Everything I needed

What? Christmas is over already? Just like that? Hope you guys had a good one. This Christmas, I was hoping that it would be a quiet and peaceful one. Away from the yucky crowds and pollution of all sorts. but it was not to be. All my plans landed me in places where the people outnumbered the total number of trees in my housing estate. Even Church, the place where people seek peace and solace was jammed pack with people.

Though I've met many new faces and made many acquaintances this Christmas at various places and parties, at the end of it all, I'm glad that I have my friends that I can hang out with and be totally comfortable with. You know that such friends are for life when you return from Australia and when we meet, it feels like I never left at all. Thank you guys. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time or felt so happy in the company of people for a while.

now, tao huay at geylang beckons so i've gotta run! Enjoy the last few days of 2005 and may 2006 bring amazing experiences for ya'all!

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I'm sitting in front of the computer again. I've got some candles lighted around my workstation and my jazzy christmas CD droning in the background. I'm still recovering from the eve of Christmas eve pajama party I had. And what better way to do that than to set my thoughts loose on the internet? hmmmmm.

Seeing the whole gang in their pajamas, goofing around and singing carols and drinking wine and playing games. It was weird. It was hilariously fun but definately weird. but you know what hit me? we've all grown old. we can't have the same kind of fun we did when we were 18 anymore. This party was an attempt to break out of our hardened shells of age. I wasn't able to. It didn't help that half the girls had glittery rocks on their fingers. That just reminds me that most of my friends are moving on to the next stage in adulthood while I've barely begun.

I've been through 26 Christmas's already, but I think I can only remember the second half of those. As a kid, it was always about going to grandma's house anticipating a feast and a truckload of presents. It was simple, but it did not have any impact in my life. but as you grow older, presents don't really matter anymore. Christmas becomes a time to spend with people that are dear to you. It becomes a time to reflect on the year's events and to establish your goals for the coming year. Christmas becomes a time to get connected back to the core of life.

I won't hide the fact that this christmas is gonna be a miserable one for me. The transition from being a uni student to a working adult with responsibilities is taking its toll on me. The stress of having to establish a plan to maintain the comfortable life that I am so accustomed to is wearing me out. Some call this quarter life crisis I think.

Breaking up with eunice didn't help either. I've failed in yet another relationship, and I've lost a long time friend in the process. Never date a friend if you're not ready to lose her/him. Is that true? seems to be. Its gonna be a lonely christmas this 2005. and no its not coz i'm all by myself. There's no lack of people to hang out with or places to go to. its just that I feel so detached from everything that no matter where I am, I still feel like there's no one around, no connections made. Everything is just a passing cloud. and i hate it.

Sigh, my cheery christmas entry has become long and depressing. Believe me I'm trying very hard to make this christmas work, but I still need a miracle to save this one. But don't mind me, make sure you guys go out and have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

divine bovine

Holy Cow!~ This blog has been pretty dead hasn't it? no pictures. no comics. boring wordy posts. Well, it can't be helped. There's nothing happening you see. Well, at least nothing worth blogging about. I mean, why in the world would you want to read about where I've been going and what I've been eating and who I've been meeting and where I've been clubbing and what I've been watching (by the way, chronicles of Narnia is awesome!) etc etc.

Furthermore, I can't really hook up my camera to upload my pictures or create comics coz i'm stuck using this piece of crap stone age WINDOWS computer. What a pain. I don't even think I'll be able to change the song on my blog so you guys are gonna be stuck with the christmas song for a while.

I think my dog is getting cranky coz I come home at 4 every night and break her sleep when I open the door. righto. i've run out of things to type about. later~

Home sweet home

Hey Y'all!

I am HOME! I have landed in Singapore, the motherland. In the comfort of my home and family. The house is still pretty much the same except for some rearrangment in the furniture and heaps of junk in my room! My room became a makeshift storeroom while I was gone! ARGH. Oh and I have a dog now. Its a female husky called Amber. She's a cutie but a little too energetic I reckon. Oh and my sister's got her own car now. But besides that, everything's pretty much the way it was.

Now for the bad part. I went to Orchard Road today to hang out with Shane and Ash and to try to buy my secret Santa a present. I walked everywhere and I couldn't find anything suitable to buy. How frustrating. But you know whats worse? The crowd. Oh my God the crowd in town was so unbearably suffocating. I had to jostle through the crowd in the humid and warm climate. Bad combination.

Singlish. Its so amusing to listen to people around you. The familier accent. The familier tone. Singaporeans speak funny I tell ya. And even though it has deep roots and is unique to our culture, I dislike it. Its amusing and hilarious when you listen to some people speak. But its everywhere and there's no way you can hide from it in Singapore.

Another thing, where have all the pretty girls gone? We were having coffee at starbucks that was facing the main street and not one single female caught my eye. I resorted to looking at the cars that were stuck in a jam along orchard road. Its sad when the automobiles are more interesting than the girls.

Sigh, Singapore isn't looking up at the moment. Maybe I'm just still adjusting. Maybe I'm just grumpy coz of the climate and the lack of personal space when you go out. At least the food's still good. yum.

Spread the Christmas Cheer

Don't you just love Christmas? Personally, its my most absolute favourite holiday of the year. As a kid it was because of the presents and the candy but recently, it has come to mean much more than that. Its a time to enjoy the company of loved ones and to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I just returned from an awesome Christmas service at City Life Church today. It was my last church service in Melbourne before I head on back to Singapore and it was definately a lovely memory to bring along. It totally charged up the festive spirit in me. That, along with the latest episodes of the O.C and Grey's anatomy that I downloaded yesterday (both the shows had Christmas themes you see) have really put me on a "Christmas High".

But you know what's the best thing I love about Christmas? There's a magical feeling in the air somehow. The air is fresher, stress seems to just melt away and the daily problems in life just disappear. You see the smiles on friends' faces and the joy and laughter that comes along with all the parties. No matter what problems you have, everything is put on hold for this moment as you soak in the festive goodness.

I've always dreamt of the perfect Christmas. Just me and someone special snuggling up under a warm blanket in a room with a fire place. Watching snow float down from the heavens through the glass windows. Slowly sipping hot chocolate as the soft christmas jazz drones out from the speakers. Magic. All I need now is for the right girl to come along. and I've come to realise that many people actually get depressed over the holidays becuase of this reason. but you know what? it doesn't have to be that way. Christmas should be enjoyed with friends and family. Lonliness isn't a part of the Christmas spirit. After all the parties, I love coming home, park the car in the driveway and step in the garden to take a deep breath of the chilly christmas night air, and then I thank God for all the wonderful things he's done for me and provided in my life. There will always be special or romantic people coming in and out of your life, but Christmas will always be there so my dream will come true one day.

So enjoy this jolly season and live it to the fullest! Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless!

Bored Boarder Bought Board

Greeting's y'all!

Did I forget to mention that my mom is in town? My moma came down to attend my graduation ceremony and guess what she brought along with her? My new snowboard! YAY!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO GO SNOWBOARDING!

Version history:

'05 Option Redline 163 + '05 Technine Dominator Pro Bindings


This is my first setup and it has served me well. I've made dozens of runs on it during the 2005 Australian winter season and its an awesome board. To all those who were there with me, didn't we have an awesome time up there? We're gonna hit it in 2006 YA?

'06 Burton Custom X 160 + '06 Burton P1 Carbon Bindings


This is my new setup. It has already won the transworld snowboarding top 10 and its an absolute screamer! What I like about this board is that its totally white with minimal graphics, giving it a very clean and low profile look. but where its an absolute riot is in performance. I cannot wait to go riding on it!

'79 Darren Phua 185


This is me, feeling bored that I'm stuck at home instead of being out on a snow covered ski resort somewhere shredding on the slopes. I'm gonna start registering names for next season's snow adventure! Those interested please sign up here or through my email.

Later~

Goodbye School. Hello world!

