Right after settling the lighting at the front of the gym, all of us moved up to the second level to fix the webcam. However, it took us a couple of hours to give up before 3am. We left without packing up the place.
After reaching home, I was proud to present the new router that Bobby gave me to my elder brother. He started configuring it and we faced some problems at first until we switched the WEP encryption to WPA. I was so hungry that I took noodle for supper before collapsing. I continued with my blog and tuition agency website until 8am.
I woke up at 4pm and spent the rest of the day with my tuition agency website.
I was quite exhausted when Yaozhong came online. I messaged him to ask him to review my new design for the tuition agency website and he asked giving suggestions. He even tried to help me to touch up the main topmask. I continued to work with the Home Tutor Singapore page and eventually went to sleep at 8am.
I woke up at 4pm and continued with my work. It was near 8pm when I was about to have my dinner, Tze Khit dropped me an SMS to go down to the gym to collect a present from Bobby. Since he told me to bring my laptop along, I thought it was just a hoax.
Anyway, I went down to the gym right after having my dinner and Bobby passed me a new set of Aztech N-wireless router with 300Mbps speed. I was stunned and my brain went numb. I supposed it was because I had been helping them with work and that was why I was worth the money. However, for as much as I was too awkward to demand for any fee for all the freelance work, the router made me feel uneasy. They were rich and successful people and I did not want to have anything to do with money when associating with them. If only I were a rich guy, I would return bigger presents to all my good friends but I could not afford anything at the moment.
Anyway, my laptop was useful for they indeed had some amendments to make for the flyer I did for them quite some time ago.
Bobby was busy for the entire night. He impressed me badly for he handled everything by himself. He certainly had the money to get professional helps to fix all the leakage of water, router and even lighting outside the gym. He knew everything. The led flashing lighting looked ugly though they did attract attentions. Anyway, when they were rejoining wires for the lighting, I recalled that during my national service days, I did learn about doing similar thing but I had forgotten the steps to do a proper one. Alas, I tried on one and realised it was more difficult since all the wires inside were very thin copper.
On Monday, my elder brother finally returned to Singapore from his Thailand trip. I was not sure if my mum was aware of the messy situations at Thailand but I was sure that she was very pleased since she had started waiting since before midnight and she came home from work earlier.
I was the happiest man after all because of the laptop backpack he and his girlfriend bought for me at Thailand. It was a nicely designed black colour compact bag and I would say that was the best bag I had ever owned even though I had not brought it out.
In the day, I started gearing up for another fleet of Facebook marketing. I would probably gather more arms first before striking. I started tidying up my blogs. Some alignment problems cracked my brain badly and finally I realised it was due to the size of embedded Youtube video.
It was an extremely boring day.
I went for a jog before midnight and was quite satisfied that my timing had improved by half a minute but the lower back was giving me some slight problems during the jog.
I reached home at around 4am after Weiye dropped me near my house. I went to withdraw money and three Malay guys approached me to transfer two bucks over to one of their bank accounts because he did not have enough money inside his account to withdraw the minimal amount. After the guy passed me the two dollars worth of coins, I felt quite unsafe. It was in fact very dangerous to do it since they would get to know my account number.
After reaching home, I got my mum to search for her birthday present which I placed on my younger brother’s table. After that, I gave her a hundred bucks. She was pleased with both the present and cash. I was satisfied with myself for the first time for getting a present which she liked. I was, however, still quite frustrated over getting Jingkun’s present since the volleyball group knew what they needed and would get everything by themselves; moreover, I had much different taste from them somehow.
I had late lunch with my brother and his girlfriend at Subway at Amara hotel. After that, we went up to the newly opened Sportslink shop at level three. We were not very satisfied with the prices of the stuffs even though they claimed everything was on sales. After that, I went to Tze Khit’s new gym to pay him a visit but he was not around. His colleagues and friends did not question me even though I stood inside for quite long before Tze Khit returned. Since my family was having early dinner, I did not stay there for long.
