Libero Visione

2010-01-08T13:25:00.002+08:00

Buon Anno!

Questo e' un nuovo anno! Anno scorso, molte cose sono successo..e sono molto felice.

Primo - Ho passato i miei primi sei mesi di lavorando.. ho insegnato alla mia scuola scorsa, e anche ho insegnato a sei studenti. Insegnando e' un cosa felice per me..

Secondo - Sono andato in vacanza in Italia in giugno per due settimana. Sono andato in Roma, Firenze, Pisa, Milano e Verona - per vedere il concerto di Laura Pausini. E' un'esperienza memorabile e ho fatto molti amici dal paese differenti - Austria, Croatia, Monaco e Italia. Bellisimo. Voglio ritornare in Italia... forse aprile prossimo. :)

Terzo - Ho cominiciato la scuola all'universita' nazionale di singapore. Qualche volta sono molto occupato, ma penso mi piace molto molto. La scuola e' divertimento... e ho fatto molti amici. Spero tutto saro' fine e finero' la scuola senza qualsiasi problema.

Questo anno spero tutto bene, e spero mia familia saranno molto felice e sentirsi bene.

Grazie a Dio per tutto.

Arrivederci :)

2009-09-04T00:33:00.002+08:00

School...

Started a month ago. Thereabout. Awesome class I think. I like it that we are much closer than other faculties. A sense of belonging somehow. A little more family-like.

Pace is so fast.

Time is so short.

So much to do. Coupled with tuition.

Sorry if I don't hang out as much anymore.

Quote from a dental staff, "You all dental students what... almost no life one. Life comes after graduation"

And by the way, the albums for the Italy trip were done LONG ago. :) :) Sweet memories to live by.

Mi dispiace che non ho tempo.. arriverderci!

2009-07-04T08:52:00.002+08:00

A memorable journey...

Just came home to Singapore from Italy, and landed 2 days ago. I had such a WONDERFUL trip. It was really great that I travelled alone. Maybe if I had travelled with my own friends it would have been fun too, but a different kind of fun. I met so many people and made so many new friends.

Some days we travelled together, other times I was alone and then I made new friends on the train, on the plane, at the bus stop, on the bus, at the hotel. Its amazing how easy it is to find companionship among other travellers.

I have uploaded half of the pictures I selected from over 900 pictures taken. This is only a short post... a preview about my story. There is too much to tell in one single post and I need to organise my photos and thoughts.

To my dear friend Tine, thank you so very much for having me in Milan. Baci..!!

More to come later... :)

2009-05-16T12:31:00.004+08:00

Ciao Italia~

2009-05-14T01:34:00.002+08:00

Swine flu no more?

Yeah right its gone. Its now called the "Novel H1N1" flu. Damn straight it is. Fanciful name. I doubt it will go down in history as glamarous (or rather, notorious) as names like Black Death. Whatever. Please disappear forever (or at least put your plans on hold until I return from the beautiful country).

Anyway last week my Italian teacher made us write a 'short composition'. I managed alright. More like a paragraph. I came up with something that a 7-year old Italian kid could probably scribble with little (or no) effort. By the way, its a FAKE story.

Accidenti! Ieri sera, quando sono andato al cinema, il tempo ha fatto brutto! Per due ore, ha nevicato. Dopo il film, sono tornato a casa alle undici ma non ho trovato la mia chiave. Ho lasciato la chiave al cinema! Che brutta giornata! Ho dormito sul una sedia fino la mattina. Mia madre ha aperto la porta e lei mi ha svegliato.Dopo la colazione, mio padre ha ditto il mio cane è morto. Che bella notizia! Ho dormito tutto il giorno perchè sono molto triste.

In English:

Damn! Last evening, when I was going to the cinema, the weather was very bad. For 2 hours, it rained. After the movie, I returned to my house at 11 but could not find my keys. I left my keys at the cinema! What bad day! I slept on a chair until the morning. My mother opened the door and woke me up. After breakfast, my father told me that my dog is dead. What bad news! I slept all day because I am very sad.

I know. Its a stupid story.

It amuses me like hell. :)

Buonasera~

2009-04-29T15:12:00.003+08:00

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

In the end it boils down to Swine Flu. Why...must this happen? Is someone trying to stop me from going to Italy? I shall whine about it below.

1. I already wanted to go for a holiday to Italy like since forever, so when forever started, I was already looking for friends to go with me.

Result: None of my friends can afford it. Even the cheapest tour package will drain them.

2. Took up Italian Language course since October 2008 and met some great friends. Met a nice lady who so wanted to go to Italy and kinda agreed that June 2009 will be a good time to go.

Result: She's working for a lighting company contracted to F1 race and has a damn busy schedule. Cannot go for holiday.

3. Met a couple at Italian class who invited me to join them for their Europe trip in May 2009.

Result: Its their honeymoon...how can I intrude?

4. Met yet another friend from Italian class, a fashion designer (woo!) who initially was able to go with me to Italy in the first 2 weeks of July, but now his company cannot let him go for holiday until 3rd week of July.

Result: 3rd week of July will be Orientation week for Dentistry. TOO LATE TO GO!! :(

5. Fuck it. Decided to go ALONE. Fashion designer friend suggested I get a Lonely Planet: Italy travel guide.

Result: Borders - SOLD OUT. Kinokuniya - SOLD OUT. MPH - 1 last browsing copy left. What is wrong? They are STOCKPILED with lonely planet guides for all countries BUT Italy! Never mind, got my mildy distorted travel guide at a discount.

6. Spent a few days planning my trips, booking hotels, and buying my plane ticket.

Result: This is the only "win" for me. Got a round trip plane ticket to Milano (Malpensa Airport) and back. Got a domestic flight ticket from Milano (Malpensa Airport) to Roma ( Fiumicino Airport). Both on Lufthansa. Trip will go like this: Singapore>Milano>Roma>Firenze>Pisa>Milano>Verona>Milano>Singapore. AWESOME!!! Excited.

7. Trip was planned to coincide with Laura Pausini's Concert at Arena di Verona, Verona, Italy, on 29th June 2009. Decided to buy the ticket online.

Result:

a. All numbered seats totally SOLD OUT. Mind you this is 2 months to the concert and they are all SOLD OUT. No choice, gotta settle for the free standing "Unreserved Stone Steps" ticket that costs 41 euros.

b. Official ticketing site is Ticketone.it. Guess what? Account registration error. Multiple attempts to fix the "Invalid Username" error failed. Fucked.

c. Tried to book ticket at yet another ticketing website. Now what? Credit card error. All my cards encountered the same stupid error. Even with paypal.

d. Emailed my hotel in Verona and they were kind enough to direct me to the Arena di Verona ticketing website and finally bought my ticket. Woo!

8. All set and ready to go! Just need to wait for 18th June 2009 to come so I can fly!!

Current Status: FUCKED. The first swine flu case has been suspected in Italy. Swine flu is spreading all around the world. Could it have come at any WORSE time? Pwned.

Good luck world. :)

2009-03-20T23:24:00.002+08:00

Update..

Long time since I last posted. As usual. I just completed my second coure for the Italian Language. Lovely. Going to start the third one soon. I really hope I'll have time to continue when University starts. NUS doesn't even offer it as a module. Sadness.

Been busying myself with teaching. 5 private students and 11 from Meridian JC's SRP. I think I like to teach, but I'll never choose teaching as a career simply because it requires too much patience, tolerance and passion. To those who know me, I like to get things done perfectly, and fast. And I can't imagine myself teaching the same thing over and over again, multiple times everyday. Too much hard work.

I'd really like to post in Italian but I'm not fluent enough. Yet. :P Anyway this is for me to read so who cares right. :D

Ciao!

2009-02-05T11:08:00.002+08:00

Ciao..!

Its been a SUPER long time since I blogged. The reason is everyday of my life is routine so there really isn't anything to say. Except last night, I wrote my first full paragraph in Italian! The teacher told us to talk about our day yesterday, so here goes.

Oggi e' quattro, Febbraio, mercoledi.

Dormo fino alle ore dudici e poi faccio la doccia. Faccio colazione a casa con mia madre e mia sorella. Il pomeriggio, finisco i compiti Italiano. Verso le sedici, gioco con il computer fino alle ore diciasette trenta, e poi esco per andare in classe Italiano.

In direct translation (English will be broken)

Today is 4th, February, Wednesday

Sleep until hours 1200 and then do shower. Do eat at home with my mother and my sister. The afternoon, finish the Italian homework. Around time 1600, I play the computer until time 1730, and then exit my house to go for Italian class.

LOL and there was only 1 slight mistake. I'm glad. :) Cheers

Gotta go. Arrivederci!

2008-12-14T21:39:00.001+08:00

I've never asked for your help, or for any favours. Now how bout you step off?

2008-12-07T11:57:00.002+08:00

Immunity!

My blood test results came back today and..... I'm negative for the Hepatitis B antigen, positive for the Anti-HBs. That means, I'm not infected and I'm already immune. But the blood test didn't state how immune I am. That means I have to do another blood test at the University Health and Wellness Centre.

At least now I can plan my trip in peace. :D

2008-12-06T16:04:00.002+08:00

Laura Pausini World Tour 2009

The dates are out for Laura Pausini's tour next year. Its not exactly "World" since the entire Asian and Pacific region are going to be excluded. Anyhow, the tour is starting in March and ending in July. I took a quick browse through all the dates and I realised the very last tour date will probably fit my schedule the best.

Its on the 29th of June 2009, in Verona, Italy. It fits in because by the end of June, I SHOULD be finishing my trip in Italy, and about to return home. Verona is only a few kilometres East of Milan where I should be taking the flight home. I'm so excited. Now I just need NUS to send me the important dates for bond-signing and medical checkups. Apparently the matriculation package cannot be sent earlier (they said they would, now they arent going to), so I have to wait.
Maybe its time to stop slacking and go back to planning. Who wants to come please raise your hands! :D

2008-11-15T21:23:00.002+08:00

Nuovo Capitolo...

That above means new chapter in Italian. I finished The Service about 5 days ago, ending a 1 year and 10 month career that I would most people can't wait to finish. I'm sure I learnt a lot, some what matured, but otherwise I still have my own thoughts and opinions. Shall not comment about The Service because its inappropriate any how.

