Mother of all Refresh

hmm i felt rather refreshed somehow after the new year after i came back from my friend's house for the countdown (bit more later). then again, maybe its because i just took my bath. was rather hot today. humid too. (haha sorry for stating the default sg weather.) and i was wearing a shirt. and i walked from ion to taka to somerset313 prior to camping at my friend's house.

guess what these 3 malls have in common?

yes Zara. lol. was planning to get a white and black shirt ever since i saw them like pre-christmas? but frikking ex. 89.90 seh. each. siao. haha so i was pleasantly surprised to see an advert on thurs (thats 30th dec) announcing zara winter sale. (and pls dun get me started on why those happening brands stock winter/autumn clothes in sg)
yeah turns out din get a white or even black shirt cause either wrong size or just dun have that feeling aka harry potter when he chose his wand. haha
i sort of got that feeling with this purple striped shirt with white collar and cufflinks though so i bought it! :D
but quite ex still. but it was 30 bucks cheaper so i shant complain :)

ok i digress. haha

lets start by recapping the year 2010 then...


and it all started with

GSS RESOLUTIONS FOR 2010

1. Learn Driving


first time pass :) quite proud of myself. haha

2. Upgrade from a Below-Average Medical student to an Average-Medical-Student. yes im being extremely practical by not saying Above-Average cause its seriously going to spell the end of my already non-existent social life

oh. haha. down up down. i seriously need to re-evaulate this 'item' for the 2011 edition

3. watch nice movies! first on the list is the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. followed by Percy Jackson and the Olympians (MAGIC!), Valentines Day (LOVE!!!!!), Up in the Air (GEORGE CLOONEY!!!), Wall Street 2 ($$$$$$)

all done. on hindsight, quite silly of me treat 'which movie to catch' as resolution. pfft. haha

4. Acquire tuitees (to supplement my lifestyle needs, or wants)

yes. had 2. eh wait 3. then with the passing of 2010, one graduated from jc, another from pri sch. so left one :(( hopefully got good assignments with the new year!

5. Get a new pair of shoes

yup. and on another hindsight, quite silly to put shopping choices as resolutions. got money just buy lah! haha no money suck thumb loh hoh?

6. Get a new pair of specs

hmm this is different cause its about my face. and yes got it

7. Get MY EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS 50 Years of Public Housing 1/4 OZ Fine Gold Proof Coin (may need to sacrifice my new shoes and specs)

yes.

8. Blog once a month starting from now :)
yup definitely. haha

yeah other than the fact that i thought 2010 went pass quite fast, it was rather fine. academics not included lah. haha. sigh, what to do, im already stuck with my course. just work harder loh. haha not that sch's not fun lah. its just a bit xiong. and im the type who doesnt thrive in competition. so own time own target loh. just that might have to set my targets higher.

and lets pause for an interlude. something in between 2010 and 2011. haha



i din photoshop anything by the way. and can you spot it???

AND SO, moving on tooooo


oh and it started with a bang. multiple colourful bright and shiny bangs in fact haha


thanks to my good old pri sch pal milton who stays at a vantage point :)
very inspiring to see a new year start off so vibrantly and BOOMZ-ly haha

hmmmm. yeah was thinking about setting my 2011 edition of resolutions but after some contemplation, i felt that 'Resolutions' sounds very resolute (resolution- the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.) and im not the type of person who has the discipline, or 'firmness of purpose' to really really do smt. unless i really really really want it lah. and i dun have anything that i really x 5 die die must do one so yeah.

maybe just Attempts? haha

so lets see what do i want to have/do/accomplish?????

1. AH yes, break my clubbing hymen. lol. I HAVENT BEEN TO A CLUB YET. lol. cui.

2. hmm study harder? haha that means having the discipline to NOT facebook so often on my ipod touch. yeah and really be slightly more serious with my studies loh. haha

3. and to be healthy. like maintain my current level of fitness. or maybe more :) ive started to pick up jogging once more since the hols started and ive started from just under 12min for 2.4 km, to 10min 41sec :) hopefully can cut down further but aint gonna set a target cause im not the type who sets target cause i know i wun hit it. haha just enjoy the process? and be pleasantly surprised when ive got nice results!


