Singapore 08

Finally, i'm in quite some mood to blog about my trips to Singapore and Vietnam now. I don't know what's gotten to me over the last couple of days... i've been wasting my time away and the days just seem to past soooo quickly! That demoralises me because i don't get to accomplish the tasks that i wanna get done on that particular day! Anyway... here goes!

5 weeks of holidays went something like this: 1st week in Malaysia (Church camp), next 3 weeks in Singapore, the 4th week in Vietnam, and then the 5th week back in Singapore. The 3 weeks that i spent in Singapore was rather short considering the fact that i usually spend more than a month there.

Despite the short length of my stay, i got to meet up with a lot of my old friends. Some of whom i haven't seen in 3 to 4 years! I spent most of the time with my best friend, Jocelyn. haha! I don't even remember what we did now - a lot of chatting and quarreling along the way to print photos, all those late nights, movies and meals. Time seems to fly past when i'm with her. I was glad to see her again, yet it was rather sad and nostalgic knowing that i won't be seeing her for the next 3-4 years or so after i leave. She even made me cry x.x" when she said that we should stop being best friends. I obliged, but it never happened - she couldn't bear to part with such a good best friend :P Well Joce, i just wanna thank you for every moment spent together.. for all the laughs as well as the quarrels. Thanks for the Lo Mai Kai :)

I also got to meet up with Jeremy Goh, Jia Xuan, Jeremy Lim, Shawn and Samuel, my dear primary school friends. haha! We go WAYYY back to Primary 5 when we used to play both virtual and real wrestling, go fishing at the local canal, have soccer comps and all! haha! Those were fun times. Seeing them again wasn't awkward at all, it was as though we were picking up our friendship from where we left it those many years ago!

I shan't bore you anymore.. i'll just add captions to the photos :)

This is my dear best friend, Jocelyn, lifting the roof with the wondrous music from her guitar! I made her a song book (a black book) with some songs that i composed and other pretty famous Christian songs so that she can worship God with them too!

That's Bryan (mouse) and i. The red spots on my face aren't measles or pimples!!! We played a rather odd game where someone would say something like "I haven't kissed anyone". And if you have, you have to put one spot of SPICY HOT CHILLI sauce anywhere on your face! haha! The chilli nearly burnt my face off!

We were playing one of Pastor John's weird games on Watch Night 31/12/07!!! Cool, i spent the last day of the year with my best friend :)

That's Jocelyn, AGAIN! Don't know where this is... looks like Orchard road.

From left to right: Mr. Tool, Gavin (aka. Curry Chicken), Duck (aka Jocelyn), Lydia (aka. Constipated Turtle). We were on the bridge that connects the two Petronas towers in KL.

Hmm... don't remember where this was taken! x.x"" Probably Clarke Quay.

My dear friend, Howard. We were having dinner with Lyd, Tab and Sha at Jerusha's favourite restaurant; Swensons!

My cousins Belle and Janelle. Isn't she cute?

Howard was talking about long dildos and how to hook up with hookers.

A shot with the MERLION! Don't give me that puzzled look! A Merlion is a REAL animal that can only be found in Singapore. It has the head of a lion and a tail of a fish. It's just a little bit bigger than an elephant. Wikipedia it if you're still unconvinced!

Me and a Dopey Duck.

Oh! That's at Qynn and Sonja's wedding. From left to right: Nick Teh (Future billionaire), Ruth (leader of a world renown break dancing crew called the Beatbouncers - YouTube it if you're unconvinced!) and Audrey (Princess of Bookworms)

We were on the balcony of Vivocity. The view from the balcony was sensational although the shopping centre itself failed to impress too much.

A memorable meal at Swensons.

That's part of the view from the Balcony at Vivocity. Can you see the birds (cranes to be exact) on the left of the photo? You can see thousands of those in Singapore.

