The simpler life...

Whee, i'm in sch ^^. free period, nth much to do so decided i might as well try finish all my recap. i need to get back to 'real time' really, really soon. but learnt better than to have placeholders but then wanna start blogging bout recent stuff.

ok, so tt sunday went to suntec for robots with the sggamers gang. for the first time i'm actually early. thought could have actually caught my first trailers in years for the first time. but sadly chengkai and wai leng was late. very late, so much tt thomas was on the brink of flaring up. never feel good seeing someone angry and can't do much to help. in the end we went into the cinemas first and thomas waited for the two of them.

quite a nice movie. missed the starting part but managed to get into the show in no time. it's a kid-friendly animation after all... story was very standard, nothing much at all but the animation was really slick. but what i thought was really good were the those small, light moments thrown into the movie. there were takes on star wars pod racing and lord of the ring scences which meant me went nice when i thought bout them, all helped by the nicely animated scences and some of the jokes were pretty good. a good movie, but nothing more i guess.

so good for those light moments cos thomas managed to cool down totally ^^. were deciding on where to go after that. had plans to go gamescore hang around or watch spongebob but then i received a call from dad asking me to go grandma's place. so for the third time i have to leave early. oh well

then got message from sis. mom's bday was that sunday! she (my sis tt is) asked me to get a gift for her since i've never gotten one before (i should be so ashamed, but i can't help but find it kinda amazing), so off i was looking for gifts. my family members are so tough to get bday gifts lor. it's like my mom's into taichi, qigong those kind of stuff so i can't get anything related to her interests. dad's into fish rearing and badminton, again nth much i can get. sis seems to be into television shows which once again, i can't buy anything bout. so decided to stick with sth generic.

went around, but can't seem to find anything. never knew watches were tt expensive, at least those nice ones. my taste for jewellery is too diff from mom defnitely so thought shouldn't get anything. never liked giving food as presents cos it's gone after it's eaten. i can't think of writing chinese bday cards so tt's out

(oh no, bell rang...) shall update when i get home...

HIS 'N' HERS
By mike gayle


so in the midst of all the recaps i shall have a book review here. they can fit in anywhere ^^. well, got in during the shopping spree back then but only started reading this thursday, and guess what, i finished it today! =). i still can't believe myself. i'm a super slow reader (while i always look up to those fast readers i never really want to be one anyway haha. i pride reading every single letter in a book i just paid 10+/20+ dollars for and savouring every full stop in it [k, so tt's a li'l too severe, but u get the point]) so because of that my average reading time is like 6 months or so. my last novel took over a year and the last time i actually read frequently (even though it's only tt half an hour or so bedtime read) was end of sec 3 i think. so it's only 300+ pages, not the usual 500+ to 700+ ones, but still, a big achievement for me lol. 4 days... wow... think i've never read so fast since those enid blyton days. and the best book so far since watership down. (surprisingly the only 2 non-fantasy books i read are rated so highly. but then again i like my fantasy novels nonetheless)

i don't really know why i actually got the book. it's like i'm doing my usual wandering around in popular and it was there at the bestsellers area (a nicer name for bargain bin i guess) and somehow it caught my eye. not tt i go around looking at yellow and sea blue covered books given my usual fare, but it just caught my eye. read a few lines of synopsis and quotes and i thought to myself, 'hey, this book seems interesting'. and given that i've stopped reading entirely ('cept for papers and the occasional magazines) for more than half a year it seems even weirder.

too lazy to type what the story's bout, so some googling gave me this :-
Jim and Alison have been together on-and-off for a decade. Having successfully navigated their relationship through student gigs to candle-lit dinner parties, they have finally split up. And divided their 22 shared items (including a double-bed, a microwave, a ring, a toaster, an Oasis album, a car and a 5ft tall rubber plant) into his ’n’ hers. Now with the help of a relationship counsellor, they embark on a journey through the past to the present leading them to the biggest decision of their adult lives.

doesn't do the book justice imo. it's like glossing through everything and focusing on a not very vital part of the story. but tt's the basic premise. it's written in a diary form from the perspective of both jim and alison, kinda different from normal books but a li'l refreshing take.

i have to say, first impression must really count cos a just a while into the book with the first conversations i thought to myself this nailed it. as a reviewer quoted, 'strikes a chord'. moments like this seems littered throughout the book and thought i've never had any experience of whatever was in the story it felt like i did go through them. it's so real... maybe it's cos of sometimes the little, insignificant details given here and there which makes u feel that this isn't tt novel bout tt epic quest or even those hollywood shows with the fairytale ending. it's... very real. and makes you think too, while marvelling bout this magical thing called love. what exactly is it? i don't know, and looks like the author doesn't either.

so the thing is i just love this book. will be hunting down mike gayle's other books later this week. but just some gripes (seems like i'm such a fussy person when i complain bout everything. ok, so i like to complain but i seldom do more than tt lor. normally i just let most things slide and don't care too much bout perfection, k? it's just tt i've learnt this partly from the game reviewing and writing i used to do lah. nothing's perfect and as a reviewer it's kinda ur responsibility to point out everything that a person might not like... but then again, this isn't really a review...). i thought the ending was a bit rushed. it's like everything was going well, jim and alison were happily married when all of a sudden jim thought they needed time alone and the relationship just crumbles like that. in that short space they suddenly stop being in contact totally and start arguing. then all of a sudden after just one talk and a kiss they're so certain bout their feelings that they break up with their current steads (one a fiance even). maybe i'm kinda a romantic in some of the way i think bout certain things but i really didn't get jim breaking up so easily without any real reason other than just needing to be alone without trying to salvage the situation. and alison just ending the marriage like that. i even felt for those bit characters sometimes haha. it's like, ok, jim and alison are meant for each other so their relationship with them just ended suddenly when all was well after their talk.

