Coming to a TV screen near you.....

Hahaha! Its complete! My snowboarding documentary is done! After 4 full days (and nights) of going through the footage and pieceing the segments together, I can safely say that I have managed to capture the true essence of my snowboarding adventures! This has got to be the most fun I've had making a video yet! Sweeeeeet!

For all the wonderful people involved in it, you'll be getting a copy in your mail soon! Hahahahahaha. In case I forget, you can place an order here. Laterrrrrr.

on the fly

This explains why I love snowboarding. Here's Brian, Wilfred and Grace catching air too! Sweeeeet!

Beyond now

Hola!

Phew time for a break. A break from browsing through the papers, scoping out potential jobs. At the corner of my eye, almost out of view I spy my snowboard lying idly next to my guitar. Is that a layer of dust collecting already? Or maybe its just the plastic cover its in. Oh I do miss Melbourne so. My friends, the snow and the cool climate.

I'm not meant to be stuck at a desk, looking at the computer screen. I was built to be launched out into the great outdoors, conquer the unknown, freeze in the snow, you know? So in the midst of the job hunt, I asked my mom what she'd think if I decided to be a snowboarding instructor. She said, "Sure, if thats what you want." How cool is that?? I'm starting to think that my mom may be a misplaced citizen like me.

But alas, the results of my search wasn't promising. The average cost for an instructor's course lingered around the ₤6000 mark. YES! Six Thousand Pounds! Thats like almost 20 grand in singapore dollars. Of course it includes a season pass good for mountains in Canada (read: WHISTLER BLACKCOOMB), food and lodging for 11 weeks and of course, training and certification exam fees. ₤6000.....Groan.

I guess its kinda like taking a course in uni. I cannot justify asking my parents to pay for it though, they've already provided me with so much, more than I could ask for. I came to a conclusion that maybe I'll work for a couple of years, get sick of the corporate world and by then I would've saved enough to embark on this.....let's call it a sabbatical. Sweeeet.

But then I started thinking and then I realised, what if......what if I was in a stable relationship, or worse, what if I was married? I wouldn't be able to just take off and go. The course itself is 3 months, and if I wanna make use of that certification, I'd be teaching kids how to snowboard in snowfields all over the world. Such is the dilemma of a soon to be 27 year old. Is it now or never?

A life of eternal winters wondering snow fields round the globe, or a life in Singapore with a stable job and maybe my soulmate?

farewell my love

My run here in Australia has ended. I cannot believe how fast 1 month and 3 days can go by so quickly. The time has come where I have to reluctantly pack my bags and drag myself to the airport.

I had a great time though and I'm thankful that I was able to delay my return by 2 weeks. That extra time gave me the opportunity to enjoy some of the best experiences of the holiday. Epic snowboarding trips. New friends made and great relationships established. Great times over food and at beautiful places. The only drawback is that its making my return to Singapore a little harder.

Well, to sum things up, here's what I'm thankful for:

1) First and foremost, I gotta thank God for blessing me with such a great holiday and the chance to have it.

2) The SNOW! That's the main reason why I came back to begin with! OH and the great chance to ride my custom X. I managed to visit all three mountains as planned and each trip was made amazing by the company of people I was with. My riding has improved and I've got heaps of great photos and videos to seal in the memories.

3) The boys at no.20 Lansell Road. Wilfred, Josh and Brian. You guys have been a great bunch to hang out with and I'm glad to have been able to get to know you all better! Thanks for letting me crash there most of my trip and for being so gracious with my needs. I had heaps of fun with you all up in the mountains and in melbourne.

4) Eunice over at Malvern. My other dwelling place. Thanks for letting me stay at your apartment and invading your "warehouse". You've been so sweet and I just wanna thank you for letting me stay for that week or so. I'm glad to see your leather journals and diaries and photoalbums picking up. They're beautiful! everyone should have one. More on that in a later post....

5) Great friends I've made along the way. I'm glad I got the chance to hang out with my uni / engineering friends and then make new friends in the process! By alphabetical order: Alan, a fellow snowboarding fanatic, I hope your butt recovers soon so that you can get some spring boarding done man! Bee, you're a blast to hang out with and I enjoyed getting to know you better this time round. I pray that things will go smooth for you and that you'll be smiling all the time! Randy, you're still as goofy as ever and a great buddy to chill out with. At least we hit falls creek together so the promise to ride together this winter was kept. Ru O, you're a barrel of laughs man. It was fun snowboarding with ya and thanks for the jokes in the long car rides. And last but not least, YEN! We finally meet after passing by each other at various events and probably even in the campus centre. 3 years in Monash and I only get to know you when I'm back here for a holiday. Better late than never I guess. Thanks for being such a sweetie. I really enjoyed hanging out with you and getting to know you better. I hope someday we'll get that hot chocolate under the stars.

6) My amazing church friends. Here's a big shout out to this amazing bunch of people who made my non-snowboarding days in melbourne amazing! Thanks for the dinners and that final farewell at HRC! I had a great time fellowshipping with you all! Buzz me for the pictures ok? I have heaps and heaps. See you all in Singspore soon!

Oh there's so much more to be thankful for but it seems I have to start packing my bags now if I wanna get on that plane back to Singapore. hmmmmmm.......

