S H A N E .

CHUCK

2011-12-31T12:20:00.000+08:00

Morgan Grimes, from CHUCK.

This guy is hilarious. He's your all typical gamer, sidekick, and forever alone guy. Love watching him beside Chuck.

" Morgan wasn't made to mix with the opposite gender- ". HAHAHAHA.

Its been a while since i've written anything here. Hi there, you know who you are (: <3

Be back here more often!

2010-06-20T19:07:00.002+08:00

Nope. Not gender bias.

I was at the Esplanade library on my own, enjoying a blend of frothy cookies and cream. There was this couple, Caucasian, at a table beside me, doing their own thing. After some time, the owner of the cafe came over and politely suggested, hi, would you like to shift to a more comfy seat over there, right to the couple, because some group apparently left. Now the cafe was pretty packed, and i was pondering over the fact that why did she choose to ask the couple instead of any of the rest of her customers. Perhaps they were (the only)Caucasians?

I coin it, the Caucasian Bias. Just saying.

Shane

2010-06-13T21:01:00.000+08:00

Humans conform - it shouldn't necessarily be so.

We should-

-be different.

Shane

Say hi

2010-06-06T02:05:00.003+08:00

He feels like slashing.

Does anyone still come here?

Shane

2010-05-30T19:00:00.004+08:00

anything that happens, i get the blame first. very frustrating. and there's no hard proof to show that i'm right.

anyway, popular fair was a disappointment, licence2play was also a disappointment. always good to meet up with the primary school guys though, and the photos were seriously a blast.

upcoming six-day week, with no off day. POWER.

Shane

packing, commences.

2010-05-06T15:40:00.000+08:00

nom nom.

2010-05-06T01:28:00.002+08:00

i wish.

things are good, i sleep in a different place now, and i like it. But something always has to be the spoiler.

my THROAT. f*** the throat!

my throat infection(and resulting fever, but its gone now), hasn't gone away yet. its very frustrating i tell you. i wanna celebrate and eat good food, wolf down junk, down some tea, etc. BUT I CAN'T. the transitional tunnel between my mouth and my stomach, very unfortunately, HURTS LIKE CRAP. and its still persisting, like some super-virus that has grown immune to medicine. although i admit it has gotten better, i really hope it goes away by tomorrow, otherwise i would hate to carry it with me to taiwan, especially during activity, where it would most likely be one helluva bitch.

sore throats(or throat infections) kill.

thank you

2010-04-25T01:39:00.002+08:00

happy birthday to ong ah puy junhao!

and a huge thank you to all who wished me on my birthday! it was very much appreciated!

turning twenty suddenly seems like a huge thing. im getting old, time is running out. another 10 years and i'll probably be settling down. or not. scary thought nonetheless. i haven't had my share of fun yet.

please let the letter come soon!!

2010-04-11T11:00:00.003+08:00

yay we escaped the curse the arcade that usually takes effect on Saturdays. for once we didn't step into one! very proud of us , guys.

date night(the film) was a thumbs-up. tina fey and steve carell had great onscreen chemistry. a recommended movie.

i just bought a bag and shoes, time to start saving for the rest of the month!

2010-04-05T01:10:00.001+08:00

This liberation feels awesomely fine, but therein still lies the uncertain. one can't be too quick.

you got me?

now i'm bored. again.

how?

Shane

alas

2010-03-21T02:56:00.003+08:00

finally, a reasonable achievement!

more or less getting the hang of the darn thing. i just hope the ideas keep flowing. keep 'em coming.

happy for this short period in time. how momentous.

and congratulations to sam, teck, altron, and all of the commissioned officers.

shane

headache

2010-03-19T20:51:00.002+08:00

three hours of sifting through videos to find a certain tutorial has proved to be unfortunately, god-damning futile.

i dont think anyone still reads this anymore so its going to be my private shoutout/complaint space.

hooyah

whoa-oh

2010-03-07T13:40:00.000+08:00

can't get enough of this - Shane.

punch.

2010-02-27T13:59:00.001+08:00

2010-02-27T00:43:00.000+08:00

ohai

2010-02-24T21:06:00.001+08:00

ohai.

im going back. to camp.

two days feel like forever.

rounds and explosions tomorrow!

i dont know why. bye.

hand.

2010-02-23T22:38:00.002+08:00

the very first, of my hand-written log. or HWLOG.

schneeze

2010-01-13T17:09:00.002+08:00

schneeze. sneeze.

back home at 9. napped till 11, then 2pm.

woke up like an aimless idiot - with nothing on my hands.

time. time to me now; it's like water in a broken cup. you get what i mean, JUST SAYING. i don't know why i made that analogy, came straight to my mind. nomnom. bored.

few more hours to dinner. some more to the start of today's shift. so fast.

i'm bored. someone talk to me!

i'd appreciate it.

so tired

2010-01-12T20:33:00.002+08:00

i'm so tired. so tired.

but hey, shouldn't that be how the trainees are feeling?

i don't know, my hellweek syndrome is back i think. or not. or it has always been there. gah.

being an AI is fun. and i have a feeling tonight's going to be cold :)

so tired. shall maybe grab a cheeseburger on the way back later. boom.

2010-01-10T00:36:00.001+08:00

my nose is killing me. killing killing killing me. fack! can't stop sneezing.

youtube is my escape.

2010-01-03T12:15:00.002+08:00

happy new year guys!
new year, new goals. got to get down to doing serious work.

OKAY...in the absence of posts these few days, there have been stuff. things. happening.

honestly i feel like just listing them in point form - see even my fingers are lazy.

new year's eve was reduced to just a dinner/supper at downtown east with hoobastank playing in the background(in some huge dome-like tent), and certain people indulging in foam-spray lunacy. CHAOS. it was almost a chore, trying to dodge the aerosol cans. but we did.

new year's day was better. a trip to BATAM TO CABLE-SKI. yay. three of us were rather shy initially, thinking we were the only first-timers. luckily we weren't. but it didn't matter anyway. I JUST COULDN'T GRASP WAKEBOARDING. kneeboarding was relatively easy though. at least we caught some thrill during our time there. and god, the muscle aches the next day. pictures up soon!

2nd jan 2010 - eric's birthday - happy birthday man! big party at his place, lots of people, lots of food, gi-normous cake, and funny stephen chow movies. thanks man for being such a good host, see you in camp tonight!

looks like the commenting system isn't working out, but to those who kindly did, THANK YOU. each comment means alot to me, really. love you guys! drinks as promised; on weekends please, weekdays i'm in camp :(

one year plus plus, to the BIG ORD.

Shane

?

2009-12-30T10:02:00.002+08:00

one question that has always bugged me - do girls drink tea?

by that i mean just simple tea with milk - teh - that's being sold at the local coffee-shops. not the fancy kind.

because i haven't seen any. interesting.

seriously girls, before you step into Starbucks or the Coffee Bean perhaps, you may want to give that drink another thought. think twice.

maybe some alternatives for a change? teh? teh-bing? kopi-bing?

except for the slang that makes them sound rather uncouth, they're lovely drinks.

so why not?

make that change(...i'm starting with the, man in the mirror).

otherwise ladies, you're missing out on a lot here.

Shane

comment system

2009-12-28T20:38:00.005+08:00

hey guys,

testing out a commenting system so you guys can comment directly below the post instead of using the cramped tagboard in the corner.

do leave comments. please!

i owe the first 10 a drink of any choice.

(just click the 'Comments' link below the post to comment. Powered by Disqus)

Shane

curly wurly

2009-12-27T23:12:00.002+08:00

i had a bad toilet experience today. at white sands, basement, more specifically.

blame it on my untimely shi-uh, bowel movements, if you will.

so i had this urge to go whilst queuing up for the cashier at Fairprice. Fortunately the toilet was just beside the entrance.

UNfortunately, of the 8 cubicles present, only 3 were available. and out of the 3, only one was in humane condition. it was a seat-er.

well i thought wrong. i put down the seat cover. and then i stared. clipped between my thumb and the plastic was a wretched strand of black, curly as it was, naturally occurring in the nether regions of the human male - IN OTHER WORDS PUBIC HAIR AAAAAH.

there was the instinctive jerk of the hand before i rushed to wash it. yuck.

my business still undone, i waited for this indian dude to finish his, so i could use his cubicle. you might expect the seat to be clean. well yeah if you view it from afar. heh.

the seat was horrifying - it was sprinkled with a million drops of yellow fluid, like toppings on a cake; with a pool of the same liquid in some depression on the hinge of the cover. god knows what he did in there. fight a war maybe? i don't know. BUT WHY DIDN'T HE LIFT THE COVER BEFORE TAKING A PISS!? oh god.

in the end i cleaned everything up and did my business anyway. please people be more considerate when using public toilets! it'd be greatly appreciated. thank you.

and white sands, don't worry, you're not to blame.

