THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

Days have passed since disaster first struck. Damning figures have reported more than 80,000 casualties from the resulting tsunami waves thus far and is showing no sign of slowing. This is not helped by the fact that rotting corpses and poor sanitation have contributed to the emergence of an epidemic waiting to happen and wreck havoc on an already worsening situation.

The term 'living hell' is an understatement, as far as what I make of the images seen on tv. There was this account of a mother who had to let go of either one of her sons because she couldn't hold on to both of them and there was another man who lost his wife but was reunited with his son. What consolation would that be? if any? Should one take heart in that precious lives were saved at the expense of the other? I believe it was a difficult time for many victims.

Life is but a fleeting moment. Cherish whatever you have right now and pluck up the courage to pursue the things you want in life. Cos' nobody would want to live a life full of regrets, thinking about the 'what ifs' and the 'what nots'. Meanwhile, you can do something good by contributing to the relief efforts towards helping the disaster victims. Details are as follow.

CLOSE SHAVE(S)

You must be thinking: a close brush with death? no lah... far from it... actually it's because I barely escaped the long arms of law twice today... The first was when I parked my bike in the carpark just in front of somerset mrt. I went to jalan jalan abit and then proceed to buy my sarah mclachlan cds (2 of her previous albums for $18.95!!!) at gramaphone specialist. When I walked back, somehow my 6th sense asked me to walk faster because something is about to happen... True enough, I spotted the parking attendant just about to check on my bike!!! Waaahh!!! I sprinted back and said sorry to her, to which she just gave me a bochup look and walked away nonchalantly. *phew* that would have cost me $8 !!!

The second incident was when I was riding back on the CTE back home... Fed up with the long line of traffic merging into PIE, I decide to ride on the road shoulder until I could find a clear path on the main road to travel on. Soon after I had successfully merged back into the main flow of traffic, Mr. TP was riding past me from behind on the road shoulder! omg! die liao this time... but luckily for me again, he didn't stop me... maybe he was coming round the bend, thats why he couldn't see me... heng ahh... I seriously dunno what would have happened cos' I never kenna stop by TP on expressway before. hahaha.. don't wanna try either...

Watching myanmar v singapore now live on tv... singapore 1-0 up to 1-2 down in just 2 minutes flat... how can you fathom that??! they call themselves a bunch of professional footballers... I say to them don't insult the word professional man... utter disgrace... just where is the passion?! where is the semangat??! And to think that I intend to watch them play at the national stadium on 2 jan, I am seriously having second thoughts now... For the money I'm paying, I would rather have an extra value meal at mcdonald's than watch these jokers... and to prove my point, singapore just conceded another dumb goal right smack in extra time... they can't even defend a 2 goal cushion to save their lives... F***!!!! very pissed off now!!!! aaarrgghh!!!!

EXCLUSIVE NEVER BEEN BEFORE PICTURES!!!

Ha-ha... Look, new link added ----------------->>>

For those dying to see the man in the flesh, this is as close as you can get to the real thing.

My picture gallery is up for you guys to see the things I did over in Australia and well as, a few other stuffs which I'm gonna upload also... Do anything you want, just don't impose my face on a porn star's body or stick pins into the photo and put a curse on me...

A LITTLE CHANGE WILL DO YOU GOOD

If you had noticed, the links on my blog are somewhat different now. Fret not, they're still essentially the same link, just that I've renamed them to make it look nicer? and to appease certain people like adrian who keeps bugging me over the link to his blog... hahaha... So you happy now? No more ' confessions of a drug addict ' but changed to the original ' cubicle of the mindless ' now... hmm... what was the difference anyway? hahaha... And also, there's a new segment in the house and its called SONG OF THE WEEK. Yes, the music guru is finally in the house to spin some muzak and to recommend hits from today as well as years gone by... It can't get any better than this eh? muahaha...

Hmmm... It's a hot monday afternoon, should I ride down to school to pay my school fees today? Arrghh, I think I would rather stay at home, take a nap or read the papers instead... ZZzzzz...

MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLKS!

And so the festive season passed by just like that. Yes, a blink of an eye... Christmas eve was spent with jizheng *cry* along with a few of my ex secondary school classmates whom I haven't seen for a long long while. I was half expecting it to be kinda awkward because frankly speaking, I do not really know them quite well but the evening turned out not as bad as I thought. Everyone kinda got along pretty well and there were seldom times where people just turn quiet and stare at each other or at their feet in total uneasiness. Don't you just hate that? Anyway, I have to thank yehyun again for inviting us 2 poor single souls *haha* for dinner and movie. That's so thoughtful of you... If not, most probably I'll force jizheng to wear a spaghetti top and frilly skirt, then he can hop on my phantom and we'll ride to some secluded spot in east coast to spend the night there. Wahaha... wicked aiight...

