Monday, September 24, 2007

A trip back from the Sinseh....

Just came back from a chinese traditional medicine practitioner, or simply... Sinseh...

Went to fix my arm.... left arm... think there was some problem with the veins or something... because for the past few days, whenever i raised my arm, or do a rotation, i always feel some pain inside the shoulder...
I've had some injuries a few years back, in Secondary 3 to be precise, during my geography trip to Vietnam... slipped and sort of injured my shoulder... so i think it could be an old injury recurring...

It's been quite some time since i last visited that Sinseh... in fact a few years...
I used to visit him quite often, especially during my secondary school days, because i keep spraining my ankles, both left and right, while playing basketball...
But i guess as i grow up, i become my careful, and less prone to injuries... and thus the reduced visit to that Sinseh....

Anyway, as to why i will suddenly mentioned so much about a chinese Sinseh.... haha... well... it's kinda nostaglic i guess... because at the end of the session, he was like asking me about my current life.. finsih army already and stuffs... then i began to realise it had defintely been quite a long time since i last visited him... haha...

Yep.... and the other thing was... i finally get to experience this bamboo cover heat treatment, those type where they heat the interior of a bamboo cone or glass cone for awhile, then stick it over your skin... it's suppose to suck out all the bad stuffs from injuries... something like that..

It's kinda cool, because i've seen so many people doing it , but in all my visits there, i was only given the usual "tui na" on my sprained leg, so i've never tried the cone thingy...

So it was kinda special... haha...

Actually i think the another reason why i did this entry, was also becasue i wanted to blog more on my new laptop... haha...

Anyway... yep... that's all....

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Nelson's Birthday Celebration... yesteday...

Today was a rest day for me, as well as to catch up on all my readings and stuffs... been busy for the past few days....
And so.. didn't go out or do much today, except to replenish supplies from NTUC...

Anyway,went for Nelson's 21st Birthday clebration yesterday... another gathering for the MK team....

It was a BBQ session at Punggol park... i realised that 3 out of 4 of the MK team did the celebration BBQ style... so waht will the 4th and youngest memeber do?
But well.. i guess his house is big enough to do wahtever he wants...

Anyway, we went down earlier to help witht he set-up and stuffs, then basically after that, i am more involved with the barbequing...
Nelson's busy entertaining friends.... the other 2 went on with their respective 'spouses' to do their stuffs... so i am like kinda lonely...
But fortunately... or unfortunately, i've got 2 other VS classmates for company, R and J....
Yep... those who know, will know... haha
It's been so long since we all last gathered.... since i stopped organising BBQs for my former class... haha...
Hey... it's tiring to do it all the time man...

But i'm kinda tempted to oragnise another one again... haha....
But we will see how things go first....

VS... those were the days man....

And yep... basically i was just bbqing and eating at the same time... it's a joy to see your food cook, then eating it hot ... ^_^

Then basically... we stayed on for awhile for the cakes and photo taking... chilled around till near mid-night, then proceeded home...

Oh yar... also ,managed to catcha glimpse of Nelson's potential.... haha.. well.... quite sure they can move on from there...
But then, i will be like the sore thumb in the team liao.... the only single man... haha...

I noticed a age pattern in all the GFs of the team too.... Nelson's 2 years younger, HK's 1 year younger, and Luis's is the same age...
And so.... if the pattern is consistent, i will either be getting one older than me by 1 year, or younger by 3 years.... haha....

Well... just rubbish findings... ^_^

Went for a soccer session in the morning before the clebration... after much persistent persuasion from the manager.... haha..
No choice man... the star goal-keeper.... when you are needed, you are needed...

I would say my performance is rather good for that session... i'm did quite abit of good saves here and there, although the fact remained that we lost every match played...

I'll like to give a honest feedback here though.... i mean... as a goal-keeper, i can only do as much to stop goals from getting in.... but if the scorers are not getting goals in to help reduce the chances of shots against me, i don't think it's fair to have the blame put on the goal-keepr...
From where i stand, i can see the match very clearly, and i realised that the number of goals scored is actually a very low ratio of shots attempted at the opposite team...
If i am not mistaken, i believe i saved more goals then the goals scored by the team...

