第三天

Day 3, 11/07/2006, Tuesday, Showers in the morning...


Went to McDonald's for a quick breakfast then had to rush to the meeting place... Weida had to go to the toilet urgently so we met up with Rita first... Her mum looked at me with suspecting eyes until she realized that I'm not her future son-in-law (scary... good luck to Weida)... Her mom didn't say anything when Weida arrived though, but Rita complained a lot about him going off on his own especially when he doesn't know the place well...

Ocean Park was filled with people as I expected, there were lots of school kids on their field trips...

The tickets were sponsored by Rita's mother (thank you, Weida) so we need not pay the HK$138... Went to see the pandas first, the smaller one looked a lot like someone is inside that panda suit; their grabbing and sitting actions were too human-like...

After that it started raining so we took the cable car to the top of the mountain where there are more indoor exhibitions...


View from the cable car...

Went for lunch at this cafeteria that was very expensive, a can of soft drink costs S$4!!! But I think it was worth it since it was indoor with nice seats, air-conditioning and out from the rain... After lunch, the rain cleared and we could go to all the rides...

The first ride was the "Mine Train", its the scariest amongst all since it had the fastest descent... I sat beside Michael and he is a bit bigger than me so the restrain bar wasn't holding tight on me... I'm quite light as well so I got lifted off easily, Michael complained that the descent wasn't long enough for it reached the bottom just when he was about to be lifted off... I realised that if I don't shout before the descent, I wouldn't have a chance to do so once we passed the apex... Everyting will be thrown upwards and so will my voice... The feeling is damn scary but more exciting...

It was time for the show so we went to the Ocean Theatre next... The killer whale is dead so the show only has dolphins and sea lions... There were 5 dolphins, 2 old ones that are retiring soon and 3 young ones... It was very obvious which were the older ones as they were very well trained... The dolphins were damn fast, the sea lions pale in comparision... Its very spectacular when the dolphins leap out of the water, they can reach a height of around 2 storeys high...

Next, we went to the "Dragon" where the track goes 360° vertically... It wasn't as scary as the Mine Train since we were forced onto our seats due to the centrifugal force rather than out of it... This was definately more dizzy though, it didn't help that I have motion sickness... I totally lost my orientation when we alighted, its even worse than getting drunk...

It was almost 6pm already, so we decided to leave the place... Halfway to the gate, we saw the Mine Train was still operating and decided to catch the "last train"... The crowd had already left so there wasn't any queue... We could take the ride as many times as we wanted but everyone wasn't interested... Only Yiming's boyfriend and I went for a second round...

Went to the peak to take some pictures... There is supposed to be a light show every evening, all the buildings lights up with different colours... There's supposed to be laser as well, but we didn't see any that night...


View from the peak...


View from the opposite side of the river...

We had a simple dinner in a restaurant near Michael's place and went back... Weida wanted to play Mahjong again and this time I lost HK$180 to Michael... I realized its because I don't know how to play that's why they can win, since the winner is always the one after me...

第二天

Day 2, 10/07/2006, Monday, Fair...


Everyone woke up at noon after the tired day yesterday... We went for lunch at a shop with a huge collection of coca-cola items... The food was ok, we ordered a lot though...

After lunch we went to the ruins of St. Paul; this time we can get in... The place is quite small with some interesting ruins... It's not creepy though, I doubt it would be any better (or should I say worse?) at night...


Back of cathedral's main door...

Went shopping next since we were already there, visited many shops with the girls but it feels good doing that... The outdoor temperature was even hotter than Singapore and the humidity around the same; being able to step into air-conditioned shops is a blessing...


Night scene of the shopping district...

Shoppped around until evening but I didn't buy anything... Went for dinner next at a restaurant... We had crab porridge and many other food that I don't usually eat like eel, fried pig intestines, etc...


A Roman themed city...


A scene near the "Black Sand Beach"...

