Born in the wrong era? No. There is no wrong era.

i'm glad i finally made the choice to go down to the farewell dinner.
not alot of people went, but that's ok i guess.
it's not like this is the last we'll ever see of the lad,
just that it's sorta like an official "thanks, don't worry and go forth" kind of thing.
don't really know how to explain it, but it was good talking.
the preliminary talking and the strictly guys' time together, both will be remembered and treasured.
still got ways to go in all our lives, if God willing,
so this ain't no end of nothing and i look forward to the times we can get together to chat and catch up. :)

but for now, here's my little piece of heart.

still have faint memories from the childcare days.
when we met for the first time after so long at the bbq,
i still recognised him.
it was nice to know that the recognition was mutual.
the growth in his life since he became more serious has been a great encouragement all this while.
lotsa unusual insights and incredible skills have made him a big surprise to be around too.
a good pal. a faithful comrade.
so
cheers to mr surprise
and may you continue to seek God in all you do.
GO FORWARD!

still just a little boy
nothing very much more than that.
immature and naive.
childish and lazy.
a worm trying to help others become butterflies.
how ironic.
haiii.
it cannot continue on like this.
there must be growth...change.
yet that not from within but from without.
a worm is pretty much helpless on its own.

hey!
internet's finally back up and online again.
dad bought a new router (a more powerful one..and a new comp as well along with it...) but apparently had some problems over the past few days, so no internet.
been fine without internet though. time to catch up with other stuff...like reading...
finally finished "when we were orphans" a few days ago.
not bad. that day not sure why, but i just felt like blowing my time reading.
spent most of the day at my spot by the window in the attic reading and doing other stuff. very nice. especially with the wind chime constantly tinkling against the breeze....
yesterday i went to mr lim's house alone. dong had to go out with his family while mr ong had disciple class and then had to go home to prepare for today's staff meeting.
i was the first there apparently. ms lee also couldn't make it yesterday. and the rest were coming later(among whom turned out to be only kc, turtle and ettp)
so! started the afternoon with reading, hoped to feel a bit tired and take a nap eventually, but an interruption quickly presented himself before me and made me change all my plans...
mel wouldn't sleep and was kinda hyper yesterday so i ended up playing with him.
so funny, he just got out of bed and his hair was flying all about.
occupied himself with whatever was in my bag...took my book as well.
i let him play with it, and i realised i could send him into a fit of giggles by just flipping the pages quickly in his face so that he would feel the wind from the pages. so interesting. then he started crushing some of the pages.
damage not too bad, so whenever he did i'd just take the book away from him, flip some pages in his face and pass the book back to him.
then he tore a a page.
"ok mr, time to play with something else"
passed him some old scraps of paper. played around abit before finding some shiny cards in my organiser for him to play with.
did lotsa stuff with the cards...heh, so easily captivated...
every now and then tho, he'd step on one of the cards and they'd stick to his clammy feet. then he'd walk around abit before discovering them and then he'd sit down and try to pick them off his feet.
hilarious at times.
lol. shoul've recorded the stuff we did yesterday. nice addition to the collection...
BUT I CAN'T.
phone's being repaired.
mine, AND my brother's.
i think i'm not made to use handphones lah. every one i get accustomed to spoils.
i'm prolly better off using payphones... or smoke signals....or others' phones...
arrgghh now using my mom's phone. but she wants it back. gonna be phoneless again.
yay. i like it that way actually. uncontactable. less worries.
today is the 29th of january and long john silver still hasn't opened yet.
WHEN WILL YOU OPEN!?!!?
they say jan'07 but jan'07 is gonna end soon!
can't wait to go...hopefully i can make it on the opening day...
in the meantime,
was going to buy kfc, but abit late liao.
think i'll just go buy a cup of green apple yoghurt instead. mmmm yoghurt.. and some junk food on the side..

been coming back late the past few days.
not good, mom may get upset...better show my face aronud her more often...

anyway, some stupidity to laugh at - joke of the week occured on sat.

romans trail in the morning, street-e in the afternoon, jogging in the evening.
the plan was simple: go in shorts, change into jeans, then change back into shorts.
so, as according to plan, woke up grabbed the jeans and went off.

all's well for rom trail, time for street-e, better get changed.

