Feelings Cheated

Waaaah!!

i feel so cheated...
bought david tao's 太美丽 album at sembawang music last week for like $16 i think...
and the unthinkable happened...

i saw the same album being sold at ts video @ ps for only $8.90!!!
so horrifying rite?

but i also saw this 五月天 album selling for only like $9.90...
so i bought it...
but still feel so cheated...

and if dat wasn't enough... went for dinner at dining @ sakae at the atrium next to ps.
was expecting the food quality to be slightly better than wat u'll find at the regular sakae restaurants.
but no... the food was juz as ordinary... luckily jarrod has like some voucher promo w his hsbc card...
but den have to go back to the restaurant to eat again... so duno la...

went to watch singapore dreaming before dinner...
this is like a recap of the day in reverse order... hahaha...
but anyway... went to watch singapore dreaming by colin goh and his wife, woo yen-yen...
i enjoyed it very much... it's a pretty heart warming movie abt this family and their struggles to move up the social ladder...
break out of the hdb shell and move up into the condo level...
and the family relations when they unexpectedly win the toto group 1 prize of 2 million dollars.

so go catch this locally produced film which u can also get to catch lim yu beng speaking mandarin...
quite funny... so dun miss this show... it's a must-watch.. at least in my opinion...

Happy Birthday to me and 2 other people...

Happy belated birthday to me!!

this year was quite a birthday...
kinda started celebrations like officially on fri nite...

tho unofficially it started w the SMU freshmen bash @ MOS.
so i shall start w thur.

Thursday
thur saw me going to MOS in the evening to check out the place at a v cheap $14.
so i toured the place... the r&b at the main hall was juz so so in my opinion...
but the retro room, 54 and Pure were juz heavenly...

ppl who know me know i'm quite the retro fan... so 54 feels juz like home...
not to mention the funkily cool bubble chairs they've got there...
they're juz absolutely fabulous to sit in and nua... not to mention the always favoured music of the 70s, 80s.

pure looks ordinary when i first entered the room... but exploring the room further in revealed a gem...
nice big circular beds were turned into nice cushy chill out corners... juz leave ur shoes at the step and move rite in...
as the entire bed is the table and sofa, drinks are placed on a tray in the middle of the bed...
absolutely wonderful to chill in...

but one turn-off for me was the presence of some uncle and aunty pattern ppl.
ppl who are old enough to be my parents. while hanging out at 54,
there was this couple prob in their mid-forties dancing their twirlly, 70s cha-cha-ish dance on the
dancefloor... i duno wad to say man... my jaw juz dropped lor... so aiyoh...
i also duno how to describe...

but dat nite wasn't all dat wonderful also.. coz after 1 whisky soda, 2 chivas shots, 2 chivas green tea (which i was sceptical at first,
but pretty much sold when i tried it) and half a vodka orange, i was kinda knocked out...
think partly i had a fairly light jap dinner which din exactly cushioned my stomach against the onslaught of alcohol.
den the merlion-ing happened juz as i was abt to leave the club... i'll spare u all the details...
went to lau pa sat for supper den it was home...

Friday
fri morning marked the end of my course of antibiotics for my fever-inducing tonsilitis...
and in the evening... i was off to wala wala with the church ppl to catch e always fantastic EIC.
so began another round of drinking... but no merlion-ing this time round coz alcohol was paced and there was lots of pub grub to protect my stomach...
ordered a round of tequila shots and tequila pops for the ppl who were there...
mark, fel, benji, jacq, john, damien, ewen, peter and of coz me!

music was great... EIC played blind melon's no rain (one of my fav songs). they couldn't play it the last time i was there and requested for the song...
but dat was quite some time ago... requested for fast car by supergrass... but guess they din know the song or weren't prepared to play dat one...
so they din play dat... but the nite was great... great company accompanied by great music cant go wrong...

Saturday
sat morning marked the beginning of another long day...
started w ktv-ing at partyworld @ orchard w rachel... 11am to 2pm...
this was followed by lunch @ din tai feng... and some shopping...
bought myself a birthday present...



so nice rite? they were the last pair available at the shop and i was so awed by how comfy they were...
and of coz how beautiful they look... i juz could not say no to them...

and after dat, i went to church for mass coz the youths were singing... jubilante deo is the name of the choir...
hope i remembered it correctly... someone correct me if i'm wrong k?
i have to admit they sound so so SO much more wonderful than the horrigible 8.30am choir.

