Try This

go to www.google.com and search for "failure" ...... go do it already...... back? Tell me what you see as the first result and if you're not laughing along with me, you ought to be shot. :P

Of Birthdays and Such

As requested by a few certain friends... things that I might like to receive on my birthday. Really had to crack my head for this, but here goes.

1. Pair of comfy and stylish sandals. The kind suitable for wearing out to town. (Ling has claimed precedence and bought a pair of very stylish leather sandals for me. Hehe. Thank you my dear, they're wonderful! )

2. The special box set of Band of Brothers. This is the collectors version that comes in a metallic box. For those in the know, I used to own this already, but I've somehow managed to misplace it somewhere. I was going to get it again, but of course I wouldn't mind if I got monetary assistance in replacing it ;) (ALREADY ACQUIRED BY MYSELF)

3. A pair of shades. Just felt like having something different to wear on sunny days.

4. A tribal wrist band. You know.. those kind that are made primary out of leather, wood and string? (Acquired by the Hooney :P)

5. A few nice books to read. You all surely know by now that I am a biblomaniac?

6. David Tao's new album called Beautiful 太美丽 (acquired by RB)

7. A new wallet. I realise that ML n RB just got me a wallet for Xmas, but the one I am replacing is the wallet I use in Singapore. Thinking about it, this wallet has already been with me for over ... 5 years. It has certainly served me well.

Of course, there's the customary rant (or so you all cruelly say) of how I would LOVE to get that dream car or airplane of mine ;) Haha, most of you must be sick of hearing me going on about those few things mentioned every single year :P I am not saying that these 5 items are the only ones I want for this year's bday, just that they are the only ones I managed to think of after cracking my head on the wall. There's still wx and rb's bday to think about as well.

In a way, I've already managed to give myself the best birthday present ever. Singapore Phillips Cup would be the closest I've come to fulfilling one of my life resolutions to date. Being able to see some of the best NBA players in Singapore, playing for their National Teams was amazing.

The coming of my birthday also heralds my departure to UK once again. If I haven't met you yet, hopefully we'll be able to catch up soon before I embark upon the 2nd year of my university life. In the mean time, take care everyone.

No Turning Back Now

I've signed up for the AHM 10km run. In a way, I am secretly glad that applications for the 21km run closed on the 23rd of July... Don't think I will be able to train up in time to run 21km by the 27th of August. Meanwhile, TRAINING time!!!

Played basketball tonight. Feels good to be zonked out after a session of sports. =]

I am an addict.

Works in Progress

Well, at least the IBM is still working :) Just reformatted now. Now comes the long and ardous process of rebuilding it.

Best Line I've Read in A Long While

"If we can take the calories out for the food, the pregnancy out of the sex and even the sex out of the pregnancy, why not take the harm out of alcohol?"

Help me be a Bookie

No, I am not changing careers and dabbling into the bookmaking/gambling/betting scene. Just feel like getting a few books to read and would like to appeal to everyone who reads this. Please recommend a, in face THE, book you would recommend I read. Lets see if we can make this a list worthy to be proud about :) Here goes, my first input:

1. Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

2. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (intro by Ling @ 18/07/06)

3. Waiting for Godalming by Robert Rankin (intro by Ling @ 18/07/06)

4. The Dreamers Book 4: The Younger Gods by David & Leigh Eddings

5. Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Dorothy Britton (Translator) (intro by Wanx @ 27/07/06)

6. The Plague by Albert Camus (intro by nai @ 11/09/06)

Why oh Why?

- Life seems to be on hold until she's back

- Can't I go to sleep at night

- Random ideas plague my sleepless nights

- Colours in my life seem somehow... dull

- A hermit I'm changing into

It's Official

Got this in the mail today.

"Dear Zhong,

On behalf of the School of Mechanical Aerospace and
Civil Engineering I am pleased to inform you that you
have passed the first year of your degree programme. I
can confirm that you are not required to retake any
papers during the summer vacation

Your personal tutor will discuss your marks with you
when you return.

In closing, may I offer congratulations on behalf of the
School and our best wishes for the summer break.

Yours Sincerely,
W. H. Craig
Director of Undergraduate Studies"


The exact breakdown of my scores isn't included, but what the heck, at least I know I've passed everything.

Answers

In the sweltering heat of Singapore. Dear old sunny, humid and scorching Singapore. Sustain yourself through the mid-afternoons with a mug of freshly squeezed lime juice after some lip smacking Hokkien Mee at your favourite hawker centre.

Ahhhh...

 

Here's to you my Dear.

