Reflect Your Imperfections

2011-06-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

TUMBLR is pretty fun but I feel like I should bring this space back from the dead.

2011-05-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

Why do I keep trying so hard to get into someone's good books, always trying to please them, when the moment I'm done helping them they don't even turn their heads around to look at me.

And spammers please don't spam my tagboard.

2010-11-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

Emma Watson is so pretty it's unbelievable. I don't think J.K. Rowling ever intended for Hermione to be that pretty, but I guess puberty had other plans. Anyways the movie itself was brilliant, it's the first movie that really follows the book plot closely and that's why I enjoyed every minute of it. I guess that was the reason why they split the movie into two parts, if they were to follow the book plot closely even 3 hours wouldn't have been enough. I still dislike the way they portray Harry's random hallucination and scar pains though, they're an important part of the storyline but the movie doesn't seem to pay much attention to it. Anyhooo the ending was great, and tragic in every way, and sets the franchise up nicely for a dramatic ending next July!

ANYWAYS, I was fortunate enough to attend two talks in the space of two days. Patrik Shumacher's talk yesterday was quite interesting and he had an interesting way of explaining his architecture theory in reference to other common field and how he broke each of them down into a table to compare and contrast the various aspects of each field. I bailed at intermission cause of peer pressure, sadly. :( Actually it was more because I was too excited to catch Harry Potter and being in a rather cramped up seat in the lecture hall stifles me.

TODAY, attended a talk on purpose of details. I attended the same talk last year which really made an impression on me and I was hoping this year's would do the same. Unfortunately it didn't, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Wee Hii-Min from DNA was there again and it was equally enjoyable as the talk he gave at the KL Datum earlier this year even though he recycled some of his materials. Then there was also Colin Seah from Ministry of Design with his funky ideas which I found pretty cool regardless of whether I stand on the same page as his philosophy. So overall it was a rather useful talk, only downside was that the intermission food was kinda bland. :P

You can check both their works here.

Wee Hii-Min
Colin Seah (Ministry Of Design)

2010-11-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

3 attacks within one month, and these are just the ones involving teenagers, I've read many others involving adults as well. Before you know it you're gonna need a warrant just to buy a chopper even from Sheng Shiong.

A longgg conversation with Beixin got me to know of this syndrome called the Bystander Effect, and then it got me to reading this, which really got me appalled.

http://gawker.com/5523739/more-than-20-people-passed-as-homeless-new-york-man-bled-to-death

More than being a concrete jungle filled with street lights New York really does sound as crime-infested as the TV shows make it out to be.

2010-11-10T06:56:00.000-08:00

Love hurts, but it keeps you alive.

2010-11-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a week but I still feel awfully sick in the stomach everytime I read further reports on the death of Darren Ng. Not that I'm worried about the level of safety in Singapore, just the idea that such brutal evil people exists in Singapore. I don't know if the culprits being sentenced to death is going to do anyone any good, but maybe it'll help Darren's family better.

Reports has it that the attack steamed from a staring incident, but I'm skeptical about it. I'm not trying to lay a stain on Darren, but I don't think he's as innocent as the media portrayed him. The fact that the convicts were carrying weapons, which is a crime on itself, shows they knew what they were getting into. I doubt it was 'fight-that-got-out-of-hand' case, cause the four convicts still had the cheek to book into a resort the following day, showing total lack of remorse for their actions. All the factors point to the four gangsters planning on the attack already beforehand, but let' not get into why.

R.I.P. Darren.

2010-10-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

Wasn't too keen on this project judging from the exterior, but then I saw this.

I can't quite find the words to describe it, but I think 'homey' would be the word to describe the space above. It reminds me of old residential estates in Europe, especially London with their brick pavers floor laid on the communal spaces form between two units.

Songzhuang Artist Residence

2010-10-26T05:47:00.001-07:00

2010-10-25T11:08:00.001-07:00

2010-10-25T09:27:00.001-07:00

Can I?

2010-10-25T03:54:00.001-07:00

I've never felt this terrible before.

2010-10-22T15:17:00.001-07:00

2010-10-20T04:30:00.001-07:00

Closer to the edge

2010-10-18T17:40:00.001-07:00

2010-10-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

The holidays felt so short, maybe it was because I enjoyed myself too much. The first two weeks were pretty dull but the last two weeks were kinda awesome. Enjoying yourself isn't really that complicated, all you need is the right experience with the right people. Well if you're short of ideas you can follow this fail-proof plan.

Organise an ice-skating trip.

Share an ice-cream with your friends after that.

Relive memories of the past.

Admire good architecture.

Do a quick photoshoot.

Walk by the waterfront.

Go to unknown places.

Do something stupid/funny/cool.

Trespass Marina Bay floating stadium and just lie on the ground. (This one's a must!)

Well okay that was kinda self-explanatory. Had to take a $22 cab ride back home cause I was wayyyy past my curfew, but it was worth the money as well as risking my dad's wrath just to have a good time with my friends.

2010-09-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

IT'S MY 200TH BLOG POST!

I don't really have much to say, so I thought it'd be appropriate if I just put pictures and videos of the girl I fell in love with when I was 15. =D

Hayley was 18 here! Around the time Paramore's first album came out, as well as when my Hayley obsession began. =P

2010-09-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Apparently the ship has long sailed away, all I was ever holding on to were mere wishful thoughts. I learnt that today, but funny that it leaves me with even more complicated emotions I can't explain.

2010-09-17T01:30:00.001-07:00

I'm kinda loving the acoustic version. Actually anything John Mayer is too lovable.

I was born in the arms of imaginary friends.

2010-09-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

WHEEE REALITY CHECK!

Maybe I'm not gonna make it as an architect afterall. It turned out to be a step too far, but the passion in me still burns brightly.

~~Actually I think I never had it in me since the start.~~

Dreams, that's all it ever was.

2010-09-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

CRIT'S OVER I'M NOW FREE TO BE SILLY.

2010-09-13T07:39:00.001-07:00

HAYLEY IN CHECKERED SHIRT. ULTIMATE CUTENESS.HEAVEN.

2010-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

Logen finally settled the chalet, so it's less than a month till we're allowed to rock Aloha Loyang! I'm still struggling to make ends meet financially with the laptop payment and everything but I hope I'll do well enough to spend whatever's required to pay for the chalet and stuff. I've never really mind forking out extras for the chalet since it's all for good fun and I hope I'll be able to do the same for this one. Furthermore this chalet is twice the scale of any of the previous chalets, in terms of size of the chalet itself and the number of people coming as well!

4 weeks of holidays doesn't seem that awful long. I don't think I'll be finding any job, instead I'm gonna spend it doing my building in revit so that by the time revit training starts on the final week of holiday I'll already have a revit drawing I can work on. And knowing my own pace 4 weeks is probably not enough if anything!

Woookay crit is next tuesday and then football after that!

2010-09-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Why are we so afraid of being alone?

2010-09-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

2 big regrets in two days. It's funny how you think you've made three years of progress in your life but really you're just running in circles and back at where you started all over again.

2010-08-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

2010-08-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

Wheeee that's two bronze and one silver for Team Singapore! I didn't catch the swimming one but I did saw the taekwondo girl and I thought she did pretty well. A bit off-balance most of the time but her tall figure allowed her to defend against head shot pretty easily. Oh and did I mention that taekwondo is actually pretty fun to watch? It was my first ever time watching taekwondo and I had no idea the sport is an enthralling one. Must be fun to play the sport too I guess, though I wouldn't know.

Anyways, I thought the opening ceremony was brilliant. Hopefully the closing ceremony will be one to match as well. I wish I can catch it at the floating platform itself but the tickets are kinda ex. I will however be catching the football semi-finals this Sunday with a few of my classmates! Singapore's opponent is undecided yet but I hope they avoid Bolivia, which will mean they have a better chance of progressing to the final!

As for my work, I'm pretty screwed but I'd rather not rant about it here. Oh and Ridz showed me this and I really loved ittttttt.

2010-08-14T03:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish I'm a little bit more like Sheldon, cause then I would find social life a complete bore and utterly useless. And then my life would be so much more simpler.

2010-08-10T03:19:00.001-07:00

2010-08-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 45TH BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!

It wasn't really a sea of red at Marina Bay thought it was still the dominant colour. Road blocks are such a hassle but I found out that it makes for great excuse when you're late! Anyways, the fireworks this year were a tad too short but fireworks are always cool no matter how many times you've seen it. So too are fighter planes doing cool stunts. Fighter pilots must be the coolest person on earth.

I thought it'd be appropriate as well that I get in touch with my Malay culture on this day, so I decided to catch this dangdut performance at the Esplanda concourse at 5. Wellllll no actually I watched it because my classmate Aidil was performing! He did pretty well except his hands were always shaking and he was so nervous, but anyways it was all good fun! Makciks can be so annoying though, but only Amanda and Suhair will know what I'm talking about.

2010-08-05T08:42:00.001-07:00

Submission today was shiteeeeee. Like seriously, I would be more angry at myself if I wasn't so fucking tired. I think I let Gareth down. I won't say I was lazyyy but I'm just fucking sloww doing my work and I fucking hate it. I don't know if 3 weeks is enough to come up with everything for JC3 proper but I'll die trying.

Anyways Sentosa tomorrow, gotta restttt. Finally I get to lie on my beloved bed that I have not touched since 2 nights ago. OH HOW I MISS YOU SO.

2010-07-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

It truly is a city that never sleeps. Okay maybe I've just been influenced by Ridz and has been listening to Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys non-stop.

2010-07-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

This is wayyy too awesome.

School is starting to feel like a chore. It feels like the same thing repeating itself over and over again. The only day I look forward to is Thursday, because football can never get boring.

JC3 is next week and somehow I'm looking forward to it. I'm close to finalizing my plans and it feels so eggciting. I haven't started Revit yet cause I suck bad, maybe I'll just do the old-fashioned way and cad everything out followed by creating the 3d model in 3d max.

Ellen Page is so pretty. If only she's a real architect.

And I don't think anyone really reads my blog but it's okayyyy, I like it here.

2010-07-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

Third time's a charm. Losing out on two finals previously ought to hurt, hopefully they can redeem themselves by winning their third World Cup final!

2010-06-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how busy I've been in school lately but the surprising thing is I'm having soooo much fun I barely realise it! I even had time to play football on wednesday, which was a very satisfying run out for me. Looking back I should have played with them today also but I really had no time cause I'm wayyyy behind for the bus stop design. Dennis was going on and on about the client and how we have to make our render look professional and now I can't afford to disappoint him!

JC2 is ridiculously close, exactly one week to submission and I've yet to ink down my first plan. Thankfully I've managed to consult Gareth and Mdm Chan on my concept and now it's solidified and I'm all excited to go! Speaking of concepts everyone's concept seems to be really superrr this year. Sooo much better than all our bullshit concepts last year. Awww look at us we've all grown!

And also I can't wait for the Fashion show next Wednesday! Shoooo nervous about being the emcee but I'm crossing my fingers I don't screw up and just have lots of fun doing the job!