THANKS FOR THE GREAT HOLIDAY!

blue moon

Anyone looked up into the night sky and saw the blue moon today? I didn't. What I did see was this blue tram ticket and it was in my pocket. Yeap! For the first time in my existance in Australia, I have taken the tram. One of Melbourne's most basic form of public transport, I found myself getting into one after finding myself all alone in the house and needing to get to the city.

Wilfred's reaction kinda summed it up. "How did you go to the city today? HUH? YOU WHAT?" I must confess that the tram ride was quite pleasant, though the tram hardly moved at the speed of light. It was more like taking a slow relaxed stroll. No rush, no stress. It was quite a good way to take in the urban sights and admire the odd architectural gem. It was also a great chance to put my iPod nano to use. I do miss the times when I enjoy my tunes through earphones as I watch faces come and go on public transport.

It also gave me a chance to spend some time with myself. Sitting there I could ponder upon what I wanted to do with my life. What jobs I'd like to try out. What kind of girl I want to date. How I'm gonna draw closer to God. How I should land that heelside 3 when I launch off a jump.... you know? the important things in life. But seriously, I didn't expect to enjoy taking the tram and I'm thinking that maybe I should take the bus or train now and then just for the kick of it. I reckon it would be a good experience too, being on the bus with no specific destination in mind. Just to be along for the ride and see where it leads you. I'd enjoy that. Someone told me thats what sagittariuses do. They wonder around and enjoy life. Sounds good to me.



Till my next post, take deep breaths and enjoy what life serves up!

New friends I got to (s)know.

Greetings friends and passers-by!

Looking at the little window on my watch with the date dial reminds me that I have a week left in Australia. Yes, my snowboarding adventures are drawing to a close. With only 2 more day trips left in the plan, I can safely say that its been a blast. I've also met my goal to visit the 3 main ski resorts in Victoria. Yes! I've conquered Hotham, Fallscreek and Buller all in one season.

The new snowboard is phenomenal. I can ride faster, pop higher and carve harder. Its like riding a magic carpet! Furthermore, being a white board, you can barely see any scratches or marks when dumbass skiers run over your board at the chairlift line. It still looks brand new. Sweeeet.

The weather has been pretty good to me. God has blessed me with pretty good snow for some decent fun. This season's riding has definately stepped up a notch. Amen to that! But the most important point to be raving about has gotta be the great company I've had on this trip and the big bunch of friends I've made through the snow! Thanks for all the smashing fun and awesome memories.

As you can tell from the few photos I've placed around this post, I was with great company and it was a blast. Till my next snow season!

Lima Beans

Hey Y'all! First off, I have to apologise for the recent entries on my blog. I was just looking through it and realised that I've been talking non stop about snowboarding! This must be boring some of you to death! I mean, not everyone has an interest in this topic and yet I keep going on and on about it. Therefore, I have decided to talk about something else in this entry. Something that I'm sure we all hold dear to our hearts. Lima beans.

The Lima bean or butter bean is grown as a vegetable for its mature and immature beans. The small-seeded wild form (Sieva type) is found distributed from Mexico to Argentina, generally below 1600 meters above sea level, while the large-seeded wild form (Lima type) is found distributed in Ecuador and the north of Peru, between 320 and 2030 meters above sea level. The pods are up to 15 cm long. The mature seeds are 1 to 3 cm long and oval to kidney shaped. White seeds are common, but black, red, orange and variously mottled seeds are also known. The immature seeds are uniformly green.

The lima bean is palatable and nutritious both immature as a fresh vegetable and mature as a dry pulse. Dry lima beans require lengthy soaking of about twelve hours and thorough cooking. Both soaking water and cooking water should be discarded to eliminate flatulence-inducing oligosaccharides.

The lima bean is a perennial plant usually cultivated as an annual plant. It prefers warm temperatures, but is tolerant of drought. To plant lima beans properly, the soil temperature needs to be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If the soil is 5 degrees colder than that, mortality in the beans may occur.

Righto. To conclude, great wisdom can be gained from this entry. Therefore, if you wanna induce flatulence, you should ingest the soaking or cooking water thats used to prepare the Lima beans! Sweeeeeet.

snowboarding zombie

MAN! A dumbass SKIER skied straight over my board and stripped my quiksilver sticker off the font off my board! ARGH! Is it so difficult to pretend to be sponsered by quiksilver? Why did you have to ski over my board? There I was minding my own business. Sheesh. Oh well, luckily I have a few more of those stickers. *ahem*

Right, enough ranting. Its just that I get so moody when I'm back in Melbourne waiting for the next snowboard trip. True to my Chinese zodiac sign, the mountain goat in me is one with the mountain. (hmmm is it a mountain goat? or just a regular goat?) Don't get me wrong, I love Melbourne! But I liked it a lot more when I had my own car, my own place, my own space. Relying on people for lodging and transport really gets me down. Sleeping in someone's living room, driving someone else's car, asking my hosts what the plans are for dinner....its just not me. I like to get out there and get things done, when I want and how I want.

Besides, I feel bad getting in the way of the people who are nice enough to put me up. Thanks to Wilfred during my first 10 days here and now Eunice. You guys have been great. I'll be out of your hair soon ok?

Hmmmm, though it kinda contradicts my decision to extend my stay here for 2 more weeks huh? Oh, did I forget to mention that I'll be here till the 24th of August? I decided against returning on the original date on the 10th coz there's still so much snowboarding to be done! Bring it on!!! hmmmm, what was I talking about again?

sore bum but going strong

Hey y'all!

