Annual Class Steamboat

There's no other class in my entire academic life that I'm close to. My NYJC class is the only one that I meet up with year after year and I like it cos we still feel really connected to each other. Sometimes I do wish we had more opportunity to meet up, but because of scheduling conflicts and two of my favourite people (ANGELINE AND DAVID BLEARGH) going back to Australia to continue their studies, it just wouldn't be the same!

Anyway, we gathered at Ming Boon's house, as always. And we had steamboat for dinner, as always. And as always, there was mahjong. The only difference was that this was the first time I was participating!



Haha... my crush on mahjong got acutely intense these couple of months due to exposure from a couple of friends and relatives.

And then we had the steamboat.



The food was fantastic, as always. Yeah, I'm comforted by the pattern that has formed with regards to our little reunion every year.



And here are the guys... I love them. Argh! I don't know how to explain it, but the chemistry I have with each one of them is just amazing. I meet up with them individually in my own time so it's nice to see them all together at one shot!



We are so running out of poses to do outside Ming Boon's house, especially if this keeps up every year!



And we continued with the Mahjong! Haha! Oh man I lost in the end but yeah, a rare occassion for all of us to play together!

Hold On

I spent quite a bit of time writing that piece last night. I look back at it now and I must say I'm not quite satisfied. I suppose I'm a bit rusty. I've included details that were meant to grab attention but were irrelevant and served only to break the momentum and mood of the story. Also it started off as a descriptive thing of relaxing at the patio (which is obviously fiction because I don't own a place with a patio) but I got caught up and felt compelled to inject some of my inner most feelings and thoughts that I've been running away from. That's not to say that I've just spilled out how I feel exactly, just that I've been inspired my some of these unhappy thoughts. Ooh, and I'm disgusted that I used the word "force" and its other forms at least thrice. I haven't written in a long time so it was a welcomed warm-up for me. I acknowledge its crappiness but I'll work harder on it.

I had one session of tuition in the morning and I've got two more later. After that I'll be heading back to hall for Cheerleading practice. It sort of reminds me of the time that I was involved in preparing for last year's Dnd, except this time round it's much more intense.

School starts tomorrow! Like officially, with tutorials and everything. BOO.



This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago as Angeline organised a class get-together lunch for Puay Leng who's leaving for an exchange to Suzhou. It was nice to hang out with them again. In fact I was hoping we'd have this kind of gathering more often. However, as with every huge group, there's conflicting schedules and all of that to coordinate. The next time we'll meet up is probably during CNY, which is coming soon! I can feel it in the air already!

I'm going to take more initiative asking people out. I've got no money though (don't give me the you-don't-need-money-to-go-out crap). There're textbooks to acquire for this semester. Argh! And I'll try to be more spontaneous and get rid of the "book me a week in advance" nonsense. Although truth me told I am very very busy. Shuming's coming back from Amsterdaam (land of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll) on Saturday! Can't wait!

"Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young."
-Baz Luhrmann, Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Angeline's Birthday

Yeah I know you guys are waiting for it! My update on Angeline's brithday at Settlers! It was my first trip to the place and I was impressed with the staff. They had great knowledge of the games and were really fun people. Anyway, Angeline's party was called Mad Hatters so everyone had to have headgear to enter the party! I have a hilarious video of everyone in their various hats and all!



It isn't just me. I guess everyone's not very comfortable with having something atop their head for the entire evening. We kicked off by playing some games followed by the buffet. I thought the food was fantastic. We all had seconds and thirds! The next game that we played was... oh dammit, I can't remember the name but it is something like Charades! We were going to play Taboo, but I think that works a little bit differently. Anyway, we enjoyed some of our most hilarious moments playing that game.

Exclusive: See Connie and Angeline working it!



Having the party at Settler's was ingenius because you don't have to worry about your guests having nothing to do or not enjoying themselves! There's so much fun and laughter in the place - in fact I felt really carefree and enjoyed myself a lot!

We continued playing other games like guessing what your friends would put their priority in... I don't really know how to explain the game but you'll be able to find it there. Also we played this game that was kind of like Uno except that there were animals on the cards and you had to make the specific animal sounds. With the wrong sounds you had to draw another two cards!



Okay, and that's us in our various hats! I got that cap a couple of years ago when Britney released Do Somethin' as the second single to her My Prerogative: Greatest Hits collection! The dice on the right was a tattoo on her wrist that she got together with Kevin Federline, although I haven't seen in it a long time. She might've gotten it removed.

This post is not about Britney.