sound like i'm really hammering it, but really, it's a great book and i enjoyed it loads. i think i was a li'l too critical lah. go get it ^^

i never do anything i promise myself... i said i wanted to finish up blogging on friday and catch up on some sch work on sat but did none of them... excuse time for myself i guess. i did at least blog one for fri but thought that it was quite late already so went bout my other stuff. it's like the days are so short when u wake up at 11. i normally take a nap (jc have indeed thought us the importance of sleep), which in the case of fri was from 5 til dinner and after dinner time is quality time with my computer or gamecube (or reading sometime). so that leaves 6 hours of time to do other things... given how i slack my weekends away, 6 hours is like 4 hours, which isn't really a lot. then on sat totally didn't have the mood to get back to work, but was considering forcing myself to the lib so tt i might do sth. then jun liang msged asking to play ball and i'm not one to say no to my friends am i? ok lah, so i didn't want to do anything, and then there's this perfect chance to have some excercise, fun, and catch up with a really good friend. ok, enough of this digression... time to go back to last saturday...

class outing to marina south... (it's like we always repeat our outings... twice at sentosa, twice there...) after lots of time waiting for sharon slow once again (in the end deciding to go there first) went up to discover it was raining =(. well, i have no love for flying kites anyway haha. but was thinking of lying down on the grass patch just cloud gazing for a while then try get someone to bowl with me. so we headed towards victor's bowl, then everyone alighted one stop early at superbowl. zhi liang and someone went inside the arcade and well, that was it. most of the guys went to play lan, leaving me and vinnie. had quite some fun at outrun 2 (now devoting a few dollars a week on tt. it's a great game, perhaps something i can finally excel in arcades other than puzzle bobble and my mediocre skills at virtua tennis)

i kinda liked pop n music (some music games where u have to hit coloured buttons)... but my, it was tough... just when i thought i'm getting the hang of the beat and get onto a combo they give me a whole lot of buttons to smash. and how to play when u have to look down just to see where the button is. too bad it's too expensive or i'd be leaving aside another few dollars to tt to my now almost weekly trip to the arcades). then there's photohunt. lol at vinnie jibes with the girls. as usual i can't spot much, but it was fun.

then had to run off to around cuppage for my second sggamers bday outing. wanted to stay with the class but too bad i promised them i'd be going. it's like i waited til 2 or 3 days before it to confirm so tt it won't clash with anything only to see the class outing pop up on fri. so went to this restaurant called wakaru. or waruka. or waraku. or sth like tt lah. obviously it's a jap restaurant. got myself ten don. nice. then had some ice cream desert. came up to 20+ dollars... but kinda expected it lah. and it was quite nice and filling, so not so bad.

many of the guys still remember me haha. somehow it's like they seem quite familiar this time round, certainly not like pple i've just met for the second time. maybe it's cos we talk on the forums, but the bunch haven't been too active for some too, me included. so as usual there's the talk going round, and as usual i didn't talk much haha, just contented listening, only talking occasionally. there was like two main conversations going on, according to thomas, the 'students/ns' side talking bout games and the 'working adults' side more on stuff bout life, jobs, etc. surprisingly i was on the 'adults' side of the conversation most of the time. it's been 2/3/4 years since i've been a dedicated hardcore gamer so don't really know much bout the hottest games now. got a chance to try the ds and psp. nice. wanna get one someday. but not tt much of a need since my ipod and gba is already making my trips very comfortable and nice already.

during the dinner then had plans to watch robots on sun. more of that the next entry. after dinner the guys were thinking of going karaoke then arcade. i thought i should join the class again so left them from there. i hope they don't feel like i'm deliberately avoiding them cos i'm still new to their group. second time i left halfway (and third time to come). the last time they were planning to watch a movie but i wasn't really tt interested then it was quite late so went off. hopefully can stay the next outing.

so back at marina south. had a free overcooked egg (always like my eggs half-boiled or even less but left it for too long. turned out the outside had solidify leaving the inside still watery. hate peeling the eggshells haha. then had two curry puffs later... amazed by how much prawns the guys ate... then later went to the deck again. and became mosquito fodder as usual. went back. it's so tough rushing off here and there tt i didn't really get into things. was already kinda weird at wakaru or watever then a li'l out of sorts back at marina south. i think it's cos we act differently around diff pple so it's tough to switch between the 'modes'? i dunno the reason lah, but tt's just it. at least got a li'l better as time went on.

and still in my old geezer mood wanted to take a group photo. but lots of problems in the meanwhile. didn't get quite some pple. and photo turned out horrible. guess shouldn't blame the guy who helped us. i probably screwed up quite a number of photos for others myself haha.

hmm, i guess i'm really long winded. normally i don't really mind keeping my mouth shut but on my blog allowed to just talk, rant and complain bout anything i can make long paragraphs out of sth rather insignificant. guess tt's me for u.

I think it was wednesday during the holidays... or just somewhere around there lah. i remember going out, preparing to go to yio chu kang to pass a friend something, then halfway while walking towards admiralty mrt i realised i forgot to bring my wallet. so i walked back towards the direction of home...

but i dunno why suddenly i was overcome with a surge of emotion. i miss my old house, a lot... i haven't really thought much bout tt at all, not even when i first moved to the present one in woodlands/admiralty. it's like my parents have been wanting to move since i was in p sch (around p4 i think) but i kept saying no to the idea cos i really liked it there. but later i dunno what was wrong with me and i finally relented, allowing them to look for a move. i wonder why they actually bothered to wait for my approval haha. i can only complain if we did move anyway, and my dad have long been wanting to move somewhere closer to his workplace all the way off in jurong island. but come to think of it, i should have stuck on stubbornly to the decision.

granted there were many other reasons my parents wanted to move... the house was getting really old and crying for a renovation i think. cracks have started appearing on the wall a few years before then and the they were growing. the estate was ageing, with the percentage of old people getting higher and higher... the amk bus interchange had just been torn down and amk central is just not the bustling place it once was (thankfully it'd kinda improved now even though the new interchange still isn't out)... many of the neighbours we knew quite well had started moving out too so less incentive to stay.