Found some time on my hands so I decided to have a quick little update on this bloggo thing-a-magik. As some of you know, I'm still in Melbourne and getting a fair bit of snowboarding done! The snow conditions have really been picking up and it gets better and better with every ride!

Of course, having better snow conditions also means its much colder too. And nothing beats the cold than taking a break on a cafe on top of the snow covered mountain with a hot chocolate and 2 marshmellows in it. Pure bliss! One thing that's spoiling my enjoyment is my sore bum. It hurts so bad when I sit or move around too much. Its the result of crashing too much when your snowboarding stunts go awry I guess. Its funny though, snowboarding. I love it so much but if you think about it, this is quite a mental, physical and financial test.

You see, the cost of going on a snowboarding holiday is phenomenal. Lodging in the mountain is expensive. Food is expensive. Chair lift tickets are expensive. If you rent gear, its gonna cost a bit too. Now, when all that is said and done, you're finally on the mountain and zipping around, and then you crash. You try to get some air, go for jumps, you crash again. Infact, even beginners who are learning on the baby slopes will soon realise that there is a lot of crashing to be done. And then come the aches and sores and pains the morning after. Epic I tell ya. Now finally, comes the cold bit. After boarding down a run, you gotta take the chairlift back up again. Its during those few minutes where you hit the lowest morale in the whole experience. You're sitting on the chairlift, the wind is blowing at sub zero temperatures and you're struggling to keep warm. The wind and snow pounding at your face and other peeks of exposed skin sends painful cold shivers through you. Its miserable.

Yet, despite all that, Snowboarding rocks I tell ya. The freedom and the speed. Zipping around the mountain. Landing your jumps and tricks. Its an amazing feeling. I hope everyone gets to go at least once in their life and enjoy it! Righto, I better go lie down and rest up so that I can recover in time for my next adventure! 3 more days! wooo hooooooo!

Back in Melbourne

Wooooo! Its a day to a week since I've returned to Melbourne and what a week its been! I love the cold. I love it when its so cold out that your fingers feel like ice and you can see your own breath. Somehow, a steaming hot cup of tea always tastes better in cold climates. Brilliant!

So, what have I been up to? Well the first thing I did was go for a cell group meeting! haha. So holy I am. It was good to be reunited with friends from my Church in Melbourne. There were new faces too and it was a blast.

And then the highlight of the week. Snowboarding! We took a drive up on Friday to Falls Creek with Wilfred's friends and terrorised the slopes till Sunday. It was great to be back on the snow again and I finally get to ride my new snowboard and boy! does it shred on the snow. So smooth and zippy. Though at the end of the trip, my bum hurt like crazy coz of all the crashes sustained from numerous jumps. But it was good. Kudos to Brian who managed to pick up the sport of snowboarding. It was his first time and I think he did good.

I would post pictures up but blogger isn't allowing me to for some funny reason. Anyhow, I gotta go make a nice cup of earl grey and watch a movie on the sofa now. Need to rest and recover for my next snow trip on Thursday. Till then.......take care everyone!

sausage roll

Click on the comic for a bigger version

Wall of friends

Hey y'all!

The wall of friends has GROWN! go check it out! see if you can find your faces there and if somehow I've missed you (or you just can't find your face), give me a holler and I'll get straight on it!

you can check the wall out here.

Coldplay went by at the speed of sound

Yes! I finally caught my favourite band, Coldplay, in concert. I missed the last chance I had to watch them when they went to Melbourne but as luck would have it, their tour came to Singapore!


Concerts are even better when in the company of good friends, and this one was no exception. Jialing, Adrian, Geri, Pierre, Jason and Anna were right there in the thick of it with me. Jumping and singing and cheering and clapping.



From the moment the first song was unleashed and the lightings fired up, it was pure electricity and aural pleasure! Coldplay sang all the favourites and the crowd was definately pleased. My personal favourites were all there. God put a smile upon my face, YELLOW, the scientist, clocks, speed of sound... the list goes on and on. And what a performance the band put on! It was also fun to see the giant confetti filled yellow ballons bounce around when yellow played.



Now that the concert's over, and the Fifa world cup has also concluded, I only have snowboarding left to look forward to. LOOOOOOK AT THE STARRRRRS! LOOOOOK HOW THEY SHINE FOR YOUUUUUUUUU.

Post-wakeboarding

Sunday came and went, and what a Sunday it was! I finally got to wakeboard and the weather was awesome! The company was great too. A fun bunch from my cell group made it possible. However, the day wasn't without drawbacks. You see, the many times I've been wakeboarding at Punggol Marina, I always walk by a PINK coloured boat and I'll chuckle to myself. This particular boat looked like it was designed by Mattel for their most famous export, Barbie. It had pink trimmings and a pink canopy and pink sides and pink seats and probably a pink motor if you peeked under the hood. I'd always think to myself, "Gosh, thats a gay one. I'll never be caught in that."

So there I was, lugging my wakeboard and chugging along when I asked the driver which boat we were taking out. You can imagine my horror when he stopped in his tracks next to the pink boat and said, "this one."


