Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Big Dreams

After my many months of dedication to Suzuki Swift Sports... I've fell in love with another lady's car...
The Mazda 2.

Ambitious right... I know man. But how does success come without big dreams? Already cracking my head to figure how to maintain a car when I do have one(step 1 is to start studying for As... hahaha). I'll figure something out when I have to cross that bridge.
Back then when I had zero idea on the value of money, I used to hop around in Nissan's showroom and ask my mom to buy Nissan 350Z. It was the sexiest machine to me many years back when I was so little. I went in the fairlady and fell in love with the interior. Well, of course those were the days of impossible demands.

I'm already picturing myself post-A levels, taking driving lessons. I really cannot wait to drive even though it wouldn't be my first, but it's going to be legal driving by 18. Seeing how my brother is exploiting the family's car... I think when I do acquire my car he'd zhng it and it'd somehow transform to be his.

Life is moving so fast... I can't believe I'm finally this close to driving. All those Primary school days of playing GT2 on the PS with my brother, the virtual is turning into reality. Somehow it's so surreal and I think I'm one exceptionally blessed child.

I think I haven't found another weirder person than me at this age... i'm actually dying to go view condo showflats, so deprived of being impressed with how a space can be utilised in a million ways and when I can have the financial capability to buy my first property.

Life is about aiming big... and setting small goals to achieve the big one.
Maybe that should be my motivation to start studying for 2010. Everyone around me is already in the 'mugging' stage... crap.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Post-Xmas

Or I'd rather say it's still Christmas cos' it doesn't have to last a day. Chanel x2 came over to my place and we chilled by playing monopoly and some bed games(meaning play games on the bed, ah, whatever it sounds wrong in every way). The room is always in a big mess when they come over.
I played the guitar for them and Chanel said it sounds alright! Compliment man. If it sounds alright means it's good. HA... and she kept singing and dancing to Bad Romance. It was a nightmare, but nevertheless she had fun shaking the fats.

We went to Ministry of Steak for dinner at Serangoon Gardens. The last time we had a free chicken chop thrown in for the meal. This time we had free garlic bread and onion rings. Maybe because it's an all girls dining affair thing. Heh, glad to be a girl.

After that we headed to Ice³ for dessert. The menu was so misleading...
"Our place has the essence of warm and cozy ambience. Here exists the coolest ice cream cafe in Singapore, and probably in the world."
The moment I set foot into the cafe, I was literally shivering because there were a total number of 6 air-conditioning units in a really tight space. They tried to live up to the shop name by being icey and all, but hey... look at what they say, "Our place has the essence of warm and cozy ambience", warm was the last thing i felt.
Whatever, it was still cool to chill out there.
Some of the ice cream flavours were really nice, but I think for the price, they are still not as good as Tom's Palette at Shaw Towers(check out the myriad of flavours they have)!

Well, after the dinner affair which I would like to call it our Christmas celebrations because the other 2 apparently stayed at home or did nothing related to Christmas on the 25th, I went to Chanel's place. I'm a magnet for dogs. They come bounding to me like no tomorrow. Nutnut kept trying to jump all over me in the meantime leaving trails of long scratches on my beautiful long legs. Then when I sat down, he still continued licking and leaving the drool everywhere. I'm sooooo glad he's out of the humping stage. How can a puppy barely few months old learn how to hump human legs(or at least it was only mine that he did that to)?!
Her mom gave me Burberry perfume for christmas! How lovely right? The coincidental thing was that Chanel gave my mom perfume for her birthday 2 weeks back as well. Now my mom and I become the perfume ladies. Stayed at her place till about 1a.m and reluctantly left the game of online monopoly and movie I was watching halfway... before arriving at home and staring at the computer trying to come up with the proposal till 4a.m.

Woke up at an early 945a.m, rushed to the toilet and had a bout of diarrhoea before vomitting the contents of the stomach. Popped some carbon pills and went promptly back to sleep. It must have been the lingering bitter taste when I had some pasta salad as a side dish at Ministry of Steak, either THAT or in the afternoon I had a huge bowl of La La by myself because no one wanted to eat. Poor me... always having problems with the stomach.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Untitled

Wishes that there are no holidays that are meant for 'family gatherings'. Dreads the CNY, mid-autumn festival and christmas.