The couple and I went to Kampong Bahru Road. We decided on the coffee shop there so that my aunt would join us for the dinner since it was near her place. My mum came over with my aunt and we started ordering from the seafood stall. I knew I would be using quite a bit of strength at night and somehow my appetite was better than usual. The entire meal including the drinks cost me over forty bucks.
After reaching home, I cleared my email before going down to join Tze Khit at his gym. My first task was to get the six strong men dinner inclusive of twelve drinks. They suggested chicken rice but later, told me I could get them anything. It was already nine o’clock. I rushed over to Maxwell food centre and as I had expected, nothing there could really fill the six guys’ stomachs. I went to Chinatown Complex food centre but the chicken rice stall was closed. In the end, I went across the street to the shophouse to get the chicken rice. While waiting, I went to CK departmental store to get six cans of coke. I collected the food before going to Maxwell food centre to get six cans of cold drinks from the drinks stall. The uncle gave me a small packet of ice.
I realised I made a blunder in getting the food as I did not insist on getting breast meat. In the end, there were bones and Tze Khit hated the chicken wings. I remembered that the shop’s name consisted of “boneless” and thus I was too comfortable with them. At least, I was quite satisfied in myself for saving some bucks for Tze Khit by getting cheaper drinks. The rush to get the stuffs back fast weakened me quite a lot.
Tze Khit went home after having his dinner to get some stuff. I stayed behind to help fix up some of the gym machines. It was tedious to tighten up the screws. I almost thought the gym machines came in one piece until I went over to help out.
Some people would probably think I was stupid to spend my time helping others while I could at least spend the time playing game to relax myself even if I did not start looking for jobs. I thought the culture of helping one another should be spread because nobody knew he would need helps as well in future. Helping others did bring myself happiness.
I had supper at Maxwell food centre with my family. The noodle was at quite reasonable price at two bucks each bowl. The iced lemon teas from both drinks stall were disappointing. The night was still young, or rather, the morning was too early.
I met up with Irwin in the afternoon at Vivocity. We went to Burger King where Irwin took his early dinner. I got a birthday present for my mum, which was a moving display plant, ran by solar energy. I was almost trapped at the Cannon shop, dwelling on the cool cameras, which I needed quite badly. Eugene joined us at White Dog Café and Irwin took his second dinner. I did not enjoy the fish and chips as much as previous time.
Next, we went to St. James. We tried the Smoke Lounge but only to sit around the bar since we had to open a bottle in order to get a table. We waited patiently for the live band while Irwin treated me to a glass of Singapore Sling. I did not really enjoy alcoholic drinks including cocktail. I tried to slip as much as I could but I could never catch up with Irwin’s speed.
During the band’s performance, an uncle in his white hair and polo tee stood right in front of the low platform to harass the sexily dressed Latin singers. I thought it was a good interaction until the second song started, the man went back to do the same disgusting actions of pointing to the girls and pinching his index finger and thumb together to form a hole. Irwin got very disgusted and ordered us to leave. Since I wanted to stay conscious, I did not bottom up the remaining of my drinks before leaving, wasting more than one-third of the drinks.
After that, we met up with Huiling and her boyfriend back at Vivocity. We went to one of the bars to chill while waiting for Weiye. He reminded me of Kachua’s happy-go-luckiness and I was so glad to see him after so many years since we graduated from secondary school. The couple left while the remaining four of us went to Party World to battle against each other. It was one of the few times I would heck care about my out-of-tone singing.
On Sunday morning, I went to meet Gilbert and Peh for a swim at Ang Mo Kio. We were supposed to meet at 10am but I was late for half an hour. Nevertheless, I was still earlier than Peh, who arrived in his girlfriend’s van.
We started off chatting by the corner of the pool. It was crowded like usual and we went to the middle lap and slowly, shifted towards the other end. I stopped after the first lap to adjust my swimming trunk and proceeded on a non-stop swim for the next twenty-one laps. The two of them claimed that they took only ten laps.
Swimming was never as easy in the past for I was never able to keep my mind calm, dashing towards the end of the lane every lap; by the second lap, I would have drained myself like during competition. It was ever since I went swimming with my younger brother, I managed to give up every thought of trying to impress all the other swimmers around - his non-stop swim forced me to do it. By relaxing myself, saving strength for the next stroke after each pull, I was able to sustain my strength to swim at constant speed for uncountable laps.
