04s64

2008-12-13T13:49:00.000+08:00

hi:) this will probably be my last post from LA. I'm finally done with my finals. having 6 finals in 1 week is pretty exciting, i must say but I hope I don't have to face that situation in the future. I was too excited the entire of the day to feel nervous for the finals. Anyways, I'm flying out of LA tml 1.10pm 13 december, LA time! really excited about going home.. Plus, my sister is bringing home strawberriers from Japan and according to her the strawberries are really juicy and sweet. yummy!!:)

I guess I'll have to lose some of the weight that I've gain here as well..sigh. and to think my appetite is not even half as good as back home and I gain weight. at least I think I did. urgh.

I guess I'm glad that I came here for exchange because one only really become truly more independent when you are overseas, living alone. And when you are overseas, some how, it appears that you have a better idea of what you want. We always think the grass is greener at the other side. But too often, you realise that what you see on TV is the glamourous side of things and is probably only reflective of 10% of reality. It teaches you to be more appreciative of the many things that you have always taken for granted.

I'm not even sure if I will miss LA much. I definitely will miss the family friend here who has been bringing us around (for our last meal in LA, they brought us to this Italian family restaurant and the food and dessert is soooo good). Nothing much besides that I think. Probably the weather here, since I'm more afraid of the heat than the cold. But nothing else. At least I don't think so now. We'll see.

Anyways, can't wait to see everyone soon! Got to do the remaining of my packing!!! take care:)

cheers,
kx

2008-12-09T11:31:00.000+08:00

hihihi, feeling a bit delirious now. I had 3 back-to-back finals today and I didn't have time for lunch and the dinner at all the dining halls are soo horrible there wasn't much to eatso I'm a bit not in the right mind and surviving on adrenaline now.

It was exciting..going from one finals to another. The most incredulous thing happened in my last final. One of my professors, the one I always describe to be psychotic, came in late for the exam - he just has to be late every single time - and then he told us, 'the true/false segment of the final isn't ready yet (i.e. he hasn't finished setting the questions, let alone print it) so you all start doing the essays first'. And all of us were like, what? and we started laughing. Trust him to do the wierdest things. On the first day of class he came in to the classroom without bringing a non-permanent marker and he started drawing graphs and because there was a duster he used his saliva to clean it!!! the grossiest thing that I've ever seen and everyone was like looking at each other in shock.

Anyways, so 3 finals are done and I'm left with 3 more!!!! I'm going to start packing tonight!!! So exciting..I'm addicted to japanese songs now..strange. I've no clue what they are singing but the songs sound nice enough.

I've said it like a million times already and i'll say it again - I can't wait to go home!!! That's the only reason why I'm so excited about exams.. anyways, need to start my packing!! hope to see everyone soon before I re-bury myself under a pile of books and readings next semester:)

cheers,
kx

2008-11-25T21:39:00.002+08:00

hey,

yesterday was the time and day of the week when I had to practically lock my doors and hide in my room. Every monday nights, my floor government has a floor meeting. I attended one. And it was a complete waste of time. None of my suite mates attend the floor meeting as well. Plus, my bed time (after the daylight savings adjustment) coincides with the time of the floor meeting. So too bad. But it's really irritating how they will go from door to door, knock on each door, and shout 'floor meeting'. We will all make sure to not play any music and be really really quiet to prevent detection. Once, one of my suite mate forgot and was still blasting music when they came and the door knocker (yes, they actually have an official door knocker in the floor government) shouted, "i can hear your music. I know you are in there. Come out for floor meeting now."

It's really irritating. At times, I really feel as if I'm being persecuted, just like how the Jews were persecuted during WWII. And to think that I'm in the US, the supposedly most democratic country in the world and thus, I have the freedom to choose what I want to do. On my 4th day here, they had some early dinner gathering thing that I couldn't attend cos I was travelling with my friends around downtown LA. And because we couldn't attend the gathering we couldn't have dinner that day because they cancelled our right to swipe for dinner that day simply cos we didn't attend the gathering. And we were soo annoyed and we got more annoyed because we were hungry.

But luckily, not too long ago, we found the perfect way to deter these irritating people from knocking on our doors. Because there is another door separating the other rooms and the hallway leading to our rooms, we have been consistently closing that door and so all that we can hear is a muffled knock and a muffled 'floor meeting'. Goodness. But apparently the floor meetings' attendance isn't very good. Not surprising.

haha..end of my whining session. take care! and see everyone soon!

cheers,
kx

2008-11-23T12:34:00.000+08:00

hello!! guess who! haha :)

kx! thanks for keeping the blog active with ur interesting entries from LA! :) i wanna be out of singapore too! sighs! staying too long in singapore and smu makes me so tired n drained :( nowadays i just feel so sluggish (with a very high level off inertia haha) and i cant wait to go exchange too! kx, do take more photos before u fly back in 4 weeks time! lets have steamboat at ur place again (if its convenient for u n ur family) so u can tell us more abt ur trip ya! :)

all the best for exams everyone! lets have gathering again after exams! (i think yimin is keen on organising haha thanks yimin!!)

love, jy

2008-11-20T10:20:00.000+08:00

hey, I guess everyone is busy preparing for exams. So jiayou and good luck!! I just had my last midterm today! yay!:)

so what happened between the last time I wrote sth here and now? I went to Disneyland. And it was so so so fun. It's really a place that you will forget all your misery and just indulge in a day of fun. My favourite ride is this ride called Space Mountain and it was an exhilarating ride and there were times during the ride when I could feel myself moving against gravity. Another ride was based on Pirates of the Carribean - which wasn't exhilarating but very very enjoyable. We sat in this wooden boat and we cruised through replicas of the movie set and in one particular segment, we were 'caught' in crossfire. Had a really enjoyable time. We spent the entire day at Disneyland before we went to California Adventure Park, which is just beside Disneyland.

California Adventure Park is very similar to Disneyland in the sense that it was based on Disney animated movies. However, the focus is more on rides. There is this super huge rollercoaster - California Screaming - as the name suggests, its a super long and super exhilarating rollercoaster. Obviously I didn't go for it...I doubt my heart can take it. We took this 4D Toystory ride. It was soo fun. We had to sit on this revolving mini car-like thing and we brought to different segments where we had to shoot at the targets and accumulate points. It's very fun although my arm was hurting at the end.

Then, last saturday, my family friend brought us for dim sum!! yum yum. And they brought us to this place called Huntington Library, which used to be the private residence of this super rich railroads tycoon. Now that he has passed away, his estate is opened to the public. It was a huge place but a totally amazing place. There are a number of gardens within 1 single estate - A rose garden with lots of huge roses, a Japanese garden which is totally authentic Japanese - we felt we entered the set of the Memoirs of a Geisha - , a Shakespeare garden, a huge conservatory where they had a mini rainforest and a temperate rainforest and many others, a Desert garden, a Zen garden, a Chinese garden and a library housing many sculptures and famous paintings. It's a really amazing place! And to think that all these belongs to one person. Wow. For nice pictures, go to my facebook. Lazy to upload a few photos here! haha.

Going to another famous museum here this saturday - Getty Museum. And during the upcoming thanksgiving holiday we will be going to Universal Studios. really excited about that!:)

anyways, enough from me. Take care and jiayou! I'll see all of you soon! Really excited about going home! Less than 4 weeks now!!:)

cheers,
kx

2008-10-17T10:42:00.001+08:00

it's me. again. there's just so many funny things that happened this week. Just had dinner at one of the dining restaurants (where dinner is buffet style) and they served baked fish with thai sweet chilli sauce. really nice. relatively. And it was the first time I've had fish in the past 2 weeks or so. It's really really really hard to find fish here. And my friends and I realised why finding fish here is like digging for gold and diamond. But anyways, I had 3 plates of fish!! And my friends and I were soo happy that we finally could have decent fish that we went up to the dining people preparing the fish to say a big 'thank you' and they were obviously surprised and happy to get words of thanks from us.

Here's the funny bit. We were enjoying our fish so much it surprised us to see how many people were turned off by the sight of fish. So we started observing them and guessing which ones will pick up the plate of fish.

First, 3 people appeared - 2 whites and 1 asian. The asian saw the fish and took the plate immediately. The 2 white americans stopped in front of the plates of fish, stared at the plates for at least 25 seconds, looked up at the sign indicating the menu for today for another 25 seconds, lowered their heads to stare at the plates again. And then, they walked away.

After them, some other people appeared. At least 90% of the Asians took the plate of fish immediately and some, like us, went back for second and third helpings. Almost every single white or black or hispanic americans did not take the plate of fish. Most had this look of disgust on their faces when they saw the fish. As a result, the place serving the fish had the shortest queue in the entire dining hall. Actually, there wasn't a queue at all. The only white americans who took up the plate of fish were mainly older people.

The funniest thing was that for every single non-Asian American who stared at the fish, they had to stare at it for at least 25 seconds, raise their heads to read the sign for another at least 25 seconds and then lower their heads and stare at the plate of fish again for at least another 25 seconds. It was soo funny observing them. Apparently some of them didn't know what a fish was. There was this guy who was curious enough to ask what type of chicken it was!!! my friends and i were like doubling up with laughter. it was just so so funny.

And to think they are so health 'conscious' such that it's so hard to find full-cream milk. I can find 4 types of milk here - half-and-half, skim milk, fat free and 2% fat milk. And guess where the longest queue for food is? American comfort food like burgers and fries.

And then, about 30 minutes after we happily took our first plate of fish, the menu was changed and the fish was replaced with, guess what, chicken. And then, a queue started forming and people whom we saw walk away with disgust when they saw the fish went up to take a plate of chicken.

Now we know why it's so hard to find fish here. No wonder when I went to take my third piece of fish and I commented the dining people for serving such delicious fish, they gave me an extra huge piece with lots of gravy. The fish phenomenon is thus solved.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shall include something else incredible this professor of mine said during class. He is a professor for money and banking and he was explaining the value of paper money. Then, he helpfully told us why he doesn't pay taxes until the very last minute - he's hoping that he will fortunately die the next day and then he won't have to pay tax!! goodness...the entire class laughed in disbelief..

anyway, the weekends are fast approaching (esp for all of you in Singapore)..enjoy the weekend! and take care!!

cheers,
kaixian

2008-10-16T10:28:00.000+08:00

i soo have to share this hilarious thing I overheard this morning. I was queuing for my breakfast this morning with my friend and I overheard this Asian-American girl comment to her friend, 'oh my god, that banana is yellow.' And her friend said, 'if you want, you can ask if you can get a browner banana.' And I was thinking - er...isn't a ripe banana supposed to be yellow?? Anyways, I was trying really hard not to laugh. Totally made my day.

have a great day!!

cheers,
kx

2008-10-13T07:29:00.000+08:00

hey, it's the meanie again. good morning to everyone (it's still sunday late afternoon in LA). The temperature has dropped by quite a bit ever since I last wrote on the blog. In the mornings, the coldest so far was 12 degrees celsius.

Tml will be the start of week 3 for me! haha..i've just started school when the term is ending for most of you. I'm sure everyone is very busy now..hang in there and jiayou!! For me, things are starting to get busy. I'm probably the craziest person on the entire campus because I'm doing 6 modules when a normal student takes 3 modules. Was talking to one of my suite mates the other day and she was shocked to hear that I'm doing 6 because she said she is dying even from doing 3 only. But also partly because she is in the school sports team so she spends quite a bit of time training and working out with her teammates. I'm surviving and am enjoying going for classes. very insane. But I admit that I'm inherently crazy.

Lessons are quite good. Except for 2 modules, which are very strange. For this econs module that I'm doing on money and banking, the professor is quite eccentric. He seldom removes his sunglasses even in class. And once, he only brought a permanent marker and he just spat into the whiteboard duster to clean his writing on the board. yikes!! we couldn't believe ourselves when he did that. So far, he has entertained us during his lectures about his theories on the causes of the current financial meltdown (which is interesting until he repeats himself more than thrice) and he detailed the historical precedence to explain why he thinks Ben Bernanke (Fed Reserve Chairman)'s current monetary policy is the cause of the entire meltdown and that if he had not done what he did the crisis would not have been that extensive. it is actually quite interesting to listen to him and he is a character. But, we haven't touched on our course materials yet. AND, he says that the 2 schools of thought in economics - Keynesian and classical monetarists are garbage - the only difference is that the latter is more garbage than the former. He thinks his version is the real and most accurate version. And he is teaching us that. Seriously, I have no idea how useful his version is.

And because my professors are overwhelmingly males, they love to include economic theories into managing marriages. 2 of my professors said that the only way for a marriage to be maintained is for guys to tell their wives that their (wives) comparative advantage lies in cleaning and housework while the husband's comparative advantage lies in whatever is done in the bedroom and hence, the wife should be the one doing the cleaning while the husband drinks beer and watch tv and takes over later at night!! goodness...we need some gender equality. But apparently, female professors are still a rarity in the Econs department at UCLA..unfortunately.

Outside of class, there was something more 'exciting'. A few days ago, there was an incident of armed robbery and 2 attempted armed robberies just outside the main campus. And it occurred during the evening and the robber had a gun. So scary. It was a bit more comforting to see police cars patrolling even within the campus. One other NUS exchange student lives off campus and he was walking back to his residence once when he suddenly heard a gunshot and a police car immediately turned towards the source of the sound. Scary. Thankfully, the robber was alleged caught a few days later.

