Rants & Ravings

The power of suggestion..
Over dinner, John was telling us about this game he played. Knights of the Old Republic. Its a Star Wars game. So after hearing about it, Paul and I were like.. hmm.. nice.. so we went to Siglap centre and 7-11 to check but to no avail so we all went back. Then I decided to check out Parkway so I drove there.. (cause John said they might sell).. called Daryl and asked if he wanted to come also.. then after searching MPH, who do we see but Paul.. who also came to scout out for the game.. so there we were.. 3 grown men looking for 1 game all over Marine Parade.. and still cannot find.. sigh..

Woah.. what are the odds of that?
Just talking to an ex soci-classmate online. And whoa.. she knows abt firewalls.. that's.. impressive.. I mean.. seriously.. haha..and torrents.. and bittorrent..and she still wants one of my free x-boxes.. sheesh.. some people quite single-minded..
On a related note, my SCV connection is still like crap because of the severed cable.. ugh!!.....

Fun but busy day!
Today begins my summer school term. Was quite apprehensive at first.. cause I'm one of the 5 people who have to show the students from overseas around. When I arrived with Ben, the briefing had already started.. So we went in and listened. While looking at the places that we had to show them around, I realised that... die.. not really sure.. haha.. panic.. start to regret signing up..
Then we were each assigned a group and I got a group of 8 people. 4 guys 4 gals. So started with some brief intro and talking.. but before that a few of them came to talk to us the orientation ppl.. (funny right? haha.. instead of we starting the conversation they did..).. got to Meet Rodrigo from Guatamala, Andy from the Middle East and Kathie from Panama.. Cool bunch of people..Also got to know a year 2 EE student called Alvin. He's cool too.. Later got to know the rest a bit more lah.. here and there.. so I brought them to see the places on the list, but since we were ahead of schedule, brought them to Main Co-op so they could buy their textbooks and other stuff.. then because of this we were late.. haha.. then the Registrar Office ppl panicked and called me.. but my hp batt low.. oh well.. so got them there.. settled paper work, went to OSA to settle more paper work then the fun began.. hahaha.
Brought them to Clementi to try some local fare.. also tried to help them solve their cash card problem.. I think Singapore has a big problem leh.. we want to be cashless but we are so restrictive.. I mean locals have NETS is ok lah.. but to expect students from overseas to have? That's hard lah.. so even if can get cash card how to top up? most places use nets to top up.. jialat siah.. CMI..
Anyway I apologised to them on behalf of our country's peculiar ways.. After that went to 7-11 to buy cash cards and top it up with cash.. haha.. bet the 7-11 ppl were shocked.. so many ppl come to buy cash card and top up so much money..
After that went back to campus where I brought Smitha, Kathie and Alex to configure their wireless network cards, sent Andy, Kathie and Alvin to the airport then went home.. but before that , made a detour to Sam's house to deliver a package..
It's been a long tiring day.. tomorrow just as long and tiring.. haha..

Kelsey Grammer is Beast!??!!
What gives.. Tv's "Frasier" is going to be Beast in X-men 3. I can see him doing the voice.. but him acting as Beast? hmm..

Fishin'!!!
It was a great day. Weather was good. Company was good. Fishing was good. First time fishing. Thanks to Ben for organising.. haha.. and lending me your gear.. sorry I lost 2 hooks. Was really blessed during the fishing. Caught 6 fishes!! haha.. of which 2 were quite big.. Heh. The first one I caught was the biggest for the whole fishing trip.. way cool.. was a red snapper I think... Learnt a lot from everyone.. hope can remember. Stuff tying the hook, tying the weight, setting up the rod, putting the bait (live prawn) on the hook, throwing out to sea, pulling it in.. ah.. so much fun.. It's relaxing cause very slow pace, but tiring cause of weather and heat and waking up early.. Jonathan or Xinyi will probably be putting up pictures soon.. so wait for it.. Eh.. to those who don't know, eh.. Xinyi's blog is under It's blog. Ya.. Also everyone else got burnt cause they spent super a lot of time sitting outside the boat, whereas me, being lazy and nua spent a bit only so not a cooked lobster.. or a cherry..
Am exhausted now. Just came home close to 8. Showered (squid ink everywhere, thanks ah Jon...), ate now chilling a bit. Right hand got further injured with several cuts from catching live prawns (their parts are sharp), de-hooking the fish (their scales and fins are sharp), removing the hook from fish (hook's sharp). Need to get some rest and repairs done..