and then there were the good things in the new house. a food court is just right beside the block, very convenient unlike the on-off coffee shops at 603 and 608. the lift is so much faster haha. i still remember pacing around so impatiently whenever i'm late or sth for the lift to travel eleven stories. i can't imagine how i can survive without my new computer placement haha. all thanks to the feng shui master. the last time the computer was facing the living room and i always had to peek behind my shoulder constantly to see whether my parents were monitoring what i was doing. i know they already can guess i'm probabaly playing some game or chatting but i still like my privacy. then there's studies. i think it's just coincidental, but it seems like my studies suddenly skyrocketed after moving. and i prolly would never have discovered library studying if not for the move. as close as the last house was to amk lib somehow i seldom visited it and it was only until the move and woodlands library and the cafe with jeffrey that i managed to clock so many hours studying for the o levels although i did switch to amk and jurong sometimes in between. then there was this 'curse' of my old bed. i don't think i ever managed to avoid falling out of bed then. every morning i'd just end up on the floor, so much so that i had to placed a matress below it every night. now i only remember falling out of bed around two or three times haha.

but despite all this, i still miss the old place so much. used to know the area so well... hanging out with the group at the basketball court (though much less when sec sch started)... estate catching, basketball... wondering around the area during exams. the time i walked all the way to thomson from there... friends at teacher's estate and green meadows. the playgrounds at those private estates nearby. the market... then inside the house... the longish living room i used to kick a ball bout. the walls i played so many games with lol.

at that time suddenly i missed it all so much, it was so painful. but then i can't do anything bout it.

somehow my thoughts linked to some memories of yangqin, some theories bout why i'm still struggling to adapt to jc and such but don't really feel like blogging bout it now that the feeling is gone. but i did make a mental decision then that i'd probably always stay in the north. that's where i belong really. though i've forgotten quite some parts i'm still quite familiar with amk, yck and thomson area. and know the basic areas of woodlands, admiralty, sembawang, yishun and chong pang around the mrt stations etc. it kinda feels homely here. my time at tj in the east really made it seem so much diff. it's like there's a different culture there or something but somehow the place seems like a foreign place even though i came to know the place around the central quite well. and although i had quite some good memories at tj (it's nice when i recalled some of them during the current orientation... the day during wet games when my og suddenly came down with a wave of enthusiasm. chem and fmaths lessons under mrs foo and mr ngoh (i think it'd be very tough to find a teacher as good as them in jc)... when larger than life came on and suddenly feel like dancing. and nice to hear from aaron and candy that they felt that way too. thinking that tj sch song sounds so much nicer when hearing the aj one haha. oh no, i've digressed too much)... it's like i don't really wish to visit bedok anytime soon. already felt that when the ponning streak started (i have to stress so much i miss those days. may the ponning legion live forever haha). dunno why that feeling also. but oh well. think i'm done with this entry!

Really wanted to blog lots of stuff the past two days to finally catch up to the present before 2nd intake starts, but had to be down ill. Bah... kinda tired to blog today too, and it's really tough trying to write bout something which you no longer feel that much strongly for compared to that spur of the moment. but it's just my fault that i pushed it back... i promise myself here that i'd finish things up by the long weekend...

now reminders for myself on what to blog:-
-- old house, staying in the north, yangqin and my convenient excuses, adapting to jc life, time to let memories go and move on
-- Class outing, ace's birthday/sggamers outing, back to marina south
-- Robots/meeting up with sggamers pple again, mom's bday gift
-- Sick
-- Pre-2nd intake resolutions (kinda lame typing it after it started, but oh well, i want to get it down and look at it whenever i'm starting to feel crappy bout jc)
-- Orientation day 1

Again i swear there seemed to be more but might as well... i've too many stuff overdue anywhere. would probably like to blog bout day 2 too, lots piling on. maybe i can get the blog updated on friday at one long, long sitting, then slack a li'l... weekend one of the days i must start catching up a li'l on the stuff i missed during my ponning streak... at least the library's so close to sch now and i can just pop by after lessons... or maybe i should visit woodlands lib cos it's on the way home... or maybe go visit jeff at jurong if he's still there (i still want to treat him cos he kinda helped loads in my studying for o levels haha). still have two fmaths topics tt wasn't thought in tj yet, but guess i'd handle that some other time... looks like i've crapped too much. till next time then

PS: New song. As much as i loved Life is Like a Boat listening to it too much will just dilute it's 'niceness'... 'Thank You' by Dido it is this time. The first time i listened to it didn't enjoy it so much but i slowly liked it after hearing it a few times... quite nice imo. no way near life is like a boat though haha

PPS: Sooklee and avril, if you're reading this i miss your blogs lol.
To Avril: Have wanted to say that since you stopped ur blog quite some time back. Hope u'd get back to it soon ^^
And hope the diaryland server gets back up running soon. can't wait to read ur entries, sooklee haha. thought the last few entries really got what i was feeling. it's like u mentioned to solve the 'mystery' which i couldn't describe in words myself.
Goes out to all other bloggers too. Blog often! Very few things as nice as reading new blogs, whatever they're about (unless u're talking bout pple like xiaxue...)

so i still have some more recaps to do but i can't hold this back, cos this sudden wave of emotions just come and i know i have to get them down somewhere, somehow...

msn nicks can say a lot sometimes... and seems like things don't seem to be going well with my friends... hope they don't mind me saying this stuff out though there's nothing much bout them. so first there's lymon...

:( Sim_1 [e=O.N.e.d.E.r.S]™ am i even allowed to cry??? :'(

i guess it has sth related to idol? which is kinda sensitive topic considering what happened so i can't really confirm. but whatever's the case i think it's pretty sad to see him like that. he was like kinda hyped up before that, and i dunno... seems like we've distanced a li'l. or maybe we ain't really very close in the first place. but i sincerely hope he'd get over it, whatever the problem is. hope it's idol lah, cos tt should be easier to cope with... stay strong, my friend

then there's terence...

