im a dreamer, seeking solace

hi

2010-05-29T17:22:00.001+08:00

so...it has been eons since i last updated this blog. not even sure if everything works now, esp the comments page.

just in case anyone still reads this, i'm still alive and recovering.

shes the best.

2009-08-10T13:28:00.002+08:00

not knowing how to appreciate and realise that the right one for me, has been around me for some time, is one weakness of mine.

for all the wonderful things she has done, i hope to make it up to her :)

here's to many many hours, days, weeks, months and years of fun and joy spent together. you rock, darling.

such is life

2009-07-14T03:00:00.002+08:00

life is but a torrent
gushing forward with a mind of its own
throwing you into situations yet unknown

sometimes i wonder the purpose of my life
to no avail but of course
for it changes with every turn
shrouded in mystery
for better or worse

as i lie in bed with my neck nestled comfortably
i wonder and wonder
what course my river of life will take
will i be successful financially?
will my career be one of interest?
will i find true love?

as i lie in bed with my neck nestled comfortably
i know that whatever the course life takes me through
i will learn
i will pick up skills and knowledge
i will hang on.

to life
to love
to everything homosapien

cold storage.

2009-06-28T23:24:00.003+08:00

so here i am, writing. exercising the part of my brain that has been somewhat inactive, dormant for some time.

way too many things have happened in my life. sometimes as i look at the photos of friends on facebook, im overwhelmed by a myriad of feelings - from regret stemming from not having achieved as much as my peers as a result of slacking too much, to embarrassment. yes embarrassment of having done certain stuff at stages of my life. lest your imagination runs wild, no they arent anything big like..walking ard public with a hole in my pants.

random musings:
~thank god belle is doing fine. havent heard from her in years..
~kelly's still in the middle east, saw the news, its SCORCHINGLY hot over there. she's gonna get a good tan...
~hong kong, taiwan here i come
~grace and her grazed knee. oh man.
~transformers.
~neck recovery. cant cycle..for months.

emo

2009-05-09T03:08:00.001+08:00

well i really wished i din make the mistake back then.

and that she's back and that we are together.

she's the only one who has taken all my shit and not judged me. yet i hurt her time and again. damn.

hi all!

2009-04-21T02:06:00.002+08:00

finally back from the exams. shagged out. but happy to be alive.

hmm now that im freer till summer mods start, im beginning to think and emo. damn relationships. why did i make the mistake back then? is it too late to redeem myself? damn myself.

bad bad day

2009-01-24T18:05:00.002+08:00

so my legs cramped before coastal and it kept doing so till i finally reached home. headwinds, inconsiderate drivers made the ride back miserable.

then i had diarrhoea. not once, but 5 times as of now today. fantastic.

after waking up, i received the groupings for a certain mod. and i am in the first group - to present. miserable. w no friends in the group too.

grumbles*

the worst has come

2009-01-22T18:54:00.002+08:00

i did a presentation on fiscal reserves as well as the role of the president in guarding them for lslma, under prof helena chan.

i learnt many stuff, including that important fact that the fiscal reserves of Singapore are largely not tapped into. and guess what - i woke up today (in the afternoon) to news that the government is now reaching into these reserves ($4.9 billion!) under the Resilience Package.

if anything, it's ominous, foreshadowing the worst economic performance in YEARS! negative GDP (another red light), record unemployment rate expected (yet ANOTHER) and whatnots.

please, i hope the majority of us will weather these tough times; that employers will be compassionate and look at the employee payrolls as rigidly fixed cost (thus NOT retrenching them..well hopefully) and that we come out of this turmoil battered, but whole.

on a lighter note, i realised my writing skills have deteriorated somewhat; perhaps i should practise more before it becomes worse.

well.

2009-01-18T02:53:00.004+08:00

i have hurt you more than once and i have lost your trust and confidence. though i realised there are remnants of sentiment, i will never do anything to put you in a such precarious position again.

this is the hardest decision i have had to make and i will definitely regret it.

oh dang.

2008-12-30T03:29:00.002+08:00

folks, meet Time and Tide. they are impatient beings, they wait for no one.

cheesy haha.

honestly though, time passes too fast. i rem it was last year (or was it 2 years ago?) that i sat in front of the comp and reflected upon my accomplishments..and failures for the entire year. i may just have to do this again, for self-improvement.

anyhow, i have high expectations of myself this coming sch term. no more dragging my feet in my studies. no more being silly. here's to the new year...and xmas. cheers.

PS: my legs are still aching from the run on saturday. hahah and im NOT gonna let u get away with making me lose the bet, ms eve.

SINGSSS

2008-12-24T03:00:00.002+08:00

im whistling to the cheerful tune of next plane home by daniel powter! everyone should hear it!

welcome Mack!

2008-12-12T17:24:00.004+08:00

welcome back mac, it has been a tedious 1 week plus w/o you. so i got my casing and hdd replaced as they had cracks and broke down respectively.

i lost ALL the settings for firefox and itunes, being the noob i am. but for the most part i have been fortunate as i backed up all the data.

check out the pretty f12 : P

one observation i've made. most of the bloggers in uni only do so during the holidays and not during the school term haha. later people.

aeroodynamisssmmm

2008-09-25T21:18:00.005+08:00

Wheeels!

check this out - zipp 808 ftw! like jeff pointed out, HOW COME they din test soul 4.0 wheels : (

oh and i thot i saw mer today while cycling, i called her name out but she din hear leh!

okay back to finance..ZZZ

messed up

2008-08-29T21:19:00.001+08:00

everything is going WRONG.

oh gosh.

2008-08-10T21:09:00.003+08:00

thanks yahoo, for the avalanche of spam you have failed to block.

bondue!

2008-08-04T01:48:00.003+08:00

the only thing that kept me going as a helper was the interaction with the ever-energetic freshies and friends present. a loud shout-out to evelyn, tianle and victoria :)

smux camp is this wednesday and i think my freshies are gonna be a great bunch. WOOT.

PS: congras to kitty for having graduated! may you continue to have inspiration and find a job (if you havent) that you like!

camps

2008-07-27T01:25:00.002+08:00

2 down, 1 more to go!

the last one was fun! met lots of really cool friends, shout out to jane lim (she will never read this i bet), "asean", ying, eunice and a lot more from hale!

more details of the camp to go when ive the energy!

chili crabs and life

2008-07-15T22:15:00.003+08:00

today i did not eat the pincers of the chili crabs which were part of my sis's birthday dinner, on purpose.

i did not want things to be easy, to take things for granted. often, my parents and sis would peel the flesh for me, or give me the pincers which are often the largest, meatiest part of the crabs. not consuming the pincers is my way of giving back : )

its often strange how one behaves with age.

PS: on a totally unrelated note, i must say that there are all sorts of pple in this world. including peculiar ones. tsk tsk.

rationalization

2008-07-15T04:20:00.002+08:00

it often gets complicated when one attempts to rationalize the thought processes (or judgments in this case) of others.

the need for presence in the context of single- and multiple- acts constituting the criminal offence(s) is such an example. i would swing towards michael hor's observations that presence is NOT a pre-condition but evidence of participation.

in any case, if only a hard and fast rule would govern the ruling of all cases. then, there wouldn't be elaborate essays that attempt to capture the gist of the various seemingly contradictory cases. however, this would remove variation and hence the element of fun, wouldnt it?

climbing!

2008-07-14T13:05:00.003+08:00

hmm from the past few weeks of climbing relatively mild hills in singapore, i realised im not very good at it.

i'm either unfit or not used to the bike or the bike geometry isnt suitable for climbing.

i'm more inclined towards the former as the common saying goes "its not the bicycle. its the rider". more than ever, im disposed to keep training harder, to perhaps purchase a stationary trainer.

jia you jia you!

PS: ben and jerry still rocks my shox.
PS PS: how do u guys find the jersey below? its a matching one to the tights i already own.

ralph lauren polo explorer

2008-07-11T17:38:00.002+08:00

ladies and gentlemen, i present to you the ralph lauren polo explorer cologne, aftershave and hair & body gel.

my sis got this when she came back from vietnam and since then, i've fallen in love with the smell! the only disappointment is that the cologne is a toilette and not a perfume, but hey its good enough for me : )

do get this for your male boyfriends/male friends/dads/brothers! they will love it. Hmm ok on second thots DON'T! i dont want the entire male population in singapore smelling as goooddd as me!