2010-05-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing's gonna change my world - John Lennon

2010-05-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Maybe it shouldn't have taken me this long to change my stand, but I seriously think the capital punishment in Singapore is too severe. It's not easy for one to change their perceptions of some things, but seeing a 22 year old guy being sentenced to death done that for me, and I wish it didn't take me that long to see how precious life is. I condone death sentence for crimes such as murder or rape, but drug-trafficking? I think it has to be viewed on a case-to-case basis. A 19-year-old is gonna do anything to get his hand on some money, and drug trafficking is a quick way to do that. To think he's gonna lose his life because of a wrong turn made before he even escaped his teenage years is extremely harsh. Besides, what is the signal the government sending? People doing drugs are not culpable for their own actions, but rather the people who provides them? The drugs don't make the decision for them, it's the people who choose to consume them. Not saying that drug-traffickers shouldn't be punished severely though, but I do believe that if there's been enough effort to educate people on the harmful effects of drugs, people aren't gonna consume them even if it's right in front of them.

2010-05-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

The site in Little India looks interesting, with an abundance of possibilities to make the whole area more lively than it is. And apparently there's a prostitution rig in one of the hotels near the site, as if the whole place couldn't get anymore interesting. Some of my friends already had ideas for their building, but I think I'm better off taking my time in the design process. I never liked to generate an idea too soon, you'll end up being too attached to it.

R.I.P.Dr Goh Keng Swee

2010-05-03T08:23:00.001-07:00

I wish I'm a little less judgmental on others and more judgmental on myself. Sometimes I find it hard to even listen to myself. Egos aside, submission is Friday and I want to do the best damn possible job for it.

2010-05-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

badaba-badababada-badabababadababa~

2010-04-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

I swear America is gay. She's pretty, has good fashion sense, humble, and most importantly, has wicked vocals, but apparently that's not good enough. I hope she sticks around the music scene, I just can't get enough of her vocals!

Oh and Iron Man 2 was just okayyyy, but Scarlett Johansson got my eyes glued to the screen the whole time. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one.

Because I love you too much baby

2010-04-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

School's started and it already feels so tiring. It's great seeing all my friends again though. Theme for this year is gonna be Fashionarc, and it sounds exciting!

2010-04-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

I HAVE TO WATCH DATE NIGHT. STEVE CARRELL IS AWESOME HE'S MY HERO.

who's funnier though, Steve Carrell or Jim Carrey?

2010-04-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Alice in Wonderland was awesome! I always love it when a big movie features a new young actor/actresses whom not many people have heard of before. Kinda like Shia Lebouef with The Transformers. The young actress I'm referring to this time is Mia Wasikowska who plays Alice! She's actually Australian but her mum is Polish and thus came about the incredible complicating name.

The movie is typical Tim Burton, which is always new and exciting. Mad Hatter is probably Johnny Depp's best performance since Edward Scissorhands. Somehow he managed to find the balance between being humorous and yet someone who has gone through hardships and disasters. And the on-screen chemistry between him and Alice was so real and infectious I thought they were gonna kiss right before Alice returns to her own world! They didn't and I think it's probably better that way cause even though the admiration for one another is undeniable throughout the movie, their relationship probably leans more towards a brother/sister kinda thingy.

There's so many movies I have to watch! Clash Of The Titans, When In Rome, Kick Ass, and many others!

2010-03-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

NO MORE GEMS.

Haha yes cause I passed my gems even though I submitted the last assignment 2 weeks late! (which supposedly carries the most weightage) Maybe I should drop Keith a thank you note, hahah! =P

My other results were, for lack of a better word, disappointing. It's pretty much the same as what I achieved in year 1 so I guess I've just plateaued. I hope my classmates did well though, I'm certain most of them will score better than me anyways. But I really had fun this year soooooo........okayyy there really isn't an upside to this!

Oh and I still haven't watch Alice in Wonderland! I HAVE TO WATCH IT! Tim Burton's movies are always awesome, not to mention Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow are one of my all time favourite movies!

Avril also wrote a song for the movie soundtrack, called Alice! It's very unlike her and it's a lot more darker, in terms of her tone as well as the lyrics. I like it a lot, though I can't help but feel she's like shouting throughout the song. (and she looks like she's having an orgasm in the video! not that i mind though =P)

2010-03-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

I WANT TO MAKE IT TO NUS BUT IT'S SO FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE.

I think SUTD will do well as a university and will produce many fine architects, but it's really not the path I would wanna go. The Architecture course just seems too technology-based rather than design-based, and that's not the kind of learning that I want. I would rather rob a bank and fly to Australia and study at many of the good architecture schools there! I wouldn't say never to SUTD, but I really hope it doesn't reach a point where I have no other options left but to go to SUTD. =(

I miss school.

2010-03-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

17 Reasons Why Having Sex Is Good for Your Health

I wonder how much of it is true though. It just sounds too good to be true.

2010-03-08T02:05:00.001-08:00

Paramore concert was a blast! I never thought someone so small can pack so much energy to captivate every single one at the indoor stadium last night. While the road there was torturous to say the least (4 hours of queuing up + lack of food supply), somehow when the band came out I totally forgot I was even tired at all. The crowd definitely didn't help my fatigue at all, I swear I could have died from the countless times my feet was stepped on. (and someone had a hand on my butt all night long, and I wouldn't wanna know if it was a guy or a girl) But it was all worth it, I can't believe I was close enough to see Hayley Williams up close! I wouldn't say I was very close, but close enough to tell that she was absolutely gorgeous last night!

I'm still awe-struck 24 hours later, hopefully Paramore will come back around in the near future. In the meantime, I hope my mates are having fun on the first day of ITP! Kinda wish I was working as an intern as well but maybe this break will serve me some good.

Oh and my camera was a total fail, but it did produce two decent images.

I'm still suffering from Paramore withdrawal syndrome which I envision will last for another week!

2010-03-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today is one of those days when you wake up and you just know your life is gonna change.

Love makes you blind. And I'm gonna meet the love of my life later on! YESSSS I AM!

2010-03-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

05/06 chalet was fun, thanks to everyone who came down! (with special mentions to KC, Yong Hong and Law for helping out with the bbq. and also mingtong for her financial sponsorship!)

We watched 40 year-old virgin at night and I swear at times it just got a lil' weird! As for the bbq, I didn't get to eat much, but the food was great. (though I've still yet to eat a stingray!) Anyways, given that it was pretty much a last-minute affair, I think the whole thing went pretty smoothly. If only everyone could have stayed overnight!

2010-03-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

YEAR 2 IS OFFICIALLY OVER.

I didn't do too well, but it's safe to say I had lots of fun and I learnt so muchhhhhh, not only from the lecturers but my friends as well! Year 3 beckons, and I'm kinda looking forward to it, cause I really wanna redeem myself for my JC4 disappointment, but at the same time I wish time would slow down a lil' bit. Most people say year 3 is extremely short, and that sucks!

Went town with friends in the evening, for the umpteenth times since JC4 submission. We went up to the rooftop garden at Orchard central again, which includes a journey through 4 ultra long escalator ride, only made enjoyable by the ever-present wind! We lepak in one small circle for a while before the security guard chased us off. Rebel!

I reached home at 12:10. I got scolded my dad, but I had fun so it was worth it!

I really do hope I get to work at Joseph's firm again. Wish me luck!

2010-03-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

If I'm blogging twice in a short span of time, I must have a damn good reason, and I do! Ok maybe not. I'm just here to post PARAMORE'S NEW MUSIC VIDEO.

Hayley just looks adorable. Though I'm not happy that there's a guy sleeping next to her in the video! MOVE ASIDE PUNK.

2010-03-01T07:46:00.001-08:00

Look at Zara all grown up singing Hot n Cold. LOL! I don't think she even knows she's saying a bad word when she sings "like a BITCH..." As much as I adore Katy Perry I really hope Zara turns out nothing like her. hahah..

and her voice is a lil' deeper her.Signs of puberty kicking in I guess.

2010-02-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

I must admit, Keng Hua's comment about me in his love letter (which everyone in the class gets!) definitely lifted my mood! I think I'll remember it for the rest of my life.

But nobody's letter can beat Amanda's though. She totally owned all of us. I'm amazed by her.

I didn't do too well for my exams though. But I'll survive.

2010-02-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

I really wish I know what I'm doing with my life. I really do. But I don't.

2010-02-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

Reading through the ES lecture notes and realise this quote makes a whole lot of sense.

"In our hearts, we know there is something maniacal about the way we are abusing the planetary environment," Theodore Roszak.

Question is, why do we still do it then?

2010-02-14T06:38:00.001-08:00

Happy Lunar New Year and Happy Valentine's Day!

If you're bored like I am go and have a listen to Angels & Airwaves latest album, LOVE! You can download it here for free actually cause it's being sponsored by some company that wasn't named. http://www.fuel.tv/ava

That's pretty much all I've been doing today, plus reading up on two MAT lecture notes! AWESOMEEE

I hope everyone else's day is going well. I'm also glad most of my 05 mates got posted to some pretty good architectural firms for their ITP. (Though I've never heard of Char and Jul's company before, doesn't mean it's no good though!)

I'm gonna go watch Dan In Real Life. Any movie with Steve Carrell in it has got to be good!

2010-02-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

Mr Goh said something after morning crit today which got me a deja vu. It reminded of what my band instructor used to tell me back during my military band days. I think that somewhat ties up the link between music and architecture, and why I love both.

I don't have the whole complete quote from Mr Goh, but it's somewhere along the lines of "There's no perfection in architecture. The moment you think you're good enough, that's the end of you."

And this was what my band instructor told me, on a clear Friday afternoon right before my SYF 2005, and it's somewhat similar to what Mr Goh said, except it applies to music. "When you think you're good, there's always someone better than you. And that's why you have to keep improving all the time. There is no such thing as perfection in music." And the band got silver for SYF, our first in 3 attempts.

I'm in a very inspire-y mood, somehow. And I think I'm in love.

2010-02-10T20:30:00.001-08:00

GONNA DO MY GEMS ASSIGNMENT NOW, 2 WEEKS AFTER THE SUBMISSION. WHEEEEE

2010-02-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

My crit was so hauntingly silent. Sooooooooooooooooo silent.

My friends' crit went well though, soooo good for them! Went to town in the evening for dinner. Then we went to visit the apes, and then Jul asked a girl to take a picture of us using his polaroid, and I forgot what happened next.

Oh yes we went to the green roof (it's at the roof if you're wondering!) at Orchard Central and it was sooo windy. Then we sat on the floor, and then we saw the janitor crossing over to the unknown path, so we thought it'd be cool if we were to do that also. And we thought it'd be cooler if we pretend there were lasers on the floor which we must avoid, and so we monkeyed our way around. Until halfway where it became more idiotic than cool.

And then and then and then, weeeee.........

We went to Plaza Sing to have coffee because it's wise to do so late at night. And then we went home. It was an awesome day with awesome friends. The End.

I really wish I can blog more about today but I feel so sluggish and my shoulders weigh a ton but somehow the coffee is still keeping me awake.

