Ranters Inc

2010-05-10T02:14:00.003+08:00

ok today's mother's day, so happy mother's day to my mum and all mums out there.

phase 2 work has started, which in itself is so arduous and laborious, maybe shld join labour party then, nar but word has it tt perhaps gordon brown's might not make it a second term. coming back, with the dawn of the systems modules, in depth knowledge and all has drained much of my energy away, not to mention stupid dota games that caused me to oversleep on two occasions, of one i had to attend the friday's anatomy sessions.

but the rule is, moderation. well we all know this word, but another word overshadows it, it being motivation, or lack of motivation and determination. being myself, it is indeed hard to enjoy things in moderation, often leading to an addiction. so point to note.

am in the second week of may, with exams just over a few weeks back(though it feels like forever) there would be the june exams in another 4 weeks time... so yup think its time to start preparing for that...

anw this is one of my mindless ranting just a self check that i am still sane and alive

2010-04-26T01:59:00.002+08:00

i thought march i spend a lot, april thus far have spend at least 175 quid and counting haha... most was attributed to either buying food for cooking, or simply eating out. found a nice study sanctuary in an italian resturant behind stoke bishop, where it was my site of studying for the last week of holiday.

anyway today was my first trip to wai yee hong at eastgate. had dimsum for lunch which was the first time i had dimsum since coming back bristol. AWESOME! ordered like lots of siewmai, hagao, char siew bao, feng zhao etc... great lunch. afterwhich headed downstairs to the supermarket where i bought WAN WAN and cup noodles, oh another stash to my exam stash(which was virtually untouched). it is indeed very easy to overspend on products that are for once, cheaper than in sg like M&S.

anw tomorrow, sir EUGENEEEE LLYOD shall start us off on cvs, with a practical to end the day. such a long day to start year 2.

and i never knew so many people shared my bdae with me. ok i knew weihan and linzheng, but chester also??? like ok... happy birthday guys :)

2010-04-26T01:43:00.002+08:00

friday officially concluded the end of our year 1 exams, after months of lectures tutorials and self study, hours of motivation, emo-ness and every other emotion that has been given a name in the oxford dictionary... it was not easy, especially the whole period before the exam...

could say rome trip was indeed a blessing in disguise, a short respite even though right smack in the middle of the holiday before the exam. grace i guess. so the 2 weeks that followed after that was a whole load of rushing readings and note making, a full first round of revision was finally achieved. the days were long and the sunlight was such a bad estimate of the amount of time i had left to study, coz it was bright until 8ish pm, then suddenly was crap, i only can study another 2 hours more before i would knock out or sth.

exam week flashed by even faster. mcbom 1 was riddled with typo and all the other what-nots, mcbom 2 was filled with mcq and other components that drew answers from the most remote of notes. hbom 1 was akin to some ss paper, only that had to be multi-thematic and names and years and philo. hbom 2, well stats ruled the day. friday finally came, histology was surprisingly doable coz went thru the slides earlier tt morning but anatomy was a killer, especially with my not touching it for ages.

all in all, i would say the exams was one of the first of the mega huge exams that would come my way as i embark on this mbchb course :) shout-out of thanks to everyone who has prayed for me or supported me in any way. GOD!! thank you for always being there. my parents for their constant support. prayers and encouragement from my peeps like jeff, veron, choon, squish, sand and basically anybody whom i have not named but you are remembered.

so thus concluded a hectic first year of medic, and tomorrow i shall start my path on the road of year 2 medic

2010-04-13T06:01:00.002+08:00

ok ok ok... need to note this down, nothing i have ever encountered could rival the experience i juz had whilst walking to the bus stop!!

so edmund, daryl and i were walking to catch the bus, then in front of me daryl accidentally knocked into some lady who went 'damn-it'... he said sorry and we carried on walking... less than 10m ahead as i was walking, this tall skinny weird woman was walking towards me and i tried to sidestep but my totebag knocked into her bag, and being polite i said sorry...

unexpectantly, she whirled around and stepped forward towards us in a very confronting manner... i was totally taken by surprise and thought she was going to attack to shoot off some racist comment on how non-white people cant walk straight or something. instead she said something that went like this : it doesnt mean that inequality for woman means you can walk straight through them ... forgot middle bit... and so after 100,000 years of f***ing inequality you can just f*** off. and she gave me the V(f***) sign before storming off...

stunned, shocked and just rooted with my mouth hung wide open(i realise my mouth was literally opened). like what on earth just happened. i was really taking steps back for fear that she will assault me or what-not, but this??? and where did the sexist idea even emanate from??? it was random, it was scary, but it was a most interesting way to end a day :)

ps : post very much in shorthand

2010-03-26T05:26:00.003+08:00

was just running through websites and suddenly realised i have not bloghop for ages... so just started from my fellow bitch's then started linking around from him... does make one nostaligic about missing the usual company one is accustomed to...

i have always reiterated this time and time again, but i always like to state it again. do everything for the right reason. living overseas is very fun indeed, but can be draining at times. self motivation and self encouragement. self confidence and self assurance. self checks and just realising that, hey slacking is not an option! it is a very much self act thus self achievement. it does not come easy, dun lose it iggy. not referring to my sanity( :) ) but it is really about pacing and keeping the mind fresh for the load of info being squeezed in...

there are so many distractions, but some of them being boonish in a way... haha stupid jeff told me abt antm new cycle!! its nice but gotta focus iggy :) gosh but that raina is like 'gosh she IS a model' and fastpasstv is not helping either!! today came across an old cartoon which was like what? 15 years ago?? saban's tenko and the guardians of the magic!! sadly only managed to find 3 episodes. DISTRACTION. facebook. DISTRACTION. gosh i got so many distractions in my life!!! irriatating!!!

ytd went for penitential service, which kinda was a reliever, at least i can get my act in life back properly. like he said, you dun need that crap in your life, maybe i dun :) its still lent, so get back to fulfilling your resolution kid :)

coz stupid badock does not serve food during the hols, and stupid badock also doesnt provide a darn kitchen, thus have to keep imposing on edmund these few days to kaput his kitchen. first time cooking aint tt hard, in fact its fun :) experimenting with chicken, prawns, rice and pasta dishes. still try more when i come back rome, hopefully can infuse a bit of tt italiano essence in my food :p sidenote, for pasta guess its best to drain ALL the water before adding the sauce. and for spices, its stupid to add when there was so much water. want to add lemon tinge, add it after you boil the prawns!! but i think i cooked my chicken well, and fried the prawns well, like WHOA nice... guess tt tinge of pepper did help... next year got more time to play around, can do bak chor ha next year then...

anyway, gotta get my act back in order, especially when final exams are approaching in t minus 24 days (including rome hol)...

oh and my darn hair so long, very tempting to keep twirling and styling :p DISTRACTION!!
well at least food helps a bit, but its so unhealthy, especially with all the chips(crisps, SAME!)and cookies and chocs and all the what-nots... NOT CLUBBING! that is not a solution. BAKAH!

anw another sidenote, at times its quite irritating that i am having less to talk to c about... guess this distance does make a difference... well c does have a life in sg, haha and her stupid job attachment till jun keh! guess its time to make decisions and all, and i dun think i would like the one i have in mind... ok i m just emoing for the sake of it...WAKE UP and go read on tt damn cholesterol article now...

ps... I WANT JAY MANUEL'S HAIR

2010-03-22T02:47:00.005+08:00

term 2 has ended, spring break has started and damn year 1 exams are less than 30 days away, and argh stress!

well actually not stress, but just like to say that i am stress to make myself believe that i studied a lot, when in fact it may be the opposite. anw like geoff clarke said, its like painting, we should do layer by layer and cover all the work (9 elements for MCBoM, Anatomy & Histology, HBoM - ethics, WPC, SHM, Epi)...

well for one, element 2,3,4 were covered during christmas, i am finishing element 5 and starting on 1. half of element 6 is common sense to me (i hope), and that just leaves 7 (nutrition) 8 (immuno and diseases) 9 (cancer). but so need to know all the different epi techniques and names of sociologist and systems for WPC not forgetting ethics confidentiality etc...

anyway, term 2 was even faster than term 1...
(ok crap my entry just got deleted from here on so i am cutting short everything)

today was a rather rollercoasterish day. woke up 5 min late so rushed over to wait for C's car for 5 min, so had to walk to church. apparently they thought i oversleep so didnt wait long, oh well... so had mass then after tt was looking for M. but he din know that i was dropping by today afternoon for lunch, so felt quite intrusive and just went home. i think there was some miscomm between him and his wife, coz shes the one who invited me last week... so dropped by kfc and had a sunny twister for lunch. reached home and was reading on embryology when D phoned my mobile... bbq lunch at 3, coz the weather today was really god-sent, so warm...

so dropped by tesco to grab them some crisps then made my way to their house... nice house housing nice people. 2 kids in med school, with one more considering entering med school, must be their dad's influence :p... oh and their nana was also ard, damn was she alive and funny... so different from my ahma... oh D and M's bbq skills are superb... had lots of different kinds of sausages, chorizo and some other pork filled sausages, lamb and chicken, salad and potatoes. ended with a good serving of ice cream and a cup of tea... coz T is my year 4 senior, so we were basically comparing our lecturers and all, den the talk went on to J's exciting journey at king's cross with a hilarious imitation of the guy who tried to pick a fight with him. then they started talking about rugby and how o'gara did this or that (this was where i started getting lost :p) it was late so they had to send nana back, so i hitcheda ride back too...

well the company was great, and the afternoon well spent kudos to good hospitality from their family, greatly appreciated on my end :)

but back to reality, time to get back to embryology.
like wat geoff said, study like painting, do a few layers, but make sure u complete the first layer first and not just concentrate on one spot...

