Gene's Log

Gwen's wedding 22 July 2011

2011-07-29T20:38:00.001-07:00

Years of neglect of blog

2011-06-14T09:44:00.001-07:00

Ok. I think it's time kick start my blog again. On a personal front.
On a quick note, I've been posted to raffles, I managed to top my Pe cohort as the best student , and am resuming squash duties. Tennis with the Ri team is relegated to part time.

We shall see how things go. Term restarts in 2 weeks.

12/6 sunday
Met ming after coaching about 1. We went to grab lunch at mr Teh Tarik before going to her place to nuah. After that she followed me for mass and then we went to fat cat cafe at the lorong Chuan area just next to Jules cafe. She had the grilled chicken while I had a yucky salmon pasta

After that I sent her home..

13/6
Nothing much this Monday. Squash duty beckons at 1030, after Which I went to get my racket strung up and headed to Ri for tennis with the Ri boys.

Then it was home to rest before coaching alex at 7 bukit batok and hsun tao's son Elisha at temasek club 9-1030

Tiring stuff I tell ya.

14/6
Woke up late. Supposed to hit with sundar and rich but sundar backed out and suggested we play 6pm. Ok. Fine.

Then went to fetch my parents from amk hub at 1 plus and ended up getting a macs lunch.

Then it was coaching at 8pm dairy farm with kx n gang.

Cheque from Elle expired. Need to reapply. Serves me right for delaying. Lesson learnt.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Lorong 8 Toa Payoh,Singapore,Singapore

Re: Maybe i won't chuck this site after all

2010-10-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. Ok. Maybe not. Guess i won't be shifting out from this blog. I mean. After so many years of history here. I don't see any reason why i should move.

Re: It's time to move...

2010-06-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

Just like how in life we move from stage to stage.. i'm going to move this blog to a new host and possibly i'll update it more often as it signifies a new start and a new blogging experience. I'm going to try wordpress. So let's see where that takes us.

This blog will carry on!

2010-02-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have made up my mind, and concluded after much soul searching, that this blog will not end. I have documented my life since 2005, and i believe this blog should continue to record my life, proceedings, events, ya da ya da.

So.

I'm back.

Taken Jan 2010 - Meeting Patrick after 10 years!!!!!!

2009, another milestone of sorts

2009-03-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm back. No grand fanfares, no big schbangs. Just a quiet note that i'm back online on my blog.

2008 was a bad year. Well the only positives that came out of it was that i started my relief teaching stint at Ahmad Ibrahim secondary in Yishun, and i was blessed to be able to try some teaching out. Other than that... Joey called for a timeout in June and ended our 9 year relationship on july 28th. It was no way back. She had found someone else.

I was in shock. I never knew she could pull such a stunt. She had so many months to weane herself off me and she simply threw me off the cliff without any regard to how i would have felt. I guess that's life. When two people aren't meant to be together, it would have just been a matter of time.

My alarm clock that i bought with Joey before i went to National Service, broke down during the time out. My Timex watch which i bought with Joey, had it's strap broken one evening when i was taking it out. That same week, my G-shock which i bought with Joey also had it's strap broken. I sought the counsel of so many. Friends, Priests, church friends, etc. I spent so many nights out straight after school because i just could not bare the loss and the pain.

Time heals all wounds as they say. In October i went for my interview with MOE and i passed that thanks to Mr Burton Row's great testimonial from AI. I breezed past the interview but had some issues with the subject combination they were offering me. They gave me English and CPA, but i wanted PE and English. They relented only after i sent in my appeal letter . This meant that i could not go for NIE in Jan 2009, but instead July 2009.

I was thus posted to Yio Chu Kang secondary. My life changed after that. The first day of the staff meeting, i saw MH. And my life changed. Totally changed. I was smitten by her attractiveness. Everything about her seemed right... (tbc)

Updates updates updates

2008-06-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

I've been berated by a few (well gently of course) that i have not been updating my blog and i guess i have not had anything exciting occurring in my life that warranted any reporting. Well besides the fact that I'M NOW SINGAPORE'S NO.1 MEN'S DOUBLES EXPONENT, largely due to my teamwork with Richie Ong, who's a great doubles team-mate, there really is nothing else exciting that i'm doing flips over.

Richie and i won the Sony Ericsson STA Open II Men's Doubles in May 2008, and so far we have not lost to a local team yet. Our first doubles outing in March resulted in defeat in the hands of a very experienced Vietnamese pair.

We're taking a break for the next tournament, but we should be back on court in August for the Pesta. And yes, after going a full roundabout with my racquet choices, i'm still back with my Pure Control Pluses. GONZALES FTW!

Apologies for the long long absence

2008-02-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

I doubt anyone will be reading this. Frankly i don't care. I've been doing some reflection and soul searching. Alas i have not made much progress. Perhaps the only progress i made in terms of my career, is that maybe i could go into Human Resources. However there's a problem apparently - which is i lack a HR qualification. Oh well.

I went to the Police concert on the 4th of February. It was awesome, and i dare say Sting's vocals are even better live than the studio versions. I dare to even proclaim that his live performance even outshines Bono's live performance. To top it off, Sting was playing bass throughout the concert. I was at the concert with Belinda, Kelvin, Linda, two of their friends and my dearest Joey. ;)

Pics to come shortly.

My cluttered table welcomed the new addition to my life - my Imac 24inch intel duo core on the 22nd Of February 2008. (friday). Exact hor. lol.

What else what else... oh yes, i bought 3 (yes 3), Babolat Pure Control Plus sticks, so that's now my weapon of choice. ;)

Richie and i will be trying to rule STA doubles this year. Hopefully that goes well.

My coaching is still ongoing, but i feel that i'm not achieving what i want in life, and i crave for more, thus maybe a new career is necessary and its time to move on from my lag. Perhaps i need to limit my choices, and just get on with it...

Thats all for now .. i'll write again. Soon. Soon. Soonnn.

Nadal Experiment!

2007-05-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Fuelled by a sudden rush to my already impulsive head, i've embarked on a Nadal racquet experiment. Reading on some forums that he allegedly uses the stock aero pro drive stick (the obscenely yellow and carbon black paintjob which resembles a space shuttle sort of technology thingie), leaded at 12o'clock under the bumper with 15 grammes of tape and another 5 at the handle.

So i've decided to offload some of the racquets that i have not been using, and am going for the same setup. I mean the squirt employs similar forehand techniques that i do except i don't do a 2 handed backhand. So i mean no harm trying. I'm so bogged down with my racquet selection that i thought once and for all i get this sorted out. And if a pro does indeed use this pussy looking light stick, why not?

And so my journey begins. Got the damn stick at queensway last sat at Edwin's. And i strung it with Nadal's choice of strings (allegedly as usual), at 52 lbs.

Played with the usual gang of Calvin, Yik Shiong and Ray at Shiong's lodge. The balls flew the moment spin was missing, but with the right amount of spin, the ball drops down beautifully. With Nadal's (allegedly) pro hurricane tour 16 on it, the racquet actuallyis quite stable on off centre hits, and also against pacey serves. But when u really miss the sweet spot and hit balls at the upper hoop is where the pain begins.

But so far, besides the usual elbow ache i suffer from the pro-longed use of my prestige mids, there is no other jarring issues. Will lead the thing up and i shall document it down again. ;)))

AND YES I HAVE NOT STARTED RELIEF TEACHING. Am still coaching at the moment, in case you're still wondering how come i'm so "ENG' (colloquial for free), in doing these experiments.

And so it goes, and so it goes, unemployment blues

2007-04-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ok i jest. I'm not suffering from unemployment blues, frankly i don't give two hoots.
Ya sure, i'm out of the rat race, and probably will be for the rest of my life. I left Rabo and i don't think i'll ever go back to such a condescending environment. Not from my colleagues and other superiors of course, but mainly because of my direct superior. I've been put down from the word go, and i wonder why i was hired anyways. She said that my writing (or my corporate press release) writing wasn't up to par, and that i was slow amongst other things.

Well. She can go and find her experienced corp comms personnel now. I really don't care.

I've done what i could in my capacity, and if she deems it not enough then so be it.

So now its back to coaching, and waiting for relief teaching to start hopefully in May or at the start of the July term. The starting plan is to relief teach in a primary school first. I just want to see whether i would like to interact with young children or whether i'd prefer interacting with teenagers.

Qing Ming Festivities

Last Saturday the family (well some of us) did a grave visit to grandmother's grave followed by a visit to the columbarium to pay our respects to grandfather. How time flies.. its already been 5 years since grandfather passed on and 12 years since grandmother. I can still remember their last days like it was yesterday.

New year New Resolutions at long last

2007-02-21T03:15:00.000-08:00

Its that time of the year again. The Chinese Lunar New Year, where relations get together, to exchange pleasantries - read oranges, and red packets for the young ones- obligatory visits to elders, and the usual dinners amongst family members.

Its come and gone again in a blink of an eye. In my case, its always the last minute piahing of bloodily trying to clean up as much as possible before the New Year (which this year falls on a Sunday). The day itself saw my parents waiting eagerly for the Malay catering to arrive, which was reminiscent of what my grandfather used to organise, getting his Malay friend to provide food on the first day of the New Year. I missed those days when i used to get up early in the morning and immediately greeting him a hearty greeting. Since we usually carried out our conversations in English, it was carried out thus in the same vehicular manner.

On the first day this year, I brought Ash to visit Joey's aunt's place, and was pleasantly surprised that Ash's guest visit did not receive any animosity. The kids in fact loved her, though i felt that if this was performed, in our home instead, Ash would have aggressively dealt with the kids. But yes, she was her usual out of territory cowardly behaviour, letting the kids touch her, while letting her true intentions be known, tail tucked under.

Following this joey, Ash and I adjourned back to Toa Payoh, where my relatives were just about to leave for their next destination (some place in Bishan, one of the 'Ah Kims' not sure whether its 5th or 8th? hmmm). Ash again, was at her best due to the large number of people around. Surprisingly, they all also started to pat Ash on her head, and i was pleasantly pleased.

Uncle Loke and Aunt florence then arrived along with Benedict. This was to be Benedict's last New Year with us, as he was going to migrate to Australia with his parents. I then sent Joey back and met up with the rest of the gang at Tampines to pay my respects to Old Aunt - read Lao Kou.

It was then dinner at Bishan block 151, following a miscommunication on my part to Uncle Seng about the coffee shop being closed, and after we had the destination changed 3 times before settling for 151. The food was just average, to even i dare say horrible, but the company was worth it. Highlight of my evening was doing a very short rendition of 'My Way' with uncle Chai. Gah. forgot the damn lyrics.

Ok. i'm going to log now. Day 2 to come shortly. Gotta work in 4 hours. This is the price you pay for drinking coffee at 10pm, resulting in the inability to get back to sleep.

My NEW Resolution - to lose 10kg (again), in 3 months! Stay tuned kiddies!

2007... A new start?

2007-01-02T03:52:00.000-08:00

Blink of an eye, 2006 has come and gone.
2006 brings a myriad of nostalgic offerings, most of which weren't too pleasant to bring to mind.

2006 saw my entry into the World of Warcraft. Of which i've not made any significant progress. Ashlee finally turned 1 in july, and is now fully toilet-trained. Ashlee finally made her foray into the open, and i took her for various walks, and tennis sessions.

I bummed and coached from Jan 2006 to August 2006, afterwhich i got a job as a corporate communications officer in end August 2006.

I had a torrid 4 months of work, and am still experiencing a torrid time at work.

I went for a U2 concert in Melbourne on 18th November 2006. Stayed over at Adrian's during the short period Joey and i were there. I caught up with various old friends.

The U2 trip will be further documented shortly. ;) I promise! By tomorrow! (The same statement which i usually utilize to save my sorry ass from my boss's frying verbal tyrade).

Christmas saw Joey and i spending it with my mum at Belinda's place.

New Year's eve celebration was non-existant. I slept at 1130pm.

During New Year's i went to Gwen's, following which i went to Mei's, and sent my god-parents back.

Brandon is getting older now. He smiled his cherubic best at me. ;) Then giggled and looked away when i was at Mei's.

So 2007. Will this be the year i finally take the plunge to go into teaching? Into a career where i shape minds? Or will i plunge into further depression and indecisiveness? Waiting for a sign? Even though the signs are there for the taking. It screams

'GO BLOODY TEACH!'

We'll see.

Back from Melbourne and U2 2006

2006-11-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

It was the concert i had been waiting for, ever since i was introduced to the classic love anthem 'With Or Without You'. The mother of all love anthems, in my opinion, will grasp your attention with its hypnotic introductory bass line. From then on, back in my junior college days, i was hooked. Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby, Zooropa (which i thought was a horrid album), Pop, All that you can't leave behind, and finally How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

They brought me through the most trying times, when i felt that life wasn't worth living, i was single, unloved, and was struggling in school.