The worst combination sort of character includes a materialist realist. And everytime I encounter that, I wish I had a thick wad of bills to stuff in every hole possible.
Everything is fake... money is real.

Or is that really so?

If only i had 1 less eye to see the ugly side of mankind and 1 less ear to hear those terrible words that spew out of man's mouth, I would probably be just a little more hopeful that love can heal everything that hurts.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

TJCCC Chalet

As i sat on the train back towards home, I tuned in to some piano & sax pieces as my mind took a break from the excitement. The previous day had been a lot of noise, fun, joy and laughter. Barely 3 hours of shut-eye(not even a nap) in the morning at 8am till 11am from staying up the whole night left my mind in a daze. I'm surprised I'm able to sit here and type this after I've settled down at home.

I can't remember the last time I stayed up through the whole night chatting till the sun rose. Probably during this year's Climbing Camp in school, but that wasn't the whole night. At least we managed to watch the clouds took onto different forms and the sunrise! This morning, really unfortunately we didn't manage to catch the sunrise cos' we were facing the wrong direction. But nevertheless, it was nice listening to the waves crash against the shore through the night till dawn while engaged in various conversations.

My bookworm habit suddenly started bugging me and I am now reading an e-book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. I have this strong love for books, whenever I see books especially new ones, and I smell it, i get excited in the sense that I can't wait to uncover its content. If only I had a personal library at home, that would be so amazing. No school, nothing. Just spend my days reading and reading....

It's so easy how fickle-minded I am. Just a couple of days back, I made up my mind that Avatar was a lame show because of the blue figure thing that looked so fantastical, and I'm never into fantasy stuffs. Then, Philip tipped the balance by saying how it was a damn good movie and everyone should catch it. Who knew, the really lethargic Rah and I just bought tickets at Vivo and caught it right after our lunch. I power-napped at the advertisement and trailers and stayed wide awake through the movie while Rah the ass was busy dozing off and messaging. It was really nice. I think both of us teared at a certain portion together.

Expect nothing and be surprised by how much there is in store; Over-expect and end up in disappointment. With this character of mine, it's always the latter for me. Damn...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

What a joke

As my mom and I walked into Mickey Unlimited at Tampines 1, we came across this neck rest thing for the car again the second time that I wanted to buy but the cartoon print on it was so childish. (We ended up buying it cos' we saw it for the 3rd time on sale at Tampines Mall) So I said aiya... don't buy la hor. Then as we walked around the shop, we saw crystal figurines on display. My mom said let's go take a look!

After a while, she exclaimed "EH! Got mouse one leh!" (She's born in the year of rat)
Then i replied "DUH, we are in a Mickey Mouse shop."

Saturday, December 19, 2009

X'mas incoming

The holidays are coming close to an end, with all my activities finally coming to a slow down. The past weeks i have been running to and fro from mass dance practices to going back to office, then training and going back to working again. It's not been very productive going to work half way like that, but nevertheless, at least i'm not wasting a single bit of my time at all during the holidays. Like Xiao Wee mentioned, it's like you have not enough time to work properly, yet too much time to slack at home. Glad to be me in that case.

Well, in school, I finally learned the dances properly, except for Jai Ho which i'm totally clueless about, but heck it. I'm sure I can get it in a day. I can't wait for orientation to really begin and see how the whole school gets flooded with freshies looking lost. Because it makes me feel all the more better that I finally settled down and feel much closer to home at TJ.

I've seen my climbing improve after each training since the return from Batu Caves. Thanks to constant pushing from the guys and Mr. Kao, I step out of my comfort zone and start going for things I never thought I could do. Seen myself complete Overhang yellow rather easily now, and I've finally completed babyroof yellow on second attempt with a single hang as well! I tried the black overhang but came down after going up 2 panels. This would be my next project.
Today was THE day. Finally got about to climbing the mega roof! I need to grow some balls man. Not exactly the best of my ability yet, I could have done way better than that. Just because of one word: HUMJI!!!
Not that I have any ji to hum in the first place... hahaha.
I wonder if I'll still go about trying to complete that...not my priority. Mega is a guy's ego thing. I don't need that much ego. HAHA. I wonder how many guys would come after me for saying that...