[e=O.N.e.d.E.r.S]™ [fractured bone+torn cartilage=shattered life]

these things just happen in life... chatted with him a while, he seem quite alrite, just a li'l depressed. but i feel the pinch for him somehow. he was so looking forward to his table tennis competition... so sometimes he comes out with his usual lame stuff but can't deny that tinge of sadness in his tone... hope he can stay strong through the period.

finally ashleigh. he just changed his username recently, but the last one struck me. don't think i wanna rephrase it in my own words cos i'd just change the meaning, but it's bout dreams. it's like his problems always seem like they're on a different scale. i can only wish him all the best. he'd be staying in tj, so chances of meeting up would be even less than they were when we were still there...

i can't seem to phrase what i'm thinking exactly, but to my friends: best of luck and stay strong whatever happens. may things go well...

now to count my blessings...

i swear i thought of so many things to blog bout since last friday but tt's the problem when one puts sth off... don't you hate it when you forget what you wanted to do just a moment ago (ok, so this time it isn't exactly 'a moment ago' but just a few days lah)... always so many times i find myself walking to the living room then when i'm there, wonder to myself what i came out of my room for. other times i'd come to a folder or webpage on my pc and then start thinking the reason for me doing that.... and i've never found the answer.

and there's still a memory when i was so, so small. was in kindergarden i think, no school then, still sleeping with parents thought with mattress on the floor in their room... was in a half-asleep state of mind when i remembered i went to the toilet seemingly looking for sth. it felt like sth precious was there, but i couldn't find anything... i actually cried then lol. and since then (at least tt's the first incident i can remember) i've always had trouble with short-term memory (not tt i cry nowadays haha).

but i digress.. main point of this entry to recount from saturday to tues/wed. ok, just one or two more entries after this and it's back to the present at last. to think i originally had so much to say. but two paragraphs of rants is good excuse enough for myself i guess...

bought lots of stuff those days. on saturday, finally got my ipod ^^. ipod mini 4gb blue to be more precise. would have liked the u2 one but tt's so much more expensive... just glad my parents actually agreed to get me one. travelling's never the same now. gba + ipod combo will probably last for some time until the killer ds/psp game comes out. the purchase also relit a passion for music again. the last time i was so into music was like primary school..

and on music, simple plan's coming to singapore! really want to go watch them, but 50 bucks is a lot for someone really broke and still went on a shopping spree recently... and also gotta convince pple to go with me if i want to. not much time left... hmm, i really want to experience the atmosphere of a concert, and i believe simple plan can bring that. wasn't their biggest fan after the first album and as good as i think 'perfect' and 'welcome to my life' are never really followed them. but only recently when i got their latest album (took some time eh) and they had this track of perfect live at anaheim, it just captivated me... the way the crowd was singing along to the music, etc, their banter... great ^^. but now that i think bout it don't think i can make it with such short time left and the ticket prices...

but i digress again. hmm, forgot how sunday passed. forgot how monday passed by as well, except i got the garfield dvd. watched on tues morning (i think... seems like i don't remember anything...) really disappointing. so i know the garfield movie in itself was disappointing, but i got over that cos it's just garfield. how can i hate it lol. but then after forking out so much more to get the dvd, and region one at that compared to some asian version vcd, i'd expect a fair bit of extras. but except for the short commentary there was nothing at all (except the movie of course lah). i want deleted scenes! i want some original artwork! i want something from jim davis! and hey, a few extra features like simple games etc won't hurt either. and surely u can have a collecter's edition or sth, make me pay more but gimme the animated garfield series (which coincidentally is still on my to-buy list)... but nvm, i still won't use the words rip-off. i'm a staunch garfield fan after all, maybe a stupid one i don't care haha.

think it was tuesday, went on the official shopping spree. starting out at ps, but this time decided to alter my route, heading for city hall with 'stopovers' at funan, peninsula, bras basah. looked in the citylink mall but gave suntec a miss (went there too many times recently). then finally walked to parco bugis and then sim lim before home. bought lots of stuff...

let's see, got an idlewild cd, yellowcard dvd, lilo and stitch AND stitch vcd, a doggie plushie (a cute labrador retriever! ^^ too bad no golden retrievers, but it do as fine), skies of arcadia, mike gayle's his 'n hers. still so much i wanna buy lol. have now drawn up a list of items i wanna get, prioritised them, scouting for prices now and then lol. first item up on the list now's the finding nemo region one dvd ^^

so now i'm horribly broke as usual... still gonna go cuppage eat this sat with the sggamers bunch... hope parents can chip in some... been going back to sleep after waking up due to my human alarm clock at around 8 so that i can have brunch, one meal down. trying my best to eat at home... just cutting down loads... that is until temptation takes over again... oh well, let's hope the next shopping spree won't come too far in the future

So looks like laziness reigned for the last few days. think i've thought of 5 or 6 entries i wanna add already but keep putting them off. hope i still remember them. then again, it's nothing much significant, so not much point putting it down. but still the old geezer inside me's still active so i'd try to type whatever i remember.

so last friday, decided to feign sick in the morning to convince my mom to let me not go to sch. i just couldn't face sch after ponning so many times the two weeks before so what's ponning another time. but come to think of it it's quite weird... for four years in zh i've always went to sch even if i'm sick, so many times my mom was like telling me to stay at home but i still insisted on going for some reason, the only time i missed it being the rare diarhea bouts (u definitely can't go to sch with it). then that day i just complained of a headache and feel weak and wanna skip sch. was prepared to have a cup of piping hot coffee and go see doctor but mom didn't force me to go, so just stayed at home. goodie ^^.

so was enjoying my day slacking at home in front of my pc before received patrick's sms. they're celebrating vanda's bday, meeting at city hall for dinner later. decided to go but had such a tough time convincing my mom that i'm all right then and can go out already. but then i still have to act a li'l weak so as not to arouse suspicion so i was like, 'i'm feeling a li'l week, but don't wanna miss celebrating a friend's birthday... think i can make it lah. i'd just cut down on heaty food, ok? (puppy eyes mode lol)'

so i went there, then found out they're going marina south for steamboat! bah, always dunno what exactly is the activity when i go outings then end up in wrong attire. thankfully wasn't too hot later. didn't sweat that much.