Rest in peace uncle pwee

2006-10-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Another one of my uncles passed away last Monday.
2nd October 2006.
He was 68.
I never knew him well. And we did not exactly get along well.
We were not the best of buddies.
Close isn't key adjective, nor does it come close.

But the thought of losing someone, who had been part of your life, no matter how insignificant, is daunting.

Just a week before uncle pwee's death, another distant relative passed on.

I guess at 28, people start to say their goodbyes,

Uncle Pwee was always around, when i visited the family with Mei, Meiling and my godparents. I played with Bum Min, while he usually busied himself with drink and smoke. I remember the various games we played. Soccer, with a small rubber ball, using the closed windows as goal posts. Using two tables for our made-shift table tennis table, and then proceeding to engage in a fierce battle of ping pong.

Sitting in Bum Min's room, reading local literature like 'The Teenage Textbook'.

But i digress. Maybe not. He was still part of it. He was still part of the past, of my memories. He was there.

Now he's not. And with it, he takes away part of my past.

There will be no more questions to ask him. No answers to derive from.

Like why he received an award from the president back in the 70s.

How were we related?

These are just some questions we always don't bother to ask until the opportunity is taken away from us.

But that's life. We always take it for granted.

Rest in peace Uncle Pwee.

Letter to Mitch

2006-09-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

Mitch i know you're reading this.
Hang in there. Life seems tough and meaningless but it carries on.
It doesn't revolve around just you and me.
You only get one life so make the best use of it.
I know sometimes its frustrating. Things don't go your way.
People hurt you. Girls play your feelings and don't tell you what's on their minds.
People abandon you.
People die on you.
But still its up to you to make things go right.
Each day is a journey. A battle.
Its not a breeze, or a walk in the park.
If it is, would it be worth remembering?
The battle scars make you stronger.
You can look back and laugh at the little obstacles that were in your way
Which were necessary to make you the man that you will be.

We all grow and won't stop growing til our last breath.
So hang in there bro.

Give me a call if you need to talk.
And remember to go for mass.

Life is still good. Even though it hurts.
But its through the pain and sorrow that you grow and find true friends, relationships and love.

Another year.. another year..

2006-08-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

I turned 28 two days ago. There was not much of a celebration.
No friends that came over to party, or play spin the bottle nor to just chill. Part of the reason for the lack of social activity or festivities was because i had to coach on wednesday.

I start work at Rabobank on tuesday as a corporate communications officer. Yes, i finally finally finally landed myself a job.

Meeting mei, Kel, and joey tonight for my belated birthday dinner at Fish n co. Will put pictures up later. ;)

Hoila... Nokia N80

2006-06-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

1) i'm still officially unemployed.
2) I bought a Nokia N80
3) I'm still depressed.

Yesh.. yesh yesh.. here i am.. 2 months on.. and still not officially employed.
As a semi last resort, i'll be applying to MOE for a contract teaching position,
and i'll probably try to get myself into ACS Barker to help them with their physical education department.

Despite my disgust with Nokia, i succumbed after reading about the N80's features and functions. Utterly digusting i tell you, you can surf with the phone at any WiFi spot on the island, or just access the internet through the service provider.

Though i wasn't too happy with the service that i received, cos the bloody fella that served me is a bloody perv who's trying to chat up this LG phone sales promoter rather than serve me. His stupid eyes were always averted from mine, and he's got this stuck up face that deserves to be slapped ten times through. After that slapping
he should then be a good candidate for an extreme makeover.

Mark had his birthday last Sunday, on the 4th of June and he was caped in a Superman attire. All that hype with regards to the new superman, has left Kelvin ga ga. He kept showing us the trailers for the new movie over and over and over again... lol.

More pictures coming up, since my N80's now activated for duty.

Bye bye faulty 7610.. Sob sob. It was swell...

Welcome to the family Brandon...

2006-04-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

Brandon was born 9th March 2006, and i took him home from Mount Elizabeth hospital on the 2nd day. He's the cutest little thing and we just celebrated his 1st month. He's got an amazing full head of hair and sideburns to top it off!

My cousin Belinda now gets another 2 months to recoup before she goes back to work.

I've been hunting for a new pair of spectacles as well so as to look presentable for interviews. I've been getting a little headache as well
wearing my oakley glasses because the lenses are curved.

Serves me right for trying to look different and cool. ;)

My spirits have been lifted somewhat, due to changing my tennis racquets to the hyper carbon 5.3, which is a damn powerful stick, so much so
i'm thinking of calling myself the kismis cannon.

Courtesy of Calvin Choo, we've ordered 6 sticks among us, and am waiting for the shipment to arrive.

Latest resume send outs this week... Power 98, and CNBC. Wish me luck.

And oh.. before i go.. i HATE NOKIA. Within a year and 3 months, my 7610's screen has whited out on me. I brought it to the Nokia care center but they said its beyond repair!!! WHAT?!?!?!

So for the mean time, no other exciting pictures for you to see....

Give me hope.

2006-04-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

The mornings do not greet me with a sunrise anymore.
Darkness has become my staple
With an eternal eclipse that has engulfed my heart
The tunnel is dark and long
there is no end in sight
Every twist and turn tears a piece off me
the wounds do not heal
But still i hide behind a mask
Yes everything's alright
I'm fine, i'm dandy.
In this self centered world
i'd rather be fucked, than be messed around.

Play with my heart, take me for granted.
I'm fine, i've been messed.
Tear open my wounds and pour salt in.
No don't rub it. Pour it.
Yes that's much better,
Isn't pain enlightening

A catharsis that never materialises
for every pinch of salt invigorates

Sooner or later i'll be gone
Don't be late with your goodbyes.

Hush little baby, don't you cry, everything's gonna be alright...

2006-02-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

No, i'm not listening to some nursery rhyme, it so happens that Eminem's song, as so eloquently titled above, is
playing on power 98 right now as i type. It has been quite an eventful past month and i've been so lazy to update
that i'm only doing it now...

Ashlee's been doing fine. Besides the occasional and irritating pee-poo accidents that she incurs, she's been a gem. She's been keeping my mum happy with her childish puppish antics, and keeping me company in my room.

Ok..so no improvement on the tricks list. She does the usual - sit, fetch, shake paws, hi-five, and that's it really...

And if you're wondering how come the beard and all's gone, that's because we gave her a massive haircut just before
chinese new year...

Jeremy's wedding was held on the 11th Of February. My duties this time included driving the bridal car, which happened to be MY car..., best man, which meant having to read the 2nd reading at the wedding mass, and giving the best man speech at the zoo. Yes, zoo...

This was the outdoor reception before Jeremy and Lisa's arrival on an elephant. Kudos to them for having the balls to go up, and if it were me, i would have pee-d in my pants.

I'm still waiting for jeremy to provide me with the pictures, so hang in there... i didn't take much for i was pre-occupied with going through my speech.. i'm such a attention whore.. i love making speeches and reading in public...

On the job front, i havn't been actively seeking, and i guess i might just enrol myself in NIE as a physical education and english teacher. Might give up on the media front, and focus on more intangible rewards. Teaching and guiding youth sounds like an honorable job, and i like being the center of attention anyways.

Now time to brush up on my fierce-don't mess with me- facade...

I should don leather and spandex, and prance around with a whip....

Maybe not...

Smitten by the Warcraft bug

2006-01-16T05:41:00.000-08:00

As i write, my tauren stands huddled behind my chair, glaring over my shoulders, with his stinky breath clouding my inhaling supply of oxygen. He taps the floor impatiently with his staff, snorting out quick clouds of vapour through his groovy snout. His long mane tucked behind his ears. And before you think that this is turning into a porno journal entry, think again. I've been bitten by the World Of Warcraft bug.

I got the game 2 thursdays ago, and i've been hooked since. I've chucked aside my battlefield 2 account and am solely now living in this virtual realm of firetree.

I've been caught up trying to upgrade my virtual self through various tedious and sometimes ridiculously anal quests. Bring this item to so and so, collect the returned item and send it back to so and so.. etc etc.

But oh well.. its still fun and highly addictive.

I'm also trying.. note key word..-TRY- to clean out my room. It hasn't been effectively cleaned since 2000 i think. So here's the mess

Hopefully i get things sorted by chinese new year...

Happy New Year ! Have a blessed 2006.

2006-01-03T02:36:00.000-08:00

I've been caught up with the holiday festivities, mainly spending Christmas and the New Year at my 2 different cousins' places. Christmas at Mei's and New Year's at Gwen's. Its nice to be with family to start the year, to see family members whom you don't see all year. Joey and i caught Peter Jackson's King Kong on New Year's eve, and walked back to her place from Causeway point. We caught a glimpse of the New Year's eve celebrations just outside Causeway point, and a mini foam party? Hmmmm. I also caught a glimpse of this modified Toyota Liteace.. hmmm.. yummy.

Well .. anyways.. have a happy and blessed new year ahead, and may you be blessed with bountiful gifts.

Crummy Crummy...

2005-12-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

2 days to Christmas. Town's packed worse than a can of expired Sardines.
Expired being the people doing last minute Christmas shopping like myself. As much as i despise the consumerism that has engulfed us all masking the true meaning of Christmas, i guess in these troubled times, people need something to look forward to.

From a Chinese town's toxic water problem, to South Korea's fraudulent stem cell research results, in recent times; not to mention the Hurricane that decided to wipe out the South Coast of the great United States of America. In Singapore, people are working longer hours, working harder, to achieve a comfortable form of living, and to save for retirement or old age.

As we slave for economic and corporate ascension , Africa still starves,
Singapore charity NKF is still in dubious peril following its ex-chairman's expose, Sydney has inter-racial riots... so on and so forth.

I guess we do need a break, to give each other gifts of love and friendship. What better excuse for a break and merry thanksgiving. While we celebrate and partake in this festive season, lets not forget the real meaning behind Christmas, the birth of Christ, for the birth of a better tomorrow.

If it ever comes.

Its been a month..

2005-11-21T01:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being under the radar.

A lot has happened during the last month.

Ashlee's spent a month in the Lee household already, and
is naughty as a pup can be. She's chewing on toes, and i've been
trying to reprimand her for it, though she thinks i'm too soft and
has been bullying me.

I went for the 938Live voice auditions and passed whilst suffering
from the full effects of food poisoning. I progressed and was told to
take the written test straight after due to my condition. (They knew
i was ill).

I managed to survive the written test and was called up for the interview.
Unfortunately i think i fluffed it as i havn't been called back since.

Oh well... i've started coaching a bit. Won't be enough to fuel
the impending mazda 3 that will come in to replace our 10 year old
nissan sunny. It will be missed.

On the topic of car hunting. I'm the sales executive's worst nightmare.
I'm sure Dave has experienced the full blunt of it. I've been tormenting
him with question after question, car show room after car show room.

I was deliberating initially, between the Honda Jazz and the Hyundai Tucson.
I went to the respective show rooms and test driven the cars and so on.
The tucson having the most impression, due perhaps to the strange turn of events. When we reached the Hyundai showroom, it started to drizzle. After the sales exec showed us the exterior and interior goodies of the tucson, the rain stopped, thus i commenced the test drive. After finishing the test drive, and settling off for home, it stormed!

However, fuel consumption was an issue. Not to mention the road tax.
So out went the Tucson. Next on the list, was the Honda jazz / fit, which
fulfilled the Fuel consumption criteria perfectly. The highly touted 14-20km/l was really appealing!

However, when we went to see the car, i was sadly disappointed with the interior of the vehicle, even though we were promised leather seats and all.
I do admit, the folding of the back seats to make room for luggage and extra stuff seemed most promising. With Dave having friends in the car sales industry, i was able to get a full body kitted Fit from a parallel importer.

We were almost sold on the fit. Then victor.. suggested that i should test
drive the Mazda 3 before making up my mind. To which i stupidly obliged.
We headed down to the Mazda showroom yesterday, and the Mazda 3 ALMOST blew me away. Save for the exterior, which didn't have a bodykit to make my day. The interior was well done. Kudos to the craftsmanship. Having the radio controls on the steering wheel was interesting, similiar to what Wenxiong has on his Saab! The interior was well insulated save for the wheel noise, due to the size of the wheels. (16 inches)

Handling was superb, but the acceleration was a bit suspect. However it was a champion drive of sorts. It handled much like a european car. Victor was right. Damn!

My dad was quite sold on it too... and thus , the rest they say.. is history.

Sigh..bye bye Fit... bye bye mugen kit.

Ashlee's new home!

2005-10-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

After through gorenging my dad through subtle methods of persuasion, i managed to convince him that my life requires and isn't complete without a canine companion. So for the last 2 weeks or so i was hunting around various pet shops and farms for a miniature schnauzer pup...

I was eyeing the thomson pet shop puppy, but he was a tad bit small for my liking. Despite his penchant for making my heart melt, but Dave advised against making the purchase.

So i was at Seletar farmway 5, where this pup caught my eye. She was grey, while the rest of the pups were black. She was playful, submissive, but not shy. She readily allowed me to carry her, unlike the pups at thomson which shivered.

