Last mahjong session of the year

Had lunch with Kelly and Stanley at this restaurant in Kovan selling Hong Kong cuisine. Met Jiali there with two of her friends. She said that the food wasn't good. Indeed. I ordered this pork noodles which turned out to be (what looks like) canned pork dices, a fried egg, a slice of cucumber, a slice of tomato, and a stalk of xiao bai cai on a plate of instant noodles! I could have prepared this myself at home for a fraction of the $5.90. Kelly didn't really like her dim sum too. The service was quite poor too. It's hard to get the attention of a waitress when she's busy all the time. They must be short-handed or acting busy. Overall, it was an average eating experience, with mediocre food and service.

Played 2 rounds of mahjong with the two of them and Stanley's cousin, Daryl. Played OK this time, winning 40cents. I did not receive the money though, as Kelly lost and I decide not to pursue the small amount. Having skipped dinner, I was pretty eager to get home when we stopped around 11pm. While waiting for 147 at the bus stop, there was this taxi which stopped at the bus stop for a passenger to alight. When my bus came into view around a bend at around 50-100m away, I flagged immediately, with my arm held out for about 2 secs. The driver did not stop the bus. Did it seem like I was flagging the cab, or did he miss me? :-(

'Thanks' to the driver, I had to wait for the next 147, and I ended back at Hougang at 12:05am. I proceeded to make a fool of myself by mistaking 'estimated arrival time' for 'estimated departure time' on the bus schedule. As a result, I waited for 50 mins at the bus stop to transfer to a bus which was estimated to reach that bus stop at 12:03am, before realising my blunder. (If the driver of the earlier 147 had stopped for me, I would have been able to complete my transfer!!!) Wanting to save money, I walked the rest of the way home. I haven't exercised in quite some time, so it was a good workout, though a the wrong time. I reached home 28 mins later, tired and hungry. Hiaz... Poor me... Kelly was already clean and full by the time I reached home.

Hi Wei Yan; SCS girls! Bye Project Runway 3; old keyboard...

Finally met Wei Yan today. Talked about his trip to Vietnam, among other stuff. I was interested to know more about the country, especially after reading his account of his trip in his blog, and seeing some pretty interesting photos. I also learnt about an unpleasant bubble tea experience of his. Aparently, he once bought a cup of bubble tea in Yishun that has a cockroach in it! Fortunately for him, he saw it before he started drinking. As he was in a hurry, and was already some distance away from the shop, he did not pursue the matter. I commented that he should have reported the matter to the authorities (Environment Agency? AHA?). Hopefully none of the other customers of that shop bought bubble tea with extra 'unorthodox ingredients'.

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Went to Tiong Bahru Plaza for steamboat dinner with Xin Hui, Jia Hui, Yilin. It was supposed to be a super belated birthday celebration for Xin Hui (what about my birthday celebration?). Sebastian was supposed to be there as well, but he had something on at the last minute (as usual). Jane was only there for a short while to pass Xin Hui the present.

We ate at RajahInn where we all ordered individual standard set meals. We thought the serving was a tad too small for the price. Not value-for-money. The broth (I had chicken; they chose Tom Yam) was decent, but certainly not fantastic.

Xin Hui decided to give us a treat and refused to accept any payment for the meal. Yilin resorted to tucking money into gaps in her partially-zipped bag. The plan failed though, when Xin Hui saw the money while taking out her wallet to make a purchase at Guardian's. Haha...

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Went home to see Jeffrey crowned the winner of Project Runway (Season 3). I thought he was going to be eliminated based on last week trailer showing that he exceeded his budget. I was rooting for Laura and Uli, and I thought Uli's collection for the finals was the best...

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I was told the keyboard is faulty. Tried it out for myself and realised that it is indeed cranky. One moment it was okay; the next moment, it started malfunctioning - pressing the keys did not produce any response. That the malfunctioning of the keyboard was accompanied by intermittent lag only made the matter worse. Strangely though, the problem only occurs when I am in game. Perhaps it's a coincidence? Honyi thinks the keyboard is spoilt since changin USB port doesn't alleviate the problem. I guess he's probably right since my old keyboard functions well when connected to my current computer.

Positive -> Don't need to buy new keyboard.
Negative -> Colour of old keyboard doesn't match that of current monitor and CPU. :-(

Christmas Eve

I was at grandma's house last night with the rest of my extended paternal family members to celebrate Christmas. We have this annual gathering every year, despite it's lack of religious significance to anyone in the family, as it's one of only two gatherings we have every year (the other being Chinese New Year).

I always look forward to the gathering, but the excitement has reduced in recent years. Somehow, the celebration seemed more fun when I was young. Judging by how some of my elder cousins no longer attend the gathering, I suppose I'm not the only one who feels that way. Indeed, watching my younger cousins play with one another reminds me of my own enjoyment years ago. As we grew up, my cousins and I gradually became strangers. Some prefer to sit at a corner with their siblings; others took to fooling around with the younger ones. Weili and Chew Ling, for instance, were classmates in Xinmin Sec, but looking at them now, one would have thought they were really strangers. Under the same roof for about three hours, yet not a single word was exchanged; neither was there a hint of acknowledgement of each other's presence.

I have not been close to either of them myself, but yesterday, I had a pretty long chat with Weili over dinner. And it's all thanks to her boyfriend, Zhao Wei. I find it pretty laughable that someone outside the family have linked us together. Weili and her two sisters (Weiting and Weijia) used to keep to themselves during family gatherings, but yesterday, we were all happily chatting together, along with Zhao Wei and Weiting's boyfriend. Of course, the situation could have been very different if Zhao Wei was not from NY...

Back at home, as I lied in bed preparing to sleep, I thought about how Grandma had sat in the chair she always occupied, watching everyone in their interaction or inactivity. I suddenly realised how lonely she seemed. Occasionally, someone would talk to her, or she would joined in a conversation; most of the time she was alone. Then I thought of my grandfather. Before he passed away, he called me on most Saturday afternoons, asking whether I was going to his house for lunch...

Does one feel more lonely when he is alone on a deserted island or when everyone he knows is avoiding him, such as when a person is down with AIDs? Or perhaps the loneliest person is one who's physically in the company of friends/acquaintances/family, but mentally detached from them because they are all ignoring him? It's time we show more care and concern to the people around us, and not regret when they are gone.

Lonely, lonely christmas...

No more rain!

Yay! Finally! Clear skies!

No more wet laundry.

No more rain-induced traffic jams.

No more stuffy house.

And no more rain-cooled air to aid my sleep. :-(

Rain, rain, incessant rain...

Rain, rain, go away!

