my rants

MOVING

2012-02-11T19:30:00.000Z

Not too sure who this notice is going out to, but I have moved my blog over to wordpress. This is the new link: http://www.seantzw.wordpress.com.

2011

2011-12-31T22:33:00.000Z

It's been a long tiring year and honestly, I can't recall another time I've felt so mentally exhausted at this time of the year. But then, it was a pretty good year in terms of new experiences. Last night a couple of us were just chatting about random stuff while waiting for a taxi and Vincent asked me to think of 5 adjectives to describe 2011. These are the 5 I thought of- exhausting, frustrating, disappointing, new and interesting. If you're keeping count, yes there are more negatives than positives there. Overall it hasn't been the best of years for me and I'm looking forward to 2012.

I could probably go on and explain those adjectives but I don't think I will. I didn't blog very much this year, partially due to laziness, no time and also cos I didn't want it to turn into a whine-fest. It wasn't all bad and I've had some brilliant experiences this year - mostly during the summer. Incidentally, its also the first year where I chose not to return home (I didn't have a choice in Shanghai - I was just a kid).

I guess it's pretty sad that I'm blogging this late on New Year's Eve instead of rocking it out at some party. And contrary to popular belief in some quarters, I'm not THAT popular and I am actually more of a homebody. Well in Ireland at least. I also don't have the mood to be out celebrating the end of this year with others right now. For some reason, it feels just right to be alone tonight, stewing in my own thoughts, reviewing the memorable events of 2011 - both good and bad, figuring out a bit of the future and thinking about what I'm bringing to Tralee in just 2 days.

I know no one's going to be reading this any time soon anyway but just in case, I won't continue just so that my melancholy doesn't put a downer on anyone's festive mood. :D HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Revelation (of sorts)

2011-12-24T16:53:00.000Z

So this probably isn't the best time to be ranting about how dysfunctional my family is but I need an outlet and this is slightly therapeutic. Or actually maybe it's a very apt moment to rant, after all holidays are all about family aren't they? Though admittedly I won't be extolling the virtues of being with family, quite the opposite actually.

After 2.5 years of living in Ireland, away from home, I realise that I actually very much enjoy living on my own. While I do get homesick, it's mostly for friends and food back home. I usually add in family at the end as an afterthought and for PC-ness. But to be perfectly honest, skyping weekly with my mum and occasionally checking out what my 3 sisters are doing on facebook and chatting on skype/msn/facebook once every couple of months is enough for me. I confide more in my friends than I do any family member and when it comes to "big" occasions like my birthday, I'd rather spend it with my friends. And I'm pretty sure my sisters feel the same. Let me make it clear, I don't hate my family or anything and my relationship with my youngest sister has improved quite a bit. It's just that we all aren't that close.

I guess it was just a drifting apart over the years. We were a pretty tight family unit a long long time ago. Not so much now. Even when I was home 2 summers ago, after a couple of weeks I was itching to be back in Ireland not living with them, though I also wanted to continue teaching and meeting up with friends who were in Singapore. I don't really like that I felt that way and I am envious of those who are close to their families, whose siblings are their best friends and such. But it is what it is and I think forcing myself to spend more time with them will just make it worse for all of us.

One of my sisters is here for the December holidays and while that was fun at first I was reminded of everything I was saying above. Well that and the fact that I've never fully enjoyed a holiday with my family in the last few years. I've been to Phuket with the girls and mum, Barcelona with mum and Oslo with Tash and while I did have fun in all of them, my favourite vacation so far is the one I took with Andrew and YX to Taipei. Sigh.

It is the way it is I suppose.

Education

2011-10-15T21:52:00.000+01:00

I just read a very interesting and insightful article on CNN that reminded me why I'm not training to be a teacher now. I enjoy teaching and I love imparting knowledge. Most of all I love those kids. I'm still in touch with a good number of my students and I'm still helping them with school work and giving advice and encouragement wherever necessary. Yes, part of that is due to my inability to let go of the past but I'd like to think that it's mostly because I'm such a dedicated and caring teacher. LOL.Of course choosing medicine over education involved a number of other factors as well but the fact that these days, teachers have so little power and parents are being more and more overprotective of their children that makes it hard for the teachers to do their jobs.

The Chaos of English Pronunciation

2011-09-01T22:18:00.000+01:00

I had so much fun doing this! A bit tricky at times and I did have trouble working through it, especially with the 3 words I've never seen before like "Terpsichore", "Malpomene" and "feoffer". The rest were easy enough though. :D

Gerard Nolst Trenité - The Chaos
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

Interrailing Expenses

2011-08-23T23:42:00.002+01:00

I finally decided to stop procrastinating and get this done. Below you will see a record of my expenses while interrailing, it's fairly accurate though it should be noted that I rounded up most of the time (e.g. something that costs above €0.40 is rounded upwards, yes I know it should be 0.5 but I wanted to err on the side of caution). Here are a few things that you might want to keep in mind:
1. Most hostels were booked through hostelworld.com and it might have been a bit cheaper if I bought the membership thing.
2. In non-Euro zone countries*, I usually withdrew a certain amount from the bank upon reaching the city.
3. "Transport" includes metro, buses, trams and city cards.
4. "Others" include touristy stuff (entrance fees, tours, souvenirs etc.)
5. I bought a 30 Day Youth Global InterRail Pass from interrailnet.com (Note: NOT the same as the EuroRail) which entitled me to continuous travel on most trains and certain buses.
6. Even with the InterRail Pass, you'll need to make reservations (and pay a small charge around €6 - €12) for certain trains, especially the high-speed and long distance ones as well as the night trains.

¹ Includes Vatican City (of course) and a day trip to Pompeii
² Includes day trip to Malmö; 124 DKK was converted to 150 SEK
³ Visited the city twice (3 hostels)
⁴ Includes day trips to Brussels and Antwerp

In all a total of €2157 was spent for a 34 day Europe trip, taking 43 trains (1 bus, 2 ferries) to see 20 cities and 2 small towns (Auschwitz & Kutna Hora). For a more detailed account of my travels see the post just before this one. It'll also explain why I can spend just €6 on food in Vienna even though I was there for 2 days or why I didn't have to spend a cent on transport in Hamburg.

As seen above, the "Others" column can sometimes be quite a big sum. The 2 biggest costs there were souvenirs and entrance fees. All the souvenirs I bought were for family and once you're in a city, it doesn't make sense not to go into some of the museums/cathedrals/castles/monuments. Also, in some of the cities, we did tours so that did cost some. At least we could kind of control how much we spent when we took "free" walking tours.

€2157 is no small sum and technically it exceeded my self-imposed budget of €1500 by quite a bit. I also think if I knew it would cost this much, I might not have went through with it. On the brighter side, quite a number of people are pretty amazed at the amount I've spent, expecting it to cost a lot more. If I didn't get as many souvenirs and if I did couch surfing I'm pretty sure I could have brought the expenses down. Oh well, it was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There are a few more parts of Europe that I have yet to explore - mainly Scandinavia, Greece, the Baltic states and Eastern Europe.

Hopefully, this will be helpful to anyone who is looking at budgets with regards to their European travels. Just send me an email or facebook message or something if you want to find out more.

Travelling

2011-08-07T11:29:00.000+01:00

I've done quite a bit of travelling in the past month and I've been meaning to blog about it for the past 2 - 3 weeks but I've actually been pretty busy with setting up (i.e. cleaning, rearranging furniture, unpacking) my new house among several other activities like The Big Bounce. Then there was the travelling to London to meet How Wee kor kor and JoBeth. It's been a pretty awesome summer so far and I've enjoyed myself fully. The main downside of it all is not being home. I miss my friends, family and the food back home in Singapore. And while it won't be the first National Day that I've missed, it'll be the first one I've missed unwillingly. There's no place like home.

Back to the travelling. So for 34 days in June and a bit of July, I toured continental Europe via train, using the interrail pass. According to my calculations and records, I took 43 trains (including 1 bus and 2 ferries) and travelled to 20 cities and 2 small towns. For most of the way, I travelled with Rory and we met with Aishling, Kate and Lisa in Amsterdam near the end of the travels. I must say I've been extremely privileged to have been able to go on this 1 month trip. I won't go into the nitty-gritty details for the whole trip and I'll do a post about the expenses later on. It should also be noted that this was a 'sampler' trip of sorts - while we spent an average of 1 - 2 nights in each city, we did hit all the major tourist spots. It was very fast paced as expected but now we have a good idea of which cities we'd like to go back to in the future. In chronological order, these were the cities I visited: Paris, Lucerne, Milan, Rome, Vatican City, Pompeii, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow (& Auschwitz), Prague (& Kutna Hora), Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Malmo, Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp. I did return to Amsterdam for 2 nights after my sojourn in Belgium to catch my flight back to Cork. After that 1 month plus of interrailing, I spent a week and a half in Ireland before flying to London where we went to Stonehenge, Bath and Oxford.

Most cities in Europe get pretty similar after a while though, which is also why I took fewer and fewer photos. There's always a huge beautiful church/cathedral and many other smaller and beautiful ones, museums, fountains and a famous plaza. Don't get me wrong. I loved it all. It's just that I got jaded after 5 or 6 cities. That said, I've often been asked which European city is my favourite. Rory finds my choices very surprising but here goes: The top spot is shared between London, Salzburg, Prague and Bruges. Vienna and Bath come a close second. Other than London, the other 3 are small cities; I think it's the whole "the grass is greener on the other side" thing. I've lived in huge (well relatively) cities my entire life - mostly Singapore and Shanghai for a bit. It's pretty much the same reason why I prefer Cork to Dublin. I get some city life and there is a lot of greenery and countryside around. The best of both worlds if you will. And if I feel a hankering for more city life, Dublin and London aren't too far off.

We stayed mostly in hostels so we did get to interact with fellow travellers. Most were American and South Korean, though there was quite a significant number of South Americans as well. This was actually the most enjoyable part of travelling - meeting new people and trading travel stories and tips. In fact, in Vienna, I was chatting with this guy who turned out to be a Sri Lankan anaesthetist working in London. While we did talk a lot about medicine, we also traded travel tips. I showed him how to check the train schedules and all that online and he was so grateful, he insisted on treating Rory and I to dinner that night. He was a very friendly dude. During my second visit to Amsterdam, I met this super innocent South Korean girl who asked me if I noticed that the smoke in Amsterdam smelled "funny and weird" and if I knew why that was so. It took me a few seconds to realise that she wasn't joking and was genuinely curious. Incidentally, most Westerners assumed I was either American or Canadian thanks to my rather Americanised accent and most of the South Koreans assumed I was Korean. Apparently, I look Korean.

Meeting the locals was also quite an experience and their general friendliness and approachability did count towards how much I enjoyed my time in any city. For example Paris and Rome were beautiful cities but the surliness of the French and Italians was rather off-putting. I did expect it and while I was not personally offended, it was still quite distasteful. I mean, I took the effort to learn simple French and Italian phrases like "thank you", "you're welcome" and numbers among several others. Oh well. The Austrians and Southern Germans were very friendly and the others were in between.

Cuisine wise, we weren't very adventurous. Purely because of finances. We didn't expect hostels to cost THAT much so we had to find another way to budget and keep costs as low as possible. The only other thing we could really control was what we ate. So for much of the trip, we ate mostly bread (occasionally with salami) and bananas bought from supermarkets. On several other occasions, we cooked pasta and tomato sauce. The only cities we ate reasonably well was in Budapest, Krakow and Amsterdam. The former 2, were mainly because food there was decently priced and usually in a non-Euro zone country, we withdrew a certain amount of money and we wanted to use it up as converting it back to Euros would make no sense. In Amsterdam, we were with the girls so we followed their lead. Another thing to note is that before we had Indonesian food in Amsterdam, it was the longest I've ever gone without rice. It was very odd and I did notice it. And I was pretty annoyed that I had to save on food, the Singaporean in me was raging really. At least I did have some local dishes like pierogi (Polish), mici (Romanian), beef goulash (Hungarian), flemish stew (Belgium) etc. Oh and after trying several European beers, I have come to the conclusion Belgium beer ROCKS. I'm not too fond of beer but Belgium beer... Mmmmmm.

With regards to transport, paying the €409 for the interrail pass (and the €10 for the lost protection policy thing) was well worth it. Travelling by train was alright. I particularly enjoyed the journey to and from Switzerland. We had no idea how our ticket worked at first and it totally didn't help when ALL the trains from Paris to Switzerland were booked out. We ended up taking the regional trains from Paris to Belfort then to Mulhouse. From there, we took a train to Basel. First, our train from Paris to Belfort was delayed by 100 minutes and throughout the entire delay all they told us was that the train was indefinitely delayed which was highly annoying. At Basel, we called the hostels in the city while running to the other platform where the train to Lucerne was supposed to depart from. When they didn't answer, we took a gamble and just boarded and called the hostel in Lucerne. It all worked out in the end. There were a number of times where we had to run like mad men from platform to platform to catch a connecting train. Another particularly memorable journey was taking the train from Hamburg to Copenhagen. We had to cross the Fehmarn Belt, a strait in the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland so the train entered a ferry which took us across. I was so engrossed in a book that I had absolutely no idea I was on a ferry till the conductor told me to get out of the train as passengers were not allowed to remain in the train. I only realised where I was when I went out on to the main deck. It was cool anyway. :D

In the bigger cities, we usually had to take the metro or bus which and in the smaller ones, we mostly walked. In fact we walked A LOT. Unfortunately, Rory is a big fan of walking and I hate it. I don't know why really. I know you get to see more of the city, it was cheap (hell it was free) and blah blah blah but I've never enjoyed walking, which explains my speedy pace - I just want it over and done with. We went our separate ways more often in the second half of the trip, more because he was interested in the museums and by then I was dead bored of them and for some of the places, I'd rather take a single metro trip down then start walking back while he'd rather walk the entire way. Overall, it wasn't that bad and there really wasn't any other choice anyway.

Travelling was very enjoyable and I savoured every moment. If I had the resources and time, I'd actually do a Cork to Singapore trip without taking to the skies. I may have mentioned this before, I can't remember. It'll involve passing through Iran, Bhutan, Nepal and possibly Afghanistan. Can't see my mum agreeing to that. And then again, I won't have the time. Such a trip will take at the very least 1 month and I just don't have the time, or money for that matter. I've only been on 2 continents now and I was born on one so it doesn't really count. I want to get to the rest, including Antarctica (maybe). That's going on my bucket list.

World Record - The Big Bounce

2011-07-16T20:48:00.003+01:00

I never imagined that one day, I'd be helping to set a world record at a sporting event. And not one of those lame - most number of people in a queue, biggest crowd gathered in one place nonsense. I am part of a team of 20 gymnasts who helped to set the world record for the most number of somersaults on 2 trampolines in 24hrs. The finally tally was 75312. The unofficial world record we beat was 43629 somersaults by Kangaroo Display Team, UK which we beat pretty convincingly. Guinness World Records set us a target of 70000 to be included in the book and to officially hold the world record i.e. we'd be the original record holders, or so I understand it anyway. AWESOME STUFF. I still can't believe we did it. I'm absolutely wrecked right now - both mentally and physically. My back and neck is in a dire state, my legs are sore (though that isn't too bad) and I'm still feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous. Hopefully all that will pass soon. I probably got a total of 45 minutes of actual sleep in the past 24hrs and the only reason I'm not sleeping now is so that I can kind of reset my body clock.

There isn't much point going through how we did it and the different rotations we used as people got more and more tired throughout the night and the changes we had to make when 2-3 people were injured and couldn't contribute any more. I have to say it was totally exhausting. Thing is, I could deal with the exhaustion and pain, I just couldn't handle the queasiness and nausea. I have no idea how the others got over it so quickly. I had no appetite whatsoever during those 24hrs and I had to force myself to eat crisps, a Nutri-Grain bar, a banana and a packet of Smarties just to get replenish the salt and sugar I've used up. It was terrible. Even when I went into the room where everyone was eating their pizzas, the smell alone made me want to throw up.

The first hour was pretty bad, I was getting used to doing consecutive somersaults (only had 1 training session the entire month before and I only just got back from interrailing 4 days ago now) so it was mainly combating the nausea and getting used to the pace. The 2nd to 5th sessions weren't too bad, I was more used to everything and I was banging out the somersaults. The 6th session at 2am was very tiring as it was a lot colder and the early enthusiasm at the start was at a basal level. The 7th session at 6am was the worst though. I've had a 2.5hr nap of sorts (didn't really sleep for most of it) and so I could feel the exhaustion settling into my bones and my back and neck acting up again. It was almost all about fitness at this time as I was kind of used to the nausea by now though it was still very uncomfortable. I could feel my back threatening to go into spasms every time I accidentally over-arched or even if I landed a bit awkwardly. I was definitely not fit enough all things considered. I got through that with God's grace. I was praying a lot during that 7th session. After that it wasn't too bad and we knew that we passed the 70000 mark with 2hrs to spare.

I can't really compare this to running the Standard Chartered Marathon back in 2008. While both were about endurance and fitness and I didn't train for either, they just felt very different. It was a different kind of pain. During the marathon, it was more of a burning kind of pain throughout plus constant cramps after the halfway mark. With the Big Bounce, it was less about the pain and more about the nausea for me. There was pain of course, my back has been in terrible shape for a long time and this event is definitely doing it no favours. But pain I can ignore to a certain extent, the nausea and dizziness were just absolutely terrible. I was seriously considering getting one of the free witnesses (or slaves as Ann Marie and I called them) to run down to a pharmacy to get me some anti-emetics. In the end I didn't, partially cos a side effect would be drowsiness which isn't ideal really in this case, mostly cos I thought it would pass. It didn't really but I gritted my teeth and got through it.

In any case, this was an amazing experience and I'm very proud to have been part of an incredible team - the somersault-ers, the witnesses, the counters, the supporters. Everyone played their role and did a brilliant job. We've now set a new world record of 75312 somersaults on 2 trampolines in 24hrs. HOOOYEAH!!!

UPDATE: After going through the videos, we actually only did 73218 somersaults which is still awesome. :D

Busy Week

2011-06-03T20:59:00.000+01:00

It's going to be an interesting and busy week ahead. Tomorrow I'm making a day trip to West Cork via the coastal route with Jess, Chris, his mum and Yvonne. The day after, we'll we going to Galway via Inch Beach and Dingle. On Monday, we'll explore the Cliffs of Moher and Innis Mór (the biggest of the Aran Islands) and on Tuesday we'll drive back to Cork via Dublin. Hopefully, the weather will accommodate us this weekend!

Tuesday night will be laundry night and the following morning I'll be moving the rest of my stuff to Jess' house, or my new house really. The afternoon will be spent with Brian, Rory and Barry for lunch and to finalise interrailing plans. Barry should be joining us in Amsterdam and hopefully Brian will get to join us in Krakow or Prague. And hopefully I won't have much else left to do so that I can go see Aaron in "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!".

And my flight to Paris leaves around 6am on Thursday morning. Whoooo! Interrailing is going to be a lot of fun! Hopefully, the people who are supposed to join Rory and I will be able to. The more people the merrier! I better get back to packing and everything so things go smoothly. I'll try to update this blog on the run! :D

Shadow Figure

2011-05-29T19:33:00.000+01:00

I just read an article about a father's love and the impact he has on his family. I guess we'll be seeing more of these in the build up to Fathers' Day on June 19. The article affected me in a peculiar way. I've never been close to my father and in the past, Fathers' Day has always been a give-present-to-daddy day and that was it. Nothing more. My family life is pretty dysfunctional as it is with divorced parents (recently I might add) who constantly fought as far as I can remember. And while I love my mum and fully appreciate how much she's sacrificing for me and I do love my 3 sisters, I must admit, I find comfort and companionship in friends more than I do family. I don't necessarily like it but that's the way it is for me and I'm pretty sure my sisters feel similarly.

The article suggested closing my eyes and recalling scenes of my dad and myself. 2 main scenes came to my mind. The most recent one being last year when he handed me a small sum of money to help a bit with my expenses and the other scene was him fetching me to secondary school in his taxi almost daily. After that came small flitting images of him bringing me fishing or camping when I was a lot younger, though those were far and few between. My family was pretty typically Asian in that my father was the main disciplinarian (though my mum took on that role a lot as well) and he was the typical Chinese father - the main emotion you remember him expressing is anger or rage. Hugs, kisses and I-love-yous were left to mummy.

I'm trying not to digress and turn this into a post about my family cos I do want to focus on my father. I have to admit it, every time his face comes to mind my primary emotion is resentment. He was never a father figure for me and till today, I firmly believe that my principles, values, character and personality would be exactly the same had he been non-existent. In fact, one of my greatest irrational fears is that when I have my own family (if ever), I'll become like him. He had more time than my mum since she was the main breadwinner but that extra time didn't translate to spending it with his children. I don't blame him for that in my teenage years because by that age, it's more of a 2-way thing. I had my own activities and was busy with my own life so on the rare occasions that he did want to bring me out to play golf or fish I didn't have the time to spend with him. I do feel a bit guilty about that but that guilt is largely assuaged by his absence in my formative years.

I was just never able to click with him. I was and still am more my mother's son than I am my father's. His secondary school level education probably contributed to that a little. It's not that he wasn't smart academically, he was/is brilliant in other areas - sports, all things mechanical etc. Typical "man" things. On the other hand, I did gymnastics (a "sissy" sport in his eyes I suppose, he never did say that to be fair), my favourite pastime was reading and I didn't have the patience for golf or fishing. I did do sports like badminton, squash and a tiny bit of football but I was not as skilled as he would have liked in a son. I could talk about the EPL with him since I supported Manchester United, I think he may have supported them as well, he never really made that clear. But other than the occasional chat about football we hardly talked about anything else. He would nag at me once in a while to study hard, find a good girlfriend (here he would usually make subtle comments about his own failed relationship with mum) and all the other standard stuff. I usually switched off when he was in one of his odd moods where he alternated between nagging and elaborating some random theory (usually optimism or something of the sort).