After dinner and movie, the group split up and me and jz decided to head back to his place to nua... yes, there comes a time where people just don't feel like doing anything except... nua... So that means no brushing against smelly and sweaty people along human-infested orchard road or going anywhere near places with tonnes and tonnes of people. We just want to find somewhere nice and quiet and sit down. As I've said before, its in the company of the person that matters and jz was my only solace on an otherwise lonely silent night. *sob*

Christmas day itself was not too bad. Me and jz had lunch at adam road hawker centre and the nasi lemak was soo freakin' good I swept up every single grain and crumb from the deliciously fried chicken wing. It was the first time in months coming back from australia that I had nasi lemak and it never tasted better. Heavenly I say... And then we went to do a bit of shopping in town before angeline called to ask us out for dinner as well as saying she needs to get her dress from town in time for her cousin's wedding. Jizheng has got a x'mas party to attend so, being the 'good' friend I was, I offered her a ride on my bike. Hahaha... and being the spunky girl she always is, she took up my offer without much hesitation. *thumps chest* Respect...

Anyways, orchard road that day was atrocious and I totally forgot all about it! I was quite stressed snaking in between the vehicles and kudos to angeline for keeping her nerve through the while... respect again... hahaha... must have faith in my riding abilities mah... once you or anyone for that matter, sits onto my bike, I have a responsibility to ride safely and finish the journey with the person still in one piece... And also, I'm not some reckless young punks on souped up kawasaki kips or honda sp, which coincidentally was my dream bike... haha, so I will never fool around with my pillion's life and put them in jeopardy. For the record, we made it through unscathed so are you guys convinced now? hehehe...

Oh yeah, merry christmas once again and happy holidays guys...

SINGAPORE IS SO DARN BORING!!!!!!!!

Went out with jo, lam, yang and kwang today. As I was walking amidst the sea of people at tampines mall, I found myself not getting used to seeing so many asian people around me. Hahaha... definitely still suffering a hangover from the aussie trip. After dinner at ajisen ramen (yah, I specifically banned them from eating any form of fast food), we sat for quite a while pondering on what to do next. Fifteen minutes later, we were still there, still thinking of where to go and what to do. Then we left to walk aimlessly around the shopping mall before deciding to play pool... what's new? hahaha...

But before you jump to any conclusion, let me just say this: I don't have a problem with these people, in fact if you ask me, I'm more than happy to sit down at somewhere nice and quiet and enjoy their company. For me, more than anything else, is to be able to strike a rapport or chemistry with the people you hang out with. Anything else that we do is secondary. That is why I especially like hanging out with my closely knitted group of buddies whom wasted no time in asking me out for supper just now, and who can pretty much engage in any form of banter till the cow comes home anytime, anywhere. And yeah, pippin' hot pratas washed down with teh tarik helps too... hehe...

Umm... I think I've gone off topic for a while there. As I was saying, the social life of the typical singaporean has grown (or always is?) so predictable that you can practically read them off from a book. Everytime I go out with people, its always the same scenario happening. "Eh, what to do next huh?" rolls out of our tongue as if it was from a memorized script. Not that it irritates me because it's the usual singaporean way of life and we can't do anything about it (can we?), but there is definitely something wrong here. Why can't things be a little bit more exciting?

My trip to australia has given me a whole new perspective on how people spend their weekends. People actively engage in sports from rock climbing (on real mountains) and hiking to wakeboarding, compared to Singaporeans who count window shopping and movies as their favourite pastime (which I don't oppose violently to... haha... ). For example, if you live in Sydney, you can explore the vast blue mountains and could even embark on hikes and camping trips. Granted that Singapore doesn't have any natural settings to the scale of the blue mountains ( you might say: "Bukit timah not mountain meh??!" I knock your bloody head, it's a goddamn MOUND! not even considered a hill! ) but there are little pockets of untamed wilderness as well as plenty of unexplored places out there where people can go to. Its just that people do not want to make the effort to go out of their shell and do things that bring a fresh new change from their routinised lives. I admit, I'm guilty of it too, but too bad there's no someone to do it with me... *shrugs shoulder* So, there you go...

My idea of doing something different would be to go to every corner of singapore to explore almost about anything, preferably with someone lah... *wink wink* you get my drift... haha... As much as I crave freedom to do as I please, I believe there should be somebody to share your joy with because ultimately, that someone is meant for that somebody. Err... makes sense? Yes? No? nevermind... hehe...

Now, I'm not suggesting that you do those physically demanding stuffs I've mentioned above, but it will be good to add more spice in your life by trying out new stuffs. For me, maybe sunday after every soccer session we can go hang out on sunset bay (we tried that before, by the way) or roller blade at east coast park? I don't know if I'll like it, but I can try, can I?

It's 6am now and the sun will be rising pretty soon. Maybe I'll go for a early morning jog around the reservoir? hahaha... kee siao you might say? Possibly... ...

I shall leave you with this:

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

Ahh... plenty of photos to upload but not yet done. Don't blame me cos' I've got almost 2 gb worth of stuff to sieve through... Quality control and I need to think of creative comments... plus you need to rearrange them also... Tough work man... Anyway, here's one which is currently on my desktop wallpaper...