The relentless barrage of water droplets is irritating! The house is kind of stuffy now because the windows have been 95% shut over the past two days. Every now and then, the rain reduces to a drizzle or even stop, but open your windows for a moment and the storm resumes service. Even walking to the bus stop has become quite a hassle.

And the clothes remain damp, day after day.

And there are floods everywhere. There's the report of a nursery suffering $10k worth of damages to its plants and even office. Then there's the case of the mud slides in parts of Singapore. And let's not forget those collapsing trees that crushes vehicles and other stuffs.

And there's my own experience of travelling through the flooded stretch of Lornie Road outside MacRitchie Reservoir. There was construction work going on there, and the water reach the workers' knees! It was quite a sight to behold - the workers wading around, the vehicles crawling through the pool of muddy water, and the ants breaststroking through the mess (I didn't see this, but nothing's impossible). I pity the car owners whose cars were parked in the MacRitchie carpark. There's no way those carriages are going to start after being semi-submerged for hours, unless they drive high-tech automobiles with the ability to utilise hydropower...


Come again another day!

It would really be good if the rain could stop now and come back on a hot Sunday afternoon. It's quite frustrating that we are having excess precipitation here, while hungry, emaciated African kids can only pray for rain. If only we could transfer all the excess rain clouds in the world to where they are needed, there would be no more Sahara Desert et al. Ah... Utopia...


Little children want to play.

Hopefully scientists will be able to develop technology to 'correct' environmental conditions. May the world be free from deserts and floods! Afterall, it's not right that kids in Singapore play with water (they need to learn to appreciate water) while their counterparts in most parts of Africa can only play with the thought of playing with water...

The good thing is: I can get a good night sleep!

Mojo Jojo

Background info: Mojo Jojo is arguably the most evil character in the Powerpuff Girls cartoon. He is basically a chimpanzee with an oversized brain with the intelligence to match. The name came to mind as Xin Hao has a CUTE picture of Mojo Jojo on his Friendster home page.

There are so many friends whom I have not met in a long time and really want to meet, to chat and catch up on what we missed out on each other’s life. Unfortunately, I’m surviving on a pretty tight budget these days…hiaz… Still, I managed to meet up with Xin Hao on Sunday.
The last time we met was when we went back to school to get our ‘A’ levels results. That was close to three years ago.

I initiated the meeting, and we arranged to meet at AMK, where he suggested we have dinner at Botak Jones. I thought the stall is located in one of the two S-11s in AMK, but the stall could not be located in either of them. Has it shifted? Anyway, there was supposed to be a third S-11 (which was originally A&W). We tried there too, only to realise that it has been replaced by Banquet. We were starting to sweat after the little walk, and decided to settle for the air-conditioned food court.

Over dinner (my mutton briyani wasn’t very nice – the meat was tough), he mentioned that he was ‘forced’ to watch Saw III on Friday by Jian Yu and some other people during their outing. Funny how he rejected the idea of us watching that show yet he still ended up watching it. Anyway, they thought the show was downright gross, and they left the theatre after around 45mins. Like Chor Liang and friends, they were a little confused about the plot of the movie – which was pretty much non-existent as the main storyline has been covered in the first show of the series. Moral of the story: Do not watch the third show in a trilogy if you missed the first two. I learnt two other things from his experience: 1. There are a lot of mosquitoes in Prince cinema, and (I already know this) the seats are old and dirty. 2. The people responsible for checking tickets there, disappears after 15mins of the commencement of the movie. As such, moviegoers are able to sneak into other theatres to catch other shows (which they did).

After dinner, we played an hour plus of pool. Saw someone who looks like Wen Zhao – wonder how he’s doing. I’m really weak at the game, and while he was not very strong, I mis-hit enough for him to win 6-2 (I think. May be worse). I did managed to get in a couple of good shots though... Despite the trashing, I had a pretty good time. Hope it will not take three years before we meet again.

Thursday. Afternoon. Orchard Cineleisure.

I made up my mind to catch SAW III today. I was afraid of missing it if I waited till next week to watch with Jun Hua. Having watched the two prequels, I was eager to know the ending for the story. It's kind of sad though, having to watch a movie alone - if Jasmine and Mars were of legal age, the gang could have watched together last week.

Well, I was not to be totally lonely at Cineleisure. Passing by Mini Toons, I saw Chor Liang with a group of friends, and went up to talk to him. It's been quite some time since we last met, so we had quite a bit of catching up. Much of the talk revolved around chess. Hiaz... I miss those days where we chiong 'supply' chess everyday after school. The culture does not seem as strong these days. Found out from him that NY chess club is still only strong in Othello; surprised to hear that HC chess club isn't really VERY strong as I've always thought...

I was excited to know that he got tickets to SAW III - perhaps I would not have to sit alone? I was to be disappointed when I got to the ticket counter and found that his row is full. No big deal since I wasn't expecting any company in the first place. Meeting him was already a pleasant surprise.

The movie was filled with gore as expected. The first 15mins, especially, had nauseating scenes. I half thought my lunch was going to turn to vomit. Revolting scenes aside, the show did not have much else to offer. It's the same storyline with a different ending - Jigsaw and his assistant, Armanda, dies. Still, I thought the show was satisfactory as the audience were treated to new forms of torture(Mwahaha!!! I'm sadistic), so there was something else to look forward to. Chor Liang and his friends did not agree though. Apparently, it was the first show of the three(does this qualify as a trilogy?) for all four of them. As such, they did not 'catch' the links to the prequels, and were dismayed at the early revealing of Jigsaw, and hence, the lack of suspense. I had to brief them on the storyline to convince them that the show is not really as bad as they were lamenting. Were they convinced? I doubt so.

Well, it's passed 3am in the morning now, and I ought to go to bed lest Jigsaw reincarnates and come after me...maybe he's responsible for the kink in my umbrella frame...

I'm tired... How much longer must I carry on this clandestine activity? Give me back my computer!!!

A brief recap

Hiaz... Haven't had time to update because someone has been hogging the computer. Had a relatively packed weekend, with the Fin-exis workshop over Friday and Saturday, before rushing to Jason's birthday party at Downtown East just after 9pm. Cake was already cut by then, and Yiliang and Hoon Nam had already left. The former had a appointment with friends at Dhoby Ghaut(probably to play KOF again); the latter had to rest early for work at 3am the next day. I wonder what's going on at Beaver. Since when have they started work in the wee hours of the morning? Mr Choo should employ more workers before Hoon Nam quits as well.

