活著其实很好再吃一颗苹果

october update

2009-10-29T17:03:00.002+08:00

it's been months since this place has seen any updates. mainly because i haven't had much time and inspiration to write. perhaps updating once a month might be good, or even once in two months, because time just seem to pass as quickly as ever.

recalling conversations with friends, it seems like only yesterday we've just known each other, but in fact, it has been years. seen each other grow, encounter and go through different feelings, emotions, situations and predicaments in life. shared our advices and encouragements. witnessing a friend falling in love and getting married! at 22, today i seem to appreciate my friends much more, being in closer connection (i feel), trying to get updates about each other's lives and sharing more time together.

maybe it is this period of my life that truly puts me in that spot and need to value my friendships because they are the ones that help put a smile on my face, knowing that i am remembered and appreciated in the same way.

october has been a great month, not because i have been created 22 years ago, but because i had great company of people who remember me and love me. so thank you for all the joy you've all put in my heart.

there was once a teacher who taught me about friendships. and to this special friend, you have been a great friend to me. thank you and 2 :)

we are never perfect people or friends, but what matters is that we try. we try to be there, we try to give our time away, we try to brighten and encourage one another.

burdens in life are never meant to be carried alone. and so this theory applies to the beautiful things in life. wonderful sights are meant to be shared.

so thank you for sharing with me this journey. :)

my little escapade

2009-06-03T22:58:00.005+08:00

if there were one thing that would make me ecstatic, that would be anything that involves taking a plane and being in a foreign place. oh and one more thing would make it even better, a cheap deal on the budget airlines websites.

recently, i escaped to siem reap- a place that i visited two years ago and left a lingering spirit in my heart. when i came back two years ago, i've been telling everyone how fantastic the place is and how beautiful the people are. it's a place that i can't pinpoint why i'm passionate about.

two years later, i've went back, wondering if i'll meet the people i met there in 2007. (you'll find out later)

coincidentally, i've visited siem reap both at a time when i'm standing at the different crossroads of my life. unknowingly, it has become the place of my escape, a little shelter from the vastness of unknowns.

flights to cambodia have always been early, taking off at a time when the sky is still dark. but the sight that behold me minutes into take-off was totally unimaginably beautiful. the break of dawn at clouds level is indescribable.

the first awakening of sunlight separated the darkness right in the middle. the best word i could think of then to describe was "曙光". two simple words that captured the essence of light coming through in pitch darkness.

at that moment, i thought it felt like 'hope'.

the whole process of sunrise took place quickly, with subtle changes every second. the awesomeness and beauty of God's creations indeed. the picture before me just couldn't be put into a frame wholly without taking away half of its grandeur. and i'm so glad i got the chance to witness this amazing sight of nature because those seated on the other side of the plane was just experiencing darkness.

two years have blurred some of my memory of siem reap, or perhaps i haven't really taken notice of everything last time round. somehow some parts of town seemed a little different from the way i remembered, but then i realised it could be because i just didn't get to go through those parts two years back. things hadn't deteriorated, it just hasn't improved much either. but somehow to me, it's just perfect the way it is.

pub street alley, at the old market area, is a little alley i walk through, day in and day out. it's a little alley behind pub street, full of little cozy restaurants. there's memory of the times when we ate at the 'famous angkor' restaurant and the cheap buy 1 get 1 free alcohol during happy hours. two years later, i went back. the lady boss is still around and i even went to her provision shop to buy bottled water. unfortunately, the friends we made two years back like the funny waiter who introduced himself as 'mr bean' and '买一送一' are no longer working there.

i really liked bean, because he's so funny and endearing to all the customers. but i guess it's a good thing that he's no longer there now, because i take it that he's off to university which he told us he was saving up for.

changes no doubt is part of the time that passed. prices have gone up, though the buy 1 get 1 free happy hour special still exists. new shops have appeared, if you can see (try scrutinizing the pic, where the guys are standing), there's nydc there now! -gasps-

but really, the whole feel and atmosphere of the alley remains relatively the same. and i like the way things stay status quo because it feels more like home. on a side note, singapore on the other hand changes and has new developments all the time. just try staying away for two years and see what pops up on orchard road.

pub street still has that holland v feel, with its road blocked once night falls and filled with tourists dining and drinking. being in siem reap for five days, i had the opportunity to hang around pub street and pub street alley every night. so spoilt for choices for dinner!

what left a deep impression on me was also the delicious and cheap food and fruit shake at the old market food stall. i tried to search for the stall which we went to two years ago but i can't recognise it anymore, or perhaps it doesn't exist there anymore. so i ended up going to this one, which had similarly, if not better food! the noodle soup was especially good. so good and cheap compared to everything else around, i ended up going there every day either for breakfast or lunch! accompanied by my daily dosage of mango shake. other than the houseflies, it was heaven.

p/s: shakes are a must-have every day in the incredibly hot weather.

what was different this trip was the accommodation. i stayed on a street off sivatha road this time, though i did went back to molly malone's to enquire about its rooms. but we decided that our room was cheaper and just as good as molly's.

this is why sivatha road is such a landmark this time, because i had to make it across the challenging traffic every day. the road was also covered in thick dust and mud that each time a heavy vehicle drove past, it would kick up a cloud of dust, blurring all vision and holding all breaths.

children similarly are always a highlight of cambodia. having more than 50% of their entire population being younger than 15 years old, you are bound to encounter these children everywhere. sometimes it's sad to think that not all of them have the opportunity of education.proper staying facilities and nice clothes like us.

but on a light note, these two boys, mind you, had the whole bayon temple as their playground! running around barefooted, climbing up and down these terribly hard-to-climb steps, they were playing hide and seek in a UNESCO world heritage site! how many of us can grow up to say we had a world heritage site as a playground? and how many of us can truly say we had a childhood as happy as theirs?

so i went back to the angkor wat archeological parks again and visited some of the same ruins. however, they do look different this time round because of weather differences. so it seems that the weather really has an effect on how the temples look like to us. also, some changes due to restoration works and what was a miss was the angkor wat top level. i remember having such a hard time climbing up two years ago and now, they've put a barrier at the steps to stop the climbing for good due to some accidents that happened. the view up there was really good, so it's pretty sad that visitors aren't allowed to get up there anymore. and i'm glad i had the chance!

srah srang is the man-made lake opposite the ta prohm ruins, which by the way, is part of the filming site for tomb raider.

two years ago, i met this girl who introduced herself as 'pao' at srah srang. i bought a set of weaved bangles from her then and she was such a sweet little girl who left a deep impression on me. two years later, i met her again there. she approached me again to sell me things, and i wasn't sure if she was 'pao' until she introduced herself.

i felt such a rush of mixed emotions because on one hand, i was happy that i could meet her again, but on the other hand, i was sorry that i really didn't need or want to buy anything from her, that i couldn't help her, especially seeing her sad and frustrated face that i wasn't going to make her day.

two years ago when i left srah srang, she waved and shouted bye to me and said see you (cambodians like to say this, i guess they like to hope that business will be coming back). then, i thought it would be close to impossible because i didn't think i would be coming or even come back to siem reap, much less srah srang. by a twist of fate, i had appeared again, of course not with her knowing or remembering who i am.

and what made me feel a little sad too was that she didn't look so carefree and innocent anymore. grown up a little, she looked a little worn out as what life would do to most of us.

by the way, this is 'pao' in 2007.

this time what made my trip though was really the hike up to phnom bakheng for a supposed sunset viewing. cleverly built on the top of a hill, phnom bakheng was really the best place to view sunset (as i imagine) and an even better view of the whole area. what was majestic and made the hike so fun was the rain that came that evening. it replaced the sunset and brought a great view of floating dark clouds and strong winds.

this group of caucasian guys were so crazy to climb onto the top of the little tower for grand photo shots. it's actually off the top platform so they had to kick and push themselves off this one you can see completely and climb onto the one below. it may not look so dangerously here but it really is because it's at the edge of the temple and no one is sure if the rocks there are stable enough to support. plus, the winds were really strong because of the coming rain. three of them tried it until the guards came and told them off.

at the end when the heavy clouds finally came, i had to hurry down the steep temple steps and hike down the hill, thoroughly soaked, muddied but happy.

other than pub street and alley, other places i went again and again were the old market and center market. they all pretty much sell the same things, as do the night market and noon-night market (which didn't existed two years back).

all the stalls either sold khmer scarf, cambodian silk scarf, bags, clothes, photocopied books, fake watches, cambodian tees or shades. what stood out at the night market was the fish therapy that we see in singapore and the screening of what they call the 'pol pot movie' at US$3 per ticket. screened in a small air-conditioned metal container room placed with about eight rows of chairs, the movie was more like a boring documentary that guaranteed a good sleep in a cold room, away from the khmer heat. haha.

it felt like money spent for a different kind of experience and to spend some extra time that we don't know what to do with. it leaves you coming out of it feeling sleepy, happy to enjoy the air-con, =.=" for the movie content, and funny because of what just took place.

this sign says we are 312km from phnom penh, which is a bit too far and too lazy for me to go to.

something else i enjoy at siem reap is the helium balloon ride. i can't say why i like it, except the view and the thrill perhaps. it's just something fun to do.

other than crossing sivatha road, there is also the stretch of road which i have to walk in and out of every day i leave my guesthouse. it's a street where there's not just guesthouses but also cambodians living there, from really back-dated houses to having a bungalow where some more well-off cambodian family is living. the road has no street lamps at night so it gets really dark, except for the lights of the passing vehicles. the bad thing about staying in that area really was the noise like dogs barking and people getting up early because of the early sunrise.

a special highlight of the trip was also the giant lizards that we saw along our corridor at night! it's so huge and fat. and oh, other than the noise, you'll have to endure the countless lizards and insects like spider, some unknown flying insect.

what a truly authentic cambodian experience.

as i've said, things are perfect just the way they are, undeveloped and simple. though i hope that life and education will improve there, i wish too that things would also stay the way they are because there's a special feel to everything. things are affordable, making it a nice place for a change of environment, a good candidate for an escape from city life. and we all know that if a place were to develop quickly, a lot of other things would be lost and sacrificed for the sake of a more comfortable lifestyle. the nature of people would be compromised, even the happiness, for who says that city-dwellers are the happiest people in the world?

i do hope that if life brings me to another stop in siem reap in the future not too far away, what is there would still be the same, simple and nice as they are.

p/s: let's end off with some beautiful memories of the delicious food in siem reap. enjoy~ (looking that is.)

bangkok escapade

2009-04-20T16:18:00.001+08:00

bangkok is in the midst of yet another political unrest, stuck in an emergency situation. the worst to be hit would be their tourism industry, which is like their biggest income because of people like me, and many others of course.

i'm glad i went there before all hell broke loose. i don't know why but everytime after i go to bangkok, shortly after that an emergency would be declared. it's just bizarre. and to be safe, i tried to stay away from wearing any of the coloured shirts, not that i would look like any of them because obviously i don't.

this is a disadvantage for shopping because there would be no way you can get past the lines of defence to get something at the locals' rate. nah, i'm just kidding because even if you look like them, you first have to speak like them to pose as a thai. even if you ask "thao rai?" (thai for how much?), you also have to master the art of being able to understand what they are saying! it comes in something like "sa%*^gu#%&ip".

so in the end, it goes back to "how much is this?"

"four hundred and fifty baht."

great. it's english, but somehow there's a sinking feeling inside me that it could be cheaper if i were able to converse in thai.

it was another evening flight. and i am so addicted to shopping in bangkok. everything's so much cheaper there, i swear i will stop shopping in singapore. my mum even said once, why not go work and stay in bangkok? hahaha.

so it was pretty late by the time i reached. and i was so excited to be walking the same roads i had stepped on half a year ago. i still had the blueprint of the bangkok city map in my head. stayed at the same location, different hotel but right beside the previous one.

even the bmw 7 series advertisement on the walls of baiyoke sky hasn't changed from six months ago! it's funny but some places in singapore i haven't even been there for the longest time and i've been in bangkok twice in six months. and i hope peace can be restored permanently so that i can go back there again! haha.

this is the centralworld area, which is the first time that i've been there. there's always new places to explore each time you go. comparing the different places, i've also given them nicknames so you get an idea of what is there. centralworld is 'taka' and siam paragon is 'paragon' of course. honestly i've never been in there, because it doesn't fit into my criteria of looking for cheap things. the 'g' is for gaysorn plaza, which is also on the upper scale. i didn't go in there as well.

going there at this season is really hot, just like the weather's been in singapore. seeing that huge orange juice bottle really made me feel like drinking it. the advertisement worked, up to the stage of creating desire, but it didn't make me buy it though.

and for the first time i walked to the famous erawan shrine. i really thought it would be much bigger.

this is centralworld, connected to zen and isetan. such a great escape from the heat outside, just like in singapore. haha.

there was an outdoor performance during evening. saw the bunch of dancers in the macdonald's earlier on, doing their make-up and the mac was just bustling with action and noise.

night time was nice, as with every city.

the bowling alley in mbk was really nice. it really shocked me because there are no bowling alleys like this in singapore. the shoes rental was totally diy. there's a foot measurement machine where you can take off your shoes, place your feet there and measure to see what shoe size you should get. then you go to the respective shoe size shelf, put in the money and out drops the shoes, like a vending machine. to return, just throw it in the shoe return like the national library. for such state-of-the-art facilities, the pricing is of course similarly mind-blowing.

i went to the grand palace again, wearing the exact same shirt i did six months ago i realised! i just like these t-shirts. i love them so i bring them on every trip, haha. it's reddish-pink by the way, i'm not part of the red shirts.

had the best seafood in chinatown. cheap and good. the food came really fast too. there was also a little elephant on the street for people to buy food and feed.

there's just so much to explore. i always find myself not having enough days there to slowly explore the good stuff like good food, good places, good buys. it's just like that when you're such a shopping maniac, you always have to ensure you have covered the entire ground/building before they close so there's always no time to sit and relax, to have a nice drink before carrying on.

i think i need an entire week in bangkok, but then again, i might just possibly shop the seven days away too.

bangkok, i'll be back.

i lomo-ed kl.

2009-03-19T15:15:00.004+08:00

lomo my life- don't think, just shoot.
[kuala lumpur: 2008]

i've always kinda enjoyed long quiet bus rides. from cambodia to vietnam,from pattaya, bangkok to kl. as long as i'm not needing the toilet desperately, it's good. people usually sleep on long rides, so it's quiet and nice to put on your earphones and look at the scenic view outside. and yes, the right company is pretty important, at times when you get bored and run out of battery on your mp3.

the trip to kl last december was good because we had the chance to explore the public transport on our own and i've always liked doing that. i believe it's a huge part of making a trip a journey and not just a holiday. looking at maps, getting lost, it can be a waste of time on a trip, but that's what makes one a traveller, not just a tourist.

sticking your head to the window, looking out for the place you are going, it's all part of the fun of travelling. an experience for me even when i travel to the unexplored east side of this country.

revel in each journey, each adventure, each exploration because it only happens once. the experience will never be the same again.

freaky personality test

2009-03-16T20:49:00.004+08:00

i took this random quiz from facebook. comparing the answers that the person who tagged me got ;) , i guess the answers are really quite accurate, because her answers are so her and not me, and my answers are so me. amazing. i didn't even seriously contemplate the questions for long, but maybe that's the whole key to taking such quizzes, don't be so serious.

try it yourself! http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education:

Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

Success in your career is not the most important thing in life. You are content with what you have and think that being with someone you love is more than spending all of your precious time just working.

What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

i lomo-ed thailand.

2009-03-15T21:24:00.010+08:00

really overdued photos from my trip in 2008. i develop my films once in half a year or longer cuz i don't really shoot a lot. but nonetheless, it's still quite an excruciating wait to finally see my photos. times are really different with digital now when we can see our photos immediately. but sometimes it's good to go back to where we came from, remember, patience is a virtue my friends.

this is one place where i can have my little exhibition for my captured audience hehehe (until you click on that X button on your top right hand corner that is).

lomo my life- don't think, just shoot.

[pattaya/bangkok: 2008]

你旅行的意义是什么？

他。。她。。他们。。旅行的意义又是什么？

希望在你身边的人是谁？

当世界下起雨时，谁会在你身边撑着雨伞？

有时当我们看不清楚这世界时，将会是我们最勇敢的时候

在喧闹的夜晚让思绪沉淀下来

是否要到一个没有人认识你的地方才能找到平静？

当你停下来思考时，世界一样的在转动，一秒也不为你停下来

看到的，是眼前的景物还远处？

迷路时，出口是否一定要自己找？

一直在跟随世界的脚步走，是否就是对的路？

生活千姿百态。。你想要哪一种？

food for an alcoholic

2009-03-11T18:01:00.002+08:00

my mum is always using jack daniel's to cook her dishes. it's pretty amazing, i never knew jack daniel's could be used this way (but she say can..who knows).

she has since found the second bottle of it from some part of the house. but we're still at the first bottle. she decided to use it because it would be a waste keeping it hidden and collecting dust anyway.

in fact, she just came over to me (the alcoholic-and-all-good-food expert) to let me try her latest 'ginger pig kidney with jack daniel's'. it's sooo good when it's hot from the wok! but there usually isn't much alcohol because the dad doesn't like 'alcoholic food'. what a pity.

and it's so weird too because his daughter is so into alcohol. hahaha.

i'm so hungry right now, i'm going to dig in to some more jack daniel's and pig kidney (my favourite too!)

cheer

2009-03-09T21:51:00.004+08:00

photo courtesy of dennis

when she sings, i feel myself getting lost in the music, drifting into another time and space, into a place where i am alone, somewhere inside of me.

it's a feeling i can't explain.

on a rainy day, listening to her songs surfaces the feelings you've hidden deep inside your heart, the words she sings are the words you've wanted to say but can't seem to find the words to say.

in a few minutes, she has put them into a song, strung together in the most beautiful way to say it.

listening... sometimes you cry, sometimes you smile.

sometimes it's so magical you can't even explain why.

click!