After dinner we went back to get our luggage and headed to Hong Kong... We went to Michael's (Weida's buddy during his studies in Australia) place to stay for the next 2 nights... Weida then wanted to play Mahjong, I had no choice but to make up the numbers even though I don't really know how to play... Lost HK$220 to Weida, somebody stop this guy from winning!!! Slept at 5am and have to wake up at 8am to go to Ocean Park with Rita's mother who can't stand people who are late... I'm getting worried for Weida...

新生

Esprimere freshmen orientation...


If I have to wait for my holiday entries to be up before posting anything new, I'll miss out on many interesting events... First up is yesterday's outing at Sentosa...

SIM's singing club, Esprimere, had their orientation outing at Sentosa... Being part of the group, I went to help and get to know the juniors (of course, the latter is more important)... Was prepared to go into the water but no, they had to do something like the "Amazing Race"...

We were given several pictures (clues) and are supposed to take identical pictures with our digital cameras... The clues were seperated into envelopes and we were to get every picture before opening the next envelope... Some of the pictures don't give much clue about where it is located, for example our very first envelope... It shows several Japanese letters and that's all!!! We were totally clueless but luckily, we cheated... We opened the 2^nd envelope and decided to complete the 2^nd one first since it is very obvious that the place is at Fort Siloso... Good thing one of the girls have good attention to detail and manage to spot our first clue at Fort Siloso!!! After that, we decided to keep 2 envelopes open at all time...


Some of the pictures had poses and we had to do accordingly...


Taking the sky ride was part of the challenge...

After finishing all those pictures, we had to perform a song (we are a singing club after all)... We had a hard time choosing a song, and some practice to get the appropriate key for everyone... Just before the performance, we were told that creativity was part of the judging critera as well... We then decided to sing with a faster tempo and b-box at the chorus... With only 5 mins of practice time, we had no time to correct the pitch after getting the tempo and b-box correct... We knew the pitch was wrong, but did not dare to risk messing everything up while trying to change it... Obviously, the guys couldn't reach the gals' key; I tried my best but it's still awful... Judge for yourself here...


My group from left: Teck Sheng, Luyi, Peiwen, some gorgeous guy that I forgot his name...

In the end, our group won!!! Haha... Not sure whether its because of the singing or the race... After that was some standard game; turn 20 rounds on the spot, run a distance then do something... As usual, my group won!!! I cheated... but... oh well...

Almost everyone left after that while only 4 went for dinner, then later to Hark Music Café... Went there to chill out and met up with those members that had already graduated...


I was the only one with sun burns...

第一天

First day, 09/07/2006, Sunday, Fair...


Reached Macau at 1:30pm, the flight was 3½ hours... The first hour of the flight was interesting, its my the first time on the plane after so long... When we took off, the sun has already risen, so we could see everything outside clearly... The sight was great, not magnificent but just great...

Touched down and Weida's sister, Yiming, was waiting for us already together with her boyfriend (they arrived one day before us on an earlier flight); Weida's girlfriend, Rita, was there as well... They were laughing when we stepped through the sliding dooes and I was wondering if we had done something wrong... Weida's hair was jutting straight out, much like Suneo (阿福) from Doraemon, too bad they didn't take a picture...



The rest of the the day we went around looking at Macau's tourist attractions as well as trying the famous Portuguese eggtarts... It was nice and crispy but I didn't really try to find out why it was so famous, was still trying to get used to the new environment...

In the evening, Rita's father treated us to a very sumptuous dinner in an old chinese restaurant... The first dish was shark's fin double-boiled with chicken, the claypot was so huge you can fit a basketball in it!!! We each had several servings of the shark's fin and was quite full before any other dish was served...

After dinner was a trip to the nearby shopping district, the buildings and roads were rebuilt, maintaining the Portuguese style...

At the end of this street was the ruins of St. Paul... Since it was night time, we couldn't go exploring in it; but isn't it more exciting to explore it at night?

We went to the Sand's casino next... The live band there was great, their energy level was very high, not something you see often in Singapore bands... I just went around touring the place while Weida tried his luck... We left the place at around 1am; Weida left with an extra HK$1000 (S$200) in his pocket...

