千二百三十二：Say "Ahhh"

I went to the dentist this afternoon for polishing and spoke to the dentist about getting braces. She said that her husband was the one doing it, and I had to make a mould of my teeth. For $20, she made a cast of my teeth (it was like eating plasticine. ack) and she said the other dentist, her husband, would analyse that, and then inform me of price and schedule and the process before I had to decide. Hee.. so exciting! Been seeing so many people with straight teeth nowadays I was wondering if I was oversensitive or did everyone do their braces when they were schooling. A bit scared, cos I don't know whether it's really as terrible as everyone says, no more food but at least I hope this instils abit more discipline in me regarding care of my teeth. Of cos, the money is coming from my own pocket if I choose to do it, they need a payment of about $100 monthly, paid each time u go for a checkup, with an upfront deposit of some amount. Can't wait for the dentist to call me quickly! (^o^)

千二百三十一： The Importance of Being Elite

someone got hit by the MRT at Clementi MRT station just today.

千二百三十：Contradictions

I heard about someone who had to marry his girlfriend (both are now still university students) because of shotgun reasons. The girl had refused to abort because she was a staunch Catholic. BUT, if she was a staunch Catholic, why did she engage in pre-marital sex in the first place? It's funny how religion for some people become useful reasons for some things yet not others.

There's some weird problem with Blogger such that it refuses to let me publish 2 posts on the same date. It only started on Saturday I think? And then I had to go back to all the old entries with the same date to re-date them until everything could be published. Ack. So don't be surprised if you see posts that are post-dated.

I was sidetracked and forgot about the discussion of the problematic areas in your life. Next was supposed to be about work / studies I think?

Hmm, work. Getting used to the work here I guess. I don’t feel as resentful as I was, although it gets to me when my mom keeps nit-picking until she realizes some of the changes (or the way I do things) actually is more efficient. Some of her ways are better I admit, but seriously, super naggy. I am getting used to seeing my parents 24-7 but sighz, I do of course wish to meet more people. We don’t quarrel that much nowadays (in the office, hence work-related), so I guess that’s cause to be happy. But, she is still going on at me to find a job and to call EDB for help (which is useless obviously since the last email I had from them was more than a month ago and there has only been 1, that’s ONE bloody interview from their so-called hard working referrals in the past 4 months since I’ve been back) Never mind, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the one I’m waiting for to happen, by late November I can update you on my happiness meter again liao. Hah!

Studies are ok I guess, now trying hard to study more diligently for the JLPT coming up but there’s so much to study and only one month left!! I lack the grammar skills I think, given that I skipped JLPT 2, but no harm to just work hard and try my best bah. I wish all the NTU guys the best in their coming exams too. Ganbatte!!

千二百二十九： 窒息

窒息：chissoku

To suffocate or choke.

So far, in all the Furuhata episodes I watched, there hasn't been any suffocation, strangulation type of murder. All the murders are very direct. A blow to the back of the head, a knife to the neck or a gun at the heart. All the victims know and saw the murderers before they died. :(

Next chapter, Appearance.

Sighz, age is really catching up. The weather also. 最近pimples alot, due to haze, age and hormonal changes bah. Not happy, I guess at least I don't need to worry bout that much cos I don't need to face much people outside of my family. So the stress from there is down. I got abit chubbier around the cheeks, from so many meals per day at the office and I think I need to cut down on the rice intake liao. I guess the least is I am thankful that I have no very bad visible things in my appearance to be unhappy over though if there was more of the money, I can afford to go for more facials. hahahaha.

千二百二十八：Japan Sinking & More thoughts

It's a strange movie.

