"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...
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Monday, 15 June 2009
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:
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...
"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...
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
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...
1st 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...
2nd 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...
3rd 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...
4th 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...
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...
1st 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...
2nd 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...
3rd 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...
4th 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...
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
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...
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...
Monday, 29 December 2008
有失必有得，有得必有失
In order to gain something in life, you have to lose something...
This will be a major milestone in my life; something which I have never done before... Is it the right thing to do? I'll never know until I do it... Several years down the road, I'll look back at this day and think, "Should I have done it in the first place?" Well, this is something I want to do; regrets are for things that you've not done...
Nothing ventured, nothing gained...
This will be a major milestone in my life; something which I have never done before... Is it the right thing to do? I'll never know until I do it... Several years down the road, I'll look back at this day and think, "Should I have done it in the first place?" Well, this is something I want to do; regrets are for things that you've not done...
Nothing ventured, nothing gained...
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
大步走
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who has never learned to walk forward...
Woke up early in the morning at 4am on Sunday, was still feeling tired so reset the alarm to 5 am instead... Woke up and slowly prepared myself, felt my tummy ache at 5.30 when I'm about to leave... "Crap, I'm gonna be late..."
Left home at 5.45 and took LRT then changed to MRT, was only at Kranji at 6.30, our meeting time... Had to alight at Woodlands to take a cab to Bishan as we'll be late if we don't move off soon...
So what's the event so early in the morning? The New Paper Big Walk... Nope, I didn't do the walk but just welcome the participants and the guest of honour at the finish line...
And a short performance on stage...
When I first reached Marina Barrage, I immediately noticed how prominent the Singapore Flyer looked from this angle... This would surely make some picture perfect photos... Took a pretty good picture even when using a lousy camera phone... By the way, this place makes a very good dating spot as well...
Oh, and some of the new face girls were pretty cute...
The Singapore Flyer from Marina Barrage...
After which I went home to shower and wanted to get some sleep... While lying on bed, Kailing finally woke up and called me... Asked her to go out but she was supposed to go out with her colleagues, so I asked someone else out instead...
Went for cakes and drinks at Deluxe by Bakerzin which were very good... The best one was definitely Chocolate Amer, just thinking about it is making my mouth water...
After which we went to Rong Guang BBQ Seafood for dinner... Had Sambal Stingray, Sambal Kang Kong, Chili Crayfish and Fried Baby Squids which were quite nice...... When we asked for the bill, the waitress came back in a while and said its already been footed... We stared at each other's blank faces for a moment and told her we haven't paid a single cent yet... She went to check and came back the second time saying that we've already signed for it... This time, we stared at each other for a longer time than previously... I could sense that everyone was wondering should we just walk off or tell her the truth... Finally, the honest one said we definitely haven't paid, and the waitress asked us not to play with her... Haizz... Why would anyone want to pay their bill twice? On the third time, the waitress brought us the bill with a credit card receipt signed for it... This time, I seriously felt like just walking away but Ben went to pay for it...
Went home straight after that and found my brother was still at home when he was supposed to go back camp that day... He said he'll be leaving at 8.30pm and my brother-in-law will be sending him... I asked my brother-in-law if he is intending to go anywhere and I'll send him instead... Haha... First time I'm so nice to volunteer such tasks...
Was still thinking about the scene from the Marina Barrage so I called up Kailing to ask if she is free... Realised she had been at home the whole time thus told her to get ready by 8.30 and we're off... Went to Pasir Lebar Camp to drop my brother first then proceeded to feed the hungry pig...
Guess where is this?
She wanted "點心" so we went around looking for parking lots and finally settled down on the one at Lorong 8... Next we proceeded to the main objective of the night...
This was where the big mistake began... I turned right into PIE when I should had turned left into ECP while leaving Geylang... This caused me a big detour as I only remembered how close Marina Bay is after I was on the PIE for quite some time... Not knowing how far I had travelled, I felt it was safer to just reach Changi then switch over to ECP... This was not the end of it though, I have never drove to Marina Bay before and that caused some extra distance as well...
Finally reached Marina Barrage at 12.10am and was so proud of myself for being able to even reach the place... Happily took my camera and small little tripod and strolled towards it only to be stopped by Cisco personnel... Well, the place closes at 12... WTF!?!
Kailing recommended Woodlands, somewhere beside the causeway where the scene is very nice as well... Oh well, definitely not as good as Marina Barrage but no harm going anyway...
Not much of a scenery...
This place is supposed to be a lot more pretty when the lights are up... Its a Sunday night/Monday morning so I was really out of luck...
And that ended the night where we travelled from the extreme West to the extreme East then South and finally the Northern ends of Singapore... Good thing fuel prices had dropped... -_-"
Woke up early in the morning at 4am on Sunday, was still feeling tired so reset the alarm to 5 am instead... Woke up and slowly prepared myself, felt my tummy ache at 5.30 when I'm about to leave... "Crap, I'm gonna be late..."
Left home at 5.45 and took LRT then changed to MRT, was only at Kranji at 6.30, our meeting time... Had to alight at Woodlands to take a cab to Bishan as we'll be late if we don't move off soon...
So what's the event so early in the morning? The New Paper Big Walk... Nope, I didn't do the walk but just welcome the participants and the guest of honour at the finish line...
And a short performance on stage...
When I first reached Marina Barrage, I immediately noticed how prominent the Singapore Flyer looked from this angle... This would surely make some picture perfect photos... Took a pretty good picture even when using a lousy camera phone... By the way, this place makes a very good dating spot as well...
Oh, and some of the new face girls were pretty cute...
The Singapore Flyer from Marina Barrage...
After which I went home to shower and wanted to get some sleep... While lying on bed, Kailing finally woke up and called me... Asked her to go out but she was supposed to go out with her colleagues, so I asked someone else out instead...
Went for cakes and drinks at Deluxe by Bakerzin which were very good... The best one was definitely Chocolate Amer, just thinking about it is making my mouth water...
After which we went to Rong Guang BBQ Seafood for dinner... Had Sambal Stingray, Sambal Kang Kong, Chili Crayfish and Fried Baby Squids which were quite nice...... When we asked for the bill, the waitress came back in a while and said its already been footed... We stared at each other's blank faces for a moment and told her we haven't paid a single cent yet... She went to check and came back the second time saying that we've already signed for it... This time, we stared at each other for a longer time than previously... I could sense that everyone was wondering should we just walk off or tell her the truth... Finally, the honest one said we definitely haven't paid, and the waitress asked us not to play with her... Haizz... Why would anyone want to pay their bill twice? On the third time, the waitress brought us the bill with a credit card receipt signed for it... This time, I seriously felt like just walking away but Ben went to pay for it...