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2010-03-06T01:38:00.003+08:00

just back from a run round stoke bishop... weather was great, well there was the ever chilling wind but yea, the run was great. running was no sweat, literally.

no planning, no map, just run! ever since denton educated us about nutrition (those of you who won the mars bar, rmb it takes 30 mins to burn away all that calories) i became very much more health conscious, to the extent that was looking for the food label on every food i picked up.

anw back to the run, ran up and down streets, cul de sac and all... the sky was just blue, as in bluer than any singapore blue sky can provide. the aeroplane in the sky was so distinct, not covered by any hint of a nuvola(cloud in ita) or nube(esp)...

so tonite fr alan will be discussing future plans for the choir, esp since steve will be leaving us after easter. after that will drop by keith's place but dun think will stay too long coz tmr is ROAD TRIP DAY! cant rmb where we will drive to, but hu cares, i need the break...

so far so good, keeping to my lentern resolution, 20 days and counting. went for stations of the cross on wed at st mary's which can be considered my second time only, but still :p

anw i started this post on fri afternoon and it is now sat morning, HUGE HIATUS

2010-02-02T04:26:00.003+08:00

quick quick one before my motivation to do word fades away.

ok as usual wake up late or oversleep, and last sunday was no exception, woke up at 910, got ready by 915, ran down and reached church by 935 (by right i normally take 40 min to reach :p) ok kudos to legs that are so untrained, first was the tibialis anterior that started the lactate ache, then i think my gastrocnemius and soleus also started their rebellion, so kinda sweat a bunch when i sat down. slipped a seat next to chris after he beckoned towards a spare chair at the choir; louise brought her child down. was rather a different experience, especially with a strength of 10 only, being the youngest one, and having your own personal microphone, haha. guess in a way it forces you to sing properly, unlike in sg where a teeny mistake will somehow or rather be masked by other voices, to be a main contributor rather than an accessory, to put it bluntly. but oh well, i like to sing, so yup :)

hitched a ride back to hall. on the way they were broadcasting live tennis match between andy murray and roger federer. sadly need to rush stupid ethics crap again, if not would gladly accept their kind gesture to watch the match at their house :)

just booked my flight details to rome during the apr hol(hol finish = EOY exam). kinda looking forward to it, hope this motivates me further. oh and ange asked again abt the france trip, so kinda confirmed tt as well :) just a weekend, i think :p wah cannot keep gg holiday leh, iggy control yourself !!!

anw, exam results just came back. marks/avg. hist : 68,72. anat : 98(FTW HIGHEST), 91. total : 69,66. MCQ : 71, 70. Biochem matching : 53, 60 (enzyme qn totally killed me). Physio + anat : 80, 78(surprised coz tot i flunk the joint qn). Essay : 75, 60(a diagram would have booster it higher). Scaled total : 61, 58.
passing mark is 60%, ie avg is lower than passing mark ??? have no idea, only know that slightly better than average, which is a relief that i passed my exam, but the marks per se is not exactly above expectation. with the looming EOY - with HBoM, MCBom, Hist/Anat, must buck up k iggy :) time to chiong le :)

ok kdrama cut down, espanol menos, dun slack too much :)

2010-01-24T23:46:00.002+08:00

Standing on the threshold between T2W2 and T2W3...

just completed my ethics article on confidentiality. well to a certain extent it is rather common sense, but who dictates what is the common sense of society. the point that struck a chord was that unless there was serious injury to a person, then will a doctor not be liable should he disclose personal information. even if there was great damage to property does not warrant that same effect...

anw recap. tried the 930 choir at st pnp. was quite nice, just that their songs are very unconventional in my respect, ie never hear before. OH and christopher walker was from this parish, cool. and our choir 'kahuna' writes the mass proper for this church - stephen bryant. sadly he is leaving after easter.
darren came down bristol today, so met up for breakfast, thus couldnt go for the 930 mass. 11 mass was great, just that as part of the congregation, one doesnt feel as participative as the 930. i guess a music ministry should not only lead but also involve the congregation, hmm...
thanks goes out to jill and nicole for their kind hospitality last week and this week. went to pam's house with jill, rachel and family at portsbury. had a relaxed family chat over a nice dash of home-cooked meal. and louise hadnt start school last week like 8-O. but anw it was great to see them in their native environment, quote from sound of music.
today went to nicole's place for lunch. exquisite, or maybe its just french. had chicken over wine. cheese with salad. chocolate mousse with tinge of orange which reminded me of the hot chocolate - grey goose - orange i had at heathrow airport. :) really does break the monotony of hall food and uni life.
oh and realised tt sg radiostations have resumed their online broadcast :D
its these small little privileges, familiarity and fun that make an overseas student less homesick. thank god for all these in my life.

our house hunt has almost come to a close... a 5 roomer with nice roomies :) 15 min walk away from shopping and uni :) compared to my 40 min pilgrimage everyday to school, 15 is considered scanty... just waiting for landlord to accept our cheques and we are due to sign...

a mnemonic to end a post :
Sexy Lucy Tried Peeing Having Corpulated Twenty Times
Scaphoid Lunate Triquetrum Pisiform Hamate Capitate Trapezoid Trapezium

2009-12-28T14:53:00.003+08:00

if only things were that simple, either black or white. just hate grey like seriously. and quote some unknown source, life is seriously not a bed of roses, neither is it a rosy picture. think i should stop deluding myself that a utopian world is achieveable, one where everyone works for the progress of society on a whole. guess no matter what we do, we cannot change the fact that this so-called utopian vision can never become a reality, just because of a fundamental flaw of man being self-protectionist in nature.

but thanks to a person who kinda reminded me of the need to just beware of those around, cause not everyone will be true to you hundred percent. good reminder indeed. ah yes, one more point mentioned. cool down, take a step back and stop rushing into things blindly. i guess i am one who needs to learn through repeated mistakes, which is seriously not a strength at all. but well, we all learn, its just how long it takes to learn.

chill iggy :)

anyway on another note, its just 8 more days till i am going back uk, something that i cannot say i am looking forward to, exams and having to leave all my family and friends back here, yes especially you guys, you know who i refering to. but then again, its only 6 months, 6 fleeting months till the end of my first year, the first out of five years there.

iggy you can do it. you have been through worse shit, jiayou :)

2009-12-26T23:13:00.002+08:00

heya, always time for another post.

seems that in sg always can spare some time for a post, unlike uk where everything is too clockworked and stardardised, that i do not have time for reflection or contemplation.

just had the inspiration to blog about my time in g2, especially after reading mel's version after 13 yrs and counting haha.

so for me it has been 5 years to date, started as a non-obligatory invite from then yr 4 medical student- cum-fellow e.foo student darren leong to just try g2 out... haha dunno what prompted me to find out more, but guess i have never regarded that choice. so like my con classes, i was quite hyped out at first and went ever so regularly, but with time and my obsession with doing well for exams(not forgetting parents' incessant nagging) it became a monthly pilgrimage (not sure if it evolved to an annual one though haha) so from a friendly discussion during my first church camp, things started to happen...

05/06 marked the jc era. was really mia, well started to know more people, some of whom i still regard as close bros, others well, perhaps will get to know and relate better...
07/08 signalled the dawn of the epoch of saikang aka NS. perhaps it was a form of respite from the wayangness and saikangness of army, or just wanted to play a bigger role and not let church be just a 1hr commitment, i slowly inched back to g2 and gave more time back to this ministry. 08 was also the year where g2 celebrated our 25th anniversary. the day where i first met fiona and andrea(kudos to facebook photos), got reacquainted with old peeps and all...
09 was a whole mixture of events and friendship. cant exactly rmb what were the context, but it was the year where the 'clique' was formed. growing in size and fervour. quote a particular doc during camp(your clique growing very big leh, all the new ones seem to always join leh). cant rmb the order but now i could safely say it is 11 pax strong. in order of age : me(ok shutup), jefferson junior tan chuan wei aka my bitch buddy , veron, andrea aka ant'drea eloise, fiona-the sports enthu girl, danica-ms cheerful-helpful, lizabeth, iggy tan-pseudo matt, james-tobias impersonator, tobias-james impersonator, annabelle-princess. actually right, if there is a higher council, i think i shld be considered grand council den(ok another slap at my age)

09 the year when i gave almost every sat back to church. the year where, never before, i took part and committed to lentern vigil, easter, yr for priest and dunno what else... haha kinda proud of myself (cheapthrill). 09 the year before i left for studies. 09 the year where g2 committments needed to be put on hiatus. 09 the year where i came back just in time for christmas (amidst my study break, which i cant seem to study). 09 the year which is waning, and where 10 approaches.