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and of course

2011! wishing everyone a better and :)-er year!

cheers! :D

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hmm ive been thinking abt it, maybe i shall adopt a 'dun get my hopes/expectations up too high' mentality to avoid getting disappointed. studies or even relationships.

haha yeah a bit no balls but whadeva :P

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ps: 31st december 2010 was a friday. not a saturday

Neo pls siam

SO first week of dec hols is ending/has ended (depending on what's one definition of end of the week is, whether its fri or sun)

hmmm. lets recap. my hol started rather painfully but awesome-ly with a day trip to malaysia with paintball (refer to the second last post). and then it sort of went downhill from then. wait. haha. i forgot the fantastic movie which saved my sunday- chronicles of narnia- voyage of the dawntreader.

and it went down down down from then.it reached a record low when it seems that i might have spoken too soon abt not telling my awful ca results when my ever observant and shrewd mom noticed a GROSS abnormality. i.e me actually being studious during the hols. and i guess it doesnt help that both my bros are absolutely carefree. (my eldest bro even got an iphone to entertain himself. pfft)

sigh and after some hemming and hawing, i told her my results and she just gave a loud cackle :((( and then my dad asked if i needed to redo my paper. imagine the blow and then ANOTHER BLOW. and then ANOTHER BLOW when my father asked AGAIN after i have retreated to the kitchen to ponder over my miserable existence and purpose in med sch

yeah so basically i was mugging. correction, attempting to mug.


and

observe the dullness in my glassy eyes
haha

hmm and i finally had opennet installed in my house after like forever. then again, installation doesnt mean service yet so idk, see who in my household bothers to check the broadband prices for the new optic fibre network which apparently BROADENS OUR MINDS. haha

fortunately, my good old reliable friend milton managed to salvage my week with his 20th year of existence (and a good many more years ahead!)

had uber up dinner plus desert and wait for it....


TRON LEGACY

if there's one word to describe this movie, it would be- E.P.I.C

GSS (Great Stunning Spectacular) visuals. as in really really ______________ (ie my vocab fails me haha)
graphics/effects were like star wars and matrix combined. x 1000 cooler. and the trenchcoat neo wore in matrix is just so passe man. go see kevin flynn's/ jeff bridges' trenchcoat which has neon-lighted lining. awesome. its like the audi of trenchcoats. haha
plot is quite like matrix but in the star wars sense. haha. hard to explain. you will get it when you watch it. oh and lord of the rings too! cause it involves a rather large ring.
and jeff bridges is just like a Neo with real emotions and depth. as in seriously, although he cant really fly but his powers is quite like Neo. plus he's uber smart. and real zen. haha

then i ended my evening programme with a mad dash to catch my carriage (i.e circle line) home aka cinderella style. thank PAP for the circle line man. haha

ok gotta catch some zzz

but before that, do catch this year's starry christmas at orchard! :)

chronicles of ss

oops sorry. NARNIA. haha

yup so yours truly went out ONCE AGAIN today for a movie outing with my regular movie club i.e milton, eugene and leonard to watch

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER


what a mouthful and pompous title. haha but it was fantastic and as the british says it- 'bloody brilliant'

first of all, graphics was gooood. everything was just alive. plot + script was magnificent ie everything made sense and transition between chapters was just seamless. and there wasnt a single boring part ( compared to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which was not as impressive as its title, sadly)

acting was also commendable (ok im running out of adjectives for good haha). esp the little prick eustace who matured into a very nice person. special mention for the big rat called...wait let me google it. Reepicheep.

thankfully, there was also subs otherwise i would have gotten lost in the british accent, which is nice to hear but darn difficult to catch

anyway, the movie or rather the story was very meaningful and i think christians will love it, esp the final part where Aslan mentioned that He is known by Another Name in the human world. (note the strategic caps at selective words haha). of course, non-christians will also find it meaningful lah. like making the right choices, not giving into temptations, bittersweet-ness of partings, etc etc. yeah and i suppose what makes this movie so pleasant to watch is that everything's natural and not too contrived and preachy. yup so kudos to the actors and director!

so i shall thereby bestow...

4/5 Blue Stars to THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER (by the way, i just copied and pasted the title this time cause seriously, too bloody long to type haha)
and as for why Blue stars, watch the movie and you will know why :)

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anyway, my mom thinks that ive got too much kang tao/ lobangs cause apparently ive been out everyday since what thurs? and my wallet feels it too.

oh wells. so i had to be a good boy and trot to the hawker centre nearby to get brunch for her + family

maybe a shoulder + neck massage too later at night. haha

cheers!

There and Back again

what a BLAST-ing start to my sch hol! haha AWESOME! finally a getaway (sentosa not included) since like... nov 2007? haha woooohhooooo

There...

yup so i went for a day's excursion (wow! excursion sounds so primary sch-ish eh?! gawd i miss those days haha) to our hinterland aka johor bahru for paintball/pain-ball primarily cause its apparently much much cheaper! like 60 ringgit for 350 pellets. yup apparently its like 49 sing dollars for 200 rounds in sg. (if you are math inclined, the current exchange rate is about 2.38 ringgit to 1 sg dollar)
though the transport there is like s$25 pax BUT if you include cheap but GOOD tzi char which i shall elaborate on later, its definitely a 5x$ scale on ss's budget deals haha

yup so the day started with me waking up at once again an un-holy hour of 7 plus am and me entering last minute negotiations with my extremely concerned mother regarding my cross-border excursion (maybe she doesnt feel safe without signing a consent form?? haha)

followed by hotcakes at our rendezvous point @ kallang macs which is fortunately strategically situated close to my humble abode.