2010-02-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Looking back, I have to wonder why I didn't scale my interior rendered image bigger on the boards. Afterall I put in the most effort on that, though admittedly it's still not up to standard as some of my classmates'.

JC4 is gonna be a disappointment. Wait, it already is. And I only have myself to blame.

2010-01-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Kid's got a bright future!

2010-01-13T03:37:00.000-08:00

Dear diary,

I haven't post a proper entry in years. Should I even be starting off with dear diary? I don't know, it sounds personal, and I like it.

2010 hasn't been good to me. I've been struggling more than I should be, and I'm pretty much unhappy. God knows why. I hate to blog about something negative, but there isn't much to be positive about.

I hate being unhappy. I despise being emotional about some things in life that seems fickle when compared to the bigger problems that exist in the world. I seem almost ignorant talking about my "problems" when at least I have a shelter over my head and food to eat. I've always had an easy childhood, I still live a simple life, but somehow I'm discontented with it.

My friends have all changed, except a few. I just don't connect with them anymore. Maybe it's not them, maybe it's me who changed. Though no matter how many times I tell myself that, I've never been convinced by that. I don't think I've changed. Maybe it's really them. At best, I can only count myself as having two people whom I still consider as friends from my secondary school. I've always thought I'd remain friends with most of them for a long time in life, but things don't always turn out the way you thought they would. I've just come to accept that I don't have many friends now. Come to think of it maybe I never really had much friends to begin with.

Nonetheless I still have great friends from DARCH. I love my classmates, more than I thought I ever would when I first entered the course two years ago. Like with my secondary school friends, I hope it will last for a long time. And I can only hope that this time, life turns out exactly they way I want it to. The past two years just flew by, too fast for my liking. I wish it wasn't like that. This will sound stupid but if given the choice I would turn back the clock and repeat the past two years all over again. I knew this time I wouldn't waste my time spending it with the wrong people.

Though sometimes I feel like I'm pushing them over the edge. Some who know me would probably know one of my fears in life is to die and not have a single soul around me care. It's a dumb fear, and it makes me repulsive to some, I guess. I wish I can not care about what people think of me, but I do, and that sucks.

I hate this post, but I feel like I have to write it. I don't blog because I want my friends to read my blog (not that anyone really reads my blog!), I don't really have a reason for blogging actually. But I realise that by blogging it's actually some sort of a tracker for my character development. Reading through my previous posts (some 150+ of them), this is easily the most "emo" entry since I turned 16. I feel like over the past two years I have taken one step forward and two steps backward. I've had this blog since I was 15, and my posts use to be super emo back then. And then I turned 16 and I saw how big the world is, I realise how my "problems" which I would get unhappy over are actually just child's play. If a kid who's stuck in poverty were to read this post, he would gladly slap my face twice, and I'd probably say I deserve it. And that is why today I took two steps backward.

I want to be an architect when I grow up. A successful one, with my own firm. And my firm would have a huge office where half the space would be converted to a jammin's studio where I can squeeze in some time to write my own songs. I want to to help the world by helping the unfortunate kids or contributing to charity. I just want to make a difference in people's lives.

I don't know how much this words actually mean coming out from just my mouth, so I'm making it a point to write it here and I'd check back this space in 20 years time to see if I'm even half as close to it.

lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here
this is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
gotta live like we're dying

2010-01-09T03:49:00.000-08:00

I keep running into walls that I can't break down.

2009-09-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

It's been just two days of attachment at Joseph's company but somehow it felt like a week already. Anyways, there's already so much to tell from two days of working experience.

Okay well, here goes. So Ridzuan and myself have been posted to Joseph's company, BHATCH design at Bukit Timah. His office is this nice really cosy place which could well have been an apartment instead. It doesn't have that office vibe, so it's quite a breath of fresh air. Anyways, he shares with his office with this other architect, Ian, who's working for himself. He was the one designed the whole office. I don't have pictures, cause I'm supposed to be working obviously, but the place is really nice.

There's a studio above the office which is actually a fashion shop or something like that, who's owner is Ian's girlfriend. And besides that there's like two apartments rented out as well. The two apartments are just a bedroom and a toilet. The kitchen and laundry are located in the main office but the owner of the apartments rarely uses them anyway.

Anyways, yesterday, the first day or work, started off in a really dumb way. Well, me and ridz didn't know where the place way so we actually walked past the place and all the way up the hill where all the private landed properties are. We were too engrossed envying the people staying there that we obviously didn't notice we were walking at the wrong place. But the houses there are really nice, some are not even houses, they were more like mansions. One of them even had two dogs behind the already huge gate to guard the house.

Anyways once we reached Joseph had this long talk with us about life as an architect. I don't think he was too psyched about having us as his interns, seeing as to how we screwed up our JC3 big time. Hahah. But anyways, I was assigned to do a site model for his current project, which he's collaborating with Ian, at Sentosa. It's some A&A project on the current Insect kingdom at Sentosa.

I wasn't too enthusiastic about having to do a model, but Joseph said I need to brush up my model making skills, which was why he assigned the task to me. (and it's true btw, I hate making models cause I suck at it!) Anyways, I started off by staring at the floor plans for about an hour with absolutely no idea. Then I asked to look at the elevation and some pictures, before finally being able to cut my first piece. By the end of the day I only finished making one pitch roof and the roof for this stretch of covered walkway. Hahaha. Not the kind of start I was hoping for.

Then today I continued on the model. I got stuck even further cause there was this terrain with all the confusing different floor levels and I ended up just staring at all the numbers and trying to make sense of it. Halfway I gave up and I went to start on this competition me and Ridz are supposed to be involved in. Ironically, it's something to do with what we have been doing all semester long. Yup you guessed it, housing for the senior citizens. hahaha..

But this time, the house is located in California, so it'll be a totally different ball game, with all the different guidelines and stuff. And it's supposed to be a landed housing, not a mid-rise apartments, so we're supposed to design like this village-like community rather than the normal HDB-like community in Singapore. Damn I wish I can visit California now.

I'm supposed to continue on the model and the competition tomorrow. I'm quite psyched for the competition, unfortunately I can't say the same for making the model. Joseph won't be too pleased with my slow progress, thought I doubt he'd be surprised.

Oh and my LO, Kim Nam, paid us a visit today for like just 5 minutes only. He told us that we shouldn't have any complaints, because this is one of the best place for ITP. I think he meant in terms of working environment, because the first thing he commented when he arrived was how nice the office look.

Hopefully my 06 classmates are having a better start to their working life than me. Except you Wanting, mine is definitely better than making nametags! And I'll be checking up on you everyday till you sound enthusiastic about your day at work eventually! hahaha..

All right, another long day tomorrow. Hope you are all well.

2009-08-28T09:01:00.001-07:00

Crit was surprisingly not disastrous. Still was a major disappointment nonetheless. Anyways, Monday crit is the last, and then I think there's one week for people like myself with unfinished work to finish up everything. And then I'll be heading for my ITP, which will hopefully be an enriching experience.

I can't believe it's been almost a week of fasting already. Which means 3 more weeks to Hari Raya which I'm so dreading cause it means lots of house chores. The whole spirit of Hari Raya was really lost on me like since when I was 15 or so. It's sad really, but you just outgrew certain things in life. Maybe I'll be fond of it once again in the future. Hopefully.

Oh, and happy birthday MJ. It's been exactly 16 years since MJ came to Singapore for the Dangerous Tour and there's still a lot of people with rather fond memories of that day. How I wish I was old enough back then.

This is my all-time fav MJ live performance. It's so mysteriousss, in a way it kinda sums up his life.

2009-08-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

3D MAX is a fucking dog pile of shit. Each version is still as crappy as the previous shitty version I don't know what those faggots down there are doing.

2009-08-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

I think this picture best describes what I'm gonna go through in the next three weeks. It's gonna one hell of a ride, and I'm probably gonna die at the end of the road! But like that crazy slope I'll probably have fun along the way. Architecture gets me, most of the time I do enjoy what I'm doing in the course. It's just the amount of hard work that still hasn't caught on to me. I guess it's true they say you can't have the best of both worlds.

I told myself I'm not gonna rush for this submission but what the heck, I know I will in the end so there's no point trying not to rush. LOL. I hate making physical model, though I don't hate 3D max as much. Maybe it's because doing 3D modelling doesn't require me to set up a temporary bunk at my kitchen like how I do when I'm making the physical model instead. Cutting cardboards with the lovely ants is one thing, having your parents riding your ass for making such a mess is another. (Parents are a pain in the ass, I'll be a cool dad someday =P)

I'm so emotionally drained right now I can't wait for fasting month. Fasting always gives me the spiritual guidance that I need(sound corny I know but I am a man of faith afterall). Sucks that I had to do my ITP then though, but it'll mean I get to focus on my work more than usual. Perhaps my boss might be a tad naive and forgot that I was fasting, and he might just take it as being "so dedicated to his job that he makes sure he finishes his work on time at the cost of starving himself." I would love to see that on my report.

Okay I'm heading to my auto-desk now. Adios all.

2009-07-26T07:24:00.001-07:00

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company… www.powergenitalia.com

6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always www.ipanywhere.com

8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is www.cummingfirst.com

9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website: www.speedofart.com

10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at www.gotahoe.com

2009-07-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

In Our Darkest Hour
In My Deepest Despair
Will You Still Care?
Will You Be There?
In My Trials
And My Tribulations
Through Our Doubts
And Frustrations
In My Violence
In My Turbulence
Through My Fear
And My Confessions
In My Anguish And My Pain
Through My Joy And My Sorrow
In The Promise Of Another Tomorrow
I'll Never Let You Part
For You're Always In My Heart.

2009-07-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT?

Yes, Owen in a United jersey. Better believe it.

Who would've thought the once Liverpool favourite Michael Owen would be wearing the Red Devils jersey now. I never thought it would happen, but nonetheless I'm excited by the prospect of him pairing up with Rooney up front. We saw the devastating effect it can have during Euro 2004 when Rooney was just a 18 year-old starlet and Owen was a player in his prime days. Now the tables have turned, Rooney is a player in his prime and Owen is reaching his 30s towards the twilight of his careers, but I'm confident the partnership still can churn out the goals needed. United will manage just fine without Ronaldo and Tevez.

This was some ten years ago, when Owen was an 18 year old teenage prodigy.

Crit last week was okayyy, a bit trivial, but nonetheless it didn't suck as I expected it to. Hanging out in town on Friday with my classmates was really crazy. No ones can explain it.

Makes you wonder what you could have had in store instead doesn't it? At 50, he still has the dance moves in him, though admittedly not as good as say 10 years ago. Though he can still sing as well as ever.

2009-07-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

I was up the whole night last Thursday trying to complete my CAD drawings on time. I was taking a break from all that and surfing the web mindlessly at about 4am and that's when I first read news of MJ's death. About 15 minutes later another website reported that MJ is still alive and is in the hospital. The conflicting reports went on and on for about two hours until at about 6am when it's finally confirmed that he is dead.