This afternoon, the gang decided to go Orchard - which meant that Vincent and Desmond missed their Econs lesson. No matter for Vincent since he has been attending Saturday Econs on top of his own lessons; Desmond probably was a little uncomfortable with the idea. Marc wanted to save on parking fee(very understandable), so he parked along a small road in an estate of landed property, off Orchard Boulevard. We spotted a cat in one of the gardens, of the same breed that Desmond has, and he decided to try to get a photo of it. Unfortunately, he was not blessed with stealth, and was spotted by the feline when he was about 3metres away. Perhaps it was a temporary lack of common sense, but he thought that he would be able to approach the cat to get a close-up, without alarming kitty. No such luck for him. The furball scurried away before he could say 'Cheese!' Maybe he should start watching Discovery Channel.

We separated soon after lunch - Wei Ren went to work, Desmond went home, Vincent and Mars enjoyed some privacy, while Marc went...actually I did not know where he went after that...none of my business. Anyway, I decided to spend some time in the library. As usual, the habits of the ugly Singaporean were displayed for all to see. There were people who have have books on the seat beside them; students who left magazines on the tables of Cafe Galilee; magazines and newsapapers randomly placed on the shelves by readers(instead of in their proper shelf/compartment). I even saw this guy with Newpaper in one hand while he was reading Lianhe Zaobao. There have been calls for people to take ownership of their environment and keep the public places litter-free; here, people literally take ownership of the library. It was a pity I did not spot anyone scratching their toes, trimming their stubble or resting their feet on chairs. The journalist who captured shots of them was really lucky to have seen these creatures in motion; I had to be satisfied with more ubiquitous species.

Oh yes, I almost forgot: Arsenal drew 1-1 with Chelsea! I thought it was a fair result because although there was a foul before the Chelsea goal that was not awarded to Arsenal, Chelsea did hit the post three times...

Sleepy Thursday - Part 2/Outing with Ben

Met up with Ben after lunch, at 2pm. Turns out he hadn't had time for lunch, as he had been busy running in the morning. Hmmm...I have not run since AHM in August - unlesss you include those bus and train chases. He decided to lunch at Food Junction in Wisma, where we met Tong Ming Yuan, aka CQ Tong, with his girlfriend. Tong didn't reply when I said hi. Wonder if he remembers me.

Anyway, I chatted with Ben over lunch, and through SMS, got Jason's permission to ask Ben if he's available for the former's birthday, as he had not done so himself, giving himself lots of excuse for not doing so. Turned out that Hoon Nam had already informed him. Ben thought it may be weird if he was the only specialist to turn up, so we tried to get Fabian. All I got was this,"...The number you just dialled is not in use". Wonder what happened to him. It's quite unlike him to change his number without informing us.

After lunch, we went to the coffee joint beside Food Junction - forgot the name - as Ben needed his daily fix of coffee. He insisted on treating me to a drink, and got me a glass of Iced Milo. (Thanks!) Here, I showed him Vincent's puzzle and watched as he racked his brains to solve it. He employed more than mental skills though, and at times, I was afraid he would break that thing as he attempted to force the two parts apart. You don't need brute force to solve this thing, man! No wonder he was the anchorage commander.

Still, regardless of his attendance, Ben decided that he ought to get a present for Jason on account of their friendship. We went to Takashimaya, where the present I had in mind - a Hanayama Cast Puzzle - can be found. I thought it would be suitable given Jason's analytical mind and his fondness for the occasional quiz and mental puzzles. While searching for Jason's present, we also kept a look-out for Christmas presents that Ben needs to get for his colleagues for his company's celebrations. Apparently, they each have to draw lots and get a special present(worth at least $20) for the person whose name they draw. Ben's is a woman in her forties. He had quite a headache as he did not know what be a suitable gift as there were restrictions placed on the gifts, such that certain(simple) presents - vouchers and food - were not allowed. I was equally clueless. It would have been easier if she was two decades younger. In the end, Ben set his sight on a photoframe for her, and chocolates for the rest. However, given that there is more than a week to go to christmas, he did not purchase them then.

We went home after getting Jason's present (I hope the level 6 puzzle is not too tough for him), but not before meeting Kai Fen and Yiwei(he does not know them, of course) at Wisma and Soon Chiean(Ah Wee) at the MRT station. Small world...no, small Singapore...

Sleepy Thursday - Part 1/Nageb/Vincent's Puzzle

I was SOooo not in the mood for lesson today. Must be due to my sleeping at close to 3am. Nageb was at his corniest again today. He needs to conduct self-checks soon, before his jokes get unbearable. Acting the fool seemed funny in the beginning, but it's really stale now... If he should feel bored when he's retired, I think he can partner Ting and perform at parties. It will be a piece of cake given the way Nageb clowns around these days, while Ting seems almost ready to etch a 'LAME' on his forehead. Still, having jokers beat having nannies - the kind that put children to sleep. (Hmmm...this expression sounds awkward...)

I do not know whether I should thank him for it, but the puzzle that Vincent lent me distracted me somewhat during the second half of the lecture. It looks deceptively simple, but 10secs later, I was convinced of its six stars difficulty. The keyword was not very helpful - how is 'anthlers' suppose to help me solve that thing?

Once again, Wei Ren demonstrates his remarkable ability to solve puzzles without sight. A slight turn of the head to look at someone passing-by, and 'Presto'! The puzzle is solved! Putting it back wasn't as straightforward as I thought though, so once again, Wei Ren was not able to complete his 'performance'. No matter. I was able to figure out how to put it back, so thanks to Wei Ren, I was able to master the puzzle faster than I would have done so on my own. Let's see Vincent try it on Saturday...

Finally we meet!

This is the day of the long awaited meeting with Kelly, the lady of mystery. As was mentioned in an earlier blog entry (3 'M's), she had been uncontactable. Anyway, she did arrive back on 19th Nov, but her unreliable phone and infrequent checking of emails had prevented her from acknowledging our attempts to contact her.

As she was scheduled to come back before her 21st birthday on 26th Nov, Sylvia and I decided to get her a present to be passed to her when we meet. Due to a couple of reasons (but largely because of my tendency to procrastinate and Kelly only being available after her birthday) we only went shopping on 26th.

I've never liked shopping (isn't that the case for most guys?), and buying presents for females gives me an especially big headache. It does not help that Her Highness told me before of her numerous 'NO's where presents are concerned:

1. No books
2. No jewellery
3. No decorative items that serve no function other then to take up space and collect dust(I can't remember whether soft toys are considered as such...)

OK... Maybe that's not really a lot. Still...

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So we met at Orchard on the afternoon of 26th Nov. I was glad to have Sylvia with me as I reckoned that she would probably have a better idea of what to get. Our 1st stop was Takashimaya. Large array of goods. Varied prices. Idea for present -> Nil. Actually there was one thing she really would be happy to receive, but it is WAY out of our budget - an L.V. bag. (Perhaps I can get one for her when I start drawing $10k per month in salary) So we surveyed all the different accesories and stuff available.

