Jeffirean Stories
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Hey all,
Okie, here's the update that you guys wanted (now it's QM class, wahaha~ freezing cold though...) And add to the PA announcement that happened while I am typing this. It's a real dumb day.
The past week has been pretty peaceful. Bought lotsa stuff for CNY and began the spring cleaning. Spring cleaning sucks when your brother is not doing anything to help (probably will be forced to do something by my parents on CNYEve). There are so much stuff to throw as this spring cleaning could probably be the last one in this Yishun home. We have to prepare our stuff for removal ease when the big day comes, although I really have no idea which day of the year it will be. Throw throw throw!
Been meddling with Pikachu's PC which is down and in the process, my own desktop also went bonkers with the software. Now gotta reinstall windows to get it bootable. Pikachu's PC is worse off. Can't boot up anywhere. Formatted the harddisk but the windows wouldn't install, so the PC wouldn't load. Sheehz. Luckily I still have the laptop to use. No, I should say, luckily my brother still has the laptop to use... (otherwise I will be getting headaches every weekend)
Hmm, I went for my first International Economics A class yesterday and it was surprisingly quite interesting. I didn't fell asleep in class except for a moment or two (that's considered amazing) and the good thing is I had already found a group. I still looking for groups in the other 2 classes. Sigh... then nowadays very busy with Uni+Vantage. My key task this time for the Uni+Vantage Magazine launch is to devise and execute a plan to distribute the magazines. It is pretty easy in SMU given the help from the team, but for the other 2 universities, I am in the midst of contacting the hall committees to help to collect the magazines and put in their hall key gathering areas on our behalf. If you do know any of such people, or if you know people in the Student Unions, please do ask them to help me. Just email me at my MSN email or call me.
That's so much about school and life. Work is pretty fine these days. Boss arrowed me to go find information on 27 golf courses in the Austral-Asia region. I was stuck with the Korean golf courses until today, and still stuck with one left. You cannot find it on the internet, and the trouble escalates with me not versed in Korean.
Next, let's think about the Chinese New Year plans this year. I suppose CNYEve, I will be stuck at home cleaning and watching tv while Pikachu is going to see the fireworks again (I have a slight phobia of the after-fireworks program now, so please leave me out). Anyway the usual should proceed for CNY1, CNY2, where we will visit the great grandfather for CNY1 and the rest of my mother's side of the family (stretches to great granduncle and 5 grandaunts!!). CNY2 we should be visiting grandma (my dad's mother) and my aunts. We seem to meet only twice a year, during CNY and during my grandma's birthday.. hmm.
Anyway evening activities centre around gambling (no soccer to watch!!!! sianz) so I guess I will be doing some school work and then watching Bleach. Hopefully we get to organise our own mahjong session, perhaps at home, but not too sure. CNY3 is usually a gathering for the 7seas, but not too sure if this can proceed this year with some other options available. Look forward to the salad tossing (lou hei) with the 7seas! I really like this dish as compared to all the great food (less pineapple tarts and bbq pork, aka bak kwa). CNY4 is a non-working day! Yay~~~ for this unexpected day, we will have to be in the office in the morning to do some prayers and stuff, then go for company lunch. The rest of the day I should be free, but not too sure what should I do... (think should end up going out with Pikachu).
Oh well, looks good right? But the exams are coming! 3rd Feb, 4th Feb are all quizzes/test dates and probably I would need some divine help then... whaaha. Then 7th Feb is the magazine launch (that's week 6) and after that, there should be less work from Bizcom. Week 7 is mid-term test week and probably will do some mid-terms in that week, plan some projects and woohoo, week 8 will arrive. See my sidebar~~ will be taking leave to go out for a truly^100000, break.
Mm... other stuff to write before I go would be about a real terrible dream. I shall cut short though. Essentially it's a nightmare when I couldn't force myself out of it as opposed to normal nitemares in which I know how to force myself out of the mess. This one I tried 2x and it ended up like a reset in a video game --> restart from the beginning again. So I was so helpless until I woke up in sweat by the 3rd time I tried executing the Dream-Exit tech... grrrr. Also this same dream I had it some day ago too. But it was not so bad that time as I only had to endure one cycle of it (forced myself out of it).......... Anyway what's so bad about this dream is that I was like a character in a modern maze and ya, there are traps traps traps. I dun like trapssss.
