Jeffirean Stories
Thursday, December 27, 2007
I KNOW that I haven't been blogging for ages...
To recap the month is simply too much a chore, but then if I don't blog it, it's such a waste! Haha. Maybe a reason why I have not been blogging because of the recent high level of gossip surrounding me in school, so I could have been hiding...
Ya, right.
I am GENUINELY very very busy as we can see from a certain someone's blog that he is extremely irritated with my "fantasy world", where promises are like roses, they come with thorns. Nonetheless, after being pricked many times, I have learnt my fair share of mismanagement. And, with the new year looming, it's time I "blakang puseng" and see what a trail I have left behind...
First to talk about my results: my aim this term is to get a term GPA of 3.0, which I narrowly missed earlier without counting in the BSM I went. But the results came on Boxing Day and the B+ pushed the GPA past the 3.0 barrier to 3.02. Heng ah!
Second to talk about is about my thoughts which sprung up earlier when i was putting bedsheets on for my bed, which ties in with yesterday's bbq where a big topic hit me quite on the head: MARRIAGE. How does it tie in? My bed is a double bed, and I was struggling to change the bedsheet, leading to my thoughts that a double bed is only meant for 2 persons to sleep (then they can also change it together easily).... hmm. My 7Seas brothers talked so many TECHNICAL things about marriage: what to give in a dowry, what to buy for a diamond, wedding band, blah blah.. I don't get what is a solitaire, why girls only want Tiffany (okie, if you don't know what is Tiffany, good for you :p) and etc... haha. I AM SCARED of all these stuff man... pengz.
Third... I AM GETTING FAT!!!! Anyway, this is nothing new, but then if my father says something about my round stomach, something is terribly wrong. Haha. Not too sure how will I deal with it, but I guess it will take a long time to deal with it...
So maybe let's just stop this and recap the trip... for the next few posts I will divide the post into 2 sections, one on my current thoughts, and the latter about my trips... heh. So let's go...!
Tbink I will only recall Day 1 (2 Dec) for a start....
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The stipulated meeting time was 1030 at the airport. I wasn't sure when was the flight time actually, but I was there earlier, thanks to my dad who sent me there. Heh. Unfortunately, when I reached the departure hall, I couldn't see any of my classmate nor professor (we call him by his name so let's have his initials here - SK). So I went to the cash deposit machine and did all my banking transactions. I went back to the departure hall and saw my classmates and subsequently SK. After reporting to the teaching assistant (TA) Yee Jing, we began to check in our luggage. My luggage was a light 8.5kg. Heh. I went to have lunch alone at the staff canteen next, and then immediately after that I went to clear immigrations because I wanted to check out the shops inside the transit area. Oh boy, things have changed since 2004 Dec when I was working there as a Youth Tourist Ambassador. Didn't find any good stuff, except that the Biotherm Homme products were really cheaper than in town. Still didn't buy them though because they were expensive and perhaps Taiwan may have them cheaper.
My maiden SIA flight was really....an eye opener to me. I sat with a classmate on my left, and an Indian on my right. Guess he's a businessman or something. My first thought onboard was to observe why SIA is the most liked airline, was it their service, their seats or the famous SIA girl? My conclusion: None of them. Maybe the other airlines are worse, so SIA seems good. But my initial experience tells me that, "ah chey". It's not that I can't enjoy myself on the same 4hr flight via Jetstar anyway. However though, I still play around with the in-flight entertainment system by first reading some news, and then played abit of Pokemon Yellow, which was super laggy, and then finally I watched Underdog, which was quite a cool movie, and then Marrying the Mafia 3, a Korean movie that was sooooooooooooo FUNNY and SEXY! Too bad I didn't get to finish it (though I finished it on my return flight).
Singapore Sling! Comes in a prepacked tetra pack which the SIA flight attendants will pour it into this transparent cup for you
my lunch! quite nice, comes with a Cornetto ice cream
watching marrying the mafia 3
After alighting at Taoyuan International Airport (an hour's drive from Taipei city), we had to queue quite long because many other flights arrived at the same time. Some of my mates were clever, they changed money right inside the arrival transit area. The rate was better than in Singapore! I had on hand NT$5370, so I didn't felt the need to change. On hindsight, it was the worst, grossiest mistake I made for the trip... SO, if you go Taiwan, just change your SGD at the airport. The rate is very good already.
We met the tour guide, which to my disappointment, was an old uncle called Mr Hou... I was hoping it was a female.. haha. We will talk more about Mr Hou in the next few posts but the first stop we went was not the hotel, but Shilin Night Market. Man, we reached there around 830pm, but was only given till 1015pm to eat and shop!! That was even enough to queue for the XXXXL chicken chop lor. I skipped the food and went straight to the shopping... haha. Bought some watches that seemed very small, but still too big for some super skinny arms like Ice Queen's (pengz) and socks and my formal shoes (which cost NT$490 but were slightly big for me). Sigh. Didn't take much photos because the infamous HS was tagging along with me. (I was still oblivious to the existence of HSBC then, not to say about knowing her popularity in school). We will also talk more about HS later.