When a pug pup tried to pounce on her for fun, she retaliated with a sharp yap. A no nonsense pup she is.. :)She even readily shook the sales rep's hand when he put his hand there.

So i took some time to ponder. And a week later, i went back down, with the thought that if she was meant to be mine, she will still be there. True enough, she was the only miniature schnauzer pup left. Good or bad.. i'm not sure. The other two schnauzer pups were taken.

So the next day i re-appeared at the farm with my parents. And Ashlee came back with us. She's a good girl. She's starting to whine a bit, when left alone in her pen at night, but otherwise she's a gem. I've also forgotten what a pain toilet / paper training is, and i'm realising that now.

She still soils her exercise pen though, and i'm a tad bit irritated by that. Otherwise she's quite manja.. :)

I'm sorry i can't take you home...

2005-10-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

While driving for our interclub match on Saturday, dave commented, with regards to dog ownership - what is mourning a week or two, compared with a decade or more of joy?

To which i agree. The pet, in this case, the dog, spends his whole lifetime
with you, depends on you for survival, and gives you unconditional love, regardless whether you're good, bad, or big lying scrummy individual.

This unconditional love cannot be received from another human being.
Children will move out, grow old, have their own lives. Other halves have their own families to look after, to tend to and to shower attention. Friends will get married, have their own families as well and the relationship, over time, will drift.

Dogs on the other hand will always be there, until its final breath. You do not need words, for most of the communication will be non verbal. He studies you every single minute, and learns from what he gathers from your body language. He responds accordingly. To sadness - he will whimper and try to lick your tears. To joy- he will jump with you in ecstacy.

If you do not wish to be disturbed, he will sit himself in a corner, where he will not be of inconvenience to you, unless he is called or enticed with a verbal cue or a fragrant treat.

I fell in love with a tiny male miniature schnauzer puppy last thursday.
I was smitten by its passiveness, and its whimpering coupled with restlessness to warn me of his impending decision to relief itself. To which on 3 accounts i was correct. Thus the wavelength had already been established.

Getting a puppy, however is a life long commitment and shouldn't be based on any whim or fancy. All members of the family should be agreeable to have, love and take care of the new additional member.

So even though i felt that we had a connection somehow. I'm sorry my dear Ash, but i can't take you home. Not you. Not just yet. Not now.

Maybe we shall meet again.

Bummers me.

2005-10-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

You must be wondering what i'm up to. Well, honestly. Practically nothing, but tennis. I've started playing interclub with my group of tennis friends on Sunday, and we've been playing under the Police Sports Association. This, as Karlsen was an ex-police officer. I might take up Xu Teng's offer and join the Changi Beach club's elite training squad just for kicks. Current STA Open champion Chris torchia trains there along with a couple of other people, noticably Calvin Choo, whom used to be our adversary in NUS. (Or was it NTU?)
His name always sent a shudder down our spines back then during the IVP days.

I've been scheming to bring back a dog from the SPCA, but so far, my plans have been thwarted time and time again by my adamant dad.

I'm getting lethargic again.. so i'm going to nap...

Back home...

2005-09-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not updating for the whole month or so.
I've decided to take some time off to reflect and contemplate on my life so far,
and thus have concluded that i've gone basically nowhere.

Besides noting the eventual decline of my fitness, and the steep climb that
my widow's peak is taking, i've concluded that life is the way i left it.

My inner demons still lurk. They taunt me with memories and laugh while i
succumb to their beckoning. I fall backwards with every sin i try to mask under the guise or mantra that the good lord will come and take me back, regardless of the
deep dark recesses of my sinful past.

Excuse my waxing lyrical. I've just returned from Melbourne and Sydney and
am adjusting to a hectic, fast paced metropolitan lifestyle again.

A place where the general populace takes opening doors for granted, without
so much a return of thanks. A little verbal appreciation or a simple nod of the
head will suffice. But no. It doesn't usually happen.

I loved my graduation. It was long, but meaningful. It was pleasant to be
part of a historical moment, where ceremonial origins date back to the late 1800s.
Though the sceptre that one of the academics was carrying looked like an enormous
egg beater.

I met a new friend, who was coincedentally sitting next to me, whom contributed the previous comment. I met up with Amanda and Ben, probably for the last time, and took some pictures.

We also attended mass at St Peters and Paul's.
It was only then that we realised that good ol' Father Bob's ill.
I wish you a speedy and god-assisted recovery Father Bob.
I'm sure your personal guardian angel must be fussing with the lord to
get your cancer eradicated. I hope you recover soon, and it was great
to see you and listen to your banter!

I ramble nonsensically now.
Must be due to the fact that its half past one in the morning.
Devoid of all structure, i think i shall turn in for the night.
Will post more pictures from my trip, and perhaps my graduation ditty, once
i upload it to my mac.

Stay tuned.

Not there...

2005-08-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

No more pattering of claws against the ceramic.
No more bell signalling your kingly arrival.
No more chasing bones.
No more chasing tennis balls, for you hate them since one accidentally
knocked you on the head.
No more climbing into my lap when i say the word lap.
No more allowing me to turn you onto you side when you need a belly rub in my lap.
No more sitting on my newspapers, when i lay them on the floor to read.
No more growling your teeth at me when i command you to go to the toilet.
No more waiting for me to feed you scraps of food i'm consuming.
No more coughing.
No more licking my tears when i cry.
No more licking my ears when i lay on the ground.
No more coming up to my bed, and sleeping at my feet.

Waking up and you're not there.

Missing you buddy.

Rest in peace my dear Blue.

2005-08-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

My dog blue passed on this morning at 630am of heart failure.
He was acting funny the last 2 days or so, with episodes of
irregular bowels. He was more aggressive than usual and
was acting dazed the whole of yesterday. He was tense,
refused to eat, and rarely moved. He kept looking around
like he was taking in the surroundings one last time, or
he was looking at loved ones from previous encounters.

This morning, he was soaked in his own urine and excreta.
I tried to clean him with wet toilet rolls, but it was to no avail.
The last resort was to bathe him in his usual warm water,
and he didn't survive the bath.

He sputtered one last time, more like a growl, then went limp.
He fought to the end, having endured a weak heart and water in the lungs
for the last 3-4 years.

Brought him to Mount Alvernia Animal Hospital, and the vet
said he was already gone. So i opted for a private
cremation and will probably arrange a columbarium placement.
It will cost, but for a beloved pet and friend, why not?

He was 14. He will be sorely missed by all.

I love you Blue. Visit me soon.

Home.

2005-07-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

I huffed and puffed, while joey packed. She's a good packer, and i throughly am
horrid at it. I can turn packing into a catastrophic event.

We were able to move our heavy load to the airport thanks to Girish and his little 1987 Honda Civic
2 door. Its amazing how much load these little cars can pile on.

I miss Melbourne already. The warm weather here does not make settling in any easier.
At least in the cold, one can wear extra clothing, and at the same time hide any excess fats as well...
When i got to the airport, i was greeted with subtly with 'gosh you look rounder now', though not explicitly voiced out. I went up to my aunt and uncle, and asked , 'i've put on weight havn't i?' and they smiled and simply nodded.

I miss the friendly Melbourne people, and in a glaring contrast, i now have to put up with rude
people. I'm not saying that i'm dismissing my roots, and now favoring a more westernized
society and environment. I guess can't we all just be nicer? Holding a door for somebody
or saying thank you when served can't kill can it?

Anyways.. i shall dwell on this. Perhaps in another retrospective entry.

More updates later..stay tuned. :)

Before and After Haircut Pictures

2005-07-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Heya folks.

Ok ok , as mentioned earlier. An before and after haircut pic.

P.S. never get your hair cut in melbourne. Its expensive and it looks bad.

I'm a living testimony to the above-mentioned statement.

10 days to go before i head back to Singapore for good.

Looks like my academic life is more or less over.

Unless somebody's willing to give me a scholarship for honors. ;-)

Am going through the motions of de-taching myself from the lifestyle

that i've grown accustomed to. The courteous people, courteous drivers,

though there are many nincoompoops as well. And the sense of moderate

proximity environment wise, as compared to singapore with its intense

proxmity.

Oh well, we're going to start packing...

Freelancing at ABC Radio Australia and OFF TO UNI GAMES!

2005-07-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'm writing on the fly here. Due to catastrophic time management and a lack of discipline. :)

I've been called back to Radio Australia to assist Clement and the In The Loop team
because its the school holidays and Heather has taken leave to be with her children.

I am grateful for the three days at work for it means that i will have sufficient funds for
my retail whims. *Evil Grin*

Read- new glasses and Dunlop racquets.

Due to my stupid wrist giving way again, probably a ligament strain at that, i have ruled myself
out of Uni games, and i've given up 2 days of work, namely thursday and friday (today),
just to support my mates.

Due to unfortunate turn of events, the Uni will be playing off for third place today
and for a place in the National Uni Games in Queensland.

Lastly before i head off into my rented Getz (niftly little thing she is) for Epping,
i CUT MY SHOULDER LENGTH HAIR AGAIN! . Sob sob, ya da ya da.

There goes the last whiff of my 'Bon Jovi, Bono' days... I'll probably not be able
to grow that length again in Singapore.

Everyone bloody has short hair for practical reasons, and for employment reasons too,
with respect to the males.

But yah, i'll do a before and after like some ditsy people have done in their other blogs
no names named, lest i get myself into some loggerhead with some other blogger.

Off i go.

Attachment

2005-06-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for attachment. I get attached to the most mundane things.

A mug. A particular plate. And not so mundane things, people, clothing left behind which embody a suitcase of memories. A white elephant that sits in the balcony, subjected to the
elements. We shan't go into clothing today however, nor my bed, of which i am fond of even though it hampers proper maneuverability in bed due to its status as a single bed.

The white elephant that i'm writing about is my black coloured jump bike which will now make its way to the bike shop. I have no intention of lugging it back with me to Singapore. The fundamental blunder that i made was purchasing a bicycle that was too small for me. Although at the point of purchase, i was well coaxed into believing that i could always raise the seat to my required height... high enough
such that i would be able to pedal effectively. Effectively being one whole cycle revolution where at its lowest point of pedal, my leg would be extended all the way. I initially thought i would need time to get accustomed to riding, so i left the seat slightly lower. As i got more cocky, i raised to seat in an effort to achieve an effective full pedal.

The result was one fine morning, while i was making my way to the tennis courts, situated in the middle of St Kilda road, i noted that my seat was leaning further and further back. At that point, i decided to stand up, and then i heard a 'plop' - metal meets tarmac.

I slowly decelerated noting that the laws of physics do not favour one to apply the brakes while standing on a moving metallic structure.

I stood in amazement, as i contemplated the folly of my actions. I could have been killed, for if i was still sitting on the seat when it gave way, i could have fallen backwards, hit my own wheel, and then fall onto the path of an on coming vehicle. Wham, Bam, goodnight sam.

Scary thought.

But yes, this week it makes its way to the shop. A new owner it seeks.

A crazy thought you might think, but even though i have stopped using the bike, it always has a reassuring presence, in Agus's living room at my old place, and now braving the elements in my balcony.

A new life it seeks. For i think it'll be happier out in the streets, rather than watch the sparrows fly by.

Kristian ties the knot...

2005-06-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

I guess it's testimony to your age when your friends get married like the number of people
passing through a turnstile at a carnival. At least 1 or 2 will tie the knot every year. It becomes
a staple conversational diet too. 'Say, have you heard? So and so got married.....'

I turn 27 this year. I've attended three of my friends' weddings so far, best man-ed one,
and will best man another next January. I will also be MCing in another in December...

This of course excludes the weddings in which i wasn't in attendance for obvious
proximity discrepancies.

Kristian tied the knot last saturday here in Melbourne. After ten years of courtship,
i would reckon that its high time. A decade together. Gosh!

That's longer than most marriages last these days!

How swiftly time passes. I still remember being part of Kristian's film crew, during one
of his colleague's film projects while i was still a fledging wannabe film-maker at
Ngee Ann Poly's Film Sounds and Video course.

Of course i'm still a wannabe film-maker.. not much has changed. :-)

Kristian back then, had shoulder length hair, messy too i might add. Perhaps
going for that dirty seattle alternative scene look, with multiple facial piercings thrown in.

He has of course mellowed, deducted a couple of piercings, and now sports a tidy haircut.

Joey and i were at his church wedding at St Patrick's Cathedral at East Melbourne, and at the dinner held in Crown Casino.

We met a lot of familiar faces, and people whom were friends of ours. Small world dey.

The photographer John Lim, a singaporean retiree who was hired as the photographer for
the occasion, happens to know 2 of my colleagues at ABC Radio Australia! Blimey!

And one of Kristian's friends is Peilin's ex housemate! Gosh! So there you go.

The world is smaller than it looks.

Maybe i shall go buy 4-D, To-To or Powerball. Sure strike WAN LEH.