Of course, Adrian had failed to mention that he had randomly booked the boats and he'd been assigned a boat called the Pinky X5. PINKY X5!! It even had a GAY name!! We were riding the PINK GAY BOAT!!! You can see that I wasn't too pleased. Thats the last time I'll let Adrian book the boats. Oh well.

So we were off. Split into 2 groups, I had Adrian, Rina and Ruth in *ahem* the pinky x5. But it was a blast! We had a great time laughing at each other and snapping pictures. It was great seeing them learn how to wakeboard. There was a lot of yelling going on too, mostly me screaming at them to squat like an ah beng. The other boat of Anne, Diana, Alan and Jason (was his name Jason? I cannot remember) whizzed by us a few times too. They seemed to be doing well and we even managed to catch a few shots of them.


At the end of the day, everyone had a great time and sun kissed skin. Then it was off to Jalan Kayu for Briani, mee goreng and prata. Can't wait till the next time we go riding again! Later!

Pre-Wakeboarding

Yay! found some church friends to go wakeboarding with! The sun is out and the morning looks great! No jellyfish please. weeeeee

How do you.....

.....get on this panel here at the start page of your blogger account? They say here that these are the blogs they've "noticed" recently, and they're encouraging us to have a look if we feel like browsing. How does your blog get "noticed"? Who does the noticing? Could it be there's some dedicated blogger staff sitting in some dark dinghy room, staring at their computers and running through the entire database screening and browsing every blog on their system? And then suddenly, EUREKA! Check it out guys! here's an interesting blog that everyone should browse to! OOHHH let's put in on the "noticed" panel!

This panel, though capable of providing some material to glance at during times of boredom, is bothersome. Well bothersome to me at least. And in a number of ways too. Firstly, how do they decide which blogs to feature? The internet is a gargantuan network of computers and therefore, plays host to a ginormous amount of people at any single moment. Are there a set of guidelines to follow in order to ensure that most, if not all, of the possible interest groups are met? Could there be a person who actually clicked on every single featured blog and find nothing ineresting at all?

I clicked on some of them and was flabbergasted to find some really boring blogs in there. One showed nothing but the author's pet dog (and a really ugly one too) and another had heaps and heaps of programming jargon in there. I am in no way saying that my blog is any better and frankly, I think its filled with rubbish, but these other blogs are FEATURED! Blogger actually thinks they are worth checking out! Who does the quality control? Or maybe its just a computer program that randomly spits out a blog onto that list.

Now if its not a computer program, and someone at blogger actually thinks that a blog has content worth showcasing, does that mean that people are sifting through our blogs? Is this like a "big brother" thing where everything we say and publish is being scrutinised and kept under the watchful eye of some blogger government? Will we be eliminated or have our accounts suspended if we mention something that upsets them?

So whats up with that panel? Is it a geniune spot to showcase outstanding blogs? Or is it a subtle warning to let you know that an all seeing entity is keeping tabs on what you say. eerie.

The Great Singapore Idol Diet

Alright all you fatties and people who are not fat but are worried about getting fat or just people who even bother to "diet"! I've got a good one for ya! The Great Singapore idol Diet!




I had the misfortune of having the television set switched on at around 11:37pm yesterday and right after the episode of "without a trace", channel 5 ran a little trailer showcasing some contestants fighting for a spot in the finals in the second season of Singapore Idol. Pick up your phones and vote NOW! YOU get to CHOOSE who enters the finals!.....Blared my TV set. And then the horror began. You know how it is when there's an inexplicably ugly or horrid freakish creature in a cage at those weird carnivals, and even though you knew you'd feel sick looking at it but you just had to sneak a peek? Well, my neck muscles twitched and instinctively turned my head towards the TV screen. I watched the snippets of the contestants singing and grooving to the songs. Well, I think they were singing, or at least trying to sing. And no, there was no groove at all. These are the people that our judges have filtered out and come up with?

And then it hit me. The nauseous feeling right from the pits of my gut. The half a pint of Ben & Jerry's phish food, half a bag of tapioca chips and a can of coke that I had guzzled down during "without a trace" started to churn within me as if some delicate chemical balance had been upset. "Why is this happening?" I wondered to myself. My junk food always went down well no matter what the conditions were. What's different this time round? I analysed the situation, trying to figure out a differential diagnosis.

The Idol jingle at the end of the commercial sparked of a giant halogen lamp on top of my head, shedding light on my query. Singapore Idol was making me sick. Just watching those people perform made my guts cringe. Why do they even bother? It was total rubbish and sickeningly abysmal. What good could come out of such a horrid program?

Gosh if a short teaser like this could make me almost throw up my yummies, what would a full hour long episode do?! Aha! catch my drift? See where this is heading? The Great Singapore Idol Diet! Simple. Just watch it during dinner (its around dinner time anyway) and TADA! everything will come straight out and no extra calories for the night! In fact, endure your hunger during dinner time and wait for the show to start! You'll lose your appetite straight away. Problem solved and no vomiting required. For those going for a more extreme solution, you can record it and play it back during various meal times or when you feel hungry. Don't overdo it though coz you still need to feed your body to maintain normal body functions. And the best thing is, you get a fresh dose every week in case you start to get used to the current prescription! Brilliant!

So go forth and take advantage of this great diet programme and you'll be losing the kilos in no time! No charge for this one. Later!

Give me back my TV!