I grab a peanut flavour shaved ice at Shilin food centre before returning to the bus... MAN, it's VERY NICE!! Hope to try other flavours when I return there again on a more relaxed trip. After that we went back to the hotel which was Riverview Hotel. NEVER PICK THIS HOTEL UNLESS YOU ARE DESPERATE. It's on the outskirt of XiMenDing, so it takes you a cool 5 min walk through a quiet, dingy street before you see the first colours of XiMenDing (KFC, in fact). The hotel also isn't anywhere good either, so if you need recommendations, please feel free to ask me. After putting some of my stuff, I went to visit XiMenDing alone... but found my classmates eating at Ah Zong Mee Sua... haha.
inside the transit area
my 2 groupmates, the only people in our class in suit onboard
the Taoyuan Intl Airport Gents
Taoyuan Intl Airport Terminal 2
The famous everyone-self-service-stand-and-eat Ah Zong Mee Sua
The hotel room....
I think I probably knocked out around 2am while my roommate still watched the tv... so that's about all I can say for Day 1. Hope the photos do say thousands of words on behalf of me.. haha.
Acknowledged my existence at
11:06 PM
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Reporting from Taiwan:
I'm still alive!! I mean after all the travelling and lack of sleep, I'm still sitting here blogging. Maybe it would be my last entry before returning to Singapore because tomorrow I'm going to visit 2 interesting places, the Sun Moon Lake and also Flying Cow Ranch (Princess Cow's Taiwanese friends' home). Heard the bus ride would take hours!!
Will recap the entire trip when I'm back in Singapore. I promise you it will be full of drama, humor and adventure. Plus plus plus, GOSSIP!!!
Hahaha.
I saw Shu Qi in Taipei 101!!!!!!!!!! But GDI, I missed Jolin!! She's in Taipei today when I'm in Kaohsiung!! Heard Show (Luo Zhixiang) is here from one of the Show fans in my class, but of course we don't have a chance to see him. Haha.
See you guys!
Acknowledged my existence at
12:39 AM
Saturday, December 01, 2007
I have not been blogging for a long time!
Sometimes I feel like everyone takes me for granted, but in fact, I also do take some people for granted... I'm kinda lousy in that way. Sometimes I wonder why do I take so much effort for only a little return and I say that it's for the long term? When will the long term come?
I'm 24 this year and passing the 25 mark soon in another 8 months.... My original aim when I was 18 was to have assets worth $1m by the time I'm 25.... probably I was too naive then. I begun too late to take the plunge into business, took too long to learn what is investment all about, and till now, I probably don't even have assets totalling $10,000. Not even savings... I practically spend everything I earn except that every month the insurance plan I have stashes away $70+ into a savings plan which will finish on my 42nd birthday... looking at the projections, those amounts are pretty puny, looking at the inflation rate currently.
Is my only choice left with finding a good job, earning that elusive $36,000 a year? Or will I get some fantastic luck, strike toto and take away $500,000+ (after taxes)? Is $$$$$$$$$$ all that important?
To me, $$$$ is important because it makes life easier with the increased number of options you can take. Having more $ means having more options to choose from, and we all like that sort of power. When we have more options, we can always pick the one that suits us for that situation, and then we may not have to suffer excess stress over things. The problem now is, if I don't have $, I get stressed, then if I earn $, I also get stressed, then which way will give me less stress? Hahaha...
I only know that having more resources makes you able to help more people around. I just want to be of more help to more people...but now, because of my incompetency, I end up making more people help me instead..... weird huh?
Lastly, business is not always an easy thing to do... sometimes do so many things but only earn a puny sum... and customers think that they are paying good money for good service... should I give up or should I persevere?
I tell myself, I must continue trying for every $ that can be earned... heh. I'm stupid but I like it that way.... haha.
I'm going Taiwan on Sunday.. so fast.... hopefully I come back in one piece with lotsa goodies for everybody who has helped me in someway or another throughout my busy days.... cheers for you all....
When I come back these are the things I want to do:
Go KTV, play table tennis, play with dous, learn to bake, and watch some new movies that seem interesting.... lalala.
-the idiot who sleeps at 5am these days-
Acknowledged my existence at
2:26 AM
inside the transit area
my 2 groupmates, the only people in our class in suit onboard
the Taoyuan Intl Airport Gents
Taoyuan Intl Airport Terminal 2
The famous everyone-self-service-stand-and-eat Ah Zong Mee Sua
