Back again


Random squawk: 你说把爱渐渐放下会走更远


After skipping the depression bout for 2 months, it's back again.

I wish I had that kind of confidence, that kind of security, that kind of love and that kind of courage to actually make that kind of decision together with Lazychoo. But I don't. And what we have is not as strong. Not as special anymore.

Somehow I have this feeling that I've made a wrong decision regarding the jobs. I feel as if something's gone horribly wrong.

I haven't studied much for my exam on 10th September. I am so going to have to retake that module.

I am going to cancel my 2A TP on 4th September, and this time, I'm not asking. Maybe I'll take the October one. Maybe I'll take it in December. Either way, the rest of you shut the hell up and let me make my own decisions.

Sometimes shutting the hell up is one of the best decisions. Believe me, it beats wasting your effort and breath on something someone else will never remember.

Dilemma


Ace Insurance, or Vuestar Patents?

Both offer on par salaries, but Ace offers comission on top of the basic salary. Vuestar offers 13 month bonus, while Ace offers 14.5 month bonus.

Obviously, Ace sounds a lot better right? But I've never done much sales before. I'm not sure if it really is the right thing for me. On the other hand, I'm very comfortable with administrative jobs. Then again, I really should be stepping out of my comfort zone to open up my options.

What do you guys think?


UPDATE 7pm:

Dilemma over, took up the offer with Ace Insurance. Thanks for all the help, dudes!

Hello Germaine!


Hello! ^-^

Correct me if the spelling is wrong. My mom told me that you like to read me, so here's a heads up!! Heh.

Over the Weekend We...


Random squawk: I apologise for not posting much recently. And I'm apologising for not posting much within these few days up til mid-September, because exams are around the corner, and I won't be able to go out much. Which means not much will happen that I can post about in here. Unless I have some sort of revelation on why my life is in such a mess and why I feel like running away from it all, there's not much I can say anymore.


- Met up with some old friends for dinner and a game of pool

I met Anthony and Onn first for dinner, and Lazy joined us soon after.





Friend of 7 years, Onn. Or Rycel, whichever floats his boat. Damn funny guy who always brightens one's day up.





2 years and tired of me already, Anthony. I know you still care for me. Hiak Hiak.



One of my favourite photos of my two besties together. Too bad I didn't get a better angle.


- Played Mahjong til dawn

That very same night after the pool session.





Onn was still with us, but we pulled a long-time-no-see friend out of his deep stupor in front of his television. That's Peng Mung, or Froggie, whichever floats your boat.


- Went to Science Centre to do some exploration

We slept for 5 hours, and woke up early the next day. We were supposed to go to Sentosa for a lomography outing with Cudas, but because the weather was horrible, the idea was postponed. So we settled for a Science centre trip, because the last time we went we didn't have enough time to explore much.







Cudas having fun with the exhibit.



What's Lazy looking at?





And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the punishment we ladies all wish upon men, who have suppressed us and blamed their faults on us and belittled us and all the whatnots that we're all unhappy about. Sorry, I'm pretty much of a feminist disgruntled by eons of the wrong treatment given to the female population.



Notice the kukubird and the electricity running around the man.

I am so going to get slammed. But what the heck. Heh.

We were passing through the video cam exhibit and couldn't resist staging a monster attack.



Poor Noddy.


- Played some more mahjong with Lazy colleague and his brother.

No photos taken, but I lost a lot that night. They were professional gamblers okay!

Baby Kitty Adopted!


Thanks for all interest.

She was adopted by the girlfriend of a neighbourhood friend, and is now renamed Sambal.

I played with her all afternoon on the day she was to leave. Squeezed in a LOT of photos, but here are a few choice ones.



Baby kitty watching South Park. She really was watching it. She didn't even turn her head when I called her.







The more I played with her, the more boisterous she got. Nearing the end of the game she was pouncing on my arm like nobody's business.

She left a mark for me to remember her by.



Baby kitty, remember that wherever you go, I will always love and care for you. Be good and be nice to your mama, because she is holding a responsibility I could not take up.

Take care, baby kitty.

Baby Kitty


I found a baby kitty yesterday!