Guy in the middle: Swensons mascot.

haha! We were scared outta our wits when we took this shot in the middle of an expressway that leads to the airport! haha! Cars and trucks were speeding past us at 100km/hr! haha! This was part of the night cycling trip.

Oops! back to Qynn's wedding. I'm sorry about the order of the photos! Yea.. all pretty pple. OH!!! Franny's in a skirt!!! :) This photo is priceless now!

Fungus rocks Qynn and Sonja's wedding!

Nick, Kimmy and I. haha! Don't be fooled by that innocent face! :P

Jeremy Lim, Jeremy Goh and myself. We were playing futsal at The Cage in Kallang.

Night cycling..

One of the night cycling stops: SAFRA!

Another night cycling stop. BTW, behind that little brick fence is the sea.

Lying down in the middle of a 100km/hr expressway!

Start of the night cycling trip at East Coast park.

On a bridge at Changi Village

Brother forever! Sam, Shawn, Jeremy Goh, me!

In the midst of a bike repair. The tandem that we hired broke down sooo many times that night!

We cycled all the way to Changi Village from East Coast Park and had Nasi Lemak there. It was one of the best i've had!! Oh yea, we saw some Thai transvestites there and almost got into some trouble with them. haha! One of of them caught me staring at him/her? and shouted back at me: "Boy, you gay?" LOL!

We were all wet after a water ride at Escape Theme Park.

Escape!

Caroling at East Coast park on Christmas eve.

At Escape. The queues for the rides were LOOOOOONOOONONONONOGGG as!

Caroling

Poser Duck

One of those teamwork games at church camp. We had to push backwards against each other so that we can all help each other up.

Woop! Woop! Woop!

Escape!

At the new terminal 3 of Changi Airport. We're one of the first pple there! booyah! :)

Saltshakers stuck in a gas chamber at Petronas towers.

Saltshakers!!

Saltshakers with Pastor Jerry and.. uh.. forgot his wife's name x.x"

Lyd and i... farewell shot before i left for Vietnam.

Cool. i hope you enjoyed the photos! I'll blog about Vietnam soon.

Blog Revival IIIVXX

"It's been suuuchh a long time since i last blogged" would be the cliche, but also the most appropriate way, to start off this blog revival post.

I've decided to blog regularly again after being inexplicably inspired by my blog archives. My historical entries put a seal on countless precious events of the past that i've so careless forgotten. But the sentimental emotions and feelings that prevailed at those very moments stretching back a couple of years would return just as though i was experiencing them all over again! It's a wonderful feeling to recall these precious memories, but it's an even more disappointing and regrettable to lose them.

27 posts in 2004
241 posts in 2005
137 posts in 2006
44 posts in 2007

I won't let this trend continue! :) I'm aiming for at least 100 posts for 2008!

I got back from an eventful holiday in Singapore and Vietnam two weeks ago. And I have a LOT to say about Vietnam. I should've blogged about my trip last week, but i was looking for ways to upload those 1000+ photos on this blog. Yes, i tried Megaupload, Filelodge, FileEx (i think), Photobucket, Zshare, etc... lol! It took my ages! And i still haven't got it on!! So i'll just have to work on a compromise. I'll blog about Singapore and Vietnam on two separate posts with heaps of photos so you won't get bored! =)

What've i been doing for the past two weeks?

Hmm.. Andrew Huang had a birthday lunch at some posh Chinese restaurant along South Bank last Friday. It was such a joy to see all my friends again! Nigel, James, Andrew, Meng, Orrin and Banh. Besides the amazingly delicious food, it was pleasing to see that they all got into good courses at good Uni's. Thanks for the lunch Andrew! =)

After lunch, we headed down to Strike for a game of bowling. I'm seriously TERRIBLE at bowling. I average about 50 a game if i'm lucky. 7 times outta 10, my ball would roll down the sides of the lane. However, the slick atmosphere at Strike changed all this. haha! The comfortable leather sofas, the U.V lights which made the pins stand out, and the massive screens at the end of the lanes made my bowling experience a much more pleasant and exciting one. I'm used to the dodgy bowling lanes in Singapore that NEVER fail to get jammed.. the balls have holes that are WAYY too small for your fingers.. and it would be sooo noisy because of the people in the 10 other lanes next to yours! Anyway, i managed to clock 93 points with 2 strikes! :D That made my day! haha! Orrin won the game with an impressive 100+ points, Andrew came 2nd with 96, and Nigel was last with 87 (correct me if i'm wrong! x.x") haha!