For me, I can ignore all the things he did or didn't do when I was younger but what I've found very hard to forgive even now is some of his recent actions. There was the issue of his marriage and family where I felt he was more a free-loader than anything else. Mum paid for most of the house and the bills. Admittedly, he did provide the allowances for the 4 of us kids, mainly at mum's insistence that he'd actually do his bit for the family. Everything else was covered by mum. The only good that has come out of this is my conviction that I will not get married or have a family before I have an income that can support one so that my wife can choose to work if she wants to and not because she has to. The other thing which I was disgusted by was the entire divorce proceedings that were unnecessarily dragged out for almost a year. I want to believe that he was trying to preserve the sanctity of the marriage and on some level, he did actually love mum and us and that he wasn't dragging this out for his own benefit. Unfortunately, it's hard to see the good in all that. I've talked about the divorce before and my views haven't changed. As far back as I can remember, I never thought of them as a couple per se. And when I found out there were several instances before when the topic of divorce was broached but never followed up on because of the 4 of us I wasn't surprised one bit. The fact that the divorce proceedings were protracted was somewhat surprising. During the entire thing, mum was trying her best to make sure we didn't have to take a stand or choose sides and constantly reminded us that no matter what he was still our father and this was between the both of them and had nothing to do with us while he was fighting every step of the way and generally didn't seem very concerned with our welfare. The final straw for me came about last year. Now all I have is mum's version of the events which I admit may be biased but I wouldn't put it past him. I won't go into it but what little respect I've ever had for him is now gone.

I know I could have had it worse. He could have been abusive, he could have been a philanderer, he could have been any number of terrible things. To me, it still doesn't diminish the fact that he was a pathetic excuse for a husband and father. So yes, to some degree I resent him for never being a father figure. However, at this stage, I'm pretty much indifferent. I think I turned out decently in spite of all that. What makes everything so terribly complicated is that I'm very close to my paternal grandmother and with my other paternal relatives to a slightly lesser extent. As it stands, my relationship with my grandmother hasn't changed which is great, but I'm definitely not as close to the rest any more which sucks. It was the same for my mum too, she got on handsomely with the rest of his family but had to start distancing herself when all this started.

All that said, I feel like I should add that he wasn't the worst father ever. He did give me an allowance whilst I was in school and he did drive me to school for 4 years. He taught me to cycle, fish, play golf and other sports and did spend some time with me when I was younger. I guess in his own way he did love me.

April, May and Beyond

2011-05-24T00:08:00.001+01:00

So, it's been a rather busy 2 months and it's now SUMMER. Throughout this month I've been wanting to blog about several things but haven't been able to do so what with exams and all that so I'll do a tiny bit of a summary for each bit I wanted to write about. There isn't much motivation I must admit, but I'm bored and too lazy to head out so here goes.

Exams:
1 word: OVER.

Singapore General Elections 2011:
It was highly annoying that this occurred smack in the middle of my summer exams and my studies were interspersed with reading political commentary and opinion pieces and watching rally videos. It was very surprising to find the normally politically apathetic youth suddenly filled with fervour and political activism. I was reminded of Pre-University Seminar 2006 where I was involved in my junior college's team in doing a presentation about political apathy among the youth. I suppose the winds of change were long coming and while it is currently a very gentle breeze I'm sure there is more change in the near future. This GE has been described as a watershed in many quarters which must have many other countries scratching their head, the ruling party did retain 93% of the parliamentary seats after all. But 6 opposition members in the parliament is a new record for Singapore so we take what we can. And there is some indication that the ruling party is now more aware of the gripes of the population and are taking some steps to try and appease the people. So there's that.

For me, I think I matured a bit more politically speaking. I may not have been able to take part in the voting process (middle of exams, nearest Singapore High Commission in London and all that) but the vast amount of political commentary online this time round allowed me to explore my thoughts and opinions more thoroughly. I used to be of the don't-rock-the-boat mentality but now I've changed my stance slightly. I'm still largely a PAP supporter but I disagree with a number of policies and I do like some of WP's ideas. Unlike many of my peers, I'm not too fond of NSP's Nicole Seah as I find her stance a tad too populist and NSP's policies are a bit too socialist for my liking.

With regards to our voting system, I do think the GRC system is flawed (cue Tin Pei Ling in, George Yeo out rants) but at the moment I don't know of a better system. I did consider preferential voting and it is attractive but it does have its flaws as well. No system is perfect after all. That said, I'm quite strongly against a coalition government and no I can't quote figures and facts right now. It's purely anecdotal and I'm of that particular opinion from articles I've read and what not.

Ok. I'll stop there. I meant for it to be a short thing but it ballooned quite a bit. I could go on and on but the internet has been saturated with all that sort of jazz over the later half of April and early May so I'll stop.

2nd Medicine
I enjoyed the lectures this year more than last year. The very nice and slack lecture schedule certainly contributed to some of that enjoyment. I was way too laid-back this year though. I just couldn't find the motivation to study much and I was distracted by so many other things. Thankfully I've done decently so far but definitely not as well as I expect of myself. Next year!

Accommodation
I'm taking over Jess' place next year with Chris and Ben and I'm rather pleased. It's in a great location and rent is reasonable. Victoria Station was pretty great in first year but it's gotten a lot worse this year. At the beginning it was conceivable that I might stay here for all 5 years but this year, the cons far outweigh the pros of this private student accommodation and I'm glad to be leaving. In more exciting news, we're getting "Ireland's Fastest Broadband" with UPC. I'm still a bit miffed that Ireland has data restrictions but oh wells, 500GB should be decent for us.

Interrailing
Plans are being fleshed out now and I'm really looking forward to it! More about this over the next month or so!

Cooking
This week is going to be a week of firsts. I just made lemon curd for the first time ever and having never tried it before. It turned out very nicely and it's actually really easy to make, the most difficult part (and annoying) was grating and squeezing the lemons. This lemon curd is to be used as part of the filling for lemon macarons (N.B.: NOT macaroons, they're not the same!) I'll be making sometime later this week and also in a lemon curd and orange parfait. I'll need to make meringues for the parfait which will be another first. After doing a tiny bit of research, I've found that meringues intrigue me and I think I'll explore flavoured meringues and meringue pies later in the summer when I'm bored. So if anyone's around Cork city for the summer, pop by and I may have some treats! (:

Singapore
Like I mentioned in earlier posts, the earliest I'll be home this year is possible December. That all depends on my clinical rotations in 3rd year of course, if I get a 1 month winter break chances that I'll return will be higher. It's more likely that I'm only returning in late May or early June 2012. I miss everyone back home terribly - friends, family, ex-students etc. And the food. The food. Every time I use a spice packet to make bak kut teh or chicken rice, I'm reminded that it's a poor imitation of the awesomeness back home. It's better than nothing I guess.

That's pretty much it. I'll try to blog more over summer but we'll see how it goes. I'm considering removing the facebook synchronising thing cos I find that I tend to hold back and not write about certain issues or express my opinions more strenuously as I don't want to come across as too forward. I guess it brings us back to the whole issue of blogging being a narcissistic activity and while I'd like to think that I do it for myself, I know that on some level it's an exhibitionistic thing. Well, I'll decide over the next few weeks and I suppose this won't change anything for anyone save for the tiny handful of friends on facebook who follow my blog posts and notes. I'll keep you few in mind. :D

Everyday Stuff

2011-04-02T12:25:00.001+01:00

Everyday Stuff

I just realised that I haven't blogged at all this entire year so I'll be rectifying that today with a terribly mundane post about my rather humdrum life. I suppose it's for the likes of my stalkers (if any) and friends who I haven't caught up with and for some reason are interested to find out what's going on with me.

The past 3 months has been pretty hectic with several lull periods in between. I'm currently on my 1 month study break (the last one I'll ever have) just off the backs of 3 exams and I am certainly beginning to enjoy my temporarily lackadaisical lifestyle. The past 2 weeks were possibly my busiest with those 3 exams with incredible amounts to study for in each, with a trampoline judging course just before my pharmacology exam and a trampoline competition in between the other 2. It was pretty much STUDY, TRAIN, STUDY, SLEEP, STUDY, TRAIN, STUDY, SLEEP. You get the idea. I also survived on a mostly frozen pizzas and easy-to-make meals diet. Don't judge me, it was convenient! Not the healthiest or tastiest I'll admit, but it took so little effort and time!

It has been an epic year for the UCC Gymnastics Trampoline & Tumbling Club too - we won Munster Open and Intervarsities. We were the first Republic of Ireland club to win the Irish Students Trampoline Open on its 10th anniversary and we were the top Irish club in the Scottish Universities Sports Trampoline Open. I'm happy to say I competed in all but SUSTO. On a personal level, I guess I'm pretty pleased with my performance in trampoline so far this academic year though definitely not satisfied. I don't think I'll ever be fully satisfied with my routines though, it's probably a gymnast thing. I know it's impossible for me to get a perfect 10, especially now (I just can't seem to regain my form of yesteryears), but I'll be damned if I stopped trying. I did place decently in all the competitions I participated in and won a couple of medals/trophies so that was good. Hopefully, I'll be able to do nice, stable crash dives/lazy backs and doubles so I can move on to elite next year.

There really isn't much to say study-wise. 2nd year has been pretty much what I expected it to be. We've had fewer lectures but more to learn. I'm definitely enjoying it more than I did 1st year. Pathology is an interesting topic though studying for it is dire. Pharmacology isn't too bad surprisingly, it was easy enough to understand and while learning the drug names can be annoying, it isn't too bad once you get started.

CMF has been great this year as well. The National Student Conference was by far one of the best conferences I've attended. The messages and seminars were brilliant and I learnt a great deal. CMF Cork is slowly maturing as a group and I thank God for that. I know He has great plans for us and I'm just glad to be a part of it all.

See how prosaic my life is? There's not much else going on aside from that really. I'm looking forward to interrailing in the summer and hopefully Brian will be able to join us too! Still thinking of what to do after though. Initially the plan was to join my sister in Los Angeles, but I found out the return tickets cost almost as much as the ones to Singapore, so that's out of the question. We're still working out stuff so I may still travel to the States come July.

Alrighty, I'm off to watch a match at Paul's place (Manchester United FTW!!), I shall blog again soon about a less banal topic. :D

21st Century: 1st Decade

2010-12-31T03:42:00.005Z

21st Century: 1st Decade

In approximately 20.5hrs, the first decade of the new millennium would have just passed by. It has been a crazy 10 years and I'll have very fond memories of this decade. Granted, those were the 10 years which saw me enter my teens and then adulthood. 10 years ago, I was just 12 and I had just finished my Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) and been admitted into SJI. Now, I'm in the middle of second med, getting ready to take on the new year and continue with my medical education. With this post, I guess I'll try to relive and explore the major milestones for me this past decade.

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Primary 6 (2000):
I'll be honest here, I was actually pretty happy to leave Pei Chun. It was a good school but I just never really belonged. I've had great teachers though, especially in my last year. I'll always remember Mrs June Teo for her dedication and care. She was the one who brought 5 of us guys to visit several top schools including SJI. 4 out of 5 of those boys ended up in SJI. I'll also remember how mum wanted to change my secondary school choice to ACS(I) after I received my PSLE results. Thankfully, the car broke down and she was unable to get to Pei Chun to do the administrative work. I must add that I was adamant that SJI remained my first choice.

SJI (2001 - 2004++):
I really don't have much to say here as I've said all I can say about SJI in many other posts. And within these 4 years were smaller milestones that are no less significant in making me the person I am today. SJI was the first and only school I've felt strongly attached to. I spent 4 years as a student and gymnast and the next 6 after that helping out in coaching my juniors and even a short 10 weeks as a relief teacher and the gymnastics teacher-in-charge cum coach. I've met so many Josephians during these 10 years that have in some way or another impacted my life, that it will be nearly impossible to list them all out. So here's a tiny shout out to all my classmates, team mates, teachers and of course my students and gymnastics juniors. I feel extremely blessed to have known all of you. Ora et Labora! :D

CHC (2003 - present):
I've probably told and retold the story of how I came to my current church many times over the past 7 years so I won't bore anyone with the details. One major milestone here was actually the decision to leave Singapore Christian Canaan Church. My mum let me decide for myself and this was probably one of the most major decisions I've had to make. I think the hardest part was leaving my best friend (well ex-bestie now) behind. Quintessentially, I believe that I started living for God and not for man in 2003. I've always believed in Him most of my life, but actually living for Him and just going through the motions are 2 very different things. Suffice to say, I've matured spiritually in this church.

NJC (2005 - 2006):
Another story that has been retold countless times - how I ended up in NJC even though I lived just opposite RJC and dreamt of going there for the better part of 2004. I ended up in NJC, taking Biology, Chemistry, C Maths and Economics. Econs was a bad choice on my part but given the chance to go back in time, I would have still done it, just so that I'll still be in 05S26. Going to NJC where almost no one knew me was the sort of release I needed. I started off as a very introverted, shy Secondary 1 boy in SJI but started to grow more confident and extroverted as I grew older. Unfortunately, I knew that everyone who knew me in SJI expected me to act a certain way and I willingly obliged. If I had gone to CJC as many of my schoolmates did, I'm certain that nothing would have changed. However, in NJC I was allowed the freedom to come into myself and do things I'd never have done in SJI. And this was 2 years of so many 'firsts'. My first time skipping lectures/school, failing terribly in exams, being in the dance CCA, winning individual gold at Nationals, singing on stage in a talent show (I still cannot believe I was coerced into doing that), heading the NJC Pre-University Seminar team, emceeing in the main Esplanade concert hall... To be absolutely honest, till now, those were the 2 best years of my life. I was discovering new things about myself and I had great company. As I've mentioned several times before, 05S26 allowed me to survive NJC. It was and still is, the best class I've ever been in.

National Service (2007-2009):
I gave 1 year 10 months to Singapore. Well, it wasn't really given since it is a conscription. It was an interesting 22 months where I learnt a lot. Many guys maintain that it's a waste of time but I really don't think so. Aside from learning to be a soldier and commander, I also discovered more new things about myself and learnt a totally new lingo, how to play office politics and a whole load of other important stuff. One of the most important things being in the army has taught me can be condensed into 4 letters - LLST (lan lan suck thumb). There are some things that you just cannot change, whining, grumbling and being a pessimist doesn't make it any better so just LLST and get on with it. I also met 2 of my best friends during my NS and unlike many other typical "buddies for life" stories, neither of them were my 'buddies' and we only met when I was posted to their unit. And how the 3 of us became such close friends still baffles me to this day.

UCC (2009 - present):
Coming here to Ireland was undeniably the biggest decision I've ever had to make. There were so many factors to consider (finances being the biggest concern) that those few weeks I was given to decide were absolutely crazy. Even now, a tiny bit of me is still in shock that I'm actually here. In Cork. Studying medicine. It's quite hard to believe as even a year ago I'd never ever have imagined that I would end up here. It really is pretty amazing that I'm in Ireland, far away from tiny equatorial Singapore. I think one of the main takeaways from this 1+ year in Ireland is the vindication that I am able to survive on my own. I've always been pretty independent but I guess it's always nice to have some confirmation. Right now, I have great friends and classmates and I'm enjoying my studies. There isn't much else one could ask for. Oh and nerd that I am, I always visualise my overall medical training as a kind of an RPG. Right now, I'm a Level 2 Med Student and my experience bar is at 33%. I have 3 more levels to go before I'll earn a star and become a Level 1 Doctor. Go ahead and laugh. I could go on about how exams and OSCEs are like the final bosses and so on but I shan't.
--------------------------

And that's a kind of a summary for the decade. I've obviously left out a lot of detail or this post would go on forever. I think one recurring issue in this decade is one that will stick for life - that people come and go. Again, I've done a post on this issue before. And again I'll say that I still hate it and haven't really come to terms with it. There are friends in my life right now that I can't imagine being without and there were friends who were a big part of my life that I miss dearly.

I do wonder what the future holds. Many say it's a bit too early for me to be thinking about where I want to train after I graduate and where I want to work but I've always been that way even when I was much younger. Contrary to popular opinion, medical school doesn't close off your options, it actually opens a much wider door and offers a fantastic plethora of options. But for now, I just have to concentrate on getting to open those doors of opportunity and that process will take just 3.5 years more.

This has been a decade of much growth for me and I'm looking forward to the next few. Bring it on!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-12-24T18:50:00.001Z

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

At 4pm (UTC) today, my facebook newsfeed started filling up with "Merry/Blessed/Happy Christmas" statuses. It was a tiny reminder that for the second year running, I wasn't home for Christmas. Last year, I was with Mum and Reuben in Barcelona on this very day. I'm actually not that homesick and it is hard to choose between hot-humid and freezing-icy. And actually, even for a family as Anglicised as ours, Christmas was never as big a holiday as it is here in Ireland. We do celebrate Jesus' birth and all but we didn't always have a big family dinner and such (especially since my mum doesn't cook). In recent years, the Christmases I remember most are those Christmas dinners with my extended family (maternal side). I think even for us, in Singapore, Chinese New Year is the western Christmas equivalent. CNY is all about family, what with the reunion dinner and 2-3 days of visiting.

This year, I feel decidedly much more Christmassy than I've felt in the past couple of years. I carolled with the Christian Medical Fellowship at Cork University Hospital after ice skating at Mahon Point with friends, compiled an awesome 3.7hrs long Christmas playlist, participated in 2 secret santas, partied with the medheads and imbibed copious amounts of alcohol (shots and mulled wine), did some Christmas bouncing with the tramps (trampoliners in case anyone gets the wrong idea) and I'll be roasting turkey among other Christmassy dishes tomorrow. Oh and of course, I'll be watching CHC's Christmas service tonight at 2am. Having songs like "Baby, It's Cold Outside", "Carol of the Bells", "Angels We Have Heard On High", "Away in a Manger" and other similar songs in my playlist on repeat this Christmas eve certainly adds to the festivity.

Amidst all the hustle and bustle of this Christmas, I guess it's especially important that we remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. That it's a season of giving and love and celebrating our dear Saviour's birth. It's so easy to get lost in all the Christmas festivities that we do forget why we celebrate this wonderful day. And yes I'm ignoring all the pagan stuff about how He was not really born in December and all that; we'll let the theologians and scholars debate about that.

Anyway, I'm absolutely enjoying myself these holidays. It's been brilliant fun! Soon it'll be 2011 and I'll do my annual summarising post of the year and that will be a time for reminiscing and nostalgia of another great year.

BLESSED CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Reading Progression

2010-12-23T15:14:00.001Z

Reading Progression

I've always been quite a major bookworm and unfortunately in the past year and a half I haven't read many new books - maybe just 5 or so which is decent enough I suppose. I attribute that to medical school. My 22 months in the army was pretty productive in terms of reading. When you're on shift work, there's plenty of time for you to read, especially when things are a lot quieter at night (most of the time).

I actually read a wide variety of genres though I always claim that fantasy is my favoured one. My all-time favourite books include Lord of the Rings, The Belgeriad series, The Outsiders, Ender's Game and The Riftwar Saga. 3 out of the 5 are fantasy. There are a few books that I really like as well but haven't got that tiny bit of je nais se quoi that will elevate them to favourite status in my sight. And yes I've read the Twilight series. At first it was just to figure out what the fuss was and to see if Stephanie Meyers was really as terrible as she's made out to be. To be perfectly honest, I actually quite enjoyed it. I think she isn't a good writer but she's not that bad. The emo stuff was quite nonsensical but I liked her take on vampires, some having special powers and all that. The 'skin-glitters-under-sunlight' bit was quite inane but other than that it was fine.

Recently, I've realised that it's been getting more difficult to find a good fantasy book. It could be due to my avoidance of female fantasy writers, for some reason, all the books I've read by women fantasy writers haven't been very satisfying to say the least. Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire put me to sleep, Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis' Dragonlance series had good promise but the writing style didn't agree with me... Anyway, I got into (auto)biographies in the past year. Mainly those of sporting legends that I support like Roger Federer, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs. I also enjoy reading journals or personal recounts of life in the medical profession or as a medical student - books like Complications by Atul Gawande or Trust me, I'm a (junior) Doctor by Mark Pemberton. I wouldn't call my progression from reading primarily fantasy books to (auto)biographies a maturation. It's just that it's harder to find a good fantasy story and my medical training obviously opens my reading options.

Being a speed reader, I tend to miss out on minor details that I believe do contribute to the overall story but it works pretty well for me. When I like a book a lot, I'll read it again and again. Case in point: LOTR. I've read it 14 times by the time I was 15 and I only started reading it when I was 13. If it's a really good book that has me absolutely engrossed, I can ignore everything else including meals, just to finish it. You can ask my family. I've walked into a lamp post while reading on the way home after dinner when I was much younger. Thankfully, my peripheral vision has developed quite remarkably as a result.

Nowadays, you have ebooks and ereaders like Kindle. But I'm not a big fan of those. I actually like the smell and feel of a new book as I flip the pages, immersing myself in the story. I know it is ridiculous, but to me, there seems to be a kind of authenticity a paperback has that an ebook will never have.Unfortunately, they're really bulky as I realised when I packed my books in boxes before coming over to Ireland. Another idiosyncrasy I have is a dislike of borrowing books - I'd rather own them. Oh well, technology progresses and eventually I suppose I will have to get with the times.

Les Misérables & Billy Elliot

2010-12-16T22:52:00.002Z

Les Misérables & Billy Elliot

Les Mis was absolutely fantastic. The use of the stage and props were just as brilliant as the actors/singers and I was hugely impressed. I vaguely recall watching it when I was much much younger, perhaps 7 or 8 and watching it this time put everything in place for me. I understood the sentiment and atmosphere much better and while I've been listening to the songs for a long time now, it is so different watching in live. I could also better appreciate the relationships between the characters, particularly the one between Epionine and Marius. In this run, I was most impressed with the younger singers, especially those who played Epionine, Marius and Gavroche. They acted their parts brilliantly and sang very well. I thought the casting was really good. In fact the Thérnadiers and Javert were really class as well. Overall, I thought it was exceptional and it more or less cemented its place as one of my all time favourites (currently tied for 1st with Rent).

I was really excited to see Billy Elliot too as I've heard good things about the musical and I've seen clips of the original on youtube and the movie is one of my favourites. Needless to say, it did not disappoint. Again, watching clips on youtube is very different from the real thing. The Geordian accent was a bit hard to decipher sometimes but it lent a very real feel to the whole musical. This Billy was a very good dancer and my favourite dance in the musical is the pas de deux he does with his older self. Unfortunately, I thought his singing wasn't really up to it and it brought down his overall performance. I'd have loved to see Liam Mower as Billy Elliot live. He was the first Billy (in the original 2005 run of the musical) and won the Laurence Olivier Award for that role. From clips on the internet, he seems to be a very good dancer and a decent enough singer. Anyway, other than that tiny issue, the whole musical was very well done and given the time and money and chance, I'd catch it again and again and again and again and again.