Okie, shall end the bo liao post now. Thanks to all who had read my previous posts... stay tuned for the post CNY post!!! Here I shall wish everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai, Wan Shi Ru Yi!! (collect many many angpow, win lotsa lotsa money~~)
Half-Holiday Mood
Jeffire
Acknowledged my existence at
10:08 AM
Thursday, January 12, 2006
This afternoon I was surfing Friendster to see how some of my old friends are getting on. As I looked at some of their latest updates, the memories of the past returned.
For my secondary school years, I can recall nothing much to smile about except for the table tennis training we used to have during recess, after school, in the shooting range in our school. Those were the really fun days with your really good friends! Too bad that's just a bright dot among a whole patch of dark colours. My secondary school life only gave me unhappy memories of trying to catch up with people whom I can never catch up with, be it social status, academic results, wealth, love life, knowledge, and whatever you can name. Of course it was also a wake-up call to me that I should not live in my own fantasy world anymore.
Reality is cruel.
Yet people have always said, it takes cruelty to be kind. True, you can only make steel stronger after intense heat and hammering. So conveniently, the friendster network linked me back to my JC days, the 7seas, and company. I recall again about life in JC. Yes, it was hectic. But it was fun, I had my good times and bad times. Did I grow up? Yes I did. No I did not. What does it take to become the better person I had always wanted to be?
I am not really sure.
What do we always want in life that will finally satisfy our desire to be more of a pacesetter than a pack-chaser? Nobody wants to be that odd one chasing the whole pack. Yet life is not exactly a race. Some people have absolutely no inkling that there is huge competition striving to be one of the top dogs (pretty apt for the new year, eh?) while others are so fearful of being stamped on by others. Well, to me, it is a race to be what you want to be. If you want to be a top dog, you have to run faster yourself first before you look around to see where is the main pack or even where is the top dog's position at the moment. Or if you are content being part of the pack, so be it, pace yourself to stay relevant.
It leads me to the final question: What do I want to be exactly? The top dog, the relevant dog or the packchaser?
Have you ever seen my life goals before? If you look at it from the descending point of view, it goes like this:
a. Reafforest the desert (and stay by the beach)
b. Live in a beautiful but small home.
c. Earn SGD1 million by 25
d. Sleep till 10am to work, work till anytime I like, and still be helpful to society, school and business.
Life goals... if we didn't achieve them in our lives, are we considered livelong failures? If we are failures, how should we get up and move on with our lives? Why should we become failures in the first case? Do you know what is the meaning of living in success vs success in living?
I wish the hug was not ended by the call of work.
I wish the kiss was not ended by the bell of school.
I wish you will not be saying goodbye because I had to fulfil my commitment to someone else.
You get it?
Wandering Mind
Jeffire
Acknowledged my existence at
7:19 PM
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Happy New Year!
This post is the first post of the new year.. hmm. I changed the background to myself! How's that? I suppose this post will be pretty long as I recall some of the key events during the long New Year celebration plus review some old resolutions and make new ones.
What I Achieved
============
1. Changed my image for a certain period of the time
2. Got a nice job
3. Learnt to be more articulate and daring
4. Made more new friends
5. Bought a laptop
6. Became happier, especially with YL around to cheer me up with his stupid NC antics
What I Failed
==========
1. Improve my sense of punctuality
2. Lose weight
3. Improve my grades
4. Start a business
2006 Goals
========
1. Lose the fats
2. Be punctual
3. Get better grades
4. Get a new room and self-design the interiors/furnishings
5. Travel to Langkawi / Phuket (mid Apr)
6. Stay healthy and cheerful
7. Learn more about the travel industry, know more powerful people
8. Most importantly, de-cultivate the 'save small, lose big' mentality for every situation
Actually these goals are just very easy to achieve. Unfortunately I seem to make it difficult for myself by not being disciplined enough. I also need to be more daring and seek more help because I cannot do many things alone. I need to learn how to relax because my health is rapidly deteriorating with so much stress in this line, which multiplies with the stress I receive from school work and my dad's stuff. Hopefully I will be able to create and manage systematic methodologies to keep everyday life in good control. No more sense of worthlessness of myself. I have deviated too much from the original me, and perhaps it's time to get back some of the 'ruthlessness' I possessed previously.