Here are some highlights, courtesy of my nokia, with its wonky resolution of which
i am left speechless and appalled.

Hey, some image better than none lar eh?

Take out your squinting glasses....

Hotel Room action!!!! Kris shows us his naughtier side....

Things to crap about

2005-06-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

Oooo lookie! New font and font size!

ok ok, back to serious business.

What i'm about to embark on is grotesque in content so unless you have sufficiently digested your dinner, please go visit some other less suggestive or hurl free website... maybe www.disney.com

I want to discuss something extremely vital to our daily contentment and well-being. Stools. No no, no sitting stool.. though i wonder whether the sitting stool is spelt the same way or used in the same manner anymore.

Yes, excreta. Stool. Sh**. Crap! etc.

Ever had one of those days when it feels like a big chunk's coming out
and it struggles to dislodge itself from your system?

What's the solution? More roughage and fruit juices our mothers
will say... but here's what i'm proposing. If you don't mind a bitter
after-taste... triple expresso!!!

All you have to do, is to buy one of those instant nescafe expressos right?
Then put like THREE, yes THREE, TABLE SPOONS, not tea spoons dear..
TABLE spoons, of nescafe expresso powder into your coffee cup. Then
add 1 and a half table spoons of condensed milk or substitute with normal
low fat milk for all you health conscious people out there...

Within an hour or so, you'll have this lovely feeling in your tummy, for which immediate attention will be required. And then simply feel the action unfold seamlessly!

One side effect though, for which this author will not be responsible for,
is the high frequency of 'GAS' , or for those of you not in the same lingo frequency as i am, fart.

For that, simply invest in a good, effective, cheap wooden clothes peg and peg up your nostrils.

05 June 2005 3:41:40 PM

We are CHAMPIONS AGAIN!

2005-05-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

For the first time in this decade... i've not regretted waking up at 430am in the wee morning to watch my inconsistent liverpool do battle. Like Murphy's laws always seem to play tricks with my mind, in application Liverpool usually loses when i turn on the tele to watch them. It looked like it was happening again last thursday (26th May). The moment i switched on the television at 440am, lo and behold, Liverpool were 1-0 down against Italian giants AC Milan. This was like a slap in the face. It was Murphy's law in full effect.

Since i had already made the commitment to wake up in the blistering cold, i thought i might as well watch on. Slap no. 2... goal number two came. Chelsea reject Crespo scored. While muttering unmentionable hokkien explicits continuously, slap no.3. Guess who? The reject! Crespo adds a deft finish. No. 3 it is. Shot, killed, buried.

Even commentator Martin Tyler said, 'Surely its all over now!', and its not even half time. I wanted to cry.

Second half went under way, stubbornly i stayed glued to my seat, too stunned to move. Gerrard pulls a goal back. Probably a consolation goal i thought. Within 3 minutes, scimicer scores. Of all people! Liverpool presses, the whole back 4 had already pushed up close to the halfway line. This was getting interesting. Milan looked like a bunch of amateur players chasing for the ball. A telling pass, back-flicked by garcia, Gerrard barges through to be fouled from behind... PENALTY! I stood up with baited breath. Alonzo takes the kick... (at this point the SBS commentary runs faster than the action, so i knew that the kick was missed...) 'HE MISSES!...' My heart momentarily goes into a cardiac arrest. 'ITS A GOAL! HAMMERED INTO THE ROOF OF THE GOAL!' (Doctor we have a pulse!) ... i leapt to my feet! If not for a fact my other housemates were sleeping i would have yelled and performed a circus du soleil act in my apartment.

The match went to penalties. Dudek pranced around like a Bruce Globerllar reincarnated. At this moment i noticed his similar receding hairline and unshaven look, akin to Globellar, de ja vu! Milan misses the first two spotkicks..
surely this could not be true? I swear i thought i saw a putty tat, er, i mean a pig flying across the moon. Smicer and Haaman converts.

Amidst Dudek's clownish performance on the goal line to unsettle the kicker, (and one move which even looked like a gyration of hips!) Schechenkov steps up to take the kick. And the European Footballer of the Year misses.

WE WON!!!!! WE WON!!!!! bloodyschedangadangs!!!!!

I leapt on my feet, (throughout the whole kickout i was on the verge of wetting my pants), i tore off my shirt, waved it around like a mad man vindicated from his cell, i was about to let out a blood curling yell, (or a victorious braveheart cry, whichever genre of film you prefer) but then .. argh. sleeping housemates.. how boring. Sigh..

But yah.

Murphy. Up yours! hah!

The day i didn't buy a ticket...

2005-05-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Murphy and his forsaken laws have always been creating havoc in my personal life, and i'm sure his laws apply to your lives too. Whenever i'm about to cross the road to the tram stop, the tram arrives.... whenever i want to play tennis, suddenly a huge wind decides to engulf Melbourne, or (on another occasion), half the population of Melbourne University decides to play tennis.

The very same laws decided to exert itself the day i hopped on a tram towards university. Being the morally conscious moron that i am, i wanted to buy a 2-hour ticket (which enables you to hop on to consecutive trams until the 2 hours is up). It however, refused to dispense me one, because it said it required exact change. So i didn't get one for obvious reasons that i didn't have exact change. I left the machine and stood near the exit, which is the strategic point where most non-ticket buying passengers usually prefer to station themselves.

The tram turns into burke street, and stops at one of the main stops. Lo and behold, i spotted a team of tram ticket inspectors. They have these nifty black uniforms, which blatantly gives their identity away. The door opens, i hesitated, were they going to come up? They looked as though they were about to, and silly me decided to jump ship.

The moment i put a solitary toe out of the door, one of the male indon looking inspector stops me, flashing his stupid replica of a police badge. 'Sorry, tram ticket inspecting official (or something that sounds just as dumb), can i see your ticket please?' To which i replied with an acidic look that could burn through his head 'i don't have one, because the machine didn't dispense me one.'

He asked 'And why is that?'

To which i so patiently replied ,'because it wanted exact change and i had none.'

He beckoned me to one side, with every intention to book me.

I stubborn insisted 'look, i wanted to buy a ticket, but it wanted exact change, look (i opened up my wallet) i have 4 dolalrs worth of coins, how was i suppose to know this tram didn't want to take my surplus coins?'

To which he stubbornly reciprocated 'But it says in the front of the tram that its an exact change tram. You still don't have a ticket..'

'Well i didn't see the sign which says its an exact change tram, because i entered by the side!' i retorted.

This could go on forever. But i was enraged. Stupid man just wouldn't listen to reason. Fortunately, his colleague, an aussie lady stepped over and enquired what the problem was, to which i explained and showed her my coins.

'Let him go.' She said.

That was my cue. I just walked off, and i didn't look back.

Damn you murphy.

Goodbye ABC

2005-05-14T03:19:00.000-07:00

Ok. I've done my time. I said goodbye to ABC on Wednesday. It was a bitter sweet feeling, leaning more towards bitter than sweet. I hate saying goodbye. Its never easy for me. I guess i'm the sort that falls under the 'hate goodbyes' category. I've grown accustomed to the working habits and nuances of my crew. Although i've volunteered to supply stories and contacts from my own free time from home, its not going to be the same.

Good ol Heather...

Clement ... the senior producer..

Winter alert! Meow...

Official Launch of 'Radio Segment' !

2005-05-08T02:33:00.000-07:00

Yeeee haw! *chickens imitating blaring trumpets*

Ya ok. So much for the cheap skate opening.
Very apt for a cheap skate radio segment that i assembled together over
the last week. But i guess you'll get a taste of what i listen to as well,
and you get to listen to my oh so irritably screechy voice at times hitting the
peak sections of the VU meter. I apologize for any aural infections that you
might incur after listening to me, and i blame it on my cheap microphone.

So if someone would be kind enough to buy me a radio station....
You know where to look for me.

I have to leave ABC

2005-05-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well. Looks like things have deviated from their intended course of travel.
Because i have 'officially' ended my internship with ABC Radio Australia,
i now have to finish up and ..... end.

The reasons stated were Human Resources related issues of Insurance.

Now this means, should i be at ABC, offering free labour, and the filing
cabinet collapses on me, ABC will be liable for my mishap.

Or should i be using the telephone, and the phone connection short circuits
and i fry like a pan fried pork chop, it is ABC's fault.

Should the building collapse and i be turned into a heap of crap....
ITS ABC'S FAULT!

Like HARLOoooooooooo?

Do i care? I'm not going to SUE?!?!?!! Like... gee... if i'm thirsty for some
quick financial gains, i'd rather go join that read your email and get paid
cash scheme that they advertise on Australian tele at the dead of night.
Or, i could, like Gabriel, go buy Powerball and then pray that my positive
Karma can turn the hands of fate (or in this case, the jet propulsions that
cause the Powerballs to float like Pop Corn), and the correct combination of numbered balls exit the ridiculously narrow valve, making me an instant multi-millionaire.

Then i can build a tennis court in my backyard. Which of course would mean i'd have to buy property first.

But i severely digress. Yesh. So my lovely time at ABC will be coming to an end.

No more paying $2.90 for a large inconsistantly prepared mocha- which one days tastes great, but another watery.

No more acting as pacifier to bickering producers.

No more being able to make a phone call and say

'Hi, this is Eugene, and i'm calling from Radio Australia.'

Sigh.

Nevermind.

Come next week, it'll be... 'Hi, this is Eugene, and you're listening to me on Gene's log'. Once i finish what i have to do, and get the file up on this page. So stay tuned...still.

Things running slowwwwly

2005-04-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the lapse in posts. I've been caught up with work at ABC, which practically leaves me ragged at the end of the day. I still have to catch up with my readings for University, prepare for upcoming assignments, and hone my culinary skills specifically in the area of instant food gratification. (read soupy instant noodles)

I'm planning to do a quarterly or weekly song of the week segment for this blog,
and lets see whether i can get things up to speed yah? Its good exercise for
my radio career, and i guess something constructive to while my time. Not to mention its a great way to showcase my sexy and soulful voice. Hey.. a high pitched screech can be deemed sexy too!

I'm writing a piece for the international student magazine, specifically on an international student's take on a footy match. (which i still think is the stupidest game in the world) But hey, as a guest in a lovveeely country, i should watch my manners eh? Its not polite. ;-)

But considering i'm paying exhorbitant fees, maybe i do not need to be so polite.

Does anyone out there have an eerie feeling about the new pope?
The Age has mentioned that he fulfils the criteria of a '2nd day pope' which
means..for the devil. Har Bes lar. There goes humanity as we speak.
Some people have even gone a step further and in lieu of the Akang Datang (coming soon) Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith..

The Emperor ! *DUM DUM DUM DUM, DUM DUMDUM DUM DUMDUM.....* OH MY GOSH! ITS RATTSSSSINGER! BUT WAIT? ISN'T THAT THE EMPEROR!!??!? Heee...

What we need now is to photoshop in electric bolts or energy radiating out of his fingers... 'come here my prettties...'

Believe me, whenever i see his picture, i get shivers down my spine. Not fever.
Joey gives me fever. ;-) More brownie points.

Stay tuned for more...

This Year's Easter Pics

2005-04-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

Ladies, gents and pets! Since i've finally emerged from my never-ending pile of 'to-dos' for the moment, i thought i'll share more moments with you. ;-)

SHIR LEE'S HOUSEWARMING ON THE 25TH OF MARCH 2005- SHIR LEE FEEDS GENE THE MACHINE
WHO NEEDS TO BE CONSTANTLY FAT ER, I MEAN FED.

JOEY AND A REALLY STONED OUT GENE WHO HAD BEEN DOING ALOT OF WORK BEFORE COMING TO THIS HOUSEWARMING!

I go to mass at Saints Peter and Paul at South Melbourne, so here are the pics
that i took during easter.... a pic of the general church hall:

Before mass, Father Bob got an indigenous or aboriginal man to come and play
his instrument, and its meant to be symbolic and an allusion to 'reconcilliation'.

Father Bob even arranged for a small tree to be brought in and chopped up during the reading about crucification of Christ! What a performance....

At the end of service, i decided to go and take a picture of the cross. Instead of kissing jesus's feet, we were supposed to put these stickers on the cross instead.

Yup..thanks folks for reading, and i'm glad to be feeding your voyeuristic needs.
;-)

More to come! Stay tuned. time to work! sheesh.

Geneboy! (Me) ABC Radio Australia 'in the loop' MUSIC PROGRAMMER!

2005-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Haha.. as the title suggests. I've was arrowed the task of music programmer for yesterday (Monday)'s and today's 'In the Loop' program. Thankfully everything went well too! My French producer liked it, and so did my boss! ;-)

Since i was running on a high note, i decided to help out to do Tuesday's program as well. I just hope Winter's happy with it and that she won't make any changes. But with our different musical inclinations, i guess she will take out some and put in some more hip hoppy tracks, while i went with more rockish stuff.