My initial thought was to get her a necklace - one of those you use to accesorise clothes, not those made of gold/silver/platinum/etc, which I consider to be jewellery. I saw some which I thought would suit her. Sylvia did not look very agreable. Problem was that she was not willing to give definite suggestions.

'...Aiyah, you decide lor. You are closer to her, so you should be more familiar with her preferences...'

'...I don't know what kind of design she likes...'

'...I have no opinion. You decide...'

Hiaz...obviously she wasn't of much help. But then again, I guess I expected too much from her; afterall, she did mention that she doesn't really have an idea of what to get. Even then, I was hoping she could give me a direct answer as to whether she agrees with the present - an explicit confirmation or otherwise. Afterall, it was supposed to be a joint present.

While she was not forthcoming with her assurance in the necklace, she appeared more enthusiastic when we got to the perfume section. Perhaps she thought perfume would be better? We checked out the counter with Kelly's favourite brand - according to Sylvia - Issey Miyaki. The prices dictated a search in other places.

So we crossed the road to Lucky Plaza, where Sylvia led me to a shop stocked with perfume of more competitive prices. This time, Sylvia was able to provide an incessant stream of suggestions - although the decision was still placed firmly on my shoulders. I almost strangled her.

We spent close to an hour there, which in retrospect, was pretty incredible. You see, in that short time we spent there, we sniffed at countless samples of perfume. The smorgasbord of aroma in the shop was simply overwhelming to our unaccustomed noses. The increased dose of fragrance from sniffing from the test slips caused our noses to hurt. I wonder how those people who work at perfume counters survive.

In the end, it was down to a fruity one with an ugly bottle and one recommended by Sylvia, which has a classic, yet fruity smell(I think the product name is Mirage, but I can't remember the brand). I preferred the smell of the formal, but I decided that Kelly would probably prefer the latter's smell and bottle design. So it's decided! Finally!

To celebrate our accomplishment, I treated Sylvia to Gelare ice-cream as compensation for my lack of punctuality. Hiaz... It was so wrong! Worse still, I was also late when I asked her out on my birthday... I wonder how I can improve my punctuality. Somehow, no matter how much preparation time I give myself, I can still end up late for appointments...

P.S. Do not get the grapefruit flavoured ice-cream. Despite having the refreshing tangy flavour of the citrus fruit, it was marred by a bitter taste. It's likely that they did not remove the mesocarp (the white part between the pulp and the skin) when they used the fruit to make the ice-cream.

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We arranged to meet this morning at 11am at the K-Box at Hougang Plaza - Kelly wanted to go singing, and Sylvia decided the venue. I was thankful to Sylvia for the suggestion. It's baffling how the one who wanted to go to K-Box and had numerous karaoke sessions before push the decision of the venue to me. I had only one prior karaoke experience! How am I supposed to know which has equipment in better condition, better service, etc?

Anyway, I'm glad to announce that I wasn't late today!! (Applause please!) Haha! I was 5mins early, and even got a pleasant surprise. I found Catherine standing near the ground floor lift landing! Apparently, she was waiting for a friend to sing at the K-Box there as well! Didn't manage to chat for long though, because Ms Kelly was early, so I went up 1st.

Three hours of singing ensued. Being a poor singer, i tried my best to let them have more possession of the mike. They were very encouraging though, so I still ended up singing quite a bit. Seriously, I think my small vocal range and generally low voice coupled with my lack of singing ability did not do justice to the songs. Ah, well...if they don't mind, why should I care? Somehow, I did have a lot of fun. The lunch was mediocre though. My chicken should be renamed Soya Sauce Chicken, instead of the grand Aromatic Chicken. The coleslaw consisted of huge pieces of hard cabbage which was difficult to chew - they should have shredded it. Kelly's fried fish was tough. Enough said.

The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting, in the food court at Hougang Mall. A nice ending to the day if not for the wrong choice of table, with the air-con vent directly above me, causing my nose to run, and the arrival of rain just when we were about to leave...

(Sorry for the compact entry. Somehow the spacing disappear when I publish the entry. I've tried five times and the problem persisted...)

Book Review

A simple book review...
...to help me keep track of the books I've read...
...to give others an idea of how the stories go...


Agatha Christie
~Hercule Poirot ~ 39 stories

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles

2. The Murder on the Links

3. Poirot Investigates

4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

5. The Big Four

6. The Mystery of the Blue Train

7. Black Coffee

8. Peril at End House

9. Lord Edgware Dies

10. Murder on the Orient Express

11. Three-Act Tragedy

12. Death in the Clouds - 2nd completion 5th March 2007

The first Agatha Christie story that I read. This is the second time I've completed the book. This book is about an intriguing murder in an airplane with an improbable way of murder. Here, Hercule Poirot gains the confidence of the murderer to confirm his deductions. To the reader and all others in the story, it seemed like Poirot had 'cleared' him of murder and had enlisted his help to investigate others. The result is a hugely surprising ending as the murderer seemed to have a rock-solid alibi. Very satisfying read.

Rating: 5 / 5

13. The ABC Murders

14. Murder in Mesopotamia

15. Cards on the Table

16. Murder in the Mews

17. Dumb Witness

18. Death on the Nile

19. Appointment With Death

20. Hercule Poirot's Christmas

21. Sad Cypress

22. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

23. Evil Under the Sun

24. Five Little Pigs

25. The Hollow

26. The Labours of Hercules - Completed 29th Dec 2006

I've actually read half of this book last year, but was not able to complete it before the due date and was not able to locate it at the libraries I visited subsequently, until now. This book consists of 12 short stories, in which Hercule Poirot sets out to emulate the person he was named after, Hercules. The 12 mysteries figuratively mirrors the 12 labours of Hercules.

There are a couple of interesting stories here; some are rather simple and lacking in suspense. My favourite here is 'The Stymphalean Birds'. Hercules' sixth labour was to kill these birds-of-prey which have iron beaks and feast of human flesh. In 'The Labour of Hercules', two Polish women with long curved noses, wearing long flowing cloaks were compared to the Stymphalean birds for their physical resemblance to the birds. The author leads the reader to think that these two are really the 'Stymphalean birds' in this story of a case of blackmail. In the end, it was revealed that the actual vultures are two women working in hand to blackmail a civil servant by leading him to think he was embroiled in a case of manslaughter. The twist was excellent and it is not until the last page of the story that the civil servant is told of the actual culprits in this case. The comparison here is thus metaphorically, and it will take a very alert reader to figure out the actual 'Styphalean birds'.