Shane

gah

2009-12-27T01:47:00.003+08:00

my parents just returned from their holiday/bowling trip to Penang, with my sister.

right now, things aren't exactly playing out good.

first,

my mum hates me now because i didn't(forgot) refill the oil lamp on the altar.

second,

my goddamn condominium server firewall is screwing up my games.

third,

its two hours into Sunday already. which pretty much marks the end of my leave from camp. makes you feel shitty.

fourth(last but not least, for the moment),

i haven't really got around to doing my stuff, during this long break. shitloads of frustration.

*forceful exhalation*

i feel like vlogging. spending time on youtube watching vloggers has had a certain significant influence. but first i need a camera. now should i?

Shane

chilli or tomato?

2009-12-22T20:58:00.002+08:00

i should seriously ease up on my consumption of tea, or if you will, TEH. and to that i almost have an obsession to drink it in a packet. always packets, no cups. yeah, and i don't know why. i just...like it.

i'm starting to visualize myself hanging by a thread, on the brink of falling into the pit of tea addiction. Aaah. or maybe i'm already in. thats the evil of addiction, sometimes you don't even know you've got it.

and then there're the signs. i crave for that mud-coloured concoction everytime after a meal. i got a headache today which promptly went away after i bought a packet. god have i succumbed to the evils of caffeine?

ANYWAY, tea aside, i had fish and chips at the Botak Jones opposite Cineleisure for dinner, by myself. i have to say this - their portions are becoming smaller. gah. but at least it served to fill my stomach. and the tartar sauce was fab.

following that, a quiet train ride home.

Shane

i am so bored

2009-12-21T16:37:00.003+08:00

i'll stay home today to accompany my mom. that's the plan.

well the original plan was to catch New Moon with daryl goh(ghey i know, but coincidentally both of us have yet to watch it), right over at Vivocity.

my conscience guides me otherwise - i haven't been spending time with my mom so now i will; before she flies off(again) tomorrow.

so yeah i'll stay home today.

but what can you do at home!?

NOTHING.

I have been so bored these days that i did things which i rarely, or usually don't do at all!

here's some of them.

- I have breached the blogosphere, to enter the VLOGOSPHERE. well okay that means i'm starting to watch people's vlogs more often.

- I have come up with weird mixes of cereal(albeit tasty). you'll know if you've read my earlier post.

- I stare in the mirror and talk to myself, sometimes even trying to mimic an accent. (*gasp* autism *gasp*)

- I offline message people on Messenger that i really want to talk to.

- I turn on the televsion. (shocking, maybe yes, but i don't indulge in tv nowadays)

- I stare the trees outside my window rocking in the breeze.

- I hang out at my Facebook homepage, watching live feed by live feed popping up.

DAMN I'M BORED. HELP.

Shane

early

2009-12-19T11:23:00.002+08:00

something tasty for breakfast to start my day.

i had Honey Stars. but, but, instead of the usual mix of yellow cereal stars and milk, i added something new.

CHOCOLATE!

hah.

yeah so i dumped a few blocks of milk choc into the mix, to kick-start those endorphin factories within my body right at the beginning of a new day. end result - I WILL FEEL HAPPIER. well hopefully. sorry i don't have pictures. no camera. no camera-phone. so yeah you know. imagine.

I AM HAPPY. (or maybe just self-delusional)

Shane

made my day

2009-12-19T02:05:00.002+08:00

i was watching avatar(great, great movie by the way). somewhere in the middle, i had to take a leak. it happens when you fear that you'll miss some awesome, action-packed scene later on in the movie(when you really REALLY need to pee), and right now's the boring, dialogue-filled part. and so you go. being seated in the centre portion of the row, i saw the opportune moment when 2 girls on the right got up for their toilet break. i followed suit.

right at the back of the theatre(where there's that big green 'EXIT' sign), i saw the very same 2 girls, looking puzzled, feeling around the walls for the door that leads out. i was puzzled at them being puzzled. huh? i went straight to the door and pushed it open, revealing the exit that the 2 girls so incredibly manage to miss. and then there was laughter. followed by a 'f*** you!' from one of the girls to the other.

suffice to say, it totally made my day.

Shane

world's tiniest snowman

2009-12-18T08:30:00.001+08:00

The snowman is 10 µm across, 1/5th the width of a human hair.

The snowman was made from two tin beads used to calibrate electron microscope astigmatism. The eyes and smile were milled using a focused ion beam, and the nose, which is under 1 µm wide (or 0.001 mm), is ion beam deposited platinum.

A nanomanipulation system was used to assemble the parts 'by hand' and platinum deposition was used to weld all elements together. The snowman is mounted on a silicon cantilever from an atomic force microscope whose sharp tip 'feels' surfaces creating topographic surveys at almost atomic scales.

and you thought scientists can't have fun.

Shane

home alone

2009-12-17T20:28:00.003+08:00

dinner on wednesday with sueann, samfoo, and ryan, was something new, or more specifically, Nepalese. sueann introduced us to Naan, a prata-like bread topped with sprinkled garlic, accompanied with a bowl of fantastic curry. restaurant was everest-something, i forgot, but great place to eat.

lunch with pj and sueann was rather late today(thanks to me), but nevertheless fulfilling. A-grade platter from manhattan followed by heavenly cheesecake icecream from marble slab. YUM.

everything else aside, i'm HOME ALONE. sian. somebody give me something to do. please.

Shane

oh twinkies!

2009-12-06T18:30:00.006+08:00

Lazy Movie Reviewer Day - Zombieland

ZOMBIELAND was a rollercoaster ride of fun blended into a mix-mash of horror, gore and humour. Ultimately a must-watch!

And if you guys are wondering where the heck did that pre-movie VISA ad(the one with the people dancing) come from, here's a video to shed some light on its origin. I've long wanted to share this(even before the ad came about), but i keep forgetting.

Titled " Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) ". Love the soundtrack. (watch for Singapore. with a backdrop of the Merlion and the Fullerton Hotel i think)

"14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me."

Enjoy the vid!

Shane

warning

2009-12-01T08:44:00.004+08:00

a warning to all Twilight Fans. why?

because New Moon may turn out to be a little short of your expectations. okay maybe a little more than that. (trust me i'm not saying this because i prefer Underworld. heh)

gathered some info to support my claim.

IMDB averages it at 4.5/10 out of 30k votes. and you can read the little review at the bottom too.

Metacritic has it at 4.2.

and krisandro has come up with his own :

10 Better Things You Can Do Than Watching Twilight : New Moon

last but not least,

epic WIN.

(for all you people that don't know, thats Blade in the background. Blade aka the half-breed vampire hunter in the film of the same name.)

missing

2009-11-22T17:13:00.002+08:00

the week was fairly okay, but it didn't end off very well. camp stuff. nah. anyway for this week's SOF we were headed for Serangoon's Chomp Chomp, which reportedly sold fabulous stuff. the stingray lost to the ones at east coast/bedok though, and the satay beehoon came out kind of plain. the guys ordered a couple of huge-ass mugs of sugercane(luckily i don't drink sugarcane), and finishing them became the primary problem that night. for me, i was contented with the usual tea/teh tarik from across the road(speaking of which, i'm surprised chomp chomp doesn't sell hot beverages like coffee or tea. hmm)

saturday morning spent on a visit to the nasi lemak at changi village. i got bored while queueing and found out that i took exactly 38 mins 51 secs to move 4 metres from where i started queueing to the actual stall for ordering. its probably the slowest i've moved in my life. heh. afternoon i was with the dhs guys at city hall, meeting them for a meal. hopefully our plan for weekly soccer will be a success. at night was back into the company of army guys at songhon's, having a barbeque in his driveway. slabs of meat were wolfed down, drink bottles were gradually depleted. and then i played some cute tower defense on newgrounds with felix while the rest of the gang started blackjack. that was about it for the night.

sunday morning : YAKUN HAS CLOSED DOWN TO MAKE WAY FOR COFFEE AND TOAST!!!! WHYYY!!?!(i wanted to say this sometime ago) sigh there goes my primary source of tea. i will probably boycott coffee and toast. yes i will. after the shocking revelation, i went to altron's place to meet the guys for some guitar hero/band hero action on CC Liap's PS3. i officially suck at the game.

well i'm home now, the weekend really comes and goes. too quick, too quick. next week's green uniform week! yay.

Shane

shopping, then the dinner. and finally, reality.