Anyway, I am NOT going to work because I have an agenda. I was supposed to have an internship at a particular private Dental firm, but like most other firms, they do not train male dental assistants. Its alright. I will get my share of practical lessons when school starts. I don't want to find a full time job somewhere else because I know it will just kill me. First of all I hate having to take shit from people. I mean I can do my job well, but its irritating to work with egoistic superiors who think they're really good, but don't realise that ME over here CANNOT CARE LESSER about their shit ego that I can't wait to burst. Furthermore, it will be me working 8am - 5pm, then go off for tuition from 7pm to 9pm, reach home at 10pm, shower and sleep at 11pm. Rinse and repeat. I won't have time to do what I need to do, which I am going to cover next.

First up, my Italian lessons started about 3 weeks ago. Its at 4th lesson now and going great. I have time to practise speech everyday and revise whatever I have learnt. I'm not fluent yet, but I hope to be. Now I can understand some words in Laura Pausini's songs. I guess it does take a lot of effort to learn another language. Maybe the Latin languages arent the hardest to study, but its tough when you have to consider stuff like "Is this word singular or plural? Is this word masculine or feminine? Is this sentence supposed to be formal or informal? Does this word start with a vowel? " I guess like everything else, practise makes perfect.

I'm going to go running every alternate day. No, it won't be a super long distance run because I don't see a need to run in marathons and what not. I think I have far bigger things to achieve than to finish a marathon. Ha I aim higher than that. Because I just want to be healthy. So 40 mins of running, once every 2 days. Now, I can't keep that schedule if I'm working every day and night right? Ha.

Since I'm unable to get a job as a Dental Assistant (well I was offered to be a Dental Observer for 20 bucks a day..right), I have decided that I will start to read up. For now I'll have fun and play all I want. When December comes, I will seriously need to start reading up. My brain is in a rusty mess. I guess I will study a little a day so it adds up. Okay that sounded like a Bank Savings Scheme. Whatever.

Italy Trip. Ah I've been saying that for months. I haven't progressed much. Now that I have time, I shall start planning it again. Well after I'm done playing. I got my new computer set up, and connected to my tv. Its going to be an awesome time researching stuff. I hope I can speak Italian fluently before May next year.

Tuition.. tuition. Alright I have 3 students to tutor next year, twice a week, so that will take up 3 weekday nights, and a few hours of both my weekends. I guess I can deal with that.

Hellooooooooooooo new Life. Literally. =D

2008-10-14T16:14:00.003+08:00

Stuff to think about....

I went to lunch today at Compasspoint's Kopitiam. I went there after tuition so I was alone. It was crowded but I managed to buy my lunch and found a seat. While I was eating, I noticed this sign from a counter, not too far away. The sign said "Tray Return Counter". That made me think about what I was going to do after I finished eating. Return the tray.

I recalled some days ago in the newspapers, there was an article talking about how impolite and uncourteous Singaporeans are. It was a forums page and there were people supporting the call for us to be a little more courteous and return our food trays. Yet there are others who say that we should leave it as it is because we are "creating employment" for those who clean up after us.

What do I think? I think that is absolutely bullshit. NO ONE needs us to create employment. Creating employment is the government's responsilbility. I don't think all of us are uncourteous. Sometimes it has become such a norm to NOT return food trays, that when you start doing it, people stare at you. And people hate being the centre of attraction. That is an acceptable reason. But creating employment? Cmon! No one goes around committing crimes to create employment for the Police. No one spits on the ground or litter to create employment for sweepers. No one chokes himself on fries and burgers everyday just so to create employment for Doctors!

Imagine what if the sign said "Money Return Counter". I bet everyone will flock there.

Stop being a selfish asshole and give lame reasons to justify your selfish being. People who clean up the tables and dishes probably count for less than 0.1% of the workforce. Your attempt to "create employment" is hardly worth a sneeze. I'm not telling anyone to be more courteous. My point is I think its better to keep your senseless opinion to yourself instead of making yourself look stupid.

2008-10-13T23:11:00.002+08:00

SiCKO

I just finished watching this documentary called Sicko, by Michael Moore. Unless you all have been living in a cave for the last few years, most people will know him as the director behind Fahrenheit 911 and Bowling for Columbine. Initially I was deciding if I should spend my precious time watching this show (I prefer lame stupid exciting dramatic movies), but I'm glad I did.

The documentary basically talks about how much Health Insurance Companies in the US profit every year, and how the Americans are really suffering because they are unable to afford the healthcare that they need. I can sense that the movie is kinda biased from the start because it was basically shooting at the American healthcare system and praising the healthcare systems of other countries. Michael Moore did the movie "interview style" and filmed the experiences of many patients and citizens not just from the US, and also from Canada, England, France and even Cuba.

Sad to say, it seemed that the citizens from Canada, England, France and Cuba are all much happier with the universal (and hence free) healthcare system put in place, as compared to the American healthcare system. In simple terms, the Americans each pay for their own healthcare insurance and their own medical bills if insurance is unable to cover. For the Canadians, English, French and Cubans, they get free healthcare, at the cost of higher taxes. The poorest sick Englishmen has a longer average lifespan than a wealthy sick American. What about us Singaporeans? I guess our system is somewhere in between, but I will not comment on that.

I'd assume that the movie shows enough evidence that a free healthcare system works well. I remember that back in the Secondary school years, we studied Social Studies and in it, one of the chapters talked about the failure of the British free healthcare system. It said how this free system led to high taxes and abuse of the healthcare system. Well I gotta admit that it is true, but after watching Sicko, it really started me weighing the pros and cons. You see, in the UK, you get taxed 40% if your annual income is over 34,600 pounds (Source: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm). That is equivalent to an annual income of roughly USD 74,500. In the US, that will put you in the band that says you gotta pay 25% tax (Source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States). If you do the math, you don't get much less tax in USA as compared to UK, to be able to ensure that it is worth it to pay for your own health care.

People get seriously ill in time, and insurances do not cover for major illnesses like Diabetes, Cancer, Heart Attack, which are probably the biggest killers. In a system where there is free healthcare, all these treatments are covered for free. You do not need to beg your insurance company for help. Doctors do not have to hesitate before treating the patients. Healthcare costs are paid by high taxes, but it is only in this way that the rich are able to help the poor. That is humanity. That is what doctors should be. Isn't that what every med school applicant tells the interviewers? "I want to be a doctor because I want to help people".

And then I remember during my own medicine interview,I was asked this question "If you were the Health Minister for a day, what would you do?" I replied "I'd lower healthcare costs, make it free if possible, and raise taxes so that everyone will help pay for those in need." The 3 interviewers laughed. Oh they laughed. And they said "Oh no that would not be possible. The taxpayers will be screaming!" To that I replied "They won't be screaming when they are old and very sick. They will be so grateful that healthcare costs are low."

I didn't make it into med school. Nope.

2008-10-12T15:13:00.002+08:00

Early Birthday Present! =D

I left my home early this morning at about 10am and headed towards IKEA and the COURTS megastore in Tampines. I spent about 1.5 hours there walking up and down looking at beds, bedframes, wardrobes and tv consoles. I saw a few that I really liked but my brain told me not to be impulsive. I took my time to select whatever I wanted, took a few pictures for reference and continued walking. When I thought I already decided which bed and bedframe I wanted, I decided to take a deep breath and walk out of the store. I had to check out this other furniture store near Tampines MRT.

This other store is called Furnitureonline.sg. I saw its advertisements in the Straits Times papers so I decided to give this store a shot. When I first stepped into the store, the salesman didn't offer me much assistance because I guess he thought I was just a kid. That was until I started to take out the measuring tape to take measurements of the beds and wardrobes. I already noted down what dimensions I wanted so they can all fit in my room just nicely. Soon, the salesman came over and started to give me some real help. He introduced me to a couple of different mattresses and bedroom sets until I finally settled on a few.

After about an hour, I decided on a particular 4-piece bedroom set for SGD 699. However, the wardrobe was too small so I asked if he could swap it with a huge wardrobe for me. Mr Salesman was more than happy to do it for me, and now the entire 5-piece bedroom set costs SGD 999. I tried out a few mattresses from various brands, King Coil, Simmons, yada yada and finally one of them made me raise my eyebrow. Its a mattress made of memory foam. Built by NASA (the space centre yeah). It absolutely made me go "woahhhh so comfortablee". And it really is.

So basically, I bought:

a. 1 Queen Size 5ft Bedframe
b. 1 Night Table
c. 1 Dresser with Stool
d. 1 2-Door 5ft Sliding Wardrobe
e. 1 Maxcoil NASA Care 5ft Bed with 15-year warranty

Total bill inclusive of delivery, installation and GST: SGD 2748

Amex card was not accepted (how unfortunate) so bill paid with UOB card.

After that I rushed back to IKEA to buy:

a. 1 Pillow
b. 1 Quilt
c. 1 Quilt cover
d. 1 Pillow Case

Total bill inclusive of GST: SGD 113.10

This one paid with Amex :D

And then next I rushed to COURTS to buy DVD-Rs at SGD 12.50 per 25 pieces. :D

Total bill for today: SGD 2873.60. Great. That will keep me from spending from a while. And make me work really hard the next month. Hahaha. Happy Birthday to me. (I know i know its not yet but whatever :D)

2008-09-30T22:25:00.003+08:00

Apple Cares For Sure!

About 4 years ago I stumbled upon a music player called the Apple iPod. No, correction. I didn't stumble upon it. Stumbling upon something would mean that it was insignificant and hardly noticed. But of course not. How can someone NOT notice the Apple iPod? So, like most humans, natural instincts will tell us to follow suit and buy it like the rest of the world.. I was told that some 90% of the world are followers. The other 10% just can't make up their mind. Oh gee.

And follow I did. I got my first Apple iPod U2 Special/Limited Edition and an astonishing price of SGD 628 at the end of 2004. Oh I wasn't a crazy fan of U2. I mean they had some good songs like Beautiful Day, Walk On, Stuck In A Moment etc. But I bought it simply because it was Black with a Red click wheel. Now thats a unique design and I loved it. So for most of my time in JC up to my first year in army, I was using this iPod U2. It came with a one-year warranty but that iPod lasted me nearly 2 years and 7 months. Special? Yes, because of its design. Limited? Definitely. Limited lifespan. In the end of days for this iPod U2, it started jamming up and started to display the all too annoying sad face.