Like a flower
Waiting to bloom
Like a lightbulb
In a dark room
I'm just sittin' here
Waiting for you
To come on home
And turn me on

Like the desert
Waiting for the rain
Like a school kid
Waiting for the spring
I'm just sittin' here
Waiting for you
To come on home
And turn me on

My poor heart
It's been so dark
Since you've been gone
After all you're the one who turns me off
But you're the only one who can turn me back on

My hi-fi is waiting for a new tune
My glass is waiting for some fresh ice-cubes
I'm just sittin' here
Waiting for you
To come on home
And turn me on
Turn me on

Thanks to Fifi for this. Saw this in an email before, decided to post it this time around. The teeth brushing one was particularly nostalgic. I'm sure all the marist boys remember that.

Got this from a friend via her blog... Brings back the sweet memories of the good old days... That's why they always say... Young and Innocent...

Signs that you are a late 70s early 80s' baby:

1. You grew up watching G-Force, He-man, Transformers, Thundercats,SilverHawk, Woody Woodpecker, Chipmunks and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget NinjaTurtles, Mask, Smurfs and Voltron too.Girls watched Japanese cartoon like My Little Pony, "Xiao Tian Tian", "HuaXian Zi" etc.

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in primary school after recess time. You squatted by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brushed your teeth with a colourful mug.

3. Remember the days when the school nurse, comes with a list for the dentist appointment, the sound of the drilling when your friend has a fillin his tooth.You remember the packets of milk we get in primary school to encourage us to drink more milk. (It is only cost 30 cent per pack)

4. In secondary school, girls go to the library to borrow their favourite romance storybook. In secondary school, girls altered their school skirt to shorten it and guys will go to the school appointed school uniform tailor shop to tailor make their school trousers to the then fashionable "baggy pants"!

5. During primary school days, the teacher will punish you using a ruler to hit your palm. A bowl of noodles soup cost only 30cent in primary school days.

6. When you were in primary school, girls like to go to the bookshop to buy cute stuff such as animal erasers, various shape sharpeners, colourful notebook etc. Hankyu Jaya, Yaohan departmental stores used to be a favourite hangout for families during weekends.

7. In secondary school days, you buy the Bata BM Turbo or Pallas Jazz school shoes. Some guys like to wear those china made ankle high shoes.Some even like to wear those very thick socks with their school shoes.

Internet? E-mail? What the hell is that? So you thought a decade or more ago, your friends don't have pagers or handphones in school. CDs? What's that? Cassette tapes were the norm. Movie tickets used to cost less than $5 last time.

8. The goodies from Mama shop used to be Chickerdis, Mamee , Kum Kum, UFO, O-Ya, Ding Dang chocolate balls with toys in the box, colourful hard "egg", "cigerette" bubble gum, KIKI Bubble Gum, pink bottle of bubbles c/w a small tubes with yellow sticks to blow "more lasting" bubbles that you can pop more air in or slam it on. You never forget 'Ti Kam'.

9. When exams are over, the board games (e.g Monopoly, Donkey, Transportation Comparison Card, Magic the Gathering Cards and handheld brick video games will be all over the class rooms.

10. Your favourite sound is the bell! For it's the homemade ice cream man. The cream that tops Haagan Dazs! And the other peddler you love is the old lady who sells juicy Muah Chee and thick olden syrup rolled in a balloon the tip of a chopstick stick.

11. Another bell is the recess bell, a time to get away from school work and to eat. Another time when there is no bell but all guys will anxiously wait for it...The PJ (Pendidikan Jasmani), PE time (time for football)

12. Your favourite childhood games were playing "gu li"(marbles), five stones, five bottle cover, zero-point, catching, "Pepsi-Cola one two three" and/or "Police & Sentry"!

13. The best thirst quencher of all times is the yummy colourful ice tubes you can buy from provision shops for only 10 cent. To eat them, break the taband and suck while holding the freezing tube!

14. All gals have a girl doll/strawberry shortcake/my little pony/pound puppy, while all boys have a soldiers figurine (combat) or a rubber band catapult that shoots folded paper!

15. Once was the era whereby ice-cream sticks were valuable items, then came the paper aircrafts, chalk fights. Some boys made their own guns from wood, and used 'Bacali' as the bullets. Some even used matches to shoot and burn kids' lanterns during MoonCake Festival.

16. And your favourite holiday was Lunar New Year! New clothes, Ang Pows, shopping, junk food and family outings!

Let's see, the majority of students in universities today were born in1987/ 88.... They are called "youth". For them, they have never heard of the song "We are the World, we are the Children..." And the "Uptown Girl" they know is by 'West Life' but not 'Billy Joel'. For them, there have always been only one Germany and only one Vietnam. AIDS exists since they were born. CD exists since they were born. Michael Jackson is already whitened. John Travolta is always round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Spiderman and Incredible Hulk are just new films. They can never imagine a black and white screen for a computer. They never know what is Atari or 'Game & Watch'. They can't believe a black and white television ever existed and they don't even know how to switch on a TV without a remote control. And they never understand how we can go out without a mobile phone when we were in university...