Perhaps, I had been acting like a bull over certain jobs and tasks since young. I pushed myself without proper planning and I did not know my limit. Regardless of my own stuffs such as web building and playing sports, or helping of others, there were always times I took actions more than I used my brain.
Nonetheless, working beyond my limit was not totally disastrous, for at least it kept me fitter than many other people, except that I was plagued with injuries.
I was lucky to have a driver around for it saved me from quite a distance of walk. Peh sent Gilbert home to get changed before the three of us went to Ang Mo Kio Hub for our lunch. We went to “My Desert House” where we filled our stomachs while taking photos.
Peh could not join us for the walk in town for he had to meet his client, which was a letdown. He reminded me of the days when I worked as a property agent, which I considered “no life”. He was much luckier as a financial advisor now for at least he had his transportation somehow.
Gilbert rushed to Takashimaya to meet his friend before we started walking around, looking at expensive leather shoes that turned me off. We proceeded to Ion soon to shop for my jeans. I got him a pant as his belated birthday present at Uniqlo. He got me a polo tee at Topman and the cost was shared between him and Peh. Eventually, I still owed Peh two birthday presents, which was so pathetic of me.
I was completely destroyed soon for the lack of sleep, water and rest. Gilbert continued his journey to Cityhall to get his stuffs before going for Chingay rehearsal while I made my way home directly from Orchard MRT. I was thinking of going to Marina Barrage for a jog but I dropped onto the mattress soon after I cleared my email.
When I reached office, I saw a birthday present and a muffin on my desk. The tie was my second birthday present and I was very touched by Hirman. The muffin was from my dear Xiao Mei - Joy.
Lunch was at West Coast Plaza. Conversation was as messy as the fish market like usual but this time, the topic “friend” was too unbearable to hit on. Mei Hoe told me to “put down the chair” but she did not do it herself.
In the late afternoon, Hirman caught me in the office and told me he was going to town area and thus I decided to hop onto his car. Christine joined us since she was going Ions to meet her husband. I went in search of “red packet” with Hirman afterwards for he left his inside the office. After walking around Paragon and Lucky Plaza, we finally went back to the hotel and got one for free.
Jeremy and Andy could not make it for the FYP meeting. I had to cancel my volleyball session again and I could have met up with girlfriend if she was free instead. The remaining three of us proceeded. It was a lousy night for I was pinched by headache.
I was never able to return to my former secondary school for Teachers’ Day celebration since my polytechnic days. Thereafter, army and work had disrupted all my plans.
Last Monday’s Teachers’ Day celebration was quite disappointing. I was not expecting much but at least not students skipping school just to go back to their secondary schools. There was celebration in their current school and yet they did not even want to turn up. It clearly showed the weightage of the two schools to them – the former and the current.
Since I did not step into the classrooms regularly, I did not really mind but felt sorry for the rest of the staffs.
However, there were better incidents to be dwelled on. The first thing in the morning to see presents were really heart-warming. Wee Lian had given me a keychain while Diana excited me with a book on the classroom lectures of Yu Dan on Confucius. The book was in English while I already had the videos and contents in Chinese and it was an unexpected joy for me. The boss and big boss had never run out of ideas to give away presents during celebrations.
Hirman was the chairperson for the Teachers’ Day celebration community. Everyone pinned very high hopes on him due to his usual drive, joyous character and creativity. Somehow I wished he had not done it as well as we had anticipated for some of us had to embarrass ourselves with the Michael Jackson dance. It was terrifically fun.
On Sunday evening, I received a sudden invitation to go out for dinner. Since my mum was not in Singapore yet and that I did not want to turn them down, I decided to give up my show - 鹿鼎记.
I met up my gang at Tiong Bahru Plaza. They waited at the restaurant called Rajar Inn where we invested in a buffet dinner again.