Went back to Rita's aunt's apartment to watch the World Cup Finals, everyone was tired and dozed off in the middle of the match...The television stopped working a few minutes after half time and we just went to sleep, was too tired to complain or carry on watching...

PS: The pictures will be added when I reach Singapore...

飛機場

Airport...


Sent Michelle off yesterday, very sad to see her go... It'll be a great loss to our band... She would be a very fun friend if we had more time together, won't be seeing her for a very long time...

Met up with Jonathan yesterday too, at the same time I was sending off Michelle... He is currently studying in London and is back for the holidays, it's been a long time since I've seen him... Jonathan is a very great buddy of mine during the army days, there's a post dedicated to him but I have no time to look for it...

Why do I have no time? My parents are at the door waiting for me to go... I'll be flying off today to Macau and they'll be seeing me off... Should be back by 9 days; expect the next entry by the 10^th day...

EDIT: Now I'm at the airport waiting so might as well add on to the post... Yesterdy night I went drinking with Weida and friends at this place in Dempsey road, the place is quite nice and the wine is very cheap... We were talking about going ice-skating when we come back, looking for more people to go together... Anyone interested?

重映

Deja vu...


When I was coming home on the bus today, I was haunted by a scene from the past... This old man came onto the bus with a scorn on his face, something very similar to what happened last time... The seat beside me was empty, so he stared at me and kind of indicated he wanted the seat... As usual, I got out of my seat to allow him an easier passage to the seat inside... He sat down and I sat down cautiously beside him being very aware of his actions... I'll not give him any chance to attack me; break his legs before he even wriggles a toe!!! Ok, that was a bit extreme, but I was really thinking of different ways of retaliating while keeping alert during the journey... Oh, and I did this survey before I started this entry:

You Are 32% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Hmm... Its good that nothing happened in the end, I got off before him so he had no chance to complain... Aww... Would had really wanted to break his legs... Heh...

While I was looking for the record of the similar incidence, I read through some of my previous posts and I realized they were quite funny, especially the one where I hit a pole (I'm not going to direct you to it, find it yourself... Its very embarrasing you know?)... Maybe its not because of the way I present it but rather the events were really funny... Then I also realized my English was better back then than now... Not that it was very spectacular but the style of writing was more correct...

Some how I can understand why my English is getting worse, its because I'm conversating in English more often now (all because of a certain someone who can only speak funny Mandarin at best)... Shouldn't speaking more English improve it instead? Yar, if I was speaking English... It's quite difficult to converse in proper English with little kids you know? And you can't speak English when that person is speaking Singlish; it'll feel kind of wierd right? This is the reason why I try to converse in Mandarin whenever possible...

Oh well, I just need to allocate a segment of my brain for Singlish and another segment for English - 2 different languages for 2 different purposes...

短暫的幸福

Happy times are short...


A few hours after my previous post, my savings dropped below $2000... Must work harder these few days and get it back above $2000 before I go China... Never knew flowers were so expensive...

There's something wrong with my house these few days, the lizards are dying... Not that I keep them for pets, but isn't it wierd when you see lizards dying one after another? I know my mum haven't been using poisons for quite some time already, so their deaths are kind of unnatural...

A few days back, my friend (Winson) had a job offer for me: design t-shirts... There's this shop in bugis that sells t-shirts and the boss had ran out of ideas for new designs, so she is asking around for designs... I'm not really the creative type so Winson gave me an idea: design a whole range of t-shirts with percussion instruments on them... There isn't any design like that in the market therefore it should be quite sellable; I'm sure he asked me to design them because he has been looking around for them... Considering the amount of percussion instruments around, I'll be quite wealthy from selling all those designs...

Today, Winson gave me another job offer: coordinator for his production company... He wants to start a production company with a few other friends and had already found sponsors... The job sounds quite fun and I'll be able to learn a lot of things as well as see famous people... Only problem is I have no experience in this field and I'm pretty sure it will be very stressful... The responsibility is huge and screwups might end the career of the performers as well as the entire company... Since I have no experience, the risk is just too great...