There were certain rules and regulations that required to be adhered. Such, as the number of Top 10 Australasian hits that needed to be fit in, and some pacific tracks, while the rest was up to me. So i happily included Stevie Wonder's Isn't she lovely! and some old 68 'rap' music in for some classics aesthetics. ;-)

I realise they're more flexible than Singapore. In Singapore you hear the same bloody track over and over and over again. When's the last time you heard Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's 'Lets call the whole thing off' ? I played it yesterday! See? Point taken!

Ok.. will put more pictures and stuff up once i get my main work done. Its been a mad rush these days, with deadline assignments looming, along with my 2 full internship days- leaves me flat out at the end of the day.

Now to Ella....

YOU SAY POTATO.. I SAY POTATOE....
YOU SAY... NEEEETHER.. I SAY NEIIIITHER...
NEITHER ... NEIGHTER.... POTATO..POTATOE... (ALL TOGETHER NOW)!
LETSSS CALL THE WHOLE THING OFFFFFFFFFF!

Pictures that you aren't supposed to see!!!!

2005-03-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...interlude before my next post.
These pictures were taken last week during work (internship) at ABC:
I swear.. if any of my colleagues know that i've posted their pictures on my blog
in public domain space.. i'm sooooo dead. *shhhhh* so don't tell anyone hor?

More on my internship. Well, its not too bad, and i have heaps to learn.
On the downside, i don't smell a job opportunity after my stint's over, because they've been facing constant budget cuts, and according to my mentor Clement, who's of Fiji-an descent, most people die trying to get in. I believe him. The mean age here at abc radio australia's like...45.

Clement:

I've also learnt some neat tricks. Like if you're calling over-seas for an important
'celeb' and you want him on the air on the next day's program plus he's got a really bad line.. do this:

My french producer, the sexy sounding Isabelle Ginoux who goes on Radio Australia 1030-1230 AEST.

And the techical producer... the lady behind the console...
Winter:

Its exciting. I basically go in, call FIJI for the weather of the day,
and find potential stories where we can get people to come on the air to talk..

Looking forward to this Wednesday..because i'm going to be on AIR!!!! WOOHOO!

I'm going to bring in my U2 CD and make them play With or Without you!

tune in next time...

www.radioaustralia.com/intheloop/

that's the program i'm working for at the moment

and to hear live...

www.radioaustralia.com

New place, New Vibes...

2005-03-23T23:10:00.000-08:00

Thank god, there are no more cigarette 'fumes', chimneys and what have yous in this new place. There are no more laughing hyenas, but the laughing hyenas have been long gone since. Another long story which i shall not dwell into. Over the last two weeks, Wenxiong and Irene have come down to have a hit at our place, and experienced the hurricane like conditions that plough through the tennis court. The tennis court is at the third level, thus the strong bouts of wind. (Not the backside kind thanks).

And its probably the first time that we have had a shared cooking thingie in Australia. Joey and Irene cooked up a storm, with Wenxiong's interesting egg and onion recipe an addition. Wenx and i were cooped up in the room playing Tiger Woods Golf 2005 and making a mockery of Kevin's chicken legs on screen. Sorry Kev! But hey.... I'm now fat. So nothing to be ashamed about eh?
This was 2 sundays ago, and using my mathematical skills which i have returned to my teachers.. that was..... ok where's the damn calendar...12th march.

Ok ok..i'm muscular.

But yes.

The new place's kinda nice. Will put the pictures up once i get my truckloads of work done. Its like paying the bills, the work doesn't seem to end.

Last week we went to mass at Sts Peter and Paul at South Melbourne and Father Bob had a chat with us after mass, and he's been trying to draw the youths to church via the internet and through the media. One of his latest exploits was to hear confessions on air, with adverse reactions from the public and the clergy. Good ol Bob isn't in good terms with the clergy, and i love his masses for that.. ;-)He makes mass interesting.

He even asked me for my blog address! and i'm gonna include his picture the next time.

However he hasn't been successful in getting to my blog. He apparently keeps getting the address wrong. I swore i wrote it as legibly and as big as i possibly could.
Next time i'll use a whiteboard marker.

When i was receiving communion last week.. he went.. 'body of christ.. by the way i think the address is wrong..' to which i said..'amen'.

:-)

Isn't he cute?

Wish Singapore priests would be as enigmatic as he is...

Last days at the Summit

2005-03-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

Last days, last memories.

Sure it wasn't a bed of roses.

Joey and i have endured, wave after wave of monkey chatter (read one indo-chinese named Willy, and some other malaysian chinese dude who's name i have long forgotten), days when Cherry's dander totally gave me an intoxicated hayfeverish joyride stronger than a marijuana trip; willy's fucking karaoke session which sounds like a rhino's fart; (ever heard a rhino fart? me neither, but i guess it prob gauges up high on the richter scale); fucking rude Koreans who have sex in the next room with their bed post banging my wall at 2 in the morning, fucking Koreans who slam their doors at 2 in the morning, not knowing that the verberation isn't some tinny whinny mouse squeek, but more like a elephant's foot banging through the damn wall and into my head.

We won't however, be subjected to passive smoke anymore, thank goodness.

I still miss the dog though, even though its not ours, but it felt like it was ours,
however it also knows that its owner is not us. That's alot of USs. eeks.

Sigh... last pics :

Our Room:

Living room:

Time to move...

2005-03-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

Less than 72 hours ago, Joey and i were landed a sweet hiroshima bomb. Our landlord required us to move out by the end of the month because his mum wanted him to go back (i shan't say where), and the apartment had to be leased out. So while my mind was experiencing a sort of tripping scene that was akin to Kubrick's 2001 space odyssey tripping scene, with the brilliant lights and all. It hit home. After 2 years.
I have to move on.

I'm a sucker for all things stagnant. I hate change.

And then it hit home. The dog was going to be sold off.

This bloody spurt, which on its first foray into this house, slept on
my lap while the owners went out, causing the first wicked emotional bond
to form, which i now have to detach.

And then she did this

I can't accept the fact that i won't be able to see her after this.
Kinda pains me. And the new place that i'm going to isn't pet friendly.
Pets aren't allowed by the management i was told.

Maybe i can persuade my new impending Taiwanese housemates. But i doubt it.

Wish me luck.

No mood.. absolutely no mood

2005-03-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

I will keep this post short. I'm suffering from a overflow of sianess or lethargic that i cannot explain. I seriously think if i had a car, and a place of my own, i wouldn't feel so frustrated most of the time. I was about to badmouth my landlord, and i guess i shouldn't because we're all human. Let he who is pure cast the first stone. And in my case , can someone be kind enough to toss me a Celica? Hmmm 1995 Toyota Celica would suffice thanks!

Black hole.. black hole...
never ending parabole

Spinning round
vertigo

Soft warm covers and open arms
i so long to go.

Darkness will thine torch ever quell
or will eternity, i shall be engulfed.
Show me a light
For i live in a world forever night.

Back in Melbourne...

2005-02-27T01:36:00.000-08:00

Back again, for the last time.

Its a good thing i have joey with me , and lots of tennis kakis to play with. :-)

Gabriel met us at the airport and we were on the same flight...

Our Sianz Zi Buah look..

It was awesomely smashing that mei mei could come down as well. :-)
I still remember the good ol' days when i used to try to do pig tails on her hair
at her grandma's place in Kim Tian. I owe my musical encyclopedia-ish memory , (particularly the 80s) thanks to her dubbing A-ha, Tears for fears and Wham cassettes, to name a few. :-)

Sometimes you just can't make it on your own

2005-02-16T01:25:00.000-08:00

Egads! My lads U2 has bagged a couple of grammys! All for the all most rock-a-dy tune 'Vertigo'. Personally if you ask my liverpudian opinion, Vertigo isn't exactly the most ingenius of tunes in term of composition or humm-a-bility, due to its slight spanish or mexican inclincation. Ok enough bull. I still prefer Older U2 stuff. However i thought their performance of 'Sometimes you just can't make it on your own' was infused with Bono-ish passion. Penned with his recently passed on father in mind.

Sigh... heading back to Melbourne in 8 days. Not entirely looking forward to it.
Got an internship with ABC radio that i'm not mentally prepared for. Think i gotta grow up.

The boys and i had Loh Hei at a restaurant near Saint Andrews Junior College. Gosh..can't even remember the name of the place. But it was subtly hidden up a hill.

Time passes fast. got a sinking feeling the next time i write another entry's back in melb...

Quiet Chinese New Year Eve

2005-02-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

Gone are the days when this flat of mine brimmed with activity on Chinese New Year's Eve. My mum's cauldron used to be called into action at 6am in the morning. This was followed by chopping of ingredients meant for ngoh hiang, and the wrapping. She made (and still makes) kick-ass ngoh hiangs with humongous prawns with a hint of steriod fed suspicion.

My grandmother used to drop by at about 8 or 9 in the morning, to land my mum a helping hand, or just lounge in the living room watching Teo Chew Operas. Sometimes my grandfather worked on the eve, sometimes he didn't. When he didn't, he made sure he stayed out of my grandmother's way.

People then started to stream in, throughout the day, and my place would be jam packed at night, with dinner being the agenda.

Everyone used to stay past midnight, most of the uncles intoxicated, while the cousins occasionally bickered.

This year however. I sit here and type. It isn't the same anymore.
I will however, go over to my cousin's place next door, and just pop by to say hi, and then proceed to send them back to Sengkang. They have a child, and he usually sleeps by 9ish 10. So i should head off now.

Happy Chinese New Year. I hope yours is more eventful and meaningful than mine. ;-)

1st February, 2005, 9:11am

2005-02-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

I had a tennis session at Gwen’s place, which suddenly had 14 tennis courts, and someone remarked (could have been me) that it’s the only condominium with 14 courts. Dave was there, and I’m not sure whether Guoli was or not. You know how these things go, its all muddled.

Suddenly I was whisked away in a space shuttle heading off to space or something. And I was wondering, frigging hell, its 2005 and I’m heading off to space? The shuttle took off, and reached its destination. You know how narrative links are a luxury in these contexts. Its like a Luis Bunel film or something. People went off to have a look see, and suddenly there was a flash, and I found myself in 1998 or 1999. And no, its not some Meili’s ‘Trip to the Moon’ flick either.

My concerning thought was that I was going to have to do it all over again?
There was another person in my plight, and he looked very much like Will Smith, or Jeremy, vaguely. Can’t remember much.

I met him, or the other again at some point, and I commented.. we’re gonna do it all over again aren’t we? Do you know what I’m talking about? You were there with me when it happened didn’t it? And he gave me a blank look and nodded. Ya. A solitary tear formed and trickled down his face. I blinked.

It was surreal, frustrating but exciting. Frustrating for I would have to make up for those years again. Exciting- I could make things right. All the mistakes and hurts that I’ve caused or received, now i could change them.

I havn't seen him in a while. He sat next to me in all his glory. His grey hair neatly cropped and combed to the side. The whisk of Chandra soap fills the air. My heart aches. Is this 1998 or 1999 ? Pre-cancer. I sat next to him, told him my predicament and he didn’t flinch. He was calm, collected, serene. ‘Kong Kong, you have to get help. You will get sick soon. Please go get it checked as soon as you can…’

I woke. The banshee shrills filled my ears with a searing pain. Fucking Phone.

Life goes on again. I scrambled for the clock. 9:11am. 1st February. 2005.
Damn. Wished it was 1999 again.

Reflections from a little room in Toa Payoh

2005-01-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Shir Lee's come and gone back. last Friday til this tuesday. :-) She came down to Singapore from her little snuggly coup in PJ via some coach service called Aeroline or something, which dropped her off at Grand Copthorne Hotel, at Havelock Road. That's alot of commas, my apologies. So i brought her to Sim Lim since she wanted to have a look at handphones and a micro mp3 player that i swear you can put in your undies and not get detected. Hmm..idea ah.. for concerts. I used to shove walkmans down my pants for bootlegging concerts.. SHHhhh.. is PAP listening? Oh wait.. PAP won't give 2 hoots.
Anyone from sistec? Hmmmmm..

Yup. But instead of bringing her to Sim Lim, we ended up at KALLANG TENNIS CENTRE.
Ah Doi. I tell you , i'll never do that Bourne Supremecy thingie, where Jason Bourne steals a map from a gas station, flips the page, does an incredible speed read and then navigates the area. I'll prob langar while checking the map alone.

But Sim Lim we did end up at , and i've never seen a more thorough shopping routine. My God Shirls, your shopping like my mother like that man. Interrogate the sales guy until i'm sure he looked at me like he wanted to shove the mp3 player down MY pants for bringing you there.

She didn't buy anything, so we met joey at borders, and proceeded to go meet this hilarious guy victor for dinner at East Coast Park Food Centre. We sat at the handicapped section, and we had justification for our actions, because victor then was limping like Djibri Cisse. Though Cisse has 2 broken feet.. Sorry Vic.. didn't mean to curse you.. hahaa.