2009-03-07T14:09:00.002+08:00

picture 1

picture 2

these were taken this morning. the contrast and colours are just beautiful isn't it? especially with the vignetting effect and blurry plastic lens feel. this is so lomo.

i love my phone! this polaroid programme is the best that i've installed so far. it stands in for that lomo euphoria i get when i see lomo pics, in between the periods i actually bring my films to develop (which is super long).

the original pictures? hahaha. continue scrolling to see them before polaroid effect.

original picture 1

original picture 2

they still have the shadow and contrast but just not the vignetting effect and mind-blowing colours.

so my phone can act like a toy cam, cool.

paddlepop colours

2009-02-26T16:02:00.002+08:00

dennis and i caught sight of this beautiful rainbow yesterday before class, actually he saw it first and then he told me. think i could be quite blind sometimes, wonder how much of beautiful things did i miss as i go about my mundane life everyday.

but anyway, MJ! this is the other side of the rainbow (your pic shows the other end of it! haha!)

the rainbow is a spectrum of colours created when there is sun and rain (further physics details i shall not elaborate because i do not remember them anymore). but it's not just a physics logic, the rainbow is a symbol of the covenant that God has with man as He said to Noah after the flood.

we've all heard about the story of noah's ark and the flood that washed away the earth. and this is the story after the flood.

the rainbow is a covenant that life shall never be cut off again by waters of a flood, never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

"And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.
Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.
So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth." - Genesis 9: 12-17

i read this passage quite a long time ago from a time i can't really remember and each time i see a rainbow since then, it reminds me of it.

it's a covenant of life, no wonder it never fails brings a smile and much excitement to everyone who sees it.

太陽的希望

2009-02-19T01:04:00.003+08:00

太陽
詞曲陳綺貞

我胆小地对自己说

就是这样吗?

我是你眼里的太阳

也是你影子里的悲伤

我问我...这世界是否一如往常?

让我照耀你安息的时光

你是我...小心维护的梦

我疲倦地享受着

谁也无法代替的光芒

我是我...一碰就碎的太阳

我热切地希望

能在消失之前

得到信仰

我胆小地对自己说

就是这样吗?

我是你眼里的太阳

也是你鏡子里的骄傲

我问我...这世界是否一如往常

需要我在拥挤午夜发光

你是我...小心维护的梦

我疲倦地享受着

谁也无法代替的孤傲

我是我...疲倦流浪的太阳

我热切地希望

能在消失之前

得到信仰

你是我...小心维护的梦

我疲倦地享受着

谁也无法靠近的孤傲

我是我...疲倦流浪的太阳

无法为自己

无法为谁停止下来

我是我...一碰就碎的太阳

我热切地希望

能在消失之前

得到得到得到信仰

原本以爲“太陽”應該會寫出比較開心、正面的詞。但陳綺貞的太陽卻與她往常的創作一樣悲傷，讓我看到了太陽的另一面。也不知覺地在這個時候想起了它。

很巧的，在陳綺貞的太陽專輯出之前，有一天我在回家的路上儅陽光正照進巴士時有了靈感，於是回家試著寫出那種感覺。是正面的，哈哈。洩露一小段我的太陽。

你就是太陽

是我閉著眼

都能看見的陽光

你就是太陽

是溫暖我小宇宙

寒冷的力量

... ...

我的太陽

讓我擁抱你

這一秒的溫暖

我的太陽

刺痛了眼

也叫我為你瘋狂

i have not disappeared..

2009-02-17T00:18:00.003+08:00

i am simply busy. we have fought the valentine's day battle, but this year things were better for us. at least we got to sit down and rest! and sleep for one hour or so even! that is pure luxury.

but valentine's day really brings a lot of stories with it, from seeing people buy flowers for their wife and mistress, guys buying for two girlfriends (this is the hint we joked about giving the girls: have you ever wondered why manufacturers make so many bears of the same kind?), to rude customers, sweet customers, naggy customers and funny customers (hi, i am looking for de-petaled flowers..erm what's that?..he actually just meant petals. duh.)

this year, i actually had time to take out my camera and snap some photos of nice flowers.
this is a pink rose bouquet. not that i like pink rose, but all of us there just thought the colour combination of this bouquet is simply amazing. super nice.

erm, i don't know why this photo is not in landscape even though i've adjusted it to landscape, just tilt your head to the right to look at it ok haha. this is ranuculus with some wild flowers lookalike. what we would call a exotic mixture. small, expensive and nice!

white calla lilies!! i made this bouquet myself. finally met someone who knew how to appreciate calla lilies and actually a white and green combination. another of my favourite haha. it's not for the dead okay, it's classic and peaceful. someone commented that this arrangement 很有感覺。 also, very 陳綺貞。it's very 暖意 also okay.

this is the bear that i hugged through my sleep on the cold hard floor of ******** **** (the astericks are there for confidentiality reason, i do not want the whole world to know the makings behind our shop hahaha). it's so fluffy and nice to hug, keeping me slightly warmer. hahaha!

and these are handmade balloon flowers, my substitute for real flowers (after seeing them for many many hours) for valentine's day. :) this explains the imperfection of it all, but they also have their own story behind it.

so it's all about flowers today! and the story of a bear. totally valentine's.

p/s: why are flowers a must for valentine's day? i still don't get it.

at the beginning of 2009

2009-01-24T00:54:00.000+08:00

right, i went to mayday's 真正的快樂飆歌會 a few weeks ago. honestly, i don't listen to mayday like 24/7. that feeling of craziness for ah xin does not exist 24/7 either, it fades away just like any other feelings. but at that moment when he came onto the stage and started singing, it was euphoria high deep inside me (although no i wasn't screaming out at all like everyone else).

hidden behind ten thousand rows of crazy screaming, waving fans in front, i couldn't see him at all, except from the screen, which was not even totally visible at times. this would have to be blamed on my pint-size height, damn. while practically everyone was waving their lightsticks, i was waving my camera, trying to get shots to see ah xin the whole time. it's amazing how i always manage to take close to 150 photos for just a concert.

this photo was taken during my personal highlight of the concert, when he sang 志明與春嬌. think this is my best shot out of more than a hundred blurry ones, haha. and the aftermath of every mayday encounter is always the desire to hear more of them on my mp3. so for a while, ah xin's voice is back in my life almost 24/7.

people can never comprehend why i like him so much, but that's the way it is with celebrities, along with millions of other girls who like ah xin (though you will wish you have your favourite celebrity all to yourself, ahem, i mean i will wish haha).

it was great being at an outdoor mayday concert, feels a bit like taiwan. one slight regret though, i should have just shouted 阿信我愛你！hahaha...

last holiday of 2008

2009-01-02T20:47:00.008+08:00

for people who have always stared at me in disbelief when i said i have never been to KL, i hereby declare that i have been there, though i probably haven't done much really. spending the last few days of 2008 in KL is a great rest for me, away from the everyday life at home. it may not be a long trip, but a short one is still good.

so on 27th, we left singapore together for the third time this year, i mean last year. (so we happened to be four people who really needed lots of breaks in 2008, or maybe three..hmm..the fourth had no choice cuz everything was already booked hahaha.)

first day, it was A&W, coffee bean and shopping at KLCC. it's a nice short ten minutes walk from our hotel, which was bustling with lots of harley davidsons downstairs! one of the highlights of the trip was the free supper buffet, from 11pm-4am. and the best dish there was the nonya laksa. we were looking for it every supper and breakfast, eating it without fail whenever it was there.

kat and i have also concluded that, those who say that saigon is the city that never sleeps (from our past research readings) is wrong, because in comparison, KL seems to be more like the city that never sleeps. the traffic on the road at midnight was still heavy (just look at the brightly lit night), but i guess it's largely due to the fact that it was a saturday night.

if there's one thing i like about going overseas, that would be the part of self-navigating, taking the public transport instead of relying on cabs all the time. at KL, we had the freedom to do that and we took the lrt and bus (after waiting super long for the bus) to sunway lagoon which was really far away.

sunway lagoon wasn't really worth our money, but the best thing we got out of it was trying the 360 rides (which now we know who is really afraid and who isn't..surprise surprise haha). and we also walked across a really long dangling bridge above the man-made beach pool.

sunway pyramid is really huge (larger than vivocity) and i can't imagine just how big mid valley can be. there's an ice-skating rink in the shopping mall which everyone can see from upstairs. maybe we should have just gone there instead of sunway lagoon, which was so extremely crowded, we had to queue 20 minutes for a 20 seconds water slide experience. the bathing queue was worse at closing time.

nonetheless, we enjoyed the thrill rides and finding out who was afraid of what haha. we all indeed have all our different fears to face in life.

the night skyline was beautiful. that's the twin towers in the picture right? i actually only found out now that i'm back. never been blurrer.

these two guys (trying to act all macho in the 42k shirt..if only you know how long it took for them to earn it) insisted that i help them take a photo of them posing in that shirt. it's really like the one they already took in hcmc, except that they take it from the back this time to make it different. i might do a comparison analysis after i get the better pics from mj's camera (if time permits).

a must-try was secret recipe, because it's half price in malaysia as compared to home. the cheesecakes were good and it was a fruitful time of discovery for us (we all know about what).

finally, pictures of the supper buffet every night for three nights! now we have to kick the habit of going down for supper every midnight. highlight of the morning was the sight of the towers shrouded in the clouds. and that's three similar poses from you, ah hao. stop copying me!

the third day, we explored downtown. there's lot 10 (not lot 1), sungei wang, bukit bintang and berjaya times square, which unfortunately we didn't have time to explore more thoroughly, we only had starbucks! it's a huge mall too. and no theme park rides this time. the roller-coaster was turning on top of us the whole time we were drinking starbucks.

chinatown was a place for comic-buying and lots of fake branded bags. the char kuay teow was good i feel and the identification of customer was through the holding of the pink chopsticks! (as demonstrated by kat)

29 dec was really a day filled with surprises, ending with one mini birthday celebration for mj. i know the surprise wasn't very well done, next time must be more creative.

mj is a loan shark who is always counting money out of that plastic ziplock bag and trying to coerce kat into borrowing money or selling her something. temptations...and finally yielding to fcuk calling out to her.

the sunset on the bus ride back was beautiful. my normal camera cannot capture a good shot like the dslr in front of us can, so i just enjoyed the sight with my eyes. that's the best thing to do on a holiday.

below are bonus pics from kat's phone, from the brilliant technology of picture-sharing through facebook.

what holds ahead for us in 2009 my friends..taiwan? haha. hopefully, and hopefully, it'll not just be four of us. no.5 who was supposed to meet us in KL, better join us next time. keeping our fingers crossed!

what happened to holidays

2008-12-24T01:10:00.001+08:00

it's been two weeks since i wrote something here. this indicates--> a busy period. what happened to my holidays which was supposed to be peaceful and free? just the contrary haha. it is ironic but jenn and i both decided that life will be less busy once school actually starts on 12 january 2009.

christmas is coming and 2009 is catching up. time never seems to slow down, much less stop for me, but it only seems to go faster each year. honestly, i can't decide if that is good or bad.

everything's so rushed, there's not even a quiet moment to sit and think and brace myself for 2009. i really hate a hectic lifestyle. there's so many things i wish to do, but can't find the time to do it (which my mum will never believe because she always thinks i'm so free).

even at 1am, i still feel like my heart is beating so fast with everything that's going on. even at 1, i can't find the peace to settle myself down. i guess it'll not happen until all these is over, but looking ahead, it seems like it will never come until march or april.

it'll be 2009 in the blink of an eye and i hope then i'll find a peaceful 1am in my heart. meanwhile i don't think i'll have the time to write again until the new year so have a merry christmas (i don't understand why it's merry and not happy..) and a happy new year (ohh..now i think i know why, because it can't be happy twice).

and let's not forget the real meaning of christmas. ;)

42.195km

2008-12-08T01:10:00.000+08:00

congratulations to the two on my left and right for completing the 42.195km today. don't say i am sadistic but it was real funny hearing from you two. as it always has been hearing about the stand chart marathon in the past two years as well, all the stories about cramps and not being able to run anymore. it is a cruel reality but i'm glad i don't have to send any ribena floral arrangements for you all haha. and don't worry, in 2009, i will continue to rub the salt into your wounds, reminding you about having to walk about half of it, and of course, persuade you all out of it in case anyone thinks he can complete it not so torturously.

and right now, i am supposed to do my self evaluation for a project and i am having such a writer's block. help! *it's only words...and words are all i need, to let me go to sleep...*

coming to an end

2008-11-28T23:18:00.002+08:00

4 more days and the presentation will be over. 11 more days and all work will be submitted.

counting down my days to a well deserved long break and holiday!

been so busy going against the time lately. it's time to go with it instead.

money woes

2008-11-19T17:33:00.003+08:00

money woe #1:

money- it often goes slower than it comes. just after i earned my 50 bucks from attending a focus group, i had the bad news of singtel charging me a bill of $200+ for my past month mobile bill. why?

because of this.

my itchy butt has led to me exchanging the iphone with my dad and now both of us have a price to pay for playing with this slick, much-adored, 16GB darling. apparently, i am charged over $180 for some 3G usage, which i have no idea where it comes from. GPRS from weather updates? but i couldn't have clicked over a hundred times to accumulate such hefty bill right?

money woe #2:

posb charges an annual fee of $18 annual fee for its debit card if you do not have 18 signature-based transaction in a year. with GST, it comes to $19.26.

i called them and here's the reply:

posb/dbs operator: in your next transaction, make a signature-based transaction of any amount and we will waive it off for you. after you have made a transaction, call us and let us know.

erm...i'm still contemplating if it is worthwhile to make a transaction for $19.26 because i think it's definitely going to be more than that. who would let me sign for a $5 deal? and i really haven't had the chance of signing or buying anything in recent days. but this statement seems a little ominous. my sixth sense says the opportunity of such transaction might present itself soon. perhaps, perhaps...

$50 really isn't enough to pay for everything.

the perennial question

2008-11-05T15:28:00.005+08:00

the perennial question is, how's your week? at least that's the perennial question at cell meetings i know of. so here's some photos from the past week.

it was the first time in my life that i actually did something for halloween. i deem it as something better than those who actually do not even know when halloween is.

no trick or treat, no house-visiting, just chilling out at a pub for halloween, pretending to be a character from out of this world. but it was pretty fun because the music was really good. there was a crowd and people actually dancing in front of the stage. mostly older folks i spotted, but i must say they really take life easy, which is something good i guess.

i was there with my classmates, acting as the white angel, the black angel, the devil and the witch. it was like we walked out of narnia or something.

forward to sunday, i was late for church again. it was a hot and gloomy sunday as usual. don't ask me why hot days can be gloomy as well, because it just can be. on the way, i thought how nice it'd be if i could be at the airport (if you don't know it by now, airport is one of my favourite place). and how nice because when evening came, i actually could be at the airport for dinner. that really lightened everything.

though it's really nice to be at the airport, it's still somehow a little depressing when you're just hanging around there and not actually being there for a flight. i really wish to go for a holiday again.

sitting there at the viewing gallery, watching the planes land and the sunset together, enjoying the air-con (maybe it is a little too cold), it's times like that i really appreciate the time alone. maybe it is this thing about growing up, you start to enjoy the times alone, which is something i could never comprehend five years back.

this is my grouchy brother and i in black and white. we really can get a bit grouchy out of nothing sometimes.

but good food always helps!

and i must say, i know i really am so blessed to be able to enjoy such good food almost every weekend i spend with my family. looks a little pale and white here, but just like what God said when He created the earth and us... "it was good".

i don't want to miss a thing - i'm not missing it

2008-11-03T00:55:00.003+08:00

i finally watched armageddon on tv last night. it's been like ten years or something since the movie was filmed and it's been ten years or so that everyone has been raving about how great armageddon is. and now, i know. i finally know.

a good movie resonates in the heart of people after they watch it, which is something that a lot of movies these days lack. but armageddon resonates in a different way. it is intense, moving and romantic.

this is the part where it was cut off on tv! i found it on youtube and caught back the 'i don't want to miss a thing' moment which i've been waiting for, only to find them cutting it off =.=". now i know why this song became so famous too.

i love these lines.
"do you think it's possible that anyone else in the world is doing this very same thing at the very same moment?"
"i hope so, otherwise what the hell are we trying to save?"

this clip's for you, my dear armageddon friend. it's beautifully shot. i think i could watch this show again. it was so intense and moving i nearly cried.