Being a light eater, it was not a good choice for me; it was definitely a waste of money especially when steamboat was such a bored stuff. The first dish was durian pastry, of a normal standard, and the rest was in fact not satisfying to me. The thirty buck spent was a total waste of money.
Braun Buffel Wallet
Nike Bag
I received my first two birthday presents of the year – a Braun Buffel wallet and a Nike sling bag. I had not heard of the wallet’s brand due to my lack of brand awareness, but it certainly seemed expensive, and owning such accessory was a waste of money on me.
It was very pressurizing to receive birthday presents, especially when my buddies had been saying that “how much you spend for others is how much you will eventually get back”. If you could afford a hundred dollar, would others be able to do it? I supposed family background could pose problems between friends.
I would not care about the value of the presents and I supposedly did not really need anything since I had eliminated all my NEEDs, unless someone could spare money for a DSLR camera or even buy a house for me.
Anyway, my buddies knew me too well that they bluffed me to show them my wallet and then they started replacing all my cards over to the new one since they knew I would not be using the new one any soon if they did not do it that way. It was the same scenario as the mobile phone chain which Weitat bought for me at Hong Kong a month ago and he borrowed my phone so that he could force the gift onto it.
I was practically being touched by their efforts.
Anyway, when Mingli teased that I did not get her any birthday present, I got the shock of my life. I was always not the one who went in search of birthday presents and thus, when my gang bought presents individually, I tended to have problems.
I did not go down to beach on Sunday with Peh since I already had two days of volleyball before that. The final decision to not be involved was because of the last day of Comex at Suntec City.
My wish to get a LCD monitor drew near.
I got myself the new computer more than a year ago with my earning from the internet but fund was insufficient for a full system – I went without a new monitor since the bulky Phillips was still within expected performance.
Over the year, I started to realise the essential of a new LCD monitor. - Saving of electricity - Better comfort to the eyes - A better resolution for more detailed design work - A wider screen for Photoshop work
My younger brother accompanied me down to the Suntec City Conventional Hall. The Human Race organised by Singtel together with the big electronic fair halted the flow of traffic nearby and we were trapped inside bus 197 since Fullerton hotel.
We conquered the entire exhibition area and finally reduced the range of brands to choose from – Samsung and LG. Acer's monitors were cheaper but the resolution was not any better – we mainly made comparison using a stated ratio. In the end, I chose Samsung 19' inches monitor despite it was twenty bucks more expensive than the LG's one. I did not expect to get such a big monitor at first but was glad over my final decision based on space and price differences.
It was one of my most difficult days with my stomach stitched again due to the late meal; it had been since after ORD that I was having this problem that I could not walk for long distance after having my meal. I struggled on since my younger brother wanted to look around for goodies.
We made a stop at the second floor at the area where Samsung dominated, sitting by the side of a wall at a quiet hall. Fifteen minutes later, I decided on my LCD monitor and made a purchase there and to realise that we had to go up to the fourth level to collect the freebies. At the payment counter, I received a shock when my "limit" for the NETS was over and luckily my younger brother was around.
It was a difficult task to cut through the crowd while pulling the given trolley for there were many brainless or blind people who almost tripped over it despite I had tried to be so careful with my "luggage".
We took bus 196 home. I transferred the most of the remaining money of my brother's purchase for his laptop to him and my new baby was the exchange of gift.
Sorry for not able to update my main site for so long. I have been caught between many websites and other work.
A year ago, I presented “Unforeseen”, which is a very short love story. For this shitty Valentines’ Day, I shall present to you the preview of my latest story – Lonestar (url updated).
In fact I have been working on it for more than a year but I’m forced to set it aside for other work. It is a self thought story, mixed with some true experience of my past. Title and contents are subjected to change any time.
Please give me some feedbacks so that I know if I’m on the right track.
It was Christmas Day finally and I was preparing to deliver the present over to Vivi when she sounded very sleepy. I tried to keep her awake but instead, I lost a lot of time doing that, which was a mistake. I had not cycled for so long since after my operation and this time with the new tyres, I used less strength than before to do the same amount of job.