Yes, that sad face means that the hard disk of your iPod has started to dig its own grave. You, shall be attending its funeral, very soon. I took the barely-breathing iPod U2 to the Apple Carecentre at Yio Chu Kang and after multiple analysis, Dr. AppleCareCentre said "Your iPod is what we'd like to call, a Goner". Okay he didn't say that, but I pretty much interpreted it that way. So I waved goodbye to my iPod U2 and gave it a very glamorous funeral. I took the iPod, shuffed it back into its huge box package, and shoved it into my cupboard.

The next day was spent shopping at the Apple shop at Wheelock Place. I felt quite ashamed that I got over my iPod U2 so quickly. I'm kidding. =D The fact is I couldn't wait to get a new iPod that actually has colours and can play videos so I don't have to keep staring at a boring monochrome screen. Without much thought, I bought a White 5th Generation iPod Video for SGD 434. Like all the other electronic equipment that I bought before, it was impulsive, and I knew I'd probably regret it, and I didn't bother. Life is too short to bother about things like that. The Apple Staff "highly recommended" that I get the Apple Protection Plan to extend the warranty of my new iPod from 1 year to 2 years. I decided not to get it because I always take good care of my stuff. Its just that these stuff give up on me.

I treated this iPod with a lot of care. I bought screen guards for it and an Apple Casing that costed me SGD 130. For the 15 months, I did not abuse it. I never even dropped any of my iPods before. Despite my care, 15 months later, on this very fateful day, the bloody damn sad face turned up on my iPod screen. Earlier today the iPod kinda acted weird because it was displaying fuzzy images when I tried to play Transformers on it. I didn't think much about it until just now when I was on my way home, the iPod froze halfway while it was playing Leona Lewis - Better in Time. Thats the first time in 15 months that it froze. I didn't think it would be anything major, so I did a reboot on it. And then the sad face greeted me. Oh that lovely old memory came flooding back. How ironic that it froze while playing "Better in Time". Better in time my foot. It should have been playing "Savage Garden - Crash and Burn". Its warranty expired 3 months ago. I haven't brought it down to the Apple Care Centre for CPR because I think all they will be performing is an autopsy on it, then I'll be calling the funeral parlour next.

The sad Apple face on the iPod display brought a smile to my face. A sarcastic smile. No, I'm probably not going to get another iPod any time soon (assuming I don't buy on impulse) because I just spent like SGD 550 yesterday. That sad face just made me wonder if Apple could have done something better instead of the sad face. It should have been something like:

You should have listened to us and bought the Apple Protection Plan! Now you're FUCKED :)

2008-09-29T00:55:00.002+08:00

Ah I should take this first step

This afternoon I kept thinking if I should go register for that Italian Language Course that starts on the 29th of October. It costs SGD 390 for the course itself, SGD 10 for membership fee to the Italian Cultural Institute and SGD 80 for the textbooks. That adds up to SGD 480. The thing is, I'm not that kind who is stingy about spending money. But, whenever I spend, I always think whether its worth it or not.

I'm in need of a new wallet because this huge Guy Larouche wallet I'm using now is getting quite annoying. I could have spent that SGD 480 on a new wallet from Armani or whatever. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to feel the pinch when I spend money on something like that. But I'm not even gonna regret this decision now to start learning Italian. I think its going to be quite hard, but I hope I can go through with it, put my heart into it and really be able to become fluent in it. Cash flow isn't much of a problem (minus what I'm gonna owe for tuition fees) but I guess its really how I spend it and how guilty I will feel.

Next year I will probably have around 5 students to tutor and it is likely that I will get that internship at GPA Dental, so I'm really quite set on covering my expenses to Italy. Some of my friends ask me if its worth it slogging so hard now. I tell them yes. Because it gives me a lot of financial independence. I'm no longer gonna hear people tell me "hey your parents paid for that". It just feels good that you can stand up on your own. Its a different feeling not having to consult your parents when you want to spend money.

But I'm going to work so hard for only that long...because in the end, I still wanna have my life, and have fun before University begins. Its not a bad thing to slog so hard actually. I mean if I stayed home on weekends, I'd probably waste my life away sitting in front of a screen. Time would pass so slow then. Sometimes I feel tired and exhausted, but when I see these kids having that willingness to learn, I just feel glad that I'm able to help. I never thought that I'm that kind who is capable of teaching others. Now I have 6 kids to tutor and its really quite fulfilling.

On a side note, I've been flaring up a lot lately. I guess my short temper is probably due to the lack of sleep and turning cranky every morning. I mean I have a short temper to start with, being tired probably intensified it. One of my students gave me this book just now. Its like the "Daily Bread" you can get from Churches. I randomly opened the book up and I was surprised at the first page I saw - Anger.

I read through that page and I found it really quite good. There was a prayer at the end, and this is it.

Lord, I pray for a calm soul that will not be angered easily, except for righteous anger.

I need that. I really hate getting angry. Its a sign of weakness.

Buonasera...

2008-09-16T23:19:00.003+08:00

Nokia E71

Finally bought the phone I wanted. I waited so long before I found the time to go get the phone. Its simply amazing. Its the smartest phone I have to date, and it looks awesome! I drained all the battery power that it had fresh out of the package, trying to find out whats what. Usually I skip the manual because I learn better by figuring out the phone myself. But this phone has TONs of functions that I had to read the manual to find out what I'm missing out. The phone's battery eventually drained out before I even finished checking it out. I haven't started with the applications yet, which I know can be massive because they are downloadable. The phone is charging now but I'll be so busy the next few days that I think i'll really only have time during the weekends.

On a side note, I emailed the Italian Embassy (again) yesterday requesting for some assistance in planning my trip to Italy. My sister was so determined to make me ask the Embassy for help because when she asked the Korean Embassy for help, they sent her a ton of pamphlets and maps. I wish the Italian Embassy will be as helpful. Now I only hope they will even bother to reply to the email.

I'm so tired. Actually I didnt do much today. Its just my eyes watering thats making me feel sleepy. Geez

2008-09-15T00:58:00.002+08:00

Italy Trip: Day 1 of Planning

I decided to start planning my Italy trip today. Thank goodness there is Googlemap available. I made a list of cities that I want to visit before deciding on which city to start with. I decided to start off with Palermo, Sicily. Its at the Southern end of Italy. That means I will be starting from Sicily, and head North all the way to Milan where I will finish with a HUGE shopping trip before coming home to Singapore.

I started looking for places of interest in Palermo, then pinpointed their positions on Googlemap, before linking them up and taking note of the routes from one place of interest to another. The routes of those places of interest that were within walking distance of each other were easy - they only needed one screenshot of their route on Googlemap. Some routes required more than just one screenshot because they extended over many kilometres. I pinpointed about 11 places in Palermo (not completed yet) spanning about 200km apart.

I spent 5 hours tonight to finish as many routes as I can, complete with the maps and distances. Despite having only 11 places to deal with, I couldn't complete it. Maybe I just started out thats why I'm so slow. But I took my time to read through descriptions of interesting places before deciding to visit the place. I haven't even done my research on where to stay (I mean of course I can stay at Hotels, but I'd rather live it out in the city with the locals), how to get around (Public Transport? Walk? Bike? Car?) and how many places can I visit in a day?

I don't really have a budget for this Italy trip. I have enough for a very very long stay in Europe. I'm hoping to cover all the cities in 30 days. But I'm quite sure it will take longer than that. My only worry is for my tuition kids' studies. I hope they can cope with my "short" absence. I'm not so bothered about money. The experience will be invaluable. Money... can be regenerated. I need to do this. Its gonna be a journey of self discovery. A few weeks back, the Straits Times Life! featured this 32 year old lady who walked across Spain, covering 600km in 30 days. It was a pilgrimage journey. She didn't spend a lot of money, and she still had a proper shelter over her head every day of the journey. That is my inspiration. I won't get to do something crazy like this next time.

As of now, none of my friends are coming. Thats not because I didn't ask, but its because everyone says they don't have the money for it. If this trip is done backpacking style, I don't think the budget will be very high. My sister saw me working late and she remarked "The time you take to plan this trip will probably be longer than the actual trip itself!" I guess that is about right. I'm still swamped with work everyday and tuition after that. I'm going to take my time to plan this journey, right down to the most minute details. I hope I don't miss out anything. The best time to visit Italy is in Spring (April to June), and that means I have a few months to plan.

I hope God gives me the determination, perseverance, strength and willpower to complete this challenge. It will probably be the biggest thing I'll do for a long time. Good luck to me!

Buon notte...

2008-08-26T23:33:00.002+08:00

What a SONG

This song just tickles me. Heard it over the radio again and again and it seems that people love this song.

Lyrics to Handlebars :

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rappereven when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all healed of their lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

[ Handlebars Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

This song's lyrics totally makes no sense at all but its still fun to listen. Or maybe I'm just too bored these days. :D

2008-08-04T22:45:00.002+08:00

What to do once I'm done with "The Service"

Its a few more months left till I'm done with "The Service" that everyone dreads. I've started thinking about what I want to work as. I know some of it may sound really ridiculous, but I'm not really out to work for the money. That's because no matter how hard I work, I'll never earn enough now to completely pay for my tuition fees. So I've decided to put that burden aside and just have fun. Earn money and spend it on productively.

First of all, I thought of becoming a chauffeur. Won't it be nice to drive VIPs around? It'd be so awesome to wear nice suits and drive people around in nice cars. But then....I'm still a P plate. And I will be P plate until next year May. No one hires P-plates to be chauffeurs. Its funny how I need to put a P-Plate when im driving civilian vehicles, and I don't need one when im driving vehicles from "The Service". Doesn't make any sense to me. Its just another of those rules that people have to abide by even though there are loopholes.