I could stay awake just to hear you breathin'
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Where every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

Don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wonderin' if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes
And thank God we're together
I just want to stay with you in this moment forever
Forever and ever

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna miss one smile
I don't wanna miss one kiss
I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just want to hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And just stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time
Yeah yeah yeah

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
the sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
And I don't wanna miss a thing

live

2008-10-29T21:22:00.000+08:00

Expectancy vs Expectation

i've been thinking about these two words. taking them out from the original context i found them in, it teaches me something else.

so often, we live in disappointments of our own expectations, be it of ourselves or others. for example, during birthdays, we somehow have expectations of others to do something. like i was telling a friend, we unconsciously have a list of people whom we expect birthday wishes from, and if anyone is missed, disappointment creeps in. whether it is a friendship or relationship, we sometimes hold expectations of others, which we might not even notice consciously.

therefore, one thing i need to learn, is to move from expectation to expectancy. expectancy is alive. it holds no preconception. it is looking forward to something with joy. expectation on the hand comes with law and an ideal that is expected to happen. it expects something, that follows with disappointment if not performed or met. expectation is dead. it has its own set of rules and requirements.

look on with expectancy, not with expectation.

the southern ridges adventure

2008-10-21T00:01:00.015+08:00

last saturday, as part of our newly started exercise programme, four of us went to challenge the southern ridges starting from harbourfront. it was a first time experience for us all, and coming this close to nature is good.

our fifth member is missing in action once again because of some very important event (ahem ahem), but i'm sure he's going to make up for it this saturday (hor?)

we were supposed to meet at one, but okay, i was late again..for one hour. sorry, but really, i'm never too worried because i know they can always find some self-entertainment. that's our greatest talent.

and so, i was rightly not disappointed because the moment i arrived, i was told to wear this hat and show a dumb expression. i had no choice because everyone else had done it. =.="

you guys are really 蛋白！it's all ah yen's fault for bringing the hat.

here we go up the marang trail! i've never really physically been up on mount faber, can you believe it? so this is all very new and nice for me, except the mosquitoes.

this marang trail starts with challenging steps up the hill and it really makes you out of breath (or maybe it's just me). think i got to push myself harder next time i run.

but before we can get out of the forested area, we found a spot to take our favourite jumping shots! it was like before we were even doing anything, we started taking lots of photos first. don't know whether we were there to exercise or take photos. personally, i think it's more of the latter.

anyway, we had some really nice jumping shots, except ah yen, your pose looks weird in this and i did not purposely put it in the middle of my collage. it was entirely a coincidence.

it's some more steps before we finally get to a plateau that overlooks a seemingly nice patch of grass. some naughty kids decided to climb over the stairs, onto the grassland...

and strike some poses for photos. but wait, look at photo number 6, it seems that not everything is going so well. it appears that there are lots of ANTS in the grass and the two naughty kids are jumping for their lives.

awww..it's hard on you two to have to pose like models with ants climbing all over you. such professionalism.

at the top, the view is really nice overlooking harbourfront, all the way to sentosa. you can even see the merlion. and because it's really nice, we stopped every ten steps to take photos.

it was like we were never going to make it to the end at the rate we were going.

we also found singapore's very own eiffel tower. you don't have to take plane to paris to embrace the tower, as ming jie demonstrates. you can hug it right here at mount faber. and yes, once again, we were all very busy striking up poses and taking photos.

ah yen and i even tried to eat up the cable cars. one went into my mouth as you can see. the taste of it was..erm good.

with all the jumping practice, we really are getting better and better at our jump shots (both at jumping and capturing the moment). well done everyone!

have you seen how chameleons merge into the background? well, that's what ah yen is trying to do, merging into the history of singapore on the wall.

how about that deep sense of patriotism that you just can't seem to keep inside you? join ming jie and ah hao in embracing our nation, sticking themselves to the buildings like spiderman.

we've finally reached the bridge! not london bridge, but the henderson wave. the name is errr a little weak compared to london bridge, i know. but it has brilliant architecture and it's a great place for jump shots and all sorts of pictures.

oops, ah yen, i have not purposely placed a photo of your awkward shot in the middle of the collage again, please don't kill me. cuz this is the only shot of you really jumping into the air that i can find.

the henderson wave is some 60-70 something feet above sea level and it gave us the jitters each time we looked down. for those who are afraid of heights like us, do not look down.

the curve design was so good for skateboarding and extreme sports. but it is highly dangerous to try that there because you could just end up flying down the bridge into nowhere.

and somehow i think because of the extreme sports background, the three of them seem like they were in an adidas ad. and for some self-entertainment shots, we tried to do the 'huh?' expression. sorry if we make you look like this =.="" now.

the beauuuutiful curves made us run up and hang at the edge for a picture. and ah hao challenged the very high curve, it was a success, but his hands were all red. haha, serves you right ah hao.

it seems like everywhere we go, the rain would always follow us. when we started walking, it was bright and sunny and suddenly, the dark clouds were gathering behind us. and the clouds looked so weird.

and i spotted some naughty kids trying to go into the 'no entry' zone again. tsktsk...

after playing and resting so much, we made our way to the terrace garden. it has this old colonial feel and overlooks the whole surroundings as well. looking back, harbourfront is some distance behind us.

unfortunately, the rain caught up with us. but, we found ourselves a lovely pavilion to seek shelter, along with some strangers.

these photos are brilliant, especially the YMCA. can you spot the YMCA?

this is the last lap to the end. we actually skipped the forest walk or something. also, we took a short cut to the lower walkway using the stairs, haha. it was enough exercise and time was running out. we were too slow, definitely, with all the photo-taking. we truly felt like tourists in our own country.

i even had the chance to pinch the sun in my hand before reaching the ending point. ;)

and unfortunately, we did not have the time and energy to make it into hort park. maybe next time. my battery was really running low and i desperately needed food and the toilet. it was just not a toilet day for me man, the only toilet i could find up the hill was under renovation and then there was none. they really should build more toilets up there!

our southern ridges adventure ended with a bus ride to holland v for a really sumptious dinner and dessert somemore. ah yen even ordered a muddy mud pie. so much for trying to lose weight. the whole objective of this exercise trip has lost focus. work harder this coming saturday ok?

by the way, the last photo says, 'BILL PLS' to the waiter inside the cafe, haha. see how cold the aircon inside is?

sigh

2008-10-18T01:23:00.002+08:00

SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

nowadays i get emotional and depressed easily. i wonder why. and i just feel like hiding in a place where nobody knows all by myself.

have i always been like that or is it just in recent times. i really do not know myself.

anyway it's good to let out a sigh.

sigh.

my favourite place

2008-10-14T22:58:00.002+08:00

finally, the two essays are over and done with, though it just means that the group projects are all coming up. on this night when i can finally breathe a bit easier, i thought of this.

queenstown, new zealand. my favourite place so far.

i can't pinpoint what's so damn attractive about that place, but i just enjoyed the place a lot. it's like a hidden town surrounded by mountains, away from the rest of the world. there's a nice street mall just the way i like it, nice cool weather, beautiful sunset. actually there's lots of stuff to play, like paragliding, snow-skiing, etc. there's no international airport, so it's away from all the buzz, yet filled with with exciting things to do.

eleven months ago i was there. when can i ever go again? haha, thinking of holidays again...

i had a dream

2008-10-08T15:08:00.004+08:00

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF!

last night, i had a dream. actually perhaps many dreams. but the one thing i remembered and wanted to say is.... i dreamt that cheer chen asked me to be the opening act for her concert!!

all i can say is.. I HAD A DREAM.

continue dreaming for another 21 years ny...haha...

p/s: i just received news that preorder for mayday's new album starts today?? i guess like my friend says, ah xin knows that it's my birthday today. haha.

conclusion

2008-10-07T10:29:00.003+08:00

after a discussion with fellow mayday and cheer chen fan- ah hock, i have decided not to go for the concert. save the money for a bigger cause....taiwan!! who knows, i might get to see them there. hurhur.

mayday came for superband the other day and ah xin looked really tired. it's the first time i see him without make-up, with dark eye-rings and unshaven. this is not a criticism really, after all, i have concluded that i am an ah xin fan, not exactly mayday fan hahaha. mayday just wouldn't be complete without him. when shi tou was posed this question, he passed the mic to ah xin and he had no choice but to think of something to say. and when the camera zoomed out, you could see him jostling guan you like a kid, as though saying why always pass to me to answer la, you better shout together with me later (because they had to shout out a phrase to announce the winner).

after all that, it dwelled upon me, ah xin is human like us. hahaha. pardon me but idols have never really taken a human form in our minds. one step closer to human-likeness (through looking so tired and natural and jostling his bandmate like a kid), 他就显得更可爱了. hahahaha.

cheer chen is coming again!

2008-10-05T16:19:00.003+08:00

wah..this concert is damn power! cheer chen has announced her last-minute addition to this concert. ahhhhh! mayday plus cheer chen is just fantabulous. and there's zhang zhen yue and tanya, power. and legends like zhou hua jian and lee zhong sheng. all the 108 and 78 tickets are sold out. i'm still thinking..should i go or save the money?

i can hear ah xin and qi zhen calling out to me......

the five reunites

2008-10-03T12:13:00.003+08:00

the five of us finally reunited on children's day! we finally see ah hock again! it was a 2-in-1 birthday celebration for ah hao and i, and a gathering to finally render ah hock's presence.

ah yen bought a new iphone! (still say no money go overseas.) so photos here are from ah yen's iphone (copied from facebook haha i'm such a pirate). had a sumptious dim sum buffet at miramar hotel. if only everyday could be like that.

mj was dressed in all white (just like pap) except that he was in berms and not pants, but still, he was exuding such 贵气, especially with the tissot watch. on the other hand, ah yen was dressed in all black. always 黑白配, such reminscent of their dressing on the day back from bangkok.

after lunch, it was our ex-usual activity- k-ing. we really haven't sung together since may i think. and that's how long we haven't seen ah hock for. his 1.84m towering presence is really missed.

and my 1.58m pixie presence is not to be ignored as well (please, i really never 谎报 my height lor. i would have said i was 1.62m if i wanted to).

finally, full attendance. and everybody please remember, ah hock has agreed to taiwan and badminton sessions. hold him to his word.

when the powers combine, here comes captain planet!

run, rain, sleep

2008-09-26T13:27:00.002+08:00

i wanted to wake up early today for my morning run, but it was raining and so i went back to sleep.

rewind two days back to wednesday...
i wanted to wake up early for my morning run, but it was raining and so i went back to sleep.

i'm missing my morning runs, it's been more than a week. why is God keeping me in bed with the rain?

i know, maybe He's trying to protect me from fallen trees when strong rain and winds come.

my days in bangkok part 4

2008-09-25T19:56:00.009+08:00

hohoho! now for the final episode of our bangkok tour. (finally...) it was a pretty depressing monday morning because we had to come home soon! thankfully, our flight was at night so there was lots of time for some last-minute shopping (which was a lot).

it began with swimming at the pool again. but it was more like they were playing water, while i took photos of the surroundings. the tall building in the first picture is baiyoke sky hotel, which is a stone's throw away from our hotel. there's the pool and the beautiful artistic picture of the sky which i took. after packing all our stuff, we assembled our bags and it just looked so impressive with the six bagpacks lying in a row.

why six when there's only four of us? no we didn't have ghostly friends but the additional two were new buys from MBK for ah yen and mj. so, the two of them had to bring home two bagpacks each, which was good for filling all their buys because one bagpack wasn't enough.

if you look carefully, all 16 pictures are different even if you think some are the same. slightly in one way or another, because they are from different cameras taken at different seconds or split seconds and different positioning of course hahaha. it was really tough trying to position the cameras in the right place in order to capture the whole place.

finally, we did it stacking one chair on top of the luggage rack, pillows on the chair, books on the pillows, and cameras on the books (with whatever miscellaneous objects we could find from the room to support the lenses). this explains the white area at the bottom of the pictures (yes, it's the pillows!). and the pictures are a little tilted. but it was really tiring clicking the shutter and running to my position carrying my heavy bagpack.

at the end of it all, my back was aching and really starting to sweat (because we realised the temperature of the aircon wasn't very low also haa).

the phototaking session was really exhausting and we were all beat. and ah yen still looks so fair after getting sunburnt, why ar?

after checking out and leaving our bags with the concierge, it was time for last-minute shopping, finally! after turning left to the 7-11, crossing the overhead bridge to indra regent, walking a row of shops and turning right (just testing my memory), we saw this shop that sells imitation soccer jerseys, hahaha. when we were almost reaching, it started to rain.

so, it was a good time to seek shelter at the shop and buy some shirts as well. god knows how long we were there choosing designs and all, but it was actually long enough for the rain to stop and for the dark sky to turn sunny again! (that must be pretty long).

anyway, we were then only one road across from platinum mall, our real destination actually. there's no photos of inside platinum because we were really shopping like crazy, using up all the money we had left. and i seriously mean ALL because at the end of it, i had zero baht in my wallet (no, i had no smaller change or whatsoever hidden in my pockets i swear). the only money i had left was in the treasury fund reserved for dinner later.

on the way back to the hotel, we saw these two guys playing checkers by the street. but what caught my attention was that, they were playing with those metal bottle caps. cool.

with all the last-minute buys, the four of us had to sit at the lobby, trying to squeeze everything into our bags. i must say, i was really impressed with my 'squeezing' skills, erm i mean packing skills (though it was really more of just frantic squeezing because there was not much systematic packing). but this is a skill i discovered i had long ago. so whoever goes to bangkok with me can always rely on my fantastic skills, no worries about being unable to pack everything. HAHAHA.

and there we were at the new suvarnabhumi airport! i learnt something from this trip, actually from even before i went, and that is, how to pronounce suvarnabhumi in thai, yay!!

so boys and girls, let me teach you, because it is very important to know the name of the airport (in case the driver thinks you're going to the old airport for domestic flights). and no, the name is not pronounced the way it's spelled.

suvarnabhumi is actually pronounced as...... su-wan-na-poom! ta daaa...

but we really should learn more thai before going again, because that would help prevent us from being duped again. (thanks to jenn, the bangkok queen, for all the visiting bangkok advice)

my days in bangkok are over and now, it's my days in singapore. but i really haven't got much to say about my days in singapore, haha. hopefully, i can go somewhere else soon! :)

my days in bangkok part 3

2008-09-24T12:23:00.012+08:00

i was watching discovery travel and living earlier and i thought, travel and living, isn't that what the perfect life is all about? travel and living, and discovering the mysteries and wonders of life, the earth and other cultures. given the chance, i suspect majority of us would take it up and leave this place behind, haha.

turning the magical 21 this year, i don't think it'll be much of atypical birthday. but i'm glad i've travelled to ho chi minh, pattaya and bangkok in 2008 before my birthday. travelling and discovering the world is one of my biggest wishes in life. and i love taking lots of photos and writing my thoughts about a deep, soul-seeking journey if i could hahaa.

but i don't think going on a shopping trip to bangkok is much of a deep journey. a trip is not a journey, much less deep. so let me continue writing about my not-so-deep trip to bangkok and the not-so-deep things we do there. i must admit i am superficial HAHAHA.

this collage was meant to be posted up in part 2 but i kinda missed it. being a bunch of cheapskates, we bought 2 bottles of cheap and good singha beer from the 7-11 across the street from our hotel and drank it up while watching discovery channel!

from our faces, it's obvious that we were tired after a whole day of shopping. mj looks like a prisoner in jail, i could barely smile but ah yen seems to be enjoying lapping up 2 cups of beer at one go.

rise and shine on a sunday morning (31 Aug 08- fyi my fellow travellers, in case SOMEBODY 出 his 记忆大考验 suddenly). breakfast is interesting because ah yen always fails to finish up the food she has taken. and then, mj (middle name: 不可以浪费食物) will scold her and force her to finish like my mother would do to me. it's funny to see her tortured expression and how painful it is to swallow each mouthful down as ah hao would feed her like to a baby. it totally reminds me of my younger days *shudders*. another reason breakfast is interesting is because, it's just great waking up to a hotel breakfast. it rocks!

after a full meal, it was finally time for us to do some touristy activity, that is- visiting the grand palace! that was our only sightseeing throughout the entire trip (better than two years ago when we didn't even bothered about sightseeing, it was just hardcore shopping). the above are the things we saw at the grand palace, including some temples, the place where the king stays. everything's so gold and shiny, i was just hoping to catch a piece of gold falling off the ornaments or building.

see the third picture on top? that caucasian lady is such a joker la. she was wearing this straw hat, shirt with hawaiian prints and limegreen bell bottoms and doing this funny pose to match the well-cut bush. two words came to my mind when i saw that, "speedy gonzalez", don't ask me why.

that was the things we saw, and now, this collage is about the things we did there. the weather was really hot that day, it was killing us and pissing me off slightly (people really end up in a bad mood during hot days). and ah yen did the unglam thing by holding up the palace map to use as an umbrella (caught you on camera! haha). and she even tried to hide behind mj to get some shade. so other than giving us directions, the map can be used as an umbrella and even a window shield to block out the sun in the taxi! brilliant 3-in-1 combo.

on the way back, we witnessed this amazing feat. lying on stacks of textiles in a tuk-tuk. i can only say, please do not try this at home (meaning singapore, i believe you'd get a fine for it if you try something similar). and do not try this without caucasian supervision. caucasians just do the craziest things.

sunday afternoon, we made a second trip down to MBK. it was another japanese meal at oishi ramen. i ordered a ramen that was thai-meets-jap, ramen in.....you guessed it, tom yum soup, and it was good. nothing much exciting in MBK, except more shopping but this time for the guys. and for ah yen, it was the crepes that she wanted to try since two years ago! haha.

we shopped till nightfall and had no time for dinner. for naraya bags, we walked over to asia hotel, another nostalgic road for ah yen and i. i took this picture of a very old, rundown building on the way back to MBK and the effect was so ghostly. cool.

by the time all the shopping was done, all the shops were closed so there's no more food. even macdonald's was closing in ten minutes so we made a last order for takeaway!

and that was it, the last night ending with macdonald's and watching liverpool on tv.

to be continued...

new game-movie munchies

2008-09-23T11:25:00.004+08:00

if you've conquered the sushi go-round game i've posted, here's a new game- movie munchies!