HAHA.

ok on a more serious note, smux camp bbq and law camp group meeting this sunday. mtg w dawn this coming tues, and delph & steph after that. friday's with kelly. saturday-sun is the mock smux camp.

see, i dont need a goggle calendar as recommended by ezzah and gladys.

sleeeplessness

2008-06-30T09:06:00.001+08:00

its only when you have experienced the inability to sleep, does the contrary seem so (for lack of a better word) good!

close shaves

2008-06-26T18:42:00.002+08:00

i almost died two times today doing 5 loops w hill climbs around bukit panjang.

1st close shave: i was negotiating a gradual downhill on my dropbars when a car cut in front of me (it was a 2-lane road, 1 lane in each direction) and stopped to turn left. i had to swerve to the right and almost got knocked down by a lorry. i still dunno how much clearance there was between the lorry and i, but it must have been close.

2nd close shave: ending the 5 loops, i was accelerating from this Z-ing and was on my aerobars when the left "elbow cushion" slipped, dropping in height abruptly. this led to a sudden shift in weight forward and to the right. thank god i recovered in time.

on this note, i would like to say that i have had several close shaves for the 3k+ kms i have been riding on the road. many a times, i would have been seriously hurt or killed if not for GOD. all praise goes to him. here's wishing jinsheng a speedy recovery - he got into an accident last night and last i heard, his leg's broken. speedy recovery bro!

ride safe.

zzz

2008-06-18T01:50:00.001+08:00

lord diplock writes very cheem verdicts.

east side fever

2008-06-10T02:03:00.002+08:00

clocked ard 128 km today - something neither jefri nor i set out to do when we decided to head to the east side to do coastal. everything went as planned - thru ecp, then coastal and back to ecp. dinner after that.

however, it was decided that it'd be foolish to head home then. peak hour traffic at bukit timah is not joke. so yeah i made the call (jefri suggested it) to do coastal 1 more time and thereafter, we decided to take west coast followed by clementi road on the way back.

bad idea - the climbs at nus and clementi (at holy cross there, and the sim/ngee ann poly area) sapped most of our energy. with the last of what i had in me, i managed to get home.

it was a fulfilling ride. legs are dead-laden; fatigue and the build up of lactic acid has taken their tolls. but its a good feeling, i love aches and sore body parts.

1 aim, i will go all out to achieve it.

woohoo!

2008-06-06T23:50:00.003+08:00

went to far east plaza to get my hair cut at supercuts by a hairstylist called serene. it was jefri's maiden experience of having a hairstylist and not a barber cut his hair. it turned out pretty good, pictures are below. looks like mug-shoots huh? hahha.

i know this is bad (and jefri you will kill me) but jefri seemed quite uncomfortable having a guy massage/wash his hair. hahha he'll get used to it soon! no turning back.

after all was done, we made our way to seoul garden, taka. had WAY too much meat (oddly, we only had 3 platefuls of meat, compared to 4 when we ate at woodlands) and almost puked. hahha okay thats an exaggeration but the stomach did feel weird.

ok here comes the funny part: we went to the bus stop outside taka ard 5 something to take 171 home. being the smartass i am, i suggested we walk back 1 or 2 stops to catch the bus so that we could have seats. as we walked back, we saw this almost empty 171 zoom past. ZZZ. then then then, there was a sequence of SIX, yes SIX 190s that we saw before the next 171 came. as u prob know, i normally take 190 to go home.

so yeah there u have it. my day.

yesterdayyy all my troublesss seeemed soo farawaay

2008-06-04T20:00:00.002+08:00

hahah YES THEY DID. highlights of the day:

10 am odd: met up with amanda and made our way to cafe del mar, sentosa. it started raining when we JUST sat down on the dubious-looking cushions which were lying on top of the suntanning chairs. we made our way into the sheltered area and our food and drinks came! fish and chips, calamari and mocktails round #1.

rain stopped, sun came and we went back to suntanning. mocktails round #2. heaven! mocktails round #3 came around and so did the rain. sticking to our usual contingency plan, we made our way to the sheltered area before heading home once it had stopped raining. in between the rain and mocktails round #2, we took a whole lot of photos, had a brief nap and yeah suntannnnnned!

6 pm odd: met kelly! SO GLAD to see her. longer hair, prettier, and SO busy. see la, intern then forget gabby le. sad la. we met amanda and ams shortly thereafter and ate at the new jpn place @ raffles city (yes, its NOT raffles place, kelly). ordered A LOT of food - ams contributed a lot. golden mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, beef, chicken, egg, tomato rice, etc.

hahha SO much for budget right? this was further aggravated by expensive dessert at canele. BRICK-like chocolate cake, cheese cake and uh another chocolate cake w "air" - internal joke.

9 pm odd: timbre! pizza - 1/2 duck, 1/2 seafood. FANTASTIC. the chili powder there is the epitome of spiciness. band was good, cute guitar players/singer according to ams and met daniel wuu there too! oh and yes lots of photos taken and mocktails/cocktails!

lots of $$$ spent, but had fun. thank you ams, kelly and amanda!

ntu bike rally 2008

2008-06-02T23:54:00.002+08:00

alright, now that i have the energy to, i will give an account of the bike rally this year. as most would know, the full journey was to be around 128 km, but i managed to clock 153+ km due to my being lost (more on that later) and the trip to ecp.

jeff and i met at ard 0555 and made our way to ecp. it was meant to be a slow, warm-up ride there but due to time constraints (registration was slated to close at 0630) we did around 33-42 km/h. soon after reaching ecp, we were met with a downpour that drenched our bikes, clothes, socks and to a certain extent, morale. minutes after registering, we were off! sticking to our grand plan, we started from wayyy back and slowly made our way to the front.

the ride to the checkpoint before coastal was mostly uneventful, save for 3 events - 2 in which i was almost knocked down thanks to 2 HORRIBLE SINGAPOREAN drivers and 1 in which the marshaler stationed outside the serangoon sec school did not direct me towards the school which resulted in me doing an additional 10 km, almost hitting hougang. as u would know, the stretch from serangoon sec to the caltex petrol station where i stopped was filled with HUGE uphills and of course downhills, a leg more strenuous than mandai.

the coastal stretch was concluded using the newly-built park connector to my surprise. i had already consumed my 2nd pack of energy gel and was prepare to negotiate the coastal stretch on the road. nonetheless, this last stretch proved to be really tiring. i briefly lost the 2nd safety cyclist (the lead cyclist was nowhere to be seen at that point of time) with jeff hot on his heels. fortunately i managed to stay around 30-33 km/h despite the stiff headwinds and caught up with the lead and safety cyclists. thereafter, it was just a mad rush to the finishing point. RELIEF! jeff came in shortly thereafter. great job buddy!

in my humble opinion, several improvements could be made: scrape the idea of giving out sandwiches which are WAY too dry, station more marshalers along the long stretch following the west coast highway before ntu and yes a larger variety of food would be good.

kudos to the organisers of ntu nevertheless, 200+ people would be a logistic nightmare, but they did good.

a quick shoutout to patience and company (alvin couldnt make it), the guy in the black pearl izumi attire who was racing alongside me at neo tiew at speeds in excess of 40 km/h at certain points and to the lead and safety cyclists who finished before i did - u guys did a good job of clearing the path at ecp and pulling : )

2008 ntu bike rally - a job well done.

woohoO!

2008-06-01T16:55:00.003+08:00

ok now that this blog has been revived and facebook bicycle app is not working, im gonna post my mileage for the ntu bike rally here!

briefly (cos i barely slept 20 mins for the entire night), i got lost during the leg to serangoon sec school and somehow almost reached hougang. damnit,

but the entire journey was fun, i clocked 153.25 km and yes it IS just shy of the 100 mile mark ZZZ. was too shag after the ride to attempt the remain 6+ km so yeah.

gonna crash soon, ciao pple!

with fatigue comes relief from overwhelming thoughts,
gabby

recovery stage.

2008-06-01T00:41:00.002+08:00

hours of reflection have induced a sense of numbing surrender. some matters are out of my hand, matters that perplex the most intellectual beings on earth too. of course, im in no way inducing im anywhere near the named group of people.

anyhow i have decided to forget. perhaps this is the reason why the elderly develop senile dementia - they are simply happier (i stand corrected should any readers bring up compelling evidence to prove otherwise) as ignorance does equate to bliss sometimes.

if only i haven't committed so many mistakes in such a short span of time. if only.

on the brighter side of things, WOOHOO ntu bike rally tmr. jeff and i intend to hit 160 km aka 100 miles aka Century by riding to ECP tmr. if need be, we'll clock more distance by doing ecp after the event? hahha no idea. hope we'll survive on this arduously long endeavour.

cheers!