We then went on to meet Tabby and Danny at Siglap's Coffee Bean. :-)

Pictures will come once Shir Lee passes them to me.. ;-)

And now..i've been busy helping my parents paint the whole bloody house.

Gee Whiz. I've never been so achy.

Resolutions for this new year!

2005-01-04T02:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, as the title suggests, i shall
1) Put more pictures in this blog once i get my nokia 7620 with 1.3mega pixel camera resolution

2) Will not ridicule ah bengs and ah lians.

3) Buy 3 liquid metal prestiges

4) Treat Joey better

5) Send Liqi to the airport this coming monday morning (chicken feet!)

6) Will not turn down Dom's request for table top warhammer for the sixth time.
(But seriously, you know im' busy dammit!)

7) Pet, cuddle, and pamper my Chihuahua Blue with lots of TLC until he bites me.

8) Go see a doctor for the bite that Blue gave.

9) Reprimand Blue for biting me.

10) See the Sting concert even though its rear of stage and all i'll get to
see is his backside.

hmmmmmmmmmm. can't think of anymore. This will be it for now.

2005 a better year ahead?

2005-01-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

Alot has happened hasn't it?

I'm back in my cushy little seat, in front of my ever temperamental desktop
on msn, surfing, and playing fable on my xbox, while the rest of the pacifc region is in turmoil. Its definitely not the best start to 2005.

Well... a few highlights.

I met up with my srjc classmates on the 29th after 8 years of awol-ness. We had dinner at chomp chomp at serangoon gardens centre, and i walked off with a satistfied pallette.

Chip and Jane's married. Congrats. :-) Baby's on da way too.

And no botak, i'm not bitching about anything. The gathering was lovely. :-)
You also didn't fail to provide some live spontaneous entertainment.

New Year's eve was quiet. Had dinner with Colin at Fish n Co. outside Park Mall,
followed by a quiet gathering at Nova's place. Beng generously came to pick us up, after my dear steed decided she wanted to have her alternator changed. She dropped her alternator belt and damaged the power steering belt too.

So New Year morning was spent on a trip in a tow truck to the mechanic's followed by a 4 hour wait for the job to be finished. But i spent some quality time with dad.

After that, it was lunch at Gwen's and it was nice to see family again.

Alot of karaoke going on, but it was fine i guess. We stayed on til dinner and then headed for home. Was supposed to go to Colin's to watch football but i passed out of exhaustion.

And here i am writing.

My penned thoughts pale in comparison with the trauma of the affected people
in the pacific region. Our hearts go out to them.

The least i can do right now is to fish out some clothes that i'm not wearing and donate it for the cause.

Lets hope for peace and calm in the approaching months.

Time for some action (WAIT FOR IT TO LOAD!)

2004-12-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

Heh. I know alot of people havn't seen me on the court. SO here's a glimpse.

Phillippoussis's Racquets!!!!!!!!!!!

2004-12-14T22:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to pop by prelli racquets on saturday afternoon. Low and behold, guess who decided to have his racquets restrung there? Phillippoussis himself! Kent mentioned that he had to string philly's racquet the next day. And i begged to have a look.
Fortunately for him, i didn't have a good quality camera with me. So this is the best i could muster.

Stay tuned for Adelaide photos. And my smashing new horrid haircut.

Back in Melbourne.

2004-12-12T01:30:00.000-08:00

How time flies. I've already been to adelaide and back.

First good thing. When i was taking the car out from Budget at South Melbourne, they upgraded my intermediate car to a 4wd, mitsubishi outlander for the same price.

I survived the 900km+ journey , thinking that it was a scenic route, but we saw nilch, because i did not take the Great Ocean Road route. Reached Adelaide, sore back and all.

Stayed over at Beng Harne's place throughout the week. He's got a fantastic place, at a
spankingly dirt cheap price. boy am i envious. It's a 3 storey townhouse unit, that he will be vacating next week. Sigh.

Upon our arrival, Beng took us for a meal in China town. Which coincidentally shouldn't be addressed as a town, because its basically just a street.

The next few days were spent going around town, window shopping amongst other mundane tourist-y things. I was just amazed at the laidback pace of life. On Tuesday and Wednesday, i went jogging in the evenings. Tuesday at the race track, while Beng and joey walked fluffy, and Wednesday at the Beach.

Beng and I also drank ourselves to sleep on the three nights. :-D The only rare time where i actually drink a whole bottle of alcohol! and the honorary drink? Vodka ice coffee. heh. How lame.

I also had an exhilirating joyride in Beng's modified Magna VR. The bloody thing explodes to 100km/h easily in 3-4 seconds. Bloody hell. That's what you get in a 3 litre plus engine.

On thursday we went to the winery for Beng and joey to satisfy their wine tasting palette and dinner in an expensive chinese restaurant courtesy of Bengz. :-)

Friday was then the long journey back to melbourne. Brings new meaning to the song 'great southern land'.

Oh... during the car journey, we played this game, where we counted the number of times along the highway, oncoming drivers would acknowledge us, by sticking up their index and middle fingers together while driving past. Of course this entailed me to signal every time i see someone pass me. So far, i managed about 14 counts out of a few hundred cars back to melbourne. And about 6 on the way there. The reason being i was trying to figure out what the hell they were doing the first few times. Was that a middle finger? Is he telling me something?

Then it occured to me. It was just a greeting. CHEY.

But ya. A harmless game that transcended race, gender (although its usually the men that responded) and age.

I miss adelaide already.

Looks like i survived

2004-12-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

I put on the worst pseudo british/singaporean accent ever attempted, and yet thankfully my lucky stars had aligned themselves somehow, got their act together, and looks like i got my internship at ABC radio. The start of some serious radio journalism. (Yawn).
No trash talk. (yawn). Oh well. But i did do a boo boo and give my future boss a horrible showreel CD, which had me scrambling over saturday to buy a bloody expensive dvd writer for AUS$420. However, the quality looks fantastic, and the menus were workable. God bless the programmers of final cut pro , and titanium toast! I could give each and everyone of you a raunchy smacker on the cheeks right now. No lips. I don't pay lip service. So i'm heading to adelaide tomorrow for a break. I can't see how driving 10 hours to adelaide can be considered a break. More like a bloody asking for trouble for my poor little back which my doctors had nominated me for 'most likely to have artificial back replacement' candidate.

Oh well.

and oh. I got my hair cut. My long long long long lovely hair. It was snipped off last Thursday. You can call me samson. Without my lethal heartstopping, aerodynamic hair, i forsee many battles lost on the tennis court. Oh curses the need for establishing a good impression. Just for one ABC interview... *sigh*

Ok... next post will come from adelaide. Where we shall raid ah beng's room
and perform some indecent babying to his dog fluffy.

Horkays, time to pack.

Countdown

2004-11-29T08:23:00.000-08:00

Ok ok..as i'm writing this, i'm about to take a 1 and a half hour nap.
I'm supposed to call the ABC radio australia executive producer at about 11am
regarding my internship with them next semester. So i'm a bit edgy right now.

Its also a countdown to having my shoulder length hair cut. Basically if the executive producer Brendon Telfer wants to meet me, for favourable first impression's sake, the locks would have to go. Samson Samson, how i feel your pain.

Even if i escaped with my locks unscathed (if i do not have to go for a face-to-face interview), i would have to get it cut the moment i reach singapore. My dad will personally hire a barber on standby at the arrival hall. Otherwise my mum will bring the kitchen scissors along.

Its countdown to adelaide. Yes. my dear ah Beng beng is waiting in adelaide for me to take a 15-hour drive from melbourne to visit him and his dog. Joey and i will shower the dog with so much attention it thinks its a prince and will devoid all attention to its original owner. All maltese/SHIT-zu crosses are like that. Ok ok. intentional typo. Sorry. Shihz-Tu (i think).

Its countdown to reaching Singapore. Home. Land of Ah Bengs and Ah Lians.
I just cannot wait to embrace the lars, lors and the loud (or is it discreet now?)
ah beng / lian fashion. You can tell i'm kidding right? You darn right i am people.

But with my last entry so long ago, i wonder whether anyone reads now anyways. :-(

Ok. Time to nap.

By the way. Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1. I'm cancelling my tennis today just to
watch the reply. I thought i had extreme astigmatism or something when i looked at the scoreboard on www.soccernet.com.

OK. Sleep time.

Wish me luck

26 and a Bum

2004-11-20T23:20:00.000-08:00

I'm a freeeeee man now that the semester's wrapped up. I'm bored to bits. So bored i'm playing songs on my powerbook
with the words Saturday, Piano or life. :-)
Do i make sense?

I even downloaded an episode of Singapore idol and almost gagged on my makeshift singapore coffee shop kopi.

Well, on the flip side i got allocated ABC radio, which is like the bbc of australia. No no no, before you start clapping and cheering and screaming 'you lucky bastard!' get the facts right. :-)

Its not finalised yet, i still have to arrange for an interview with them. So if the boss does not like me, i'm out as quick as a zyrtech. (Aussie joke). So basically i had coffee with my internship co-ordinator ( i have this magnetic quality about me, old men and gay men seem to like me.) and he gave me pointers on how to get myself prepped up for the position. I have to basically fiddle around with adobe audition and cool edit pro. Right so easy now that my bloody landlord's bit-torrent-ing and hogging the bandwidth. :-(

So i'm sitting here at 11am on a saturday, making love to my nescafe and gin. (opps. i dun drink).

Oh..adrian's mum's over, and she's been cooking up a storm!
Wednesday we had lamb stew, fried chicken, lemak curry, and fish in slight chilly lemak (dunno what its called)
And yesterday we had chicken bryani, with grilled flake and achar! WOOOOOOOOOO. I've gained 3kgs since wednesday. :)
i will go to war for a whiff of her cooking! (Shows you how homesick i am.)

Countdown 30 days to Singapore.

ONE FINAL DAY TO GO

2004-11-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

i've handed up my 8k thesis. Though i've written 10k.. SHHHhhhh. I've handed up asia pac, thanks to tabby.
Now one last bloody paper: media futures. Deadline tomorrow. Editing now. Countdown to freedom. Almost there.
I can see the tunnel at the end of the CTE tunnel towards Ang Mo Kio. I'll just hand the dang thing up and hope for the best. Living on a prayer. *bows*

But then, i'll be heading back to singapore in dec 21st or 22nd. So its gonna be some wait. :-)

But tennis everyday i guess, and stringing my 3 other racquets - my beaaautiful head prestige 600s.
Eat your heart out Philippoussis. I got the racquets that you go around the world hunting for.

1 week to go. 3k to write.

2004-10-31T01:29:00.000-08:00

Its the last week of semester. Though University's already out. I've more or less done my media futures paper, just need to re-edit the contents and make it flow. I'm also deep in my 8k final research paper, on online-communications and gameplay. And its progressingly steadily, although a bit disjointed-ly. I went retail theray last friday and got myself an original Grand Theft Auto- San Andreas. And when i returned the head liquid metal prestige 98' demo to Prelli's at victoria st, i stumbled across 2 used prestige classic 600s in the 'used' bin. I was elated. I wanted one for the longest time, just that i didn't have the chance to demo it. So i took a risk again , like i took a risk on my prince triple threat graphite years ago. And once again, it was a gamble well paid off. I took Melbourne Uni's no.1 player in 3 sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Although he blamed the last 2 sets on a blister on his non-playing hand. Hmmmmmm.

Ok ok ..anyways, i've hammered down 4k of words, and another minimum of 3.2k to go! *sigh*

Laterz... bring on the coffee.

No.7 Lee back in action

2004-10-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have to go and dig out my old dusty soccer jersey from my stash in Singapore. I'm missing my liverpool Jersey.
Maybe i might get one and then slap on the no.7 which peter beardsley used to don back in the late 80s for liverpool.
If i had the silky fat skills of John Barnes, maybe i'll slap on the no.11. Which reminds me, the china target guy whom i played soccer with yesterday wore the no.11, but i guess he's too young to understand the significance of the 11.
I finally took my old (un)trusty legs out of the closet and played some football on the hockey pitch at uni. With a shell of guilt pounding me faster than the allied's infiltration of god knows what beach that was... guilt won, but i didn't care.
Followed my neighbour Hsien Yang to the ground, only to find that his regular kakis of singaporeans/malaysians were mixed with China boys. And boy did the China Boys mean business. They went for legs, balls and shirts. (In no particular order)
So i was taken aback when 2 of the China boys vacated and we had to take over. I havn't touched a football in eons, lest pretend that i could dribble with the flair of Barnes, and run like good ol beardsley. More like i'll be playing like Lim Tong Hai, with screams of 'kelong kelong'.

I did ok mind you. I played right back, but everytime we had the ball, i abandoned my boring position for a shot at the big time, i darted up like a piranah looking for its weak helpless prey, i pranced, darted, hoping for the ball to make its long ballish-wimbledon-styled delivery. But it always ends up 1) Wild kick, throw in, 2) passed to superstarchinaboy no.11

Oh he was good. And so did Singapore no.3 alvin who had a personal vendetta with him, because he played rough.