Next, air steward. Lol that is amusing. My superior suggested I try out to be an air steward because he says "you got the looks, the brain, the height, and you like to talk so much!" I thought about it for awhile. Now won't that be even better than working as a chauffeur? You get to meet lots of people, go many places, and get paid. I know its actually not a very glamarous job. Its just like a high class waitor working in the sky. But I don't really care. A quick check on airline websites led me to discover that air stewards need to undergo 5-month long trainings before they are qualified. I have 9 months only. No sane airline will hire me.

Next - Car Salesman. :D I love cars really. I thought maybe becoming a car salesman will give me more knowledge about cars. Plus I still get to meet lots of people and wear a nice suit and sell expensive stuff. This one is more practical, although I have yet to start looking for an employer.

Next - Dental Intern. Ms Choo from MJC told me last year that this year, she will help me apply for an internship at GPA Dental. But apparently she hasn't replied to any of the emails I sent in June. She's MIA for now. I don't mind working as an intern and learning some stuff that will be useful for my future career. But I don't mind NOT working as an intern either because eventually I got my whole life to work as a Dentist. Shouldn't I try something else now for fun?

Last Choice - This one isn't really a job. Its this part of my head telling me to NOT work after I'm done with "The Service". It is telling me that I should go for a LONG holiday. Learn Italiano seriously. Plan my own trip to Italy. Ski in South Korea. Take time to learn how to cook (this one erhem =X). Spend time to design the interior of my room and get it renovated. And then.. spend time to think of how to spend time. The only thing that makes me feel like NOT working is that the permanent staff will tend to give shit to temporay staff. I mean even though I'm gonna be a temp staff, I'll still work damn hard because I wanna learn stuff. I hate it when you do your work and people do not credit you, and try to walk all over you. Seriously I'll prolly end up quitting the damn job. Ha.

Time to sleep....long days ahead as usual. Buon notte :)

2008-07-26T02:14:00.002+08:00

Making use of people.

I think everyone have come across people who make use of others. I mean all of us would have made use of others one way or another. But whats really SICKENING is when someone who is desperately down and comes looking for you to comfort her, and "help her get past the hard times", then when she recovers, she just disappears. Before that, she would be crying for you to be there for her. She'd be like "I feel so alone now :(" or "Can you offer me some help? I'm seriously feeling down. I feel like dying". I think next time I know who to treat nicely, and who to show the finger to. I mean its really funny how things work. Not that I'm being sore about it. More like I'm annoyed at the way people behave.

Some people may think I'll be such a selfish asshole acting like this. But really I'm tired of listening to people's problems and trying to solve it for them. After that they happily move on and don't come back until they got problems again. I'm not a rubbish bin for your problems. Who the heck is gonna solve my problems? Not that I have any, but thats beside the point. So fuck off and find another. I shall save my energy for people who are worth it.

To my special friend, if you are reading this, don't worry, this post is NOT about you.

Buon notte :)

2008-07-25T06:02:00.003+08:00

New Student!

Went for tuition with my new student last night. She's a Secondary 5 girl taking O levels and I'm teaching her only combined science (Physics and Chemistry). She's quite a quiet girl and pretty obedient (for now :P) so I guess I won't have a hard time coaching her. I've heard stories from my other friends about how bad their students are, so I've actually started to feel appreciative towards my students for making my days. I must say I'm really quite happy teaching the 3 students I have now. Yes, even I probably have even less life now (not that I have much to begin with), but I'm gonna endure with it. Soon I'll have all the time in the world to do what I want. :)

2008-07-18T23:39:00.002+08:00

Questions....

I've been thinking far too much lately. I think it must be because of me having no life at all giving tuition almost every other day, and the long periods of time sitting in buses. I hate thinking about questions that have no answers. To someone like me who has studied science for most of his life (not that I like it, but we don't really have a choice do we?), I hate questions that have no definite answers.

Should I continue with my plans?

Should I dump all my plans, treat it like nothing has ever happened, and walk out? I know I'll regret it for sure. But is this a lesser regret, than the kind of regret I will feel should the plan fail?

Or should I just not think about any of it until the end of this year? But then again, self-denial isn't the way to go.

This post makes no sense. Who reads this shit anyway?

2008-06-29T10:39:00.002+08:00

Zouk/Phuture

Saturday evening was free due to the rescheduling of lessons. Eugene sent me an sms at 5.30pm when I was asleep (headache after I came back from 30-lap swim. Could it be the lack of blood? I don't know) and asked if I wanted to go to Zouk/Phuture with him, Jake, Henry, Weijie and Aaron. I wasn't too keen actually since I'm not particularly a huge fan of clubs. But I didn't want to be such a spoil sport so I agreed to meet them for dinner first, then head out to the club later in the night.

Citibank credit cards get free entry into Zouk (first 350 cardholders) but no entry into Phuture, so we ended up going to Phuture so we can have access to both. The crowd was quite good being a Saturday night, the music was awesome although I still think its more fun at St. James. One thing about clubbing I noticed is that the guys will kinda shield their girlfriends like a lion defending his pride. Cmon, if you want to go clubbing, its about having fun, dancing to the music and really letting go of all the woes you have. If you are worried, then DON'T bring your girlfriend! Its not like they're all so hot and not all guys are about grinding ladies.

We had a couple of drinks, Vokda Lime, Pineapple Rum and AK 47s. Its quite intriguing how crappy tasting drinks can yield so much profit. I must admit if gives the kick though. This brings me to my point of people making money by selling things that are addictive. I must say I'm not addicted to alcohol, and I won't be. I'm quite health conscious actually and alcohol hardens your liver and stains your teeth. Blabla spoil sport whatever. But I don't mind selling alcohol and cigarettes in future. Whatever can cause an addiction, sell it.

We danced till 3am+ before leaving to take the night rider home. Some of us wanted to stay a little longer, but in the end we all left because we didnt want to get caught in the crowd leaving the club. It was past 4am when I got to bed. It was fun, but I won't do it often.

I gotta go meet the rest of the guys later at 12 to discuss some business proposal. One day we might all be millionaires.

Buon giorno!

2008-06-27T01:17:00.002+08:00

Long Weekend!

This week was kinda short because I only had three working days. Spent Thursday morning at the Bloodbank at Health Sciences Authority to donate some blood. Its my 4th time and I guess its not that scary anymore.

I read the pamphlet given to me before the donation and I was quite disappointed to learn that only 1.5% of the population donates blood. I know most people will claim that they have a fear of needles or blood when asked to donate blood, but what if an accident happens to you and you need blood badly? What then? No needles and blood for you because you have a phobia? Or is it such that you can only take blood and not give any?

Frankly speaking, the "pain" that people feel during blood donation is really minimal. An anaesthesia is administered before the blood is drawn. For those who have gone to a dentist and had a tooth (or teeth) extracted, its probably way more painful than donating blood. Its really nothing more than just a prick. Your arm may feel a little sore and immobilised for a few hours, but thats all. Just don't donate using your master arm. Furthermore its healthy to donate your blood because it gives your body the opportunity to replace this "dirty blood" with new blood.

Anyway this post is not targeted at anyone. I just feel quite disappointed sometimes. But everyone has their own reasons so I won't care so much. Its more of me feeling sorry for patients who are unable to get the blood they need in order to stay alive.

Moving on, I took off on Friday and Monday, that means I will have some time to rest and relax. Some thoughts ran through my mind earlier and sometimes I wonder what you get for being nice to someone. I think I've been very nice to a certain person only to find out that actually he/she doesn't treat me any better than the rest of the people he/she meets. I mean I don't need to be treated specially or anything, but at least practise restrain when speaking to me and not get angry and mad over the smallest of things. If you don't take shit from people, neither do I. The only time I take shit from people is when I'm in the "service". Seriously, I don't even need to give a damn if I don't want to. If you think "why should I compromise?" then I can think the same way. I'm just being nice. Don't start walking all over me, and worse still, calling names and making accusations. Piss me off enough, I'll walk away and I'll never regret it.

Its a few more months till I'm done with this "service". I'm still wondering if I should start Italian lessons in August, or October. August will be nice because once I'm done with my "service" in November, the basic Italian course would have ended and I can start the next course immediately. But I am afraid that I might miss some lessons. Its going to be Saturday lessons and I'll never know what stupid things may come up halfway.

I gotta sleep. If you just read all of these that I wrote, congratulations you just wasted 5 minutes of your life.

Buon notte.

2008-06-11T23:39:00.002+08:00

Sore Throat's a BITCH!

I've been having this cough/flu/sore throat combo since last Friday and it seems to be so persistent. I started having pain in my right lung whenever I start to run, but it disappears after 15 minutes of running. Its like the engine of a car that has to do a cold-start. I don't know if they are related medically, but I sure know they are both getting on my nerves. I can't even speak properly and its worse when I have to shout at people. Its getting better but quite slowly. I got no medication and I don't have time to visit the doctor. Tsk.

On a lighter note, I found the perfect place to study Italian! Its at the Italian Cultural Institute of Singapore. Everything just seems perfect. Time to find a slot to put it in. Woo cheers.

2008-06-01T22:51:00.002+08:00

Bond!

I got bored a few hours ago just now and decided to search on youtube for Bond's music videos. Bond is a string quartet consisting of 4 females. And I realise I've been missing out so much good music! I watched a few of their videos and... I really love the music they play! I've had Victory for a long time and I think thats the most famous piece (damn good but not their best) because its been used in so many commercials! I watched Victory, Duel and Explosive. I love Explosive. I cant believe all these years I didn't listen to them. I absolutely love the way they play the violin, viola and cello. Grande! =)

All thumbs, fingers, toes UP for BOND! =D

2008-05-20T19:55:00.002+08:00

Driving License!

My driving license arrived today! After 18 days of waiting. Luckily my mum was at home to receive the letter which was delivered via registered mail. I opened the letter and saw the shiny new card inside. =D Feels good to have a burden lifted off. Don't need to worry about stupid theory tests, parallel parking, vertical parking etc. Seriously, NO one does all those in real life. If you want to park left vertically, just drive to the right, straighten the wheel, and reverse straight in! =D

Anyway, yesterday I watched the World Music Awards 2007 on Channel 5 at 12.30pm. I made a bet with my sister if Laura Pausini would appear. I bet she would, and she'd sing Io Canto. And she did! Okay its not fair because I kinda remembered she attended that event last year. I'm crazy.