sadly but surely, this hiatus needs to be resumed again. one more week of g2 practs and mass. de javu all over again. nostalgia and sadness, yet once again to leave my choir family (this post is dedicated to my g2 family)... sigh... guess that will be another 6 months more till i will be back. not long but yet cannot be considered a short time.

may the road rise up to meet you
may the wind be ever at your back
may the sunshine warm upon your face
and the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again
may god hold you in the hollow of his hands
(the hollow of god's hand)

2009-12-19T23:48:00.002+08:00

discipline, word of the day. to bring back 10kg worth of books and not studying is akin to buying back a white elephant, which hopefully is not the case.

motivation and determination, driving force behind our pursuits. what drives you?

ok last nite could be summarise in a few words : cab, prata, drink, photo, cab, sleep.

zouk was such a let down, utterly jammed packed with eww eww people everywhere. c's friend was seriously like cheapening herself, getting herself groped and what-nots everywhere. but well i was warned. ventilation lvl all time low, neg circulation that resulted in brain's mental alertness dropping. ok but the vodka ribena made up for it :) maybe they have a milo concoction

2009-12-18T20:36:00.004+08:00

been one week since touched down back in sunny(and rainy singapore), been going out for the whole duration that i have been putting my studies on hiatus, which is definitely not a good thing.

just back from g2 camp, which lasted approximately 2.5 days. generally ok, but lack coordination to a large extent, and as noel mentioned, people being lost due to the absence schedule or the outline of the whole day's activities. i thought the components like the sharing session and the art therapy were quite interesting and were meaningful and productive, whilst the movie screening seem to just be forcing the analogy (though closely linked) of the stations on us. and yes you guys, i know you have this addy, but dun spread.

i thought the outburst during the camp debrief did drive home a very pertinent point, albeit uncalled for. i mean, yes we all know that planning is difficult and executing it is even more complicated, but the manner of it was not appropriate. everyone would always want to end a camp on a high note, instead of the heavy mood that took over the feedback session. because seriously, by putting people off with that rhetorics would not be able to get much honest feedback from the young ones, which should be the target as we the older ones already know what to expect. his attitude did kinda suck too, especially the part of ordering the bunk i/c s around. hey hello, that was pure arrow shooting and saikang and you should be polite and appreciative, not barking at people like oi joseph all your people accounted for not' every other minute when you designated a break time of 15 min, and the timing has not even crossed that duration yet. seriously, relax lar. sure you want things to go according to plan (naturally, i would too if i were executing the programme) but this is not army, we are not your minions or slaves. we did not come to camp to abide to your whims and fancies of barking instructions, we came to enjoy a meaningful camp with appreciation and credit due to your committment and sacrifice.

but having said that, i guess he did bring out one point which was spot on. the discipline was rather lacking to some extent, but that is not the crux. the crux is this, driving home the idea of maintaining discipline, in the right manner. i wont say that the younger ones are without fault, though some of you guys could seriously improve on your maturity. ground rules and expectations were not defined from the start, thus how can you justify or anticipate the younger one that hey, this is not a yc camp, so different objectives and management styles. thus i wont entirely(i mentioned entirely) blame the younger ones for comparing this camp with their yc camp that was held a week back. i think the part of the bed issue really ticked me off the most. hello,(according to joe) joe confirmed with you(yes you) whether was it possible to bring the beds from next room in, and you said yes, which we will take it as the signal that approval was sought and given. and in a most hypocritical manner, you mentioned 'hey guys next time if you want to do this kinda thing, pls seek permission first' like wth. just admit that you gave the wrong impression and signal (very plainly) that caused a major comfusion, which caused me and joe to dah the hei guo. i mean like, be a man and admit you booboo-ed it, sheesh. to think that you dare use the fact that your experience has taught you well. well apparently, you still lack in this aspect. nonetheless, you were open to my pointers and i hope that this round did give you better insights to plan better camps(if you do). having said, it was a meaninful camp for me, insights and reflections and interactions etc. nonetheless, i will still go back to 2 points for improvements, direction(not referring to objectives) and expectation.

ok now wrt the younger ones, it is indeed heartening to see that at least 1 more of the horde has stepped up and matured much, well the rest are still, as usual. to you, good effort in projecting a confident and outspoken image, one which is very useful in the future, having experienced it first hand myself. great chance to mingle with them again, but i think i am getting too matured(both good and bad) and distanced from them... maybe this is what space and time do to people. anw, at one point in the camp did decide to quit g2(again!) but the mass did remind me of the plethora of reasons why i joined and maintained my involvement in this church family of mine. so ya, if i were to have a 1 to 1 htht with some of you guys, i got tons of things i so wanna tell you which hopefully could help you be a better person, but being human, that will place me in same position as him, which is not my style(i prefer guiding in a slow and directional manner, though i am definitely not the best person). i guess to me being part of both the older and younger group perhaps could be my chance to shape this group of younger ones to assume potential roles in this ministry, good chance for them, and they are good candidates too, if some of them were to mature more and act more appropropriately. nonetheless, g2 does provide a perfect platform to really pick up these life skills, unfortunately for me picking them up so much later in life... seize the day guys

2009-11-28T19:53:00.002+08:00

heya blog... just had the inspiration to blog this morning...

well lots have happened in the past few weeks, from the roller coaster marks for anat test (ending with a 10/10 this week, finally :). so needed the ego boosters esp nearing the mock and real anat test, to halloween nite at zen and let loose in a long time, to the stressful rush of work of SHM epi anat (and notes) and of coz gp attachment essay (finished last nite ~ 900 words FTW) and creative piece (must start soon) to embarrassing late fri nites, to my first attempt at cooking fried rice with b at ww, to pizza-cum-movie nites on sat at various venues from wills to hb, to setting off fire alarms(tt was so much earlier in the term) to end of with a epic walk this morning, which shall be the highlight of this post :)

so left tim's room at ard 10am after a weird nite (right mr g???)... explored (and took a wrong turn at chh) clifton village and was on the verge of taking the right turn when i saw the clifton suspension bridge looming ahead on me, just within arms length... with a mocha in my hand from caffe gusto i headed in that general direction. my gosh just as i was about to embark onto the trail of the bridge, just had the inspiration to ask a couple of joggers where the observatory was - "oh its just here (pointing upwards)" so with that direction i walked up the trail, which did not disappoint me in a bit... the view was utterly paronamic, with the avon gorge presented before me, shame i did not have a camera with me... the experiece was beyond breath taking. sipping my coffee and taking in the sight, it was as if my role as a student was placed as secondary and a tourist persona came to the fore. one word - awesome... if there is time, really wanna bring you(before you dao me hah) guys there... so descended from the observatory and trod along the path back to stoke bishop... the trail was also just stress-relieving and it just completed my day (ok later do work :p) it was like a scene in those korean movies with the trees on both sides, only that the trees have slumbered with their leaves being shed, if not it would have been a memorable walk, not that it was not.

basically, the term is coming to an end, with every week just fleeting... so here i stand on the verge of starting week 9 with 10 marking the start of exams and the end of term (ironic huh)... room still thrown into anarchy, but i am somewhat prepared for the challenge that lie ahead. 2 weeks more, 2 tests more... go for it ig :)

2009-10-15T03:26:00.002+08:00

listening to mr brown show now anyway...
haha, we got beach ping pong, we got sexy beegeenee girls playing with their balls on the beach and the rules very strict, the maximum size of the girls beegeenee is g-string... we have epl : egyptian premier league ahaha...

so i m into my second week (not including week 0) and i have already spent like damn lot of pounds(dollars not weight) but compared to others who can spend like £400 on one trip...
so had a short weekend off to london, and managed to meet up with peeps like lumpy, yi han and fanhao... and of course not forgetting some sightseeing, of which the pictures i have yet to have the energy to upload... got one windbreaker from uniqlo...
oh and my dinner was fish (without chips) and it already cost like £5.50, chips is another 2.50... so ya just wanna shout out who high the standard of living is in london, but well bristol is not much better, but still its slightly cheaper...

considering the economics, i have already booked a trip down to bath this week and a flo rida concert in nov :p ok i m a useless money spender, but hey at least i dont go clubbing much, so yar one avenue closed but another one on the verge of exploding :p

tmr is anat class again, hope i have prepared sufficiently... but this week for SHM and epi i think i got used to the style of teaching and the tutors, so well, know what to expect and what not to expect, but yar i think to get the most out of them is to ask coz they are more than willing to answer. however if you were to shut ur mouth and just expect to be spoonfed then i guess you wont take back as much then...

just back from CU(christian union) which at times does serve its purpose like getting to think abt what the bible is trying to say instead of merely being spoonfed during the homilies... and somehow they were quite centralised on mark's gospel... but one thing to think about ytd and today... if Christ said that He is the Way, Truth and the Life and nobody can get to the Father except through Him, does this mean that if christianity is the way, all other religions, even if their believers walked the sinless path, they would not receive eternal redemption, which i thought was quite a big question to think about...

on another note, i have totally lost touch with the happenings in singapore, eg for mrbrownshow.com, i totally dont get the gist of the tv providers jokes or the one about the pickpocket... but i think the pck teaser is an interesting spoof about ris low is hilarious...