That's about all for the review and resolve. Let's talk about the New Year celebrations and the first week of school.
31 Dec 05
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As usual the day began with work like Xmas eve, and it was a breeze till the end at 3pm. It began to pour! Stupid weather, it had to come just as I was going out. Unfortunately I was decked in this old long sleeve cardigan (bright blue and orange) which made me looked out of place with the dark weather although it served its purpose (to keep me warm). The meeting place with YL was Sim Lim Square. Poor me had to be stuck in the stupid jam which began from Rochor Rd exit of ECP till Fu Lu Shou complex. Luckily YL is a patient person and duly waited for me at the entrance. We then scouted SLS for the SD card required for the camera as well as thumbdrives for me. I didn't buy anything eventually. As it was a vegetarian day (good timing sia), we went around in hunger to find the right place to eat. Finally settled down in Fortune Centre at some small kopithiam with some simple stuff left. After we finished then it was so disappointing to see a nice vegetarian restaurant just a few shops away! Sianz. Then we went to look at chinese music instruments which I couldn't understand at all.
After dinner, we decided to go find some dessert place and walked along the street till we reached 7-11 opposite SIS building (SMU). We looked around, pondering if we should get a tub of ice cream to share or not. On 2nd thoughts, since the day was cold (we had walked till we were warm actually), we decided against it. I suggested going school's TCC to try our luck if it was opened. But before that, we just rested at SESS and took some photographs individually and together. One hour soon flew by and we then proceeded to go see if any shops were opened. As expected none of the shops were opened but the school wasn't entirely quiet. There were some couples strolling around as well. TCC was fun! It was empty with only the staff burning their time off chit chatting or reading magazines. YL ordered a drink and we shared, but it was not very nice. Haha. We took some photographs of TCC. YL was real naughty and took a photo of the counter staff, a girl, of her backside. Luckily she didn't realised so. Stupid YL.
After the drink, we saw every car movin up Fort Canning and so we followed along and went to the park. We were singing as we walked along, listening to my music player. Wahaha. Irritating us. Stopped at some point to take a photo of Clarke Quay, but our skills were too lousy to take a nice shot. Eventually we continued our walk to Funan across the bridge but the door on the 2nd level was locked. We then began our music lesson on the overhead bridge! YL's singing was terrible but improved over the lesson. Time was nearing the countdown and we made our way to Singapore River / Clarke Quay area. WOW. It was really really crowded! Then I realised that YL was bringing me to see the fireworks which I didn't expect to be going to (as I stated no crowded places, especially Orchard). Reluctantly I just followed him till we had to climb the railings in the middle of the bridge (think this place, Fullerton/Empress Place) which I couldn't due to my injured knee and the dark gap in between. I mean I could had tried climbing but if I fell my leg would be broken. I stood there and pondered a while and decided to squeeze with the crowd through gap in between the railing and the bushes. It took away some precious seconds as we sped down the bridge to nearer to the area facing the sea. As YL pulled me along to find a better spot, the fireworks just went 'Kaboom!'. OMG. I had not seen any fireworks for a long long time and it was so beautiful. The effect was so real with the loud bangs. I enjoyed the full 15 mins standing there with YL. Woooooooooo..