Went home straight after that and found my brother was still at home when he was supposed to go back camp that day... He said he'll be leaving at 8.30pm and my brother-in-law will be sending him... I asked my brother-in-law if he is intending to go anywhere and I'll send him instead... Haha... First time I'm so nice to volunteer such tasks...
Was still thinking about the scene from the Marina Barrage so I called up Kailing to ask if she is free... Realised she had been at home the whole time thus told her to get ready by 8.30 and we're off... Went to Pasir Lebar Camp to drop my brother first then proceeded to feed the hungry pig...
Guess where is this?
She wanted "點心" so we went around looking for parking lots and finally settled down on the one at Lorong 8... Next we proceeded to the main objective of the night...
This was where the big mistake began... I turned right into PIE when I should had turned left into ECP while leaving Geylang... This caused me a big detour as I only remembered how close Marina Bay is after I was on the PIE for quite some time... Not knowing how far I had travelled, I felt it was safer to just reach Changi then switch over to ECP... This was not the end of it though, I have never drove to Marina Bay before and that caused some extra distance as well...
Finally reached Marina Barrage at 12.10am and was so proud of myself for being able to even reach the place... Happily took my camera and small little tripod and strolled towards it only to be stopped by Cisco personnel... Well, the place closes at 12... WTF!?!
Kailing recommended Woodlands, somewhere beside the causeway where the scene is very nice as well... Oh well, definitely not as good as Marina Barrage but no harm going anyway...
Not much of a scenery...
This place is supposed to be a lot more pretty when the lights are up... Its a Sunday night/Monday morning so I was really out of luck...
And that ended the night where we travelled from the extreme West to the extreme East then South and finally the Northern ends of Singapore... Good thing fuel prices had dropped... -_-"
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
駁倒
Maturity begins when we're content to feel we're right about something without feeling the necessity to prove someone else wrong...
Right, the problem of my computer doesn't seem to be the cable I identified yesterday... Will require further testing to pin point the problem...
edited:deleted
Right, the problem of my computer doesn't seem to be the cable I identified yesterday... Will require further testing to pin point the problem...
edited:deleted
Monday, 20 October 2008
恢復
Practice is about increasing your repertoire of ways to recover from your mistakes...
I think I've finally discovered the reason behind the instability of my computer - an unreliable cable... Removed that cable this morning and everything worked fine immediately... Though I can't really confirm that is the exact cause until my computer has been running fine for the next few days... The cable looked perfectly fine but I threw it away anyway...
Last weekend was not bad; didn't get to use my computer at all so was forced to spend time out of my house... Though I was out most of the time, I didn't spend much money... Perfect way to spend your weekends...
Someone suggested a very cheap and special dating activity - having cup noodles at the top of Mount Faber... I boiled the water from home and brought it to Mount Faber in a thermal flask... By the time we reach, the water wasn't boiling hot any more but still enough to cook the noodles; only problem was the lack of it... The flask wasn't big enough so we didn't have enough water for 2 full cups... We still enjoyed the noodles though, just no hot soup to warm our cold stomachs... Only when we were leaving that I remembered there are petrol kiosks at the foot of Mount Faber; we could had bought the cup noodles there and brought it up just in time for it to be consumable... But that would totally ruin the fun of doing this as it is the effort required that makes it interesting in the first place...
Well, that's the most interesting part of my weekend... Went for band practice on Sunday morning and not much activities after that... Will be going Batam with my mum and cousin this weekend... This would be a weekend that I'll have to spend a lot...
I think I've finally discovered the reason behind the instability of my computer - an unreliable cable... Removed that cable this morning and everything worked fine immediately... Though I can't really confirm that is the exact cause until my computer has been running fine for the next few days... The cable looked perfectly fine but I threw it away anyway...
Last weekend was not bad; didn't get to use my computer at all so was forced to spend time out of my house... Though I was out most of the time, I didn't spend much money... Perfect way to spend your weekends...
Someone suggested a very cheap and special dating activity - having cup noodles at the top of Mount Faber... I boiled the water from home and brought it to Mount Faber in a thermal flask... By the time we reach, the water wasn't boiling hot any more but still enough to cook the noodles; only problem was the lack of it... The flask wasn't big enough so we didn't have enough water for 2 full cups... We still enjoyed the noodles though, just no hot soup to warm our cold stomachs... Only when we were leaving that I remembered there are petrol kiosks at the foot of Mount Faber; we could had bought the cup noodles there and brought it up just in time for it to be consumable... But that would totally ruin the fun of doing this as it is the effort required that makes it interesting in the first place...
Well, that's the most interesting part of my weekend... Went for band practice on Sunday morning and not much activities after that... Will be going Batam with my mum and cousin this weekend... This would be a weekend that I'll have to spend a lot...
Thursday, 16 October 2008
缺眠
Using your time at night is not efficient; you'll need to sleep more than you used to recover...
After sleeping for only 2 hours, I'm back at work again... Amazingly, I don't feel any different from my normal days... I do feel sleepy, but that's what I feel everyday... Haha...
Last night was a total waste of time... Met up at 11pm for ice-cream then went Changi beach to look at aeroplanes... After which, played pool at Queenstown and finally supper at Bukit Timah... By the time I reached home, it was 5am already... I usually wake up at 6am everyday to prepare myself for work but set back an extra hour today to get that precious 60 minutes of extra sleep...
Seems exciting? Nope... It was very boring... Then again, its who you waste such time with that matters...
After sleeping for only 2 hours, I'm back at work again... Amazingly, I don't feel any different from my normal days... I do feel sleepy, but that's what I feel everyday... Haha...
Last night was a total waste of time... Met up at 11pm for ice-cream then went Changi beach to look at aeroplanes... After which, played pool at Queenstown and finally supper at Bukit Timah... By the time I reached home, it was 5am already... I usually wake up at 6am everyday to prepare myself for work but set back an extra hour today to get that precious 60 minutes of extra sleep...
Seems exciting? Nope... It was very boring... Then again, its who you waste such time with that matters...
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
回顧
You are enslaved only because you allow it...
I just read through my entire blog since day 1 and its pretty nostalgic... Remember my last post talking about me always talking in riddles? Well, quite a few of my past entries were like that and even I couldn't understand a few of them... Haha... Just realised how good I am at making people confused...
The way I write haven't changed and there's no indication that I've matured much since then... This sort of means that I've been pretty matured back then right?