I now feel more settled here in LA but it still is different and not home. really miss everyone (still). I must say I am constantly impressed with how they manage to mutilate and recreate different non-American cuisines like broccoli with peanut sauce. But all thanks to them, the strange foods become source of jokes among us. And the peanut butter here tastes different, not as creamy and peanut butter-like. They probably removed most of the fat. They love like 2% fat milk or fat free milk and fat free cream cheese. Missing my whole cream milk. There was this time I took whole cream milk and people were staring at me. Funny how they consume so much fats by having burgers and fries for almost every meal each day and they cut down on their fat intake in things like milk. The american idiosyncracies.

And we were soo excited to hear that there's a sushi bar here only to find that their sushi bar serves only 2 types of sushi every day! bleah...we were so disappointed. Though the desserts here are really good. Tried the brownies here once and it's so warm and gooey and chocolatey. So good!!! The range of choices of desserts and the quality of desserts here are soo much larger and higher than the main courses. No wonder at least 60% of americans are overweight!

The funniest thing I've seen is how Americans dash to the lifts after a fire drill. My friend and I turned to each other and said ' apparently kiasuness isn't peculiar to Singaporeans only'. And, people here actually tear pages out of books because they don't have enough money in their cards to photocopy them!!! haha...

Anyways, enough from me. Going for dinner. Hope everyone is having a great day and a great week ahead!! take care!:)

cheers,
kx

2008-09-24T08:26:00.000+08:00

hi everyone, greetings from LA!! It is the afternoon of tuesday in LA now. 15 hours time difference from Singapore. It had been a hard time trying to recover from jetlag but I think i'm more or less jetlag-free.

LA is fun and nice. Sunny. Which is nice and bad. It can be a bit too sunny in the afternoons such that it becomes so warm and hot you think you are in Singapore but when you step into the shade it feels cool. quite strange.

I'm enjoying the sightseeing so far. I've been to downtown LA, Little Tokyo, Hollywood, the Walk of Fame, Kodak Theatre, the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Santa Monica and Venice beaches. It is quite an experience travelling around LA especially cos the public transportation system really is very bad. The bus and metro routes are not complimentary which means that you end up having to walk ALOT. And the frequency of the bus is very low. It is normal to wait for at least 20 min for the bus. Interestingly, there is a federal law forbidding passengers to communicate unnecessarily with the bus drivers and many drivers choose to interpret it as not being able to help us as to where to alight. One driver even said it is the passenger's responsibility to know where to alight. hello? like tourists will know where to alight. And the buses are in seriously bad condition. Rather surprising, given that you would think that being in the US and especially, LA, every thing ought to be glittery and nice. well, it isn't. The cracks in the roads are bad and many roads have so many small holes in them you would think there was a war just recently.

oh, and we saw Evangeline Lily from Lost at the Kodak Theatre with her friend. But we, being nice people, decided not to bother her and ask her for a photo.

UCLA campus is HUGE. And there's no shuttle bus service. So I have to walk super long distances to get from one place to another. I'm sure i'll get prettier and thinner legs after 3 mths:)

yesterday, I have to walk 20 blocks because one of my friends had to get bedding stuff like blanket and bedsheet. And there wasn't any store near UCLA that sold those. goodness, and those roads are just not meant for walking. I felt like I was climbing Mt Everest. haha.

And, apparently someone from the international office at UCLA thinks that Singapore is part of Hong Kong. seriously. we couldn't believe it.

Lessons start on thursday. Cannot wait to start studying. finally. it sounds crazy because everyone is busy with midterms now. but for me, i'm dying to start studying.

anyways, take care!! hope to talk everyone soon! I miss Singapore and everyone in Singapore, which includes everyone in the class, ALOT!

cheers,
kx

2008-08-01T10:21:00.001+08:00

hello! (:

my 21st.

Date: 15 August 2008
Day: Friday
Time: Probably evening, like 7pm or 730pm
Attire: Casual
Place: My hse
Theme: Blue

anyways, please rsvp to me by this weekend, cos i need to settle catering & stuffs, thanks! (:

2008-07-13T23:06:00.001+08:00

-= 5 - 3 2 V @ \ =-™ says:
blog la
-= 5 - 3 2 V @ \ =-™ says:
p***y

and so i am here because sherman told me to. THANKS!

anyway, i went for my uni orientation. and i didnt regret ending my work early to go for it! made alot of new friends thru my OG and many seniors as well!

so how's you guys? have been slacking at home ever since my orientation ended.. and yes i sprained my stupid heel and hence i couldnt make it for beach! next time next time.. i need a tan soon. if you guys going exercise can you pls get sherman to go? cause he has been complaining that he has a big tummy and he wants to get rid of it fast.. but he has no motivation to jog and do situps.. what a lazy bum.

alrights sherman.. here's your entry.

2008-07-13T19:41:00.002+08:00

hey all!

the class blog seems rather quiet nowadays, so i've decided to blog! :) i guess many of us are just checking the blog frequently to see if there are updates, but no one really blogs much nowadays! haha EVERYONE PLS BUCK UP!

ok updates abt myself. been rather busy with my internship at PwC for the past few months doing audit, until last sunday when i sprained my knee during vball training. and i got myself 5 days mc, so i didn't go work at all for the entire week! the first 2 things that came to my mind when i got myself injured were my driving test on wednesday and our class beach outing!! :( and thats the reason why i missed the class beach outing, which was very saddening! thanks yimin for waiting, sorry i had to go A&E to get my x-ray done last min, so poor yimin waited for nothing! and i think the chain effect affected sherman and chew as well! sorry!! hopefully the class will go beach again soon!

but thankfully i passed my driving!! :) haha (even though liang jian thought i should have postponed the test and waited for my knee to recover, as i couldn't even walk on monday and poor him had to carry me up the stairs to the clinic haha!) but i decided not to, cos i din wanna waste money to retake my lessons and wait so long for the next availabe test date. so i took painkillers and drove as per normal. yay!

so for the past entire week, life has been pretty slack for me, haha eat slp chill and get fat everyday (like the guys who are waiting for university to start) haha and i am feeling quite sad that i got to go work tmr :( sighs! oh well at least this is my last week in pwc alr.

i heard from yimin that the guys are thinking abt having a class bbq and saw lj's tags. haven seen many of u for ages! yup so hope to see u all then! :)

love,
jy

ps: py! i watched the entire video!! :) nice and thanks! i cant believe orientation was almost 4.5 years ago! haha we have aged! and the guys are finally having the uni orientation haha when we already had ours 2 years ago!!

2008-07-10T01:28:00.001+08:00

2008-06-28T10:56:00.001+08:00

SPAIN IS GOIN TO WIN GERMANY IN THE FINALS!

2008-05-28T20:42:00.001+08:00

hey, just got back from Brunei yesterday from the AUN Educational Forum and Youth Speakers' Contest 2008! I came in 2nd at the Youth Speakers' Contest!! Haha...unbelievable, isn't it?

Hmm...how's the experience? How should I describe it? It's totally fantastic and enjoyable. Totally missing everyone of the delegates, especially those in my clique. We just got on so well we will lepak at my and my roommate (another rep from NUS)'s room every night and every evening before dinner on the last few days till the wee hours and we just really enjoyed each others' company.

Generally, got on really well with the Thais, the Bruneians and the Filippinos. Really enjoyable. So much so that I and everyone else are in depression now..On the last day, we said a few rounds of good byes and no one wanted to leave for the airport or our respective activities before our flights and when we met some of the others at the mall, we were soo happy. We just ran towards each other, hugged and kissed each other in public!! We had to hold back tears too.

Don't really know how to describe. Just that the experience has been totally magical and fun. How I wish I could do everything all over again..Oh, let me describe the contest. It was brutal. There were 2 rounds of competition. In the first round, we had the topic about 1 month ago and so we had lots of time to prepare for them. We were all 'quarantined' in a room, separate from all other participants and we went in individually to give our 10-min speech. Then, 6 finalists were announced. Two days later was the 2nd round. For the 2nd round, we were only given the question about 1.5 hrs before we were supposed to speak. The 1.5hours includes travelling to and fro from the library to the university's Senate room (which took about 10 minutes each time). So we only had 1 hour to prepare, and without any internet access. Then, we were quarantined again and we were called to give our 5-min speech individually . After that, we had to answer a question on the spot. Quite nerve-racking. I was quite surprised when the other participants told me that I am a good speaker..maybe i have some hidden talent. haha..apparently i was very fiery..haha:)

I will let the photos tell the story..will fill you guys in when i meet you all. Must remind me to tell you all about this particular Filippino participant that is totally hated by most other participants except some of the guys cos she's pretty. She's so...urgh..tell you guys another time.

So what's the details about the supposed gathering on 4 June? Can someone pls update me?

2008-05-20T22:49:00.000+08:00

hey all,

here's the 3 of us at sentosa! we crashed the junior class' outing last sun! it was fun to be at the beach once again, enjoying the sun and sand and the sea! really reminded us of the times when we visited sunset bay when we were in JC. time flies very fast.. now the guys are preparing for their uni and the girls are halfway thru.. it's kind hard to even meet up these days..

so..

for those who are still reading this blog and are still in singapore, pls keep your 4 June free! there will most most most likely to be a class dinner! a good way to keep up with old times :D

ciaoz!

2008-05-20T15:28:00.007+08:00

booya! =)

i did not realise that my tag will be such a controversial topic -_-" hahaha am i observant or what! the blog's so stagnant that i can see mosquitos flying above it trying to find a suitable and comfortable position to lay their off springs.. like what jy said, can we get people who havent blogged in ages to keep the blog alive plssss! and randomly, dont you guys think that Europe is such a lovely place to go to on a holiday? maybe i shall go tomorrow! time to book some air tix!

okay, after so much bull***t as mentioned above, all i wanna say is the sentence formed by the 1st word of each line in the above paragraph. (it probably doesnt make sense if your font/display settings is different from the laptop that i'm using now)

for the benefit of those, i'd say it again.. lj, py, kenneth and i will be flying off to london tml =) after london we will be touring europe as well.. sadly we will miss 64's bday! we will return on the 12th of june! ta-ta!

2008-05-01T21:17:00.000+08:00

hey,

taking a short break from exam preparations...yep yep, I'll be going to UCLA on exchange next semester. Assuming nothing goes wrong with module mapping. haven't made any concrete plans with the other NUS students going yet cos we were just notified and we have been busy with exam preparations. But we will probably leave only in early September cos their term starts in mid september. Quite excited:) Will inform the 'necessary' people once I have more information..haha.

By the way, I will be going to Brunei in late May to attend an ASEAN forum for students...Just wanted to get some input from everyone regarding ASEAN: 1) What does ASEAN mean to you? 2) Do you think it is beneficial to be a member of ASEAN? Why and Why not? No pressures..but if you are free and you are interested to help me, just email me at xukaixian@hotmail.com. Will incorporate everything into a speech that I have to make at the forum. So, will greatly appreciate any inputs. Thanks:)

Can't wait for exams to end...then I can end my life in this isolated bubble that I seem to have been living for the entire semester. haha...at least it feels like that..since everything is out of the window except studies and CO. To the girls, thank you for accommodating this wierd friend. Can't wait to meet up with everyone after the exams!

Take care!

kx

2008-04-30T18:30:00.000+08:00

check out my new pic. shuai! not only is the hair on my head long, the hair on my body's growing longer too!

2008-04-27T21:35:00.006+08:00

As mentioned below by Jia Yan, I shall SHE FORCED ME! I DONT WANNA DO IT! post pics of our Bali trip. And include short captions. NOOOOOOOOooooooooo... Oh and a short video too. Of these cunning musicians who ambushed us at this beach restaurant in Jimbaran. But first, here are the pics.

Big rocks at Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park

Time to organise a class outing?

"Padang padang beach" so prettyyyyyyyy.....

at Uluwatu". According to Professor Toh, 70m high!

Pura Luhur Uluwat (Temple at Uluwatu)

Ah Pui at Uluwatu

Sunset at Uluwatu

Beach restaurant at Jimbaran. All the chairs are placed facing the sea, and you can see plenty of stars above. Professor Toh was even educating me about the Orion belt! Zhen cong ming!

Damn cool right! Shuai dai le!

Ah lian... but still meinu! Ouch! Don't hit me!

Tickets at the arcade. We exchanged them for a cutesy pen. And two rolls of cutesy scotch tape. Imagine the tatooed Ah Lian using them.

Rice fields

Volcano. Name = Mt Batur

Photoshoot in the middle of our white water rafting. "At the waterfall", clarifies Professor Toh.

Back to the story about the beach restaurant in Jimbaran. There we were, happily enjoying the breeze and the view, when they suddenly crept up on us and sprang a surprise attack! Before we knew it, they were playing the song "Hero" right in front of us. This is how the pre-song conversation went:

Us: "Look at the pretty stars!"
Us: "So pretty!"
Us: "Ooooooo"
Us: "Woots woots!"
Cunning Musicians (CM): "WHEEEEEE!"
Us: "What the ...!"
CM: "Hi, where are you from?" *Evil grin*
Us: "Singap..."
CM: "How about we play you a song?
CM: "Romantic song yeah? Ok how about Hero, its a nice song"
Us: "But ... wahhh?"
CM: "Ahem"

CM: "Would you dance, if I asked you to danceeeeeeeee"

Us: "Oh boy ..."