Because my mom is terrified of cats, baby kitty is urgently up for adoption. I can only keep her for a couple of weeks, tops.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of her.



Temporary playpen I made for her.



Her best photo so far



I brought her out for a little fresh air this morning.





She kept coming back to me and nuzzling me, purring and kneading me. She must be needing her milk really badly.





Baby kitty's getting tired









Isn't she the sweetest thing ever? Lazy was skeptical at first, because he kind of felt it was none of our business whether this kitten lived or died, but after awhile he warmed up to kitty. So sweet.

Anyways, interested adopters please leave a comment or email me at southparkjazz@yahoo.com.

I'll leave you guys with a couple of clips.

Continued from Settler's Cafe

A couple of video clips for the family.

Lazy



Chee Yong



Cudas



Robin



Shirong



Leeling jiejie



Zhizhong korkor

A Surprise Present


I found this in my bag the other day, after Lazy came over to my house to wait for Cudas and me to finish dolling up before we went for the Settler's outing.

Note: I did not bug him for this!



It's just so sweet that he knows that I like reading HP books, and even with funds running low he bought it for me.

And the sweet thing was that he tried to surprise me by putting it in my bag and letting me find out for myself.

What an awesome guy. *gushes*

Family Weekend Part Two - Settler's Cafe


Random squawk: I've stopped using Flickr.com to host my pictures. Because I have a lot of photos to host, and there is a monthly limit on Flickr that doesn't decrease when you delete previously hosted photos, and that you can only have 3 sets, I'm reverting back to photobucket. I'm not paying USD$25/year. No matter how awesome the functions I think Flickr has.

Bugger.

As they say, a picture says a thousand words. And because I have so much to say and so little time to write much, I'll let the pictures do (most of) the talking.

On the way to grandma's place

Events at grandma's place

The slightly older group

I just love the fact that Lazy blends right in.

We helped Shirong celebrate his birthday a day late, but it was fun.

This is our lovely lovely grandma, who singlehandedly made the entire feast for us. She's over 80 you know. I feel so guilty for not arriving earlier to help her with the cooking.

After the dinner gathering at grandma's, we set off for that night's entertainment - Settler's Cafe @ Clarke Quay.

Both Lazy and Shirong's car were faster than ZhiZhong korkor's, so the first few who reached started an Ugly Doll game first.

Everyone flips open a card at random, and whenever there are three of the same kind just SNATCH. Fun.

The rest of the group reached and we started on a Huiping reccomendation - Taboo.

Then it was some game that sounded like taboo, but had a time limit. It really was superbly fun.

Shirong and Huiping had to leave early, so we all took a group photo before they did.

Then we actually started with pictionary, but I don't really know what the heck happened here.

We tried a multitude of games that night. Even the person working there almost lost his patience with us because we keep asking for different games.

At the end of the day, I think everyone wasn't well prepared in the monetary department because when they said it was over 200 dollars, everyone frantically scrounged for cash.

It was, in all, a really, really fun day out.

Family Weekend Part One - Lor Mee Ma's House

Random squawk: I've just got wind that the "powers that be" are reading my blog. This power is even greater than the last one, because whilst the last one couldn't touch me, this one can and most probably will. I'm going to have to watch my words real carefully from now on.

A long lost relative of my maternal family finally came back to SG and my maternal grandmother was so excited that she threw a house party and invited most of her relatives.

I brought along my new SL700 for the occasion and got some great shots. The following pictures I am going to post is classified into two catergories - Descriptive, and Artistic.

Let's start with the Descriptive.


Because we were lazy to ride, all three of us, Cudas, Lazy and I took a cab to my grandma's place.


Cudas.



So we got there, and realized that the HDB flat right next to the big S11 in AMK central has evevators that go down from the first floor. And only down.



A lot of people were there, you can tell by the number of shoes.



JenX was still sleeping even though there were many people mulling about there already.


Here's the obligatory funny photo of her.


And here's another one.

The table was spread with tons of goodies, and we did not hesitate to sit down and eat.



And here are the main attractions of the day, grandma and her long lost elder sister.



They look so much alike that they got me wondering why there were two ah mas at the table when I first entered the house.