Movie Munchies

Help Stella serve the customers as fast as possible.

Play this free game now!!

p/s: nus student who sits in library wanting to study please do not play this game too much. go and study! hahaha. okay, actually i'm playing this right before my test too.

my days in bangkok part 2

2008-09-17T12:44:00.004+08:00

i've got more photos from jh's and mj's cameras! plus, i've downloaded picasa so i've managed to do up collages, hurray! and now to start part 2...

being 4 very 'healthy' people, our second day in bangkok started with swimming! actually, it started with our buffet breakfast first because it started to rain just as we were about to go down to the pool, so we decided to eat first and decide later. and we actually swam with our stomach full of food (buffet mah, 不吃白不吃, typical singaporean hahaha!)

before going out, we tried to take a group shot, but it's so hard to squeeze and get a nice one. beautiful things are hard to come by.

and so after four tries.... we managed to get a pretty good one at the top left hand corner (that's our fourth try), but unfortunately, mj's face got cut off by picasa auto-cropping hee.

because we've all agreed to bring our vietnam shirt for the trip, we must get a shot of the four stars. so deja-vu once again. and again, it took another four tries. in the end, we just kind of gave up and went out to start shopping, otherwise all the shops would have closed.

why are we rushing? because it's chatuchak market that we're going to! the feeling was so nostalgic. and the excitement of doing some hardcore shopping really gives such adrenaline. had some cheap and good local food in the market and we were ready to start.

females and males just belong to such different worlds, so we split to shop. otherwise, we would really shop till the shops close or even tomorrow. but, it's also not such a good idea also because guys could end up not buying anything (they are not shopping creatures) and that was what actually happened. on the other hand, ah yen and i had a hell of a time shopping, though we didn't exactly buy A LOT either. however, the weather was so hot that after one and a half hour or so, we were already kind of counting down to our meeting back time. hahaha.

what was common though was the fact that we were all extremely tired after that few hours of chatuchak shopping. hot, tired and aching all over, especially our backs. this explains why mj and ah yen were caught sleeping in the taxi ride to MBK (another shopping destination). they are always sleeping from vietnam to thailand, but not me because i do not want to be caught in an unglam photo hahaha.

walking around MBK looking for food to eat, we decided on this place on level 6 which ah yen and i went to 3 years ago. such deja-vu too! after 3 years, it's still cheap and good. just look at all the empty dishes left on the table, all the food we wiped out. i swear i was just so extremely hungry at every meal, shopping really digests my food much much faster.

after dinner, it was more walking around MBK (which really is quite lucky plaza), more nostalgia. stepping into the place 3 years later, it's really just different from stepping into far east plaza after 3 months, if you know what i mean.

just before the shops closed, we jumped into swenson's for an earthquake! mj and ah yen both have that funny look on their faces in the photos because they were trying to tie a knot with the cherry stick using their tongues. never knew they have such talents. and the first picture says it all, "ice cream is their lives".

wow, it really is such a long day isn't it. that's what being in bangkok is all about. after earthquake, we walked over to hard rock bangkok not too far away. our hard rock hardcore fan, mj, wanted to check out some more hard rock shirts. and the rest of us? busy taking photos outside hard rock.

if you think that's the last stop, you are wrong. we rushed over to suan lom night market for about an hour plus of late night shopping. it's such an artistic market. shops there sold really nice clothes (more ex also) and art pieces by young budding thai artists.

in conclusion, i wish i had endless amount of money to spend (to be really greedy, even being a millionaire might not be enough hahaha).

to be continued...

lomo vietnam!

2008-09-14T23:31:00.002+08:00

hohoho!!!! i'm so happy and excited! my lomo pics from my vietnam trip is finally developed!! long wait my friends, i know. but the wait is definitely worth waiting for.

now to unveil ho chi minh and mui ne through the eyes of my lomo lc-a!...............................

i'm so satisfied with some of the pictures. so damn beautiful. hahaha. seeing them makes my heart beat faster, pumping adrenaline and blood all through my veins. i feel like screaming out in excitement, AHHHHHH! this is why lomo makes me high.

to my travelmates, pick your favourite photo, or tell me you like them all, hahaa.

当阿雁不在的时候

2008-09-11T20:48:00.002+08:00

met mj after school yesterday to burn the photos for everyone. was the first after mj himself to look at our total compilation of thailand photos, whee! we spent sooo long looking through the photos and videos at mac and then ah hao came to join us after work.

thanks to ah hao, i found out that my new laptop can actually take photos like the ibook! and so...

ah yen, can you see the words on the paper? it's for you.

my days in bangkok part 1

2008-09-09T23:01:00.013+08:00

after pattaya, it was a 2 hours bus ride, or rather mini van to bangkok. what is 2 hours compared to our 5-6 hours bus ride to mui ne in vietnam right? it's a piece of cake, in fact, it wasn't long enough, hahaha. there wasn't much time to play many games on the bus, right?

upon arrival, we took a taxi to our much anticipated eastin hotel! the joy of arriving at such a nice looking place, it was like stepping into heaven as we stepped into eastin.

see the glow of heavenly light around us?

after checking in, we were ushered to have our welcome drink at the lobby! welcome drink sia, reminds us of elios hotel in ho chi minh, haha. but this is still better of course.

"cheers to this great hotel"

"cheers to a beautiful day"

"cheers to this great drink!"

"tadaa..cheers to us all"

these pictures look so vaguely familiar to me. hahaha. that's because it's a sequel of elios chapter in hcmc. posing with our drinks, we just look more normal this time. writing this and looking at the photos now, i can feel the excitement like i've just stepped into the hotel. yippee!

waking up and looking around, sigh, i'm in my room in singapore la.

the deluxe twin room 1104- kat's and my 3 nights indulgence

the standard twin room 1105- mj and jh's 3 nights ordinary hotel stay haha

after the drink, we were ready to go to our rooms. there were no connecting rooms available, so they supposedly gave us opposite rooms on the twelve level, but alas, it was not true, the rooms were pretty far apart down the corridor. so, our representatives ah hao and ah yen went to ask for some other better options that are really opposite.

it worked! and they gave us room 1104 and 1105. our representatives had a fight over which room to take (without even looking at the rooms first, diaoz, it's a battle of luck). due to the lack of near rooms, the hotel was so nice to give us a standard and deluxe room even though we only paid for 2 standard rooms. and the result of the fight, ah hao insisted on 1105 and we got 1104.

and when we opened the rooms, tadaa!!! luck is always on our side. kat and i got the beautiful and modern deluxe room! just look at the picture, it's so cool right. there's a plasma tv mounted on the wall and a table designed like some control panel.

what's also very cool (but this applies to all rooms) was that everything's controlled by one main control, even the tv, it has to be switched on from there and it starts up like a computer. actually, it can be, because there's also a keyboard provided for you to use it as a com!

second cool thing is that, they have already programmed the system such that when you switch on the tv, the homepage will have a greeting to the name which you've pre-registered. and apparently, our room is supposed to be under ah hao's name and theirs under mine, hahahaha. too bad lor, who ask ah hao to choose 1105.

what are they looking at?

mj and jh are looking at the translucent bathroom door! i discovered that the bathroom door has a translucent plastic so you can kinda make out what the person is doing inside. and here, we are testing it by asking ah yen to go in all the way and do something at the toilet bowl, wahaha. can you see what she is doing?

the street beside our hotel- it's a different world

settling down, it's time to go out and start our bangkok shopping! go down cross the road, turn right at the 7-11, walk straight down and turn left. cross the overhead bridge and walk straight and turn right and you'll reach the very happening platinum fashion mall! (wow, i can still remember how to walk, it's correct right guys?) platinum wasn't around three years ago when kat and i went to bangkok and now, it's like far east where small fashion shops are.

"we are here la and we are going there"

after a brief afternoon at platinum, we sweared we would return again to really buy things. it was really quite awkward and hard to start some hardcore shopping. we simply don't know how and where to start. i did try to get the flow going by buying a pair of shoes, and ah yen bought three bags!

we hate these taxis and this moment (for a reason we all know)

i can't believe ah yen captured this sight while we were looking at the map. great job. swarms of taxis and touts outside platinum in the evening. my advice: avoid them. only go by meter, do not go into taxis that refuse to go by meter, however cheap or worthwhile it may sound.

why so happy? cuz going for a massage

jh's anguish and mj's laugh and ours too but our faces weren't captured on camera

just see that look on ah hao's face

once again, looking at these two photos, i know i'm a good photographer. spot on, i've captured that split moment of anguish and agony. before the massage, there's a feet scrub that is really kinda ticklish, even for someone like me whose nerves i think have all died. and so for ah hao, that was hell and great enjoyment for the rest of us watching. HAHAHA.

sawadee-ca(p). we are your maids for today.

during the massage, we had to change into the attire they provided. wah, the colour so zen, we really look like maids. but no la, we were really the kings and queens enjoying two hours of head to toe massage.

there were really many other things that happened that night after the massage, but i shall not post it here for it contains bad memories and to avoid incurring our wrath.

to be continued....part 2 coming soon

my days in pattaya, thailand

2008-09-06T18:11:00.004+08:00

i decided that since i'm free now, i shall post up some pictures i took while we were in pattaya to kickoff my post-travel writings. it is so sad that my notebook now no longer has photoshop, so i can't collage my photos anymore. this greatly minimises the number of photos i can post, sigh. but nevertheless, here are some selected photos and here we go.

mj in his lucky red shirt

this is mj in his lucky red shirt (or rather trying to change his luck with a red shirt, as made up by me). why? mj nearly missed the flight and holiday because he couldn't find his passport at the last minute! thank god, 'wise' tips from ah hao led him to his passport, which was hiding all along in another bag of his.

mj, you better keep your passport in a better place now. like, in a cupboard or something. do not bring it out unnecessarily, you are not on the run. otherwise, even a red shirt will not help you next time.

this is a small street called soi in thailand right outside our hotel, which is clearly not a suitable place for kids under 16 to stay.

we witnessed a 'fire' just right after we arrived in the hotel next door. maybe it wasn't a fire, but the whole place downstairs was filled with blurry smoke. luckily it wasn't our hotel. can't imagine arriving at a place in such situation.

ah yen

this is ah yen. it seems that i like to take shots like these, with someone's backview at the side. hmm...

this is a bigger hotel we spotted across pattaya second road. ours is not exactly grand. upon arrival, putting our bags, we went out for supper, which we had a pizza and chicken wings. okay, not exactly thai, we needed something familiar for a first meal.

yeah!

if you go to pattaya, you would see a shirt that says, "good guys go to heaven, bad guys go to pattaya". hmm..wonder why these two guys are so happy here. hahaha.

pattaya beach (from the top of a shopping mall)

pattaya after a rain and near to sunset. this was taken on the second day after a day at the offshort island and getting sunburnt. we were super hungry, but just had to take a picture of the place from bird's eye view first.

cheap and good japanese meal at zen

two awards for this dinner, best meal and most worthwhile of the trip. we ordered five set meals and the whole table was so filled. after a day of high adrenaline activities like paragliding and banana boat (which flipped 4 painful times) and skipping lunch, this dinner was oh so sweet.

we're gonna walk, walk, walk on the walking street

brokeback on walking street

hey guys, this photo is really nice eh. you two are laughing so....widely and naturally. do i get an award for this photo?

enjoying the beer and music

wow, i'm amazed by this photo. they actually look so sane and normal for the first time, haha.

after walking street, we walked all the way from south pattaya up to hard rock cafe near the north. the beer was good, the music was good.

i like this shot a lot. that's all i have to say and that's why it's posted here, haha.

hard rock pattaya

after the chillout session, it was back to the hotel. but music downstairs was so loud (after all, the night is still young in pattaya), we ended up playing dai dee and memory game! haha.

(always, the winner will become the loser and the loser will become the winner, and 发牌的人有问题！)

here it goes again

2008-09-03T20:35:00.003+08:00

been to pattaya/bangkok and back. the demonstrations did not affect us, in fact, we did not even see one single protester. touched down at midnight and school started the next afternoon (which was yesterday).

so much for the worst storm in 50 years coming (it was so hot, we are sunburnt from the pattaya sun) and protests (didn't see any drama). guess we were blessed that bangkok declared state of emergency only yesterday morning, but we were hoping to be caught in it so we could extend our holiday from the insurance payout if we couldn't come back, hahaha.

i guess we are all addicted to travelling and going on holidays now. what an expensive hobby. i shall conclude this trip with these photos.

4 of us, 6 bags

pokpong, the very good-looking hotel concierge guy

it wasn't just me, in fact he 电 ah hao first when ah hao talked to him that day.

so now, it's back to reality and a new trimester in school.

darkness

2008-08-07T22:29:00.003+08:00

once in a while, i let uncertainties and doubts engulf me. i allow darkness to make me feel defeated.
once in a while, we all forget who we belong to and the value of who we are.
thoughts run wild. emotions let loose.
wishing for an outlet to scream it out.

¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out to you by day.
I come to you at night.
² Now hear my prayer;
listen to my cry.
³ For my life is full of troubles,
and death draws near.
⁴ I am as good as dead,
like a strong man with no strength left.
⁵ They have left me among the dead,
and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten,
cut off from your care.
⁶ You have thrown me into the lowest pit,
into the darkest depths.
⁷ Your anger weighs me down;
with wave after wave you have engulfed me.

⁸ You have driven my friends away
by making me repulsive to them.
I am in a trap with no way of escape.
⁹ My eyes are blinded by my tears.
Each day I beg for your help, O Lord;
I lift my hands to you for mercy.
¹⁰ Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
Do the dead rise up and praise you?

¹¹ Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
¹² Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?
Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
¹³ O Lord, I cry out to you.
I will keep on pleading day by day.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you turn your face from me?

¹⁵ I have been sick and close to death since my youth.
I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.
¹⁶ Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
Your terrors have paralyzed me.
¹⁷ They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
They have engulfed me completely.
¹⁸ You have taken away my companions and loved ones.
Darkness is my closest friend.

these words are so dark. you couldn't imagine they would come from the bible.

this is psalm 88.

there are no words of praise, of faith and hope. they are words of angst, despair, sadness, uncertainty, hopelessness and lostness. above all, they are so real.

in a relationship with God, there is no need for pretence. after all, He already knows all your thoughts before the word comes to your lips. psalm 88 is what it means to be real. there is no need to pretend that everything is alright, there is no need to put up a front before Him. psalm 88 is a lesson to put down all false fronts and to go to Him. only then can the darkness leave with the words and light be let in.

footprints in the sand

2008-07-27T16:22:00.007+08:00

Footprints in the Sand - Leona Lewis

You walked with me
Footprints in the sand
And helped me understand
Where I’m going
You walked with me
When I was all alone
With so much unknown along the way
Then I heard you say

I promise you
I’m always there
When your heart is filled
with sorrow and despair
I’ll carry you
When you need a friend
You’ll find my footprints
in the sand

I see my life
Flash across the sky
So many times have I
Been so afraid ooh
And just when I
Have thought I’ve lost my way
You give me strength to carry on
That’s when I heard you say

I promise you
I’m always there
When your heart is filled
with sorrow and despair
I’ll carry you
When you need a friend
You’ll find my footprints
in the sand

When I’m weary
Well I know you’ll be there
And I can feel you
When you say

I promise you
I’m always there
When your heart is full of
sadness and despair
I’ll carry you
When you need a friend
You’ll find my footprints
in the sand

almost at the end

2008-07-24T19:50:00.002+08:00

congratulate me! i've handed in another essay today. one down and one more assignment plus three tests to go. i'm almost at the end of my trimester 2. (don't ask me why australian universities like to use trimester when it's more of a pregnancy word, it's just weird) i'm putting a fullstop(.) to sem 2 next saturday. hurray!

till then, it's a busy period still. in the midst of it, i'm taking a bit of time off to visit the science centre (free tickets mah). and i desperately wish my camera can be repaired by some miracle on its own. it has been months since the shutter spoilt and i haven't brought it for repair. i'm really lazy. can a miracle please take place?

may the pain of studying for tests get over quickly, though i wish for more time to study. life's just ironic. i really must get started on my next assignment now. NOW.

more astons

2008-07-22T15:59:00.002+08:00

some steak. was it ribeye? i can't remember now.

double-up chicken. for a really famished stomach.
(it doesn't look whole because i was halfway through the meal and then i remembered about the picture taking, too hungry)

the end of my astons part 2 food tasting. i got to go back to my essay and stop being so distracted easily.

if you like short stories, you'd like this

2008-07-03T13:53:00.005+08:00

short story 1

anyone who can tell me where this place is will get a macbook from me.

okay no, i'm kidding!