(in the toilet)
what's this? i don't remember my jeans being so big....
since when could i fit 2 of me in one pair of jeans....?
giordarno blues...sounds like mine...blue ah, mine is blue...but the size.....
36 and 28 varies by 8 sizes (i realised), and 8 sizes is quite a vast difference(i realised).
with 28, a simple belt will keep your jeans snugly in place.
with 36 though, not even a belt can keep your jeans from the effects of gravity....

swell.
brought the sphere's jeans. no way i could wear those(not at least for another 30 years i reckon).
contingency plan 1:borrow a spare pair of jeans from whoever was in office( which meant girls)
not on my life!(maybe that's too harsh, maybe not on my pride as a guy better)
contingency plan 2: borrow a pair of shorts(turtle one), and swop with ms lee for his jeans.
went on with 2.
haiiii....
waht a joke.
i need to work on my identification of jeans man...

4 slices of whole meal bread, toasted.
4 slices of honey baked ham.
4 slices of cheese, melted.
3 eggs, hard boiled and diced.
5 butterhead lettuce leaves.
1 tomato, sliced thinly.
1/3 a cucumber, sliced thinly.
1 can of jolly shandy.

put it all together and you get a monster.
eat that monster if you're feeling down,
and you'll feel better.

so nice to have such a clear sky, especially at night.
37.
that's the number of stars i just counted in the starry starry expanse above. : )

yesyes, there are millions of stars in the galaxy, and if you go to real dark places(like in jungles during army) you get to see tonnes more...numerous as the sand in the dessert.
but come on, to be able to see even ONE star sometimes is amazing enough in singapore(not counting the sun of course).

but more importantly, let's not forget why the stars can even be counted in the first place on a night like this... it's all because of the rain!
the rain's really been pouring down the past few days, and i think that instead of dreading it, we ought to enjoy it!

just the way rain falls down from the clouds alone is amazing enough. and the sight taht you get when it really pours...awesome....
i figure that one of the ways to get through a rainy day(if we're going outdoors) is to get wet in the process, and be mentally prepared for it. then you won't be angry when the weather takes a turn for the 'worse' and we happen to get drenched.

there will be some inconveniences(that's a given), our stuff may get wet, our clothes won't be dry in time, our phone reception drops, the roads become more congested...but we can always learn from these ah.

stuff wet then water proof loh. clothes not dry then just wear old clothes lah. phone reception drop then don't use lo. road congested good what, can see the rain longer...if need to rush then leave earlier loh.

adapt faster, be angry shorter.
just as eponime would say it, "and rain will make the flowers grow~~"
ahh...i like the rain...lovely..

mel can walk now.
no stroller. no helping adult hand. no wall support.
and no boundary.
if you're in between him and his destination, he knows no "detour".
he just plows right through you.
not helpful when you're in the midst of a Bible study...already he's stepped onto ms lee, me, andrew, mr ong, AND our Bibles...
little terror...albeit cute little terror.
can't wait for him to learn to play catching and soccer and the like...wah, then can put his plowing energies to proper use!

i'm sure it'll come quite soon enough though.
time passes way too quickly.
yes, i know, we weren't made for time the way it is now, but still...
sometimes i just wished that some things don't end.
...at least not just yet...
but alas, somethings won't change just cause we don't like it.
we need to learn, grow, and just
GO FORWARD!

this year for lit, we'll be doing othello.
save for yours truly, it seems everyone else has already gotten the text;
bought it, is what i mean.
karen lim has been hounding me to get the text, telling me to go down to the bookshop to get a copy of the "Cambridge University Press" edition,
something i utterly refuse to do.
getting the text is not the issue.
it's paying $26 for an a-level accpted text that i cannot accept.
sure. you pay more(alot more that is) for the added 61 page intro and the foot notes along with the original text, but 26 bucks is daylight robbery!