After that Settler's gave out some VIP cards to Angeline and she came around to our table and only after a mere 2 seconds of hesitation, she thrusted the application form promptly in my face and said that I should have it because I was a "social butterfly".

Like, seriously?



And the birthday ritual that everyone is undoubtedly familiar with! She looked really glamorous in her get-up.

I'd like to add the cake was good too. Hmm... after the many birthday cakes I've eaten this year I think I've got an addiction to the chocolate ones especially. It won't be long before I start buying them because of overwhelming urges to satisfy my cravings...



A picture with all the current and alumni people of Hall 12!



This last photo was taken at the MRT station when I urged David to wear the vest that he borrowed to match that very tall hat! They came up with a couple of funny and natural poses and I thought this one was the coolest because David looks like the magician grabbing a cute bunny rabbit...

Okay you get the idea!

PS My hair sucked cos I thought we were going to have our hats on through the entire thing so I didn't get it done! Plus I actually wore the cap at a nice jaunty angle on my way to Clarke Quay! =P

Uniquely S10A

1. I looked gorgeous.



2. Gorgeous company.

3. A lot of Andy Lau's old songs courtesy of TWJ. And how his idols of the past has the hairstyle that he has now.

4. Tan WJ and his story of how he's getting paid a couple of times of my monthly salary.



5. Connie's lack of voice but no lack of comic relief.



6. Kherray's arrival and her "Death Note" book. Your name is in there.



7. First of my bimbo repertoire - Everytime. I was so good. Everyone was teary-eyed after that.



8a. I attempted to recreate a masterpiece during the song.



8b. The timing couldn't be better. After the shot was taken they passed the camera around and said it was kind of like a porn shot. And remember what I said about everyone being teary-eyed after the song? It was tears induced from laughter. Sang Toxic thereafter.

9. TWJ gets high every time Hebe comes on screen. I get high every time Hebe with short hair comes on the screen.



10. Her Royal Gorgeousness had elsewhere to party, so we took a photo with her.

11. Before that we tried to send her off with the supposedly very high Liang Ai-ING. Which fell flat. Boo-hoo.

12. Connie continued being very funny throughout.



13. We cam-whored some more.

14. Sang Wu Niang and did a 3.5 second dance move with Jolin that cracked everyone up.

15. Connie and TWJ sang some Beyond song. Funny and memorable.

16. Duetted that Cao Ge and what's-her-name song with Wee Lee. Not the Liang Shan Bo one.

17. Sang my most macho song - Shuang Jie Gun.

18. Harmonized with Ming Boon on Dao Dai. Amazing.

19. Duetted with Kherray on Biao Bai.

20. Kherray held her own mini-concert with Elva songs.

21. We sang till a point where we couldn't even do the low notes properly. Ended off with A*Mei's Wo Yao Kuai Le.



22. Took cab back to Woodlands with Wee Lee. Damn tired. I love my class. I love KTV-ing.

Grateful For Everything

Yeah, sometimes just taking time out to be grateful for the stuff that you have just puts everything into perspective. Wealth is something that you can never get enough of but health is something that we take for granted. So take a moment to think about how your body, to quote Baz Luhrmann in Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen), is "the instrument you'll ever have". It freaked me out a lot when my colleague broke the news to me that her husband was diagnosed with colon cancer. It left me unsettled. I realised how fragile life is. I understand the importance of human relationships, which is probably why I spent the rest of the week keeping in touch with friends.

The time you have on earth only gets lesser as each day passes. This reminds me of a rather preachy post I wrote earlier in the month titled More More More. I'm not specially proud of it but I'm glad that it spurred some positive responses, so for those who found meaning in it, I guess we have some kind of connection.

I spent the week celebrating my good health. I went to taste good food at Ding Tai Feng and this chocolate place at the Esplanade on Monday, swam before teaching tuition on Tuesday, ran to Sembawang MRT station and back on Wednesday, played a couple of crazily intense games of badminton on Thursday and snuggling into bed early on Friday. Part of me exercises out of vanity, and I couldn't agree more when I read a Kelly Rowland quote on Life! a couple of weeks ago where she said that she worked out just so she would look good naked. The other part of me was looking for something to do during the time I would just spend staring into space if I didn't have things to do. The badminton game was so fun that I can't wait to go for another session with my colleagues again next Wednesday.

I had a good time catching up with all my friends, new and old. I met Sequeena at Simei MRT to get my backpack back from her after work, and we chatted for a short while before I went to meet Jie Yu for dinner.