ok i sound so haphazard and jumping from one unrelated topic to another but i am not exactly the most structured person to begin with...

oh and i managed to sit through a few hours in the library reading up on biochemistry *yay* with occasional nods of zzz and beit sitting through it with me thanks :p

2009-10-02T01:50:00.002+08:00

well its 1st oct, so heres wishing all kids and those young at heart a happy children's day :)

ok so a report on what is happening here in cold bristol... getting used to the weather and all, yay... the people are nice and friendly lar, but just cliquish... did i mention they are cliquish... but i think i know how to can mingle... i think...

some of the guys are intending to move out of stoke bishop precinct, simply coz of the walk across the downs, well not exactly justified, but just sad that there will be 4 less people to see frequently or to pop by the rooms... so thus they went to a realtor office to look for a new abode... in the meantime, edmund and i went to grab a bite at caffe gusto, with a 2 for 1 voucher obtained at the freshers fair, afterwhich lazing on the grass outside will's memorial... damn it looks like those kinda high school shows where students would just or laze around on the greens without any worries(well other than work which is usually masked by the wonder of the atmosphere around)

anw today had some small group discussion on mental health, especially those problems a typical student may face, and what additional mental problems may a medical student face too... rather interesting to see the different arguments set out by me(only overseas student in the group) and the other locals... well i guess an international student and a local one will face different kinds of challenges along the way... my brain is rather enervated now, so most probably sleeping in early tonite...

at least i know the feeling of going to a bar with friends, and not getting drunk... coz i dun think i would wish to go down all the way to town for a bar, and cabbing back and spend more money... i guess certain entertainment needs to be cut back on...

2009-09-29T05:29:00.002+08:00

ok heres reporting in from bristol... its 2230 already...

so yup it has been 3 days since i have left sunny singapore and landed in cool and windy bristol...
what to say ah... basically thanks to those who came to see me at the airport, esp twh, ong pohlin, hqx and lyw, the choir peeps and my cousins, and not forgetting my godma :)... so yup was on the same plane as daryl and clement, and eexiu too though only saw her once at the airport... reached heathrow, transferred to a bus and took a 2 hour bus-ride into bristol, changed to a minibus and reach stoke bishop precinct, badock hall...

lugged like 100+ kg with my parents to hall, fell down, sprained ankle, damn freaking careless as usual, haiz... need to change... so now still swollen, but not limping...

dropped by jill's house, nice and warm host, makes one feel very homely... she has a garden behind her house and all the fruits like pear and apples are used in making some of her desserts and dishes *yumyum*

she also took us round the town and the clifton suspension bridge, visited some park with beautiful gardens and a huge mansion... she was also nice enough to let me experience one night home stay, and a true taste of how a typical british family lives and eats... thanks :)

so anw hall life is quite normal, with the bar full of drunkards everyday... people here tend to mingle among themselves, but no matter... but nonetheless, they are friendly, so yup its easy to get by...

today made a trip down to town with the other peeps, and got my phone line... afterwhich lunch buffet at cosmo, 6.50 pounds... which is kinda cheap in local terms but a bit pricey with conversion, think shldnt keep converting too much...

tmr going to register with the course, cant wait to see my coursemates... cheers

2009-09-25T10:25:00.002+08:00

on my last day in singapore before i embarked on this precarious journey, let me just relish the perpetual summer environment, before getting bombarded by the harsh winter chill. let me palate the feel of doing nothing(ok after my teaching stint) before engorging myself with the vast information presented by my course. let me lavish in my comfort zone before being yoked to public servitude...

anyway a quick recap on my days of green black white, 11+1 weeks of teaching and educating and crapping and laming... well it was enjoyable... really enjoyed my time, but still envious of them being young and being able to enjoy their days as a student, especially at ri with all its opportunities, minute in my days compared to them... perhaps its due to spec/exp stream being slightly disadvantaged to the then gepers... but none of these matters now...

all the teachers there were more than helpful and willing to offer their advice and assistance, especially we were all working towards a common goal, a common betterment of our charges... cheers to the bio dept, special mention to mr j chong, ms e quah, mr teo cy, mrs e foo and mrs j lim... and the others such as mrs j, mrs e tay, mrs kmk, ms huang yt, mrs yau ph, and anybody whom has helped in one way or another... most of my shifu all still there too, like mrs owl, mdm s., ms heng went to deliver a new life to this world...

even though my charges are buggish and annoying, still they are but 14 yo, and quite interesting to irritate and be irritated by...

took lots of pix throughout my term at ri, with many interesting and not that interesting events, like ptm, sci centre visit, teachers' day celeb, holympics, watching fat man lil boy and robert oppenheimer with his *cough* blow *cough* job *cough* face in the background whilst taking a photo, weird questions esp pertaining to sexual repro topics, weird antics in my classes..., the free gym usage, free massage chair in the lounge, the free strawberry and chocolate waffles, and many other freebies offered by this premier institution located in the heartland of singapore... shit i sound so cheapo...

anyway cheers to waffles winstitution for making my last 3 months an enjoyable one...

2009-08-28T20:52:00.000+08:00

well no prizes for guessing that it has been eons since my last post(as usual). stint in ri is fabulous, the mental challenges, and the need to always be at the tip of your toes to answer any weird and often hypothetical qns that cannot happen in real life(eg injected 2 sperms into the same ovum).

but nonetheless, enriching, albeit draining. anw everyday is fleeting by so quickly that fridays seems continuous. well at least it has brought me to today, which also marks ri's teachers' day celebration. i guess to a teacher, even this mini scale celebration is a good affirmation to our work and committment to our charges. now then do i truly understand the pains and mindset and the crazy schedule and demands teachers face. well i guess thats just part of the job, and this parallels that of other jobs nonetheless.

well a quick brief about today's events. reached school, had breakfast den go chaffeured to 2J with my minions(chrispy calls them tt) after which quickly made my getaway before i get barricaded again. went for celebration, and had my first (and perhaps last) chance to walk down the hall and towards our seats. so on with the bora-bora attractions. laden with gifts, thanks kids. after tt had to enlighten some rather adament and self-centred people.

anyway i can understand chu qh's point of view because it is valid, and this is to a large extent. however i feel that at their age, if they are so obsessed with grades alone and neglect everything else around them, they will be even more hardened and perverse when they grow up. more so with the greater challenges in life, unscrupulous just to achieve their aims. well i have seen peers acting as such in life already so no shock. but well they're still young, hope they can change...

on a lighter note, took many pics of teachers past and present, with students and of my collection of presents : 1 condom, 4 chocolates, a drawing, a bookmark, a fan, 1 ntuc $10 voucher, 1 flask, cookies :)

2009-07-14T23:26:00.002+08:00

if only time is reversible, i would turn it back...
if only words were tangible, i would wrestle them back...
if only you were in my shoes, all i want to say is that
i am sorry...

miss it all. the flow of rubbish. the flow of bitching. the flow of everything.

life just isnt the same anymore...

pls dun twist my comfort zone inside out, pls dun torment me, pls forgive me...

2009-07-05T01:11:00.002+08:00

yup back from class outing @ timbre. been a long time since i have meet up with them... abt 11 of us came. i can so multi task, watching hitman reborn and chatting on msn and blogging... anw it was fun just hanging out and putting tuition on hold... well perhaps i should learn to just not be over dedicated to my tuition kids and learn to appreciate life for what it fully is... well not exactly the best person who can multitask, but then again i am not in the best position to just let go and ignore this financial burden i have incurred, so well, i should learn how to strike this balance then, especially in uk where i dont think i should neglect my life and health just in order to mug more and learn more... think long time iggy :p

yes and 'thanks' yeye for tt song dedication, though they didnt play mirror of a man (i think)

2009-07-03T22:14:00.004+08:00

since the last post it would be approximately 2 months, between which there was a big transition, in which my learning and teaching environment has drastically changed.

from t*ss to r*, the student aptitude and attitude could be said to be worlds apart, not trying to be demeaning in any way. the thirst for learning and the responsibility for one's education is starkly different, no prize for which is which. nonetheless it was an enriching and eye-opening experience to be able to contrast the plethora of this student population. so basically now at r*, am in charge of 4 sec 2 classes, and the working hours are also shorter. rooms are air-con which is a big relief from the scorching heat, hopped over to the bio dept, and have been alleviated from any cme responsibility but have taken up the challenge to be a teacher mentor for re.

lets face it, students are still students and the level of maturity could be considered a constant; basically low !!! haha. asking all the weird qns when teaching sexual repro... makes me wonder were we like that too during our time... maybe one day will post an entry for an insight into the kinda queries that fly through their brains...

now lying on the table is the ri open house frisbee :) yay

oh yar this first week of school was a rather nonconventional one, with teachers leaving earlier than usual and the absence of remedial classes. basically this is attributed to the school's effort to reduce the chance of spreading of the ah1n1 virus within the school premises, especially so when the rj had 2 cases and the whole boarding complex was quarantined. so there.

my mind is not functional at this point in time, which explains my haphazard blogging...

