Vorlacks

Does Anyone Still Read This?

2008-09-01T18:26:00.002+08:00

Hey!

Does anyone still read this thing?

I'm back in Singapore in case anyone was wondering...

4 Days 4 Places

2007-10-04T19:26:00.000+08:00

I don’t even remember the last time I blogged.
It’s probably months ago.

Anyway, here’s some photos of my trip I took over the Chinese National Day holiday.

Travelled from Dong Guan where I am up North.
Managed to visit these Shanwei, Shantou, Chaozhou and Xiamen.
Took about 4 days to visit all these places.

Between Shantou and Chaozhou, one of these has got to be my ancestral hometown.
Cos their dialect is very similar to the Teochew that we speak in Singapore.
But I’m not sure which one though.

Anyway, first stop - Shanwei.
Nothing very interesting about the place though.

Only visited a temple.

And there were some school children about.

Shanwei was pretty boring so it was off to Shantou next.
Along the way took a detour to visit this a seaside town.

Seaside town with fishing boats.

Drying salted fish along the roadside.
Amazing amount of flies buzzing around these.
Stank like anything.
I’m not eating Xian Yu Chao Fan for a long time yet.

Had dinner at Pizza Hut in Shantou.
The waitress was speaking Teochew.
Or rather their Shantou dialect that is like what we term as Teochew.
It was pretty interesting and quite a novelty!!

After dinner it was off to Chaozhou.
Strictly speaking, I think Chaozhou is the actual Teochew.
Anyone care to enlighten me on this?

Hotel room in Chaozhou.
Quite cheap compared to the rates I paid for the other nights.

Guess what this fella’s frying?

Char Kway!! That’s brunch!!

Afternoon, headed towards Fujian Province Xiamen town.
Reached the port of Xiamen around 6 in the evening.
Contemplated visiting Taiwan which was just a boat + plane ride away.
But expensive…

Nothing very exciting to see in Xiamen.
Or rather, didn’t feel like seeing much cos it was so crowded.

Just visited a wax museum where they had a figure of Hitler!

Interesting point in Xiamen was when I heard someone curse KNN!!
From Teochew to Hokkien.
Heh Heh…

Finding Xiamen boring, I headed back to Shantou.
Where I decided to be extravagant and stay in a 5 star hotel!!
Meritus Shantou!!

That’s where I managed to get online to MSN for a while.
Been like ages too since I last went online.

Anyway, next day had brunch in Shantou.

Orh Lwah!!

Fishball soup!!
So now we know where all these dishes came from, no?

Anyway after brunch it was back to Dong Guan.
Thereby ending a very exciting 4 day 4 places trip!

Back in Singapore

2007-06-18T21:37:00.000+08:00

This will be a short post.
Kinda an announcment.

I'll be back in SG from 22 Jul 07 till 5 Aug 07.
Flying back with my bro - Justin after he visits me.

So beware laksa, nasi lemak, chicken rice and all you other yummy yummies!!
I'm back!!

Seeya all soon!!

Sitting in a steakhouse

2007-05-01T13:36:00.000+08:00

I'm currently sitting in a steakhouse in Chongqing.

Enjoying the 3 day Labour Day break.

Well I took 1 day leave to extend my holiday to 5 days.

So that's quite a good deal.

Anyway... Chongqing's quite fantastic.

A lot like Singapore in some ways.

Just opposite this steakhouse that I'm at is a food court!!

Exactly Singapore "Kopitiam" style. Check out the photo.

I'm sure this is a Singapore venture into China. So very very sure...

And guess what they have??

Roti Prata!! "印度飞饼" they call it...

Those 2 guys speak Chinese. LOL...

But its a pity they don't have curry to go with it.

They basically stuff the chicken with some curry spices into the prata...

Kinda like a murtabak...

Ok... its kinda hard to blog without a mouse... so I'll just post this for now.

Gonna post more when I get back to the hotel...

Its amazing that the connection here is so good.

Compared to my company's...

Ironic isn't it...

More photos later!!

HK Airport

2007-01-06T15:33:00.000+08:00

Alrite! HK Airport finally has wireless... After travelling through this modern airport so many times, I'm finally able to go online with my laptop...

And its a good thing that they have wireless because my flight is delayed... But well what's 45 minutes when you've been away for almost 2 months...

Anyhow, I should be reaching SG at around 8.45 pm tonight... Back to hot and humid weather... Well and prata... So that's good...

Well that's all for this post... Time to check email... If there's time later I'll post up some photos...

Foodie Pics....

2006-10-01T00:43:00.000+08:00

Its been a while since I posted some food pics...

Guess its time to put up some.

Took these when I went for dinner with my uncle, auntie and grandma.

Dinner was at Big Fish. Ironically, the portions were quite small... For me at least...

Well less talk more photos...

That's about it...

Anyway 6 more days before I fly...
Wonder if I'll be posting again...
I guess I might...
If I'm not too lazy...

4I outing photos

2006-09-24T22:23:00.000+08:00

Its always nice to meet up with old friends.

I would write more about it, but I'm feeling a little tired out from my swim this afternoon.

So anyway, here's some pictures from that day... Let's meet up again soon guys!

Everyone.

Baby Tang, Si Xian, Benjamin and Weiyi.

Ok so I'm too tired even to post pictures... zzz.... time to head off to sleep...

More pictures can be found here.

China and Hong Kong

2006-09-23T14:31:00.000+08:00

Gosh its been a while since I posted... well been busy and lazy... mostly lazy...

I realised that I like to use the dot dot dot a lot... (Yeah that's the one).

I use it in my emails at work... to express disatisfaction, to express displeasure, to express surprise etc etc... It's multi-purpose I tell you...

I use it in my SMS too... And I also use it on MSN and Windows Messenger... It's handy and useful... heh...

Anyway sidetrack aside, back to my original posting. I'm going to China again. Tentatively it'll be in early October (7th departure). This time it'll be a factory visit for another of my customers as well as to visit an exhibition.

Really quite excited as its gonna be my first international exhibition. Attended one in Singapore the last time, but wasn't so well versed then so didn't achieve much...

Hopefully this time round will be able to gather some good leads for business. Will be fun I'm sure...

Anyhoo... I've got another 2 plus weeks before my trip. Looking forward to it as I think its gonna be more interesting than the last few. Mainly because of the exhibition... I bet it'll be an eye-opener...

BTW, I haven't met up with a lot of people for quite a while... Lester, Herman, Pin just to name a few... OI!! Faster leh!! When we gonna meet up? Quick before October!! Hee hee...

Oh and Mr Oyster... When are you going to China or HK? Let's meet up!! IWA!!! Hee hee...

Ivan's blog

2006-09-10T10:40:00.000+08:00

My bro Ivan just set up his blog.
Link is on the side...

Now we're just waiting for Justin to set up his.
But I don't forsee that happening in the near future...

Anyway back to Ivan... Was a pity I wasn't able to send him off at the airport when he left for Dubai as I wasn't in town... But you can read more about that in Huck's post.

So have fun in Dubai bro!
Take care and dun let the sandflies bite!!
Hee hee...

China Pics

2006-09-02T19:56:00.000+08:00

My camera didn't fail me this time. So here are the pictures...

This is the guy I went to meet. We were having breakfast.

Me and the company driver. He's a really nice guy. He "saved" me from the train station. Its a long story...

I had to cross the Chinese border into Hong Kong to extend my visa. But by the time I left it was already very late. So subsequently, I had to catch a really late train back.

Lucky for me, I managed to get him to pick me up at the train station. If not it might have been dangerous to catch a ride back... All this on a Saturday night. He's a nice guy....

Back to breakfast...

I love jiao zhi...

Chinese prata... With corn inside...

Anyway, I went to Guangzhou on another day... here's some photos...

Bar street.

Went on a river cruise. The buildings by the river were all brightly lit.

Like this bridge shot...

Some building with a bird cartoon on it...

Ok so that's about it for now...

Off to China Again...

2006-08-12T19:30:00.000+08:00

Well... nothing much else to say but goodbye SG for 2 weeks.

Hope the place I'm at won't rain that much...

Hope my camera won't fail me again...

Hope I come back with lotsa nice photos this time round!

Seeya all in 2 weeks!!

Router for Sale

2006-08-06T16:14:00.000+08:00

I just bought a new wireless router from my company's National Day sale.

Hence I've got an old router that I would like to sell off.

I know to some people, using my blog as a means of advertising is not exactly the best thing to do. But well, look at it this way... Now you can read my blog and pick up a bargain at the same time!! How's that for killing 2 birds with the same stone??

Anyway the old router that I'm talking about is an SMC Barricade - SMC7004ABR.

Complete with box, power adapter, installation CD, instruction manual blah blah blah...

So here's some photos of the router for sale....

The whole package.

Front view.

Back view.

With power adapter.

So anyone intersted, drop me a comment, email or SMS.
Asking price of $25. Of course I'm open to negotiations...

Crazy Sale

2006-08-06T15:15:00.000+08:00

Let me first warn you.

This post is an advertistment!

I've got a few books sitting around in my cupboard that I would like to sell off.

Here's the price list.

$10 for Principles and Practices of Interconnection Networks (Dally and Towles)
$5 for Marketing (7 Ed) Kerin Berkowitz Hartley Rudelius
$10 for Basic Marketing a Global-Managerial Approach (15 Ed) Perreault / McCarthy
$10 for Introduction to Business Law in Singapore (3rd Ed) Ravi Chandran
$3 for Schaum's 3000 solved problems in Physics
$3 for Schaum's outlines Calculus (4th Ed)
$5 Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes (4th Ed) Papoulis and Unnikrishna
$10 for Internetworking with TCP/IP Principles, Protocols and Archi (4th Ed)
$5 for Thomas' Calculus (10th Ed) (Hardcover) by Finney Weir Giordano
$10 for Advanced Engineering Maths (8th Ed) by Erwin Kreyszig
$10 for Elements of Electromagnetics (3rd Ed) Matthew N.O. Sadiku
$10 for Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices S.O. Kasap
$10 for Semiconductor Physics and Devices (3rd Ed) Donald A. Neamen
$5 for Microelectronic Circuits (3rd Ed) Sedra/Smith
$5 for Digital Design Principles and Practices John F. Wakerly
$5 Principles and Applications of Electrical Engineering (3rd Ed) Giorgio Rizzoni

So maybe you know someone who's currently in NUS or you just wanna buy and resell them for a profit.

Whatever the case, do leave me a comment or drop me a mail if you are interested.

All books must go!!!

If you really cannot afford these crazily low prices, let me know. We can negotiate...

Btw, Penguin, you're one of the few ppl that I know who is still in NUS.
Interested to help me sell these books? We'll split the $$. Heh Heh...

Billy Bombers

2006-07-30T01:02:00.000+08:00

I'm getting lazy to write stuff.

So here goes. Less words more pictures...

That's all folks!!

As always full pictures found here.

More Pictures

2006-07-23T21:24:00.000+08:00

Pictures from lunch today...

Cakes...

And Coffee...

Am now trying something else besides food macros.

Facial close ups...

Nat Geo worthy?