I didn't get much work done that day. Michael Jackson's death had an effect or me somewhat. He was on the verge of a comeback with his 50 concerts in London and it was such a cruel death. At 50, he's way too young to die but with all the surgeries performed on him over the years I guess it's no surprise he died way before his time. Plus, all the stress from the media surely took a toll on his health.

Speaking of the media, it's funny to see them all singing a different tune now as opposed to the one they're singing when he's still alive. The journalists didn't seem to mind critisizing him when he's down, dragging him lower, labelling him pedophile just to create a wave of attention amongst it's readers and increase readership. Now that he's dead, MJ is the king of pop yet again, no longer the pedophile that they were convinced he was. Well, this shows that death puts things in a different perspective.
And it also shows that the media is made up of a bunch of gutless, heartless money-seeking creature.

The world has never seen a better musician than M.J. He had many flaws as a person but was the perfect musician. He will be sorely missed.

Tomorrow's my crit and I'm pretty much prepared to get screwed because my model sucks(without doubt the suckiest one I've done ever),I have really little documentations and the icing on the cake is I submitted late. I'm quite happy with the plans I came up with because a little over two weeks ago I thought my concept was a goner and I could never come up with a design. Nonetheless I'm still gonna die tomorrow during crit.

I watched I Love You, Man with Jul,Logen,Nick and Suhair (4 guys, sounds gay I know) last Friday. I thought the movie was pretty funny, and having a great cast helped as well. The gay kiss scene was really funny, cause there was so much tongueing involed. hahaha..

Speaking of "gay" and "kiss," I watched Drag me to hell with Amanda, Ridz, Char, Huda, Aidil and Logen. It was seriously the most disturbing movie I have ever seen in my life. It wasn't the typical scary kind of movie. It was more funny scary, and not to mention eerily grossed-out. I think the movie has a good plot but some of the parts are just gross and complete unncessary.

2009-06-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

Finally 18

Thanks for all the wishes.
Was never really the birthday kind of guy, so wishes (and birthday songs) mean the world to me.
So thanks for everything, and that one wish which made my day.

I used to really love mascots as a child and would never miss an opportunity to hug one or or take pictures with them. Now I'm 18 it'd be just weird if I do that but I still find them as adorable as ever.

2009-06-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

So Manchester United for some reason decided not to turn up last Wednesday at Rome for the Champions League Final. What a shitty week it has been. (and yes football does have that big an impact on my life)

My com crashed for some strange reasons the genius me manage to restore it to factory settings. Oh well, anyways, hopefully this week will be much better than the last. I'm turning 18 this Friday and all I'm wishing for is a book called "101 ways to live life without football" because the football season has ended and that's bloody depressing. The next season starts in August so that's a good 2 months without football. A part of me just died.

Oh and KL trip next Thursday. Hippity Hippity Hip Hip Hippidididodo Hooray.

Why is everyone looking forward to KL trip and not the AutoCad conversion?

2009-05-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

The seminar at NUS today was pretty boring. Maybe it's because we were stuck in the, as Nick has termed it, "overflow room." The real event was going on in the next door lecture theatre and the "overflow-ers" had to catch the event next door through webcam. As a result we couldn't capture the raw emotions pouring out from the speakers during the discussion. (Though to be honest those raw emotions wouldn't have helped make the seminar less boring anyway.) Even the food was disappointing. The eclair was probably out on the table since last night because the cream inside tasted like rotten milk, the "nugget" didn't even taste of any meat and is just all flour (KC and Lawrence found it nice though, freaks..), and the teh tarik was superrr bitter, probably intentional so as to keep us awake for the remaining of the seminar. Damn I should be a food critic.

HOWEVER, the projects being discussed during the seminar was quite an eye-opener for me. I have never heard such an in-depth discussion about architecture from a social/political point of view. What I've learnt so far is basically the fundamentals of architecture, meaning the aesthetics, function, forms, structure, blah blah blah. So it was quite intriguing to learn about the political/social aspects of architecture. Most of the time when we talk about good architecture it'll always be one of those building by Frank Gehry or Calatrava that has this "out-of-this-world" factor about them. At least that was the way I see it until today, but not anymore I guess.

Even the Central Market in Burkina Faso was featured in the award because it fulfilled the main intended objectives, that is to provide a good stall space for each stall owner and also reduce thief cases. The reflective pool at SMU was much nicer than the one at Samir Kassir Square in Beirut but the latter gets more recognition due to the impact it created socially in the area. Before today I couldn't give a damn about restoration works, but when you see some people are willing to spend 25 years to restore a piece of architecture then it tells you the kind of impact it has on the town. The petronas university looked more like a mosque to me than an instituition but when you see the African kid exclaiming estatically "every thing looks so exciting!" with his afro bouncing off his head you'd know the design has done enough to inspire the students studying there, which is the primary objective. Even the minah tudungs looked serious in their studies! So all in all, kudos to the Aga Khan award for giving the lesser reputable buildings a deserved recognition.

I can't believe Adam Lambert didn't win. I know Kris is good and all, but damn there's no other contestant like Adam! He's really one of a kind and America is not gonna see many more of him. Kris didn't do too well yesterday. He should really have nailed the final song since it was more suited to him than Adam, but Adam ended up doing better than him in that song. But anyhoo, congrats to Kris. Megan Joy is still my favourite. haha. Go listen to Adam's version of "One" by U2, his best recording this season.

Anyways, I have to finish up the remaining MAT journal homework and then start on my IR submission proper. I still have hockey tomorrow. Three rounds on Wednesday seem like such a distant memory now cause I'll probably have to contend with 4 or 6 rounds tomorrow. As long as it's not 20 rounds of spinning like a fool. Eh he soo cute siaaaa..Cute my ass lah..

2009-05-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

Last week was such an eventful week I don't know where to begin.

Monday was submission. Came to school with the modular grid system and individual powerpoint slides still undone. I reached at about 8am and planned to finish by 1pm so that I can still attend the Report Writing class but as what happened almost every submission last year, I was only able to finish in the nick of time. And only 4 people attended the report writing class. Felt pretty bad for the lecturer but i think she's a bit santai anyway so she probably wasn't too angry.

Attended the first crit day after my gems on Tuesday to get a feel of it. GEMS was funny btw. I forgot to bring my thermometer that day and I was supposed to report to the main gate to have my temperature screened. The main gate was quite a distance away so I came up with a really ridiculous lie, well at least I thought it was ridiculous initially. I placed one of my pen inside my mouth and when the lecturer came up to me I told her it was actually a pen cum thermometer. And she said 'cool.' Very santai as well. LOL.

Anyways, the crit was pretty okay. The lecturer seems very nice and encouraging. Whether what they said will reflect on the marks given is another whole story altogether though! Because at this rate 75% seems to be getting good grades based on the lecturer's comments. Anyways, Suhair's group did pretty well except for the fact that they overran the time limit by a gazillion nano seconds. Char's group was even better. HEH. There's the malay mosque and then there's the analysing of dustbins. very hakuna matata. LMAO. Even Mr Haalim laughed at the malay mosque part. It's seriously hilarious! I expect them to come up with a muslim cat mosque next. I think I laughed too hard though, I sincerely apologise if I was too rude.

I stayed up the whole night that day to catch the Man Utd vs Arsenal game. It was edging towards a flawless win for United when the referee decided to interfere and give Fletcher a really harsh sending off. That means Fletch won't get to play at Rome in the final and everyone is gutted for him. He's simply one of the top 5 performers for united this season. Anyways life still moves on and Man Utd will face Barcelona at Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27th May.

Went to Tong Seng for dinner with classmates the following afternoon. Headed to the cca drive before that. I listed down my contacts at like 4 different CCAs and I'm still considering which one out of the four to choose. I couldn't find the SP bagpipers booth though. I seriously wanted to join them, cause I find their Scottish uniform (yes the one with checkered skirt) so refreshing.

Thursday was my crit. Nothing bad or nothing good happened. Didn't get too much reaction from the lecturers. Went to Tong Seng for dinner again on Friday. Suhair brought me to Sungei Road for like the first time ever and I might consider going back there again to get some of the unique stuff. They were even selling a keyboard, which I've always wanted to get, for $35. And some of them were even selling porn VCDs. First of all, who the hell watches VCD anymore. And secondly I thought that was pretty selfish of them considering there are plentiful of kids there. Imagine the horror they had to go through seeing naked ladies on the cover. Well if you're below 12 it's considered horror. Any age above that and it's considered a gift. lmao.

Man Utd won the battle of Manchester on Sunday. nothing surprising. GEMS tmr at 8. Life is such a routine.

This song is very audio-gasmic btw. Audiogasm in short.

Such a waste Allison is out. I thought she nailed the rock songs. Doesn't matter anyway, Adam Lambert is gonna sweep them all off their feets. He's never had a bad week since the top 10. Adam and Kris for the final hopefully. Danny is just too predictable.

Anyways, here's something for you guys, especially Suhair and Char. HAHA!

2009-04-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

John Mayer is such a twitter-whore. He "twits" like every two hour. And Ashton Kutcher's twitter is the best because it offers some sneak peek into life with Demi Moore. lmao.

Thank god Lil and Anoop is finally out of American Idol. I thought Anoop was pretty unlucky because he's been consistent for the past few weeks but nonetheless I think his arrogance is what caused his elimination. Adam Lambert still looks favourite for the Idol tag but I expect stiff competition from Kris and DaGokey.

First week back in school is already so tiring. Site analysis is such a bore. No you're not supposed to propose, you can suggest but not propose. OR the typical This is not site analysis this is site documentation. You're not analysing the facts. Urggh, year 2 is so gonna be fun. Because we're adults now! We're independent young adults who can google our way through year 2!

The site is weird. Period. After one week I still can't imagine a 4/5 storey being erected there. It'll look so out of place with the surrounding. I guess that's the challenge then, how to integrate your building into the surroundings. More reasons why year 2 is gonna be a blast.

Google earth is my new bff. Paris Hilton can make one whole series just to find her new bff but I already found mine on the internet. Ooo cheesy.
Btw, do watch the show at MTV. Esp you girls, go watch and pick up some tips as to how to fake tearing. LMAO. Urgggh those girls make me wanna puuuuuuuke.

Ohkay Koh Samui is calling me. Ooops I meant Queenstown, my new home. I'm off to analyse the roads. Urh road noisy then don't put house there lor. Problem solved. Analyse what more.

No one can deny this love I have inside.

2009-04-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

Chalet on Mon/Tues was, for a lack of better word, fun. We overshoot our $30 budget for the food by more than double but heck the food ended up in our tummy anyways so it was money well-spent.

The place is such a bitch to get to. It was around 10-15 minutes walk from Downtown east so we had to limit the number of trips to and fro. On one of the trips to Downtown East we took a shopping trolley that was abandoned by the road and then funniest thing ever. Okay, so Huda was riding inside the shopping trolley while Suhair was pushing it. Then for the one split second that Suhair let go of the shopping trolley, it lost it's balance and down it went along with Huda. Me and Nick saw it from the back and I swear to god it was almost as if time slowed down just so we could capture that moment in our minds for the rest of our life. And then Suhair, being the asshole that he is, started laughing instead of helping while Huda chased him around. I know I sound mean as Huda could have hurt herself, but it was seriously funnyyyyy.