so anw teaching bio instead of chem or phys is indeed a challenge, since it has been a long time since i last touched or even noticed my lpk book or campbell... so yup its a good refresher course before entering uni then, and there are so many free consultants around me from many different disciplines. it is also a good chance to pop by with a purpose, haha... anw the company is good, and i m not the only relief... got so many ex rafflesians... lionel with me in bio dept, then nicholas in maths, conrad in geog. and there are the other reliefs and contracts, christine wenrui and louis from eng so yup hope the chemistry is fun...

k cheers

2009-05-02T21:45:00.003+08:00

ok today the 2nd of may marks an eventful day spent at the assisi hospice fund raising project, which was held at the premises of SJI international. through months of preparation and planning on our part, yvonne myself and her 3e1, we managed to pull off a wonderful and meaningful project, though not without certain unforseen setbacks, such as the absence of one of our games(the magnetic dartboard) or that a locked gate greeted us upon returning back to school...

the day started at 7+ with stragglers and latecomers arriving, thus causing us to leave the school premise approximately around 730... nonetheless the attendance was decent and admirable despite their hectic schedule with the advent of their mid yrs... so upon reaching sjii, we unloaded our equipment off the bus and trudged up the slope, not before we passed though the thermal scanners positioned at the entrance... so we set up our stalls and prepare ourselves to handle a rumoured 8000+ strong public... our 3 games, a makeshift basketball game, a bounce-ball-into-pocket game, and a burst-the-balloon-with-a-paper game drew quite a welcoming response from the crowd, with a total of (later i gg to count so can report to ronita) worth of tickets. still it was heartening to see that our small stall was also part of the big carnival to raise funds to better administer medical services to this small group in our community. perhaps by divine intervention, no rain threaten us, despite these few days with counts of rainfall... 12+ m ho ching came to grace our ceremony and started on her rounds to accolade the many contributors and volunteers. yup so the class(well part of it), together with sr jane and ms ho marked this experience with a photo that hopefully with remind us of that point in time.

well i shld say that one performance that struck me quite strongly was when this young kid was performing 'somewhere out there'. it was not about the song, but the fact that despite him being a resident of the hospice, he didnt even give the slightest hint when he was singing. on the ground, this lady, whom i presume to be his mom, was beaming and singing along with him. well this simple interaction between them struck a deep cord in me. cherish and appreciate the simple things in life. do not worry about tmr, tmr with take care of itself. appreciate the present and make full use of today. the innocence of being simple, to be sensitive to the many blessings that God has blessed us, and not to keep fretting about how poor or inadequate we are, our faults and failures, for we often hang on to the wrong things in life. hah not often do i post such a different styled article, but well that short performance did resonant within me, and hopefully it would be a memory to constantly remind me of this lesson of life :)

2009-04-07T01:19:00.003+08:00

well just changed my blog address, so guess this is my own personal hideout from the world around me. well just watched devil wears prada, and it was rather thought provoking. basically, who you are and what you set your mind to do.

as the saying goes, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. well how apt. i just do not know how to overcome this weakness of mine. it is just like some recurrent cancer, keep manifesting itself even after painful surgeries to remove it. the scars remain, too are the memories and the surgery. it is akin to an eye operation without ga/la, just holding your head down and pray your eyes dun blink, lest it leaves a scar.

i dunno. seriously i am so tired of everything, can just see myself in miranda, how she was one-tracked mind in pursuing her goals, that her life was so wasted around her, the social aspect fading away. well it is this significant albeit small part of my life that keeps haunting me. i just cant get over it, not yet anyway. i pray sincerely, everyday, that i will not falter, not for a moment, not ever again. well it goes sth like this, children do not grieve your parents in their old age, for this does not please the lord. well i guess i am not exactly the kind of perfect child any parent would hope for, not with all its defects and all, but well... change is the only life's constant, and may this change be for the better. amen.

2009-03-28T14:14:00.001+08:00

you may be gone in flesh, but you will always remain with us in our memory.

god bless
-in memory of grace wee, my cousin

2009-02-24T22:38:00.003+08:00

gosh it has been such a long time since i last blog... now is week 8 of term 1(in school jargon), cant imagine that it is coming to a full 2 months since i first stepped into my first class and intro myself as mr chua(sounds kinda pompous though :p), but cannot be asking them to call me ignatius rite... whaliao no pride sia... so anw was readnig tco's blog which kinda prompted me to say hey i think i rmbed i got a blog that has kinda became desolete...

so yup a quick round up abt the many positions in my life... my cousin has thankfully been on the recovery route, thank God for that...

friends have been flying off to aussie... gl guys, esp sean, francis tan weichong, toy(tonite) and those who are gg back aus to further their studies...

ok so recently been gg out with c more often than ever, but hey dunno lar... dunno if it means anything or if c knows or feels anything... maybe it is just onesided, hope its not of course, but yup hope that sth promising with come outta it :)... so haha c kinda been stuck with tests up to her neck and all... instead of an intended lib visit, we ended up hogging places at max brenner @ esplanade... at first she felt paiseh but hey after a while, with the atmosphere and music, she found it a cool place to read her oral bacteria notes in prep for more tests... ordered a waffle and sat there till like 7pm before we decided to head over to marina square to makan. had quite a scenic view of the CBD of sg, and the night sky paraded with the lights in the distant, and the sg flyer behind me... but haha sth happened lar, dunno if it is to signify anything not or perhaps its juz me being oversuspicious and think too much, but guess i should just let things go its course bah... what will happen will happen...

but anw back to more real time rants... sheesh my classes still have a darn hard time keeping their traps shut, to think tt i originally tot 3n1/n2 can control le, sometimes still haywire, must resort to turning off lights and fans and projector... what happened to the days of ri when teachers' words are law and students are petrified by the presence of the teachers... is it a generation shift or is it that teachers in ri and other schools having it easy? anw 1e4/n1, hah retarded pple in class man... not literally retarded, but do or say the most ridiculous things...

it would either be darre* and his rotten p****, or matthe* and cheeyeon* at the back disturbing hidaya* and denis*/joyc*. or zak* talking crap with xinyan*, or mus and junwe* arguing their asses out... btw rumour has it tt a particular sb is using his prob to threaten and insult his fellow classmates, no price for guessing... but overall i should say tt 1e4 is one of my proudest classes... the guai guai ones like tingmin*, and haha most of the class. tm made the greatest impact coz day 1 alr like some eager beaver, hope he goes far in life...

1n1 ah... hmm have 2 sci rep, machiam like i 13th div with 2 vice caps, only without the sickness. quite attached to tt class too, if only they noe when to hold their tongue. damn lot of malays who always disappear for soccer pract and miss out on my vit c expt. then there will be bobb* low acting like a kuku with joshu* making his squeaky teacher... or han chua* giving the blur look, now all migrate to the front intruding my private space :p... den chua yongbi* aka champion will give his teacher(yar tt voice again) or loui* asking stupid qns, or kliffor* looking outta window, lero* and winsto* used to sit tgt now sep, meitin* and cherri* machiam like some couple last time whaliao wan to slap sometimes :p joe* quite guai, stephani* like some glutton who wolfed down the apple crumble... lis* english not bad according to terence... tangji* seriously needs help with his english should he wan an education in sg or any other english speaking country...

now for the 3n1/n2... haiz matured in looks and age but the maturity of my sec 1 or even lower... names ah... too many to name, and it appalls me that to date i cant rmb all of them, esp the quieter ones or the lhs of the class, both classes... but the irritants confirm can rmb like tco, kk, py, eugen*(and they say eu is good in greek), e power of 4 at the back of 3n2, den shaw* soh and shahda* like some quarrelling couple, sheesh... had a row with ahma* tt day but thx ms marin* for helping settle the misunderstanding... du* has potential, danie* needs a reality check at times... eddi* seem to have given up hope in school, hope he comes back the right path, rache* needs to stop talking to dyla* and amo*. quanli*, alexi* and jiyoo* needs help with concepts but hope they are more vocal, but not tt vocal till it pisses me off at times... seriously at times they are just so shameless to not know when to be serious and shut up, sheesh...

but of coz nth can fight with the 3t1 class... ulti man, tt one can bully me den makan till no bones left... see wat i can do for them, if they dun bother, den well, dun think it is worth the effort, will reserve it for more deserving classes like my sec 1s... but really hope that they understand us teachers are there to help them, regardless of academic or life, we FEEL obligated to help these charges(?), feels like a whitelighter, of ours...