Well.... it's not something that i like to brag about, but i would like to present some facts around here.... because it is kinda annoying to get critised for letting goals in...
I mean, i can improve , and i want to, if you can talk to me properly...
But i wonder how come those on the field doesn't seem to be improving too?

This brings me to my 2nd point... my personal feeling is that the blame is put more on the goal-keeper's blunder to save goals than the striker's missed attempt at an easy shot... or something like that...
I mean, if i fumbled abit on saving a goal, i get the critisim and stuffs, but i don't see much being done about a striker's fumble shot to an open goal, or easy shot...

Anyway, but mentioning this stuffs, i am not trying to do any finger pointing here and there... i mean afterall, it is a team game....
So, i believe the team can only improve, if the whole team improve... i can learn and accept all the critism for goal-keeping, but if those out on the field aren't going to improve, then what is the point?

If you want to play soccer, let's play good soccer together...

So, are you game enough?

Thursday, September 20, 2007

^_^... Fujitsu Lifebook A6030WDVP

Finally... after much hardwork...waiting... travelling... lugging the big box around...

All those sweat... aching muscles....

Finally.. and here i am... blogging with my new latptop.... ^_^

No words can describe my joy man.... haha...

Big screen.... bigger keyboard... stylus pen.... ^_^

Ok... basically i've already mentioned the specifications...

But yep.. finally getting the full thing.... in perfect conidtion... no more dead pixels... managed to convince them to let me change it...

I must say... i was rather impressed... because initally they were able to clear off 1 pixel... in the middle... and i have no idea how... but seeing the other dead pixel there, i am still not satisfied...
Then after hanging around for awhile... the manager finally allowed the change... haha... seeing them i am rather reluctant and so on...

Hey.. i paid so much... seriously expecting to get a perfect condition notebook man...

Anyway... they changed it... and yep.. here it is...

Got a small problem though.... you see.. yesterday when i set it up... i only charged it for awhile, becasue i thought they will be changing the whole thing, including the battery... so no point charging full for them...
I'm suppose to charge around 15hours for the first charge... so that the battery won't be affected...
And the problem is... they only changed the laptop, without the battery... so i am actually using back the old battery which i didn't do a full charge.... which is not very good....

Sian....

But well... at least all the other stuffs are perfect... can always get a new battery...

Trying to console myself here....

Anyway.... at least i've finally got what i wanted... very happy liao....

Now busy trying to configure my settings... load all the stuffs...

Kinda late liao.. tomorrow still got school....

Well... go sleep le...

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

A scene of happiness, a scene of emptiness...

Sigh...As the title suggested...

I was initially thinking of typing this entry in the formal format, but i realised that i won't be able to express myself out as much as if i wrote it in speech-induced format... so i guess i will carry on my own style... haha...

Anyway... as mentioned... Sighz....

This morning, i gave the computer shop a call, regarding my laptop. I had a good mind to nag and scold them abit, but upon hearing that the laptop is already ready for collection, i seem to be overcome by the joy to remember to do anything funny...
But i still did question them as to why they didn't call me up to go and collect, but instead waited for me to call to let me know about it...
The guy on the phone can't seem to give a definite answer... so well... i'm not that bothered too... i rather have my laptop anyway...

And so... i happily went down in the afternoon to go collect.

Oh yar.. just mention something here... in case someone got similar encounters.
I was at a bus stop near my house waiting for the bus, when a chinese middle-aged guy came up to me to ask for a dollar to take a bus home, because of some reason which i didn't hear properly...something to do with his workers and lorry or something...
Anyway, upon scanning his face, and deciding that he seem to be a honest chap, not a trickster, i went on to dig for some coins.
At this moment, he requested for $2.50, to take a bus back to woodland.
Seeing that the amount is not alot, and deciding to do something good (it's been quite awhile since i did some donation.. ^_^), i proceeded on to give him $2.60... no change..
After that, he thanked me, then went on his way, probably to the Bedok interchange...