The peeps whom I lived with together under the same roof during the stay in Melbourne.
From left: Zhiwei, Magdelene, Jasmine, Alex, ME, and James.

I kinda liked this pic which was taken at the bottom of the Loch Ard Gorge, partly because the wind wasn't that strong at the time it was taken and my hair not that messy... hahaha...

More choice pictures to come... keep yer eyes peeled for this space...

HELP ME! I'M SWEATING BUCKETS!!!

Aiight, respect this people... Me the man just got back from what was a fruitful trip to Oz land. The moment I step out of the airport, the hot air just rushed right into yer face and me didn't enjoy it very much cos' the weather at melbourne is so much cooler at 15 degrees celsius. Of cos' the man jumped straight into the brudda-in-law's air conditioned nissan sunny and headed back home for a nice shower.

And yeah, did i forget to mention... the day didn't start out exactly well for me though. You see, the night before we had to sleep over at Brisbane International airport because we can't sleep at the domestic terminal. Our domestic flight was not scheduled to leave until 0620 and the connecting train didn't operate until 0600. Brilliant. So that leaves us only 2 options, take cab for 10 over dollars or walk the stretch to get to the domestic terminal. Obviously being budget tight and with the fierce backpacker spirit burning in our hearts (okay I made the last bit up), truth is, we got time to burn but what we didn't realise was how massive of a strain the overweight backpacks began to take a toll on our weary bodies. But in the end, we still got through, so respect that, it aint easy man.

More shock was to follow when we finally checked in with Jetstar airlines. 10 minutes later the public speaker system announced our names and asked us to report to service desk immediately and I was like "What the hell??!" Imagine the look on our faces when the Jetstar frontline personnel told us our flight had been cancelled because in her words, "the airplane broke down" Wah, got such things one ah... ahahaha... I dun know whether to laugh or cry then. Anyway, that will be the first and last time I'm ever gonna take a flight from Jetstar again. Come to think of it, their planes look really dodgy too... And also, which person in the right frame of mind would go and tell customers that?! Unless you hate the company so much and wanted it to collapse right that very moment... In any case, we were placed on the fully serviced flight with quantas. Yes, free breakfast for us... hahaha...

And just when you thought things are gonna get better? NO! As we board the bus that takes us out to the airport for the flight home to Singapore, we encountered a bloody loong jam on the highway. That's it for us, we thought, as we had taken the latest possible bus out of melbourne city and could not afford any hold ups. And this had to happen of all times. But luckily, the bus driver pulled off some stunts by driving on the road shoulder to get us to the airport on time. Or so we thought. We approached the British Airways Check in counter only to be told by the duty personnel that the gate for our flight had just closed. Ultimate shocker, horror of all horrors, don't tell me we're gonna miss our flight back home?! NOooooo... This one really takes the cake man... My, was I panicking and trembling with fear then... The moment of relief finally came when they reopened the gate again for us to board, though not before they threw our luggage and my mangoes forcefully down the conveyor belt, which I think is because we delayed their knocking off hours by a few minutes of that inconvenience. Slack man! Singapore where got people knock off at 5 sharp one!! haha...

And so we ran for our dear lives towards the immigration counter and finally heave a sigh of relief when we see people still queuing up at the gate. Wah liew... super close shave man... So, lesson learnt. When taking international flights, please be at the check-in counter an hour and a half before departure or else you'll suffer the same fate as me... hahaha...

GREETINGS FROM GOLD COAST, SURFER'S PARADISE

I can't believe it, I've spent more than a month outside of home and I'm not shy to admit I really miss home. Not that I'm being whiny and all but I really miss my parents, my friends and all things familiar to Singapore. Its fun here at surfer's paradise, being a beach bum and going shopping at factory outlets with my friends and not buying a single thing. Yeah, the worst part is having to pay $10 taxi fare just to get there, and I had nothing to show for! Haha... but really not worth it man, most of the stuffs are either oversized for us asians, outdated in design or really just expensive if you were to convert back to singapore dollars. So, unlike some of friends who engage in foolhardy acts and impulse buying, I made the right choice in not buying anything, though the taxi fare I paid for still struck a sour note with me, hehe...

Anyway, I feel kinda funny right now, don't know how to explain... somehow I don't seem to enjoy the trip as much as I want to. Even though I'm at gold coast right now, my heart seems to be somewhere else *sigh*

To my dear friends who are still reading my blog, I'm still alive loh... just that now my tummy's grown smaller (no bluff you ok!), fitter from the weekly jogs, tanner and I think I look a bit like gu tian le now... wahaha... No worries peeps, plenty of souvenirs for you... not the cheap cheap koala clip ons and australian made keychains loh, its stuffs you can't find in singapore one leh... I think so... I wonder why everyone who visits australia sure must buy macadamia nuts and nougats... boring man... I shall try to be different... hahaha... anyway, my time at the internet cafe is almost running out... I'll see you guys in singapore soon on the 16th dec... ciao!