The disaster scenes are pretty well done actually. This whole idea of the movie/book based on geographical facts is pretty easy to swallow, especially since there really are such frequent earthquakes and there are a few live volcanoes in Japan still. hopefully, it's really just fiction. Or else one of the most beautiful countries culturally will just be wiped out from the map. Ahhh!! The love scenes were totally redundant though. No progression of the relationship, just suddenly asked the girl to leave with him and i was wondering, ay? Since when did she even said she liked him?? They should have just cut out those love scenes bah. Especially when she asked him to sleep with her and he started bawling. WAHAHAH!! That was the most duh scene. But all in all, think the scientific aspect of it is worth a look. The show reminds me of Armageddon and when he was going to put the drill thing through, I was almost expecting the song by Aerosmith to be played.

More thoughts from yesterday.

Problem 1, money. One of my major headaches after coming back. Since I had no job, no job = no money right? It was horrible actually, having to adjust from having $4k per month to having $0 and seeing my savings dwindle. Argh. But it got better recently, since I rarely go out except maybe 2 movies a month, no need to spend money on food and transport at all unless I’m outside, and no major expenses for the past 2 months liao, so almost all of the money going into savings after taking away insurance. Thanks to everyone who’s been really understanding about my finances at first, for their little treats and their kindness. Yup.. so this area is not causing me unhappiness anymore. But of course, not say I am happy with this as well la. Who wouldn’t be happier to have a little more money? :p Tomorrow, appearance.

Oyasuminasai.

千二百二十七：Thinking time

I was going to post up this long thing that I was thinking about whether I was happy or unhappy. But it got longer and longer and the more I wrote, the more I had to write, so I haven't completed it yet. But maybe I'll just give you some food for thought first.

I was thinking what I would think about regarding whether I am happy or not and this is what I came up with. The main problems afflicting an unhappy person of my age group are usually one or all of the below:

1. Money
2. Appearance
3. Employment/Studies
4. Friendship
5. Family
6. BGR

Any more categories that I have missed out? Half of the areas are human relationship related and probably those are areas where you are not the sole controller of those areas whether you want to be happy or not. The other half of the areas, can you control? More to come when I clear my own thoughts.

千二百二十六： Erh..

It's a boring Wednesday again.

Being the end of a long weekend, the office was pretty quiet since many people in other companies were still on leave. Luckily, there was Japanese lesson to let me leave earlier today. Maya has also returned home to Japan today (T.T). haiz. Empty feeling inside again. I actually enjoyed zobo-ing in her hotel room.

In the lesson today, our sensei was giving us an idea of how expensive it was to marry a Japanese girl. Besides a dowry of \1 million, (more than S$10000) which her husband is still paying off by instalment to her parents, hahahaha, the wedding ring is supposed to cost at least 3 times the monthly salary of the guy. o.O Ryo said its a rumour and gimmick started by the jewellers to rip guys off and make them bankrupt. hahaha. Really? :p

千二百二十五: Long Beach (Again)

I feel a sudden affiliation with Long Beach Seafood Restaurant at ECP. The one at the lagoon side.

This is my second time there this month, and we ate almost the same things with almost the same people. The chilli crab is delicious as always, but I wonder why the place was suggested when they themselves don't want to dirty their hands eating crab. If the tourist sees the host not eating, he will of course also be thinking like oh, must be not that nice that's why the host is not eating also? Hmm, anyway, that's my own opinion. Anyway, this is the group today:


The group 2 weeks ago at Ishiwata's dinner*


This afternoon I accompanied her shopping at Takashimaya (so that I can also run my errands, heh). Finally collected my very bright and shining necklace from Tiffany's cleaning service. I don't remember it being that shiny when I first received it though. I wonder how long it was on the plane as inventory before Ryo bought it. Then went to buy my dad's bday present as well, got him a belt. We wanted a wallet with belt set but all the sets either had horrible belts or horrible wallets. -.- In the end, I decided not to get any wallet. After that, I brought her to cold storage to get her souvenirs. Yeah, souvenirs from cold storage. She wanted to get Kaya back for her colleagues after trying Yakun Kaya and also Bak Kut Teh mixes etc. But cold storage doesn't sell the very delicous Prima Mixes!! grr. In the end, I just let her choose herself cos they had little local stuff that I could recommend.

