[ Friday, January 31, 2003 6:29 PM ]

i'm now officially a student in SSDC. hehe. booked 9 practical lessons between 5th feb to 6th march. will book more slots after i deposit my dad's cheque cos my bank account's dry already. it's like $58 per lesson!? almost double the cost of a private students'. but at least i don't have to wait so long for my practical test.

darren and chris booked out for cny, and derek jiahao n kenny are are not working anymore. think we'll be meeting up for dinner or something the next couple of days. haven't gone out with the whole group for a super long time. (yah 2 weeks is a long time when you're doing nothing). ok almost time for reunion dinner. the rainy weather's perfect for steamboat dinner. hehe.

[ Wednesday, January 29, 2003 11:34 PM ]

yeahhH i passed my basic theory!! woohoooooooO ^5 everyone! gonna enrol for ang mo kio's driving centre tomorrow, see what kinda courses they have that will suit me. i want my licence as soon as possible!

just got back from the esplanade. had dinner at some italian restuarant with my family to celebrate my sis's bday. Al Dante Trattoria at Colours by the Bay. food could have been better, but the ambience was very nice. we ate upstairs at the open air section, had a nice view of the merlion and one fullerton.

i put the snowy i bought for my sis in this huge box wrapped in brown paper, with a warning on top that says "caution. do not shake contents". placed the box in a stool just outside her room early in the morning to surprise her. she got up at 8 in the morning and came across the box while she was only half awake, all dazed and blur. not knowing what's in the box, she took extra care and gently opened the box.. and when she saw the snowy, she thought the dog was real! hahahahaa. then she was tapping on the box lightly to see if it'll move cos she didn't dare to shake it. haha too bad i wasn't there to witness it. i'd have died of laughter.

bought her a tub of her fave häagen-dazs rum and raisin on the way home just now. gonna eat it with her while watching the stephen chow vcd collection her bf got her for her birthday. he painstakingly searched the entire island for them when he found out how much she liked those shows.. heh.

my internal clock's so screwed. hardly got any sleep at all last night. was tossing about on my bed from around 3am till 6+ this morning.. then i had to rush down for napfa. not gonna sleep tonight. watching vcds with my sis, then there's liverpool vs arsenal at 4am. will only get to sleep at 6.. and then i'll have to wake up at bout 12 cos i need to go down to the driving centre. probably gonna sleep through the entire afternoon tomorrow, if i'm not doing anything else.

[ Wednesday, January 29, 2003 11:04 AM ]

happy birthdayy my dearest prettiest favourite sister. hahaha ok i only have one sis. hope she likes the snowy (as in tintin's dog) plush i bought her.

yep anyway, today was a good day. passed my napfa.. like finally. the weather was perfect, and everything just went smoothly. didn't wanna take it today initially. didn't sleep well last night, wanted to drag for another week.. but all the psycho-ing from yiwei, plus the thought of having to take napfa during cny (after gaining about 10 kilos from all the junk food) drove me to make the right choice. heh thanks a zillion to those who had been supporting me all the while.. which is about everybody lah. haha.

hrmm yesterday was quite okay. went out with yiwei, crystal, crystal's fren, crystal's fren's fren. supposed to go out with eunice budden she couldnt make it last min. had dinner with yiwei, crys's friend (pearlyn) n her friend (tina.. i think) at newton circus. don't really like the food.. but since pearlyn wanted to eat there.. so just go lor. oh and something weird happened. we were waiting for a cab to get to newton at wisma's taxi stand, which is near this shop which sells beach wear and stuff. this girl who was from my school (the one with avril hair) works there, so i was like trying to look inside wondering if she's there.. but couldn't see her. and guess what happened.. she suddenly appeared at newton circus!? haha. weird.