Though things have not changed on the surface level, there is a slight change in my personality from 3 years back... I got hold of some articles and it changed the way I think and react to the world... This change made me very confident about myself; probably too confident at times... I wouldn't say its a bad thing though, it got me out of many unfavourable situations and into many favourable ones... I'm in a very different position than I was back then and it wouldn't be obvious by just reading my blog...
Looking back at those posts, I tried doing some of those quizzes again... Not surprisingly, I'm more evil than before...
Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz
I just read through my entire blog since day 1 and its pretty nostalgic... Remember my last post talking about me always talking in riddles? Well, quite a few of my past entries were like that and even I couldn't understand a few of them... Haha... Just realised how good I am at making people confused...
The way I write haven't changed and there's no indication that I've matured much since then... This sort of means that I've been pretty matured back then right?
Though things have not changed on the surface level, there is a slight change in my personality from 3 years back... I got hold of some articles and it changed the way I think and react to the world... This change made me very confident about myself; probably too confident at times... I wouldn't say its a bad thing though, it got me out of many unfavourable situations and into many favourable ones... I'm in a very different position than I was back then and it wouldn't be obvious by just reading my blog...
Looking back at those posts, I tried doing some of those quizzes again... Not surprisingly, I'm more evil than before...
| Greed: | Very High | |
| Gluttony: | Medium | |
| Wrath: | Medium | |
| Sloth: | High | |
| Envy: | High | |
| Lust: | Very High | |
| Pride: | High |
Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
還原
Ever stop to think and forgot to start again?
Back to work again... The long break was good, it made me want to stay at home lesser now...
The past week of work was boring, its still boring now... Its not that I have nothing to do, but there is no direction and urgency in doing it... We're given 2 days to do something that can be done in an hour... What's more, the 2 days is very elastic - our manager isn't that free of a man so we'll have to try and catch him and the 2 days may become 2 weeks or so...
Though I don't stay at home that much now, I'm looking forward to weekends more than ever before... Made new friends and met up with old ones, opening up a lot more opportunities and activities to do...
Yesterday, someone said she'll have to keep alert whenever she's talking to me because there's always a double meaning to things I say... If she didn't concentrate, she'll miss a lot of things I'm saying... Haha... She's one of the few who catches most of what I'm saying... or rather, what I'm NOT saying...
I just realised I'm always talking in riddles, creating lots of questions and answering them with more questions... Why am I doing that? Hmm... Why not?
Back to work again... The long break was good, it made me want to stay at home lesser now...
The past week of work was boring, its still boring now... Its not that I have nothing to do, but there is no direction and urgency in doing it... We're given 2 days to do something that can be done in an hour... What's more, the 2 days is very elastic - our manager isn't that free of a man so we'll have to try and catch him and the 2 days may become 2 weeks or so...
Though I don't stay at home that much now, I'm looking forward to weekends more than ever before... Made new friends and met up with old ones, opening up a lot more opportunities and activities to do...
Yesterday, someone said she'll have to keep alert whenever she's talking to me because there's always a double meaning to things I say... If she didn't concentrate, she'll miss a lot of things I'm saying... Haha... She's one of the few who catches most of what I'm saying... or rather, what I'm NOT saying...
I just realised I'm always talking in riddles, creating lots of questions and answering them with more questions... Why am I doing that? Hmm... Why not?
Sunday, 3 August 2008
產品
It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in doing it...
Right, I said I'm gonna finish up on my recording, so here it is...
This post is long overdue, look at the date... I only posted this on 29th September!!!
Well, my mum and sister are back and I've just completed my 3 weeks In-Camp Training (reservist for those of you who are still living in stone age)... Today is the 2nd day of work and things seem to be going back to normal...
I spent most of yesterday configuring my new pc which came during the first few days of my ICT... Its a very powerful workstation that no one in this company would be able utilise its full potential... For me? Well, maybe... Unless we're gonna do 3D, there'll be no use for such a powerful beast... Oh well... I'm not the one paying anyway, might as well get one that's as powerful as possible... Word probably wouldn't lag even if I go into the 1000th page... Haha...
Its gonna be the holidays soon and I've took leave for Thursday and Friday, so it'll be a super long holiday... :)
PAR--TY!!!
Right, I said I'm gonna finish up on my recording, so here it is...
This post is long overdue, look at the date... I only posted this on 29th September!!!
Well, my mum and sister are back and I've just completed my 3 weeks In-Camp Training (reservist for those of you who are still living in stone age)... Today is the 2nd day of work and things seem to be going back to normal...
I spent most of yesterday configuring my new pc which came during the first few days of my ICT... Its a very powerful workstation that no one in this company would be able utilise its full potential... For me? Well, maybe... Unless we're gonna do 3D, there'll be no use for such a powerful beast... Oh well... I'm not the one paying anyway, might as well get one that's as powerful as possible... Word probably wouldn't lag even if I go into the 1000th page... Haha...
Its gonna be the holidays soon and I've took leave for Thursday and Friday, so it'll be a super long holiday... :)
PAR--TY!!!
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
當事情發生時，是否都於己無關？
And it all happened...