Kinda worried now..
Just got a mail regarding release of exam results.. It comes out the end of this month.. man.. talk about a real buzz kill.. kinda worried for 1 of my modules.. the one where I barely did 50% of the qns.. sigh..

Mutilated Right Hand
I am now temporarily handicapped. My right hand is incapacitated after today. Long time never play guitar now got blister, torn skin etc etc.. sigh..

Conversations that take a life of their own.
Was talking to Khai on MSN. Asking him about how to look after my new LCD monitor when the conversation progressed to me getting 2 more monitors so I can have 3 (kinda like what jonathan used to have), then it went to open air screenings (drive thru cinemas) which led to opening one at marina bay which lead to Integrated Resorts, which led to IR Baboon, which led to a new mascot for the IR and a company for us to run followed by a way to prevent locals from going to the IRs.. haha..

Hunt for the elusive white iPod mini casing...
What was supposed to be a 20 minute max pick up and go errand became a 1.5 hr scavanger hunt from orchard to city hall.. In the end, I was told that it doesn't come in white. Closest is clear.. sigh.. I hate Apple. I really really do. I mean you guys may have aesthetics.. but some of the colour schemes u guys have just plain suck.
Saw some unusual sights though.
1) L-plate student driving with teacher along Orchard Rd. Does this violate any rules? Maybe .. maybe not..
2) A lady of around 60 wearing a bright blue top with black mini skirt.. I am blind..

Looking for a 4th
Need a 4th person to join us on the holiday to Vietnam. Taking advantage of SIA package deal. Dates are from 14th to 19th. Price is $269(inclusive of tax and stuff). Reply fast.

Quiet day on the blogging front.
All the blogs on my blog roll are all quiet. No movement, no updates nothing. So what'd I do? I created my own fun.. haha.. began this debate on the YAG mailing list.. so much fun.. and just when it gathered momentum it was stopped.. oh well.. there's always another time. There's a lesson to be learnt from this incident. If a) someone sends something stupid via a mailing list, don't dignify it with a reply.. if you want to reply to it, don't give a ditzy reply.. seriously.. u're just asking for it.. if I didn't do it, someone else would have.. haha..

Offer made to Adam
God looks down and notices that Adam is all alone while all the animals have companions, so he decides to create a companion for man as well. He comes to see Adam and says to him, "Adam, you are my greatest creation and therefore, I am going to create for you the ultimate companion. She will worship the very ground you walk on, she will long for you and no other, she will be highly intelligent, she will wait on you hand and foot and obey your every command, she will be beautiful, and all it will cost you is an arm and a leg." Thinking for a few moments, Adam replies, "What could I get for a rib?"

Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands. When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. "You're running around with other women," she charged."You're being unreasonable," Adam responded. "You're the only woman on earth." The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest. It was Eve. "What do you think you're doing?" Adam demanded. "Counting your ribs," said Eve

The wonders of placebo
My dad got me a new toy. Khai is going to either a) die or b) kill me.. haha.. or c) both.. I got a 19" Viewsonic LCD VG900 monitor at cheap price of 530+ or something.. that's a super good deal.. I mean that's slightly more than the estimate he gave me for the 17" monitor..

Ignore this.
It's almost 1am. It's late and I'm tired. Why am I writing this? I don't know. Don't comment also. I probably dunno how to reply.
" Do not answer a fool according to his own folly, or you will be like him yourself." Prov 26:4

"Everyday the pieces are re-arranged on the board. Each piece to its place. Each piece plays a function. Pieces capture other pieces and are in turn used to lure other pieces. It's an endless game. The endless waltz. We may not like how it ends each day. Some days we win, other days we lose. When we lose, we pick up our pieces and go home. But no matter what happens; the next day, the board is re-arranged again. The pieces are put in their places again, ready to begin another round. But the status quo is not restored."

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Read in the papers
Bet you didn't know there is a basketball team in China called the Beijing Ducks.. hahahaahahahaha..
Heh.. man, sometimes these things just write themselves.