[ Sunday, January 26, 2003 11:41 PM ]

i'm so seriously gonna die of boredom. derek and kenny just got jobs a few days ago as some yeo's drinks' promoter. jiahao's working for yeo's as well. chris and darren are in ns. fi and jo are working at levi's. brenda, wendy, and that whole bunch of girls are all working as well. just found out colin's in ns already. zhixian and jinsheng are working. and the rest of the marist people are also all either working or in the army. i've totally run out of people to hang out with. hrm.. other than yiwei. heh. i'd have died long ago if he was working as well. luckily jh, derek n kenny's jobs only last till cny. i'l do anything to make sure they don't get a job after that. haha.

my dad doesn't want me to work (not like i feel like working anyway). he thinks i'd be better off spending this time doing more meaningful things. i asked a couple of youth centres if they needed voluntary tutors. one only wants christians, while the other wants people who can commit for a school term at least, which makes me ineligible for both. yah.. and i don't think i'll wanna do any other voluntary work other than tutoring. i just hope i get my basic theory result asap so that i can apply for a place in a driving centre. will be going for the intensive driving course since i've got so much time to spare.

my liverpool match is starting in 5 mins.. laterz.

Friday, January 24, 2003 0:14 AM
OMG it's serena vs venus again for aussie open final. God.. why!!?! why can't they have a kournikova vs errmm.. hantuchova? or at least dementieva or something? such a final will probably earn the organisers so much money from tv rights and stuff they can hire christina aguilera to be umpire and pierce brosman to be ball-boy. sigh, somebody's got to stop the disgusting sisters!! where's martina hingis when we need her most?

last night's roddick vs el aynaoui was quite exciting. 5 hrs long.. more than twice the duration of a normal match, and only 11 mins short of the all-time longest match time for a singles match in the australian open. roddick, clearly having the younger and fitter legs, won the energy sapping duel in the end.

i was packing my room just now.. found lots of lasermania and bowling score sheets. haha. i used to be able to score 150+ for bowling in my 5th game sia. i can't play more than 2 consecutive games now, after injuring my right middle finger bout 2 years back. it starts to swell by the end of my 1st game and the pain gets unbearable by the end of my 2nd. lasermania was fun. used to play quite often with zhixian, jinsheng, colin and a few other marist people.. and we were good at it k. heh. haven't played for many years already. don't even know if it still exists.

hmm got a huge frame for my ian rush jersey today! its a 50 x 70 cm black frame. just nice for my jersey. heh.. had a lot of trouble carrying it around though. from ikea all the way to bugis, cos derek needed to get his uniform (he's starting work tomorrow). walked around bugis holding on to that bulky thing. went seiyu's levi's to look for fiona, but she left early to see a doc. took a cab home from bugis junction. too much stuff to carry.

kays time to continue my annual chinese new year cleaning up. my room's in such a big mess.. it's indescribable. i need another room..

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 6:30 PM
ggrrrr i need a life! haven't done anything constructive recently. (other than the ian rush thing of cos! heh). yesterday was a terrible day. dad fetched me to cmpb for my interview.. n this motorbike smashed his wing mirror on the way there. got my dad real pissed.. n his car is only like.. 2 months old? had to take down that guy's ic, address.. blah blah. reached cmpb at 8.40am, 10 mins late. but guess what.. i had to wait until 2.30pm before it was my turn for the interview. interview was bad.. tried too hard to impress them. i mean i really know nuts about planes and the only reason why i wanna join them is for the pay and prestige.. n peer pressure. yah so when asked about why i'm interested to join them i had to lie my way through. all the crap about planes being a childhood dream and how i used to plead my dad to take me to air shows.. haha. oh yah, and how i wished i could have attended asian aerospace 2002 but it clashed with my common tests. to think bout it now, it really sounded bit fake. the next question was.. in your free time, would you rather go rockclimbing n hiking.. or stay at home n read a book. not knowing what kinda personality they preferred, i chose to do both. haha. i said.. yeah being adventurous i'd like to spend a day out, but i have a habit of reading at night just before i sleep. i got stuck when they asked me where i usually went for my adventures. yah and the thing is.. they have a psychologist beside the main interviewer just to check your behaviour and stuff, see how confident and truthful you are. argh i thought i sounded convincing enough. yep so in the end my application got rejected. wasted my day. oh but fortunately i wasn't asked to take my medical before the interview. haha. this guy there took his already, and he said this indian doctor grabbed his balls. lol. yeah and if your shortsightedness is between 200-500 degrees, they'll dilate your pupils and blind you for a couple of hours to check if you're suitable for the laser surgery. quite gross.

