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

Thisiswhatmypostwouldlooklikeifmyspacebarwasbroken.Allofmywordswouldbestucktogether
andtheonlyhintofsegmentationwouldbeinthepunctuations.Itisquiteannoyingtoreadisn'tit?Infact,Ireckonitwouldbealmostimposssibletoreadespeciallyifyouwerejustglancingthroughtohave
aquickupdateonmylife.wouldyouevenbotherreadingit.Iguessyouwouldsinceyou'vealreadyreadtill
thispoint.Idon'tthinkitsgoodfortheeyesthough,butitwilldefinatelybeaworkoutforthebrainseeing
howitwouldneedtodecipherthewordsinthesentanceandwhereitstartsandends.doyouactuallyhear
yourselfreadinyourmind.youwouldprobablysoundlikearobotreadingthisentrycozthatshowisound
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.