... Flowers from the Heart... Thanks You!

What a hectic Valentine's Day it was for me! For those of you who don't already know, I was running a small Valentine's Day business this year selling bouquets. Let's start off with the 13th Feb. Reeee-wind!

13th Feb

Started the day going to HabourFront to have lunch and collect the Supplementary Licenses for the Off-Peak Car that we're using. Once home, Kelly and myself quickly counted the number of orders we had and exactly how many more we needed to get. Then we were off to grab our supplies! By this time, the orders were more or less confirmed already with a few still pending/coming in. We went down to the florist and realised that we grossly under-estimated the orders the last time so we bought another bunch of flowers, side flowers, ribbons, wrappers, the works. We rushed home after that and started preparing to wrap the bouquets up. I was de-thorning the roses MANUALLY! You know how hard it is to dethorn 200+ roses manually!? Anyway Kailin came around 4 plus and she joined in the fray. Kelly and Kailin were busy making and wrapping the bouquets. I have two fridges in my house and I had previously cleared one for the bouquets but we realised that one fridge was not enough... So we cleared the other one! Two fridges full of roses.. plus a lot of spoilt food after that. We worked all the way till 5+am in the morning and I dropped Kailin off at PGP. Kelly and myself came back and we went to sleep at 7am...

14th Feb

My parents were off delivering in the morning so we thought we could get some sleep but.... We kept getting calls and messages the whole morning so the sleep was pretty much very disrupted. One customer called to complain in the morning that the blue roses were rotten. Funny thing is, another customer that also ordered blue roses were very satisfied with his bouquet. The blue roses came from the same bunch so either the roses got spoiled along the way or his expectations were unrealistic. Anyway we woke up at 11am and continued to pack the bouquets to prep-up for the afternoon deliveries. My parents came back at 12pm and we changed shift. Dad stayed home to pack his bags while Mum, Kelly and me continued the deliveries. We spent the whole day in the car driving all over Singapore, getting lost, finding our way around, listening to the radio, laughing and generally having loads of fun even though we were super tired. I'm actually glad I did this. Hey, I got to spend Valentine's with the two (yeah, that's right TWO, not one!) most important ladies in my life! Anyway we reached home only at 630pm, picked up Dad and his bags and the bouquets for the evening rounds and we were off again! Deliveries only ended at 9+pm and by then we had to rush off to the airport to send Dad off to Beijing. Had dinner there and sent him off, then sent Kelly back and finally reached home! My day ended at 12+am. Tired but very satisfied.

To our dear customers,

Thank you once again for your support!! We sincerely hope you've had a great Valentine's Day and you liked the bouquets that we sent you. Please do support us again next year! And remember.. "Romance is not a luxury." =)

Lotsa Love,

Valentine's Day 2008

...Flowers from the Heart... is exactly what its' name says. It's flowers, given from the bottom of the sender's heart. Simple and pure.

We are a florist that specializes in Valentine's Day bouquets. We live by the motto - Romance is not a Luxury. We believe that romance is essential to a relationship and that it should not be too costly to be able shower your loved ones with romance and affection. Therefore, we're making hand bouquets for Valentine's Day affordable to you. Let us bring a smile to your loved ones this Valentine's as well as a smile to your pockets.

12 Stalk Rose Bouquet...

All bouquets come with a free hand-made card that you can personalise with your very own message to your loved ones!

The wrapping and packaging of the bouquets is done by Kelly and Kailin. Both of them used to work at a florist. I'm handling the management of the whole business including all the paper work. So if you need flowers, please contact me! We can work out the price and you can be sure I'll quote you a good one!

Your Greatest Asset: Your Mind

Happy CNY! It's now officially the Year of the Rat! How's everyone's CNY celebrations coming along? Hope all's great with the visiting and catching up with relatives.

In my previous post, I mentioned about the mindset of self-made millionaires. I strongly believe that a person's mind is one of his greatest asset. It is something that everyone is given at birth so there is no discrimination. Everyone is given the same mind at birth. It is through the different experiences, training and exposure that a person will shape his thought-process and it is exactly this thought-process that is so very important in the search for wealth. Think about it, no two persons will see the world in exactly the same way. Although they can be looking at the same thing, what they see in their minds are different.

In order to achieve financial success, you will need to adopt the mindset and habits of individuals who have achieved financial success. It makes sense, doesn't it? Like for you to be able to drive a car, you need to learn from someone who knows how to drive a car. There is so much to know about the millionaire mindset. The way they see the world is totally different from the ordinary person. The way they think and their entire thought-process is totally different from the guy next door.

Napolean Hill wrote at length about the power of the subconscious mind in his book, Think and Grow Rich. He mentioned that the subconscious mind is so powerful that, if properly conditioned, can be the source of immense wealth. It will begin to attract money to the person who has that mind. That is not to be literally of course. It simply means that the person will begin to see money-making opportunities that other people who not even notice. He wrote "All impulses of thought have a tendency to clothe themselves in their physical equivalent". So if you can condition your mind to see the money-making opportunities around you, money will naturally flow towards you. You can read more about the book here.

Adam Khoo also mentioned the millionaire mindset in his book The Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires. In fact it is one of his 7 essential steps of financial success. You can learn more about his book and the 7 essential steps here.

Il Segreto 2008

The new school semester has been really busy for me. So much so I haven't had time to catch up on my books and it's already like the 4th week now. But then again, the year really only starts after CNY eh? It's like that every year, after the celebration and partying dies down from Christmas and New Year, the anticipation would start to build up for CNY. The holiday mood would still be hanging in the air and no one really feels like working.

Well what have I been busy with? Lemme see.. There's planning for the FOC Camp 2008, my own research work into Internet Marketing (gimme a holla if you're doing the same and maybe we can work something out together!), projects and assignments starting to pile up, some actual studying, spending time with Kelly, family, friends, etc. It's a pretty long list.

SDE Bash was a couple of weeks ago! Had so much fun during the bash. The pageant was good, Kelly was fantastic with the catwalk and dancing. But it was the partying after that rocked the house down. MOS gave us like a half-hour lead time before they opened the club to the public. That half hour block was really fun. Because everyone pretty much knew everyone else, we could really let our hair(s) down and party! Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Introducing your prom king and queen!

Kelly in all her glory

She even has her own fan club!

Her biggest fan!

That's all for now! I'll update again soon. Happy Chinese New Year!

The Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires Program!

During the last post, I mentioned about gaining more financial knowledge in order to better plan your personal finances and improve your financial intelligence. This time round, I'm going to introduce to you one of the ways in which you can do just that.

Recently, I've been reading Adam Khoo's Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires. Why Adam Khoo, you ask me? Well I attended an incubation camp with him a couple of years back (2003, I think...) and I remember being very impressed with the things he taught us during the camp.

At first glance, Adam Khoo didn't look like he was a millionaire. He looked the opposite really. He was really young and didn't carry with him the aura that I expected from a self-made millionaire. But throughout the course, the things he spoke about struck a chord in me. He showed me how anybody (and I mean anybody) can be a millionaire just be acquiring basic financial skills and knowledge.

Things like leveraging on the power of compounding, creating multiple streams of income, the habits of self-made millionaires, the mindset of self-made millionaires (very important - I'll elaborate more on this in another post) were all revealed to me through the life-changing camp! The experience changed my whole perception of personal finance and gave a a much better understanding of the way money flows. My views were never the same after the camp!

Adam Khoo complied the materials into a CD course - the Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires program. I was very surprised that he did it. After all, the cost to attend the actual course is about $3,800. The price of the program CD program online is only S$147. You just download the materials all onto your hardisk. Simple and convenient all at the same time.

You can go take a look at the program by clicking on the image below. If you think it'll help you, go get it! I've personally been through the program and I highly recommend it. Otherwise you can check out the Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires book at all popular bookstores islandwide (it's going for S$30.00+). Take a look at the book and read through it first to get a better understanding of what it is all about.

How To Make Money?

Cad asked me this question two days ago while we were waiting for our salsa class to start. Now, this might seem like a pretty normal question but it did strike me in a certain way. I got to thinking, yeah exactly how it is to make money. And I'm not talking about the usual $2000 - $3000 salaries. No, I'm talking about how to make MONEY.