Its done! I had my graduation ceremony yesterday afternoon and that marked the end of an era of my life. I am no longer a student. I am now a full fledged adult, fully equipped with the knowledge and skills to take on the world.

Surprisingly, I'm not as ecstatic as I thought I'd be. It wasn't too long ago when me and my uni buddies would look enviously at graduates walking around campus taking photos with loved ones during our lunch breaks. We'd always say to each other, "Man, when will it be our turn to do that?" Well, as I walked around in my graduation gown yesterday, shaking hands and congratulating familiar faces, I thought to myself, "cool, its done, I've received my degree. now what?"

- all that education and still no one knows how to look properly at the camera

At that moment I knew it was gonna happen. I was starting to look back and miss uni life. Most of the closer friends I've made in uni will be returning back to their respective countries. We had great times together. The hustle and bustle of getting to lectures on time. Lunch breaks and deciding where to eat crappy uni food. Stress from assignments and frantically working together to get work done. cramming till the wee hours of the night together before making a sandwich or cooking indo mee. sharing exam tips and assignment solutions. Laughing our asses off at anime and comedy clips. just the whole experience of going through the impossible together, knowing that somehow we'd get through it fine. That was awesome. Its been a great time working and growing with you guys.

William, Chiseng, Lionel, Woo teck, Randy, Shaun, Bee Ting and whoever else I've missed, thanks for the memories. We did it guys! Woo Hoooo! For those who have yet to graduate, you'll be done in no time! No matter where and when, we'll always be in touch ya.

later~

Fishy Business

Many friends have come to me recently and said this, "Darren, don't worry buddy, cheer up, there are millions of fish out there."

And I believed them. But events of late are starting to make me wonder if my friends have been lying to me. I've been pondering deeply about whether I should take what they say with a pinch of salt, and maybe some lemons....

Case 1 - Location: Frankston - Date: 10th November 2005


It was an outing that was long overdue. Chester and Howard were always talking about it but we never really got down to doing it. Until that night. Me, Sharon, Louis, Amanda, Howard and Chester set off to the Frankston peninsula in the wee hours of the morning. The wind was strong and the water was choppy. Hoping to catch some fish off the jetty, all we really fished out of the sea were sea lice. Sea lice are the grossest critters ever. Of course at that time we didn't know they were sea lice and we all thought that the bugs were aliens invading our bait.

Case 2 - Location: Grampians - Date: 19th November 2005


Unfazed by the unsucessful fishing outing at frankston, Me, Chester and Amanda decided to tag along with Sharon, Anna, Louis and Brian when they decided to go to the Grampians for a camping trip. The Grampians is also home to a few lakes and reservoirs and fishing is a popular past time there. We didn't want to go camping with them but we were really hoping to catch some fish and to cook it over the camp fire at the campsite for dinner. Didn't happen. What did happen was that we were surrounded by a gazillion flies by the lake the whole time, My poor car was almost destroyed by mother nature and Amanda proved to be an ace wormer. But still no fish.

Case 3 - Location: Emarald Lakes - Date: 9th December 2005


In a last ditch attempt to catch some fish before leaving melbourne, Chester and I decided to travel to the region of the Emarald Lakes. Chester had heard good stories about trout fishing there and we roped in Sharon and Joshua to come along for the expedition. The drive there was fun and the weather was awesome. We traveled to different water catchment areas in the Emarald region but non of the locations yielded any fish. Nothing was biting at our hooks. There were some breath taking views though, and they were shared with good company.

Conclusion. Millions of fish out there? There are none. I wonder what these people have been talking about? Bizarre.

Bright morning sunshine

Hee hee I've beeen awake since 7am! I hope my angel eyes come today. I hope Sharon's driving test goes well.

Would I want it any other way?

Its been pouring the whole day today. The rain trickling down the glass windows helps me think.

Its been a pretty miserable time for me lately. Things going wrong in my love life. My car being stuck in the garage. Feeling lonely at home with no means of getting around. More and more friends leaving Melbourne, lesser things to do. Bad sleeping habits, bad eating habits. The list goes on.....

But as I sit here listening to the rain pelting my roof, as I watch the water droplets slowly make their way down the glass window, I can't help but think, surely my life isn't all that bad. There are millions of people out there who wouldn't mind exchanging lives with me I reckon. People who live in fear of losing their lives. Those who have to worry about finding their next meal. Those who have to endure the cold as they find a decent spot to sleep along the streets.

I have a comfy bed, under a solid roof. Food everywhere. good family and friends, nice car to drive. I should be rejoicing that I have a nice house to be lonely in and a car to get frustrated over. Our minds work funny man. I really should perk up and count my blessings.

Righto, back to my steamy cup of earl grey.

Disastrously Amazing

Hey Y'all!

I'm back home safe and sound from wakeboarding today and MAN! was it an adventure. First off, my virgin wakeboarding expedition in Australia was an absolute disaster! Everything that could go wrong went wrong. We set off late and didn't hit the waters till about 4 plus. The weather seemed nice though so that was cool....NOT. Storm clouds were rolling in from a distance. The wind started to get really crazy and the water become very choppy. Almost like being out at sea. Not good for wakeboarding.

Steve. This guy was supposed to teach Davina and Sharon how to wakeboard. He teaches them by throwing them out in the water and expects them to miraculously stand up on their own. Bollocks man. Fortunately I remembered how frankie and the guys at pro-air from back home taught newbies so I gave them some instructions and I think they did pretty well on their first time out. Especially with the bad conditions and all. Kudos to you 2 babes!

Now, my turn arrives and I get into the stormy waters. I tell ya, I have never experienced worse conditions while wakeboarding! The water was churning and tossing me around! Getting up on the board actually took effort. Steve. Remember him? Bollocks guy? He drives the boat like a madman and with the choppy, turbulent water, i'm crashing most of the time. I didn't even get to ride out to try for a jump! I also realised that he didn't release the rope enough for the speeds he was driving, so I tell him that. Well the champion throws out some rope and then proceeds to drive the boat over it. You know what happens when an in-board motor boat drives over some wakeboarding rope? The rope get tangled in the propellor under the boat and is usually a major pain in the ass to remove, rendering the boat useless out in the water.

The next hour or so was spent drifing around in the lake and trying to find a solution to get us back to shore. I spent most of it swimming around and trying to push the boat away from the rocks so that the hull doesn't get damaged. Steve. Remember him? Bollocks guy who thinks he knows how to drive a wakeboard boat? He's there pushing the boat off the rocks for a while as well. There we were next to each other in the water, bracing ourselves against the boat (well at least I was) and for some weird reason, as we were stepping on the rocks near the banks and pushing the boat, he kept screaming loudly as if he was in a lot of pain. We were stepping on the same rocks, doing the same things. What are you screaming about you poof? He sounded like there were pirahnas biting his balls off or something. Anyhow, cutting the long story short, this continued until we drifted close enough to the boat launching area (with the help of the girls peddaling frantically from the boat). There, they managed to haul the boat back up and remedied the tangled propellor.

Oh! but not before Adeline decided that she wanted to take a plunge into the water so that she could pee pee. It was hilarious coz after that, she realised that the current was pulling her away and she had no strength to swim back to the boat. So the two of us swam off in the other direction towards the bank and climbed back to shore. It felt like we survived a shipwreck when we were scrambling up the rocky embankment followed by a grassy cliff. I even took a tumble down back into the water. Fortunately, we got out of it safe and sound.

Phew. Thank you God for keeping us safe.

So that was my wakeboarding experience today. I think I'll go back to Singapore and get a proper ride. But, despite it all, I actually had a great time today! It was an adventure! I felt so alive and a fire within me was re-ignited. I can sit back with a cool drink and laugh about this one for a while. To those who were there with me, what a memorable experience it was eh? More than just an adventure, I think the company of great friends who'll have a blast laughing about our disastrously hilarious wakeboard outing makes everything worthwhile.

Steve. Remember him? Bollocks guy who thinks he knows how to drive a wakeboard boat and had pirahnas chomping at his nuts? Well, he redeemed himself coz he didn't charge us anything for today so it was pretty much a free boat ride, while it lasted.

