Mid month November...

I think I have butterfingers... more often than none, things seem to just find their escape route out of my 5 fingers. Like this morning, when I finishing apply wax to my hair, then just when I want to close the lid of the round case, the cover slip off my finger and dive straight into the slap of purple wax, causing a deep line of indentation. Sometimes I wonder would it be nice if mosquitos have butterlegs? Personally, if I happen to see one, I would hit it softly and pick it up when its unconscious. Then pluck off 1 hind legs and let it fly away. I believe it will have a hard time sucking blood next time. Wakaka...

Anyway, exams are REALLY round the corner... 28 29 30 I have one paper each. Every year, little children of computer engineering have their exams at the last few days of the exam season. I keep telling myself that the lecturers of computer engineering want to give us more time to prepare for our hard paper. That's why we start our exams so late. But when everyone starts studying, we will tend to start studying too... and when they finish their exams, we are still studying. When they are playing and going out, we still have to to study. To all the little children of computer engineering out there," life is a piece of shit... rich and creamy down to the last bite..."

Talking about eating, thinking back of all the nicer places I have been, NYDC came to my mind. But after some thinking, I conclude that the restaurant isn't that fantastic at all... No, fantastic shouldn't even appear here... some people may misread and thought that since its not fantastic, it may be a bit lousier than fantastic. Sorry about that... let me correct myself, that restaurant isn't that "worth being in Wheelock place" at all... The soup, more like whipped cream + cheese + mushroom, really didn't wet my appetite. Baked rice tasted like what a baked rice should taste like... on the minimum. Doesn't have the wow factor... Verdict, either they are trying too hard, or they are just not trying hard enough...

Went to watch Mr Tony Leong's big movie over the weekend. Lunch was at Ajisen Ramen. Ordered volcano ramen with prawn mayo, my gf ordered Piku ramen with fried white fish sticks. Piku stands for ribs, and the ribs they used is not those racks which you ordered at cafe cartel. They are those with soft bones. Wow factor: the soft bones are so soft that I thought they are some kind of paste. When you send the chucky piece of Piku meat into our mouth, as you bite, every little taste buds of yours will reach orgasm. As for the Volcano ramen, what more can I say, the meat was good. But 3 little pieces really dulls the excitement of the instance roller coaster ride the name promises... As for the prawn mayo and the white fish sticks, don't be misled by the pictures. They looked yummy in the picture, but in actual fact, they are pretty much so so only. The thing worth mentioning is that fried white fish really goes well with the sauce, made with sweet and sour sauce with a bit of mayo inside. When mayo mixed with the clear sweet and sour sauce, the look quite turn off la. But then taste wise, really quite different.

Ok, enough of crapping... luckily I cause a glimpse of those nerds waiting outside library one at 8.10am on my way to breakfast. Now I can recall their sorry faces and use them to motivate myself to study hard... wahakaka...

NOvember...

Sometimes when something bad is coming, and you are waiting for it to come... its the feeling of a sitting duck. When is the last time when you think that there are so many things which you can do better given another chance? Like yesterday I carried a cat into my room. The cat stared at Fa Mou(my roomie's hamster's name) and attack the stupid cage causing the cage to drop from the table and poor little Fa Mou got a scare of his life. Thou separated by a layer of clear plastic, I am sure when the cat tried to attack him, Fa Mou's life sure flash before him... actually that hamster don have much of a life la... everyday eat and sleep only. Well at least I created one highlight of his life by putting him into a bottle filled with hamster food.

Mm Lee came to Ntu couple of weeks ago, told us things about Singapore, and we leave the auditorium feeling good, feeling proud of our country. I am quite happy that I am born here. At least there are many trees everywhere, as well as ah tiongs and ge lengs... the ah tiongs are like the hongkong magazine paparazzi, while the ge lengs are like the agents in Matrix. They are everywhere! And pretty soon, I think if Singaporeans don't buck up and make more babies, they are gonna take over the system man.

November, a month where bullets fly, brave brain cells soldiers bodies piled up in trillions, and all of us, sitting ducks on the conveyor to the processing machine of exams, some of us will come out with a smile, some with an upside down smile. Life still goes on... don't feel sad for what you lost, treasure what you already have and be contented of what you achieved... Afterall, you gain some you lose some... 五短必有一长!