My life as I know it is over. Once again, it is the time of the year where good TV shows in the US come to an end. As summer approaches, prime time TV in America all draw to an end, leaving us, the faithful watchers, lost. Our minds are wrecked with anxiety and curiosity. Oh those damned cliffhangers!

(House MD) Whatever happens to Dr House? Will he survive his bullet wounds?





(the O.C) What will the OC be like without Marissa? Will the show still be called "the O.C" when all the kids are going to universities that are NOT in Orange County?





(Lost) What the heck is happening to the survivors lost on that weird island? and Desmond's girlfriend?! How did she get into the picture? Do Micheal and Walt really escape the island?


(Grey's Anatomy) Who will Meredith Grey choose? Is izzy really quiting the SGH internship programme??

(invasion) Will the aliens prevail and take over the world and complete their invasion?


(surface) Will the undersea creatures take over the world and surface?

(Prison break) Where are Micheal Scolfield and his gang run? Can they outrun the police or will they be caught again?




(24) The president got assassinated?! Again??






And the biggest question of them all. WHAT AM I GONNA DO NOW THAT I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO WATCH?!

sigh.

I crave pancakes

Righto. How is everyone today? Jolly good I hope? I am in dire need of some advice right now. Being stuck on this little island country of Singapore, would anyone happen to know where I could get some quality pancakes for breakfast. And no, not those crappy hotcakes from MacDonalds. I'm talking about fluffy, steamy, airy buttermilk pancakes. Preferably with blueberries and a dollop of butter. Oh and some side servings of fried mushrooms, sunny side up eggs, rashers of bacon and chucky hashbrowns. Oh the memories of USA's iHop and Australia's pancake parlour. Help! Anyone?

epiphanical post

Whilst having ice cream with a close friend recently, she causually remarked that she had wasted a considerable amount of effort typing my "ridiculously long" blog address on her web browser, only to be greeted with an entry that she had read ages ago. "You don't update it anymore!" she said. "How can we be updated with the latest happenings in your life?"

Haven't you heard of a book mark you cow? And you can call me on the phone to see whats up can't ya? Well, I didn't say that, but those words went through my head. I brushed it off and said that there's nothing much to blog about anyway. And its true. The amount of fun and creativity I have in my blog entries, are directly proportional to how happening my life is. And honestly, my life is experiencing zilch right now.

I don't do much and go out much so I don't take pictures. I meet people now and then to do mundane things so there's nothing amazing or mentally stimulating going on. There's just nothing going in my life right now thats worth blogging about. And with each passing day, I get lazier and lazier and hence no activity on my blog.

so whats the point of this entry? nothing. absolutely nothing. ok bye.

Dream of Randomy

My head was buried in a nice big fluffy pillow and I was hugging my soft comfy bolster. The giant quilt wrapped around me doubled as both a mattress under me and a blanket keeping me warm. And there I was lying down on the lift landing in between 2 lifts on the 12th floor of some apartment.

I was constantly looking at my mobile phone wondering when Melissa would call. I was also trying to recall what floor she lived on ( Melissa lives in a landed house at Chaun Drive dumbo.). I was on the 12th floor, but I had the feeling that she actually resided on the 10th. Then I decided, I didn't want to lie down there anymore coz its dirty and totally weird to be lying on the floor with a pillow, a bolster and a quilt in a public area ( no shit einstein ). So I got up and pressed the down button for the elevator.

When it arrived, I got in, carrying my pillow, bolster and quilt in a huge bundle. As I was walking through the doors hugging my bundle, 2 people rushed into the lift, almost shoving me aside in the process. For some reason I could tell they were brother and sister. Maybe coz they looked alike. They both had slightly deformed looking faces, well not really deformed, but they had features that were not normal. It was kinda like features of mentally retarded people. I tried not to make eye contact even though I was kinda peeved at them for being so rude. They started talking in English, but I couldn't understand a single word they uttered.

The elevator stopped at the 10th floor and a lady got in. She was slightly on the bulky side and she was dressed very plainly. She was also carrying a black leather sling bag. For some funny reason she stood right in front of me. Her face straight at my face. I couldn't help but notice that she had a cleft upper lip. The elevator went down a floor and suddenly she muttered, "Darren? Don't you remember me?" My brain was sent racing. Who was this woman? Was she from my advanced diploma course? The one I took during my army days? "Are you......my classmate?" I stuttered. She used both hands to pull me to a corner of the elevator. " We went Mt.Buller together remember? don't tell me you've forgotten?" she said. Her eyes seemed to reflect a pained emotion, as if I had hurt her for not remembering her.

"Buller?" I muttered and then the elevator reached the ground floor. Everyone got out of it and the odd sibling pair walked off. I was left there standing in front of this mystery woman, trying to recollect all my snowboarding trips. I couldn't place her anywhere. And then I woke up.

I was having another totally weird, random and nonsensical dream. I've been getting a lot of it lately. I wonder why. Maybe I'm going insane. AND NOW I CAN'T GO BACK TO SLEEP COZ I'M SO AWAKE!!! AAARRRGGGGHHHHH. so here I am documenting my dream. Sheesh.

On a side note, the song "breathe" by Anna Nalick is totally awesome! Just wanted to share this with all my fellow music lovers out there. LAter.