I had a dream

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a run. It was a short run, and yet I was exhausted after. Guess it shows how unfit I've become. Anyhow, after getting back from the run I showered and pondered for a while if I should get ready to leave the house to meet Sharon and Davina. We were gonna watch the new Harry Potter movie you see. I looked at my watch and decided that I had time for a quick nap. So I plonked into my bed and promptly drifted off to lalaland.

Then it started. the bizarre dream. It was so weird. I was in a dark place. And yet, despite the darkness, I could see a girl dressed in bright yellow. She was standing a few meters away from me. I cannot really remember who that girl was, but i think she was someone I knew. She reached out her arm and something fell to the ground from her hands. After a while, I could make out a black snake on the ground, slithering towards me slowly. I remember getting freaked out, by both the eerie girl in yellow and the black snake. Could things get any worse? Yes. The snake finally reached within a few feet from my shoes when suddenly, it started twitching uncontrollably. The twitching was horrible. It looked like it was possessed or something. It looked like something was trying to burst out of it. And then 8 legs appeared. 8 hairy, spikey, clawy legs popped out from its sides. The snake was no longer a snake. It was some deformed spidery monstrosity. At this point I reacted and thrust out my right foot to stomp on the snake/spider creature with all my might. I promptly kicked myself awake and out of bed.

What was that all about? I have been pondering the events in the dream. I have been deep in thought and trying to analyse every possible detail to decipher what it could all mean. Thus:-

a) Its a dream to warn about the impending doom generated by the madness of science and the tampering of genes and DNA at the cellular levels, thus creating mutants and monsters that may spell the extinction of the human race. apparently, these mad scientists wear yellow.

b) Aliens in their yellow motherships will be dropping alien bugs down into earth. These killers will look like snakes at first when they are travelling, but upon contact with humans, will transform into the attack mode that resembles a giant spider.

c) A girl wearing yellow will drop a snake in front of me in a very dark place, however I will be mistaken as the snake is actually her pet spider and seeing that I hate spiders, I will stomp on it, pissing her off.

d) A yellow car will jam brake in front of me, one of its tires will fall out and roll towards me before exploding into 8 different pieces.

*hic*

Wakeboarding!

Wakeboarding is a relatively new boardsport, it was created from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. Before we called it wakeboarding, it was first called skurfing. As in water skiing, the rider is towed behind a boat, or a cable skiing setup, but typically at slower speeds (18 - 24mph).

Instead of using skis, the rider wears a single board with stationary non-release bindings for each foot, standing sideways as on a snowboard or skateboard. The boards, which can float, are typically 130 - 147cm long and up to 45cm wide (shorter and wider than a snowboard) as well as being convex (tips 15 - 25cm) rather than concave as a snowboard.

Please let the weather be good tomorrow when we go wakeboarding. I've never wakeboarded in Australia before. Let tomorrow's experience be a good one.

Wednesday morning strip

Home is where the heart is?

Its been a while since I've been back to Singapore. Now that I'm done with my degree, I can head on home. Going back to Singapore is usually exciting and something I look forward to. This time round, its a little bit different though. I feel like I'm gonna return feeling lost and empty.

Life's gonna be different now. Sure, my family, friends and the great food will still be around, but its just not the same anymore. No more dates with Eunice and waking up to her messages on my phone. No more late night suppers and driving to CCK before kissing her goodnight. (no more driving to CCK!!! wooo hoooo!!!!)

What about my friends? I feel so detached though. Everyone's just in their own worlds. Jialing's ocuppied with work and wedding preperations. It still upsets me that I'm going to miss her wedding. She's been a great friend since I have no idea when. I can always depend on her for companionship and honesty, even if it pisses me off sometimes. I'm glad she's marrying Adrian, he's a top bloke. Then there's Geri, always around with words of support and encouragement. Always an attentive listener when I need someone to talk to. But she's a big girl now, chasing her dreams and careers. Sure miss the good old times of Mahjong, playstation, long drives and east coast beef soup.

Melissa's still a great friend even though she's an ex. Hi EX! She's still a bubble head though, and heaps of fun. I hear you've been losing a lot of weight. Don't need to work so hard man. Justin, You've been through a tough year too man. And yet you can still remain your usual cheerful and supportive self. You've always been a great guy to hang around and do fun stuff with. I hope the working world hasn't changed you too much. Not forgetting Zhenni. Though you always look like you're gonna kill me, I know that under it all you're a sweet and dependable friend. I hope all goes well with your job and Christopher.

Shane, are you there buddy? Though we always briefly appear in each other's life in recent years, I know you're a brudder for life man. You still crack me up with your wit and facial expressions. We gotta catch up in Singapore. JOHN! you've disappeared once again. You're a great buddy, but at the same time you're always up to something. Hope all's well with you. And finally Ashley. I don't meet up wih you as much as I'd like to. but somehow I know that you'll always be around when I need you. Come over to use my powermac whenever you need man. Just remember to give me royalties when your productions make it big.

My singapore gang rocks. Its sad that I've been on a totally different continent during these exciting tansitions and moments in life. I feel like I've missed out on a big part and even though I'm heading back soon, I don't know if I'll be able to catch up.

One thing though, I've made peace with my situation. I know it'll work out. Eunice and I will still be friends coz 11 years of friendship shouldn't just disappear like this. Things are different now, but it'll be fine.

I know there are heaps more friends that I didn't mention, and I haven't forgotten you guys. Believe me when I say that each and every one of you is treasured. You all have contributed to my life and my progress one way or another. I'm just typing this as it comes.

love you all.

Spring cleaning

The problem with digital cameras, you become trigger happy. So many pictures to delete. You can't just burn them like the good o'l low-tech times.

So many gifts/memorabilia to stash away. You know, things you can't really throw, but don't really want around anymore.

So much unfinished business to settle.

So much belongings to return.

The problem is, how do you get rid of the memories thats stored in your brain? Sure there are good ones. But the good ones actually make you sad and bring on the bad ones.

How to reset, and go back to a time when everything was fine and dandy? To a time where you can prevent a mistake from happening. How?

Lonely nights with insomnia and an active mind are the worst.

Raindrops

I'm sitting here at my computer again. At 4:09am. This insomnia thing is really starting to become a nuisance. But then again, there are so many nuisances in my life right now.

There's thunder booming outside. And the occasional lightning flash. One thing I love when I am up at night, is rain. It soothes me and gives me a nice fuzzy feeling inside. I feel safe from the world as I watch the rain run down the glass on my windows. The sound of the rain drops pelting the roof has a nice droney hummm to it that seems to penetrate deep into my soul, as if telling me that the rain has come to wash my troubles away. Its bizarre and I don't know how to explain it in words.

I think rain has a certain divine quality to it. Sure, we've been taught in school that rain is the result of evaporated water from the surface of the earth condensing when it reaches a high altitude, forming clouds before falling back down to earth as water droplets, but I say that it's showers of blessings from the man with the plan.

I'm gonna go through the storm and come out fresh and renewed. Free from the leeches of the world. Sure, you pathetic parasites can come and take important things from me. But I'll crush you like the cockroaches that you are, and discover new and better treasures in store for me.

Letter to Life

Dear Life,

Hi, its me, Darren. I just thought that I'd drop you a note. Just to see how you are. Are you well? You know, sometimes I can't really figure out why you're so difficult to get along with. I mean, there are times when you're awesome, but then you can take a nose dive straight into the pits.

I feel that something's missing with you. Something's amiss. Are you progressing and moving on ahead? It sure feels like you're getting stagnant and there's no aim or direction in where you're heading. Thats tough man. Aren't you supposed to have big dreams and ambitions?

Why do things happen to you that make everything around stand still? Your university graduation is coming up, and so is your 26th birthday. But you don't seem excited at all. In fact, you don't really seem to care or think of it as another milestone in your existance. Sure, you thought that someone special would be there to share those moments with you, but face it, there is no special person anymore. May I remind you that the person actually made other plans, and wasn't gonna be present at your birthday or graduation in the first place? Its not worth the pain. Anyway, thats history. You really need to get a move on.