Ok, finally have the time to sit down and type… I’ll update according to reverse chronological order…
For the past few weeks at work, I’ve been evaluating and learning Microsoft Silverlight… What is Silverlight you’ll ask? It’s essentially a Microsoft version of Adobe Flash (formally Macromedia Flash) except with more coding work to do… The graphics department isn’t as good as Flash, but its ability to integrate with the back end makes it very useful… What’s all this I’m talking about? For those who know, good; for those who don’t, it doesn’t affect you anyway…
My mum, eldest sister and her baby went China last Saturday to visit my elder sis… They’ll be gone for a month and return in mid-August… The good part is I have total freedom, peace and tranquility with no baby to bother me… It’s a very good environment for me to do my recordings, which I should be finishing up on one song soon… The bad part is no clean environment, no good food, and no clean, fresh clothes!!! Haizz… Think I’ll start missing them when I’ve finished my recordings… (Managed to practice my piano again after so many months!!! Wasn’t possible previously because of everyone making so much ruckus around the dining area especially the baby…)
My brother was enlisted 3 weeks back… There’s not even a parent visiting day and he booked out last week, just 2 weeks confinement… Well, now that he won’t be around for very long, I have the whole bed to myself…Though things are getting boring cause I don’t have anyone else to order around…
Moving further back the time line, I’ve been jamming with my colleagues in a jamming studio at Macpherson… It’s really fun and it’s something I really like doing; unlike my percussion band that’s so annoying… I was the drummer when we first started, but things were bad… really, really bad… A good description would be to get 3 stereos playing the same song but starting at a different time, play at a different speed, and a different key here and there…
I’m the drummer, no one follows my timing and I have to follow them!?! How crappy is that?!? I had no choice but to take the reigns and control the situation in a more direct method – I became the lead vocalist…
Things were better, at least the song structure is there, but it’s still not good enough… The music was still very weak for it tends to go off course and there was no climax to the song… One of our colleagues brought her boyfriend to join us and he is very good with the drums kit, this meant that I can be taken permanently off the drums… With that, I took over the role of the lead guitarist as well to push the entire rhythm, eliminating another random element… 3 good elements and we started to sound better…
That sorts of summarises what I have been doing since the last post… There are other random stuff like ghost hunting, ktv, etc., but nothing special happened…
Oh? Only these and it kept be busy for so long? Of course not, there’s still this girl, the most time-consuming of all…
Ok, finally have the time to sit down and type… I’ll update according to reverse chronological order…
For the past few weeks at work, I’ve been evaluating and learning Microsoft Silverlight… What is Silverlight you’ll ask? It’s essentially a Microsoft version of Adobe Flash (formally Macromedia Flash) except with more coding work to do… The graphics department isn’t as good as Flash, but its ability to integrate with the back end makes it very useful… What’s all this I’m talking about? For those who know, good; for those who don’t, it doesn’t affect you anyway…
My mum, eldest sister and her baby went China last Saturday to visit my elder sis… They’ll be gone for a month and return in mid-August… The good part is I have total freedom, peace and tranquility with no baby to bother me… It’s a very good environment for me to do my recordings, which I should be finishing up on one song soon… The bad part is no clean environment, no good food, and no clean, fresh clothes!!! Haizz… Think I’ll start missing them when I’ve finished my recordings… (Managed to practice my piano again after so many months!!! Wasn’t possible previously because of everyone making so much ruckus around the dining area especially the baby…)
My brother was enlisted 3 weeks back… There’s not even a parent visiting day and he booked out last week, just 2 weeks confinement… Well, now that he won’t be around for very long, I have the whole bed to myself…Though things are getting boring cause I don’t have anyone else to order around…
Moving further back the time line, I’ve been jamming with my colleagues in a jamming studio at Macpherson… It’s really fun and it’s something I really like doing; unlike my percussion band that’s so annoying… I was the drummer when we first started, but things were bad… really, really bad… A good description would be to get 3 stereos playing the same song but starting at a different time, play at a different speed, and a different key here and there…
I’m the drummer, no one follows my timing and I have to follow them!?! How crappy is that?!? I had no choice but to take the reigns and control the situation in a more direct method – I became the lead vocalist…
Things were better, at least the song structure is there, but it’s still not good enough… The music was still very weak for it tends to go off course and there was no climax to the song… One of our colleagues brought her boyfriend to join us and he is very good with the drums kit, this meant that I can be taken permanently off the drums… With that, I took over the role of the lead guitarist as well to push the entire rhythm, eliminating another random element… 3 good elements and we started to sound better…
That sorts of summarises what I have been doing since the last post… There are other random stuff like ghost hunting, ktv, etc., but nothing special happened…
Oh? Only these and it kept be busy for so long? Of course not, there’s still this girl, the most time-consuming of all…
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
心鬼
The ghost within...
As the outing was planned last minute on 17th April, only 3 guys turned up - Jack, Brandon and me... Met up at 11.45pm, 19th April and set off for our first destination: MacRitchie Reservoir Water Tomb...
Quoted from SPI Website:
It was 20 past 12 when we reached the last carpark that was closest to the water tomb that we’re searching... Though the lighting was very bright, there were only two cars present, making this quite a good make out spot... I stuck close to the last car as I was trying to make a parallel parking and commented on how good this place is for making out... Then up comes a girl’s head from the adjacent car’s back seat!!! “Oops!” I gasped, more “Oops” coming from my passengers... I couldn’t help but noticed how pretty the girl is as she kept staring at us the entire time... Well, doing that certainly doesn’t help us get away from you!! As much as I want to get away quickly, I flustered and couldn’t do the parking properly... Had to move in and out several times to get away... Her head only disappeared when I’ve parked properly and switched off my headlights...
Now where’s the guy’s head?!? Hmm... (6cough9?)
After this heart thumping ordeal, we went on foot for our real objective of the night... The path is unlit, uneven, and wet... Clever me told everyone not to bring torches just so that it’ll be more exciting... I was fine, but Jack and Brandon had night blindness... The moonlight helps, but only when the tree cover allows it to... Brandon took out his lighter which has an LED light behind it... It’s pathetic, but it’s the best thing we had...
The path wasn’t eerie, it was quite wide and the only thing disturbing us were the webs that tried its best to hold us back... The thought of making it all the way in then having to find our way back when the light dies isn’t exactly a walk in the park (pun intended)... 20 minutes of trekking took its toll on our little torch... As its light starts to dim, fear starts to arise... It would be scarier finding our way out of this endless path in the dark than seeing some ghost, worse still if both happens together... We had no choice but turn around and made a quick march for the exit...
While on our way out, we checked the map (which we couldn’t when we’re going in because some couple was having a good time in front of it) and realized that we missed the trail that will bring us to the tomb even though we passed it twice while going in and coming out!!!
Oh well, we’ll have to do it again when we’re more prepared...
Next stop was Old Changi Hospital... It was 1am and there were groups of people waiting outside the entrance... “For what?” I thought, “too afraid to go in?”
Yes... I’m too afraid to go in as well...
There were 2 police patrol cars and a minibus parked at the hospital’s carpark, ghost hunting session for them as well? Several blaring motorcyclists thinking that they are so much braver than us cowards stopped right in front of the entrance of the hospital and quietly made a U-turn... We were waiting to see some entertainment in case someone did not see the police and go straight in... To our disappointment, none were as stupid as we thought...
The 10 odd policemen left the premise at around 2am, quite a big group for ghost hunting eh?
After several minutes of pep talk, I managed to coax Jack into going in himself... Haha... What a simple-minded person... I didn’t expect him to stay there for long and true enough, he came back out after 5 minutes...
He said it was too dark and he couldn’t see anything... He then asked for the torch and wanted to go in again... The place is quite dilapidated and letting him explore the entire building alone was too dangerous (previously he had no light so I knew he couldn’t go far), thus I decided to go in together...
I’ve walked through those corridors for so many times it doesn’t scare me anymore... I believe fear is contagious, and my confidence seems to make them braver as well... Somehow I must learn to instill fear in them...
As the outing was planned last minute on 17th April, only 3 guys turned up - Jack, Brandon and me... Met up at 11.45pm, 19th April and set off for our first destination: MacRitchie Reservoir Water Tomb...