CM: "Would you run, and never look backkkkkkkkkk"

Us: "Ahhh, what the hell"
CM: "lalalalallalalalalala"

- song continues -

CM: "You can take my breath awayyyyyyyyy"

- song ends -

Us: *Clap clap clap*
CM: "Would you like one more song?" *Even bigger evil grin*
Us: "Ahaha no no its ok thanks"
CM: *Thinking to themselves: Oh man. Can't continue to con the suckers*
CM: "Ahem. Heh heh."
CM: "Would you like to show your appreciation ... ?"
*Whips out his hat and flips it over to use as a bowl*
Us: *Thinking to ourselves: Knew it!*

-----------------------------------------

Enjoy the video!

2008-04-25T13:10:00.000+08:00

hey all!!

long time since i last blogged on the class blog! haha even thou i been been constantly spying at the class blog! and special thanks to yimin who has been actively maintaining the blog! haha (: we all appreciate that~ thanks!

anyway! exams have officially ended for sy n i! (: yays! and all the best to the nus girls too! hopefully our trip down to nus yesterday has brought u girls luck! haha jiayou and all the best! (:

okies some updates abt myself! liang jian and i went bali immediately after my last paper last thur! (: but im too lazy to blog about the trip! haha and liang jian has gladly volunteered to post up the pics and write about the trip. During the trip he was saying things like "wah we should take a pic of this and put it up on the class blog" haha aint u all touched by his sincerity? (: haha so stay tuned!

and this week is my only week of holiday! as internship is starting next week and i'll be doing audit in PwC for 3 full months. rather depressing. haha sy will be flying off to china next monday for her intern at china too! kx!! i heard from py u are going exchange next sem to ucla. update us abt it ya? (:

okies, below 2 pics from ytd's outing!

love, jy

2008-04-22T19:11:00.000+08:00

tis topic came up during a mahjong session damn long ago.

u guys interested in a horror movie marathon?we cud watch/rewatch the scariest shows to date, thru e night, over drinks chips n nuggets.

i guess everyone is busy with exams.

im so glad i dun haf exams.

waHaHa

p.s: why are u reading tis YOU SHD BE STUDYING!!!

2008-04-14T16:36:00.000+08:00

for your entertainment.

SMU girls, GOODLUCK FOR EXAMS!! (:

2008-04-10T22:05:00.000+08:00

eh why no one blog one?our blog is so chui until even sherman's sister hasta blog..thou i dun rem sherman ever telling us he got sister..or tat she's kawaiiii
everyday its juz check the blog for some update but nuttin.today i checked the date n woa..its only less than 10 days since previous post.how come it seems like forever.i tink im checking the blog too often.

heres a fun pic.of me.i was forced to take to
send to PADI at NSW for the open water n adv cert.
cost me a bomb but it was well worth it.looks like a
prison shot of me aft being arrested for taking
drugs.can tell im still high.hahhaha

go ahead.laugh ur asses off.hope u cant shit.hahahahah

2008-04-03T13:40:00.000+08:00

Hi,

To "sherman's kawaii sister" - if there is a day when I want a kiss from eugene, it will come after the end of the world. Please...make more sense!!

Anyways, it's approaching a week since my sis left for Japan. Lucky for her, it's the season of cherry blossoms.. May this pretty picture brighten up your day! :)

2008-03-28T22:29:00.002+08:00

bOoYa! ^^ *smiles*

wHaT a bOrInGxXz fRidAyzX nIgHt!!^^ tEehEehEexZxx!! fInAlLy 1 mOrExZ wEeK iSh oVeR!! wheeee!!^^ *blinks* aNd tHe wEeKeNdxX iSh hErE aGaInxZx!! ^^ hMm.. cOnGrAtSxXx tO kX fOr hEr sUcCeSsFuLxZXz pErFoRmAnCe!! ^^ aNd eUgEnE lImxZx tSk tSk, wAd kInDa pResSiExZ is dAt? eUu jOlLy wElL kNoWxZ sHe wAnTeD a *mUaCk mUaCk* fRoM eUuxzX!! *grins*

yAyYyYxzxXzxZ!!^^ mAn U tOpS tHe lEagUe lExZx!! hEeHeE!! wOoHoO!! ^^ hMmHmM.. rEcEnTlY i mAnAgEdxZ tO fInD a sHoRt cLiP oF tHe hArMoC cOnCeRtxZxX dAt a fEw oF uS wErE iNvOlvEd iNxz hEehEexZx! rEmInDs mE oF tHe tImExZX wHeRebY lJ, sOoN, gIaN aNd i hAd tO bE tAuGhTzZ pRivAteLy bY oUr dEaR hArmOc pReSxzX cUz wE jOiNeD lAtE!! ^^ (eNd oF j1 tO bExZ eXaCtxCzx) aNy Of eUu gAlSxzX oUt dErExZx cAn tRyZx tEaChInG uS tOgEtHeRxZx wHahAha :P rEaLlY gOtTa tHaNx hEr fOr dAt *beams* mAnxZx.. jC wAs ji fUn tO tHe mAx wHeRe dy/dx=0.

sHo aNiWaYsxXz, hErE iShxZ tHe viDeOxZX fOr yOuR eNtErTaInMeNtxZxcz :

**sTaRs** : lJ, bJ, gIaN, pEaRlYn, sHeRmAn

eNjOyxZX!!^^ *huggies*

pEaCe,

sHeRmAn's kAwAii sIstEr ^^

2008-03-23T21:00:00.000+08:00

i emphasise it's no ordinary apple. it's a bright red washington apple! to fit her bright red cheeks! and it's the right present for you! after all it's the thoughts that counts right.. (:

2008-03-23T14:07:00.000+08:00

Hi!! Feeling really tired but happy..Concert was yesterday and it was quite a magical night for all performers. It wasn't a flawless concert but I think the imperfections added a touch of poignant beauty that touched the hearts of many more people.

It never really occurred to me (and the other EXCO members) that we are handing over soon. Although we have been looking forward to that for a long time, now that the day is approaching, it seems like we are not really looking forward to that day after all. It's all going to be over. Thankfully and not so thankfully.. it's probably an awareness that once our term ends, while this bond that we have established and created will persist, we will not be working so closely together in the future ( since many of us are going on exchange the coming semester). And I think this is the thing that I will miss most..

My sister is leaving for Japan the coming saturday..she is on EDB scholarship to study in Waseda University. In a few more days, I will not get to see her everyday..And I'm very sure I will miss her alot. After all, we have always been close. But I suppose, this is part and parcel of life.

Oh, I almost forgot. My cheapo and ultimate uncle Eugene Lim had the gall to give Geraldine (his ex), another former hcco friend who is now in nusco, and I the most unusual presents ever. Guess what? he gave geraldine a bunch of vegetables, he gave me a small and pathetic apple and he gave the other friend ONE broccoli!!! What kind of friend is he?!!! Good grief...

kx

2008-03-15T00:28:00.000+08:00

http://www.minijuegosgratis.com/juegos/hwdykyworld/hwdykyworld.html?5d5b=0a90

Test your geog knowledge!

2008-03-06T19:20:00.000+08:00

saw tis today.damn cute.managed to snap a couple pics at the traffic junction.haha

in the car whom i believe is the mom n 2 kids, a boy n a girl.i tink they were playing either gameboy or psp.lucky bastards.haha

i heard lj is going for a surgery tonight.on behalf of everyone with all our hearts we sincerely wish him all the best.n good luck.

on a lighter note, my birthday is coming!n in 2 weeks!21 is an exciting yr isnt it..im excited..are u? to share my joy n spread the love, i've decided to declare 21st march a public holiday..so make full use of tat day guys.enjoy

=)
yimin

2008-02-28T13:32:00.001+08:00

booya!

this is slowly, but surely, transforming into yimin's personal blog which is becoming unbecoming.. which is why i am typing this now to steal some blog space! i've been impersonated, vandalised, defamed and framed in this blog.. and i cannot take this lying downn!!!! ROARR!! CHIK CHIK! BANG! BANG! BOOOOMMMM!!! BANG! DIE!! ARGH!!

ah-hem.. so anyway, for those wondering (i wonder who wonders).. i'm still working at HP.. contract ends end april.. so i won't be leeching off society anytime soon like the useless bum below.. fancy leaving his keys in the lorry and locking himself out, its like dumping your oxygen tank deep into the lair of the great white sharks while scuba-diving.. nubcake..

i've been having rather relaxing albeit short weekends.. yet they're getting monotonous.. hmm i wonder if anyone feels the same as me.. perhaps life will be more meaningful when the guys enter uni ya? until then.... ahhhhhh!!!!

peace
sherman

P.S i dont sing..

2008-02-27T20:22:00.000+08:00

im abt to be jobless soon..can someone get me a slack overpaid job?

today at work..i foolishly, stupidly locked myself out of the lorry..with the key inside the lorry.sigh..

i was still delivering, so no choice but to finish the job at hand den think bout the prob.finished merchandising..then i asked my partner wana eat first or settle the keys first.he said settle first if not eat also not an xin.

i duno why but i msged sherman bout it.bout the keys being locked inside.he laughed at me.then suggested breaking the window to get the key.breaking window = no pay tis month..=( but seems like no choice..so...

of cos i didnt listen to sherman!!pls..everyone..NEVER listen to sherman.

we managed to get the lock open by picking it..not thru the key hole but by a special way nicholas cage(gone in 60secs) wuda been proud of me.so ppl..rem..nx time the same thing happens dun call sherman..call me..or the mechanics.the mechanics cost couple hundred bucks..but i cost less..depending who u are haha

been nice sharing.

p.s: jy if u ever see the brand hei mei on the shelves..dun buy.don'T!

2008-02-22T20:57:00.002+08:00

Mr. Batam. Best in Batam, JB, and some say Singapore! Don't pray pray!

2008-02-20T11:18:00.005+08:00

hey everyone. how's it coming so far?

have been bugged by sherman to post an entry here because he doesnt want to see his handsome photo appearing on the screen everytime he sees the class blog.. hurhur.

anyway i happened to see this short clip on youtube. just wanna share with everyone who's visiting this site.

enjoy!

anyway im jobless. got any good lobangs?

2008-02-17T11:26:00.001+08:00

hey all!

happy belated valentines day! :)

First of all, thank you yimin for inviting us over during chu san! if not our class wont have the chance to meet up during CNY this year since G tan is sick! yup! we shd always meet up during xin nian! im very sorry i couldn't make it for steamboat this year, very sad! i'll be there next year k! hahah so yimin you must invite us again! then we will remind xx to offer her service earlier. haha! below is the class pic at yimin's :)

ok it's quite mafan to upload pics on blogger, so for more pics (of the mahjong ppl and poker pple), can go my facebook to download k :)

yups next up, i would like to thank you all for the couple watches you all got for lj and i :) they are really nice and we both like them alot! yups special thanks to sy and heng heng for taking time off to choose the design. yup and we were v sad that one of the watches was spoilted when we opened up the box, so we quickly went to the shop just before CNY and lucky citychain was willing to change the set for us and we could wear them for the first time on chu san for you all to see :) thanks! i know this is kinda belated, but thanks for coming down to our birthday party as well! haha

and i shall end off my entry with a nice photo of a hunk that i spotted recently at the airport:
not bad right? (btw im not the person who took this pic, so i nv dui bu qi liang jian k! haha)

loves,
jy

2008-02-16T01:39:00.000+08:00

happy new year.

thanks to all who turned up.even if its for just a while.hope u guys had a gd dinner n had fun. my dad prepared angbaos for u all but he forgot to gif it out having juz woken up from his deep slumber.n thanks xx for offering to help clear up aft i've done everything.ure the only one to offer help.=p

cable ski was fun but i suck at it.so lets skip.

i tink i've become the typical ahbeng.umkempt hair.old t-shirt n faded jeans n slippers..teh-ping is one hand steering wheel in the other.even my mom says i look like a sam-seng kia. juz need a cigarette n bright golden streaks to complete the look.but i muz say im helluva handsome ahbeng.haha

don't u tink so too?

2008-02-05T16:47:00.000+08:00

hey guys!

we'll be visiting gtan on chu san for the FIFTH consecutive year!! we'll meet 1245 @ the bus-stop next to the caltex petrol station outside her house! I'll appreciate if those going can put their name in the tagboard!

thnks and cya guys there!! =D

2008-01-29T20:33:00.000+08:00

lj, why is it 7-12?just what are u planning?n whats with the weird dresscode?i don't think i have anything blue in my wardrobe.
anyway happy birthday.to the both of u.many happy returns.

today is a very bad day for me.n thru the long drive back to office i thought of many things to blog bout..to vent out my frustrations.but now i cant rem a single thing.only that i tink i now noe beta why ppl commit suicide.irony since my(our)PW topic was suicide. the despair the anxiety n wadeva feelings i cant describe.i suddenly haf the urge to do bungy again..so i can fall without holding back.guess i lack the guts.

hey don't be too shocked.i'll live.so will u all.rem.hippos don't cry.

2008-01-29T01:54:00.000+08:00

Hi guys. Here's the long awaited invite for the LJY party this Sat!

Time: 7pm till 12pm

Venue: Rooftop garden at Marina South Pier, along marine coastal drive.

