Came across this guy en route to a chinese restaurant, and it made me wish that i could be in Singapore right this moment. To be out where the streets and houses are adorned with red. That i could see people i wanted to see. And not be so far away while everyone goes on with their own things.. that i could stop trying to fathom what i mean to certain people.. and how much that worth is diminishing by the day..

And in my head Chantel Kreviazuk's Feels like Home begins to play, and i find myself in OCS, during admin time on one of the nights, when i first heard this song from Joshua's mp3 player, and how it sang to me. I find myself reminded of all those times when we just came back from outfield when we'd dump our wet n dirty FBO in the main corridor (to avoid dirtying our pristine bunks) and how sweet my room would smell. And i would immediately play this song. And then i find myself on Chinese New Year's Eve 05 when Bravo just got back from Brunei, poorer by a couple of kilos but richer by a new badge.. and when i reached home, my mum ran out of the house and we hugged for a long time in the porch.. with this song on repeat on my ipod.

That was my last memory of the song.. Every time it came on, i think of CNY and OCS. And now as i stood in an entertained crowd of angmohs, i looked at the lion a few metres in front of me and thought how far away and long ago it brought me. how much memories it summoned for which i have little relish yet adore.. How contradicting my thoughts are.. How much i want to be in Singapore right now.. How much i don't want to be.. Do i feel guilty that my brothers are bearing the brunt of overwhelming concern from family, extended or otherwise.. who must be starved of knowledge about how we have been surviving since March 06.. March.. the month i love yet hate..

He came in to where i ate, hungry for attention with which he was generously showered. He went to every table, doing little jiggles and dancing and flirting (with those batting eyelids). How hideously and coyly he collected the angbao with which people fed.

Then he approached my table, begging for red packets in a voice drowned by the din the drummers created. As he looked at me, batting his lashes, i shoved my camera into his mouth.

Aha! an angmoh!

wine tasting..

From all my entries, does it seem that this is the only class i take in school? lol.
at the moment, ive got accounting, hygiene, rooms and biz com but they are all yawners.. so yeah.. the most interesting (as yet) but most baffling to date.. So today's tasting (actually yesterday's)..

We're doing whites!



ok.. TT sounds like im enthusiastically heading to do laundry..



I'm waiting for my image editor so for the moment, i can only upload copy n paste





We've got Viognier (i like!), Gewurztraminer & Sauvignon Blanc today.
I'm actually improving! I can pick up fruits and oak n grass now..
instead of bakkwa n laksa..

My residence...

So this is where i finally put pics of my hostel..

First i've got the exterior of the main reception block connected to the dining hall.



and then i fast forward though the 2 lawns.. (there are 2 lawns with the hostels along the circumference..) so my block ..



I've got notes on the photos if you were to click on them
The view from my living room



Short of having sex,people do all other sorts of shit on the lawn.

4 ppl share an apartment with a common living room n dining area..

here's my room







Ok.. enough already! i must have cured half a thousand cases of insomnia with that sudden influx.. The comics are from the page-a-day Far Side Gallery calendar from Borders..

Now I'd like to introduce to everyone, my buddy Mr Nathaniel Bulbs.

You can see him waving in the previous pictures.. the shameless shithead who gravitates twards cameras, thinking its all about him.. He's gonna be crashing with me in my room, the lil cheapskate stowaway.. Mr Bulbs really does nothing the whole day, standing there looking pretty (or so he thinks) But how much esteem can a guy have if he has to be supported by a stick up his arse. He's held together by tensioned strings so he kinda moves in a funk.. like he's doing 24/7 the robotic dance in breakdancing you know? he thinks it makes him cool but his feet can't even touch the ground! so he can't ever run away can he? Ridiculous Mr Bulbs..

Hah he can't even flip me the bird cos he hasnt got fingers!

LOSER...

uniform

Trying out some photo thing..
i really want my old program back..



Can you guys click it n get it to open up?
That's the suit im in 24/7
almost..
charcoal black & pinstriped..

Ok steady.. they are clickable
welcome flickr..
bye photobucket..

On Tuesday, there was one full minute of rain. Can you believe it? South Australia stopped everything she was doing, and broke out in a simultaneous rendition of the national anthem. precipitation. but there weren't any clouds.. so where the hell did tt minute come from?

Today's the day when we have to submit our choices for internship. (my course is made up of 2 equal parts of study and internship, 3 parts water) So i only have to put up with Adelaide and the hostel's nbcb firewall for 6 months a year.. then i jet off to somewhere cool and funky and have 6 months of holiday.. ki lan.. I should be heading to Melbourne.. to crash with Les.. The 2nd year singaporeans (having done their first in oz) are heavily flirting with considerations like China, Maldives, London and the like.. Corporate or resort.. City or ulu pandan.. Will i survive working on a resort island with nothing to do when i have off days , where i need a frking boat to travel btw islands, even though the surroundings are very chio?