Overall, I think this is a very good book. The stories are generally suspenseful, and the matching of the crimes to the labours of Hercules was interesting.

Rating: 4 / 5

27. Taken at the Flood

28. Mrs McGinty's Dead

29. After the Funeral

30. Hickory Dickory Dock

31. Dead Man's Folly

32. Cat Among the Pigeons

33. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

34. The Clocks

35. Third Girl

36. Halloween's Party

37. Elephants Can Remember ~ Completed 2nd Dec 2006

...old sins leave long shadows...

Adriane Oliver is a famous mystery writer. During a literary luncheon, she was approached by Mrs Burton-Cox. Desmond-Cox was going to get married to Mrs Oliver's goddaughter, Celia Ravenscoft, and Mrs Burton-Cox was anxious to find out the truth behind the double death of Celia's parents - whether it was the father who shot the wife before committing suicide, or the other way round.

Saddled with a request from an unlikeable woman, she was unwilling to fulfill the task, yet pigued by curiousity to know the truth behind the tragedy. She enlisted the help of her friend, the famous detective, Hercule Poirot. Together, they seeked out all those who were linked to the incident to give them a clue to what happened. These are the people Mrs Oliver called elephants - people who were able to retain memories of what happened, years after.

As Hercule Poirot delves back into the past, he was able to discover the link between the death of the parents of Celia, and a tragic accident of her mother's twin sister six weeks earlier, and the true reason for Mrs Burton-Cox strong desire to know the truth.

Unlike most of her other books that I've read, Elephant Can Remember does not have a strong twist in the ending. It is not very intriguing as there were enough clues to guess the truths behind the deaths, halfway through the book. Still, she manages to deliver a tiny surprise in the end.

Rating: 3 / 5

38. Poirot's Early Cases

39. Curtain: Poirot's Last Case

Hiccup

Ok... So the Econs test was a mess. Vincent and Mars were giving me hints, on top of their incessant nagging, asking me to work faster. Their efforts only serve to enhance my mental constrictions. Not that it was their fault though. If I had prepared better for the test, I wouldn't be struggling to recall information and they would not have the chance to bug me(despite their kind intentions). Still, I could have done without the additional presuure from the constant unwanted attention they were giving me during the test. In the end, my brain imploded and I decided to give up on the second question(there were only two questions). No point prolonging my misery when the 'feel' just wasn't there. Carlos Castaneda said, "We either make ourselves miserable, or we make outselves strong. The amount of work is the same." Unfortunately, I was so mentally exhausted after trying so hard to make myself miserable, I did not have any energy left to make myself strong enough to withstand the setback.

I was trully demoralised for the immediate period after the test. Vincent and Mars were urging me to stop dwelling on the test. Did they seriously think they can discourage me from that? If so, they underestimated my stubborness(is that such a word?). Still, I'm not one to let myself down for long. Besides, the test has no bearing on my final grades. :-D

Hope Mr Ting does not get a cardiac arrest from seeing my script - then again, there's probably people worse than me.

P.S. This post was delayed because of limited access to the computer...

Overdrive

Yesterday (30th Nov) was Jasmine's birthday.

The plan was to celebrate by slacking at Marc's house, playing mahjong/cards/etc. Plan was almost aborted as Jasmine somehow managed to pull a tendon in her left ankle. Everyone wondered how she 'achieved' that feat when she hardly exercises; me thinks it's precisely the lack of exercise that resulted in poor coordination, agility, reflexes, etc and hence led to the injury. Haha... Anyway, she ended up skipping IBM to visit a doctor. Skipping lectures is nothing new to her, but it's never a good idea to miss Nageb's lesson. Unlike the other subjects, plenty of new stuff are covered in each IBM lecture. Well, I supposed she would not have skipped this lesson if she could help it.

So while she was away tending to her foot, we gave to Wei Ren his belated birthday present - a Renoma wallet. Actually, he claims he does not need one since he already possessed a cards holder. I thought so too, because for me, functionality is more important. Apparently the rest (esp. the girls) thought otherwise. Still, I think it's a better present then what they originally thought of giving to him - a Power Ranger toy from the early series, which is not only hard to find, but also, in my opinion, quite useless. Well, it could become a collector's item...maybe... Jasmine's present was more apt. Considering her fondness for Meiji snacks, I thought the present was superb, thought it will not help in her wish to lose weight. But that's her problem. LOL!

Well, for all my comments about the presents, my only contribution is financial... Haha... But it's not my fault since they never ask me out. :-)

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Anyway, we arranged to meet at Vivocity since Jasmine was supposed to go there(but I can't remember for what reason). I was there first with Wei Ren, Desmond and Marc, having gone in Marc's car while Mars and Vincent took bus (and enjoyed their little time together). We were supposed to meet Jasmine at 1:30pm, but as I've guessed correctly, the earliest Jasmine would reach there is 2pm (she subsequently joined us just after 2pm). So, while waiting, we went around buying some snacks. Marc decided to get some nuts from Candy Empire. They were supposed to cost $3.80 per 100g, but when he got what he wanted, we could not find any weighing scale around. Turns out the only weighing scales in the shop are at the counter, which means one can only weigh them when paying. I thought that was a cheap ploy to get people to spend more because of their inability to judge the amount they have taken. In Marc's case, his bill came to $5 plus, which means that what he thought was around 100g of nuts was actually around 150g.

We took quite some time before deciding to lunch at Food Republic. By then, everyone has arrived. The atmosphere was pretty good. The stalls and surrounding looked like they were from the early 1900s, and was complemented with mandarin oldies from those times. Unfortunately, the food was expensive and not all delicious. My ban mian was OK, but it costs $3.80. :-( Hiaz... Inflated prices at a high-rent shopping mall...

Post-lunch entertainment was hard to find. We thought of catching a movie, but couldn't watch those that we wanted. Desmond could not watch Happy Feet because it would prevent him from going back to SIM by 6pm for his rehearsal; Jasmine and Mars could not watch Saw III as they were underaged... Somehow, we ended up slacking at Spinelli at Harbourfront Centre, but not before getting a scare on an overheard bridge. Somehow, while we were halfway across the bridge to Spinelli, two guys ran across and the bridge started shaking at that time. Everyone got quite a shock because the bridge was made of some kind of metal and looked pretty sturdy. Desmond and I thought the shake was due to the two guys running across; the rest were not so convinced. They thought it was ridiculous that the pounding of their steps was sufficient to rock the bridge. In any case, I hoped the shocking experience is not an indication of structural weakness of the bridge. I do not want to see news of the bridge collapsing in the future. Perhaps I will report the incident to the building management.