Driving: Marina South exit on the ECP is the easiest, just exit and take the left when u reach the junction. Then its all the way in. Parking is limited though so don't be too late.
http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/
travel/travel.php?star=1&buildingid=29493&
masterid=4&x=31501.4172&y=28338.2490&
level=4 (the junction is at marina pl)

MRT & Bus: Train to Marina South and then take bus 402, abt 5 mins long ride)

Dress code: Smart casual. (i.e. no shorts, slippers, t shirts) The colour scheme will be blue and dark colours. Doesn't matter what dark colour, but the blue's the more important bit. All those who don't follow the dress code will be refused entry! I repeat, REFUSED ENTRY!

Dinner will be a 10 Course International Cuisine Buffet.
Smoked Chicken Breast with Mango Salsa
Oven Roasted Chicken With Brown Sauce
Grilled Fish Fillet with Garlic & Herb Sauce
Teppanyaki Prawn W. Mushrooms In Teriyaki Sauce
Sliced Beef W. Mushrooms & Onion In Pepper Sauce
Mini Cheese Sausage
Sauteed Button Mushrooms W. French Beans & Carrots
Spaghetti With Chicken Carbonara Sauce
Assorted Mini Pastries
Refreshing Mango Drink

Sounds gd eh?

Ok, that's abt all, thanks and see you guys on sat!
-Liang Jian and Jia Yan

2008-01-18T15:25:00.000+08:00

Dear all. Thank you for your blessings. and thank you SJY for that melodramatic tabloid post.

&%^#&%^#%q$_@%*@%*&@%*(^&%^%%#
@&$@q(^%q*&#^%#&*%^q#*&%^#%#&*%

REALLY WANT TO POST SOMETHING LIKE THAT LAAAAAAAAAA. FAWHHRRRR!

see la. because of that, no one notices YM's nice little entry about the one-legged bird. how can you bear to steal its limelight!!

sighs. anyway. all i wanted to say is, i bumped into gtan a few days ago. and she has agreed to host us on Chu San again. so you guys can start making the necessary arrangements, if any.

2008-01-15T19:54:00.000+08:00

this is jia yan and shi yun reporting from smu, school of accountancy at 755pm...

below are some pictures taken at a sleezy pub located at the east of our island. Everyone was drinking and things happened. Fortunately, we managed to snap a few of the romantic scenes. check it out!

=JUICY NEWS=

what can you conclude from these?

2008-01-14T22:07:00.000+08:00

guys it seems i made a mistake yesterday.the bird wasnt the coverted one-legged bird from jw we've been looking for. i found out, to my horror today, that the bird is in fact from outer-space. ET HAS LANDED.again

as u can see clearly from the photo those are the flyuing saucers used to transport the imposter to earth. i have reason to believe that our solar counterparts made the little bird n send it to earth to spy on us. they've also parked their inter-galatical innocently on a grass patch n made it to look like a water tank.

for more breaking news keep ur eyes on tis page..

right here--->

yimin

2008-01-13T03:16:00.000+08:00

hi guys.man u won 6-0.nice

looks like its the usual ppl who's gonna come during cny.anyone asked ppl who dun read the blog? anyway like i said everyone's gotta bring sth to jia1 liao4, be it drinks or food.u guys can start booking now.more details later.oh pls take note drinks gotta be by the carton.alcohol by the bottle.chickens/ducks whole.anything not finished stays.heh

i wana show u guys tis pic i took.which i tink its damn cool.

this is the rare 1 legged bird found only in jurong west. it is identified by the unique colour of its feathers(note the white), n of cos it has only 1 leg. dont believe me? here's another pic

here's another pic(close ur mouth)

ladies n gentlemen, this is not a hoax.i did not take a random photo n photoshop-ed(i duno how), n neither did i get this off e web.one of its kind.enjoy

yimin

2008-01-11T14:43:00.000+08:00

hey all!

first week of smu has just passed! this sem i have more afternoon classes than morning classes, and i concluded afternoon classes are not good! cos i will slp at 12 the night before and only wake up at 10plus the next day and then its time to get ready for sch, so its rather impossible to do anything productive! on the other hand, its quite impossible for me to wake up early for morning class n squeeze w the morning crowd as well! hahaha conclusion: im very sad that sch has started!! :(

below are some pics we took at a jap soba restuarant, after py has abandoned us to walk her dog! haha

the 3 beauties:

sy with food!

Jy with food:

xx din manage to take pic with her food cos her udon took v long to come n she dropped a large portion of her udon on her tray while she was eating. haha nevertheless, here's a pic of xx with food (sushi):

enough of pics! anyway im free on chu san for ym's house and also g tan's house before that k! thanks soon heng for calling g tan up!

okies im rushing out now. going trgn alr. n im gonna be late bye ppl!

love

2008-01-03T23:05:00.000+08:00

hey guys n gals..

sherman juz added a damn sad post.meaningless.boo sherman!!so im here.to add on to tat.swee!

well i've said b4 n i'll say it again army wasnt tat useless.so for '07 the first ten mths wasnt 'tatbad'. aft tat well i cant rem. hopefully '08 will be better.contary to sherman i tink we shd all make resoultions.THEN make it a pt to stick to them. i hafnt.so technically im bullshittin' here.

ok i've got an announcement to make. come cny i've decided to offer my place for a small gathering.dinner n meeting(gambling).but first i need a head count on who's gonna be here. no point going thru all e trouble if only sherman's coming to talk bout new yr resoultions. its gonna be on the 9th Feb (chu san).uhm eveningg till night?first sec day of new yr prob y'all gonna hafta go visiting.sun's not real gd since ppl gotta work n go sch.so sat. i'll prepare of e food n everything.we're having steamboat. u dun haf to pay a cent.but its not gonna be free.u decide how much u wana pay. be it drinks(alcohol, yeo's, f&n wadeva), food(dessert, fondue, duck/chicken/roasted pig, yusheng), or cleaning up the mess 10+ppl gonna make. tats wad i've tot of so far. for more concrete plans we need a name list.so pls tag or post or call sherman n tell him ure in.if not u'll be rejected at the door by bouncer(blackbelt)py.

also.other than eating n gambling(which aft a while is quite boring) i haf no idea wad to do. anyone with any ideas can come forth with them or forever suffer in silence.i got ktv set but no disc. any one with can volunteer.so yea.make ur move.

ok tats all.looking forward to the enthusiatic response.

bb

2008-01-03T14:22:00.000+08:00

-waves to 2007-

once again, a new year has arrived and with it, new possibilities, new horizons. 2008 is more or less planned out for me, hopefully with some surprises in between as the year passes by. kicked off 2008 pretty well, won some money and got myself a gf/wife (our relationship is complicated, but sweet nonetheless <3). and without a doubt, blissfulness should be expressed in purple! sweee!=)

2007 had been quite a fulfiling year for me despite some 4-letter word which took up 10 months of it.. completed some events towards the end of the year, some of which i'll never ever do again in my life, others doubtful. managed to include some new activities into my sad boring life such as poker at chew's, watchsoccerxboxps2poolmahjongcardsmakeouteatbreakfast at tljcc etc. hooked up some hot babes such as my wife and chatting buddy!

resolutions..
1) to think about my resoluions for 2009
2) ...

i think that will be all.. no point making resolutions knowing you wont follow them ya.. okay la to be honest i do have stuff i've told myself i'll try to do so yea.. see how it goes! anyone who wanna discuss their resolutions with me over lunch, i'm available for lunch appointments on weekdays around queensway, bukit merah, harbourfront, ghim moh areas sweee!

peace
sherman

P.S. purple is sweee! =)

2007-12-26T05:24:00.000+08:00

heys everyone! this is a little too late but merry xmas anyways!

yea now we are at sherman's house playing mahjong.. just 1 round. and it took us from 1230 all the way until 530am.. which is like 5 hrs. shiok right.. imagine how fast we all played mahjong.

special mention to py who has been dubbed the "kang" queen.. nv win more than 2 games out of 16 games (in 1 round) but managed to recoup her losses by all the kangs and all the minor minor stuff...

think im logging off here. we going to eat macs breakfast already.. bbye!

oh happy boxing day!

- from py, sherman, eugene and yuetchong

2007-12-06T11:19:00.000+08:00

things hafnt been going well.like they say - huo bu dan xing

an unfortunate few days ago i went for a short run n got myself injured instead. at the start i was running fine..at a comfortable pace..taking in the sight n sounds of early downtown area. i saw a few frens, all of whom say high n expressed their utmost shock n disbelief that i was in fact running with them. then came the halfway mark when i started to cramp up n my feet started to hurt. my shoes had given way. now at home, im nursing a sore calf, swollen feet n wrecked shoes.hmm

then juz yest someone brutally attacked my eyes.YES both of them!now im suffering dryness n a red spot in the eye white.good thing i got eye drops.did i mention my glasses got wacked away too?sigh

some told me to look on the bright side of life.but i dun see how i can now.sigh. anyway shiyun i tink ur medal is in my car.jiayan didnt wan to take it n pass to u.so yea.

oh yea shiyun i tink its ur medal tat's in my car. sherman n i passed it to jiayan to pass to u but she refuses to take it saying tat she wunt see u n even if she did she didnt wan to.so can i sell it back to u?tenbucks?soonheng u wana pay 20?

hope u guys are having it beta than me out there.cya

2007-12-03T11:47:00.000+08:00

GUESS WHO!!!!

how very efficient arent i? a photo of the people at the run yesterday, less the FULL marathon people. YM and Soon cleared the 42k. respect.

for those who did not cheat and scroll down to check the name. have you guessed who is this?! hahaha. (:

okay now i shall go hit the books. ):

2007-12-01T18:31:00.000+08:00

hey eugene here. sorry but dont think i will be heading down for stanchart tmr. my knee has been giving me problems since the start of the week.. cant even walk properly ha. so i guess i'll have to give this a miss so as not to aggravate my knee problems. and hope everyone has been training for stanchart.. esp mr sherman lim jie meng.

so all the best to everyone who are running their 10k, 21k and 42k! jiayou worr.. may the force be with you!

2007-11-30T10:45:00.000+08:00

helllooooooooooooo!

my exams are over! haha had 4 papers in 3 days, which was @#$%^#!#%. haha since im quite free now, i shall explain to the guys how much the girls have to study for our exams. haha! one exam for one module, and each module has at least 1 textbook, which is super thick and expensive. so we have to swallow what we have learnt for the exams. haha and that's excluding all the notes and extra readings we have for that module haha so the amount we study is acutally more than a levels since we take so many mods!! hahahs and i only have 1 week study break to finsih studying everything!! hahah which was a blessing in disguise. just get over and done with. haha!

yup! and i went to cut n dye my hair ytd since i was freeeeee. so now my fringe is uber short :( act cute style. sighs! i got a shock after my hairdresser finish cutting my hair. sad but true. lets hope my hair grows fast. any hair growing shampoo to recommend?

kx, hope ur mum is feeling better already. help us send our regars to her k. jiayou for ur exams and take care k!

like what yimin has been happing on in his previous entry, STANDCHART is on this coming sunday, which is real soon! hope all of us are geared up for it :):) do drink lotsa water and eat more carbo the day before ya? esp the guys who are doing 21k and 42k! jiayou ba! :):) wo men yong yuan zhi chi ni men! haha for the girls, lets jiayou for our 10k! hahahs py sy, i din run ever since last tue after we went smu gym. haha

im starting intership next monday, 9am - 6pm daily, till early january, and school will start immediately after that! which means, i have no holiday at all!! boooo sad but true again! anyway my work place is at middle road, which is v near town n bugis, so come find my for lunch if u all are free k haha! u all can go shop or play pool after that haha!

loves,
jy

(yay see u all on sunday! since the race time is different for the diff races, lets meet up after we complete the run k, at the park just beside the esplanade. the girls will know, so for the guys, come ask us if u all dont know where exactly k:))

2007-11-28T22:14:00.000+08:00

hi:) taking a breather from exams..done with 3, left with 2 next week. exams have been interesting so far.. yesterday's exam was the best. ever. The prof gave out chocolate bars during the exam. And while the other staff and professors were walking around to make sure no one was cheating and stuff, he was walking around to see who has finished their chocolate and he was busy replenishing their chocolate supply.:) he says that the choc bars are sources of energy. He is just super nice and is a favourite among all his students. During lessons, he is always providing snacks. On the last day of lessons, he brought even more snacks than usual and bottles of coke because it was a time to celebrate. We joked, that if we were to gain any weight during the semester, it's his fault.

The past weeks have been a trying time - my mum injured herself and my sis and I have to take turns doing housework as we prepare for exams, a neighbour, whom I'm closed to, had her health condition deteriorate (she is suffering from brain cancer) and my aunt is recently diagnosed with stomach cancer( her condition is so bad that her stomach has been removed and cancer cells have spread to her bone). But I suppose things like these happen..it's just sad to see happy and active people reduced to pale and weak beings.

But in any case, the same prof always send us weblinks of cute and/or funny videos. This is one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4VNvYBlqMY Enjoy!

kx

2007-11-26T22:29:00.000+08:00

omg blogspot loaded for eons!

haha py take it as relief from studying la.but judging from the response..or lack the lack of, i dun tink i wasted too many man/woman mintues. anyway i suppose tis is a week of gd news. its monday. n nuttin else. if im not wrong the smu girls finish this week?gd luck.

i juz ran 5+k n im already so tired.im so gonna die on sunday.it starts at 530am btw.who's gonna wake up so early?

anyway i dun haf much to say.much of it was lost while waiting for this page to load.if it comes back i'll blog.the vid i promised seems to be quite impossible as it seems that its unappropriate for the www as it contains military activities.i've been warned they'd juz ask me to remove it if they eventyually do find out bout it.(tink i certain famous blogger who did the same). so no video.mabe some photos.

as i was working..delivering at supermarkets, particularly parkway giant, i saw ppl buying stuff.bbq stuff.memories aint it.we used to always go parkway to buy stuff for bbq.time to do tat again?

i guess tats all.