There was a Sec 1/2 class outing organised for Wednesday, and I gave Junming a call. It happened that he had something on, and I already had plans that I was unwilling to cancel so both of us didn't go. This made me initiate a conversation with Jia Hui and Ben on MSN, just to find out how they were doing. They were my closest friends in class, and coincidentally, we are all going to NTU!

I talked to Chris on MSN as well. He's coming back to Singapore two days before I make my way to Taiwan! His birthday is on the 9th so he'll probably be planning a booze party for us (which I'm looking forward to) that hopefully I'll be able to attend when I get back!

Ming Boon also SMS-ed me about having a class outing. 03S10A is probably the only class that made me felt I was part of a class so the people who make it up are the ones I really hold close to my heart. I'll be really busy in the coming weeks meeting people and making preparations for my Taiwan trip. I think while scheduling my time to meet up with various people, I should also schedule some "alone time"! I probably only come home early once a week!

Ooh, and congratulations to Jie Yu for passing his driving test. I'll be looking forward to trips to cool places! Ahh, actually I'm grateful for being in the car of my friends who've ever driven me around before - public transport sucks. Weetz, Zhenhui, Shuming, Guo Fei, Fukang, TWJ... I hope the list continues to grow! Hahaha!

"Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young."

Birthdays

It was a bit of a rush to attend two birthday parties in a single day but thanks to my friends being understanding and people providing transport, it made all the travelling more bearable. I was drenched in my own sweat more than once during the day.

I stopped over at Mitchell's place first and was greeted warmly by the hostess herself. It was kind of weird because I haven't seen her in four years already but she hasn't changed much. And the rest of my female classmates don't look very different either. Strangely (or not) enough, I was the only guy from my Secondary School class to be invited, probably because I was the only one close enough to her. I sat beside her in class for two years. It was a little strange initially because I haven't seen them all in a very very long time, but I was pretty comfortable around them, seeing how I was always closer to them than any of the guys in the class. In fact, I'm not in contact with any of them now.



The food was pretty good, and I enjoyed catching up with all of them again. Of course I didn't know that they were already at her house since 3PM (and I was supposed to have tuition at 5) and I really got a lot of crap for coming late. What was worse was that I was going to leave early.

I got to finish a can of beer. I'm never good at beers and there was once where I felt really unwell after drinking one can of Tiger in camp, when I've drank stuff with much higher alcohol content. So I poured a little bit into the cups of the girls sitting at my table. There was a big fuss of me not being gentlemanly, which I retorted by saying I have no image of myself to uphold in front of them!

It's hard to be close to everyone all of the time. But that's another entry for another time.

Wei Jie was nice enough to drive to Khatib MRT station with Ming Boon and the Mahjong table that we got for Jie Yu as his birthday present. Wee Lee met him there and I kind of got lost looking for them, but managed to in the end with a lot of directions from Wee Lee. I don't know if it was due to the humidity or the mild sun burn from the morning's run, but I was once again sweating like a pig. Ming Boon had some Mothers' Day celebration going on, so Wei Jie dropped her off somewhere in Yishun and we headed for Jie Yu's place.

There was a bit of commotion as we brought in the table.

Wee Lee and I stuffed ourselves with food. For me the highlight was the drink. I absolutely love Rose Syrup. It gives me a sugar rush just like drinking Coke does, except without the bubbly. I must admit that I wasn't feeling too sociable but it was entertaining enough just to listen about Wee Lee's recent escapades.



Yeah, and soon enough it was time for the cake-cutting ceremony. Probably couldn't imagine a birthday party without it.



I forgot to ask him how that crown came about! Haha... It's kinda cool because I've only ever seen tiaras on girls before, and this is a refreshing change! Anyway, it was rather overwhelming when everyone started singing the birthday song, which was kickstarted by his gf Chieh. The accompanying cupcakes beside the main one were made by her too.



And then Jie Yu had a bit of an emo moment when he was making his speech. A moment like this makes the whole thing special. And iconic. The words he said were pretty normal. It was the way he said it, like he meant every word, that got everyone's attention.



But after all of that he was still cool enough to smile for the camera. That was followed by a lot of photo taking, with his family, with the Student Council, with his VS friends and of course, with his classmates.



Us.



After gorging myself on all the sweet stuff, we went down to his room to play some games. I must say Yong Xiang is pretty much the opposite of me, and he really knows how to make everyone feel... a part of the group. Anyway, my favourite game's what is now popularly known as the Pirates of the Carribean game, that involves dices and a good forfeit.

Baileys was good.

I left at 11PM, much the host's disappointment and there were a couple of times on the way back that I felt the urge to go back, but yeah... I was safe and sound at home by 12 and caught Good Charlotte Live in KL. They were brill!