The reason he wanted to create this production company is to promote his band, which he plans on holding a concert in the indoor stadium at the end of this year... So we were discussing along that line and I suggested performing in a pub instead; open a pub and be the resident band in that pub... He loved that idea alot and asked me to be his partner for the pub... Of course I agreed, this is gonna be so fun...

This goes back to my earlier problem, I have less than $2000 in my bank!!! I need to get a loan somehow... He'll be getting a loan from the bank as well and if nothing goes wrong, we'll be sitting down discussing the business plans when I come back from China... I'll try to get a loan from my sis when I go over there... By the way, she's an English lecturer in China, very clever right? This is going to be so exciting...

教育與文憑

Does education equals certification?


This question flashed through my mind while I was passing by Assumption Vocational Institute... There was this banner promoting the school's certificates and I thought how good is the certificate... Anyone who sees this kind of certificates would think that it is substandard, they would rather hire an A'level student than someone with the cert... Isn't it kind of illogical then? The person with the cert specializes in that particular kind of job, but the A'level student knows nothing...

Then another question comes into my mind, "What is the purpose of education?" The purpose of education in Singapore has become a way to get "that piece of paper at the end"... Shouldn't education be a means of learning some skills necessary for your job in the future? Back in the days when education wasn't widespread, people learnt essential skills themselves or from their masters... There was no paper needed, what you can do is more important than what others think you can do...

There is this friend, the band leader of a certain percussion band, he has no music certificates of any sort, so he was not thought highly of by the director... It's not because he can't play well (I'm pretty sure he is one of the best drummer of the 2^nd generation); but because he has no certificates...

Then I thought about my situation, "Why am I trying so hard to get a First Class Honours? It's the knowledge that is important right?" The answer is simple: better honours = higher marks for exams = better knowledge of the subject... Seems like there is no easy way out of getting honours... I feel sad for musicians though...

Feels good each time I go to the cash deposit machine, I'm saving money!!! It's even better today, I've finally reached $2000 again!!! Ha!!! When my savings went below $2000 a few months back, I started panicking, "Am I spending too much?" Now to maintain it and try to hit $3000... So not used to having little reserves, can't really remember how I coped with a $14k drop in one night...

Saw an IQ test on someone else's blog and decided to try... I admit using a calculator, so the maths part is not true...

Your IQ Is 136

Your Logical Intelligence is Genius Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

露營

How was the camp?


Good... Learnt quite a few things there as well as knowing a few more people...

So what's this camp about?

It's a selection camp for an agency that sells Prudential insurance... Only those selected can join the agency...

So what do you do in the camp?

They say it's a trade secret, but it's more or less some group activities...

Wha... so big shot ar, still must have camp to select their employees...

They are the best agency in Asia so they want to choose only the people who can do the job...

Is being an insurance agent one of your dreams?

No, I didn't know this was a selection camp until the actual day... Everyone who went for the camp really wanted to get into this company, all except me... I couldn't care less if I was eliminated, but since I was there, might as well try to convince some people... Maybe it's because of the "nothing to lose and nothing I really want to gain" attitude that let me not only win the favour of the chairman, but also the fellow interviewees as well... It might not have been so easy if I really wanted this job...

Were you selected then?

Of course... Else I won't be typing all this...

One last question, why is this entry in an interview format?

Mainly because I am too lazy to chain them up in complete paragraphs; it will be more boring as well...

任務完成

The end of one task brings the start of the other...


Finally got bored enough today to get my hands dirty and repair my piano... It was a very exciting experience as well as troublesome, now I now why the piano guy was so reluctant to help me repair it... Mine is an upright piano with a drop action, one of the most difficult pianos to repair (as said by the piano guy)...

There's this screw beneath the hammer that I need to reach to correct the hammer, a very simple task... The problem is that no screwdriver can reach that position when there are so many mechanisms blocking it... So I started unscrewing things, it's kinda scary since I don't know what exactly I'm doing and whether I can put it back again... After removing some parts already, I still couldn't reach the screw (I could actually reach it with a small screwdriver, but it doesn't have the strength to turn the screw)... It was still very cramped, can't really put my screwdriver in... It's time like this that I wish I had the powers of Jean Grey or Magneto, I could easily finish this task...