Hee hee... I'm trying... Do leave tips and comments...

On the way back, saw this band playing outside KFC HG mall...

Ecuador huh? Zun bo?

They look like a bunch of locals dressed up in colourful costumes... Together with Colonel Sanders... Bwahahaha...

Back in action

2006-07-22T21:44:00.000+08:00

I'm slowly reviving the shutterbug in me. A little at least...

Its been quite a while since I just went around with my camera taking photos.

Mainly because I haven't really had much free time. Anyway yesterday and today I had the chance to take some photos. Here they are...

Went to Xin Wang after Oyster's ROM ceremony yesterday! Oyster!! Send me the photos from your ceremony!! And of course the video!!

From yesterday's supper with some of the Soulezians.

Lili...

Alex...

And here's some of the shots from today.

Just some flats... Yeah I was bored waiting for the bus... Darn 87...

Dinner with Syrix and his friend at Carl's Jr. Its his first time there... Supposed to place the tag at the edge of the table, not hold it!! Hiak Hiak...

My current fav type of shots. Food macros!!

Crissed cut fries. Nice...

Intersting sight along the way to Esplanade... A bunch of people sitting in the display window...

That's all for now.

Will probably have more after my brother's birthday lunch tomorrow...

Graduation...

2006-07-15T20:02:00.000+08:00

I find that my linguistic skills are deteriorating. For example, I had to search dictionary.com to confirm the spelling of "de·te·ri·o·rat·ing".

I'm not going to make excuses for the drop in my English standard, but let's just say that 我现在会用中文发邮件。。。 Heh heh...

Anyway back to the topic on hand. Commencement was on Thursday evening.

I thought I would be late as I had a conference call at 6, but thankfully it was cancelled. So I managed to reach UCC ard 6.30 pm.

Enough time to hang around a bit and try to figure out how on earth that gown was supposed to go on. I only managed to borrow it from Ivan the night before (Thanks bro!!), so I didn't have a chance to try it on.

Anyway, after you put it on. It looks something like that...

The hat thingy (what on earth is it called? Graduation cap?) was borrowed from Syrix. The one I borrowed from Ivan was too small... I looked ridiculous with it sitting halfway on my head...

There to witness the ceremony were my sister and father.

Had a chance to meet up with some of my pals.

The ceremony was spectacularly boring... So nothing much on that.

After that, went for dinner/supper at Xin Wang. Nothing much on that also.

I think I need to come back here to post more often... Before I really start screwing up my England...

As usual, more pictures can be found here.

Back!!

2006-07-09T20:51:00.000+08:00

I'm finally back...

After 2 weeks in China. Too bad my camera died on me there. So there won't be much photos.

I did buy a disposable camera during my trip to HK and Shenzhen but the quality of disposable cameras are simply... disposable.

Guess I won't be posting much now. Am a little lazy. Am a little tired. Am also a little busy with work.

I'll try to post more at a later date.

For now... Zzzz....

Here I go again...

2006-06-25T00:54:00.000+08:00

In abt 7 hours time I'll be on a plane to China again.

This time it'll be for 2 weeks.

Not sure if I can blog from there. If not, I'll update this again in 2 weeks time.

Seeya All!!!

Bye Bye Shoutbox...

2006-06-18T01:41:00.000+08:00

I've decided to remove the shoutbox from my blog.

There's been too much spam on it.

So there. Bye Bye shoutbox...

Money Saver!!

2006-06-11T20:05:00.000+08:00

I just paid off my laptop loan. That effectively leaves me with nothing to spend for the rest of the month...

I know I could pay it off in installments but I guess it feels better to be debt-free.

So anyway, now that I've got to try and survive the rest of the month by eating grass. I've also gotta make sure I don't spend too much during the weekends.

Here's where something Syrix passed to me last weekend came in extremely handy. He handed me DOTA along with a set of instructions on how to configure so that I can play it without the CD. Cool!!

So now that I've installed it. I've spent the better part of the afternoon playing with QW.

Heh heh... cheap and fun way to spend the weekend...

I'm off for another round. This time with Syrix and his friend!!

Dinner at Xin Wang

2006-06-04T22:43:00.000+08:00

Just some pictures from tonight's dinner with Penguin and Weiyi.

Fried noodles Macau style. Essentially Chinese style maggie goreng...

Rice with black pepper chicken chop. This one's not too bad. But a little pricey.

Gluttinous rice in lotus leaves. This one's alright, not fantastic...

Twin photo!! ;)

And so the weekend ends... Here we go again... Another week...

CPE outing

2006-06-04T17:07:00.000+08:00

After lunch, where I "smoked" (see previous post), I met up with some of the CPE guys for an outing.

Being computer engineers, where else could we go to but... PC FAIR!!! Haha...

It was super crowded and squeezy. And not to mention stuffy and hot. Didn't have any intention to get anything so just walked around a bit and then left.

Stanley bought stuff though.

He got a new gaming mouse. Looks like he's gonna be DOMINATING in DOTA...

After shopping we went for dinner at Imperial Treasure.

Kind of a Crystal Jade copy.

I ordered some Sichuan noodles. Turns out to be over-priced satay bee-hoon.

Looks really "appetizing" doesn't it? euck...

Fun with sepia...

Stanley and Jerry.

Kenny.

Fun with BW.

Qingwei.

Think I should try and install WC3. Then can join in the DOTA sessions...

No Smoking!!

2006-06-04T16:42:00.000+08:00

Just some fun photos I took during lunch yesterday. Check it out.

"No Smoking"? Bo chup...

I even decided to light up at the table. Wahaha...

Anyway those are just chocolate sticks. Not real cigarettes. Bought them from Hong Kong. Pretty interesting...

I smoke, but only during presentations. I don't smoke for real!! ;)

Back from China!

2006-05-28T02:17:00.000+08:00

I'm back!! HaHa. The China experience is quite amazing. I shall start from the beginning.

Day 1

Depart Singapore. Arrive Hong Kong. Didn't even have a chance to really take in the sights of Hong Kong before I found myself crossing the border to China. First time I've crossed customs so many times in a day.

After arriving in China, went to the factory and settled down in my room. Its pretty nice, check it out.

Double room occupied by 1 person (Me). Big bed, hot water flask, cupboard...

Day 2

Start work. Went on a tour of the factory to see how things work. Also got to know the people in the factory. Not bad, quite an intersting tour.

Went out to a local restaurant for lunch. Food is really oily and salty. But was already expecting that. Good thing its very cheap.

Day 3

Met up with the customers. Quite intersting experience. Exchange name cards and all. Heh...

My customer from Ecuador. Really nice and friendly guy. First time I've met someone from there. This seems like this is a trip of many firsts.

Day4

Work work work.
Meeting meeting meeting...
Oh well. It is a working trip after all...

Day 5

See above...

Day 6

Pretty intersting day. Had a meeting with people from 6 different countries. Ecuador, Isreal, Philipines, China, Singapore and Japan. Mini UN conference?

I think this fits very nicely with the IWA membership. Right Oyster and Penguin?

Day 7

Pack up and leave. Mad rush to change from mini-van to train to MTR (something like MRT) to bus to plane. Shack...

So there you go, 1 week in China. Think my Mandarin is now a little bit better. Heh...

Too bad I didn't have time to take as many pictures. So that's about all I have for now. I'm quite tired... time to sleep...

Hello from China

2006-05-24T07:49:00.000+08:00

Yo!! How's everyone??

Just a quick post before I start work.

China's nice.

Food's a little salty and oily, but pretty good otherwise.

Been pretty busy with work. Meeting customers and all. But at least when I bring them out for meals, I get to eat some nice stuff.

Haven't tried the canteen food here though. Heard its like army food. So I guess I'll stick to the restaurants and such.

Alritey then, its back to work!! IUWA W4!!!! WA WA WA!!!

Pictures when I get back!!

PS: Penguin, I still meet the one post a week requirement. Heh heh...

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2006-05-21T00:01:00.000+08:00

All my bags are packed

Im ready to go
Im standin here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin
Its early morn
The taxis waitin
Hes blowin his horn
Already Im so lonesome
I could die...

Yep in 13 hours I'll be leaving on a jet plane to Hong Kong. Don't know why they don't book me on a direct flight into Guangdong. Maybe its cheaper to get to Guangdong via Hong Kong. *shrug*

Anyway, all my bags are packed. I'm ready to go.

Check out the travel bag I'll be carrying.

Marked with a yellow ribbon for easy identification. I think its pretty big (compare it with the chair) for five days. But its the first time I'm going there. So better to be more prepared.

Anyway, that's all for now. This is probably the last post before I leave. See you all when I get back!!

Flying Tomorrow...

2006-05-20T18:02:00.000+08:00

Its amazing how much stuff I've to bring for a one week trip.

Clothes, shoes, slippers, handphone charger, toiletries, work clothes (which I hope won't crumple too much). And my notes.

Had to borrow a few suitcases to find one that fits. Was hoping to squeeze the stuff into a small travelling case but in the end had to use quite a big one. And there doesn't seem to be much room left...

Anyway, can't think of much else to post right now. Guess I'll post again when I'm back. Hopefully I'll have time to take photos over there.

Actually this post is to avoid the WA fine. Haha... don't think I'll post when I'm over there. Not sure if I'll have time to.

Oh by the way, WA has gone international. We're now IWA (International Workaholics Anonymous). Do find out more about this recent development on Penguin's blog.

China here I come!!

2006-05-17T23:55:00.000+08:00

So today's my 7th day at work and guess what my B tells me.

B: "I'm going to China on Sunday. Will arrange for you to go also."
Me: "Err... OK!"

*Eyes brighten up, um cheo!!*

Woohoo!! So I guess I do get a graduation trip after all. Though its gonna be a work trip, I'm going overseas nonetheless!! And not just to Pulau Ubin!!

Fly to Hong Kong, then train to Dong Guan, Guangdong. So I get a 2 city tour with accomodation and food provided. How cool is that!! Wahah...

I'm sure all you seasoned business travellers are probably yawning in boredom, but its my first business trip!! So give me a break!! Let me savour the novelty of it all!!

Not sure how much time I would have to myself. Guess Monday to Friday would be work and entertaining customers. Then I'm back on Saturday.

But I think I might have a few hours to spare in the evenings in Dong Guan. And a few hours before I fly back in Hong Kong. Will try and do some touristy stuff then. Like photos and stuff!!

So I guess I'll stop here for now. Gotta go sleep. Tom's gonna be another day.

PS: Will be checking results in China! First time I checked results in NUS I was in Vietnam, last time I check results in NUS I'll be in China. How cool is that!!

Fishy Day

2006-05-13T11:26:00.000+08:00

Was a really fishy day today.

First up was lunch at Fish and Co Suntec with Fadz, Zhong and KT.

Food was sub-standard. Waiter speaks too fast. Table stinks of some rancid stuff. All in all, I guess I won't be going back there unless something changes.

Dessert after lunch was better. We went to Andersen's of Denmark where we had the Family Fondue. Check it out.

Family fondue.

Cookies, cones and marshmallows.

Fresh fruits.