After the great moment, came the great despair. Everyone was making their way back to the train stations. As we missed the last bus to go home with an attempt to walk to Selegie Rd despite seeing the bus u-turn at Victoria St, we had to go find NR1 to take home. Unfortunately from Selegie Rd, I opted to dodge the Orchard crowd and hence we began the great walk from Selegie to Newton to Novena to Thomson to Bishan. By the time we reached Bishan, we had missed 8 midnight buses which were all full. We went to check if the first train would begin at 6am but alas, it only ran from 645am. It was only 445am! Then we did not want to cross the overhead bridge anymore so we walked to the bus stop near to CHS and finally managed to board the NR1 home. I swear that my legs were wobbly when I went to bathe! Overall I supposed we finished the equivalent of the BMT road march for that whole day! Haha.
1 Jan 05
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Interestingly, there was nothing on untill 11am somebody fired an SMS to ask me what was the program. I was so freaking tired but well, Ah Kai mentioned ktv and I was like... yeah, very long never go with the 7seas. But WTH, I booked 3pm and nobody turned up at 3pm. So I was left alone in the room till 4.05pm when Ah Kai arrived. We sang till 4+ when Lixia arrived. A few songs later there was a blackout! That was the first time I experienced a blackout in the ktv. So we were waiting for the electricity to be restored while the other customers were cursing their luck and the establishment (Partyworld Orchard). Soon it was restored and subsequently, Jinki and Catherine. The staff popped in to apologised and extended 30mins for the ktv. I was quite angry and I swear that like the previous ktv, I will never visit the place again. (ok this sounds extreme but you get the idea?)
My misfortune accumulated when the rain poured and I couldn't buy my 4d - the number came out! Idiot weather. After the ktv, I waited at the bus stop but the other 2 pairs all went to the MRT instead without telling me! I missed 3 buses and had Kevin hollering at me to get there quickly before we lost the reservation. Ok. The bus came and eventually I met Ah Kai at the escalator in Suntec despite them being at the train station when I called (5 mins before the bus arrived) so I was actually thinking, why did they bother to walk so much and get drenched while I just had to endured a 100m of unsheltered walk to the bus stop, skipped the long walk through City Link. Haha, see, leave me out of the action la! Anyway the dinner was superb at Soup Restaurant. Kevin made the absolute right recommendation and I will forward it to all of you as well. After dinner, we went to Carrefour to walk around while waiting for Kevin to get some ringgit changed. I bought a pair of light bermudas at $3.90! Wahaha. We bought some food for the mahjong later at Jinki's place.
At Jinki's place, I was quite bored with the vampire show but everyone was watching it so I checked with my parents where they were and asked them to fetch me home. After a nice bath, a change of lighter clothings, I drove back and the mahjong action had already begun. I got online onto MSN to speak to YL. Soon I got bored (with waiting for the mahjong) and asked Kevin to let me play one round. Kevin then let me played while he sped upstairs to play Football Manager. I guess my mind wasn't in the right mode as I played real badly and lost quite a lot. Fortunately, due to the beginner level of the table (Catherine and Jinki's siblings) the stakes were in 1-cent-2-cent instead of the usual 10-cents-20-cents. So I lost $1.45 in all with the last game making a dreadful mistake (zha hu) with a potential 5 double finish (idiot me). Ahaha. Anyway it was already 7am and I drove Ah Kai back before going back home to sleep.
2 Jan 05
======
The long weekend was really enjoyable as I spent the 2nd night eating some great food from Tiong Bahru market with YL. After that we went shopping at Queensway SC, Ikea and then went to the reservoir to clear my heartache. (Hee, that's our secret) And then the holiday ended with a late night sleep....
Start of School
==========
2 words --> School sucks.
Okie, cut the story short, textbooks are expensive, lessons are boring, Jeffire is tired. So you see.... well stunningly I had this Prof Tan W L for my EM course and wow, he is real interesting but also real talkative... ended our lesson 30mins behind time! (945 PM!!) That's a bit too much. However it made me realised that if I don't buck up, I might as well don't study.
Oh well, I should end this post now since you guys would have had fallen asleep....zzzZZzzz..zZZZ
CNY's next! Wahaha. That means more mahjong action. Hehe.
Before going, put a link here http://cuteoverload.com Really cute hor!
Fingers aching
Jeffire
Acknowledged my existence at
6:07 PM