Happy Childrens' Day

Today is the first day of October... To all the little ones who can go in mrt without paying, who can always assume their right of way in any circumstances, and the ones who can go shopping sitting in their little thrones with wheels, uncle tiny wishes you all a happy childrens' day.

Well of cause I am not a children anymore. But I was one before. During those days, I looked at the toy car model and told myself next time I want to be a F1 racer. Then a few days later I looked at the aeroplane in the sky and told myself I wanna be a pilot. Pilot din't last long either. I looked at people who have playstation, gameboy, and I too want to have them. I wished I am a computer game maker... I want my parents to buy me this and buy me that... pretty soon I want myself to grow up so I can be whoever I want and buy whatever I fancy. Time really flies... that day finally come where I can finally decide what I want to do... and guess what... its not as easy as it seems... being a computer engineering student, I began to understand the shit I have to go through to become a computer game maker... Really big big pit of shit... Nowadays, its not about becoming what you want. Its becoming what people want you to become. Its the simple demand and supply market theory.

October came like a thief, like an alarm with no sound. Its that time again, where you will feel so tortured and that you constantly ask yourself why you have to go through all these shit... Yes... the time has come for us to MUG... As such, for a morale booster, I went to the newly opened Central. With more than 4 Jap restaurants, its really quite a good place for those Jap food lovers. Waraku is my choice for the day. For drinks, I ordered Ice-lemon tea. The waitress brought me this very very nice glass with ice... and then, a can of seasons ice lemon tea. $2.80 is the price of the drink. Well I guess, price of a can drink can really differ alot, considering the place and the situation. Hot afternoon with the mad sun hanging in the sky, having a window side seat with nice nice cushions and a view like this, aircon blowing from the ceiling, not forgeting the people that constantly say "thank you" and "welcome" in Japanese, and having a cute girl who is also my gf sitting opposite me, I think the price of the lemon tea is quite acceptable. I had curry udon with grill chicken, and my gf had beef + mushroom paper steamboat. Served in a black bowl that is bigger than my head, the curry udon really looked quite little. Things always had their way to play tricks on our eyes... The truth is, its actually quite alot. The thick curry, together with the smooth udon, and the chuncky grilled chicken... really killed any potential complaints. The brooth of the steamboat really very nice... beat the shit out of the sushi teh's one which is so salty. Maybe for the sushi teh's paper steamboat its to let the ingredients soak up the brooth. But the beef cannot fight with sushi teh. Waraku also has a pasta restaurant situated 1 floor down. No need to see menu de. Cause all the dish is handing on the glass outside the restaurant. Can see and choose what you want before you go in.

A few weeks ago the famous duo was at vivocity de sushi teh. Ordered chicken bento, beef + mushroom paper steamboat and chawamushi. The beef really very very power. Sashimi grade de... sieok. Well a picture speaks a thousand words. I have 3 pictures some more... So feast your eyes over the pictures...

When we are children, we want to grow up... when we are students, we complained about studying and everything that comes with it. And finally when we are working, there is more things for us to bitch about. In the end, you feel that you never really lived before...

Its the fact of life... Its time to walked out under the comfortable wings of our parents and learn how to survive... and inturn be the comfortable wings for the next generations. Its easy if you are flying with the wind, but what makes you soar is when you fly against the wind... Enjoyment always taste sweeter after torture... to all the little soldiers fighting the war in 1 months time, have faith in the sweet slacking after the exams... Keep it Real!

Time has forgotten to wait for me...

Well I know its damn long since my last update... the "write your blog!" seems to linger at every page of my planner... hiaz... I don't think I am very busy... neither I think I am being very productive... looking at my lecturers talking in class, effort trying to understand them slowly wear away at the onslaught of tiredness.

Comex is the biggest thing that happened so far... I went... and as usual, the whole place was invested by humans... People standing on boxes, shouting" come come and get our xxx mp4 player... its so nice, people will all admire you because you have the xxx mp4 player at 100bucks cheaper than current price!" "Buy it now. Its everything you need... and once you buy it... YOU WILL BE HAPPY..." ya right...

Sometimes when I am back home during weekends, I will feed my sister's hamster and let them come out of their cage for a walk... Usually I will do so when I am shitting. So I let them out, then I go shit. After I shit then I put the hamster back. The title of this picture is... "so near yet so far... " I wonder if those little fur balls have feeling... if have sure feel very sad for their life... whole day running to nowhere in the wheel and trapped inside the small little cage.