Ice-cream.

Zhong, Fadz, me and KT.

Was a good catch up session for the four of us.

After that, was dinner at Manhattan Fish Market with Cupid, Howard, Penguin and Weiyi.

Guess it was a good way for me to compare the two places and see which was better. Wahaha... So here's what was on the menu.

Baugette with garlic butter sauce. This is nice!! Love the garlic butter sauce. Though its probably extremely rich and sinful.

Grilled platter for two. This is nicer than the fried platter. The stuff is less oily.

Fried platter for two.

After dinner, went shopping for drawers at Carrefour. Apparently Penguin is facing a turf war for bench space in her lab. So she needs to get drawers to organise her territory!!

After that, went over to TCC at Selegie to meet up with Angel and Weihong for coffee.

Angel, Penguin and Penguin Jr.

Took Twins photo again. Heh heh...

Anti-Social couples reading newspapers... Tsk Tsk...

Just two photos to show the Evaluative White Balance function that Hucks taught me a while back.

With auto white balance.

With evaluative white balance.

Quite an amazing difference. Thanks for the tip bro.

More photos can be seen here.

Teochew Dinner

2006-05-12T10:40:00.000+08:00

Had dinner with my family at this Teochew Restaurant in Amoy Street. Was a Mother's Day celebration of sorts with the GoH being my grandma.

Just some pictures from dinner.

Goose meat with dau guah.

Oyster omelette.

Ngor hiam and other assorted fried stuff.

Was having fun with my cousin. Wahaha... monkey faces and ghostly eyes!! Check it out.

The little fella.

Normal shot.

Piggy faced...

What stinks??

Ghostly face.

Cute?

Check out the rest of the pictures here.

Cable Ski !!

2006-05-12T03:45:00.000+08:00

Its the long weekend!! Woohoo!! All weekends should be long!

Anyway on the first day of the long weekend, I went to cable ski at ECP with Shuying and Derrick. (Hope I spelt his name correctly!)

Derrick, Shuying and me.

I tried out the real wakeboard and attempted to do some "stunts". Heh... Simple stuff like jump starts and jumping in the water. Check out the video below.

Camera woman - Shuying.
Music - Hucks. (Thanks bro, your recomendations rock!)
"Stunts" - yours truly.

The weather that day was great also. Bright and sunny. Fortunately I had my SPF 130 "gu niang" sunblock. So I didn't get roasted!

After 2 hours of arm-aching fun, we headed to the hawker centre for a feast. On the menu...

Chicken wings.

Satay! There was more stuff like sotong and sting ray, but was too hungry to take photos of those.

Good lunch after good morning of fun!! Good times!!

Catch the rest of the photos here.

BBQ Photos

2006-05-12T03:06:00.000+08:00

As promised, here are the BBQ photos. Enjoy.

Sucked In...

2006-05-12T02:38:00.000+08:00

I got my first taste of being totally sucked into work.

It was 7.30 pm on the eve of a public holiday and I was still in office. Trying to figure out how the hell to solve some problem.

Well 7.30 by some people's standards is early, but not where I was today. The whole office was empty except me and another person.

Kinda demoralising... Especially when I was being held back from a wonderful BBQ with the EA lvl 2 ppl.

Anyway, enough about work. The BBQ was great. Took photos as usual. Though not as much as I would have liked to.

I was late getting there despite taking a cab down. Last to arrive. Lucky there was still food. Lots of it...

Will upload photos shortly. Once I transfer them out of my camera....

It's been a while...

2006-05-10T23:25:00.000+08:00

My last entry was May 4th. That's abt a week ago. Can't really remember what happened between then and now but I shall try.

I remember going to the cable ski park on Friday. Went with E Hunt, Lipien and her brother. Was really cool. Tried out the pro board this time round.

Was a little heavier. But I think it was more stable once I got going. Plus, I did jumping starts!! Looks cool but actually its just a very simple trick. Haha...

Oh and I think I managed to jump on the go. But most of the time, that lands me right smack in the water, knocking the wind out of me. I think I probably banged my head up quite a bit. Note-to-self, use a helmet you dick...

Saturday, voted. Then supper with Hongjiang, Xiumei and Prissy.

Think that's the evil eye she gives her students...

Sunday was ECE teambuilding day. After a quick lunch at Parkway, we headed over to Grand Link Square where we spent the afternoon of my last day of freedom fragging each other silly.

DOTA is really fun. And we managed to get Jerry, Kenny and Qingwei hooked on it.

Jerry's supposed to pass me the CD so I can install on my laptop and we can play over the net. But I think with the practice he's been having, he's gonna go on a KILLING SPREE!!

And so comes Monday. First day of work!! Its quite intersting. The job didn't quite turn out to be what I thought it would be. But I think this is better. I think i'm gonna learn a lot more from this.

And today, third day of work. Made a few long distance calls to China. Called up my customer. Call China again. Email Email Email. Tonnes and Tonnes of emails... Wonder what tomorrow will bring. Shall go sleep and find out in 6 hours...

The last few days...

2006-05-04T02:45:00.000+08:00

I realised I haven't been blogging for the last few days. So here's an update (as per WA requirements).

The last entry was about Saturday, so I guess I'll start from Sunday when I went to Ubin with Von to go take pictures. Here are some of them.

One of the first few things we saw. Something rotting. Think it could be a fish or something. Lots of flies all over it. Penguin, this one's for you. Another disgusting photo to go with whatever you're having for lunch or dinner.

Saw this lizard while resting at one of the huts. Managed to get quite close to it. But not as close as I got to the next one.

Managed to go right up to this one. Enough for me to stroke it on the back. Not with my hand though. Still want my fingers. So I used a stick to stroke it on its back. It started hissing and kind of flattened itself out a little.

Was pretty surprised it didn't run away. But when I touched its tail. It scrambled away surprisingly fast.

Quite a big grasshopper. Compare it to the mountain bike tyre.

That's lunch. Potato salad, hotdog, tuna and bread.

Had fun and donated blood to the mosquito population at the same time.

Monday. Went shopping for work clothes. Managed to settle most things except a pair of shoes. Spent quite a lot but at least most of the items were discounted. Heh...

Tuesday. Back in school to do the **#%!#*$_!(*$ paper. To put it mildly, it's F**KING IRRITATING.

Met Angel and Penguin for dinner at Cafe Cartel. Penguin's hair is now shorter than mine. We need another twins photo, Penguin. Was a good dinner. Nice food, good company.

Wednesday. Back in school AGAIN!! &&**$%&#$*%*(#

Went for dinner with E Hunt at HarbourFront. Went for a drink at Harry's after. We've been talking about going for a drink for months. Haha...

That's pretty much what happened the last few days. Well its also the last few days before I start work on Monday. Been trying to plan it more fun stuff. Wakeboarding on Friday, LAN on Saturday. Maybe Sentosa on Sunday. Sounds good... :)

Woopee!!

2006-04-30T01:15:00.000+08:00

Last paper today!! Wahaha...

Anyway it was an essay type paper. The kind where you write essays until you can't feel your fingers and your hand turns blue...

No shit. It really turns my hand blue. Check it out...

Happens all the time. Everytime I have an essay exam, I will write until my hand turns blue. From the ink that is...

Anyway after the paper, I hung ard in sch waiting for...

Pizza Dinner!! With the EA lvl 2 ppl.

Organised by my bro Justin. He rounded up all his CE kakis and got a whole gang of 20 people down for a pizza feast. Check out the neatly arranged table and nicely laid out pizzas.

Btw, he's organising a D&D (aka Prom) for his CE kakis. LOL... Wonder who will be the CE Prom Queen and Prom King...

Anyway back to the party. Besides good food, there was also entertainment.

Bridge as usual.

And Scrabble too!

What a nice way to spend the first few hours of unemployment.

Hmm... Actually the first few hours were spent playing Diablo II. But I guess this counts too. :D

2006-04-28T23:45:00.000+08:00

This is my last post as a student.

In approximately 9 hours, I would be stepping into what could possibly be the last exam of my life.

2 hours later, I will emerge. Most probably dazed, brain dead and unemployed. Geez, I’m really looking forward to that!!

Anyway the next time you hear from me, I would be a slacker. A loafer. A bum. A statistic.

I wonder what I would be blogging about then...

Seeya in 11 hours...

Singapore Weather

2006-04-28T17:06:00.000+08:00

Was just talking to Oyster about the weather. He was saying that in his country, there are four seasons. And now it is spring, or the leftover of winter. Quite cold and all...

So I was telling him that Singapore has 2 seasons. You know hot and hotter. But then he corrected me and told me that Singapore has 3 seasons. (Oyster knows a lot about my country, too bad I don't know as much about his country...)

Anyway according to him, the 3 seasons in Singapore are:

"Zhua" which is "hot" in dialect. (Told you Oyster knows a lot about my country, even the language!)

The second season is "Khan Phua Zhua", also in dialect. If you don't understand, call me. I'll explain.

The third and last season is "Khan Phua Si Lang Zhua" (dialect).

Well, I must say that he is right. There are indeed 3 seasons in Singapore.

I suppose now we must be experiencing the "Khan Phua Si Lang Zhua" season. A short walk to the coffeshop leaves me pespiring as if I'd just completed a 2.4 run. "Khan Phua Si Lang Zhua" indeed.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I'm totally sick of my legal (environment of business) exam notes. That's why I decided to just post some nonsense.

Now that I'm done, its back to more of the Companies Act and the "Khan Phua Si Lang Zhua" weather...

For all Simpsons Fans

2006-04-26T13:59:00.000+08:00

I'm a Simpsons fan. And here's something that I think all Simpsons fans should take a look at.

Amazing... Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer are really good.

Anyone know of anything similar for Nancy Cartwright?

Disgusting TV

2006-04-25T22:48:00.000+08:00

For a TV addict, I'm usually quite easy going on what the goggle box spews out. But today, I simply couldn't sit through what was being shown.

My father was watching "Police and Thief" on CH5. So I sat down with my orange like I usually do to watch. But the show was so downright lousy that after 5 mins I couldn't bear to torture myself further.

I guess this show has just reinforced my perception of how low the quality of local comedy shows really is. The ridiculous storyline, the over-exaggarated acting and feeble attempt to draw on the fame of a more popular sitcom proved a lethal combination for TV disaster.

Maybe I'm spoilt by the shows on cable. That's why when I go back to watching CH5, the quality of local programs seem to be terrible. But I somehow don't think that's the case for this episode of "Police and Thief". I doubt anyone could have brought themselves to laugh at something this disgusting.

Anyway, I'm done being an armchair critic. So go back to whatever you're doing. But be warned, stay away from CH5 on Tuesdays at 8pm.

Pest Busters

2006-04-24T13:59:00.000+08:00

If there's somethin' strange on your window sill

Who ya gonna call (pestbusters)

If it's somethin' brown an it won't look good

Who ya gonna call (pestbusters)

Wahaha... ok enough of the lame lyrics.

I killed today.

It was a long, drawn out hunt lasting 2 days. But today, I got it.

Here's the quarry.

Yep I know, its only a common house lizard! But it was very irritating.