Hectic Week

This is another entry of ranting with not much purpose, in fact none at all till I get to watch Spiderman 3. Everybody's talking about. I'll be watching it tomorrow, so... what the hell.

On Monday I went for lunch with Jie Yu and we couldn't help but notice how the public has been bombarded with advertisements for the new Spiderman 3. We went for lunch at the BK at Raffles Place, and we the cups and the holder for the fries had Spiderman printed on them. And I upsized my meal because I wanted to acquire a Spiderman card. Childish I know, but it's once in awhile! I'm a big fan of Spiderman. Ooh, and we had a drink from Boost. That never fails to make me happy. It tastes so good, yet it's healthy!

At night, I met up with Ryan and Shermaine, who had tickets for a Harmonica performance at the Esplanade Recital Hall. I enjoyed myself a lot. I think it's times when you watch other people perform that you relight your passion for music. I was really stunned at how good the second half of the concert was. The first half was performed by a group which was more interested in being technically challenged than actually making music that touches the heart. Not that they succeeded very well in being technically-challenged either. They had one thing going for them though - the pieces they played were rather famous Mozart pieces. The second-half was packed with unique performances. Harmonica with piano backing, harmonica with CD-"orchestra" backing, amazing solos, and tight, small groups of three, each wielding a different harmonica. It's been a long time since I've seen a harmonica performance, so I really have to thank Shermaine for offering me tickets to watch it.

On Tuesday I went for for a haircut with Guo Fei at Kimage. I kinda like my hair but I thought 30 bucks for the it was a little steep.



After that we met Samuel at Paragon for some top-secret thing that I'm not supposed to reveal. We had our dinner at Lucky Plaza, where I'd used to have lunch so often when I was working at Wisma. I stopped by my former workplace to say hi to a couple of people before heading over to Wheelock place, where Samuel got a laptop case (actually it'll fit A4 papers too) from Crumpler. Our last stop was Lido where we took a chance and actually went to see if there were any Spiderman 3 tickets left. If there were, we'd watch it straightaway. As expected, there wasn't any, and they even had an A4 printout just before the queue for the tickets that said "Spiderman 3 tickets SOLD OUT". Guo Fei left for home while Samuel and I had a chat about his job that I was going to take over.

On Wednesday night I met Wee Lee after tuition for a drink and a little chat. It's also been some time since I stopped by Causeway Point. I suppose it's due to the place being in such close proximity to mine that I've always ignored it. To me it's like heading to the coffee shop downstairs. Anyway, we had iced tea at Mos Burger and talked about lives. Actually more of his, because he was stuck in a rather interesting predicament, but it'm sure it'll be rewarding in the long run.

On Thursday was my first day of work. More on that later! After my tuition at Sengkang which ended at 9PM, my family went to this coffee shop at Merdien LRT station for dinner in celebration of Mothers' Day! Haha, it's really way in advance but it's kind of cool. I enjoyed stuffing myself with black pepper crab. It was amazing.

I met Zhenhui on Friday, when Shuming became MIA all of sudden after informing us of her trip to Sentosa. We went to return the car that was rented at Punggol, took a bus to his place where he went to get his Ikea Friends Card (while I went to use the toilet at Compasspoint and listened to Thnks Fr Th Mmrs on repeat). It was another bus ride to Tampiness Ikea, which I went for the first time. It was very spacious. I guess the land on which it was built was cheap, and this Courts, Ikea and Giant each had their own buildings with lots of free parking lots! The layout made it look a whole lot like Malaysia! The meatballs at Ikea were tasty as usual and we started shopping.



I actually bought clothes hangers again. They were going for 5 at $1.50, when I discinctly remember getting them for a tad more money. So according to a certain warped logic of mine of averages, I just had to get them. (After a quick search on my blog I just realised that I got them for the same price! Oops!)

Saturday was a KBox session with Ryan. It was one of the best sessions I've had, probably because we went crazier this time around, and there weren't any expectations of what we were going to sing. I'm wondering whether I should put up my version of Everytime. It does sound a bit forced at some places though. Hmmm.

I should really cut down on meeting people because it seems like it's the only way to save money! I don't know yet, but I've only got 2 more months to save for Uni and I've only got a measly amount of money in the bank. To add to that, I've got a trip to Taiwan in July. Gosh. It's quite a headache. I'm considering working at the upcoming PC show, but it starts on a Thursday, which I have work commitments. I've just been struck by the painful realisation that it's probably never going to be enough.

Alright, time for tuition!