Yesterday was the company's Christmas celebration at Kallang Leisure Park. We organised a bowling event at Kallang Bowl. It's not fun bowling after a climbing session because the finger joints are all swollen and it hurts so much more when you stick it into the holes of the round oily bowling ball. Adults don't really know how to enjoy themselves. I think if I had a bunch of teens playing they would definitely have the place down in no time and have the time of their lives. All of those face and reputation and pride that they hang onto so tightly, how to have fun like that? Sigh...
I prefer last year's when we held it at Kbox, the food was slightly better and at least both Chanel and I had a ball of time singing. Nonetheless! Chanel still enjoyed herself rather thoroughly because she won the best female bowler award and their team walked away with the highest score. So glad to have her around in the office with me, she's one of the people who are great social connectors. ;)

Climbing and mass dance have all finally come to an end. I can work in peace now... maybe not... cos we have the CHALET on 22nd! I've been a busy little bee this holiday season. I wonder how I'm going to countdown to 2010 this year.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

FML

"Acceptance of others, their looks, their behaviors, their beliefs, bring you an inner peace and tranquillity -- instead of anger and resentment."

It summarises how much I hate conflicts among the people around me. My family is made up of easily angry and resentful people and I have veered towards the extreme end over the years. I am so calm and peace-loving that my mom gets angry over my nonchalent behaviour. I'm sure she sometimes says/does certain things to spite me but I barely even have a reaction to it, and it gets on her nerves. Then she starts going around telling the whole world about how her daughter is heartless and not dependable in future.

Don't adults get tired of quarreling?
For I know argument is the worst form of communication.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Design My Place



The past three days from 7-9th December I attended the Design My Place workshop, fully sponsored by the school. It's really an experience of a sort I've never had before. I can't say that it's all that fruitful though because there were some parts that weren't really enjoyable. I didn't have the luxury of better group mates and facilitators, but I managed to work with the challenges the process offered. The workshop is quite attas cos they sponsored cab rides to and fro the sites and even bought high tea snacks and provided drinks akin to a mini pantry in the Research Centre. I've been introduced to the fundamentals of urban planning and architecture. Throughout the days when I interviewed the residents at the site we were tasked to work on, I felt more like a RC/MP visiting residents rather than students working on a project.

I have a whole new perspective when I walk around HDB flats in Singapore now. Every facility built has been given much thought and consideration. The functionality is something that is of top priority.

After the workshop, I feel like my interest still remains in Interior Design.
Seriously... I think I'll end up pursuing that as my career.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

SCSM 2009

I woke up to a cooling breeze from the early morning and thanked the weather for being extremely nice today. Rah came to pick me up at the last minute and we headed down to esplanade together. It was her first ever run and i'm glad to be able to be part of that experience ;) The sky was cloudy most of the time, the sun didn't even come out until 10plus. The weather was cool and the crowd was amazing. Both rah and I ran from start to finish together and we overtook more than hundreds of runners along the way. It was quite motivating to overtake so many people and imagine the legs in full throttle.

Rah said she saw this runner with the encouragement bib saying "Thanks, I've never overtaken anyone in my life before". We had a good laugh about it after that.
My aim was to complete the run without having to stop at all, and we managed to do it! The first 5km was quite long because they only had the sign from 1k and the next was at 5k. I felt like i was running forever when I saw the 5k sign. After that we went up ECP and took the Rochor exit. The view up on the bridge was awesome. Many runners stopped to take picture with the flyer in the background. The next 5k went by quite fast... before we knew it, we already reached the 7k mark and the road was starting to get more crowded because of the other runners from the male category joining in.
This year's run was smooth sailing for me and the wind was a god's send. I remember the SCSM i did in 2007 weren't as cooling as today's. We headed for breakfast at Qiji in Marina after that before heading home to rest.