What about God? You and God should be walking next to each other. Walking down a path together, chatting. You can tell God your problems, and I'm sure he'll help you out. The hurdles along the path will be no problem with God by your side. I know that, and life, you should know that too.

Anyway, I hope you get better soon. Don't let the pain and misery get to you. You should just free the anger within you coz there's no point to it. Rather, I think you should embrace everything else thats good, coz there is still a lot of great things around you. So perk up and stay strong ok? You'll get through this, you always do. Its never easy, but its not impossible either. Look forward in anticipation to greater things to come! Take care buddy.

Love
Darren

SOS (Snowboard Or Ski)

Anybody wants to go to the snows in Jan? Snowboarding or skiing? Japan? Canada? America? Anywhere! I need to get out and ride. Please.

Immobilized

I am stuck at home. I can't go anywhere. And you know why? because some dumbass out there couldn't get a simple thing done correctly. See I was trying to install a set of "angel eyes" into my car. It was gonna be an "after exam special technical engineering project". so there I was. all excited and dismantling the left headlight unit. I'll leave out the technicalities but bottom line is, it was a lot of work. when it was finally time to install the light rings, i realised that they didn't fit. so i took some pictures, sent off an email asking for an explanation. The guy replied and said, " oh, those rings are the wrong size, did we send you these?" WTF?!? OF COURSE YOU SENT ME THESE, YOU MAKE THEM! I ORDERED FROM YOUR FREAKING WEBSITE!!!

anyhow, they said they'll send the right rings out to me as soon as possible but its coming from the states so i dunno how long it'll take to get here. and in the mean time, i'm not gonna go through the trouble of reinstalling my headlight fixture, just to take them out again when the correct rings come. Thus, I'm immobilized.

What the hell is wrong with these people anyway? Can't you just get a simple thing done right? whats with the stupidity? Man, its almost as STUPID AND MORONIC AS INVITING SOME GUY TO COME OVER AND STAY ALONE WITH YOU IN YOUR FREAKING APARTMENT AND THINKING THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND WILL BE OK WITH IT!!! WHAT THE FUCK MAN? DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF THE IMPLICATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR BRAINLESS ACTIONS?! SUCH AUDACITY AND DISRESPECT.

Man, I really need to go for a drive.

FINISH

THATS IT MAN. THATS THE LAST STRAW. I'VE HAD ENOUGH AND I CANNOT BE BOTHERED ANYMORE. I'M BAILING.

Fishing, waterfalls, camping and bear

every end is a new beginning

Wow, time flies. I cannot believe that I have completed the gargantuan task of achieving an engineering degree. I remember thinking at the beginning that I still have a long way to go before I step into the realm of adulthood. I thought that it would be a while before I had to handle the responsibilites of a real adult. That time is now.

So where did the time go? It whizzed past in a flash. Its like some cosmic space time continuum that flows into an infinite entity that has no return. At the blink of an eye, I have reached the point where suddenly, the path isn't clear nor fixed. Whats next on the cards? Where are the instructions? Sure, I have some ideas of where I could head towards, but I'm not holding a definite map. Man, this is driving my mind nuts.

I was settled into my beanbag just the other day, a cold beer in my left hand, Buble playing through the living room stereo. I was reflecting in the dark about the journey that just concluded. Its really been a roller coaster ride down here in Melbourne. My first year of uni in Monash was an absolute disaster. I remember the insomnia and the frustration. Breaking out in cold sweat and panicing that I may have made another bad decision to study engineering here. So many times I pondered if I should switch courses. Friends telling me that I was nuts and I just needed to relax a little.

Seriously. God sent me a bunch of friends that really helped me through my entire uni course. Suddenly the lonliness and uncertainty was taken away from me and I actually felt that things would turn out fine. To my buddies studying ECSE in Monash, you guys rock and a big thanks to you all. Not only did we make it through the course together, but we went through some pretty awesome times.

God. I know for sure that I am slowly getting closer to God after coming to Australia. In fact, I think I'm closer to God than I've ever been. He works in the most amazing ways. Ways that you can never comprehend till you see the end of it. Though better late than never, I've managed to immerse myself in an awesome church and an amazing cell group filled with dynamic and inspirational people. These guys have really made a huge impact in my life and I wanna thank all of you for being the great bunch that you are.

So where do I go from here? I don't know. Life is full of questions with no answer booklet. Day after day I ask God and I know that I'll find my footing in due time. Its tough growing up. Time to step up unto the next adventure. Time to get a move on.

where's the popcorn?

So remember I mentioned something about my final CGM and how I would post pictures and an entry after my exams? Well it seems like I won't need to do it anymore since people like Eunice, Sharon, Louis, Anna and Amanda have all posted pretty detailed and picture filled entries about the event.

But do you want to know what REALLY went down that day? Check it out.....

Final Cell Group meeting, Final exam, finally.

What great timing.

Here I am tying up loose ends for my exam preperations, and I am running a fever! My nose has become watery, my eyes are hot and my body feels like a car radiator. Sigh, studying for this one and only paper is gonna be slow. Fortunately I've done most of my preperation already. But I also had other things to do. I had to prepare for the final cell group meeting. I was given emcee duties, along with band duty, tribute DVD and a bit of game preperaation. Never would I have imgined that I'd be so involved in a cell group. but it was an awesome experience. It was great working with you guys and I think we pulled it off pretty well considering that most of us were in the midst of exams and all.

But I think its taken a toll on my health. i need AIR-CONDITIONING!!!

Can you guys pray for my exam and that God will get me through this?

More pictures and details of the final CGM in the next post after exams. What a blast it was!

In the mean time, here's a cool exam picture I found at Randy's site.It kinda translates how I feel right now....

ciao~

Bee safe

Hey y’all!
I killed a bee today. Took me a while but I got rid of the bug eventually. It must’ve flown in when Eunice came by for dinner. A lot of patience was required along with lightning quick reflexes. I must’ve been standing under the kitchen light for about 7 minutes and 33 seconds before I got the perfect opportunity to swipe at the bee with all my might and my latest issue of wake-boarder magazine. It flies around pretty quickly these bees. And they love buzzing right by your ears to irritate you. Therefore, I have decided that instead of having to go through what I’ve been through.... I shall provide some insight on how to handle a rogue bee that has invaded your home to terrorize you.

1) Keep a black bear as a pet: Black bears are one of the bees’ natural predators and enemies. Not only do the bears destroy the bees’ nest to gain access to honey, they eat bees in the process as well! Great to nuzzle and snuggle into after a stressful day of work too.





2) Grow a giant carnivorous plant in the house: Various species of plants are carnivorous and they usually prey on small insects and other creepy crawlies though there have been accounts of unfortunate deaths for clumsy birds and tiny mammals. For best results, grow the genetically mutated, extreme giant kind that will eat bees like we eat peanuts.

3) Dress as a Giant flower pot head: This will allow you to fool the bee into thinking that you are its natural source of food, hence coming into a close enough proximity for you to smack it without too much hassle.












So, with summer approaching, its time to be prepared coz the bugs will be out in full force. Good luck and God bless.

Exam!

Oooooh. The 8th day of the month of November in the year 2005 is approaching! Which means that my one and only exam is around the corner! The last exam ever. The last official university examination. I've had a lot of time to prepare for it and I have been working at it, but the sense of urgency that glues everything to your brain just isn't there. And now that I'm starting to freak out, I am slowly starting to focus! So its cool, I'll get it done. Though it does suck to see friends around me starting to pop champagne and start the parties. Oh well......soon.

iPod Flea!

AAAWWW MAN! looks like I got my iPod nano too soon. This is what I REALLY want!



Be patient, it will load.