I first noticed it running around near the window of my room. After a short chase, it took cover in a small inaccessible hole. Extermely fast little fella. Given its size, its agility is pretty remarkable.

As a comparison, here's a fifty cent coin beside its head.

Anyway, after it went into hiding on the first day, I decided not to chase it. Hoping that it would just find its way out the open window.

But well, it decided not to.

The next day, I spotted it again. Hiding by the window sill. Chased it about a bit, but it went into hiding again.

Once again I gave it an avenue of escape via an open window. But it still refused.

Now it was really starting to bug me. So I went into chemical warfare. Insecticide. Gassed its hiding area hoping to flush it out. But it was useless...

Then it made its fatal mistake. It ran into the open. What followed was a chase from room to room. Well you know how it ended. I got it, immobilised it and took its photo.

The end.

Anyway now that you've wasted 5 mins reading a totally bo liao post. Go back to whatever you're doing....

Running Again

2006-04-20T15:06:00.000+08:00

Its been ages since I last had any form of exercise. So it was nice to go for a jog (it was a slow jog, not a run) yesterday.

The weather had finally cleared up and I headed off to Punggol Park. Its been a while since I last put on those shoes. I think the last time could be during NUS Bi. Yep, its been that long.

Anyway wasn't a very long jog. Stopped after 2 rounds, giving a grand total of 2.4 km. Woohoo!!

Its amazing how fast my fitness drops when I don't do anything to maintain it. Yet it takes so much effort to bring it back up again. Gotta keep working at it...

I must remind myself to go for another run soon. Maybe the next time its not raining in the evening...

CPE Sushi

2006-04-18T21:35:00.000+08:00

Went for sushi buffet with some of the CPE guys yestday. Was too tired to blog abt it yesterday. Hence the post today.

Lunch was at...

Actually it was the Sakura International buffet that we had. But there was sushi too.

I'm not usually a prawn fan. Mainly because I'm lazy to peel them. But for these, I made an exception.

Prawn sushi. The yellow plates cost more. And I think I had about four of these plates. Yum!!

Here's a shot of everyone. We were all from the same EE3001 group. Except Jerry (extreme right). Guess this is our long awaited sPARKs outing. Heh...

After eating our fill, we went LAN gaming near Paya Lebar MRT station. Had four hours of fragging fun!! By the time we were done, I was whacked. Totally shacked out but it was absolutely fun.

Hopefully we can go for another round of gaming after exams or something. I'm sure we all have old scores to settle!! Wahahaha...

Full set of photos can be viewed here.

Box Shopping

2006-04-17T01:53:00.000+08:00

Went box shopping with my twin just now.

PenguinOwner wanted to get stackable boxes so met her for dinner at PS.

Tried this stall at the foodcourt that sells Taiwanese food. Had some chicken in wine sauce. Well turns out it kinda tastes sweet and sour. Pretty much like the Chicken in Red Wine sauce from Tuk Tuk.

And they have this bowl of soup that is heated by some solid fuel fire. I wonder if its a good idea to have that in such close proximity to my nose. Aren't the fumes from that supposed to be poisonous?

Anyway back to the boxes. PenguinOwner got what she wanted.

She seems really pleased with her two boxes. Yep, they're stackable.

And it was time for another twin photo.

Orange and dark blue. We were trying to get NUS colours, since we were both still in s c h (its a taboo word, don't say it out loud).

So that marks the end of the long weekend. Kinda. Tom will be sushi day with the CPE guys. More like ECE. We've got a couple of EE fellas coming along too. :)

Return to Sanity

2006-04-16T02:23:00.000+08:00

For quite a few weeks now, life has been insane. Its been nothing but projects and deadlines.

Well its finally almost over. One irritating paper left to do. One more report. And one more exam and it'll be truly over.

But at least its enough of a step down from insanity for me to experience a more human life over the last few days.

So here's a round up of the last few days since CA4.

Wed, met Lili for dinner at Manhattan Fish Market. After that we went MP3 hunting. Along the way, Lili was totally mesmerized by the show Samurai which happened to be showing on one of the promotional TVs.

Well in particular, she was mesmerized by Ken Watanabe. I always thought he had a very "vulgar" sounding name.... But I think its just me.

/*********************************************/

Thursday, slept in. For the first time in a long time. Doubt it made up for the numerous sleepless nights though. Still feeling sleepy. Probably gonna take a while more to pay back the sleep debt I accumulated over the last few weeks. Went to visit my grandma who just checked out of her "hotel" (SGH) after an op.

/*********************************************/

Friday, met up with Von for dinner. Went down to Country Mana at Suntec. Check out the feast!

Spring Chicken and Chicken Marinata (I think).

After dinner, she mentioned something about peanut soup. That set off cravings for tang yuan in peanut soup. And we went off on a peanut soup hunt.

Searched 2 food courts to no avail. Had to settle for drinks at Starbucks. But we'll get that someday!!

/*********************************************/

Saturday, back to visit grandma again. Had dinner there too. Another feast. Check it out.

The very meaty dinner spread.

Well, since everyone's complaining that there's always too many food pics on my blog. And they are always hungry after looking at them, here's one to turn your stomach inside out. Don't look if you just ate.

Grandma's operation scar.

I'm a disgusting ass, I know. Wahahaha... Too bad for you...

Back to dinner. Here's my contribution to the dinner table.

Sweet and sour pork. I know this shot is totally irrelevant and breaks the flow of the story. But I'm sure it'll be a while before you next eat sweet and sour pork!! Wahaha... I'm evil...

/*********************************************/

After dinner, I got an sms for another kidnap operation. Read about the last one here. This time Angel was the mastermind. And she roped in her bf, Weihong, as an accomplice. He was the getaway driver.

The kidnapping couple.

The victims. Weiyi and Lili. They didn't put up that much of a struggle as the last victim. Hiak Hiak.

Well, its good to have life return to normal. Now I can't wait for the 29th of April.

Last exam as an undergrad!!! WOOHOO!!!

PS: The line breaks are an occupational hazard. Geeks would know what I'm talking abt. If you don't, good for you.

And so it ends...

2006-04-13T12:59:00.000+08:00

CA4 is over. Woohoo!!

I'm glad I made it through alive. Not unscathed but alive.

Now all that is left is that damn paper and some loose ends and I'll be done.

Ball Racer Xtreme!!

2006-04-10T01:27:00.000+08:00

Check out the latest new game in town - Ball Racer Xtreme!!

From the guys that brought you Ketchup Wars, comes a whole new multiplayer game to pit you against your friends.

Wahaha ok enough of the advertising BS. Anyway Ball Racer Xtreme is the result of a game design project.

As with Ketchup Wars, I'm the Flash guy in the team. But this time round, I did more than just the interface. Gameplay and multiplayer functionality was client side, ie my job.

Anyway just took it for a test run playing against my sister. Its hard. Maybe I'm lousy.

In the end had to resort to typing cheat code (I designed the gameplay, I know all the cheats!!) to win one round... She won the rest.

Tomorrow, we're gonna integrate MXR controls. Should be fun as it will add a whole new dimension to the game.

Stay tuned geeks for the next update!

Birthdays are fun...

2006-04-08T00:10:00.000+08:00

Birthdays are always fun. Provided its not yours. Wahaha...

I'm sure Ivan, Qingwei and Xiao Bai can attest to that. For two years running, they have been superbly sabo-ed during their combined birthday celebration.

Read about what happened to them last year in this post from Lester's blog.

This year, the birthday celebration was held at Sakura @ Parkway. And here's a video of what happened.

Woohoo!! Wasabi!!! Wahahha...

You can read a full description of the whole event in this other post from Lester.

Anyway, I'm sure the three of them had a "memorable" birthday. Happy Birthday you guys! We'll get you again next year...

As usual full photos from the event can be found here.

Better quality video can be viewed here.

What if...

2006-04-07T01:13:00.000+08:00

I was reading the following posts on PenguinOwner's and Oyster's blog.

The question was "What if there are no pharmacists in Singapore?".

Think the posts started off here. The comments are pretty interesting.

Anyway I started to wonder...

"What if there are no Computer Engineers in Singapore?"

I wonder how different life would be.

I know there are a couple of CPE ppl who will read this post. So leave a comment and share your views.

For the non CPE ppl, can you imagine life without us? Hiak Hiak...

My Twin

2006-04-06T15:51:00.000+08:00

I always knew I had an (evil) twin.

Heh heh, ok I'm kidding abt the evil part. She's not evil. Its Penguin that's evil. PenguinOwner (the twin in question) is not.

Anyway here are some photos of me and my twin.

Wahaha...

More twin photos can be found at PenguinOwner's blog.

Did you ever notice...

2006-04-05T02:38:00.000+08:00

That Faith always has this look on her face after a good meal.

Yep that's the look.

The look of contentment and satisfaction. Was just looking at the photos from today when I noticed the similarity with another outing a while back.

That look again!

Haha... Faith is sooo gonna kill me for publishing this...

Tuk Tuk Dinner

2006-04-05T01:41:00.000+08:00

Had dinner at this Thai restaurant called Tuk Tuk in Suntec City. It had one of those ala carte buffets.

We didn't intend to have the buffet initially. But after some simple math, we figured that it was more worth it to just have the buffet.

I guess we didn't regret making that decision. The spread was a total of 15 dishes and we got to try all of them. We also had some dishes twice even thrice. Like...

Omelette. I liked this so had it twice.

Chicken in red wine sauce. Weihong and I liked this. But somehow Angel and Faith don't. Maybe its a guy thing. Wahaha...

Penguin Owner thinks it tastes like sweet and sour with nothing red wine-ish abt it... So I guess its One Dish Many Opinions.

This one's called Three Kingdom. I don't think its particularly nice. Its got fish maw, which I don't take. But it makes for a good shot cos its colourful.

An assortment of cakes for dessert.

This is another dessert. I don't know what its called. But to me, its Butt-Cakes. Don't they just look like butt cheeks? LOL...

Penguin wanted to try the fish.

But Faith forced him to eat chilli. Tsk Tsk. So mean...

Took the chance to have our Twins photo shoot. Hahaha.

Twins - Vorlacks and Penguin Owner. So can you tell who's the younger twin?

Oh we met Eve along the way too.

Pharmacists talking shop. The rest of us became invisible. :(

To end off this post, I shall leave you with one of the mysteries of Thai food.

What the hell is this??

It was with the desserts. And next to the coffee. It was too sweet to be eaten on its own. Yet there didn't seem to be anything that goes with it. Hmm... Any guesses?

Toa Payoh Thai Food

2006-04-01T18:16:00.000+08:00

The food featured here is usually of pretty acceptable standards.

Those in this post are not.

Well half of its not too bad. But the other half simply cannot make it.

Let me show you what I'm talking about.

Had lunch with my auntie and grandma at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh.

Hawker centre was above a wet market.

Started off with drinks. Chin chao plus soya bean equals...

Then came chicken wings from a seperate stall. These were pretty good.

The rest of the stuff came from here.

Thai Cuisine.

The fried noodles were not too bad. Phad Thai. Not sure if I spelt it right.