2009-11-15T12:22:00.003+08:00

i'm lazy to blog. aha. probably because tomorrow's a (most likely)guaranteed day of hell. then you get the sian feeling. not good.

thank you dive school for the long break given to us after graduation. it was most certainly needed. yup. so there's a wealth of time for me to settle stuff and take a break from the arduous journey that is the CDC. wednesday was great, everything fell into place, went smooth, no hiccups. hooyah. then there is that feeling you get after everything's over and done with. you start to miss it. i miss the rehearsals. the fun we had doing ridiculous stuff at the 6m end, the jokes we shared, not forgetting the relaxed pace at which things were carried out. it was probably the best 2 weeks of the entire course. i'm sure the land display peeps share my sentiments.

wednesday, thursday and friday were spent in preparation of graduation night. trips to town were frequent, to comb through the numerous shops in search of the ideal outfit for the night. the memorable stuff were only a few - the apocalyptic 2012, the mind-blowing nasi ayam at lucky plaza(yum), the late night on the ps3 at yuan hong's, and the newfound joy of trying out clothes(HAHA).

saturday night was a blast. i owe peejay a load of thanks for being my partner, for being someone i can comfortably talk to(thank you pj, once again!). i didn't really get to taste all the food there, especially the fondue(damns). the emcee was good, albeit abit fierce, and the place wasn't bad at all. ours was a lucky table, 2 of our ladies scored prizes in the lucky draw. woo. and i think we clicked pretty well. graduation night ended off with a session of extensive phototaking. the flashes were okay at first, then they started to slightly impair our vision. now i know how movie stars must feel. following that our table got down to starbucks at raffles city for some coffee and a bout of heart-to-heart-talks till late. then daryl goh got his car and drove us all home. yup that was about it. i had a great time.

so now its sunday. right smack back into the reality. tomorrow's monday. i'm still in NS. LCT is still ongoing. it's already afternoon. AAAAAH. sigh. graduation is something us trainees have been looking forward to since we enlisted. now that its over, we're lost. a new goal is needed. what about the end of lct? maybe. but then there's still unit training. another big SIGH.

when will it all be over!?

Shane

hole in the leather

2009-11-08T13:33:00.003+08:00

i wish i could spice this blog up with more relevant pics to each post, but i don't have a bloody camera phone. speaking of which, after seeing instructor puy's PSP camera attachment, certain new possibilities are beginning to unfold in my mind. Hmm...

well anyway, i had supper this week with the water boys(thank you, pj) on Friday night, as usual. and i thought. and thought. about what? i thought about my life. i thought deep. what was the trigger that night i do not know, but we're talking about real in-depth stuff here, so much that i think i'd probably have significant trouble expressing it in words. it was sort of a self-initiated wake up call, by the subconscious. and then i had this realisation, a certain type of shock. neurons flared. i should do something with my life. all this while i've been wasting my life away, making empty self-promises, forming plans that stand like buildings without pillars, forgetting my goals. well i'm going to make up for this. definitely. go me!

saturday was rather fruitful, i met ryan at city hall and we caught up with each other's lives. a valuable exchange of feelings and personal thoughts, over a rocking cup of Yakun tea(Yakun>Starbucks). which i think was time well spent, even though there wasn't the usual visit to the arcade or cinema. such quality time with friends is hard to come by, and should be treasured.

last night i went to my family chalet over at NSRCC. it was nice to catch up with my cousins, seeing them only that few times every year. i stayed over, forgetting when was the last time i actually had one. time is cruel. it goes by so quick, you'll somehow want it to miraculously rewind, so that one can dwell in the good ol' past. but that is merely a thought we can only relish.

yup, the good ol' past.

Shane

this is it

2009-11-01T18:06:00.002+08:00

caught 2 films this weekend. one of them, a trashy, horror-comedy flick, that only sells because of Megan Fox, and the other, a compilation of clips showcasing the late King of Pop's rehearsals. the former was really bad, despite initial thoughts that it was good, looking at the trailers a couple of months ago. "This Is It" was kinda average, not very exciting either, but i like how they remade old music videos like Thriller and Smooth Criminal, bringing some fresh elements into the show. Its sad that MJ had to die so suddenly, i would've been at his live concert, given the chance.

speaking of This Is It, we're(31st Batch) graduating in 10 days! Hooyah! the road that led us here has been long and tough, torturous and seemingly never-ending, looking back, it was really one helluva time. U-N-F-O-R-G-E-T-T-A-B-L-E. No words can ever fully describe the tedious journey to this point in time, to know how it feels like, you'll have to go through it yourself.

so now i'm stuck at my computer at this very familiar moment every weekend, the time where its too late to do anything before book in and you just feel like staying home, grounding yourself to a chair, and shake your legs to a particular song in your head, on playback. life has become such a mundane affair.

"why, why, tell them thats its human nature" - its in my head at the moment.

Shane

(maybe) the last week

2009-10-25T18:25:00.002+08:00

this week was another Friday bookout, so hooyah to that. but alas, i find myself with no plans for the weekend. okay not that there are no plans, it should be said that i need FRESH plans. the recently formed supper-on-friday group(SOF) is something to look forward to at the end of every week, somewhat a goal for us dudes stuck in the prison that is NS.

saturday was shopping, ARMY shopping prior to actual shopping for clothes. the stalls at beach road were half-opened when we reached the place but we managed to get everything we wanted anyway. bought jeans, an accompanying tee, and some sneakers, with songhon, daryl and jared forming up the rest of the shopping gang. (mini-digress) - starbucks coffee is officially <>starbucks coffee(okay maybe only java chip hehe). - (end of mini-digress)

met with the dhs peeps after that at Ion. woo, big place i must say, with all the right shops. we headed to plaza sing and hit the arcade straight. it wasn't a pleasant experience. you know why? BECAUSE A TRANNY CHALLENGED ME AT TEKKEN 6. she, i mean he, or she-he, he-she whatever, wearing a pink dress, sat beside me, CROSSED HER/HIS LEGS, popped in the coin and pressed start. i swore my hair stood. the opening round i won, and it was amusing to see him/her ram the buttons in sissy-like agitation. HAHAHA. i thought i could make her/him waste another token but i got beaten the second time round. damn. i didn't dare look and scooted off after that. what an experience hehe.

thats this weekend for now!

Shane

so little time, yet so many things

2009-10-11T18:33:00.002+08:00

This weekend's a sad one, considering the absymal book-out time. A mere 12 hours to breathe and enjoy the freshness of civilian air. Ahh.

Which leaves even less time to blog - DAMN. Okay okay, down to business.

Technically i had a 12-hour weekend this week(actually my weekend's only 10 hours old at the moment). So nothing much to blog about. Yup. Well i should still write something. Here goes. I started out taking a cab home with my army mates. Got home, changed, bathed, rushed out to catch Surrogates with the dhs gang. Nice plot idea, poor development, slipshod ending. Then i got my 8 gig mem-stick for my PSP(hurray to more space), and (cheap)earphones to replace the spoilt ones that i have. They cost me 14 bucks, the low price probably because SonicGear's a local product. I hope they don't fail my expectaions. Heh. Well i guess thats all folks, an interesting 12-hour weekend AKA a day-out from camp.

Till next week comes(quickly please),

Shane.

still in existence!

2009-10-04T19:13:00.003+08:00

I've just discovered that Kraft's Chicken in a Biskit, HASN'T GONE OUT OF PRODUCTION AFTER ALL! (Squek you must be happy to hear this)

Hello people, again

2009-10-04T00:30:00.002+08:00

First of all, many apologies for my recent blogging hiatus. I haven't really been habitually updating this space every weekend like i used to, i don't know why, sometimes its just that nothing's worth mentioning from the past week - typical of a Singaporean male serving NS. Sigh.

Okay, okay. So new blog template. It isn't anything fancy, i just chose another of those simple, clean ones that's already been provided by default out of pure laziness to hunt high and low for another visually pleasing skin. So yup, here it is, hopefully a fresh change after months of seeing the previous one which i've grown sick of. Heh.

For the moment, off to gaming!

Ciao.

2009-09-27T20:26:00.002+08:00

Weekends never cease to be precious. And yet they are gone, often too soon.

=O!

2009-09-06T19:58:00.001+08:00

I(my body) can't differentiate swimming trunks from the usual cotton underwear anymore. =O!

unwell

2009-08-30T12:24:00.002+08:00

Returned from underwater demolitions this week, from the little-known southern paradise of Pulau Sudong. Clear waters, lagoons, strong sea breezes and the like. Combat rations got the better of me after a sudden switch to fresh rations, according to my course warrant. Awoke to a feverish start on Sat, coupled with blood in bowel movements. Lucky the condition didn't escalate. Phew.

Booked out at noon on Sat, met up with the dhs gang for a meal. chenghau's off to Brunei along with the other commandos, so lets all wish him well for the next 21 days. It'll be quick though, 3 bookouts and we'll be seeing him again. All the best.