went to take my napfa this morning.. and guess what!?! failed my freakin standing board jump again. i swear i've never ever failed it before.. until last week. argh and i managed to pass everything else somemore. sigh.. gotta go back again next wednesday. lucky i got this marist fren who also kept failing his jump.. at least got someone to accompany me. hehz. oh for the napfa right, we were split into groups of 10 to take the test. after pull ups, only 6 people were left. and then all 6 failed standing broad jump. haha. yahh.. its not just me.

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 6:57 AM
LIVERPOOL MAKES IT TO THE WORTHINGTON CUP FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAah babyy... check out this reeally cool song that was sung repeatedly throughout the match against Sheffield Utd.

[to the tune of Que Sera]
Tell me ma, me ma
To put the champagne on ice
We're going to Cardiff twice
Tell me ma, me ma.

And congratulations to El Hadji Diouf who just won the African Footballer of the Year award for the second consecutive year.

Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:39 PM

YEAHHHH I GOT TO MEET IAN RUSH TODAYYY!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! Yeahh it was at this pub called Mojo, somewhere along Shenton Way.

I didn't win the contest, but who cares.. I went down anyway. The "Tea with Ian Rush" session was supposed to start at 4.30, but I reached at about 3.45 when it was still quite empty. Signs were put up at the door saying only invited guests are allowed entry cos it's a private function, but after lots n lots of persuasion, those ladies at the counter agreed to let me in provided I sit at a corner, away from the sofas in front.

winners of the Ian Rush contest waiting for the event to start

People started streaming in soon after, and I managed to squeeze my way to the front.. barely 10 metres away from where Rush was sitting, filming an interview for the Glenn and Rod sports show.

the interview..

Saw John Dyke, the ESPN presenter, hanging around.. grabbed the opportunity to have a photo taken with him.

yepz that's me n john.

Sat at their bar stool and stoned for like 20 mins.. waiting for something to happen, and that damn freaking irritating ESPN cameraman just couldn't stop filming me. Everytime I picked up my camera to take a shot of Rush, he'd pick up his video cam too, and started shooting me. bleah. felt like a star though. heh. Oh yah, did I mention food and drinks were all on the house? haha. Glad I haven't eaten before i went down.

me and glenn ong.. after he finished his interview with ian.

The event finally started at 4.30 sharp, with John and Ian on stage, talking about Ian's past, being Liverpool's all-time top scorer, and his present, as Liverpool's first team striker coach. A short question & answer session followed, before we queued to get our photos taken with him and autographs from him. Having seated right in front, I got to be one of the first few to get his autographs.

John and Ian on stage..

i'm never gonna wash my jersey again.

the 2 great strikers get together.

What an unbelieveable day.. I had been expecting myself to be looking through the window of the pub from the outside, trying to steal a glimpse of the Liverpool legend, but i ended up getting my shirt and poster signed and even got a photo taken with the man himself!! The jersey's gotta be worth at least a few hundred bucks on ebay now. haha. But i won't sell it for a thousand dollars, it's gonna be framed up nicely and hung above my bed, together with the photo of him signing it for authenticity.

Wonder if I was on ESPN's Super Sunday this evening. Didn't get to watch, was out with Darren and the rest cos he's enlisting on Tuesday.

All righty, all you envious people out there please don't kill me out of jealousy. If you wanna meet him too, he'll be at this friendly match organised by ESPN tomorrow afternoon at the padang (SCC side). You can also catch him at China Jump this wednesday. More details from Singapore's Official Liverpool Fan Club.

Check out this report from Liverpool's official website, which credited Liverpool's win last night to Ian Rush's help.