Those two were the better dishes. The next two simply cannot make it.

Chicken Green Curry. The only ingredients were chicken and long beans... And the long beans were a bit hard. Thumbs down.

Chicken Tom Yam. The soup was extremely thin. And had only a trace of Tom Yam taste. In fact, it was more like chilli-ed water. Double thumbs down...

So, if you're looking for Thai food, Toa Payoh's not the place to go.

Wakeboarding in Convo Gown

2006-03-31T02:27:00.000+08:00

Yep, before I forget.

I'm supposed to help publicise this event - "E Hunt Wakeboarding in Convo Gown!!"

It all started with a post career talk dinner. Was at Munchie Monkeys with E Hunt and Qinghui.

Somehow, we (ok I started it) dared E Hunt into wakeboarding with his convo gown. Complete with the mortar board!!

Well the stakes for now is a free dinner for E Hunt at Pasta Fresca courtesy of Qinghui and I. Anyone wanna up the stakes?

If not do remember to check back here to find out when the event will take place. You are more than welcome to drop by ECP to witness this spectale. Wahaha...

So now what?

2006-03-31T02:11:00.000+08:00

So now what?

That was the kind of feeling I had after handing in my draft thesis and technical paper today. Definitely not the end yet, but it sure feels good to have reached this milestone in the long journey.

There's still work to be done, but well at least that's a load off my mind. Plus its a good sign that the finishing point is just up ahead. ;)

Anyway after submitting the thesis, I went for yet another career seminar with some of the CPE fellas. Quite an intersting experience. They had interviewers on the spot.

And here I was having stayed up the whole night, unshaven, unshowered and totally wooly-headed going for an interview. In a T-shirt and cargo pants to boot.

Thankfully, it wasn't a real interview. More like a session for the "interviewer" to tell us more about what they do. And for us to ask questions. Oh well, that's good I guess.

Anyway dropped of my resume with them. I hope I get a call...

On the subject of interviews. After the second interview I had on Tuesday, I'm going for my third interview tommorow. Unfortunately, its for a position that I am not keen on. But well, always good to keep the doors open. No?

Hmm... I think I should sleep. I've been awake since abt 8 the day before. That makes it around 40 hours. Minus the hour nap I had on the bus, 39 hours. WooHoo!! Feel the HIGH!!!

Shot after shot

2006-03-28T03:13:00.000+08:00

I just fired off another application letter.

This time for a positon that seemed pretty interesting. Also seemed like something that I would be pretty keen to do. Hopefully I get a call. Keeping my fingers crossed. X

Shall not talk too much about it. Shall let it remain P & C online. If you really want to know, ask me directly. :p

Anyway should be sleeping now. Got an interview tomorrow. But I'm still pretty undecided about this position. Once again it'll be P & C online. Ask if you are really curious. Heh heh...

Happy Birthday

2006-03-26T15:36:00.000+08:00

Went for lunch with my family today. My father's birthday was on Fri. So kinda a belated lunch celebration.

Had Western food at...

The famous 5 Star western at Hougang Central.

My brother had mixed grill.

And chicken rice. Well not all the chicken rice. I had some too. :p

I had my usual. Chicken cutlet with black pepper sauce.

Nope its not juicy and succulent chicken. Its just oil...

Just a shot of fries...

A slice of the cake I bought for my father on Thurs after I earned 50 bucks doing a simple Flash assignment. Heh Heh...

First Email to Arrive!!

2006-03-23T16:40:00.000+08:00

20 minutes after I posted my last entry. I got an email. Check it out!!

Penguinowner emailed me!! Wahaha...

Hopefully she doesn't get into trouble with boss for slacking. Oops... I mean sending email to WA members...

Ok I'm off for a haircut...

8.118 GB

2006-03-23T16:03:00.000+08:00

I was just counting the amount of email space I actually have online.

It came to a whopping 8.118GB !!! That's almost half the hard disk size of my laptop!!

This comes from having 3 gmail accounts each having 2706 MB of space. Didn't bother counting the hotmail accounts. One of them is 250MB and the other is a miserable 2MB. Hotmail so "kiam siap" (stingy)...

So why on earth does anyone need 8GB of email space? Its not like I will ever receive that much email also. Well unless I get spammed. But I don't sign up for junk using my gmail accounts. That's what the hotmail accounts are for. Heh heh...

Anyway back to what I use the gmail accounts for. One of them is for normal correspondence. The other is for more serious stuff. Like job applications and all.

The last is my online hard disk. LOL... Its useful for storing relatively small files. And for backing up data. Its really convenient, no?

Anyway about my normal correspondence account, I don't really get a lot of emails there. So start emailing me... Dun let all that space sit there and grow cyber-mould!!

Send me email here.

How to do work !?!?!?

2006-03-21T17:51:00.000+08:00

Something happened today that brought work to a standstill. Check it out.

How on earth is one supposed to do anything when something this catastrophic happens!!

Do I have to resort to yahoo or lycos? It just doesn't sound right.

Imagine "Can you 'yahoo' for the meaning of Contra Proferentum Rule." It just sounds wrong!!

Thankfully it only went down for like 3 mins or so. Phew...

Pasta Again??

2006-03-17T00:14:00.000+08:00

Someone was asking me - "Why you keep cooking pasta? Cook something else lah."

Well simply because I like it. And its easy. So, I'm gonna stick with it for a while more. Until I tire of it.

Today's pasta was a little different though. It came with live entertainment. Check it out.

My brother trying today's receipe. His gf provided the entertainment.

Other than that, its the usual. Which I'm sure would draw the same old responses... :p

Had a nice day?

2006-03-12T20:33:00.000+08:00

Yep I had a nice day.

At...

Went to Pulau Ubin with some of the RunningKnows ppl.

Supposed to be doing some trail cycling, but in the end our (ok so only mine) objective changed to taking touristy photos. Here we go...

My bro Lester on the bumboat to Ubin.

Siok and Rob getting their bikes.

The bikes we got cost $6. On HINDsight, we should've gotten the slightly more expensive ones which had REAR suspension. Now my beHIND hurts...

After getting our bikes, we headed to the old basketball court to get ready. The court is still there but the hoops have been removed.

Rob getting ready with repellent!

Surprisingly though, I didn't get a single mosquito bite!! What happened to the commando mozzies of Ubin?!?!

Anyway, our initial cycling plan was Noordin, Manam then west towards OBS.

Somehow along the way, I took a wrong turn and ended up heading towards OBS instead of Noordin. LOL...

Well that didn't stop us from accomplishing our objective!!

We decided to have another go at taking Team Off Road pictures. Somehow it still isn't DARE enough...

Moving on, there were lots of familiar sights.

This sign is still there!! LOL...

We reached the quarry. And decided to check it out.

Really scenic.

Anyway after much cycling. We headed back to the jetty and had lunch at a restaurant nearby.

Coconuts.

And zhi char.

Food wasn't fantastic. But we were hungry. Only thing is they probably used crazy amounts of MSG. Felt really thirsty after that. Ugh...

Naturally after a full meal, you feel...

So we decided to head back to mainland and home.

Full photos are here.

Lester's photos are here.

Silly Fusilli Fanatic

2006-03-12T00:18:00.000+08:00

I love Fusilli pasta. For those who don't know, its the screw like pasta that I've been using a lot lately. I think its easier to cook than spaghetti.

And it's simply fantastic when baked. And I've been having baked pasta quite frequently these days. Hence, I'm a Silly Fusilli Fanatic.

Today's version featured more veggie in the form of carrots in addition to the usual mushrooms. And instead of chicken, I used bratwurst sausages.

This was due to feedback from the only beta tester, my sister, reporting that the sausage version was tastier.

Well just for good measure, I threw in some rosemary and oregano leaves too. Which did enhance the flavour significantly. I think these herbs will now be a must-have for future baked pastas.

Verdict - I think today's version was the best so far. The cheese was pully (refer to photos later), the pasta was done just right, the taste wasn't too bland or too salty.

Ok before you start falling asleep, here's the photos.

Extra carrots. Adds colour to the dish. And well, vitamins too I guess...

Done!!

Inside.
Pully cheese. Used Mozarella Light.

Me pulling cheese.

Hmmm... so when will we have "Italian Night"?

Pictures from School

2006-03-09T00:49:00.000+08:00

I've decided to bring along my camera to school for the next few weeks.

I'm hoping to take photos with as many people as I can.

Friends whom I've known since before I entered NUS and friends whom I've gotten to know in NUS.

To start off. Here's a a couple of pictures that I took today.

Thang and I.

Me and Liying.

In the evening, I saw this bright orange egg yolk in the sky. Couldn't help but take a few shots of it. :)

Sunset in School.

Just an update

2006-03-08T02:34:00.000+08:00

I haven't been posting as much as I used to.

I don't think its because the novelty of blogging has worn off. I think its probably due to the fact that FYP is due in less than a month.

Well in line with that, here's where I'm spending most of my time.

Yep, I'm in lab most of the time.

Gotta get the code done!! Gotta start on the thesis!! Gotta get the paper out!! Gah...

Well despite all that, I managed to meet up with Yvonne for dinner at Thai Express. Haven't seen her in a while, so it was nice to catch up and chill out.

As usual, I had to do my before meal ritual of taking a shot of what's on the table. Some people say grace, I take photos!! To each his own. ;)

I wonder if my skills have improved though. Anyone care to comment? And give a few pointers too please.

Curry soft-shell crab with rice.

Pineapple rice with tomato.

After dinner we headed over to NYDC for dessert. Cheese Cake!!! Woohoo!!

Can't rem the name of the cheese cake alr... Wahaha...

Spent quite a while chatting at NYDC. By the time we left, Citylink was pretty much deserted...

A rare sight. No?

Well, now its back to my beloved SDM (Spatial Division Multiplexing a.k.a. Some Dumb Muck)

Sentosa Sunday

2006-03-05T18:42:00.000+08:00

I finally went running again after a 2 week break. Sure felt good to be back in Sentosa again.

It was surprisingly quiet in Sentosa today though. No major events, no major crowds. Maybe it was because I was there early.

Here's a collection of photos from today.

Angel in cool driving shades.

Rob staring out to sea.

Team Off Road!! Before the run.

Rob, Siok and me.

Warming up.

Cooling down.

Angel drunk on H2O...

Rob and I were trying hard to get a decent "Team Off Road" photo. But somehow, no matter what we did. We just didn't look seh enough...

So Angel decided to show us how to pose.

We decided to try it out.

And yet another pose. This one was a little better. But somehow still not that "seh"...

Maybe we'll take try again next time.

Anyway today's run wasn't particularly long. Neither was it particularly fast. But we managed to do some sprint stops along the way. Which was fun!

Photos from today are here.

Suntec Saturday

2006-03-05T00:15:00.000+08:00

So its the weekend right, and I've got a craving for spaghetti. Well what do I do?

Cook some lah! Check it out.

Preparing the ingredients.

Layer 1 - Vege, gotta have Glow food.

Layer 2 - Spaghetti, gotta have Go food.

Layer 3 - Shredded chicken, gotta have Grow food.