3e5 nth much to talk about, other than a class i only see for 1hr each week... memoriable are the stupid talks with them(educational of course), its the only thing to get their attention, and of coz to enlighten them in a most comical way, but hey hope they can understand my meaning behind all the jokes... dun walk the wrong path only to regret it later guys...

haha lucky my kids dunno this blog existed, if not hor wha siao liao...

oh yar, just now archery, almos shot a bullseye, with some other shots going all over the hall. almost shot through the chair as well... but nonetheless fun. vp, terence, malcom, nicholas, mr oy, yvonne all enjoyed the training, sadly xiaomin had to leave earlier...

anw its like 2320 liao, better sleep if not pms-y mood again... lest taste my wrath of a sleepy iggy...

k tmr is ash wednesday... hope can rmb the significance...

k peace out guys :)

2009-02-07T23:28:00.001+08:00

oh yar, pls dun bother to waste money on the wedding game. just a pure cheap flick, with a very predictable storyline and plot, amidst all the advertisement of abalone and condo... but hey char treated so might as well watch. yes mrs xu, ur other two tix, pls dun waste 2 hrs of ur life on this movie, its not worth :)

2009-02-07T23:16:00.002+08:00

k gl to u sean, toy, wc and the many many others who are flying off for their studies in aus :) dont forget us

so had a gathering at chin chin(purvis) den made a road trip (convoy style) to timbre @ mt sophia... quite a nice experience, sit around, grab a few drinks and start chatting the night-to-morning away... at least it wasnt what i supposed, like some dodgey drinking place. with the band playing at times, and us having to share seats due to a not so severe lack of chairs, it was cool...

anyway on another note...

here's wishing grace a speedy recovery... :) waiting for you to add me on facebook leh

2009-01-18T21:09:00.002+08:00

kk lots of things happened since my last post... some pleasant, others unpleasant, some unexpected, the rest heart-warming...

well because of a particular incident, i guess it really brought the family closer together as a whole unit, made up of its tiny 'subgroups'... haha but yar perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, for nothing ever happens without a reason. there is a purpose behind everything that occurs in our life, for every person we meet, for every obstacle that we are to overcome, there is always a reason, its just whether we are of the correct perspective and open-mindedness to accept the fact, even if it was not what we anticipated or hoped for. guess this is perhaps a small taste of what divine providence is about, haha...

yup, ytd had a reunion that i have not had for a long time, or perhaps not had before, seeing the entire extended family coming together to sit down for a meal and just to see how each one of us has coped with life's challenges. not forgetting how the kids have matured over the years, especially those with major exams coming along, can tell how anxious or nonchalant some of the adults are sometimes... but yar, it is a heartening experience, especially since this was my last cny reunion before i fly off, the next one perhaps would be 5 yrs down the road...

oh today sent auntie ju and christina off, both of them going back to nz to continue their missionary work, take care both of ya and God bless. :)

watched red cliff 2 with char today, thrilling show that was worth the wait, with many rather retarded scenes here and there, but nonetheless worth the money, 4/5 stars. liked the tang yuan part where he engorged himself with like hundreds of tangyuans in a single gulp, and still chewing the damn things after like 10s amidst the chanting of his fellow soldiers, or the part where takeshi had to swipe his stupid fan when he 'summoned' the wind... quite over-dramatic at certain portions but still, sweet :)

2009-01-04T22:21:00.002+08:00

wth just rang some idiot who doesnt have the basic inkling of what after 7 means... lets just say i pity this old slut for reasons unknown...

i plainly mentioned that k leaves school at 645 and will be available after 7. so what does an intellectual or normal person make of that? 7pm onwards will be available what. even any english failure would comprehend those 2 words, oh but not n... her highly professional albeit english inadequacies somehow or rather confuses her into thinking that there is a chance(a freaking high one at that) that k will ONLY be available after 8 since 8 is after 7??? whoa kudos to your malfuntioning brain, if it warrants such a word to tt thing in tt empty skull of yours. go out into this world and stop thinking you are so right and 'greenhorn' (in your perception) will only help to disrepute your pseudo name in the market. coz guess what you count for naught so beat it ass.

2008-12-30T00:45:00.002+08:00

time and tide waits for no man, cherish what you have before you, before it is too late... a trite and overused phrase, however its meaning still remains relevant to date. so much has happened in such a short time, perhaps this year is indeed not my year, too many unfortunate things have happened and affected me, but praise God for always being there for me and my family. with the soon-to-arrival of the new year, may all that is not favourable or palatable be left but not forgotten. may the pain fade away, but not the lessons they entail. bad times may be many, but lets not forget the many blessings and good times we have encountered throughout the duration of this year. life is not all a bed of roses, but lets not ignore that roses are indeed pretty albeit pokey. let us all then learn to tread carefully through this labyrinth filled with beauty and horror, dreams and nightmares, laughter and sorrow, vices but never ever forgetting that God's grace is always with us to guide us through life's rocky road.

2008-12-13T21:57:00.002+08:00

yay back from another trip... seems like only holiday entries for this blog or what... first taiwan den europe, now vietnam...

so 'happened' to pop by changi airport to hop onto a plane straight bound for hanoi, vietnam. so arrived at noi bai airport where ms t and mr m were there to receive us. took a 4x4 to the city centre. along the way where bikes, scooters everywhere, up to 4 pple on one vehicle even. electric cables hang aloofly and precariously overhead many of the walkways and dust and smog to blanket your vision or to choke up your trachea...

we resided in a hotel looming, well inside actually, of a lake for 3 nites, with day trips via the 4x4 to the city centre or even to halong bay which was approximately a 3hr drive from the hotel...

not much punch in this trip other than a few exotic highlights like the water puppet show, THE FARM visit with a fishing touch, showing off my prowess at pottery making, and of coz halong bay with its cruise and cave visits. remove the amadeus cruise ship and put in a typical chinese-vietnamese junk, the aircon and snow and put in the blue sky and sea and there u have it, a halong bay cruise journey.

quite fun and exciting and definitely not your usual holiday, rushing from one location to another, instead lap in the luxury of sights and sounds of a pre 21st century reconstructed singapore-ish environment... go with an open mind and you will return with something you would not expect and more... enjoy :)

2008-12-03T17:10:00.004+08:00

ok just came back from hol in eastern europe... well actually half a week liao but has been bumming around trying to salvage this tuition agency that i almost neglected my blog...

well i would say that i have never ever went on a trip like this before, very different from the fast paced tour packages that most of us are used to. on the contrary, it is a one that is at a very relaxed pace and the longer duration at every pitstop compensates for the few scenic stops... the start of a memorable experience...

we arrived at the airport on the 18 nov, where it started off quite sourly with some ah pekish group in front hogging the entire queue like for more than 20 min just to selfishly secure all window seats for themselves... how kiasu and kaisi-ish and disgusting behaviour ... anw sped off to the departure hall and boarded turkish airline and soon we were airborne and soon(well quite long lar abt 11 hr+) and arrived at anatark airport, istanbul where we had a uber long and arduous(from lazying and sleeping on benches) transit(7 hrs leh)... rmbed vividly of one incident whereby i rested my book on the bench to act as my pillow, oblivious to the fact that a french couple was conversing between my head. the wife suddenly sprang when she noticed my head lying in between her and her husband. i sprang away and immediately said couples of 'desole madame' haha... oh well frenc did come in useful at the wrong times i guess...

off we went to the capital of croatia, zagreb.. saw remnants of a candlelight procession for something den headed off to the obnova zagrebacke katedrale where we took lots of pix, and started my photography training(haha), headed off to the market where people were beginning to pack up, passed a mini shrine where lay people prayed to the Virgin Mary in the hopes that her intercession with help them... to st mark's church with its coat of arms depicted on the roof, and den off to ban jeracic square with some time to yourselves before heading back to the bus... quite cool, saw a rotating toilet bowl haha... oh and also managed to try taking nite shots of the cathedral with my camera...

day 2 started off with us being coached to the plitvice national park whose view was breathtaking and worthy of many scenic shots, analogous to china's jiu zhai gou, only even better... let the pictures speak for themselves...

oh yar hotel for croatia was er... haha.. only one lift in service at any one time... but hey at least my room was directly the lift, but it came with a price... recalcitrant and chain smokers fumed our floor and our room with their intoxicating smoke... selfish tourist at work, do not disturb...

next day we zoomed off to the land of love, sLOVEnia... where we headed for a day tour(the local guide being somewhat incoherent due to his slang, but nonetheless very knowledgeable and professional about his work) about the small town of maribor, afterwhich we went to visit a very old winery beneath the ground.... guess what we bought wines that were sold at a unrealistically cheap price of only 1.90euro~4 sd... whoa... haha kudos to those who bought using the plastic bottles, sry man 25c more...

headed to ljubljana to rest for the nite, and damn was our room a uber big suite room with worign desk, plasma tv and and the works... damn did i love tt hotel... the room also provided a somewhat panoramic view of the julian alps from our hotel room(thx uncle gerard for loaning out your room for 5 mins)...

after breakfast was a visit to the pretjama(pret-yama) cave where a knight was killed in his own castle, while doing his business in the toilet... what a meaningful and memorable way to die... den to the postonja cave, where i vividly rmbed tt no flash was allowed for photos, but apparentl i rmbed flashes coming from behind me and sb's *hint hint* CAMERAS... sadly no more human fish... saw more more churches(church of st nicholas) and the dragon bridge, some mormon people started preaching to me too, cool...

day 5 marks our trip to lake bled, where we sat a pletna(something like a gondola in venice, only this trade was handed down in the family) across the magnificent lake bled to the church of the Assumption, more pix and moer scenic shots... in a nutshell, ~~good~~ superb scenic spots EVERYWHERE at ANY MOMENT... walked along the lake bled which was therapeutic and relaxing, off to the blejski grad for lunch, had their local princess cake(was it), and it was back onto the coach on the way to austria...

on the way, snow cap and snow ladened mountains(karawanken mountains) aligned both sides of the mountain pass *snap snap pix* into linz, coffee cup as souvenir and reached the ms amadeus classic cruise ship... saw the tan family there(the chaoji da pai famiy with us in spain)...