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At Spinelli, Jasmine suggested a game called, "I have never ...", where we will take turns to make a sentence starting with those three words, and anybody among the rest who is opposite to that statement must drink a sip of water/tea/whatever the person was drinking. The aim was actually to find out the actual progress between Mars and Vincent ( anyway, Mars sms-ed Jasmine later that they have been going steady since last Friday). It got boring after a short while, so she suggested Zhong(1) Ji(2) Mi(4) Ma(3), where one person sets a number between 0-100 and the rest will take turns saying a number. The range shortens with each number called out, until one person is force to say the number and hence forfeit by drinking some concoction of water added with pepper/salt/sugar/tabasco/etc... I was the first 'lucky' person, and I got a sweet and salty solution. Too much sugar. I ended up downing a couple of plain water in an attempt to clear the sticky feeling at the back of my throat, and I ended up making multiple trips to the toilet. Thankfully, that was also my last time; the rest had to drink at least twice each.

We separated after that. Turned out Mars and Vincent was not going to join us - Mars was not able to get permission to stay overnight at Marc's house, while Vincent had to work the next day. Desmond, meanwhile, made his way back to SIM. Marc, Wei Ren, Jasmine and I went to Chinatown to get mahjong set and table.

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The three shops selling mahjong accessories that we found demonstrated the perfect competition / efficient market that we learnt in Econs and PBF respectively. After some relatively weak haggling, we got a set and table for $90 in all - actually Marc was the buyer - although we were targeting $80. We were assured that the prices offered were among the best around Singapore. Perhaps.

So now we got the what we were looking for, the problem was that the table took up too much space and there was only one passenger seat left in Marc's car. So Jasmine went to meet her parents for dinner while Wei Ren and I took bus to Wei Ren's house, stopping at Toa Payoh Central to buy dinner. We watched Project Superstar while having dinner. M3 was very good and managed to progress to the next round, some of the other contestants with relatively high scores were eliminated. Well, that's the problem when you leave 70% of the result to audience votes. Considering he's a foreigner, I hope he will not be negatively affected by a lack of friends in Singapore. Surely there are plenty of neutrals who vote for the best?

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While in the Toa Payoh MRT station on the way to Bishan to meet Marc, I received a call from home. Apparently the rascal was up to no good again. This time, he cut up one of the back support that my parents bought for him for $20 each - violently. And he somehow managed to disconnect the telephone line such that none of the phones work... My brother is a monster. God help him!!! For that moment, I was really glad not to be at home. I have no wish to be embroiled in the mayhem at home again. And it seemed that there was more. I was to find out when I got home, that the foldable table in the study room has been stamped with pikachu prints. There seemed to be no end to his destructive streak.

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Marc's house was smaller than I thought. It's a small three-storey semi-detached house which has this cosy English feel about it. (Haha, 'small semi-d house' is quite an oxymoron...) Desmond arrived shortly after we reached, and we began our mahjong session while Jasmine watched a Channel U drama. I was a little surprised that Marc and Desmond were more unclear about the rules of the game than I. In any case, lack of touch and knowledge can be easily overcome with tonnes of good luck. What transpired cannot be more apt an illustration. Playing VERY slowly, seemingly with uncertainty, Desmond managed to come up with numerous wins that left us shell-shocked. Even the resident pro - Wei Ren- was at times left dumbfounded by Desmond's eerily good luck. We realised the luck has got nothing to do with the seats when Jasmine took over and the games became more normal. When Desmond took over Marc for his second round, he was to demonstrate even more morale-deflating winning hands. The highlight was when he wrongly thought he won one game and showed his hands. Wei Ren pointed out his mistake and asked him to cover his tiles, but he did not as he thought he would not be able to win anymore since everyone will be guarding against him. Well, surprise, surprise! On his next turn, he drew the only tile which can give him a win(incidentally a '发', which means prosper) !

Maybe we should have asked him for some lucky numbers there and then.

I was relieved when he decided to stop as Marc replaced him. I was the biggest loser, with Desmond the biggest reason for that. Thankfully we played in very small amounts and I only lost $4. :-)

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We stopped at 6am Friday morning. Wei Ren decided to go home early to rest in view of his upcoming mahjong marathon. He's really a mahjong fanatic...no lunatic. His schedule for the weekend reads: Thurs night - mahjong. Fri morning - sleep, afternoon - study for econs test, night - mahjong. Sat morning - econs test, afternoon - sleep, night - mahjong. Sun morning - soccer. I have never heard of a crazier schedule. Maybe I just ignorant.

Meanwhile, the rest of us went to a prata shop near Marc's house for breakfast. The two prata kosong I ordered were the crispiest I've ever eaten. Nice curry too. But I ate a green chili in the curry by mistake. Thought it was a ladyfinger. Yucks!

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Finally reached home at 8am. After washing up and reading the newspapers - Damn! Arsenal lost to Fulham! - I went to bed at 10am, by which time, He was already up and clicking away at the computer.

Woke up at around 2:15pm to go for lunch, and have been slacking till now. Econs lesson is 8hrs away. Time to try to cramp something in for the test tomorrow!

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I love the silence of midnight.

Birthday gifts in November - close to $50.
Mahjong losses - $4.
Peace - Priceless. There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's my ATM card.

Trilogy

It's Saturday again!!! Not the usual Saturday though...


Part 1 - Mr Ting & his icy lair

I hate attending lesson on Saturday - this is supposed to be a day of rest and relaxation! Anyway, it's back to school for Econs again. I slept quite a bit on Friday afternoon, so for once, I wasn't fighting the Zzz monster in Econs class. BUT, it just have to happen. I've managed to avoid it for quite some time, but today, it was back with a vengeance. Behold - the return of the freezing air!!!

Actually the overall temperature was okay for me, but somehow, it was giving my doze nots of rouble...ops...let me clear my doze. What I meant to say was that the draught from the air vent above me was causing my nose to run. My nose hasn't been that fast for quite some time (okay this is rather corny...lol...runny nose, get it?) Apart from having an uncomfortable time, I also had to contend with quite a few irritated stares. Hiaz...Thankfully, the ordeal ended just when I had fully-utilised the two sheets of tissue paper left in the pack that Mars gave to me. Thanks girl!And then the mad rush to Suntec...


Part 2 - The unexpected

Frankly, it was quite crazy. My lesson ends at 12:30pm and I was supposed to reach the NUSS Guild House at Suntec by 1pm for a volunteer appreciation tea. That's almost impossible. Even so, there's no way I was going to go by taxi.I was quite lucky though. My waiting time during transfers were pretty short, and with rapid leg movements, I was able to reach Suntec at around 1:10pm. Pretty incredible, I thought. Then I got held up for about 5mins because I was approached by this female surveyor who asked a few additional questions apart from those in the survey. Then I spotted Shanny sitting at a table not far away. So it's a Prudential roadshow again. Hmmm...somehow I keep running into their roadshows - seven since May - an average of once per month. It's almost like a menstrual cycle. I wonder if other people have similar experience...