Go, Grow, Glow all done. Now for the sauce.

Sauce with extra chicken toppings!

Used a different white balance setting cos my sister said it makes it look more appetizing.

So is it true? You decide, then tell me.

Deciding if the food is fit for human consumption.

Well it is, and here's evidence to prove it.

After lunch, went to the career fair at Suntec with E Hunt.

Where I saw this sign... Wonder what kind of career path this was for...

Ahh... Now it makes more sense. ;)

Guess where I had dinner?

Here's what I had. Santa Fe chicken burger, chilli cheese fries and a drink.

Well, that's all for now. Time to zzz...

Here's Dinner

2006-03-02T21:47:00.000+08:00

Just a picture of another baked pasta I did.

Did this one in 45 mins. LOL... I think that's a new PB (personal best) !!

Used chicken breast. Not too well seasoned though. Lucky I had the cheese for taste.

Thanks bros

2006-02-27T01:34:00.000+08:00

I wanna say a big THANK YOU to my bros.

These guys made today one of the best birthday celebrations I've ever had.

Ivan and Lester cooked dinner for all of us. And Justin got a really good chocolate cake.

Cooking's not an easy task and I really appreciate all the effort they put into making it an extra special dinner. Thanks you guys!!

Anyway I arrived at Ivan's house around 5. By then the preparation and cooking was already well underway.

Ivan, chef of the day, was busy frying beef when I arrived.

Lester was draining the carrots.

Lester and I tried to steal a few tricks from the master by watching.

Ivan's culinary skills are amazing. He's the "a bit of this, a little of that" kind of cook. No need for fancy measuring spoons and what nots, just plain agar-ation. And the food still turns out damn good! Must teach me a few tricks someday bro...

Here you see him agar-ing the amount of soya sauce to add to the kung pow chicken.

Anyway the whole afternoon of work resulted in a sumptuous spread for a party of 9. There was...

Kung Pow Chicken.

Steamed promfet.

Black pepper beef.

And asparagus with mushrooms and prawn.

The cutlery was even laid out restaurant style. How posh is that!!

The rest of the guests soon arrived.

Hongjiang.

Huijuan and Ah Poh.

Me and Qingwei.

Sally and Justin.

Everyone here, let the feasting begin!! Didn't take any photos as we ate, too busy. :p

After dinner we chilled out in Ivan's room and drank a bit.

Then it was time for the cake that Justin bought! Rich and chocolaty!!

Anyway it was a really nice celebration. The thing I like about having a small party like this, is that its a much more personal experience cos you get to talk to everyone.

Finally, I just wanna say thanks to everyone for turning up and making it special.

And to my bros, you guys are the best!! Here's to more good years together!!

As always, more photos can be viewed here.

Wakeboarding!!

2006-02-24T00:27:00.000+08:00

I'm damn tired. My arms feel like lead. My legs are aching. But hell, wakeboarding is fun!!

Actually its not real wakeboarding. There was no boat, instead I was pulled along by a cable. Check it out.

Went down to the new cable ski park at ECP lagoon with E Hunt and Penguin.

The wakeboarders!! Penguin, me (with another Penguin. Confusing?) and E Hunt.

Basically you grab onto a rope, that is attached to the overhead cable, which then pulls you around the lagoon.

Initially I was falling all over the place and swallowing mouthfuls of saltwater. But soon enough I got the hang of it and was able to go half a round before falling off the board with a big splash.

Gradually, I got more comfortable on the board and was able to complete a full round. After a while decided to try out a few "stunts". Started using one hand, then tried zig-zagging. Shiok!!

But with each failed attempt at a "stunt" came a watery landing which knocked the wind out of me.

And a long swim back. I wanted to get back to the launch point as fast as I could so that I could try it again.

Was really fun and I think I will be going back there again sometime. My aim the next time I'm there would be to try the pro boards. Was using the easy board today. Its supposedly more stable for beginners.

After wakeboarding we were supposed to go for lunch, but ended up having to do a search and rescue mission for Penguin. I'm sure there's gonna be a post about it on Penguin's blog.

Anyway full photos from today can be viewed here. And the video here.

Now you're just plain crazy

2006-02-19T22:44:00.000+08:00

If my previous post didn't convince you that I'm a pasta maniac, let me show you what I had for lunch today.

Yep pasta again. Actually it was the leftover macaroni from yesterday's lunch.

Decided to try making baked pasta.

The bottom layer was macaroni mixed with sausages. On top of that went a layer of cream of mushroom sauce. Finally topped off with a layer of parmesan and mozzarella mix.

I wanted to finish off the cheese from Christmas. Hence the mix. If not, I think a top layer of pure mozzarella would have been nicer. The parmesan was already salty and together with the sausages made the whole thing a little too salty for my liking.

But I guess it would have helped replace the salt lost from NUS-Bi in the morning. Though I did swallow quite a few mouthfuls of seawater during the swim. Maybe that's why I didn't cramp up during the run. Haha...

Back to my baked pasta.
Here's a shot of it scooped out on the plate. I think maybe I should put less sausages next time. put in 3 today. Maybe should cut it down to 2.

Here's the whole dish before I scooped out the portion on the plate.

So anyone dare to try?

Pasta Maniac

2006-02-18T22:08:00.001+08:00

I love pasta.

In four days, I had pasta twice. Once was in Engin canteen for lunch and the other time was at Munchie Monkey for dinner.

And today, I cooked pasta again. Well partly because I wasn't really satisfied with the pasta I had at Munchi Monkey.

The pasta sauce there was a little thin and the serving size was not really satisfying. Sufficient but not satisfying. Hence I decided to have a go at making my own cream sauce pasta.

Went out at 12.30 to go get the ingredients for my pasta. Bought sausages, bottled cream sauce, mushrooms and a whole host of other snacks for the week ahead.

I started cooking around 1.30. First up, boiling water for the pasta and grilling the sausages.

Bratwurst sausages. Been wanting to eat it for quite a while now.

With the water boiled, I threw in the pasta to cook while preparing the sauce.

Sauce done, lay out the cooked pasta.

Add sausages.

And sauce.

Ready to serve.

Check out the mushrooms. They come pre-cut so I didn't have to slice them. Great for a lazy person like me.

The whole process took me 2 hours including shopping for the ingredients and other stuff. Actual cooking time was less than half an hour. Think this was the fastest meal I've ever cooked.

Anyone keen to sample and give a verdict?

Programming Blues

2006-02-18T04:57:00.000+08:00

Before you continue reading, be forewarned, the following post contains graphic descriptions and strong language.

Parental guidance is not necessary, but if you're a kid go read another post.

Ok, now that I've covered my backside, let the cursing begin.

(@!#*&(@@!( )@)!@_))@!#(@# bloody

@!(@#)!@($@(# freaking ()(!@

***@@* FUC**ng()@@! SystemC.... *@(!*@

#)@@!@**!)@$)_($@!)(#*@!)(#*@!(

I just spent the better half of an afternoon trying to figure out why the hell my code was not working properly.

I had copied a file onto my laptop from the UNIX server. I then opened it and edited it with a text editor that was more advanced than your average Notepad.

After saving it, I uploaded it back up onto the UNIX server. That was when the problems began. I kept getting errors that even the people who designed the compiler could not identify.

Well, they told me this with a f*c*ing informative error message of "generic error, error code unknown" or some screwed up shit like that.

Anyway, my attempt to email them led me on a merry-go-round of registrations.

"You need a license." "Go get a license from your server." "Give me your email." "We love wasting your time!!" were just some of the bloody messages that I encountered in my attempt to seek an explanation to what the F was wrong.

In the end, the solution came out of the blue. E Hunt was telling me that when you open a file with text editors other than Notepad, it adds in an extra character.

ENLIGHTENMENT!! By opening the stupid file with the more advanced text editor, I had introduced an extra character that prevented things from running properly.

True enough, after copying the file over from E Hunt's account, everything worked!! Dammit!!! One fu*(@#ing character. And it wasted half a day...

Anyway, having solved the problem, things could proceed and I managed to get some work done. Finally...

I guess I shall end off this post with a picture. To the piece of code that caused me so much agony. I have this to say.

Of birthdays and buddies

2006-02-17T01:59:00.000+08:00

Today was a pretty eventful day in school.

First of all, we celebrated Huijuan's birthday.

Haven't seen her in a long time.

Just like the other HJ. We don't have any common modules this sem. So I hardly see him.

Back to the birthday...

Quite a crowd turned up to celebrate her birthday.

The cheesecake was really good, and it was homemade.

There's the man responsible. Interesting note, Ah Liang doesn't eat cheesecake!! Kinda like Beethoven, who was deaf but wrote fantastic music.

She had her cake.

And ate it too. LOL...

In the evening, my buddy Angel came down to NUS for dinner.

She dragged "Online Games Queen" (on the right) with her.

We ate at Munchie Monkey cafe at YIH.

I had spaghetti. Not too bad, the sauce was pretty good and not too creamy. But could be a bit thicker though.

Angel had lasagne. I think the lasagne in Bizad is better than the one here.

There was also cheese sticks to share. The cheese sticks were a bit salty. Was really thirsty after dinner.

OGQ had ice cream.

After dinner I got to ride in her brand new car!! We've gotta go "kidnap" someone soon!

Dinner was a nice break from banging my head trying to squish bugs in my code. I'm really glad she came all the way down to NUS to meet up with me. Thanks buddy!! If you're reading this do give a shout-out ok. :)

Now its time to strap on the gloves, get out the pesticide and go bug hunting again!! Xiao Qiang here I come!! BEWARE!!

Btw, full set of photos can be viewed here.

What do you get...

2006-02-15T01:43:00.000+08:00

What do you get when you have 4 singles on shoestring budgets going out on Feb 14th?

Well, you get good food, ridiculous antics, scandalous propositions and lots and lots of laughter!!

Let me start with the good food and leave the tantalising scandalous propositions to the last.

Penguin and I were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to eat at Carl's Jr when we were making our way to City Hall from school.

It seems that everytime we plan to go somewhere to eat something, we always seem to eat something different. Like kway chup becomes Hokkien mee...

Anyway, we decided that no matter what the rest said, WE WERE GOING TO EAT AT CARL'S JR. Even if it means that we will be seperated from the rest. We were going to eat at Carl's Jr!!

Long story short, we did make it to Carl's Jr at Marina Square.

As usual we followed the instructions very carefully.

And since we followed instructions, we got our food. We ordered 3 combo meals and a burger. So we had 3 sides, 3 drinks and 4 burgers.

Chilli cheese fries, waffle fries and onion rings.

4 burgers.

Weiyi claimed the burger looked like a brain cos there were 2 halves...

Penguin the mad chemist switched profession and became mad brain surgeon... Her msn nick should now read "legal drug peddler, mad chemist and mad brain surgeon". Haha....

Things got really messy by the time we were done. But I guess with a slogan like "It's gonna get messy", they probably expected it.

After dinner we went diving.

Just kidding. We walked past an aquarium display in Suntec.

Not content with just looking at the small fish, we went to the koi pond outside.

Where the fish were big, fat and plentiful.