cheong and i were at soup spoon at bugis and we were sitting beside this water feature. ever wondered how it works? how do they get the water to go from one hole into another so accurately and how it seems to be going upwards? is there a tube? in the middle or is the water in the tube?

so many questions and the answer was partly found in the yellow wet floor sign (see among the crowd). in the 30 minutes that i observed, i think about 30 curious and daring people went to put their hand in the water. the result? they got splashed by the water and ended up having an expression that should have been on candid camera and just for laughs. but at least they got their answer.

the first 12 people were all males (young to middle-age). and we thought, hmmm, seems like only guys are daring enough to try to put their hand in the water. then, we saw 3 females. they stretched out their hand and cut through the water. finally, we thought. AND THEN, we realised that they are males! -faint-

the observation results showed that males are definitely more daring than females, maybe also more curious, with the ratio of males:females at 22:8. so cheong and i went to increase the female proportion when we walked past, trying to avoid that candid camera look and act cool.

moral of the story is, curiosity wets the cat.

and just a random shot of chijmes looking like glow in the dark with a full moon behind. so nice :)

short story 2

i finally went to aston's! actually it was more than three weeks ago, i just haven't got the time to post it up. the legendary aston's that i've heard about - its good western food and long queue. so joannah and i chionged to aston's one day after class and we managed to avoid the long queue! hurray. cuz it was a wednesday evening, at about 5+pm. but we were both super hungry already.

this is joannah's black pepper chicken. (you get to choose your own sides.) yum..

my black pepper steak. (i know, the colour looks like shit. so not appetising. my handphone camera is so lousy la.) but it was nice, believe me.

and this is joannah and me!

conclusion of my aston's experience: the no service charge, nett pricing was great. the food is nice and not very expensive, value for money. but the portion is abit small. and remember must go early if you don't like to queue because there was already a queue forming when we left at 6+pm.

short story 3

this is a newspaper (duh), after my brother used it as a table mat for lunch. can you tell what is wrong with this newspaper?

apparently, my mum thought she saw it. she ordered my brother to bring it to the kitchen and throw away the tiny strand of noodle left on it. (referring to circled above)

and then, my brother almost DIED from laughter when he struggled to tell me what happened between hollers of laughter and tears (because it was too funny). he found it so hilarious that he was rolling on the floor laughing (that's when i understood ROFL- so it really happens in real life).

so, the thing is, the mass of noodles (circled above) had escaped my mum's eyes, but not that tiny strand that is so insignificant. i simply cannot understand why. and then, his laughter was so infectious that i started laughing and not before long, all three of us were laughing together.

and i just had to capture a photo of this amazing feat by my mum that we can never comprehend.

to follow your heart

2008-06-10T22:58:00.007+08:00

随心所欲 - to follow your heart

"can you follow your heart if you don't know what it is thinking?"

"no you can't."

"is the heart same as the mind?"

"no!"

"then how can i follow my heart?"

"only when you know what you are feeling."

my conversation with a thirteen-year-old.

"can we ever trust our heart, our feelings?"

"almost everything in our lives is determined by how we feel. even things like what we eat everyday are based on what we feel like eating."

my question and what i learnt in school.

当我们混在一起 - 第五天

2008-05-30T13:30:00.003+08:00

rise and shine on Day 5. everyone only had 2 hours of sleep because somehow once again, everyone couldn't get to sleep. looking at the photos, it certainly doesn't look like it huh. we are still as good-looking as ever! haha. maybe everyone was starting to feel nervous about going home. mmm...that must be it.

after ah hao realised that all 3 of us had emo shots by the window, he asked us why we didn't ask him to join in. was that sulking? haha. so we gave him a chance to act emo and he tried real damn hard. but still not very got feel hor. mj's shot was muuuccch better but unfortunately it's in his cam.

and while i was helping mj take his emo shots, the two narcissistic fellas took photo of themselves in front of the mirror. so, 身手明杰 nicely fit himself between themselves without their notice (see circled). 真是身手敏捷。well done.

to you 3: wah lao, you all take act cool photo with shades never tell me.

while i was so obsessed with my new fake specs, they so obsessed with their shades. ended up with a "3 gangsters and a nerd" shot instead. boo! at least i looked nice with my specs.

and lastly, a random shot revealed two weirdos doing funny things behind me once again.

blue sky restaurant (circled), that's where we were going. breakfast on the top floor, whee!

but something very unfortunate was that because we only slept for 2 hours, we all had some stomachache of sorts and no appetite, except of course for ming jie who has speedily recovered from his minor un-wellness last night. so we really couldn't eat much, sigh.

welcome to notre dame cathedral, an iconic church in the city. only managed to walk past it on the first day, so we went back to take a walk and to pause for a prayer inside haha.

okay, that was partly also because diamond plaza, which has since reopened from renovation on the first day was still closed. it was too early in the morning!

so after a detour, we managed to finally get into the departmental store and bought some food to bring home.

with some extra time to slack, we headed back to the cafe we went on the first day because it was so nice!

wah, this collage is full of stars and hearts. the shirts are really eye-catching ar. good buy.

我们真是星光闪闪嘞。

our final moments at HCMC at the airport and on the plane. noooo...we don't wanna go home~

what can i say, except at 5pm we've landed and we're home. =(

definitely suffering from post-holiday syndrome.

but let's start thinking and planning where to go next ok? hehe, something to look forward to.

i LOOOOVE holidays!

当我们混在一起 - 第四天

2008-05-30T11:51:00.004+08:00

before heading back to HCMC in the afternoon, we had a morning to relax at the resort. we planned to sleep a little longer than usual, but don't know why everyone just couldn't sleep anymore and ended up waking early. (so healthy) or perhaps it was because of the sun rays coming into the room.

and Day 4 started with these 2 weirdos doing funny things when they came over to rush us (more like just ah yan haha). this explains why i've got the time to take photo of their funny actions.

after ah yan finally got ready, we went down for a HUGE breakfast at our private restaurant. it was seriously a lot of food. there was fried rice, with 2 sunny-side up for each one of us. 4 french loaves with meat stuffings and a plate of mixed fruits, all for breakfast. 真是早餐吃得饱。

but of course we couldn't stomach it all. ah yan, ah hao and i only managed to get the rice n sunny-side ups into our stomachs and some fruits, that was all. as for the 4 french loaves with meat? our most fantastic 大胃王 ming jie finished it all for us!! and we could only stare in disbelief.

ming jie, you rock.

and after breakfast, it was a repeat of yesterday's activities. we jumped, okay i was coerced and pulled into the pounding waves of south china sea. after conquering a beach by the south china sea, we are planning to go to one by the indian ocean. haha.

and after the sea, it was back to the pool, the sun and more rest.

took some last shots of the beautiful quiet sanctuary before the bus came for us. oh yes, did i forget to mention, we saw the most fabulous rainbow right there on Day 3 afternoon before the rain came. man, rainbow has more than 7 colours i'm telling ya.

anyway, the bus was coming at 2pm so we didn't have time to enjoy our meal at the restaurant and had to do it Singaporean style - da bao! but took photos of us there anyway, haha.

that's us on the bus back to HCMC. was starting to feel a bit down by then because it means that the holiday was almost coming to an end. so fast got post-holiday syndrome?!

and then it started raining again in the late afternoon. can you see the mountain in the rain?

the journey back was just as long, seeing the sky turned dark. to entertain ourselves, we played 7-up and then modified it to 3-up and 4-up.

at last, we finally reached the city central at about 7pm, with no hotel to go to. maybe it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit, i suggested going to try asking at Elios Hotel again, because we had tried and there was no room.

it's a 3-star hotel near pham ngu lao, so it was great location and great hotel. with so much money left for one last night, it was time to spend it all on something good. hehe.

and yay! after some asking, we managed to persuade them to give us a room for 4. and once the deal was through, it was as though the employees had instant communication through walkie-talkie, they immediately served us fruit punch.

3-star 就是不一样。

that's the photo of an yan and me basking in joy and in heaven. we just had to capture that vip moment while ming jie and ah hao settled the bill with the concierge.

and then, all of us were so happy that we went mad! crazy! psycho! (hmm, that seems pretty normal for ah yan though)

going up to the tenth storey, they turned crazier than ever. we even took a video of us going to our room as though this is some jacky wu variety show.

yes, that's our room, the most expensive room in the entire hotel and our private jacuzzi which ah yan TOTALLY went bogus over. she rushed into the toilet and took a photo lying in the jacuzzi, which is sadly not in my cam.

and then we tried to act emo by the window, looking over the city and the night scenery. but i was trying hard not to smile, ended up um-chio-ing. 会有内伤我知道。

see the guy in the bottom right photo? (no, not ah hao, but the hotel staff) that's our new friend who is a vietnamese-chinese. he was trying to learn chinese from us. his pronunciation was not bad. jiayou!

the people there are damn nice. along the road downstairs, we encountered hotel staff from different hotels helping us to stop the traffic to cross the road twice. they literally walked us across the road. it was all with no strings attached. (or did we forget to give tips? no la, don't think of people like that. they are purely helpful.)

after using so much energy going crazy over our room, of course we got really hungry. so that's for our last dinner. followed by some last minute shopping at pham ngu lao and ben thanh night market. to end the last night of the trip, we went for a drink and a game of pool at 'guns n roses pub'!

damn cool man, guns n roses leh!!!

"ohhhh....sweet child o' mine!!"

unfortunately, i did not take photos with my cam cuz it was too dark and i don't know how to make my cam take good photos in the dark.

当我们混在一起 - 第三天

2008-05-29T11:23:00.003+08:00

为什么要用“当我们混在一起” 而不是同在一起呢？因为和这群人一起用‘混’是最适合不过的了。我们不混还能做什么呢？哈哈哈。。。

according to mingjie's blog, his version of our holiday is in chinese and mine is the english translation, so i'll have to use more of english. i love this photo, with our backpacks and all.

but, to say that we are backpackers, we would really spoil the reputation of real backpackers, haha. i mean, have you ever heard of backpackers staying in hotels?

so, in conclusion, you can call us middle-class backpackers or low-class travellers. fwahaha.

our third day started with this photo, before we left the hotel to catch our bus to Mui Ne. we bought some sandwiches from a few shops down, like the vietnam version of subway, for breakfast on the bus and walked to pham ngu lao area (for the REAL backpackers).

that's lotteria, guess it's their version of macdonalds or burger king. unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to try it or their kfc either, which mingjie really wanted to, just to see if there's any difference in the taste of their chicken and ours. okay, i think i can imagine =.="" on some faces at this point.

and that's ah yan and me at the doorstep of kim travels, where we've booked our bus tickets.

at the top left hand corner is 耍帅二人组, acting cool with their shades everywhere they go. this is like their number N photo of them acting cool together.

while we were waiting for the bus, we were also looking for accommodation when we come back to HCMC one day later (and of course, taking so many photos!).

found one possible option next door, but was hesitant because it wasn't nice enough for us fussy middle-class backpackers. but you'll see, it'll all work out in the end.

and then, we boarded our bus and to Mui Ne beach we go!

here's some shots from a short stopover. the ride was supposed to be 3 hours? but it turned out to be 4.5 hours or so, as i expected from the cambodia experience. they never get the exact timing right.

our bus even managed to puncture a tyre just when we were about to reach! that definitely added to our vietnam experience. unfortunately i do not have the photos in my cam to show how hard they worked to repair the tyre.

ah yan loves that vietnamese assistant on the bus, because he is very dedicated to his work and is very shy but tried real hard to deliver his wonderful welcome speech onboard. and ah hao loves that geeky ang moh on the bus, because he feels like bullying him. 完全透露 ah beng 本色.

and we've reached dynasty resort!! i don't know if it is the wrong season or for whatever reason, the resort was empty, except for our group and another group of ang mohs. the whole stretch of beach was filled with resorts and i think the situation should be the same in all resorts.

a little lack of atmosphere but looking on the brighter side, we had a private beach, private pool and private restaurant for breakfast the next day! such vip treatment, it's once in a lifetime.

we explored the beach and pool and that was it, we had nothing else to do. so we ended up having our own spa session at night with the cheap masks that we bought on the first day from the supermarket.

it was such great reeeesssst. ahhh....

example of my random cynical thoughts

2008-05-28T16:21:00.004+08:00

喜欢一个人是否能用理智思考还是必须跟着感觉走

爱是要接受一个人但不喜欢怎样也不能接受

爱是爱他的不完美但不喜欢再完美也爱不了

爱是不是真的那么盲目

爱是否会变成一种习惯

爱是否像烟火一样绚烂后消失

被爱是否真的那么重要

爱一个人是否真的那么困难

in this world, we are all seeking for love. but what is love?

love is so abstract. love is subjective.

there are so many kinds of love.

then how do you love me?

and how would i know you love me?

love, it's just a leap of faith, isn't it?

当我们混在一起 - 第二天

2008-05-28T12:48:00.006+08:00

after accomplishing so many things in Day 1, Day 2 started with a half-day tour to the famous Cu Chi Tunnel, where the vietnamese dug such brilliant underground network during the american invasion.

while we were waiting at the hotel lobby for the bus to arrive, we saw this ang moh who looks like james blunt! and coincidentally, his group of friends were joining the same half-day tour as us.

that's us on the bus. and we were talking and making so much noise (but that's because no one else on the tour talked!). we kept referring to that ang moh as james blunt and ah yan even played 'you're beautiful' from her handphone. oops, aren't we just like those mats and bengs on smrt buses?

anyway, i wondered if he knew we were talking about him, i mean, perhaps someone else has told him that he looks like james blunt, except that he has better build.

see that hole? that's one of the ways to get down into the tiny tunnels underground. when the guide said we could try, everyone was looking at me because i'm the most petite among everyone. i really wanted to try, but i was worried that my height would fail me. yes, i could go down but what if i couldn't get out?!

so in the end, ah hao (knowing that he's the smallest guy in the entire group of ang mohs，好有自知之明 hahaha) volunteered to go down first. we wanted to seal the cover and leave him inside there and then. after that the ang mohs started trying. it's amazing that such a big person can get in thru such a small rectangle.

after that as we trekked on, we all had a chance to get down into the tunnel network. (see above photo of ah yan) that's her going down the step before me. and man, was it tiring. we had to waddle through the dark tunnels like ducks. it was such strenuous exercise. if i had known, i would have trained a bit before i went. by the time we came out from the next exit with our legs aching and panting hard, we were like only five metres away from where we went down!!

and they said the tunnel was already enlarged for tourists?!?! i seriously feared i might just die down there. if my leg muscles gave way, they would have to use a rope to drag me outta there.

i can't imagine how the people used it to get around for days and months. i mean, there's like an entire house underground, complete with kitchens and all. you could even find your way to the mekong river but that would take one to two weeks. we humans can be so amazing sometimes.

see that photo of food at the bottom left corner? that's tapioca to go with this sweet and salty peanut crumbs. and pandan tea!

after Cu Chi, we went to the war museum. another solemn trip like my tour to Phnom Penh, so no photos. by then, we were dying of hunger. but we still stopped by a shop for some serious shopping for the girls! hehe. and finally, lunch at 4+pm! that explains why ming jie looks so concentrated on eating his food. he must have been starving.

so after our late lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest and it started raining again! so we just had to entertain ourselves by watching tv and playing childish games. i don't know what is it called, this finger breaking game. the challenge ended with ah yan in triumph over the two guys!

but muahaha, they didn't know who was the greatest until i finally relented to play on Day 4 morning. right now, i hold the championship title. hahaha.

and of course, there's more violent games which i shan't mention because i didn't win. and from there, out came my new quote - "我完蛋了". yes go ahead and laugh at me, because even i find it funny haha.

we waited and checked the weather every 15 minutes or so, but the rain was falling so steadily. time just slipped past us as we waited from 5pm to 9.30pm! by then, we were so frustrated that we decided we would get out of the room even if it is still raining. thank God we had a late lunch, but my high metabolism was really killing me as usual haha.

we made our way to ben thanh night market for shopping. and by the time we wanted to eat, it was really late and all the shops were closed. i was so hungry, i could only 苦中作乐 by taking photos of their 'lost' look.

finally, we settled for a roadside stall, which wasn't exactly the kind of roadside stall you would imagine. it was a row of nicely set up food lane. and the pho was damn nice la! the best i had in my entire trip. =D

no, this is not the ikea team trying to set up your home furniture.

we were trying to fix the bed because one side of it broke while we were trying to take a group photo with our new group shirt! the ledge couldn't take our weight at one end and it gave way.

真是哭笑不得.

we tried to fix it because it was so late, there wouldn't be rooms to change to and it would be so much of a hassle. and thankfully, we managed to do it and we were checking out the next morning anyway haha.

so far, it's been a pretty crazy holiday.