The most boring post ever

I woke up at 3pm today. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I ate oatmeal for breakfast. I went out to buy salmon for dinner. I came back and tried to read my lecture notes. I stopped to cook japanese rice. I sliced the salmon and ate sashimi and rice for dinner. I took a shower. I downloaded some music. I tried to do a past year exam paper. I watched a show on my computer. I can't sleep. I typed the most boring post ever.

Elephant's fart

What the hell is wrong with my neighbour?? Why does he have to rev the engine so hard in the morning and slam on the accelerator while he's maneuvering out of the narrow driveway? He thinks he's some F1 driver? and all this at 9am!! Bloody 9 in the morning!!! He thinks he's warming up the engine when all he's doing is killing it.



( Taking the term "spoiler" to a whole new level )

A little background on my neighbour first. he's this fat chinaman who dresses like he's some rapper from 8 mile. He drives this mitsubishi FTO. Now the FTO is a nice little coupe, but he thinks its a ferrari or something. Races it up and down the road like his ass is on fire and he needs to jump into a pail of water quick. An FTO usually looks pretty cool, but not his. His has been modified to the point that it looks like some spaceship from jupiter thats been hit by an asteroid on its way to earth. Its damn ah beng man. stickers everywhere that make no sense. neon glowing lights. ugly front bumper. Psycho rear wing thats the height of the airport control tower..... the list goes on


( its a bird, its a plane, no its your obnoxious neighbourhood beng-mobile )

but worse of all, the sound. oh my gosh you won't believe the crap noises it makes. Its a raspy rough course blaring F***ed up sound. You think loud is powerful??? ITs crap. it sounds like the car has lung cancer and its coughing to death man. What the hell is with that milo can at the rear of your car? is that an excuse for an exhaust?? its a bloody noise bin thats spews out nothing but pollution of sorts. I can hear him crawling all the way down the road till he parks at the train station.


( eh ah-Hew-ston, we hab a ploblerm leh )

All show and no go. thats what it is. A real car is refined. its smooth, and stealthy. Its got power, but its not apparent until you're smelling its dust while watching its tail lights disappear in front of you. You won't hear it approaching, and the only sound you'll get is the mellow hummm and the rushing wind when it glides past.

Sheesh. Rest is hard to come by in this part of town.....

[edit] no offence to people who read this and own cars with loud exhausts ya? I'm just ranting about my neighbour.

Lost

I had a really long and intense conversation with my best friend just now. And the things that we talked about really shook me up real good. It was very emotional and pretty much a revelation for me. The sad thing is, for it to be a revelation, I must've been a class-A idiot. Things about myself, my life, me. Things that I have never bothered to examine before just because I never thought it required any attention.

But it has become apparent to me that I am in need of a lot of work. The very core of my being, the essence of my existance needs an overhaul. I need to change the life I am so used to living. My actions, my thoughts, my attitude needs a metamorphic change.

There is so much at risk. And I may not be able to bear the losses. it effects everything. Family, loved ones, all my friends of old, current and even the future. but change does not come easily for me. Its in my nature and it will be a great battle that won't be easy to fight but impossible to walk away from. I pray that i will not be alone through this. I pray that God will not forsake me, but keep me strong no matter what happens in the end.

Massage in shower!

heya

Found something cool today! My shower head has an incredible lever that lets me turn it into a massage shower thingo. So, when I push the lever one way, its a normal shower, when I turn it another way, it releases the water in big short bursts that feels like you're getting a massage! If I turn it further, it becomes one concentrated water jet with sprinkly bursts around the sides. Groovy. It feels awesome! helps me forget my troubles and worries for the duration of the shower. nice.

Insomnia bird

Its 4am and I just got home from sending Davina, Wilfred and Amanda home. It was a pretty interesting night. Had the final coach group meeting for the year tonight. I was dismayed to find out that it was not a COUCH group. No lounging on couches and chilling out. Its a COACH group. So leaders Coach you and teach you about being a good christian.

But it was awesome to see the different cell groups honoring their respective leaders. From skits to videos and just standing up in front and telling people how great a leader they've been. We did a song for Sharon and Davina. It went alrite I guess. But overall I reckon it was a great gathering. So after Coach group was over, we had a round of Cranium! haha. again!! It was good fun and I made new friends. Mandy and Irene were awesome at guessing a lot of my drawings. It was kinda chaotic though, but still fun.

But using up so much brain power in Cranium really makes you hungry. (especially when I had to try to lift louis up as my puppet gymnast) so off to Rok Kong for supper. Man, I miss the wanton mee back home..... But i guess the one they have at Rok kong would have to do for now.

So sent the guys home and then finally got back myself and showered and I'm ready for bed. BUT WHY ARE THERE BLOODY BIRDS CHIRPING AND SINGING LIKE ITS 7AM SUNRISE ALREADY!??! ITS STILL 4:12AM YOU PEA BRAINED BIRDS! GO BACK TO SLEEP! I NEED TO SLEEEP. SHUDDDDDAAAAAAPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

Last University Presentation

Almost there. One more hurdle to clear. Final presentation for thesis. Thursday. 3:30pm. be there with me God. Amen

Time to say goodbye

Bloody Hell, another night of bad sleep. I hate it when i keep drifting in and out of sleep, only to be finally kept awake at 5am due to a growling tummy. An active mind isn't helping too. With so many thoughts being processed at a single moment in time, rest is hard to come by.

Its weird how I always feel crappy during the examination periods. Well ok, its not weird coz only a loony would be happy when exams are round the corner. The thing is, I always get homesick and depressed even. And this semester isn't turning out any different. AND I'M SUPPOSED TO BE HAVING A RELAXED LAST SEMESTER WITH ONLY 1 EXAM. I'm missing home terribly again. I'm missing the comfort of home and family and the familiarity of a safe environment. Taking the car out, meeting friends for a late supper or movie, and then coming home and standing in the garden looking up at the moon and stars on a cloudless night, breathing in the twilight tropical air. Good times I tell ya.

I miss my friends heaps. Sometimes I wonder if I make friends too easily? It sucks that I have to be so far and detached from my friends. I don't even know whats going on with their lives! Its even harder now since everyone's busy with their careers and getting married. Its like our lives are just branching out to different directions, way beyond each other's reach. I cannot believe that I'm probably gonna miss Jialing's wedding. Do I even want to stay here and apply for PR? Maybe if I had just been a loner, I'd be happy and contented with just me. You see, I hate change, I'm sure many people do. We are all human balls of inertia.

What about friends I've made here in Melbourne? I didn't think that I'd make such great friendships here. When I came to Australia, I thought that it was gonna be a one man adventure for me. People would come and go in my life and I wouldn't be bothered. But I guess not. I've made some great friends in uni, most of whom are gonna return to their respective countries when they're done. Going through thick and thin with them, sharing laughs and stress. Being pillars of support for each other when the path seems impossible. These things are just gonna fade away?

And what about the great bunch of friends I have from church? Everyone's gonna come and go according to their study plan. Some may stay, others won't. But in the process, some actually become great friends. And when the time comes to move on, how do you break away? Its gonna be like leaving Singapore all over again. Can I just turn up for a cell group meeting, say goodbye and go? Can I tell someone goodbye and leave it as it is? I want things to stay just as it is, but since when do things go the way you want anyway?

Its not easy, this concept of friendship.

Sure, people will say, "Don't worry, just stay in touch. You can MSN, email blah blah blah.... There'll be chances to meet again". But seriously, its not the same anymore. Its like your cookie jar being placed further up a shelf. Its gonna be harder and requires more effort to reach.

I think I'm growing old. becoming soft. Ew.

The biggest loser?

So I was watching the biggest loser on TV today. You know? That American Reality TV show with the obese contestants battling it out to lose the most weight? Yeah, I was watching that while eating my triple decked neapolitan ice cream sandwich, after finishing a bag of chips and a big glass of coke. Its pretty amusing, and slightly inspirational to watch these people go through what they're going through. I really need to get off my ass and start excercising!