Nothing much at the moment, today's Sunday and i'm feeling better. Its around 9 hours to book in, and i've still yet to get my army stuff and snacks. Sigh. More, later!

dive.

2009-08-23T17:22:00.002+08:00

Dive phase has started, 4 weeks have already flown by. The upcoming week's reserved for U/W demo, so it too, should pass quickly. Evolutions still remain, but majority of daylight is spent performing drills and diving.

I find diving fun. Certain components of it only, that is. Some, like IWP, are no joke. Seriously. My clothes have been 'cheesed' with chlorine and some signs of bleaching have already begun to show. Every day sees us going through almost the same routine, and there are always the constant self-reminders not to commit any mistakes, for fear of the imminent punishment that comes.

Class 31 has dwindled in size, almost halved. It's sad. I do hope the remaining people that are still surviving continue to push on and pull through as one. I believe we can do it. We've been in the tunnel for a long, long time, and the light at the end is beginning to show, albeit still faint. We're reaching there, 31, and we must go on. 8 more weeks to rock and roll. Hooyah 31!

a walk from china to germany - amazing

2009-08-02T17:21:00.006+08:00

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

This guy may very well be my next hero.

of heaven and hell

2009-08-02T15:33:00.002+08:00

Heaven Week was a short-lived fantasy, while Hell Week took forever.

So now, its right smack back into reality. Yup.

Dive phase has started, and certain small perks have found their way into our lives as Hellweekers. Ice from the dispenser, less hammering, later book-in times, etc. Well the next challenge is already here, to pass written Diving and Medical tests tomorrow. If not, confinement would be imminent.

A long weekend this time. Thursday night was spent on LAN, Friday morning at Cage, Saturday with dhs buddies and finally today with pri sch friends. I've got nothing much to say at the moment, maybe later, after studying for the tests. I'll be back!

HELLWEEK.....to HELLWEEKER

2009-07-27T10:19:00.002+08:00

" Gentlemen, your Hell Week is secured. " - CO Dive School.

*Cries, sobs, and shouts from the 31st Batch*

Hellweek seemed like a dream(sound familiar?). A week ago, 68 of us were filled with dread knowing what the upcoming week had in store for us. Now a week later, we are declared HELLWEEKERS. 4 months of tough training just to cross this week, just for all the ecstasy and joy for passing Hell Week. It was totally worth it. Hooyah.

Sleep deprivation for 5 days, cold treatment, continuous physical exertion are associated with Hell Week. We were constantly wet to the skin, a step out of our comfort zones, footrot and abrasions setting in. I can't elaborate on everything, since many events took place within this span of a week. So if you want to know, ask and i'll tell :)

An exerpt from Ling Qiang's Facebook post :

"WE are HELLWEEKERS!

5 sunrises..
the journey full of downs…
shits…
disappointment..
physical work outs..
hammerings..
illnesses..
tiredness
torture
WE pull it out as ONE..
the 31st Batch Naval Diver Trainees
i need to stress on the word WE… really..
they say the week is no longer called Hellweek.. but Team Building Week for a reason..
we need to stay strong.. stay tight in order to finish this week together..
no one can really stand alone during this one week..
without sleep and with lots of activities people wont like to do..
without my buddies around me.. i think i will just drop out at the first nightfall..

its amazing to us all..
to see us back there.. completing the torturous 5 days..
a time that all of us will never ever forget in our lifetime..
the time when we…
all hugged together to keep each other warm..
have one boat on top of our heads running like the end of the world
put the paddles in the water together to keep us moving..
hold on to the same rope and run
push the tire
crawl side by side
do the Haka with fire in our eyes..
sing the Frogmen Song with unity
laugh at ourselves for doing funny things..
we pushed ourselves to push the one beside us to help push ourselves..
it goes round..
and finally jumping around with tears in our eyes hugging each other to congratulate all of us for pulling it through the week we called Hell

we also witness the people within ourselves..
people who are born to be leaders..
and people who are pure selfish..
the line can be draw much more easily.. like what our instructors had mentioned..
this made me think back to my schooling times.. when i face this essay question..
”Are leaders nurtured or born?”
hmm……….

after the Hell week that we had..
i begin to understand why Naval Divers have this cohesiveness with them..
its like a community of Divers that is so unique..
well.. i guess i cant put my idea in words.. haha.."

- LQ Fong.

Hooyah Instructors.

Hooyah Warrant Tan.

Hooyah Master Teo.

and the best for last,

HOOYAH 31st BATCH!

HELLWEEK

2009-07-18T23:54:00.003+08:00

Hello readers,

i'm off to HELLWEEK. With my brothers of the 31st Batch. See you in 5 days. Hopefully.

About Hellweek

Shane

of hellday and responsibility

2009-07-12T11:16:00.004+08:00

" Hellday was but only a dream...it came and gone...we survived. "

soon the above can be said for Team Building Week aka 'Hellweek' which is due in about a week's time. Until then, 31st Batch, enjoy your lives to the fullest! Hah. Nah we'll push through, i'm sure we will. We're strong. Come on guys!

The experience and feeling of going through the 24 hours training aka 'Hellday' could only be expressed by those who went through it. Physical exertion, sleep deprivation, constantly drenched and cold, 10 mins toilet breaks with intervals of 5 hours, 20++ people squeezing into a prison-cell like toilet whilst having to bear with the smell of your friends shitting. Well we pulled through, but not without footrot and major groin abrasions, which was quite funny actually for the latter. Post-Hellday saw us walking with legs widespread, almost like penguins, swaying from side to side just to inch slowly forward. 56 penguins. Hahaha.

Met up with the guys as usual. Talk cock, eat, joked around. We're running out of places to go! Not to mention stuff to do. Singapore is starting to look really small.

1 more week!

2 more weeks

2009-07-05T20:19:00.002+08:00

some pointers to sum up the week:

- sea circuit

- endless boat paddling to punggol beach. took the entire day. woo.

- 10k endurance run

- saf day parade, and then hardcore hammering at the field

all in all, just another week in camp.

gamed at dhoby with dhs buddies, had dinner at astons. went for some survey with sean and martin. thats about all.

2 weeks!

long live the King

2009-06-28T18:04:00.006+08:00

The best there ever was, and ever will be.

4 weeks of PCP have passed in the wink of an eye. Evolutions cram into the schedule, making the passing of each day a rather quick experience. I'm halfway through, and this is no point to give up so i'll just have to push all the way through.

Firstly, it is very sad that the King of Pop has left us. Its hard to explain why, but i genuinely felt a sense of grief upon hearing the news. Guess he was someone close to my heart. His death has borne a legend that is timeless, one that will live on forever. I just want to share some videos that i love, and have so deeply inspired me.

Well 4B peeps i don't think we can ever forget this right! The dance which we took and changed and made it our own, earning us the title of Take 5 Champs.

This is one of my favourite songs. One which showcased the famous moonwalk that over the years became his trademark move. Watch for it in the middle of the song, and don't forget to catch the dance sequence at the very end. Awesome.

I guess i'm allergic to seawater or something, after seeing the increase in the onset of acne on my face and rashes on my feet which ever so often get suffocated in the recesses of my wet boots. How i wish they would just disappear.

Weekends are getting aimless. Sundays especially. There's nothing to do at home, and i'm running out of places to go to. Today saw me and my buddies having some coffee at Starbucks, Eastpoint, but what about next week? Lets just go with the flow, i guess.

Until next time, hooyah!

of female runners

2009-06-21T18:57:00.002+08:00

On the way back from pasir ris just now, i was chatting with chenghau on bus 5 about the once-again-shitty book-in feeling. Then, i spotted a runner, female, seemingly my age, jogging on the pavement alongside the bus route. Something that i've noticed, female runners my age are quite a rare sight on the streets. So, my attention was kinda fully captured by her.

Well, most girls usually hit the gym for a workout, less actually hit the road to sweat it out, so i couldn't help but notice. Then i thought, how nice would it be if your significant other liked to run as well, now that would rid the workout of all the boredom. Sweet.

Anyway, another bookout has come and gone. Friday spent at home, not even a game played. Saturday i caught 'I Love You, Man' with the dhs guys. Funny film. Now today i met up with the jc guys for some catching up. Ribs at Cafe Cartel were rather filling. I want to grow some hair!!

Sigh. Its 7.40. Short while before i leave home for camp. Then another week of hell will ensue. ARGH. Take it day by day shane, take it day by day.

Take care all!

this sucks

2009-06-14T20:24:00.002+08:00

Leaving in 1 minute's time.

This feeling sucks.

I miss civilian life, alot. My family, my friends, the comfort of my own home.

Army life is getting quite aimless.

Better get going, see you all.