Let's check if we're getting old...(any of the below hits you, means you are!)

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. Most of your secondary school friends are getting married.

3. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computer.

4. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.

5. You spend less and less time talking on phone with your friends daily.

6. When you meet your old friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again and again all funny stories you experienced together.

7. Lastly, having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other old friends. You think they will like it too...

Hahaha! Yes! We are getting old too...Brings back old memories huh? - so much for the young ones back then...

We humans

are such wretched things. Here I am in Singapore missing Ling and doing things that remind me of her like burning a whole CD of songs I always listen to at her place.

Also, bought this toilet air-freshener as I have to use it all the time at her's too.


But why are we wretched? Cos in spite of all these little things.. I didn't do the most important thing. Calling to tell her I miss her.

I am a slang!

sam
adj. high-quality but not loud.
"Are you as sam as I am, man?"

schpng
interj. phrase suggesting that someone see something.
"Jackie - schpng!"

Interesting pics I saw

and

This May Sound Weird...

But I love to eat fish. I really do.

Love I mean

Ireland!!!

No, I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth for the past week. Been very productive in fact, if I may say so (conspiring wink to my fishy-eyed darling) Anyway, for those who didn't know, I was on a trip to Dublin, Ireland and it was wonderfully delicious :)
You know you're in Guiness Land when you see this all around you

The Spire.. along O'Connell. You could say this is Dublin's Avenue des Champs-Elysees where all the major high end retailers are gathered.

That's the Spire you see rising into the sky



some random sculptures along O'Connell





What's so ironic about this 2 shots is that the sculpture of "Boxing Rabbit" is facing the monument of this saint. The saint of...

pai seh, I mean Apostle of Temperance

As Buddha said, " Lay down your arms and you will raise the ground you're on into Nirvana"



That's just some random church, but the building beside it is the Writer's Guild. It's sort of like a showcase for all the brilliant writers Ireland has produced. Prime examples are Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift of "Guiliver's Travels" fame, etc etc. Trivia: At least 8 Irish writers have been conferred the Nobel Literature Award. I apologise for the lack of more pictures. This is actually going to occur quite frequently as most of the exhibitions we visited didn't allow photography.

For the visually impaired (like me), that reads : Garden of Rememberance. Think WWII. Need I say more? Excellent place for a breather and just chill after a long hike though :)

Inside the garden









The Dublin Gallery was also in the area. Just beside the Writer's Guild in fact. We did take nearly 2 hours to walk to this building after the Writer's Guild though... simple case of... forgetting it was there :P





Shaddies!!! Ling and Daph succumbed to the glaring sun and bought some nice shades to protect their eyes.

Trinity College in Dublin... one word... POSH











Oh, I nearly forgot, here are some shots I managed to sneak onto my phone :P





Memorial to Oscar Wilde



I agree whole heartedly

The memorial was situated in a park called Mount Joy...



And as it was so warm, we went out in flip-flops everyday!

A snap shot of Grafton Street. A shopping area. Think... Orchard Road this time around.



Are you afraid of the dark?













add that all up and you get this

it seems to have adverse effects on people

even though they would like to claim otherwise of course

in case you can't read that last line, it says "So each copper holds 172,800 pints"

This was taken in Gravity Bar. At the top of the Guiness Brewy. It commands a breath-taking view of the city through its glass walls all round

Daphne

Ling

Me

note: was NOT drunk when I took this pic



Pic says it all



Part of the old city walls







(waves back) I miss you baby

top of the walls



Temple Bar is a colourful quarter of Dublin City which, almost accidentally it could be said, over the years developed a bohemian 'Left Bank' character, while retaining in its cobbled streets and old buildings a charm no longer to be found in many other parts of the city. It now bustles with loads of pubs, bars, restaurants and random knick knack selling stores.

One of the many eataries found in Temple Bar area. Don't ask me about food in Dublin. I didn't have a SINGLE bad meal. I repeat for emphasis. I enjoyed EVERY meal we had in Dublin. The English should be ashamed of themselves...



That's St. Patrick's Cathedral in the distance. He's the patron saint of Ireland.















Inside the Cathedral itself...











We decided to get away from the city for a day went took a train to Malahide to check out the castle there once owned by the Talbot family. It was their home for 800 years!





Do I look like chip or dale?







CIAOZ~~~