It's going to be the architecture workshop tomorrow and the next 2 days. I just realised that it's going to clash with my brother's POP on tuesday and i feel soooo bad. I didn't attend his ceremony thing when he enlisted and now I'm stuck in a dilemma. Sigh...

I've been reflecting a lot on my actions and behaviour recently especially when I'm at home with my mom. I feel a certain kind of stress like I'm always being judged and watched upon. Every little thing I do is being judged by her and i don't feel happy especially at the remarks she make after that. Isn't the home supposed to be a place to wind down...relax and be carefree. Not the case for me... Why trouble me with all these when I'm not even of the age to worry about such things yet. I think what the household really needs is a father/husband figure to lighten the load and stress. I know it's not easy for her... and I'm not better off either. I want to carry that load, but i'm financially incapable and emotionally not ready as well. Life goes on and I only pray it gets better.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Batu Caves

TJCCC went to Batu Caves, KL, Malaysia from the 26th nov - 30th nov 2009. This is my virgin school overseas trip, and i must say it has been a wonderful experience being independent, yet knowing that there are so many of them whom i know i can always depend on.

I was glad to have bunked with Jo and Gwen for the 4 nights. They are really nice roomies. The nights were never lonely ;)

For the very first day of our natural rock climbing, we went to Nyamuk Crag, it means mosquitoes in malay. And there are really a lot of mozzies. Thank god for SAF's insect repellent happily provided by Calvin, i was spared the attacks for the whole day.

We had do a 10-15 min trek up to the place where we could begin climbing. I didn't expect the trek to be so treacherous. Or at least in my case, i thought my sandals were going to rip or I was going to slip from the slippery sand. It was quite scary, cos I got down to basics and starting going up on all fours. When we finally reached our destination, which was quite high up, i looked down and wondered, how the hell are we going to get down later.

I didn't enjoy Nyamuk as much as I thought i would, i guess it was cos of the insects, heat, trek and stickiness. It was quite freaky as well because for most of the areas, the amount of space we had for belaying were minimal and if we went over, it would mean dropping down a good 10 feet or more. My first climb on natural rock, I thought it was amazing how all those climbers could climb so well on natural rock. It was mysterious. You gotta feel it to know it. I really loved the scenery from the 30metres climb.

The amount of satisfaction you get is never ending when you reach the top.

The highlight of the day was me doing Bowel Movement with Philip on the other route, i was telling him how comforting it was to have him climbing by my side, because it was scary being alone up there so high, and knowing that you always have a huge run-out below you. He smiled at me and continued up. My virgin 30m climb, and i freaked out at the crux of the route. I took a whole 40 minutes to complete the climb. I was so dehydrated up there, i think my sweat glands stopped producing sweat. Hahaha... Thank god for my supporters below, constantly motivating me to keep going. Philip kept saying don't let the climb go to waste when i froze at the crux. It was all will power then, I think all the strength i had from the legs and arms went into my brain to complete that climb.

The next day, we proceeded to Nanyang Crag. Luckily for us, it was by the road which means NO MORE TREKKING. I don't really fancy the trekking we had to do at Nyamuk.

Lesser mozzies but nonetheless, still fully armed with SAF's insect repellent, I had minimal insect attacks. We saw a buncha stray dogs at the entrance of the area.


They were really friendly. I guess they have been there for quite some time and have gotten familiar with the climbers who frequent the place. It was my first time i saw puppies feeding on their mommy! It was quite a nice sight actually cos the mommy was so protective and loving towards its pups. The last time I saw was at China with a really hugeeeeee pig and tons of piglets feeding off from the numerous nips the mother had.
By the second day, I got more used to climbing on natural rock and taking my time to explore the infinite possibilities the rock could offer on a single route. It was much more enjoyable as well because of the relaxed atmosphere and the shade the cliff provided.

The 2 routes that were highlights for me was my first climb on the Whimper. Really can be called the mother of all bridges. I bridged on the route until the heels hurt like crap. Looking back, i think the bridging route in school is nothing compared to this. Calvin on-sighted this! How amazing man. Sometimes i wonder if he has balls or not. He can bridge better than me! But then again, he had the balls to lead climb this scary route, I didn't even dare to think about it.