Was thinking along the bus journey... wondering if he was indeed a con-man...
But judging from his face, i still think he is ok... so well...

Anyway, as to why i mention this, well... nothing special in particular... just hoping he is not a trickster... haha...

Anyway...reached the shop... got my laptop... checked through abit... the shop-keeper did powered up the laptop to show me the specs, but only in the BIOS mode... blue bright screen with white words.... rather hard to see..
And now... here is the problem...

When i got home, and powered up the laptop to set it up... my brother noticed 1 dead pixel... smacked right in the middle of the screen, just to the left....

Sianz.....

And i have to notice another one, on the right side....

Sianz X 10....

Haiz... what to do... my brother still tell me they normally won't exchange unless it's more than 7 pixels....

But feeling dissatisfied... i called them up to enquire about it... and well... at least i managed to convince them i need an exchange... because the pixel was in the middle... very un-sightly...

And so... i can go down tomorrow to change it...

But that is also the problem... i have to go down tomorrow... Sian...

Carrying the big box around (mine is 15.4") taking bus is not very convenient... driving is out because it's in the city area... parking is expensive...

But well... i guess i have no choice too... i'm a newbie at buying laptops... haha... didn't know how well i am suppose to spot the pixels...
Well.. at least i've learnt it now...

But i think the shop-keeper is also rather cunning.. because he didn't let me have much time to check the laptop, or show me the screen to properly scan for the dead pixels...
Hmmm.....

Never mind... tomorrow i will go sort it out with them....

And so here it is.. my laptop in the box... sitting down there on the floor... waiting to be changed tomorrow...

Monday, September 17, 2007

A rather free weekend...

It has been a rather free weekend, due to the lack of projects from my part-time job.
And so, i did have alot more time for myself, to rest, to re-energise, to sleep late, and to watch the many movies borrowed from friends.
And not forgetting, to catch up on my schoolwork, not that there is alot to begin with.
But in order to achieve my aim, i believe the effort should start right from the beginning.

Nothing in particular special happened for this week, except for the earthquake encounter for the 2 days.
Well, to be fair, there was abit of commotion in my school though, because Friday was the last day of our student week, a week where all the CCAs will showcase their stuffs to attract membership, and also the enterprising entrepreneurs will display their goods for sale.
Another thing was, i managed to catch a glimpse of a local celebrity, because she was the host of the variety show about some student beauty search in universities and polytechinics, entitled "school flower school grass hunt", in mandarin. The English title would sound rather weird.
By the way, the celebrity was Fiona Xie.

To be honest though, i was not exactly in the mood to join in the fun. The reason being, i was alone at that time. My friends has already left, and since i did not want to go home that early yet, i decided to go to the library to do some work.
In fact, that has been my way of life in SIM, going to the library to spend my time. The advantage being that there is free air-con, as well as electricity, so i could do my presentation works there too.

In case you seem to be feeling that there is something rather different in this entry, you are most probably right.
If you have noticed, I have chosen to use proper and rather formal English writing in this entry, eliminating the various slangs, and all the "three dots".

It sounds rather weird to me, and it actually takes more effort to complete my blog in this manner, but i believe that by doing so, it can help me in my essay writings.
My blog have been a way for me to maintain my English since my enlistment, but i have been using mostly of speech-induced format of writing, like all the dots and slangs. It does help abit, but i think it is insufficient for a University level of writing.
And so, I've decided to start off with this entry.
Further continuation with this will be subjected to my mood, and time available, but i will try to do this more often.

I did went out for awhile on Sunday though, to meet up with 2 of the MK team to get a gift for another friend. I shall spare the details in order not to leak details.
But we did spent quite abit of time at Bras Brasar Complex (pardon me if i have mis-spelt the name) browsing and racking our brains on what to buy, before finally deciding on the gift.
And after that, we all went home because HK has quite abit of school work to do.