12 of us went to dulu kala @ beauty world for dinner after mass... it's a peranakan restaurant and it's v good.
tons of food was ordered... and we all finished every morsel of it... and to end off the evening, they got me a cake.. how sweet of them...
i wasn't expecting them to get a cake for me really... but the surprise was blown when i saw them lighting the candles
when i went to the counter to ask for the bill... so i promptly sat down and waited for them... hahaha...
i'm sorry u all had to put 10 candles on this cake... next year will have 11 candles...
den after dat only need 3... shit.. i dun wana think so far ahead...

dinner was wonderful, cake was nice too, tho i dun really fancy coffee cake...
but the coffee taste wan't all dat repulsive... :)
yea, u're prob saying i'm such a fool, duno how to appreciate coffee.
but dat's juz me... a non-coffee lover...

after dinner, it was off to fel's place to play some board/card games...
played dungeoneer w mark, fred, eug and peter. quite a nice game but a little v rpg...
after one round which took like abt an hour i think, it was time to go home...
coz tired la...

Sunday
celebrations continued on sunday beginning with lunch at this restaurant in tiong bahru w my family...
food there is good... so go check it out... it's called por kee eating house.
think they do cantonese cuisine... not too sure... who cares really, as long as the food is good.

after dat, i met some of the guys at mark's house to play anothe boardgame, i'm the boss.
it's quite fun... making deals and trying to psycho ppl to make deals w you and all...
but shortly after 2 rounds, i had to leave for hotel intercontinental for my afternoon tea w
jarrod, michelle, leslie, nigel, louise, eelis, lynette and her fren, chewy.
we sat at the lobby lunge which had high tea till 5pm... and it includes those dainty looking pastry trays of scones, sandwiches and puffs to have ur tea with... if only i had a pic to show... stupid cam ran out of batt.

so we had snacks instead... the beer battered prawns were wonderful as were the scallop and bacon skewers...
prawns were nice and fresh. the scallops were simply juicy...
we also had some cake from the coffeehouse... and they were fabulous as well...
a full day of dining...

after dat i went home to rest for a while before goign to mark's house again...
this time it was juz a few of us, mark, benji, jacq and john... and we had durian!!
jeannette had a durian party thingy at her place 2 thur ago..
but i was still sick and under medication so i din eat any... but this time was different... i was all well...
john managed to strike up a wonderful bargain for us... 2 boxes of durians for the price of 1 and the guy threw in a small box of durian free.
seriously, only john can pull off such a bargain... there's no way i could have done it... i'll prob like pay $76 for the 2 boxes and not get any free...
it was $38 a box. the small one cost abt $15 i think... cant really rem.

so while waiting for john, ben, jacq, mark and i played this boardgame called puerto rico...
it's game where u have to develop ur island and make produce for export or sale to generate cash and points to win the game...
it's quite a fun game... cant wait to play again...

and so ends my sunday...

Monday
the actual day was a little quieter compared to the previuos days of merry making... if u can call all dat merry making...
met friggy, jacq and jarrod for lunch at habourfront... and while having lunch, this group at another table started singing 'happy birthday'
and so it was this girl's birthday... sarah if dat's how u spell her name...
and it was her 20th birthday if the candles on the cake reflected the actual age...

and so i found one other person who shares my birthday... was somewhat tempted to go up to her and wish her a happy birthday but didn't...

and so after lunch, i went for a mani/pedi w jacq @ raffles exchange. was pretty good i must say.. liked the environment there..
rather pleasant and comfortable. and the staff got a little confused when they were trying to tell each other who was getting a mani
and who was getting a pedi coz i was doing a mani/pedi and jacq was only doing pedi. was quite funny actually.. now dat i think abt it...

after dat, we had coffee and idled the time away till abt 6ish. den we went to cali fitness at raffles.
was supposed to gym w benji but he wasa little late coz of work.. but it felt really good to b back in the gym exercising...
and getting dat achy, sore feeling from the exercise...

and it was dinner cum supper at crystal jade at holland v after gym... had porridge. meatball porridge w century egg.
good stuff man... haven't had good porridge in a long time...
bryan, jeannette and john joined us after they were done w the 'shine, jesus, shine' rally at novena church.
so we dined till abt 10.40 or so and we headed home.
while waiting for the bus, i saw another girl wishing her fren a 'happy birthday' before one of them boarded the bus.
so dat makes 2 other persons sharing my birthday...

i know dat there are other ppl born on the same day as me... but i've never like seen or met these ppl before...
and when i do, it's 2 persons... how cool/weird/funny is dat...
i dun even know how to describe it... haha...

so dat's dat for my birthday....

wad a long entry... and if u managed to read it all, good for u...
and i appreciate ur patience in staying w me thru it all...

and to all my wonderful frens who have been and are still a part of my life, thank you.
thank you for sharing your lives w me and for making me a part of your life...

听华语歌， 学华语

Harlow...