The second highlight was the Right Decision.

Just the look on my face is enough to tell of how SATISFIED and RELIEVED i felt from completing this route. It gave me all kinds of anxiety attacks when Philip told me to try again. I was blessed to have Mr Kao's and Philip's patient guidance while i fumble my way on the top. This was one of my biggest obstacle of the whole trip, i could say one of the most difficult climb for me. I really pushed all out, more than 110% and sweated like a water machine. Just as I thought Bowel Movement was enough to freak me out, this was another new bomb dropped on me.

The third day was at Damai Crag.

It was a really beautiful place because it had been done up nicely, with facilities like pavilions for shelter and shade and pavements by the foot of the cliff for belaying. Philip said this was one of the rare cliffs where it's the furthest away from climbing in a natural setting. But then again, that meant that it was closer to home for us because we were more pampered that way.

The amazing thing was that they even had artificial walls erected in the middle (for the locals) to climb as well. I wonder where they get their chalk bags and chalk... and they climb barefooted. They probably stole it from foreign climbers like us when we are unaware... hahaha.

The highlight was Monsoon. Another high climb for me, 30 metres. I realised i'm really thrilled by the really high climbs.

This was the best climb for me on the whole trip. I could picture myself doing the climb really gracefully, executing moves the way i wanted it to be. Best of all was that I had Philip as my belayer. He was constantly encouraging me all the way. Each praise he said literally sent me up to heavens. I have no regrets getting pushed by Philip to go beyond my limits because at the end of every climb which i thought would be difficult to complete would be completed, and I would be feeling beyond accomplished. The sense of achievement is beyond words.

Aside from all the climbing that we did, we had a Batu Caves tradition of exchanging gifts among each other. That was an unforgettable night. I have no idea how to put it into words with the myriad of emotions pursing through my pulse that night. I really really loved how creative and thoughtful each and every one of us was that night. The gifts for each individual were really well suited and had a deeper meaning to it. Well, with the exception of mine!

How the hell am i going to use the condoms and thongs...I know I always talk about my dick in the box but that's a different story. For all those who are clueless about my dick in a box... please feel free to sidetrack to the video below.



I really wonder how the really pure and innocent lala could buy these gifts! Gosh... so much for all the innocent make-up. It's FAKE. Now we all know how dirty-minded everyone really is. ;)

The last day of climbing was at Camp5.

It was a really huge indoor climbing haven. I think the interior design of the place was really unique. I've always admired modern industrialized design. They had all the smooth cement finishing and stainless steel frames with plentiful of floor to ceiling glass. The most unique of all was their bathrooms! It's a pity I didn't have a chance to take a picture of it. It was as if they tried to fuse the modern and history into one setting, and it turned out really good. One of the nicest designed place I've ever been to - it's no wonder they had such tedious processes of signing up to climb at the place. It must have cost a bomb to do up the place.

The walls were really rough and good for smearing. The holds were all colour coded and graded. A pity they didn't number the anchors so it could save everyone some time trying to count which wall/route they wanted to do. The last day on artificial wall, everyone climbed at the speed of lightning. It must have been a big jump from natural rock to artificial - from slow exploring of usable hand/footholds to really obvious holds, it's no wonder everyone just raced up the wall. It was a really neat climbing place to be at, seeing how Singapore does not have the luxury of space to do up such good climbing facilities, i really treasured my time there.

Finally, it was time to set out our journey back to home sweet home.
We took our last group shot, and it's one of my favourite.

This marks only the beginning of the exciting journey ahead. I really loved how so much more bonds were being forged, everyone got to know each other on a much deeper level.
I want to thank each and everyone for making it such an invaluable experience for me.

The most important lesson everyone took away from this trip was how to be process-oriented and not result-oriented. Being overly result-oriented would distract one from enjoying the process and most of all defeat oneself before even taking the step to success. I'm sure each one of us had our perspectives widen from this trip. ;)

TJCCC 09/10!