If I had more time and money I'd be watching Chicago, Wicked, We Will Rock You and countless other plays and musicals. Sigh. But to be honest, I never imagined that I'd be able to watch Rent, Les Misérables and Billy Elliot live. I feel very blessed indeed to have been given this fantastic opportunity. :D

London

2010-12-16T20:20:00.002Z

London

I just got back from London and I had an absolutely fantastic time! It's a wonderful city and it felt a tiny bit like home. I stayed in my cousin How Wee's house and he was the bestest best host ever. :D He saved soup he made from dinner and heated it up for me for supper when I got back late at night from watching the musicals and helped me with a lot of other stuff. So if I haven't said it enough, THANKS HOW WEE!!!!! YOU'RE THE BEST! Oh and Rory was awesome for knowing the streets and history of the stuff too. He was a very good tour guide. Ahahaha.

I only spent 3 days and 2 nights in London and both of the late evenings/nights were spent watching Les Misérables and Billy Elliot. Now I feel very inclined to go on and on about both musicals right now, but I'll just do that in another post later. I'll keep this one about London. I walked through and looked around typical London sights like Trafalgar Sqaure and Picadilly Circus. But to be honest, this very short trip was really just about catching those 2 musicals and visiting my cousin.

As I was walking through the streets, I did feel a tiny bit homesick. London is really very similar to Singapore in a surprising number of ways. For example, the London Underground reminded me so much of our MRT system and the rows of brightly lit retail stores reminded me of Orchard Road. It occurred to me then that when I was younger I've always thought that I'd fancy the countryside more than the city and I realised how much has changed since then. Now, I see myself as more of a city boy though I do love the countryside as well. I think what's most remarkable about this is that I'm studying in Cork which has a bit of both. You get a bit of the city life as well as the nice relative serenity of the countryside here in Cork. If the Singaporean in me kicks up a bit of a fuss, Dublin and London aren't too far away. I really thank God that I ended up in UCC instead of UCD.

This was my first time outside of Heathrow and I had a fantastic time. I'm definitely going back to London to see more of the sights and catch more musicals and plays. :D

Update

2010-11-28T20:20:00.002Z

Update

Now, I noticed that I haven't updated my blog in a month or so and I could blame studies and other activities keeping me busy but I'll be honest - I was just too lazy. I know my life isn't very interesting but this is for the benefit of those who are for some reason interested to find out how I'm getting along.

Anyway, before I begin I have to congratulate Roger Federer on winning the ATP World Tour Fnals, beating Rafael Nadal 6-3 3-6 6-1 and other top 8 players like Djokovic, Soderling, Murray and Ferrer. If he can continue playing like that into 2011, it's going to be a cracking season. Also, GUESS WHO'S AT THE TOP OF THE LEAGUE (after a 7-1 victory might I add)? It was a pretty good weekend for sports for me and I'm immensely pleased.

I've pretty much settled right back into college and (unfortunately) only just getting into full-on study mode. For some reason, 2 years in national service has seemingly permanently impaired my mega-mugging abilities that NJC honed and I haven't given up trying to invoke the NJC mugging spirit that I know is somewhere deep deep deep deep inside. I have 2 exams coming up in about a week and things aren't looking too great. I'll be able to pull through though. I hope.

Oh, and I'm really grateful for a few items that have improved my cooking this year. 1. Sambal Udang given by Jee Yee. I put it in my veg, stir fry and even porridge. Once I actually just ate a spoonful of it cos I missed home food. 2. Garlic Presser given by Sui Yee. Now my garlic is finely 'chopped' and I save a couple of minutes too! 3. Japanese Fish Stock give by Sui Yee too. It's probably one of the only reasons why my fish soup/porridge tastes so good. Of course Ngoh Yee's ikan bilis & hae bee are great too and they've been tiding me by since last year. So thanks to all my family members who have given me awesome stuff to bring over here! On a side note, since I'll be in Cork for Christmas this year I've decided to roast a turkey (again) for Christmas dinner as well as make some poached pears in red wine sauce that I saw Jee Yee make over the summer. :D

Ok. I really should go check on my dinner and then attempt to continue studying... :(

Back into the Groove

2010-09-21T22:09:00.001+01:00

Back into the Groove

So, I've been back in Cork for about 4 days now and I'm settling down nicely. The first 1 or 2 days were a bit hectic as I went around to friends' places to repossess my items that I left over the summer, cleaning my room, getting ready for college etc. It wasn't too bad save the fact that for some reason my notebook still read/sent out a Singapore IP address for my DNS server so I couldn't connect to the internet for the first few days even after manually typing in the stuff. Thankfully, Mingyong helped me fix that on Sunday night so I only had to survive without internet for 3 days and 2 nights - I think I may have survived longer than that last year during that great Cork Flood.

The past 2 days have been spent reconnecting with friends I haven't seen all summer and listening to introduction/recap lectures which were honestly quite a bore. I guess it isn't too bad as it gives us a kind of a buffer before we actually dive right back into the thick of it all. Thankfully for me, those were the worst 2 days of my week and I have a relatively easy time table the last 3 days - no school on Thursday! :D SHHHHH all you lucky group C people with both Wednesday and Thursday off...

I still have loads of administrative stuff to settle - college fees, garda card, banking stuff and other nonsense so for the next 1 - 2 weeks I'll be roaming about to get those out of the way. That said, I decided to take stock of the past weeks and my thoughts. Coming back here was actually kind of surreal for me - I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but I wasn't dreading it either. And when I thought about it, especially in the past few days, it really feels like I'm leading 2 completely different lives. I mean, I'm still the same (more or less) wherever I am, but my activities are very different. It really isn't anything surprising, considering I'm studying here and was working back home, so I don't know why I was so struck by the contrast of it all.

Anyway, I'll update this later on when I'm more free. I've got to get to preparing for the dissection tomorrow.

--------------------------
On a totally unrelated note, I very very randomly thought about my short stint teaching last term and the things I ALWAYS say, every single lesson in each class, And I'm pretty sure if I go back now and take my classes again, they won't change:

102
Gabriiieeeelllll!
Tuck in your shirt Bryan!
Mathias! Keep quiet/Turn around/Where's my _______!
Gabriel, I need your magic hands for the screen again.
No I'm not giving anyone any mousehunt gold any more.

103
Matthew Chan!
Jerome! Turn around!
Nicholas! Stop touching [insert name of whoever happens to be sitting beside him]!
No I'm not giving anyone any mousehunt gold any more.

109
Maarrrrrkkkk!
Lester/Ian, keep quiet!
No I will not explain [insert sexual innuendo] to Linus.
Geoff, pon gym again ar?
No I'm not giving anyone any mousehunt gold any more.

I really should have praised them more often. LOL.

Full Circle

2010-09-07T14:25:00.001+01:00

Full Circle

I've been meaning to write this for the past few days and I don't know why I've been procrastinating, especially since I haven't exactly been busy with anything. So I completed another 10 weeks as a substitute teacher and I guess I'm closing the book on this chapter. I don't think I'll be doing any more substitute teaching at a secondary school level any time in the future. It has been a good run and I'm pleased that it ended in SJI. Having taught in 3 different schools now, I can safely say that without a doubt, SJI was the best. I'm sure that the fact that I was an alumnus made a huge difference so in a manner of speaking, the 'playing field' was never level.

After many conversations with colleagues (both in SJI and KCPSS), I came to realise that you could boil down the working environment of teachers into 2 main aspects - the students and the staff (academic and non-academic). In some schools, you find solace in one aspect and you endure the other. For example, when I was in KCPSS, I loved the working environment a lot as the staff were so supportive and encouraging. On the other hand, and I mean absolutely no disrespect, the students could be quite challenging. Often I felt absolutely exhausted at the end of a school day (~2+pm) and it would feel as if a week had past. No exaggeration. However, in SJI, I loved the students and the staff. The working environment was pleasant and I know that if I became a teacher, SJI would be right at the top of the list.

Anyway, for the past 10 weeks, I taught Biology to Secondary 1 students. I must say, the sciences are so much easier to teach (and mark and set papers) compared to English and Literature. I could have died with the amount of marking and setting I had to do last year. Interestingly enough, one of my classes was 103 - the class I was in about 9 years ago and I was sitting directly opposite my Secondary 1 form tutor in the staff room. Well, it was 1E3 then (even though SJI did not have a normal stream) and Mrs Lee was only there for about 3 terms before she took maternity leave and left for Seattle. Annnnd my former gymnastics teacher-in-charge/higher mother tongue and English teachers' sons were in my class too. :D

So, I had 3 classes to teach for the past 10 weeks. I enjoyed most of my lessons and I hope the boys did too. A lot of them are really quite bright and I could tell they understood what I was teaching when they asked relevant questions out of the syllabus. Now, I liked digressing in my lessons because I wanted my students to see that Biology is not just about memorising terms and processes. I wanted them to see how relevant Biology is in our lives and to show them that there is a bigger picture. I think, well, hope, that they saw how fascinating the subject can be. Unfortunately, eventually they will be assessed using examinations so I had to focus on definitions and how to answer questions which honestly, can be really tedious.

I loved my 3 classes. And I really hate to admit it and even though friends have assured me it doesn't, I still think that I'm a bad teacher cos I had this one class which was my favourite. Of course I wasn't biased towards them or anything - I'm still fair, especially with my marking - a crap answer is still a crap answer no matter who writes it. I just enjoyed teaching that class more than the other 2, probably because they were more enthusiastic and could (most of the time) shut up when they needed to. And to be fair, I had many boys in the other 2 classes who were like that too, I think it was mainly the fact that that particular class was more united so it was easier to teach. I will miss my classes a lot. They are such a sweet bunch of boys and I really hope that I will get to see them again before they graduate.

Staff-wise it was really fun too. There are 3 categories for me - my former teachers, teachers that were around during my time and 'new' teachers. I saw and learnt things that I never saw or knew as a student and it was really interesting to see SJI from a different angle. I interacted mostly with the science department, since that's where I was seated though I had great conversations with teachers from the other departments as well. It was a running joke that the highlight of our day is the times where we meet for breakfast or lunch and I must say I fully enjoyed those makan sessions. We would talk about deep stuff like religion and philosophy and shallow stuff like student gossip. It was so much fun! My colleagues were also very encouraging and supportive, guiding me along the way and giving me tips. So, Mr G Chan, Mrs Lee, Shuh Lit, Justin, Rames and everyone else, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!! :D

I can't end this without talking about my short 'reign' as gymnastics teacher-in-charge and coach. I'm actually really glad to have helped out in SJI Gymnastics in this capacity as I got to know the artistic gymnasts a lot better. In the past, when I came back to help out, I tend to just stick to the trampolinists cos there really wasn't much point in mixing with the others as I'm not training them. Coming back as a teacher didn't change much other than the fact that most of my juniors called me Mr Tay outside of training. It was a bit awkward to hear Gabriel, Clement and the other upper secondary trampoline people doing it as I knew them as friends before becoming their teacher. My 2 nefarious twins Tim and Mark weren't too bothered with formalities even when I relieved one of their classes - they still called me "Seanie" whenever they saw me. 3 of my students were also my gymnasts and it was quite fun as well, especially with Geoff. It made chasing for homework and stuff a lot easier. And I could continue my scolding during my lesson or during training! :) So, I also completed a full circle in SJI Gymnastics. I really never thought I would return in such a capacity but I did and I'm glad I could help out.

It has really been an amazing 10 weeks and I've had a fantastic time. I was a bit bummed nearing the end but it had to end sooner or later. All in all, it was an awesome experience and I thank God that I was given this opportunity. I hope that I've helped more than I hindered! I'll be leaving in 9 days time as my summer holidays come to a close and I take on the student persona again.

102, 103 and 109 - I'll miss you guys very very very very much and if you haven't done so, check your emails. I sent all of you a farewell note. :) All the best for your studies! God bless!!

SJI Gymnastics - I've never really left this CCA despite graduating 6 years ago but I think this time is the last time I'll be so active in coaching and stuff. You guys are the best and I'll definitely miss all of you! :D

YOG Gymnasstics

2010-08-22T15:03:00.001+01:00

YOG Gymnastics

It's been a fantastic week for me, mainly as I managed to attend 3 Youth Olympic Games gymnastics events and I had an absolute blast. Yes, watching on the computer or television would have been more comfortable and in a manner of speaking more viewer-friendly as they do have slow-motion replays and what not, but being at the venue live lends a certain je ne sais quoi about it. You'd never imagine it, but even for gymnastics, there is a certain atmosphere, very different from that of football stadiums (I believe) but equally captivating.

Over the course of the week, I was thoroughly impressed with the standard of competition and was awed by the routines. I guess I can appreciate the amount of hard work, perseverance, sweat and blood that the gymnasts have put in to be able to represent their countries at this age. Obviously, what I went through cannot be compared with them, if not I'd be competing too. LOL. This actually led to a whole discussion between Bobo and I about how it is a huge pity Singapore Gymnastics (SG) is only coming up in recent years and putting in place the organisational infrastructure for training gymnasts (both artistic and trampoline). We also discussed our disappointment that SG focussed a bit too much on safety for trampoline. I mean, 5 years in the sport and I only learnt 3 routines and not very many moves. The most difficult move I learnt during that period was a barani (front somersault with a half twist) which has a difficulty tariff of just 0.6. Not impressive at all considering I've trained for 5 years.

Oh well, it has been a very fulfilling week for gymnastics and I'm pretty satisfied. :D

Letting Go

2010-07-26T17:14:00.002+01:00

Letting Go

I guess people who know me well enough I have some minor issues with letting go. I'm generally receptive to change but sometimes I do prefer things to stay the same. But this issue with letting go is mainly dealing with sentimentality and not so much with accepting changes to the status quo per se. I tend to attempt to cling to the past and if you have read my previous posts, it actually is pretty obvious. Look at it this way, 6 years after I've graduated look what I'm doing right now - teacher in SJI and the gymnastics teacher-in-charge to boot.

Yes people do come and go, but it doesn't mean I have to like people going do I? Of course you can't expect to keep in contact with every single person you've ever met forever, but there are certain people that evoke feelings of nostalgia and the 'good ol' days'. And there's that tiny feeling of regret or guilt when you realise that the both of you have drifted so far apart that even when you meet up to catch up, the silent pauses that used to be so comfortable have actually become awkward. I think that's one of the worst feelings ever.

Recently, I attempted to organise an 05S26 reunion. It was really difficult cos of all our different schedules but I thought that wouldn't be as big a issue as it seemed. I mean, we were 05S26, photo-whores of NJC, one of the few classes that ponned major school events together, the class that left the hall looooooong after everyone left during our graduation... The reunion was pathetic. 4 people, including myself. I'm not blaming anyone, but it really was kind of sad. That said, I had a good time catching up with the other 3 people, especially when the last time I saw 2 of them was when we were collecting our 'A' Level results. I just have to learn to accept the fact that people move on with their lives and priorities change.

So far I've noticed, this not liking the fact that people come and go hasn't diminished with time. I suppose it's a constant thing in life and you obviously can't do anything about it. I know this sounds like an "emo" post, loathe as I am to use the word. But it really isn't. It's just a simple observation I've made and I do wonder how old I'd be before I've come to fully accept the inevitably transient nature of most friendships.

T+1

2010-07-02T20:41:00.001+01:00

T+1

It is with slight hesitation that I 'pen' this entry especially since I have in a manner of speaking, broken my own rule in not adding students on facebook until after I'm done teaching them. Last year it was a lot easier as it was much more difficult for my KCPSS students to find me, but with the number of SJI contacts I have, it is no mean task for any of my current students.

Honestly, so far, I'm having a ball of a time teaching in my alma mater. I've reconnected with a number of my former teachers and I'm playing a much greater part in SJI Gymnastics, which in all truthfulness, I've never really left even after I graduated. So far, teaching at SJI feels slightly different from my other 2 relief teaching stints as it feels more like a homecoming. And to top it off, I'm actually teaching my junior class 103, in the very same classroom I used as a student almost a decade ago. Full circle much?

Admittedly I was a bit hesitant about teaching in SJI precisely because of the gymnastics juniors I knew personally. They're mostly secondary 3s and 4s but it would be ultimate awkwardness if I had to teach their classes. I mean, they know me as 'Sean' or in the twins case, 'Seanie' and definitely not as 'Mr Tay'. I actually spent the first day avoiding them and I was relatively successful, though I did meet one of the twins on my way to class. My juniors are understandably, rather excited by this new development in this term; after all, it's not often your friend becomes a teacher in your school. And yes, I've threatened them with disciplinary measures that are now available to me :D

I'm enjoying myself teaching my 3 sec 1 classes. The boys are all really bright and they ask good questions which really makes my day. I've spent many a lesson teaching them interesting stuff that are out of syllabus - I only hope that their questions really demonstrate that they do know their basic stuff. Their questions, no matter the topic, seem to tend to gravitate towards a certain subject typical 13 year old boys are very very very interested in. Oh well, if that's what it takes to get them interested in my lessons I won't complain. LOL. So far I have no major disciplinary cases and I hope it stays that way.

Ok. I'm way too tired to continue typing. I started this at 9.30pm and got distracted by a number of things, then went to watch the match (SIGH) at drew's place, then supper with drew and yx, got home at 2+ and just had a game of dota. Time for sleep methinks.

Guess Who's Back

2010-06-02T11:34:00.001+01:00

Guess Who's Back

Yes, after 9 months in Ireland I'm finally back in Singapore and it feels so good (albeit the hot and sticky weather). I've been eating good food and meeting up with friends I haven't seen in ages so all's well and good. :D It has been a hectic year full of new experiences for me but thanks to God, I got through all of it and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I made tons of new friends, learnt loads of new stuff, drank quite a bit more than I used to back home, cooked a whole lot more and to sum it up, had a blast of a time.

My flight back was superb. I love Qantas now. Screw British Airways. I was on one of those new Airbus A380 planes and my cabin was relatively empty so I had an entire row to myself. The in-flight entertainment was really good and the service was excellent. Even though I haven't slept the past 2 days before my flight (thanks to Huizhuang, Catrin, Mingyong and the guys) I only slept for 8hrs of the flight home from London. The other 4hrs were spent watching Fantastic Mr Fox and Chicago.

Well, the first thing that struck me when I got back home was the heat. I knew Changi Airport obviously had the air conditioners switched on but it certainly didn't feel that way to me. Andrew very very very very graciously fetched me from the airport as my mum was busy with work and brought me to a nice kopitiam breakfast of bak chor mee (minced pork noodles), kong bak pau and siew mai. We then met Yun Xiao for lunch amidst his busy schedule and Andrew then dropped me off at SJI for my interview. So kudos again to Andrew! I <3 you deep deep. ROFL. Oh the night I returned, I may not have felt THAT exhausted but I slept from 12 midnight all the way till 5pm the next day. I was mighty disoriented when I woke up! 17hrs straight - and my mum said she couldn't wake me up which is really rare cos I'm a light sleeper.

So far I've been eating loads of dishes I don't get back in Cork - Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice, Roti Prata from Al Azhar, Beef Noodles, Bishan S11 Ban Mian... :D The food didn't sit too well with my stomach at first even if I enjoyed every single morsel. But my stomach is fine now though my appetite has decreased since last year. I'm kind of used to the heat now but it's just the humidity that kills me. Plus it's a bit more dusty here so I think that and the humidity played a huge role in stimulating hypersecretion of my nasal mucosal cells. I've had a terrible runny nose ever since I got back but I just got some pills to deal with that and they seem to be working perfectly.

However, I must say, it really only felt like home after I attended church service. It may have been the last session of the Asia Conference 2010 but it was CHC and it was home. There really isn't much to say, I miss CHC a lot and watching the services over the internet just isn't the same as actually being physically present for it.

I just went back to SJI gym today to see my juniors and though I am completely exhausted now, it was fantastic seeing them again. Clement, Gabriel, Kenny, Jeremy, Scott, Greg and the others. This is probably the last year I'll be involved with SJI gym in any way so I'll make the most of it. It's been a pretty good run I guess - I've graduated from SJI for 6 years now and it's pretty amazing that I am still in contact with my Secondary 3 juniors.

I can't wait to meet up with everyone else I haven't seen in the past 9 months or more - the 05S26 people, Chris, Ernest, SEXYZ :) and my extended family... So people, contact me for a meet up!

I'll be busy the rest of the summer holidays giving tuition and doing a spot of relief teaching at my alma mater, SJI, so I'm going to enjoy what little of the actual holidays I'm going to get. Next event to look forward to is the short trip to Telunas, Batam then Kukup, Malaysia with YX and Andrew. :)

Proud To Be

2010-04-29T20:20:00.002+01:00

Proud To Be

So of all the places in Europe, the National Junior College Choir came to Cork. Yes, you heard it right, it's not a joke. They came here to Cork, Ireland. Apparently there's this yearly international choir competition or something and they're the first Singaporean choir participating (another 'first' for NJC). Anyway when we heard about it, Catrin (another ex-NJCian of the class of 2007), Huizhuang and I decided to check it out. We headed down to the Glucksman Gallery to witness this spectacle.

It surely had to go in the Guinness Book of World Records or something - the most number of Singaporeans Cork has ever seen in its long chequered history. We were a tiny bit late as we came from studying in the Brookefield Library (NJC would be so proud). When we reached the exhibition room, there was a sizeable crowd and they were midway into their first song. Cat and I giggled a little when we saw the NJC kids in their grey uniforms with silver buttons and red tie. It was brilliant. It was totally unexpected you know. The last time I saw that many people in that uniform was years ago and now there were loads of them. Here. In Cork! Ok, enough with the kidding. We settled down and the choir performed 4 songs and I think they did really well. The audience seemed largely appreciative, actually I'd go so far as to say they were quite impressed. After the performance, the conductor and the choir teachers came to meet the only 3 Singaporean-looking Asians in the audience and were pleasantly surprised to discover that 2 of us were actually alumni. We were introduced to the choir and we hung around a bit to chat with the teachers.
*Sorry I have to insert a tiny break here to digress and do a bit of gossip:
Mrs Lim Geok Choo was poached by RJC! 05S26 misses you!!
Mr Teo Tze Wei is understudying Ms Sharon Phua to be NJ's Discipline Master! ROFL!!!!
Ok. I've stopped. It was rather homely I must say. Yes I'm heading home in just 26 days but seeing so many Singaporeans here, even if it was just for an hour, did make me feel like it was home.