Quoted from SPI Website:
Tomb Mystery and Shui Gui
(Source: an informant who is said to be related to the family descendents of the deceased of the tomb)
Many years ago, there wasn't any reservoir at where it is now called McRitchie reservoir. It was a very scenic hill. And who can guess the eerie tomb where most people shun away nowadays was once a romantic alcove? It was a protruding lookout point in the middle of a hiking track along the slope of a hill. From there the view was spectacular as it over looked a lush hilly landscape like a flowery meadow over the valley. Birds and wild monkeys over the hills sang in orchestra and the nature sounds filled the air.
The above mentioned romantic alcove was a meeting place for Fann and Lok (both are not real names). The alcove witnessed the most drastic emotions of mankind, put up by this couple, through life and death, joy, romance, betrayal, grief and tragedy.
The story happened near the end of 18th century. Fann was a sole daughter of a rich and famous family who run an import trading business with the British. Fann grew up in Britain and always loved nature. Her grew-up environment shaped her to be a bold and open-minded person. That was somewhat opposite to her father that was very traditional and rigorous - a typical Chinese business man who calculates gain and loss more than anything else. Since Fann was young, her family had arranged a marriage for her, that was common in the old days, with a son of a tycoon called Tai. Obviously building a marriage with a tycoon's son would benefit lifting Fann's family business to a new height.
However, Fann never wanted to submit to her fate. Being a girl of 20 years ago, she was autonomous enough to manage her own life. She left home from time to time and she would like to hang out at the scenic walks in McRitchie reservoir (that wasn't a reservoir in those days). That was a perfect place for some quiet moments, away from troubles. It became Fann's favourite sanctuary whenever she felt depressed.
Fann met her Mr. right at the reservoir one day. That was Lok. We didn't know much about Lok, not even our informant. We were told that Lok was a charismatic communist, a leader of some political group before the war who regularly organized gatherings near McRitchie reservoir area. It is their destiny that they bumped, they clicked and fell in love though they came from quite a different background.
Their dating at McRitchie reservoir lasted for some period of time. This couple always met there, fell in love and they vow to get married there with the witness of heaven and earth (the sky and the valley in McRitchie reservoir). They courted each other more and more often, until one day Fann's family got wind about this. As expected, Fann's father was very angry about this affair because her daughter was disobeying him, let alone the fact that Lok was a communist clan leader that was a natural enemy to a Pro-British business man. Fann's father and Tai's father plotted to do something patching up the situation. The arranged marriage had to proceed in only few months time anyway. They wouldn't allow Lok to interrupt about it.
On one fateful evening, as usual, Fann was expecting to meet Lok at their favorite spot in McRitchie reservoir. Instead of Lok, his fellow came and delivered her a letter. Nobody knows what was the content of the letter and who had actually written it. However, on the next morning, Fann's body was found dead at the bottom of the valley, just right under the lookout point where Fann always hanged out. Again, nobody knows whether she jumped down, pushed down or fell down by accident.
After Fann's death, the wedding arranged between the two families of course had to be cancelled. Hence, Fann's family business, without the help of tycoon Tai, plunged down very soon and eventually got bankrupt.
But still, the tycoon's son, Tai loves Fann very much. That was what the public could have seen about. He spent a lot of money and took Fann to be buried at the lookout point with a splendid tomb. The grand tomb had a very superb facing, overseeing the hills across the valley. Many years later, however, McRitchie reservoir was developed into a water catchments area, and the valley turned into a water reservoir as it is of today. Water filled up the valley, to the level of the tomb, flooding even the lower part of it. This is how the name water tomb came about.
How our informant knows so much about? She claimed that she was a relative to Tai but refused to elaborate more. The concealment led us to speculate that there was something dirty that the Tai family had done but we just cannot verify without any evidence.
Under much persistence, our informant finally admitted that Tai's family had done something to intervene into Fann's relationship with Lok, but not with any intent to have her killed. The informant told us another secret too, relating to the choice of location where Fann was buried.
Most people would think that Tai so loved Fann (although it was one way) that he had been so nice to build her a posh tomb. The truth was otherwise.
We were told that Lok was actually murdered in the same year after Fann died, and Fann's body was found to be pregnant by the doctors in hospital. People know that Lok was killed too in a riot but it was actually a plot arranged in purpose. Here is the most intriguing thing. Lok's body was buried in Bukit Brown cemetery (aka Kopi Hill cemetery). That was the idea by his dialect clan leader who in turn was controlled by Tai's family. And Fann's body was offered to be buried at the lookout point that happened to be on the opposite site of the hill.
In other words, Fann and Lok were buried between and separate by a hill, back-to-back. So they never face each other. All these were arranged by Tai! You can see how jealousy turned into hatred, and into revenge.
Since then, Fann's grave was nicked as water tomb. Even more frightening, people believe that is very haunted. Sightings of a female apparition emerging from water are common at night. Some call it Shui Gui (water ghost).
Our informant continued telling. Nowadays the decedents of Tai's family realized what their grandfather had done is tremendously wrong. They feel guilty about it, especially after they heard that the Shui Gui which is believed to be Fann's spirit was haunting the reservoir. They used to invite monks to perform rituals trying to appease the soul but that doesn't help. Till now, Tai's family has been funding a contractor to come and sweep the tomb regularly. Every year they will bring offerings by themselves to the tomb during festivals like Ching Ming and July Hungry Ghost Month.
This is a fair world, when planting a good deed, you will receive a good reward. Likewise a crime will invite mishap. God knows what they have done. Tai's family seems to be cursed. The grandfather and the father were both drown to death, though not in McRitchie reservoir. It wasn't long ago. The father at his late age had developed some mental problem. He was kept at home all the time. But for some unknown reason, one day he sneaked away alone, and found drown in a sewage drain mysteriously. It was classified as an unnatural death by the police, and was reported on news last year.
One last thing that the informant told us. If we want to know whether Fann's spirit is around, throw a coconut into the water. If it floats, that means no spirit. If it sinks, that shows Fann's spirit is around!
That is all our informant shared with us. She looked quite sad at the end of the interview. She kept murmuring to herself "Wrath, such is wrath, how I wish Fann's spirit will be in peace".
It was 20 past 12 when we reached the last carpark that was closest to the water tomb that we’re searching... Though the lighting was very bright, there were only two cars present, making this quite a good make out spot... I stuck close to the last car as I was trying to make a parallel parking and commented on how good this place is for making out... Then up comes a girl’s head from the adjacent car’s back seat!!! “Oops!” I gasped, more “Oops” coming from my passengers... I couldn’t help but noticed how pretty the girl is as she kept staring at us the entire time... Well, doing that certainly doesn’t help us get away from you!! As much as I want to get away quickly, I flustered and couldn’t do the parking properly... Had to move in and out several times to get away... Her head only disappeared when I’ve parked properly and switched off my headlights...