so we ate. didn't eat so much (never really do in bbq/steamboat things... know it's definitely too heaty for a junk eater like me)... then had the cake and birthday song. nice ^^. after that went to the deck nearby. nice scenery, but i'm the ultimate mosquito bait, only i only managed to kill two when, like a whole nest (ok, so mosquitoes don't live in nests, but sound fun the expression doesn't it haha) came a-calling. the bites only starting to go yesterday or so. was still itching a few days after and those oh so unsightly bumps...

love jumping over the railings or whatever they're called. like the feeling... ok, so we decided to walk to suntec after that but it was so near yet so far. we can see it just there some distance ahead but there was this body of water (now what do u call it?) separating us. got lost and had to walk for a long, long time. but kinda fun the experience... just walking and walking and walking

reached home quite late. forgot to bring keys and mom was going to sleep (thankfully i called halfway through). damn tired. so tired i fell out of bed for the first time i can remember in a long, long time the next day... but what a day. memorable... grr, i didn't get my group photo in the end...



birthday girl!





First attempt using the night mode (or sth like that) in the camera. didn't know the exposure time was so long so moved it before it was done. but thought the effects turned out kinda cool haha



Ghost! Lol. Junio walked into the picture with the ultra long exposure time... cool effect ^^



Tinkering with another mode. But guess my pictures are always blur regardless of the exposure lah...



An attempt to create another ghost picture. This time wasn't so successful



Shaky hands as usual. sigh



Steadier hands ;)

i feel so much like an old geezer now, one who knows his memory's deteriorating and wanna write everything down so that he can remember all those memories... not tt my memory's tt bad, but these are days i don't wanna forget... i wanna blog bout everything tt happened in my obscure, insignificant life (i like it tt way too anyway), wanna take pictures of the things i see... all that's holding me back is this innate laziness of mine which will be hard to best. let's see what comes out victorious in the next few days...

so gonna recap on wed and thurs... long due man... so on wednesday, dreading school as usual after how much i've ponned the past week but trying to tell myself hol's just a few days away and i should make it until at least noon before my day end thanks to selective ponning. so there i was, dreading those lessons on the bus but still attempting my best to reassure myself it'd be over in my jiffy. so i got to sch, and lymon and co told me their plans... pon school to play lan

of course i couldn't resist the temptation and tagged along. on one hand was pretty reluctant cos i'd miss civics and might run into trouble with the civics tutor and also ponning those tutorials that day meant i'd probably pon them for the rest of the week. but tt's not important... but it's just so bo liao... take a trip almost an hour and a half just to take attendance and pon sch...

at first went to niner, wasn't opened yet so went to amk raiders... i hate wearing my shirt inside out, but nvm... i never bring an extra shirt along in case of these things. as usual i'm clueless bout dota, but at least i'm starting to get the hang of things... for now seem pretty alright. sustain the level of interest and i'd be getting the original copy in a few days... at least i didn't die tt many times lah... the most but then again this is like, my 2nd time playing...

after that went sumo house for lunch. lymon went back to sch (it seems like whenever we pon sch he'd go back to sch) leaving me, aaron and lik. oh yeah, on the bus on the way there aaron met his grandma. and instead of scolding him for ponning she gave her $50! so of course we got the free meal out of him. got a set meal, japanese satay and some sushi... nice ^^. thanks aaron ('s grandma)... went for my usual round of rotiboy and curry puff after that and off we went back home.

but before we had lunch, i helped a wheelchair-bound old lady from s11 across the street to outside the mrt station. i did a good deed ^^, so tt should wipe up the sin of ponning (but then again, i'm not religious so oh well). it seems like a short distance but my was it tough pushing the wheelchair... makes me think how much tougher it is for the old lady to push herself around... it's like pushing an overweight luggage trolley that doesn't steer well and goes so slowly, have to constantly look out for obstacles and bumps on the floor and my is it tough avoiding people and pillars... then while i was pushing her she went bout saying how dangerous jaywalking is. how she used to do that before she lost her leg thanks to an incident and scolding those jaywalkers... not tt it'd stop me from jaywalking anytime soon but i'd take heed to be extra careful...

ok, so on to thurs. plan was to go watch hitch at 12 with the usual group (sans ash, but then again he's not joined as since the first time watching seoul raiders... so the four of us should be considered the usual group lah)... so an incentive to attend lessons til then. but as always, dreading lessons on the bus and wanted to propose ponning at 10.30

but then lik and lymon both ponned sch. at first we still dunno where they are, so attended the first lecture but after knowing that me and aaron totally have no mood to continue the day. went to the canteen for breakfast instead of attending the second period and finally came to a decision to pon after that. off we went, aaron home and me to amk.

watched unfortunate events first. only four people in the cinema including me... cool! ok movie but nothing really spectacular or noteworthy... but thought it was decent until the next movie. now feel like it's a lousy show...

so after unfortunate events ended i ran out of the cinema to the ticketing booth hoping i was still in time for the next showing of hitch. thankfully only five minutes late so got the tickets. so tt continues my streak of a few years i think of not catching the start of a movie... great show it was. damn funny and feel-good movies are just the way to go.

plan was for a marathon and continue with robots but was stoned after hitch. decided to take a break wandering around central to see if i can take another movie later on. saw bleach and school rumble manga... dunno whether i wanna get them. but then again i'm so broke now with loads of games, cds, dvds, magazines and books on the to-buy list. oh well. (out of point) i've got an idea... (let's see if i can still remember what this meant next time i see it)

hmm, still got two/three more entries planned but then dynamic equilibrum of laziness and recounting have been reached for now (/end crap) til next time...

another short recount... so monday was a 'half-day' released at 12.45... decided to catch a movie after that, so went over to jubilee. was there at around 1+, then to my horror the next howl's moving castle's screening only at 4.50! but really wanted to watch a movie so decided to get the tickets and find a way to idle time away...