2007-11-23T19:05:00.000+08:00

hey guys how's it going?

friday man!!!TGIF rite? hmm i still got work tml n the girls still gotta study for their exams n for those who are so free everyday is a friday..so i guess its 'TG-another-day-has-passed'.haha

how the prep for stanchart going along?for those taking part i mean..rem to collect ur stuff this weekend.for me my prep is going on perfectly.lemme share a little:

every morning i gtg work at 8..so i make it a pt to wake up extra early n exercise before work.i figured that way i can start the day fresh n energised! first up is stretching n warming up.im sure u all noe the importance of warming up so i shall not go into it. the moment i regain consciousness i stretch my arms n back n try to wriggle a little to loosen my muscles. now tat's very impt. aft this basic exercise i extend my hand further to stretch n reach for the alarm clock n snooze it. aft that i take a moment to relax n focus my mind.

morning exercises cant be short of running rite? therefore i always do some light running before work. aft i get up, i take a short walk to the bathroom. hey we gotta take it slow first rite? nx is more muscle intensive exercises involving my arms.squeezing the tube of toothpaste n brushing. now that we're all warmed up n ready to go, its time for some serious running. leaving my hse i'd take the stairs instead of the lift.seriously it helps..n it doesn reli matter which floor u live on.i live on the second floor n see how much it has helped me? on the way to to busstop i take my breakfast.it saves time so i can exercise more u see. upon sighting the bus making the turn towards the busstop, now tats the cue.from where i am, i start a dash towards the busstop, racing with the bus. its this kind of healthy competition that improves us tremendously. if u rem i'd be still eating my bread or cake or wadeva rite..here's the secret to the whole workout: try to finish eating while u run. i noe..sounds ridiculous rite? but it sure as hell works! u see..when u start to run u force ur body to work, thus it needs energy.where's that energy?the bread of cos! ure literally telling your stomach 'hey u i need to win that bus so u beta pump some energy in me now man ya noe!' this way your body will fill itself with energy n u'll be ready to run for ur life..let alone 42km.tsk.

i strongly recommend all u ppl doing stanchart to try this.it has helped me alot n im sure it will do the same, if not better, for u. rem to follow as i described to every detail. if not u wunt feel the effects. many will struggle with the eating n running part(the secret of it all) but hey with practise im sure u'll be able to do it. juz rem..if u feel like throwing up ure doing it wrong.keep trying.soon u'll be doing the ironman.

that's all from me.take care n happy getting healthy!

P.S i cant seem to figure out how to upload videos n images can someone help?

peace.

2007-11-20T19:59:00.000+08:00

Heys... here comes the 3"Y"s reporting "LIVE" from the ultra cool place in Singapore... doing the ultra "IN" thing of the year! haha... yess u are right! we are so busy mugging in the library for our final examsss and we are super bored! we juz came back from dinner! it was very fulfilling and jy feels very pampered by her subway cookies! and py had the delicious bacho mee with lots of abalone! and I had the duck riceee with lots of gravy!

haha... ohs... now u muz be thinking we ate so much muz be getting fatter! but fear not!!! before dinner... we went gym to run and get ourselves all ready for the coming stanchart! haha... the jy ran for 1 hour without stopping and only sweat a little so u can imagine how well she will run on the day itself! haha... py was not bad tooooo... keep on running v enthusiastically except that she had a little problem with the treadmill! haha... well as for me... im lousy and i juz keep running and walking! haha...

Yeaa... that's all from us todae! as u can see from the picture... there are soooo many pple muggin and we shld get back to study too! haha... exams will end soon and the girls will survive! :-D

-PJS - "Y"s

2007-11-19T21:41:00.000+08:00

alrite, its my turn to spice up this blog a little! for some who have already know...i started a food blog to detail all my gastronomic adventures!!! the address is bitingpoint.blogspot.com

if u wanna look for some nice food, feel free to read up my blog! i'm sure u will find something rewarding there! and if u know anything nice or interesting pls inform me!!!!

and now for some sneak preview!

Yummy!!! =D

-soon

2007-11-16T06:39:00.000+08:00

No more army.

No more job-hunting.

No more driving lessons.

No more spectacles.

No more contact lenses.

Peace,
Sherman

(thanks for the support of blogging after my post! at least i'm not mumbling to myself)

2007-11-15T20:16:00.000+08:00

hey peeps,

had a sudden urge to blog so i shant waste it.. never know when i might have the urge again.
i agree v much with eugene.. at least to the parts that make sense.. ns isnt a waste of time. had many memories, learnt many stuff, did things i never imagined i'd do. discovered a whole new me. for those who dont noe, my life in ns should be e slackest of them all, cept for maybe soon heng. airforce. nuff said. but its certainly not e least rewarding.

ok info on my job, imma recruitment consultant at recruitexpress. loving it atm. hope i stay this way for the remaining 5+ months. why did i sign such a long contract for 6/hr and some measly commission? def not for money. for everything else actually, interaction with ppl, the ability to help ppl, the experience, the super large jobscope, the fact that i'll be meeting new ppl everyday, talking to new ppl everyday, the fact that im doing something that matters to someone, being very much alive.

wad i actually do at my job: find candidates (referrals,friends,internet,newspaper ads,walk-ins), interview candidates (to assess them in every possible way) gather orders from order holders (positions to be filled and the ppl that find them), match candidates to orders (taking into consideration everything: race gender age education experience residence availability expected salary etc.) , create a resume for the candidate (according to our standard format, including our remarks), send resume to client (company looking for employees), wait for response, arrange interview (send interview details, make sure they know how to get there, arrive on time, if not inform client or rearrange interview), if everything goes well, client offers job to candidate, i'll then arrange contract signing, prep contract sign contract. then make sure they turn up for work, know where to work, then data entry info of the contract client candidate. at any stage ANYthing can happen. i do this everyday for many candidates at the same time. lots of memory work there. details details! and i gotta be fast, orders come and go super fast, if i delay in any way my candidate wont get the job and ive wasted any prior effort. Those who came to my office would noe how fast things move in there, its madness.. but organised and controlled madness.. luv it man. am currently at 13 filled temps in 7 days.

man, i just sold a contract to chew, and he's earning $8.85/hr till 31Jan, teeshirt slippers laxjax. me? $6/hr till 31may, shirt tie high expectations. that jobs just spoils the market completely, most jobs go for $6-6.50 only (do e math, we need to eat too). lucky ass. thank goodness for pretty colleagues.

for those interested in looking for jobs? just send me a simple resume, doesnt have to be damn detailed. all i need to do is just ask u some questions over the phone and u'd be getting calls for any good job offers that drops, they dont stick. no need come down for interview. if u want visit me also can, we get a private room and tok cok. we're at orchard, ngee ann city btw. referrals appreciated.

Jobs avail: Admin,data entry,human resource,promoter,sales,customer service,telemarketer,recep,secretary,accounts,packer,warehousehands,etcetc.
(that rightly sums up my jobscope actually, minus the packer and warehouse part)

DISCLAIMER: for those picky ones, want good pay good experience good location wad not, dont bother or be prepared to wait for some time. i say look for it yourself. we're recruitEXPRESS (speed), not recruitDREAMJOB.

oh ya btw my name in RE (recruitexpress) is called ken. kian yong's out of the question and kian's apparently too chinesy. at least i get something that i might respond too. some other guy got jay when he's called julian cos there's another julian in e office, u can imagine the confusion.
so when u read the recruit section in ST or surf jobsDB or any other jobsearch engine and see ken, thats me.

man, cant wait for the As to finish, or long long uni break to start...matured candidates, pref females, are so much more fun to interview. anybody noe anyone? haha. sick of them Os looking for work.

guys: ord lo, pls dont rot at home. even i move on from WoW. someone pls get me to started with running pls. im so dead come 2 dec.

girls: happy studying, glhf! hope this has been entertaining. ljjy ftw!

tyvm

bb

Kian (aka ken)

2007-11-14T22:12:00.000+08:00

i kinda agree with yimin.. i dont think there's much significance in having a CT and ACT already.

anyway, havent blogged here for a while. how's everyone? most of the guys have gotten their pink ICs already and i suppose many are working. i just finished my job at GE energy.. had some 1-day work assignment there. thought it would be some data entry or something but in the end it was some odd jobs here and there. like despatching stuffs to other firms and collecting items from them. sounds quite fun but if you are the only person doing all the stuffs it sounds like manual labour all over again. and writing 100-over xmas cards isnt very much a wanted working experience. feel so exploited ha.

so that's my 1st working experience lol.. my so-called proper job starts on mon! then i will be collagues with kian at recruit express.. think sherman talked about it the other time. many of my friends say it's stressful.. kian says it's fun.. now i dont know if this is the right kind of job for me but i'll just try it out yea. pay's not alot.. 6 bucks and hr, 8 bucks per commission. but according to kian the commissions only come in 3 mths later.. which kinda sucks. so guys if u have frens who need jobs.. can find kian or me hahaa

that's all for now. hope to see evreyone soon.. xmas party sounds fun.. :D

2007-11-14T19:49:00.000+08:00

eh py..dun say until lidat leh..i bet u were too lazy to type a long one.heh

hi again.i hope u guys are not like 'oh nooo' haha. i just got back from work. i can start to see how monotonous life will be for me in the near future..work from 7 to 7, get home dinner online for a while den forcing myself to slp for nx day's work.scary thought man.

im working at a place called Dove Industries (Pte). no its not the dove shower foam we use. its an SME importer/exporter dealing mainly with supply of automobile products n Dove brand products. man u wunt believe how much more supermarkets n hypermarts r charging u.haha

why do we need a post-grad CT n aCT rep?if its to organise gatherings n stuff it doesn reli matter anyway cos only those who are interested will turn up n those reli interested will bother organising.n since we always use the tan residence maybe sth else?n even if we reli wan those titles why muz it be jy and lj?is there sth going on?why cant it be me and lj?py why r u writing me off?im sure u noe lj n wad's he's like ;)

i heard exams are coming.oh yea not for me..HAHA

im sorry.gdluckhaffun!

2007-11-14T00:02:00.000+08:00

anyway. random videos for your entertainment. they were shown by the marketing lecturer during lecture.

2007-11-13T23:42:00.000+08:00

wheeeeeeeeeeee.

exams are in 2 weeks time. and i'm not even in exam mood yet. and it doesn't help that i don't seem to care much this time round. very worrying indeed.

anyway. soon heng has given me a very important (and dangerous, and you'll soon realise why) task - to find post-graduation CT and ACT reps. having served us for a good 2 year or so, it's high time SH and SY pass the baton on to another worthy, enthusiastic and delightful pair.

that said, let's take a little strawpoll here. Potential candidates are:
a) JY and LJ
b) LJ and JY
c) Jiayan and Liang Jian
d) Liang Jian and Jiayan
e) all of the above

CAST YOU VOTES NOW!!!!
disclaimer: trust me, this definitely did not come from only me. i've got partners in crime.

anyway, it's nice to know that the guys have ORD-ed. how time flies - it didn't seem too long ago when the girls watched all of you being shipped off to Tekong to get your heads shaved. well, like YM said, it must have been quite an experience, be it good or bad.

well, with so much time at hand (save the hardworking ones who've started work already), perhaps some of you can start planning the next class outing. soonheng has suggested a christmas party, and the word "party" is open to all forms of interpretation. use your imagination here guys. would anyone kindly volunteer to organise, or shall this be the virgin task for the new class reps? suggestions? [this is a not so subtle appeal to everyone to reply to this post]

alright. i shall end here and refrain from challenging YM in terms of the length of post.

jy: i haven't been running AT ALL! in fact i havent been training much either, like once in 3 weeks. i'm pretty sure i'll not be able to jog through the whole 10k. ): howhowhow? can you sneak me into the SMU gym with you?

2007-11-13T19:23:00.000+08:00

wususup guys!