" The contract Gerard Houllier handed Ian Rush last week to join the club on a part-time basis a striker's coach needs ripped up. Rushie should be given a full-time position because if one training session and a few words of encouragement in Emile's direction can inspire the kind of display Heskey, Owen and Diouf gave tonight then the bloke's wasted in a part-time role. "

Saturday, January 18, 2003 0:50 AM
what a long and tiring day.. met derek n gang for badminton at woodlands at around noon. played till 2+.. was supposed to go home n study for my basic theory after that.. but what the heck.. go all the way home n then down to queensway again.. might as well just study at weiqi's house (15 mins walk frm woodlands sports hall) since derek's going there as well.. n i had my book with me.

yep so i was supposed to study at his house, but ended up watching tv, playing with his pets, talking cock.. aiyah everything but studying. heh. all the way till 5.45.. n my basic theory was at 6.30. really panicked after that.. i didnt wanna fail my btt again but i havent really studied for it at all. yah n its really quite amazing how much stuff you can squeeze in your head when you're panicking. completed 120 sample questions from my basic theory book on the train from woodlands to queenstown.

reached the centre bout 15 mins late, but there were quite a few people waiting outside. thought i weren't late afterall. err.. then a little later this invigilator guy came down n he was like.. you are all here for the 7.30 test right? wtf i was the only 6.30 guy there. heh quite paiseh. hmm.. so i was the last guy to take the test.. but first to finish! haha. i got back the exact same question booklet as the previous time. completed 50 questions in no more than 10 mins. yah but there were still 2 questions that i'm unsure of. heck.. 2 mistakes.. should still be able to pass.

went back weiqi's house after the test.. cos they called more people down.. kaiwen, florence, yiwei, n some hcjc people. yeah.. bbqed stuff for dinner outside his flat along the corridor. heh. quite fun.

sigh the espn people didn't call about the ian rush contest. think i'll go down tomorrow anyway.. just try n get a glimpse of him. hope it won't be too crowded.

Wednesday, January 15, 2003 6:36 PM
fwah the air force people just called. got a formal interview next tuesday, 8.30am at cmpb.. which means.. i gotta wake up early again for the third time in 6 days! sigh. need to be in formal wear.. shirt tie and all. guess it's time i get myself a tie. yah the only ties i have are the marist tie and sajc tie. yiwei offered to lend me his, but oh well, should get my own.. will need it in the future anyway.

Wednesday, January 15, 2003 12:56 PM
IAN RUSH IS COMING TO SINGAPORE!!!!!! OMG.. whoever's reading this.. help me grab a copy of today's "Today" newspaper.. turn to page 46.. and join that competition to have tea with Ian Rush for me!! Write your own name and IC.. in case they disqualify me for sending in multiple entries. But if you win pleeeease let me have the pass to see him. I swear I'm his biggest fan in Singapore.. just finished reading his biography 2 weeks ago and I've even got a poster of him on my wall. Hmm if you were wondering who the hell he is, he's Liverpool's record goal scorer, having scored an astounding 346 goals in 660 matches for Liverpool, between 1980 to 1996. He won just about every honour possible during his time in Liverpool, and was appointed Liverpool's captain during the later part of his career. He also skippered the Welsh national team. I'm dying to meet him in person.. so please helppp!! Oh and coincidentally, Liverpool FC just announced yesterday that they will be re-signing Rush to specialise in coaching their first team strikers. I'd do anything in the world to meet michael owen, el hadji diouf, milan baros and emile heskey's coach!! RARRRRRRRRRRRR somebody please let me meet him!!!

yah hrm so i went to take my napfa today.. n i failed. well i got a bronze, which isn't enough to exempt me from that freakin 6 weeks of extra training.. BUT WHO CARES?! IAN RUSH IS COMING TO SINGAPOREEE!!! BWAHAHAHAHAAHA.

yah ok back to napfa. hmm.. could have passed. those instructors there were damn xia lan, i clearly passed my standing broad jump by at least 5cm but he failed me by 1cm. like WTF, and it's not just me.. he did it to many others as well. you gotta clear the passing mark by at least 10cm or so before he'll let you pass. argh who cares.. screw that guy.. cos IAN RUSH IS COMING TO SINGAPOREE!!!

yep so i'll be back there next wed to re-take my napfa again. darn. if only i passed it when i was in school.. the teachers were damn nice.. they'll let you take a particular item repeatedly till you pass, and they do not delibrately fail you for no reason.. heckz.. i'll just pray i get a nicer instructor next week.