and our trip across the causeway! which is surprisingly fast! cause apparently our minivcan/bus is under bus and not private cars so special lane! zooom zoom :D

moving on to paintball!! it was

FUN (PAIN) FUN FUN! haha. the only tiring part was running back to the base to 'respawn' after getting shot. and of course, yours truly aka MVP also had to chionnng back to the base after grabbing the flag each time x5

and of course, the satisfaction of shooting someone right SMACK in the face (protected by visor of course haha)

by the way, thats quite, no VERY hard cause the gun thingy apparently doesnt obey the law of physics so one has to like rain shots in a particular direction. i swear it curves like david beckam's free kick. haha

so after numerous petechiae/bruises/wounds, we emerged otherwise unscathed and very very pleased from the battlefied

exercise cut at about 3+ so couldnt really eat dinner then right? so we just lepak and hang around i dun know where but some of us went for foot massage while budget me went to shop for chewing gum haha. spent like abt 30 plus ringgit on 8 eclipse-like bottles of gum :))

and i had coffee lava ice cream! yum yum

so after some typical 'get to know abt med student's life (or lackof )' + pre/post ord chat, we proceeded to...

DINNER! haha. we had like
2X calamari
2X fried rice
mussels, iron-plate tofu, oyster omelette, sambal kangkong, baby kailan, and awesome mini chicken wings on sticks. oh and the addictive sour plum lime juice :P


all for like just below 10 sg dollars!

tzi char will never be the same again in sg man. not just the price but its like damn delicious too!


(that's round one. so need to x another time for round 2 haha)
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and Back again

sadly there's no special bus lane on malaysia's side so journey back was rather lengthy but ok lah managed to reach home in about 2hrs?


OH! and apparently there's this automated fast pass thing with the biometric passport! damn fast. haha


and i managed to bring in my stash of chewing gum without any hiccups

all in all, i spent
SG SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS ONLY/=

if you take away my chewing gum expenditure, its like about the same as a trip to universal studios :)

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so thank you yanni, chun han, chun han's sis + bf (alvin), marie, jastine & normen, nazri, peizi and yee ling

and of course our super zai bus auntie

cheers and HAPPY HOLS! :D

what have i gotten myself into

playhouse!


finally selfish me has participated in some noteworthy medicine activity! haha as in i dun really commit myself to some long term project esp since nus is so damn bloody far and me being uber busy and all. lol.

yup and im quite pleased with myself considering i only missed (NOT PON mind you) one rehearsal cause i overslept. and it was a sat! who wakes up before noon on a weekend? haha thats not to say im not apologetic cause i am! my perfect attendance :(

anyway thats why i rarely make commitments these days cause i feel bad if i dun give my best so i only do things that im absolutely stamp chop confirm i can do it properly :) not to trumpet myself but i really do feel that ppl just dun understand what it means to be committed cause it really defeats the purpose of having rehearsals with ppl not coming then things will not really improve will it? i mean not to forget fun and all but after all we need to present something to audience right? not exactly fair to those who show up regularly either.

on a happier and more cheerful note, playhouse was quite the experience considering that alot of ppl participated in it and i am really really proud to be in the company of smart and talented ppl

not too mention having some semblance of life outside my mugger and money-grubbing mode. haha sad but true.

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and having 3 other siblings leading a carefree life now that sch is out for them really makes me sore about my state of affairs :(

to think that i was happily gloating over the fact that i had my exam first but in the end, last to have my hols. which is not exactly meant to be hols either cause the next ca (continual assessment) is apparently 3 weeks after sch reopens?! so pretty much an extended study break :( which has to be taken seriously considering how 1) i have slacked after the previous ca so thats about 3 weeks worth of sch to catch up and webcast; and 2) how badly ive done for my ca :((( trust me im not the type of person to say ive done badly and scored Not Excellent but above average. when i say badly i mean below average. and in this case, quite below average. so bad that i haven and dun intend to tell my parents. haha oops

and i dun know if ive mentioned this before, but ive been pondering abt how un-fun medicine is cause
1) its just going to be get more difficult as one progresses
2) school work is accumulative unlike other courses which is as i see it, 'fire and forget'. i.e my bros are enjoying life now while im fretting over my holiday mugging schedule and i cant imagine at the end of med sch, i have to mug five bloody years worth of content for my final mbbs. SIGH + SOBS
3) doctors dun really earn that much in actual fact. ok let me qualify that. AVERAGE doctors dun really earn that much.
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on another depressing note, my financial state is rather like the winter season with my money tree bald and note-less :(
sad sad sad

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hmm dun know if you guys realised it yet but we are just 3 weeks to a new year. haha dun know if this is sad or happy news for you guys but well, the years do seem to pass quicker as one grows older/ages

i seem to be still stuck in nov. or oct. or sept or aug...

AHHHHH we are getting closer to 2012! haha