went for my usual rotiboy and curry puff (think i'm eating them almost daily now... how unhealthy...) then decided it's fair time to catch up on work already... saw my beverage card, one month since i went to the library... and i don't think i did work then... wow, a month without anything done... got myself into the mood then completed the transformation tutorial which was done like two weeks ago. but better late than never lah.

so turns out i found a new way to force myself to study... get a movie that's a few hours later then since i'm there already jolly well do some stuff... too bad movies at jubilee can't be as cheap as princess... so there's a big prob with the financial aspect... and there ain't that many movies either... studying's really expensive indeed.

so after that caught howl's moving castle. another empty cinema ^^ (so used to them nowadays).. was a nice movie... but thought it dealt with roughly the same themes mononoke hime had but didn't pull it off that well. nonetheless still a good movie. enjoyed it. love these feel-good movies... somehow after them u'd come out thinking there's sth for u in this world that's out there waiting for u...

so now today... had a gp debate over marriage. fun ^^. before hand thought it was a pretty slack one so didn't prepare much, just hoped that would get into the mood and get fired up at the last moment... so it started, and the prop's (i'm with the opp) first speaker was the good-boy kinda student. then lymon told him sth and he went to the judges' table, banged on it and said the motion must stand... was so hilarious the scene... slipped into a comical mood then and never really got back while others managed to...

turns out everyone else had prepared for the debate and had speeches ready etc while i just had a piece of paper with big scribblings of some statistics and definitions. did everything on the spot... think i was the weakest speaker haha. but was fun lah. then to go along with the light-hearted atmosphere i was like giving jibes to the other team whenever possible. sometime during poi it would turn out like just a free-for-all discussion. hope i didn't shoot my mouth off haha.

then there was this one time, one member of the floor attacked me, questioning my data which was for canada and it doesn't represent the statistics for the world. as expected my team went bout trying to argue and squirrel the way out... then sth got over me and i just blurted, if u want the international data, i don't have lah, ok? the class's reaction was really funny haha. then my teammates were like staring at me and the chairperson was like shoo, shoo lol... the other team had the best speaker, the self-appointed worst speaker here on the other side but we won ^^. nice experience...

just ponned a test today... hope won't run into much trouble. and heard from some there's this girl in my class who ponned pw earlier on and got scolded by the pw teacher today (which i ponned as usual)... had to write essay on why she didn't go for pw lessons X(. heck with it lah, think i'd just say it in her face she won't see me ever again if she confront me in the next few days...

today did more work too. was planning to watch unfortunate events' but was did not in the end. turned out i could concentrate ^^. love those challenging maths question... teacher gave us one of the 'harder questions' for practicing on our own and i decided to try it. turns out one was a past year fmaths s paper. whoa! took me 1h 15min to finish that one question with 5 pieces of paper crumpled up compared to one done but my the satisfaction was great when finally figured that out... so i took way to long, but hey, i did it! ^^,. so long for now...

to heck with whoever's gonna think i'm sick after this entry or those jibes bout how old i am... been so long since i added a new member to my prized collection... next target's a really big and huggable one like eric's one lol.

in recounting mood these days so just wanted to recap the weekends. saturday was pure geek day... spent whole day from morning til midnight or so in front of the pc... long time since i managed to get into gaming so much, and coupled with anime 'intermissions' now and then whole day done just like that...

sunday almost threatened to be the same. was on computer from morning til bout 2+ when it was time for lunch. parents away in m'sia so decided to go mac have lunch and 'shun bian' read the papers (my, really living the life of a basement dork then... pc all the time, fast food and even sth simple like buying the newspaper seem so ardulous...) but never mind. saw an article on toys, which obviously was referring to action figures. but then made me think bout plushies and decided to check out some of the sites listed. some shops indeed sell plush toys and most in city area so headed to town.

went on my pooky search then, and first time i didn't stray from the 'mission'... in the end managed to get hold of the last one in a shop in far east... ^^. so was done at bout 4 but decided to linger around for a while, walking bout for a bit.

strayed a bit off my usual path strictly along orchard road and filled in a few more places in my mental map of the place... then went on food hunt like i always like to do once in a while... dinner just on snacks... nice ^^. let's see, i had cookies, both mrs fields and famous amos, hagen daz, macdonald's cheapskate icecream (surprisingly they managed to get the texture right this time round... if only can couple that texture with the taste of hagen daz...), a brownie from some cafe, japanese satay, takoyaki, curry puff, waffle ice cream, latte at spinelli (finally got to taste it.. great!).. so revived my suppressed sweet tooth now... can't do without a chocalate bar daily these few days... time to rein myself in a bit...

then had a great time at hmv just listening to music through the headphones, closing eyes and just let the melody take over. listened to half of some of the nicer cds before moving on... surprisingly no urge to buy anything this time, so all the better. also got to listen to jay chou's live vcd... heard bout the made-up lyrics from lymon and got to hear it first hand... really funny... too bad he kinda slipped into a mumble halfway through, couldn't make out anything after the interesting first part.

nothing much in particular other than that. visited lots of shop, walked til legs sore, and that's all... now thinking back, 3+ to bout 9... i wonder how i managed that. time seemed to pass quite fast

really sleepy the last two days... didn't think i attended lessons at all on thursday cos i think i slept more than half of them away... 6 lessons that day, and fell asleep in all sleep. and deep ones at that where i have no idea of what the teacher had said... some teachers woke me up, but i fell to sleep just a li'l after and next i know the next teacher is in the classroom already... guess ponning school for 3 days in a row making me all accustomed to slacking now...

went to amk central after that hoping to study to catch up on some stuff since i've missed out so much, but got rotiboy and curry puff and went home after that. can't blame me lah, the rain makes it so tempting to not study. back home, fell yet asleep again for a long afternoon nap. woke up for dinner, then slept early at 11...

and i thought sleeping so much for one day will make me less tired today. looks like not and lessons passed through as usual with me slumped on the table. at least chem prac at the end managed to keep me awake (imagine sleeping while titrating -_-') nap again... bah, gotta learn to survive with less sleep now. so much i've missed, so much tutorials undone... i gotta start picking up soon... maybe during the weekends.. maybe...