Chio? I've got a problem with chio.

My first brush was Sony T7. As i'd once naively flaunted on this very blog. Chio conversation starter. function's a far cry though. Then now i have my macbook. It is chio.. uber chio.. and cool.. and i can go on but.. I won't have to put up with the school's arbitrary blockings if i hadn't got a mac. And i would be able to skype if i wasn't using a mac.. dulandulandulan...

I just found out that third years get to do interior designing.. can't frkin wait!

Anyway, a non sequitur - i had a sizzling dream last night, the explicit content of which can only be matched by its ridiculousness. As much as i want it to happen, or will it in hopes of it happening, should said event ever occur, there will be a disruption in the space time continuum and it will start hailing in Adelaide.

I jabber.

my chinese new year in SA..

I can't describe how much i want to be in singapore right now. Everybody knows my obsession with bakkwa, but it's just all the visiting i really like. And of cos there's platoon 3.. And just the whole atmosphere not to mention extra cash, what's not to like?

Yet i am glad i am not there. Because i won't have to face anything.. even though it is the first one away from home, it also is the first without my mum. As of recent years, Dad'd always spend cny in thailand, so mum'd always be the one getting the house in order.. the one leading the visiting.. the one who was forced to go visiting with me last year because i "didn't want to stay at home"..
Oh god, i was so spoilt.. i really didn't know how bad your condition was then..

will my apologies still suffice?

I must snap out of this.

The weather's a bitch. Daily temperatures are in the vicnity of 42 degrees? And i'm talking celcius here. There was some sch function at a hotel last night.. i can't put pics up cause i haven't got any editing tool.. yet.. It's 420am, and i just got back from steamboat n blackjack n mahjong.. my blogging's really uninteresting at the moment so ima stop..

Adelaide's the heaven sloths go to when they die..

I gave in to my frustration yesterday, twards Adelaide's sloth's pace.

The Internet in my room had been down for the whole day. (as it had been for weeks since the technicians were obviously paid to cultivate algae cultures on their backs). So out of desperation, i went out to get Optus' prepaid internet. Mac users had to call the customer service hotline for configuration, which was what i did, which was when i realized that the operator at the other end had an impenetrably thick indian accent. again. (She told me all the Cust svc lines go to India) Fast forward to 30 long (and painful - cos i was on a prepaid mobile plan and also i had great pains understanding her and she-me) minutes later, my configuration process got canned. Cos my macbk hasnt got an internal modem.

I threw a childish fit and called Lester to rant.

And then i went to Chinatown.

Cos the imprisoning effect of staying in my room might cause more implosions, and certain objects within my reach might take flight (which will then cut into my 500 dollar rm deposit) And so i went out without my mind intact, following the other singaporeans, not contributing much intellectually to conversations (my mind was still in my room trying to fling itself off my 2nd storey window) And i questioned myself again why i'm here, amidst spoonfuls of pig belly soup which i had to drink under peer pressure.

The hostel's populace was drunk or drinking as usual. I looked over to the unopened bottle of vodka on my shelf i thought, do i feel compelled to fit in?

they were lying!

The ang moh lang were lying!

I perched my nose at the top of the 6 glasses of wine n breathed in deeply and all i smelled was tt of a whiteboard marker!

And the rest of the class were shouting "Blossoms!" "Summer!" "I smell raspberries with a little honey and peach!"
Alamak. the other singaporean in class wasnt doin tt much better. i looked over at her report and under

Qn5) What does it SMELL like? Does it remind you of anything?
she wrote nail polish remover.

But its like that during the first lesson i think. I took some pics with my phone but i cant put it up. Afterwards i asked them how they did it, and they said they just read from the book what type of wine it was, (dry or sweet etc), read what its supposed to smell like from the grapes in it (Cabernet Franc, Pinot noir etc) and PRETENDED they actually smelt it by believing its really what they were smelling!!!

Wah kao..

Classes officially start today.

I wouldn't bore with everything, but i had my first wine lesson ever.. its qt cool even though all we did was sit through a lecture on the history of wine.. n got an assignment to research on a particular grape each. i've got malbec... no idea what tt is.. tmr ive got wine tasting.. u noe.. all the sniffing swirling tasting n spitting.

yeah.. im doin hotel management studies.. so i've gotta study everything fr accounting, biz law, to rooms division, bartending (gotta memorize ALL the diff recipes!!) , wine.. and also cooking with Le Cordon Bleu.. which is just next to my sch..

I've gotta don a uniform ( all hotel staff do). But its qt nice so im not complaining
so im in a suit n tie everyday.. Ppl here drink ALOT

Hah i seem to be just providing a Readers' Digest version of everything's thats going on.. but ive probably repeated these a million times.. yeah i'll add pics when ive got things up n all...