Now where’s the guy’s head?!? Hmm... (6cough9?)
After this heart thumping ordeal, we went on foot for our real objective of the night... The path is unlit, uneven, and wet... Clever me told everyone not to bring torches just so that it’ll be more exciting... I was fine, but Jack and Brandon had night blindness... The moonlight helps, but only when the tree cover allows it to... Brandon took out his lighter which has an LED light behind it... It’s pathetic, but it’s the best thing we had...
The path wasn’t eerie, it was quite wide and the only thing disturbing us were the webs that tried its best to hold us back... The thought of making it all the way in then having to find our way back when the light dies isn’t exactly a walk in the park (pun intended)... 20 minutes of trekking took its toll on our little torch... As its light starts to dim, fear starts to arise... It would be scarier finding our way out of this endless path in the dark than seeing some ghost, worse still if both happens together... We had no choice but turn around and made a quick march for the exit...
While on our way out, we checked the map (which we couldn’t when we’re going in because some couple was having a good time in front of it) and realized that we missed the trail that will bring us to the tomb even though we passed it twice while going in and coming out!!!
Oh well, we’ll have to do it again when we’re more prepared...
Next stop was Old Changi Hospital... It was 1am and there were groups of people waiting outside the entrance... “For what?” I thought, “too afraid to go in?”
Yes... I’m too afraid to go in as well...
There were 2 police patrol cars and a minibus parked at the hospital’s carpark, ghost hunting session for them as well? Several blaring motorcyclists thinking that they are so much braver than us cowards stopped right in front of the entrance of the hospital and quietly made a U-turn... We were waiting to see some entertainment in case someone did not see the police and go straight in... To our disappointment, none were as stupid as we thought...
The 10 odd policemen left the premise at around 2am, quite a big group for ghost hunting eh?
After several minutes of pep talk, I managed to coax Jack into going in himself... Haha... What a simple-minded person... I didn’t expect him to stay there for long and true enough, he came back out after 5 minutes...
He said it was too dark and he couldn’t see anything... He then asked for the torch and wanted to go in again... The place is quite dilapidated and letting him explore the entire building alone was too dangerous (previously he had no light so I knew he couldn’t go far), thus I decided to go in together...
I’ve walked through those corridors for so many times it doesn’t scare me anymore... I believe fear is contagious, and my confidence seems to make them braver as well... Somehow I must learn to instill fear in them...
Saturday, 10 May 2008
消失
The more you want me to disappear, the more I stick out...
If only I had completed what I had left undone, I will be a very happy guy right now... Every aspect of my life is perfect (as in perfectly fine, but I can always use a million dollars or two...), except for that thing that haunts me...
Well, 5 more days... Its do or die... Either way, it'll end within this 5 days... Results doesn't matter to me anymore, I just want to end it...
If only I had completed what I had left undone, I will be a very happy guy right now... Every aspect of my life is perfect (as in perfectly fine, but I can always use a million dollars or two...), except for that thing that haunts me...
Well, 5 more days... Its do or die... Either way, it'll end within this 5 days... Results doesn't matter to me anymore, I just want to end it...
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
我的錢?!?
Show me the money...
Today is the first time in my life that I see the reply on the ATM: "Withdrawal amount exceeds balance"... WTF!?!
Citibank's electronic transfer really takes their own sweet time... There was once it took a week to transfer the money!! I couldn't get it from POSB, neither Citibank... Sianzz... Can't even use the money that I have...
It has been very long since my last post – 3 months... My computer was down for the previous 2 months, so I couldn't really blog.. Well, it's not really a good excuse as I'm typing this on Word in my office... Haha...
A lot has happened ever since my last post 3 months back; things that are interesting to me only so not juicy enough to broadcast here... Then again, anything that's worth hiding is juicy stuff... Heh heh...
Erm... I think I need to get back to work...
Today is the first time in my life that I see the reply on the ATM: "Withdrawal amount exceeds balance"... WTF!?!
Citibank's electronic transfer really takes their own sweet time... There was once it took a week to transfer the money!! I couldn't get it from POSB, neither Citibank... Sianzz... Can't even use the money that I have...
It has been very long since my last post – 3 months... My computer was down for the previous 2 months, so I couldn't really blog.. Well, it's not really a good excuse as I'm typing this on Word in my office... Haha...
A lot has happened ever since my last post 3 months back; things that are interesting to me only so not juicy enough to broadcast here... Then again, anything that's worth hiding is juicy stuff... Heh heh...
Erm... I think I need to get back to work...
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
錯誤
Mistakes...
I didn’t realize I have the same title for 2 entries until someone commented on both of them... I knew the title sounded some what familiar, but didn’t try to verify it...
Oh well, this week is quite a sad week actually... I’ve been taken off the internet in my office; no more surfing and MSN...
Well, have to start on some serious work now...
I didn’t realize I have the same title for 2 entries until someone commented on both of them... I knew the title sounded some what familiar, but didn’t try to verify it...
Oh well, this week is quite a sad week actually... I’ve been taken off the internet in my office; no more surfing and MSN...
Well, have to start on some serious work now...
Monday, 10 December 2007
復活
Resurrected...
I wanted a holiday and I got a good long one... Had repeated this story to the doctors many times so let me just repeat this one last time...
On the very first hours of 21st of November, I was suddenly down with fever... Went to the doctor at around 9am and he gave me 2 days MC... “Wah, shiok...” I thought... These 2 days was anything but “shiok”... The only thing I could do was sleep; I couldn’t even get off the bed for long... I’ve only eaten a few spoonfuls of plain porridge and that was just so that I could take my medicine...
Felt comparatively “very much” better on Friday and decided to go to work... I didn’t wear my vest because I expected myself to feel very cold, so I wore my sweater instead... Good thing I did that, as I was freezing in the office... Couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take half day leave... My Project Manager cancelled my leave and made me go to the doctor...
Went to the doctor and he suspected that it might be dengue, so he drew my blood and sent me home... Not without MC until Tuesday that is... “Wah, shiok...” I thought again... Got a call from the clinic in the evening and the only instruction was to pick up my report and go to A&E immediately... Sianzz...