I went over to wisma and eat at the food republic. I really have to comment on their effort to decorate their foodcourt. It really make the food taste better. I had the Indonesia grilled chicken set while my gf have the fried fish beehoon. The sauce for the chicken really bring the taste of the grill chicken to greater heights... I was telling my gf how I choose my food. Think that every food can speak, when you walk pass them, try to "hear" their calls to you. "eat me! eat me!" "I'm delicious! try me!" In the end, chances are, you will come to your decision faster.

I have come to the end of my blog entry... More often than none, we are really stuck in a moment we can't get out of it. Try pulling someone from the streets, ask him or her," eh do you like your life now?" If you are lucky to get an answer, chances are the answer are not very positive. Then you ask the second question," eh then why don't you do something about it?" If your luck really good, you will get an answer. Chances are they will say,"bo bian leh... I also want... what to do?" Life is an enjoyment. If you don't believe me, then think of life without it...

It's the third week of school already?!

Fact of life - Time and tides waits for no man... How I wish I am Hiro Nagamura of the Heros series... Well come to think of it, I hasn't been doing much from the time school reopen until now. It seemed that it was only yesterday that the school term started...

Well looking back, hall camp has ended, and gone with it were THREE weeks of school! Gosh... what was I doing? I remembered that day when my bus broke down... in the middle of the expressway. The bus engine went off with a loud bang as it was turning along a bend. I thought the double decker bus would collapsed and I will have a chance to appear in the TV... But luckily enough, the bus stopped at the road side... we got out and collected our complementary tickets and waited for the next bus to come.

I remembered too when I decided to try this korean fried chicken fast food restaurant at cineleisure with my gf. We were just looking around and this little restaurant by the side caught our attention. First impression I got was,"Fried chicken? Not again...." But I just wana find out how come anyone would try to rival KFC or try to sell this super unhealthy idea and hope people will buy it. That was then I found out... Fried Chicken with 100% OLIVE OIL. There is a small screen at the counter where it shows clips of people eating the chicken and all nod their head and show their big thumbs to the camera... So I thought, "might as well give it a go." I ordered 2 pieces of Original fried chicken, while my gf order their very original Gingseng fried chicken(chicken heavily marinated with gingseng + ginseng powder on top). The chicken looked no different from KFC. Sadly speaking, for the price of 4 bucks per piece, the marginal ultility really is not very high... Oil is still oil. I know its olive oil. But when I take one piece of chicken skin soaked in olive oil, its hard to tell myself its healthy... Anyway, the manager of the restaurant saw us with only fried chicken so she decided to give us some samples of their char-boiled chicken. Basically its bbq chicken chop la... Surprisingly, it taste rather good... tender, spicy, and free some more. The sample is not like those small little cubes with tooth picks. She gave us two big pieces... Eat until I got chicken phobia...

I also manged to catch the fireworks festival over at the marina bay... Show supposed to start at 9pm but got delayed till around 9.20pm. However, from 7.30pm, the best seats along the river banks at One Fullerton were already gone... By the time it was 9pm, there's hardly room to walk. Everyone that night was treated to a 20min fireworks extravaganza... The sky was littered with colourful fireworks and the massive amount of smoke produced when the fireworks exploded. At one point, the smoke was so thick that we could not see the fireworks sia... lol... I thought the floating platform at marina exploded...

Come to think of it, because of development, our little children have to spend 1/4 of their life studying studying studying... just to fit into the society... and the rest of their life trying to survive in the society after that.

A for August

August is here... which means the end to the long long holidays and also marks the start of the final lap of my school life... after this year, there will be no more exams... ever.

Life in Singapore is really like survivor series... everyone trap in a small island, everyone begin to put too much attention on the small little puny things that are happening around us instead of stopping and try to look at the big picture... because there is simply no time... no time to even sign when you purchase, that's why there is the tap and go visa card... Everywhere you see and hear, advertisements will tell you that life has become so much simple... with this, with that, life can be better better better... so much so that we are living in a life so simple that its only 2 simple steps: Sleep and running in the rat race... Its like we are all in this little red and white ship, complaining about the aircon not cold enough, room too near toilet, instead of deciding which direction the ship is going, and looking at the weather of the sea...