Next up, driving.

Told you there were crazy antics.

And then it was on to more good food at Cafe Cartel.

Cakes were going at 50% off!! So we paid 4.95 for 2 cakes. Add that to the 11 bucks for dinner and the whole outing cost around 12 bucks plus each. Cheap for Feb 14th, no?

Faith calculating how much this last piece of cake costs.

Ok now for the scandalous stuff. Faith gave Weiyi a kiss!!! Check it out!!

LOL!! It was only a Hershey Kiss. Aww...

But Faith was really pleased with her punny prank. Note her gleeful smile.

Anyway it was a really fun outing. We kept laughing all the way from dinner at Carl's Jr to the MRT station while headed home.

Lots of jokes but I think the best was the "I have a 60 litre and a 20 litre bag" joke. Sorry you've got to be there to appreciate it.

After all that eating, laughing and clowning around we were tired out. So we headed home.

But I just couldn't resist taking a group shot first.

Yu Sheng Mountain

2006-02-13T00:00:00.000+08:00

I'm a little lazy to write too much. So I shall just put up the pictures from today's yuan siao lunch.

We had vegetarian food and yu sheng. Here we go...

The ingredients.

The process. The whole thing was done by my brother and his gf.

The result. Yu Sheng Mountain... That's 400 grams of salmon!! SHIOK!!

The vegetarian food was good. Some of them were really good fakes.

Like the kung pow "chicken".

And cereal "prawn". This one didn't really resemble prawn, but it tastes good.

This one's called "hamburger"...

Bee Hoon.

Hokkien Mee.

The full spread.

Was quite filling. And cheap too. Total cost 21 bucks for all the vegetarian food. Yum!!

Lab View

2006-02-10T03:31:00.000+08:00

Wow! It's been a week since I last posted something. Been really busy in between. So I shall make up with a long post to round up the last week.

Let's start with dinner at my auntie's house on Saturday evening.

We had popiah.

DIY style.

The chilli was ground old school. With a mortar and pestle!!

Here's my creation! Lots of ingredients!

Oh yeah!! Yummee! (Macro shot by my uncle.)

Sunday morning was spent at Sentosa taking part in Surf and Sweat. I took part in the Men's Instituitional event as well as the Ultimate frisbee side event.

The surf part involved paddling on a surfboard. I looked like a turtle. Pretty hilarious!!

The sweat part was a run. Hucks accompanied me for the run. Thanks bro!! U can read his account of the event here.

On Sunday evening, the EA lvl 2 gang met up for a reunion dinner in Hougang. Here's more food pictures.

There was Yu Sheng to start off. It was "explosive" lau-ing (tossing).

We made a huge mess of the table.

Some fish slices even landed on my hand. You can see it from the video!!

Here's the some pictures of the rest of the food.

Appetizers.

Roast Chicken.

Cereal prawns with erm... chicken head?

There's supposed to be abalone in this... I wonder...

Black pepper beef.

Dessert.

Pretty average fare I would say. But I was extremely hungry, having not had much for lunch and spending the whole day surfing, running and playing frisbee. So anything would taste good.

After dinner we chilled out at Bliss.

Everyone. I think I'm red from a combination of Sentosa sun and Long Island Tea.

YES!! We (Ivan and I) finally tasted Long Island Tea!! Now that we know what it should taste like, hopefully our next "tea making" session would be better than the last.

Full dinner pictures can be found here.

I also spent more time in school this week than any other week this semester. Most of it was in the lab. Check out some pics from there.

Our supervisor just allocated a brand new computer to E Hunt and I.

Pentium 4 HT leh!!

The lab also has a fridge. Time to get some drinks... :p

Best part is the sink. Check out the toothbrushes... Oh well, at least I don't have to go hunting for a water source anymore.

There's my laptop sandwiched between the printer and another desktop.

Phew! That was a long post. Thanks for reading!! Its almost over...

Hopefully I would be able to post again soon. For now, its back to FYP, NOC, SDM, BLAH , BLAH, BLAH...

Geek Joke

2006-02-01T14:38:00.000+08:00

Just thought I'd share a little geek humour I came across.

Question :
Why do geeks confuse Halloween and Christmas?

Think about it for a while...

Answer :
Because OCT31=DEC25

Congratulations! If you understood that joke, you are a geek!!

Food Glorious Food...

2006-01-31T12:11:00.000+08:00

After the untraditional BBQ reunion dinner, it was time for some traditional CNY feasting.

Just a collection of food pics taken over the first two days of CNY.

Lunch at my uncle's house, where we had...

Lotsa stuff!!

Like Ngor Hiam!! Bestest of the best! Grandma's secret recipe...

Curry chicken.

"Ang Boong Bak". CNY first day must-have.

"Chup Hway Tng".

On the second day, lunch was at home. And we had...

Chicken wings! Leftovers from the reunion BBQ.

Pasta.

And salmon Yu Sheng!!

The photos today were taken by my sister. I was busy entertaining this fella.

My cousin and I went "hunting"...

He shot his bow and arrow, while I shot with my Canon PowerShot A75!! Too bad we didn't catch anything... :p

Untraditional Tradition

2006-01-29T00:19:00.000+08:00

First up, GONG XI FA CAI everyone!! May the Year of the Dog be a prosperous one for all of you.

Had the traditional reunion dinner at my uncle's house this evening. What was untraditional about this age old tradition was what we had for dinner. Instead of the usual steamboat or 8 course Chinese dinner, we had a BBQ!! Was definitely a first for me!!

And the best thing was, most of the food at the BBQ wasn't even Chinese!! Well that's not a first though. Last year we had Indian food for reunion dinner!!

Without further ado, let's jump straight in and look at the photos. (Not all taken by me. Some by my sister.)

I started the fire.

Something I've been itching to do for very long. And keeping with the Scouts tradition, I did it with 3 match sticks. (Actually 1 broke and didn't light, so technically its 2)

Anyway while the fire was left to reach optimal cooking temperature, we started with prawn salad.

There was lotsa prawns.

With the fire ready, it was time to bring out the meat!!

Satay, chicken wing, sausages, and fish.

Yep that round thing is fish.

Dory fish with corriander stuffing! Shiok! My uncle's recipe.

The satay was good too.

And they never seemed to be able to reach the table. They always seemed to be "hijacked" en route. Finally managed to get 3 sticks that made it safely to the table for a shot.

Chicken wings!!

I only had 2. Lucky there are leftovers that I can eat on Monday!

Bacon too.

Guess where the bacon came from?

Lucky it wasn't from this little piggy. Might be a bit hard to chew...

To end off...

Some watermelon for dessert.

And marshmallows over the glowing embers.

Finally, a group shot of everyone.

With the "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil" monkeys.

Happy Lunar New Year!!

Spontaneous Supper

2006-01-28T03:02:00.000+08:00

I just got back from a spontaneous supper outing with Angel and Faith. This supper actually proved 2 things about planning.

First of all, it proved that the most well thought out plans often fall to bits upon execution.

Secondly, it proved that the best plans require no planning.

Let me explain.

It all started over an MSN conversation between Faith and myself. Over MSN, we arranged to meet up to go down to Chinatown. I wanted to go there and take some photos of the CNY festivities.

So we happily arranged the time to meet, where to meet etc... Start of well thought plan. I even researched (ie. ask my father) the best place to park the van in Chinatown. Detailed planning indeed.

Things were going according to plan up till the point I met Faith. That's when the plan started going downhill. We decided to call Angel and ask her to join us for a drink. She agreed on condition that it was at a coffeeshop near her house.

So instead of heading to Chinatown as originally intended, we found ourselves on a "Journey to the West" to pick up Angel.

Anyway, after we managed to get Angel on board, we headed towards Thomson instead of the coffeeshop that we had initially agreed upon!!

Naturally, she started complaining and whining in typical Angel fashion.

But it was too late!! The doors were locked!! And we were on the PIE towards Thomson.

At Thomson, we had supper at a prata place.

Angel still looks a little shocked about being suddenly "kidnapped" and brought all the way to Thomson from the West. Wahaha...

Supper consisted of...

One plain prata and one mutton murtarbak.

Shared between me and Faith.

With Angel taking the occasional spoonful.

And a tissue prata.

The food's not too bad. Not fantastic but at least the price was reasonable.

I think that sufficiently illustrates my first point. Original plan was to go to Chinatown to check out the CNY festivities and take photo. What we ended up doing was go to Thomson to eat prata and take photo.

Oh well, at least the take photo part was accomplished according to plan. LOL...

Now on to my second point. Best plans require no planning.

Although the entire supper outing was not planned, it still turned out to be really fun. Well at least for Faith and myself.

We were extremely amused that we had managed to "kidnap" Angel and drag her all the way to Thomson. In fact, we were so pleased with ourselves that we decided to tell the whole world what we did.

Poor Angel was made to carry her ransom note...

Ok lah, I'm sure she had fun too... Right Angel? I mean how often would you get people coming to your house to drag you out to supper in Thomson?!? Once in a lifetime experience... ;)

So there you have it.

Perfect plans almost always fail upon execution. And best plans do not need planning!

Broken Four Eyes

2006-01-26T20:08:00.000+08:00

I've got a thing with breaking spectacles.

I hardly have a pair of spectacles that are left intact. Most of the time when I get a new pair of spectacles, it is out of necessity.

And its not because my degree has increased. Most of the time, I would break my spectacles and thus have to make a new pair.

Anyway, check out what happened to my latest pair.

It snapped...

The metal encased in the plastic had completely rusted through. So much for protecting the metal interior from rust...

Fortunately, the optical shop had the same frame in stock and I was able to replace the frame without having to get new lenses. Thus saving quite a bit.

Btw, the optical shop at Hougang Mall has pretty friendly staff.

They are all smiles and warmth. The kind of service that keeps you going back. Which I would probably be doing again soon, considering my track record with spectacles... :(

Chicken Rice

2006-01-25T22:01:00.000+08:00

If you ever find yourself undecided about what to eat in Engin Canteen, let me recommend something.

Go to the stall that sells Indonesian BBQ Chicken Rice.

Its good!! Check it out.

This is the Chicken Chop with Rice set.

It comes with rice (obviously) which you can upsize at no extra cost. And the curry gravy that they pour over the rice is simply fantastic.

As usual, I asked for an extra ladelful, which the stall holder generously gave. Unlike some other stalls which are more stingy with their curry.

There is also a slice of omelette. Along with a pretty big piece of chicken.

Although the price is a little steep for canteen food. I think its well worth the $3 that I paid for the plate.

Was definitely a satisfying and filling lunch. :p

PS: Syrix see wat you missed out on...

Unstoppable Tarts

2006-01-23T23:56:00.000+08:00

My auntie made pineapple tarts and gave us a jar. Check it out.

The reason these tarts are unstoppable is simple.

Once you start eating one, you cannot stop until you finish all of it. Or stuff yourself so full you cannot talk.

Anyway here's a close up shot of the tarts.

Simply divine...

And here's the jar I have at home.

Its half gone already...

Can't wait for the next batch!! :p

Ocean Curry Fish Head

2006-01-22T16:10:00.000+08:00

Just some photos from dinner.