Anyways, once we got back to the chalet we immediately started the fire. Jul and Nick helped out with the charcoals and stuff whereas Ridz helped prepare his sheesha bong which Huda will try later on in the night and then got all excited when smoke came out of her mouth. HAHAHAHA. HUDA REBEL! I hope her parents won't be reading this though. LOL.

The place got real messy because no one bothers to try and keep the place neat. We were either busy barbecueing or busy eating the barbecued food. Anyways, at around 945, we stopped barbecueing anymore and Khai led a number of us to the nearby Red House. It was a popular stop for ghost hunters and we thought we pay the place a visit. Sadly, or for my case, fortunately, the place was sealed and there was no way we could trespass it. There were a few possible spots where we could climb in but then we couldn't figure out how we're gonna get out once we're in. The house was eerie enough from the outside and for a crybaby for me I don't think I was ever gonna last 5 minutes in the place anyway. I thought of snapping some photos as well but then I remembered the movie Shutter. You know, you snap a picture and it's all fine and dandy but a few weeks later you look at it again you notice some smoky stuff or a hidden head on the tree at the background. So yea, I decided not to snap any photos.

Anyways, we headed back to the chalet and started to clean up here and there. Natasha, Aidil, MingTing and Huda made their way back and so a number of us decided to accompany them to Downtown East to ensure they weren't attacked by ghosts or wild boars or anything. Once we send them off all of us headed to the bowling alley to play one round. Logen ended up the winner. Actually we all gave him chance luh since he's sick. So we gave him something to cheer about. HAHAHAHAHA. The loving couple Jul and Eric then made their way to the cinema to watch a love movie and do some hanky panky stuff on the couple seats at the back of the cinema while the rest of us headed back to the chalet.

Once we reached the chalet we hit the beds to rest our sore bums from one whole day of activities. And then Khai decides to be funny and break Ridz's sheesha bong. No it's not a bomb. It's a bong. A BONG! HAHA. It wasn't intentional though. So Ridz, being the great friend that he is, forgave Khai. And they lived happily ever after.

We brought the two matresses from the girls bedroom into the guys bedroom and everyone packed into the room. The room reminsice of the Military bunk in Tekong which all of us guys are gonna be living in two years from now. It has two double-decker bed as well as an old school window grill. Only the presence of the two girls made the room feel like well, a chalet room and not a military bunk.

HON LUN'S SHORTS!!

Everyone then grab a spot and made themselves comfortable before Ridz started the opening segment of INCREDIBLE TALES with his own incredible tale. Ridz's story wasn't the typical scary shit but it was eerie to the point of making the hairs on your body stand. My mind drifted from the story to thinking "I'm never going back home after 10 ever again." After Ridz, Nick shared his ghost story that happened in the school. It was definitely much more scary because I find myself at certain point of the story, using my blanket to cover my face and covering my ears with my hands. And then JUL, the INDO guy, started with "Eh did you guys know right that in your toilet ..." and the rest of us started roaring with disapproval to his story. Common sense Jul! We use our own toilets an average 7-10 times a day. No one can make through a day alive if a ghost story about a toilet keep reappearing in our minds everytime we have to pee or do number two!

After incredible tales ended Nick then went home by cab. Nick, from all of us at the chalet, we're sincerely sorry from making you wiggle in your pants even though we know you had to go home at night alone. hahaha. Anyways, we followed up Incredible Tales with Ultimate Confessions. It's basically just truth or dare without the dare. LOL. Since we've decided to adhere to the "whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" rule, I shall not divulge any of the information here. Though I will say Khai was the best participant. Khai, we all love you dude. You gave us a night to remember.

At about 5am we went out to the beach to see the sunrise. We weren't able to see much cause they were too many clouds, but heck it was still beautiful. I was able to catch a few minutes of sleep at the breakwater and the breeze makes it the perfect sleep ever. But I was rudely awakened a few minutes later by the commotion involving Charlene. Apparently she slept on a few starfishes. How dare she crush Patrick's relatives! Anyhoo, we went back to the chalet at around 7am where Jul and Khai both make their way back whilst the rest catch some sleep.

The chalet ended on a sour note though cause we had to pay $7 extra charges for overusage of air condition as well as several missing utensils. But anyways, we all couldn't wait to check out because we had to rush to Downtown East as we had to book our Gems schedule. Thanks to Natasha who helped me book mine, I didn't have to rush. So thanks again! =)

Anyhoo, I got Psychology and Counselling as my gems, which was exactly what I had wanted. Hopefully next sem I'll be able to get Photography so that'll make it 3/3 gems that I got what I initially wanted.

Oh, and did I mention that after their hanky panky at the cinema, Jul then dumped Eric for Ridz? YES, AND I HAVE PROOF!

2009-03-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

AHAHA my first year results totally sucks. My GPA is a measly 2.7 which is just scrapping the bottom end of an empty barrel. I really enjoy making life hard for myself. I've done it at Secondary school and here I am doing it again! There's no BUTs this time. Usually I'll go "I did pretty badly BUT..." This time there's no positive outcome whichever way I look at it.

Ok actually there is, I scored A for GEMS. hahahaha. Now I'll be checking if I can switch that grades to my other modules. LOL. Oh and I won't be posting the full results here, unlike someone I know. ahemmmmmmingmmmmmmmmtong. hahahahaha. Ok no seriously posting my results here would be like taking a dip in the middle of the sea full of sharks butt-naked. It's a suicide mission.

Anyways, our class will be having a chalet at Aloha Loyang on the 6/7 April. So spread the word around and remember to bring your A game. And also B game as well. (that means spare briefs/boxers for the guys. =P)

Oh, and anyone up for Mosaic festival on Friday night?

On a side note, I can't believe I just watched Madagascar a few nights back when it came out like 4 years ago. It's soooo freaking funny. Especially King Julian, who's being voiced by the one and only Borat. LOL.

They are just a bunch of pansies

2009-03-05T03:46:00.000-08:00

Holiday's a bore. Stayed at home pretty much everyday except for the cycling trip at Pasir Ris last Friday and badminton at school last Monday.

Cycling trip was okayyy. We rent the bikes for 2 hours and yet we cycled for less than 45 minutes. Hardly worth the 8 bucks we dished out. I hate cycling. It makes my ass hurts. As well as my testicles. I wonder how Lance Amstrong does it.

Anyways, the pictures can be found at Logen's Facebook

Playing badminton at school was more worthwhile. We played for like 3 solid hours and I like it sooo much better than tennis/cycling, because I don't suck at it. My arms were sore for the next two days, and strangely, so was my butt. Whyyyyyyyy...It's not like I served the shuttlecock with my butt..

Anyhoooo, I just finished watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire back to back. It's seriously two of the most enchanting storylines you'll ever see. I don't quite understand how Slumdog Millionaire totally owned Benjamin Button in the Oscars, the awards should have been fairly distributed. Slumdog Millionaire has a better pace to the storyline but the cast isn't too talented. Benjamin Button on the other hand had extremely talented casts but their storyline took too much time to develop till it borders on being dull.

Nevertheless, both shows got their accolades and deservedly so. Now I'm off to watch another Oscar nominated show, The Wrestler. Oh and check out this movie Gran Turino. It's seriously one of the most racist shows you'll ever get to see.

2009-02-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

Last week was pretty radical I guess. So the week started off with news that Blink 182 has re-united. Yes, it's the same Blink 182 that you and I grew up listening to, the one that sings songs about girls, sex, blowjobs, orgasms, masturbations and what not. They disbanded in 2005 and now they've reformed. They're like in their late 30s now though, so I'd expect more mature stuff from them rather than songs about sex, though those songs never gets old. LOL..

Monday was my final crit. It went OKAY I guess. I got more or less favourable comments from the lecturers. Though I thought my design were too safe, it wasn't thought-provoking enough. I guess you can say it's a boring design cause the lecturer didn't seem too provoked when I pitched my design. Wan Chien and Rachel were the best for my session, and they got the lecturers up on their feet alright, that's the kind of reaction you would wanna see from the lecturers.

Anyways, the results for the crit are out already. I got a B, C+, C+, C, B for ADS, HTA, MAT, ES and CADP respectively. As usual, Lawrence tops the lot, as in the whole cohort mind you. Aside from Lawrence, KC, Suhair, Wan Chien and Rachel did well too from the 05/06 class. Anyhooo, portfolio submission is next Monday and it carries a 10% weightage in our whole year's score I think, so I can still salvage something from my rather mediocre results.

MAT and ES test didn't go too well last week, the former more so than the later. MAT test was funny. Apart from KC I don't think anyone finished the paper. As soon as the test finished, everyone was like sharing their adventure of the battle against time to finish the paper. The test itself was mind-wrenching, but the scene of the class after the test was pretty laughable I guess. ES was quite okay. They had like Geography-esque questions about air pollution and stuff which carries 4-5 marks. And they're like free marks, since I've been doing this question since the dawn of time. Okay sec 3 to be more exact. Anyways, if I got that qns wrong I'll kindly shoot myself in the head. The MCQ question was damn shit. I thought it was pretty easy and when I completed the test, I was kinda expecting a score of 32/40 or somewhere around there. After I submitted, BOOM, 28/40. I spent the next 10 minutes figuring out what the fuck went wrong. Total waste of time I know, but I really thought the MCQ qns were pretty easy. Oh well, talk about over-confidence. But I reprieved myself by drawing spectacular 3D trees for the question on how to cool the down the facade! Well, planting trees in a certain orientation will help guide wind into the building easier and thus, cool down the facade. I got it from blackboard so I hope my answer was right, if not that's another 10 minutes wasted on drawing useless 3D trees!!

Today's CADP submission was dumb as well. (what a surprise!) I finished my plotting at about 11am and reached school at 1230pm. You would have thought I'd be able to beat the crowd and print it out before 2pm, but then I spent the next 1 and half hours of my precious time getting the pentables right. (screw you pentables!) Anyways, I finally got it right at about 230pm, and I still thought I was pretty early for the 3pm submission. How wrong was I when I enter the plotter room. There was like 15 students at that time queing up to print. The wait was taking forever, it was almost like the time me and Wee King queued up for the A7X concert! Well, except I was in air-con room this time. Anyways, I pulled out a couple tricks up my sleeve and manage to get it printed out by 430 pm along with Khai, Suhair, Huda, Eric, Faith and Amanda, who had the luxury of printing it twice!

The submission of the print-out was followed by the longest two hours of my life in the ADRC giving feedbacks on the course with Mrs Koh and the Director. I opened my mouth a few times and the rest of the time I was joking with Ming Tong about how none of the students were answering the qns asked by Mrs Koh. LOL! Played tennis with Jul, Logen, Eric and Charlene after that. Well, not so much as played tennis as blasting the tennis balls above the fence a number of times! Okay I suck at that sport and I won't deny it!

Oh-kay I am off to sleep now. I so hate staying at home.