Of course the event was preceded with the 3 of us discussing our school spirits or lack of it. My stand is that the best 2 years of my life so far were spent in NJC, but I have almost no school spirit so as to speak. I've never really liked NJC per se and I probably would have died without the awesome 05S26 to rock those 2 years. It's not really NJC's fault though. I mean, I came from St. Joseph's Institution. What else is there to say really? I'm a Josephian. How can NJC even hope to match up to the awesomeness that is SJI? I dared Cat to do the "Yeah" Cheer (a realllllly dumb NJ cheer) in exchange for my services as her chef for 5 meals. She didn't do it and I guess it wouldn't be totally appropriate anyway. LOL. But if SJI did come here, I totally would have done or joined in the "J-O-S-E-P-H-S" or the "Hail Hail". No doubt at all. In all fairness, NJC is a good top school with really dedicated teachers who I feel blessed to have been taught by. But that's all it was to me (again other than 05S26). SJI was more than just a school, it was a family - little wonder why SJI boys with top scores for their O levels still choose to go to CJC. SJI feels like home.

I honestly don't think there will be another institution I feel as strongly for or as committed to. I've probably documented my pride to be part of the SJI family in numerous blog posts over the past decade (I really am getting old) so I won't go into any more detail. Ora et Labora. *I just had to end it like that you know... :D*

Now, because we've had the pleasure of meeting the NJC choir all the way here in Cork, I've decided to post the 2 tribute videos again (darn you sentimental side of me!). To the BESTEST, most AWESOMEST class that ever existed:

Tumblr

2010-04-20T18:43:00.002+01:00

Tumblr

I've decided that I'm going to use both Tumblr and blogspot for blogging purposes. Tumblr will be for short, random, possibly cryptic posts and blogspot will be for relatively longer rants and updates. :D Anyway, if anyone is on, you can follow me at http://seantzw.tumblr.com.

UPDATE: It no longer exists for a variety of reasons.

RENT

2010-03-03T23:14:00.005Z

RENT

So today marks the first proper live musical I've watched and it is indeed fitting that it is one of my favourites too. I've watched the 2005 movie adaptation Rent so many times that I know the all the lyrics to all the songs, including those that were in the deleted scenes. Before the show I was actually afraid that my expectations would hamper my experience and enjoyment; after all, Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal and the other original (broadway/movie) cast members are a tough act to follow. So I sat in my seat in trepidation, trying to will myself to lower my expectations and basically, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Fortunately, my anxiety was unfounded and the cast from Barecheek Theatre were absolutely brilliant. Alan McHale and Chris Shimdt-Martin were really good and Denis Grindel and Elaine Hearty were practically perfect. The rest were really good in their roles too, but Denis and Elaine were really reallly reallly really good. Alan and Chris didn't have very strong vocals and it showed in certain songs like "What You Own" but they were good enough to be a convincing Mark Cohen and Roger Davis. I was especially impressed with Denis' and Elaine's portrayal of Angel and Maureen. They definitely did those roles justice and I was absolutely ecstatic that my fears were unfounded. In fact, I almost prefer Denis as Angel to Wilson Jermaine Heredia (original broadway and film cast member). You can't really compare Elaine to Idina as that would be unfair, Idina is the best after all; but like I said, Elaine was very competent and did an excellent job with Maureen and she comes in a very close second to Idina. Oh, I must say that Alan was a really good Mark too - with all the tiny inflections and traits. It was a lot better than I expected. A brief note on the other main characters: Gary Furlong did a really good job with Tom Collins, Oba Seagrave was a decent Joanne (was a bit wanting in vocals especially in duets with Elaine) and Marnie Mcclean-Fay was average as Mimi. I still think Rosario Dawson is the best Mimi ever and Marnie doesn't even come close.

*Leenie, I'm still highly highly annoyed and supremely jealous that you got to see Idina Menzel AND Kristin Chenoweth LIVE, TWICE. If I go over to New York you are sooo going to take me to Broadway. :D*

The other aspects of the production were brilliantly done too. The set-up and props, the band, the lighting, the sound etc. Everything was very well done and in sync. The ensemble were really fantastic as well. It all lived up to my expectations and probably exceeded them as well to be honest.

Quality wise, I'd have to say the movie wins hands down and I guess that isn't much of a surprise. It was really well directed and the songs and scenes that were cut out were very tastefully done, without deviating from the musical at all. (I still wish they showed the full version of "Goodbye Love" instead of only the first part). However, watching the musical live had a very different feel about it. It was more raw and a bit more intense. There's this certain je nais se quoi about a live show compared to film that draws you in and it makes you feel like you're intimately involved. Ahhhhh... It was absolute class.

On hindsight, I realised I have actually watched Les Misérables twice when I was really young, but I can't remember very much from it. Rent would be the first proper musical I watched that I actually remember. Lol.

And much thanks to Aaron who provided me with that super cool 2 for 1 discount so I paid only €15.50 for 4th row seats and Rory who accompanied me on such short notice! :D :D :D THANKS!

Randomness

2010-03-02T22:18:00.003Z

Randomness

It's been almost 6 months since I've left Singapore for Ireland and I guess I can say I've adjusted quite well to life here. I still find it a bit too cold and wet for my liking but I'm used to it. Before I continue, a disclaimer is required: this post is going to be meandering and really random cos I'm way too lazy to come up with a coherent structure and I'm just going to type whatever comes to mind.

I just got back from Scotland and I had a blast! It was a fantastic experience and I'll definitely want to go again next year. It's not so much the actual bouncing we did but all the other things. It was also the first time I was the least prepared for any competition - I did less than 15 routines in the past few weeks leading up to it. No exaggeration. I blame the stupid flood and the incredibly low ceilings of WGK Gymnastics Club. I didn't do well in my category at all - for my set routine my legs hit the mat on my 4th move (seat drop) so I was judged out of 3.0. I did alright for my voluntary routine but I wasn't concentrating on it any more since there didn't seem to be a point. The next day, I randomly decided to compete in the synchronised category with Aaron. We did a novice routine and it went quite well actually. We came in 10th with 8.9 and 9.0 synchro scores which were really decent for a pair who have only practised the morning of the competition. Hahahaha. The partying and touristy things we all did were brilliant too and all in all, it was a great trip!

Right now, my throat is hurting so much that it's actually hard to concentrate on studying. I talk to myself when I study - it's kind of a self-teaching thing I do. So you can imagine my difficulty. RAWWWR.

This month is going to be a crazy month for me. Epidemiology Continuous Assessment in about 2 weeks (and there's a super lot to study for apparently), FM1003 Spots and Continuous Assessments and OSCEs. I'm maybe a third through Epidemiology and less than 5% on FM1003. This calls for intensive mugging in the next few weeks I guess.

Oh and one thing on culture shock. I didn't really expect it and there wasn't very much of it, especially since Singapore is quite westernised. But there was one thing that made me feel rather uncomfortable. Aaron's father has been giving me lifts for quite a while now and he requests that I call him Tony. Of course I oblige, but it feels soooooo weird. Ahaha. It'll take some getting used to I guess. For my Irish friends who read this, in Singapore, or Asia in general, we call all our elders (such as friends' parents or most other adults) Uncle or Aunty. We address teachers as Mr/Mrs/Ms or Sir/Ma'am or in some cases, 'Cher. LOL. There was one time where I almost addressed Aaron's dad as "Uncle Tony" but I stopped myself in time, remembering Rory and the others telling me how weird that is.

I can't wait to head back home to Singapore for the summer too. I think I'll miss Ireland and my friends and all but of course I miss home and my friends back home loads too. Andrew you better be home when I arrive so that you can fetch me if my mum can't :D On that note, I should also wish my dear friend a very HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY and a huge CONGRATULATIONS for passing his IPPT on the 9930247198614896th time just before his birthday!!! I was actually planning on doing my IPPT with YX when I get back. After all, it's an easy S$200 or so for just running, jumping etc. Unfortunately, deferred NSmen aren't allowed to do IPPTs. I still harbour some hope that my name will be lost in the database and I will never have to do any form of ICT... *Fingers crossed*!

Rent and West Side Story are also showing in Cork Opera House this month and from the reviews, Rent seems to be good. So I'll almost definitely be going to catch that. I'm probably never going to be able to see Idina Menzel or Kristin Chenoweth perform but I'll settle for Cork Opera House and London's West End (sometime soon I hope!).

I think I'm definitely making the most of this studying overseas experience, especially sports-wise. I'm probably going to go for a judging and coaching course in trampolining some time this year, I've already competed in 2 competitions and I'm probably competing in 1 more come April, I've learnt some new routines and am learning new moves and the partying... There are just so many opportunities for development here, even on a recreational basis that Singapore just lacks. It may be a kind of tunnel-vision considering I've been doing trampoline for a while already, but it's something that I really like and am interested in. I do do other sports recreationally but I just have more focus on trampoline currently.

Oooh. I've also decided to adopt Ireland as my 'sporting nation' since Singapore is never going to be a player on the big stages. And the Olympics Table Tennis event is not counted cos our players were China rejects. I support them and everything but the truth is they really aren't ours per se. Ireland's getting to me too - I'm actually starting to watch and follow rugby a lot more than I did before. Last time I only watched the World Championships and only a few matches at that; now, I'm following the Six Nations and rooting for the boys in green. :D GAA sports still confuse me though...

Ok. My throat is really killing me. I'm going to do a bit of studying then hopefully, sleep before 1am. :)

Random Things I Miss About Singapore

2010-01-15T15:57:00.003Z

Random Things I Miss About Singapore

I started this trying to create a facebook meme, but I decided that I'm too lazy to do the rules and all that copy, paste, tagging nonsense. So if any overseas Singaporean student wants to do this, go ahead. Anyway, the main condition is that I'm not allowed to mention people or food cos that would just dominate the list. Here goes..

(In no particular order)
1. A very efficient and stable Government

2. To some extent, the heat.

3. Class 95: The Morning Express Show
I finally got it over the internet, so it's great :D

4. Relatively predictable weather
It's either hot and dry or hot and wet. Not too hard to guess. Actually, Ireland's not too bad come to think of it. If you guessed that it's going to be a wet day, you'd have a high chance of getting it right.

5. 12hrs of sunlight and 12hrs of night

6. Driving
Singapore drivers can be quite evil but I just miss driving in general.

7. The Public Transport System

8. Cost of living
It may be increasing and when you compare dollar for dollar, it's probably slightly cheaper here. But if you convert... Yea.

9. Acronyms
I get loads of it in medicine already but for everyday things, Singapore wins hands down. PIE, HDB, MOE, MRT, COE... The list is endless. And I really don't know why I miss them. They grow on you I guess...

10. Cheap Newspapers
Even if it's just dollar for dollar. Most Singapore newspapers go for under s$1 and the free ones are actually rather comprehensive too.

11. Access to cheap and latest technology

12. Walking around the house shirtless
Yes I can do that here to. But I don't want to die of pneumonia or hypothermia.

13. Shopping Malls EVERYWHERE
After I left, I think 3 more new ones popped up. It's crazy.

14. Wireless internet EVERYWHERE

15. Less excuses not to exercise
Flood-damaged sports arena, cold weather.. You don't really get that back home.

16. The beach and the sea
Yes there are beaches here but how on earth do you swim? Even in the summer...

That's as far as I got. I can't think of anything else that's not related to weather either. Hahahaha. I''ll do a list of things I don't miss some time later I guess. :D

Third Decade

2010-01-01T01:09:00.005Z

Third Decade

I haven't had time to blog recently as I was in Barcelona for a holiday (photos are up on facebook!) and I just got back a day ago. So as per tradition, I'll do my summing up of 2009 which was a hugely eventful year and the greeting of 2010 which I hope is going to be a fantastic year. I don't think I'll do a summing up of the decade - too long. Hahaha.

2009
I still count 2005 - 2006 as the 2 best years of my life but 2009 would probably top the list as the most eventful. So many things happened in 2009 that it'd be impossible to list them all down and to comment on them. I have a year's worth of blog entries for that.

It started off with my ORD (operationally ready date) or my release from National Service on 11 Febuary, a day I've been waiting for for the past 1 year 10 months. The last 2 months of NS kind of sucked but it's over now. Just 3 days after that, I went to Taipei, Taiwan for a holiday with Andrew and Yun Xiao. Till date, I still consider it the best holiday ever. 7 days of crazy fun and food with 2 of my closest friends, what more could I ask for? March till June were 4 agonising months of teetering between UCC Medicine and NUS Pharmacy. It was a crazy few months that led me on an emotional roller coaster. Sandwiched between that was a nice holiday to Penang with the 05S26 guys + Justin. We ate a million meals a day and it was sooooooo worth it. :D

The end of June saw me begin relief teaching as an English and Literature relief teacher in KCPSS. It was a great 10 weeks, albeit a really busy one as I had was teaching 9 classes. It was an amazing experience and I have to admit I did consider going into teaching once or twice, but only for a split second. The highlight of this period was when I taught/lectured 3 Faith about the severity of plagiarism and the lesson really stuck in most of their heads, even till now. I spent almost 3 periods just scolding and talking to them about it. It was worth it though.

September was a crazy month where I met up with friends almost every other day before I left Singapore. I still miss everyone back home! It was also the month I arrived in Cork and started on my journey of medical education. This was the year whereI turned 21 - considered by many to be a milestone of some sort. I celebrated it by registering for my course and having a nice meal at a senior's place. It was a really understated celebration for a 21st and it passed without much fanfare.

The next few months saw me making many new friends and starting trampolining again. I partied a bit, became a flood refugee, competed in Dublin, took my first exams in 3 years, successfully roasted a turkey and holidayed in Barcelona. And this brings us back to the end of 2009.

It's been a crazy year, choke-full of experiences and emotions - more so than most other years. I can't say it was a bad year but I hope 2010 brings better news (especially financially). I must say though, it feels very odd, having the school year stuck between 2 years. It'll be all good anyways.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Moves I Want to Learn

2009-12-17T17:27:00.004Z

Moves I Want to Learn

Yes, I'm blogging a lot more often these days cos I'm way too free. Yes I should probably start studying for FM1002 and I will.. Eventually. I was really bored, so I decided to come up with a list of things I want to be able to do on a trampoline before 1. my back kills me 2. I don't have the time to do it anymore cos of medicine 3. I break something.

In no particular order (and for no particular reason):

1. Corkscrew
Back drop 1.5 twists to back drop

2. Full
Back somersault with 1 twist. I'm on my way!

3. Double Back
Errr.. Yea. A double back somersault. Can't wait for mardyke + trampolines to be ok again so that I can resume learning this move.

4. Lazy Back & Cody
3/4 Straight back somersault to front drop landing. And the cody is a back somersault from front drop.

5. Half-Out
Double front somersault with a 1/2 twist in the second somersault. I want to be able to do it piked.

6. Rudy
Front somersault with 1.5 twist.

7. Crash Dive and eventually a 1 3/4 Front Somersault
It's a really nice move if done properly but I can't seem to slow down. I keep over-rotating which is super annoying.

8. Barani/Rudy-Ball Out
Front somersault with 1/2 twist or 1.5 twist from back drop. Usually done after a crash dive or similar.

9. Double Full
Back Somersault with 2 twists. Seems a bit hard though cos I think I somehow block myself after 1 twist.

10. Triple Back
Aahahahah! If I can do this, I can 'retire' happily. And yea, it's a triple back somresault.

Yeap. 10 moves I want to learn within these 3 years. And it's 3 years cos I suspect I might not be as free in 4th and 5th year. Plus I'll probably be too old or something - jumping again after 3 years is fun but my back is dying and I can no longer jump as high as I once could. I'd be happy enough if I just manage to learn how to do #2, 3 and 5.

Honestly, training here may be more relaxed and less intense, but it's more fun! To think that I could have learnt some of these moves ages ago - 1 year learning and perfecting the C div routine, 2 years each on B and A Div, I should suggest something to Singapore Gymnastics for trampoline. Our form may be quite good but our repertoire of moves is horribly limited. Seriously, 5 years doing trampoline and all I have to show for it is the A Division routine which has only 3 somersaults in it (Back s/s Tucked, Barani, Back s/s Straight) and none of them even linked.

A shout out to juniors who are reading this, I MISS YOU GUS LOTS! If I go back in June next year I'll definitely visit you guys!! :D Gabriel and Clement please don't kill yourselves playing football. Especially you Gabriel. And my terrible twins - all the best Tim for YOG diving next year and Mark, sigh. Disappointment. LOL. Just kidding. And everyone else I didn't mention (Leroy and Joshua just study for your Os can? ;) ) ALL THE BEST for competition next year. <3

Top Tearjerker Movie/TV Moments

2009-12-15T14:38:00.017Z

Top Tearjerker Movie/TV Moments

I've been thinking of doing this for a while now - a compilation of tearjerker movie moments. It's just going to be a list and not a whole load of videos cos I'm just too lazy to search those out on youtube and all that to post it up. Just take note that they're in no particular order, so it's not like a top 10 kind of thing. It's probably more likely that the movies I've watched most recently will appear first.

1. Marley & Me
Scene: The last 20 minutes

I watched this film, already expecting it to be a sentimental movie. Loads of people who watched it already told me how sad it was and I've marked like 3 or 4 film reviews in July about this particular movie. But, I still sobbed anyway. From the moment John brought Marley to the vet, all the way till the end, the waterworks came on. It kind of irked me cos I expected it already and it still got me. It was really sad and touching. Honestly, I thought the the first hour and a half was a bit slow moving and a tad boring but the last 20 minutes redeemed it all.

2. Rent
Scene: AIDS Support Group & gang singing 'Without You' and the scene shows Angel on his deathbed; Angel's death/funeral; Mimi's near-death experience

One of my favourite movies of all time. Yes it's based on a musical which I'm peeved that I didn't get to watch live. The songs were brilliant and the actors had fantastic voices. From video clips ofthe musical version, I must say that I actually prefer Rosario Dawson as Mimi in the film compared to Daphne Rubin-Vega. I sobbed a little when they showed the people in the AIDS Group slowly disappearing one by one and the scene dissolves into Angel lying on his deathbed while they all sung 'Without You'. I think it's the whole death thing and the crushing reality of it that got me. Angel's death scene and funeral were immensely moving and made especially poignant with Colin and the gang's rendition of I'll Cover You/Seasons of Love. Mimi's lying on a table/couch scene after being brought out of the freezing weather made me tear too. Sighhhh.

3. Billy Elliot
Scene: Billy's father breaking down in his brother's arms; Billy getting accepted into ballet school.

Another one of my all time favourites. This was made into a musical which again I DIDN'T GET TO WATCH. Elton John's Electricity (in the musical) really summed up the whole scene where Billy went for his audition. Anyway, I teared when Billy's dad (a hard, tough working class miner) just broke down in Billy's brother's arms begging his brother to give him a chance and for some reason, when Billy was accepted. I don't know why I teared then, but it was just... I don't know. Some sort of je ne sais quoi about the scene I guess.

4. Finding Neverland
Scene: When Peter rips apart the notebook James Barrie; Sylvia walking into 'Neverland' in her own home before dying; The last scene with James & Peter on the park bench.

I watched this on my laptop on the bus trip on the way back from Dublin. Thankfully it was at night and no one was seated next to me so they couldn't see my tears. Johnny Depp is freaking amazing and with Freddie Highmore, they make quite a lethal combination. I don't know why the last scene got me though. You know James is the boys' guardian by then and all and he kind of encourages Peter to write and stuff. Fantastic movie anyway.

5. August Rush
Scene: Last scene where Evan conducts the orchestra and his parents reunite

This movie may be extremely clichéd and the storyline really improbable, but it was heart rending and extremely touching. There were many small scenes here and there which moved me but the one I remember the most was the last scene where Evan conducted his piece and his parents drawn by the music walked towards the stage where they were finally reunited at the front, holding hands, watching their son. This fulfilled Evan's belief that if he could get his music heard by many, his parents would hear it and know that he is alive and find him. Yes it's a ridiculous premise but come on! It was so sigggghhhh. I particularly liked Johnathan Rhys Meyers and Freddie Highmore in this movie. Keri Russell was beautiful but honestly, she didn't really do much.

6. FRIENDS
Scene: Last Episode
The best TV series of all time. Season 10 Episode 18. Ross and Rachel finally get back together, Monica and Chandler moving out, very last FRIENDS episode. What's not to cry about? Especially the last scene where they all leave their keys on the table.

7. Glee
Scene: Rachel & Kurt 'diva-off', singing Defying Gravity.

Now, let it be clear. I like Glee, but it really isn't that great a show. It's really clichéd and I don't really like the characters. But the songs are really good and they don't just sing pop songs, they do classic rock too! If I had to rate the show I'd give it 6/10. Anyway, there was only 1 scene in the entire 1st season that induced tears. Rachel and Kurt sing Defying Gravity in a 'diva-off'' (I think Idina Menzel's one was better) and Kurt intentionally screws up the last high note to not get the part because 'he loves his father more than he loves being a star'. And the scene where Kurt tells his father that he did it on purpose and blah blah blah was quite tear worthy too.

8. Oliver!
Scene: Oliver singing 'Where is Love' while locked in the basement of the undertaker.

Yes it's a 1968 film (based on a musical), but that doesn't stop it from being really good! It was generally quite a sad show but the part where Oliver was locked in the basement and he started singing 'Where is Love' tugged at my heart chords (nah not the chordae tendineae or the papillary muscles - sorry couldn't resist). And I still can't believe it was Mark Lester as Oliver. He had such a sweet, angelic face then. Now, he's Michael Jackson's kids' godfather. *shiver*.

9. The Passion of The Christ

No words required. I bawled like a baby in this one.

There are several more, but I either can't remember the exact scene or it's just 1 scene and I'm too lazy. Like Dragonheart, Schindler's List, Les Misérables and The Neverending Story. And just to set some things straight, I don't judge how good a movie is by how much or whether or not I cry in them. LOL. For example, in my opinion, the bestest movie ever made is the entire trilogy of The Lord of the Rings (the books were even better) and I didn't cry in them at all. Sigh. Now I want to have an LOTR marathon - extended versions. HMMMM.