"don't think too much"

2008-05-31T03:02:00.002+08:00

that's what i tell my friends when it comes to matters of the heart. its about time i tell that to myself and therein, attempt to convince myself.

its like a sore nerve - keep touching it and things only spiral downwards into an uncontrollable train of destruction, degradation, self-reprimand. thoughts, like the cruel hand of fate, keeps flooding my mind.

"where have i gone wrong?"
"why did that happen?"

to bemoan the event would be a waste of time - sorrow does not act as morphine, it does not reverse things, it does not make me feel better.

my mum's right after all. certain things are but transient things. study hard, that's where YOUR future lies.

i shall go back to my carefree attitude as soon as possible; greater, more important things lie in front. obstacles to be overcame, dangers to be weathered.

herein, i rest my case.

coastal

2008-05-29T15:54:00.000+08:00

freaking headwinds!

alive but crippled

2008-05-16T23:02:00.001+08:00

hi folks, i know i havent been blogging. reasons being i was extremely busy during the sch term and that my template's screwed up and hence ive no mood to blog.

do msn/call/sms/meet me if u wanna catch up yeah : )

: )

2008-02-09T03:57:00.000+08:00

im dying inside. but i will fight on. onward!

as you can see

2007-12-30T23:41:00.001+08:00

many, if not most people have blogged about 2007. how eventful it has been. what surprises it held for them. the myriad of pleasant and unpleasant things that have occurred. and i shall be no exception.

in a summary, 2007 has been a mad rush for me, especially since school started. tests, exams, presentations - they were tedious and no doubt, left me exhausted. i ord-ed in feb this year, barely 3 days before my 21st. around the same period, i had my ear cartilage pierced.

im glad i met several brilliant friends along the way. business camp jiemeis and bitchy balls, classmates, school mates, you get the idea. of which, i must point out that cais and phyl have been extremely supportive, always been there for me when i was down. (read: relationship problems). for this, i will be most grateful and appreciate them immensely. jefri, my long-time friend and cycling buddy, wont be forgotten either.

i admit i have been quiet recently, observant, brooding, emo. and i have no one to blame but myself for letting myself be weighted down by issues that are inevitable, that are beyond me. i know im being extremely vague here, but its only for privacy sake. as such, i would like to apologise to my dears for this most erratic behaviour, and thank them for being so patient, accommodating towards me.

for the new year, i aim to study even harder. to aim for greater heights. and to be a better friend to everyone, especially the ones which matter to me. above all, though i seldom voice it, i pray that my loved ones will always be in excellent health and of course, fulfill their new year aspirations.

below are some dedications. pls do not be offended if your name isnt mentioned - you are in my thoughts.

cais: you are one of my BESTEST female friend. i have never said this aloud, but i have always enjoyed myself in your company. your funny antics, serious chit-chats, stayover.. you are the life of the party! you never fail to bring a smile to me even when im weary, grumpy and emo. i hope you will not be weighted down by relationship problems and will always be happy (i will always remember you grinning away while doing the machines hahaha) <3>

phyl: ULTIMATE female friend! you are totalleh wrong when you said no one likes you. im sure there are! i know there will always be a disparity between a boyfriend and a guy friend, but i will always try to keep the smile on your face - the surprise when you saw the sunflower was priceless, and i want you to be as cheerful even to the point of jubilance all the time. this is the actual reason why i chose to get the sunflower for you. thank you for the numerous advice and immense support you have shown me throughout the time i have known you! you're such a darling, a source of energy! (i wasnt referring to a certain someone when i mentioned energy hahaha) cheers to single hood! (i really wish you have a good bf, but then with that, would come lesser time spent with you!) much love to you!

kelly: thanks for the mannnnnyy hours spent together! i will always remember the times we had fun, and the times we din quite - remember the time we deliberately capsized and had to row back to shore with the canoe 3/4 filled with water? hahaha. i hope you forgive me for the mistakes i have made and you will always be a dear friend to me.

jefri: jeffff! i have known you since sec 1 and you have never changed - always an endearing, unassuming buddy! be it cycling, talking crap or just watching movies, i have enjoyed myself A LOT with you! hahha ok i know im treading a fine line towards sounding gheyish, but you are always a close buddy : )

candace: hi mrs lee hahaha. aiyoh i still dont get why you adore mr dick lee that much, but i respect your uh choice. may you always be cheerful, chirpy and lets meet up soon. remember, smu's a stone's throw from town. lunch!

cheers people! may EVERYONE have a blessed year ahead.

hmm

2007-12-30T14:29:00.000+08:00

"how i wish things were, but they arent."

merry merry xmas people

2007-12-25T01:26:00.000+08:00

started the day off with a bang yday. gyming with cais and phyls, ran for the first time in months, if not a year. not bad pace either. did some machines (this sounds totally wrong btw) then went to town for food and abit of walking around.

i tell u, cais and phyl are freaking hilarious! hahha if phyl uploads the pics taken, u'll know why. came back, had instant noodles, SAD ok! hahha oh wells.

anyways merry xmas people! be it whether you're going to your grandma's place to exchange gifts (kelly), hosting (phyl) or just spending w your respective dearies ( a lot of you, dont be shy), do have fun and rem the significance of xmas! ciaos and cheers!!

congras!

2007-12-21T02:43:00.000+08:00

now now, one of my close friends just got attached recently. congratulations to her, u go girl! make sure the guy treats you well!

relationships, more specific girl-boy relationships are super complicated. to get attached is one thing, to maintain, to sustain the interest is a different matter altogether. i admire those who have been married for donkey years - it isn't easy.

just in case anyone is wondering, yours truly is single. not blissfully single, not emo-ly single, but just indifferently-single. i cant decide for myself if being single is good. freedom vs commitment. tough choice don't you think?

alright, lest this post degenerates into another one of those emo, pointless post, i shall end it. a merry xmas to everyone!

PS: princess promise that u will take care of yourself okay!

a blast of a time

2007-12-19T01:30:00.000+08:00

finally, i was able to enjoy myself the past few days. a special mention to cai, phl, amanda and michelia. you guys rock, tho we like spent a bomb on food (esp true w amanda and michelia), the time spent tgr was really good. above all, it took my mind off several unhappy stuff. and yes i will continue to revert back to my happy, carefree attitude/lifestyle. CHEERS.

i <3 this shot. more pics of sinful treats up at my facebook/flickr account.

HAPPY GABBY! HAMSUP GABBY!

im tired.

2007-12-05T01:31:00.000+08:00

i am really really tired.
i wish i could retreat into a hole and let the world fly by over me.
i wish i could be devoid of feelings and be indifferent
i wish there would never be complications
i wish i could disappear
i wish i wish.

just not cut out

2007-11-03T02:13:00.001+08:00

hmm i think im gonna remain single for the rest of my life. im just not bf material!

TIED DOWN WITH WORK

2007-10-26T01:17:00.000+08:00

hi darlings,

sorry for the lack of updates. been weighted by work.. projs, stuff u know. so bear with this really dead, boring blog 4 a while more.

meanwhile, congras to the pple who are gonna have their holidays sooon!

PS: to my dear "something cool" group from in their shoes workshop, do check out my flickr website for more updates of pics. AND do get facebook/msn so that we can stay in contact!

buuuayyyy!

Gabby!

THINGS TO DO

2007-09-28T17:29:00.000+08:00

1. 25% comms101 memo due tmr
2. 2 chapters of fa - learn, do hw, revise for quiz on monday
3. 1 ltb journal - due monday
4. 4% ltb quiz on monday
5. 25% test on econs to study for..and practise

my weekend will be filled with fun and joy.

oh wells.

im so tired, really.

sigh.

2007-09-15T01:11:00.000+08:00

pls let me know what im doing is correct?

cheers dearie

2007-09-10T21:47:00.000+08:00

keep working hard and rem to rest well. i know you can do it!

okies a quick update on my life. 5 mods = killer. lagging BADLY with econs.

tired man, tired

2007-09-06T20:19:00.000+08:00

sorry havent been posting for the past few weeks, just been so hectic since sch started.

sch's tedious, but someone makes it all worth it.

cheers!

:)

2007-08-25T20:28:00.001+08:00

cherishing every min spent with you dearie.

oh well

2007-08-19T01:42:00.001+08:00

muggers alert - FOCUS.

what a day

2007-08-17T02:50:00.000+08:00

it has been one of the most enjoyable days ive had..yet one of the worse. IM REALLY SORRY!

first major biking accident

2007-08-13T01:55:00.000+08:00

scratches on the handlebar - FUGLY.

a chip on the top tube - VERY FUGLY

dent on the top tube - ULTIMATE FUGLINESS!