How did they get so fat in the first place though? They are MASSIVE. I mean, really HUGE! One can't help but wonder how much they ate to become like that. but you know what's more amazing? the amount of weight they lose on the show. One of the guys. he's lost 70 pounds since the start of the show. 70 pounds!! thats like 32 kilograms! You know what would happen to me if i lost 32Kgs? I'd be a stickman.

So anyway, I must be really running out of things to talk about since i'm actually discussing fat people here. Gosh. Exam time is always a brain numbing time. Now where did I put that giant cadbury twix bar?

Giving thanks to muh man with the masterplan

Greetings ya'll!

Every now and then, things happen in your life that you're thankful for. Only problem is that we often forget to give God thanks when its due. I know I've been abundantly blessed and this past week alone I have so much to be thankful for.

1) Thesis Project: Solar Bicycle
It works! It works! the prototype works. And it seems to work pretty well too! Our supervisor was pleased with the results and I think all's well. I still need the power of prayer for my presentation on thursday though. Thank you Lord.

2) Great friends
I've managed to make a lot of great friends here in Melbourne. Friends that I can keep for life I reckon. Firstly, my cell group. What an awesome bunch! Friends from my uni course. We really went through thick and thin together. And of course who could forget Eunice? The most patient and caring girlfriend ever.

3) 180SX
Chester's 180SX met with an accident last night. It wasn't a good sight. The car's front was wrecked. By God's grace, no one was injured. Chester is really keeping strong throughout this ordeal and he is seriously a top bloke. I'll be praying for you buddy. Everything will work out alright!

I'm sure there's heaps more but the ice cream in my tummy is making me sleepy and i can't think very well like that. Oh! thank God for Ice cream and coke / root beer floats.

Crazy Cranium Night!

Yes! Another Cranium night is upon us. Its gonna be at my place after church this coming Saturday, the 15th of October since there's no CGM on Sunday (so you have a whole day to study for exams/assignments, Sat evening can relax!) Anyone interested??

So far there's:

1)Darren
2)Howard
3)Anna
4)Louis
5)Amanda
6)Sharon
7)Shane <- dodgy, this guy is in Singapore! haha
8)Adeline

Sign up here!

[Edit] Just remembered that there's dinner at Sun Ling's place after church on Saturday, so maybe it won't be at my place afterall. We'll see how it goes....

Life

Phew! What a week!

Had the pleasure of meeting a good friend of Eunice's from Sydney and leading her to Christ! Sham! God will work his miracles in you! Have Faith ya? Sadly, this wonderful event was followed by 2 unfortunate deaths. Eunice's Grandma passed away on Monday. This was followed by the passing of my buddy Justin's dad on Wednesday. Though death is ironically very much a part of life, it is always terribly difficult. My heartfelt condolences goes out to both of you and your families. Stay strong and know that they are in a better place now with God.

Managed to finish my thesis project today. Finally. Now all thats left is the huge report that comes with it. Fortunately we were forced to submit a draft sometime back so I'll just have to work from there. Once this is done, I'll just have to study hard all the way till my exam on the 8th of November and the final chapter of my uni life will be completed. Pray for me ya?

Take care and God bless!

Cra.ni.acs

Hey all! Its Monday again, another week has begun. And what better way to start the week than to wake up to presents?? Look what DHL brought in this morning.



Yay!! My Cranium Turbo edition and booster packs are here. ALL US VERSIONS. Please no more dumb Aussie nonsense. Haha, ok so maybe not presents since I bought them but still, I love receiving things that make me smile. They now join the current Cranium family at home. So colourful the boxes....



Cranium this weekend anyone?

Cra.ni.acs - Members of a growing community who love to connect with friends and family, celebrate the opportunity to laugh and learn, and believe that everyone should have the chance to shine

The amazing human painting replicator!

Victor loved Eunice's painting so much he wanted look just like it.

Bithday Eunice Party

As promised, here are some pictures to highlight the night

The girls bringing out the birthday cakes. Kudos to those involved in making them. Home made cakes make the best statements I tell ya. And who did the round one that looked like a giant chocolate donut? It Rocks man! especially after you refridgerate it. Thats been my in-between meals snack for the past 2 days. Good stuff.








Shiny happy people











It was also a birthday party for Dom who had his on Monday.











Presents galore!








Me trying to explain the rules of Cranium. I didn't do very well coz I messed up the rules (I haven't played in a while ok?) Thanks to Edlyn for clearing some stuff up by reading the rules properly haha! The Aussie version of cranium wasn't as fun as the American one I played back in Singapore though. I think its coz we're not immersed well enough into the Aussie culture and their slangs. Who would've known that ducks and geese was a slang for the police??? Dumb. Still, cranium is always good fun and a bag of laughs. American version cards are on the way as we speak. Groovy. Sidetracking a little, if you're not game enough or not interested to be involved in a GROUP activity at a GROUP party, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING AT THE PARTY TO BEGIN WITH? DON'T COME. GO HOME AND HAVE A PARTY ALONE. DON'T MOAN AND GROAN AND RAIN ON EVERYONE ELSE'S PARADE. Sorry, but i cannot tolerate wet blanket party poopers.






After most of the people left, a few brave ones remained to take on some JENGA.








It was awesome, especially when you're playing when an earthquake strikes.







So there's that. There were heaps more pictures of that night. All you guys who want the pictures, I'll be passing a CD around filled with em so just ask for it. Big thanks to all who were there. Wouldn't be a party without you guys. Time for more cake! yummmmmm.

the simpsons unplugged

Holy Cow! Check out this clip that my friend showed me. This guy is amazing! He plays the guitar like urmmmm..... like nobody I know. How do his hands move like that? Respect.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Yesterday Eunice celebrated her 24th year of existence on earth. Following the tradition such occasions, a party was thrown, people came, ate, drank and made lots of noise. It was great fun and I wanna give a big shout out to everyone who came. Special mention goes out to the awesome people who helped out in the food, drinks and cleaning up. You guys are the best! Thanks for coming and making Eunice's 24th a memorable one.

I'll post some pictures in my next post. Later~

iPod your BMW

I did it! I iPodded my BMW today!







Its so cool! I can now listen to my iPod without having to connect it to the FM transmitter and having wires lying around my gear shift. And the best thing is that I can control the iPod (switch tracks, volume) right from my steering wheel! Safe and easy. Gone are the days of burning my favourite tunes onto a CD before I go out (I'm fickle, my favourite songs change every week). I don't have to burn a different CD for every genre of music and search for them in my CD changer. And I can have hundreds of songs in my car so I won't be listening to the same songs over and over again. Nice.

Too bad I don't to see the band or artists in my rear seat from my rear view mirror when I switch tracks.

iRobot

hmmmm, I don't sound very friendly....

An Apple a day keeps the Viruses away

Greetings and salutations!

How was everyone's week? Another week has passed, another weekend arrives. A pretty uneventful week for me, most of it filled with anxiety and stress over one assignment and my thesis progress. OK, I can hear some of you asking me how can I be under stress with only one day of school, one module this semester and my thesis. Well, I still do. Duh.

I guess the only interesting thing that happened was the arrival of my iPod nano on Monday. Its a pretty amazing product. Seriously, the pictures are deceiving. Its smaller than what you see on the pictures and the commercials. You have to hold one in your hands to believe it. Apple has really done it again. Their design team is really doing an awesome job at putting very desirable products out on the market. Those who are close to me enough would know that I am a fan of Apple and the Macintosh computer system. In fact, some go as far as to call me a "Mac addict". Eunice even calls me an Apple snob!



Well its true that I adore Apple products and sometimes, I am very enthusiatic about Mac related issues. I support the Mac platform and even promote it to my friends. But that does not make me a "snob"..... All I am trying to do is to shed some light and dispel various misconceptions of the Mac! You see, I switched to Apple after many frustrating years of using Microsoft's Windows OS. I've been there. Windows 3.1, Win 95, Win 98, Win 98 SE, Win 2000 etc etc. Now most of my memories of those years consisted of the blue screen of death*, late nights of trouble shooting the computer, hardware and software conflicts, system hanging/crashing, data getting lost and corrupted, VIRUSES, spam pop ups, warnings that are not in understandable jargon, auto shut downs, problems booting up....... the list goes on.