2009-02-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

CRIT WENT SURPRISINGLY WELL..QUITE UNEXPECTED..

anyways, tmr is my final Gems presentation. gotta go school just for that less than 15 mins presentation. sucha waste of time..

I'll be back tmr for more updates...

2009-02-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

This is what I did all day, pretty sad huh..

An animated version of me! (YES SLIMMER I KNOW)

And also Freddy Krueger hits Southpark.

2009-02-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

My crit is next Monday but still I joined the 05's for their so called "post-crit" celebrations yesterday at Vivo. We had our own version of "Amazing Race" created by our own SUHAIR RAHMAN. Since we're all undecided on where to eat, we decided to buy our own food and then eat at the rooftop garden. So Suhair then came up with this brilliant idea for us to quickly buy our food and race to the rooftop and whoever reaches last has to serve a forfeit. I reached first of course. YES SUCK IT HON LUN! WE SAID ARCADE NOT DAISO! MUAHAHAHAH..
Anyways, Charlene and Faith were last, but Faith complained that her legs were tired, so Charlene is officially the last and she's yet to serve her forfeit. I'M STILL WAITING FOR THAT DANCE IN DA WATER YOU HOLY DIVER..

Anyways, seeing the crit session ytd was pretty scary. The lecturers set a pretty high standard this time around, and not too many people impressed, not even the regular "impresser." LOL. I really hope I'm able to scrape through to second year. I don't want another bunch of classmates when I already have a bunch of awesome ones in 05/06. I'm gonna do as Mr Chieu said, PRACTISE TALKING TO MYSELF IN THE MIRROR. CREEPY I know but desperate time calls for desperate measures.

GOOD DAY PEOPLE..

2009-01-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

3D max is a bitch. Not because I suck at it but because my file got corrupted for no reason whatsoever and I have to redo my whole house. Definitely not funny at all. But thank god for the CNY holidays cause that means I have four days including the weekends to finish up the exterior and interior view.

And I lost my SD card for the 4th time during my first year in SP Darch, so clearly I'm gonna have to get a thumbdrive, because it's 10 times bigger than a SD card and chances of me losing it are slimmer. If only my family celebrates CNY, I definitely could do with some angpaos now and buy me 10 thumbdrives which is enough to last me for the remaining 2 (or 3) years in SP.

ooh, and I thought I'd share with you the best cover of Linkin' Park's numb I've ever seen. Indonesia idol is certainly buzzing. Can't wait for Singapore Idol 3.

2009-01-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

2008-12-31T03:33:00.000-08:00

So 2008 is drawing to a close in like 4 hours time. I hope the countdown parties everywhere around the world, especially in Singapore, goes on safely without much controversy. And whilst they're having fun, I'm rotting at home typing this blog entry. Oh well, blogging can be rather fun. LOL!

Let's look back at the year 2008.

THE BAD

-The Cyclone Nargis disaster that struck the heart of Myanmar, causing 146000 casualties, and some thousand people still missing.

-The Chengdu earthquake in China, causing 70000 casualties.

-The continuing air strikes from Israeli into the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Over 300 casualties and counting, innocents included.

-The ongoing political crisis in Thailand, which led to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport bombings.

-The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, leading to the death Lo Hwei Yen, the first Singaporean casualty in an overseas terror attack.

-The escape of Mas Selamat. That cunt just changed everyone's life, from making everyone panic to the traffic jams at Causeway.

-The death of three NSmen this year alone. Which reminds me I've yet to defer!

-That horrible challenge on Eduardo from Martin Taylor during the Arsenal vs Birmingham match. Cunts like him don't belong on the pitch!

-Singapore losing to Vietnam 1-0 in the Asean Cup semi-finals.

-The death of Heath Ledger due to an overdose of sleeping pills.

-The whole melamine scandal.

-The Singapore Flyer debacle.

-The Lehman brothers downfall, changing the face of Wall Street forever.

-The Global Economy Crisis

-Jonas Brothers. Why this band is so successful bemuse me. They belong on a Toys'r'us rack along with the other kiddy stuff. A fine of example of modern day MANUFACTURED band, where the marketing takes over the music.

THE GOOD

-Singapore's first Olympic medal since gaining independence.

-Laurentia Tan winning Singapore's first ever medal in the Paralympics.

-Singapore winning the rights to host the world's first Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

-The Dark Knight. This movie takes it to a whole new level of goodness!

-Manchester United. without doubt.
Champions of England, Champions Of Europe, and now Champions of the World. Enough said.

-EURO 2008. Can't remember the last international tournament as good as this one.

-Cristiano Ronaldo. European Footballer of the Year. And deservedly so.

-Barack Obama winning the election to be United State's first ever black president.

-Beijing 2008. China showed them how its done.

-Singapore being awarded the rights to Pedra Branca by the ICJ, ending a 30 year dispute with Malaysia.

-Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. Nothing is impossible for them.

-The success of F1's first ever night race held in Singapore.

-Lewis Hamilton. The youngest F1 championship winner in history.

-Stereophonics. 10 years of dedicated music.

-Britney Spears. Say what you want about her, but she made a hell of a comeback this year.

That just took me about an hour to come up with.

My personal favourite moment of 2008 is without doubt these 3 events.

Angels And Airwaves live in Singapore.

Avenged Sevenfold live in Singapore.

Last but not least,

Malacca trip with my fellow Architecture mates.

Well, 2008 has definitely been a blast. Hopefully 2009 can better that. Anyways, hope you guys have a Happy New Year =)

2008-12-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

3. FUCKING. DAYS. TO. DO. THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

So submission for the model was pretty frantic. Didn't slept for some 48 hours straight, and even then I still couldn't full complete my model, but the overall form is there and I guess that's not so terrible. My workmanship still sucks as hell and it's like some 100000000000 level below the standard of the past year model Mdm Juneita showed us. The marijuana-like tress were a total waste of money because I had to throw them away as it wouldn't stick to the damn bloody satay sticks. So now my model is tree-less. My concept is engaging nature, and yet my model has no nature. I-R-O-N-Y. oh well, I'll let you guys "engage with nature" just by looking at the model of my hideaway.

This is my favourite part of the house. It's some sort of a huge ass door that "separates" the swimming pool for the guest and for the owner.

Ok, I shall stop obsessing about my model. So last Sunday was perhaps one of the most awesome nights in recent memory. Tom Delong and his band, Angels & Airwaves, were in town and I was there to freaking meet them. The concert was damn awesome, I swear to god Tom hasn't changed one bit from his Blink 182 days. He's still making sex jokes and stuff like that. It never gets old.

And the best thing happened when wee king, his bro and myself entered the concert hall. The ushers were doing some relocation, I think because it was a rather poor turn out and there were a lot of empty seats, and they shifted us from our $100 seat to the $125 seat, just seven rows from the stage! Freaking awesome shit. Perhaps it's a blessing that Angels & Airwaves doesn't have such a huge fan base over here. haha! It's the closest I've ever been to the stage compared to the mCr and A7X concert. Anyways, when the band came out, I just realised how fucking huge Tom actually was. He was so petite back in his blink 182 days but now he's like a giant. And he's got a beer belly too, something which he wasn't too ashamed about. Anyways, here's just a clip to show how awesome the concert was.

Anyways, Singapore won Indonesia 2-0 at their home ground to top group A of the Suzuki Cup and thus, will face Vietnam next Wed, with the home leg being played on Sunday. I still don't know whether it'll be played at Kallang or Jalan Besar Stadium, but I hope to get the tickets. Either way, I'm pretty confident Singapore will be able to win the title for the 3rd time in a row.

2008-11-22T06:59:00.000-08:00

What a busy week indeed. Had three submissions this week, Microstation drawings on Tues, HTA write-up on Wed, Toilet Layout on Fri, not mentioning CRS presentation with Ritz on the same day. Manage to submit everything; the CRS presentation went okay I guess. I spoke too mcuh whereas Ritz spoke too little so I guess we formed a great partnership as the amount of talking balances out.

Trip to Horticulture park on Wednesday was eventful indeed. Manage to draw some inspiration for my final project from some of the architectural elements there. The crazy ass huge hornets gave all of us a fright from time to time. They're like so round, almost a perfect sphere, so full of venom. I should have snapped a picture of it but I guess when your life's at stake taking out a camera is probably the last thing on your mind. And no, I'm not exaggerating by saying my life was at stake, you would have believed so had you seen the size of the hornets! LOL.

Timothy came in on Friday and gave me a fresh set of ideas for my project as well. which at the same time, impose extra-totally-not-needed set of headaches for me as to how do I implement it into the hideaway. Was grateful for his time talking to me anyways.

Ritz and me made our way down to Owen Road, where Poh's office is located. The place is goddamn remote and is somehow totally the opposite of how I pictured Poh's office to be like. The interiors are interesting though, the comfy-but-noisy chair and the budget lightbulbs being one of the few examples. I was "forced" to leave by Poh after about an hour of talking. Ok well not exactly forced, he suggested that I go home straight to start on my model as my drawings weren't helping, and I did just that. Was supposed to finish by 6am today but I only managed to finish it a couple of hours ago at 9pm, 15 hours after his deadline. LOL. As a result I'm freaking tired now and I can't wait for the Man Utd-Villa game later. No Berbatov but Ronaldo-Rooney combo should suffice.

btw, the black backfround is my sofa. that explains a few glaring spots at the background. and i know my workmanship sucks.

2008-11-09T03:26:00.001-08:00

So Nasri (not me! the TRAITOR NASRI) scored two past my beloved Van Der Sar and Arsenal eventually ended up 2-1 winners against Man Utd last night. What a game it was though. It was full throttle throughout the 90 mins and the players looked like they could go on for another 90 mins! LOL. Anyway, that's two losses already for Man Utd this season, both against the two teams I HATE the most (Liverpool & Arsenal). Such luck.

Rooney was just crap yesterday & I still could not fathom Fergie replacing Anderson instead of Carrick with Giggs. Carrick was just nonsense and he came out second in every physical battle that took place. Like duh, look at his skinny ass legs, how would you expect him to outmuscle huge ass players like Gallas & Diaby. I guess United really missed Fletcher, the heart & soul of the club. And it's also about time Scholes make a return.

Anyways, let's not talk about the traitor Nasri anymore. My crit is on Tues which hopefully I can remain calm throughout to explain my concept. Angels & Airwaves is coming to Singapore on 7 Dec at the NUS cultural centre (sounds like a cool place). I'm definitely going so if anyone wants to go too please message me.

That's them, in case you never heard of them before. And yes, the second from the left is Tom DeLonge, the former Blink 182 guitarist. I'm sure everyone knows Blink 182.

2008-11-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Avenged Sevenfold concert last week was awesome. It was kinda short, but still I think they put on one heck of a show for us. I wasn't man enough to squeeze my way to the front; Logen was though, and he got this close-up pic of Synyster Gates. Anyway, at the end of the concert, M Shadows said he'll see us soon and I'm hoping he meant next year.