Geunomeun meoshiteotda

I think it means "the guy was gorgeous and cool" or some shit like that. Its the title of a korean movie DVD. Kim (my sister) came knocking on my door askin," hey BRUDDER. can you copy a DVD for me?" Being the king in technology of the house on Meragi road, I said no problem without even batting an eyelid.

So here I am at my under-utilised powerhouse computer, making a copy of this DVD and I couldn't help but notice the synopsis on the back of the DVD cover.

And I Quote"
Silver the saint is still the high senior high school living, come from well off family, the looks is surprisingly handsome and talented, and is still cause, his personality that one of the king of high and well known four greatest dayseses (???), because of the financial situation irascible (???), the does not tame, is filled withed the treachery consciousness. The beautiful and male of pattern revolts the saint of young silver to from here had the ream all young girl is it the madness's factor, place that arrive do is a baking hot vision of girls. It is ordinary that is a high student, outlooking of woman, but is filled withed the vitality, personality lovely. Soon opened to learn.
" unQuote.

Holy COW! how mind boggling is that?? I mean, after reading that you just gotta watch the movie man. You can't pass up a show with such an intriguing and mind blowing synopsis! I mean, whats happening? Whats gonna happen? WHAT IS IT ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE?! Whoa. intense and totally deep man. trippy. Can't wait to pop the DVD into my DVD player of being high technology and best visual entertainment in surprising unity family room. see? I can talk like them now. sweeeet.

brokenspacebar

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howitwouldneedtodecipherthewordsinthesentanceandwhereitstartsandends.doyouactuallyhear
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liketomyselftypingthis.atthesametime,asIreadthisentry,myeyesarealsomovingconstantlyfrontand
backcozsomeofthewordskindamakenewwordswiththenextwordwhenstucktogetherlikethat.itsquite
amusingcozitsliketheeyesandthemindaresendingconflictingsignalsandeverythinghastobere
examined,whichisunnatural.anyhow,i'mgettingsickofthisandatthesametimemytypingisgetting
affectedcozmyhandsaregettingusedtonothittingthespacebar.bye

without you near

its starting to get lonely and dark. I can't see much further. Where do you go from here.

How can you sit there watching, talking, to someone you think is me?

You think I'll fly, run, jump, when I'm just a rock embedded in a clump of weeds.

Yet I'm slowly being ground into sand. by the consistent pelting of questions. thoughts. ideas.

I just need to sit here for a while. I don't want to roll, I'll gather moss and disappear.

the others are everywhere. fluttering around. and my distance grows further and further with every flap.

its getting lonely, but its where i'd rather be.

wear down till there's nothing left. and be blown away away by the wind.

Revisited: Leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again.

Actually, turns out I'll be back on the 8th of March 2006.

How to survive being thrown out of the car

As I was cleaning the interior of my car today, I decided to clean the door sill while still perched in the driver's seat. Yes, I know I could've stepped out of the car and kneeled down next to the door to do it, but I was just too lazy and the nappa leather seats were just too comfy! Well, it cost me because somehow, I managed to find myself in an awkward and precarious position and ended up landing on my face and elbows on the cold hard concrete. It hurt. Fortunately there was no one around and I scrambled back to my feet and nursed my sore and skinned elbows.

And then I thought to myself, "Gosh, falling out of a stationary car hurts a lot! How do you ever survive falling out of a moving car?" Therefore in order to protect the interests of all the motorists and passengers reading my blog, I went ahead to do some research and here's what I found.

Prior to actually getting thrown out of the car, it's best to prepare on your own. Go into a quiet room and spin in circles looking down at the floor and up at the ceiling in order to get ready for the spin that you'll get thrown into once you hit the floor. Then, take yourself to your nearest slabs of nice, clean concrete and practise throwing yourself elbow first on the floor. This way you can mentally prepare for the impact, so it's not a shock when it happens. Obviously you've got to make sure you have some decent protective padding on first.

Once you've done the initial preparation, you need to find a good smooth surface to land on. If the surface is rough, there's a very high chance you will tear your clothing and really injure yourself. The car itself needs to have a wide door and, more importantly, a reliable driver that you can trust.

Recce the road and practise opening and closing the door of the car

Before actually going ahead with the jump, drive along the road a couple of times, opening the door and checking for the best spot to land on. Shout at the point where you're going to jump, so everyone around knows where and when it's going to happen. Once you've done the initial preparation, you need to find a good smooth surface to land on.

Try to land elbow first. This will reduce the shock of the impact.

Good padding is essential. Ideally, your whole body will be covered, preferably starting with a pair of jeans and a decent jacket. Underneath that, you'll need padding on your elbows and knees - basically every bony bit of your body needs protection. When it comes to being kicked out of the door, think of how a pen or pencil rolls. That's what you have to emulate. Throw yourself out, leading with your shoulder or arm. If you lead with your hand, you'll tear all of your skin and you won't complete the roll properly.

Wear plenty of padding and let the momentum carry you until you stop.

Your arm should contact the surface and throw you into the spin. The hardest part is actually stopping once you've begun the whole thing. You have to keep going, let your energy just carry you and slide along. Once you've accomplished that, you can stand up, dust yourself off and live to tell the tale.