当我们混在一起 - 第一天

2008-05-25T01:14:00.009+08:00

。。。我存在
第一次呼吸畅快
站在地上的脚踝
因为你而有真实感

第一天我存在
第一次能飞起来
爱是腾空的魔幻
第一天的纯真色彩它总是
永远那么灿烂

our flight was officially 7.25am, but we decided to spend the night at the airport to save on the taxi fare! if you can't see, when we went over to the viewing gallery at T3, it was 1:20am. so we lingered there and took lots of photos even before the holiday officially started.

and somehow, the theme of phototaking became taking reflections of ourselves and it continued into the rest of the journey. whenever we see windows that can reflect ourselves, we'd be taking photos of it.

and so we played card games, actually just dai dee for a while until 3:10am! that was when we decided to move on.

see that emo shot of us at the bottom? it's called 等。

5:41am, hurray! by then, we had stopped over at Macs and checked in. the second theme of phototaking was 'jumpshots'. that explains why it is blur. 6:51am, 7:25am. finally the time has arrived and our holiday is starting! that's the ho chi minh airport in the middle, not bad right? and that's our plane at the bottom.

that's us, after a 2 hour power nap on board the plane, ready to chiong.

as we haven't been able to book any hotel rooms, we met our friendly taxi driver who introduced us to this hotel. it wasn't too bad at all. and being me, i love taking photos of hotel rooms and toilets. but the 3 of them were all over the room.

and ah hao! your legs (see yellow circled) keep appearing in all my photos no matter how i adjusted my angle! irritating, but bo bian, just have to put up with the ugly appearance of ghostly feet.

and after settling the hotel stuff and change of clothes, we went out to look for food!

what are ah hao and ming jie looking at? i have no idea, but we were looking for optical shop cuz ah yan wanted to get contact lenses. and boy, was it hard to find contact lenses in a place like HCMC.

and when we finally found one, 贱人豪 took my shades and decided that he liked it very much and almost wanted to buy it from me. (now that you got your 2 cheapo shades you don't want to buy from me already right?) while the other 2 were looking at lenses, he was busy trying to act like beckham.
整天耍帅。urghhh...
but i just had to take a photo of it, and purposely leave a space at the left so i can fill it in with words. that explains why the words i wrote fits in so nicely. i got plan one okay.

and then we walked straight down to ben thanh market and had our lunch! the pho looks plain right, but it tastes nice.

after lunch, we headed towards dong khoi street, which is where all the big international hotels are and of course branded goods like louis vuitton, prada and gucci! suddenly, we felt like we were back at paragon.

as we walked around, the sky just got darker and darker and the wind got stronger. at last, it rained. and we found shelter at a bookstore. and just when we got really bored, these 2 idiots found a book called, "quick, let's get out of here". and so, what can i say? we got out of there.

time just seemed to pass so slowly on day 1. we wanted to go to diamond plaza which is a departmental store but it was under renovation. and it was still drizzling a little heavily, so how suay can we get? in the end, we crossed the dangerous never-ending-traffic road to a cafe and it was just greaaaaat.

the sad thing was, i ordered the wrong thing. everyone seemed to have such nice drinks except for me. hot chocolate without milk is never a good choice people, remember.

你的表情也太多了吧，贱人豪。无意中就被我拍到那么多不同的表情。while waiting for the guy at the tourist centre to help us, the picture above shows what we did. okay no, actually just him. we were busy looking at brochures of mui ne beach accommodation.

and now, we understand why the tourist centre at the middle of orchard road is so important. because just like that, our next accommodation was booked. our next stop was to buy bus tickets to mui ne beach.

yummy, pizza, pasta and fish. that was our dinner on the first night. now that i am extremely hungry, i really feel like eating my vongole pasta again! the pizza was shared but why is there only 3 other dishes for 4 of us?

because haha, ah hao made a bad choice of carbonara that left him disgusted for the next few weeks to come. (wah, ah hao, you look damn bad in this photo, but i didn't take it ar. it's ah yan. fwahaha)

that's the city at night for you. and our first try of saigon green beer. actually, the beer were ordered by ming jie and me, but don't know why end up the other 2 used our bottles to pose. so fake haha.

that's ah hao and ming jie at kim travel agency, booking the bus tickets. while they settle such mundane stuff, i sat at the back to take photos and these 2 kids came! so i took their photo and they smiled so shyly when i showed them, these kids are all like that. so cute.

unlike the one on the right who act cute with MY beer. and hey, that's MY pose too. only it'll be cuter if it were me.

counting down to flight 3K555

2008-05-16T04:00:00.002+08:00

(it's 2am and the rain is falling..)
it's 4am and i'm at the airport waiting..

we've hang around T2 and T3 for 4 hours plus, taking photos, playing cards. and now, we're at macdonalds, using the free internet to blog obviously and waiting for Mac Breakfast! it's a little too early but i'll choose to believe in myself that i can finish my food. can't wait to drink something hot.

it rocks being at the airport in the middle of the night when it is so quiet.

and we rock because we haven't booked accommodation. this is so happening. wahaha.
totally backpackers, we're going to go to hotels once we reach there.

it's a leap of faith.

cool, they've just flipped the mac menu and it's breakfast time at 4:08am. what shall i eat today? big breakfast? mcgriddles? hahaha.

i think i'm going to order my food.

hopefully i won't be too lazy to post some photos when i'm back.

ho chi minh, here we come!

i'm leaving on a jetplane

2008-05-13T13:50:00.004+08:00

discovered a new game, wheee.

i love playing mindless online games. especially now that i am flying off to ho chi minh on friday morning, i have no mood for proper work like school!
損友福 is going to watch 五月天回到地球表面 in 臺中!! while the rest of our ktv gang is in vietnam this weekend. which is luckier, hmm.. of course it's us right? (attempting to console myself while he gets to fulfil the dream of watching mayday in their hometown taiwan)

doesn't the first shot look like we are in vietnam already? that's just a shot at kallang steamboat, which we have decided to use if none of our real vietnam photos look good, but i doubt so. with the best photographer around, how can that be possible?

we're already counting down to flying off. 已無心上學，無心做工。tsktsk..

will be back on tuesday 20 may with lots of pictures!

p/s: cell mates, those who owe me your cluster camp attendance faster sms me ar. will not entertain calls & smses in vietnam. hahahaa..

beautiful sunset

2008-04-29T15:50:00.003+08:00

spontaneity rewards! for our ONZness, we enjoyed an evening of peace and fun at pasir ris park, feeling the sea breeze kissing gently on our cheeks. hahaha. (those who were there will know what i mean, *wink*)

we enjoyed the beautiful singapore coastlines. jenn couldn't help but take photos of it.

there. not the best but nonetheless good enough for relaxation of our souls. right there, we encountered what homogeneous g12 would be like in the future. *shudders*

ahhh. the picture perfect sunset, even through my lousy camera it looks so nice!

our great photographer von just had to get up on her feet to capture the moment.

actually, we went to bintan quietly by ourselves during the weekend la. hahaha.

okay, but anyway, we should always bring along shorts to avoid sweating like mad when we engage in fun activities like playing catching at the playground.

teach me Lord, what it means to be a child.

絢爛而過的美

2008-04-09T23:18:00.004+08:00

美麗的事物要自己欣賞、美麗的時光要自己體驗

最讓人驚嘆的應該不是什麽奇事而是大自然的美

在太陽下山時的傍晚天空突然下起了細雨
整片天空變成了粉色有點粉紅然後又加了一層舒服的橙色

我拿起相機想拍下這一幕但怎麽拍都捕捉不了眼前的景象
始終捕捉不了那种自然界帶給我們心中溫暖、愉快的感覺

那種微妙的感覺似乎能讓所有的煩惱一掃而空
不知不覺的讓嘴角上揚輕快的隨著音樂跳起舞來

眼前的景觀毛毛的細雨深深的沉浸在那浪漫的氣氛裏

只可惜那美只維持了十分鐘
過後天色變黑細雨飄飄而然的結束了

愛情的浪漫是否也像這場細雨粉空一樣的短暫？

曾經讀過一篇文章作者描述一場以分手結束的愛情即哀傷又浪漫
他說愛就像煙花一樣在絢爛之後消失

美麗的東西真的那麽短暫嗎？

複雜的人類啊

2008-04-02T16:41:00.002+08:00

廣播節目裏常常有一些討論性節目
主持人會和嘉賓討論一個課題，還讓聽衆來電發言論
而我發現，討論的通常都是關於人類思考、内心的想法和邏輯
討論也似乎變成爭論，大家都覺得自己是對的
説來說去還是沒有結果，只是常聼到一些無聊、沒有經過三思而發的言論

人就是那麽地複雜
又爲何要多花費心思去猜想另一些人的想法呢？
有時還是直接問當事人好了

複雜的人是否代表了複雜的創作者？
複雜中能簡單些嗎？

in memory of my ah gong =)

2008-03-27T19:01:00.005+08:00

guess everyone in the family has their own memories of him and with him. though perhaps we didn't talk much because of language barrier, he has been a good grandpa to me and his memory lives in me. sometimes we can't really let a person go, but after a long journey, everyone has to leave. and i'm just glad at least i got to know him for twenty years of my life.

now the house has one person less, one person less to greet when i enter. when we walk in, we can still see him sitting quietly at the edge of his bed. and in my memory of older times, i see him sitting at the door reading his newspapers and listening to news on the radio.

he used to always buy me a packet of chestnuts and tutu when i was around. sometimes wanton mee that he bought just for everyone in the house. his favourite activity was going to block 329 to watch others play chinese chess. i remember going there to look for him once when i went pass alone. 329, chinese chess, these are the things that remind us of him.

hope he's in a better place now, just as he hoped for, to get out of his physical misery. so much of memories rushed back into my mind these few days, some things i wished i did.

ah gong byebye..

miracle

2008-03-19T22:28:00.004+08:00

maybe it was premonition, or perhaps it was the grande(!) caramel macchiato in the afternoon that kept me from sleeping last night. i realised that i am actually afraid of phone calls that comes through the house phone at late night or unearthly hours after my grandma passed away last october because inside me, i know something bad must have had happened.

last night as i was in the bathroom, the phone rang at eleven plus. it wasn't too late, but the fact that my dad kept the phone beside him at his bed made me feel like something was wrong. they didn't tell me that my grandpa was hospitalised. whether it was my sixth sense or the caffeine, it made me had a hard time getting to sleep and most amazingly, to wake me up at 3am to hear my dad go out of the house at 330am. at that moment, my heart cringed. i was afraid of the same thing happening again. my sub-conscience knew and i had a nightmare that brought my fear to life, waking me here and again every other hour.

thanks for all who prayed. his condition improved today, so the doctors changed his oxygen mask from a hardcore powerful one that forced oxygen into his mouth and was so powerful that it caused skin abrasion and swollen face to a normal oxygen mask. apparently, the powerful mask could cause the nose bridge to break so it couldn't be worn for too long. also, the doctor has decided to not do the op thing to insert the tube to help with breathing. the good thing is, all the pure oxygen intake has caused the swelling in his feet to go down and gave him a healthier shade. he can't talk with the mask but he kinda smiled when he saw us just now.

he's around 95 or so, i can't remember the exact age. maybe it is time for his soul to rest. and actually i have prepared myself for that day to come these few years. i'm guessing we all have because that's how life is, but you can't help wishing that a person will never leave. and because so, i do not know how or what to pray, for God to sustain him or what?

i do not know what to say God except that i pray for a miracle, in any way You want.

我的音樂室 - 太美麗

2008-03-13T12:08:00.001+08:00

《太美麗》
詞曲暖意

你說了你喜歡我
一共說了三遍
的 “我喜歡你”
是否太草率
是否不夠誠意
我一時找不到答案答你

你打給我聲音都變了
聼出你聲音裏的顫抖
是否太隨便
好像不夠誠意
你答應會對我再説一遍

我以爲那會是結局
還以爲我們會在一起
還以爲愛已來臨
最後才看清是我把一切想得太美麗

你不告而別地離開
再見也不說地留下我
是否太倉促
是否不夠成熟
那晚我的心已冷魂已破

我以爲那會是結局
還以爲我們會在一起
還以爲愛已來臨

最後才看清是我把一切想得太美麗

discover yourself

2008-03-08T16:03:00.003+08:00

it's nice to know that you are always discovering new things about yourself. how you discover your hidden talent, your favourite food, your interests, etc. and recently, i discovered that caffeine from coffee is really quite effective in keeping me awake.

after times and times of drinking coffee (not very often), i realised that it's like an energy source, fueling me into 'awakeness'. last night i drank caramel macchiato, which i think i still prefer toffee nut latte which starbucks no longer has or a simple latte isn't too bad as well. anyway, i couldn't get myself to sleep, which gave me an hour to spend with God. haha. and the last time i drank coffee was before valentine's day and it fueled me into work, keeping me awake till way past midnight (okay, that was partly because we were busy working too). so on valentine's day, i drank another cup of latte which shot some caffeine through my blood and veins, keeping me awake in my battle against the evil male population. it's almost like i'm on some drugs, except that it's just caffeine and it doesn't make me high.

another discovery i made was about the things i do when i'm sad. i remember talking to des about this and somehow i don't know what i do to make myself feel better when i'm down because i'm not a very emotional person. and because i'm not that emo, i tend to accumulate emotions until the bag can't take its weight anymore. meaning of course i tend to keep things to myself, which is something i know, so it doesn't count as a self-discovery. anyway, the point is, i like to listen to emo sad songs when i'm sad. this way, it pushes my emotions more until the bag finally breaks and tears flow out, releasing the floodgate of suppressed feelings. after this, i sleep and wake up feeling sort of renewed. oh man, it sounds kinda emo. supposing i might make a new discovery that i'm actually an emo person?!?!

anyway, a quote from my cousin to end off, which spurs me when i feel lost within myself or in this world.

"i'm not lost, i'm just undiscovered"

阿信版洋蔥

2008-03-04T20:35:00.001+08:00

這是原創者演唱的洋蔥
楊宗緯和阿信版本，你比較喜歡誰的呢？
我本身喜歡阿信演唱洋蔥
似乎比楊宗緯的洋蔥多了一些誠意
少了一些技巧但多了一些感情
阿信的新書-浪漫的逃亡在臺灣已開始宣傳
臺灣的歌迷好幸福哦

for shiu

2008-03-04T14:19:00.003+08:00

1. Tell you why I made friends with you.

hmm..because we are classmates, 106, 206, 305, 407. i can't remember how we started talking and becoming closer, but it was only in sec 3 that we knew each other better. remember all the lower sec girls drama..haha. why we became close, because of our faith, our easy-going nature, it was easy to become close. and your i-like-to-ask-questions-to-find-out-more-about-you nature made me reveal more and thus, we were friends. haha

2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, a word etc.

lee hom, meteor garden (remember our meteor garden vcd exchange), circular letters that go round like a snake

3. Tell you something I like about you.

how you know the way to make me talk (your understanding of me), how you always remain open to share with me shows that you cherish our friendship, your care and concern for me (always asking about my life), how we can talk about deep issues, stupid issues whenever we meet and call

4. Tell you a memory I have of you.

i remember accompanying you to your piano exam, hanging out at my house after school, or at choa chu kang, thousands of smses and talktime in secondary school period. it is amazing how we can continue to sms leisurely to chat just after we say goodbye at a long chatting session. (you make me talkative). going to your house at sembawang to help you get rid of dead fishes! and staying over after that. talking via writing to each other in class even though we are just sitting next to each other.

5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.

why were you so afraid of the small dead fishes? hmm, don't know if i asked this before but why didn't you continue at a jc in spore instead?

洋葱

2008-02-27T22:19:00.001+08:00

杨宗纬 - 洋葱

詞曲: 五月天阿信

如果你眼神能夠為我片刻的降臨
如果你能聽到心碎的聲音
沉默的守護著你沉默的等奇蹟
沉默的讓自己像是空氣

大家都吃著聊著笑著今晚多開心
最角落裡的我笑得多合群
盤底的洋蔥像我永遠是調味品
偷偷的看著你偷偷的隱藏著自己

如果你願意一層一層一層的剝開我的心
你會發現你會訝異
你是我最壓抑最深處的秘密

如果你願意一層一層一層的剝開我的心
你會鼻酸你會流淚
只要你能聽到我看到我的全心全意

聽妳說妳和妳的他們曖昧的空氣
我和我的絕望裝得很風趣
我就樣一顆洋蔥永遠是配角戲
多希望能與妳有一秒專屬的劇情

prayer

2008-02-24T23:05:00.003+08:00

O God,

i pray that You'd..

be the strength that i need
be the courage that i lack
be the faith that i do not have
be the things that i cannot be
because without You i am nothing
and only with You i can be

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:11-13

my god tastes like honey in the rock

2008-02-03T23:11:00.000+08:00

God works in mysterious ways. God works behind the scenes, yet before our eyes, in ways we cannot understand. God is good. God is so amazing that i felt really awed.

just realised my prayer request was to find a good partner for my project (i've kinda forgotten about that). so, thank you for those who prayed.

i went to class last wednesday and then, the teacher talked about the project. she asked for names of the partners and everyone around me had their partners already. been praying in my heart silently, "God please help me find a partner." was thinking of whether threes are allowed but she said NO. my heart fell. tried my best to disguise the panic attack in my heart.

then, this girl sitting in the row in front of me went up to the teacher and said she needed a partner. so i raised my hands to volunteer. and there, i had a partner. but what was most amazing is that, after some intro, she realised that she knew me and i knew her! we sang ktv together before! (omg) yup, so end up, she's my friend's friend. and we were just really amazed by the coincidence of it all.

i went home smiling, awed by the awesomeness of God. He is really so amazing, i don't know what else to say. maybe just, thank you God.

my God is an awesome God

2008-01-25T11:16:00.000+08:00

last week as we sang the words in service, "our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God", i just asked Him, "God i want to see Your awesomeness. Show me how awesome You can be."

i just desire to see His awesome powers displayed in my life. i just want to see the things that the God who is bigger than anything can do. and so i brashly asked of Him.

and immediately, He brought a picture like this into my mind. i saw mountains with sharp, tall peaks. i saw a picture of nature that captivated me. and i thought i heard Him say, "I created this. How awesome can I be?" and it brought tears and smile into my heart all at the same time.

if our God can create the wonders of nature so unimaginable, so vast, what can He not do?