Today is still a free day for me, with no work and no school. And so i went about to complete some stuffs which i have been putting off, like booking the servicing for my Kia Picanto(KP). I managed to get a slot for tomorrow morning, so i will reach the service center before 0700hrs, then proceed on to school where i shall spend the next 5 hours or so trying to do something, because my lesson only starts at 1230hrs.
I think it will be abit of a problem, but i will see what i can do about it.
Maybe i will head to Luis's house to hang out, but i believe going over at 0730hrs is not exactly a good time to hang around. I doubt he is even awake.
So i guess i just have to hang around the library, which only opens at 0900hrs.

Going home would not be economically and time logical, so the option is out. But it remains a last resort if i got too bored with doing nothing.

This is already the 3rd week of waiting. And i am still not getting any news of my new laptop, and it is starting to annoy me. I have been calling the shop every week to check on it, but all they can tell me last week was that it will come this week, but they do not know which day, which is rather un-acceptable to me.
I mean, if you are ordering the goods to come, surely you will know when is it coming by now. Like i said, i has been 3 weeks. Unless of course, they haven't start ordering,and they are waiting for more orders to come int before doing so, which will make me kind of angry.
I have heard of alot of unpleasant news about the duration of getting laptops bought from these IT fairs, and now i resonance with them because i am encountering this issue myself now.

Sighing, i think i shall give them a call tomorrow, if they are still not calling me. If it is coming this week, i think it would be reasonable to inform the customer earlier in the week so they can make plans to collect it, and so i believe by tomorrow would be an acceptable date-line.

I shall wait and see.

This has definitely affected my decision to purchase laptops from these electronic fairs from now on. Not that i will be getting anymore soon, but it just irks me to have to wait so long to get my hands on something that i have been so excitedly anticipating.

Not a very good deal i would say. By the time i receive it, i think the price for it would have fallen, due to the pattern of falling prices of computer and parts by the month/months.
Just the other day, i saw an advertisement in The StraitsTimes about a particular model of an Acer laptop. The price has dropped $100, and it is including more stuffs as compared to those given in the fair.
If that laptop has been sold at this price during the fair, i would have considered getting it.
Although it may not have as much security features or the stylus pen function in the Acer laptop, the Acer latop scores for having a good graphics card.
Well, not that it is that important, but it is a point for consideration.

This entry seem to have been dragging on with some of my grouses. I think sufficient has been said, and i shall stop here to end your agony to read it, and of course, for me to carry on my revision in preparation for my final goal.

Till then.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

2nd Wave???

I just experienced the 2nd wave... at around 0754hrs...

Heard the report on YES 93.30... seem like the quake now is much more powerful than yesterday's... much more areas of Singapore is affected... including kallang...
Anyway,confirmed yesterday's earthquake was from Indonesia...it was confirmed to be at around 8.2 magnitude after evaluation...

Even more jialat....
I think they are really having a hard time there liao...

This time though, i was more alert... haha... i mediately got my handphone and took a video of my fish tank...
But well... butter fingers... pressed the shoot button twice, became pause... haha.. only realised after awhile... so only managed to get some good shots... the shots after was like subsiding already... darn...
But still... can see the water in my fish tanks shaking quite strongly... a plant was uprooted again... but lucky the water didn't spill over.. again...

This time, the duration seem to be about the same as yesterday's.... 30s plus... maybe slightly longer...

In case you are wondering how come i am still at home... haha.. lesson's in the afternoon... and i was suppose to go for a run at 0700hrs... but was kinda lazing around in bed... until i felt the tremors...
Then immediately got up to take this video and blog... haha...



Hmm... think i can go for a run liao... fully awake liao...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Earthquake???

I think this should be reported on the radio news already.... heard it on Yes 9.33...

Head still spinning abit... machiam like sea sick like that...

Yep... i think i just experienced a mini-earthquake in my room... and really like just only...

The thing started at around 1913hrs... and i was like wondering what's wrong with my head... seem to be shaking... like on water like that... thought i am too tired or what...
But i didn't rule out earthquake too... though i have never experienced any tremors despite living in Bedok for so long...

But then... i went out to the living room... then i can confirm it was an earthquake liao... the water in my 2 fish tanks were like shaking so violently.... it almost spilled over....
Lucky the water level was not that high... but one of my water plant was uprooted from the water-bed...
But it was kinda cool... the water level in my tanks were swinging simultaneously... in unison man..

