i haven't blogged in the longest time, largely cos i've been working from 8am to 7:30pm on weekdays.. by the time anything gets done, it's already 9+pm..

work has been the same, with the same people and the ever changing faces of the "newbies".. but still, newbies don't stay long; and we "old staff" just hang around with each other.. thus the newbies seldom get to mix around with us, and then they find it boring and leave after a while.. it's a viscous cycle.. nobody cares to break that cycle, i'm leaving in a month, i can't be bothered..

i enjoyed the company of pohling, because we spend over 12 hours a day together (from 7:45am to about 8pm while waiting for the bus).. and i think we click really well, and there are several occasions when we talk too much and there are a lot of people who will try to prevent us from sitting together.. they largely gave up cos it's either we move to somewhere else together and start talking again, or one of us won't be productive and they can't get their things done on time.. i'm glad for her company cos this "job" became so fun that i actually look forward to it everyday - despite the terrible pay of $5 per hour.. but i get to do really interesting stuff like repairing broken links for the images and doing the illegal stuff that i'm not really supposed to do.. we broke a thousand and one rules - from bringing in our water bottles, to bringing in food, to going for unofficial breaks.. but the fact remains that we work better when we eat, so they don't really care that much too.. so that's work, and that's how it has been for the past month; and for the next month ahead..

outside work, i met up with jesse, quanyou and xingloong to watch terminator salvation at the grand cathay last saturday.. and it was marvelous (the cinema).. but the show itself was a letdown because of a terrible plot, but it wasn't a complete disappointment because the sound and the effects were great thanks largely also to the grand cathay..

other than that, life was been routine.. way too routine..

oh and i'm looking forward & dreading uni life at the same time.. jesse tells me it's hell, but i'm looking forward to the fun and the usage of my long asleep brain.. i received the freshman guide from NUS, and i'm probably not going to go for any orientation camps.. i don't believe in paying for torture.. and i believe that man is a social creature..

back from indo, peacefully, without much hype about the H1N1 virus.. in fact, i just learnt that our status is still orange but will be lowered to yellow on monday.. apparently this is not the case at tanah merah ferry terminal.. they had a infrared camera, but no one was manning it and the people all had their masks off when we arrived.. orange alert huh..

but indonesia was great!! i travelled alone to indonesia and was picked up at the Sri Bintan Pura ferry terminal.. it was a nice and smooth ride, although i was really hoping that there are the huge waves to make the trip slightly more exciting.. sadly there was none at all.. i even dozed off in my first trip there in ages!! to think that when i was young i could stay up all trip just looking at the waves and frothing made by the ship..

day 1 dinner was the authentic indonesian riverside BBQ that made the plaza singapura bbq look like crap.. but what i loved most was not the fish, but the sotong.. and there was "asam sayo" (which literally means sour vegetables) which i have not tried before, but i loved it immediately.. it was like our tom yum soup, without the spicy stuff.. absolutely delicious..

day 2 breakfast, bak kut teh.. yet another winner that puts even the best singapore bak kut teh to shame.. it's thick, almost literally flooded with pepper pods, and loads of meat.. but i love the soup more..

then begin my 1 day tour with my relatives to visit all the relatives in indonesia.. first stop, grandpa and grandma @ Huai En Tang (i think), where their ashes are stored.. i remembered how my grandma is so lovely and doting and my grandpa who did all the discipline stuff.. i remembered being chased around the whole house with my grandpa and his splited cane.. and grandma who would give really huge angbaos and would buy all kinds of food for all her grandchildren.. oh what lovely memories..

then was great-grandmother, buried in the christian cemetry.. she lived to a ripe old age of 97, and survived the japanese occupation.. she had a great story to tell, but most of her great-grandchildren aren't history fans.. so we didn't really sit around to hear her story.. it's too late for regret now anyway..

then we went for a really long (30 mins @ 130kmph) drive to my uncle's corn farm.. and had a nice pluck and eat session with corn.. i ate 3 whole corns!! and i've never tasted anything as fresh and sweet as these.. and oh yes, we ate them raw.. and these aren't even the best crops.. the grade 1 crops will only ripen in Sept.. but nonetheless, the grade 2 corns are good enough for me..