My mind went blank after receiving that call and couldn’t think of anything while waiting for my brother to drive me to the clinic... I asked the receptionist what was the problem and she said, “Your report is bad, so you need to go to the hospital.” Felt very demoralized and confused while on the way to the hospital... Having reached the hospital, the doctor told me I had made a wasted trip; there was neither need for me to take another blood test nor the need to be hospitalized as I was dengue negative and my platelet count, 86, was above the danger level of 80... I was both angry and relieved, cursing the clinic while on my way home...
Went to the polyclinic to take another blood test on Saturday and found that my condition has improved... My GP had requested that I call him after I got my results and he said that I am on my recovery phase, all I need to do now is to rest and go for another blood test on Tuesday for a confirmation... The next 2 days was spent sleeping again, but I managed to get out of my bed for slightly longer than before...
On Tuesday, 27th November, the last day of my MC, I went back to the doctor for what I thought was my final checkup (that’s what the doctor expected as well)... The doctor just drew my blood and sent me home; my fever was gone but the sore throat was very bad...
In the evening, I got a call from the clinic again, this time I was told to get the report from the branch at my condominium... I went down and the receptionist passed me the report as well as the phone... Over the phone, the doctor told me my platelet count was dangerously low and would definitely need to be hospitalized... “Again...” I thought, but this time I knew it was really serious... A normal person’s platelet count is around 150-400, while mine was 65, way below normal and the danger level...
Went to the A&E again prepared to be admitted... Spent 2 nights in the hospital doing nothing... The doctors only came to ask questions and draw my blood... My blood was drawn everyday and was tested dengue positive... On Thursday, 29th November, my platelet count was 111 and I was discharged... I was given 10 days hospitalization leave, all the way to Friday, 7th December... “Wah, shiok...” as again, but this time it was really great...
Since I had fully recovered, the 10 days were really enjoyable... I was already going out on Saturday, 2 days after being discharged... Went out again on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday... Haha... Feels great to be strolling around on the streets during office hours... Went for another blood test on Friday for another “confirmation”... The previous bad experience made me a bit worried even though it is quite impossible that my platelet count is still low... Got a call from the clinic on Saturday morning and was told my platelet count was 400+...
It will be very difficult to get such holidays again; kinds of make the first week of suffering worth it... Someone always get upset when I say this, “You could had died you know?” That’s what they’ll always say...
So all this explains why I haven’t updated this blog for so long, other than the fact that I’m lazy... Until next time then...
I wanted a holiday and I got a good long one... Had repeated this story to the doctors many times so let me just repeat this one last time...
On the very first hours of 21st of November, I was suddenly down with fever... Went to the doctor at around 9am and he gave me 2 days MC... “Wah, shiok...” I thought... These 2 days was anything but “shiok”... The only thing I could do was sleep; I couldn’t even get off the bed for long... I’ve only eaten a few spoonfuls of plain porridge and that was just so that I could take my medicine...
Felt comparatively “very much” better on Friday and decided to go to work... I didn’t wear my vest because I expected myself to feel very cold, so I wore my sweater instead... Good thing I did that, as I was freezing in the office... Couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take half day leave... My Project Manager cancelled my leave and made me go to the doctor...
Went to the doctor and he suspected that it might be dengue, so he drew my blood and sent me home... Not without MC until Tuesday that is... “Wah, shiok...” I thought again... Got a call from the clinic in the evening and the only instruction was to pick up my report and go to A&E immediately... Sianzz...
My mind went blank after receiving that call and couldn’t think of anything while waiting for my brother to drive me to the clinic... I asked the receptionist what was the problem and she said, “Your report is bad, so you need to go to the hospital.” Felt very demoralized and confused while on the way to the hospital... Having reached the hospital, the doctor told me I had made a wasted trip; there was neither need for me to take another blood test nor the need to be hospitalized as I was dengue negative and my platelet count, 86, was above the danger level of 80... I was both angry and relieved, cursing the clinic while on my way home...
Went to the polyclinic to take another blood test on Saturday and found that my condition has improved... My GP had requested that I call him after I got my results and he said that I am on my recovery phase, all I need to do now is to rest and go for another blood test on Tuesday for a confirmation... The next 2 days was spent sleeping again, but I managed to get out of my bed for slightly longer than before...
On Tuesday, 27th November, the last day of my MC, I went back to the doctor for what I thought was my final checkup (that’s what the doctor expected as well)... The doctor just drew my blood and sent me home; my fever was gone but the sore throat was very bad...
In the evening, I got a call from the clinic again, this time I was told to get the report from the branch at my condominium... I went down and the receptionist passed me the report as well as the phone... Over the phone, the doctor told me my platelet count was dangerously low and would definitely need to be hospitalized... “Again...” I thought, but this time I knew it was really serious... A normal person’s platelet count is around 150-400, while mine was 65, way below normal and the danger level...
Went to the A&E again prepared to be admitted... Spent 2 nights in the hospital doing nothing... The doctors only came to ask questions and draw my blood... My blood was drawn everyday and was tested dengue positive... On Thursday, 29th November, my platelet count was 111 and I was discharged... I was given 10 days hospitalization leave, all the way to Friday, 7th December... “Wah, shiok...” as again, but this time it was really great...
Since I had fully recovered, the 10 days were really enjoyable... I was already going out on Saturday, 2 days after being discharged... Went out again on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday... Haha... Feels great to be strolling around on the streets during office hours... Went for another blood test on Friday for another “confirmation”... The previous bad experience made me a bit worried even though it is quite impossible that my platelet count is still low... Got a call from the clinic on Saturday morning and was told my platelet count was 400+...
It will be very difficult to get such holidays again; kinds of make the first week of suffering worth it... Someone always get upset when I say this, “You could had died you know?” That’s what they’ll always say...
So all this explains why I haven’t updated this blog for so long, other than the fact that I’m lazy... Until next time then...
Monday, 19 November 2007
復原
When life reverts to normal, is it really normal?
Life may be boring in the office, but it definitely beats living in the outdoors... Air-conditioning, no mosquitoes, comfortable chair, internet, etc... How can the wild beat these?
I had hoped that the wild would reset my artistic abilities, but the camp as a whole had only made me more vulgar... Now I’ll have to make some effort to reset my language...
Well, there are some good stuff about the In-Camp Training though, (no, its not losing weight... I’ve gained weight in fact... -_-") and that is saving money... Not only is the food free, I even have someone to ferry me to and from camp everyday... I’ve basically spent very little money these 2 weeks, and that helped me saved a considerable amount of money...
Went shopping yesterday and spent $55 for a black vest; didn’t really feel the pinch cause of all the money saved... The only thing I’m unhappy about is that there aren’t any better designs... The one that I found and like wasn’t quite fitting, thus I decided to settle on the one that fits nicely... Why would I buy something that I like second best then? Because if I don’t buy it now, I probably can’t even find something I vaguely like in the future... Do you know how difficult it is to find guys’ stuff? Much less vests which aren’t very popular in Singapore... The vests available are more like the waiter kind of style, but I don’t feel like serving anyone...