I organised a friendly game of Futsal at the Whitehorse Aquatic Centre yesterday. It was sorta a last minute thing and i only started inviting people on Sunday. Ideally, i wanted 15 people so that we can play with 3 teams of 5. I thought that we would struggle to even make 10 pple. However, there were a total of 26 people that rocked up! LOL! That totally wrecked the game.. sigh.. we ended up playing with 4 teams of 6 -.-"" The quality of the futsal was terrible yesterday and it was, honestly, a waste of time. I'm gonna take up stricter measures of control in the future... i'm gonna be Mr. Mean! :)

Yea, besides those events... i've been trying to compile all the poems i've written into a Black Book (all the pages at a solid black in colour), and all my songs into a White Book (all the pages are white in colour =) ). It was only when i started writing when i realised how many poems i've written 0.-""" I'm gonna have to allocate an entire week to do it instead of the 2 hours that i initally thought it would've taken.

At the start of the hols, i made a few commitments to do some productive things.. well, i can't remember what they are (i'll check later), but i remember committing to read 10 Christian books. Well, i've haven't even finished ONE!!! LOL! Also, my "learning to cook" label has been unbearably unsuccessful. I've only learnt how to cook three dishes - Japanese style fried asparagus wrapped in beef, Fish porridge and Soy Sauce Chicken. haha! It actually doesn't sound too bad! x.x"

Well, it's hard to keep commitments. But I've still got 20 days to read my books! =)

Ultimatum - FM 08

It's been a long time since i've been addicted to anything, but i've been subconsciously lured into the despairing vices of an extremely addictive computer game - Football Manager 2008. I've spent at least 4 hours on that game every day!!! *punches myself in the face*

It's so addictive that i can't stop playing even when i tell myself that i HAVE to STOP. It keeps track of the total amount of time i've spent PLAYING the game: 1 DAY 11 HOURS 43MINS -.-"""" I SPENT AN ENTIRE DAY AND A HALF PLAYING A STUPID CPU GAME!!! LOL!

It's really been robbing me of my time and i've been unable to make a start any of my holiday goals. FM 08 just SUCKS the life outta you. It's been keeping me up to 4am and even 5am at one stage. I would wake up at 1pm and there goes half my day!

So, at 3am last night.. i made an ultimatum to DELETE the game. It'll be hard, but i'll find my way, i can GO THE DISTANCE! :)

I had my MHS Valedictory dinner on Monday night. It wasn't a night to remember, rather, it's a sentimental experience that i'll always keep dear to my heart. The principal, the school captains, and the year level coordinators made some speeches that somewhat summarised the whole year and it's hilarious highlights. I think the funniest part of the night was when Andy Van performed a rap on stage - Numb by Linkin Park. haha! He wasn't the best rapper to any extent, in fact, he was close to the margin of unbearable terrible. Despite that, every word (He never failed to put a loud emphasis on all the F-words) that came outta his mouth tickled the hearts of every student and teacher in that grand dining room at the Caulfield Racecourse.

It was good to see all my friends again. It's funny how you say "hi" and "bye" to most of them as though you'll see them again very soon, when in actual fact, you probably won't even think about them till the next reunion! Sometimes it's hard to start a conversation after a relatively long time of separation. Sometimes i feel really phony when i talk to these people, partly because i know they're phony too. Well, these are acquaintances - people who are good to know but there's always a very thick invisible line that puts a "lid" the level of social intimacy.