大家好!!
i've no idea why but after i got back... somehow i got into the 93.3 mood...
not dat i'm into listening to the station...
but got the mood to listen to 华语歌... david tao, 张震岳, jolin tsai, s.h.e. , gigi leung, sammi cheng...

mayb coz i found out dat 张震岳 released a new album so went to get it...
listen already got into the 华语歌 mood...

but it's a nice feeling listening to chinese songs again...
the last time i was listening to 93.3 was during bmt...
coz the bunk radio was always on 93.3 so ended up listening to it for quite a while,
even after bmt... haha...

well... duno how long this craze, mood or watever u call it is gona last...
guess i'm not too bothered... mayb until i leave singapore for another job...
till then... 华语歌万岁!!

Home and Sick...

Hello everyone...

i'm back once more... after being away for like almost 3 months...
wat's dat? yes... it's been almost 3 months already...

wat a stretch... but luckily i got a little 4 day break in the 3rd week of july... while home for a while, managed to order a laptop (yay!), and got it in time b4 i left again...

this 2nd trip was almost like the first.. long periods @ sea... tho not as bad as the last job...

but while on the job we lost one of our equipment to the local fishermen... was told it cost like usd38,000.
like ouch man... but it's part and parcel of the job and was told it's quite common to lose the equipment in the gulf of thailand...

this trip has been rather fun, coz of the ppl i was working with... i had 2 gaming buddies onboard.
the 2 surveyors on my shift. one's malaysian, the other's thai. so we had lots of fun making fun of each other, tricking each other.

the malaysian surveyor fren bluffed the thai guy dat cin-chow was called lan cheow. and the thai guy was happily asking us if we wanted "lan cheow"... until a few days later, he discovered the real name of the drink on the can itself...

here are the 2 clowns: the one on the left is the malaysian, e other , obviously is the thai.

oh well... den the bad shit came... started having a fever last sat... kept coming on and off as i popped panadol to try to supress it. was in port on monday and i went to see a doc...
sailed off the next morning and i was feeling fine... when the nite came... fever came on again... and it was quite a torture... i was shivering under the covers... but blistering burning on the outside...

was put on cold compress and sent back to port and to a hospital for a checkup. the sailing journey wasn't like 2-3 hrs. it like took us ab t 12 hours to sail back to port coz we have already been sailing for 12hrs plus since we left port.

so saw the doc @ the hospital and was booked on a flight home the same nite...
so here i am now.. back at home... free to eat the foods i miss so much... esp chinese food...

but dat was like wed nite when i came home... feeling much better now... but i've got like a course of antibiotics to take till next thurs. *bleh*

but saw this funny t-shirt while shopping w the guys on one of the days b4 we sailed off...


now... before u start calling me a bin laden supporter (which for the record, i am not!!)
this is wat it says on the back...



other adventures while on the job:


a sea snake was caught on our equipment as we brought it up on deck...

part of the job required us to take seabed samples... marine clay.. prob the same stuff they use in spas for ur mud scrub.

this is wad we do with the extra clay we bring up...

well... guess dat's all for now...

juz have to focus on getting well so dat i can celebrate my bday properly when it comes round... :)

I Wana Kick Myself

Yup.. dat's rite...

i wana kick myself in the butt...
coz before i left for labuan, i was reading some of my older entries...
and one of my entries was abt my possible career options after my contract w the airforce ends.
and i said in DAt entry dat i dun wana do sales and insurance and the like.

and i bleeady went to do try financial planning...
so dun i deserve a kick in the butt or not ?

sigh...

anyway... i'm in labuan now... after 4 days of sailing...
of which, i spent abt 2 1/2 days sick...
it all started w this one guy who was coughing and sniffly...
den the next day, another guy went down...
and the day after dat, it was my turn...

i was like coughing and coughing and my nose was all blocked...
and i had a fever dat would come and go and come and go...
when we got docked alongside the jetty this morning, i and all the other sick guys all got sent to the doc's.

so now i've gotten myself a holw bunch of medicine to take:
antibiotics, fever med, med to lessen the throat irritation, cough syrup which comes in a wee little bottle,
and lozenges.
of coz i bought some other stuff of my own... like vicks vaporub to keep the nose unblocked, strepsils and pi pa gao to soothe the throat when the lozenges dun work or run out, whichever comes first.

as well as a small bottle of multi-vitamins which smells putrid but i'm sure they're good for me...
hahaha... seems like things good for the body always smell or taste funny...

hoping to find a chinese medicinal shop tom...
den mayb can buy some ginseng to make ginseng tea for myself.

alritey... guess i'll stop for now... hope everything clears up and i get better over the next couple of days...
pray for me... and i'll see u all in sg at the end of june...
coz i gota b ard in july for my reservist... hahaha...