I guess that is the million-dollar question these days isn't it. Everybody wants a piece of the millionaire pie. There are tons of books out there teaching ordinary folks like you and me how to systematically, step-by-step make a million bucks or two. Yet, how often do we actually read (let alone complete reading) the books and do all the steps recommended? And if we do, can we be sure of the results?

Well, I can only speak for myself here. I've read a couple of these financial books and while I haven't made my first million (actually I'm pretty far away from the first million), I dare say that these books have elevated my financial knowledge. So in a way, there are definately benefits to reading those books. Besides a boost in knowledge, they have also helped open my eyes to many different ways money can be generated and what are the new ways to make money on this modern age. Trust me when I say it is very from the traditional way of getting a job and working hard.

So how does this post relate to the question right at the top? Well, why don't you pick up that finance book you've been browsing through for the longest time and actually spend the time to read it. Knowledge never comes without the investment of time (and maybe money). Just think about your education. No one has ever managed to score well on the exams just through sheer luck. The same goes for this. Spend the time reading and accumulating knowledge. I have never met anyone who felt like they've wasted their time learning something new.

Valentine's Day!

Hi everyone!

It's been such a looong time since my last post. I don't wana make any excuses or reasons so I'm just gonna go straight out - I've been lazy. Haha.. Lots of things have happened since my last post. For one, I did not managed to attend the Union Camp. Instead I join SDE Rag! The Union Camp was just too much of a rush for me and I couldn't find the time to squeeze in assignments, exams, tests, Union Camp and Rag (all within 2 weeks!) so one of them had to go. Well, no regrets joining Rag definately. Now the second semester of school has just started, modules and timetable are different but the people are still the same. And that's a good thing. It looks like it's gonna be a pretty busy semester for me. Lots of fund-raising activities coming up, bashes to attend, meetings to hold, fun to be had, and not forgetting the studying.

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Anyway, Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Guys, this day have loomed dreadfully over the horizon ever since the ball dropped at Times Square signalling the start of 2008. Images of desperate guys sprinting to money-grubbing florists to shell out their hard-earned dough with tears in their eyes and holes in their pockets comes to mind. But dread not! With a little bit of advanced planning and with my help, you'll be able to save your breath, your tears and your dough (well, some of it at least) all at the same time!

This year, I've partnered with a couple of friends to sell hand bouquets for Valentine's Day. My partners have prior working experience at wrapping hand bouquets at a popular florist so the quality of the bouquets are guaranteed to be good. This is an example of what the bouquets will look like:



Our pricing is also a lot more affordable than other florists. This is because we hold firm in our belief that people should not have to pay so much to enjoy a romantic Valentine's Day with their loved ones. Here's our price list:

3 Stalk Bouquet - S$40.00
6 Stalk Bouquet - S$50.00
9 Stalk Bouquet - S$60.00
12 Stalk Bouquet - S$70.00

Self-collection is free. We also do delivery at a flat rate of S$10.00 per location. The prices are really affordable compared to the market rate for Valentine's Day. So do drop me a msg or an email if you want the bouquets!

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pray for me

i'm going to be so busy in july... somebody help me. maybe i should have dropped the module during the second term. my schedule:

2 - 5 july: SDE Camp '07
9 july: mid-term exam
10 - 14 july: Union Camp '07
17 july: Reaction Paper submission
19 july: Qualifying English Test
24 july: project presentation
25 july: journal submission
27 july: final exam

i really wonder how am i going to be able to cope. tests and exams need to be studied. projects need to be worked on. camps need to be there.

but hey there's always fun in all the adrenaline rush. what a way to start off uni life! woohoo!

off centre

3.30am and i still can't fall asleep. must be that 1.5l of coke light i downed 3 hrs ago. hate it when this happens.. ruins the next fews days all the time. i don't get enough sleep tonight means i'll get up in the afternoon tmr which means i won't be able to sleep again till late, etc, etc. it's a vicious cycle i tell ya.

i've been watching this sitcom called off centre. great show, funny as hell. it stars john cho, the milf dude from american pie. he's the best part of the show. love how he delivers his lines. it's a pretty old show actually. think it aired sometime back in 2002. too bad it got cancelled halfway through the second season. why do these tv networks always cancel the best shows.

anyway show's about this two friends, mike and euan, who lives in a posh apartment in new york. their regular hangout is in chau's vietnamese restaurant. chau is this quirky asian dude who has a weird (and often humourous) perspective on life and women. living across the hall from mike and euan is status quo, a grammy award-winning rapper who loves to cook and is only in his rapper persona when he has to be. think of off centre as a kind of teen-flick (minus the actual teens) sitcom and you'll get the idea. this is one of my favourite parts in the show:

mike (after successfully chatting up some ladies in the bar): chau, can you believe this? if i were a super hero, i would be woman-man! (pauses) no no wait a second...

chau: no no no that's good, that's good. then i would be your side-kick... girlie-boy!

i should be getting the first two seasons of two guys, a girl and a pizza place (starring ryan reynolds!) pretty soon. can't wait!

inside jokes

"You're romanticulous? That's simplastic! Hey don't give me that bluook."

"That is a unicorn la... Cannot tell meh??? Got the horn what!"

"Hrmm... Shhh..... It's an oven LAH!!!"

"She's a foreigner? Look closer la, don't let looks deceive you, she's a Singaporean."

"Ni shi wo de ju ren, wo shi ni de xiao gui, wo shi yao yi dian qian!"

"Tian xia de nu hai tou shi yi yang lok oh~~ tian xia de lok gui dou zai xin jia puo!"

mumble mumble

i wish you were someone else. no wait i wish someone else was you. no wait i wish i wish...

if only you could see things through my eyes. no wait if only i could see things through your eyes. no wait...... wait...............

don't go.

i gotta change my ice mountain bottle soon... before it corrodes...

hi! i'm back! =)

sorry for the absence again. i really find it hard to keep up with the updating often.. motivate me.

I've finally started school! yeap yeap yeap back to the good ol' broke college student life AGAIN! i'm starting during the special terms in nus so that means the campus is pretty much empty for the first three months i'm there. My actual semester starts in august with the rest of the kids. i'm only doing two modules over the next 3 months. 1 module per 6 weeks so that effectively means my exams is just a short 5 weeks away although i just started sch today! yay!

ah what the fuck am i cheering about.. my brain's damn rusty after not studying since sec 4 (poly counted as studying? well yes if you consider skipping lectures to go ktv, abandoning tutorials to watch movies and then telling the lecturer off in short four lettered words when he complains about our attendance). but i'm glad to be back to studying nevertheless. i only hope it keeps up. =)

last week was an interesting week for me. had so much fun but it got cut short on thurs when i found out i was starting sch the following mon. i bloody thought i would be having a cool 2 weeks break. what the.. now i'm stuck with only 4 days?!?! no can do so it was double party mode, double time. the week went by pretty quickly. i got my entire biological clock screwed up in the process and now i gotta start adjusting everything back again. so overall: it was a blast! double thumbs up! wayyy up!

boy meets world

i was browsing through the video store on sun looking for some good shows to rent when i stumbled upon this 2002 show called cheats. anybody seen that one before?

the reason it caught my eye was because of the actor (yes, for once not the actress). matthew lawrence was one of the mains in the show. well i used to like matt lawrence as an actor when i was younger. this was way back in my primary school days. but funny thing is i can't seem to figure out exactly which show did i catch him in. i'm thinking it either has to be boy meets world or brotherly love. higher chance it's brotherly love. the rest of the shows he acted in doesn't seem to ring bells of any kind.

i have no idea what happened to him though. these days i hardly see him in any big budget hollywood flicks. his most commerical offering thus far was a small part in hot chicks. i always thought he could have made it pretty big in hollywood but i have a feeling he's not very well known in singapore. well here's a picture of him. looks familiar to you?

newfound jealousy

shirlyn tan's new album is finally out!

went down to the esplanade outdoor theatre for the album launch today.

first single off the album is window. sounds damn good. you can check it out from her link on the right.

=)

CATS Recruit

Booker T. Washington said: “I have learnt that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has to overcome while trying to succeed.”