ORD LOH..everyone's shouting tat recently.this catchy phrase has replaced greetings like 'gdmorning sir/sgt', killed off dull moments during ops n has even become the favourite thing to toast bout.shall we talk a little bout it? i guess many, in fact all of u guysngirls noe wad it means literally, but few, few! noe wad it truly means. Operationally Ready Date. its not merely leaving active NS or being released from the restrictions of sun-nite-book-in-to-wait-for-book-out-only-to-book-in-again-n-wait-for-book-out-again (tat's if ure a stay-in in the first place). to me its about people. people we meet, interact with, work with, depend on n eventually buddyrize.

alrite i invented a new work.im sure all u smart asses out there understand wad tat means.
NS has been a real eye opener for me. mind blowing one(tats y im all brain juice,no matter). it has thrown me into the worst kinds of hardships i've ever endured with strangers. we did ridiculous things, meaningful things, dangerous things. n everytime its the person beside me pushing me on, not myself.i was in charge of pushing him. this odd cycle works somewhat like the 'invisible hand' in macroecon, n its working beautifully. yea sure i've complained bout NS, said tat its a complete waste of time, pulling me back for 2 years, shit pay etc.. but we all complain. we've complained bout tests n exams only to reminise school days when we're in army..stuff like tat. n im quite sure that i'd have more to lose if not for NS. take for example meeting all sorts of people n interacting with them, thereby knowing how to handle pr stuff. i tink tat's pretty impt, esp for me since i seem to be stepping on everyone's toes. or better still: running almost everyday in camp. if not for tat torturess sweat-wasting meaningless runs every now n den, i wouldnt have improved as a runner n even had e courage to sign up for stanchard marathon. even thou im in awful shape now, i'd consider it a major accomplishment in my life shd i manage to complete it( OMG its 42k..tats like the length of freaking s'pore im so gonna die wtf was i thinking!)

ok i tink im getting off my point now.i tink wad im trying to say is people often neglect the small things in life. national defence is a big thing in NS, i guess the small one is people.damn i duno how to say tis. relationships between people are the most crucial thing(imo) n NS is a platform to hone ur skills at that. is tat wad im saying?sth like tat. ur journey has not been a fruitless one my frens. its up to u to discover wad else u've learnt. its like unlocking a hidden ability in u.haha

right back to ORD. ORD LOH!!!(hey i may like ns but i like to ord more) no more outfield no more extras no more burnt weekends no more stay-ins no more this no more that!im not targetting the non-combatans n saying that they didnt reli go thru a REAL soldier's path(then again i may be saying tat) but hey, everyone has their own journey rite?im sure u enjoyed urs some way or another. n im sure stories will fly every time we meet up one reason or another, that is if i dun fall sick again. i got this ord video i might wana share. its made by 12mono for 12mono gds n its basically all the key events that we did.i'll try to upload it, after i figure out how n find out if i'll get charged if i post tat. also proud me wans to SHARE my proud pic, right after i figure out the scanner.

woa man this is looong.. i've also been thinking bout lasik for a while now. as always its been the money issue.but as my v clever fren pointed out, the earlier i get it done the lesser it'll cost over time. anyone has 2.4k to give/lend? i give good massages...

i suppose exams for the girls are coming soon eh?as always work hard study hard.(sounds weird coming from me haha) the prospect of going uni is scary to be honest.i dun see how i can read study materials again n do presentations. i tink i may need a tutor.any takers?girl preferred.i charge 50/h.

just went bangkok past week with ben chew n couple of our frens.had reasonable fun there. would haf been better if we weren't so broke.haha. my fren n i became damn smart there. we learnt how to haggle n slash prices n calculate exchange rate for every price tag we saw etc.. out of so many things, this im most proud of. we came to a conclusion that ENGLISH CORRUPTS!! YEA MAN IT DOES! lemme exp. ok picture tis. tuk-tuk (3wheel drive that's extremely dangerous.do not try!uve been warned!) comes along n befriends 5 innocent s'porean boys =). he offers a cheap ride but brings us to all the expensive places operated by his 'sponsors'--> CONMAN!! next. taxi drives comes agrees to use taxi meter. 2mins into the ride he exclaims tat the reasonable fare is 200bucks plus highway toll. upon rejection from the innocent ones his face darkens n looks as if he's gonna sell us away. for fear of our safety the innocent ones agreed to 200 n split toll.--> ANOTHER CONMAN!! No.3! another taxi.charge by meter. realising his soul is as pure as ours me n my fren decided to ask him bout taxi charge by meter to this other place we're planning to go. exhausted all our means of communication, which includes english, malay, sign language, broken english, singlish, hokkien n some swear words, he still didnt understand. he just carried out his trade as a taxi driver honestly. THEREFORE, WE CONCLUDE THAT ENGLISH CORRUPTS!

one more thing.we were at this pub area which also happens to be the red-light district in bangkok. while in the camp, my very clever fren, while observing the vibrant district, asked me 'eh do u tink this place will be like this if bangkok is not named bangkok?' i didnt have an answer.still hafnt. oh great one please enlighten us!

haha thanks for reading till the end.if u merely scrolled down go back up n read start again.DO NOT collect $200pay. rem..its on ur conscience.

alright im hungry.look forwards to the pic/video.i hope i dun chicken out.take care!

yimin

2007-11-13T10:41:00.000+08:00

hey all! :)

together with sherman, i shall attempt the revieve the class blog :) haha felt quite inspired after reading sherman's long entry. yay nice sherman. so sherman u going for ur lasik soon? all the best! and i have no time to start my driving lessonssss helps. think i'll start some time in late dec or early jan next year. should i contact ur instructor now or wait till start of dec? if i book the test date now, when will it be?

anyway im having finance class now. haven been paying attention since week 1, which is quite worrying, cos exams starts in less than 2 weeks time :( some updates regarding smu: this week is the last week of school already. next week will be study break and the week after would be exams! sighs!! and i have 4 papers in 3 days. sad but true! but it also means that my exam, and thus semester, will end on the 28th! :) yays!

got my timetable for next semester alr. and i only have 3 day week! tue to thur. haha so i have super long weekend! anyway are u guys looking forward to uni life? haha i heard from some guys that they are rather dreadful of uni after seeing how stressful the girls are now. hahas seriously life is rather stressful n quite competitive. despite coming from hc, somehow i feel that a lot of people in school are super zhai and smart. but nevertheless, school is still fun la. hahahas

anyway, sherman kian and liang jian, are u guys coming so smu? matriculation is on this coming saturday for school of accountancy students. u guys coming for it? can start having student discounts once u all matriculate and probably can get discount for ur lasik treatment too :) update me whether u all coming this sat or not k!

haha i have no time to prepare to standchart!! py!! have u been running????!!! hahahas i'll attempt to gym n run this week! haha

to all the guys: please work hard n earn lots of money since u all ord alr. hahahs then give the class girls a treat k! haha thanks in advance! :):)

- jy

2007-11-07T18:43:00.000+08:00

How ironic that the first sentence of the last post is 'The class blog is finally coming to life!!' which was dated more than a month ago. (excluding the illusion post which i believe the sole reason why it was posted is the fact that.. she's one hot dancer!)

Speaking of hot stuff, I was at the Lasik Clinic (not the actual name) at Paragon a couple of days ago and the way the female staff dressed up, I thought I had entered a beauty salon where they do manicure, pedicure, hair-dying etc. Anyway, the staff there were all female except the surgeons. It wasnt much of their clothings (they all wore the same), but the accessories they wore, with lovely-painted fingernails or toenails, some with both. Perhaps it's one of their requirements during the job interview. The one with the most beautiful nails gets the job. Afterall, it's located at such a high-class place and image matters.

So anyway, I went for my lasik evaulation, reached at 12, left at 4. Did some eye tests, put some eye drops, read some magazines, drank some milo, ate some sweets, ogled at some girls. Yup, so for those who're interested in Lasik as well, be prepared for a long wait. But no worries! For guys, y'all can just open your eyes wide and look around. For ladies, maybe y'all can pick up a thing or two from the way the staff there decorate their nails? For any enquiries regarding lasik can ask our pioneer miss ng. She has been there, done that. I've only been there.

Are you guys geared up for the upcoming stand chart? I doubt it, with the girls busy with their exams and assignments and guys with their post-ord mood, trying desperately to find work. Those who are desperate for a job can contact Kian or Eugene. They're working at a recruitment agency in Taka now. Spread the love. As for me, I gotta save up some leg power to learn driving so I havent really put on those running shoes yet. (excuses!) So I guess I'll see some of you at stand chart!

And jy, my driving lessons are doing fine! Once you're ready to start learning just tell me and we can settle your driving!

Happy birthday soon!

Peace,
Sherman

2007-10-18T22:19:00.000+08:00

Clockwise or anti-clockwise?

2007-10-03T20:36:00.000+08:00

The class blog is finally coming to life!! I agree with jy...the girls are super busy. I just had a traumatising microecons midterm on monday that left many people in a trance..plus projects, papers, more midterms and never-ending readings..if i'm not reading the textbook or module readings, i'll be doing tutorials or trying to understand the philosophical essays or researching on the lack of safe water in developing countries....this explains why the girls are hibernating with our books and laptops. This leaves the guys to keep the blog alive..plus i think most of the girls will check the class blog for entertainment (at least i do), so guys, pls keep it alive. thanks :)

jy, must speak up in that class!!! it's 20% of the grade!!! maybe you can scrutinise your text or article or research on the topic, find something questionable about it. maybe the underlying assumption or find a counterexample to question its feasibility, sth that might not be very tenable. Then, you can have sth to say during class. It's hard, in some classes to speak up. But die die have to. 20% can easily put you on a different grade altogether.

Somehow I managed to injure my leg without knowing it...i just woke up one day and my ankle kind of hurts but it isn't swollen or anything.. thankfully the pain is bearable so I am still wearing heels to school - mainly because all my shoes are heels and i've grown sooo used to wearing heels that if i don't wear it when i go out, my back starts to hurt.

Is anyone thinking of having a pet or knows or someone who is looking for a dog to be kept as a pet? I've a friend who rescued a dog from being put to sleep from the SPCA. He can't keep it though because his mom dislikes dogs. The dog isn't a stray. it's abandoned. If you are interested or know of someone who is, just let me know and I'll tell my friend.

going back to my tutorial on whether animals use the Earth's magnetic field for migration...i honestly wondered why i was soo looking forward to the semester during the hols..must be insane...can't wait for the hols and counting down to April when I'll handover and regain my freedom...

kx

2007-10-03T09:35:00.000+08:00

due to the large amount of midterm exams, project work, homework and readings, the girls have vanished from the surface of the earth. sad but true :( depressing. and you guys are gonna ord soon!! uber unfair!! even more depressing for the girls. anyway congrats! hahahas the long awaited day is finally coming soon and i guess most of u are clearing leaves/offs now right!

n im in class now. sians. i hate this class! its gross. hahas class part is like 20% of my final grade and i have nv spoken up in class before. sighs. n i hate the class later. jus flunk a quiz for that module. life is depressing. i wanna ord from school hahahahahaha!

anyway sherman!! hows ur driving lesson?!?! ur instructor good?! if yes i'll approach him too! will try my best to squeeze out time to learn driving!

anyway im going to extract my wisdom tooth next wednesday =(=( im damn scareddd! n i wont be able to talk n eat for quite a while. jian fei!! hahah but im damn scaredddd!

last but not least, happy birthday PY!!!!!

jia yan

2007-09-29T11:38:00.000+08:00

two specific characters in the class have been coercing me to blog. ): whatever happened to individual rights?

well. i'm pretty much fine actually. busy with school. whoever said business was easy and people are slack is making a serious misrepresentation of the truth. it's projects and presentations one after another and basically many many datelines. very different from law, in that law has major important datelines that requires a lot of work before that, but not datelines every other day.

MAF was good i enjoyed myself. it's nice to see that our class still has such a good turnout. they should have some most-enthu-alumni award. i bet we'll clinch that.

okay im going back to mire myself in my econs textbook. and seriously GTan is such a fantastic wonderful amazing Econs tutor. the econs lecturer and TAs i'm getting now are totally frustrating and exasperating. groans.

2007-09-28T00:08:00.001+08:00

Wahh sherman thanks for that sia... And PY thanks for the photos too =) Anyone else has contributions?

Wa you guys are ORD-ing when I just got my CPL promotion.. sianzzz.. Have to wait till Apr! Dots.. haha...

2007-09-27T16:41:00.000+08:00

i better support sherman before he starts to spam my tagboard..
here are photos from maf from py's cam:

2007-09-25T20:07:00.000+08:00

hey sherman happy birthday to u. hope u had fun on ur birthday and the day before and the day after.basically everyday.

tis blog is kinda dying.even i check less nowadays.much less blog.uhm

i guess since maf we've been living our own lives.i mean not tat welive together or anything usually.but there would be more gatherings,meetings etc..maybe we're busy and stuff lidat.then again,maybe we're lazy.

to all the girls..ORD LO!! and to all the guys ORD LO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i suppose only we feel how we feel.

uhm wad else.nope.nuttin.will try to blog if there's sth else.im sure u guys noe how lazy i am so appreciate this entry.

pool?anyone?

2007-09-24T23:49:00.000+08:00

Hello all of you $^#&@* 64 peeps who make kaiguan talk to himself on OUR class blog!

Well well, i've got no idea what lies ahead in this post as i'm typing this BUT.. I'M NOT INTENDING TO BE TALKING TO MYSELF SO BLOG IF U SEE THIS.

Anyways, since i've got no blog of my own, i shall take this opportunity to extend a big THANK YOU to all those who've sms-ed, msn-ed and facebooked me to congratulate me for hitting the 20 on the 20th! (and 21st).. from the 1st sms (you know who you are) to the last (you know who you are too!) thanks loads! =)

Really glad to see all you people who went for MAF! let me count.. 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10.. 11.. 12.. 13.. 14.. 15.. 16.. 17.. 18.. 19.. 20.. woah! a whooping 20 04s64 people turned up! i predict that its gonna be a downward trend as the years pass though.. prove me wrong! As for photos that kaiguan is asking for, those with cameras that day please zi dong.. the lightings this year seem to be better than last year if i recall correctly.. and this time, we din miss the light-up! shant go into further details cuz i'll juz fall aslp typing.. oh and sorry to those who went supper after MAF! paiseh i pangseh-ed.. was feeling emo that night so i went home to cry under my blanket.. -sniff-

Juz for info, i'm learning driving now! hopefully i'll be able to get my license by mid-november.. currently i've only gone for 3 lessons though :( however, booking of my front seat starts now! any bidders? (wah later fail 5 times damn malu)

Okay, i think i'm done with this post. As usual, its rather content-less but its more of erm, activation energy, to spark off a chain reaction.