CNY Things

On Monday night (gosh I haven't been updating this blog in a really long time!), the class had an annual gathering at Ming Boon's house. We had this fantastic steamboat (as usual) but what was really great was the company. I realised that having them around is such a great thing - the jokes that came from knowing each other that well, and of course our "he xin nian" singing whenever someone said something scandalous just shows how much chemistry we have. It's really special to have a time for all of us to sit at the same table, have a meal, and talk.



Of course, after that we had the after-meal activities which include Mahjong and Blackjack. Overall, I lost money, but that's hardly the point. I had the most thrilling Blackjack session ever - I think I almost lost my voice after that! Yeah, it's kind of insane. I tried my hand at Mahjong for abit, which was okay (as in I didn't lose that much money!).



I can't wait to have another excuse for a class gathering. We don't do it often enough!

The next day I had work, but I managed to meet up with a couple of my army friends after that. Guo Fei, Samuel, and I made our way to Ivan's house from Causeway Point where Shawn (and of course Ivan) was already waiting! I was rather full from a dinner with Ryan, but since there was steamboat, we helped ourselves to it! Throughout most of that conversation they were discussing Warcraft, but I don't really mind because after knowing them for so long, I think they'd die if they didn't talk about it! Haha... After that we started playing Mahjong, and Shawn sort of helped me out and taught me stuff. I felt that I learnt a lot from this session! Can't wait for the next one! We left at about 3AM as all of us had to work the next day.

Yesterday a couple of us class peeps went to TWJ's 21st birthday chalet. More updates on that once the photos come in. I'm quite excited to be going to Chris' party today as well. And that would mark the end of a very busy week of entertaining!

It's Not The End

And so after a crazy day in JB, I went back home to rest. In a last minute change of plans, Jie Yu decided that he was going to send David off, and messaged me accordingly.

I used to be bloody afraid of dogs, but for some reason I played with Junior. For the first time after knowing him for about 4 years already. I would usually run away and freak out when he started jumping around. I mean, I've always tried to be nice, but even on that day, he was growling at me! While I was doing some waiting, I called out to him and he came over to let me have a pat and scratched his tummy while he licked my fingers.

I don't understand why, as much as I like animals, I'm afraid of them.

It probably stems from the fact that I give them a lot of respect.

Jie Yu and I dragged outselves out of bed to make out way to the airport. By that time we were walking zombies slept most of the way on the bus ride there. It was a terribly irritating one, with the bus uncle chiding the school kids to move further back in so that more people could board. In the end the journy took twice the time, but luckily enough for us, David's flight got delayed!

A fine example of blessing in disguise.

We met Puay Leng at Terminal 2, grabbed something to eat from Crystal Jade (I think!) and then Angeline arrived after her little "Terminal 2 Amazing Race" and we made our way to Terminal 1 to look for David. He was without his phone and for a moment we were a mini-search party, and it was only on our second prowl that we found him!

Coincidentally enough we met Ahmad who was also sending his friend off to Perth, and we all had a chat. He's going into the same course as me! Gosh.



My camera was on low batt as we rushed to take a couple of photos. The guy who took it for us was bloody friendly.

Anyway, there's no point being too mushy here because I'm sure he's there having a lot of fun. It'd be great to hear from him soon. He just needs to set up his internet connection and get a desktop. Hope he hurries up - we're all waiting to hear from him!

Debbie's Surprise

So on Wednesday night, Jie Yu and I met at Raffle Place MRT station before making our way down to Tampines. It was raining, and too expensive to hail a cab, so we were left with the only viable alternative - bus 29.

We got off at the wrong stop, walked in the wrong direction, but luckily enough, one of the guys working there gave us a ride in his car to the chalet. For that we were eternally grateful. It would've taken us 20-30 minutes to get there on foot! On the way he told us of how he was retrenched by SIA and how he had to put up with this job which had no leaves (sick or not), benefits, and terribly long working hours. I think I shouldn't complain about mine.

Anyway, when we arrived we got to catch the video that Debbie's dad made for her, which was real sweet. We munched on food and caught up with one another. And then it was time for Debbie to open the present we got for her.



And then we took a class photo.



We're a bunch of colourful people. Anyway we hung around some more before taking even more photos, but the one with the guys didn't turn out too well, so I've decided not to post it, even though I've uploaded it already!

In case you're wondering what my shirt says - CAM WHORE everyone's a model, I'm a star on my own blog.

Tomorrow I'll update on the fantastic movie that is Confessions of Pain, which I caught last night at Lido with my army buddies. Hopefully.