: (
the pics speak for themselves.

group outtttin/dinner at amk!

2007-08-12T01:22:00.000+08:00

yo guys check this out!

this, after badminton at yck stadium. thanks pong for uploading the pics!

white can?

2007-08-09T14:25:00.000+08:00

ok i admit i havent been a fan of all things white..till i got the macbook! many thanks to jefri! about the macbook, i simply love the zen-like design of it - down to the creative inventiions like the remote control and magnetic ac-cord connection. cheers people!

pic pic pics

2007-08-06T19:42:00.000+08:00

hi people from dod/bondue and those who like to people-watch, the pics taken w my cam can be found here. do feel free to comment etc. cheers!

taking a breather

2007-08-05T18:59:00.000+08:00

the past few weeks have been really hectic. it started with team-bonding for the dominoes of dreams community service program, in school. looking back, im amused by how late i was on the first day. met iris and jun quan for the first time. and again, amused to meet only 1 member from my group, who turned out to be the friendly ling yi.

sales/donation gathering on friday, saturday. china square and funan centre respectively. i HATE asking for donations. oh well glads its over. next up, monday the 23th of july i tink. went to blue cross thong kheng home - the intellectually disabled people there may be what we call the norm, but i can sense their happiness. or rather, i hope they are. to see beyond the hypocrispy of this society is hard indeed.

domino training till thurs when we shifted from smu premises to the stadium at jurong west. there, we kept laying and toppling the dominoes till we thought it was perfect.

freshmen team-building on 30th july. lets not go there. started on monday, ended late wed. rested and shopped on thursday before jumping into bondue(business) camp. facils K and ming yun are soo fun people la, they lived up to the claim they wrote in the intro email to us freshies hahha.

so yeah im feeling very under the weather now. more details on everything another time. night folks.

wads up wads up!

2007-07-15T23:46:00.000+08:00

heyy people, sorry for the lack of updates. its not that im lazy(ok to some extend hahha) but its bcos ive been rather busy of late! lots of things happened in the past week or so..here are the highlights.

cycling with jeff on thurs! we have always talked about taking the reservoir route as shown here but due to my horrendous sense of direction, ive always chosen easier routes to say, ghim moh. so in the end, jeff took up the task of remembering the route to take and we did complete e journey! the scenic views of seletar reservoir, the very unique rural-like road around thomson road which had monkeys sitting all over the road, the scary uphills of mandai road and the very dangerous woodlands road which had heavy vehicles zipping VERY near you, at fast speeds. very fun stuff, around 50 km covered, a total speed of 55.8 km/h reached.

next up, the catholic retreat at cjc! went there to facilitate since cheryl asked :P hahha and i dragged kenneth kooi along. kenneth's from my unit at uav command, previously hq tasc. though i admit i had my reservations bcos i was really really rusty at leading/facilitating church groups, it turned out pretty fun! i had a group of 6, namely alex, james, benedict, grace, natasha, pix(the friendly senior who took over me on saturday) and indra(sorry i tink i got her name wrong!) and they are really pleasant, spontaneous people. again, my apologies for leaving early. on the whole, i enjoyed the retreat and thanks to cheryl and kenneth, it was pretty pleasant. cheryl! thanks for offering the ride home, and not to forget, the brief gossiping period when we were sooo tired and basically shagged out at the sofa.

and last but not least, my sis's birthday! she turns 23rd today and we went to jack's place to celebrate it. she had a slice of cake so yeah that basically made up the most of today.

good day!

good scotts!

2007-07-08T22:03:00.000+08:00

pun-ing on the word scotts, i got myself a scott mtb. model's scale 60. christened on 4/7/07. shall not disclose the exact amount as i dont want to be mistaken as rich. the first thing i did with the bike was to change the brakes, attach the bell, mirror, headlight and rearlight. hee. for those who are interested, here is a list of the specs. im using the sd7 brakes.

oh highlight of last week, aside from getting the new bike, was to have a gathering with 3 other acjc lifeguards. ok, ex-lifeguard :P kitty, ian and wei ze. had dinner at bpp(so sorry for being late!), proceeded down to yakun to have some iced-milo, coffee and ying-yang tea. crapped a lot as usual, poking fun at pooor weize as usual. also, took pics, which were spoiled by weize's strange, off-centred smile hahhah. but thanks kitty, for taking the trouble to organise this gathering and bringing along e cam!

and the re-matriculation for smu last friday. omg. information overload ok? signed up for a few camps w/o even checking who is going/the dates LOL. so yeah prob gonna waste 23 bucks for the bondue(business) camp this coming tuesday.

finally, inge's party tmr night! belated but hey lets give her a nice time! :p good night folks.

PS: flo! glad u have internet over there, catch up with u soon!

nydc, sc4 & birthday party

2007-06-29T14:43:00.000+08:00

had a blast last night with the sc4 people who turned up for hui chai's and kah yi's combined birthday party at nydc. reached there at ard 0730 as the 75 was late..anyhows when i reached there, the bulk of the party-goers had already arrived - hui chai, kah yi, cy, mark, gladys, jasmine, yee teng, chris, mer, tze tong. only dawn, yishan and zhao ming reached after me.

so we had our dinner with accompanying non-alcoholic drinks(which we ordered ourselves of cos, the birthday boys paid for them all)which was pretty uneventful save for the myriad of conversations and everpresent laughters,when the birthday cakes came. this is the funny part - everyone started whipping out their cameras and cam-whoring! hahhaha, yours truly did the same too. buy a cam, use it!

the birthday cake, for your information, was supposed to be a brownie, covered with a thick layer of chocolate? fudge? correct me if im wrong. and it was really filling! dawn lim shi tian!! you made me eat 3/4 of the piece of cake!

hahah after that, the crowd started dispersing and in true sc4 fashion, we sat/stood in nydc and along the holland v road for some time after that, mulling over what to do. catching transformers, playing mj, ktv were some ideas we thought of. finally we decided on playing mj and singing ktv at hui chai's house. and its UBER cool i tell you! hui chai has this ktv set with a hard drive full of music videos? or do you call that ktv? anyways, there's even this accompanying folder of pages filled with titles! needless to say, we had lots of fun! i was especially impressed with jasmine, yee teng and of cos yishan. fantastic singers. if only i had a voice that was comparable to theirs :)

as time wore on, sc4 splitted into 3 distinct groups. the larger group gambling while playing texas holden? not really sure here, but having heard terms like "royal flush", "house", "full house" thrown around the table, it has something to do with tai-di or poker i guess. gave up trying to learn by observing after a while - the gamplay is quite different i might add. oh, and the smaller group comprised a sleepy yee teng, an ever-energetic yishan, and a croaking(super zao-sia)me, with chris and jasmine joining us occasionally. and jasmine, sound logic of moving around to stay awake hahha. the last group was mer and tze tong!

cant believe i had the guts to sing ktv, knowing how bad my voice is. ahha and im NOT being zi bei here ok? its the truth. thanks yishan for being such a good sport. and i still cant believe she sang till 2:30 am in the morning! even have a video of yishan and yee teng singing :P

finally, after settling the debts at the gambling table and wrapping up our ktv session, we all headed home. thanks to kah yi with his speedy and really noisy(in the good sense)subaru wrx, i got home in record time.

happy 21st birthday once again, to SEAH KAH YI and FONG HUI CHAI. may all your wishes come true..and may you guys find true happiness, not in each other tho. photos coming up in flickr, blogger and facebook soon!