lots of things happened the past 'long weekend'... so much that my mind's almost overwhelmed by it...

so let's start from class outing on sunday, 27th february first. was pushing my expectations a li'l low before that cos it seems like we were unable to contact quite a few pple and some decided not to go. ok, on the day itself, went play ball with jun liang early in the morning for a while, preparing to rush to meet up for the class outing after that. but suffered a bout of diarhea (however u spell it) and ended up an hour late... surprisingly i was not the last lol, and 12 pple turned up, which could have been better but very satisfactory already imo

so just like the last time we went to sentosa. this time with no false title of a 'picnic' i went with the right attire haha. at first played frisbee, then some volleyball before going into the sea. my, the gradient of the beach was really steep. just a li'l into the sea have to thread water already, but i digress. hate it when mouth touches the salty water but nonetheless had a good time just hanging out with friends. oh yeah, finally took some pictures of the class this time. i like the group photo on the rocks... (guess will upload them soon)

after that there was some confusion. there were some plans to go lik khian's house but sandy wanted us to go orchard help out buy the farewell gifts for eric. in the end some felt against going and went to lik khian's house but jun wei and junio headed to help her. had pizza, nice. then relived some childhood memories eating those biscuits with the sugary thing on top... don't really know how to describe but it's common how we eat it, biscuit first then the sugary stuff...

next played mahjong. um, so while we were leaving sentosa sth happened and left me reflecting on myself. so it was a good diversion to stop myself from thinking too much in a sense lah. at first i could concentrate, won a few rounds here and there but nothing much but after that my mind started to wander. some rounds i found myself just giving up before even finishing... but overall i enjoyed it lah. but in the end stopped and gave up my position. maybe there's no money involved haha...

so after some time i left. made a plan with lik khian, lymon and aaron to go to lik's house the next day (ponning sch in the process) to try make sth for eric. think i needed that cos i know with my tendency to think too much i cannot afford to let myself be alone during that time... so fast forward to next day. turns out we didn't do anything in the end and couldn't find what we wanted... but it's the thoughts that counts? haha

wrote my note to eric in lik's house. it's so tough putting down my feelings in words but got it done in the end. am very thankful for the company though and the banters that went around, especially with aaron's plans for his note. i really cannot envision going to sch then.

but sadly, the coming of the results soon got to me. we were like jokingly counting down the when our results would get released but somehow i started feeling nervy. very weird considering i've not really paid much attention to it before this. i started to think what i wanted to get, but was at a loss... on one hand i wanted to score well for the obvious reasons but on the other hand i'm actually hoping to get less than satisfactory results... can't really pinpoint the reason... maybe deep down i was hoping to go to poly and lead a less taxing life. maybe...

so was feeling quite nervous when going to zhss. thankfully vinnie with his usual jokes, etc managed to cheer me up considerably and i wasn't so anxious anymore, until we saw that we didn't do that well this year as a whole... thankfully our class did very well i think.

am happy (ok, maybe i should use a more 'intense' word) with my results, but somehow i feel i don't deserve some of them. feel a li'l ashamed sometimes... then felt a li'l weird talking to others bout it cos they'd give the 'so u very good lah' (something along those lines lah, just can't remember the exact phrasing) and i'm afraid i might be a li'l insensitive sometimes... different people have different expectations so didn't really know how to talk bout this sort of stuff.

ok, after that went took pictures with ms chan, huang lao shi, ms ten and ms tan with eric and co. i've always pitied the fact that we haven't taken many pictures as a class or smaller as a group so happy for that.

eric's farewell later in the canteen. we bought a cake, bear and watch for him. he sang the 4e1 song, still touching as always. took a video with the video camera... too bad it's 100mb... gonna take some time to upload that. am very pleased the whole class actually turned up, and to go along my crave for pictures these days took two class pictures with ms chan, mr yeo, mr choo and mr won. nice ^^.

so we had the cake and stuff... slowly people started streaming out but i didn't really want to leave. most of the class actually stayed for quite a long time. and even though i didn't really talk much to anyone just the presence is enough. finally went to mac with ash, terence, aaron and lymon and hongyi. trying to make some plans with eric for the next day but not really settled. but he had to have dinner with another group of friends...

nice talk. oh yeah, great to see the 'new' hongyi. much more sociable now. happy for him. eventually had to part.

so went home. side track back to the results for a while. discussing on which jc to go to with some friends and quite some going ny then. so gave it a consideration. parents were quite happy bout my results, but then i told them bout me considering ny and tt i wanna pon the next 2 days (they don't even know ponned monday) and they didn't look too happy. oh well

turns out eric not going out with his jc friends on tuesday so we get to spend the whole day with him ^^. and can stay overnight at his place too (double ^^). but only settled details at like, 12 or so. almost fell asleep. plan in the end was playing lan in the morning then go on from there.

ponned sch 'as usual' on tuesday then and for the first time, i actually played lan with them. most of the time if i tagged along i'd be outside bowling while the others were playing but i decided to play it just for the sake of doing it. there was eric (of course), aaron, lik khian, lymon, terence and patrick there...

started playing, and of course i was at a loss when everyone else understands what is going on. a lot of times i ended up staring at my screen and shouting what is happening, throwing my mouse down. spent more than 3h in there... scary looking back at it lol. kinda fun in a sense but so utterly confusing...

after that was lunch at the place affectionately called yellow-chair coffee shop. had western food there as usual. bowling next. think i'm kinda bad, championing for that when eric, the 'main character' of the day is not playing. played one game, and am satisfied i managed to break 100 even after so much time not bowling.

me and aaron then went to eric's house after that. he was packing his stuff, we ain't much help, so just sat around. but so many memories of just sitting down at my favourite corner at 'ponyboy's house', looking at either eric or ash playing the guitar on the bed or at the computer with warcraft, utopia or gangland. i'm surprised how i managed to have so fond memories of them even though i was just idling time away haha. how nice.