I had no choice but to give up, unless I want to remove the entire drop action (which is basically the entire structure of the piano)... At least all this wasn't for nothing, I managed to make the piano sustain correctly now...


Drop action...

Next up is the Urban Foundry website again... Finally got to upload to their website, so now it's not just the geocities one anymore... This website is as always, almost done... At least I'm proud to say I'm not the one procrastinating, it's always them (almost typed damn)... Can't wait to get this over and done with...

Will be going for a chalet tomorrow, it's a 2 days 1 night camp by ... Why am I involved in a corporate get together? It's organized by my friend's girlfriend and he don't want to go alone so he asked me along... I'm free anyway and it's good to know more people right? When they told me the essential things to bring, I got all excited when I heard "torchlight"... Always love it when activities involve torchlights... Heh... Another story in my arsenal or another boring night? I'll force a story to happen if I have to...

演出

Best performance...


Yesterday's performance was at Raffles Marina, a yacht club in Tuas... For the 2 years I was in this band, this was the best performance I had... Not because I didn't make any mistakes, but because it was really enjoyable... Nothing really special happened during this performance, don't really remember what was so great about the performance... Well, below are some pictures of the members, someone obviously did not know how to take pictures (actually I think its because the camera is lousy... Whoever sees this is not allowed to tell the camera's owner!!!)... The pictures are very blur, any tips on how to edit it?


The young...


The mature...


The old...


The girl (didn't get her name) who helped video our performance...

不如意事常八九

Someone does not want me to be happy...


Ever since I finished my exams, I haven't been able to relax... It's as though I have something I need to finish, something that the deadline is nearing but I don't know what... I have to constantly remind myself that there is nothing on my schedule and I can totally enjoy my holidays... This stress has been with me all the time especially when I have nothing to do, I feel that I must get up and finish my homework or something... Maybe it's because of the last few months of my term where every deadline is followed by another; I can't get rid of this scary mindset yet... Or maybe it's a forbeding warning that something is coming up...

Today, I got a news that totally spoilt my supposedly happy (as happy as I tried my best to make it) holidays: I have a project selection lecture 3 weeks later... Other than having to start work on my project, it shouldn't be that bad except that I'm not in Singapore!!! Sianzz... Now I can't play in peace...

丘詠惠

http://mizerable.anfractuosity.net/


This entry has no meaning and is about a girl that's full of nonsense... Got to know YongHui during the NUS workshop, she's one of the participants there... Didn't talk to her throughout the entire event since her section isn't under my jurisdiction... Actually I was just too lazy to chat with anyone; had to force myself to do so on the last day when I was recruiting them...


YongHui's MSN display picture (left), looks exactly like her right?

Their performance was great, couldn't had done any better myself (mostly cause I don't have that many hands)... Someone from the backstage managed to capture this video during the performance, the highlight is... well, see it for yourself... She's wearing camouflage grey bermudas; get the video here...

There was once we went to the Old Ford Factory, one of the supposedly haunted places in Singapore... I've always wanted to visit that place cause it's said to be one of the most haunted place in Singapore; the place is now a museum showcasing events during WWII... We went in the day though and there were lots of windows making it very bright, shouldn't be scary at all... So we went in and this little girl kept pulling on my shirt asking me to go back... But there's nothing to be afraid of, at least not for me... The bronze statutes do look scary to the untrained, especially if you were to visit that place at night... No bronze statute is gonna stop me... not in the day...

I went around looking for clues as to why this place is haunted, trying to read the articles while a voice keeps telling me to get out... After looking through all the materials, I couldn't find anything about the factory after the Japanese surrendered... We played around with the displays and listened to some documentaries, I later realized that it was on that exact spot that a paranormal event happened in the story I was about to tell her... Guess she'll freak out if she knew it beforehand...

That's it for now... Write anymore and she might kill me... Nah... I'll stop her with more ghost stories...