Monday, January 13, 2003 8:45 PM
went for the air force briefing thing today. boringgg. its just some dumbass talk on the stages you'll have to go thru.. blah blah. waste of time. oh but there're some interesting parts to it.. hrmm like.. they'll sponsor the laser surgery to get your eyesight corrected.. not bad sia.. n you get 28 days annual leave? (which can be further increased by 7 days or so by some dunno wat bonus points thing). and they constantly add money to your retirement savings account, n by the time you retire, you should get around a million dollars? cool huh? yah and if you're a degree holder the maximum pay you can get is around $16k/month, excluding allowances n stuff. it's damn hard to become a pilot though, only a very small percentage of the trainees make it in the end.

went to school to collect my testimonial, cca cert, and good progress award after that. sigh i missed school so much. felt good to walk down that familiar path again, down from the porch, past the art exhibits, and then across the plaza, where muthu used to be always standing by, ready to pounce on you. had char kway teow for lunch.. and guess what?! the auntie still remembers my personalised order!!! she was like.. aiyah sorry ah jing tian mei you la chang le, ni yao hum (cockles) mah? omg is her memory good or what? then she asked.. ni na ge mei chi bu yao xia de peng you zai na li? [translation: where's your friend who don't eat prawns?]. cleared my plate for the 2nd time ever. hahaha. yah that auntie's too nice, can't make her clear it for me again. i know it's against my principles, but oh well i thought i'd make the exception today.. sat at the upper cafe and watched people play soccer. sigh i missed playing soccer in the hockey court so much. (though we always get thrashed, but still.... )

walked around queensway with yiwei after i left school. can't find any nice sandals.. but i bought 2 shirts! yayy. finally got my dri-fit t-shirt, n i bought this red england training jersey as well. quite cool..

think i'll go look for new yr clothes tmrw, better start calling up people to go out with me..

Sunday, January 12, 2003 1:55 PM
AND LIVERPOOL DOES IT AGAIN! 1-0 up, has a pretty good share of possession, quite a number of shots on goals, and then concedes a penalty and continues that amazing run of 11 epl matches without a win. it's just so.. erm... weird. they didn't play that badly, in fact i think they did very well in the first half. seems like some act of the supernatural is working against them. it all started off with jerzy dudek's blunder's 2 months ago which made liverpool lose their first game in more than 20. and after he was replaced by chris kirkland, they never won an epl game. jerzy probably consulted some witch doctor to cast a curse on the team now that he doesn't get to play. hmm either that or owen's wearing his right boot first. he's got this weird superstition of wearing his left boot before his right.

can't type properly now, i've got blisters on my right thumb n left 4th finger. oh wait i don't type with my thumb. ok its just my 4th finger thats affecting me. got it during my first golf lesson yesterday. hit 100 balls in an hour! not bad for a beginner huh. yep next lesson will be on thurs. hope my blisters heal by then.

Friday, January 11, 2003 1:42 AM
i was tidying my desk last nite, saw my letter for good progress award. haha totally forgot about it. shall collect my $200 after the air force thing since cmpb's so near school. oh n here's a tip for all u good progress award winner wannabes. flunk every single test or whatever from the beginning to the year, and then attempt to pass your subs at the end of the year in the final exams.. always works for me :)

went running at scc's gym this afternoon. ran 6km @ 9.5km/hr. wanted to stop at 4.8 initially.. but how could i lose to baoying's 5.2!? haha. ying: beat that! :P

golfing lessons will start tomorrow! my dad got me a coach.. but it's not at scc. gotta go some mandai place. hope it'll be fun anyway..

Wednesday, January 8, 2003 11:21 PM
OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just got home.. received a letter from the air force...