then we went to another uncle's dragon fruit plantation.. and i just found out that dragonfruits grow like grass (i.e. horizontally).. they have really weak aloe-vera-like stems that cannot stand up to gravity.. but in a planation, space is money, so they had a pole and a tyre used to support the dragon fruits.. and i never knew that dragon fruits are so tedious to plant, because their flowers only open at 12mn so the workers have to go around the plantation at 12mn to collect pollen and to manually fertilise every single flower one by one.. work aside, dragon fruits have a low capital because one plant have a life of 20 years and they can produce fruits within 6 months of growth and keep producing fruits every 2 months.. and the seeds can be re-used to plant even more dragon fruits.. so basically all you need is one dragon fruit, poles, tyres and a large plot of land.. and all these are cheap in indonesia.. of course we tried their dragon fruit (the red ones - cos indonesians think the white ones are not as nice and sweet).. and it was love at first bite.. i ate 3 of them =D.. of course, my lips got tinted red by their blood-red flesh and it looked like i applied lip stick..

then we went to another uncle's vegetable farm.. which was pretty much the same as those we have in singapore.. so there wasn't really anything that interests me..

then we went to yet another uncle's champedak & durian farm.. but sadly it wasn't the durain season so all we had were baby durians that weren't ripe yet.. so we can only see, but not taste.. argh.. i was really looking forward to great durians..

then we had yet another long long drive to the beach where yet another aunt operated a kelong cum seafood restaurant, famous for gong-gongs.. and i single-handedly ate over 20 gong-gongs (amongsts lobsters, clayfish and other seafood).. my cholesterol levels are going sky-high, but ohwell, i haven't ate them for ages..

and that concluded my tour of indonesia.. we had a long long ride back home..

and guess what, i met up with my younger cousins so i took them out for LAN (in indonesia).. well, surprise surprise, they had core 2 duo PCs, although they still used CRT monitors.. but it isn't cheap, coming at an equivalent of SGD$1.25 per person per hour.. cheaper than singapore, but it's supposed to be much cheaper.. we had 2 hours of LAN, playing warcraft, and counterstrike cos i didn't know how to play the other games there.. and guess what, i was badly trashed (13 to 2) by my younger cousin, aged 12..

day 3 breakfast was fried carrot cake & ban kat mee.. both of my childhood favourites.. then we went to visit another 2 aunts who lived nearby..

lunch was yet another round of bbq fish..

indonesia was nice.. but it's still not very well developed.. try having no electricity for most parts of the day; forget piped water and try well-water.. and try doing your business over a hole that overlooks the splashing seawater below.. so i wasn't really used to it, but childhood instincts took over after some time..

it was supposed to be my uncle's wedding, but i think i enjoyed much more.. and i even had the groom be our tour guide and driver around the place.. i got to meet my uncle's super pretty wife (i've yet to see anyone face-to-face, or even on TV, who's more pleasant-looking than her).. i'm really happy for him..

I've finally mastered my new HTC Touch Cruise 09 cos it's really complicated with the stupid Windows 6.1 interface.. Oh yes, i bought this new phone after i bought my G700 less than 3 months ago.. There isn't much to complain about my "old" phone, but my dad decided that i would be better equipped with this new phone, so he bought me this new one (i paid for my "old" phone with my own money, this came, relatively free)..

I love love love the WIFI in this new phone (cos i'll just sign in to MSN on my phone and lie on my bed and chat all night long), and i can skip turning on my computer just to check emails, my blog and facebook, plus it loads pages faster than my laptop anyway.. and since it displays webpages just like my computer, i have no problems going to any other websites too..

but that aside, there's really nothing much i need from this phone.. basically it's a quad band phone with a 3.2MP camera, WIFI, GPRS, HSDPA, GPS, aGPS, EDGE, and a really powerful qualcomm 528Mhz processor with 256MB RAM.. it's HTC's iPhone replacement, but i doubt it'll actually replace the iPhone.. i really love the processor, cos it never lags.. and i hate lags..