(*the blue screen of death)

Now, I'm not saying that everyone's problems are the same, I've seen so many people asking for their computer to explode. They never maintain their computers, they don't protect it, they don't organise their files and stuff properly. Even a Mac won't save such people. But I'm a control freak when it comes to my computer. Everything is stored properly in the appropriate folders and locations. I do regular maintenance on my system, I scan for viruses every week, I clear my junk etc etc. But windows just wasn't cutting it for me. When I was introduced to the mac, my computing life changed forever.

Mac OS just simply, works. It doesn't hang or crash. You never ever feel worried about installing and un-installing software. Viruses? ->Non existant. Everything just runs smoothly. I get all my stuff done and did I mention that everything's pleasing to the eye? I've never had one single compatibility problem when working with a Mac. Everything that I did on windows, I can do better on a Mac. I've also found that Mac products make good conversation starters.

Anyhow, I better stop this Apple talk since most of you are gonna be reading this on your windows machines and I don't want the blog to take so long to load that I hang your browser. haha later.

Curiouser and curiouser

Hey Y'all!

Don't you guys just love blogs? You get to read all the interesting thoughts and happenings of people around you. Sometimes, you get to see a totally different side of a person from his/her entries in a blog. Anyhow, I'm sure many of you read and enjoy Eunice's blog. I'm a fan too. Her entries are always so animated and chirpy and fun. But did you know that she's also really competitve by nature? She hates it when I come up with an entry that has the potential of being more interesting than hers! Its nothing serious, just some fun and friendly competition though I have a slight advantage with my computer techie know how (eg. my comic strips) haha.

But recently, she's been sneaky and coming up with material that is *ahem* inspired by yours truely and using it for her own entries! Take this recent blog entry for an example:




The picture on the right is taken from a comic strip I made ages ago. Its in my June archive I believe. Now compare the posture, expression and hand gestures to the recent picture of her in the picture on the left thats found in her latest blog entry. Curious isn't it?


Anyhow, she's still the cutest ever.Haha, just some nonsensensical and useless banter from me, who should be in bed right now if I wanna get up in time to meet my thesis partner tomorrow morning! Later~

Morning Man!

Wow~! I've been up and about since 8:30am! What a dynamic change in lifestyle! I Can actually hear the birds chirping! Its kinda gloomy though, not a bright sun shiny morning, typical melbourne weather.

The bloody date and time stamp thingy at the top of this post is wrong! Hmmmm, maybe its set to American time. Who knows?

Anyhow, it feels good to be awake in the morning for a change. I was getting fed up of waking up around 1~2pm everyday (even though i can't help it.....). Half the day is wasted by the time I get up, very unproductive. But then here I am, wondering, what do I do now? Sure, I can do some reading for the ONLY subject I have this sem, but should I really be squinting and put my eyes through the strain of reading the tiny print of my lecture notes? Besides, I'm gonna head down to uni later to meet a tutor to ask him some questions regarding my assignment. That should constitute to the required amount of work for today. Haha.

I feel so unmotivated. When I started this semester, I thought to myself, "Alright, you only have one subject this sem. Heaps of time to study. So, what you gonna do, is keep up with the lectures and do your tutorials on time and read the notes consistantly and it'll be a breeze." That was total crap man. I'm sure all you students (and ex-students) out there can relate. Or am I the only one?

How many times have you made a resolution and churned out a masterplan at the beginning of the semester, and everything looks and feels like its so well thought out and nothing can go wrong? Well, by mid semester, you realise you still don't know anything and you're behind schedule and you feel like you have to study a lot. At the end of the sem, you study and cram like mad for exams and you promise yourself it won't happen again next sem coz you're gonna stick to the plan the next time. And the cycle repeats itself till you run out of semesters to go through. Sounds familier?

Why? I'm like this human ball of anti movement inertia. And whats worse is that my brain screams at me everyday! I'm always thinking of getting the tutorial done and reading the notes and all that, but thats it, I think. Sigh, I'm in the wrong profession. Fortunately, I'm doing ok in uni, and I produce pretty decent grades. But think about how much more I can achieve! I mean, if I only set my mind and direct my passion towards school, how great would my grades be?? I could be an awesome mechanical robot nerd acedemia superhero! Ack.

Oh well, I am what I am. Whatever.

Taking risks in extreme sports

Adrenaline numbs the butt pain

Hey Y'all!

Everyone had a great weekend? I know I did. And so did Eunice, Howard, Rebecca, Rebecca's Dad and Vicki! Yes! Vicki! What are the odds of bumping into a friend from Singapore up in the Australian alps? But it happened, and unfortunately I do not have any photographic proof to show. How could I forget to take a picture???!?

Anyhow, we had a blast over the weekend up in falls creek. The snow was good and the runs were awesome. We found so many ramps, bumps and jumps, and we had to try them all and everyone had their fair share of crashes and airs. Cruising around the runs and speeding down slopes, it dawned on me that this could very well be our last outing to the snows this season. I hear from uncle Choo Haw (reb's dad) that you can ski all year round in Switzerland!!! I wonder if they're short of engineers there.

This time round was great coz we were all speeding down blue and black runs at around the same skill level. No waiting around and we could experiment and try new things together. The jumps were amazing, and hilarious. You have no idea how painful my butt is now. For some reason, fear makes my butt a magnet to the ground and when all 80 kilos of me, plus my board come crashing to the ground when a jump goes wrong, I slam into the ground butt first. I walk around like an old man now.

Its great to see the girls doing jumps too. Eunice always gets air, shifts her legs in some funny position (one higher than the other) and then crashes in the most fashionable way. Rebecca just emits a funny "rusty spring hinge" sound and then pops up. And who could forget Howard's bowling ball man fall? Haha, he has the knack of performing the most hilarious falls in front of me.



What a great season. I'll miss the snow. Till we meet again!!

Matthew 21:22

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

See the last few lines in my post entitled "reverse psychomotonosismambojumbo" ?

Here's what I got off the fallscreek website today:

"There's a real snow storm happening here and it snowed down to Bogong Village. The village is snow-covered once again and more snow is forecast. Strong, gusty winds overnight has resulted in some storm damage to the ski area. Falls Creek Ski Lifts has announced all lifts will remain closed today due to persisting strong winds. Falls Creek Ski Lifts apologises for the inconvenience to its guests.

Falls Creek's slopes are being replenished at present by blizzard conditions, however the wild weather is bringing with it both good news and bad. High winds will prevent any lifts from operating today. But the good news is that more snow, followed by fine weather, is forecast for the next few days so we could have some great days ahead. Dated: 31st August 2005.

For further information call Falls Creek Ski Lifts 03 5758 1000. "

Cool.

Spring has arrived

Greetings and salutations!

I can feel it in the air, the winter season in Australia for 2005 is drawing to an end. Spring is upon us. The birds are chirping louder, the sun rises earlier and sets later. I don't have to turn on the central heating in my house anymore. I am actually perspiring when I do housework! I take more cold showers to keep cool in the day. My leather seats burn when I leave the car in the open.

Thats cool I guess, but it only serves to remind me how fast time is flying by. I'm already halfway through my last semester. I guess having only one subject this sem isn't helping. Just the other day during cell group meeting, sharon and the rest were praying for "all the students with assignments piling up and exams approaching" and I was like, " assignments? exams? didn't the semester JUST start?"

Anyhow, time to belt up and get the job done! Last semester and then on to LIFE!

reverse psychomotonosismambojumbo

Wow! Its been a while eh?