Apologies for the short post.

The First Week

2009-06-07T01:28:00.003+08:00

Block leave was bad. I got too used to civilian life. Not that i wouldn't want block leave, but it just means that we've to get used to army life again.

So the first week is down. Well we got off to a (one helluva) rolling start. Monday saw us going through a 4-hour class-up evolution, the 'ceremony' that sees us cross over to PCP from BMT. I shan't elaborate much on it. All i can say is that we got wet and sandy, carried boats, crawled on a mimosa-infested field like dogs, etc, and the whole experience made all of us want to OOC(out-of-course). If you want the details just ask, i'll tell.

" DROOOOOWWWWNNN-PRRROOOOOOOFINGGGGGG "

Rest of the week was spent on drown-proofing and sea-swim practice. Both were tedious evolutions, and boy was i glad and lucky to have passed them. Drown-proofing almost had me seeing God at the end of it, and if you think drowning is a good way to commit suicide, well, think again. One word to describe it - HARDCORE. Again, ask if you want details, i'm quite lazy to elaborate.

2nd week's up next and 'THE' week is coming, if you know what i mean. Hooyah 31 lets push on.

Physical Conditioning Phase

2009-05-31T19:10:00.003+08:00

IT STARTS NOW. PCP HERE WE COME, HOOYAH!

the very last, of block leave

2009-05-31T12:52:00.002+08:00

hello hello, here's basically a(very!) summed up version of what happened during block leave.

monday - ndu 31st batch bbq

tuesday - shopping with jared

wednesday - beach vball at sentosa!

thursday - bedok reservoir run

friday - ndu appreciation day, 31st batch lan, swimming at night

saturday - caught terminator with sec sch peeps. great show. dinner together.

SUNDAY (TODAY) - the very last day of block leave omg. tomorrow marks the start of a new phase -> PCP. God help the 31st Batch.

Stuff packed and ready to go! Going to have lunch with my family before maybe meeting some peeps at safra. More later! (if i have the time) See ya!

HOOYAH

beach volleyball at sentosa!

2009-05-28T00:46:00.003+08:00

First of all, sorry to songhon, samfoo and jared for being late! (but hey at least i wasn't the latest. hehe) After angus and yvonne arrived we headed to Siloso Beach to sweat it out with some beach volleyball. Daryl and arron joined us midway and of course it was the more the merrier! The only experienced player present was jared, but we picked it up pretty quick and had fun along the way.

The drinks at sentosa are obscenely pricey. 3.20 for a 500ml Coke? You must be kidding. Lucky they had offers across the road with stuff like 3.50 for 2 bottles, if not i'd have drank the seawater. By the end of the day, everybody was cooked till our skin turned gleaming red. I couldn't resist the chance to cool down so i grabbed the ball for flotation and swam a moderate distance away from shore. And i just lay there in the water, soaking up the evening sun with the seawater cooling my body, ah, the life.

Dinner was settled at Central, a Hongkong style restaurant at Vivocity which had surprisingly reasonably-priced dishes. Such that me and jared had 2 servings. Hooya. After which, me, jared and angus headed down to Tampines for some supper while the rest headed home. Daryl joined us again and we had a chat. Stuff about camp, how we couldn't sleep on the first day, the sometimes eerie thoughts that surfaced in our minds during camp, etc.

What a day! Tiring but fun fun fun. Time to rest, bye!

Of 31 BBQ and shopping

2009-05-26T20:31:00.002+08:00

31 had a BBQ at East Coast Park Pit 31, coincidentally. Food was plentiful, enough to satisfy every stomach present. Warrant Tan, Master Teo and Instructors Jason, Seow, BK and Puy turned up. So we had fun, talked and ate. Some guys brought their girls along to enjoy the atmosphere. Lots of photos taken as well.

Halfway through, songhon me and shern hit the arcade for Time Crisis 4. Probably due to the abysmal frequency of customer visits, the credits for each game were significantly cheaper. That was kinda good, and bad. Good, because it was cheap to play. Bad, because I kept changing new tokens after each death, thinking it was cheap so it was okay. I died the most out of the three of us, and the final toll on my wallet amounted to 3.50, in comparison to shern's 1 dollar spent. Jialat la. After we got back the bbq was almost done, so we left shortly.

Well, that was for Monday.

Today was scheduled for shopping since my wardrobe is in dire need of fresh apparel. I had actually planned to go alone but Jared was free so we met and had a look around Tampines. Thank god it was a weekday and the usual crowds in Tampines 1 and the surrounding malls were missing. I got my stuff and Jared got his. Spent a (nuclear)bomb. Kinda satisfied but that familiar sense of guilt kicked in yet again. Eek.

Something that kept bugging me today was the constant URGE to shit. First thought that came to mind : the bbq. 2 times today already and i can feel the 3rd itching to come out. Argh.

What else. Hmm. Rainy day, guilty of not exercising, and oh, i need a new beanie!

Thats all for now!

The Black Hole

2009-05-25T13:26:00.001+08:00

Cool. Aha.

(Temporary) ORD LO!

2009-05-23T13:43:00.003+08:00

Okay, actually it's just POP. So......POP LO!!!!

Block leave here i come. More, later!

---------------------------------------------------

POP day. Phew. Last, yes the very last day of a 10-week long BMT.

Got the ball rolling by a PT run in the morning. Nothing much took place in the day until route march was due. Instructor Koh had us do a pasar malam - laying out of fieldpack items - at the basketball court.

" I don't care how you do it, 30 secs camou on. Now! "

I squeeze the semi-liquid paste onto my palms and creamed up Angus' face, with him doing the same to mine.

" Whole lot, take a dip in divepool "

I thought it was actually fun. 31 batch ran to the pool and jumped in at the shallow end, with no.4 and boots and camou on, leaving the water slightly murky with runny camou off our faces.

And so, we started the 12-klick march with runny camou, waterlogged boots and being drenched to the skin.

POP-ed at Kranji War Cemetery, got our berets and we secured for the night.

But that wasn't all. Back at 29, it was a rush to get into our bookout-rig and then we had 9 mins to run all the way to the main gate to book out before it gets too late. And we did. Abrasions kicking in and all, we ran like it was another route march. Except that this one led to home and freedom.

Final Week

2009-05-18T16:28:00.005+08:00

Artist's Comments

Perhaps you're being told that the army is amazingly brilliant. well if ya don't like gettin dirty then don't bother joining up. A british army cadet helpfully posed by the puddle with his rifle as i snapped away.

Came back from IFC with energy level almost at zero percent. Running a fever as well. All i can remember about field camp is mud, camo, rain, sandy tent, basically nothing pleasant. Oh. Except for the part where i got to throw a smoke grenade :) hehe.

Had a heap of dirty laundry to clear so i got the ball rolling by soaking the clothes, round after round, to get rid of the mud that has caked on the no.4s after so much time spent cooped up in the ziplocs. Gore-tex boots needed a rinse as well, along with those socks with a killer stench. All in all the toilet became slightly muddy after my attempt to clean my stuff, so yes, i had to clean the toilet too.

The fever didn't get better. What started out on 2nd last night of field camp, was around 37.8 deg. Friday morning was 38 plus. Saturday afternoon it skyrocketed to 39.8 deg. I conducted periodic water parades myself and took temperature regularly to ensure that it went down. Luckily it did. I went to the doc and got an MC. Damn. My zero report sick record is gone (five, ych). So yeah, i'll return to camp on Mon instead.

Phew. 9 weeks have really flown. The final week is looming up ahead. One more evolution to clear - the 12 klick route march. Hope i've recovered by then, can't afford to miss this last one before block leave comes! And yes, i think this upcoming friday is going to be unforgettable. Unforgettable.

Alright then, see you!

Introduction to PCP

2009-05-10T10:28:00.002+08:00

Friday, 8th of May 2009.

Today's bookout was surprisingly(or should i say not)early. We FO-ed at 2pm. Sounds like an easy day? Nonono. There's always a catch. Haha.

Started the morning with a water parade, full bottle as usual. Ran to grinder, warmed up, mustered on road and got ready for a run.

Now's where the 'fun' starts. I can't really give exact details of our evolutions, but basically, we ran at a bloody fast pace, bear-crawled till our hands became paws, with slender strands of saliva dripping from our mouth as we inched forward. Then it was on and off, run to bear-crawl, bear-crawl to run, a tedious cycle. Following that, thank the heavens it rained, but the fun just got started. Back to the grinder and we started PT. The entire evolution started at around 8, and ended at 12 noon.

Looks like PCP is going to be 'fun'.

Changing parade

2009-05-03T01:13:00.002+08:00

This time, short week.