It may be just a simple quote to you but it spoke volumes when I read it.

It is just here as a reminder to me that this phase has already been said and acknowledged as true.

The Wall of Fire

Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire. Play Scenario 2 as Sun Ce. Try to see if you can get him to be Emperor before he passes away. Sun Ce dies at a really young age. So when Sun Quan joins your army (he’ll join in about 4 – 6 years after you start the scenario), you’d better already be on the way to ascending the throne. And don’t cheat, play Historical mode on Pro difficulty please. Here a hint: getting the Secret Books of Healing to prolong your life really helps here. I know it’s a really old game (it was available in 1995) but I still enjoy the classics. =)

My understudy finally came today. He’s a Malaysian from Sarawak. But he’s already stayed in KL and JB for 3 years each, and he’s joined our company after graduating on the Dean’s List. Quite an accomplished fellow. I’m still waiting to see if getting good grades in school would equate to performing well at work. So far, he’s shown he is intelligent enough. He asks me questions which shows that he thinks. He’s observant enough to notice the small details (which I’m pretty particular about). And he’s shown a little enthusiasm by asking to look through my files even though I didn’t ask him to. Not a bad start. But he’s experienced only the tip of the iceberg so far. Still credit must be given where credit is due. I think if he continues on like this, he can make it pretty far.

I went to lunch with him this afternoon and we got around to discussing politics. I asked him whether, as a Malaysian, he preferred the ruling style of Mahathir or Abdullah. He said Mahathir, which both surprised me and made sense at the same time. It was only fair that I, as a Singaporean, would be thinking Abdullah is the better leader, primarily because Abdullah is more receptive and open towards Singapore. He argued that Mahathir was the one who actually stood up for Malaysia while Abdullah was more of a soft-approach leader. Come to think of it, it’s really true in a way. Mahathir did speak up against the US when he thought the US was being unfair to Malaysia. Plus he took a firmer stand with Singapore as compared to Abdullah. The most recent example being Lee Kuan Yew’s comments on Singapore marginalizing the Malays here. I had a feeling that Abdullah had demanded an explanation from Lee Kuan Yew only because of intense pressure from the media. And Abdullah didn’t press the matter. He just let it rest after Lee Kuan Yew offered his explanation. I felt the situation would have been very different if Mahathir still was in charge. He would have definitely blown up the matter beyond proportion.

Ugh.. I’m disgusted. I just heard my sister say to me “Kor, another guy going after me leh! He very rich!” I don’t mean to put my own sister down but come on, can she be more shallow here? Utterly disgusted with her. I’d expect her to show more class than that. With girls like this in Singapore, I can pretty much throw intelligence, character, etc out the window. Why bother when I can just use money to buy their filthy, materialistic pussies..

after hours and resignation letters

The first episode of After Hours just aired. I love the feel of the show. Don’t ask me why but I’ve always liked shows that depict the next stage of life that I’m about to embark on. For example I loved Spin when I was in secondary school. Why? Cause Spin was about a bunch of poly students. It portrayed the kind of lifestyle that I wanted to have in poly and guess what? My poly life turned out exactly the way I wanted it to! Better than how I imagined it would be actually. Then during poly days, there were quite a couple of shows that caught my eye. Two of them were Chase and Chemistry. Now these shows were about people in the working force, juggling their jobs and social/love life. Now I know the next stage after poly was NS and then uni then working life but still.. Hey it never hurts to look ahead right? Well After Hours is essentially Chase part 2. And did I mention the theme song? Written and composed by Linda Liao no less. I have an idea of what kind of life I want to lead when I start working and I hope that I would be able to achieve (and maintain) it.

I spent the entire Saturday that just went by at home. I notice my life goes in cycles. There’ll be busy periods jammed packed with social outings, busy at work, busy at home, etc.. And then it’ll all cool down after awhile and life takes a breather before picking up the pace again. Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing the same thing as well? Anyway, I thought staying at home to chill once in a while is always good. It gives me some time to find myself again. Or to go back into my cave, as some experts would put it. I think this kind of days are going to be hard to come by once I start school so I’d better treasure it right now.

Speaking of which, I’ve finished typing (and printing) my resignation letter. Was easier than I thought it would be. Just google a template out and there it is.. Freshly minted resignation letter. I’ll be starting school again come May so I gotta be quitting my job end April. Lots of things to hand over. My understudy hasn’t even arrived yet. Plus I need to guide and train him up before I go. And not forgetting I got to make sure the new contract is administered properly and past records are settled. The contract with Keppel Seghers is ending this week but I think we’re more or less going to sign the one year extension with them. Their Zone Engineers have been in contact with Air-Temp regarding this issue so yeah no worries on that front. I’m sure Ah Goh will be able to whip something saucy up!

pm lee and the turtles

hm.. the title sounds like a band's name... ah never mind.

There was an article in the straits times sometime this week about PM Lee commenting on the pay of civil servants. Apparently they don’t get paid as well as people in the private sector. And he wants to review their pay structure. He added that it would be hard to maintain and motivate a clean and proper government if their ministers and workers are not paid enough to do their jobs. Well, last I heard, the GST was going up to 7% come july. Hm.. I wonder where the ministers’ pay raise is gonna come from.. Probably not from the increase in GST, cause it’s supposed is to help the poor.. Not to make minister richer than they already are.. no no… And what did you say? What? Singapore’s PM earns more than the US President? Ah.. but he still cannot compare to the top shots in the private sector la. So it’s ok to review his pay.. no wait.. it’s right to review his pay.

So anyway enough about the government. I caught TMNT in the movies today. It was good seeing those turtles in action again.. it brought back many many memories. My fav turtle has always been Raphael. I think it must be the whole tough guy anti-hero thing plus that cool attitude of his. Haha.. Cowabunga dude!

sispec warriors!!

kids don't try this at home.. we're trained professionals who are getting paid by taxpayers.

life is tough being a soldier.... look at what we have to do for the country...

dream a little dream... (of me?)

my laptop's on the verge of breaking down.. it keeps shutting down on me. i've typed this entry like twice already but haven't got the chance to post it before it auto shut down. argh too lazy to go into the details for a third time.. so i'll just keep it short.

- saturday

went east coast park to celebrate pei pei's birthday and do some roller blading. almost none of us knew how to blade so we ended we tripping over each other, falling into mini-drains and crashing into bushes. it was an utter humiliation... imagine a 5 year old kid whizzing past you. ugh... i fell twice. the second time was on a friend and he had to knee me in the chest while doing so. it still hurts now as t'm typing this.. so anyway after blading, we went to cafe vienna at novena to grab some dinner. international buffet at 40 bucks per head. my bank's gonna be wiped clean after this weekend. the food itself was ok.. not fantastic but not bad either. but not worth the 40 bucks.. definately. we went over to pei pei's place after dinner and played some dumb naming games because pock mun wanted to do it. started with naming soccer stars, then moved on to celebrities and finally childhood cartoons!

- sunday

the guys came over to my place for some fun in the sun. started with playing basketball.. pock mun was complaining non-stop throughout about how tired he was. singapore's just not producing proper soldiers these days. order some mcdelivery and we chilled in the pool while waiting for lunch. it's nice to finally do this with some friends.. more often than not, i'm always doing this alone.. chilling by the pool, listening to some good music, catching the sun, etc. they came up to my place after that and we spent the entire day playing the very retro romance of the three kingdoms 4: wall of fire! built our armies up for 5 hours only to kill ourselves by duelling with our kings. let's see.. cao cao got beaten by ma teng. yuan shao got executed by liu bei because of internal politics (hahaha...), liu bei, guan yu and zhang fei lost to ma chao and all three got executed. ma teng eventually lost to an injured sun ce in single mortal combat.. and got executed! yeap.. lots of heads were rolling that night.

