorry for anyone that I have offended on this day...

Went to the arcade at Lot 1 on Saturday with an itch to play Initial-D again; miss my RX-8 somewhat... Entered the arcade and realised something different about the Initial-D machine, it writes 5 instead of 4 on its title!!! Didn't hear any news about the Arcade Stage 5 coming... Since I'll need to change to the new card, I might as well choose a new car as well (I didn't know you can import data from Stage 4)... This time, I wanted to choose a Nissan Silvia, a car that I'll wanna get in the near future... I would had bought the S13 in real life but the S15 definitely looked better, thus I chose the S15 instead (the countdown timer was pretty fast and didn't give me much time to really think it through)...

I battled the first opponent which coincidentally is the easiest one and almost lost... The shifting points of the S15 was very different from the RX-8; either that or it's due to the different game mechanics in this version... Played around 10 games and still couldn't really control the car the way I want... Though changing to another machine with a better steering wheel definitely helped...

Sunday came and I headed to Suntec once again... This time, the place was totally packed with people even though it only opened 20 minutes ago at 12pm... I squeezed through the packs and headed straight for the 6th level... There wasn't that much people at this level yet and it certainly helps that I already know what I want and where to find them...

Went to the previous identified booths and realised that the prices have not changed at all except for the thumbdrive!!! What a wasted trip... Nevertheless, I bought the Palit GeForce 9600GT, power supply & Sandisk Cruzer Skin Micro 4GB...

When I finally got my hands dirty and play with my new toys, I realised that the Palit Geforce 9600GT does not support SLI!!! Crap... Maybe that explains the cheaper price... Oh well... Its powerful enough as it is now... By the time I need to get a second card to pair it I'll just buy a more powerful single card then... After 2 SLI motherboards, I realised that getting SLI MBs for future expansion is not really a wise decision...