Yet, there are a close group of friends who i treasure dearly such as the people on my table: Jin and Anthony, and the other soccer dudes who weren't: Tommy, Daz, Banh, Harish, lil Joe, Phan, Jono, Tom Wang, Marcus, Jase, Andrew, etc. It's easy to talk to them because you know that they'll still care for you even if you're a dick head. lol! Look at Tommy! :P We know that we've always got each others backs. When i say "hi, it's good to see you", i actually mean it from the bottom of my heart. When i say my goodbyes, i KNOW that i WILL see them again really soon. Thanks guys, you make my days at MHS worth it! :)

Well, i'm going to delete FM 08 right after i finish this post and i hope my days will be used a whole lot more productively! SO... here's a brief outline of my day. Uncle Steven's family and Uncle Tham Fuan's family will be coming over for dinner tonight, so i thought i'll learn how to cook! :) I haven't decided what i'm going to cook YET, but hopefully i'll get down to doing it. I've acutally organised a Futsal session with a whole heap of people from Fungus, MHS, chink school and other friends, and i'm DYING for a kick. HOWEVER, DANI, my lil sis, is coming over tonight, so i'll stay home to have a chat with her. I'll be leaving the house in about an hour or so to meet up with Daz, Tommy and Justin at the school gym. We're gonna TANK IT UP! :)

Okay... i'm going it fulfill my ultimatum in 5....4.....3....2....1....FM 08 DELETED! BOOYAH! :)

Am i a leader?

Wow! I've been so lazy since i finished my VCE. I've been spending a whole lot of time organising and playing futsal, playing FM 08, watching soccer, going out etc. that i've totally neglected my precious blog!!! I'm so sorry, blog... please forgive me?

Sooo much has happened over the past week or so. Firstly, I FINALLY FINISHED MY VCE!!! Booyah!! Those last five minutes of the Chinese exam were golden, every second ticking away was a iota closer to freedom. A huge burden was lifted off my shoulders when i walked outta that exam hall... the feeling was blissful and relaxing. Needless to say, i celebrated the end of 13 years of tiresome toil with a delightful game of futsal! haha! I had dinner with the soccer dudes at The Booth and then headed down to Whitehorse Aquatic Centre for what was one of the best futsal sessions i've had in a LOOONG time. I just felt so free and relaxed on the court, i didn't have to think of anything else except enjoying the beautiful game.

We also had a final growth group gathering last Sunday. We headed down to some Trout Farm at some far out place immediately after church. I'm not too sure where it was, but it was close to Buxton. I remember that because of the delicious Buxton burgers we had for lunch. OH my goodness! They're the BEST burgers IN THE WORLD! The width of the scrumptious fillings sandwiched by two toasted-crispy pieces of bread is close to the distance between to the tip of your middle finger to the bottom of your palm! 100% UNHEALTHY GOODNESS!

Anyway, i've been wasting my time quite a bit and i felt EXTREMELY guilty this morning... so i decided to make up a few goals so that i actually do something PRODCUTIVE during the hols. So here's just a few of my aims:

ONE
Read 10 Christian books to increase my spiritual maturity. I'm on the way to being a leader at Fungus next year, and i really want to be able to lead with confidence and substance. I'm currently an eighth into my first book, so i'll have to speed up a whole lot if i wanna get through those 10 books. I spent 3 hours clearing up my room last week. I threw out a whole stack of papers/files that was LITERALLY 2 metres high, and i also got to pick out which 9 books i'm going to read:
1) Extravagant Worship - Darlene Zschech
2) Every Young Man, God's Man - Arterburn & Luck with Yorkey
3) That Reminds Me of A Story - Gayle D. Erwin
4) Ready With An Answer - John Ankerberg & John Weldon
5) The Seven Fatal Management Sins - John W. Collis
6) Wild At Heart - John Eldredge
7) Mosques and Miracles - Stuart Robinson
8) Evidence That Demands A Verdict - Josh McDowell
9)Answers To Tough Questions - Josh McDowell & John Stewart
10) To be decided :)