- monday

so starts another working week. market's looking pretty good.. sti's gaining some points again. i'm hoping for a full-on recovery after the correction last month. so far my investments are all still in the green.. looking pretty good with some dividends heading my way soon (i hope). ascott is too expensive for me but it's one of the counters i'm hoping to be able to buy and hold soon. during the correction, it went down to about 1.45+. it was seriously undervalued then. then it recovered in the past few weeks to about 1.60+. and not forgetting their declaring dividends too. it's way out of my budget now.. what after all the money spent over the weekend. i went over to my grandad's place for dinner after work. guosh and cheam came over to my place later that night to chillax (chill + relax). cheam has this business idea which he thinks is gonna make him a bundle and he broke up with his girlfriend the previous night. so being the buddies the army taught us to be, we had to lend a listening ear and of course provide some manly cans of beers to ease that hurting heart. we stayed and chatted till about 2am and they left and i went up to catch some eye shut.

- tuesday

that's today.. my chest still hurts from the fall on sat so g-ku brought me to the polyclinic. we went to the office first and left at about 10+. had a consultation session at marine parade, then had to be referred to tampines for an x-ray scan, then head back to marine parade again for the review. after going all over sunny singapore on a sunny day, the doc told me i'm looking ok.. the pain is probably caused by the muscles which on injured during the fall. i'm feeling a little guilty right now about causing g-ku to spend so much time away from the office today.

all right i gotta run.. going to head for my haircut appointment with kandy right now. catch ya around!

hello linda liao

hey anybody got after hours' theme song on mp3? send it my way please... it's a really good song plus linda liao looks sooooooooooooo cutesy trying to be rock in the mtv.

and in other (more serious) news.....

the stock market continues to plunge again... what the hell. the sti's combined drop is about 130 points for today and the day before. that means an easy 3% off the index. i guess i'm lucky to still be holding onto paper profits even after the previous mini-crash of sorts. g-ku tells me of one of g-kim's friend who is a trader at kim eng. that guy lost a couple of million dollars when the market crash the week before. imagine how much money that guy has.. i mean to be able to dump millions into stocks and equities means he has got to have even more in reserves right? after all, nobody puts all their money just into equities. i guess the two crashes have their benefits as well.. for one, the counters are cheaper now. plus most companies are going to give out their dividends soon. so picking up and holding to stocks right now might just be a good idea.

scholarships and npra

2 things are causing me much grief right now.

first one's the scholarships. okay maybe this one is worth all the headaches and frustrations if i actually manage to nail it. chances are, it's not gonna happen. my results in poly ain't exactly fantastic and i think i didn't leave a very good impression with my lecturers.. hm wonder what chee hock wah wrote in my (confidential) character reference report. anyway no use thinking about all this. i'm just gonna submit the applications and hope for the best. hey no harm trying right? i'm applying for 4 different scholarships btw.. nus, mas, ocbc and keppel. wish me luck!

alrighty the second one.. now this one's the real killer. npra - normanton park residents' association. that's the association where i live. there's an issue going on right now regarding the purchase of the common properties in normanton park (let's just say np from now yeah?). you see, the flats that the residents live in are owned by them. no surprises there. but the common property (walkways, field, playground, swimming pool, etc, etc) are owned by mindef. shocking isn't it. i had no idea about this as well. ah to cut a very long story short, npra wants each unit to pay $25k for the purchase of the common properties. problem is, i ain't got so much cash. take up a loan then they say.. yeah but i'll incur a 6% interest.. that's an additional $1500.00 of money going down the drain. it's kinda hard to afford that luxury when my family is already neck deep in debts. on top of that, my sister don't give two hoots and my mum can't really be bothered, my dad's in china so i guess that leaves me having to deal with this. i'm thinking to myself why do they have to purchase the common properties because of an en-bloc potential. the key word is potential. there's no real offer coming up yet because technically npra can't sell the place if they don't own it. so then why in the first place do we have to prepare for a potential en-bloc that might not even happen? why can't we just continue to rent the place from mindef? i don't really trust npra.. they're made up of ex-army officers and who knows.. npra's dealing with mindef here of all the government bodies. yeah they can pull strings but they might be pulling the wrong strings.. pulling the strings for themselves, not the residents. there's an extraordinary meeting coming up this sat. my mum's working so she can't attend. my sis can't be bothered. so... that leaves me again doesn't it? so... anybody willing to accompany me there?

another post? hey that's pretty fast..

"Every story has an ending. But in life, every ending is a new beginning."

I just watched a show that ended with that line. It's one of those lines where you go "wow that's so true" and just sit there pondering on that life sentence while the credits roll. Seriously I can't imagine just how meaningful that sentence is. Imagine every relationship that didn't work out. Imagine the time you finished primary school, then secondary school, then post-secondary education, etc. Imagine every job change you've had. It all ended a chapter in life. But that ending only heralded a new beginning. And it's usually after that chapter has ended that we really start to appreciate that chapter for being what it was. I look back on my poly days all the time and wish I could turn back the hands on the clock. It wouldn't be the same if I simply just enrolled into poly again. The people that made my experience what it was would not be there anymore. And it's people (and more importantly, friends) that add so much colours to my life. Of course family plays a major part too but that's a different kind of colour their adding.

Recently The Best I've Ever Had by Vertical Horizon keeps playing in my mind. There's just something about that song that brings back memories. The starting of the song has that haunting feel to it. I guess the one word to describe this is nostalgia.

I met a friend last Wednesday. It was pretty late after a movie and I was having a smoke outside with some friends. She walked by and our eyes caught. She came over and we said hi. We chatted for some 5 mins or so and then she went on her way. It's funny how such a simple event can trigger so much feelings. I was never close to her at all during our time in poly. In fact, she was closer to one of my very close friends. Sure I always admired her, always thought she was good-looking, intelligent and can carry herself well. But it never went anything beyond that. Then 3 years after we graduate, we bump on the streets, exchanged numbers and I find myself wanting to ask her out for coffee to catch up on good times and find out how she's been doing all these while. It's a funny feeling that I really can't explain. Maybe I'm just acting on the nostalgic side of me. Maybe there's something more.. I honestly can't tell.

hey he's back.. but do we really want him back?

the steps leading up to me finally being able to write my entry is.. well unfamiliar. had to go through all the upgrading to google stuff. it's been pretty long since i last posted. like what about 4 months or so...

where'd i go, i hear you ask? well, nowhere really. i just got a little tired and lazy to blog. nothing much to write anyways. plus i don't really have a digital camera so any dreams of a picture blog would definately not materialize.

what's been happening since the new year? loads of stuff.. too much for me to even remember actually. i've got my license (still no car though), i managed to squeeze time inbetween doing nothing to lug my ass (which is getting flabbier and bigger) down to cdp to open my account and then up to the 12th floor to open my trading account. january saw me applying for 3 ipo's, getting only 1 of them (yay cityspring!) and now i'm holding on to 2 counters as investments. really getting into this stock market thing. but then again i don't know how long it can last. more precisely, how long my money can hold staying in the market before i eventually have to liquidate. not a sound investment path to go down i agree but where's a guy supposed to start right?

i'm still waiting for the confirmation letter from nus to arrive. really really hope that they get enough people to start the two special terms. it would mean so very much to me to actually graduate earlier. even just one semester would make a difference. otherwise, i'm looking at 27 before i start working.. and that's pretty late even for guy standards here in sg.

hm.. another working week ahead tomorrow.. wonder what the week ahead brings. g-ku's birthday is coming up this wednesday. gotta go shop around for a birthday gift soon.

alright it's getting late.. i'm signing off.

till next time.. i don't know when though...

beijing beijing

just doesn't sound the same as new york new york does it? ahh never mind..

fulfiling trip to beijing it was! managed to see my dad after 7 whole months and he showed us the progress he made in china. brought us to meet his many business partners and even showed us around his offices. it's a kind of work/holiday trip.. not exactly completely relax but not exactly working at the same time.

so we landed in beijing on sat at about 630am. on my way out of the plane (we were going out onto the tarmac), a stewardess told me to wear more clothes ("chuan duo yi dian yi fu, wai mian len") but i thought nah there's nothing my strong singaporean body can't handle. turns out, i was bloody wrong. there's many things my singaporean body can't handle.. least of all is the suddenly drop to a freezing 2 degrees in temperature. needless to say, i froze out on the tarmac, was shaking non-stop when the shuttle finally brought us to the airport.

so i met up dad and uncle anthony at the airport and we made our way to the hotel. so starts out trip.. first day we (well mainly my sis) went around shopping. the rest of us just tagged along. you know how girls gets when overseas and the prices are cheap.