I reached the Guild House with a few minutes to 1:30pm. Turns out all the others from my Hougang SCS-RWM group, who are supposed to turn up, have arrived, with the exception of Sebas. Yilin had SMS-ed me earlier saying that he had a competition today and would not be able to turn up. That's okay. What's not alright was that he wrongly accused me of telling him that the event was scheduled for Sunday! What nonsense! Anyway, he received the invitation letter too, so he ought to know the date. Don't try to push the blame to me you moron! LOL!The event was totally different from what I'd expected. Instead of a speech from a guest-of-honour in a hall, followed by interaction and reception, I was greeted by the sound of percussion instruments when I stepped into the Guild House. A group of people sat on chairs in a circle in the middle of a function room (not the hall I'd expected), cocooned in an atmosphere of raccous...erm...sounds. It's not exactly noise, but I would not call it music because the medley of sounds emanating from the drums, sticks, tambourines, and what-not in everyone's hands was not always coherent. I sat down beside Hui Min and soon enough, was joining in the fun with my two wooden sticks(there were instruments placed on every seat). Halfway through, there was a short introduction of names, before the place roared into life again. In the end, though we did not manage to achieve synchrony throughout, almost everyone appeared to have much fun (a few appeared bored) despite the slight pain in the hands from the repeated striking. It was already around 2:15pm by then, and we proceded to have lunch.

The lunch was followed by a lucky draw. A funny one. Apparently, the emcee had too much belief in her ability to deduce a person's gender from the spelling of the name - which is not always easy when dealing with Chinese names. She proceded to have fun calling out the names of those who won prizes in a round-about way. For instance, she called Yilin "a girl with the number 10 in her name", and Jane was "the girlfriend of Tarzan". As for me? Well, apparently my name appears feminine to her. So she described me as "a beautiful girl, yao2 tiao2 shu1 nu3" and proceded to call me "yao2 hui4". Everyone was laughing their heads off when I went up to receive the prize. LOL. Then I realised my prize was some sort of foldable bag that resembles an accordion. It is made of clear plastic with light pink and green prints. :-(

In the end, it turns out that there were only four people who did not receive any prize - PH, Hui Min, Jia Hui, and this guy from another group called Wen3 De2. We thus had our second laugh fest of the day when Wen De, who is 19, was asked to make three different mock wedding proposals to the three ladies, all of whom were at least 2 years older than him. He perform credibly though - that boy has got some great ideas. They were each rewarded with one bottle of the sparkling grape juice that was left.After the event, I decided to shop around in Suntec with Jia Hui, Jane and Xin Hui since it was still early. I even took a photo of a penguin from a standee of Happy Feet in Toy R 'Us and used it as my wallpaper. Irresitibly cute!


Part 3 - Yong Sheng's birthday party!

Finally, for the finale! Fabian had arranged to meet Ming Liang at Pasir Ris Interchange at 5pm but the latter only reached at 6. I could have joined them, but Fabian SMS-ed me at 6:05pm saying that he was tired of waiting for me, and that they were going to leave first. No harm. I decided to walk there. Imagine my surprised when I stepped out of Downtown East to find them alighting from the bus, together with Snoopy. They actually took longer than me! LOL! Turns out the bus had faulty doors. Haha! We walked to Yong Sheng's chalet through this short-cut that I never knew existed. Damn!

We reached to find ourselves one of the earliest from the platoon - only Ken, Kok Wee and Wei Xuan were earlier. I did not like the place. It was small and poorly-lit. And Yong Sheng did not stock up on cards or mahjong! As such, we could only talk and watch TV shows... The rest of the platoon arrived at various intervals. The total turnout was pretty small, but at least it was bigger than what Wei Xuan managed to get. LOL! Of the 15(compared to 10 for Wei Xuan), there were some unexpected faces(at least I didn't expect them) - Lian Chang, Teck Hong, Ivan(from Candace), Chong Ming and Ming Qiang.The main fun of a birthday party, especially when army friends are involved, is to give the birthday boy some 'special treatment'. With the gamely approval of his mum, Yong Sheng was dunked into the swimming pool. As a mere spectator though, I was spared from his revenge. But frankly, I thought his 'treatment' was pretty mild. The cake never even reach his face!

Before leaving, I helped Ken to clean up the chocolate fountain. Okay, actually I didn't help much. I merely gave some advice on removing the chocolate and helped to hold the base of the fountain while he remove the removable pieces. For my meagre efforts, I got some chocolate on my WHITE shirt and my right ear. Oh well...no big deal. Overall, the event was quite boring because of the small crowd and the lack of entertainment. Hope the next birthday gathering will be better!


Some last words...

I went home to find that the wine glass that was part of the door gift from the appreciation tea was broken at the stem. Not that I need it, but I think it's a pity that the glass did not get to serve it's function.

The day of the cold, the unexpected, the boring and the unfulfilled potential - A series of unfortunate (and other) events...

Shopping!!!

Don't let the title fool you - I'm not enthusiastic about shopping...

Anyway, yesterday went to Orchard with Fabian, Ken and Snoopy to shop for presents for Yong Sheng's 21st birthday. Ken and Snoopy was there before me. First thing they did when they saw me was to comment on my attire.

Ken: Aiyo! Why you tuck in?!?
Snoopy: Yalor!
Ken: Do you watch Sesame Street? Your shirt reminds me of Ernie!

Hiaz... Do I look that bad? Anyway, I was wearing one of my favourite shirts, which is a vermillion and blue, horizontal striped shirt. Yong Sheng once commented that I looked gay in that shirt. :-( Am I the only one who thinks that shirt is nice? In any case, I liked the mix of colours and it's very comfortable, so I shall not stop wearing the shirt. :-) Oh, I almost forgot to clarify. I didn't tuck in my shirt - at least not fully. I only tucked in the front because it was quite long. In the end, Ken suggested I tucked it in at one side and leave the other side hanging out. Looks better to me too!

My 'problems' has not ended though. As both of them were wearing black shirts, I stood out like a sore thumb beside them. The moment we stepped out of the MRT station, I was approached by this girl purportedly from a certain modelling agency with the usual praises about my looks and potential... So now I'm supposed to be some hunk who's tall, dark and handsome? Tall and dark maybe, but definitely not handsome... Well, she tried her utmost to convince me that I have perhaps the looks of Andy Lau and I should leave her my name and contact numbers. NO WAY! I rejected her all the way. Needless to say, my friends were very amused by the situation. That shirt has made me the centre of attraction...