2008-05-17T22:33:00.002+08:00

Whats going on....

Hmm its been 2 weeks since I last made any post. People sometimes think that I am too lazy to post. But I'm not (okay I'm lazy but not this way!). I just got nothing much to talk about because my life is so routine. I have 5 more months of this routine life to endure then I am all done. Argh!

Anyway I was invited to be a moderator on the Brightsparks forums. Quite a surprise to me because all I did was to go there and made some posts on Dentistry and Medicine - just to answer some people's questions! Still it is a pleasant surprise. The forums administrator, her name is Everlyn. Lovely person! I chatted with her on MSN and I think we get along pretty damn well! Let's see how much fun we can put into that forum. =D

Just now I spoke to Leon's friend, Liling, also from MJC who is one year younger than me. She was one of the few Meridians who got shortlisted for Dentistry so I asked her if she got any news. Unfortunately she was not offered Dentistry. She was offered Nursing instead and she was quite happy too. =) I wonder if there are any Meridians who got in this year. It'd be nice to have some people from the same background.

On a lighter note, I've emailed some language schools enquiring on the Italian language courses that they offer. There are basic ones that cost a few hundred bucks to the professional ones that cost thousands and upwards. Its amazing how much the price can differ! My sister is not too keen on learning Italian (even though she loves Laura Pausini too). She can already speak basic French, but she's taking Korean lessons now (from the community centre), and she says if she goes to a language school, she will learn Spanish because she loves Juanes and Chayanne. Who wants to learn Italian with me? I don't want to be speaking to myself all day. =(

2008-05-02T20:00:00.002+08:00

Thank GOD!

I passed my driving test today, and got 12 demerit points. Not exceptional, but whatever. Thank God indeed. I was quite nervous before the test but I guess I just calmed down and did ok during the test. I waited SO LONG for this day to come. About 6 months since I passed the Final Theory Test. I spent about $600 in total. I kept thinking what to do if I failed it? What if I need to wait like another 6 months? Spend another $600? Should I have gone to the school instead of taking it as a private candidate? So embarassing since I already know how to drive and am driving trucks almost every other day!

Anyway I got faulted for dumbass mistakes like wide turning, not checking blindspots and having to do parallel parking again. Probably due to driving trucks more than I should, thats why I'm making such mistakes now. 19 people took the test at the same time, and only 3 passed! So I'm really thankful that I passed. Thanks to my instructor too.

Now I have completed one of the many things I wanna accomplish. Hmm time to learn Italian next. =)

2008-04-21T23:22:00.002+08:00

Without You

Been sometime since I last listened to Laura Pausini's English songs and I came across this song called Without You. I never heard it before! Lol :P Its sounds kinda good (of course) so I put it up on my blog. Anyway I've been feeling quite irritated lately. I dont know how to describe this feeling. But sometimes I feel like I'm being taken for granted. Screw it I'm not gonna give a damn about other people's business. Cheers.

2008-04-12T06:27:00.003+08:00

La Solitudine

Decided to change my blog song to this one. This is one of my favourite songs by Laura Pausini. Its the very first song she sang that launched her career. There are several versions of it, the very first one from the album Laura Pausini, the second is a more dramatic ballad from E Ritorno Da Te, and the third live version from San Siro 2007. I love this song not just because it sounds so damn good, but its so full of emotion. It tells the story of how a girl misses her guy after he leaves and how she can't do without him. Okay i'm not the emo type (for a start, I don't understand the Italian lyrics), but Laura Pausini sings the song to perfection, with all the right tunes. Her backup singers are marvellous as well.

A few days ago my sister chanced upon someone else's blog that was also playing a Laura Pausini song! What a pleasant surprise. That is something I'd hardly expect since not many people in Singapore know who she is. Cheers =)

2008-04-02T23:35:00.002+08:00

Its been an entire month since I made a post. I realise much of my life now is routine. Work and work. The last movie I watched? Alien Vs Predator 2, on New Year's Day with Dreamoz. That was 3 months ago. Went out 2 weeks ago with Dreamoz for dinner, to celebrate Aaron's birthday! And that has been the only 2 times I went out for leisure this year. Amazing? LOL its a bloody shitty life. So many movies I wanted to watch but I couldn't because I'm always so damn busy. I can't wait for army to finish. Another 7 months (assuming I don't get to disrupt).

Sometimes I get this feeling that I'm under appreciated. Not like its anyone's business but yeah. I should stop giving a shit about anything that doesn't affect me. Why? Lol because I feel dispensable :D Geez nothing is making sense.

2008-03-02T23:17:00.002+08:00

Wow what a long time since I last posted. Yes I've been so very busy in army. Too many things happened, so much that I actually don't feel like talking about it. Anyway I just realised that I love the song La Solitudine. Geez. My life is dead boring now. Oops correction. I have NO life now. Cheers.

2008-02-09T19:13:00.000+08:00

Laura Pausini Live In San Siro 2007

Finally, after 2 months of waiting, I managed to get my hands on a copy of Laura Pausini's latest concert DVD. This is her biggest concert to date, with over 70,000 fans attending the concert. I was just about to have it imported from Argentina for USD 25.00, luckily I went to HMV Heeren and checked it out again. It was on sale, and for only SGD 22.95! I was so surprised that a new concert DVD was selling for such a cheap price. I haven't watched the DVD yet. I am gonna leave it for tomorrow. But I am listening to the CD that came with it. Grande! Magnifico =D

2008-01-06T00:25:00.000+08:00

Busy!

I'm dead tired from a full and busy Saturday. Gotta go. Cheers!

2008-01-01T19:07:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year: Alien Vs Predator 2

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone. Hope everyone enjoyed their countdown. I had fun with Dreamoz. We watched the 8 minutes long fireworks display at the Esplanade and it was really quite good! But then that is not what I wanna bitch about. I only bitch about annoying things.

And boy was AVP2 annoying enough. So much hype over it, all for nothing. What a total letdown! The entire movie's storyline can be summarised into one word - Kill. I know i know it is made out of a game in which all you need to do is to kill, but at least put a decent story in! The filming itself got really irritating. Most of the movie was shot at night, or in dark places. Its as if the creators were embarassed that their fighting machines will look less than awesome in the daylight. If there was a fighting sequence in the day where we can look at how awesome the CGI effects are, the movie will definitely move one notch up. The Alien and Predator and their cross-breed relative were really quite good looking when you can catch a glimpse of them. But AVP2 was made so badly that its like watching Transformers in the dark, being only able to catch an occasional glimpse of the monsters. What a crappy movie thrown in your face on New Year! But we all know we need to watch some crappy movies so that we know how to appreciate the good movies when they come.

I read today's Straits Times and inside it, I saw a Newpaper advertisement on AVP2 that says "80% Alien + 20% Predator = ???? " Yeah you know what? I'll tell you the answer. 80% Alien + 20% Predator = 100% BULLSHIT.

Happy 2008!

2007-12-25T21:43:00.000+08:00

Merry Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! =) Its been a great Christmas this year. I think. I got a new pair of Adidas shoes and a Guy Laroche wallet. Bought them about 2 weeks ago but yeah from my sister and dad, =D Mum bought me a pair of earrings from Goldheart. Hahaha finally got one pair of studs and one pair of looped earrings. Love them! Had lunch at Sakura Restaurant, then went out with Dreamoz for the rest of the day before having dinner at Seoul Garden. Yummy. Have to book in tomorrow for COS duty. What a spoiler for this festive holiday mood! Geez. Its alright, I shall be optimistic. 10 months to ORD! =) May God bless everyone. =)

2007-12-11T10:13:00.000+08:00

What a wonderful song.

I love this song.

Andrea Bocelli duet Laura Pausini - Vivere (Dare to Live)

Try looking at tomorrow not yesterday
And all the things you left behind
All those tender words you did not say
The gentle touch you couldn't find

In these days of nameless faces
There is no one truth but only pieces
My life is all i have to give

Dare to live until the very last
Dare to live forget about the past
Dare to live giving something of yourself to others
Even when it seems there's nothing more left to give

Ma se tu vedessi l'uomoDavanti al tuo portone
Che dorme avvolto in un cartone,
Se tu ascoltassi il mondo una mattina
Senza il rumore della pioggia,
Tu che puoi creare con la tua voce,
Tu, pensi i pensieri della gente,
Poi, di Dio c'e solo Dio.

Vivere, nessuno mai ce l'ha insegnato,
Vivere, non si può vivere senza passato,
Vivere è bello anche se non l'hai chiesto mai,
Una canzone ci sarà, qualcuno che la canterà

Dare to live searching for the ones you love
(Perché, perché, perché, perché non vivi questa sera?)
Dare to live no one but we all
(Perché, perché, perché, perché non vivi ora?)
Dare to live until the very last
(Perché, perché, perché la vita non è vita)
Your life is all you have to give
(Perché)non l'hai vissuta
Vivere!

Dare to live until the very last
(Perché, perché, perché Ia vita non è vita)
Your life is all you have to give
(Perché)
non l'hai vissuta mai

I will say no (I will say yes)
Say dare to live
Dare to live

If you all think this song is gonna be opera-ish just because Bocelli is a tenor, don't worry because it is not. Laura Pausini sings the English parts mainly and Bocelli, the Italian parts. Brava Laura Pausini and Andrea Bocelli! Grande! =)

2007-12-06T22:24:00.000+08:00

Vrooom!

2007-12-04T23:53:00.000+08:00

PASSED!

I passed my Final Theory Test today! Okay I think most people think its not a big deal. But it is to me. Because it marks the end of studying boring stuff. I have time to start reading up on Dentistry and Biology, and also learn Italian. Thanks to Angela for accompanying me the whole day and Sharon for good lucks =) Angela went to register with Comfortdelgro to take driving lessons too. Hope she will pass everything on the first try like my sister.

I found myself a Driving Instructor already (thanks Eugene and Calvin) and booked my Traffic Police test! Unfortunately, due to the fact that I am a private candidate, my test date is 6 months away, on the 2nd of May 2008 (same as Calvin!). I better pass that one as well!

I need to go.