The weekend that preceded the concert was fairly disappointing, because I was stuck at home for the 3 days, including Deepavali. By Tues, I was able to recover my voice and my hearing had resumed to normal. So maybe the three-days rest worked out well for me.

Thurs was my desk crit and it went pretty smooth. Poh said we did well, but that's no reason for me to rest my laurels because it's only case study and it's not even a tenth of my final project. But it definitely boosted my confidence.

Anyway, I'm stuck at home this weekend too, mainly because I'm busy preparing for my interim submission. I hate making models, my workmanship sucks and I hate getting cuts from my pen kinife. It makes me look like an emo-suicidal kid, which I'm definitely not.

Anyways, tonight is Man Utd vs Hull City and tomorrow is the final leg of the Formula season. I'm hoping Massa could spring a surprise but I'm fairly certain Hamilton will end up as the winner.

2008-10-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

My group's case study is due for submission this Friday. Which means tonight I have to endure another sleepless night to finish up the 2nd & 3rd storey model. Thank god school starts at 1030 tomorrow, which means I might be able to catch a few good hours of sleep before heading to Poh's lecture.

I can't wait for Avenged Sevenfold concert this Friday, which is one of the reason why I'm rather anxious to wrap up the whole case study thing as soon as possible. Wee King only finished school at 3, which means I can only reach Expo by at least 430. It's an all free standing concert, which means I most probably won't be able to get good spots. There's probably gonna be some hardcore moshing; 3 people were injured in A7X's sing fest appearance last year. This might be a cause for concern for me! I have never really moshed in my life and I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get trampled on and die or something to that effect.

Anyway, I hope Matt Shadows vocals will be in form on Friday. And that Zacky or Syn will play some freaking awesome impromtu solo. I still harbour hopes of capturing a full-length video of at least one song to relive the memory in the future, but I seriously doubt that'll happen. =(

And check out Synyster Gates in Southpark. Haha!

They look so similar! LOL.

And a video of the whole band. Only this time it's animated! except it's not Southpark animated, just normal cartoons kind. Sometimes I wonder what I'd look like in cartoons. Hmmm.... Probably something like Eric Cartman. Or perhaps Stewie Griffin. LOL.

Anyways, I should be doing my model right now, which I will in like 10 mins or so. It'll just be me,my model and my can of redbull. HAH.

2008-10-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

So I decided to google for pictures of the place where I'm supposed to design a "Hideaway" chalet for my final year project, and I got a few pretty interesting pictures. The place is called Koh Samui, Thailand and it has quite a pretty beach. There's nothing pretty about the final project though. There's gonna be more blood, sweat & tears than previously I suppose.

2008-09-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

F1 fever is finally over. And what a race it was to mark the first Formula 1 night race and also the first Formula 1 race in Singapore. It was my first time watching a F1 race and I must say it was a great experience, and I might even consider following the season from now on.

I was rooting for Nico Rosberg to win, no particular reason as to why, and he didn't disappoint. Finishing 2nd behind the winner Fernando Alonso, he beat his previous best finish of 3rd in Melbourne. Lewish Hamilton occupied the last podium spot.

It took me like 20 laps of the race to finally understand the basic rules of F1, such as the safety car rule etc. What I like most about F1 is how things can change in a split second. Massa, initially leading, went to last position in a matter of seconds due to a pit stop blunder. Stopping at the pitstop for refuelling, he was then wrongly given the green light to move when the fuel nozzle and hose was still attached to his car. So he drove off with the hose still attached to his car like a snake, only to stop at the end of the pit lane so that his pit crew can remove the hose. His pit stop was like 100m or so away from where he stopped, which means the Ferrari crew had to make a 100m dash to his car at the end of the pit lane, meaning more time was lost while Massa just sit in his car looking hapless. Even when the crew finally reach, they took another good 5s or so to remove the hose from the car. When he re-enter the track, every car had already overtook him. To make things worse, one of his crew member was injured in the whole debacle and he was given a drive-through penalty for unsafe release from pit stop.

The pit stop blunder, along with Nelson Piquet Jr. crashing in lap 14, turned out to be the turning point of the race as Alonso took full advantage of it and finished first.

Alonso fully deserved his victory, jumping up 14 spots from his starting grid. There couldn't be a better winner in the first F1 spectacle in Singapore.

2008-09-24T04:39:00.000-07:00

Man Utd finally got their first win in 5 games with a 3-1 victory over Middlesborough.
But the Boro defender, Pogatetz, thought that Rodrigo Possebon was playing too well for a 19 year-old, and felt it was right if he tried to break his leg. You can say he succeeded, as Possebon was indeed stretchered off after 9 minutes of on-field treatment, which includes an oxygen tank and also several tears, but his leg was not broken. What bemuse me was that, Pogatetz thought he did nothing wrong, but he left the pitch eventually, probably still smiling from having suceeded in ending the young brazilian's involvement in the match. Man Utd went on to score two more just so Boro gets the message, no one messes with the Red Devils. and Cristiano is definitely back to his best.

Another gentle reminder, please check your food labels when buying dairy products to ensure that it's not from China. Though China-imported milks have been retracted, it's best just to double-check. If not you'll end up with kidney stones in your body which will eventually lead to your kidney failure.

2008-09-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

I miss the feeling when my team wins. Yes, this may sound rare, but it's like almost a month now since Man Utd last won a match! Though this is usual, every year they have a slow-start to the season, it doesn't make it any much easier to go though. Nonetheless, they'll still end the season with one trophy or another, so I guess the winless streak is meant to give their title rivals some hope of actually winning the trophy, only to come back strongly and pull them back to earth. HAHA. Arsenal anyone?

One of my favourite drummers of all time, Travis Barker, was involved in a plane crash a few days back. Initially rumors had it known that he died in the crash, but further news report confirmed that he survived the crash(THANK GOD!) but is in critical condition and has suffered severe burnts on his lower body.(OUCH!) Some guy name DJ AM also survived the crash, he's some rapper or something I don't really know, but the 4 other passengers weren't so lucky.( It's a private plane btw, that's why there's only 4 other passengers) So good news and bad news there. Good news is I can still look forward to more awesome drumming by Travis, bad news is that, well, people died. It's always bad news when people die, unless it's Osama or Mas Selamat.(Oh please let Mas Selamat be dead so I won't have to be stuck in traffic for an hour when crossing the border)

F1 race is in a few days time, 28th September to be exact. The facilities looked awesome, and I'm sure the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen will be impressed. I would have most definitely bought the tickets if I hadn't spent a bulk of my pay on Avenged Sevenfold concert next month. That's right, A7X is coming to Singapore alright. It's on 24th October at Max Pavilion, the same place where I caught mCr live. Only this time, it's all free standing tickets, so I'd expect some moshing to be done. Guess I'd have to wear a well-protected shoe because I simply hate it when people step on my toes. Thank god it's on a Friday though, because it means Saturday can be used as my recovery day. Not from a hungover( I don't drink), but from a predicted severe sore throat. It took me almost a week to recover from screaming my lungs out at mCr concert last year. But this time I think it'll take me longer since most of A7X's songs are way way out of my pitch. I guess 10 days is a fair estimation.

So with A7X and mCr out of the way, that leaves me with MUSE, Angels & Airwaves, Paramore, Green Day, and Oasis to see live. I highly doubt Green Day & Angels & Airwaves would ever come, Billy Joe and Tom DeLonge have been in the music scene for more than 10 years and they have never really toured Asia before other than Japan, so I doubt that's ever gonna change. I have high hopes for MUSE & Paramore, not so sure about Oasis. I just hope they don't all come to Singapore at the same time and leave me having to choose only one of them, unless I become rich overnight of course.

I still have yet to download Microstation. Only like 2 and a half weeks left before school reopens. I need to stop living in the moment and get some kick-ass work done.

2008-09-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

I’ve finally edited my own Malacca photos and at the same time, received Joey’s & Ritz’s set of photos. That means I’ve no more excuses to not blog about my awesome time during the Malacca trip. So here goes.

I reached school on Thursday at 715am. I actually thought I was super late, but turns out, the lecturers weren’t even there yet when I reached. However, most of the students were already there, which goes to show how enthusiastic they were about the trip! Anyways, there were still a few students who were late; the heavy downpour didn’t exactly help them to reach on time. Nonetheless, the rain subsided by 9am and we were already up & away by then.

Aidil, Ihsan & Ritz. photo by Ritz

Clearing the two checkpoints didn’t take long and as soon as we left the Malaysian custom, most of us started to doze off one by one (including myself). Despite almost everyone sleeping, our tour guide throughout the whole trip, Ashok, carried on with his fun facts about Malacca & Malaysia in general. His facts were rather interesting, but I was too sleepy to continue listening. We made a short stopover at Yong Peng before carrying on with the journey. At around 12pm, we finally reached Malacca.

Our first stop was a restaurant at this hotel which I can’t for the life of me remember the name. The food was nothing special. I only enjoyed it’s variety of ice-cream delights.

Lunchtime. photo by Joey

Food. photo by Joey

Ice-Cream! photo by Joey

Our next stop was the reddish building that stood out amongst its surroundings, The Christ Church, which was a reflection of the original Dutch architecture. I didn’t spend too much time inside due to its spookiness, but I managed to catch a glimpse of its copper replica of the bible and a replica of The Last Supper. Most of my time there was instead spend snapping photos at the Stadhuys Square (also known as Dutch Square Area) located opposite the church.

Christ Church Melaka.

RED.

There were also some shophouses selling souvenirs & antique stuffs adjacent to the church.

Shophouses.

Despite all the unique features of the place, the thing that strikes me the most is still the colourful trishaw parked at the road with loud techno music blasting from the stereo. Very untraditional for a traditional vehicle.

Moving on, Ashok then led us up the St. Paul’s Hill, which is the highest summit in Malacca, to explore the now- abandoned St. Paul’s Church. The church once housed the body of the deceased St. Francis Xavier, but has since been moved to Goa, India. A statue of him was erected just outside the church. The church was initially built as a prayer house for the Portuguese Catholics, before it was turned into a burial ground for the noble dead by the Dutch. The tombstones of the dead, which have Latin & Portuguese inscriptions, still resides in the church.

WHERE'S THE HAND?!?! It's in ROME actually.

St. Francis Xavier’s burial cage still remains in the church. People passing by the cage will often drop in a few coins as it is believed that doing so will bring them good luck.

St. Francis Xavier's burial cage. photo by Joey

Where the coins end up.

After plenty of photo-taking and also storytelling by Ashok, we proceed down the hill to the A’Famosa fort. Only a tiny gate called the Porta De Santiago remains, and is now one of the oldest surviving European architecture in Asia.

Fresh from a brief history lesson, we then return to our bus to finally check-in to our respective hotel rooms.