but i love my phone, and i love my dad =D

with that, i'll be shipping off to indonesia tomorrow! yes, the talk about the H1N1 virus and all the border screening.. but WHAT-TO-DO? my uncle's getting married, ask him!! i just hope indonesia doesn't get it so i don't have to be quarantined at home when i return..

i've just watched Bridge to Terabithia.. it's not a new movie, rather it's screened in year 2007.. but somehow i missed it and only got to watch it today.. and gosh, it's the most touching / moving film i've watched this year.. it speaks of a really talented girl who can write really well, but because she's too good, no one wanted to be friends with her.. and this guy who's poor and gets ill-treated by his parents at home that he hides himself in the works of his own drawings.. by chance this two children met on the school bus and realises that they are actually neighbours.. these two isolated / despised children seek refuge in a imaginated world, called Terabithia..

it's touching because the girl is so positive and cheerful that she brightens up the days of the people she meet.. she's adventurous and wants to try out everything around.. hence the canning of the idea of Terabithia.. it's touching cos it reminds us to look forward to everything, everyday.. and to quote her: 'keep your eyes closed, but YOUR MIND WIDE OPEN".. this way, we can approach life's challenges with a different attitude, and gleem at the joys that lies undiscovered beneath..

i watched it twice straight in a row, and i could have watched it for another 10 times without getting bored.. i should have watched it earlier..

had a very interesting week, last week..

monday was out with weiyu and jesse to buy quanyou's present.. and well, we walked around citylink and suntec.. and the first shop that we entered, we saw this nice fossil watch.. when we left the shop, i remarked that the watch was 一见钟情. i'm not sure whether it's supposed to be written like that, but that's what i meant.. love at first sight.. little did i know, it really became true.. we talked all the way to carrefour and back, and still decided to buy the watch where we first saw it.. and it was a really really nice watch.. a fossil leather automatic watch (with battery as backup power).. it was so nice that i would have bought it for myself if i was richer.. it was a slight "heartpain", but we agreed that it was worthed it for our dear friend's big twenty-first..

then we went to eat at shodoku, where i ate 7 bbq-ed quail egg bacon rolls, a rosti and salmon sashimi and macha ice cream shared with weiyu.. gosh i soooo loved the quail egg bacon rolls, but it was also very very sinful because of the extremely high levels of cholesterol..

i started work on wednesday at trusted hub again.. and met my old friends, samantha and bao ling.. too bad samantha had to leave on thursday; so i only had bao ling for company.. it was really fun sitting together with her cos we were almost making jokes all the time and laughing at everyone else's names and nicknames (a common hobby).. often we became embarassingly loud too.. but i'm glad God placed me with this friend, because otherwise i really would be bored to death with the very dull and mundane job of simple data entry..

saturday was best! together with quanyou, weiyu and jesse, we went to kuishinbo @ suntec!! and ohmygosh the food was fantastic!! for a slightly higher price compared to saruka, it serves so much better food.. and i loved their fresh sashimi and oh-so-wonderful desert table (with a chocolate fondue too).. lunch was so filling that i skipped dinner, and breakfast on sundy.. we then sat around outside royal sporting house to let the food digest.. and had a hearty conversation there about everything and anything.. after weiyu left, we met up with eric and played Left4Dead at E2Max at Cathay.. it was fun, but very draining such that quanyou and i both got headaches at the end of it.. mugging was never as brain-frying as this.. but within 3 hours, we managed to complete 2 advanced campaigns and a normal level campaign AND about 5 rounds of counterstrike.. =D

sunday.. had a really nice "rock concert / karaoke" at church with john leading the second service worship with a bass guitar, a keyboard with a second synthesizer and charlet as the backup singer.. it was the first time we had the bass guitar, and probably one of the very rare times with charlet as a backup singer.. nonetheless they put up a really fantastic performance that i commented that we could very well record it and make it into a CD album to sell.. but people weren't singing and worshipping.. we listened.. so i guess we presbyterians are presbyterians after all, we sing well with a simple guitar and a piano, but add in the bass and the synthesizer and we listen..