2007-12-03T22:33:00.000+08:00

The Worst Movie EVER

Today, I stumbled upon the worst movie I have EVER watched. Maybe that is an understatement in itself. The Tattooist bags the coveted prizes of most boring, most unentertaining, most mundane, most time-wasting movie. It is a Singaporean production. I thought it is about time I gave Singapore some credit for its movie productions. Apparently this movie just made me extend my decision by, say, 9999999999999999999999 years.

First off, the plot is unbelievably boring. It belongs to its own category of boredom. Ten years down the road, when people think they got their fair deal of boring movie junk, they're gonna look back and say "Hey, its not boring until you have watched The Tattooist!" This is a movie that trumps The Da Vinci Code movie in terms of boredom. Everyone around me was yawning. I was slumped in my chair, chin on my palm, and repeatedly switching hands. Angela was simply pissed at the magnitute of crap thrown in our faces.There was practically NO climax in the movie. The plot itself was simply plain. The directors tried their best to make the movie like a puzzle so everyone can try and piece their crap together. Futile attempt.

The Tattooist is supposedly a horror show. I watched Ju-On and Dark Water a few years back and I thought that they were the worst kind of scary movies because they turned out to be comedies. I was so wrong. The fact is that the Tattooist doesn't even have an element of fright. Its rated NC16 but I felt like I was watching an episode of "Incredible Tales" (not to mention, its another shitty production), but then again, it is not even incredible in the first place. There were more yawnings than any other sound expressed by the audience.

We all know that every year, the Oscars is held to honour the top actors, actresses, directors and movies of our time. What most people do not know, is that there is an Oscar-equivalent event held to honour the shittiest in the movie industry. It is called the Razzies. The Tattooist deserves its own category right there where it belongs.

The ONLY good thing out of this movie is that it increases your threshold of boredom and ability to take shit in the face.

2007-11-30T20:55:00.000+08:00

Cheers!

Yay my LONG weekend is here! Took leave next monday and tuesday, and my physiotherapy is starting(again) next wednesday. Just came home from the swimming pool. Swam 30 laps today and I'm feeling much better. Was so tired the entire day.

I read today's paper and at the forums page, I saw an article written by a parent which addressed the issue of Singapore's education system. She claims that the education system works - with tuition. I found that rather intriguing. Maybe its because her kids' school is filled with such students? I don't agree at all. I think the education system works - with motivation and an objective to work towards. I have never had tuition yet the education system worked for me (not that I like the system but thats irrelevant). Why? It is because of motivation and objective. Most people at that young tender age do not have any idea what they want to do in life. True enough some of them do, like this year's top PSLE student who scored 294 (geez). She wants to be a paedietrician. No matter how practical that is, at least she has a goal. That is something that makes it meaningful to study hard for.

There are many other people who have tuition, yet they do not do well in school. The phrase "do well" is so subjective in itself. This point already proves that lady wrong. That even tuition does not make the education system succeed. We need to motivate our students, and give them a better reason to work hard. Enough with that "if you don't get a good education, you won't have a good job/life" bullshit. Let's start with inspiring them. Our teachers should be trained to expose students to the various job opportunities available. Most kids do not know why they are studying Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, apart from the fact that they need it to get their O or A level cert. How does that relate to what they wanna work as in future? Is that why most students do not know whether they wanna go to JC or Poly after O levels? Is that why many people STILL aren't sure what they wanna study when they go to University?

Does doing well in academics mean doing well in school? What about sports? Community activities? Are the parents these days SO obsessed with their kids scoring well academically that kids nowadays become so geeky? Tuition doesn't help at all without motivation.

2007-11-29T22:05:00.000+08:00

Enchanted!

Took leave today so I managed to catch Enchanted with Angela. I thought it was a pretty good movie. The singing was really good, so much so that the movie was like a musical. The princess had such a wonderful voice. So powerful. Its sexy like Laura Pausini's. =) Anyway, the movie was quite lighthearted and enjoyable. There were quite a few laughable scenes and the chipmunk is really cute! The storyline is very much predictable but it was thoroughly enjoyable because there is so much singing! Its not an A grade movie alright, but its good for just a weekday out.

I will have 7 days of leave spreaded out in December, so I hope December passes quickly! My Final Theory Test is next week. Hope I pass it fast because after that I wanna start my tuition, learn Italian and reading up on Dentistry. My sister wants me to go to Korea with her. Did she do it on purpose? I'm sure she did. How can she forget I'm in ? Grr.

Anyway tomorrow is the 30th of November. Laura Pausini's Live in San Siro 2007 DVD will be released! I called HMV Heeren just now and asked if it was available, but sadly, no. How much longer do I have to wait? I want it for Christmas so badly. I bought another of her concert DVD(Live 2001-2002) and her Resta In Ascolto album online, from Argentina yesterday. It will take like a month before they finally arrive. Oh and her duet with Andrea Bocelli, called Vivere, is just awesome. Wonderful. People need to listen to this music! =)

2007-11-26T00:00:00.000+08:00

My Weekend

Saturday was a pretty boring day I didn't do much really. Met Angela for breakfast then went to the library to borrow a book on Dental Care. Haha I really should start reading up. After that I went to make my new spectacles! I didn't buy the geeky plastic frame specs. Because its just so damn geeky. I bought one which looked quite sporty and had my lenses made. Apparently I have astigmatism and something else I can't remember. The Optician took like half an hour to get the lenses right and when I put it on, I felt really short and dizzy. But my left eye is still at 50 degrees and the right eye at 100 degrees. Chong Zeng suggested I should get contact lenses instead. Yeah right. The rest of Saturday was just spent at home doing questions in preparation for my Final Theory Test. Hope I just get my license fast and get over with it.

Sunday was a bit better. I went swimming again. When I left my house in the afternoon, the sky was bright and sunny but when I reached the swimming pool like 15 mins later, the sky started to turn dark. So retarded. I quickly went into the pool because I wanted to make it to 40 laps before it started pouring. Unfortunately, 45 mins and 32 laps later, it started pouring! I was so close to finishing. Gah. Met up with Jiaqun and Angela for chit chat session at Starbucks. Sam was supposed to come too but of course he didn't turn up. Its getting kinda late. Ill think bout other things to bitch about this week. Good night =D

2007-11-24T10:32:00.000+08:00

Weekends!

Finally the weekends are here! Its been like such a long week. Yesterday was a pretty short day (thankfully) because I booked out at 1.15pm to bring 3 of my drivers to the Bloodbank@HSA to donate blood. My superiors needed 3 blood donors initially, and I volunteered to donate, but they didn't let me because I was on painkillers. But after they found 3 donors, they realised there was no other section commander available to accompany the drivers down to the bloodbank, so they asked me to go. Haha! It was the first time donating blood for my 3 drivers and they were all so scared! But they went anyway because they all get 1 day off.

Met up with Angela later in the evening for a drink at Starbucks. Its funny we have so many things to bitch about. Never ending. =)

2007-11-21T23:46:00.000+08:00

What a DAY

The morning started with a 1.5km run (i know its nothing) then work work work until lunch, then i booked out for medical appointment! I saw the Podiatrist at CGH and she was kind enough to fix my tortured toe, by cutting away the green and ugly dead toe nail. She was using a steel plier and it was really scary. I think it is as scary as seeing a Dentist holding drills. Whatever, she fixed my toe =D

Went swimming after that, just a short one. Swam for 30 mins only because I was in a hurry! Haha went to watch Beowulf after that. Its an animated film. And I did not realise it until the movie started. In my opinion, people should not pay to watch cartoons or animated movies. I dont know, its just not as worth it as watching real people. If a story is really that good, then they should always get real actors and mix SOME CGI in, not make it totally CGI.

And the 22nd of November is Charmayne's birthday. Happy Birthday! God bless you =)

2007-11-18T20:34:00.000+08:00

Let's Bitch: Session 1

Welcome to Session 1 of my Bitching programme. After what happened today, I think I really have to bitch about it. This afternoon I went to the Popular store at Compasspoint and guess what I saw? Hundreds of parents and kids scrambling around the entire store, hoarding tonnes of ASSESSMENT BOOKS for their kids. Why are they so in such a hurry? Of course, the parents are worried their kids won't be gifted next year, cannot keep up with the syllabus next year, cannot pay attention in class, cannot understand what their teachers are teaching, cannot put on their own pants.. oops that was wrong. Why are the kids all so pressurised, and parents so.... arghhhh? Don't they ever get it? Forcing their kids to study will get them no where. Its the HOLIDAYS cmon they deserve a break.

My parents never forced me to study. My dad was like always saying "Study if you want, its for your own future, if you don't want to study, then you can just go to work. No one is forcing you to do anything." I think parents just need to instill the right values into their kids. Make sure they are disciplined enough to know what they should and should not do, then just offer guidance from there on. They should NOT be making decisions for their kids. I find it really odd when I hear people saying "My mum wants me to go to NUS, she doesn't allow me to go to NTU" and "My mum doesn't like my boyfriend and she doesn't allow us to hang out" Cmon its the 21st century. Give us some freedom. Its us going to university, its us who will be getting married. Geez.

Anyway. the thing that ticked me off just now is that one of the parents dropped an Oxford Dictionary onto my toe. Can you fuking believe it? That stupid toe of mine is already dropping off and it has to endure yet another trauma.

I'm off to eat some ugly but sweet tasting green grapes. Good night.

2007-11-18T10:38:00.000+08:00

Refreshed!

Just came back from a 1 hr swim. I was quite surprised I was able to do 40 laps because its been over a year since I stopped training. I feel so refreshed now. The past week was so hectic and I was seriously sleep deprived due to COS (Company Orderly Sergeant) duties. Twice in one week! Damn. I haven't actually started doing things within my jobscope, but its already getting stressful because the commanders kinda throw everything to me and my buddy Greg.

Anyway, I was GLAD there weren't anyone wearing Green at the swimming pool. It was thoroughly pleasant except for these two inconsiderate pricks. Each of them was standing right in the middle of a lane, blocking 2 out of 4 lanes open to the public. And they were standing there like TREES! For real. It was already so crowded yet they refused to move. Thank goodness I was in a good mood otherwise I'd have told them off. Whatever.