PS: mer, its okay really :) thanks for being so thoughtful. hope you had a good night's sleep, you looked pretty pretty tired last night. & tze tong - thanks for getting the gifts!

damn sg

2007-06-27T17:42:00.000+08:00

damn sg, damn weather! went cycling today, fatigued from last night's laps and today's heat and stiff head-wind. bought a cateye hl-320 from e henry park bike shop for night cycling. and had secret recipe.

almost died from the scorching sun! fugly tanline.

oh yeah! kudos to sph for good service - i din not receive my june edition of maxim and mailed them about it. they replied, saying there were going to send one right away and were asking singpost to monitor the situation. not too sure abt the latter but yeah good service :)

town and cycling

2007-06-26T22:20:00.000+08:00

in case you were wondering, town and cycle are 2 mutually exclusive terms.

first off, went to town with rachael. watched a movie, gossiped a bit, went shopping for a wallet(rach's male friend's birthday gift), chatted and photo-whored. a bit :)

today! was flustered staying at home doing nth. so went cycling with xiao lai around the neighbour ard 6pm. had to take the pavements of cos. went to the bukit panjang park and bpp for a drink.

thereafter, after accompanying him to the post office at ten mile, i cycled back home. or at least intended to.

hahha while going past the bus stop near my house, someone called my name out! it turned out to be my sweet sweet friend, evelyn. poor gurl, having exams now. jia you!

after that, i continued to my house but felt like having a good workout. so i took a route(on the road) which took me around my house area 6 times before going up for dinner. its that much easier to cycle at night cos; 1. its much cooler, no damn scorching sun to contend with 2. i love how the headlights of my bike dance around when i move the handle bar 3. less vehicles on the road. of cos, as it's darker, its prudent to pay more attention to the vehicles around, in front and behind you. ok i just realised that "around" includes "in front" and "behind". but whatever :)

alright, going to do some rope skipping and weights soon. tata and stay pretty/handsome people.

collage collage

2007-06-24T16:59:00.000+08:00

thanks to kim seong, i discovered slide!

my pics are all uploaded to and hosted at flickr fyi.

hokkaido pics

2007-06-22T00:39:00.000+08:00

hi folks, ive uploaded a tiny portion(still came up to 80+ pics) of the pics taken during the hokkaido trip i just went on. click here .

the pics are split into 5 groups. the first 2 are pics taken with my dad's fujifilm finepix 2800 zoom and an oregon scientific ds6639 camera while the next 3 groups are pics taken with a canon ixy digital 90 aka digital ixus 75 which we bought on the night of day 3 or 4. its a pity pics taken when we were in sapporo werent good as they were underexposed.

let me know if you like the pictures yeah :)

god.

2007-06-21T00:35:00.000+08:00

I got this off from a bulletin posted by jun yi on friendster.

A GIRL RAPED IN Singapore,Bishan.

A girl went to a party and she ended up staying longer than planned, and had to walk home alone. She wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away. As she walked along under the tall elm trees, Diane asked God to keep her safe from harm and danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house, she decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as though he was waiting for her. She became uneasy and began to pray, asking for God's protection. Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped round her, she felt as though someone was walking with her. When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the newspaper that a young girl had been raped in the same alley just twenty minutes after she had been there. Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her,she began to weep. Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided to go to the police station. She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story.

The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him. She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she had seen in the alley the night before. When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her. She asked if they would ask the man one question. Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her. When the policeman asked him, he answered, "Because she wasn't alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her."

Amazingly, whether you believe or not, you're never alone. Did you know that 98% of teenagers will not stand up for God?

Whether this is true or not doesnt really matter does it? I confess i dont believe in blind faith, but im sure there is a superior being up there, taking care of us. Sure, most of us may be superficial worshippers, going to church once in a blue moon. Sure, most of us do not acknowledge his presence and only ask for favours when in need. I confess im one of them. Having said that, thousands of personal accounts cant be wrong or attributed to fragments of imagination brought about by an overactive mind. Trust in HIM and you wont go wrong.

a shrinking us of a

2007-06-20T15:13:00.000+08:00

oh yes the gentlemen from the us of a are becoming shorter - the avg height of this group used to be the highest in the world. now they have lost the title to ....*drums roll* the guys from netherlands! avg height: 6"1 netherlands, 6" denmark, 5"9 usa. more abt height here .

drink more dutch lady milk, netherlands guys...and eat more fattening macs, american guys.

pics of my jpn trip coming up soon..still too lazy to upload from the lappie.

pics pics pics

2007-06-19T17:27:00.000+08:00

pics of japan coming up soon! got thousands of pics to go thru...and i got to photoshop so that my nose looks like it can cut..hahhha private joke between shiok-ie and me.

be patient folks.

honey

2007-06-15T23:05:00.000+08:00

i'm back from japan!

and im gonna migrate there.

awwww!

2007-06-06T08:58:00.000+08:00

patience and alvin - you guys are the sweetest couple i've ever came across :)

the atrocity!

2007-06-03T22:42:00.000+08:00

of not having a single photo in the past like 10? entries! hahah this post shall be an exception..!!

anyways the ear hole in my left ear cartilage was completely caked in dry blood when i took out the ear ring tonight! the reason? sleeping on the ear ring apparently tore through the existing hole and thus expanding the hole in the cartilage. damn scary i tell you, the amount of blood i saw when my dear sis cleaned it for me using surgical alcohol and cotton butts.

agenda for next week - cycling, swimming & tanning(very important as the skin of my left shoulder has peeled off unevenly, looks like i have some weird skin disease now), packing for the trip to jpn :D

above is a blurrry pic of the ear ring in question. yeah la i know im not handsome but its just an illustration of what im saying!

the aftermath

2007-05-29T14:49:00.000+08:00

its amazing how small the world has become with the advent of the internet and more specifically, blogs huh? : P

with reference to the previous post, P143 and P144 are none other than patience and alvin :) once again, i was wrong and they are a couple, not siblings! nice to chat with you folks, lets go cycling another time yeah?

and for you guys who went for the bike rally, thanks to mr sivasothi , here is a link to some bloggies & photos . all credit goes to mr sivasothi!

next up, rollerblading at east coast park with flo, ain & gang and jefri. lets go kick up some dust!

ntu bike rally 2007

2007-05-28T11:08:00.000+08:00

128 gruelling kilometres. heat, windy conditions, distance standing between us and the finishing point - it was a island-wide cycling event which started from east coast park at 6+am and ended ard 5:30pm for jefri and i. a real achievement! really!

the bike rally started pretty early, as mentioned above. eyelids laden with the lack of sleep, jefri and i reached east coast park ard 6am and registered. were given our numbers, which we had to attach to our singlets and bike. WIND resistance ok lol! long distance we had to walk to visit the toilet, while jefri's daddy looked over our belongings.

eventually the event started! lead cyclists clad in yellow singlets naturally, led the way. excitement and anticipation was in the air, almost everyone was laughing, leisurely cycling since there simply wasnt room to accelerate smoothly due to the massive number of people. hit the roads eventually and there was when the fun started! jefri and i drafted behind P143 and P144! hahha we were debating towards the end, whether they were a pair or were brother & sister since they had the same bike (save for one having a disc brake, e other v-brakes) and bottles. somehow, they made the wrong turn and headed towards AYE, but we couldnt alert them from behind even after having made a ruckus. so yeah we had to accelerate towards the leading pack to catch some draft :)

plain cycling until after the ntu checkpoint - PURE madness! the route went from ntu, alongside murai camp, towards sungei gedong. lots lots lots lots of up-slopes! sapped our energy, was tedious. i was really glad when we reached the checkpoint at kranji. by then, we noticed that the number of cyclists was gradually lessening - more people were either dropping out or riding shotgun on the air-conditioned bus while the lorry carried their bicycles.

nothing eventful until we hit the mandai road stretch - again, it was one of the more tedious leg. up-slopes all the way and given our already battered bodies, was hardwork. by then, i was physically and mentally fatigued, mostly from the lack of sleep. however, with jefri there, we had to finish the 128km - it was no question!

i found the serangoon-changi route really tiring - having broken free of the chasing pack, i had to face the head-winds myself, pushing through the irritatingly strong winds until i reached the leading pack - by then i was so tired that i began to drop back a little and this meant that i was again, alone to face the winds! was chatting with this guy on a road bike, who had a sprained/overexerted calve/thigh, nice fellow, hope he was okay.

changi seaside checkpoint. wolved down the bread they provided, as well as close to a gallon of liquids. was completely dehydrated though i kept a constant intake of water throughout the journey. jefri, being the heavy sleeper he was, fell asleep on the bench. hahha amazing leh! by then, we were already extremely sticky and there was no way i could have done that.

finally, the last dash to the finishing line! drafted behind P143 and P144 again, broke free and overtook quite a few riders before deciding to draft behind this rather athletic man on a blue bike. extremely fast. he soon got tired, so i overtook him shortly after hitting the east coast park area. sped all the way, heaviest gear in front, 2nd heaviest gear at the back. and YAY! finishing line - was one of the few first to complete : ) jefri joined ard 1 minute later.

collected the goodie bag, slacked till jefri's daddy came to fetch us. the sense of accomplishment was ever so present - though we cycled frequently and even cycled from bukit panjang to east coast park on 2 occasions, we never came close to the 100km mark, let alone 128km. the thought of giving up was ever present(esp when my left eye kept watering whenever we stopped) but im proud that we did it. so what if we rode on mountain bikes? so what if our bikes were significiantly heavier than the roadies? so what if we slept late and this was our 1st long distance attempt? we were always in the leading pack or at the front of the chasing pack. having said that, WE DID IT : )

nevermind the sunburn. nevermind the aching shoulders, legs, bottoms. it is an experience that doesnt come very often. we were one with our bikes, and they did not fail us. well done NTU bike rally participants! you may have been fast, or slow. but that doesnt matter - you completed the event! thank you ntu and sponsors!