after second service, we had a really long lunch with jackie and aloysius at just acia @ dhoby ghaut.. and then we went to gramaphone to borrow this DVD called SuspectX.. and we went back to church to watch it in tuanqi room - because there was suddenly no tuanqi programme thanks to certain people who couldn't plan the programme in time.. nonetheless i enjoyed the mind-teasing japanese show.. about how a mathematician creating the unsolvable murder puzzle and the physicist trying to solve the "unsolvable" murder puzzle.. absolutely intriguing..

so that was last week.. i'm looking forward yet another week of work (hopefully fun), and rest during the weekends..

ok , it's been 15 days since my last blog post.. obviously loads of stuff happened, but not so much that surmounts to a blog post on each individual event.. and i'm getting lazy, partly due to facebook's word challenge and spot the difference..

ok, i left my job at alexandra hospital on April's Fool's day - no joke! my contract ended on 31st March and my boss requested for me to stay one extra day ( i don't know why).. so after that they said that they no longer needed temp staff for my position.. so, here i am, jobless.. again..

that friday (03/Apr/09), i went with rosel (and her friend, dengli) for this MCYS media event for the now-hyped-up thing - the MCYS commercial - aka. the funeral (which i love so much that i dragged my parents to watch it on youtube when i went back home on that day).. don't ask me why i went, my answer sometimes freak myself out too.. then had super yummy lunch at shokudo.. following which, i was made to watch L.O.V.E. with them.. as i told rosel, it was yet another fan-flick-film; and i enjoyed it more than i expected, but much less than any other movie.. what kind of movie gets spilt up into 4 parts?? but i agree that the guys in there are really shuai (or pretty).. but i saw them purely & objectively as actors even though the girls in the same theatre (who made up about 90% of the population watching the show) screamed when certain guys came on the screen..

enqi's birthday celebration on sat (04/Apr/09).. at changi fairy point chalet 5.. which was absolutely haunting given the very inaccessible locale, and the long and ardous walk to the chalet itself.. and the wooden chalet has no aircon, and tall dark ceilings.. but with the large crowd of people around, it made it less scary.. and more fun..

had culinary competition in church on sunday (05/Apr/09).. it was very haphazard, but it was fun working with the brothers and sisters in fellowship to prepare a dish.. and with our budget of $20, i was surprised we managed to whip up a large portion of baked salmon and two sticks of bacon (wrapped in aspharagus and mushrooms).. it was a great idea for future cooking needs, if ever..

the rest of the week was just catching up with sleep.. my record was waking up at 1pm.. my average being 11am.. but somehow, more sleep caused me to get sick.. so since wednesday i had sore throat, cough, flu, and slight fever..

and it's made worse by the BBQ at grace's place on friday.. and even more so with a durian feast with jackie at geylang after the BBQ.. we paid $20 for 3 large durains.. for the both of us..

but by now it's getting ok already (after i finished nearly half of my newly opened bottle of Vit C pills - ate 2 vit C pills, 4 times (wake up, brunch, dinner, before sleep) a day).. and trying to pay back the long overdue exercise that i've owed by lifting some weights around.. i guess i should be ok by tomorrow or latest, tuesday..

i finally had a saturday to myself.. and i really really loved it.. most importantly, i managed to get a long-overdue haircut, watched 2 movies (race to witch mountain & dr doolittle - million dollar mutts), started working on the blog template for my tuanqi cell group's blog, filtered through several hundred chinese worship songs to find the better few to download into my iPod, attended (by chance) an amazing chinese orchestra performance at parkway parade (with our SM Goh as the guest of honour), went to buy pasta (and the sauce, ground basil leaves and oregano, and loads of mozzarella cheese ), came home to cook pasta, and blog.. that's 8 things that i've done today! i finally got to clear my to-do list by 8 impressive items.. wahahaha..

i really loved the chinese orchestra performance! yes, i love orchestra music and would love to go for such concerts / performances (and not those jay chou or duffy concerts).. and best of all, it's free (and near to home)!! it really makes me a little proud to be part of chinese orchestra when i was in primary school..

and i loved my home-made pasta too!! gosh i missed pasta so much that i had to make it on my own; but i will always love the nice pasta that god gave man the intelligence to create.. largely the italians, but man in general..

tomorrow's church again.. looking forward to it!!