the cruise ship was elegant albeit simple, 5 course meals everyday, personal waiters, open air deck for photo taking, room with full sized windows to view the outside world, wonderful people to meet and greet, and learn to play mahjong from and also to play cards with... cool

anw while we slept, the ship left linz into melk, along the way going through 4 locks. got woken up in the process of entering one of them, and waking up my parents at the unearthly hour of like 3am haha...

next morning in melk, explored the snow covered benedictine melk abbey(baroque in style as with most churches in the region)... pix again to explain all the details... oh only thing was tt sb tried to take photos in the abbey but could not, wonder why...

went back onto the cruise to view a diamond exhibit, then the lock again..., back along the danube and into vienna...

first to heroes square(rmb hitler giving his famous speech), then to schonbrunn palace(sry man no photos allowed). given a quick history tour into the habsburg empire with stories of queen maria theresa and her family... with the marriage policies and all trademarks ofher rule during that period... tried hot wine(roter gluhwein) and snacks haha... went to visit the hundertwasser house in the afternoon and a quick trip to the parndorf factory outlet after that... not much to buy for me, but still managed to find a pair of jeans tt i thought was nice, one more to the collection...

bratislava, the capital of slovakia, was the word of the day... castle, artwork, donkey poses, kicking napoleon, being a shadow photographer, a peeker were all but part of the day... crossed the bridge to patronise a local shopping centre, grabbed quite a handful of long-cum-short sleeved shirts(non my usual wardrobe). it time to go back to the cruise, and in the nick of time coz they were about to sail off due to water level and they were not aware that we were not onboard coz we forgot to change our boarding passes, talk about close shaves... saved damn lot of euros, haha if not have to cab to budapest ?!? oh and won a turkish evil eye... haha

budapest, capital of hungary, was our last pitstop along the danube river, and also our last pitstop before heading back to singapore... visited the buda and pest part(hence the name budapest) of the city, across the chain bridge and margaret bridge... into heroes square(different one), passed st stephen's church, found a mortar near the hungarian statues of liberty, nearly slipping on the frozen ice, to the warm market, then to the city, 'shipped' back across the danube river and soon it was time to nigh for the night... but before tt a quick night photography 101 by the pro himself mr poon... and of with a pair of steady hands and a borrowed tripod, picturesque shots of the chain bridge were captured on camera...

the night ended with a hungarian folk dance and a night of cards and just simple chit chat sessions...

budapest - istanbul, day 11... morning walk to capture a few last scenes of the historic town of budaest... and it was time to say farewell to the cruise ship tt has been our floating abode for the past 5 nights... it was off to the airport and back to anatark again. the only difference is this time we had company to last us the transit... thx goes out to reshel, joel and auntie lydia, teressa, melissa and fam, mervin and celestine, claire and fam, jaclyn and auntie kim, allan and juliana, steven and anne, mr loo and his wife who wore a couple shoe on the way back, mr kok and auntie geok eng, mr paul and wife, rory and fam...

cheers to the closure of a wondeful trip, and many more to come...

2008-11-11T20:21:00.001+08:00

ONE MORE DAY TO ORD :)

2008-11-03T12:42:00.003+08:00

ouch just removed like 3 of my wisdom teeth(#18,#38,#48) all at the same time and now what has surfaced is 3 cavities oozing with blood with slight pain right due to the suture there and the gum just recovering from shock... oh and my orbicularis oris and all the other what not muscles are numb from the la(local anesthesia) so it looks and feels rather weird evn when drinking water...

oh and was admiring and cf my extracted teeth with my anat and physio book... talk about seeing is believing...

2008-10-27T00:44:00.006+08:00

ah back from the land of a thousand supposed typhoons... back from our last msns, back from a short albeit fun, and a very rushed R & R...back to singapore...

gathered on 8 oct nite, flew off in the morning and arrived, chionged to buses and off we went... the view was nice, mountains on our left and the sea on our right, a shame tt we all kinda knocked out very quickly on the bus, and a number of us already feeling under the weather from the start... reached HC town den the camp which was to be our little squatter settlement and a bad excuse for our abode for the next 2-3 weeks... anw boring time in camp anw other than playing dj max so shant talk much abt tt rat hole...

fast forward to navex... whoa nvr ever had a navex ex like this before, one being the fact tt its overseas, and another tt you dun need to carry much shit and can even buy food along the way...

so mainly it was ard highway 200...navex the usual shit, but yar bought food and admired the scenery nonetheless, shame we didnt bring our cams out... ate some bak chor mee for luch in the middle of some villager's garden and of coz we didnt litter duh... continued on the mountani ridges and reached cp exit den life for a ninja van break, damn was it a long break... tried their chong you bing with all kinda things inside like san zhan bak, which is usually very oily and makes u wanna puke after awhile... so went to juz lie down for the nite below the cover of the stars with a tiny fire crackling next to u for a tinge of warmth... to see a nite sky so clear, it has been so long ago, last was at kota kinabalu and in istanbul... at first all seemed faint but slowly but surely some constellations just pounced at me... tt was ard 2-3am i think, before tt all the constellations relaly dun recognise, woken up by the moon, ok anw so of coz the starter would be orion's belt and damn was it a good clear and dark sky to the extent tt his bow was so obvious... down in the sky a bit to reach lepus and the bright star of sirius in canis major... up a bit to reach aldebaran in taurus and i think i saw some cluster but cant rmb much abt it... only tt i spent most of my sleeping time admiring this wonderful moment... oh yar and it kinda rained a bit...

next day woke up rather early to hike down the slope and back up again(warm up?), chionged highway 200,bought paomian, watched tv which was showing their national day celebration the day before and saw a wild boar in a cage, reached ninja van(and also the last pitstop before the end pt), took lots of photos with john soh, slept (a lot), saw danny's hat perform a 'gone with the wind', lunch was fried rice and noodle from some recceing around, watched run ba kid and yellow gold alpha... sadly didnt bring a cam for the navex or else sceneries and self portraits will fill this entry.

7th day - 15th oct, went for first nite's off(yay) at heng chun town...it was rather small but with many smaller alleys, they even had specs shops which sadly i didnt expect so didnt bring specs. we took the main road to avoid getting lost in the labyrinth of alleys and shops... tried my first nai cha there, and there was this stall selling zhu pai with mian and egg and damn was it uber cheap or only 80NT(about $3.50) and tried this rather special san she dou hua(3 colour tauhui) which includes a normal daohui, a puddnig one and a chocolate one which i felt was rather interesting on the tastebuds but some of my friends felt otherwise. oh and jason got hammered badly by 7/11 by buying the paomian there when it was pretty obvious(according to some higher rank person) not to buy from 7/11... after going back camp tried taiyang bing(sun biscuit) for night snack.

back to the morning before the nite's off, we had a live firing where i was safety spec attached to close cover grp thus had to wear helmet haiz, jungle hat does not suffice as a head protection, and damn was it a long time since wearing tt confounded thing... well at least the view was breathtaking, especialy the river to the mountain view... and this was the first time we saw M T.R doing sth, to fire mtr rounds duh, rather than just pushing the stupid trolley here and there.

2 days later was RnR at Ken Ting(pun not intended), well it was a rather small AO to settle and i could walk more than 3 times up and down the entire street. we first tried this 4 for 100nt sotong then headed to some restaurant for dinner, in the middle willy and i went to try more naicha. i ordered pudding naicha while he had mango naicha, and of course i prefer my choice which was the better of the two... dinner cost 1200nt for 6 pax, haha and some dispute came about who suggested the idea of the set meal which was rather non economical... more jalan jalaning and we stumbled upon a guava seller. tried willy's milk and cheese thingy(which was fried) which tasted not bad, well at least not very err... walked on and met hongqi at the toy shop. oh yar and yiwei nearly jioed me go some lapsib lapbah for 300nt(siao!), then some time later at some wrist apparel shop where he got 'persuaded' to buy some peru good luck bracelet, instead of the initial potential buyer who is yours truly...went Macs, den geared up for round 2 : mini fireworks and some ren yao(human demon)being paraded down the street... haha and a w-i-l-l-y and me stood outside some bar and watch c coy pple get stripped, paraded and get their asses burnt...

speaking of burning, bahlan set ou objective on fire with his favourite quote : leave it to me. ju came along to help put out the menacing fire, which was spreading rather fast, and ended up with a melted boot. in the process jiayuan managed to bring home a new souvenir, a burnt and badly charred jungle hat with the recon words still clearly legible haha...

jianfusan usual rides but just didnt sit g5 this time... saw some(well quite a number) of binglang stalls along the way this trip... and stopped by this uber posh stall selling pineapple tarts... off we went to taipei and our hotel room...