Anyway, movies I have lined up for the next few days include Australia and Fiddler on the Roof. :D

Turkey!

2009-12-12T01:25:00.003Z

Turkey!

So it's the end of my first exams in 3 years and I've been feeling pretty good. Exams went reasonably well I guess but it was really hard for me to get into the full on mugger spirit. In the past I could probably study about 6-9hrs straight with short 5 -10mins break every 2hrs or so. Now, I'd be happy if I could last an hour even. 2 years of NS really killed the mugger in me and I need to resurrect it. It'll come back. Eventually.

There's been quite a bit I've been thinking of blogging about but didn't cos of exams and I'll probably do so in the next week or so. But for now, I want to talk about my maiden attempt in roasting a turkey. It was a lot of hard work I tell you. Not even considering the fact that the stupid turkey took up like half a level in our fridge and I had to empty the plate of all the blood and water twice in 3 days as I started defrosting it on Tuesday evening to prepare it for roasting on Friday. Credit must go to Paul as I used his general recipe and modified it a bit.

I made the stuffing first by dicing 3 Granny Smith green apples and chicken breast. I then lightly fried the diced chicken breast in olive oil - I took it out once the meat turned white. I mixed the meat and apples in a bowl with some thyme, rosemary, salt and bread crumbs. I don't have an exact measurement for the bread crumbs actually, but on hindsight, I probably should have put more in.

This is the really messy bit. I took my 4.8kg turkey, removed the giblets and neck and placed in the roasting tin. I buttered the turkey underneath its skin and added a bit of herbs (rosemary and thyme) and did the same on the skin itself. I stuffed the body cavity with 2 red onions and some diced apples and seasoned it with herbs. For the chicken stuffing, I put it in the neck cavity area. It was quite confusing cos the neck cavity obviously leads to the body cavity so I was wondering how to put it in just the neck. But after 5minutes of turning the turkey around and prodding and squeezing stuff I decided to just put most of the stuffing in the flap of skin at the neck and the rest at the body cavity near the opening and in the loose bits of skin at the thighs. I then covered the turkey with bacon, placed aluminium foil loosely over it and roasted it in the oven at 190C.

I tried making giblet gravy but it was quite an epic failure. I only got as far as boiling the giblets and neck and separating the broth from the meat & giblets. It went downhill from there. Thankfully, I had a packet of powdered gravy. But I modified it a bit, by adding pan drippings and chopped neck meat with giblets for a richer gravy. It worked so that was good. I had cranberry sauce too. From Tesco. I'm not that free to make my own one you know.

After roasting for about 2.5hrs, I took the turkey out, salted the skin and put it back in without the aluminium foil for it to brown. And I must say, it turned out quite tender and moist. So I'm pretty pleased, considering it's my very first time baking a turkey. I might do one again next time, but it's really a lot of work and not that cheap. I managed to get the turkey on offer (€8!) but after including the other ingredients it added up to approximately €30. We'll see how it goes. Photos will be up soon! :D

And yes I know it's not Christmas yet but it was for our Singaporean Christmas (kind of)/After-Exams/Yvonne's Birthday Party. So there was enough reason to try cooking a turkey.

I'm just going to nua (relax) for the next few days, then get some FM1002 revision done :(, do a major clean up and packing up of the apartment, especially my room and receive Mum and Reuben! :D :D It's going to be a goooooooooood Christmas break! =)

Of Floods & Trampolining

2009-11-22T10:57:00.003Z

Of Floods & Trampolining

I heard that it's been flooding in Singapore (especially the Bukit Timah area) but guess what people, it's been similar all the way here in Cork. The abnormally heavy rains for the past weeks or so caused a a lot more water to be released by the dam and the River Lee running through Cork decided not to stay within it's boundaries. This was on Thursday night and parts of the city centre, college, western road and victoria cross (where I stay) were submerged in water. The water mains were turned off due to contamination and so half the city now has no water - including my apartment. I also have no internet. I only need 3 things - electricity, water AND INTERNETS. Oh but on the positive side, other than that my apartment is untouched by the flood. Lots of people living in student accommodations had to be evacuated as the waters were in their apartment.

Apparently, this is the worse flooding in Cork in 40 years. So college is closed till 30/11 and the trampoline intervarsities were cancelled as the sports arena where it was to be held was flooded too. In fact, I heard from friends that it was so badly flooded you could only see the top of the goalpost at the pitches.

So, you have to imagine the mindset I was in - no more intervarsities so I can relax, no school so I have more time to study for my coming exams. Then I received a call informing me that intervarsities were moved up to Trinity College Dublin and asking me if I was in. I was in. So the next morning, I braved the disgusting weather (got my jeans and shoes totally soaked in the process) to the meeting point and caught a ride up to Dublin.

It was my very first intervarsities so it was kind of interesting. It didn't feel as pressurising as it did when I competed back in Singapore though, which was both good and bad. Warm ups went pretty well for me but when I did my set routine, my bouncing was a bit unsteady and I started anyway so I ended up travelling forward for my back layout, I saved it but screwed up my tuck jump as I was off balance. My voluntary routine was better than my set one. But because of the screw up I jumped a little lower and I was more nervous so it wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. I was actually pretty depressed cos I've never really screwed up this badly in a competition before.

BUT, I won a team gold! FINALLY! And it felt reaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllly nice. 1 team consists of 4 people nominated by the college and they can send in multiple teams. The team will have people of different levels too (novice, intermediate, advanced, elite). 3 years of team silver with 0.05 - 0.1 points away from gold and 2 years of individual medals AND I FINALLY GET TEAM GOLD!!!! I must admit it didn't feel as awesome cos I didn't know who was in the team at first but STILL. :D AND even more awesome was that UCC won the Intervarsity Shield for the first time! We were flooded out but we still went up to Dublin and dominated the competition!!! WHOOOOOOOO!! We also won 6 individual medals (one of our largest hauls at intervarsities I believe) too!

I'm still pissed off with myself for screwing up my routine but what's done is done, it had to happen sooner or later anyway. I got by 5 competitions without screwing up (or major screw ups) it had to happen sometime I guess. But UCC winning the Intervarsity Shield and the Team Gold made up for that. :D :D :D :D :D :D

So anyway, I'm here in Dublin, in Grace's living room where I bunked out last night, enjoying the internet and water. I'm probably heading back to Cork later today (or maybe tomorrow) to brave the floods. A really exciting, dramatic weekend.. I could actually live without it though. I WANT MY INTERNETS BACK.

Update

2009-10-27T23:53:00.005Z

Update

An update is probably long overdue but not many people read this blog so it's ok. I have no idea if my 3 or 4 regular readers/stalkers have been still following it since I've left for Cork but here's a shout out to them if they see this (eh jeremy? :D)

I had to stop myself from digressing when I began to write about how I thought blogging and narcissism were actually linked then I remembered that I wanted to do a post like that a while back. I also remembered that I said I'd do it in the 'next' post then, so it's overdue for approximately a year or so. OOPS.

It's been almost 2 months since I've left and a bit more than a month since I've became a student again and I guess I've more or less settled down. I don't think I've fully adapted and acclimatised though as a few things still unsettle me. But I'll get it in time.

It's approaching winter now and the days are getting way shorter. It starts to get dark at around 4+pm which really throws off my sense of timing. I know why it's getting darker earlier and all that but I still can't get used to the fact that I'm seeing way less of the sun now. Oh and the whole daylight savings thing still amuses me quite a bit. Last Sunday at 2am, it magically became 1am again, giving all us weary souls an extra hour of sleep. (So now Cork is 8 hours behind Singapore) It's quite amazing isn't it. They can just turn back the time. Just like that!

The workload is increasing exponentially and it's quite scary but I'm coping well I think. There's really a lot of information to take in, to understand and to memorise. And I don't even think it's peaked yet. Workload is probably misleading though. It isn't so much of the homework that we get, it's more of the 'assimilation' of the massive amounts of information and the self-learning you have to do to supplement your lectures and tutorials. Now, I really treasure my secondary school and junior college days. The teachers really spoon feed you then... Man. A point to note - Wikipedia and Google are realllllllllllllly good academic tools, especially when lecturers throw random terms at you without explaining them.

On the sporting front, I'm quite enjoying trampolining again. While the training isn't as tough as I'm used to, I quite enjoy the challenge of learning new moves and changing my style a little. I'm doing the advanced routine for inter-varsities in November. The routine is a tad boring (and weird) as I already know how to do the moves, even if the last time I did them properly was 3 years ago. For gymmers/trammpers reading this -> Back Somersault (Tucked) - Straddle Jump - Back Somersault (Straight) aka Layout - Seat Drop - Twist to Feet - Pike Jump - Barani (free shape) - Half Twist - Tuck Jump - Front Somersault (free shape I think). I hate doing the pike jump cos I usually lose balance and height after it. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to after the inter-varsities to learn new stuff! I did the prep for the double back somersault during 1 training session and it was wicked! Can't wait to learn new stuff!!! :D Oh oh and I'm going to the gym (the running, weights stuff not gymnastics) more regularly now than I was back home so to those doubters and naysayers - HAH! You'll NEVER see a fat Sean. NEVER!

Food wise, it's pretty much the same. I'm getting bored of marinades/sauces that revolve around dark soya sauce, white/black pepper, chilli powder, salt, ground oregano and ground basil. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about that. One key factor in cooking is time and I don't want to spend more than 1.5 hours preparing-cooking-eating-cleaning up. Yes I could probably cook like 2 - 3 meals ahead, but I only do that occasionally as I really dislike leftovers and reheating food to eat.

My life right now revolves around school, household chores, studying, trampoline and the occasional party/night out. It isn't too bad I guess. I miss everyone back in Singapore terribly and while my busy schedule doesn't really give me time to wallow in self pity there are times where I reaaaaaaaalllllllly miss everyone back home. Times like this I guess. Chatting on skype, msn or facebook helps ease it a little but there's just something missing. I've missed so many birthdays, events and activities that it's just kind of... odd.

I miss those late night/early morning suppers with Andrew and YX, I miss CHC services (watching online is totally not the same), I miss the often last minute random meet ups with the 05S26 people + Justin, I miss giving tuition especially to my twins, I miss cell group with N436, I miss training my juniors especially my 2 soccer fanatics, I miss meals with my family (both extended and immediate), I miss badminton with Andrew, YX and Jeanette (it wasn't so much the badminton, more of the conversations while playing), I miss the 小笼包 buffets at Holland V the guys went to every few weeks... I could go on and on and on and on and I haven't even started on things like food or weather or cost of living yet. SIGH.

Well, I'm off to bed now. School in the morning and all. Oh and MedHunt later on at night. This will probably get posted on facebook in an hour or so (I don't know how the synchronising thing works) so if anyone has any ideas for a costume that is 1. CHEAP 2. SIMPLE, keeping in mind that it's around 10-14C at night and the theme is the 7 deadly sins [or med(sins). yes pun was intended. and no, it isn't my pun.] PLEASE LEAVE A NOTE. THANKS.

Adjustment

2009-10-06T21:45:00.003+01:00

Adjustment

So it's the third week of school and I'm slowly getting back into the studying groove; though now I have to balance that with some household chores - cooking, cleaning, buying groceries etc. I guess now with so many things to do it's easy to get distracted from studying but I'm sure I'll find a balance soon. Honestly, I haven't been doing much studying but I've done my pre-lecture or pre-practical assignments and read up on stuff so I'm not lost and I'm keeping up. Hopefully, that will change soon and I will channel the NJ spirit of pure mugging. I was never able to do that in NJC though (I blame 05S26 for that). ;)

On other matters, I learnt some things about grocery shopping and food/cooking in general:

1. There are certain things you just can't save on and the list I've accumulated so far includes
a. Rice (I bought the cheapest brand at Tesco and no it wasn't Tesco Value Brand and it wasn't even white. I thought that was alright, until I cooked it. And the rice wasn't fluffy or even resembled normal cooked white rice. The grains were still a bit hard and separate and they weren't even white!)
b. Shampoo + Conditioner (My head itched for several days before I decided to ditch them and get a proper brand)

2. Expiration dates are more like recommendations.

3. Freezing is wonderful.

4. Pork floss can cover the taste of bland food! I'm rationing it out though. I'm only left with 3 packets.

5. Anything can be baked/roasted! Or any meat to be more precise. I've baked coley fillet, salmon fillet, chicken legs/fillets/wings and pork loins. I figure it's healthier than frying, less messy and therefore less cleaning up! I'm trying to figure out how to cut down on the aluminium foil usage though - there doesn't seem to be any plates or bowls in my apartment that are oven friendly.

The list will probably increase as I stay here longer, but so far all's good! :D I guess I'm eating a bit healthier here than I was back home. After all, we never cooked and I always ate till I'm really full. Over here, I just eat till I'm not really hungry as I don't want to spend too much on food. Oh and I had at least 2 suppers a week back home too. Only thing I forsee is that the rain is going to hamper by motivation to exercise. BLEARGH.

I better get to studying now (even if a certain Mr Chin is hampering my attempt with numerous youtube links). (:

University

2009-09-25T16:47:00.004+01:00

University

So, it's approximately 5pm here and I've completed the first week of university lectures. It's been quite an eventful week I guess. So far, the weather here has been perfect - it only drizzled a tiny bit one of the mornings, on all other days, it's been nice and sunny. A very rare occurrence in Ireland.

I've also been doing quite a fair bit of cooking lately. And yes I could cook even before I came here. I actually bake more than cook (last time) but cooking's not a huge issue for me. In fact today for lunch I panfried a chicken fillet which I rubbed down with salt, pepper and chilli powder, cooked some rice and heated up a can of baked beans. I've also cooked pasta (beef bolognese) and fried rice with bacon/salmon and varieties of the 2 over the past 2 weeks. I'm going to do some aglio e olio with bacon for dinner tonight. I'll experiment here and there for a while until nearing my exams when I'll probably cook a big batch of food and eat over a few days or just survive on microwave meals.

Studies wise it's been good. I can tell the lecturers are gradually picking up speed. Fortunately, I took A and O Level Biology and Chemistry so that helps a bit (even if it's been like 3 years). Basically I have 6 modules - FM1001, FM1002, FM 1003 (Foundations in Medicine), CP1002 (Clinical Science and Practice), BH1002 (Foundations in Behavioural Medicine) and EH1090 (Epidemiology Elective I). I learn anatomy, physiology, biochemistry of the different systems and histology in the FM modules; for example in FM1001 I'm currently learning about the anatomy of the upper limb, about body water/fluids and general physiology and I haven't had a biochemistry lecture yet so I'm not too sure. It seems as if anatomy will be the most intense though. I mean there are so many terms and names to remember. And you know all the features like the dents or protuberances of each bone has their own names too. But it's all rather interesting! :D I've been learning about things like the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the levator scapulae muscle... :D:D:D:D:D::D

I've also went for 1 or 2 medical society events for the first years to get to know my classmates better. It was really good fun. We went bowling one night (UV Lights!) and then clubbing after. I got to know many other people that night. Interestingly enough, there was even a bar at the bowling alley. Validates most of your stereotypes doesn't it. LOL. The next day we had some buddy thing at the student centre. Basically, we're paired up with a second year and that second year is supposed to help us. And there was Dominoe's pizza provided too! But the buddy thing is no biggie for me cos I've had a super lot of advice from the Singaporeans so it was all good.

There was society and clubs day too where the university showcases all the 'CCAs' as we know it. I have no idea what I joined but they're very relaxed about the whole thing so I can just try out everything and not go if I don't like it. I'm thinking of going for this Surgeon Noonan thing where basically you do your 4th year electives in Africa where you help them out too and everything. But we'll see how it goes. I went to check out the Trampoline club and they're not too bad. I can learn lots of new stuff and I have to change my style a bit too so that's going to be interesting. Oh just an fyi, but yea they have 4 trampolines and all of them are 'competition style' ones. The trammpers will know what I'm talking about. I may or may not stay with them long term, it all depends. :D

Everything's been more or less fantastic so far and I'm enjoying myself over here in Ireland. Of course I miss everyone back home and I still have no idea if I'm going back this summer or not (not very likely). If anyone is coming over to Ireland for whatever reason, contact me!

Settling Down

2009-09-17T22:51:00.003+01:00

Settling Down

Well, it certainly took me a while but I'm finally getting it done. Updating my blog that is. It's been a rather hectic week of running/cycling around Cork doing my university registration, buying groceries/household essentials and having dinner with seniors.

Cork City is rather small and you can practically walk anywhere. Of course walking might take you 45 minutes to an hour or so but it is possible. The weather so far has been perfect for walking, sunny and cool. I've learnt that the nice and almost perfect weather for the past week was an aberration. It's usually wet and cold here in Cork. The houses here are quite quaint and they're all rather picturesque. I've been to the city centre several times already and there really isn't very many shops. You can probably visit all the shops within a day. There really isn't much else to know about Cork. Oh, the people here have a rather distinct accent that is quite different from the other people from around Ireland. I don't really have a problem catching what people are saying - I only have problems with those who speak super fast with a super strong accent.

My apartment is shared with 2 other guys. 1 of them is Singaporean and he just arrived today, the other lad is Irish and he's arriving on the 25th. It's en suite so I get my own bathroom which is nice. I've been busy making it liveable for the past week - getting bed stuff (duvet, bedsheets, pillow etc.), an additional clothes rack as my minuscule wardrobe doesn't quite cut it and other paraphernalia. I've also begun to stock up my pantry and fridge with food so I can begin cooking soon. You can see photographs of my room and apartment in the photo album on facebook!

My college seems quite nice. It's approximately the size of the NUS campus at Buona Vista. There is a lot of greenery and stone-walled buildings so it's very 'castle-y'. You can tell that it is rich in tradition too. I've been there a couple of times already for registration and I'll be going back there this Saturday for Freshers' Festival where we have talks and all sorts of activities. I know I've said this many times before but I can't wait for lessons to begin. I'm itching to begin the mugging, though I know I'll be doing it in excess over the next 5 years. Medicine is a tough course everywhere after all. I've taken a look at my syllabus and I must say it seems quite a handful. Oh wells, I can't wait to become a student again. :D I think it's going to be pretty exciting.

That's all I can think of for now, if you want to know anything just drop me a message and I'll be glad to reply! :)

Just a point to note: Cork is 7hours behind Singapore from April - October and 8hours from October - April.

Update Soon!

2009-09-14T13:20:00.003+01:00

Ok, Andrew has given me some stick about not updating yet but I will! Eventually. :D You guys can enjoy the photographs first. I'll try to update about what's been going on tonight when I get back from my registration.

Bye

2009-09-09T19:13:00.001+01:00

Bye

So it's about 20hrs 40mins more till I'm flying off to Ireland and about a week and a half more till I become a student once more. The past 2 weeks have been crazy - packing and meeting friends and packing and packing and packing and packing and meeting friends. The farewell lunches and dinners were fun but all laced with a tinge of sadness. It's not like I'm definitely coming back during the 2010 summer holidays, so the next time anyone here in Singapore sees me could be 2011.

I'm not really getting cold feet now, just a slight reluctance to leave all my loved ones behind but I'm also looking forward to starting university life and to finally start studying again after a loooooooooooong 2.5 years hiatus. I guess if I weren't going to UCC, I also wouldn't have taught in KCPSS and met my wonderful colleagues and students, so that's one of the many silver linings.

I'm going to miss so many people that I can't possibly write down all their names here. But I'll try anyway. By the way, the list below is in no particular order.
1. My Family
We may not be very close or tight and I do think we're slightly dysfunctional but hey, most families nowadays are anyway. I'll miss mum, daddy and the twins. I'll also miss my awesome extended family; despite the size (20+ cousins!) we're all a rather tight bunch, especially on my maternal side. On my paternal side, I'll miss my grandma the most of all - I lived with her during my formative years so we're rather close. :(
2. Andrew & Yun Xiao
Seriously, the 1+ years in that hell hole of an air base was all worth it because I met these 2. And come to think of it, we have rather different personalities but each of our differences complements one another perfectly and I still marvel at how close we've grown in the past 1+ years. It's really amazing and I thank God for those 2. They're everything I could ask for in a friend and I know that I'll miss them terribly. :(((((((((
3. Jeremy, Josh, Jen Wei, Wei Ren, Justin
We may not have met up as frequently as before but these dudes still rock! We've known each other since JC and we've seen each other grow and mature rapidly especially during our NS. I'll miss all of them!
4. N436, W309, CHC
I have never regretted changing churches and CHC has been my spiritual home for the past 6 years. I've grown so much in this church and I've met so many wonderful people that it's impossible to list them all. I'd obviously miss my current cell group N436, especially Chewy and Meiqi and my previous ones W309 and N109. Poor N436. Hahaha. Maurice and now me and soon, Neo. I'll continue watching services online as often as I can while finding a good church to attend in Ireland.
5. SJI Gym Juniors
I'm reallllly going to miss all my juniors. My sec 2s, Clement, Gabriel, Scott and Kenny are all so adorable (LOL) and fun to talk to. Technically, I didn't train any sec 3s so none to miss here. The sec 4s, Jon Ho and Ezra - study hard for your Os! All the others - Ernest, Qinghuang, Nigel, Nat, Sam... Awwwww.
6. Amoz
I'll miss my longtime good friend and the hours of stimulating conversations we've had over the many many many years. :D But the many patches of silence and inactivity on both our parts make it easier in a manner of speaking, cos I know we'll just pick up where we left off without any awkwardness and everything will be back to normal again. I'll still miss you moz!
7. Chris
He's the only person that I met from Pre-U Sem that I am still in contact with after 3 years. We're like movie buddies and I'll totally miss watching all those movies and talking cock with you. Heh. Have fun in hall and remember to study!
8. Tuition Students
Ok. Fine. I'll admit it. I'll miss my twins. They may be way more than a handful and 10% of my hair probably turned white after every lesson but they were MY twins. Our lessons were always rather unconventional and unorthodox and largely quite fun, so Tim and Mark, I'll miss you 2 monkeys, study hard k! I'll also miss Leroy and Joshua though I taught them for a much shorter period of time. Our lessons may have been more conventional but at least I get more results from these 2. LOL. K. Joking. I'm sure Tim and Mark will do very well too.
9. KCPSS Collegaues
I've written a short tribute previously so there isn't much to say here. I'm really thankful for meeting this bunch of fantastic people who made the past 10 weeks amazing for me. So thanks Mr Tay TG, Jiatao, Karen, Sharon, Sarah, Zhong Chuan, Lynn, Mrs Lee TH, Cynthia, Debbie, Mr D.Lee, Leo, Mavis, Mrs Loh, Mrs Tay BS, Faye, Lena and every other teacher who I've chatted with!
10. KCPSS Students
Ahaha. Ok lar. I'll miss you guys too. It's really been fun teaching all of you and technically, my going overseas allowed me to teach in KCPSS. I hope I've been of some help and have impacted you guys during the term, if you need any help with your studies, you can drop me a message or something ya?