The other main attraction was her daughter, better known to Cudas and me as Story Yee Yee. She used to tell us lots of stories when we were very young. I remember it was at my great grandfather's funeral, and we were to stay the night. To keep us quiet and out of our mother's hair, she kept us entertained at the stone tablet behind the wake area with exciting stories and stories of princesses and heroes.

She disappeared from my memory soon after. I don't really know what happened but that there was a tiff between my grandmum and her elder sister.



Story Yee Yee's the one in green.

And here's a photo I found incredibly funny because it might've happened to me when I was younger.


HELP!

Heh.

And following in the footsteps of Cudas, I've taken an interest in photo-taking. There were a couple of really nice ones I took on that day, and here it is.

Please bear in mind that I haven't actually took any classes nor read any book on this subject, so it's still very amateurish.

Windswept



Sharing Interests



Catching Up



Chortling



Distant Cousin



Peaceful Sanctuary



Mother Changing Baby

Sweet


The very sweet Onn just asked me out for a smoke before he went to school.



What was originally a 5 minutes smoke because a hour-long smoke-cum-conversation. I think I made him late for school too.

It was nice. And I found something common between us! Other than the fact that both of us:

- Play basketball (that's how we met)
- Have the same group of basketball friends
- Are riders
- Live next block to each other



He is the only guy I know who smokes the male equivalent of my Dunhil Frost. Muahahaha!

That was just a totally irrelevant but interesting factoid.

Totally Random Post



I'm thinking that maybe I should post one of these random posts periodically, like the 1st of every month or something.

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On a related note to my previous post, here's a picture.



I was on my way to the first interview when this dude stopped me. Luckily for me, I flipped on my headlights as soon as I noticed him beside me. But he still gave me a warning ticket because he feels that my lights are too dim.

There were so many cars and bikes whizzing past while we were still on the road, but he HAD to, absolutely HAD to check on mine. *mutters curses under breath*

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I bullied my Tracy the other day. The end result was unbearably cute.



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We finally met up with Sam one day after my class.



It was almost like the old days. Sam has this very, very cute smile that he generates generously.

As we were going back that night, we met this very, very annoying lorry driver who lives in my block.

We were two traffic lights away from my carpark, and because the first traffic light was red-turning-green-soon, I rode slowly along the short distance. There were stationary cars waiting at the traffic lights, and there were only about ten feet between me and the stationary cars in front, when a lorry that's been tailgating me since the last traffic light FLASHED me.

Drivers. It is freaking annoying when cars flash bikes, especially when it is only about ten feet away and the bike is actually still moving.

For whatever good it can do, this is the lorry.



Hopefully someone from this company will see this post and screw the driver of this vehicle upside down.

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Went to try the Botak Jones at TPY today. The food was exactly the same as the AMK's one, the atmosphere was too. The only different thing was the margaritas.



This is the first time I've seen magaritas served in anything other than margarita glasses. The tequila taste was relatively prominent, and they actually blended REAL strawberries in. Nice.

Food rating: 7/10
Value for Money: 6/10

Vacancy Boom


Suddenly the market for administrative jobs has boomed.

I've been called back to at least 8 companies for interviews, twice for the second round of interviews, been offered two jobs and have one pending decision right now. Which happens to be exactly the job I want the most.

It's a relatively new company set up by two Australians, and they seem to be very nice people. The employment benefits and job scope sounds awesome too. Then again, if I get employed, many of you in the IT business or have a company website will want to kill me. I'll be an arrow board for many companies to play archery with.

They say that they'll give me a reply by either later on or Monday afternoon. Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

New Discovery


I think I've become more or less a mountain tortoise (meaning to not keep up with the times).

Why, you ask? Because I've just discovered the joys of Flickr.com.

Seriously. I could spend the whole day cross processing my pictures and thinking up titles and descriptions for them.

*****

I was messing around the whole day yesterday with pictures we took on our trip to Sentosa on Sunday.

*****

In accordance with our plans for saving, we spent relatively little that day. If it weren't for applying to be Islanders and the entrance tickets to the Images of Singapore, we'd be a lot further from the red right now.