Stunned....

Man... if i had gotten that video... can sell to newspaper and Mediacorp liao.... haha... $_$

The whole session lasted about 30s, to my best estimation... i wanted to shoot the video of my shaking fish tanks, but due to my "stunning" for awhile... i was abit slow to react... and when i finally got my handphone to shoot the thing.... the tremor subsided...

Wa.... i was actually still contemplating whether i should go down to safety... because afterall... i don't think it is a good idea to jump from the 22nd story... very very hard thing to do.... in the event that the building got problem or what...
But upon seeing the surrounding area so peaceful, with the people at the nearby stadium still playing soccer... i decided to stay put...

Phew... my head is still not that stable yet... can feel some spinning motion...

Wao... first time experiencing this man... must blog it down at first hand... haha...

I did a check with my surrounding relatives and friends... WK from Seng Kang felt it, but my cousin in Simei didn't...
And my dear Tu-Er, who like live just 5 minutes away from me, but can't feel anything????

Stunned.... maybe my block absorbed all the power liao... haha... so i think i deserve a treat yar?
Can go blk 85 eat.... haha...

Feeling much better now... after drinking some hot fruit tea.... and listening to a new song that i was recently hooked on...
Do some introduction here... the new song from FIR- Yue Ya Wan...

No words can describe this song man.... i am just like hooked on it.... the melody... voice... "zhuan ying"(turn voice)... everything was so beautiful.... perfect...

Really one of the best songs i've heard... waiting for the MTV to come out.. now can only hear the song recorded on radio on YouTube...

Digressed abit... haha....

But well... heard from my cousin it was a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia.... i think that is really very bad man..7.9 is like so high... no kidding...

If i am feeling a little spiny by feel the tremors so far away... i think they are having a serious problem there man... i am really so thankful that we are not near the earthquake zone.... or in one ....

Man... i really pity them man....

Still abit stunned... my first encounter...

Maybe next time i should consider moving to a landed property or lower floor... experiencing such a thing on such a high floor is not a very nice feeling man...

Still... i lived to tell the tale... which i don't think alot of Indonesians will...

In case i am wrong here... i got my information from my cousin who lives in marine parade... the younger one... so if it is not from Indonesia... please ring her up... ^_^

Anyway.... yar... my brain is still kinda stuck... don't really know what to say liao... haha...

Oh well... yar.... ok...

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

Today is my Dad's birthday, but we didn't get to celebrate it, because well.. he is in Sabah...
But anyway, i wished him over the phone... and my Mum is bringing back a gift we bought form Singapore...
I was planning to get him a pen with his name engraved... but since i couldn't rush to get it done... i will get it to him at a later date...

Anyway, i don't think he can see this... haha...

Went for a basketball session this morning... was beginning to play much better already... with some improvement in stamina... since i started doing more regular running... haha...
Still building up on that though.... 42.125km is no joke man...
i should be able to take the whole thing mentally... but what i fear is that my leg will cramp and give up on me... then if i limp all the way to the finish line.. i think i will be in newspaper liao man.... not very nice... haha...

So yup.. keeping up with my training...

Rested for a week without school last week... starting school again this week,, with jobs in between....

Oh yar... nearly forgotten.. went for 2 primary school friend's combined birthday celebration at Settler's yesterday night... first time being there... ever since my failed attempt at organising my own 21st birthday there...
Anyway... it was a rather fun event... playing games... and meeting up with friends that i have not seen in like... 8 years?
Haha.... some of them wasn't even close friends back in primary school, but after yesterday night, well... i guess we all became abit closer...haha...
A very disappointing thing though... the closer friends are the one who pang seh, last minute back out.... i shall call them the "Gay Gang".. 3 of the gays... 1 don't go, all will follow suite that type... turtle....

Still... i think the advantage of the smaller group was that we began to interact more with one another... if you have a big group... it will be kinda hard to do that... so well....