later on ash and lymon joined up at eric's house. the last time we went for the farewell dinner during the holidays it was the five of us too. thought it'd change this time round with terence and lik khian 'invited' and lymon and ash maybe unable to make it but fate is just such a sweet thing. we were talking bout what a coincidence then, but more's in store...

plan this time round for dinner was seoul garden at bugis again, continuing from where we left off that last time. eric took a li'l longer than expected to do the last of his packing so we only arrived there at 8. on the way we were joking bout requesting for the table we sat as the last time to really continue from there. but when we got there and i took a glance inside it seemed like it was taken.

but when the person led us to our table it turned out that i had seen wrongly and the table was empty. while walking towards it there was this excitement inside as we're hoping to get it... and we did. coincidence number 2, or as i like to call it, fate. so without even asking we took the places we had the last time and started the dinner rolling.

because we had lunch so late i was really full and ate kinda little. how wasteful of $22. drank a lot of sprite + lemonade cos was really thirsty but made me even more bloated. only ate a li'l meat, two eggs and some ice cream in the end. halfway through the dinner aaron spotted a worm in the plate where we had just taken our vegetables from. thankfully haven't eaten them. really disgusting with it crawling around and the slimy green color. thankfully quite small. called the staff there and tried to ask jokingly for refund but failed. only got a change of the soup... but that's just the side story.

this time because we were kinda late and took bout 1h to get the eating done, etc had not much time on our hands for the 'bonding session'. earlier part of the banter was still immensely fun nevertheless but no doubt that was what we'd (or at least me lah lol) been waiting for. ended only bout 30min of that and we're the last group inside seoul garden. staff didn't chase us out so we talked for a while more til 10 and realised that eric had told his guardian that he'd be back by 10.30 tt we left. good thing lymon managed to convince his parents to stay or sth along those lines so everyone will still be together for the rest of the night.

sleepover it is but we hardly slept at all. talked and joked lots. been 2 months + since i last saw eric in person but we still could hit it off really well. i can say that the friendships built between the few of us are really strong i hope. the serious stuff and all the sharing, the light stuff with all the talk bout charlie and 2.06 (watching movie in a group is so fun when u piece up the missing bits after tt lol. we've been talking bout hide and seek for so long lor...) and me and lymon's impulses to snuffle ash lol. ash doing silly stuff with the pooh bear, eric 'fighting' with ash. (lol, nothing involving 'no hormones' aaron seemed to have happened)... 'vampire' ash and the debate bout turning on/off the lights... testing eric's 'aim', scaring lymon with stuff, our very own 'dr hitch'... it was just a awesome night in a truly incredible day... a memory to savour.

slept very li'l, and not helped by the super cold aircon coupled with the thin blankets and small part of the mattress i got (get things straight... i'm not complaining here eh), woke up, went yellow chair coffee shop have breakfast.

oh yeah, on a side story it seemed like i'm the unofficial spokesman for eric's flight lol. received so many sms-es asking me bout the details of eric's flight. nvm, back to the day...

after that, went back, did last of packing and took taxi to airport. was surprised to see the number of people seeing him off in the end. some who originally sent regards through the unofficial spokesman turned up after all, which was really nice.. let's see, we had the four of us, terence, hongyi, shiu hei, lik khian, junio, vinnie, sandy, candy, weiteng, qiujin from our class (hope i didn't miss anyone out)... that makes it 14. then there was cheryl and mei fang, two of his badminton friends and another big group of jc friends... kinda cool having such a large 'entourage'... think he was really busy, trying to attend to so many different groups.

ok, side track again to the results. turns out aaron's parents didn't really like the idea of going ny too so we decided to try psycho other people go aj. wonder how things will turn out in the end with who going where... but think i'd be going aj almost definitely now unless sth major happens... hope to see gd friends there...

so, soon, it was time for eric to check into the departure area. time to say bye bye. he promised that he'd be back (and according to aaron with his honed skill of peeking into other pple's stuff) he'd be transitting in singapore soon. hope can meet him then. but i'd leave this to fate i guess. i'm sure the bonds we'd built between us will ensure we keep in contact.

really thankful i was able to stay strong for the two fantastic days spent with him. definitely will miss him, but was able to suppress any notion to feel sad by first wanting to spend some really enjoyable time with him and later thinking bout more positive stuff. after he went through immigration we're kinda joking bout sending somebody else off at another terminal cos we stacked all our bags into a trolley and seemed like whoever's pushing the trolley's leaving too. ok, the lame stuff we do but loads of fun. eric leaving is seeping in bit by bit now but i've promised myself i shall not feel sad for this. we've had a great time knowing each other and i will just yearn for more of good times instead of mourning bout sth we cannot change.

it was kinda like a mini class outing then, what with 10+ pple around. after much hanging around and trying to decide what to do most of us went to tampines mall to have lunch. after lunch some of the guys decide to continue hanging out and do sth. accompanied ash to get his singpass done (the others watched mr bean but i got so tired i fell asleep in the meantime) then a few of them went to get ramly burgers. haven't eaten them before, but would have if only i wasn't broke and in debt yet again just 2 days after paying my previous debts off. and financial assistant aaron himself was broke as well lol. guess some other day.

and after much hanging around tampines trying to decide where to go and what to do, 8 of us decided to go to parkway to play pool. felt so weird going past tj halfway on the bus trip. my first time really playing pool (my only experiences with it was playing around for less than 5min at the lobby of a few hotels in some overseas trip). was incredibly crappy but was really funny. i goofed up on so many occations... at the start there was a free ball and i had the chance to pocket my first ever ball with one nicely near the pocket. i proceeded to do that, only hitting the white ball inside too -_-. then there were times i'd totally miss hitting the ball, miss clear sitters and one time hit a ball which was just in front of the pocket out when it seemed easier to hit it in.

nonetheless still a very fun experience. had fun laughing at myself and the times where beginner's luck set in and i made some angled shots a few times in a row were really satisfying. wanna say thank you to shiu hei for treating us. after that, went home and here we're back...

my, so many things happened this past few days. ponned 3 consecutive days, hope won't run into too much trouble. a 'long weekend' with quite some lasting impacts on me...