As with every other week, my whole cell group will all go out and have dinner together after church service. This week we found ourselves at this place call Nasi Lemak House off Lygon street. The food was alright. Still no where close to the REAL Nasi Lemak back home in Singapore. (Boon lay Market....droool, changi village.......droooooooool). The meal I ordered was supposed to come with a sweeter sambal/chilli according to the waitress. Sweeter my @$$. It was HOT. I decided it was a ploy to make me buy more drinks.

But the point is, we started talking about our weight and how we've gained/lost weight after coming to Australia. Personally, my weight has been fluctuating ever since I came here. I've always felt that I could afford to put on more, and I did initially. Those were good times, I was pretty happy. However, I seem to be losing weight again and that sucks. I think its coz I sleep too much. Maybe I've been snowboarding too much and the cold makes my body burn fats faster. Even Eunice wants me to beef up certain areas of my anatomy.

So I was thinking. I've got a really funky reversed growth algorithm in me. Since young, I've been eating a LOT, and I never ever seem to put on weight. After I entered the army and was put through hard physical training and stuff, I actually started gaining weight and I really toned up a lot. Maybe its because of the good sleeping habits and fixed balanced diet that was implented regimentally. After army, I continued regular excercise on my own time during uni in NTU ( I was in the wakeboarding club see, had to stay fit). After coming to Australia, I started becoming lazy and now I feel like I'm bulging in the wrong places and I don't feel as healthy and fit anymore.

Basically, I say reverse algorithm because:
1) Sleeping too much makes me lose weight (sleeping makes you tall though)
2) Eating a lot does not make me gain weight
3) Excercise helps me gain weight

But the bottom line still remains the same. I have to sleep regular hours, eat proper balanced meals and excercise regularly to get back into shape. Its never easy huh.

On a side note, I'm returning to falls creek for a weekend snow outing with eunice, howard, rebecca and reb's dad! Awesome! I can't wait! Dear God, please bless falls creek with an awesome cover of snow so that I can enjoy great fellowship with friends and nature when I get there. AMEN!

let it snow! blizzard!!! until Friday.

Toe snubber

Ouch, I just snubbed my little toe of my right foot. Its the 3,873rd time in my life that I've managed to do that. I dunno why but its seems to always wanna bash itself againt sharp hard corners of things. Anything. Bed posts, crates, door frames, cabinets, table legs, you name it, I've kicked it with my little toe before. I wonder if its broken. I should know right? I mean, if its broken, I'll be able to tell right? It always hurts like mad for like a minute then I can limp around for the next 10 minutes and then life goes back to normal. Ouch.

Addicted to white powder

Good evening all!

Wow time really flies doesn't it? At the blink of an eye, we're already at week 5 of the semester. The last semester of my engineering degree here in Australia's Monash University. Yikes. We're also in the middle of the snow season. I don't want the season to end. While we're at the topic of stopping time, I might as well declare that I don't want this semester to end! No, not in the negative sense like I fail or anything, I just want to slow time a bit and savour this last semester. It such an awesome semester! It so relaxed. The workload is manageable. The stress level isn't high enough to make me wanna jump through the roof. And I can go snowboarding every other week!

And snow..... Man, I'm addicted to the snow! I wish the season would never end. The mountain and the ski resorts should have snow all year round. That'll be awesome man. Maybe I should migrate to the arctic or antarctic regions. Are there any mountains there? I was toying with the idea of working in the states from December to March but it doesn't look very promising since the organization in charge of the exchange program is only offering it to students who will be enrolled in a full load of studies after their return. Bastards. Maybe I can find some other avenue to go work in the American ski resorts. Anyone got any ideas?

Are there polar bears in antarctica or the arctic or both? hmmmmm.

Option: Redline 163

Remember a couple of posts ago, I was complaining about my new board? Well here's a story about how things have changed since then.

After that trip to Buller that made me realise that I had to learn how to control my new snowboard, I decided that I was gonna ski at the falls creek trip. Why? Coz I thought that my group of friends were all gonna be skiing, plus I had promised to teach William to ski as well. So, I didn't bring my board to falls creek and would rent skis instead. Bummer.

Fast forward to the day we go to falls creek. At the pickup point, some major problems with the bus capacity resulted in a one hour delay and 20 people being left behind. Among those left behind was William, and they had to take an alternative transport plan to get to falls creek. They only arrived at falls creek at around 4pm that day. Therefore, I didn't get to ski with William on Friday (the first day) and thus didn't have the opportunity to teach him. Furthermore, Kelvin and Davina had decided to snowboard and I ended up spending time on the beginner slope teaching them the basics of boarding..... on my skis! After a while, I felt like I had no reason to be on skis and my board-sense was calling out to me from within. During this time, Ying and Alvin appeared out of no where and asked, "hey, can you teach us or give us some tips on snowboarding?"

That was it, I switched the rental skis for a rental board instead. I was muttering to myself, "Damn, I should have brought my own board." But you know what? I'm glad I didn't. The rental board that day, it helped me build up my confidence and understand the dynamics of snowboarding. It was like the board was re-educating me and then suddenly something in me clicked. I could snowboard before, but this experience with the rental board helped me move on to the next level. It was forgiving and helped me nail my toeing and edging. It didn't throw me over like my redline, yet it was teaching me how to use my own board. Bizarre. Anyhow, to cut the story short, after returning from falls creek, the guys wanted more so we headed up to Mt Buller the very next day and I'm proud to say, I rode my own board with confidence and ease. Yes, I am able to move fluidly and dynamically with the board and its an awesome feeling. The fear and uncertainty has been replaced with confidence and tonnes of FUN.

I wonder if God played a part in it. He must have been thinking, "He's not enjoying my mountain properly, better teach him how to snowboard". And thus the chain of events that lead to me renting a snowboard evolved. Anyhow, whatever it is, I'm glad things happened the way it did. Ride on!

Here's a mini video of me stacking at falls creek for your enjoyment. Credits go to Eunice.






note: stacking is an aussie slang for crashing......

Temperature: -1 degree celsius

Greetings and salutations! Been missing for a while but worry not, I'm back! I'm back refreshed and re-energised from all the fun I had up at falls creek over the weekend. In fact, I had so much fun that I went to Mt Buller for a day trip immediately after I returned from Falls! Hardcore!

The weekend went by so fast though. I remember waiting 3 whole months for this trip to Falls Creek. I remember paying Randy for the trip and psyching William up over learning how to ski. I remember telling Sharon and Davina how excited I was about the trip and how much I was looking forward to it. Swoooosh, at the blink of an eye, its over. Buts its all good. It was a great experience, tonnes of fun and totally unforgetable. Made some new friends in the process too!

First off, I picked Ronny, Esther and Kelvin up from the airport, met Eunice, hung around, met Sharon and Anna, played Conga at my place, met Davina. There! my group of 8 was assembled. So after every one got acquainted, we made our way to Monash Clayton Campus where the bus would pick everyone up to go to Falls Creek. Here's a picture of everyone in full snow gear.

Everyone was skiing except Kelvin, Davina and I. Well, I was supposed to ski too but its a long story which I'll dwell into another time. Anyhow, I taught Kelvin and Dav how to board and MAN! I was impressed at how fast they were learning! Kudos especially to Kelvin who had the guts to attempt the intermediate blue runs with us. As a firm believer that green runs are crap and will not help boarders learn at all, I was constantly hounding people to hit the blue runs. I'm sure thats the reason Kelvin picked it up so quickly. He even did the black runs with us when we went up to Buller! Now, not forgetting Esther and Ronny. The couple deserve some respect too, its only their second time out on skis and we're flying down the black runs together. Wicked!

Here's another couple I met on the trip whom I helped out. I gave them some tips on the first day on the basics of boarding and then we met them on the blue runs on the last day! Haha, I was so proud of myself. I really love the sport. And I'm glad I invested on my own gear. The feeling you get when you're gliding down the mountain is amazing. The rushing wind, the sound of the snow spray, the rush you get when you pop a jump, its indescribable. I love it I love it I love it!!!! God is really a happening fella man. His creations are way cool and totally fun. And who can miss the amazing scenery? I'll end here with some pictures. Later!