If you think that's it, then you are wrong. Turns out Fabian decided to wear a very dark blue shirt, darker than navy blue. So now I REALLY am very prominent beside them... Hiaz...

Thankfully, that's the end of my little side story. *Phew* Now for the task. We had earlier thought of getting a Raoul shirt (Fabian's suggestion), but they all seemed too formal. We couldn't find any one we liked in the other shops as well, so we decided to brainstorm for something else. Then we chance upon them - little bottles of scented water aka eau de toilette. Alright! Now we got something! It was funny how the sales girl used 3 different plastic bags for our purchase - simply redundant and shows her lag of thought...

Next, it was shopping for chocolate powder. Ken is going to bring a chocolate fountain to Yong Sheng's birthday party, and we shall be dipping marshmallows into melted chocolate. I can't wait for that... Unlike what happened earlier, this sales girl realised that the four bags of chocolates will require a big bag, but we never expected the HUGE bag that we were given. I can almost drag the bag along! HaHa!!

Finally our shopping is done! The last task of the day is to walk to Plaza Singapura where Snoopy can can a replacement SIM card. Along the way, we stopped at Cineleisure. Here, I encountered a group of 4 or 5 girls who demonstrated ugly, ungraceful behaviour. I was holding on to a heavy glass door while my friends entered the building. As I was following them in, the girls came up behind me and tried to follow me through, none of them making any attempt to help with the door. Since they were right up behind me, the only thing I can do was to proceed forward. As I'm not blessed with extendable limbs like those of Mr Fantastic, you can imagine what happened as I moved forward and released my grip on the door handle. The last two girls screamed as the door crashed into them. It probably wasn't too bad since the door wasn't exactly swingly freely, but there's probably enough weight on the door to push them through. If only they had some sense to hold on to the door, or if they weren't so close behind me, I could have held the door open for them! Hiaz...

What an eventful trip!

3 'M's

Maddening weather

It's the rainy season again. The hot afternoons and wet evenings conspire to drive me into depression... Ok, maybe not that bad, but enough to cause some discomfort and inconveniences. Give me back my clear skies!!!


Missing Kelly

Wonder where that girl is right now. Said that she will be back on the 18th, but haven't heard from her at all. Sylvia couldn't reach her on her original HP number, and I haven't been able to meet her on MSN. Houdini would be proud of her...


Mixed languages?!?

It seems English has impinge into the speech of Chinese in China. Mr Colin Goh gave a brief review of the use of Chinglish in his column in The Sunday Times on 19 Nov. Perhaps in the near future, the Chinese government will be brainstorming for ways to preserve the Chinese language, the same way the Singapore government is trying to promote the use of the Mother Tongue. Well... the cross-pollination of languages is an inevitable product of globalisation; I guess everyone will just have to accept it. Regardless of the measures and campaigns in place, there will always be purists who hold on to the notion of a single language in speech, and there will be people who prefer a 'rojak' language - whether by choice or circumstance. Elsewhere, people around the world are busy picking up Mandarin with the aim of establishing business ties with the Eastern dragon...

One hot Sunday...Remembering Parry...

Hiaz... Just spent a frustrating half an hour trying to log in to my blogger account. There seems to be some problem with my account. When I try to log in from the Blogger home page, my username was claimed to be non-existent! Well, my first post yesterday certainly didn't appear there by itself! In the mean time, I can only log in through my Google account... I suppose the detour is unavoidable for a computer idiot like me. :-(

Parry held its Closing Gala Dinner yesterday night. Wanted to go but found out too late. Jin Xi told me about the website only on the day before the closing date, and I only accessed the website on the night of the closing date... Haiz... Turns out Jun Jie and Xiao Wei didn't even know that Parry will be merging with Xing Hua wef next year - and I thought the news has already spread to all former students with at least some link to the Internet.

It's a pity that Parry will cease to exist in the near future. It seem not long ago when I first stepped into the school. I could vividly remember the sprawling field (it appeared in a television commercial for a rice company, starring Kit Chan), the tiny annex building which pales in comparison with the modern school halls (we often have to borrow the hall of the neighbouring Rosyth School for bigger events) and the numerous dilapidated buildings at a secluded corner of the compound. I also have fond memories for the rabbits and chickens kept in the coop behind the Teachers' Room, and the Science Garden, with its myriad of plants and a pond community. My school certainly would not look out of place on Ubin.

I loved that the school was situated in a quiet environment, away from incessant traffic noises. Surrounded by landed houses, it seemed to be shielded from the negative influences that permeates the world - relative isolation with only Rosyth as company. I could run around the field without having to endure car exhaust seeping into my nose, and attend classes unaffected by car horns and rumbling engines. It's a very different environment from modern, newer schools built in or near to housing estates due to space constraints. It results in noise and air pollution for both students and residents. An aunt of my who lives in Bishan, complains that the singing of the national anthem and school song in Catholic High (which happens to be my secondary school) wakes up her baby every morning. Well...perhaps I'm exaggerating the noise, and especially air pollution...

In any case, the school will not exist for much longer. Neither will the wide expanse of grass that is unrivalled in size by most schools in Singapore. It is perhaps ironic that the location, while drawing me to the school, is also the reason it has become redundant. Its sequestered nature has resulted in dwindling enrolment. Even Rosyth has moved out a couple of years ago. Unlike Rosyth, which is a 'branded' school, Parry is hardly known by anyone with no links to the school and is not living in that estate, and hence lack the drawing power. In fact, when Rosyth was still located there, many Parry students were failed applicants to Rosyth! It didn't help that Parry did not produce fantastic students who grap headlines and public attention. Last year's enrolment, I heard, was less than 100...

I'll always remember Parry. The same, it applies, I'm sure, for those men who frequent Parry field for a game of soccer during evenings...

The Beginning...

effulgence • \ih-FULL-junss\ • noun : radiant splendor : brilliance

'Effulgence' is my favourite word, and has been so ever since I came to know of it. I like the way it sounds, and its meaning matches my desire to be the light of hope to my friends during times of darkness.

I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time, but laziness combined with a certain sense of uncertainty has resulted in the overdue birth of this blog. I wasn't sure this was what I wanted to do; whether I will persevere with the blogging or give up after some time; whether there is any point to doing this. In the end, I decided that it would be good to have some records of my life for future reference and reminiscence. In any case, it would be much easier than to keep a written diary. *chuckles*

I believe I'll be able to keep this blog regularly updated. Hope you enjoy reading it!

To find out more about me, check out my friendster profile at http://www.friendster.com/2786825.