This afternoon, JK made a bet with me... a meal at sizzler... to see that by the end of next year, whoever gets attached first will have to buy the other guy the meal...
Muahaha.... i am bent on winning that meal man.... ^_^

We'll see ... haha...
Having plans to include some other bachelors too... then the stake will be bigger...

In a way, i think this is a good way to let me focus on my FCH.... yep...

Hmm.. guess that's all...

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

I finally did it....

I can't believe it myself... but well... i just did it man....

In fact... i did it this morning... before i went for work, after i came back from a run at Bedok Reservoir....

The thought just came... and i did it.....

Ok... in case this is sounding wrong for some of you.... i shall stop crapping...

What i have done was to sign up for the SCFM....

Yep.... all 42.125km of it....
In case anyone is still clueless about it... it's the Standard Chartered Full Marathon... 42.125km...

So far... i've started running for 4.8km only... which is 1 round around Bedok Reservoir... still a long way to go... haha...

In my running history... the furthest i've ran was 22km... at Pulau Tekong... for my SISPEC training... i sorted of completed it... because i was practically limping halfway through the thing... leg cramp until cannot make it... but i still limped to the finish line... haha...
Furthest i've walked is 32km... twice... for my route march... SISPEC training and CSB badge...

And so... i'm not that confident of this 42.125km... at least for now... but i am picking up on my running nowadays... this will benefit my IPPT too... so kill 2 birds with 1 arrow.... haha...

Besides... i think the Finisher shirt looks really cool... haha... i want to have it~~~

And yep.... so i will be running more frequently nowdays... to make sure i can complete the whole thing... this will be 1 of my mile-stones for my 21 years of living... haha...

Wish me luck man.... don't cramp... haha...

Sunday, September 02, 2007

I've finally got it.... Wahahaha....

Yeah man... i've finally got it... haha...

After more than 5 hours of walking and racking my brains out at the COMEZ 2007... i've finally came to the ultimate decision.... Wahahaha...

The Fujitsu LifeBook A6030WDVP...

Cost me $2238.... Ouch...

But well.. it was worth the money....

Really cool notebook... specifications wise, it was rather on the better than average side... but the main cool thing about it is that it ahs this touch pad with active digitizer... in other words... i can write on my touchpad with a stylus pen... like writing Chinese words and stuffs...

In case you are interested... here are the specifications...

-Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300
(2.0GHz, 4MB L2 Cache,800MHz FSB)
-Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
-Intel GM965 Express Chipset
-3GB DDRII 667MHz
-120GB SATA HDD
-15.4" SuperFine Wide XGA TFT
-Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
-Dual Layer DVD Super Multi Burner
-Integrated Bluetooth
-Fingerprint Recognition Technology

And so on.... so much... troublesome to type...

But that's about the main stuffs...

I went there at around 1430hrs.... alone... because everyone was kinda not free... so well... since it's a personal laptop.. it would be better to buy it personally....
Had wanted to go yesterday evening... but i was so tired... didn't really feel like that... then i went for dinner with my family... so in the end i didn't go for it yesterday night...
And all in all.. i took 5 hours to finally come to the decision to buy that model... around 1 hour for browsing through the whole place... and 4 hours to filter and decide on the model...
I lost count of how many times i went out to think, then went back in to test, re-confrim, then went out to think again...
I also have to walk around to find a public phone to call my brother for advise... because my handphone's battery went flat in the middle of my quest... sianz....

But well... with perseverance.... i finally came top my decision... yup....
Although i think i may have abit of problem playing some high end games...the graphics card was some rather low-end one... that's why they didn't dare mention it in the pamphlet... i think ultimately...the laptop is mainly for study and work... so games aren't that important...
In fact... i seldom play games nowadays...

Well... so there we have it.... the only bad thing though... the model was sold out when i finally went to confirm it...
They were left with 1 when i went to check them out the 2nd last time...
So now, i'll have to wait around 2 weeks to get my laptop....

But still... i think it will be worth the wait... i've been waiting for so long to finally get my own laptop.... since after Army.... what's 2 weeks~~~

So... that's that.... go sleep liao...