Friday was Labour Day so we had a nice long weekend ( about 3 days and 3 nights ? ). Adding to that was 30th Batch Graduation on Thursday. Seniors' Big Day. 31st Batch became saikang warriors. Saikang better than Bokang (no work) right? Hooya!

Parents, girlfriends, sisters and brothers came to NDU, injecting certain life into the place which aged back to the colonial times. Seniors did their Terror Jump in No.3s, receiving roaring applause from their friends and family. 31st summed it up with a Hooya to the 30th, and they Hooya-ed back. Go Seniors! (although we don't know you guys very well)

However the highlight of the day(to us 31st), was the afternoon changing parade. Haha. Mainly smart-4, pt-rig, pt-rig-with-boots. And then....came the KINKY RIG. I wonder if other units practise this. We mustered in trunks and boots, other than that, bare skin. Later on we had to powder down with Prickly Heat so it got very COOLING(emphasis intended). That alone got us quite high and we ran up yelling during the course of the changing. Honestly, it was strangely enjoyable.

Wolverine was a disappointment. Alright maybe because i actually follow Marvel Comics last time. But even some parts the CGI was mediocre. Sigh. X 1,2,3 still outshine this so-called prequel.

Uh, i lost my train of thought all of a sudden. Maybe it's fatigue. Alright then, shall end here for now.

I must wake up early tomorrow! I must!

Halfway through

2009-04-26T18:22:00.003+08:00

Hello people!

First of all i want to thank all who have wished me on my birthday last Thursday, really appreciate it you guys! Adding on to that i want to give greater thanks to my dhs buddies who had dinner with me and bought me presents(one was a 65 cent SAF mug which served as a decoy).

The past week in camp was slightly better, albeit the lack of sleep. Monday was IPPT day as usual, Tues we were scheduled for SOC at Nee Soon but foul weather stepped in. Damn. Wednesday and Thursday were full days spent at the Nee Soon live range for live firing of the AR-15. I did better in night than in day, probably because of the own-time-own-target factor in the former.

The whole of 31 was sleep-deprived on range days. We returned at 12am, returned arms, went back to Blk 29, then had water parade at 1am. Finally hitting the pillow at around 2, many of us went ZZZ straight away, having to wakey-wakey at 4.30am. Thursday we had an extra 1.5 hours of sleep, but we still had to fight the fatigue war throughout the day. Some of us felt it was pseudo-hellweek. Haha.

Friday was payback aka The-Day-the-Hammer-Drops. We paid for our mistakes at the fence and field, just before dinner. After that it was time to FO, short for F***-Off, which is often used by our instructors to describe book-out.

Weekends are getting routine, but precious nonetheless. Met up with people i haven't seen in a long time, caught up, had fun. Love you guys man.

Until next week, goodbye.

Apologies

2009-04-25T10:35:00.001+08:00

Damn this blog is becoming a wreck. Sorry! I will try my best to update it as frequently as possible.

- Shane

4th week

2009-04-12T01:08:00.003+08:00

4 weeks of BMT has passed thus far! Feels like i've just enlisted yesterday. My body's getting used to the hammering and i'm trying to psycho myself to actually love PT.

My things i do during bookout has almost become a routine. Meet friends, have meals together, reach home and hit dota, meet friends, then finally prep for book-in on sunday. It's going to be like this for the next 9 months so i'd better start getting used to it!

C'mon 31 we are performing better and better each day, keep it up! HOOYA!

Bookout Days

2009-04-05T03:38:00.002+08:00

I really dread bookout days. The reason why? Because we have to earn them, by getting hammered everytime. And the hammering gets worse each subsequent week. How is bmt going to pass!? I have at around 8 weeks to go!

On another note, i appreciate civilian life alot now. My first bookout was quite an experience, once i stepped out of the camp gate i swear i could feel the civilian world embrace me. Everything seemed pretty. No more staying cooped up in our 4-man cabin, no more NS life. Well at least for the next two days.

Head's as round as it can be, now. I haven't really gotten used to the sudden emptiness perched on my scalp when i've had my hair all my life until now. Good thing is, washing hair is now a piece o' cake.

Its late. I'll say more when i feel like it. Bye!

A Frog's Life

2009-03-17T09:13:00.003+08:00

(Psst. Thank you peejay for the title!)

" 1. You are hereby required under Section 10 of the Enlistment Act ( Cap 93 ), to report for enlistment on

18 MAR 2009 (WED) AT 8.00 AM
to NAVAL DIVING UNIT ( NDU ) "

Sigh enlistment's finally here. After A's, after the first 3 months of 2009, it . is . here. I will miss civilian life dearly, and the food and the freedom that i've had and so wonderfully enjoyed over the past few months.

Okay i guess i won't have the time to update this blog very often now, and there's the 2 week confinement period before i have my first book-out.

So it's goodbye from me here to anybody who sees this. Take care everyone!

Check this space on 3rd April! See you soon!

grabbed from militaryphotos

A Sexy Car

2009-03-16T10:46:00.003+08:00

Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster

Oh my god-ness. The new Murciélago is unveiled. Horsepower is upped from 640 to 650, so 0-100km/h probably rests around 3.4 seconds. The paintjob looks fantastic as well, with the grey glossy finish and the orange spoiler and sills, fresh from the usual yellow or solid hue that Lamborghinis are seen with. What's good also is that the engine cover will be transparent, which will showcase the powerful 6.5 litre V-12. Sweet.

Midnight Pleasure

2009-03-16T02:08:00.003+08:00

Come on, spill. I know the kind of thoughts that run through your mind upon seeing the title. You, yes you, reader.

Don't get me wrong(which you probably did). My idea of enjoying myself at night, are just a couple of life's many simple pleasures. Headphones sealed and ears cupped, playing crisp music at a gentle volume, along with a cup of tea which i occasionally sip from. Ah, the life.

Serene.

Oil

2009-03-12T01:12:00.003+08:00

I hate oil. It is oozing out of my face at a heightened rate. And oil usually precedes pimples. Shiat really. Sleeping with zits lining the sides of your face can be a real bitch, uncomfortable and painful yeah. And usually the dirt accumulated on your pillow contributes to pimple growth as well, so i might as well sleep facing the ceiling permanently to avoid sprouting zits. But of course thats not possible, so blast you pimples.

Stress? Pre-enlistment blues? Genes? Fatigue? Shitty soap? The list goes on. I don't know exactly what causes it for me, but you people without those pus-filled spots on your face, feel very fortunate.

This has been a random pimple rant. Goodbye.

2009-03-11T00:11:00.003+08:00

Mopping the house was useful today. Usually it just gets me tired, but today it served well to distract me from the occasional depressing thoughts about my abysmal results. A household chore as an escape. Wow haha. Okay at least it's a workout of some sort and sweating made me feel much less of a slacker around the house. Like all household chores(except maybe washing muddy shoes), it was rewarding. A faint sense of satisfaction, to say the least. Hurrah, housewives.

Dear future, please stay bright.

Mini Supercars (NOT MY WORK)

2009-03-10T00:45:00.006+08:00

Ever thought what supercars would look like re-engineered into a Mini Cooper-like chassis?

Here are some pictures, results of a few Photoshop tweaks.

Mini Mercedes

Mini Lotus

Mini Ferrari

Mini BMW

Mini Bentley

Mini Audi

Mini Aston Martin

Mini Porsche

2009-03-09T19:50:00.002+08:00

My life's such a mess right now, i actually feel quite alone and helpless.

Sucks to be me.

Another NTU suicide

2009-03-08T01:29:00.005+08:00

(Story) NTU officer found hanged : Another suicide at NTU.

Coincidentally, also from the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE).

Not spooky enough?

Both deceased were apparently from Lab S2-B3a-06, the SAME lab.

NUS exchange student dies

2009-03-05T15:26:00.001+08:00

"A University of Miami student studying abroad at the National University of Singapore has died.

Scott Jared Monat, a second-year neurobiology major, was found in a student housing kitchen at approximately 6 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, according to The Campus Observer, the student newspaper of NUS."

Full story, here.

Kenichi Kai Kasper Koh Chiak Chiang's Birthday, Part 1

2009-03-03T23:20:00.007+08:00

Ingredients to make a Man Kit:

Boxers.

Tsingtao Beer.

Rubbers, Wax, Shaver and a Jar with a Funny Man Portrait.

All packed together.

Not forgetting the hamsum I.P. Man.

Everything in an unassuming cardboard box. Stuffed with an obscene amount of newspaper.

Mission Accomplished. Present is complete. More, next post.