TWO
I've been neglecting this gift that God has given me and it's making me feel unbearably guilty, so i'll spend an hour or so everyday to compose a few more songs and poems through the holidays. I was reading through my compilation of songs and poems, and i realised that some of them are actually rather good. I know that i COULDN'T POSSIBLY have composed those songs on my own, and i very certainly DO NOT have the ability to write those poems. So i guess i should sign off my poems as "God", not "isaac". Oh, i've also decided to buy a nice leather book to compile all the songs and poems that i've composed. That'll take a long while.

THREE
I'm gonna design a new personal skin for my beloved blog using a program called HTML-Kit. I'm not too sure how to use it yet, but i'm sure that it's gonna take a LOONG time to do so.

FOUR
Learn a few new songs on the guitar.

I was going to add another one, but i'll just wait till i accomplish these goals before i undertake new ones.

As i've mentioned before, I'm most probably going to be a Fungus leader next year and i've been going to a few "potential leaders" meetings with Qynn every Sunday. There are five "potential leaders" - Adora, Sue Ann, Nicole, Peter and myself. We've been doing a few personality surveys to determine our various personality traits, our strengths and weaknesses, etc. so that we can be assigned to roles where we can serve most effectively AND ALSO to learn how to cooperate efficiently with other leaders.

According to the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, i am a ESFJ (Extraversion, Sensing perception, Feeling, Judgment). It describes such a person as "warm-hearted, talkative, popular, conscientious, born cooperators, active committee members. need harmony and may be good at creating it. Always doing something nice for someone. Work best with encouragement and praise. Main interest is in things that directly and visibly affect people's lives."

I find that extremely interesting because i did a VERY SIMILAR aptitude test called the Myer-Briggs Personality Test just two years back and i was labelled an INTJ (Introversion, Intuitive perception, Thinking, Judgment) which is described as " Usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes. In fields that appeal to them, they have a fine power to organise a job and carry it through with or without help. Skeptical, critical, independent, determined, sometimes stubborn. Must learn to yield less important points in order to win the most important".

I find the magnitude of the change rather intriguing.

Qynn took the "potential leaders" out for a bonding session yesterday. We had a nice meal at Mac Donald's before heading down to this entertainment centre down in Huntingdale where we played mini-golf and laser wars. haha! It was extremely fun! We competed in pairs and we decided that the loser of the mini-golf game would have to do 10 star jumps and 5 push-ups IN SYNC, just IN FRONT of the ticketing booth -.-"" I partnered up with Adora, Qynn with Sue Ann, and Pete with Nicole. It was my first time playing mini-golf. I thought it would be boring, but it turned out to be rather exciting and enjoyable! Unfortunately, Adora and i lost with a total of 54 in contrast to Sue Ann and Qynn's 52 and Nicole and Pete's 48 -.-"""" SOOOOO, we did the forfeit... it was sooo embarrassing!!! Everyone stared at us as though we were attention-grabbing lunatics! The video's on Sue Ann's camera, i think she's going to upload it on Facebook -.-"

After that we had a game of laser wars. That was fun too, and we ended the amazing day with a scrumptious meal at the Sofia's at Camberwell. What more can i say? The pasta and pizza were heavenly. Thanks for the wonderful day guys! I loved it!

The day wasn't over yet. Pete and i drove down to Darren's b'day party. Sadly, the blokes there looked terribly bored. Anyway, here's a lil tribute to my buddy:

Darren,

When i first met you,
You were irritating and scrawny.
Almost everything you did and said,
Was terribly raw and corny.

But i saw something in you,
That was rather special.
A heart of gold,
Not ordinary metal.
That's the best possession,
One could ever have.

As the years go by,
Time tries to steal it from you,
But i pray that you won't concede,
To the folly and crook of this world so bland,
That on His Word and his faithfulness,
You might so strongly stand.

A friend who cares,
isaac.