Lovey dovey,
Sherman

2007-09-17T00:23:00.000+08:00

Okay here are the photos from my camera...

Can we have the rest pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee? =D

2007-09-16T13:20:00.000+08:00

Presenting the video of 情真情深 featuring 04S64! Watch on.. haha

Photos will follow soon... all those who took pictures pls upload them too!

2007-09-05T15:44:00.001+08:00

heys! im feeling bored in class so i upload this video! it's the one and only video by 04s64! haha it's a very funny... starring Oon, Lj, Kian, Leen and im the camera girl! haha... i still remember showing it to Leen during lesson and she laughed so loudly tt we were both very embarrassed! haha... hope it will bring some joy to you guys too! enjoy! :-)

2007-09-05T15:44:00.000+08:00

2007-09-02T19:03:00.000+08:00

Starting with a few random shots

And here's the group ones (click for large view & download)

Enjoy!

2007-08-31T22:27:00.000+08:00

Hi guys! Haven't checked back with this blog for quite some time, and pleasantly surprised to see the change in blogskin! Not bad not bad =D

Anyway I saw a few posts back that you guys are looking for cheap and good KTV. My Primary school classmate introduced me to this outlet at Katong, and my office KTV gang has since sworn off the extortionist K-Box altogether =D

Ok the details are here:

Teo Heng Karaoke Music Centre
865 Mountbatten Rd
Katong Shopping Centre, #01-76/77/78/92

Rates:
1pm - 7pm, 7pm onwards
Small room (3-4 pax): $8/h, $14/h
Medium room (5-6 pax): $10/h, $16/h
Large room (8 pax): $12/h, $18/h

The small and medium rooms can be quite small, so usually we would book the large room even if we had only four persons.

And here comes the attractive package rates (the card says these are only valid Mon-Fri, but so far when I visit on weekends they charge us the same rate too. Ask for it when booking)

Small: $16 for 3 hrs / $30 for the entire stretch from 1pm - 7pm
Medium: $18 for 3 hrs / $35 1pm - 7pm
Large: $20 for 3 hrs / $40 1pm - 7pm

So if 8 people head down and sing for six hours at a stretch from 1pm to 7pm, each person only pays $5 nett! No GST, service charge or any other hidden costs, and neither are you forced to buy any food and drinks from them - they encourage you to da bao from the coffeeshop downstairs!

The song selection is surprisingly very updated (new releases usually can be found within weeks) and the variety is comparable to K-Box's, if not more comprehensive. Basically for those whose staple is mainstream Mandarin pop songs then there should be no problem locating the song you want. There are old songs and English songs too.

Downside: As this is a small family business, the entire outlet only has about slightly more than 10 rooms available, which means you need to book early to avoid disappointment (usually one week in advance would suffice). Tel: 63456513 / 64402794.

Oh in case anybody worries about the place since Katong Shopping Centre is relatively unheard-of, it's generally clean and non-sleazy due to the fact that it's a family business running it. It also attracts plenty of students in uniform on weekday afternoons from the many schools in the area.

That aside, hope to see you guys on 1 Sep! Also, guys going back for MAF on 15th?

2007-08-24T23:28:00.000+08:00

hey all,

regarding the bbq right.. need some inputs.

need to collate when u all free? i have 3 dates.. 31/8 (fri), 1/9 (sat) or 8/9 (sat). just tag or something to reply..

2007-07-22T14:33:00.000+08:00

edited:

im boredddd at home now! so i've decided to cut and paste the price chart for all of u. haha being nice and helpful jy as usual. hahas here it goes:

the race will be on 2nd decemember (2 months before my birthday) hahah! and after most of u ord. hohoho which means by then u all will be flabby and unfit. so should train up for this run! thats y all of u shd join this race with the girls! :)) we dont want to see all of u becoming unfit. its too painful for us. hahahas!

i do agree that its quite expensive to join this race. but after the first year, all of us will get additional 20% off. so not too bad. plus participants will get free adidas singlet, which is quite nice too! during the race, 100plus and water will be provided and more water and 100plus will be provided after you complete the race. for those of u who wanna make ur money worth, you can always join the full marathon. u will get to run a much longer distance, without having to pay much more! hahahahas plus 42k runners will get a finisher tee, from adidas too!! n its super nice! can haolian and wear it everyday. hahaha

hopefully my marketing skills work. byes!

love, jy

hey people!

once again its time to register for standard chartered marathon race :) for those ppl who went last year, there's 20% discount! yays and for those ppl who din go last year, fear not, cos there's early bird discount. wanted to copy down the price chart for u all, but cannot. the format will be wrong. so here's the link: http://www.singaporemarathon.com/en/race/?sec=203&ssec=550 go check the prices out if u are interested kk
gentle reminder that early bird discount ends on 12 aug and for people who took part past year, the extra 20% discount is only valid till 31july! yeah so we must quickly decide if we are going :)

running = jian fei = nice legs = good = we all should go!

love
jy

2007-07-01T15:17:00.000+08:00

Selamat sore, bagaimana kabarnya? Saya baik-baik saja. It means good (late) afternoon, how are you? I am fine. I hope there's no mistake...but yep, I'm doing a module in Bahasa Indonesia in the special term at NUS. It's quite fun and not too hard to learn. Those who will enter NUS in about a year's time and are interested to learn a language can consider learning it. I like the teaching style cos it's not rote learning. The focus is on conversational language and you get to practice it alot during class. Also, the project is quite fun like learning how to cook Indonesian foodstuff, perform Indonesian folk songs, learn Indonesian traditional dance, etc. So, enjoying myself.

Like sy, I prefer the new blogskin. The old one is just so.......yuck. But anyway, Sy, you're not going to Las Vegas??? Must go. Even if it's for a day..will not regret. If you do, go visit the Bellagio hotel, The Venetian, Caesar's Palace and just walk along Las Vegas Strip and take lots and lots of photos. Also, watch the performance outside the hotel named 'Treasure Island'. It's really really nice. Can video the performance too!! Really nice.

Like usual, I did not work this hols. BUT, I wasn't slacking. I was busy with CO stuff. Very busy esp since the vice-pres, secretary are away. But I'm planning to 'torture' the VP when she returns, which is soon. Had to prepare for a couple interesting external gigs. On monday (25 June), we performed at Shangri-la Hotel for the delegates of the World Economic Forum. Quite fun. And we got to eat the delicious food there - like the delicious green tea mousse, creamy and yummy cheese cake, coconut and passion fruit pudding....very yummy. Now, we're preparing for another very very interesting performance during the WOMAD music festival. A N. African performing group has invited us to send some members to perform with them. We will paly our chinese instruments together with them. It will be an interesting performance. We will be performing twice with them, once at NUS University Cultural Centre and another time at Fort Canning Hill (most prob on a sunday). The performances will be on 22 Aug and on 24/25/26 Aug. Will be fun. I'll have to do a workshop on Chinese Orchestra at Fort Canning during WOMAD with the VP too. If you all are interested, just let me know and I'll notify you again when the time approaches. I hear that us, the students, will be given special rates for the tickets to WOMAD performances. The performance at NUS will be free though.. really looking forward to that.

This is quite random but to all the girls: I discovered this really good wash-off face mask. It's a charcoal face mask from Origins. Really good. Apparently charcoal has natural purifying abilities. It's a little pricey, at $42, but it's really effective. At least for my sis and I.

Anyway, got to start studying Bahasa Indon. have a test coming up soon. take care and hope the girls are enjoying the hols. Don't work yourself too hard now...must relax a little to rejuvente your mind and soul ahead of another gruelling semester! Mari!

Kaixian

2007-06-30T01:05:00.000+08:00

* that's me and my fren at grand canyon! the river between us is the famous colorado river! *

hey hey everybody! due to popular demand im goin to blog from Grand Canyon! another reason im blogging bcoz the skin has changed! thankew eugene! :-P haha...

well i've been here in US for 2 months and i guess many havent heard from me because i cant use phone at all at the canyon and i have to walk about 20 min to reach the place where i can use my laptop! sooooo in short... im quite cut off from the outside world... and juz living in a small village! quite like this kind of life.. very relax and laidback! juz tt sometimes will miss pple and food from singapore! :-)

yea in case u still dunno im working as a Guest Room Attendant --> chambermaid / housekeeper/ maid... whateve u call it! haha... it's really tough at first but im such a pro in cleaning up dirty rooms now! yea... maybe when ur room is so messy nx time u call juz give me a call! haha juz joking! and im also taking up a second job so that i can travel around US after i end work and before going back singapore! hehe... anyone who went US b4 pls suggest some exciting and fun place tt i can probably visit! will be travelling around san diego, los angeles, san frans and lastly newyork! yeps!

anw juz wan to let u guys know it's really a great experience and there are lots of fun after work! sooo if there is any chance pls come to US nx time! u get to make frens with pple from all around the world and u also become more independent! haha... maybe not to grand canyon because it's far from the city and u get kind of bored over here at night... yea work and travel program is really great! maybe nx time all our class pple can come US tgt! haha... okies tt's all for now! hope u pple are doing well in singapore! take care and do update me bout any juicy gossips from singapore! hehe.. BYE! :-D

2007-06-30T00:17:00.000+08:00

tada.. the blogskin is changed. sorry no girls this time cause i cant find a good blogskins with all the beautiful girls and i dont think i have the ability to create a good one as my com is going to die (anytime soon). so hope u guys will be ok with this..

2007-06-28T00:12:00.000+08:00

Hey guys this is a reminder for the cable-ski outing on the 8th. Please post or tag if you're interested in going, and help spread the word, especially to those who don't normally read the blog. I'll assume a lack of interest if there's no reply, so I'll only be messaging those who do tag/post when the date is nearer. Meanwhile, I hope the girls have been throughly enjoying their holidays, and as for the guys ... 4 months 4 days to go. ORD LOH!!!

p.s. somebody get shi yun to post!
p.p.s i feel so sorry for william, ben and kai guan
Cheers :)

2007-06-25T20:59:00.000+08:00

hey for those who wants to go ktv there's this pretty good deal out there. apart from the one that goes for 10bucks + free vermicilli sharks fin, there's another that goes pretty cheap too. each of us (me soon kian) paid less than 10 bucks for 5 hrs' worth of singing. with free drinks of course.. and there's a good number of english songs in the catalogue! more than that in kbox i shld say.. more details go ask soonheng. promotion ends at 31 aug..

and to this someone who claimed that he will be slimmer than me in 2 years' time..

try harder

2007-06-15T23:07:00.000+08:00

first of all, a big thank you to soon heng! cos i forgot the username for the class blog and i had to ask him. hahas age-ing symptoms. hahahahs guess my brain is degenerating aft i stop school for one month!

anyway, i wanted to blog abt cable ski! hahahahs can we go on 8th july pleeeeaaasssee!! haha cos i think the next few weeks aft that i'll be quite busy with orientation camps for the incoming freshmen. yeah thats y we must go on 8th july! -whines- haha! can u all make it?

anyway, soon is organising ktv outing on either next sat or sun! pls confirm attendance. around 10bucks+ each. at chinatown hometeam ns. according to soon, its not a sleezy place (hopefully soon can be trusted?! hahas) so girls and guys fear not! hahahas

love,
jy

2007-06-10T16:48:00.000+08:00

guys.. i promise i will do something about the blogskin.. but i cant find a nice lin chiling's blogskin so i think i hav to make one myself? and im busy till after my ATEC which is like july. so bear with me.. tahan for a while and continue to ogle at kim ah jung (esp for the girls)..

meanwhile i changed the song.. enjoy!

2007-06-04T00:38:00.000+08:00

peiyin\ says (12:35 AM):
ehh go blogggggggg
then we can know how you are

★s.u.s.h.i☆ says (12:36 AM):
i dun like the blog now
why is it tt woman?! so not class

need i say more?

2007-05-31T22:02:00.000+08:00

i've decided to blog before a certain hard-to-please individual start hounding me again.

some of us decided to head for mambo last night but zouk was disgustingly crowded and the girls were made to pay cover charge. so we decided to abandon the initial plan and head down to clarke quay. the guys brought us to some dodgy (and seemingly lapsup at first glance) bar, where we spent a good five hours there chilling - playing silly number game which JY taught us, K-ing, talking nonsense, sherman + XX indulged in some traditional game, namely tictactoe (please ask sherman for the score he will proudly announce it to you)

a few sundays ago, chew Soon Kian LJ and i went to batam to cable-ski. unfortunately JY fell ill the day before and couldnt join us. anyway, Chew refused to join for group photo, perhaps some photoshop could help. videos are with Soon and LJ. I leave the uploading to LJ, who particularly loves to self-glorify.

LJ and Kian are rather good at cable-ski. It is only appropriate to stop here to avoid unnecessary ego boost. (: Soon had a breakthrough and managed to stand up and ski and significant distance after persevering for the whole day. Chew, although new to the sport, picked up real quick - he seems to have to potential. ahwell, as for me, it suffice to say that my arm muscles have failed me. ):

Please bug Soon and LJ for videos. (:

PEI YIN!