*****

Anyways we spent the day walking from Palawan beach, to Tanjong beach, back past Palawan beach and to Siloso beach. And walked around some more before heading to the supposedly free Images of Singapore where we met Bunz.

Anyways, more photos in the Sentosa set over at Flickr.com.

**** UPDATED 29/12/2008 ****

Needed to clear space for my Flickr account, so this set will be moved to Photobucket and posted here. Captions and comments follow the original Flickr photos.

A day out with my Samsung L700. It's a relatively easy -peasy toy for amateurs like me who just likes snapping away at anything and everything. Lazy took me out for a day at Sentosa. We reached a little late though, and missed a few attractions.

New Tickets



Our ticket to paradise (Sentosa)

Our First Time



... taking the Sentosa Express together into the now under-heavy-construction Sentosa. Don't go to Sentosa just yet, the constructions are due to be finished in 2010.

Companion For The Day



My very own Lazychoo!

Glimpsing Paradiso



Welcome! Mi casa e su casa, so start getting comfortable!

A Good Photographer..



... is able to take clear snaps while on the move

Travellers On The Same Road



This is like, the very first time I'm willingly wearing short shorts out.

We're Sweet



On our way to a road together.

Baywatching



The dudes near the statues were openly staring and discussing about the numerous beach babes lounging under the shade.

Cute Guy



I meant the dog. Really.

Building Her World



Strange how when you start building awesome sandcastles, strangers start crowding around you like they know you or something.

Beachside Fun



Traffic was dense on the bridge.

Picnic On The Beach



If everyday could be spent here under the sun..

A Shady Road



Village In The Greens



If you DON'T look closely, this resembles some tribal villages hidden deep inside dense jungles.

Hi, My Name Is...



Sea Turtle. Same as everyone else here at the Underwater World, Sentosa. And I stink. So bite me.

A Road Less Travelled



This lonely flight of stairs looked as if nobody's been passing by for ages.

Trecherous Roads



A jungle trial surrounded by dense forestation which Lazy says reminded him of his army days.

An Unexpected Visitor



This dude here was just joining in the fun beside the stall where people take photos with snakes around their necks for $5, but quickly became an attraction in his own right. People were more interested in him than the snakes.

Multitude of Colours



Right outside the Images of Singapore. They're layered juuuust right.

Images Of Singapore



Lots of tourists. We blended right in.

A Trip Down Memory Lane



Don't be fooled by the glitz and glamour of the exterior of the truck. The inside's really simple and spartan. Old but interesting.

Signing Treaties



That's Sir Stamford Raffles in the middle. No mention was made of Sang Nila Utama though.

Antiques: An Acquired Taste



This is a kerosene lamp. But there's no kerosene in it. Play cheat!

Help!



The empty boxes are surprisingly heavy. I'd never be able to lift them without the pulley system.

Persuasion



"Dude, quit lazing around, bring me for a kiddy ride!"

Same POV



"Now I can see from your point of view.."

Taking A Breather



And having an interesting and stimulating conversation with Mr Chinese Waxman. He's not happy that I didn't offer him my drink.

Dictating A Letter



The Lazy giving his two cents, even though his written Chinese is horrible.

Watching The Puppets



According to Mom, roadside puppet shows were the main entertainment for children during her time.

On Hot Coals...



At the Images of Singapore attraction. It was a surprisingly cold experience, considering the hot coals I was attempting to walk across.

Two Old Men



The title says it all.

Exhausted



Lazy's kinda' exhausted after half a day of walking from beach to beach.

Skyview



This ride is reserved for our next trip!

On Our Way Back



There's a rush hour for people entering and exiting Sentosa too.

Application In Process



Here's the Lazy looking serious while filling out the application form for the Sentosa Islander. Lazy likes applying for cards.

We're Islanders!



The Lazy and I decided to become Islanders, to get more discounts on most of the Sentosa attractions and... to have more excuses to pretend to be tourists.

Question


Does anyone know where I can get casings for these?





They're kind of getting dusty, and I don't want to cover them up because it defeats the purpose.

I was kind of thinking of a large acrylic casing I could mount onto the wall with the lid in front, but I don't know who I can get it from.

Anyone with any ideas?