The skin for my phone is finally ready!!! It sure took long enough... Will be getting it done this weekend and I seriously hope I don’t get to witness those horror stories you read about in the internet first-hand...
Right... Will try to show off the phone and the vest in the next post...
Life may be boring in the office, but it definitely beats living in the outdoors... Air-conditioning, no mosquitoes, comfortable chair, internet, etc... How can the wild beat these?
I had hoped that the wild would reset my artistic abilities, but the camp as a whole had only made me more vulgar... Now I’ll have to make some effort to reset my language...
Well, there are some good stuff about the In-Camp Training though, (no, its not losing weight... I’ve gained weight in fact... -_-") and that is saving money... Not only is the food free, I even have someone to ferry me to and from camp everyday... I’ve basically spent very little money these 2 weeks, and that helped me saved a considerable amount of money...
Went shopping yesterday and spent $55 for a black vest; didn’t really feel the pinch cause of all the money saved... The only thing I’m unhappy about is that there aren’t any better designs... The one that I found and like wasn’t quite fitting, thus I decided to settle on the one that fits nicely... Why would I buy something that I like second best then? Because if I don’t buy it now, I probably can’t even find something I vaguely like in the future... Do you know how difficult it is to find guys’ stuff? Much less vests which aren’t very popular in Singapore... The vests available are more like the waiter kind of style, but I don’t feel like serving anyone...
The skin for my phone is finally ready!!! It sure took long enough... Will be getting it done this weekend and I seriously hope I don’t get to witness those horror stories you read about in the internet first-hand...
Right... Will try to show off the phone and the vest in the next post...
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
熊の物語
Bear with me for this story...
One day a bear was chasing a rabbit through the forest when they tripped over a genie's lamp. The genie comes out and says, "Hold it, hold it, hold it. If you two would just quit chasing each other for three minutes I'll give you both three wishes." So they say okay that sounds fair.
The genie says, "Okay who'll go first?" The bear pushes the rabbit out of the way and says, "I'll go first", so the genie says okay.
The bear goes, "I wish all the bears in the forest except for me were girls." The genie snaps his fingers and says, "Done."
The rabbit says "I wish I had a crash helmet." The bear goes, "Well that's a dumb wish." But the rabbit says, "That's my wish." The genie snaps his fingers and says, "Done."
The bear says, "I wish every bear in the world except me were girls." The genie goes, "That's a big wish, it'll count as two wishes." The bear goes, "O-okay, I'll do it."
The rabbit has two wishes left so the rabbit says, "I wish for a motor scooter." Then he gets on the scooter puts on his crash helmet and as he's driving away he yells, "I wish the bear was gay!"
Everyone I've asked likes the bear more (not the gay one of course), so why didn't it win?!? Those judges were probably too old to understand the beauty of cute stuff... That bear is the first and only thing I've drawn with my tablet alone... I would usually draw everything on paper and scan it in, but this piece uses no paper at all (except the one that it was printed on)... And I was so proud of myself for my environmental-friendly design...
OK, fine... If I really pick on it, I'll say the background sucks... What's with the disgusting combination of colors? Blue and brown? Well, they are complimentary colors, but couldn't it be in a nicer shade? With the bear being brown, the background shouldn't have any hints of brown at all... Haha... Getting a bit high from flaming myself here...
Great, so what's been happening lately? Went KTV on Sunday and it was great!! Didn't go for band practice in the morning and just stayed at home to laze around and do some vocal warm ups... Was in very good condition that day; finally got to sing 《背叛》 in the KTV... Though I went flat a couple of times, the good part is I sang at original key!! Not that I wanted to though, I just forgot to minus key and only realised it a few songs later...
Next week would be my In-Camp Training; its supposed to be a holiday from my mundane work life... It is, except the part where I’m supposed to go Tekong... Sianzz... Oh well, guess it’s good to be close to nature every once in a while... Gives time to think about stuff and change perspectives on certain things... It also helps reset my brain's and eyes’ artistic ability... Let’s hope there isn’t any more of those designing disasters after this...
One day a bear was chasing a rabbit through the forest when they tripped over a genie's lamp. The genie comes out and says, "Hold it, hold it, hold it. If you two would just quit chasing each other for three minutes I'll give you both three wishes." So they say okay that sounds fair.
The genie says, "Okay who'll go first?" The bear pushes the rabbit out of the way and says, "I'll go first", so the genie says okay.
The bear goes, "I wish all the bears in the forest except for me were girls." The genie snaps his fingers and says, "Done."
The rabbit says "I wish I had a crash helmet." The bear goes, "Well that's a dumb wish." But the rabbit says, "That's my wish." The genie snaps his fingers and says, "Done."
The bear says, "I wish every bear in the world except me were girls." The genie goes, "That's a big wish, it'll count as two wishes." The bear goes, "O-okay, I'll do it."
The rabbit has two wishes left so the rabbit says, "I wish for a motor scooter." Then he gets on the scooter puts on his crash helmet and as he's driving away he yells, "I wish the bear was gay!"
Everyone I've asked likes the bear more (not the gay one of course), so why didn't it win?!? Those judges were probably too old to understand the beauty of cute stuff... That bear is the first and only thing I've drawn with my tablet alone... I would usually draw everything on paper and scan it in, but this piece uses no paper at all (except the one that it was printed on)... And I was so proud of myself for my environmental-friendly design...
OK, fine... If I really pick on it, I'll say the background sucks... What's with the disgusting combination of colors? Blue and brown? Well, they are complimentary colors, but couldn't it be in a nicer shade? With the bear being brown, the background shouldn't have any hints of brown at all... Haha... Getting a bit high from flaming myself here...
Great, so what's been happening lately? Went KTV on Sunday and it was great!! Didn't go for band practice in the morning and just stayed at home to laze around and do some vocal warm ups... Was in very good condition that day; finally got to sing 《背叛》 in the KTV... Though I went flat a couple of times, the good part is I sang at original key!! Not that I wanted to though, I just forgot to minus key and only realised it a few songs later...
Next week would be my In-Camp Training; its supposed to be a holiday from my mundane work life... It is, except the part where I’m supposed to go Tekong... Sianzz... Oh well, guess it’s good to be close to nature every once in a while... Gives time to think about stuff and change perspectives on certain things... It also helps reset my brain's and eyes’ artistic ability... Let’s hope there isn’t any more of those designing disasters after this...
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