this is the backlanes behind the hotel.. we stayed at the days inn joiest. it's a nice, upscale kind of place.

there's just so much to explore in beijing. it's a city so rich in culture and history, i felt i could have easily spent 6 months there and still not covered all the spots. it's like a clash of the old and new there.. you've got old chinese-style buildings in the foreground and then tall sky-scrappers in the background as a testament to the modernisation of china.

but i prefer the old buildings of course.. that's where all the history is. so the we spent saturday and sunday basically shopping around and getting climatised to the cold cold weather. on monday, we met miss lee. she's one of my dad's business partners and apparently one very influential business woman in beijing. she had offered her place when she heard we were coming up to beijing so we had to "show face" and move in to stay with her.

downside: she's a very domineering woman so our schedule for the next whole week was practically dictated by her.

upside: she planned everything for us, plus she put her driver at our disposal. thumbs up!

her place is huge.. there's a garage but it's not big enough to fit all her 3 cars so the driver usually takes one car home. there's a garden where she put the rocks she bought from the excavation site of peking man. plus she has 2 dogs, one of which is a police guard dog.. freaking huge goliath of a dog.

the lady in the picture? yeah that's miss lee.. along with hou zi, the huge dog (yes, dogs in china have chinese names and they listen to commands in chinese as well..). it's sitting down and it's already about half my height.. granted i'm not that tall but still...

there's an ongoing deal to bring kbox into beijing. the place is already ready for business. it's just that they haven't attained the go-ahead license from the chinese government. so miss lee was pulled in by the top shot of kbox to help with the marketing and branding of the joint in china. in turn, miss lee roped in my dad to help out as well. we went down to kbox a couple of times.. and the difference between kbox beijing and kbox singapore? check this out.. kbox beijing is 3 storeys high, with 98 fully furnished rooms and they employ about 200 staff (including kitchen staff, etc). each room has a dedicated staff member to cater to the customer's every whimp. plus they provide buffet meals via the in-house kitchen (yes they have a whole kitchen inside) that comes along with the ktv sessions. it's a sort of upscale ktv joint..

anyway we met with the managing director of kbox beijing to discuss certain issues. and he introduced us to his partners from singapore and malaysia (also from kbox). during one of the sessions, miss lee had the director/chairman of the beijing property arm of the chinese government to meet with us. also, it was during one of these sessions where i finally sang the song "ni zhe me she de wo nan guo" with my dad!

during the course of week, in between meetings with business partners and dinners and lunches, we managed to squeeze the time to visit the many places of historical interest that beijing has to offer. i'll let the pictures do the talking here..

the ju yong pass of the great wall.. i climbed all the way up to the end of the wall here.. took me nearly 2+ hours to complete. totally shagged out after that....

the forbidden city.. miss lee used her government connections to allow us to enter without charge. this is a magnificent place.. the attention to detail was superb.

the summer palace.. where the emperors of the ming and qing dynasty came to relax and enjoy themselves. it's a huge place, much larger than the forbidden city. the whole lake in the background constitutes just part of the summer palace..

the temple of heaven.. where the ming and qing emperors would come to pray for bountiful crops every year. it's a giant compound, where the ceremony is intricate and and the implications are deep. just imagine there would be hundreds of officials congratualting the emperor upon completing the ceremony. and yeah, the congratulating is in itself one of the ceremonies..

special mention: this goes out to the chauffeur who drove us around during the week we spent in beijing. his name is xiao wu. he's one the most humble persons i've met in my life. he worked overtime almost every single day during the week we were there but never once did he complained or showed an unhappy face. he was always willingly to explain to us the sights and sounds as we travelled around beijing. he even walked us about the forbidden city and bothered to explain everything (giving us an insight into the history of the place) and ensured we were safe. he never once asked for anything during meals times except maybe a hot drink and he would always walk ahead of us to ensure that the car would be prep-ed and ready by the time we reached. thanks again xiao wu, you are more than just a chauffeur to us, you are a friend. and one that we are proud to call.

well that pretty much wraps it up for my beijing trip. i've got a lot more photos so maybe i'll upload it to my flickr account. check them out there yeah. =)

teen flicks

the teen film (also called teen movie or teenpic) is a film genre in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers, such as the coming of age, first love, rebellion, and conflict with parents.

sexual themes are common.

(extracted from wikipedia.org)

the genre also happens to be one of my favourite. why? because it's completely brainless, drop-dead humour. it's a laugh-all-you-can feast. it's a passage back into a time when things were simpler (in a way) and you don't really get into trouble (except you do).

here's my list of top 10 all-time favourite teen movies:

10. Dude, Where's My Car?
9. Road Trip
8. Back to the Future trilogy
7. Orange County
6. Van Wilder: Party Liaison
5. Can't Hardly Wait
4. Loser
3. American Pie Series
2. Grease
1. She's All That (..ah sweet rachael....)

so how many of 'em are on your list as well? =)

waning us influence?

the united states have been the dominant world power for nearly 65 years now. not since the end of world war 2, which cemented the united states' status as a world leader, have they held as much influence and power. take popular culture for example, the general mindset of the average kid on the street would be to think being american is cool. speaking american lingo, speaking like an american, dressing up like one, all this simply goes to prove that the united states today resembles the rome of yesterday.

however, during the past several years, events have taken place which show cracks starting to appear in the all-american wall of power. the surge of japanese influence brought a whole new meaning to popular culture to the youth of asia. not to mention the korean kimchi wave almost right after that. even hollywood have started taking asian films and re-making them into hollywood blockbusters.

the us military have today spread itself thin bring the self-appointed world police body. american forces in iraq and afganistan are fighting a war that is being condemned by their own public. the us' closest ally, prime minister tony blair, is already in trouble supporting washington's war on terrorism. and the latest crack have come in the form of north korean. openly defying the international community (and by that, i especially mean the us) and going ahead with the nuclear weapons test despite protests and warnings from other nations.

would north korean have been so bold a couple of years back? why would they dare to carry out the tests when almost every nation, including their ally china, is against it? let's take a couple of years back to when pakistan decided to reveal to the world that they too want to join the nuclear club. the united states came along with their usual statements of protests, causing a flurry of speculation on what they would do only to simply drop everything and accept the fact that pakistan is now a member of the club. now the same thing is happening with north korea. except north korea is totally different from pakistan.

fact of the matter is, the mere truth that north korea has nuclear capabilities can de-stabilise the entire region. to paint just one of the scenarios that could possibly happen. imagine japan decides to break the treaty that allows them to only sustain a defensive force. they decide that they too need nuclear weapons because the north koreans would be using it as bargaining chips during diplomacy and japan simply would not accept that. japan then starts buying and acquiring weapons to bolster its' forces, with the help of the us of course. now this sends a chill down many countries in asia, especially to south korea, china, malaysia, singapore, because they are reminded of japan's militaristic past. what happens next is an arms race in asia where every nation would be acquiring weapons just to protect itself. tension mounts in the region and stability declines. economies would suffer as businesses feel less safe and hesitate to invest in asia. countries start getting poorer and poorer but they still invest heavily on defence because of the region's situation. now there might come to a point when one nation gets desperate enough and starts taking another nation's resources. world war 3?

that's a pretty extreme example i admit but it's a possibility. my point is that it seems to me that the united states' influence over world matters have been declining over the past few years. the us is just not the nation it once was. maybe it's the start for another rome to take over? because history have proven time and again that no empire lasts forever. maybe not. but whatever it is, the united states have to take decisive action soon if it wants to preserve its' influence. and they can start by doing something about north korea.