Oh well, i did make 2 nice dribbles, and strung some passes under pressure. But i still played like crap.
Half the time i was figuring out who was from China and who was from Singapore.

Sheesh

So tired that i went back and crashed last night. And now i'm started to feel the heat from the assignments whose deadline is marking me like vinny jones coming towards to headbutt me. Accck. Stupid wimbledon bo.....*piak*

Back into the swing of things...

2004-10-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

Sydney was swell. Thanks to Adi for putting us up, and thanks to David and Azhar for the great company. :-)
At night upon touching down, we headed straight for Krispy Kreme donuts!!!! Could not finish all of them of course, we ordered 2 dozen donuts! So the rest went to Adi's fridge and became breakfast. The next day we first went for a swim at sydney university (they have olympic sized pools which was once a training ground for Ian thorpe even...) and headed for lunch at Broadway shopping centre in town, followed by a drive to Bondi beach, followed by a trip to Paddington Market. We then went to the rocks to have a look see. There was a tremendous jam, for apparently there was a mass wedding of sorts all around the city... Lots of cussing and swearing by adi later, We went back home for a rest and then headed for a Mongolian Dinner in the City. We had a poor lamb for stew, something similar to satay grilled beef in really spicy sauce, nan bread, and some rubber band like thingie, which is some sort like gwen's favourite rubber band dish at wedding dinners.

On Sunday we headed to Coogee beach, and had a fish n chip lunch. We then went for a sight see, and then went to get groceries and stuff at coles at broadway. I did the driving this time, and was forced to reverse park in a lot with a stupid supermarket trolley partially blocking the lot. Following which we went to have a look see and then headed back early for we had to attend mass thereafter. Dinner was with Azhar, David and Adi at Pancakes at the rocks. The pancakes were sinfully awesome, and should not be attempted by anyone who wants to lose flab. Following which we walked around the harbour and took some pictures with the Opera house in the background.

Monday - Adi and i went for an early morning swim at the Uni again. Did about 16 laps and then gave up. This time we made our way to get some stuff for Azhar's steamboat session on tuesday. Following which, we got our stuff and went to the Fish market. The sea food was bloody awesome! And i tried some fresh oysters. And i still hate them. Wish there was some chilli to go with it. We sent Azhar back, and went to take a Ferry to Manly beach. Our first stop when we reached Manly was Matt (?) Brennar's Chocolate Cafe. My goodness, we had so much chocolatey stuff that i almost became sick with over-intoxication of chocolate. Adi, David and I made a pact to swim the next day. Adi dropped us at a Malaysian Cafe near his place for an authentic hor-fan and laksa takeaway. Adi, Azhar and David had a birthday to attend to.

Tuesday- We didn't swim. We decided to have a walk in the city. Joey and i explored around the CBD area and had coffee at michel's cafe. Following which we went back to Adi's place and chilled a bit. We then packed and went to Azhar's place for a Singaporean gathering for steamboat. Azhar's cat was overwhelmed by the crowd and hid most of the time. It was a nice and homely gathering, such that i was quite reluctant to leave for the airport. We ta-paoed some Krispy Kreme donuts for our trip back to Melbourne. :-)

At the airport, the counter ladies were so amused by so many of us travellers bringing back Krispy Kreme donuts that one of them announced 'this is an announcement for all people carrying Krispy Kreme donuts. We wish to inform you that Krispy Kreme products are not allowed to be taken out of the state of New South Wales and that you have to surrender them to the counter'... Ya right.

Been settling back into the pace of life in Melbourne. Thankfully slower. But now i'm quite reluctant to start work.
All i've done the last day and a half is to work on my resume for submission tomorrow. Crap

I will post the pictures later tomorrow. :-)

All my bags are packed and i'm ready to go

2004-09-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week. Emotional roller-coaster and all. Grandma's death anniversary was last sat/sun. And usually there would be prayers at home with family members visiting. But i think this year's a small get together with uncle loke and aunt noi going to the cemetery i think. Always remember the departed in prayer. However, it happens in my mind's eye, with a slow montage akin to the emmy's 'in memorandum' where the clips of actors who recently passed on are montaged. Happens the same in my mind, slow fade in, fade out, slow-mo, black and white.

Mass this week was hilarious. Went for the Sunday evening mass at 6pm for once at South Melbourne's Sts Peter n Paul.
Mass was conducted at the back of the church hall, with tables all around a small table for the priest to put his books, communion and wine. Being the only asians there, we were marked from the word go by Father Bob McGuire.
'Its nice to see friends from Japan visiting us...' and i went.. 'er Singapore. :-), and i've been here for 3-4 months attending the 11am mass tho...'

And i can see he was quite pleased to see new additions to his parish-ner list. 'Its amazing to see guests coming
all the way for mass here at the corner of Dorcas and Montague sts. God knows how they found us here...'

And to make matters more interesting, i was made an impromptu reader of the 2nd reading. So Paiseh.
I tried to put on my best brit accent, which halfway faltered to a quasi- SIngaporean/Canadian accent.

Before i read, he even prompted 'Singapore- how's your english? can u read a few paragraphs for us? tell us what the passage is saying..etc etc'

to which i simply replied 'its ok. :-)' and proceeded to hunt for the paragraph to read...

It was nice, at the end of mass he encouraged the parish-ners to 'make singapore feel welcomed, we don't want to scare them away.' etc etc... and we waited for him to do his usual chit-chatting with the people, and when joey and i approached him, he warmly stuck out his hand and shook our's firmly, and had a short chat with us.

I always enjoy his masses. Imagine David Letterman doing mass in an angst ridden way.

This week and a half i've been hitting with the University team guys who are headed off to Perth for the UNiversity games, which i'll be missing. They're a nice bunch of lads, and i regret not attending the games. And its nice to know that i can
still match up to some of them. :-)

Not bragging ah.. not bragging...

Here's a pic

Next up, i'll be headed to Sydney tonight. So my next post(s) will come from sydney with pics. :-)

Going to be staying with Adi and company. Heh. And joey's dying for some crispy cream donuts?

Wonder what the hype's about.

Cheers

Perth-Team-n-i

2004-09-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Perth-Team-n-i-low
Originally uploaded by Gene's booty.

In Memorandum

2004-09-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the year again. When the time draws near. The time being the death anniversaries of my grandparents.
I guess some of you probably wonder why i'm so ultra mama drama. Well, i'm close to my grandfather, because
i've stayed with him all my life, (or more like he chose to stay with us all his life) and his presense had always been
there. 2 years on and i still have trouble sleeping at night sometimes due to reflections and nostalgia.
My grandfather always slept early. But because he wakes up to go to the toilet many times a night, my late night messing around with my PC always resulted in him nagging at me. 'Gene ah, what time already? Go sleep...' to which
i would sometimes 'ba bodoh' and pretend i didn't hear him, or just give him an 'umm....'. I guess i miss that now. All that nagging. I still remember my grandmother's ear piercing voice and laugh. We used to know when she was in the house, either through the teo chew opera blasting in the living room, or her loud shrieking voice which would signal her contentment or her disappointments. But she was a nice woman. Never fails to radiate with a warm motherly aura.

Within such a small space, a reflection on either of them does not do much justice. I will write a more through one and link it as the time draws imminent. Right now, i can just only sit here and wonder.. if they're standing next to me now.
One nagging me to sleep. The other filling me with motherly warmth.

One Storm down, typhoon to go

2004-09-10T00:29:00.001-07:00

Ok..so i get some temporary reprieve, following the completion of my Asia Pacific Media Systems. However, what's bugging me now is the Media Futures paper that's due next friday. Sureee.... what's 1k words? Ya well.. discussing about theoretical frameworks in analysing the evolution of technology... mental masturbation if i may so boldly say so.

Ok.. been stringing my racquets too. Cos my big banger strings finally broke, and i had to string my
bloody ridiculously small framed racquet. It's such a pain to string, let alone play with. Its been a love hate
relationship with my racquet. On the one hand, i'm probably playing the best tennis of my life. I've even won 2 sets consecutively, in different days, against an old university team mate, whom i've always had trouble beating..
(sorry roman.) Hmmmss.. will try to take a nice pic tomorrow with him. Haha. But on the flipside, the racquet head is so small.. (90 sq inches), the moment i miss the sweet spot, its like running a car against a wall. (CHOI CHOI CHOI)

So occasionally, (in fact yesterday), i've been having a slight tinge of a tennis elbow. (Crap!)

Oh well. I've sacrificed my elbow and my once famous huge first serve, for a sissy-ish serve but
now i'm able to win more points, because i don't end up blasting the ball out of the court like i used
to do with my princes.

Been driving the Honda a fair bit. Enjoying it for its a new car. I just lurrrrrve manual cars sometimes. Has that nice sense of control. I think cars with manual transmission just simply exudes this sense of manliness and stupidity.
Well... whatever.

Ok..as i start to drone on nonsensically...

Parking's been a bitch (hmm..its a good thing i've not advertised this blog to my relatives, otherwise i'll be hearing lots of feedback for language. ).. at uni, if you do not go to uni before 10am, u're screwed for the parking. You'll never find a lot in good ol University Of Melbourne. (Well..technically u're not allowed to park on uni grounds, but just around it.) Serves me right for not choosing to take public transport. Ok... *drum roll*

Songs for this coming weekend.

1) Vindicated - Dashboard Confessionals
2) The Fact that U2's coming to Melbourne in 2006 and i won't be here. With or Without You - U2 (1987).
3) Walk on - U2
4) Money (Pink Floyd)
5) Wish you were here (Pink Floyd)

Deadline in two days

2004-09-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Don't be mistaken by the pic. i ain't lounging around. I've been eating, sleeping, breathing, fantasizing about my Asia Pacific Media Systems paper that its driving me nuts. And to heighten my exasperation to complete my impending tasks, my landlord who's now in indonesia, texted me and said that my room mate has approached him (definitely not telepathic-ly the backstabbing buggar), and said he wanted to rent the new honda civic from him at 200 dollars a month. So much for having free reign of the car. But he did mention that he preferred that i have the car instead. But he also said whether i would be willing to pay 200 a month for it? CRAP. So there. 200 bucks down the drain. But i shouldn't be so selfish and utilize someone's brand new toy for my own personal convenience. (And joey's). So i guess i should pay up.

I have 4.6k worth of citation text written down. Now to stop doing research and to start writing the damn essay!
2000 words. How hard can it be you intellects out there may ask? DAMN FRIGGING HARD!

But i'm always up to the task. Of course in the process drive all around me insane.

Bleah Bleah Bleah

Top 5 songs for this week (thought i'll add this in)

1. U2 - Bad (live from live aid) (14 mins long! gosh. Kudos to Bono for his ability to rouse the audience for extra 10 mins. The original song's only like 4 mins)

2. Blink 182 - Missing you

3. Broken - Seether and Amy Lee (Evanenascene - whatever the damn spelling is)

4. Nigel Kennedy- Flight of the Valkaries (punk violinist extravaganza)

5. U2 - I will follow (nothing like some punk influence again)

Til the next time i get academically intoxicated.

Oh Boy...

2004-09-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

Everything happens so quickly and so suddenly. My landlord's going back to Singapore/indonesia. Recalled due to some issues. And to make things worse, my housemate's decided to move out with classmates. Accck. Which means, the apartment is in danger of being leased out. Which means we'd have to move out .. possibly at the end of the year. *Sigh*

I guess right now we just gotta play by ear. Though i'm not very comfy in this situation. Everything's so complicated and hanging on a thin thread. So basically, my amenities have increased, (more bills), and i lose a saturday night football kaki.
Crap.

How an issue has so many implications on other people's lives.

Hooooya.

2004-09-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Hmm..thought i'll add this in for fun. :-)

Taken when beng visited from Sydney/Adelaide.

Looking forward to more trips mate!

Another Year Older, but none the wiser

2004-09-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

So i turned 26 last monday. It was a quiet birthday, and was celebrated on Sunday evening at Hard Rock Cafe.

Got there a little early and so i ordered a toberone which was some chocolate-y alcohol thingie while joey ordered a vodka thingie. Can't remember... hmmss. Was it a bloody mary? I'm not good with alcohol names. Blimey, it was my first drop of alcohol all year! Adrian and Gabriel came, and then we got our table. Hard Rock Cafe portions are usually humongous and as usual, i ordered a rib/chicken combo and was so bloated after. We even ordered starters. Hmmm...it seems to be our annual thingie, my birthday celebrated at hard rock. Hmmm..maybe next year we'll go to the mountains.. (ARGH. not snow mountains again).

Kudos to joey for initiating. :-)
Muacks.

More Snow Pics!!! And last!

2004-09-01T01:24:00.000-07:00

Heya Heya. Ok. Last update for the snow mountain episode. Here's a group pic that we took, with the adi bravely doing a centerfold pose on the snow. Bravo mate. Power Mat brudder!