despite the apparent dilemma,
fret i did not, for an alternative solution was quickly reached:
Bras Basah: The Land of Books Old and Cheap
just the place you'd hope to find some old shakespearean book(hopefully one littered with notes scribbled about from some uni kid).

promptly went down and picked up a copy of wordsworth's shakespeare's five great tragedies.
all this at a low low price of only $6!
wahahaha. 5 plays for $6!
can you beat that!?
cut out the othello section and...
voila!
othello text waiting to be studied and annotated!

still i needed to get a text that was exam accepted....
but somehow or other that was solved.
clara, who dropped lit apparently, has graciously been willing to lend me her text until the end of the year!
she hasn't specified any fees yet(i hope there's none), but it shouldn't be that i high i think...less than $10 maybe?
maybe she'll be happy to just get back a thoroughly-highlighted book
....maybe not

so there! all my lit problems solved, $20 dollars cheaper than everyone else too!
now i just need to get through reading it(which is a whole new challenge in itself)
monday got mini quiz...

I SHALL'ST HENCE ENDEAVOURETH TO GRASPST THE TALE BY THE DAWN OF THE TO MORROORRORRORROW.

What Doesn't Kill You,
Only Makes You Stronger.

it's been thrown at me on numerous accounts,
everybody wants to know the answer to it,
yet not everybody wants to explicitly ask it.

just finished talking with dong over msn.

he asked it.
i answered it.
i threw it back.
he answered it...sort of

i don't really care for probing.
sometimes it gets pretty childish and that irritates me.
i think everything has it's own time and place.
if not now, then not now.
i don't mind waiting. i AM waiting.

i've decided that i will take a rem and light approach to it.
clues can be found littered about the various posts actually....
this just makes things more interesting for me i guess.

i don't get it.

if metal gear solid is such a genius of a game,

if one piece is such an awesome series,

if les miserables is such an outstanding musical,

if the man who was thursday is such a brilliant piece of literature,

and if forest gump is such an award-winning movie,

why is it,
that out of all the people i meet,
so few know of them,
let alone like them?

it just doens't make sense.

dad got for caderam a les miserables cd cos we honestly had no idea what we could get for him.

he smsed my dad just now to thank him for the gift....

the series of smses that followed were as such

dad: hope u enjoy the cd

caderam: huh....but i dun noe what they are talking about leh....

dad: but it's all in english

caderam: ya....but..they all super slang....

lol. joker.

10116.
new high score.
73 counts.

i am like an overcooked piece of bacon: burnt, unfit and fat.

went swimming with john and the hydro-duo (ms lee and dong) at tampines swimming complex on sat.
the weather was mighty fine; nice clear sky and constant breeze.
everything was working out to be just right for a swim(um...play water actually...not swim)
...and then we got into the water.
it was so cold!
had to keep ourselves warm by playing catching(it's amazing how time flies when you play catching)
anyway, kept warm mainly by moving around(hence catching),
the alternative method was to get out of the water and let the sun do it's thing....
bad idea.
acheived criteria one this way.

yeterday didn't help much either. played ice and water(or in cheryl's version; inferno and iceman and fire extinguisher and charcoal and human) under the scorching sun.
not taht it wasn't fun, rather, the sun's rays just added to my pain...bittersweet fun in that sense.
i was catcher for one round(ehhh iceman)...ran alot...and without stopping...until...no...breath...
this was when i realised that i satisfied criteria two.

then last night went for caderam's birthday party.
ate alot...came back...weighed myself...
haiii.....
criteria three met.