Re-arrange clothes, comb hair and repeat if necessary.

blogger's blog block

As I sit on my bean bag, lazily strumming my guitar, wondering what exactly is happening with my life right now, I've come to realise that events of late are really messing up my vibe. Its cramping my style and I have to break out of it. You'd think that after living 26 years of life, you'd be able to master it and yet somehow, I still find myself grappling with situations day to day, barely surviving. Here's a messy jumble of thoughts thats going through my head right now.

PR in Melbourne? Or head home to Singapore and get a job there? What a tuffy. this is like a life altering multi shake up decision to make. I'm still looking at the piece of paper with the pros and cons of each, and its still a mind boggle for me.

Guarding your heart? what does that mean? surpressing your feelings and not letting it develop any fondess or attraction to someone?

Why are there 3 chinamen living in the house next door, and not 3 exotic european supermodels on an exchange program? And why would the chinaman leave his trash bin in the middle of the driveway? doesn't he know the driveway is there coz there are cars moving in and out?!

different people live according to different standards and rules, and when you find yourself drawing closer to them, you gotta be careful to know what those rules and expectation are if not you're gonna ge burned. better still. don't draw close to anyone at all! go figure.

I love writing letters. but my handwriting has changed. again.

should i restring my guitar? i feel so lazy.

Even good friends and leaders can fail you and mess you up. the only person you can trust totally is yourself, but i'm not too sure about that too.

Its late and i should be getting back to bed.

Why does housework have to suck?

This song really rocks. Lights and sounds by yellowcard. In this day and age where the radio waves are clogged up with an overdose of hip hop R&B and boy bands returning from the dead, an energetic pumping rock song like this is a gem. And its also this type of song thats helping me get through my chores without pulling my hair out and throwing myself through the window. Its the anthem and soundtrack of my life right now and it chases away the misery of my current situation. I actually jump around and try to imagine I'm out there wakeboarding or snowboarding instead of being indoors with a broom and sweeping. nice.



Sigh, those were good times....

Home is where the heart is

Gosh, its barely been a day since I got back to Melbourne and already I'm toying with the idea of packing up to return to Singapore for good. Its been an overwhelming jumble of errands and chores to finish and frankly, I'm sick of it. The house is in a mess and its dusty and there are cobwebs. There's so much laundry to do and to hang out. My car is covered under a layer of filth. hmmm, well I hope its my car under there..... oh and I need to send it for servicing too. I gotta settle my PR application and meet the migration lawyer. I have to work out my finances and decide how I'm gonna budget to survive. ARGH.

I miss home. My family, friends, loved ones. My dog. the comfort and familiarity of everything. Mom and Dad, you guys better take care of your health ok? I love you guys. my family rocks.

Leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again

morning call

I've been getting a regular visitor lately. Its a mynah. This chirpy little bird will land itself on my window sill and chirp at the top of its lungs every morning. Its as if its trying to wake me up from my slumber and telling me to get my butt off the bed and go do something productive. After a while, it gets to me and I will jump out of bed. Sometimes, I think its telling me something. and when I Listen carefully, I can almost make out a pattern.



(wake up sleepy head, the sun is out to play
you don't have much time left, you're wasting most of the day
in no time you'll be flying to Australia, the land of cows and hay
and you'll miss singapore so much,
you'd wish you spent your time in a better way)

And at this point I usually go into a panic attack coz I've imagined a bird chirping a rhyme to me. but more so than that, I get worried coz its true. I am leaving Singapore in less than a week and honestly, I am dreading it. There's so many things I've grown attached to here, so many things I don't want to leave behind. And yes, by sleeping my time away here, I'm not making good use of it. argh.

sun-kissed

Hey ya'll!

I've over done it this time. I went wakeboarding for almost 4 hours and under the intense sun without sun block. This wouldn't have been a problem a few years back when I'd be under the sun almost everyday but after being in Melbourne for the past two and a half years, my skin has become sissy and white. I'm now suffering from a bad case of sun burn. My torso and face is a bright tomato red and every move I make hurts. I can't move around when I sleep and wearing a T shirt is a painful experience.

Half a tube of Aloe Vera gel later and I'm still trying to cool my skin down. Sigh. Anyone got any suggestions for a quick fix?

maunderings of a recovering fluer

So there I was, sniffling and wheezing my nose off, watching re-runs of some old episode of the Gilmore girls. Did you know that channel 5 plays re-runs in the afternoons nowadays? Sure beats the crap out of watching that dumb "days of our lives" which never made any sense to me. The actors in that show always talked like they were living in some high altitude housing establishment where the air was so thin they had to take a deep breath before every word. *HEAVE, "Penelope, " *INHALE, "I Love...." *INHALE "butter cookies". Bizarre.

So as I was saying, I was wallowing in fluish misery and watching the gilmore girls when suddenly, it hit me. A sheer stroke of brilliance. Yes, the folded cardboard box from the new brillance TV set came crashing down on me and squashed me before i could even release one of my manly high pitch shrieks. The steamy cup of jasmine green tea in my hands that was supposed to bring me comfort only provided agony as it spilled onto my chest and trickled down to my urmmmm, lets just say, non-green-tea appreciating area.

At this point I heard laughter. Laughter that was distinctively female. The gilmore girls were laughing on TV, and very heartily as well. I didn't know what they were laughing at but it sure felt like it was me. The poor guy who was suffering from the flu, got crushed by folded cardboard boxes and spilled fragrant green tea on his own nuts, in his own room, a supposedly safe-haven from the evils of the world.