It's getting really late and I'm just too lazy to continue typing so for all the people I didn't mention, it's not that I forgot k. Haha. Anyway, please give me a call or text me or soemthing if you're going to the airport to see me off (though that isn't really necessary)!

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Pre-departure Bustle

2009-09-05T04:58:00.001+01:00

Pre-departure Bustle

It's approximately 5 days more before I fly off to Ireland and my schedule is fully packed. For all those who still want to meet up, if you can find a slot, contact me and we'll arrange something!

5 - 6/9:
1. JoBeth's Wedding
- whole of Saturday and early afternoon of Sunday
2. Paternal Side Dinner
- late afternoon - night of Sunday

7/9:
1. Mom + Twins Lunch
- just late morning - early afternoon
2. Andrew & YX
- evening - possibly early morning

8/9:
1. Amoz Lunch
- noon - early afternoon
2. SEXYZ Tea
- possibly, tbc
3. Andrew & YX
- evening - possibly early morning

9/9:
1. KCPSS Colleagues Lunch
- noon - mid afternoon
2. Family Dinner
- evening - early night

10/9:
1. LAST MINUTE PACKING
- morning - afternoon (depends really)
2. Family Dinner
- late evening
3. Departure
- Terminal 1 (British Airways)
- Flight is at 2255 so I'll be at the airport at about 2000 or so and entering the gates earliest at 2200

So if you see any open slots (mainly breakfasts and teas) and you realllllly wanna meet me, just drop me a message! :D

'Cher, Sir, Mr Tay

2009-09-04T12:25:00.002+01:00

'Cher, Sir, Mr Tay

So today was officially my last day as a relief teacher in KCPSS. While I didn't have classes for the past 3 days (students at some camp) I did teacherly things like marking and invigilating. It was almost the same as ORD. I was completing short reports on the classes I've taught this term, detailing what I've taught them and the graded assignments and tests I've given along with their results for those assignments and tests. I was compiling the material I have photocopied but never had the chance to give with the marked scripts I haven't returned and all the other stuff and arranging them into classes. Feels like I'm doing up SOPs and stuff all over again.

Anyway, I've talked about my classes previously so now let me move on to other aspects of the school. Honestly, if I ever became a teacher and a secondary school one at that, I used to only consider SJI. Now I can add KCPSS to that very exclusive list. It has nothing to do with it being a Christian school but rather the environment and culture are very suitable for me. The students may not be very academically inclined which can be very frustrating at times, especially for one as impatient as I am, but the support network of the staff is so awesome that it smothers every bad thing out. The working environment in KCPSS is totally awesome. The teachers are all so friendly, helpful and encouraging that even after you've had a bad day in class, you can be sure that you'll be at least cheered when you return to the staff room. It's truly one of the most warm and friendly environments I have ever experienced. I mean, I was never really treated like just another temporary or relief teacher. In fact, I was treated like any other member of the permanent staff (considering my workload was very similar to a full-time teacher, it's almost expected I guess). I was involved in celebrations and events and even the photo-taking for the yearbook.

I really had a blast working for the past 10 weeks. It may have been excruciatingly exhausting at times, but with such friendly colleagues, your burden feels lightened and it's easier to feel refreshed. I really feel very blessed for being able to work there, it has been a fantabulous experience I will treasure for a long time. :D

'Cher Day

2009-08-31T16:15:00.001+01:00

'Cher Day

Before I write about my experience in KCPSS let me wish all teachers out there a very HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY! Especially to my teachers who have impacted me in many ways. Also, here's a shout out to my sweet students: Thanks for all your generous and thoughtful gifts, cards and letters! I really appreciate it!

I've been immensely busy the past 2 months with school, tuition, settling college stuff and meeting friends so I've hardly had the time to blog. School took up a majority of my time though, what with the setting of class tests and assignments and the humongous piles of markings that I had to do. Well, all in all, I've had an amazing experience in KCPSS (very unlike my previous relief teaching stint)and I must say the thought of changing my future profession did flit across my mind occasionally. It was a very brief thing though - so no worries there. :D

Anyway, I had 9 regular classes of which, I just taught 2 of them 'English Expression' only which is kind of like a reading period (a total waste of time in my opinion). So I taught 3 Secondary 1 Express Literature, 2 Secondary 1 Normal Academic Literature, 1 Secondary 3 Express English and 1 Secondary 3 Normal Academic (Through Train) English. Seriously, the marking was totally horrific. I'M NOT EVEN DONE MARKING YET. I also realised that I preferred marking essays to comprehensions. For essays I just need to read through each script once or twice and I'm done; comprehension on the other hand, requires me to constantly refer back to previously marked scripts. Oh and marking essays is way more interesting - you can read all the weird and hilarious things that students write. But overall, I really hated marking.

Other than the marking, there's classroom management and actual teaching too. When I only gave tuition last time, I always wondered why school teachers took so long to go through the syllabus. After all, I managed to complete the entire O Level A and E Maths syllabus with several students months before their schools manage to finish it. Now I realise that only about 40% - 60% of all the periods you get with your classes is spent teaching. And that's a conservative figure. The rest of the time is spent on general classroom management and discipline. I have no idea if I'm a good teacher at all, I'd obviously like to think so but I really don't know. I know I'm good at giving tuition but teaching a class is a whole different ball game. I think I can be quite impatient which makes it hard sometimes. I also think I can be quite mean at times too but I make no apologies for that. LOL. Ok, it's not entirely true, I do temper my meanness with my warmth and friendliness! AHAHA. If I'm asked to evaluate myself as a teacher, I'd really have no idea what to say. I can be a strict disciplinarian at times and I can be rather lenient and relaxed too. It really depends on the class I'm in. I always tell my classes the first time I meet them that if they meet or exceed my expectations (which I lowered by miles after teaching for a week or so) I'll give priviliges and be the nice, friendly 'cher. Of course if they don't, I'll be fierce and all. It's really a very logical thing - people are nice to people who are nice to them and vice versa. Most of my friends can't believe that I can be fierce though. Heh. I can k. It's the same as the MP thing - many said I smile too much to be a credible MP. Just ask some of my classes how fierce and evil I can be. (:

I don't really want to rank my classes but to be perfectly honest, I enjoyed teaching the upper secondary more than the lower one. I guess seeing them 5 - 6 periods a week as opposed to 2 periods a week for my secondary 1s was a major factor too. 3 Faith was fun and relatively easy to teach as they were self-motivated and I could do slightly higher level stuff with them. They also had a bunch of good writers in the class, so it was always a pleasure to mark those essays. Most of the others do try hard and I can see it in their writing so I didn't really feel like I'm wasting my time. 3 Grace was also rather fun to teach but they required some pushing and cajoling. I also had more discipline cases in this class so it was a bit annoying at times. They do have 1 or 2 good writers in the class so it wasn't too bad either. I'll be really frank here, of all my secondary 1 classes, I really hated teaching the normal academic ones. They have so many issues it's scary. I can confidently say that 80% of my time in class is spent shouting and disciplining. See, this is why I'll never be an excellent teacher - I'm just too impatient with people who are much slower than the average person. But it's not all bad, I do have a few good students in these classes and I feel so sorry for them sometimes. My secondary 1 express classes were all generally alright to teach. They are still rather new to literature so they still have issues with the subject but most of them are quite diligent so they'll probably get it sooner or later. Several of them actually wrote to me to tell me that they're actually beginning to like literature and that really made my whole day! :D It's really fantastic!!

I also realised that generally, I don't like secondary school girls. A lot of them are really bizarre. Ok fine. It's just the lians. I have this really strong prejudice against lians and the lians in this school have done nothing to make me rethink that prejudice; it has become stronger in fact. Some of them are actually quite pretty but once you hear them speak or see the way they behave, you're totally turned off. It's seriously disgusting. BLEARGH. It's just a thing I have k.

I'd talk about how wonderful the staff are but it isn't my last day in KCPSS yet and so I'll leave that to a later date when I officially leave the school. I'm still going back this week to settle the rest of my marking. SEE. IT'S NEVER COMPLETE. IT JUST KEEPS GROWING AND GROWING.

Despite the occasional hiccup, teaching in KCPSS has been a fantastic experience. And while I'm not very likely going to become a full-time teacher in the near future, you never know. I might go into the teaching aspect of medicine? HAHAHA. We'll see how it goes.

2009-07-27T15:24:00.000+01:00

Just in case any of you guys still don't know - my blog is now synchronised with Facebook notes. So you'll see random notes popping up here and there, depending on how often I update my blog, which is rather sporadic.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to 3/8! My Dell Studio 15 Laptop is arriving then!! Whoooooooo!

And I'm getting a full suit this Friday, sponsored by mum! Whoooooooo! (I wore a cool corduroy brown blazer for prom so I don't really have a proper suit)

And I'm busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy for the next few weeks till I fly off. So many people to meet, so many things to do. Plus so many things to mark and set :( , errant students to discipline :( and other teacher-things to do! I shall kpkb about work soon, I'm letting all the small issues build up into one major rant. Look out for that!

Politics and Taxi Drivers

2009-07-26T14:01:00.001+01:00

Politics and Taxi Drivers

Until recently, I've always doubted articles and people who mention that taxi drivers are one of the Singapore Government's hugest dissenters. After all, most of the taxi drivers I have spoken to mainly complain about the traffic and lousy drivers, then they'll talk about other random things. Maybe it's due to my age. Now, the of the last few taxis I've been in, at least 80% of them are really anti-PAP. (I'm actually pro-PAP). Unfortunately, I can't add much into the discussion as it's usually in Mandarin, as such, I prefer to agree with them and nod my head or occasionally register my disapproval with a shake of the head and a disgruntled noise and maybe saying a simple sentence or two.

One of the main issues they usually bring up is education. How we have too many foreigners in our universities or how their relatives cannot make it into a local university and so on. I'm actually all for meritocracy and as such I usually disagree with their proclamations. My stand has always been the best persons for the best jobs/places. If you did well for your examinations, bettering a majority of the cohort, then yes, you deserve whatever place you want in any local university. Also, if you did alright, not badly, but just average and you apply to a competitive course (you meet the minimum entry criteria) and do not get a place, I still think it's fair. It's probably because the others who applied (and got in) had better results than you did. Obviously employers and universities would choose the best for themselves. Why choose someone who got AAAB over someone who got AAAA? Of course, results are not the only things that determine the potential of a person, but how else would you have them assess individuals? You can't possibly interview every single applicant. There must be a process to winnow it down; which is actually why I'm not too pissed with NUS not accepting me for medicine.

Ok. I'll admit I'm a bit peeved (you would be too if you tried 3 times and once through discretionary means and you didn't even get a chance to be interviewed) but I do understand that my results are probably not good enough. I actually thought my stellar portfolio (LOL) and my persistence (LOL) would count for something. But I guess not. OOOOOPS. DIGRESSION.

Anyway, I guess taxi drivers are talking to me more about politics these days cos of they're annoyed with the economy and I look old enough to understand what they're saying. I guess in some sense, I'm not your typical apathetic youth. I do follow Singapore politics to some degree, well, at least I know what's going on. And at least I do support a political party (PAP if you haven't been paying attention).

Actually, I'm just going to end off like that. I have loads of crap to mark - literally crap, out of the 10 or so scripts I've marked so far, only 2 passed and I'm being lenient. WTH. I HATE MARKING CRAP WORK. Yea, so I'm just too lazy to come up with a proper conclusion and everything. Plus for some reason, more and more people are msning me. So, tata there. :(

Dell Studio 15 Laptop

2009-07-18T07:12:00.002+01:00

Dell Studio 15 Laptop

I just made an order for a Dell Studio 15 Laptop at Funan. :D Unfortunately, it'll only arrive in early August as I paid via cash and Dell will only begin production of my customised laptop when they receive the cheque. So, here are the specifications of my S$1668 laptop:

1. Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.5GHz/1066 FSB/3MB Cache)
2. 15.6" 230p WLED (1366X768) Display with TrueLife and Built-in 2.0MP Web Cam
3. 4GB DDR2 SDRAM Memory
4. 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
5. Slot Load 8x DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability
6. 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
7. Inegrated Stereo Sound with Subwoofer

The Dell guy (who incidentally was my age and is also going university this year) gave me 24 months free McAfee and some cash off. I also have a 3 year international warranty and my laptop is eligible for a free Windows 7 Upgrade when it comes out. :) Other little things like the facial recognition software are nice perks too.

All in all, I think I got a good deal. I'm just sad that it's only going to come so late. I'll need software (Microsoft Office 2007 etc.) people so some help in that department would rock! :D

Overdue Congratulations

2009-07-11T16:25:00.005+01:00

Overdue Congratulations

It really slipped my mind but I've wanted to do a tribute to Roger Federer after his triumph at SW19. Somehow, things just cropped up and I forgot all about it. I know he'll probably never see this and he gets millions of these every other day, but I'll do it anyway.

I'd like to add my congratulations to the greatest, most graceful and artistic tennis player in the history of the sport for surpassing Pete Sampras' 14 Grand Slams with his win at Wimbledon 2009. He now owns the record of the most number of Grand Slams (singles) and is only the 6th man in the world to own a career Grand Slam.

Roger Federer is simply the best tennis player ever to grace the sport and I'm truly grateful for the chance to see him play, even if it's only on television. I might have mentioned it before, but the very first tennis match I watched was of the 2004 US Open where Federer defeated Agassi. While I might have heard of Agassi, I've never even heard of Federer, but the way he glided across the court and the ease with which he hit stunning winners and magnificent volleys was simply breathtaking. I was flipping through channels at that time, but watching him, I couldn't bear to switch. It was then that my love affair with the game begin. And obviously, Roger Federer became the first player I supported. Only after I watched more matches and wiki-ed his name then did I realise I was supporting a genius and a potential history maker.

There really isn't much I can do or say that will do justice to the awesomeness of Roger Federer. The late David Foster Wallace's New York Times article "Roger Federer as a Religious Experience" came pretty close. And I am obviously nowhere as good a writer as Wallace was. All sports writers, fans and neutral observers have used all the superlatives there are to use to describe Roger and rightly so.

Yes, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic and several others are excellent players too. But none of them have all the qualities that Roger Federer possesses that makes him the Greatest of All Time. You can see a bit of Roger's graceful movements in Murray's and Djokovic's playing stye too, but they don't share his tenacity and determination. Nadal is equally or possibly more tenacious, but his style of play is barbaric and ugly. It is all force and no grace. You could say that Nadal is like a gangster who will bloody and bruise his opponent while Federer is like a ninja or an assassin - he kills neatly, silently and beautifully.

So here's my little bit of congratulations to the man who made the world look up and gasp at his brilliance and talent. May he play for more years to come, thrashing his opponents with his "velevet sledgehammer" of a forehand, deadly slicing backhand and his uncannily accurate serve. CONGRATULATIONS ROGER FEDERER!

Teaching

2009-07-09T16:22:00.004+01:00

Teaching

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since I started teaching in Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School and I must say, I am thoroughly exhausted. Previously when I did a spot of relief teaching in Bartley Secondary just before my NS, it was really relief teaching - sometimes following the lesson plans set by the absent teacher or just sitting in and making sure the students don't get out of hand. Currently, I have 9 regular classes, a good mixture of express and normal academic classes ranging from secondary 1 to 3. I also have to source out homework and set my own lessons plans for my classes, help vet the common test papers (English and literature) and so on and so forth. I even have an email account with the school! In other words, I'm practically a full-time teacher, at least for this term.

I've met all my classes and most of them are actually quite good. In terms of behaviour. Heh. I only have a bit of an issue with a class or 2 but they aren't problems I can't handle, so everything's running more or less quite smoothly. I considered blogging about my students and the amusing things that they write in their essays but I eventually decided against it. I don't want any controversies while I'm teaching and students nowadays are extremely resourceful - one of them already found my facebook page. So while I'm still in KCPSS, I shan't blog about them that much.

Oh, but here's a little something (that I also wouldn't mind my students viewing). They were given some holiday homework previously which they handed in. I marked them and found that a number of them were ripped off several internet websites. It was no mean feat to type in a few key phrases to find the websites used. I gave most of those who blatantly plagiarised a big fat 0 and a few interesting comments. Even more interesting was the fact that out of the 10+ students who plagiarised, only 2 were guys. Oh well, they're just going to have to learn how to be smart about copying; it is an important life skill after all. ^^

While it may be tremendously exhausting and a tad frustrating at times, I am enjoying myself. The staff, both teaching and non-teaching, are really friendly and supportive and I can really feel the bonds that the teachers have among each other. Honestly, in the past, I thought that if I ever did decide to go into teaching and if it had to be a secondary school, I'd only want to teach at my alma mater. But now, I think I wouldn't mind teaching in KCPSS. The students may not be academically inclined or as awesome as Josephians (indeed, few schools or none at all can claim to be as awesome as Josephians) but the culture in KCPSS is very nurturing and comfortable. Even when you have had a bad day, you can count on your colleagues to encourage you and cheer you up. So, I am enjoying my experience so far and I hope it'll be as smooth sailing till the end of term 3. :D

Quotable Quotes

2009-06-18T09:09:00.003+01:00

Quotable Quotes

"Genius is not replicable. Inspiration, though, is contagious, and multiform — and even just to see, close up, power and aggression made vulnerable to beauty is to feel inspired and (in a fleeting, mortal way) reconciled."
- Eyal Press, http://www.npr.org

Punctuality

2009-06-15T06:37:00.004+01:00

Punctuality

What's with everyone and punctuality these days? It's seriously highly vexing - tardiness actually ranks rather highly on my list of annoying habits. What happened to the days where people would meet at the said time and not arrive later than 15 minutes after (barring unforeseen circumstances). It appears that many more unforeseen circumstances occur these days.

I do not place the blame wholly on the advance of technology as many would. Yes mobile phones and the internet have greatly enhanced our ability to communicate instantly across wide distances and it some ways, it has given some leeway for late-coming. For example, if I am supposed to meet a friend at City Hall at 7pm and he texts me at 6.45pm to tell me his bus was delayed and he would be at least 20 minutes late, I wouldn't be as pissed as if he were to not inform me at all and leave me waiting, wondering where the heck he is. But, that was a situation beyond his control, so even if he didn't have the means to inform me of his circumstance, I would readily forgive him after an explanation. Now, if he was late because he overslept... That's an entirely different matter altogether.

So the onus is on you to be punctual and arrive for your appointments on time. I've always felt that being late shows that you don't really respect the other person. At least not enough to appear on time. If you were meeting say, your favourite idol, at 2pm, you'd probably arrive at 1pm to wait wouldn't you? Shouldn't it apply to everyone else you're meeting with then? Unfortunately, the sad truth is that, tardiness has become so ingrained in us that if our friends are 15 minutes late, it's actually normal and nothing to get pissy about.

I used to be one of those who always arrives at least 15 minutes before as I really really hate being late. As time passed, I begun to grow really tired and annoyed with waiting more than 30 minutes for people. And I'd like to say that this happens with only some groups of friends, but the truth is, it happens with practically every group. I really don't understand it. Before I'm being accused of being hypocritical - let me say that I am almost never late. If I had to give a statistic, I'd say I'm 95% early or punctual for all appointments. The other 4% includes times where I'm late because of other people and unforeseen circumstances (basically, things beyond my control) and with the final 1% being my fault. And even then, I'll inform whoever I'm meeting that I'll be late the moment I realise that I might be late, even if I know that the likelihood of me arriving earlier than the other person is still rather high. The ones that really piss me off are those who are late and don't even inform me. Lest any of my friends get offended, let me state that I'm talking about society in general and I am not targetting any particular person or group that I know personally.

I also think that it is quite sad that this bad habit is so prevalent that I pay no mind when my friends are 15 minutes late. It actually seems normal to me and I thank God that they're not later than that (most of the time). And a bit shockingly, this includes church-goers in general. Service starts at 10am and you're still sauntering in at 10am? Fine if you don't show respect to your friends by being punctual, but this is God we're talking about. You've got to show the big guy up there a modicum of respect at the very least... Maybe it's just Singapore... I don't know. I'll tell you guys if it's the same over there in Ireland when I go over.

Tardiness is a rude and disrespectful habit which we all should strive to eradicate. Granted, there are a lot of other worse social faux pas, but let's do it one small step at a time. And I'm really sorry if I sounded like a whiney bitch but if you touch touch your heart (摸摸你的良心) you'll realise that what I'm saying is true. Sorry for the absolutely lame phrase back there. It was like the sergeant disease (of spouting nonsensical phrases) suddenly struck again.

Oh. And all of the above applies even more to my students. But I'll leave that to another ranting entry.

PUNCTUALITY FTW!

Drift

2009-06-03T07:04:00.003+01:00

Drift

I just had a conversation with old friends, my ex-church friends to be exact and one of them was my long time best friend actually. We've known each other for like 12 years now? But after I moved church, we just drifted apart, which was really sad I guess. For those 6 - 7 years we were practically inseparable. I can vaguely recall all the sleepovers and outings that we had and I do miss those times.

The MSN conversation we had today was nice and we did some reminiscing of the good old days and we made plans for a future meet-up with our old clique. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I discovered that our beliefs and principles have changed and we would never get back the level of intimacy we once had.

It's sad really, but that's life I suppose. People come and go; and when you have a chance meeting with someone from your past, you see the good times you've had and you also see the changes that have occurred. Even after 20 odd years, I'm still trying to get used to this feeling of people coming and going. And I guess it's even more pertinent now that I'm leaving to study overseas in September....