逆走

View from a rear view mirror...


Yesterday evening, I went for a percussion concert by One Heartbeat Percussion... The concert was ok, just a bunch of good musicians playing some good music... Nothing out of the extraordinary...

On the way there, I asked Huda (our current bandleader) if she remembered when she first saw me... I've been thinking these few days, have I become more childish or was I always like this? It's ok if I act like this around the band members, but what happens after that? I'm still wondering if I can switch back to my normal self since I've only been interacting with the kids for the past weeks...

Oh well...

Getting excited about the trip to China already; my sis was asking me for my itinerary so that she can apply for leave... I'm not really sure about that myself, Weida still has a hard time deciding and it seems like his sister wants to come along as well... In the mean time, anyone wants me to get anything for them?

夢

Some people see things as they are and say "why?" I dream things that never were and say "why not?"


People say dreams are usually the reverse of what will happen in reality, I certainly hope so... I had a dream last night... It's something I've been thinking alot of lately, something I always wanted, but it is not something I find acceptable... Contradicting huh?

I would say it was a sweet dream, but something I don't wish happen... or was it I wish it would happen? ARghh... I'm confused...

No!!! It won't happen...

I hope...

道歉

Never ruin an apology with an excuse...


About the entries posted during the workshop at NUS, I posted without thinking that maybe one of them might be reading it... I mentioned something like they were "not much to look at"... Therefore this post started out as an apology to everyone that might be offended...

However, I went back to read it and realised there wasn't any need for this apology... It was stated that the participants were way below my age, so I wasn't really interested in looking at them...

To be honest, a few of them were actually not bad... Some ARE bad, but are very interesting characters which kind of make them attractive in their own way... Then again, they are just little kids...

失敗

How many times do you need to fail?


As many times as I need to pass...

完結篇

Finale...


Didn't blog on day 4 & 5 cause the lessons were earlier, so no time to do it... The workshop is finally over and my simple life goes back to normal... The photos and videos will come soon I hope...

Let's go back to day 1... Remember the guy I chose to play the lion drum on day 1? He never returned, he left the camp for good...

On day 2, I chose another guy (Edmund) to play the lion drum, he was quite good also and was eager to learn... I was relieved as I could get another person to fill up the numbers to the chinese section...

On day 3, Edmund told me he got a burnt and showed me his lobster red hands... Oh no!!! What am I gonna do?!? I had no choice but to get yet another guy (Benson) to do the lion drum...

On day 4, Benson got a bad headache and couldn't be there for the rehearsal... Oh God, please don't play me like this... Luckily, Edmund's condition was better and was able to do the drums... I didn't dare to push him too hard in fear that it might aggravate his injury...

On day 5, everyone arrived in one piece and were all ready to perform... Whew... The performance was great, they even played better than me for some parts... I was backstage throughout the performance, but I heard the crowd went wild... Can't wait to see the video...

About the curse to the lion drum, I've never gotten any problems like that, other than the occassional accidents where I hit my own fingers... Guess the drum don't like them huh...

第三天

Day 3...


Damn... The guy who was suppossed to play my chinese drum is sick and I doubt he will be coming back... Now, I have to teach another guy from scratch...

Finally found out where the other workshops are and saw some not bad looking girls there... Will be going to a production meeting as soon as I finish typing this, then maybe I could ask their instructors if I can sit in their workshops... Haha... Wish me luck...

第二天

Day 2...


The first day of the workshop went great, except for the part where we forgot what to play... They are mostly secondary school kids so not much to look at; too bad the older and nicer looking ones are over at the other workshops which I'm gonna sneak by one of these days...

I'm in-charge of the chinese section where you have the lion dance drum, cymbals, etc... All the boys wanted to play the drum, but there is only one of them... Geez... They all think it's very stylo to play the chinese drum (though I think so too), but they never know how tiring it is to play it... You have to play at such speeds that the stick flys off easily so you have to grab very hard at it... That's where you get the bruises and the extra large forearms...

Let's see if I can sneak by the other workshops tonight...