After the souvenirs, we got late lunch at Pasta Cafe ^^ . My first time there after the renovations and I don't like it. The service was still good, the food also, but the menu became more local, and the place feels too modern, not cosy anymore. Everything too bright and shiny. Luckily, my favourite Sambal Marinara is still on the menu. :) After lunch, we took a cab back to her hotel (too heavy to shop anymore with her kaya bottles) and then just zobo there until HS picked us up to go to EcP for dinner. :p

*** Note to myself: I must finish watching The Forgotten! Watched the movie halfway on HBO in the hotel while waiting and I want to know the ending!

Dinner was quite quiet today, less people and less food but I guess the portion was just nice. Everyone had late lunches actually. After that, I still had to join my family at Jumbo for dinner so I also couldn't give my full power to the dinner.

It's hard to say goodbye. I guessed I had missed Maya in someway, and I could feel the tears welling if I really hugged her goodbye like last time b4 leaving Japan. (T.T) I guess its best to just wave and turn around quickly so that you don't allow yourself to feel the full impact of the separation.

千二百二十四：Rest In Peace

There was an unfortunate fatality in this afternoon's sudden horrendous downpour.

Despite being indoors, the rain was so horribly heavy that I was drenched head to toe when trying to shut the door to the balcony in the office and had to change out of my t-shirt and my windbreaker which were soaked. The windows were actually banged shut by the strong winds. The area in the workshop near the door was flooded and the machines there were soaked and we were in a mad rush trying to wipe away the water droplets in case anything happened to the new machines. A couple of screws had been scattered by the wind so I was bending low, trying to find them and I saw this strange roundish shape in a dark corner. I saw a fan-like thing at the end of it and when I bent closer, I realised with a start it was a sparrow lying down, tummy up. Shocked, cos it was actually a corner where the wind couldn't possibly have blown into, I didn't dare to check if it was still alive. How did it come in? I hope it didn't die bumping into a window or something. argh, the poor bird.

In the end, my mom poked at it with a pair of pliers and it didn't move. I think she pushed it into a plastic bag with the pliers and then dropped the bag into the big bin outside the unit. o.O I hope it rests in peace.

千二百二十三：Night Safari

It's been more than 10 years since I last stepped into the Night Safari.

The last time I went was in Primary School, when it first opened in 1994. My impression was that it was dark and dingy and with my slight night blindness problem, it was a waste of time as I couldn't catch sight of most of the animals. The added on problem of the heat and mosquitoes were a turnoff to a primary school kid. And the school didn't let us ride the tram, so we didn't enjoy the trip at all. So from then on, if any one told me the place was fun, I would be like "HUH? are u sure?". Very disbelieving that anyone could find that place fun.

But since Maya's here, and it's been so long, and Ryo had found the place quite interesting last year when he had gone alone, I decided to accompany her there. It was really quite fun in the end. We rode the tram, with detailed explanation from the guide and maybe my improved eyesight (WAHAHA! like real!!), I did see much more animals tonight. There was a slight drizzle as well, with a cool breeze and zero mosquitoes! The trekking parts was not as bad as I expected, since the weather was good and the animal show was pretty funny. The host was witty and I enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, since the zoo didn't allow flash photography, there are only few pictures that are good enough as any memories, especially of the animals. It was too dark to take any good shots and my camera didn't have enough ISO to gather light. argh.

But I was surprised at the crowd as well, alot of locals besides tourists. The shows were all full house packed and the queues for the next show started more than 30 min b4 the next show commenced. wow. I hope all the tourists enjoyed themselves!

千二百二十二：Ministry of Sound

finally can say i went there.

we had an ok time, but maya had gastric pains so we took her back to the hotel first. Novetel hotel is actually quite classy inside. Maya's room looked pretty good. maybe i'lll stay over if i can. stupid hs made me drink a flaming lambo and i am now abit giddy. can't type properly. we didn't get to see the Pure room unfortunately. luckily we went in early, about 10 plus. at 11 plus, the crowds were disgusting. but we left at about 1am..