C S Lewis' Screwtape Letters
Bought this book a while back. Read a bit here and there then stopped. Never got round to finishing it. Am trying to read it now. I recommend the book. Seriously. He was like years before his time in his thinking.
On the tech front, things seem to be picking up. 1) Broadband seems to be better now. 2) Car getting serviced tomorrow 3) Should be getting a new monitor soon (17 inch LCD viewsonic as referred to by Khai) 4) Digi cam fixing should be taking place.
On the social front, playing new game I bought. Dragonball Budokai 3!!!... way cool.
On the present shopping front, slow (read: no progress) I have just learnt from Cheryl that there are many many kinds of shoes for women.. Way too many in my opinion.. did you know that wedges are shoes? So you don't only eat them..
So since I'm so slow, I'm taking a poll. What would be a good present for a person's sweet 16 birthday? (the fact that I said sweet means its a girl so no weird gifts )

Broadband's on the fritz
Man everything electronic is falling apart around me. My monitor is dying, my broadband is acting weird (adding onto the already dead digital camera and dying digitial video camera). If it has circuits it will die.. My monitor think need to get new one. Any recommendations for a 17 inch LCD monitor? Khai? Broadband dunno why.. just started today.. after a while my speed drops to 0.. this has never happened before.. dunno what is going on.. anyone using Maxonline also having this problem or not having this problem? I need to troubleshoot..
On another note, I think today got very tough exam(s)... must be alot of students emoting the weather at once.. that's why the rain was so heavy.. haha.. that's my theory.. Bought quite a few things, comics, dvd, computer game.. haha.. now just need to fix my failing components.. Don't you just hate it when things around you fall apart?

Laura Fygi concert
Went to the jazz concert tonight. Was very good. For many reasons. Firstly, got upgraded seats.. haha.. we actually got the cheapest seats .. but then due to turnout problems, they upgraded our seats to the second most expensive seats.. haha.. way cool.. then the concert was different from Diana Krall's one.. For one it was more upbeat and more interaction between the performers and the audience. There were 3 encores. Highlights of the night would be Laura attempting to dance with her saxophonist but the guy didn't want to claiming an injured knee so she asked him "Are you gay?".. haha.. then there was the part where she borrowed a cell phone from an audience member to call her husband in Holland.. Also when all the musicians did an acoustic item using the double bass, 3 wazoos and 1 box for percussion. She sang 2 chinese songs also.. haha.. one is the Theresa Teng song abt the moon.. quite good.. That was her last encore song.. the second last was the song "perhaps perhaps perhaps" in spanish. She also did songs like "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" dressed up as Marilyn Monroe. She really let herself go in the performances. Very nice.

Dreams of sugar plums and fairies
Wonder what THOSE dreams are like.. never had them before.. rather I had a bizarre dream last night. For the most part of it, the dream took part on a train. Not MRT... but those kind of train that people take cross-country.. the brown wooden interior kind where u can eat on board at the lunch cart and stuff.. sat it once. Guess my brain was re-using that info. Anyway on the train were like lots of people that I've met in my life.. and I had conversations with some of them.. Seemed to be like a "gauntlet" of sorts.. each cabin got .. harder? Didn't really make it to the end of the cabin. Was woken up by the cold. Maybe its for the best.

Wedding part 2.
Ok, all decked up in the formals.. went to pick up uncle, grandma and maid, then went to the venue.. My cousins all wearing suits also.. so I'm not left out.. haha.. Seemed to be a really big affair for all the older relatives.. "Wah all the boys so grown up and handsome.. cannot recognise".. Then the qns to ask during and after the wedding, "so who getting married next?" Then we passed the buck.. haha.. Me being the next oldest grandchild, I said pass, so my next cousin gets it who passes, and his brother passes which falls on the youngest who cannot pass..hahah..
Then we talked abt other stuff.. like how they thought they would be sitting at a closer table cause they would be sitting with me. brother of the bride.. haha.. but then they found out our table no. was 17.. which was like the last table for all the immediate relatives.. so we called ourselves the "Outcast table".. haha.. so sad right? Like how I the brother of the bride gets dumped at some obscure corner like the black sheep of the family, also in the video clip also never appear much (cause I filming what.. but strangers won't know.. )..heh Then I said that I took a downgrade so can sit with them.. haha..
Other interesting bits of conversation: the males in my family have a curse or something.. none of the relatives on both my grandfathers' side were invited to the wedding. Also my cousin's grandfather's side (he told me) they don't keep in touch at all.. so I was saying that next time when (if we have) grandkids get married, non of the others would be invited cause.. well keeping in tradition..
Another interesting thing happened. Kylie minogue is evil. Her song (the annoying nanana one) shattered the pyramid of champagne glasses.. seriously.. the bass line was so loud it vibrated 3 rows off the pyramid, shattering the glasses. haha.. hilarious..
Yet another thing, we cannot be ushers.. we just sat there and bum.. People come we point to the general direction of the table.. haha.. And at one point, all 4 guys decked out in tux all look like mafia hitman.. haha..
Was an interesting night.. and don't ask me for pictures cause I don't have any. I don't take pictures remember? :D