End of Part 1.

at last

2009-03-02T23:10:00.002+08:00

So the time has come. Finally, light is shed on the date when the GCE A's results are due to be released. And with it, comes inevitable fear. A caged monster gnawing at the insides of our mortal shell. Under such circumstances, it is released. Fear is a bitch, really. I grow weary of it. A month ago i thought the results were due in the first 7 days of Feburary. And because of that i endured quite a number of sleepless nights, spent pondering over the outcome, dire or not. The day never came. Fear and anxiety faded gradually. Until now, that is. The monster inside me has risen once again. Renewed vigour and all. Endless attempts to tame the emotion have been nothing but futile. I am tired. I tell myself, keep your expectations low, then it won't be that bad. Compete with yourself, not others. It works briefly. I very well know where i stand among my classmates in terms of academia. The scene keeps replaying in my head. One of friends celebrating in unison, outbursts of joy filling the hall. Everyone, except me. On loop. Sigh. Damn i hope that doesn't happen. I really do.

"The only way past fear, is to go through."

*Author Unknown*

One injured, one dead in NTU stabbing

2009-03-02T15:36:00.003+08:00

10.35am this Monday morning.

Get the full scoop here.

Deep

2009-03-02T03:27:00.003+08:00

"Are we? Jac asks sweetly.

Aren't we? I ask, alarmed.

You tell me.

We are. We most certainly are."

"If you say it is, then it must be so and in a blatant infringement of school rules, she reaches out to take my hand and holds on all the way into the heart of Chinatown."

Frame 21, End.

Of chained bikes

2009-02-28T00:32:00.000+08:00

A true-blue FHL moment.

Of trolleys and pencils

2009-02-27T00:34:00.003+08:00

IKEA Tampines' attack of the Pencil-Stealer! With a coffee cup from 7-Eleven. Well i did buy a cup of coffee from 7-Eleven okay. Now i have no shortage of lead for sketching!

Behold! Trolleys come in infinites!

Infinitely cool, IKEA.

1350HP Bugatti Veyron Centenaire Edition?

2009-02-25T12:04:00.003+08:00

Holy shit this has to be the fastest production car ever if it's successfully manufactured. 1350 horsepower. The central air intake looks like a mouth ready to consume anything that stands in its way. Absolute monster.

Friends, Shopping, Aston's

2009-02-25T11:40:00.003+08:00

Mischievous ball. The last time i was there it was still lifeless as usual at the foosball table, and now it has managed to escape the constant hitting by the plastic figurines it has once so painfully endured. I am happy for you, ball.

Ok anyway the above was taken from the foosball table at Adidas, The Cathay. We(me,yin,kasper), were there for dinner at Aston's. It was my first meal there, and it was surprisingly reasonable for a restaurant in town. Eighteen Chefs you have got yourself a competitor.

C.C.Liap actually asked if this shiat was real.

Way before we met C.C.Liap. aka Kasper Koh for dinner we were shopping for a jockey cap at Far East. Well it wasn't hard to find, and then it was to Sim Lim for a battery-operated music player for NS. That one, however, was already a rarity. No outlet sold it anymore. Sad.

After dinner we spent the time at the basement of Cathay, discussing our very near future, even arriving on the topic of girls. This is as far as i go. Hehe. On the way back was another f***ed-up naming session. Out came the likes of : GOODS VEHICLE ANG, TRUCK KOH, PICKUP POH, BUS TAN...yeah you get it. We ROFLMAO-ed in the train until the aching in the cheeks was too much. I think we should do that more often.

I reached home way before my curfew! Parents are happy, i'm happy. Peaceful night. Hurray.

Mahjong at Leon's

2009-02-23T13:53:00.004+08:00

Damn. I realise that i've got to work on my speech. Sometimes, when i've a flood of thought in my mind waiting to be verbalized, i might speak overly-fast while conversing with others, and come across as anxious and incoherent. I have got to slow down. Think before i talk. Go Shane.

Ok anyway, the plan was to meet up with OG 8 people at Leon's place for a day of catching up. After meeting ych, weizhou and tujin for lunch at Eighteen Chefs, i had a 'bus-race' with peejay and yvonne to reach the place first. I won. Hehe. And the promised drink for the winner turned out to be rainwater(because it was raining then). So together we braved the light but painful drizzle, with the ladies sharing the only umbrella. Life is tough.

Leon's unit had a nice view. A pity i didn't take a picture. We got settled down and finally, after so, so long, i have managed to grasp the elusive game that is mahjong(maybe to me only). Lady Luck must've been shining on me that afternoon, because i'm sure it was pure beginner's luck that i won 1 or 2 rounds. I'm still a mahjong n00b though, knowing only 1 basic method to win.

This was an attempt to make funny faces.

Yvonne left for her family dinner while Kenny went to prepare for his book-in. The remainder of OG8 had me, leon, pj, dyane and shaoyun. 5 people, sounds familiar(right hor peejay?). Well that didn't mean we didn't have any fun. I fought with pj, not physically, but on the Wii. Mario & Sonic Beijing 2008, followed by NFS Prostreet(i still prefer it on PC), and finally Wii Sports Tennis. Who knew that such a subtle white box could make us sweat so much. Leon, dyane and shaoyun were playing Hotel626 behind us. Having seen it for the first time, i have to applaud the game designers for putting so much effort into its creation. I was impressed. The short clips of motion capture, the hi-fidelity sounds and the amazing graphics, all masterfully put together and executed. Cheers Hotel626.

Following that was a game of Texas Holdem. Blast, i ended up being the first to be bankrupt. Leon still raised his bet to 16, knowing that i had only 15 worth of chips remaining. Sad life. But it was fun. At about 9.45 we left his place, all of them took bus trips home while i made my way to Tampines for a cup o' Himalayan Tea Latte, with the man who introduced it to me, yinwei. Chatted abit before i had to(again) succumb to my parents' nagging and rush home. Sorry dood! Thanks for the company!

Back home, NFS most wanted has again managed to infuriate me. It keeps on crashing whenever i start a race. Life just became twice as sad.

101th post

2009-02-21T14:52:00.004+08:00

Dear readers, one of my very own :

" Today, nfs kept crashing so i thought i'd keep the save profile and reinstall the game. The save file was deleted by mistake. FML "

my MUSTANG.

Nightwalk

2009-02-20T14:47:00.006+08:00

Last night was fun. Started it off with a cup of coffee, large, at the Coffee Bean, Century Square. Coincidentally, yin and i met our primary school teachers. What a surprise. First time in what? 7 years? When you say it out loud it actually doesn't seem very long, but it sure does feel like it. Awkward, yes initially, but i managed to strike up a conversation with Miss Fadzillah(i think) and Mr Derrick Yeo. One was my primary 2(can you believe it) math teacher while the latter was our pe teacher in primary 6. It was funny when they were busy racking their brains for some kind of recollection.

It was down to random chatter for the rest of the time at the place. Talked about friends, army, girls(keke), the future, cars(nfs ftw) and whatnot. It wasn't long before we had to leave as the outlet was closing for the day. For some reason we arrived at the topic of naming our children(if we manage to have any). Yin likes his double 'T's and i like my double 'N's. Then out came the ridiculous ones.

Me : "what about hercules? strong man leh"

Yin : "Zeus then, Zeus Lee! "

Me : *wtf*

Yin : "did you say Bruce Lee? No! It's ZEUS Lee!"

Both: *laughter*

Following that were the likes of insane examples like 'Tutankhamen' (another wtf), 'Ramses', 'Anubis', 'Nefertiti', 'Cleopatra'. Yes those are Egyptian. Some gods, even.

We sat down at Macdonald's next for his double-cheeseburger. It was closing as well so we left shortly. We walked along the MRT track adjoining Simei and Tampines. The time was around 12 midnight so there wasn't a single soul around except for the occasional passerby returning home from late-night work. Shared more opinions on names(we decided on a few), and then it was time to car-spot. The carparks were literally a goldmine for a car enthusiast like me, and a hardcore-crazy car fanatic like yin. Spotted my (most likely)dream car at the moment, a BMW Z-4. A low-riding 2 seater. Heh. Yin got his kicks from identifying various car models with car nut precision. There were nice ones here and there.

Time's 1.14 am. Taken at Shell Petrol Kiosk in Tampines.

The Z-4.

Ultimately we ended up at Simei MRT, munching on Hello Panda on the steps, drinking Pokka's Assorted Tea. Well on the way there we came across one place that creeped us out. I forgot which block it was, but we noticed something uncanny across the void deck when we passed the lobby. It was a painting. A Chinese one in fact. Of a woman. It's around 2.5 metres in height and 1.5 metres wide, hanging on the wall at the void deck. Yin noticed it first and i myself found it weird. It was staring at us between 2 columns of pillars. Eerie. Ok we decided to check it out on the way back anyway. The woman was Xishi. Google if you must. Why would a painting of Xishi be hung at a void deck? Strange. Well i didn't take a photo though. Yin's planning to check the place out some other time to see if the painting's still there. Hehe.