And this is me when i lost my footing on a slope and landed on my tush.

Taken before we left, all of us in front of the Sante Fe!

That's it. I'm closing the mount buller episode.. :-)

Til later.

Snow snow snow

2004-08-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

More little updates on photos that are in my stash that's screaming to be displayed. :-)
I'm in the midst of reading about how media systems in Singapore and Japan are different through the contexts
of media-state ownership and whether there's elements of democracy or monolithic(nes). So i'm taking a break
*Shhhh*

Procastination at its best. Coming right up : More pictures soon. Waiting for my birthday pictures from Hard Rock
Cafe to be 'developed'.

The day the girls decided not to wash

2004-08-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

This happened on the week that Adi and company came and left. Beng Harne, right on the day Adi departed, made his way down to Melbourne from Sydney in a rented Mazda Pathfinder. (Or was it an outback? Correct me Beng)

Ya.. so to cut a really long story short, we had the usual meet for dinner thingie, then they came over to our place to chill. The ladies were huddled in my room and possibly orgling at my sleek and sexy powerbook that this entry is now being entered on. (Oooooo ahhhhh). She's a babe. She's got power. She's lighter than a book. POWERBOOK!. Ok..ditsiness aside.

Ya, so the guys, (after washing up the remains of a ta-pao(ed) Bismis curry, prata and nasi goreng, (due to the massive crowd that formed when we decided to go there for dinner)) decided to utilize the big screen tv so humbly provided by Agus. And so the itinery of the evening/night was Winning Eleven 7 (or 8? damn these pirated software providers that cannot seem to get titles right). I trashed and whipped their asses , until at a later stage (possibly about 1am), the dog's dander and carpet combination got to me and i was starting to feel woozy. I finally got my ass kicked by Argentina i think, and that was it.

They departed at about 1am, and i had to interrupt the ladies who were gossiping about why they had boyfriends such as us, though i think they're the luckiest ladies in the world.

Tune in for more, when i tell you about how my bloody birthday went. (Yawn)

More coffee..quick. I'm losing my high..QUICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Update! Update!

2004-08-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ok. Guilty as charged. I've been so lazy that i havn't been updating. So here it goes. The proceedings of the last 4 weeks in a nutshell. My bung from army, ze man of the admin room, Adi came to visit me with David and Aza. They so smartly rented a car from the airport - a nissan pulsar, which was a nifty little car. Well, we met them for dinner on the first day which was on the 21st of July, and we went to Bismis along 300+ sydney road for .... PRATA. Mouth-watering, Palate gratifying, authentic Singaporean Prata!!!! Though i had Nasi Goreng, and the pot actually filled up my plate at least 2 rounds! That's how much rice they gave! And they also had amazing authentic teh tarik (tea with milk, pulled in a sense that the cup containing the tea with milk is elevated and then poured into another cup held below it, so to create a frothy looking tea top, and at the same time, make it such that when you put your lips to the tea you won't end up with your lips charred. It was awesome !
They had Teh Halia as well (ginger), though i did not really appreciate that.

Ok, then on friday, (23rd), we rented a Sante Fe (Hyundai), even though i really wanted an X-trail, and the whole gang of us went up to Mount Buller. It was hell of a long drive. The trip to the mountains took about 3 hours. And for many of us, it was our first glimpse of snow! So suah gu.

After walking around in the snow and having the opportunity to behave like an 8 year old on snow by descending a slope via my backside, the blizzard starting to pick up, so we decided to seek shelter and then take the shuttle bus back to the carpark area. The descend down to the main road back to Melbourne was tough, due to the rain/snow and the roads were wet and winding. Then halfway , Adi took the wheels. Amidst a loud and long karaoke session (and with Aza doing his wierd indian hand gesturish dance at the back), we exhausted our repetoire of listening material, and we were forced to listen to
Adi's BENGISH TECHNO MUSIC. Aidoi!

upon reaching their hotel at some victoria backpack inn place, and semi-deaf, i took over the wheel, and drove back.

We had coffee /breakfast at Greco's the next morning before they headed off to the airport and back to Sydney.

I'm gonna make sure we do something similar to this again. :-)

Semester's started again! Argh

2004-07-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, i admit i've been rather slack-arsed during the last few weeks. Ok so here's a quick update. Besides that astounding victory in the open doubles during my last week in Singapore, namely on the 17th of July, nothing's been happening except me losing my head over subject selections as usual. We astoundingly brushed aside Art Hobbes and Kiran in the 2nd round (after having easy 1st round over some poor pre-safsa boys). Following that we had to raise our game a notch against Fadhil and Shareen. They used to work for Art at Alexandra Park, (coaches). And initially i thought we were up against cocky buggars. And they were, but they were friendly as well. So i took it in a positive stride and we had a hell of a match. 3 Sets. 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. The match lasted 2 and a half hours. I will upload the pictures next, once i find a place to store it.

Right now, i'm occupied with subject selection. I have an 8000 word media research paper to do, and i'm deliberating between media futures & emerging technologies or advanced writing. I'll probably stick to principles of Publishing & editing, even though i've been told by joey that its hard to score in. But i guess it looks kinda good on the CV? hmmz. i dunno. Media Futures is interesting, but i have to do an 8000 research paper. Academic with academic. Wouldn't that be insane? Maybe i should just take advanced writing, even though there isn't much to be learnt. I approached Steve Robertson after class and he said he would like it if i stayed in that class, because he believed that that class i attended (on a tuesday morning), would be good for me. Hmmmzz. I hate getting interview quotes. I dunno. Its in contention of being kicked out in my book.

But then, when i looked at next semester's media core selection, i am appalled at the lack of an interesting selection. I'm left with politics,communication & media, media & communications theory, and understanding australian media

Oh Boy.

I dunno. I'll post another tomorrow to see what i've decided. Then.

STA open doubles champions!!!

2004-07-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

It was an incredible week from 10th july - 17th july. Firstly, our first match on the 11th was a breeze, because our main opponents didn't turn up, and the alternates were a bit rusty, so we easily went through them. Our 2nd match was against Art hobbes and Kiran, quite a formidable pair, and fortunately they were having an off day, and we took them 6-3, 6-2.
In the semi finals we met Fadhil and Shareen Jamil. My parents actually turned up for that match (how rare), and it was a hell of a battle. 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 was the final score. The match started at 8pm and ended at 1030pm. The finals was supposed to be played on the following saturday morning (17th), but then Steven koonz and steve newman gave us a walkover, because steven had to go out of town. The way they took out Kelvin Choo and Darren Ho was quite scary. But who cares? They didn't turn up, and we won. hahha. WE'RE SINGAPORE'S NO.1 DOUBLES PAIR! Still waiting for Benjamin to upload the pictures to me.

2004-07-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

Benjamin and I collected our lovely trophys last saturday at Kallang. We're number 1 in advanced doubles baby! So now we're ready for our open doubles this weekend. Ooooo baby! Bring it on! We look like some mean pair don't we. Haha. i bite babe. *grooowl* By the way. If any of you people don't know who Eugene is. He's the hunk on the left.

2004-07-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

We took on the NUS pair of 'Vram' and 'Edward'. We surprisingly gave them 6-4, 6-0. The first set was a close one, we were finding it hard to break their bloody serves. Then the 2nd set went quite smoothly, and again as usual, they couldn't find a way to break Ben's serve. And i managed one ace. Woohoo! I'm starting to love my pro tour 90. Then came one embarrassing moment, during a point, with the two of them at the net, they volleyed a ball to my backhand, which i proceeded to rip right at the centre. I thought i'd won the point and went 'yahhhhhhh', but then realised the ball came back!!!!!!!!! so ben put the ball away and they hit the ball wide. And i was sooooooo embarrassed and went to apologise to them. Wha lao. But yah. CHAMPIONS BABY! ADVANCED DOUBLES CHAMPIONS! Now for the tougher one next week. The Open Singles and Doubles. Think i might go get a wild-card for Singles.

Finals Tomorrow!

2004-06-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

There's been heaps going on this week as well. I've been playing an advanced doubles tournament with my trusty leftie partner, Benjamin loh. We're supposed to play a friend that i met through a tennis retail shop at Raffles Place while i was collecting my racquet. Yah, then Ray Chiang sms-ed me last sunday and said he had to give us a stop-over. So we had a hit, and then realised we had to play these kids that had taken a wild-card. Kids from the Spex Elite team as well. But we were having a field day. We gave them 6-2, and 6-1. Then in the next round we faced another Spex Elite pair, one of them even an under-18 champion and the other my ex-student. Sylvester Wee and Nicholas Lim. We won that as well, 6-2, 6-1 i think. Close to that. And Nicholas's mum was threatening to set Thai workers on us should we have 'bullied' his son. Hiakz. I was commenting, her kid was gonna bully me. The semi-finals hurdle was again another Spex Elite pair, and surprise surprise, we gave them 6-0, 6-0. Poor ACS independent boys. Never knew what hit them. Everyone had the same problem. They just could not figure out how to take my partner's leftie serve. Nicholas commented on msn after i reported the score to him that we had 'raped' all the elite kids. Hahhaha. not bad for an old man like me, injury galores and all. So tomorrow's the final. And i have no idea who we're going to play next. We'll see. Ole.

So it goes, so it goes

2004-06-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

So Markus returned to Finland after his 2 and a half, maybe more, stint in Melbourne as a researcher at Baker's Laboratory. He has a PHD in Pharmacology. When asked whether he was all psyched up to return to Finland, he adamantly said that he was not, but neither had he the inspiration to stay in Melbourne. 'No inspiration to do anything.' It is amazing how someone with such a pessimistic outlook on life keeps chugging through the trials of everyday monotony. Markus left for Finland yesterday, and i sent him too. I've been to the bloody airport 4 times, since last monday. Anymore, and i can start applying for a permanent pass or a 'friends of the airport' pass. Wait. There isn't one. So i would have to convince them to make one especially for me. And when i left markus for my tennis match last night. I felt that awful feeling of having said farewell to someone. Well Markus, looks like the next time i play tennis with you, would have to be in Finland, unless you decide to come down to Singapore again. :-) Cheers my friend.

2004-06-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

My Finnish tennis sparring partner from Melbourne decided to stop by Singapore for a day (well , it wasn't by choice), so we put him up for the night. Markus has never been to Singapore, so i thought i'd bring him around town today. We had a look at bits of Orchard, and snuck into the Apple shop at wheelock place as well (i couldn't resist). He had prawn noodles in the morning, followed by chicken rice for lunch which he totally digged. He cleans his plate thoroughly. Man. Talk about discipline. My mum was so amused. :-)

2004-06-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Carolyne Lee, my Professional Writing lecturer, came to visit Singapore last Thursday. This was taken on Friday, when we brought her to the zoo. After the zoo stint and tons of photo-taking , (carolyne was toying around with her spanking new camera), we headed off to East Coast Park's Perankan restaurant owned by my uncle Robert Seah, for dinnar. Then its back to her hotel in China town, and then off to the airport on sat, 26th June. She was cool. :-)

Home notsosweet home...

2004-06-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...i've been back for three days, and the initial enchantment of home has started to wear off. I've been reminded of the rude people in the streets, the rude drivers on the road, who basically want to keep the batteries of their indicator lights fully charged, cos they frigging do not seem to ever use it. And when you hold doors open for people, they seem to not see me holding the door, and simply waltz past, macham i do not exist. Like HELLO? What, i'm a paid doorman ah? Aiyoooz. Society these days. It happens in Melbourne as well, and guess who the offending party usually are? the asians. What can i say? That's why the aussies usually stereotype us asians as rude and unsmiling. oh well. I'll just take it in my stride, and try to be thick-skinned.

I've been playing tennis non-stop since friday, and i'm freaking tired. And fat. Been binging on food, and now i'm going to have to start dieting. eeks.

Going back home for a bit...

2004-06-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hmm, and so it goes and so it goes, as Billy Joel painfully lements.
Yes, after 5 months in the country with the most erratic weather in the world, i'm going home for a month. Yes, more laksa, coffee shop iced coffee, (which i swear, they've probably added some illegal substances to keep you high and hooked). But in retrospect. Even though i'm going to frown at the sight and colorful linguistic innuendos of the ah bengs and the ah lians, i guess that's where i feel at home. Here in Melbourne, i feel like an Englishman in New York. GUess guess! who sang that? 3 tries...
Wrong..wrong..and wrong. Sting.

I'm not saying that Melbourne's bad or anything. Just that, at times i feel i don't belong. Ya its nice and all. People here are polite (at times, except lunch and 5pm), driving here's less migraine inducing, weather's absolutely lovely for tennis, (ever tried playing in a 9 degrees morning? Absolutely freezes your arse off.)

but well, i'll KIV that for now, and head back to the sauna pit of Singapore. And i'll tell you how i feel. Probably complain about how rude people are ..how driving's like trying to give birth...etc etc.

Ta for now. Signing off from bloody cold southbank Melbourne. Hiakz.