2009-05-29T18:50:00.002+01:00

Sigh. Congratulations are due to Barcelona. They played well. One part of me wishes that there were major refereeing errors so that there is something for me to make noise about, but the truth is, Manchester United were totally outplayed (except for the first10 minutes) by an in-form Barcelona side who fully deserved the trophy.

So begins my minor media blackout. I can never bear to read soccer websites or newspapers after MUFC loses. It's stupid I know, but I just hate reading about how my team lost.

Well, there's always next year boys.... And I think it's worth mentioning, we're still Champions of England and Champions of the World.

Almost Perfect

2009-05-27T16:08:00.002+01:00

Almost Perfect

I have no idea where I'll find another girl like her. She has almost everything I want in a partner. I say almost because, it's impossible for anyone to be perfect. But she's perfect for me. At least I'd like to think so.

Exams Perspective

2009-05-21T07:52:00.003+01:00

Exams Perspective

After several chats and interactions with my juniors and students and friends of the school-going-mid-year-exams age, I realise that I've usually been rather dismissive of their worries and fears. I will tell them that it's only mid years and there's nothing to worry about and so on and so forth. If I can recall correctly, I too was slightly worried and anxious about my mid years when I was their age; and that got me wondering what changed.

I guess after going through 2 - 3 major examinations and to a lesser extent, doing university applications has put things in perspective for me. What are mid years compared to A Levels or even O Levels? Of course I expect that my opinion may change once I start taking exams in college. It is odd though. 15 seems like such a long while ago and perhaps it is. 6 years is quite a long time after all.

I turn 21 this year and it's a bit scary. To me, 21 is the tail end of the transitory period between adolescence and adulthood. Almost every exam I'll be taking from now on will be important and there seems to be more and more responsibilities as the years go by. Sigh.

BPL Champions (again)

2009-05-17T17:30:00.003+01:00

BPL Champions (again)

And Manchester United are the Champions of the BPL 08/09. We've won the title 18 times!! Take that Liverpool.

CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND!!!

And the Reds will continue the inexorable march to defend their Champions League crown in Rome! MANCHESTER UNITED FTW!

Quotable Quote

2009-05-13T14:45:00.003+01:00

Quotable Quote

I know I said a long time back that I occasionally do a quote that I liked a lot or one that I found interesting and I haven't really done anything since the first one or two, but that's only because there weren't any quotes worthy! And, Dan so nicely supplied me with one this night. :D Enjoy.
-------------------------------

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”
- Jack Kerouac

Ridiculous Hype

2009-05-05T02:42:00.003+01:00

Ridiculous Hype

All around the world, everyone is worried about the H1N1 pandemic and rightly so. It has spread extremely quickly and so far, has resulted in 26 deaths - 25 in Mexico and 1 outside it. Scary isn't it. Governments all around have put measures in place for containment of the virus and we should be thankful that our very own Singapore hasn't seen a positive case.

Now, I do not intend to trivialise the deaths of those 26 or the severity of this pandemic but I must say, the media all over the world (especially Singapore) have sensationalised this entire episode to epic proportions. It's really disgusting to see how this minor pandemic has been hyped up so much, creating a climate of fear.

People, these are the facts laid bare:
1. 26 people have died of the H1N1 virus so far.
Approx. 35000 fatalities due to seasonal flu every year in the US alone.
2. 1080 cases of H1N1 infections worldwide.
Hundred of thousands of cases of seasonal flu resulting in hospitalisation yearly.
3. The word pandemic refers to how widely dispersed a disease is and not how severe it is.

So obviously you can see that this H1N1 pandemic isn't very likely to reach the proportions of the 1918 virus or the SARS one back in 2003. I'm not saying it never will because there's always a tiny possibility that the virus might mutate and become deadly, but right now, that isn't the case.

Currently, many of the measures undertaken by the hospitals and Governments are reasonable as they aim to curb the spread of this virus. I can't say the same of some organisations though. I've heard of some of the measures SAF have put in place and I thank God I'm no longer in it. If you knew of them, you'd probably think that we've been hit by the 1918 flu or SARS. Maybe it's because they're a military organisation and therefore have to be extra cautious. Hmmm. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

Anyway, just don't go overboard with your worrying and stuffs. And students can forget about MOH raising the level to red or even black - WHO isn't even going to raise theirs to Phase 6 - so too bad, no skipping school. :D

2009-04-28T19:03:00.005+01:00

I know that I can be really obtuse at times but recently I realised just how much of an idjit I can be. LIKE SERIOUSLY. I should have gotten the multitude of not-very-subtle hints they were littering all over the stupid conversation about 15 - 20 minutes before the truth dawned upon me (that I left my wallet behind in Andrew's car). I'm really quite disgusted with myself. But in my own defence, I was actually reading Reader's Digest and Facebook-ing and Soccernet-ing while chatting with those 2, so nothing really clicked. I was distracted. SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I did notice that the conversation was a teeny bit weirder than our normal ones after about 20 minutes, especially since we tend to jump from topic to topic very very quickly and my attempts at changing the topic kept failing and the other 2 didn't seem very interested in a change of topic. But I didn't pursue that thought further!! ARAHRGHARGSIFKBD!!!!

In line with the humiliating Sean theme we seem to have tonight, here's an excerpt of the revelation that came upon me after 40 minutes of not-very-subtle hinting on my 2 idiot friends' part.

double-click to talk to andrew says:
*how
*yx
*we make agreement
oeixunh wi| says:
*my stomach damn pain
[seantzw.blogspot] says:
*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*my gf waiting
oeixunh wi| says:
*keep laughing
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*share?
[seantzw.blogspot] says:
*U 2 CONFUSING ME
oeixunh wi| says:
*ya pls
*thanks
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*ok
*haiz
*we try
oeixunh wi| says:
*hmm
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*v hard
*to give u hint
*after hint
oeixunh wi| says:
*so is
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*40 min
*non stop of hints
[seantzw.blogspot] says:
*OMG
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*n clues
[seantzw.blogspot] says:
*MY WALLET
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*and
*u
*dun
*get
*it
[seantzw.blogspot] says:
*IS IN UR CAR?
double-click to talk to andrew says:
*LOL
*F*****G STUPID
oeixunh wi| says:
*LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

There. Oh. Just a by the way. Andrew didn't include the censors - I did that. Let it be known that I really was distracted! Plus I was almost certain that the wallet was in my bag, which it obviously wasn't. I have never felt this dim-witted before. ARGH!!!

On a side note, isn't it sad that 2 of my closest friends decide to lead me on a freaking roundabout for 40 minutes or so rather than just telling me at the beginning? At least Andrew is driving over to pass the wallet to me, after meeting his girlfriend. I think.

2009-04-27T17:23:00.002+01:00

After the past 4 months of wrangling around, worrying and fretting about university I realised 1 very very important thing - that it doesn't matter whether I'll be happy in NUS or in UCC, or whether it's more practical staying or going - all that matters is I go where He wants me to be.

Guide me Lord Jesus. I need You.

2 Roads

2009-04-16T15:16:00.003+01:00

2 Roads

I thought that I would be more or less set on my path last Friday. Unfortunately, I'm still walking on 2 roads, with a leg in each. A few months ago, I'd be worrying constantly about what's going to happen and having back up plans and all that. Now, I've exhausted all the worrying.

Staying to study in NUS and going over to UCC both have their pros and cons and if I had a choice between NUS (Pharmacy or Science) and UCC (Medicine)... Ok. Fine, I'll choose UCC, but the deciding factor in this case was the course. Maybe I should be more clear, if I had to choose between NUS and UCC without considering the course or anything else (cetris peribas!), I really don't know which I'd go for.

NUS is cheaper and I get to stay with my friends. Plus I decided that if I'm staying, I'll save up to build a computer. So that's something to look forward to. I also get to keep most of my tuition kids (and thus a steady source of income) and stay in contact with my juniors, whom I got (re)acquanited with in the past month or so. The 2 main factors that encourage me to stay are friends and cost. However, I won't be doing medicine in NUS and I'm still awaiting the results of the latest application - I don't even know if I'll get into pharmacy. And, NUS being Singapore, is rather stressful. 12 years of that stress was bad enough. Another 3 - 4? So the NUS cons are mainly the high stress levels and not being in my first choice course.

UCC is overseas (that's always a plus point) so I get to experience a new culture, a new way of life. I'll be studying medicine there and that's a huge plus. I will also most likely continue doing trampoline over there, another huge plus. The main thing about UCC is the overseas-living-independetly experience and the fact that I'll be doing my first choice course. The bad part is leaving Singapore and the costs involved. 5 years is a really long time and so many things can happen within that period. And I won't be coming back every other holiday as the plane tickets are probably quite expensive. So I won't see much of my friends. And the costs. OMG the costs. Most people don't even earn that much in a year.

SIGH. What sucks about this whole thing is still not knowing where I'm going. I've accepeted a place in UCC AND NUS. So. It's all iffy still. I have no real preference and I am consciously making an effort not to think too much about going to either university as it would suck if I went to the other instead. I want to stay in NUS. But I also want to go to UCC. Go figure.

2009-04-03T08:16:00.001+01:00

Hi all. I will be leaving for a diving trip to Pulau Aur this evening and will only be back on Sunday evening. If there's anything, you could text me or leave a message on my facebook wall. See you all!

2009-04-01T18:28:00.004+01:00

Congratulations SJI for C Division Team Bronze, Darryl on Individual Silver and B Division Team Silver; RI (JC) for A Division Team Gold (preventing HCI from getting all the team golds) and Jeanne for A Division Individual Silver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trampoline Nationals were fun today albeit a teensy weeny bit disappointing. B Division did a bit better than I expected and C Division didn't. But it's alright. At least they all won something. And I see a lot of potential in this batch of C Division guys, so that's something to look forward to in the future. I actually like this current batch of C Division gymnasts and it's really a pity I can't be around to train them on a more regular basis. SJI definitely won't hire me and I'm not close enough to this new coach to ask if he needed help training the trampoline team.

It's not so much about the money than it is about the time spent. I'll probably be busy with univeristy stuff in a couple of months time (assuming I'm still in Singapore) and spending 6 - 9hrs a week in SJI Gym for no real reason other than to train my juniors is not such a good idea.

Oh wells, we'll see where the future takes us. Congratulations again to Gregory, Clement, Gabriel, Darryl, Nicholas, Ezra, Nick Phay, Jon, Tim, Mark and Jeanne!

2009-03-31T12:35:00.000+01:00

ALL THE BEST SJI!!!!!

Like an Addiction

2009-03-29T12:00:00.002+01:00

Like an Addiction

It's that time of the year again. Trampoline Nationals are coming up and once again, I'm in the thick of things. With SJI at least. I've been returning for the past week or so to help train my juniors and it's been quite fulfilling I guess. I'm not really working (4 - 6 hrs a week for tutoring doesn't really count does it?) so I have the time to go back and train them.

I shan't comment on the deteriorating standards as I've been whining about it quite a lot the past few years. But honestly, what has happened to the yesteryears of blistering high jumps with perfectly executed routines? Who remembers Shawn Lee or Yue Yen's almost perfect A Division routine (9.5 and 9.7 respectively)? Those were the days...

Anyway, it's been really nice getting to know the secondary 2s, especially Clement and Gabriel. Those 2 remind me most of myself when I was their age. Oh and they are all so amusing. I don't think they have many 21 year old friends, if any at all. So I was quite an enigma in the beginning and they didn't really know how to interact with me. Really amusing. Plus, Clement and Gabriel have been asking about my height when I was their age and how tall they might possibly grow in the future. LOL. I remember being a bit worried too as I was realllllllllly short and small last time. I hope I get to see them a bit more often in the future.

Sigh. Because of the upcoming nationals, I went to read my blog archives to relive those memories and again my sentimentality kills me. I miss competing. I miss training on the trampoline, trying my best to perfect my routine, to make it neater, more spectacular. I miss that whole rollercoaster of emotions that you feel leading up to competition. Though the dominating emotion is probably anxiety and fear. My juniors have been asking me if I was nervous during competition. I told them, I competed 5 times already and for me, each time I was just as nervous as the first time or probably worse. It's inevitable I guess. It comes with the pressure. My main regret is that I've never won the team gold medal. My 2 individual golds were great, but they aren't much compared to a team gold. What's worse is the 3 years I was in SJI, we lost it by the smallest of margins...

I MISS IT ALL!!!!!!

Relationships

2009-03-24T17:03:00.004Z

Relationships

Is it me or is everybody talking to me about relationships now? Church has this on-going series on relationships. Andrew and Yun Xiao have been trying to set me up with random girls. Reuben has been talking to me about relationships in general. Church friends have been talking about it, but that could be due to the series. And Dan has been chatting with me about that too, on a rather regular basis... Heehee.

IS THIS A SIGN?

Hahahahaha!

2009-03-21T18:21:00.002Z

Could it be that I'm just clutching at straws? Or is this new hope a bit more substantial, a bit more feasible and better than all the other hopes I've had recently? Is this truly God's intervention? :D :D :D :D We'll see.

Bleak

2009-03-20T14:34:00.002Z

Bleak

The future certainly looks rather bleak to me. I'd put my chances of going to Ireland to study this year at maybe 25% or so. And the worse thing is, there's only 1 lousy factor that's affecting my chances of studying in University College Cork - money. Acceptance into the college? Check. Willingness to go? Check. Research of the place and all that jazz? Check. Everything else not financially related? CHECK. Approximately SGD400,000 (inclusive of tuition fees and living expenses)? BIG QUESTION MARK. I did everything I could within my power to get in. But the one thing that I can't really control has thrown a spanner in the works.

Maybe it would be better if UCC had rejected my offer. Then I wouldn't have had the high of being accepted and thinking I had a chance to fulfil my dream. Followed by the low of finding out that the immense cost wasn't just a minor hindrance that could be easily rectified but one that was the be all and end all. That really really sucked.

I know that God has a plan for me and that His ways are higher than our ways. I know that I have to trust that He knows what's best for me. And I really want to. I know that if He wanted me to go Ireland, there'd be a way somehow. And I know that even if I don't go Ireland, I still have other options of fulfilling my dream, just that the process would be a lot longer. (I really don't think it's about the instant gratification). Sigh.

This is like giving candy to a baby then snatching it away. Oh well. Who knows. I still have 2 weeks or so. Anything can happen. $400,000 could suddenly appear in my bank account. Some random rich person might suddenly decide to sponsor me. Someone might actually take up my offer (of a lifetime of medical service).

Let Your Will be done Lord. Not mine, but Yours. Help me to trust You fully and wholeheartedly. Guide me in Your wisdom; give me strength. Let me be a man after Your heart Jesus.

2009-03-19T16:46:00.002Z

Ok. I have my issues. Let's move on. I know people aren't used to seeing the evil side of me. But it's there, much as I'd rather it did not exist. I'm working on it. This period is just tough on me. I think anyone would feel as crappy as I do if you saw your dreams slowly fade away. Well it didn't exactly fade, it was more like random spikes of hopes raised, followed by a drop in confidences. Sigh. You never know, $400,00 could suddenly appear in my bank account in the next 2 - 3 weeks.

2009-03-15T09:11:00.003Z

We may have lost the battle, but we WILL win the war.

Man Utd is using Sun Tze Bing Fa. Beware.

2009-03-14T07:54:00.003Z

Right now, I've lost every modicum of respect I ever had for him. I regret feeling any pity or love for him. Love may be limitless, but to waste it like that... I have absolutely no intentions of keeping in contact with him once I grow up. Every last bit of respect I've ever had for him as a man, a father and a husband has been obliterated.

You read all these novels and watch all those sad movies or serials, pitying the children of those dysfunctional families depicted in literature and on screen. But you never realise how screwed up your family is until you take a closer look. Fine. I'm over-dramatising. I didn't get raped or abused so maybe I don't have a right to be this pissed off.

Sometimes, I really don't understand why God would ever want to put me on this earth. Is all the pain and hurt worth the fulfilment of my destiny and purpose? I don't know. Is my purpose really that great, that this bitch of a journey would be eventually worthwhile? I don't know.

Ok. I really shouldn't continue until I get this under control. This rage and (loath as I am to admit it) emo-ness is really unbecoming of me.

Advert II

2009-03-12T16:25:00.002Z

Think about this conversation you might have with a friend in 2020:

Friend: Hi! How are you doing? WOW! You really look great and healthy and all! I thought you had liver cancer 5 months ago?
You: Do you know who's my doctor?
Friend: Who?
You: Dr. Sean Tay!
Friend: DKVIUHEGDWNVIY&#(^#RBKCB?!??! HE IS YOUR DOCTOR?! HOW YOU GET HIM TO TREAT YOU?! HIS WAITING LIST IS LIKE 999999999999999 YEARS LONG! EVEN OBAMA MUST WAIT!
You: Yup. He cured me of my cancer. He got rid of all of the cancer cells in like 10 minutes. No pain some more. Oh, and he's my personal doctor.
Friend: But, but, but.... HOW?
You: Aiya. 11 years ago I saw this great investment opportunity! I decided to take it up. All I needed to do was fork up SGD 200,000 over a 5 year period.
Friend: But, but, but... His consultation fee is EUR 200,000 now. For 10 minutes.
You: Uh huh. So?
Friend: Can pull strings? For me...
You: Hard lar. He so busy. I saw him a 30 minute follow up today then he flew off to the UK to give some Manchester United players a check up. After that, he going to the US to give the Obama family a check up too.
Friend is speechless as you grin happily at how uber smart you were to make that investment 11 years ago.

This could be you. Give it some thought. Check out the post on 10/3 for more details.

Computer Games

2009-03-11T17:07:00.002Z

Computer Games

Seriously. I will never ever understand how they can be so important to people. They're fun to play and it's a nice way of getting to bond with friends, meeting new people and such, but they're just games!

I'll never be a gaming person. I enjoy playing some games, but that's all they'll ever be to me. Just games. Nothing to get frustrated about or to get annoyed over. I mean, I hate to lose, but if I do, then so be it. It's not like my life ended when I lost. Yes, I wasted time (especially when it's someone else's fault that we lost) but it's just a game!

Which is why I've always found LAN gaming a total waste of money. And yes I've LANned quite a number of times before - all after JC too, but that's only because majority of my friends want to do it, so I go with the flow. I don't hate it, I get to spend time with them after all; it's just that I don't have as much fun as everyone else is having. Oh, especially CS and all first-person shooter games. I hate those. I suck at them and I get dizzy after just 2 or 3 games.

So, that's it. That's the whole truth peeps. I think LANning is a waste of money and time. The only LAN game I actually don't mind playing is DOTA, but I can do that at home. Which is partially why I didn't go out with the guys last week. I was really tired, but if it was just supper n a nice chat, I wouldn't mind. But they were planning to LAN, so I decided that I should just have a good rest at home.

Let me make it clear. While I enjoy playing computer games in general, I'm not fond of paying to play them, especially when it's games I don't like anyway i.e. CS. I'd rather avoid it. But I want to spend time with my friends, so I don't mind the occasional game cos they enjoy it.

2009-03-10T15:33:00.008Z

Hi all! I'm selling a lifetime of medical service* for just SGD200,000!! Only 2 - 3 places up for grabs! Or, you could pay a mere SGD500,000 for a lifetime of medical service for yourself AND your immediate family members**!!!

Think of it as a form of life insurance and investment. You'll be investing in a potentially world renowned doctor who will treat you for the rest of your life, wherever you are, for a one time payment now! I guarantee you, there is no better deal world wide!!

APPLY NOW!!!
Terms and Conditions apply.
Prices and terms are negotiable.

* Starting 2015 to your demise or mine, whichever comes first.
** Applies only to immediate family members at 2015 till the demise of the last immediate family member of 2015 or mine, whichever comes first.

You Can't Lose What You Never Had

2009-03-09T12:14:00.002Z

You Can't Lose What You Never Had

Sometimes I wonder, is it better not to have experienced something so that when you lose it, it doesn't hurt. If you've never felt how good or how wonderful something is, you wouldn't feel a thing when it's gone. Which is good. In a way.

But, never having experienced it, is a very sad thing in itself. So, is the pain of losing that precious moment less than the pain of never experiencing it? I don't know.

And I can't believe how inarticulate I've become. The whole mess up there epitomises my inability to express myself coherently and fluently anymore. SIGHHHH...

Stupid Government Websites

2009-03-05T15:49:00.003Z

Stupid Government Websites

I've just about had it with all the pathetic Government websites. Especially the Singapore Sports Council's one. I've been using their iBook System for a while now and every time I use it, I never fail to get pissed off.

The website looks like it was done up by some incompetent idiot who didn't spare a thought for its design or the fact that normal human beings would be using it. When I first attempted to use it, I trawled through the eyesore of a webpage and managed to find the registration. I registered and log in. So far, the only issue is how disgustingly ugly and not very user friendly the website is. Then I went on to book a badminton court. Or at least I tried to. With firefox, it worked at first, then it became very sporadic with subsequent log-ins. Sometimes I could view the booking java script thing and sometimes it would load a bit then just disappear. So I used my rather rusty IE browser. Like come on. People nowadays use a whole plethora of browsers - Firefox, IE, Maxthon, Safari etc. And a majority of websites are compatible with all. Why can't SSC make theirs compatible with all too?

Actually, there is a whole lot of other crap about the extrememly pathetic website such as booking issues and payment issues, but I'm just too lazy and I've lost some steam so I'm just going to end it here. Hah.

Regina Spektor - The Call

2009-03-04T15:17:00.000Z

Regina Spektor - The Call

It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder
Till it was a battle cry
I'll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war

Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye

You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye

Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Till they're before your eyes
You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say goodbye

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say goodbye...

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2009-03-02T18:26:00.003Z

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY ANDREW CHIN!!
All the best in your future endeavours. Especially if you become my COO. HAHAHA. Enjoy your special day today. And I hope you enjoyed our 3 presents (including the dinner treat). :D

Taiwan Pics

2009-02-26T19:57:00.004Z

Taiwan Pics

For all you eager beavers out there who were waiting expectantly for my Taiwan trip pictures, you can view them at these urls (each url listed has mostly different photographs):

Days 1 - 3:
http://www.facebook.com/photos/?ref=sb#/album.php?id=821375202&aid=220781

Days 4 - 6:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=106181&id=565131139

Day 7:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?id=628315417&aid=66985

Random:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?id=821375202&aid=221089

Yea. They're all in facebook, so it's going to be a problem if you don't have an account. Day 7 is our masterpiece. So do check it out. :D

The Perfect (Almost) Trip

2009-02-22T06:57:00.003Z

The Perfect (Almost) Trip

So, I just got back from Taiwan 2 nights ago and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was one of the best holidays I've had and one that I've been needing for a while. I think it was such a fun and amazing trip mainly because I had 2 great friends with me as well. I believe that we're a bit tighter after the trip, though it's hard to get any tighter, considering the number of times we see each other every week. Hah.