It was a challenge against myself. I reached her place near 1am and gave her more than thirty calls which she did not pick up. I got so disappointed because usually her friends could easily wake her up when they wanted to chat with her over the phone. Standing at the corridor, I had so much doubt that I could take good care of her.
I made the wasted trip there and I was not sure how my mum felt about it. At least I had proven that my left leg was capable of paddling though it might still not be able to withstand jumping. It was quite an unlucky morning for when I got to Yan Kit Road, the roti prata was sold out. I decided to go home empty-handed and the chain came off. For the first time I fixed it back but got my hands so dirty.
It was a boring day ahead. She had organised a party at her house since her parents did not allow her to go out to celebrate. I seriously did not understand what grudges her parents bear with me but from what she told me, I could not go even though I was not very interested as well.
It was till night time when I decided to deliver her present over, her friends were leaving. Since she told me her dad was sending them to the MRT station, I decided to stop by Outram Park MRT station. It was raining but I decided to proceed on. After waiting for quite some time, I called her to check for her location and realised her dad was sending her friends to Woodlands MRT instead. In the rain, I cycled straight to her house and luckily her brother came to the living room and I quietly caught his attention to pass him the present without letting her mum know.
After that, her brother and I started to bluff her that the present was given by her brother and she believed it. Since the day before she had received some chocolate with “I love you” label inside, she insisted that present was from me. No matter how I explained and swear that I was not so stupid to make her grow fat, she refused to believe me.
In the end, I realised her group of friends who went to her house was actually friends introduced by a smoker cum playboy who tried to break us months ago. The disappointment was so heartbreaking. Then, she was busy entertaining that playboy for she did not invite him over due to a conflict between him and another guy.
Alas, I concluded that she was so naïve to easily believe other people and yet she always had doubts in me. Another disappointment was that she would never ever keep her promise to stay away from people whom I disliked.
Though it was not surprising at all since I knew she was going to do it after being influenced, it was the effort that counted and time she spent that was sweet.
As the chalet is approaching, I am looking forward to more suggestion of activities. Please give some feedbacks even though I know none of you would do it except for those who have already tagged at the website – http://sillydumb.com/birthday2006.
I wish to apologise again for not able to invite so many people since the place is not big. The two groups of guests I have invited are my previous unit and BMCC volleyball friends; some of my very close friends are neglected as well.
Early thanks to my photographers Gilbert and Da Zhang, and also my chefs Ivan and Ah Teck.
Until now, I have more or less confirmed the number of guests going for the barbecue; I have also confirmed true friendship. Those people who have not decided on whether staying a not are causing quite big problem but I am not going to care anymore.
For those who are going for the chalet, please do not worry about getting a present for me because I will not remember to ask for any from you; those who are not going, I expect presents.
Since I am living a dull and boring life all these years, I do not really need anything except a PDA which you can never afford because I am not your son and you will not spend so much; so, you can just forget it. As for formal wear, you do not know my size.
Anyway, I have already gotten a watch and swimming trunk. Better luck okay?
Early thanks to Siu Hang for getting expensive birthday present in Hong Kong for me.
Gilbert wanted so badly to help me with the decoration of the chalet and we met up at Bugis. Nobody else was free except for Jielin.
It was a bad day for me as the buns I took were causing indigestion somehow and I felt so awful. Another thing was when I forgot to put the batteries from the charger into the camera and even the spare batteries were on the table as I took them out few days ago; I brought out a camera without any battery at all. There were nice moments waiting for my camera and it was really sad look at my pouch which held the camera.
Jielin arrived some time later and we met her up and went to Suntec City. We continued to shop for her shoes as Gilbert bought me a swimming trunk as my present. That was the second one I had received for this year’s birthday.
Jielin testing cap. My 6230I's camera is lousy.
My second birthday present - Swimming trunk
We camped at MacDonald’s after that while we took our dinner. We sat and chilled up for more than an hour, trying to finish up the fries. It was near 7pm when we walked Jielin to the taxi stand and accompanied her to behind the long queue.
After that, Gilbert and I walked to the Cityhall MRT station and finally ended our day. It was a cool day.