千二百二十一：Fair Play

I have become a fan of Ichiro!!



I'm watching an episode of Furuhata Vs Ichiro where Ichiro acts as himself.

He murdered a man blackmailing his ficticious brother by letting that guy choose a pill from his hand. There were 2 pills, one with honey and one with poison. And Ichiro would take the one the blackmailer left. Of cos being a show, the guy was unlucky and Ichiro survives to clean up the murder. Unfortunately, against Furuhata, Ichiro didn't have much chance of not being found out. From a moist matchbox left in the car of the blackmailer, Furuhata deduced that it came from a room with a humidifier and went to check with the hotel staff. One of them of cos was Ichiro and he admitted to meeting the blackmailer because he hates to lie (in the show, dunno about real life :p). -.- It was quite funny, in between there's a part where Furuhata will say clues to help the audience think how he deduced the murderer and he said this disclaimer that this show is ficticious and the real Ichiro insisted on using his name but would of course not commit a murder. hee hee. It was so sad.. in the end he was caught in his words by some wordplay and trap by Furuhata. (T.T) boo hoo!!

Oh it's his birthday tomorrow! DOB:October 22, 1973 hehe.. He's oso a libra. yay! He's a member of the Seattle Mariners, and he's doing pretty well in the league i think.

千二百二十：Duet

I received the most recent issue of the SDU magazine today. and I was skimming the events section and then a cable car speed dating event caught my eye. Cable car speed dating?! Apparently you ride the cable car with ur assigned date until the alighting point and u swop with others for another partner for the return ride. meaning.. you ride and ride and ride and ride on the cable car until all the swops are done!? -.- maybe everyone is just in to make more friends bah. :p

Nintendogs is a very addictive game. The dogs are so cute and their points incentive scheme is so good that you want to try to get as much points as u can to unlock more new dogs! i got a Yorkie and a cavalier currently, hoping to get lucky to get the jack russell unlock. hopefully can get it during the next few days? hmm

千二百十九：Death Note

The Show is so Cool!

well. At least, I know that I will be going to get hold of the comic books to read the full story. Although there were lots of puzzling things in the movie, Caleb explained to me one by one until I understood why somethings were that way. As usual, movies lose to books in detail and plot progression. and the actors.. they are not as cool as I imagined the guys to be. the death god was abit too comical and unrealistic for a serious death movie. haha. but I enjoyed the show. I would have enjoyed it better if the girl sitting next to us wasnt chattering away the whole movie. THE WHOLE MOVIE. like a monkey. during those serious parts, where whole cinema was quiet, she would be chattering away to her bf or her gf. not softly. I mean, you might just be getting by reading the sub titles, but you don't have to spoil the whole atmosphere of the show right? after tolerating them for about 2/3 of the show, couldn't stand it, turned to them and asked them to speak softer. the guy said sorry but 2 more minutes later, start chattering again. kaoz. really like monkeys.

千二百十八：Overhaul

hallo!

I've made the site less heavy and slow in its loading time, so that now it is dial-up reader frenly also! ;) tagboard dunno why, it went bust, i've switched to using Chatterbox instead. and updated the links on the sidebar to abit more categorised? hmm.

hope the change is appreciated.. more comments to improve is of course welcome!

千二百十七：The Truth about the Delay

OMG!

Last night the delay was due to a guy falling or jumping in to the tracks at Chinese Garden station at a bout 10.10pm. According to the news this morning, he was sucked towards the oncoming train, which was too late to stop and he was cut into 3 pieces by the train. :X thus the termination of the Boon Lay Line at Jurong East and the cut off in the power, probably for the workers to remove the body from the tracks safely. Haiz.

千二百十六： Terror in the MRT

wah . today. was such a fright.

the return trip home was smooth all the way from Raffles place to Clementi. JL & HS got off there. and i waited for the doors to close. it didn't close after a few minutes, despite the beep beep beep already having sounded. Everyone was quite puzzled. We looked around, nothing seemed amiss. Five minutes later, the train was still at Clementi. hmm. Strange, i thought. About 2 minutes later, the train finally moved off.