Gotta go, many things to do. Cheers.

2007-11-17T23:12:00.000+08:00

The Game Plan

I know, I know, this movie has been out for AGES but I just found the time to watch it today with Angela. Now its such a family show (means i expected it to be boring) but of course it isn't because The Rock is in it! How can it be a boring show? He is the "World's Most Electrifying Sportsman". Ha ha ha. Anyway, it was a pretty cool movie. The movie was generally funny and surprisingly there weren't many cliches. Just pure family fun. Some parts were kinda touching (girl sitting on my right was sobbing like forever) but I enjoyed it really. Its kinda like the movie Click (Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale) you know.

Today I saw A WHOLE BUNCH of people in green. Not like they're all standing together at one instant, no. But they were all over the place. Why is everyone wearing green? Christmas is coming? Cmon, why not wear all white to look like light bulbs or all gold to look like stars? Apparently, green is a very funny colour.

Had a long long long day today. Was out for like 12 hours. Tomorrow I gotta fix my UOB credit card because the electronic chip is kinda like damaged or something. And have to make new spectacles because I will be driving again soon (I can't see road signs and boards without my specs =D). Blablabla, whatever. Good night.

2007-11-13T19:10:00.000+08:00

2007-11-12T06:15:00.000+08:00

Absolutely amazing, astoundingly beautiful.

I just found someone SO similar to me, yet I did not realise it until a few days ago. She's been in the same Primary School as me, and the same Secondary School as well. But we never talked. Until recently. Sometimes I wonder why people have eyes for. We tend to seek the company of people who are alike ourselves, people with the same interests, likes, dislikes, characteristics, opinions, sense of humor, taste in music, degree of lameness - Just about everything. And how could I have just missed that person, although she has been around for like 10 years? I see a close reflection of myself, except this time, she is even more strongly opinionated. And that is not a bad thing at all.

I like people with opinions, and I like them even better when they make their opinions heard. Its a thin line between Opinions and Complaints. It beats fickle-minded, oh-I-Don't-Know-what-to-do-until-something-happens kind of people. I still find it hard to believe someone can have such similar interests, because I have been looking all these years, but I missed it! I thought that my own sister and maybe Sam Tan were the people who were the most similar. Even then they weren't all that similar. Confusing? Yeah.

I hope this goes well because I don't know if I will ever find someone like that. I'm pretty sure there will be many more entries on her. Cheers.

2007-11-11T09:49:00.001+08:00

What????

I've been thinking this question for a very very long time. Dentistry or not? Is that what I wanna do for the rest of my life? No, not for the rest of my life. I want a job that can meet people, speak to them, interact, know about people, make a huge network. I want to talk to people for a living. I'm sure I can meet lots of people if i become a Dentist next time. Imagine I meet like 50 people everyday, BUT I will not get to even talk to them. Why? Because their mouth will be opened while i stick the mirror inside looking for tooth decays. I'm sure people who are visiting their Dentist will not even have the mood to chit chat in the first place.

When I applied for NUS earlier this year, I was praying hard to get into Medicine or Dentistry. I really wanted either of them. I still want them. I'm glad i got into Dentistry, and I will NOT give it up so easily. If I give up my place in Dentistry, all my future plans have to be changed.

I spoke to my student's mum last friday. I've been doing some work for her for a few months now. She told me that she thought I'm a mature person and she could see that I am not afraid to express my views, and speak in front of crowds. She told me to think about taking business or political science (yeah maybe one day i'll become King of Singapore right). I thought about what she said, yet I feel that it is very difficult to effect changes in Singapore. I should just become a Dentist then do business/politics/lobbying for a sideline. Will that work? I don't know.

Few weeks ago I watched this movie called Thank You For Smoking. Its a great show. I think the movie is more about the guy being able to talk for a living, rather than him defending the tobacco industry. The concept of him lobbying can be used in many other scenarios as well. The thing is, he was very good in the movie. A lot of humourous and witty statements. Its that kind of job you really get to meet people, influence them and convince them. For those who are like me, who might want a job like that in future, go and watch the movie. Even for those who DO NOT want such a job, watch the movie anyway just because its entertaining. Cheers.

2007-11-10T00:54:00.000+08:00

Latin Grammy Awards

Ok actually I'm not here to report about the Awards. I just wanna say... Laura Pausini won the Best Female Pop Vocal Album for Yo Canto! I knew she'd win. I mean i looked at the list of nominees and the rest were like nobodies. I was so sure Laura Pausini would win. =) What a pity it was shown at 8am Friday(Singapore time). And even IF i could have made that time to watch, THERE WAS NO WHERE TO WATCH IT ON. Univision is the hosting TV station for the awards, and it was shown in over a hundred countries.

How about Singapore? Oh no, our local tv doesn't show such shows! Mediacorp LOVES to air lameass-shows-that-nobody-watches and charge us like a hundred bucks every year. For goodness sake we NEED to bring Latin culture into Singapore! We are a multicultural society, how can we leave out Latin?! Like seriously, there are many great singers around in the world. But after listening to music since I donno what age, I finally found one who has such an amazing, powerful, sexy and appealing voice. And its not just Laura Pausini in the Latin music scene. I'm sure you all know Ricky Martin and Shakira! Among the famous ones are Alejandro Sanz, Tiziano Ferro, Juanes and of course the late Luciano Pavarotti. Its time to add more variety to our usual fare of Mandarin and English songs.

There is this device that allows people to watch ANY TV channel from anywhere in the world. Its called a Slingbox. Costs USD 250.00. I wanted to get it for the sake of watching the Latin Grammy Awards (can you believe it, im kinda obsessed). But I found out something really stupid. If I want to watch an Italian channel (just for example), I need a friend who stays in Italy to plug in the Slingbox and hook it up the net before I can watch it. How ridiculous is that? So if I wanna watch shows from 250 countries, I need to get 250 Slingboxes. Bite me.

Gotta run.

2007-11-08T22:24:00.000+08:00

BORED

I was bored since last night so I watched a few movies. I watched Hostel and Hostel: Part II last night. I have to say that both of them are pretty good horror shows. I like Hostel Part II best. My favourite scene was near the end of the movie, when the twist occured. When the man shouted "I said you are a stupid f***king c**t!" at the girl, and then she just snipped off his penis. It was TOTALLY gross but the guy was screaming and screaming and screaming I won't wanna know what kind of pain that was (although its just a movie, you can kinda feel the pain). Well, I guess that teaches us guys not to mess around with women.

Tonight I watched Disturbia. Kinda boring actually. No action, and kinda shitty plot. I'm really looking forward to The Golden Compass, which will be showing in December. I've waited like 3 years for this movie - ever since I finished reading the books and heard rumours that it was gonna be made into a movie. The Golden Compass is Book 1 of Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. Can't wait. I hope it will be as good as Stardust, or even better!

I read today's newspapers and saw an article bout a surgery performed by 30+ doctors on a pair of twins who were joined at the PELVIS. One of them was incompletely developed, having only the four limbs but NO head. The papers provided a skeletal picture and it was kinda creepy. Can you imagine having a twin with no head stuck in between your legs? Its amazing how much the human body can screw up. Glad the surgery was a success. I'm out.

2007-11-06T23:12:00.000+08:00

Bored People

In recent months, I have came across people who are really bored and particularly one of them caught my attention. I have known this guy for about 2 years now, and I met him while i was playing Knight Online. He is a very interesting person and we spent a lot of time chatting. Its been 8 months since i quit the game, but I am still chatting with this guy.

He is about 26 years old and is already twice divorced with 2 kids (1 from each of his previous marriages). He is from a very rich family and he has no need to work. He drives to the McDonalds opposite his house just because he had to find a use for his car. He is not snobbish because I can sense it. He is actually a very nice person, yet he is caught in a difficult situation. He has been into and out of jail a couple of times over Child Support matters. Apparently he already paid his monthly child support(despite having no income because he does not work), yet the system did not record it and he was thrown into jail. He spent a few days there each time until the situations were fixed. He is always telling me that he is bored, and I can tell easily because he is always free, and we used to be gaming buddies.

I asked why he did not get a job, and he told me that it was pointless to get a job because the Child Support system would just take all his money away. He is definitely not an irresponsible father. He is a good man just that he got fucked over real bad by his past 2 wifes. He loves his kids a lot but he is not allowed to see them. Heck, he can't even leave his state or he goes to jail.

What is the relevance of all these? Not much. I'm just posting this so that I remember. I told him that he should get a hobby to kill time, instead of spending all his days playing games or surfing around on youtube. I suggested he take up botany, grow some plants and he might find them interesting. He told me it was a good idea and asked me what kinda plant would be tough and would grow on its own so all he needed to do was to look at it when he was bored. My answer to him? Cactus.

2007-11-06T18:23:00.000+08:00

Laura Pausini Albums

Finally after 5 weeks, my Laura Pausini albums have arrived. I ordered them from a US seller but apparently they were sent from Argentina. The two albums are Io Canto and Yo Canto. They are basically the same album, but Io Canto is in Italian while Yo Canto is in Spanish. They costed a total of USD 20.00. If i were to buy it from HMV at Heeren, they would have costed USD 50.00 in total. I was wondering why the US seller was selling these original CDs at such a cheap price, and I found my answer on the postage stamp. The CDs were sent from Argentina. I used to speak to these Argentinian guy who played Knight Online, and can you believe that people in his country can survive on USD 50.00 for a month? Geez.

I already downloaded the Italian version of the album beforehand (was too impatient to wait 5 weeks) but now I'm going to listen to the Spanish version. Cheers

2007-11-05T22:19:00.001+08:00

One more thing i forgot to post about. The movie:

Stardust

I watched it last Saturday with Sam. Been a long time since I last saw him. Anyway, that is not the main point.

I can confidently say that Stardust was the BEST movie I have watched this year. In fact, its been an extremely long time since I watched such a good movie. It is a fantasy movie, but it is nothing like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. What I feel is that it is a very well-balanced movie. It has magic, humour, evil witches, downright funny poltergeists, power-hungry princes, a great storyline, good looking actors, and of course a good ending (I'm glad it was good. You would have wanted it to be good as well if you watched the movie). I would put this movie at the top of my favourites. Granted that it isn't as good as the Lord of the Rings, but it is amazing what came out of a low budget. Throughout the entire movie, I felt as if I was actually in it. Of course when the movie ended, I was like "Shit, back to real life."