"Congratulations, you have done well in the aptitude test for pilot selection. The Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS) has classified you as a high potential, and this means that you have what it takes to be a military pilot! With this in mind, we would like to invite you to be part of our elite team." woOHOO I'M GONNA BE A PILOT!

yeah ok was damn excited for a while lah.. then i had second thoughts about joining them. i was hoping to slack thru my 2 yrs in ns, but joining the air force would mean travelling all over the world for training. will miss friends and family here.. hmm.. but then again i'll get to meet lots of new people. yah and the starting pay for trainees is $3792!! i thought only phds get that kinda starting pay. okays so i'll mailing them the reply card, hope they get it in time. the card has to reach them by the 10th, but i only got the letter today so its not my fault if it reaches them late. shall give them a call tomorrow to let them know.

Wednesday, January 8, 2003 2:31 AM
planned to meet yiwei n run together, but that pig only woke up at 6pm. god.. those peeps workin at shenton way were already like three quarters of their way home and his day only just started. yah anyway when he didn't reply my sms at 4 i kinda figured i should be coming up with other plans. dad was home early today, went to the driving range at seletar country club with him and hit like 80 balls. i'm getting good. haha. it's only my 2nd time and i'm getting like 40% success rate. yeah anyway he's gonna get me a coach soon, wanna get my handicaps n stuff asap. musn't waste the talents of a potential tiger woods. hehe.

ran 4.2km on the treadmill after that at the club's gym to train for my napfa. felt quite ok, thought i'm certain to at least pass my 2.4, but after doing some elementary math, i realised 9.5km/hr will not get me my silver. damnit. not my fault though, that darn treadmill became quite unstable and threatened to collapse any time at 9.5, didn't dare to increase the speed. maybe i should run on a track next time.

Monday, January 6, 2003 11:53 PM
argh i hate the adult ez link card! started my day with $12+ in my card and ended up with $7. after like 10 yrs of paying student concession fares it feels so unreasonable to pay so much for public transport. yeah so from now i'll just be paying cash.. 55¢.. the student rate.. and then show them my student pass. there's no validity date stated on it anyway. hehe. oh yah, and try to refrain from taking mrt as much as i can.

went out with eunice today, accompanied her to look for a job. walked all over town, from far east to ps, and back. there're actually quite a few vacancies around.. don't understand why my slacker friends just come and whine that nobody wants to employ them. maybe they should just try and look for one.

k its about time i stop procrastinating and start training for napfa. gotta pass it by end of the month else i'll be enlisted in feb!! think i shall go running with yiwei tomorrow..

Saturday, January 4, 2003 11:20 PM
was supposed to get my hair cut today, but there were about half a million people waiting in queue in that tiny salon at far east plaza. forget it.. will get it cut in a couple of weeks, in time for chinese new year too.

got myself all excited about the liverpool match. told my mum i'll be home early for soccer, told yiwei i can't stay out late, and just before i left home, checked the papers again as a precaution. god the match is tomorrow! argh. anticlimax. ok so i'll need to be back early tmrw. chris is treating us to pool at monstercue cos he'll be enlisted next monday. sad huh.. but he's in pes E and his bmt is only 5 days long. yah.. should be quite slack. meanwhile i need to start training for my napfa. think i gotta take and pass it by end of jan or i'll have to report for enlistment on 19th feb. 6 extra weeks to get you all fit for bmt. if i pass (which i should.. i hope), enlistment should be around 1st week of april. wish me luck.

Friday, January 3, 2003 1:03 PM
just got myself a new guestbook from signmyguestbook.com. looks neater, and it's more customisable. flood it for me please :)

Friday, January 3, 2003 1:29 AM
what a boring day.. left chris's house at around noon. went to book basic theory (AGAIN). reached home at 2+.. n slept all the way till dinner. hmm the past 2 days were better though. watched the lion king at great world city's imax theatre with eunice on new yr's eve. went chris's house yesterday for our "soccer all night" gathering. planned to watch all 3 epl matches, but after the 1st one, we decided to go down to the nearby soccer court for a game of our own.. heh. got back in time to catch the liverpool match, but what a disappointment. sigh. seriously.. what the hell's wrong with liverpool? 10 games without a win, 4 pts out of a possible 30, worst form in 50 years. the last time they suffered such a poor run they were relegated from division 1. hope things will get better against kevin keegan's man city this weekend. yeah ok i need to get some sleep now.. tired.. didn't get any sleep last night.