By the time we returned to Tampines via the same path, it was already 2.30am. I hailed a cab home while yin walked the remainder of the journey back. My parents got mad at me for staying out way past my curfew time, but fortunately they were already sleeping like logs when i got home. Nightwalk ftw.

More, tomorrow.

2009-02-20T03:17:00.004+08:00

Nightwalk was sweet. Check this space tomorrow doods. Or rather, later today.

Have Faith

2009-02-19T15:53:00.005+08:00

One of the contest entries submitted to Machinima. I hope it wins.

Love the game, love the music. Go Faith.

Where have all the pictures gone to?

2009-02-17T19:04:00.002+08:00

I'm sure that blogger's having some trouble with its uploaded pics because i can't see em! Not on my comp, not on my sister's too. Damn. Go blogger, solve it asap!

Chope Seat Culture

2009-02-17T16:20:00.008+08:00

Ok this is my 2nd time posting. I totally hated the way i wrote this previously, so yup its gone down the bin. As i was saying, i had lunch with my parents at the Amara, a hotel cum shopping arcade beside Tanjong Pagar MRT.

The food court was packed. Hell. Finding a seat was a chore. Ok we found one anyway. or we THOUGHT that we had. 2 women came over with their food trays claiming that our seats was THEIRS. According to her, a crumpled, empty packet of tissue sitting clasped under a leftover soup bowl was the evidence. We are nice people so we didn't bother to fire back, with the fact that the packet was probably left behind by previous patrons. The neighbouring table got freed up anyway.

What hit me was how a simple packet of tissue could be used to mark out one's territory in a food court. A powerful weapon in the meal centres of Singapore. Nonetheless, an awful practice of ugly Singaporeans.

Switched

2009-02-17T01:04:00.002+08:00

Hello template's been switched. Looks cleaner and more spatial. Hurrah to more space for pictures.

Everything's still jiggly like if you notice the words aren't aligned in the previous posts. Small matter.

It was fun, dear SUVs

2009-02-16T12:42:00.013+08:00

FINALLY. It's done. The NFSMW Black Edition Challenge(aka the MAN challenge, according to yinwei). Completed in 6mins 29 secs.

Ok i know it isn't anything great, but hey, it's my first attempt of the day and i succeeded! Hooya. And you know i ain't faking you cause right in the pic sits my Camaro and the sky-high bounty that i chalked up disabling those SUVs. What a great start to the day.

Here's a vid all about the pretty little challenge. Not mine though.

NTU talks

2009-02-15T13:44:00.002+08:00

Hello people, it is yet another amazingly boring sunday. Yesterday was Valentine's Day, but i didn't spend it with a girl. *sigh* quoting yin : " life's tough ".

Well anyway, it was a rather fruitful morning plus afternoon. Time was spent attending the NTU talks held at the meeting rooms within the Suntec Convention Centre. I had yinwei in my company so together we scoured the place for all the relevant brochures and stuff

I met alot of people along the way. Here's just to name a few : xinzi, hazel, raghu, june, cheryl, elis, fangyun, pingyen, yusong, dave and wj(heard they were there), chewguan, siewyuen, jitrui, hanyang, soolin, cherylnn, carmela, michael. Some tjc people as well. I managed to say hi to some, others got lost in the crowd.

Listened to lecturers from comm studies, multilinguistics, adm, and admission matters. I left the place at 6 and met up with yin and michael to go home.

I went down to my godmother's chalet last night. Ate abit, stood around for a while and then i left. Too tired. For the first time i actually felt that i could sleep before midnight!

Well. Thats my Vday for you.

Gumpert to make an appearance at the Geneva Motor Show

2009-02-14T02:10:00.001+08:00

Oh my god.

Vday Eve ( Friday the 13th )

2009-02-14T01:49:00.003+08:00

Alas, it is the eve of Valentine's Day. And yes, it is also Friday the 13th. Not to worry couples, i'm sure everything will turn out great!

I went out with angus for a date.

nah kidding. hehe. we just went shopping. had our lunch at suntec and then walked over to raffles city to have a look. my wallet is currently falling to pieces so yeah i've been looking for a new replacement.(sigh another outflow of money)

we didn't get anything in the end though. headed over to funan for some fun. the consoles were calling out to me. i could just hear them i swear. so yeah, we spent probably 45 mins playing batman on lego. surprisingly fun. behind us was a bunch of people glued to 2 people sparring in the new street fighter IV on a ps3. so much that they didn't notice an xbox360 unoccupied behind them. hehehe.

after angus reported for work i went to meet up with chap, yin and kun. kun just finished serving his confinement so yup. after having cheap cheap 180 cents worth of chicken rice and himalayan tea from macdonalds, we had a walk around century square.

two typical idiots HAHAHA

HAHAHA. laughter sums it all up.

Too Darn Hot

2009-02-13T00:41:00.003+08:00

Omg just have a look at the new concept car Chevrolet came up with. Too sexy already. And it's just for Transformers 2! Specially requested by Michael Bay.

The car, a new Stingray Corvette Concept, is a remake, reminiscent of the actual 1969 model. Vaguely resembles the Camaro though. Well, both are from Chevy anyway. It plays the vehicle form of Sideswipe in the upcoming Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen. And opposite the yellow Camaro, Bumblebee, as well! Eye candy whoo!

Space Grenade

2009-02-12T14:05:00.006+08:00

Yahoo News : Big Satellites collide 500 miles over Siberia.

" CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of its kind in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the International Space Station. NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the crash, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday. "

" "Right now, they're definitely counting dozens," Matney said. "I would suspect that they'll be counting hundreds when the counting is done."

As for pieces the size of micrometers, the count will likely be in the thousands, he added. "

" At the beginning of this year there were roughly 17,000 pieces of manmade debris orbiting Earth, Johnson said. The items, at least 4 inches in size, are being tracked by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, which is operated by the military. The network detected the two debris clouds created Tuesday. "

I came across this at mrlim's. Wow. Satellite collision. The first i've heard of, ever.

Yes it's amazing. I mean, what are the odds of 2 masses crashing into each other in the vastness of outer space? Ok, amazing, but awfully dangerous. Yeah, collision in space isn't a joke. It's not as simple as 2 cars crashing into one another on a road, for example.

The physics of outer space has to be taken into consideration. What's space famous for? Yes, lack of the great Newtonian G, G for GRAVITY(i'm trying not to sound like a physics tutor here). In such a weightless environment, with little influence of gravity, such a collision is life-threatening to our astronauts living at the ISS(Int'l Space Stn) for example.

Notice they mentioned debris clouds, for all you know, shrapnel, ceramic shards and whatnot could be in there. If these are shot outwards following an explosion or crash, the particles would be travelling at breakneck bullet-speed. Now in space, there's no gravity, so they won't SLOW down. Velocity could be maintained for kilometres, even light-years, unless gravity kicks in.

So effectively, the collision becomes a space grenade, with deadly shrapnel bullets flying everywhere. Except that it doesn't have a death radius. Take this, imagine one day, an astronaut decides to take a breather(i don't know how) and space-walk outside the ISS. The collision occurs, and a single piece of debris, even as small as a piece of dice, comes whizzing past and drills through his spacesuit, exiting on the other side and continuing its journey. It is akin to getting shot by a gun. One of the many hazards of space. Wannabe astronauts, anyone?

" It's gotten so bad that orbital debris is now the biggest threat to a space shuttle in flight, surpassing the dangers of liftoff and takeoff. "

Certain materials can even penetrate the hull of space shuttles and the ISS, provided they are given enough speed. I hope our friends in space are okay. Goodluck and Godspeed,........ and Goodbye.

Hummings Production

2009-02-11T11:30:00.006+08:00

Ok some pictures of the workplace of 2 weeks, which ended just before CNY. The company's Humming House/ you can call it Hummings if you want to. The hours were a killer, we worked from 9am to 2am on average a day, thats a whopping 17 hours on the job. You do everything from sticking birds on hampers, packing/setting them, tying ribbons, moving stuff etc. I must say i miss the job, and the people there too. Made quite some friends with the full-time staff and the aunties and uncles which fought the fatigue war beside me. I actually miss getting only about 3 hours of sleep per day, i'd give extra sleep anytime, for the company of my fellow workers.

Thats the company building. Notice all the lorries.

One of the delivery lorries that me and yujun took to coughslackcough* with the driver, Richard.

The place had 4 lifts. 2 passenger ones and 2 cargo lifts. Very convenient. After lunch if we had spare time we'd always buy can drinks and slack around this area.

The company's office.

Miss the place and people lots. Yesterday(payday) was probably the last chance i'd get to see them again. SIGH. Alright, goodbye.