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." - Psalm 24: 1-2

sometimes i wish i don't live in a city like this, so each day as i awake, i can look out and be amazed by our God's awesomeness and smile.

God didn't answer my question by doing a miracle in my life immediately as what our human minds will expect. but He gave me an answer that came immediately, an answer that brought great comfort and joy to my heart and soul. an answer that reminded me of His awesomeness. indeed, God's ways and thoughts are higher than all our ways and thoughts. and every word He speaks is precious and significant.

nz photos

2007-12-15T21:37:00.000+08:00

okay i tried. but uploading is too slow and the process of selecting as well. it's better to see pictures straight from hard disk. even better, traditional photos.

all i want for christmas is...

2007-12-13T14:25:00.000+08:00

lc-a+ holiday package!
all at a holiday price of $461.02 (without postage and shipping etc)

too expensive?

there's a cheaper option.

the original lc-a
available only on ebay at $200++

santa, are you looking at this?

FB $#*&

2007-12-11T12:42:00.000+08:00

since i heard that the facebook guys have become millionaires, i've signed up for one to see what's the craze about. initially, all the applications, walls, poke me poke you thing was just ?!? to me. i couldn't seem to figure out what's the fascination behind it.

and when my colleague said, since you are so free, why don't you explore your FB?

"simi FB? are you scolding me?" (it was only in my head)

ohhh..you mean FaceBook (FB).

and so i did.

with one afternoon, i have explored my FB and ahhh, i am beginning to see the addiction behind it.

the trick to it, is TIME.

with lots of time, you get to do lots of things on facebook. and as you do more, like feeding and petting your fluffy friend (abit like neopet), racing your friends, playing games, and a thousand gazillion more applications, you get more hooked on it, trying to earn more munny, more points.

gimme, gimme..gimme, gimme..gimme more..

no wonder friendster's so passe.

today, the burning question is, you FB already?
if not, FB you man!

so what's next, TB? hehehe (rubbing my hands with glee) maybe TB shall make me a millionaire too.

p/s: forget about the high-tech slide show vacation pics for now. it's time to FB. photos shall be private.

no need title

2007-12-09T22:47:00.000+08:00

man..how come everyone is so high-tech that they have that slide show thing for their vacation pics (in the cell blog)? and i have no idea and of course am too lazy at the moment to do that. hmph.

maybe i shall go figure it out when i have nothing to do at the office again this week.

i shall say it with words instead of pictures.

NEW ZEALAND IS BEAUTIFUL. you get the point right?

though i am a bit slow. it's been like two weeks since i've been back but still having holiday hangover as usual. waking up every morning still imagining i am in queenstown. that's terrible.

my time difference lag is finally gone and that is both good and bad news.

good news is i no longer get sleepy in the middle of the afternoon and super sleepy in the evening at 7pm. bad news is, i no longer wake up automatically at 7+am. you can call me crazy but i kinda enjoy waking up that early. the morning air and atmosphere feels great. and it helps in my imagination that i am still there in nz you see.

high-tech photos..urgh..

旅行的意義 - 休息是爲了走更長遠的路

2007-11-13T23:39:00.000+08:00

我要出國了！

可是我又要生病了
神啊，救救我吧
最氣就是不知道爲什麽
我看是我的抵抗力超弱的吧
像個嬰兒似的
天啊
請賜給我神聖的力量
抵抗所有病菌（生病的人請遠離我兒童不宜啊哈哈）

如果一切順利
很快就要開學了
有些害怕

其實活在這個世界越久
究竟日子是越容易還是越難過

今年不知感覺特別累
旅行應該是好的
卻又不禁擔心自己的身體
還沒開始就頻頻每星期生病一次
更累更累
是否我想太多

神啊賜給我健康和快樂吧
這是我體會到人生最重要的東西

痛

2007-10-25T13:40:00.000+08:00

最痛的痛是當你忽視它的存在
放縱地讓它隱隱若若地出現
毫無防備地任由它
靜靜地刺你一刀又一刀

想

2007-10-13T00:30:00.000+08:00

想：

- 想要健康
- 想要唱歌
- 想要狂吃
- 想要 lc-a
- 想要游臺灣
- 想要拍照
- 想要寫好聽的歌
- 想要彈好吉他
- 想要勇敢
- 想要成爲歌手
- 想要再回到陳綺貞的演唱會
- 想要長頭髮
- 想要找到自己人生的方向
- 想要用自己會的僅有的改變世界
- 想要有一顆充滿愛的心
- 想要讓全世界認識改變我的人
- 想要。。想。。想。。

當你離開的時候

2007-10-12T17:13:00.000+08:00

蔡健雅的新歌很好聼：》

她想描寫的是當一段感情結束的時侯
對方曾經所說過的承諾都跟著消失

歌詞很棒

好無聊

2007-10-10T01:44:00.000+08:00

好不想睡哦

網絡實在是太精彩了哈哈

謝謝你們來探望我
真的很開心

其實我想我很清楚自己喜歡的是什麽嘛
只需要勇氣追尋

神啊賜給我勇氣吧！

最美麗的一刻

2007-10-09T15:32:00.000+08:00

看過了一場又一場的演唱會後我領悟到了一些東西
儅一位歌手最大的滿足感不是在踏上演唱會舞臺的那一刻
也不是儅大家為你歡呼的時候
雖然這些都是人生難忘的片刻
最美的時刻是這時

發白日夢的時間又到了
人生裏是否有機會站上舞臺向大家鞠躬呢
哈哈

二十嵗的邊界

2007-10-08T13:46:00.000+08:00

祝我生日快樂

多謝從十二點開始祝福我的同學們
也多謝你們的關心
我還好

雖然痛一來會有種生不如死的感覺
但痛過就忘了那種感覺
應該很快就會好了
我想這也算是個特別的生日吧

昨晚到醫院時，護士問我明天就是你的生日了？多兩個小時就到了，希望你不用在這裡過生日
還好回到家裏了

現在晚上九點了
痛並沒發作，只是有一點點而已
我想我要好了！

二十嵗了
應該勇敢追逐夢想
說得容易做卻又一點難

其實我從小的夢想並不是儅dj
而是像陳綺貞一樣
在臺上唱出讓人感動有感染力的歌曲

第二個夢想就是儅dj
不能唱歌就播音樂
同樣有感染力的工作

以前也想過開咖啡廳
和花接觸后想開賣花的咖啡廳

彈著吉他唱歌還是最愛

我要彈得更好！我要唱得更好！
要從那兒開始呢

還是先照顧好身體吧

rebirth

2007-10-06T00:33:00.000+08:00

thought about zechariah 3. wondered why the Lord showed me a passage like that. was hoping for an interpretation, so thank you regina for your enlightenment.

it makes sense. the focus should be on joshua because He showed me the name.

and the passage is entitled, "clean garments for the high priest". revelations. "clean garments" refer to "rebirth". "high priest" used to be a special person, holy of the holiest, but ever since jesus died for us, all of us can be of high priest status, thus in modern context, high priest refers to us.

God just spoke to me. that i am like joshua in zechariah 3. as the passage starts with God rebuking Satan, who is there beside the angel to accuse joshua, it just shows how much God loves joshua. and the reassurance of the fact that God loves me, despite all that TEO has to say against me.

v2b says, "is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" and it goes on to say that joshua was dressed in filthy clothes. it is ironic that 2007 should be the year of victory. because honestly, i don't feel like a winner at all. but as i thought about these, God showed me that i am a winner simply because of Him. with Him and in Him, i will have victory. perhaps it is just not the world's definition of a winner but we do not live by the standards of the world.

v4b: then he said to joshua, "see, i have taken away your sin, and i will put rich garments on you." [rebirth is a piece of my summer] this line from cheer's concert just came into my head. rebirth. that is what God is giving to joshua and what He will give to me. rebirth is a piece of my summer.

v6,7: the angel of the Lord gave this charge to joshua: "this is what the Lord Almighty says: 'if you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and i will give you a place among these standing here.'" restoration. restore, the other word that God gave to me. God is restoring the authority to joshua and He will restore me.

2007 has been a walk into fire. scorched and burnt and broken. but even as i walk through the fire, i can see that He has been quietly protecting and blessing me.

sik's story of the little boy really left an impression in my heart. because i understand how he feels. simply because i see the little boy in me. looking for perfection, for that ability to do things to my standard of perfection and satisfaction, yet finding myself stuck and a failure. the desire to be perfect. my personal interpretation of it, is that we are searching to be more of ourselves. to be better, almost perfect. but facing the fact that you just can't draw a straight line, it hurts. and you just want to put down the pencil. but i guess we shouldn't put down the pencil too soon. though the struggle to draw a perfect straight line hurts too, but at least we might just find ourselves being able to draw a perfect line someday. we just need a little encouragement and help from the little girl beside.

我的音乐室 - faithful friend

2007-10-06T00:27:00.001+08:00

faithful friend
written & composed by: nuan yi

you are the light that shines in the darkness
the stars that light up the nights

you are the rainbow that brings hope into my life
the colours that brighten my sky

so i'll sing
of your everlasting goodness
so i'll sing
of your love and faithfulness to me

so i'll sing
of your everlasting wonder
of your mercy and your grace

jesus i love you
and i want to be with you
i long to hear you call me friend
i'll seek your face until the end

so at the last day
you would say
i have found a faithful friend

守护天使

2007-09-20T00:01:00.000+08:00

人生难免有难过的时候
但你从不忘提醒我你在我身边
心里常常埋怨自己的不足
但你从不允许我看不起自己
常觉得自己似乎有一层保护层盖着

你就是我的天使
不让我受伤
不让我受委屈
你是我最崇拜
你是我最爱
的守护天使

好久啊

2007-09-12T23:02:00.000+08:00

好久没有带有灵感的言论
好啦，不算言论啦
就是闲聊而已

好久没有弹吉他了
感觉手指都僵硬了

好久没有唱歌了

好久、好久

我都在做什么呢？

i'm the flower girl, without the internet

2007-09-04T00:02:00.000+08:00

seems like i haven't blogged or really been online for quite a while. even blogger has an additional add video function now!

mediacorp tour last week was fun (to me) cuz i got to visit the studios and all. seeing the radio studios gave me an adrenaline. as in chinese, 熱血沸騰. standing in the dead quiet radio production studio and tv studio really made me felt back home, i mean back in school.

radio conty, will i ever step into you again?

only God knows what the future holds.

让我想一想

2007-08-12T23:41:00.000+08:00

《让我想一想》
词曲陈绮贞
演唱陈绮贞

漫步在荒原
我想找一棵栖身的树
有阳光有流水
还有微风吹
该如何面对
这未知的一切
让自己的思绪沈淀
随著天色的改变
心情的外衣也要多加一件
这些对那些好
我想追我想逃
其实我也害怕
可不可以就这样停下来
我要多一点时间
好让我再想一想

隔著玻璃窗
我早已沈醉在蓝色的街
有寂寞有笑语
还有看不见的雪
该如何整理
这忙乱的城市
还有我的心事
躲在十二月热闹的夜
我只要一个人安安静静地
什么对什么好
不要问不要猜
不要太靠近我
可不可以勇敢地停下来
我要多一点空间
好让我再想一想

这首歌捕捉了这几个月来的心情。直到现在，仍然感到很迷惑。
无法将心中的矛盾和思绪用言语表达出来。
更不想用心思考每一个细节与思绪。
逃避了之后，只会让你更想逃。

“我想追。我想逃。其实我也害怕。可不可以就这样停下来？我要多一点空间，好让我再想一想。”

20岁的天空。下一站

2007-08-03T17:38:00.001+08:00

我离开了。

离开了那冷气超强的公司、那些可爱的同事们。
在那里的最后一天，他们真的让我感觉到有那种被爱的感觉。

我想，我会怀念在那里的日子。
那些每天12.30pm就要想去哪里吃午餐、吃完了去饮茶的日子。
更想念的是和我一起吃午餐的同事们。

我收到的礼物包括。。

tiramisu cake! 花~

两粒大气球！真的会飞的喔。现在还静静的在我房间里飘着。

可爱的大大张的卡和我喜欢的messenger bag。

贴上祝福的照片。和我也很想要的lomo相机。

我真的很感动。我会背着那个红色的messenger bag，带着我的supersampler拍下人生中最美丽的时刻。

我人生中的下一页已开始。
又是另一个起点，另一个问号。

希望下一页将会是一个更富有彩色的世界。

[人生是一个旅程。
我们所经历过的每一件事都只是一个过程。
而这些经历往往只是准备我们到终点的过程。
而终点绝对会是我们绽放的地方。]

i dream

2007-07-31T14:38:00.000+08:00

"i dream not because i want to achieve my dream but because i like the process of dreaming. at least i know i still dare to dream. the process is ever so sweet and unforgettable. cause you may never know. one day, that may just become reality." - 损友福

哇。我的朋友有时还蛮有默水的嘛。

（aside to 阿福，你可以再(TM)它。我照样可以用。因为我有quote你的名字！哈哈哈。我还帮你edit leh! 我也有版权lor。）

有时他的话还蛮经典的，所以我常常从那里偷idea。（不要complain hor, 话是你的，inspiration是我的！）

i dream..i dream..

很多时候这个社会只允许我们跟着大众的脚步走，而我们也就此把梦堆放在心里的一个遗忘的小角落。

我也常觉得大家都用同样的观念看着我。

我的梦想不切实际。我的梦想不踏实。但是我的梦想是快乐的。

我的梦想不颓废、不懒惰，而是用尽全力做喜欢的东西。

就让我梦吧。梦得不清不楚。梦得轰轰烈烈。人生本来就是一场华丽的冒险。

带着梦想远走高飞。就是这种感觉。谁不想？

don't lose that courage to dream. because it will lead you somewhere, no matter where.

私奔到月球mv

2007-07-25T14:19:00.000+08:00

私奔到月球的mv出炉了！

五月天刚在7/20、7/21、7/22在台北小巨蛋举办了《离开地球表面》演唱会，也在演唱会上和绮贞一起唱了这首歌。很可惜我没有机会看。（至少我已经看了新加坡那一场。虽然没有绮贞是个遗憾。）希望以后还会有这样的机会，而且让我亲自飞到台北体验！哈哈。绮贞也将会在8/17、8/18、8/25、9/22办她的a piece of summer台湾巡回演唱会。疯掉。怎么我喜欢的歌手都在这个时候在台湾办演唱会啊？

想看想看想看！！

但我想你已经看得出我无奈的表情。最后我还是在家里看youtube...=.=""

我的音乐室 - you have me

2007-07-17T23:57:00.001+08:00

you have me
written & composed by: nuan yi

didn't think that you were anything out of ordinary
didn't feel that anything could be extraordinary
until the day you stepped in
with the determination to love me
for all the things that were missing
at last i could finally see

used to think there is nothing that could melt me
used to build walls of protection that no one could see
but you came along and tore it down
leaving me defenceless like a child
in your sea of love i was drowned
there in your eyes i was found

you had me looking
you had me dreaming
you had me running
at your every calling (repeat)

from that day on my life was changed
i knew things could never be the same
you gave me a reason to live
you gave me something to believe in
from that day on my life was completed
without a doubt i was so much stronger

you had me looking
you had me dreaming
you had me running
at your every calling (repeat)

there is something in your love
that is so different from other love
something in the air
makes me feel like
there is something you
that i can call mine

you still have me looking
you still have me dreaming
you still have me running
at your every calling (repeat)