Damn it was hot. photo by Ritz

Eric, KC, Logen. photo by Ritz

PINK UMBRELLA! photo by Ritz

Ritz & Me. photo by Ritz

Ritz, Joey & me shared one room, which unfortunately, did not boast any spectacular views I was secretly wishing for. As soon as we enter our room, all of us made ourselves at home. Ritz was the first to go & wash up, Joey took off his shirt & started smoking (very typical uncle don’t you think?) whereas I jumped on the bed and then refused to get up. At 615, all of us then proceed to Restoran Nyonya Sayang for our dinner. I was busy indulging in my food when Aidil brought up a very good point. The food served at the restaurant bore a very striking resemblance to the food we consumed earlier that day at the hotel restaurant. We then start coming up with conspiracy theories to explain the similar foods being served at both places, only to debunk them because we were too indulged in our respective plates.

Jonathan, Jason, Kenny, Ritz, Aidil, Ihsan & Me. photo by Aidil

Restoran Nyonya Sayang. photo by Joey

Joey doing what he does best.

It was back to the hotel after dinner for an ice-breaking session, which to be honest, didn’t break too many ice. I enjoyed a good laugh out of the session, but didn’t really make any new good friends. Especially not when the activity is so R21. It’ll only start even more feuds among the people! So the ice-breaking activity is basically all of us split into groups of 8 or whatever, then we have to choose a model and then dress him up as an icon of Singapore using black garbage bag & aluminium foil. So it’s basically like Project Runway architects style.

photos by Joey

Everyone was supposed to go to bed after that, but of course, being the hyper youths that we are, nobody did. Joey was especially reluctant to go to bed and kept asking if anyone had plans. So I suggested we ask Poh if he could bring us anywhere, since he drove his car there and will be easier to travel with him around. When I asked him where he can bring us out, I was expecting an answer along the lines of the seaside, or maybe a shopping mall, or just a simple movie perhaps, but NEOOOO. What he suggested was way out of this world and way unexpected. His reply was a simple “you guys wanna go KL?” I can’t seem to recall what my reaction back then was, but if my memory serves me right, it was something like “Poh, serious lah. We really don’t want to go sleep so early. Take us somewhere eh” That may have come from Joey’s mouth instead, but we both shared the same sentiment. True to his word, Poh drove us to KL, us being Joey, Ritz, Hong Lun, Yong Hong and me. I had the luxury of sitting in front since I’m such a fatty (at least according to Joey anyway) whereas the rest crammed at the back seat (including the model Joey). The ride took about 1 & a half hour, which was filled with us asking Poh questions about his architecture career and also his life. We reached KL at around 1145pm, and surprisingly, there was a traffic jam there. It’s a Thursday night nearing midnight and there’s a traffic jam? God knows what these people are up to. So Poh brought us to this place called Kampung Bahru and all of us (except Yong Hong) had the nasi lemak there with various toppings which was heavenly good. I wished I had bought another packet for breakfast the following morning.

After our supper, Poh drove us to the Petronas Twin Tower and all of us instinctively took out our cameras and start snapping. As it was already nearing 1am, the lights were all off and I had a hard time snapping a good photo of the building. So I just gave up and instead, imprint that moment fresh into my mind.

ROCK ON! photo by Ritz

Petronas Twin Tower. photo by Joey

Ritz & Hong Lun. photo by Joey

Soon, everyone too gave up trying to shoot pictures of the twin tower and we all head back to Malacca. Joey somehow fell sick during the journey back while I fell asleep halfway. I was greeted with a thunderstorm when I woke up, like literally. It was raining very heavily and we came across this low-lying road which was flooded to the max. As there were no alternatives, Poh drove slowly across the flooded area, without any knowledge whatsoever if there happens to be a pot hole in the road. Thank god there isn’t any. So we safely made it across, and then one by one, all of us started regretting not taking a video of the experience. But we were too scared back then too even think of taking out our camera. We reached our hotels at exactly 3am and went into our respective rooms. Joey, Ritz & me spent a good hour reminiscing about the KL trip and also talking about other stuffs, such as what would the trip be like if Focky was with us. That's the killer man!

I woke up at around 830 the following morning only to realize I had missed my morning prayers. Anyways, took a super hot shower for a goof 15 mins before heading down to breakfast with Ritz. The uncle Joey could not be woken up despite our incessant efforts. Ritz & me have a suspicion about his motive for not waking up but let’s not disclose that here. LOL.

After breakfast, all of us went to the baba nonya museum. The museum guide led us through the typical life of a baba nonya. Nothing much fazes me, except for the staircase which can be closed to prevent husbands from returning home late at night. Wonder why the staircase is no longer in use these days. We visited a Chinese temple along the same street before roaming Junkor Street for about an hour. It was really quiet during the day and many shops remained closed.

Baba Nonya Museum. photo by Ritz

Ashok passing down his wisdom. photo by Joey

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple. photo by Joey

photos by Joey

We headed back to the hotel again, this time for our lunch. The food looks really great, and there’s a lot of variety to it. Too bad for me, I had too much at breakfast and couldn’t muster the power to eat the food there. We had resting time after lunch before heading to Villa Sentosa, one of the oldest kampong in Malacca. We were greeted by this energetic man, a descendant of the founders of the house. He brought us inside the house and told us many stories about his family, which was very enriching to my ever expanding knowledge about Malaysia.

The owner. photo by Joey

A malay wedding mock-up.

They have a tv in their kitchen.

Ashok hitting the gong.Supposed to bring him good luck.

Signing of some document. Basically the formal equivalent of engraving "SP DARCH WAS HERE" on the wooden planks.

Next stop was Junkor Street again, but this time, much much more vibrant than before. We reached the place at 6pm, which was a little too early as most of the shops are still setting up. As our stomachs are already growling, Ritz, Joey, Ihsan, Aidil, Joan, Melati & me went to the quayside seafood restaurant for our dinner. The food was great and Ritz even ordered a sheesha which cost a mere RM5. What was more endearing about the place was the scenery of the sunset at that time. The restaurant is located beside a river, and they planted an oil palm tree (or whatever type of tree it’s called) which made the place look like a restaurant by the beach.

So pretty.

So pretty 2.

So pretty 3.

Joan & Ihsan. photo by Joey

We only made our way back to Junkor street once we finished every last remaining pieces of the delicious food we ordered. All of us bought some stuffs from the shops before heading back to the bus like half an hour later than the supposed time.

Upon reaching our hotel rooms, we washed up before heading out again, this time to the carnival nearby. A lot of people went, let me see if I can name all. So there’s Nicholas, Jul, Logen, Eric, Ihsan, Aidil, Jonathan, Ritz, Joey, Joan, Melati, Wanting, Rachel, Yong Hong, Charlene, Ming Tong, Huda, Najihah and myself. There, I named all the cool people at the carnival. From afar, we thought the carnival would have some awesome thrill rides, but as it turns out, there’s only the ferris wheel, pirate ship and some trampoline thingy. Most of us took the pirate ship, which wasn’t that scary as I envisaged beforehand. But it’s still memorable because of something that happened during the ride. I’m sure Eric will agree with me. LOL. Then we did a little shopping at the pasar malam there before Nick, Logen, Eric, and me went on the ferris wheel ride.

Glowing edges. photo by Joey

The Carnival. photo by Joey

Yong Hong, Wan Ting, Rachel on the pirate ship. photo by Ritz

All of us head back to the hotel after that. The mat rempits roaming the otherwise empty streets did cause some scare on our journey back, but nothing major really happened.

Empty Streets. photo by Ritz

We made a detour to the coffeeshop beside the hotel for burger ramlee Malacca style.

photo by Joey

As soon as we head back to the hotel, Joey, Aidil, Logen, Eric and me were out again to the same coffeeshop to watch Zenit St. Petersburg own Man Utd and also Paul Scholes literally pushed the ball using his hands into the net. So, for the 2^nd night in a row, we only had like 2-3 hours of sleep.

The next morning, Joey, again, did not wake up for breakfast, leaving Ritz,Ihsan & me to grab our breakfast by ourselves. After breakfast was check-out time, and was to be followed by a de-briefing, which didn’t seem to materialize. We headed to Mahkota/ Palawan shopping centre for our own free shopping time. We were only given like 2.5 hours, so it wasn’t as free as I thought it would be. Ritz bought his Vans shoes whereas Joey took hours at F.O.S trying on pants for his brother before buying them. We didn’t have time to grab our lunch, so we just rush back to the bus feeling all hungry. The bus reached Singapore Poly at about 530pm and then everyone went their separate ways.

Photos I credited belong to either Ritz, Aidil or Joey. Uncredited photos belong to me.

That's one heck of a post. Took me like 4 hours just to get it up, not to mention 3 days of photoshopping my own pictures. I'm so tired now I don't have time to check my English but if you're free then you can help me spot any grammar or spelling errors =) LOL. Anyways, for more photos, you can go to Ritz's friendster profile here and also Joey's blog here. Joey has very awesome pictures, as you can see from his photos I borrowed. So make sure you check it out.

more photos by me.

2008-08-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Malacca trip yesterday. And it was awesome as hell. I'm sure everyone who were there would agree with me. The only drawback is that it's only 3 days 2 nights. But the fact that we were able to have an awesome time in such a short space of time just shows how awesome the trip was. I know I've used the word awesome too many times but really, it's the perfect word to describe the trip. I don't have much photos with me because my camera's spoilt and I'm stuck with my bro's camera which I didn't really like using. I'll post them up once I edited them, and I'm also trying to collate all the photos from my friends and upload them in a single photobucket album.

I don't really feel like blogging without the necessarry photos, but I'll summarise it in the best possible way. First day,went to Christ Church, and then climbed up the hill to the highest summit in Malacca to view the lighthouse. Then checked into hotel, went for dinner, did some ice-breaking activities and then went to KL. I know this is going to make you go WTF but I'll let the pictures speak for itself when I have it. 2nd day, went to breakfast in the hotel & then off to the baba nyonya museum. Had a quick view of Junkor street during the day before heading back to the hotel for our lunch which I didn't eat much because I had a heavy breakfast, which I now regret because the lunch looks scrumptous. Then visited the Villa Sentosa, which is the oldest Malay Kampung in Malacca before heading to Junkor street again for shopping time. Then at night went to the carnival with lots of awesome people and then at 245 watched Man Utd played volleyball and lost to Zenit 2-1 before sleeping for a mere 2 hours. Went for a quick 15 minutes breakfast, a stark contrast to the 1 hr I spent the previous day, before everyone was sent to Mahkota/Palawan for another shopping time, which was such a rush. At 130 everyone went back to the buses and headed home (dreadfully for my case; I didn't miss my home at ALL).

Photos coming soon. Meanwhile, here's a sneak preview.

2008-08-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

I've been laughing my ass watching this and I think it's only right that I share this with you guys..

In case you're wondering what she really said, here's a transcript of her answer.

First, she was asked on why one fifth of Americans can't locate the US on the world map. Here's what she asnwered.

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our [children].

Not only was her English all over the place, her answer makes no sense whatsoever. But I'm not complaining because it made me laugh like never before.

2008-08-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

This is wayyyyyyyyy too cute to not go into my blog.
how way? way way.
The panda mascot is like uber hyper!

I can't remember when I last enjoyed watching Olympic so much. Beijing 08 has truly lived up to it's hype and delivered more than expected. Phelps is crazy and so is Usain Bolt. I say, dope tests to be done on those two people.