We went to Xinbeitou, Wulai, Yang Ming Shan, Ximending, Siping, the Shilin/Jingmei/Raohe/Huaxi/Wufenpu Night Markets, the new 'Sim Lim' of Taipei, Taipei 101 and we also went for the lantern festival and saw the preparations for the flower festival at Yang Ming Shan. So we pretty much covered the whole Taipei in 7 days.

The 3 of us did pretty much the standard stuff most people do in Taiwan - shop and eat. We also did other stuff like sightseeing and hot spring-ing. We didn't really visit any museum. Only the free ones - The Bei Tou Hot Sping Museum and the historical exhibition at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. We even hitched a ride from a nice Taiwanese man who 'saved' us from a touting taxi driver. All in all, it was a really excellent trip.

I doubt I'd be going for holidays anytime soon again but that's alright. This one is equivalent to several holidays. And I honestly don't know if I'd enjoy Taiwan as much if I went with anyone else. Yun Xiao and Andrew were a total blast to be with. :D

Us with The almighty glorious his majesty emperor of the sun founding father of taiwan DR sun yat sen sir
(p.s.: the moniker for SYS was given by Andrew. NOT me.)

Off to Taiwan

2009-02-13T15:43:00.002Z

Off to Taiwan

Alrighty then. I'll be off to Taiwan from 14/2 - 20/2. So, I'll be uncontactable for a week. Yes, it's Valentine's Day and no I'm not attached. I hope that satisfies all you busybodies out there.

But I am going to Taiwan with my 2 Valentines :D Wahahahahahaha! See you guys in a week!

ORD LOH!

2009-02-11T14:10:00.001Z

ORD LOH!!

YES! I've got my pink NRIC back. ORD! WHOOOOOO!!

ORD

National Service

2009-02-10T05:40:00.003Z

National Service

Seeing as my ORD is tomorrow, I've decided to do an article about the 22 months I've spent serving this nation. I think it'll be my penultimate army-related post. I was actually planning for it to be organised in a chronological manner but I'm too lazy to do that. So, we'll just go with the flow. :D

My 1 year 10 months journey brought me from BMTC(1A) - SISPEC (BSLC-J) - MP SPEC II (1) - FDS, TAB-APGC. A whole list of acronyms I know. But that's what made NS so very Singaporean. After entering NS, my vocabulary of acronyms probably doubled; though most of the female population of Singapore aren't likely to ever know their meanings. In any case, NS was a really crazy journey full of ups and downs. BMT was fun, SISPEC was crap, MP SPEC II was fun and FDS was bittersweet. That about sums it all up.

In all honesty, my ORD doesn't really seem like I'm going to be suddenly free. I've been very free for quite a while already. The only thing is now they can't call me back because of their incompetence, I can only be called back for In-Camp-Trainings and (God forbid) war. It's been a long 22 months but I don't really regret it. I know of many who hate NS but I never hated it. I accepted that it was a duty I had to fulfil, though I still think it'd be fairer if the girls have to do a form of NS, like Israel. That's for another post though.

The trainings throughout were tough but not impossible. And you realise then that no matter how tough the course might be, all that matters is that you have good friends who go through it with you. Which is why BMT, MP SPEC II and even FDS were enjoyable. The people I met during those 2 courses and the tour of duty (FDS) made everything easier. I really don't know what I'd do without Andrew and Yun Xiao. I think I'd be quite depressed in FDS without those 2 or Eugene Chong. Or my platoon mates in BMT and my section mates in MP SPEC II - they were all brilliant. Going to camp wasn't so bad when you knew that you had amazing people with you. And I must really thank God for the 3 buddies I had in BMT, SISPEC and MP SPEC II. They were supportive, encouraging, approachable and all in all, great buddies. :D

There really isn't much point writing about all the negative parts of NS, you can see them for yourself in my archives. From April '07 to the present. There were a lot of annoyances with one of the most pissoff ones happening recently. But whatever. ORD. I really really want to bitch and whine about the 2 recent issues but it's alright. I've already did that to Andrew so that was some steam let off.

Oh I must say that in my entire army life, I've only been punished with 01x extra duty during BSLC as I had lost (and found) 1 magazine (the ammunition kind, not the paper type). Other than that, I have a very clean record. And it is an achievement, especially if you're in FDS, TAB. Case-in-point: There was this junior MP specialist who was awarded a grand total of 49 SOLs during his first 2-3 months in the unit. So, hoorays to me! Almost clean record!

I guess I've learnt a fair bit and matured somewhat. I've learnt how to work with people I don't like, how to play office politics, that being indispensable is not necessarily a good thing and of course how to use several weapons, throw grenades, set up claymores etc. I must admit, learning how to fire the M16/AR15, SAR21, MATADOR, M203, SAW, GPMG and the P226 was quite interesting. I mean, how often do you get to fire live rounds and stuff?

Oh wells. 110209 marks the end of 1 year 10 months of full-time servitude to Singapore. I'd like to think that I played an integral part as a MP Specialist in FDS, TAB-APGC and that those 22 months were not wasted. Whatever the case, I know I gave my all (or almost my all) to FDS and my conscience is clear.

So here's to a happy ORD to me!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

2009-02-01T14:25:00.003Z

Roger Federer lost, to a glorified construction worker who has been taking steroids, in 5 sets. It is a dark day for tennis. Do I sound like a sore loser? I don't care. ARGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

On a brighter note, we're down to SINGLE DIGITS. WHOOOHOOOOO! 9 DAYS BABY!

Late Night Supper/Early Breakfast

2009-01-21T20:06:00.003Z

Late Night Supper/Early Breakfast

I'm waiting for Andrew and Yun Xiao to come fetch me now for a very very late supper or an extremely early breakfast depending on how you look at it.

This has to be one of the crazier ad hoc things I've ever done. And I'm not even considering the fact that I just had the 2 wisdom teeth on my right extracted on Tuesday and the medicine they've got me taking has nasty side effects like mild diahorrea and nausea.

Plus I have to stay away from alcohol at least 1 week after taking the medicine or I can look forward to vomitting non-stop. Or at least that's what the pretty pharmacist at Jurong Medical Centre told me. Hmmm.

Oh wells, they're reaching soon. :D

Can You Smell the Incoming ORD?

2009-01-16T13:20:00.002Z

Can You Smell the Incoming ORD?

25 days. Absolute. If I'm going to count working days, I'll be way happier. But let's not kid ourselves. I have 25 days.

I am kind of excited about it all. After ORDing, my life can continue. Though right now, where I'm going to study and all isn't really settled. But whatever will be, will be. I'll take life as it comes. I'm trying not to view my 22 months of national service as a period of slavery and ORDing as freedom. Hmmm.

On the other hand, I guess I'm a bit sad as I know I'll miss the people I've met during my term. I can forsee some friendships lasting for a long time, but I also know that there are others which I treasure now that won't. Oh wells. People come and go. I've learnt to accept that.

My last month in the squadron wasn't as great as I expected it to be. Colleagues who I used to think highly of have disappointed me. But never mind that. I'm going to ORD so I don't have to play in the squadron's office politics anymore.

Sigh. ORDing is really going to be quite bittersweet. Though the euphoria of freedom makes an impressive case against the gloom of leaving with unresolved tension, that blackness is rather stark against an otherwise bright background.

Books vs Movies

2009-01-13T14:23:00.005Z

Books vs. Movies

Honestly, in my opinion, when it comes down to something like this, the usual winner is books. I'm a bookworm, so that isn't exactly a surprise and I'll admit the result is a bit biased. But it's true! With movies, all you can see is what the director wants you to see. With words, you can create your own movie (in your head). That's why, book-to-movie adaptations usually don't work out that well. The only book-to-movie adaptation that was truly successful is The Lord of the Rings. There has been none that can equal it.

Recently, I finished reading the entire Twilight series and watched the movie. I would rate the series a 4/5 and the movie a 2/5. Maybe it was the amateur acting and the lack of chemistry but personally, I believe that the movie just couldn't capture the intense passion and love that Edward and Bella shared, the tight bonds that connected the Cullens, the savagery of a vampire lost to his/her instincts and so on.

Loath as I am to admit it, I thoroughly enjoyed the series. I must say, while the relationship between Edward and Bella is the crux of the entire series, the fantasy part thrilled me a lot more. The romance between the 2 leads was excellent too and it complimented the entire fantasy storyline. I know it seems backwards but it appeals to me that way.

I'm a twiguy. :D

2009-01-03T08:05:00.001Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!

Brother

2009-01-03T07:28:00.002Z

Brother

I guess I've never made the fact that I would like to have a brother very much a secret but recently I've been feeling it more strongly than ever. And I guess it's cos of Yun Xiao. Hahaha. He has like the ideal relationship with his brother and they're really close and all. The fact that he is just a year older than Yun Xiao throws my theory that the closer the age gap the greater the chance of fights and quarrels and the higher the intensity of sibling rivalry way out of the window. Note the green tint this little rant has taken. Hah. But seriously, I'm quite envious. Oo

I have 3 sisters and I'm actually closer to some of my friends than I am to any one of them. I'm closer to the twins (2 years younger) than I am to the youngest one, whom I've been having a feud with since forever.

When I was younger, I wanted a brother so that there was someone I could roughhouse with. Or at least someone who wouldn't cry and complain about me when we played rough. Now, it's a bit of that as well as wanting a brother I can share stuff with. Not just clothes (though that would be nice too) and books. But secrets and thoughts and things like that.

I don't mind if he's older or younger, as long as it's a he. I've had enough of sisters. I remember when I was a lot younger, I actually asked my mom for a brother, then she told me she had tubal ligation and couldn't have anymore children. So I asked for an adopted brother. LOL. Now I know the huge implications of having another child in the family. 4 children is really a lot already. Imagine the finances. *Shudders*

Oh wells. My longing for a brother might explain why most of my close friends are guys (of course there are 1 or 2 girls I count as close friends too). The closest I ever got to a brother was probably Thung Liang. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

2009

2008-12-31T16:05:00.002Z

2009

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Apparently, I stayed up for 2009. So, here's to a blessed year filled with happiness and fulfilled dreams and goals.

:) *I'm trying to give a wry smile. You can't see it and this emoticon is the nearest I could get*

2008

2008-12-31T15:14:00.004Z

2008

2008 sucked mostly. I'm hoping 2009 will be good though it doesn't seem that way right now.

2008 was largely a lousy year with the occasional break in the dark stormy clouds. Isn't life supposed to get better as you get older? Yea there's an increase in responsibilities but there's an increase in freedom and stuff too right? And the freedom + other stuff > responsibilities. Right?

:(

Sigh. I don't know. It's interesting how I've become moodier and gloomier as the years pass me by. Even finding that silver lining or being optimistic seems so forced and therefore unreal.

Right now, I don't know if I should stay awake to wait for the new year. I don't know if it's worth waiting for. I hope it is. (This has almost nothing to do with the fact that I'm spending it alone at home. Like 90%) I'll see how it goes. If I'm awake to usher in 2009, then I'm awake; if I'm asleep, then so be it.

Please God, make 2009 a happy, blessed year for me. Thank You.

Organised Chaos

2008-12-30T14:23:00.002Z

Organised Chaos

I tried tidying up my room today. It took approximately 2.5hrs, but I'm already done with a third. And I'm stopping to do the rest of the room tomorrow. I know it sounds bad, but it really isn't as messy as it sounds. Basically I categorised the room cleaning into 3 parts - tidying/clearing my desk, tidying/clearing the shelves and re-organising my immensely messy wardrobe.

So far, I've completed tidying my desk. Well, it's as neat as it gets. I give it at least 2 weeks before it reverts to its original state. Actually, I was fine with all the books and stuff stacked all over the place. I knew where my stuff were after all, and that's what counts. Right? Unfortunately, for some odd reason, dust seems to settle in my room at a very alarming rate. Plus the humidity level in my room is quite high - especially since I don't switch on the air conditioning. So, it was a more of a clearing my desk so I can get rid of all that accumulated dust.

I'm not a fan of super organisation. In fact, I subscribe to the theory of organised chaos. :D

Alright, I know ending here makes the entire update very choppy and makes for horrible reading but I'm just to lazy to make it flow and continue any further. Sorry. Hahahahaha.

Of Budget Airline

2008-12-24T10:58:00.003Z

Of Budget Airline

Believe me I have nothing against budget airlines. They're cheap and you shouldn't expect much from them considering the dirt cheap prices you pay. But it would be great if they could make their seats a little bit roomier. I mean, I'm not even big sized or tall and I find that it's very difficult to get a good rest when you're all scrunched up with no leg room.

Then there's that issue of children on a plane. I'm actually alright with babies and toddlers even though they make a lot of noise (occasionally). I know they can't control it so it isn't their fault. But when you have brats above the age of say, 8, and they're chattering incessantly about absolutely inane stuff, it makes you want to punch them in the face just to shut them up.

There was this fat bespectacled boy in the row in front of mine who kept whining and talking to his family. It didn't help that his sisters (I guess) were almost equally chatty. He was pleading with his mother to go for supper after the plane landed and ranting about crap stuff in this loud voice. He's lucky I wasn't sitting behind him. If it was a morning or afternoon flight, fine. I'd understand. But this was a night flight. Come on, there are more people sleeping on this flight. He didn't even have an ounce of consideration for anyone else.

Which led me to conclude: airlines should have this voting system. Where after an hour or so into the flight, they let the passengers vote who should be muffled. The offending passenger will then be muffled for 2 hours, if he insists on yapping away after that, he will be muffled for the rest of the flight. Good idea no?

Bored

2008-12-22T17:36:00.003Z

Bored

Alright. I just got back from Hong Kong. The Singapore weather is killing me and I'm doing this meme cos I'm bored and trying to get my mind of the sweltering heat. Plus I'm not sleepy yet.

1.Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
the gift - jim brickman & collin raye & susan ashton

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
let there be love - oasis

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
swear it again - westlife

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
saints and sailors - dashboard confessional Erm. No.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
look what you've done - jet

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
does your mother know - ABBA LOL

THINK OF YOU?
fool again - westlife

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
hey now - fm static

WHAT IS 2+2?
realize - colbie caliat

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
vindicated - dashboard confessional

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
out tonight - rosario dawson (rent)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
流行主教 - 林俊杰

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
unbelievable [bambaataa house mix] - EMF In a good way.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
the greatest love of all - whitney houston

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
come what may - ewan mcgregor & nicole kidman

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
珊瑚海 - 周杰伦 (jay chou)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
mmmbop - hanson I hope not.

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
dark blue - jack's mannequin

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
don't let the sun go down on me - george michael & elton john Yep. I'm a reverse vampire.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
one day more! - les misérables (cast)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
ladies' choice - zac efron (hairspray) I wish that that was the worst thing that could happen.

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
empty - the click five How appropriate! I intend to donate my entire body for organ donation and medical research. =)

WHAT DO YOU REGRET?
the diary of jane - breaking benjamin

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
it ends tonight - the all-american rejects

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
black or white - michael jackson

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
innocent - our lady peace

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
the sweet escape - gwen stefani ft. akon

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
makes no difference - sum 41

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
lost highway - bon jovi

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
call to arms - angels and airwaves

And that concludes a SIANZ session. :D

ORD Mood

2008-12-18T12:35:00.002Z

ORD Mood

Yes. It's the onset of this particular 'virus' that happens to only afflict the male population above 18 and who are completing their term of service. The disease is actually quite interesting. As you near your termination date, you begin to lose your inhibitions. That little voice that tells you "Don't do that! You might get punished!" or "Hurry do that! If you don't..." grows quieter and quieter. Instead, a new voice that says "It doesn't matter. ORD loh!" gradually crescendoes. Instead of being the constructive contributor (at least I like to think I was one) you once were, you suddenly become surplus.

It's cool really. I'm enjoying it very much. I'm on leave and off till 5/1/09. It feels really really good. And now, the tuition jobs are slowly filtering in, which means more $$ to spend. :D Happiness. =)

Finisher of 42.195km

2008-12-07T14:03:00.003Z

Finisher of 42.195km

So, there's 1 life goal completed. I've actually finished a full marathon. I survived (kind of). To be honest, I didn't exactly feel triumphant or ecstatic when I crossed the finish line. I expected to feel euphoric and high. As things go, all I felt was pure relief. Nothing more. Actually, I would say it was 95% relief and 5% a sense of accomplishment. Odd isn't it? I imagined I'd feel happier. Ah wells, the mind is bizarre. Anyway, let me regale you with an (almost) complete description of the entire run.

0km - 21km: We had a good pace and our timing was quite good. We completed the first half in 2:50, but it would have been much faster as we waited for a friend who took a toilet break (2o mins). So, the first 21km was actually quite nice.

21km - 24km: The entrance of hell. This is where things started to deteriorate. I really started to feel the aches and pains. It also didn't help that my thigh n calf muscles were twitching every 500+m or so.

24km - 30km: The descent into the fiery pit. The first few kilometers after the 24th, my thighs and calves started to cramp every 500m or so. After about 27km, they begun cramping every 150m - 300m when I ran. So I walked. Actually it was more of a jog-cramp-stretch-walk. Much thanks must go to Daryl who followed my extremely slow pace to keep me company.

30km - 40km: Pure hell. My entire lower body was screaming in pain and every few hundred meters or so I thought about how stupid I was to join the marathon. The worse part is I was forced to walk cos of the cramps I got when I ran. I felt that running was less painful to be honest. You cover more ground for one - that's a psychological advantage already. And the burning pain you feel when you're running beats the throbbing, stabbing pain you feel when you walk. Unfortunately, when you cramp every 200m or so, it's a bit difficult to run. When we reached the 32km mark, it felt like it was ending. But the last 10km was fire-and-brimstone raining on you kind of hell. Bad would barely describe it.

40km - 42km: Once we hit the 40km mark, it felt better, but I just couldn't run. The cramping pain was quite crippling. But after a lot of walking, suddenly this guy told us it was only about 400m away. We didn't know whether to believe him as we didn't see a 41km distance marker. But it was ending, so we decided to heck it and run. I was hesitant, but Joseph and Darius encouraged me and told me to endure. So I did. I ignored the twitching muscles and the cramps. And we crossed the finish line. Chris was there cheering us on, so that was nice too. :D

I must say I wouldn't have been able to complete the run if not for my friends. Running with friends makes it more bearable. So a BIG THANK YOU goes out to Joseph, Daryl, Chris and Darius. Actually, I'm still deciding if I should kill Joseph, seeing as he's the one that got us into this. Anyway, back to the thanks, seeing Eugene at the 21km water point was a bit of a booster too. And last but certainly not the least, God. For a good part of the run I was praying for mental strength to complete the marathon.

This is my first and most probably (99.9999999999%) my last marathon. 1 piece of advice to future marathoners - you must train for it. Really. Train. :D

The Beginning of the End

2008-12-05T11:11:00.002Z

The Beginning of the End

For all you know, the title could be referring to my impending ORD. Alright, it actually does refer to the 67 days I have left serving my nation, but it also refers to the 42.195km I'll be running on sunday, starting 0530.

I was nuts to have signed up for this marathon. My original intention was to sign up for it so that I'd be motivated to train and run. Unfortunately, my distaste for running overrode the motivation completing a full marathon in a certain time limit provided. But I must say, while I used to totally hate running, now I'm good with short distances (< 5km). I'm still not a big fan of running, but I think a bit of it is good.

Bleargh. I really have no idea how I'm going to survive, but I'll be running with Joseph and Daryl, so it shouldn't be that bad. It's just 42km after all. I can do it. Right?

86 Days

2008-11-16T07:35:00.003Z

86 Days

Just 86 days left till I'm a civilian again. The thought of it makes me smile. :D

Anyway, it's also just 20 days till I attempt to complete 42.195km. With minimal training. The 15km New Balance Run almost killed me so my expectations are pretty low for the Standard Chartered Marathon. My only aims are to complete it and not to be the last.

It's been quite a while since I posted and I do have stuff I want to blog about but I'm just too lazy at the moment. So, just keep checking back, I'll get it up soon (:

Façade

2008-10-26T15:02:00.002Z

Façade

There are occasions where you take a step back and view your current life like a movie. I have experienced that on occasion and sometimes it seems as if the movie I'm watching is a sad one. Yea, we all get that. Those emo moments. :(

I wonder why sometimes, it feels as if everything seems so fake and superficial. That reality is simply an illusion. Like I've been deceiving myself that everything is (or has the potential to be) bright and sunny, when in fact, lots of it are just dark, grey thunder clouds waiting to pour. That no matter how you beautifully you paint the canvas, when you scrape it all off, it's just a piece of canvas. Sorry for that, but it'd be nice if you could humour my pathetic attempts at metaphorism.

Sigh. I wouldn't categorise this as emo though. Just a bout of melancholy. I don't know. Right now, I'm thinking that there's no such thing as 'snapping out' of this melancholic state - it would just be like, putting a lid on the melancholy for a bit. Hmmmmmm. I hate this feeling.

FDS SUCKS

2008-10-23T06:09:00.002+01:00

FDS SUCKS

I hate FDS. I don't like saying it, but FDS = Freaking Dumb Squadron. I'm on MC today and off tomorrow and I have to help out shift side (not my department) because of their pathetic planning skills. They are really fortunate that they put my good friend at Murai if not I wouldn't help them out at all. And because he's the one who needs me to take over him cos of his overseas leave tomorrow. They should thank their lucky stars that he is the one over there.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! PISSOFF.

Diving Desire

2008-10-16T15:36:00.002+01:00

Diving Desire

Alright, let's ignore the fact that I'm blogging from camp, despite the fact that I'm on an 8 -5 job now. It's really expensive to book out everyday you know..

ARGH! I WANT TO DIVE! The last dive I did was in March last year, which makes it more than a year already! I miss donning the wetsuit and all, plunging into the depths and being awestruck by the beauty of the deep.

Sigh. I miss diving! :(