Anyway, my aunty and her family came to Singapore because the kids are having school holidays in China and that the weather in Shanghai is actually hotter then Singapore... I thought Singapore is already the ultimate... I babysit the 3 kids for 1 day with the help of my gf... Torturing sia... I come to realized one thing, being a nanny is actually a very professional job. It require superb communication skills, high level of stress threshold, and loyalty to the job. Quite similar to the requirements of recruiting an executive. These are the picture of them, namely Jane, Sherry, and George.


I also went to paint my gf's house door... It may seems like a damn easy job. But its really not. To add on to the challenge, we painted the door in 2 colours... We also painted the ledge and the metal grille. We cover half of the door with newspaper and masking tape, then we painted 1 colour. After which the next day we took our the newspaper and painted the second colour... This is the final product... from far look very nice, from near, if you are a Singaporean, most prob you will complain... cos that's the national hobby.

I went for dinner at al dente on the national day parade preview to see the fireworks. Well it was really quite a view. Saw the heli flew pass, and the fighter jets, and the bla bla bla... I seriously think if there is no fireworks, 90% of the people will choose to stay at home at he comfort of their sofa and watch the tv instead of paying like 100+ to dine at the roof top of the restaurant.

Talking about food, I went for a cooking cum catching up session with my gf's pastor... I made pasta while my gf made soup... First time cooking using the induction heater. Really quite cool sia... except when I toss the bacon the olive oil wouldn't catch fire... the kitchen is like those cooking show kind, with a huge table top, so can chat while cooking or preparing the ingredients. I like it...

Here I am... standing at the bottom of yet another mountain... I still remembered I said the similar thing when I started my ia at Shanghai. Each week stands for 1 hill that is on the mountain... Starting that time, whole day bitching about the climb, then halfway up no mood to bitch anymore, when reach the top, finally see some work done, and when its coming down, time pass so fast and before I knew it, its already time to move on to yet another chapter of my life...

One life time is not a very long thing... especially now that the world is killing itself in the name of development. I am happy that I have a hand to hold on to, a voice that whispers encouragements into my ear, a smile that gives me hope... when I take on the challenges of tomorrow.

One Month in Singapore...

One month after I returned from Shanghai... and one month since my last blog... haha... so sorry to my ardent fans of my blog... well life is definitely different from Shanghai... I no longer care about the weather forecast for tomorrow and today is just as hot as yesterday... I no longer need to cook for myself anymore, because I have my beloved mama to cook for me... I no longer need to pay my own electricity bills anymore... on the other hand, I no longer get to enjoy the cheap food, the cheap taxi, and the cheap shopping... I am back to my own room with my beloved bukit timah hill view... however, life has never been better, for 5 months, I have been hearing the voice of my gf on the phone, looking at her pictures on the computer. Now everything comes to life... and best of all, we like spending time with each other, doing nothing at all... maybe is my sleeping aura... haha... This is my name, drawn by her, on a mushroom Swiss burger, at the airport :) the nicest looking burger I've ever seen...

I wish to take this chance to say happy birthday to my father... This year, my father had a very special birthday... this is the first time in his life he sit in front of a cake and people sing happy birthday to him and he make a wish, and smile at the camera, and cut the cake... I thought I saw his eyes turned wet... haha... This is the cake, and this cake may look ordinary, but when one piece of it slide down the throat, it seems that you have taken a bite off a creamy d24 durian... and on top of that... My gf and I travelled all the way to jalan kayu to get the cake and carrying it like a precious baby all the way back. When we see the smile on my parents' face... I thought everything was worth it...

I went to the ikea @ tampanies to see see look look, it was situated just beside courts, and giant, in the middle of nowhere... I guess that's why they can have such big spaces... cos land in the middle of nowhere is nowhere near expensive... the design of the place, quite similar to the ikea @ Shanghai... the restaurant design also around the same... the toilet and the food counter... However, one thing that is different is that there is a special counter for nasi padang... like those curry vege rice like that... where you can choose what you want to eat from a variety of dishes in front of you...

Talking about food, I chanced upon this fast food restaurant a few days back... situated at the basement of vivocity, the name of the restaurant- "SuperDog". The slogan- "hand grilled burgers & hotdogs". Famished like crap, my gf and I ordered a chicken burger, a chicken hotdog, and chilli fries... take a look at the pictures and let them speak to you... When I sink my teeth into the hotdog bun, I can taste the juicy premium hotdog, grill to perfection, together with the fresh onions and tomatoes on top, and the toasted bun. The thing that blows me off is that thin crispy bacon that hides itself underneath the hotdog... The fries, there are not just fries, they are crispy fries that my hand cannot stop putting into my mouth... When the fries are combined with the cheesy chilli meat sauce, the taste is heavenly... It really makes me wonder why are there still people sitting in Mac and LJS and KFC... they should all come down here man!