PS: too bad the full team of teamspeedvirus din follow us to the finishing line - they are really good rollerskaters! its hard work to cycle, let alone to rollerblading.

pulau ubin and the fun road trip

2007-05-20T23:19:00.000+08:00

this past sunday was indeed, a very fulfilling one. woke up early to attend the briefing for the ntu bike rally which takes place on sunday, 27th of this month. collected the event singlet, which looked pretty good. and laughed at jeff for failing to request for a L size instead of a M.

couldnt stop yawning.

thereafter, took bus home and was dozing off when jeff msged me, saying his lion-dance gathering was off and if pulau ubin was still on the agenda. hahha couldnt miss that one! so off we went, 2 bikes secured on the bike rack behind jeff's red honda! it was super scary at first, cos we thought the bikes were wobbling way too much, especially mine, since the back was secured by the rear suspension and the front tire seemed to mirror the momentium of the car.

anyhow we did get to changi eventually, though we got lost and landed in pungol...jeff pls dont use that map! hahha. back to the story. we got onto the ferry, cycled everywhere w/o actually consulting the map and somehow managed to catch ain & gang! hahha it was super hilarious i tell you, we chanced upon a portion of a track which was covered with THICK STICKY mud and had to turn back.

lets go cycling, canoeing or dragon-boating ok, ain? : P

after the gang left, jeff and i continued to explore the island. LOVE the trails! its not as technical as the bukit timah one, but i was especially fatigued by the uphills. hahha jeff this is justified by my old heavy bike! im so weight conscious.

we finally made our way back to e mainland and had dinner at changi village - din see any ah guas or anyone "dropping soap" leh! chicken rich w "oil" vegetables, which was pretty decent. hahha and you wont believe it, jeff drove to changi airport by mistake! as i was telling him, always get excited whenever i visit the airport :) its the atmosphere. the excitement of leaving for a destination unknown, a future uncertain, a holiday which promises fun.

so there you have it, a brief summary of my sunday spent. haha chat with me for more details!

and JEFF YOU LOST MY PRESENT TO YOU! hahhaha im gonna make you feel bad!

"kana pwned"

2007-05-11T00:46:00.000+08:00

as the saying goes in games, ive been pwned. more specifically, my aleoca bikes :(

even after numerous "upgrading",they are WAY overweight and are simply too slow! only good thing is, they make for good trainers - imagine the additional amount of stamina and strength needed to maintain high speed.

haha, shouldnt have upgraded them at all and bought new bikes - they would probably be lighter and have better performing parts. jeff you can testify to this. pushing the bikes up steep slopes, having the v-brakes fail under wet conditions, plain fatigue from tackling the bukit timah trail.

oh wells, this will only remain as a keen hobby so yeah, no point spending big bucks on those extremely light, pencil-thin road bikes which i've craved for some time. or the versatile, light-weight mountain-bikes.

anyone going for the ntu bike rally???

dilemma

2007-05-01T01:26:00.000+08:00

how how how? should i continue upgrading/replacing worn-out & out-dated parts of my current old bike or get a new one?

so far, ive changed the tires(to kenda klimax lite), the brakes(avid single digit 7), the levers(avid fr-5), the brake cables(shimano) as well as included additional must-haves like the bell, bottle cage, lights and bar ends.

if i continue changing the cassette(i spoiled it recently when i went mountain-biking with jefri) as well as the front & rear derailleurs/shifters, it wouldnt be economical anymore. i figured that if i were to get a new bike (im undecided on hard-tail or full suspension), i'd prob get a discount if i transfer the above-mentioned components from the old bike to the new one.

but which will end up being cheaper? sigh. the troubles brought forth by a lack of funds. someone find me a SUGARMUMMY!

service in singapore

2007-04-30T15:43:00.000+08:00

you know how the government has been actively campaigning for better service quality, most notably in the light of major events like the imf held a few months ago. retailers who are the face of the service sector and hence service standard (not exhaustive of hawkers, police force, etc) are encouraged to be more courteous, to offer a more comprehensive, quality service.

however, abstract as it may be, the shared new figures from the World Economic Forum (WEF) saw Singapore’s ranking in the world for service standards registering a drop from number 17 to number 26. more worrisome, the service sector seems to favour foreigners and therefore offer them preferential treatment. note that i am NOT making a generalisation here and accusing of the entire service sector of this. it is based on the experiences i have encountered.

in the past 3 days alone, i've been at the blunt of lousy service. and also, enjoyed surprisingly quality service from an unexpected source. will elaborate on the latter later.

i got my brakes changed the past saturday, at a certain "high-end" bicycle shop along bukit timah. sure, the one behind counter was patient with my questions about the price of the brakes. to be extra certain, i made 2 calls to the shop as i was cycling there and needed to carry sufficient cash/ensure sufficient funds in my credit hard. and sure, he was able to quote the sum of the prices of the cable, levers and brakes.

however his attitude was a turn-off. when he repeated the prices, he said in a irritated tone "din i tell you...?". now, i know it is tiresome standing behind a counter, servicing the endless bicycles, facing demanding customers and answering calls. trust me, i know how it feels. but it is not an excuse. you do not say that to a PAYING customer, even if he is 21 years of age. you do not say that to someone who decides the profits of your company in the short & long term. and i highly doubt he would behave the same way to a foreigner. and i was right.

i told him to give me a call when the bikes were ready. i even wrote down my name and hp number is a clear, very writable hand-writing. he did not do so. i had to call the shop again. and when i got to the shop, he completely ignored me. instead, he was completely focused on aiding a caucasian. no hello, no acknowledgement, no service at all. sure, he may be busy. but the way he behaved strongly illustrated the prejudiced quality of service to locals. his service was so bad to the extent that he did not even bother writing a receipt stating the break-down of the components and the prices. i walked off pissed, having to make do with just a simple cash receipt.

second example. a certain restaurant at bukit panjang plaza selling indonesian/halal food. i was there with my friend on a saturday night, after having changed the brakes. i approached the female waitress at the entrance and said, "table for two, do i have to wait?". i was neither rude or demanding - it was just a clear concise, simple question. she simply stared at me and continued to attend to a family behind me.

again, note that i was definitely audible, but not loud. i was very sure i did not jump thequeue and i wasnt being a least bit aggressive.

ahh now the good part : ) the local bike shop just below my house, opposite ten mile junction. the uncle was EXTREMELY accomodating when my family went to choose a new bike for my sister. and he was again, EXTREMELY patient when i asked him abt the prices of the many components for my mountain bike as well as a problem i was facing with my gear/chain cassette. note that it was part 9 pm - the closing time. yet he did not rush us, gave us a generous discount, changed the seat for free and even adjusted the position of the bars, saddle positions. all without any complaints.

now what is the use of say SPRING and GEMS when the service sector is deterioriating? when you expect good service at reputated outlets and instead get poor snobbish service?

singapore is a mixed economy, leaning towards a capitalist one. consumer sovereignity is one of the criteria determining how much of what is produced. goods and services are catered to our needs and wants. we are the final decision-makers of profit-seeking organisations and businesses. we vote in the marketplace with our dollars and cents. as such, the customer is ALWAYS right.

the service sector cannot simply be rude or display preferential treatment towards foreigners even though they may have deeper pockets. i cannot stress enough the importance of service quality and attitude. in a way, i have a reason for the supposed better service standard in the past - the community was smaller, the people were more sincere and the individuals more sensitive towards others' feelings.

a salute to the uncle at the bike shop. thumbs down to the bukit timah bike shop and restaurant at bpp.

to my readers, feel free to share your personal experiences!

oh gosh

2007-04-26T07:09:00.000+08:00

woke up at 0700 to torrential rain. was supposed to go cycling at 0930..haha guess that idea will have to be put on hold till tmr at least, bad bad bad weather expected.

check out this picture i took. my sis says its nice, something rather unexpected for pics i take. i henceforth title it "a reflection of my inner self". look closely and you'll know why.

below is a badly-taken pic. it serves to prove what i said already earlier abt me taking lousy pics..at the same time, its intriguing - its clouds you see in the background..yet the pecular color and position of the clouds make you think one of the the houses has caught fire.

ahh okis im going back to sleep soon. no more cycling, no more fun, but more sleep haha. and rachael if you are reading this, pretty nails pls :D

liews!