RNR : nite 1: shilin nite market : mickey mouse bag
day 2 : leofoo village theme park - went on a safari trip coz lost voice from screaming too much the previous day...
nite 2 : ximen ding : brown jacket and the lim bei tee(cool beans)
day 3 : started off at train station with kengwee kenneth low and hongqi... went to Singkong Mitsukoshi, but the rest of the scouties were a bit hesitant to go for a real shoppnig trip, so kw kl hq and i decided to just go on our own to explore the place... managed to find a orange tote bag(puma) which just jumped out at me : buy me, and the price was damn reasonable, only 890 nt...den chanced upon this sg grp so we paka to buya hangten shirt for about 400nt... went over to newyork newyork and hq bought this le coq sportif bag which i tot was also another good buy... went over taipei 101 but didnt go up coz was put off by the entrance fee of 400nt... went inside and damn were the shops selling uber high end products like mont blanc and ferragamo...left and went to wu fen pu which was a let down coz didnt buy much there less a long sleeve tee with hq... met humprey den went over ximen ding(yes again) where i sadly i was greedy and got cheated by some wretched school kid, went to some pasta place to eat real good and affordable pasta(squid) den left for hotel to prep for the flight back home... oh and did i mention about a channel 16? lol... now why would i...

2008-10-03T15:39:00.002+08:00

finally managed to get this fat ass down to juz recap a tiring albeit short aytack msn. ok so it started with a early bobo lest we forget to bring any of our stuff... so prep everything for the big day the next day...

the usual stuff was done... fastforwarding to m-s-n 1 which was tt had to simulate a bloody copter ride, waste time and weight to carry the lj here and there... d/p almost no space... but yar so bravo and delta had to nav all the way, as usual i wish to not partake in any nav portion lest we holland more... but still at times the call arises so alas... whoa deepavali arrived early this year... well termite boy did comment on this (de)briefing... so anyway my gosh tt crazy guy wanted to nav in the nite despite anguish cries to rest and continue when dawn shines on us... but no he pulled f-stop over to nav, damn u shld look at his face the next monday, shagged beyong all shagness... next day we broke off from bravo and continued all the way over our lil makeshift abode, where it was time to air the wet boots, but still the air reeked of a pungent and putrid aroma, contributed by a few people, including yours truly... oh our umpires were a couple of pple on ict who were very nice and helpful, keep suggesting pointers for us to chuli points... :) haha last ict man... but yar while 1/2 rested, hh and i went over to the top to juz check sth, and yar saw matthew lee there, such a surprise, to see him and to realise he forgot hu i was haha... anyway all tt effort went to naught when the clock struck 10... coz yar some smartass decided to redirect 6 poor souls to another newbird... damn had we to walk again...

oh juz rmb, like within first day nia hh had his boots all wet coz of the drain walk... my first and hopefully last time, slippery and moss covered walkway tt seemed to concave the more we walk through... centipedes infested the floor while wasps nest filled the walls... eww... but still delta endured and prevailed (thankfully) and saw the light at the end of the tunnel...

so coming back, we ended up in the middle of nowhere(tm) where our lil walkietalkies were surprisingly still alive for once... so yar did a close in for the first time in a very long time... i dun do obj rmb... den we set up shop and started resting... heh f-stop took damn long time to walk some dead body when he realise sb was in the area... oh yar not forgetting the many hippos who walked past our area, who eventually died due to own fire... yup rained soon arrived and we all headed over to the shed to seek shelter... damn did the sky loomed like independence day... afterwhich we had a free ride back to the lil town...

but in less than 1/2 hr we had to gulp down our drinks, pounce on some bread like a hound of scavengers before leaving again... for the watch... nth much happened other than us frantically searching for one another and more videotaping...

end tt, veh back and prep for our last crusade, before which our ahtiong had to get lost in the town... haiz... oh well but yar on the last battle... we nearly had a dejavu exp of the drain thingy if not for much persuasion that we had insuff time so chiong the side... phew less one chance for hh to kena again... ok somehow or rather delta seemed to be the ones to be reenacting the china long march for all 3 m-s-n... so barely hit our beeasspee on time by which time f-stop and hh leg alr chui to the max... thank goodness ah chua still viable... so kudos to ah foo den yar they went to check while i took care of hh... but yar first time see such cool team dynamics, really proud to be part of this team... so anw continued over to the land which harboured ten legions of killer mosquitoes... one smack and your bound to extinguish one life... so yar they rested(they deserve it) while i kept watch... ok waited sometime before they arrived(darth vader music plays) ok did our job and they went back to sleep... waited sometime den reprival came in the simple words of 'endex' phew...

ok however some very inconsiderate person had to trouble a handicapped team to start searching for a grp tt is not in sight, despite searching for 1/2 hr, and he wans us to go like 1km ahead to look for them... wtf go do stupid things like this urself, who the hell u think u are and what we are to u man... u ought to wake up ur damn elitist mindset ad think sanely for once, rather than juz shoot your gap so freely...

anw things ended quickly and soon before we knew it, months of prep for this big event soon came to a close and ... ORD loh

2008-09-02T20:59:00.002+08:00

haiz tired as usual and emoish, for reasons i cant comprehend... oh and the fire alarm in the mess that has been ringing for the past 20 mins has finally gone off...

just caught some stupid show on channel 8 about how some wives were asked to identify their husbands being shown only their legs, which i thought was rather interesting and lame at the same time... most of the answers were 'oh ping gan jue' meaning oh based on gut instinct, which eventually turned out very accurate for all of them... well i mean like its good to be able to identify ur husband's legs, gosh it would so embarrassing if u guessed your husband wrongly on national tv, but still hu notices these small lil details by scrubbing their legs every alternate week... sheesh tts just disgusting... unless the wife has some secret fetish for the husband's legs or something, thats why she married him...

oh just now had a rather titillating discussion with sam and hk about how to twist a girl's t*** in a most inuring and delectable way and how and when you should use tape... ok this is ridiculous but its small lil crap talk like such that help remind me that i am still sane and not a regimental but an alive person who will still intrigue myself but weird and random discussions...

oh just now some indon maid's bastard's child was simply getting on my nerves with his pestiferous and annoying high-pitch sounding voice shouting into the distance, akin to some necromancer trying to summon back the dead, oh yar sth like how some guy with his balls being ripped apart while trying to keep a straight face... wtf go tell ur coy about the f/i timing, which seriously has nothing to do with me... hello i dun earn my keep which is meagre to begin with... wtf is wrong with ur numb skull to threaten me with cos, i mean like in this unit, every other person with a rank higher than ours seriously needs to get a life and understand that intellectual capability and a tinge of pr-ship, which sadly they lack, would carry you further in this world... just coz ur a higher ranked person doesnt equate you to being a more apt or important person coz seriously you're not... 10 years down the road it would not pain any one of us who were bullied or indignant in any way to see you begging somewhere along the slums of the unwanted and outcast... in your face helbert... eat cum and drink shit...

2008-08-25T17:46:00.002+08:00

haha to think that i need to blog not at home but in the abode of the specialist hub... but yar this is just a small recap of a gruelling 21.0975km run (yes i did run the full race)...

so yar i had to wake up at th unearthly hour of 4 in the morning just to pull myself to the cookhouse for some basic sustenance lest i faint during the marathon, which i have never ever taken part in before, much less run more than 16km... so fast forwarding to the padang which was our gathering site for the run...

so we flagged off(or maybe it was a horn, too far back to be able to note the thingy) and yar decided to run, of coz not without the peer pressure from the large crowd of people running alongside me... anw met so many of my old friends, chinaman jiang, shitdong, kwek neh, lam cb blah... so surprisingly managed to pull off this whole run without stopping, one which even i myself was surprised and proud of doing...

it was indeed a mental challenge to continue running, with some people stopping in front of you to walk, or another person panting and looking quite dead from running, and even worse, some angmoh guy laying on a stretcher looking half dead and uber pale, almost having no blood being circulated to his face, quite scary and sad to witness that scene though... but yar persisted to the end... along the way ran(pun not intended) into shawn lim wearing his m-r shirt, haha was wearing tt a while later... rmbed all the water stops with people hogging the stalls, or the helpers frantically trying to fill enough cups to meet the demands of the people thirsting for water, tongues hanging like a dog, with ravaging eyes demanding for a sip of water... running around with half naked bananas and feeling bad(but oh well) about littering the peels on the grass, well at least better than other f-ers who just conveniently throw it on the floor, hoping that people would just slip on it and pray they not injure an arm or sth...

but anw it was a fun experience being able to be one of the first few people to run across the marina barrage which i have no idea whether or not it is a big issue, but still there was media coverage, but only sad thing was that my face was not shown on tv, haiz... my only potential one minute of fame, other than the time my family was interviewed regarding the adventurous or perhaps non-chalant spirit of venturing into thailand despite the then-just past sars scare...

ok off tangent again, but yar fun to run, perhaps it may potentially become one of my hobbies, at least one of the healthier ones...

oh my, kids starting their stressful period liao, and to a certain extent, me as well... but here's wishing them well anyway... hope i am doing my job well, not to let either they or their parents down, and more importantly, me too..

so yar now in the mess wasting my life away as usual, if not at home trying to play dark omen(woots game found after like 10 years of being lost) or dotaing for no good reason... haiz 4 more days to book out... 79 more days to ORD loh...

2008-08-24T13:23:00.000+08:00

ok for my first entry since the passing of Ranters Unlimited, it is with great pride that this entry shall be about my first ever marathon ran, which is uber tiring, but time does not permit, so this shall be left to another day den... or another time...