TIME TO START EXERCISING!
lose weight and grow strong!
transform from burnt bacon to grey fox!

finally visited the science centre!
saw the tesla coil in action!
saw the exhibits of old that have been there from since my primary skool days!
saw the curiosity shop that sells all sorts of cool "science" toys!
totally awesome.
went down yesterday to recce the place together with ms lee and dong. gonna be having a follow up program for chai chee sec ones there in a couple of weeks time so we went down to see what they could do there.
didn't get to leisure stroll like i intended from long ago, but at least i managed to tour the place and get a rough idea of what it's like....the recce was successful too. now all i need to do is wait for another opportunity to make a trip down to slowly appreciate the place(same for the zoo too)...and i wanna go check out the curiosity shop as well(alot of cool stuff there(some random nonsene)) cos i didn't get to explore it yesterday.
one similarity that the science centre has with the zoo though, i have noticed, is that it is littered with kids running about.
the difference however, is that at the science centre, quite a couple of exhibits were "under repair"...very likely due to the effect that such bratty, snot-nosed kids have on exhibits.
the zoo, on the other hand, wouldn't face such an issue. in fact, i think if u put a kid and an exhibit together, the exhibit would probably last longer than the kid. but that's only at the zoo.

ARRggHh sometimes i wished parents would be stricter with their kids.
control your kids, or don't bring them there in the first place!
all they do is press buttons and hope to see something happen...kids belong in playgrounds, not science centres....maybe that's too harsh(i like pressing buttons too i realised).

ok. bring them to the science centre(don't forget playgrounds though), but make sure they treat things with proper care. it sucks when u go down and half the exhibits are under repair or missing things...

ok! time to look for another good day to go down.
maybe next friday?
still need to go zoo also...
haha. then how about studying leh?
that can wait....i think.

played zero-point. ingenious game.

played limbo rock. joins my list of c.m.i's alongside dota and scissors paper stone.

put mayo on people's face while they were sleeping. the look on their face when they realised it: priceless.

upheld justice by rightly taupoking the relevant parties. my specs had it hard though, but sometimes, sacrifices are necessary.

played sardines and hide and seek. great fun. just that we had confiscate all handphones cos people kept using them to illuminate the place and spoil the game. must play again someday.

celebrated the brotherhood throwing the guys into the sea. surprisingly, some of them enjoyed it more than i thought they would. :)

went around burying markers in the wee hours of the morning. how cool is that?

sleep talked. must have spooked her out.

developed the Radical Risk strategy after much thought. failed the first attempt...but success is not far away...i can sense it...

slept a grand total of only 7 hours in three days. concussed when i came back...couldn't even walk home straight, let alone stand up and shower.

grown in my esteem of some of the senior church membrs from the wisdom that they displayed during the forum sessions.

learnt and reminded of many things through the sessions and the QT material. Thanks be to God.

dealt a blow too...taught in a humbling manner that i need to be more careful in the way i interact with others. lost my appetite when i learnt that i had hurt the person..haiii...
terrible boy. that i am.

sad times. sobering times. angry times. happy times. siao times. quiet times
enjoyed the camp.
high bar to reach. thankfully i'm never alone.
:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
4 days late, i know. but who cares?
it's been 2 days into the skool term and already...i'm sleeping in lectures...
GAHHH. what to do!? the teacher really REALLY very boring..
but really..this year will be xiong.
looking at where i am, looking at where i need to be by the end of this year,
i think....i'm better off as...

Ernest The Handy Man.

imagine that!
1 call away from having all your household prolems solved!

toilet choked?

call ETHM!

bulb blown?

call ETHM!

fridge spoilt?

call ETHM!

air-con not working?

CALL ETHM!!!!

just been burgled?

CALL 999!!!

ok. enough with dreaming.

at the dawn of the year, i already planned for some systems to be put in place to make sure that i don't die too uglyly(does such a word even exist?).
now i just need to get it all in motion and live as responsibly as i can.
the rest i can only leave it up to the single, solitary Sovereign.
with that settled, the only thing left for me now is to advance.
just go!