下次玩遊戲要發問就問這些問題吧

2007-07-17T14:30:00.000+08:00

1 今天日期︰ 2007/7/17
2 現在幾點︰14:39
3 你的名字︰黃暖意
4 你最後吃的一樣東西是什麼︰＄2。20的菜飯（真的都是菜所以那麽便宜，可是後來又買了牛奶和yoghurt。。又花了錢）
5 現在天氣如何︰有一點熱
6 戴隱形眼鏡嗎︰沒有近視
7 你們家養過什麼︰魚
8 星座︰天瓶
9 兄弟姊妹:弟弟
10 眼珠顏色︰黑
11 有幾個耳洞︰一個
12 現在正在聽誰的歌︰陳綺貞
13 推薦歌曲︰五月天＋陳綺貞　私奔到月球　
14 出生地︰新加坡
15 喝過酒嗎︰當然
16 去過哪些國家︰馬來西亞、泰國、澳洲、中國、柬埔寨
17 曾經出過車禍嗎︰没有
18 現在喜歡的漫畫︰很少看
19 喜歡的漫畫家︰吉米還不錯
20 喜歡的卡漫角色︰蠟筆小新
21 喜歡的小說家︰想不到
22 現在喜歡的小說︰現在想看１５０公分的生活
23 喜歡喝什麼︰豆奶、奶茶、绿茶
24 喜歡的顏色︰白绿　黑
25 最喜歡的數字︰８，１０
26 目前喜歡的電影︰目前啊。。transformers
27 喜歡看哪一種的電影類型︰有性格的角色、有好聽的OST、能夠把我捲入劇情的電影
28 喜歡的卡通人物或品牌︰hmm。。勉強說spongebob squarepants
29 最懷念的日子︰我懷念的是無話不說我懷念的是一起走過。。哈哈。。５岁时的日子
30 最豸萿爾g驗︰啥？
31 最喜歡禮拜幾︰禮拜五的夜晚
32 喜歡春.夏.秋.冬哪一季︰秋天
33 喜歡的花︰綉球花
34 喜歡的運動︰不喜歡排球
35 比過哪些比賽有得獎︰我不喜歡參加比賽
36 喜歡的冰淇淋種類︰不喜歡冰淇淋
37 最怕什麼東西︰談起我不喜歡討論的話題
38 最喜歡的電視台︰５２中天台
39 喜歡的電視節目︰以前喜歡的現在都沒有那麽好看了
40 喜歡的藝人︰阿信、陳綺貞
41 最討厭做的事︰打電話給陌生人
42 討厭別人做什麼︰對我沒禮貌
43 擅長的事︰靜靜地出現或離開
44 臥室的地毯是什麼顏色︰沒有地毯
45 你覺得碟仙怎麼樣︰詭異
46 妳覺得自己十年後會在哪裡︰希望在做我喜歡做的事
47 喜歡沙拉醬︰始終只嘗試習慣的thousand island
48 不敢吃的東西︰棉花糖
49 喜歡吃什麼東西︰鮑魚、媽媽熬的湯、salmon sashimi
50 得意的料理是什麼︰我不會下廚啊
51 覺得同性戀如何呢︰充滿了内心的掙扎
52 無聊的時候你大多做些什麼︰看電視
53 如果有人誤會你，你會︰忍、祈禱
54 會對付你討厭的人嗎︰不會。會忍
55 你喜歡你目前的生活嗎︰還好
56 心裡最想見的人是誰︰好多
57 有喜歡到每天都去的網站嗎? 幾個
58 今天心情好嗎︰不錯
59 有想要自殺嗎︰沒有
60 如果有來世，你最想當什麼︰更好的我
61 跟誰出去最幸福︰還沒遇到這種人
62 最近最開心的事︰買了吉他
63 最近壓力最大的事︰規劃生活
64 兩個好友吵架你會︰等。。
65 有沒有起床氣︰什麽？
66 喜歡男生還是女生︰喜歡女生的仔細、喜歡男生的爽朗
67 口頭禪︰屁啦。。哇靠（可是損友福已經跟我TM它了）
68 吃和睡哪個重要︰睡
69 會不會脫掉鞋子聞ㄧ聞︰很少吧
70 如果你現在就要掛了你會做什麼︰想起我還沒達成的夢想
71 現在最想說的ㄧ句話︰要下班了嗎？
72 某天醒來你突然變成一個男人你會︰穿我弟的khaki berms和green-stripe t-shirt
73 最喜歡的偶像劇︰偶像劇好多耶。。浪漫滿屋、金三順
74 什麼時候感覺幸福︰把髒衣服丟進廁所裏時
75 如果你的生活是個童話你希望是哪一個︰我的生活也蠻像童話的不踏實吧
76 生日最想收到的禮物︰lc-a
77 是否喝酒︰喝　尤其是便宜的
78 是否抽菸︰每天都在吸二手煙
79 是否任性︰從小就很任性
80 做過最有勇氣的事︰我覺得我需要多一些勇氣
81 做過最後悔的事︰好多。。但沒有這些後悔就沒有今天的我
82 覺得自己說過最有道理的一句話︰還多到我不記得了。。哈哈
83 妳在睡覺之前會做什么？禱告。。到我睡着
84妳喜歡打電話還是發簡訊呢 ?　不喜歡打電話。。
85 喜歡吃拉麵還是牛肉麵還是義大利麵? 蒜頭橄欖油辣椒義大利麵　（哇，竟然跟陳綺貞一樣）
86 如果上帝讓你改變身體的一個部位你會選哪裡? 臉型
87 如果可以回到過去想去哪個時代?　現代也好吧
88 脫衣服的時候會先脫褲子還是先脫衣服? 由上往下　順手嘛
89 如果外星人要你選變成貓頭人身還是人頭貓身你會選哪一個? 無聊、沒意義
90 最想擁有哪一種特異功能? 超有才華超有靈感
91 山和海喜歡哪一個?　海
92 吃葡萄會吐籽嗎? 會先咬一半再用手取出
93 喜歡吃馬鈴薯還是地瓜的薯條? 不喜歡薯條
94 喜歡打麻將還是撲克牌?撲克牌
95 有幾顆蛀牙?　應該是沒有
96 接到電話第一句會說︰你在哪裏？
97 最喜歡的喜劇明星? 不刻意搞笑卻又好笑又可愛的人不多

五月天+陈绮贞！

2007-07-16T22:54:00.000+08:00

五月天+陈绮贞的新歌！我心目中的两大才子和才女合作咯。。

《私奔到月球》
词曲：阿信演唱：五月天+陈綺贞

其实妳是个心狠又手辣的小偷
我的心我的呼吸和名字都偷走
你才是绑架我的兇手机车后座的我吹著风逃离了平庸

这星球天天有五十亿人在错过
多幸运有妳一起看星星在争宠
这一刻不再问为什麼不再去猜测人和人心和心有什麼不同

一二三牵著手四五六抬起头
七八九我们私奔到月球
让双脚去腾空让我们去感受
那无忧的真空那月色纯真的感动

当妳说太聪明往往还是会寂寞
我笑著倾听孤单终结后的寂寞
看月亮像夜空的瞳孔静静凝视你我和我们閙嚷的星球

靠近妳怎麼突然两个人都词穷
让心跳像是野火燎原般的汹涌
这一刻让命运也沉默让脚尖划过天和天地和地缘分的宇宙

谢谢你的爱

2007-07-09T00:07:00.001+08:00

just wanna say a big thanks to charmaine for the chocolate to cheer me up when she saw that i was down. i was really touched. thanks =)

and presenting my two new darlings.

i really wanna thank my dad for all the trouble and time and money just to get me these guitars. but it's really kinda awkward to say. so i'll work hard to improve my guitar skills, so as to not put his money down the drain.

actually, i was only planning to buy the electric guitar if there wasn't really a huge discount, but when he knew that in my heart, i wanted the acoustic-electric as well, he said,

"just choose two lor.."

and we stayed in the shop for two hours plus, and he willingly stayed in that stuffy shop with me throughout.

as i brought these two guitars home, it reminded me of our heavenly Father and this passage,

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks find; and to him who knocks, the door will be, opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7: 7 - 11

Really, all i said to get these was, "i wanna buy guitar. you wanna sponsor me?" and i didn't even say it seriously. and man, what i got was two guitars.

so today, i'll learn to tell God about my dreams. and i must believe with my heart, not just my head, that i'll receive more than what i asked, that He really cares about every little detail about me.

p/s: green font in support of earth day. save the earth!

当个快乐的无业游民

2007-07-05T16:57:00.000+08:00

在无业游民的日子来临之前让我先做好规划
要当个快乐的无业游民就要做自己喜欢、想做的事

每天八点钟起床，早睡早起身体好
这句话我同意（但我可以想象有一些迟睡的夜晚、甚至有一点失眠的感觉）
换好衣服去跑步

八点四十五分回到家里吃早餐
然后休息看电视！哈哈。。

剩余的是自由时间
上网、听歌、弹吉他、写歌、看crunchyroll、游泳、买个lc-a、准备下一次的旅行
有空找人出去、拍照、找灵感
仔细了解自己
仔细想人生最重要的是什么
再为未来重新规划

我想有时候人生应该有多一点的冲动
多一点心血来潮的时候

人生本来就应该很简单
那我也应该快乐
就算迷失了方向
闭上眼睛
仔细聆听
顿时离开这世界
应该可以找回自己想要的东西

“不要慌张我的孩子、现在的人生是你喜欢的慢动作。慢慢地认识你。。和我。”

2007-07-04T14:57:00.000+08:00

one more month to becoming a 無業遊民. have i been procrastinating too much? don't know why but just lack the enthusiasm to doing it. unsure if that means i am hesitating or it means that i am afraid of failure, which i guess i am. what am i going to do if it fails to come through?

i have no definite plans. and what's worst, the part-time course at SIM has only one intake each year in september. and the application period for sep 07 has closed 2 days ago. sigh.

i haven't been so lost in my entire life before. my colleagues are asking me to stay, but my last day is confirmed. feeling (lost x 1,000,000) times.

i want to go taiwan, to thoroughly explore for 3 weeks or so. if i'm so freaking rich maybe even a month. but i guess no one can go with me. sometimes i feel the sudden urge to just run away. i know myself, i like to run away and hide in my daydreams. because that's the happiest place in the world.

我說我有不踏實的夢想。我朋友說踏實就不叫夢想。你說呢?

the lingering smell..

2007-07-02T10:45:00.000+08:00

finally, we did something different after service yesterday. and we had a fabulous dinner. i can still taste the tau-geh and smell the mushrooms in the air. yummy~

all thanks to elaine and mum, we had a great time hanging out, eating and eating at her house. our teppanyaki was a bit similar to pepperlunch, but due to the good air circulation at her 18th floor house, we didn't end up smelling like pepperlunch.

but unfortunately, we had leftover of quite a lot of hotdogs and crabsticks. guess that will become part of the quek family daily meals from now on.

so where will our next slacking location be? hehe.

but before that, i look forward to our chalet where there will be another round of good food and fun! remember to buy golden mushrooms..

2007-06-29T15:26:00.000+08:00

今天我一个人独自去吃饭、独自去逛街。
但是我并不觉得孤单。
有时侯一个人是好的。

现在回想，起初要我一个人去吃饭有一点害怕。
但很庆幸我还是去了。
假如没有踏出这一步，我不会知道一个人的快乐。

但是仔细想一想，我的自信来自我的方向。
在我去之前，我心里早已想好了要去哪里、要吃什么、要做什么。

其实一个人并不可怕。
可怕的是没有方向。

我不喜欢那种感觉。
我害怕那种感觉。

在人群里迷失自己。你是否也体验过?

right or left brainer

2007-06-28T09:50:00.000+08:00

try the test!

First, identify yourself as right or left brain person:

1. Hold your hands together, as if you were praying.

Look at your hands. If you see

Left thumb is below the right thumb ---> left brain

Right thumb is below the left thumb ---> right brain

2. Fold your arms in front of you (as if you are angry)

Right arm above left arm ---> left brain

Left arm above right arm ---> right brain

Based on 1+2 (order important), below is the interpretation of your personality:

Right-Left

==========

Considerate, traditional, indirect type. Can instinctly read other's emotion, and respond friendly by natures. Although not very into taking initiatives in moving forward, but this person will always take a step back in supporting others. Stable personality and considerate, give others a being protected feeling. But the weakness is they cannot say no; regardless how unwilling they are, they will take care of others.

Right-Right

===========

Loves challenges type. Straightfoward. Once they decided on one thing, will take action right away. Very curious, and love challenges. Dare to face dangers without thinking through (sometimes foolishly). Their weakness is they don't listen to others, will filter in only what whey want to hear in a conversation, and very subjective. However, because of their straightforward attitude, they tend to be fairly popular.

Left-Left

=========

Dedicated, cold, perfectionist. Very logical in all aspects. The only way to defeat (or win over) him/her is through reasons. Has a lot of pride, and feeling strongly about doing the right thing. If they are your friends, they are very trustworthy. However, if they are your opponents, they will be very tough to deal with. Because they can be very "anal" as a perfectionist, they usually leave a bad impression of being hard to deal with when first met.

Left-Right

==========

Likes to take care of others, leader type. Has a cool and keen observation ability to see through situations, yet still can be considerate in others needs. Because of their cool and calm nature, and strong sense of responsibility, they tend to become head of a group. Popular among people. However, they may not be able to help themselves in meddling because they want to take care of others too much. Very concerned about how others view them, and always on alert.

又是关于五月天

2007-06-26T23:51:00.000+08:00

左：五月天第一张创作专辑，右：爱情万岁

我超想要五月天的第一张专辑的啦。

专辑名称是〈五月天第一张创作专辑〉（1997）。
已经十年了，现在到各家唱片行都已经找不到了。
第一张专辑实在很棒，里头有很多他们非常经典的歌。
都是我的最爱。

1997年喔，好久以前的事了。
那时的我才十岁，不怎么懂得欣赏五月天的音乐。
那是一个小遗憾。

总之现在我看我得飞到台湾才能找得到了吧。
我会去购买所有我没有的，通通台湾版。yeah!
我和我的五月天迷朋友正有“秘密”的行动，一百万之一的机会，如果天助我也，那我就能找我的《第一张创作专辑》和《爱情万岁》咯！
我已经尽全力画了。
真是疯狂。

让我离开地球表面

2007-06-25T17:12:00.000+08:00

《离开地球表面》五月天

词曲阿信

丢掉手表丢外套丢掉背包再丢唠叨

丢掉电视丢电脑丢掉大脑再丢烦恼

冲啥大冲啥小冲啥都有人唱反调

恨的多爱的少

只想越跳越疯越跳越高把地球甩掉

一颗心扑通扑通的狂跳

一瞬间烦恼烦恼烦恼全忘掉

我再也不要再也不要委屈自己一秒

一颗心扑通扑通的狂跳

一瞬间烦恼烦恼烦恼全忘掉

我甩掉地球地球甩掉只要越跳越高

丢掉手表丢外套丢掉背包再丢唠叨

丢掉电视丢电脑丢掉大脑再丢烦恼

野心大胆子小

跳舞还要靠别人跳

恨的多爱的少

只想越跳越疯越跳越高把地球甩掉

一颗心扑通扑通的狂跳

一瞬间烦恼烦恼烦恼全忘掉

我再也不要再也不要委屈自己一秒

一颗心扑通扑通的狂跳

一瞬间烦恼烦恼烦恼全忘掉

我甩掉地球地球甩掉只要越跳越高

Come on!

一颗心扑通扑通的狂跳

一瞬间烦恼烦恼烦恼全忘掉

我再也不要再也不要委屈自己一秒
一颗心扑通扑通的狂跳

一瞬间烦恼烦恼烦恼全忘掉

我甩掉地球地球甩掉只要越跳越高

Come on!

JUMP!JUMP!

五月天的新单曲！

在他们的《离开地球表面》演唱会他们当然有唱啦。超high的啦，大家都跟他们一起jump， jump!

今天也顿时离开了地球表面一个下午，因为我把这首歌放着replay mode.哈哈哈。

这首歌真的能带你来开地球四分钟。当然如果像我就能离开更久啦，哈哈。

五月天回归了他们的超摇滚style咯！

有一个人说这首歌是复古disco style。超吊。

看着上面的照片会不会觉得阿信在唱给你听呢？

hee..

昨晚我们显得很无聊地在tcc玩cranium。无聊的游戏竟然让我出丑了两次。

第一，我们必须猜这首歌的演唱人。can't help falling in love with you. 我破口而出说了richard marx!给全部人笑死了。就是不知道这是elvis的歌嘛。

第二，从一句话要猜出这个人。忘了是哪句，但答案就是那个登上月球的人。我又丢脸喊出lance armstrong。五月天的《阿姆斯壮》为什么没有写说他叫lance还是lewis呢？哈哈。

超瞎的。现在我知道了啦。

其实说是在的，这好像不是第一次了。全部的阿姆斯壮都被我搞乱了啦。

不管怎样，阿信的歌还是很棒的！

我的音乐室- 华丽的冒险

2007-06-22T21:53:00.001+08:00

《华丽的冒险》
词曲陈绮贞
原唱者陈绮贞

this whole sound is very raw. but gee, this is fun. =D

活著其实很好 再吃一颗苹果

october update

my little escapade

bangkok escapade

i lomo-ed kl.

freaky personality test

i lomo-ed thailand.

food for an alcoholic

cheer

click!

paddlepop colours

太陽的希望

i have not disappeared..

at the beginning of 2009

last holiday of 2008

what happened to holidays

42.195km

coming to an end

money woes

the perennial question

i don't want to miss a thing - i'm not missing it

live

the southern ridges adventure

sigh

my favourite place

i had a dream

conclusion

cheer chen is coming again!

the five reunites

run, rain, sleep

my days in bangkok part 4

my days in bangkok part 3

new game-movie munchies

my days in bangkok part 2

lomo vietnam!

当阿雁不在的时候

my days in bangkok part 1

my days in pattaya, thailand

here it goes again

darkness

footprints in the sand

almost at the end

more astons

if you like short stories, you'd like this

to follow your heart

当我们混在一起 - 第五天

当我们混在一起 - 第四天

当我们混在一起 - 第三天

example of my random cynical thoughts

当我们混在一起 - 第二天

当我们混在一起 - 第一天

counting down to flight 3K555

i'm leaving on a jetplane

beautiful sunset

絢爛而過的美

複雜的人類啊

in memory of my ah gong =)

miracle

我的音樂室 - 太美麗

discover yourself

阿信版洋蔥

for shiu

洋葱

prayer

my god tastes like honey in the rock

my God is an awesome God

nz photos

all i want for christmas is...

FB $#*&

no need title

旅行的意義 - 休息是爲了走更長遠的路

痛

想

當你離開的時候

好無聊

最美麗的一刻

二十嵗的邊界

rebirth

我的音乐室 - faithful friend

守护天使

活著其实很好再吃一颗苹果

20岁的天空。下一站