I then decided to take the dog out for a walk. Some fresh air would do me good.

D is sick

Argh, the flu bug has got me. How could this have happened? Sigh there are just too many people crammed into the same space at any given moment I tell ya. Thats Singapore. Gross. It makes it so easy for the virus to jump from one person to another like fleas jumping from dog to dog.

It doesn't help that I've been sleeping weird hours and not excerising much too. My resistance to the pesky bug must be at an all time low. I seldom get sick! What a sucky feeling. The fever kept me tossing and turning last night and my brain was getting fried! I kept thinking about how to convert poker chips into money! how random and totally whack is that?? now I've got a scratchy throat and a drippy nose. and my joints are achy too. Sigh.

You guys better take care of yourself. Eat more fruits and drink heaps of water! I'll be back in no time. AAAHHHHCCCHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!

WOT?

what a confusing week.

Jialing dumped a whole truckload of pictures on me and rattled off about some growing up story about Adrian and her and I'm supposed to come up with some amazing slideshow thingy for her wedding. *blink blink*

Played taboo with Sharon's Singapore cell group and apparently you get chicken pox once a year and guys love to put hair on their head. *scratches head*

Watched "the Dark" expecting to be freaked out of my pants. Its been a while since I saw a good horror flick, but I walked out of the theatre feeling confused and more bored than I was before the show. *blink blink*

I'm getting more and more reluctant to leave Singapore to return to Melbourne. Do I really want to live and work there? *blink blink*

What am I gonna do with my life? Shouldn't I have developed some sort of ambition by now? Going to uni definately didn't provide any hints. *scratch*

When am I going wakeboarding again and with who? *blink blink*

Taxi, LOTR and other misc DVD marathons? Do i have the time? *blink*

I'm leaving on the 7th of FEB?? Thats not much time left here!!! I haven't had a decent plate of chicken rice or nasi lemak yet! *ARGH*

Action packed

Righto! Enough of wordy, thought heavy entries. Let's get down to some updates of what I've been up to and some visuals! We need PICTURES!

I guess the highlight of Christmas in 2005 must've been my pajama party. After a mad rush to different places and meeting many faces, I finally settled down at the Merchant Court hotel for the last christmas stop. There, I kicked off my shoes, got into my PJs and got cosy with my best bunch of buddies where we laughed, sang and made merry. Oh and we had Cranium too.



but the fun really upped a notch on the last 3 days of 2005 when I went wakeboarding! First was with Sharon, Amanda and Louis. It was a pleasure introducing them to the sport and a definite delight when they could all stand and successfully wakeboard. 2 days later, I went with Melissa, Mark, Geok and Mun and we had a blast too. It was an awesome feeling riding the boat under the big open sky and the rush of the wind as you wakeboard.





So what better way to spend the new year than being with your friends? Though I would've preferred not having to rush around to meet different friends at different places, ultimately, I had a great time with some of my closest friends as we transited from 2005 into 2006. The highlight of the moment was catching the flares and fireworks go off at multiple locations, but being able to enjoy it from the same spot. Priceless. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me then.

BUT! I did have my camera when we were all huddled into this place called settler's cafe where you can pig out on various finger foods and play all sorts of games from all over the world. There are so many games in this place that you've never heard of in your life. However, besides the fun of the board games and having your friends there with you, what I really enjoyed was watching the "game masters" trying to explain to you how a game is played, and then the blank look on their faces when you correct them (after reading the rules hur hur hur....)



Its gonna be a great year ahead so enjoy it everyone! Most importantly, inject a huge dose of fun into your life, be happy and let your friends know how important they are! Later~

Remember Lot's wife

At the blink of an eye, 2006 has arrived. As I was driving home alone along the ECP after rushing around to numerous places and dropping friends off, I decided to put the car into slow cruise control and reflect on what 2005 has meant for me.

For starters, I got into a great church where I made a great new bunch of friends. Some of them have left deep impressions in my life and I know that they're friends for life. I also drew closer to God in the process. Amen!

I graduated and wrapped up the acedemic chapter of my life. I got my Engineering degree. With honors too! I had a shaky start and thank God I've made it and ended strong. Again, I made a great bunch of friends from Monash and I'll never forget the times we had together.

I've stepped up a few notches in my passion for snowboarding and what an amazing winter i had in 2005! At least I didn't become boring and dormant in Australia. I managed to introduce more people to the amazing sport of wakeboarding in the last 3 days of 2005! And I wakeboarded properly as well and got some decent water time. I feel so healthy now. haha.

but as with any other year, its never ever smooth sailing. I've been thrown into a confusing and ambiguous stage of my life since i graduated and I also ended a turbulent relationship.

and then I remembered what I heard in church on new year's eve. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom. God never meant for us to look back. Don't look back at your past sins that have been forgiven, don't look back at the hurt you were dealt, don't look back at past victories and be contented. and don't look back at one more thing but I cannot remember (I really should bring a notebook to church from now on!). But its ok, coz pastor prayed for a blessing of forgetfulness for us to forget all the bad things in our lives. (maybe it was too effective and made me forget the 4th thing that you shouldn't look back on?)

So yeah! 2006 is looking good for me. its gonna be an awesome year and I'm looking up to God for guidance and i'm looking forward to the adventures that await me! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND HAVE A SMASHING 2006!

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.