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i've been following the developments on this issue for a couple of days and thought i'd post my thoughts onto my blog for you guys to read. i didn't really know how to put my thoughts into words at the start but i guess things turned out pretty ok yeah? it's my first time writing at length on current affair issues so please do leave your comments and thoughts on the matter as well. i wana know what you think of the north korea issue!

and waddaya know, i kinda enjoyed writing these stuff. i think i might just write somemore when i have enough pent-up thoughts inside of me.

hope you enjoyed this one. =)

strong enough to break

hee.. i couldn't resist it
here's one more

Verse 1
I don’t feel myself today
Just a figure in a big monopoly game
Struggle is the price you pay
You get just enough just to give it away
I'm sinking but I’m floating away
Throw me a line so I can anchor my pain
The fabric is about to fray
The fabric is about to fray

Chorus
Things keep coming and I keep wondering
I start feeling the walls close in
Things keep coming and I keep stumbling
I start feeling I’m strong enough to break
Oh, I start feeling I’m strong enough to break

Verse 2
Been running through my mind today
Scenarios to add to your hypocrisy
No one ever takes the blame
But everyone is searching for a cure to the pain
Nothing ever seems to change
Oh, nothing ever seems to change
We just play like broken records in a deaf man’s charade

Hanson - Strong Enough To Break

this song makes me wonder
is there such thing as a state of mind where you're so strong
you're not afraid to break anymore..?
love the acoustic feel of the music in this song

alrite alrite i know you guys have had enough lyrics for one day.. =)

penny and me

the lyrics have always been inspirational to me
their music brings with it countless images of mixed feelings
knew about them way back in the (very) late '90s
they are still around, gone indie with their own label
the freedom allowed them to develop their own style of music
and they have not failed to deliver

here's selected lyrics to just one of their songs
hope you hear it the way i do

Verse 1
Cigars in the summertime under the sky by the light
I can feel you read my mind
I can see it in your eyes
Under the moon as it plays
Like music every line
There's a rug with bleeding dye under the fan in the room
Where the passion's burning high
By the chair with the leopard skin under the light
It's always Penny and me tonight

Verse 2
On the plane step up with both my feet
Riding in seat number 3 on a flight to NYC
Got my bean in a coffee cup next to my seat
Catch the view and another good book to read
Sending me home on the friendly skies
Missin' her eyes
It's always Penny and me tonight

Verse 3
Staring at a million city lights
But it's still Penny and I all alone beneath the sky
Feel the wind brushing slowly by
If I could soar I would try, to take these wings and fly
Away to where the leaves turn red
But no matter where I am instead
Singin' along to feelin' alright
We're makin' it by in the pink moonlight
It's always Penny and me tonight

Bridge
Penny likes to get away
And drown her pain, in lemonade
And Penny dreams of rainy days
And nights up late by the fireplace
And aimless conversations bout' the better days

Hanson - Penny and Me

someday, i hope to be able to write and compose like them...

crazy / beautiful

"There's something beautiful in each of my imperfections."
- Nicole Oakley

Wild freedom soaring through the wind.
A disciplined scholar gets caught up in the scene.
The open road beckons.
Should I stay or should I go, he reckons.
The truth is never beautiful.
But true love will always stand true.
Growing up under pale moonlit sky.
With bright citylights glaring high.
The gates are opened.
As the past is forgotten.
A picture paints a thousand words.
But it takes just three words,
To paint a million pictures..

Well that pretty much sums up my thoughts about the movie. =)

solitude..

i meet up with my friends everyday
share with them the joy and laughter
and their sorrows and depressions
i love my friends for who they are
for they make me who i am
they define my character and give me a purpose for living

but yet...

solitude still finds its' way in
through the walls i built around myself
no matter how much i run
all it takes is a descend from above

and i get pulled back through 1095 days...

the world meet

to all the activist groups and would-be demostrators protesting about the lack of freedom-of-speech..

well what else can i say to ya but...

welcome to singapore

you'll probably learn why we singaporeans choose to shut up soon enough. =)

Michael J.B Goode

This is the scene from Back to the Future I where Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) plays Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode at his parent's high school party (or festival or something).

It's one of those moments you know would go down in cinematic history. One of those scenes where, 20 years down the road when you mention it, someone would go "yeah I remember watching that show when I was a kid and I absolutely loved that part!"

Well I'm one of those people. Enjoy! =)

"Chuck! Chuck! It's Marvin! Your cousin, Marvin Berry..." haha..

PS, the show was released in 1985.

you're reaching out again

Amanda Ling's skills on the keyboards have definately improved.

Just take a listen to Electrico's Walk. Skip to between 00:52 and 01:15 to hear what I mean.
The verse basically has almost no electric guitar (except at 01:02), just the vocals, drums, bass guitar and keyboards. Listen out for the second verse between 01:58 and 02:24. Her take during the chrous is good as well.

The keyboards matched the song really well, adding a lot of feel and depth to it. It also sets the mood of the song, like I'm standing all alone in a club full of people.

I felt she was saying more through her music on the second album. Stepping more into the front, and being more confident of her music. She was pretty much relegated to a secondary role during the first album. Her keyboards then were like backing tracks for the other instruments. Hopefully she'll grow as she jams with the band and gains more exposure. Only time will tell, but things are definately looking up.

Love In New Wave is another track in which she stands in the spotlight. It's their first single off the second album, go take a listen.

crossroads

decisions decisions..

ord looms on the horizon and the pace of life is picking up.
maybe it's just me getting back onto the highway of life.
not the other way around.

should i go to unsw or nus?
or apply again next year?
should i accept a job while clearing leave?
or give myself some down time to enjoy it?

it seems like i want it both ways..
i want the reputation and security
and at the same time, the double degree.
i want to enjoy myself after being active for 2 years
and at the same time, i need the dough.

who can point me in the right direction?
or maybe i just need someone to push me in one direction

...any direction...

blue yonder dreams

it's been an incredibly enjoyable week for me! let's do a rare break-down eh? it's going to be a looong post...

21st July 2006, Friday
went out with ernest, guosh, rison and tham to celebrate at seoul garden taka! guosh made a special concoction containing 6 different types of chilli and a variety of ice-cream topped up with sago-sago and forced it down my throat.
the mixture was totally disgusting, and i managed to down 3 full spoons before i nearly puked on every single last laughing one of them.
we went to swensen's at the crown prince after to just chill and hang loose. we found out that asking a waitress whether fiona xie had digitally enhanced assets was not the best way to strike a conversation. haha.. =)
22nd July 2006, Saturday
had to wake up early cause scsc held a family day event at the science centre, which was a total waste of time aside from the free meal we got, and of course the two cute ladies giving out fake tatoos. i got myself one on the underside of my left forearm, it's gone now of course but i kinda liked it while it lasted.

i was supposed to meet shufang in town but i got out early so i went over to her place instead to pick both the sisters up and head to town together. shufen went off to join her friends while shufang and myself went to breeks for lunch. spent the entire afternoon just chatting and walking around town with her. we found out more about each other even after knowing each other for 4 years plus.

my mum, sis and her boyfriend came to ps to have a family celebration in the evening. we had ramen at the japanese restaurant there. food was good, atmosphere was good, everything was good. tingyu called me up halfway during dinner to meet her at starbucks for a minute. i went down and there she was holding a small cake for me aww.. she told me couldn't make it for the dinner the next day so she got me a cake herself. that was thoughtful of you ms nah! i went back up to the restaurant to finish the dinner and my family presented me with the vcd set of (don't laugh) the champions! y'know the one starring fiona xie running along orchard with only a bikini on. i spent the rest of the week watching that show every night haha..

23rd July 2006, Sunday
xiao wen called me at 12 midnight and asked me to open my door. i did and the sight was beautiful. she had placed a tiramisu cake in a box and beside the cake was her bithday card accompanied by a ticket to the unxpected's concert. her handphone was also in the box, playing a recording of her singing happy birthday. i was totally stunned. so we went in, cut the cake and held a mini-celebration of sorts.

i woke up in the afternoon and rushed down to toa payoh to meet ben, jinchuan, shauna, shimin, suming, kaizhen and seow foong for lunch at suming's father's stall near sembawang. it's been such a long time since i saw them. every year, there'll be two celebrations lumped into one cause jinchuan's birthday is just 2 days after mine. we went over to shimin's place after the lunch and cut the cake there. the rest stayed on for mahjong but i had to rush off to...

meet feilong, junior, peipei and leonard for dinner at ikoi japanese restaurant. pock mun couldn't join us because he got confined for breaking an artillery lens. i wonder how in the world did he manage to do that.. it was a japanese buffet almost exactly like the one at hanabi. the food was excellent with free flow of all our favourite japanese dishes. i still can't really tell whether hanabi or ikoi is better, apprarently both restaurants are rivals. there was so much food till i think we got a little high drinking green tea..