Surreal


We spent last night at MH's house. It was his seventh day.

Many of the group are finally coming to terms with his death, and spent most of the night speculating about anything and everything.

I, however, just want to recount the sorrow of the past few days.



MH's funeral. Many of us did not, could not, and didn't want to believe that he was gone. Part of the reason was that it was a closed coffin affair.



Lazy was part of the group who carried his coffin to the van. They were all so nervous that they gathered at a side and practiced lifting the coffin.



After having MH's father wrench our hearts out with his grief, we went to Bright Hill Drive for the cremation. It was a lot quicker than expected, and everybody came back with a surreal feeling.



A certain thrashy Chinese newspaper has got nothing better to report.

Interesting Facts for Bike Lovers


- For Chopper lovers:

Do you know why choppers are called choppers?

Contrary to what majority thinks, a chopper is not a bike that sounds like it's chopping away.

Right after the WW2, the returning US army needed some excitement and thrills. And the Harley Davison 1000cc Knucklehead was just the thing. But because men are egoistically competitive pigs, everyone wanted to be faster than the other guy, so they stripped down their bikes and chopped off the redundant pieces of the bike to make it lighter.

It soon became a fad, and everyone started stripping down their bikes to chop.

And that is how the term "Chopper" came about.


- Did you know that Vespa, in Italian, means wasps? It fits the design of the Vespa, which from a bird's eye view looks like the body of a wasp.


- The ten greatest bikes of all time. Based on a documentary with expert, high profile panel of judges.

10) Harley Davison - Knucklehead
9 ) Individual - V8 (if I am not wrong they took a V8 engine and fitted it into a rally bike. It was a disaster)
8 ) Piaggio - Vespa
7 ) Brough - Superior SS100 (the Rolls Royce of motorcycles in 1925)
6 ) Individual - John Britten's V1000 (built the whole bike from scratch. This bike has no frame. Major components all made from carbon fibre)
5 ) Triumph - Bonneville
4 ) Individual - Y2K (Jet engines lifted straight from a helicopter, able to travel up to 250mph or 402.25kmph)
3 ) Honda - CB750
2 ) Ducati - 916

And the number 1 motorcycle of all time is...





1 ) Honda - Cub


What a killjoy.

Then again, great doesn't neccessarily mean speed or power. The Cub got it's status by being in production for more than 50 years and the amount of Cubs in the world is more than the entire Canadian nation. Plus the fact that the engine is not more complicated than the average lawnmower and yet can travel up to 50mph (80kmph) and can carry the weight of around 250kg.

A Cub was dropped from the rooftop of a 5 storey building and although the back wheel was bent out of shape, the entire bike on average was still workable.

I can feel it


There is much I want to say. But for now, there is much that I cannot say, even in my own blog. Can't talk to Lazy because he's much too busy for his girlfriend. Can't blog either. What's the next best thing to do?

After the hostility of the previous two days, I'm sure many of them are monitering my blog right now, hoping to find any teeny piece of degratory post to complain to Lazy about.

I'm sure they'll be disappointed. Funny how the human mind gets disappointed when they don't find stuff about themselves, even though they get slammed most of the time they are mentioned.

I surprised myself by not giving them the satisfaction of returning their dagger stares and childish attitudes. I'll be the bigger person and walk away and let those involved continue capering around in their small ways.

Following in the comment "Don't want to come don't come lah. Don't come liao give everybody that attitude." I'm not going for the dinner. Your way of remembering MH is to get together and enjoy each other's company. My way of remembering him is to go down to his resting place to light a joss stick for him. There's no point of me making myself uncomfortable by going to someplace I don't like to meet people I don't like either just for the excuse of wanting to commemorate MH.

Then again, Lazy doesn't allow me to meet my own friends for dinner and movies even when he meets his own friends for dinner and movies.

I can actually feel the chains tightening around my wrists.

Ouch.

RIP - A Tribute to the Super Tall





TMH - Casper
The friendly.. person
4/8/82 - 31/7/07


The only person who was nice to me when no one else was, not even Lazy. The only person who cared about me when no one else cared. He was funny, amazing, fun-loving, pious, loyal and above all, my friend.


We will always miss you.