Sentosa has really changed... now no more sitting of cruise to Sentosa... then no more those lame Asian Village theme park and volcano island... at least the new monorail service is good... can squeeze really alot of people inside. The beach also not bad, given that there are private clubs and shops setting up along the beach... now can sit the bus from the beach monorail station all the way out to Singapore instead of sitting the blue or yellow bus then have to change... Managed to take a few pictures along the way... Towards the last day, our faces were almost like this little girl...

Spending time together does not have to be packed with lots of programs... the objective is not what we are doing, but who are we with... Strolling by the sea, holding your hand, kicking the water, life has been an enjoyment, because of you... happy 6 months darling...

GoodBye Shanghai...

I still remember how I felt when I was standing in the cold, looking at the company which I was going to work in for 6 months. Hour by hour, day by day, each day went pass with the increasing yearn for the end of my IA to come... and finally it came.

Last week of my stay in Shanghai... off to 新天地, the alleys of pubs really come alive when the sky turned dark... along with it comes the many westerners and of cause the feeling of slowing down the pace of life to enjoy a cold sip of beer...

Went to the old villages at the outskirts of Shanghai too... I must say its shopping heaven for aunties like my mum... everything also cheap cheap, everything also buy buy... and poor me at the back everything also carry carry... After we whacked the old villages, we proceeded on to the oriental pear tower. Standing at the most expensive district of Shanghai, the tower offers 360 degree of view of the area around the river. I was quite lucky that the sky is quite friendly... no rain, no fog... There was not much people inside the tower, so we got into the lift quite fast... as usual the lady inside the lift gave an introduction about the tower and Shanghai... but what is interesting is that her speech started when the lift door close, and ends rights before the door open... I think they must have practise it for countless times... We went up to the second ball first... there is a buffet restaurant at that ball... but whooping 40 buck SGD is no joke... so we just snap some pictures and came down to the bigger ball below. The bottom ball is actually a space city... they managed to packed a mini roller coaster inside and all the lame rides... Anyway I went on that roller coaster... I thought it would be just like those "cho cho" train thingy... I still take out my hp wanting to take some pictures... the attendant told me to keep my hp in case my hp drop inside... Lucky I listen... 3 words to describe the ride - short, intense, fierce.

Towards the end of my mum stay in Shanghai, I brought her to 杭州. The lake really bring in huge money for the state sia... people come all the way to walk along the lake... We had a hearty lunch at this glasshouse restaurant... there are actually many nice restaurants with very good concepts along the lake... and they have 1 street selling all the branded goods from Europe too... Fierce de... After our meal, we joined the walking gang along the lake... basically it was a 5 hour after meal stroll... walk and walk, there was this chap, that followed us, telling us to go for his tour thingy... he would bring us tour around the lake, bla bla bla... I said no. Apparently he cannot understand the word no, neither he can understand my shaking of head... and he went on pestering me like a pain in the ass for 15 min... Anyway soon we came to the little temple of general yue fei, but didn't went in. My mum said there is nothing much to see inside... But of cause I never fail to take some evidence of me being there back.

My mum and her friend went back one day after my birthday... Before that ofcause they wip out a feast for my friends... First time in my life so many people sung birthday song for me together... really touched... my cake was a tiramisu cake with a cute little cow sitting on it... To make things better, every single member of the puxi family turned up... and of cause... the kodak moment before I made my wish and chop the cake... thanks so much once again to everyone for making my 24 birthday a special one... I liked boon's expression... act serious look... wahahaha....

As my aunt waved her hand at me, as I walked into the gantry, as I looked at the plane which is going to carry me back home, I can't help think about my apartment, the path which I walked every day to work, the mini mart which I bought my breakfast. Once called my home, now they are just ordinary places and soon they are gonna be memories in my head...

There is a Chinese saying," 天下没有不散之宴席..." Everything comes with it a closure... and with that comes the opening of another journey... Really glad that I didn't submit my rejection letter to the GIP office 6 months ago...

"Looking forward to spending every moment with you, hand in hand through every journey ahead of us..."