2007-04-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

great just great. its gonna rain in the late morning and early afternoon for the next few days. and i've a cycling trip to sentosa on thursday. with my new bicycle tires lacking the quinessential gripping factor when wet, its gonna be a dangerous trip. sigh.

in case you guys are wondering, im no godsent weather-teller(you know, like fortune teller)..instead i reply on the somewhat reliable services of the meteorological agency in singapore. this is the link for the weather forecast for the next 3 days - an impt tool when planning outdoor activities.

bloody ear

2007-04-16T23:05:00.000+08:00

i discovered a pimple directly below my top ear hole and burst it with a toothpick. clean one of cos. and the blood just BURST out..very much like a fountain. i freaked out even though i felt no pain. sooo i had to sterilise the area and apply some tropical cream.

the main gist of the whole paragraph - i hate seeing blood!

the 1st ear hole i did was disasterous. i had to remove the ear-ring a few days after the piercing and it was really painful. inserting the plastic ear stick wasnt easy either. and whenever i used the plastic ear stick and slept..i found my ear a bloody mess the next day - the ear stick is always yanked out by yours truly when i was sleeping. GRR.

so yeah no blood for me.

new tires or tyres

2007-04-15T20:36:00.000+08:00

check out what happened today.

at ard 11 am i was prepared to replace the punctured tires on my 2 full-suspension mountain bikes. my dad surprised me once again, by his geniousity - he managed to remove the 2 tires. its not easy im telling you! with all the gear, chain and stand attached to the back tire, its anything but.

so anyways, i carried the 2 tires to the nearest bike shop which involved a short flight of steps, across a minor road, down a long flight of steps and around 100-200m walk. damn things got so heavy after a while -.- but but but -here comes the good part- the bike shop was closed!!! so i carried the tires back home while my family went for bfast/lunch.

meanwhile i spent the time researching on a change of tire type/width and decided on changing the original tires from a 2.1" width to small ones. less width, less rolling resistance, more speed i figured.

considering into account the severity of the puncture, my dad and i were pretty reluctant to take the bikes out to a bicycle shop at keat hong to get the tires replaced. but throwing all caution to the wind and armed with a hand-pump, we made our way to keat hong. what a mistake. less than 1 km into the journey, the back tire of my dad's bike gave and we couldnt salvage it. sooo we practically pushed the bikes the remainder of the 2.4 km..i did not want my dad to overexert himself, so he took and rode my bike for some distance.

so we finally made it to the bike shop. they offered, upfront, Kenda Klimaxlitetires, 345grams, 26X1.95" at 43 bucks apiece. we took the offer and all was well until we took to the pavement - there was still wax on the tires and it was extremely slippy. my dad slipped :( luckily he was going slowly and sustained superficial wounds to his knee and toe. but if i were him, i'd probably be brawling. my brave daddy!

so anyways we got back w/o any further incidents and i just found out from the reviews online, the tires are extremely thin and lack traction on wet/loose surfaces. so there you are, a flaw in my equation. less width, less roll resistance, more speed and LESS traction. really dangerous.. considering singapore's wet weather. scared as i am, im looking forward to the next trip out on the bikes. gotta be careful tho.

here are some pics. oh and did i mention i did all this at the expense of meeting up with flo and gang? they are having fun at her place now :(

fat 2.1" tires. whole lot of resistance when it comes to acceleration and top speed. ie everything haha. but its compensated by its brilliant grip.

Kenda Klimaxlite 345g! felt like ice-skating when cycling in wet weather.

claims to be 1.95" but its like 1.65" max, somewhat like a slick.

oh gosh

2007-04-12T00:34:00.000+08:00

ok it has been 9 days since the last post..since then lots of things have happened. cant really remember much but it involved lots of running, cycling and very little swimming.

hahha and did i mention my sis's exams are finally over? that means undivided attention from her LOL. in case you guys dinno, im an attention seeker at home..as it gets really boring?

in any case, some interesting highlights in my life. again, summarised in terms, not continuous sentences. cycling to ecp w wei ze and jefri. rashes. back tyre of 1 bike flat. front tyre of my bike flat. 80+ km haha. major out-break of rashes on my shoulders,chest and back. eczema. reading april's men's health. tried the chest exercises. NICE.

did you guys know that the avg chest size of a guy's..is 104 cm? and an avg guy can only do 27 push-ups? got it off mh : )

okis gotta go..take care pple.
jia mei, have fun in sentosa!
flo, will try to make it ok? :P
serina, stay happy as usual!

mASSage

2007-04-03T18:05:00.000+08:00

no, this is not a post about lep-sup or dirty massage parlours. rather, it is to complain about my butt!!! it hurts like crazy, along with my lower back, after having cycled today. my legs will follow suit, i believe, in a few hours. hahha.

actually, the whole cycling thing was fun. here's fragments of what happened. im too tired to type an essay.

caught in rain. drenched. singlet stained with mud from the tyres. got drenched again by an inconsiderate lorry driver which drove over a huge puddle. cck, bukit batok, jurong, clementi. went ghim moh for lunch. katong laksa, ju gui. queensway. people's park. tanglin. bukit timah. past sim, np. sim babes. and back home!

thanks wei ze and jefri, for an enjoyable time. and yes we are like some mad japanese guys! pushing on and on, through the pain and fatigue. and the numerous times we all skidded lol. and thanks for helping me wash the mud away jefri : D happy belated birthday, i did not forget it!

rock on pple, till next time. and btw, lets all join our hands in welcoming jia mei back to singapore :D and oooh candace, cycling yeah!

a call for cyclists!

2007-04-02T23:36:00.000+08:00

ok, here's the deal. are there ANY cyclists (whom own their own bikes)out there who wanna cycle any day of the week? do drop me a tag, we can go on adventures :D

hahah i always wanted to join like this huge group of cyclists, conquering the hills and roads..!!

cheers.

acoustic NOT classical

2007-03-20T22:11:00.000+08:00

and the joke goes on. when asked to purchase the snapped E string for my acoustic guitar, my sister managed to get the E string for the CLASSICAL guitar.

and her excuse? "the guy at the guitar shop doesn't know anything" -.-

2.80 dollars gone down the drain baby!

so this is how it goes

2007-03-19T23:57:00.000+08:00

*inserts E string into the hole at the head of the guitar*
"ok, after inserting the E string in, make sure its tight and wont become loose on its own."

hahha and good job, my sis tied KNOBS with my E string instead of securing it to the little metal piece and when my dad tried to salvage the situation, the string broken. and that's another 3 days off playing my acoustic guitar.

as the fruit grows in maturity

2007-03-17T00:40:00.000+08:00

you know, it has struck me how fast time passes. it seems only yesterday that we were clad in the blue and white acjc uniform, skipping lectures, having parties, generally enjoying ourselves. and now, here we all are. the gals in uni already(with tze tong being the exception), the guys working and already out of the army. its amazing.

and today we celebrated michelle's 21st! hahha welcome to the club gurl! dont be sad just cos 21 years has passed - more goals are to be achieved, more targets to be fulfilled in the next few years of your life. cheers :)

oh abt tonight, it was fun! having been some time since i caught up with my acjc class, i was basking in the jovial environment and company. its a pity really, that jia yuan and foo hai were not there - i miss chatting with them. jia jia's uncontrollable laughters and foo hai's always-on-the-cue expressions which cause spasms at the tummy area. but hey, there is always a time and place for ALL of us to meet up and have a good time again.

hmmm here's what i can look forward to these following months - a trip overseas(prob not in april :(...), jia mei's return to sg for a holiday, exchanging snail mail letters w judith and her return to sg in july, orientation camp for uni and yeah the start of the university school term.

cheeeeeeers pple! yum seng!

mr cardio have you left me so?

2007-03-04T15:47:00.000+08:00

imagine this. having a maiden 2.4km run. after months of strength building only. shaken knees. tired breaths. overworked cholestrol-laden heart (vessels).

yeah that was me a few mins ago. its unbelievable i tell you. struggled through the entire run, had to walk a bit. AHHH here goes nth, im going to plunge myself into the commitment of working out my cardio every few days, alternating with the weight lifting.

wish me luck.

btw, im worried about a friend called candis. been acting erratically. hope she is fine, not weighted down with the burden of certain relationships.
and strangely enough, ive been thinking of certain friends - florence, jia mei, lisa. again, havent been in close contact with them albert some time spent on msn. so yeah, hope they remain happy and all.

row row row a boat

2007-02-27T14:49:00.000+08:00

except this time it is a rowing machine.

im getting bored with my work-out routine. free weights, bench press, push-ups, skipping..you know my drift. so i was kinda divided between getting this rowing machine from kettler..or a everlast free-standing punching bag .