2007-05-25T21:17:00.000+08:00

hey guys,

we'll mostly likely visit g tan on 3 Jun, free or not free..say okok??? shld be meeting 12 noon..cya guys then!

soon

2007-05-17T11:34:00.000+08:00

hellooo! im back from cambodia and thailand :)) sorry for being MIA for quite some time hahas im sure all of u miss me righty? hahas

anyway, im on for sunday's cable ski :) but i foresee some unforeseen circumstances MAY occur and deter me from going for water sports :( sad but true. only the girls will understand!! hahahs (probably after i say this i think the guys will understand hahahas!) hopefully i can make it to cable ski if not i'll be v sad :(

u all going back sch to play ball this sat? haha im free tooo!! update me ya? thanksss!

now that im back from my overseas trip, im super freeee and i have nothing on! happy and slack life!! hahas feel free to date me pls! hahahas thanks!

love
jy

2007-05-16T22:42:00.000+08:00

guess who i met today!

while i was walking my dog this evening, i heard this really high-pitched voice going "PY!" i turned and saw gtan happily sitting in her BMW with her baby! such randomness! (:

she said we could visit her next sat! and she promised that she will be definitely available. soonheng please contact her!

PEI YIN

2007-05-16T18:50:00.000+08:00

hey...mrs tan isn't free on both 19 & 26...so we nd to postpone the visit liao...i guess we'll discuss when we meet up for cableski on sun??? oh..she say she can cook us pasta for lunch if we r turning up early =D but she said she will nd the help of the gals though haha...so who's gonna volunteer??? haha

oh btw...though the visit's off...but ball game anyone??? in sch on sat morning?? bball/vball??

2007-05-13T18:07:00.000+08:00

Happy mothers' day to all you mothers reading this blog! Sherman's here.

To beloved peiyin: py! How can you tag sth so mushy? You're making me shy! Yeps, no more squash for me (maybe can squeeze in once a week till the end of May). During my attachment, I was already assigned a role for NDP so I bo bian must take part in NDP. Anyway, squash is supposed to end by the end of May whereas NDP ends in August. So logically, NDP takes priority or else I won't be doing anything from the end of May till August.

On a side note, I received the most delightful phone call from camp, ever! Some kind soul had returned my wallet :) PHEW! Still, I've decided to change my wallet to the one I received as a christmas present from my aunt in 2005 which has been rotting in my drawer for quite some time. A new beginning! But remember, please cherish everything and everyone around you.

Ta-ta!

2007-05-13T12:55:00.000+08:00

i also got bugged to blog here.. so here i am.

regarding the recent issue about the ministerial pay hike..
- i have absolutely no idea what's going on
- i dont have time to find out what's going on
- my linguistic abilities (or the lack of) is hindering me from understanding lj's article
- the blog design is actually turning me off (dark background and dark fonts)
- im naturally one who doesnt really care about politics cause..

even if i do who am i to affect them?

we can criticise for all we care but ultimately the decision is made but those on top. im sorry but this is the cold hard truth. i learn this hard in the army.. i try to voice out things but how many times are these complains reflected and things get changed? just ask yourselves this question. u guys have times and times again from the papers that the gahmen has made this change that change blah blah to benefit the pple but on the ground.. how much have u benefited? i dont know about u guys but me who belongs to those of a low income grp (a monthly income less than 1.5 k a month) doesnt feel any benefit here. the only thing i feel is pain in the form of an increase in GST (which is supposed to boost tax which in term increases AE but i dont care) which is beginning to feel a strain in my wallet.

the benefits will come.. it's a sooner or later case. if it's not sooner it's probably later. and i suppose it's the latter aka later. by the time it come.. i wonder how much pain many pple in the lower income grp will feel before the monetary benefits ease their woes. i wonder who here have the same views with me cus i know many of u guys are much better off then me financially but nevertheless, try to feel for them.

i wont say that i have no faith for the gahmen. i still have.. after all it's MM lee and co who started from scratch to build a post-war SG to what we have today.
but sometimes..

when u realise that a few of those in the cabinet are somehow related to MM lee, economic welfare is not felt by many in the lower income grp, and many other instances.. u know it and we know it. it's somehow like an open secret. i wont post it here in case i get charged or something (the power of an open society).. somehow somewhere in your mind u start to wonder whether the gahmen that u see today is the gahmen that u still have complete faith in..

or not.

this is my 2 cents worth. it's not about my pov about the issue.. but more of the political climate today and how i view my role in the society, one who represents a person from a low income grp. u guys can take it or just leave it as it is.. and u all can comment about it. after all it's a free society, isnt it. the freedom of speech.. hur hur

2007-05-12T23:52:00.000+08:00

i haven't been blogging i know. lj has been bugging me a couple of times to blog. so now i shall.

exams have ended for me. i thought i would have a slack holiday, but i was clearly mistaken. i managed to get this temp job at a law firm on a very short notice (my friend called in the evening and asked if i could start work the very next day) and this stint will stretch on indefinitely, until the lawyer finds our presence redundant, this is.

it's rather fun actually. we were to look through boxes of evidences to learn about the facts of the case. and the one this firm is handling is rather exciting. by ploughing through the 165 files (think your PW files) we got an idea how disgustingly rich one can be. how can anyone spend $14000 on a pair of glasses in the 1980s. there are loads more gossipy bit, which i cant share online due to confidentiality issues. ):

anyway, its a pity i couldnt join you guys this morning to play ball. bad timing. and i was pretty tired. i hope it was good fun though. is 20th confirmed? and girls going? my foot isnt going to recover by then though, but i hope those waterproof dressings actually work.

sherman, does that mean no more squash for you? why cant you give up NDP for squash? and the GST thing is LAME! lol

hmm, and regarding the very intellectual discussion between kx and lj. i would say i'm not on kx's side. kx, i realise our political views (more like whatever minimal political opinions i actually have) always differ.

and no, i wont launch into another essay, for the simple reason that i never had strong political views. i shall leave you guys with a link - Transcript of Sylvia Lim's Parliamentary Debates. I thought that was a really good speech, subtle sarcasm, witty and to the point. and randomly, during the exams my friends and i got bored and we started counting how much PM Lee earns in a min. Assuming he works every single day without any sleep, he earns approx. $6 a min - you earn about 18 bucks just by going to the toilet to peee. lol.

and i end off with a rather amusing performance by dicklee. the front is pretty nonsense. but the latter parts are hilarious.

enjoy!

PEI YIN (:

2007-05-12T00:10:00.000+08:00

Hello! Sherman here.

Well, I aint that kinda poly-ticks person, neither am I into writing GP essays, so I'll skip the hassle of contributing my 2 cents' worth (after hiked GST maybe 2.14 cents).

I've broken up:'( It hurts, a lot. Phobia of being attached now. Due to NDP commitments, I had to break up. Sad but true (jy's pet phase). Now most of my weekends are gobbled up by meetings, wargaming and walk-the-ground sessions. Helping out in NDP is quite a fun experience, but undoutedly tiring. Basically I'm in charge of releasing the performers to enter the stage as well as receiving them back from the stage. Hmm, but shant bore you guys with the details. Sigh, so I will be missing out on the first ever 64 cable ski outing and wadeva you peeps are gonna plan.

Bad stuff apparently don't come alone. My first Monday in camp for a long long time and I had to LOSE MY WALLET. Haiz.. really dont know how I lose it. The idea of not being able to see the contents in my wallet for the rest of my life (hopefully not) is clearly heartbreaking. So guys, please cherish everything and everyone around you ya? Don't regret only after you lose them. It's really painful. Really.

Take Care!

2007-05-10T16:46:00.000+08:00

Here's my take on the issue. I think it is controversial because there is a difference between what happens in reality and how we imagine things should be like. We always think that leaders of a country ought to sacrifice to serve the country. They should. It's just a matter of how much of sacrifice they should make. One common argument in this issue is precisely that leaders ought not serve their country for monetary benefits but serve out of a passion to do good for their people. Believe it or not, they are. even with their high salaries. Most of us would never ever be able to earn that amount of money even if we work from the moment we are born till our death, but many people are earning that amount each year and some, even more. My aunt is currently working for Fedex in Hong Kong and she is earning much more than them, excluding all the other benefits she is entitled to. for example, she just shifted house and the penthouse she is currently leaving in has a monthly rent of $60,000 and the company pays for it. She does not have to pay for her maid, for her son to study in the British International School because the company pays for it. Also, the company gives her a few pairs of free SIA tickets each year. And she still has allowance for a car.

Imagine, how much does all that equates too. Of course, pol leaders ought not expect that huge a pay check. But they are among the top talents in SIngapore and if they were not politicians, they would be among the top executives in many multinational firms. Many of them chose to give up their high-paying incomes as doctors (like Dr Ng Eng Hen earns $4-5 million annually as a doctor before he turned to politics) or other professionals and are currently working at a discount.

Besides their monetary sacrifices, the choice to be in political office involves other opportunity costs. For example, the loss of privacy, the loss of private time with families, and to be constantly lambasted by people regardless of their efforts and good intentions. Many of us do not understand the kind of sacrifices they have to make because we never had to go through that.

As some of you know, I am currently helping out regularly at the meet-the-people sessions near my house, under Minister Teo. It is frequent for him to rush from one place to another, from dinners to meetings and to the mps sessions, often not having his dinner till he sees every single resident that turns up (which often is after 12 midnight). Being a volunteer, I stay and help till everything is done and the earliest is 12.30. Most of the time, we end at 2, and at times, 3 am. Think, they have been working ever since the early mornings. Even on normal working days, if you were to email him at 1/2 am, you will be able to receive a reply almost immediately. And sundays and saturdays are also filled with activities.

Of course, many people think mps sessions are easy. After all, you're just talking to residents. If you've tried, you wouldn;t say so. You have to handle all residents, even if they are mentally unstable. You must be able to speeak many languages (Malay, Chinese, dialects,...) and you have to help them solve their problems by giving them suggestions and these problems are not small. It was only after I helped out that I discovered the wide range of complex problems that many people face.

Then again, some people think: But of course, they are paid to do that. Indeed, they are. And they deserve every single cent they are paid. For they are constantly under pressure to manage the country. If they err, the futures of 4 million people will be destroyed in their hands. With such a work schedule, how much family time do they have? Many people argue that in the private sector, executives are under greater scrutiny. Are they? If they are, will Enron scandal even happen? Also, how many executives truly have to work almost 24/7? Even if they do, do people even bat an eyelid at they receiving a pay cheque of at least 5 times that of the maximum that our leaders will receive? No, they don;t.

Many people don't know, but the pol leaders themselves donate some of their income to help the poor in they constituency. I know, because I saw with my own eyes.

The fact and reality is that there are people out there who earn tens of millions of dollars a year. But because few of us have the opportunity to know them, we think $2 million a year is a big deal. And with the global competition for talent heats up, more and more talented people will be lured away from political and public office. It is not that they don't have the passion to serve the country. They do. But the sacrifice is too big. Where else can you earn more money than that and not generate a huge public backlash? Private sector. Where else can you earn that much money and not be ill-informedly labelled as corrupt? private sector.

It is unfortunate that the rise in pay has to be linked to the rise in GST. For those who think GST is high, look at the US. I paid a VAT of 17.5% on every single thing I bought in Las Vegas. Look at the US and London where the income tax is so high. Do you know that in Norway, it is actually better for one parent to work instead of both because of the high taxes? And besides, this is the way forward to maintain our competitiveness. Does everything has to have a cause and effect relationship?

American President earns less. Of course he does. Anyone mentioned the money past presidents receive for the right to publish their memoirs after they leave the office? You're talking about around US$30++++million dollars. And do you know that the American President is mainly in-charge of foreign policy? State and federal are separate. In the US, you can have a lousy government and the country's economy will still accelerate or maintain its performance. In Singapore, one lousy government who back-pedals on its policies, the country sinks to oblivion. This is the fact. We survive and do well because of foreign investments. Without that, we have nothing.

If you scrutinse the portfolio of the new mps and ministers, many of them are not govt scholars or are they from SAF. It is not a matter of where or how the govt or PAP finds its candidates. The issue is actually very simple. It's a matter of practicality and a recognition of the harsh reality.

For example, ask yourself: Why have you chosen to do that particular undergraduate study? Can you deny that the possibility of having a good job that pays well is one large factor in dictating how you choose? Like you and all of us, everyone does cost-benefit analysis in deciding if to remain in private sector or enter public sector or office. And like many, even some of us, we have ruled out working in public sector because the pay is not as attractive. Who wants to work almost 24/7? Who wants to stay or accept a job that gives no distinction between public and private realm of life? Who wants to be constantly under the public's scrutiny? Who wants a job that denies them quality family time?

It is easy to dismiss all these and simply lambast the political leaders for the pay hike. But if you are in their position one day, I wonder if you will react differently. For we always impose an idealised imageof what ought to be on to what is really the case. And when reality deviates from our ideals, we simply lash out and condemn. Don't react emotionally. Open your mind. Or, help out at MPS sessions and see for yourself. After all, many MPs are looking for younger people to help out.

These are just my humble opinions. I understand many people will not see it the way I do. Try thinking the economics way and you might understand better. Think: opportunity costs :)

Take care

Kaixian

2007-05-09T23:45:00.000+08:00

Hey I'm back again. Forgot to remind everyone that there's a cable ski outing on the 20th of May. That'll be next sunday. Which is quite soon. So update your passports. Pack your bags. And for the NSFs, I know its payday but save some money!

Sunday, 20th May
Cable ski @ Batam
$83, inclusive of ferry tickets, ferry terminal tax and lunch
Full day (~7, 8 plus in the morning till 7 or 9 plus at night, depending on which ferry)
Beachwear
Updated passport