Before it reached Jurong Interchange, it stopped again midway. This time at least 10 minutes. And.. half the lights in my carriage went off. I mean, they keep sounding warnings in the train to remind us about being aware of terrorists, that was of course the first thing that came to everyone's minds. We were stuck in the middle of the track, the lights went off with no warning, I think we probably couldn't think of anything else but terrorism attacks even though why would anyone hit the trains at nearly 11pm. so we stood there in the semi-darkness for a while and everyone was trying to look calm and then the lights finally came back on and there was some bullshit announcement finally about "we apologise for the delay. it is due to a train-related incident." quite DUH lor! not due to train then due to ... buses? or airplanes meh??

but the moment they made that announcement, the train started moving towards Jurong again, so it was like pointless. they forced everyone to get off at Jurong, and there were sooo many people crowding the platform for Boon Lay train. probably the train b4 us didn't make it past Jurong as well.

the next train came from Bukit Batok and when it reached JUrong, the lights went off suddenly too. standing on the outside, I could see many people got a shock, even men. heh. but. people still boarded despite no lights in the train. why weren't people more scared!? i was spooked, nevertheless, all those train movies like speed, came into my head and i decided its better to be safe bah. so got my mom to pick me up at jurong instead. think the trains were still running, but as long as i'm not on it if anything happens, i'm thankful.

千二百十五： the flu bug

sickening la. i am sick.

yesterday afternoon it was just an itchy roof in my mouth. it didn't go away, and i began sneezing and sneezing and today its a headache and runny nose liao. dun u just hate having the itchy roof in your mouth feeling?! can only scratch with the tongue and it only gets worse the more you scratch. argh.

and so that headachy feeling followed me the whole day and continuous sneezing.

there were countless blackouts today in the office. something seemed to be wrong with the circuit of the old fan, i think, and in the evening, the circuit just kept jumping (breaking?) and we were testing all the appliances one by one so that we could see which it was. it was weird though, it only began today, everyday we used that fan and nothing happened.

i was looking around xanga today and realised (finally!) that i could actually set the background of it to any picture. so i set it to one of the roses i took in osaka and the rose looks really good. www.xanga.com/booboogal

this other pic is nice oso.


i am so sick of the movement to remove Chen Shui Bian in Taiwan. and the worse thing is that 95.8fm speaks and update about it every day at least 3 times!! very irritating! no other news meh? gah. i better go sleep.

千二百十四： kaoz

i am very much restraining the growing urge to slap my sister for her growing rudeness again.

her handphone is on her hands all the time yet she can't answer a call when my mom calls and i get the brunt of my mom's anger when she can't get my sister. wat's the use of them paying her handphone bill when she dun even answer it when my parents call? and the excuses she give are pretty lame. cca canceled cos of haze, she said she was coming home, then suddenly there were extra lessons? wat if other students went home le? not everyone was in her team wor. abit puzzling huh? so its an hour after she msged us that she's leaving for home and she wasn't home when we reached an hour plus later. so she said she was still half way. an hour later. and then i was like u took an hour to reach there? by car only 15 min, even if wait for bus .. i dun think so long. her rude reply was "my fault izit? " wah. then my fault ah. her next reply was "my fault for the extra lessons izit?" kao. no la. all my fault. that's why i sit here and be the one kena scolded at by my mom. good lor. talk like that. see whether she got any sisters left in future.

千二百十三：Ah Beng Driver

this morning, i encountered an Ah Beng driver.

he really was an ah-beng! he was 20+ years old only and he was supposed to inform some passengers to drop off at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. but he forgot and after he passed that stop, the passenger came up to ask if pass by le. then he was like "oh! Sorry ah i forgot. and he just stopped at the traffic lights and let them alight there! shocked.. thought they weren't allowed to do that even though it was definitely more convenient and the passengers would want that. heh. then he was like "sorry ah, forgot!" to the passengers. heh.