24th July 2006, Monday
i went over to my grandad's place after work to have dinner with the family. kor kor adrian managed to take some time off his busy busy schedule to come down and join us. he told me about the university applications that i was currently attempting and gave me expert advice on how to choose which uni to go into. i still have much work and research to do, i didn't think applying into a uni had so many factors and considerations involved..

26th July 2006, Wednesday
i managed to knock off work early because we had some despatch to do. so alvin came along and we met dawn for dinner and drinks at bishan junction 8. once again it was frustrating looking for convenient outdoor areas because the law is just so damn biased. we went to olio cafe for dinner with the sun blazing down on us. in the end, we decided to shift to coffee bean instead. squeezed into the small allocated areas and, with the sun down, enjoyed a comfortable evening. dawn even bought a cake for me~! hee...

28th July 2006, Friday

met up with xiao wen in the evening. today's the unxpected's first soldout concert at the esplanade! we had dinner at the subway marina before heading into the concert studio. the setting and ambience was intimate. it was an entirely acoustic set so there was none of the unxpected's usual electric guitar filled songs that i was so used to. they played mostly their own songs for a change as well. i think the only cover they did was whole lotta love during the encore. i must say, their sounds are promising. the unxpected's a really tight band and their lyrics are mature. their songs are also versatile enough to allow them to show their talents and skills. after the concert ended, we went to the bay to chill for awhile before heading home.

29th July 2006, Saturday

today's another milestone. i met up with a primary school friend whom i had lost contact with for 12 years. we met up for dinner and watched a movie before heading to jurong and joining another primary school friend. we did a whole lot of catching up. hey there's lots to talk about after not seeing each other for over a decade. they have really changed, grown up and all. i ended up going back home only at 7am. totally shagged out but feeling happy. =)

well that pretty much sums up what i've been doing for the past week. congrats for getting through my longest post ever! and a big shout-out to all my friends and family who took time off to celebrate my 22nd birthday with me and drop me cute smses. it wouldn't have been memorable if it weren't for you guys..

bubble thoughts and scented candles

ash is such a sweet young thing. she and sid invited me out on sat and gave me a surprise birthday celebration. i first met up with sid at city hall because he claims he doesn't know the way to marina from the station. up till that time, i had absolutely no idea what they were planning. but sid sort of gave it away when he wished me happy birthday although t's not till next week. ash was late because of work so we decided to head down to carl's jr to chill while waiting for her. we saw caracal's drummer at carl's jr. he was probably going to attend the baybeats fest which was just at the esplanade. sid teased ash to no end when she arrived because supposedly ash has a thing for him. haha... =)

sid had to leave after dinner so it was down to ash and myself. before sid left however, he again claimed he didn't know the way back to the station from marina. that scheming little runt. it was actually a distraction 'cause ash wanted to get the cake. her pretext was that she needed to go touch up in the washroom. -_-"

after sid left, we decided to head down to the esplanade to check out the baybeats fest! big singapore names were performing this year, including west grand boulevard, electrico and astreal. we reached esplanade and decided to leave almost immediately. the place was too goddamn packed like you wouldn't believe. actually it was packed with a certain type of people but blogging it would mean getting my ass hauled into prison for racist remarks... oops! did i accidentally spill out something i was not supposed to? ;p

so we headed back to marina to check if we could catch a movie instead. hmm nothing there so maybe suntec? nope nothing there either. damn the cinemas in singapore has to improve it's movie screening selection. ash wanted to sit down after that cause of all the walking, plus she had been working the entire day. but that, again, was so she could pull out the cake and give me cute little presents! it was real sweet of her.. she bought mango cake (which i was craving for), gave me my childhood fav minties sweets ("it's moments like these you need" haha..) and a shirt from sahara club. all of it came in a cute little paper bag which has a hand-written message from her. aww..

we lighted only one candle cause the other one was mutated. it had two sides instead of one. then i made my wish, blew the candle and started gobbling up the cake. we forgot to grab a fork for the cake though. so imagine how messy it got. carl's jr style!

i sent ash home after cause her place got dangerous recently with people stalking girls and stuff. sid had already reached home by then so he came down to meet us (sid and ash stays at the same block). he bought a pile of pictures of both of them when they were younger (both of them attended the same sec sch). we had a ton of fun laughing and chatting at the void deck like a bunch of ah beng wannabes.

what can i say, it was one hell of a great night! =)

life for rent?

finally got round to returing dawn's shawl to her. it's been hanging around my room for the past 2 months collecting dust particles.

met up with her at causeway point, and went for some sushi cause i've been craving for it for a couple of days now. we were supposed to go sakae but then the queue was too long so we ended up at ichiban instead, which was perfectly fine cause ichiban serves better sushi anyway.

it was great catching up with dawn, she never fails to engage me with her thoughts whenever we chill. plus she's a great smoking kaki as well =) eh short, if you stayed nearer to me, i'd meet up with you just for fags!

this video's just for you dawn, hope you enjoy it~!

A tribute to my grandma

If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry
And if I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye
Don't look back at this time
As a time of heartbreak and distress.
Remember me, remember me.
'Cause I'll be with you in your dreams.
Oh, I'll be with you, Oh Oh

6 years ago, I lost someone. She was so dear and close to my heart that no other living person can ever fill the void she left. That person watched over me ever since the day I came into this world. She taught me things that no one else can ever teach me. She showed me the kind of love that no one else can ever show me.

If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry
And if I'm gone when you wake up, don't ask why
Don't look back at this time
As a time of heartbreak and distress
Remember me, remember me
'Cause I'll be with you in your dreams

She showed me unconditional love. Real unconditional love. She never expected anything in return for all that she showed and gave to me. She stood by me through the toughest of my growing years. She was with me during my weakest times.

Oh Oh
Don't cry, I'm with you
Don't cry, I'm by your side
Don't cry, I'm with you
Don't cry, I'm by your side

We shared many moments together. Both good and bad. I was always so sure that whatever happened, it would turn out alright in the end because she was around to see it through. She brought with her assurance into my heart and sheltered me from the harsh realities of the world when I was still too young to be exposed to them.

And though my flesh is gone, whoa
I will still be with you at all times.
And though my body's gone, oh
I'll be there to comfort you at all times.
Oh, oh.

When she left, many in my family knew that we had lost someone very important. She was our pillar of strength and many of us looked toward her for that special guidance that only she can give. It's been a long 6 years and many things have happened since then. But every now and then, when I find myself lost, I still think back about the things that she said and I find wisdom in her words and the strength to carry on.

'Cause if I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry
And if I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye
Don't look back at this time
As a time of heartbreak and distress
Remember me, remember me
'Cause I'll be with you,
I'll be with you in your dreams, oh
I'll be with you
Oh, I'll be with you in your dreams
I'll be with you, I'll be with you

I believe that she still lives on in me. That whenever I remember her teachings, she's speaking to me in her own special way. I hope that in the short time that I was blessed with to be able to spend with her, I managed to bring happiness into her life as well. I know that I'm not the perfect grandchild she wanted me to be, but I hope that I did enough to make her smile.

I don't want you to cry and weep. Oh, oh.
I want you to go on living your life.
I'm not sleeping an endless sleep. Oh, oh.
It's in your heart you'll have all of our good times
Oh,oh, all of our good times, Oh, oh..... you have.

I'll be attending her memorial tomorrow. I wished that she was still here to guide me through the rest of my life. But I know that I would someday have to stand on my own two feet eventually. She has been called back to be with the Lord and I pray that she finds peace and happiness where she is right now. Mama, I will always love you...

'Cause if I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry.
And if I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye
Don't look back at this time
As a time of heartbreak and distress.
Remember me, remember me.
'Cause I'll be with you in your dreams.
Oh
I'll be with you in your dreams
I'll be with you
Oh
I'll be with you
I'll be with you in your dreams
I'll be with you in your dreams...

Hanson - With You In Your Dreams

my guardian angel

90 miles outside Chicago
Can't stop driving
I don't know why
So many questions
I need an answer
Two years later
You're still on my mind

Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart?
Who holds the stars up in the sky?
Is true love just once in a lifetime?
Did the captain of the Titanic cry?

Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you

Does anybody know the way to Atlantis
Or what the wind says when she cries?
I'm speeding by the place where I met you
For the 97th time tonight

Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you
Someday we'll know why Samson loved Delilah
One day I'll go dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the one for you

I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow
I watched the stars crash in the sea
If I could ask God just one question
Why aren't you here with me tonight?

Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you
Someday we'll know why Samson loved Delilah
One day I'll go dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the One for you

New Radicals - Someday We'll Know

======================================

thanks for being there.. you know who you are...

the wait is over

finally electrico's 2nd album was released on the 22nd of june 2006! i had waited more than half a year to lay my grubby hands on the album. it was supposed to be out last oct or nov but got delayed. i could only get it on the 23rd thou cos sembawang hadn't gotten the stock in by the time i knocked off work on thurs afternoon.

the verdict: totally worth the wait! actually it was worth much more than that. they could have charged 50 bucks for it and i would have still bought it, the queue could have been longer than during the freakin hello kitty craze and i would have queued, the weather could have... ah you get the picture.

there are 12 tracks on the album. the first single being Love in New Wave. it's a nice number and i think dave is actually writing about his band members. the first line goes "i never get to see your face / i only get to hear your drums instead", i reckon he was referring to william. then the third verse/chrous goes "your synthesizers to the bone / they lift my off my legs of stone", this one should be about amanda. i'm not too sure about the person he talks about bringing him into the pages of a magazine but i got a strong gut feeling he's referring to leonard soosay.

other tracks i love are Hip City, Only Where I'm Going, Stay Away, Walk... basically almost the whole album la. they're on heavy rotation on my mediasource playlist now, hopefully they'll will be equally welcomed on our local airwaves soon. Hip City is an up-and-coming track, i think electrico should release it as their second single for the album. just my two cents' worth..

let the music heal your soul

i went with a couple of frens to hmv over the weekend cause i felt the need to buy cds again. it's been so long since i bought a disc. what with all the illegal downloading going on, it's difficult to fork out cold hard cash for something you know you can get for zilch.

i was browsing through the store searching for lunarin's cd cause tham reminded me that jonathan bought the cd a couple of months back which reminded me i had wanted to get the a copy for myself. tham caught sight of lunarin's cd even before i did and because of that, i was directed to the regional section in hmv. now that section contains lots of stuff from the local scene. while browsing through the section, i found a treasure that had eluded me since last year - rafe's ep! the ep contained the song 'everything' which i had wanted to get since end '05 when i first heard the song on the radio. i didnt even know that they had a cd out already. 'everything' is a beautiful single. kind of reminds me of the time when i first heard electrico's 'i want you' on the radio. quality song, full of passion. it speaks to me of the innocence of love. take away all the games that people play when it comes to relationships, and you have the song. it gives me hope that i may find that myself one day.

rafe's ep was not the only treasure i unearthed at hmv. i found another local band's mini-album of sorts - bonafide vintage flav'r! hip-hop group whose ex-member happens to be taufik batisah pre-singapore idol. i wanted to get the album for the single 'feels good'. it's a nice hip-hop number, excellent for chilling at pubs/clubs with a beer in hand and friends to chat with. i guess rock is still the genre of choice for me. don't ask me why but all the raw emotions only come to me whenever i listen to rock numbers.

drop me a msg on msn if you want the songs, i'll be generous and spread the love under the guise of propagating local music.

jonny b goode

jonathan came back from lancer over the last fortnight.

tham and him being the jokers that they are decided to crash at my place under the pretext of tham wanting to pass some "important stuff" to me. i rushed down to meet tham thinking what kind of important stuff could warrant him coming all the way down to my place at 10+ in the night. i thought maybe tham had snagged me some babe but got jumped by jonny instead. we ended up chilling the nite by the pool before jon sent tham back.



that was the day after he came back from brunei. the day before he left, we had an scsc gathering at timbre. chillin out to the groovy sounds of timmy & ngak, and boozing the nite away. good old times were relived and updates were exchanged between the ord-ed personnel and the soon-to-be ord-ed personnel.


jonathan has once again left the sunny shores of singapore to brunei to serve his country. he'll be back again and when he does, i would have already left the service. ord-ed, completed the two years liability and passed through the rites of passage to join the ranks of the nsmen.

heads up to tham for his pics!

how's it hangin'

came back after a much stressful day at work, popped myself into the shower and this song hits my head..

Hold me
Like the River Jordan
And I will then say to thee
You are My Friend

Carry me
Like you are My Brother
Love me like A Mother
Would You Be There?

Michael Jackson - Will You Be There

i always thought the shower was a great place to relax and think about stuff. no, i don't have a nice cosy little bath tub to sit my butt in but (no puns intended) it's good anyways.

you know how being exposed to stress in the workplace can make you feel like you just spent an entire day sticking your neck out? well the song brought back memories of earlier times when i was always treading in my comfort zone. no need to spill my guts out trying to fulfil some responsibility for which nobody would really credit me for. i miss those times.. being able to feel safe and warm all the time, safe because i was young and naive and warm because i didn't really have any air-conditioning in my room.

hot hot namie

namie amuro is sizzling hot! check her out:



cute little tatoo on her left arm, nice peek-a-boo with the jeans. it's all good baby!

got back into the japanese music groove lately. these crazy music swings happens all the time! once moment it's chinese, then it's jap, then back to the west. the chinese one doesn't really lasts long though.. and mostly only revolves around the same few people/singers/group cos there are only so many good entertainers in the chinese industry.

it got me wondering wat happened to the japanese bubble. we used to be fascinated with the entire japanese culture, music, etc. then one day it just disappeared, only to be replaced by the korean wave. it went by all too quickly and i couldn't be bothered to keep up. i checked back with my good friend wiki just last nite and he gave me many updates about wat's going on with the scene over in the rising sun. it's heaven to know that they're all doing well. fyi namie is single again! drinks on the house everybody!!

liquid melancholy dreams

"...sometimes we have to give up who we are.. to become who we will eventually be..."
- Carrie Bradshaw

...or something like that. i was watching an episode of sex n the city and it hit me when she said that. you know people have always been saying how we've to be ourselves, stay true to our roots and not let other people affect us so easily. it got me thinking about who we really are. aren't we basically just a mash-up of the people we've been interacting with since birth? through the countless conversations and exchanges with all these people, we would have inadvertently absorbed some of their characteristics into our own. true we would develop our own unique characteristics but that is only a small portion of the whole. as the saying goes "you can judge a man by the company he keeps".

just some food for thought..

quagmire

ask me wats up with me lately.
go on, ask.

i'm afraid to reply you.

don't ask me why now.

the blind cannot lead the blind.

-

the dam is filled
but the stones still hold
when will it be killed?
the answer nobody will ever know

珊瑚海

轉身離開
(你有話說不出來)
分手說不出來
海鳥跟魚相愛
只是一場意外
我們的愛
(給的愛)
差異一直存在
(回不來)
風中塵埃
(等待)
竟累積成傷害

轉身離開
(分手說不出來)
分手說不出來
蔚藍的珊瑚海
錯過瞬間蒼白
當初彼此
(你我都)
不夠成熟坦白
(不應該)
熱情不再
(你的)
笑容勉強不來
愛深埋珊瑚海

周杰倫 - 珊瑚海

blind

After all this time
I never thought we'd be here
never thought we'd be here
when my love for you was blind
But I couldn't make you see it
Couldn't make you see it
That I loved you more
Than you'll ever know
And part of me died
When I let you go

Lifehouse - Blind

ravishing

saw jamie ong while walking along wisma atria today.

she was hot. hell burning hot.

frustrations

wat's an outlet if u cant let things out?

many things are frustrating me at the moment.. feeling so pissed off. nothing to vent my anger on. think i've gotta smash the window or scream by the seaside one of these days..

reality

"We compare the systems and procedures that (SAF has) in place against those in other armed forces and we're comparable, if not better, than the best practices" - Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean. (ST March 7, 2006)

eh mr teo, wake up and smell the coffee la. better than the best practices? u gotta be joking..