Went to a coffeshop with a stall called "Ocean Curry Fish Head" in Toa Payoh.

We had Kang Kong.

Pork chop.

Otah.

Chicken Wings.

And Sweet and Sour Fish.

But no curry fish head. LOL...

Did get the curry gravy which goes really well with white rice.

Here's the full spread.

Yum!!

Maxi Dog...

2006-01-21T10:46:00.000+08:00

I generally don't like to touch animals.

Especially the stray cats that roam the coffeshops. They always seem to have a knack of brushing against you when you least expect it. And the result is usually a "gentle nudge" from me to remind them never to come near me again.

Oh and dogs too. They stink... And lick... And drool...

But I made an exception for this little girl.

That's my auntie's dog. Maxi. Or as I call her - "Maxi Dog".

She's an exception cos she doesn't stink. Her owners take very good care of her.

But she licks though. But I guess I can live with that for a day just so that I can take some photos of her.

She really is quite an intelligent and expressive dog, as the subsequent shots will show. And she's very quiet too. Unlike the dog that lives a few floors down from me...

I started off by establishing a good relationship with her so that she will pose for the camera.

Now that she's happy, time for the "model" and "cameraman" to get to work.

Give me an inquisitive look.

Good... Curious... Nice... (Can just imagine the studio huh?)

Ok, now I want forlorn. Like you just lost your favourite toy.

Perfect... Good job...

Now, I want the thinker look... You are thinking how on earth u landed up with a sucky assignment like this... gotta speak to my agent for better jobs next time.

Hmm.. How about picking a fight? Staring incident?

Nice... "Stare wat stare?"

After a while, she got bored...

And promptly went off to take a nap.

Oh well, I already have about 100 plus shots. Good enough.

Some other unrelated shots...

Flower power.

Orchid?

That concluded another successful photo shoot. Heh... :)

Alex and Angel Birthday Dinner

2006-01-18T22:14:00.000+08:00

Hmm... this post is a day belated. But I guess its still not too late. :)

We celebrated Alex and Angel's birthday at Secret Recipe in Plaza Sing. Here's a shot of the birthday boy and girl.

Angel wanted a personal birthday photo also. So ok lah, since its her birthday I shall be nice. :p

Yup she needed proof that she ate at Secret Recipe!

We were so hungry we demolished the food the moment it arrived. No time for photos...

Except of the empty plates.

Some of which were so clean, I bet they saved some detergent and water washing it!!

There was also cake.

But as with the food, no time for photos except this one. Note the empty plates again.

Here's the rest of the party.

Howard.

Cupid and Weiyi.

And Penguin.

Btw Cupid went shopping for...

Erm... Bacteria Foam?!?! Hmm...

Anyway Happy Birthday Alex and Angel!!

Jaz's Version of Rule of Thirds

2006-01-16T00:06:00.000+08:00

My sister, Jaz, edited the same image that I was talking about in my previous post.

Here's her version.

Any comments?

Rule of Thirds

2006-01-15T16:30:00.000+08:00

Was asking Slack Jack about a particular photo that I had taken during my Punggol Cycling Adventure.

This was the photo in question.

I was asking him for comments and a critique of the photo.

I shall not discuss what he told me yet. But after listening to what he said, I decided to do a little image editing to see if it makes a difference.

Here's the results.

Let's call this exhibit A.

And this one exhibit B.

Notice any difference? Now a quick poll, which do you think is the best picture? The original, exhibit A or exhibit B?

Ok now the critique. Basically the original photo was divided into half by the horizon. And if you follow the Rule of Thirds, you're not really encouraged to do that.

I decided to follow the rule and crop the original a little.

Exhibit A features 1/3 sky and 2/3 water. Exhibit B features 1/3 water and 2/3 sky.

So the question is, did applying the Rule of Thirds really help produce a better photo?

Please leave your comments and opinions! Thanks!

Punggol Cycling Adventure

2006-01-14T12:12:00.000+08:00

Just back from my cycling adventure.

I woke up at 8 plus this morning and realised that it was too nice a morning to spend cooped up at home.

So I decided to pack my camera, grab my bike and go for a ride down Upper Serangoon Road towards Punggol.

Along the way, I turned off the main road into this side track.

There I started shooting some macro shots.

Itsy Bitsy Spider... Didn't set the macro focus properly though. That's why the spider is a little out of focus.

This mimosa flower turned out ok though.

Morning Glory. There was some insect inside. But I didn't realise it until it flew out. What a waste. Would have made a really spectacular shot I think.

Just some snail on its way somewhere...

Continuing along the track, it brought me to a side road. Following the road, I came across a jogging track which I decided to explore.

I stopped to shoot these wild mushrooms (I think they are mushrooms, probably poisonous).

That's when I saw this naughty little fella.

This mudskipper was really reluctant to be photographed. And I spent a good 15 mins chasing him along the bank of Sungei Punggol before getting a good close up.

Also managed to shoot him swimming around a bit.

And when he was resting on a little piece of twig.

The co-existence of man and nature. Rare in urban Singapore.

Those flats must have a really fantastic view.

It was a really amazing trip. I definitely would be going back to shoot more photos. There are numerous unexplored little nooks and crannies.

Wonder what I'll find there. Anyone keen to join me?

Btw, full set of photos can be found here.

Sound System Update

2006-01-14T00:19:00.000+08:00

There were some teething problems with the "sound system" that I set up yesterday.

I tried hooking up my receiver but kept getting more intererence than radio. Weird thing was, the interference disappeared when I placed my hand over the receiver.

It was quite perplexing. Wonder if anyone can provide an explanation for it. Any RF expert reading this please enlighten me yah. Thanks.

Anyway, I was wondering if it was a problem with the speakers and not with the receiver. So I switched back to earphones. Voila!! The problem disappeared... Weird...

Now I was starting to think that maybe it was an impedance matching problem. Or something like that. Memories of boat-making came flooding back. Stray signals, interference, cranky circuits... Impedance matching for antenna... Argh...

I was ready to whip out my multimeter and do some testing when I stumbled upon a quick and simple fix. Check it out.

Yup. I hung the receiver on the wire instead of placing it on my table. It seemed to solve the problem. And I was able to hear the radio clearly. There was the occasional distortion, but generally reception was ok.

Now the question is, do I really have to leave the damn receiver hanging in mid-air? Why does this solve the problem? Is there a better solution? Anyone can provide some answers? Much appreciated!

Dim Sum Dollies & Home Improvement

2006-01-13T01:37:00.000+08:00

Heh, if you are thinking I watched Selena Tan (Dim Sum Dollies) or Tim Allen (Home Improvement), I'm sorry to have misled you.

I simply couldn't resist coming up with that lame title for this post.

Anyway Dim Sum was what I had for lunch today. Went to Dragongate Restaurant in Harbourfront with some of the sPARKs people (everyone minus Stanley actually).

We had the Dim Sum buffet. Check it out.

Quite a spread we ordered! Photo was taken with E Hunt's camera phone. I didn't bring my camera. :( The one day I should have packed it...

In case you are wondering, sPARKs is the name of our business-plan-module project group. And its probably going to be the name of our company also, should we actually put our plan into action. More on that next time.

After such a huge meal, I really needed to work off some calories. So I decided to go swimming even though it sounded suicidal, considering the rainy and exceedingly cold weather.

Jumping into the water, I had to quickly start moving in order not to start shivering. But once I got going, it was actually pretty nice. It's been a while since I last had any exercise, so the swim was much needed.

Now about Home Improvement. I've actually rigged up a pair of old computer speakers in my room. Been wanting to do that for quite a while, and I finally got around to doing it today.

Check out my new "sound system"...

Erm... it makes sound, and its connected by a system of wires and fishing lines. So... I think it qualifies as a "sound system".

Ok... I admit it looks really flimsy and improvised. But I think it should work fine, the fishing lines should hold up.

I realised that I really like fixing up stuff like this. Simply love working with my hands!! Maybe I should start doing up my room when I have a little more time and capital.

Hmm... Put up a flat screen, some new shelving... Wonder what else I can DIY.

OH YES!! Decorative LEDs!!! How can I forget!! Waahhaha...

In case you didn't know, I've got a thing for LEDs (light emitting diodes). Just can't get enough of them. Heh Heh...

Information Overload

2006-01-12T00:01:00.000+08:00

This is the most cluttered bus stop sign I have seen.

Uncle seems a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of info that the post has.

Crumbs

2006-01-10T01:01:00.000+08:00

Had a drinking session with my bros last night. A final one before we start our last sem.

Gathering at Ivan's, we attempted to make Long Island Tea. But somehow we added too much tequilla again.

Besides alcohol, we had snacks. Those Roller Coaster snacks are really addictive.

That's all that's left from 2 packets of Roller Coaster. Crumbs...

Good luck guys! One final sem and we'll be done!!

Rain Rain Go Away...

2006-01-09T22:32:00.000+08:00

Where is the sun??

I need some sun!!

Cool weather is nice but some sun once in a while would be good.

Been raining a lot for as long as I can remember. And as a result of that I've not been able to exercise. Can't run, can't swim. Need to run, need to swim...

Hmm... here's something totally unrelated.

School starts on Wed. I've got a 2.5 day week. Yep, 2.5 cos lessons on Tues, Wed and alternate Mon.

Final Sem...

Dinner @ Sakura

2006-01-08T01:06:00.000+08:00

Met up with Fadz, Zhong and Weiyi for dinner today.

We went for the Sakura international buffet at Marine Parade.

The spread was pretty good. Lotsa meat and sushi. And they had satay too. Didn't take a lot of pictures this time round cos was busy talking and laughing. Oh and eating too.

Was really nice meeting up with the guys. We crapped about the stupid stuff we used to do and the mischief we used to get into. Also updated each other about the latest developments in our lives.

Here are some of the few shots that I managed to get while we were having our dessert.

Zhong and Fadz.

Weiyi.

Fadz added wasabi to his chocolate ice-cream!!

I guess I'm not the only one who eats "exotic" combinations of food, like my curry sauce and coke.

Weird, but Good Times...

Please Place At Edge Of Table

2006-01-07T02:56:00.000+08:00

Hmm... sometimes following instructions to the letter might not be such a good idea.

Check it out.

Wahaha...

Carl's Jr has good burgers and chilli fries.

But gotta eat them hot. Once they get cold... its not that nice.

Paulaner has good beer.

But gotta drink them cold. Once they get hot... its not that nice.

Wahaha...

EE4217!!

2006-01-04T23:11:00.000+08:00

Woot!! I've managed to get my preferred module - EE4217.

Check it out on my IVLE screenshot!!

Yep, I'm really bored that's why I'm doing all the image editing...

4217!!

2006-01-04T15:17:00.000+08:00

Woohoo!! My appeal to take EE4217 has gone through!! I can bid for the module via CORS!!

I decided to "Showhand" and dump all my points in despite being the only bidder for the module. Note that I have "0" points left in my programme account.

Not that it really matters. I can't exchange the points for anything anyway...

Bidding results will be out tonight!! Heh Heh...