COACH

hahha except now i will prob get the punching bag bcos the rowing machine is super expensive!! totally out of my league..you can buy a decent LCD HD-ready tv with that.

oh speaking of HD, here is a little trivia. HD stands for High Definition and the difference between HDtv and HD-ready tv lies in the in-built tuner in HDtvs which can receive over-the-air(OTA) signals with the help of an antenna, while HD-ready tvs depend on setboxes like those provided by starhub.

:D alright gotta go. really hope can go swimming tmr..i couldnt wake up early today..so had to cancel on my friends. i feel so bad now..oki tata!

its up to u how u view things

2007-02-27T00:01:00.000+08:00

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.

Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.

If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.

Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.

Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.

If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.

Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

jack of all trades, master of none? or a master of everything abound?

pictures?!

2007-02-22T22:37:00.000+08:00

let me interest you in my photography skills. developed overnight, its no mean feat. professional photographers go away.

fast food coupons - your fast track to child-hood obesity

all hail the mighty soya

tupperware and water - 2 essentials often taken for granted

its interesting to note how things can appear differently when viewed from different prospectives. on a lighter side of things, woohoo! got my left ear cartilage pierced. hurts like crazy now but its all worth it.

house-keeping

2007-02-18T23:27:00.000+08:00

hahha yeah like how families have been scrambling to spring-clean their homes, ive done some house-keeping and tidied the menu on the left, as you can see.

also, ive embedded wherever you go, by the calling. enjoy the music, the ambience and of cos my rantings!

happy chin new year pple, may this be a prosperous, smooth-sailing one for all of us.

$$$ ka ching $$$

very touching video

2007-02-15T10:53:00.000+08:00

at the risk of sounding gay, embedded below is a song sang by Guang Liang. i almost cried when i watched the video, its just so touching.

and thanks grace, for introducing/ re-introducing some nice bands/songs to me :)

the weatherman!

2007-02-13T16:32:00.000+08:00

no dearie, not the movie. but me. YES me! here is a useful webby, weather forecast and all.

i was super bored so i decided togo swimming. in the afternoon. at lakeside. BAD idea. hahha i managed to swim a few laps before it started pouring. meaning NO suntan. meaning a gloomy runny nose after swimming. miserable day.

the ironic thing is, it isnt even raining over here, where i live!!!! GRR!

pple, do check the SPECIFIC area's weather forecast before wasting your time. hee hee as a consolation, at least i managed to pull off swimming a bit..hence burning some of those evil stuff called calories.

yummy bought yakult and some fruit juice. gonna go swimming AGAIN early tmr, ie not in the afternoon when it is supposed to shower.

Listening to : Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow

happy birthday gabby!

2007-02-10T23:04:00.000+08:00

hahha so here it is, the dawn of a new era in my life. i've hit 21 years of age. no doubt an old man. many white strands of hair soon to come. hopefully, with age comes wisdom.

i had a really fruitful day today, thank you very much for the well wishes pple :D had plenty of sleep, had a HUGE dinner and spent precious time w my family. thank you marissa(hahah i din expect you to send me a sms!), cheryl(21 soon for you too dearie), florence(you're such a sweetheart!), eve(hi pretty, looking forward to your 21 too, dun get confused over who to choose LOL),natalia(unexpected :P long distance sms, im so touched),kitty(long time no see, you still rem my bday! hope you made lots of $$),kian heng(sup bro!! hahha double happiness indeed!!) and many others.

you guys made my day! here's wishing happiness for all of us. every day can be our bdays, let us be contented us with what we are and what we have. SMILE : D!

yummy yummy!

2007-02-06T20:57:00.000+08:00

went to the dentist today, after SO long. although my gum was slightly sore from the polishing and flossing, i went to fish & co w my mummy! had a really good, filling meal. garden salad w salmon, mussels, sambal grilled fish, kola tonic..and mummy got pere pere(??) prawns.

i've always joked that eating salads is akin to eating grass. boy was i wrong. i enjoy the salad. it was light, tasty and easy on my stomach.

so anyways i got a pair of ear-rings. its like a ear stud, but w a music note attached to it..like dangling ear rings haha! i like it.

alright, tmr's my big day. gonna collect my pink ic if im able to get all the signatures for my clearance form. YAY! hmmm i shud start including pictures on this blog, getting boring w all my rantings..

WOOHOO!

2007-02-02T20:09:00.000+08:00

YES im so not gonna wear all-green for some time now :P u heard it right folks, my day of liberations has come!!! hahha yeah babies!

went swimming, had a good meal at swensens, basically did what i couldnt, in the past few days :) happy happy!

blah

2007-01-29T19:43:00.000+08:00

so yeah i got 1 day off. ord off. congratulations. so much work done, so much pain suffered and only 1 day. its not that i mind being short-changed. but the issue centers more on a show of appreciation isnt it?

im sure at one point of your life or the other, you have persevered through a tedious, seemingly impossible task. yet you put in all your best. you make sure things are meticulously done. and in the hope of what? to at least know that your efforts are being appreciated. a pat in the back. time off. privileges given.

screw all the bullshit in this world.

so there it is...

2007-01-23T19:24:00.000+08:00

the last 5 days of my life in army. im not gonna reflect on how i have changed since enlistment, but it has been hella ride!

there are 2 kinds of friends in this world. the hypocritical ones that backstab you, and the ones that are genuine, sincere. i have since learnt how to differentiate between the 2.

im especially thankful for the friends i have made in army. from my instructors in bmt to those in oeti. from the admin in oeti to my superiors in my current unit. and not to forget all my wonder campmates, bunkmates and soulmates. i will not forget any one of you, ever.

i never thot it would be this sad to say good-bye to army. i never thot i would actually tear up inside. i never thot it would be this hard. but yeah i have to go and farewell pple. see you all in colours of the rainbow, not green haha.

love lots.

on an even sadder note, i do not think something will work out. another lonely valentine.

1000

2007-01-16T21:09:00.000+08:00

sprained ankles.lovely voice, character.good day :D

army and bad spelling

2007-01-06T22:28:00.000+08:00

ever since i've been conscripted into the army, my spelling has been on a steady decline. i dunno, is it bcos i seldom, if at all, use my brain in the army? or that im accustomed to the atrocious standard of english in the army?

im in no way, saying that my level of english is high or anything..im only average. so yeah, its sad. hope the situation willl improve, with my ORD looming nearer and nearer.

my bday's coming soon too. no, this is not a post intended to remind you pple of my bday.. im just airing my thoughts. anyhow, back to my bday, im still in the process of brainstorming what to do! chalet? overseas? just a good meal?

what can i do?

oooh yeah this should be good. may go overseas in april..japan? us? aus? oh well will see what conspires. alright gotta go.

yolanda, if you're reading this, you made a good decision, stick by it and be happy. take your worries and chuck it away.

obscene!

2007-01-01T23:22:00.000+08:00

posting pics of one kissing his/her bf/gf? making out in public? intimately groping a stranger in a pub?

OBSCENE.

xmas lights!

2006-12-29T14:49:00.000+08:00

CHECK THIS OUT FOLKS! hahha i love it. super thanks to Sherryl for sending the link to my maily.

the rope

2006-12-28T19:53:00.002+08:00

yeah i got defeated by the skipping rope. nv thot it would be so tough..give it a try pple!

i was having my dinner, pig intestines w brown rice, when my glance swept across the receipt. hold and behold. this was what i saw.

1 KIDENY soup
2 Rice

i laughed to myself. was the soup made up of KIDs whom DENY? alright so that's lame, but some signs are just so hilarious. rather intentional or not, it certainly brightens our day. i gotta say though, that fcuk is a rather precarious name for a company. nonetheless, its effective advertisement.

2006 is drawing to a close. yeah i know i know, its cliche to say that well hey lets look back at the past year and see what has been accomplished and what has not. but this year, was spent in the army. the entire year. the experience has taught me a lot, and through this all, i've become more knowledgeable, more sensitive towards other feelings..and perhaps the most important point, to survive in the workplace. i've come to realise that hey, i tend to use the soft approach when working - building up amiable relationships w pple regardless of their ranks, helping them out when possible and most of the time, im grateful for the help they have given me.

alright, im gonna stop here. congratulations if you have read my words till now. BOOO if you just skipped to the conclusion. just kidding!

have a good day folks.