I shall not post the content of the movie because it is pointless. Just watch it, it is much more enjoyable. And its not cool to spoil it. Cheers.

2007-11-05T22:19:00.000+08:00

There are a couple of things I hope to do during my evenings in the one year I have left to serve.
1. Study and pass my Final Theory Test, then my TP test (should be easy because I already have a military driving license)
2. Go for a Basic Italian Language course outside, and practise as much as I can. Read Italian books, listen to Italian music, watch Italian shows, and talk Italian to the mirror. I have to learn the language before I visit Italy after ORD. Hopefully.
3. Study O and A level Biology, and read up on Dental books. I have zero knowledge of biology apart from what I read from newspapers. I need to study otherwise I'll enter NUS like an idiot.

I just realised Thursday is Deepavali. And Thursday is also the day that the Latin Grammy Awards will be showing. Laura Pausini's Io Canto/Yo Canto album has been nominated for Best Latin Album and I am confident that she will win. Now I just need to find a website that will let me watch it.

Tomorrow will be my first day at my unit. Hope everything goes well. Cheers.

2007-11-04T12:50:00.000+08:00

So many things have happened but I do not know where to start. A levels have ended, my last relationship has become extinct, already got a place at the National University of Singapore, made a whole lot of friends, planned many things for the future.

This is just a brief outline of my thoughts. I will be posting once a week, maybe more often when I get nights off to come home. But i shall pen down my thoughts and events that have occured over the past year. Its purpose is for me to read, and reflect. I will keep a posts to a minimal because it isn't exactly my interest. If you find it boring or irrelevant, then don't read it because I didn't ask you to.

Right now I'm very concerned about how come my Laura Pausini CDs (Io Canto and Yo Canto) have NOT arrived from USA. I ordered them about a month ago. Its about damn time they reached Singapore. I will talk about Laura Pausini later on. Right now I need to send some emails. I'll come back and post when I feel like it, but I am pretty sure this blog will be active again. Cheers.

2006-07-18T20:38:00.000+08:00

Finally.

My Corrs pillowcase is here. Lol. After a whole month of waiting. Just gotta get it washed then I can use it. Ok results for mid year werent so bad. Got a C for math but I already didnt expect to do well for it so yeah. I need a break for a while so I kinda wont be studying much until my game premium runs out. In about 18 days. Gonna catch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Hopefully soon.

2006-07-06T19:58:00.000+08:00

Finally, the exams ended. I was too bored. It stretched too long. I admit i did not have time to practise. Actually, I decided not to because every night of the holidays was spent playing games, going out, or watching tv. I don't know what kind of results I will be getting, but I know maths was bad. Seriously bad. Anyway, I'm going to take a break and chill out. Play some games or something. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is going to open next week! Oh and I would recommend people to read Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. It is a superb fantasy story and its movie is going to come out sometime next year I. Its very exciting and touching. I almost cried at the ending =X

2006-06-30T00:27:00.000+08:00

Superman Returns!

Watched this movie just now on the 29th of June, its opening day. First of all, I felt that it was not up to my expectations. I actually expected a lot of action and showcasing of superman's powers but it was not that great. There were only a few laudable scenes, like the one where superman walked in front of a machine gun and a bullet shooting and bouncing off his eye. The plot was not that great either. Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor decided to steal some of superman's crystal and make new land with it. Superman managed to actually lift that whole new crystal land into the sky and threw it into outer space, after which he fell back down to Earth and "died" for a few minutes. Lois Lane's son in the show, is actually Superman's son. Superman did it with her before he left 5 years ago to look for his home planet, Krypton. Newspapers gave it 3.5 stars and I'd say that is a fair rating. Its enjoyable enough and there are some scenes that crack you up. I am looking forward to Smallville 4 which starts on Friday, 7.30pm. Cheers!

Silent Hill

Watched this a couple of days ago but was too tired to post about it. Its actually a movie from a game, so its supposed to be gory and violent. It was quite gross actually. The plot was not that great (like many movies made from games) It was about a mother looking for her daughter in a creepy place called Silent Hill which is filled with monsters that come out in the dark. The monsters did not look that scary, but they sure looked stupid with one of them having a pyramid as a head, hence his name - The Pyramid. So basically it was just about this woman running about here and there, and her husband looking for her at the same place but unfortunately the woman and her daughter entered a different dimension. At the end of the story, the woman found her daughter and managed to return home, but they were still in a different dimension. And then the story ended. How abrupt. Pretty boring show to watch. Superman is much more super.

2006-06-22T20:46:00.000+08:00

Corrs Pillowcase!

Saw this pillowcase while shopping on Ebay a couple of days ago. Then I decided to buy it. Maybe a little expensive but that is because of the shipping fee. It costed USD 24.99 in total but it looks really great to me. I can't wait for it to come and sleep on it :D

Tada!!

Black and white. But I like it. Corrs for the win! :D

2006-06-18T00:11:00.000+08:00

The Omen

Watched this movie today. Its a remake of the old Omen show. I couldn't really remember the story but I know it was super scary when I watched it as a kid. So scary that I did not dare to watch Omen 2 and Omen 3. Oops that was already a spoiler. Yeah since there is Omen 2 and 3, that means anti-Christ did not die in the first show. Anyway, the show starts off with scenes of disasters like the Tsunami, the toppling of America's World Trade Centre and many other events that "show" the arrival of the anti-Christ. The story is about how a bad kid with a "666" birthmark makes everyone around him die. Julia Stiles was okay playing the role of mother. There are some gruesome scary scenes so kids stay away. I didn't find them very scary but there are some cheap thrills that make you jolt. Its an average show and the newspapers said that the film was remade because the date 06/06/06 comes once in a thousand years. I'm not sure if I will watch the remake of Omen 2 and 3, if there are any.

2006-06-11T22:30:00.000+08:00

She's The Man

Watched this movie today. It was really entertaining. A pretty good movie actually. Its about how a girls' soccer team at Cornwall School got cut and one of the female players, Viola Hastings decided to 'disguise' herself as her twin brother, Sebastian Hastings, and go to his school to join the soccer team. Coincidentally, her brother was away at London. The movie is entertaining because you see how Viola gets to score with chicks, act like a man, and its really funny when her girlish nature takes over unknowingly. I'm not gonna say what happened in the end, but its all good! Watch it if you wanna know.

Another thing, I dont know if my CCA is going to the Zoo this week as an outing. Are we going guys? I'm too lazy to plan. :D

I'm kinda tired now. Gotta run. Laters!

2006-06-10T23:35:00.000+08:00

This was posted at my clan forums. Kinda funny :P

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/58/1251/640/Homer%20simpson%20beer%20guide.jpg

2006-06-10T22:33:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morning and I felt ultra bored. So I decided not to study since its the weekend anyway. I went to my shelf and took out a DVD to watch. Its the Corrs Live In Lansdowne Road Concert DVD. I already watched it before but it was entertaining anyway. Just look at the crowd cheering and singing with the Corrs. 50,000 fans! I wished I was there. Corrs better come to Singapore before they retire or else I'll die with regrets. I love the Corrs. Get the DVD if you're a fan! SGD42.00 at HMV :D

2006-06-08T22:30:00.000+08:00

RE: Dumb?

Sorry for flaming people. Mervyn. Not your fault. Now Yue Han has some explaining to do.

2006-06-08T21:35:00.000+08:00

Something is wrong with our world today.

Earlier today, someone approached me to donate money to support some animal association. I saw one person donated before me. Suddenly I felt that that person should have donated to some association that helped humans instead. This may sound kind of selfish to humans, but I feel that all the aid that people give to non-humans should be channelled to help African children. I mean cmon millions of PEOPLE are dying everyday and you'd rather help animals? Africa's USD50 billion debt just got wiped clean last year by the World Bank, and look at Africa now. It is still so poor and people are still dying.

What I'm trying to say is that, us humans should save our other human friends before we try and save the animals. It just doesn't make sense to me that animals should be given priority before humans. HELP AFRICA INSTEAD!! That is why im supporting Live 8 and Bono's work. Cheers.

By the way, I do not post unless I have some thoughts to write about, or some stuff to talk about. Oh well thats common sense.

2006-06-06T22:32:00.000+08:00

DUMB

Eat shit. Dont read my blog.

On to something lighter, I came across a few pictures that looked dumb. Yes, dumb would be today's theme.

www.dumbphotos.com

2006-06-06T00:20:00.000+08:00

Things I did today:

Movie
Meet-The-People Session

The Benchwarmers

Ok I shall start with the movie. Watched Benchwarmers today. Its a movie starring the ever so gay and funny Rob Schneider(Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. It was a movie produced by Adam Sandler. The funny thing is that Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler love working together. Both of them starred in 50 First Dates and The Hot Chick(not The White Chick). Anyway, the movie has a relatively simple plot. It is about how a bunch of kids who got picked on decided to form a BASEBALL team to beat the bullies. Rob Schneider(Gus) and his retarded friends help the poor kids because they too got picked on when they were young, so they shared the same feelings and had the same goal. Gus and gang beat the crap out of the bullies into the finals, then everyone discovered that Gus did not actually share the same experience as everyone else. Gus was not picked on when he was young, in fact, Gus was a big bully in the past! Then Gus was kicked out of the team and the rest of the team continued to play in the finals. Of course without Gus, the team's ass got kicked hard and the poor kids lost. But what they really wanted to do was to give the poor kids a chance to play. The concept of the plot is so stereotypical that it can actually be applied to any sport and not just baseball. I guess they wanted to make a movie that most Americans can connect with. If there were a Singaporean version, I guess they would be playing... uh... actually, I can't think of any sport that is traditionally Singapore's or any sport that Singaporeans are particularly good at. Perhaps talking cock? Whatever. Once again, this is another movie to kill time. Don't set your expectations too high.

Meet-The-People Session

I had to attend this because it is part of the Talent Management Programme(I skipped 5 sessions but who cares :P). Initially I did not want to sign up for it, but Chong Zeng had to sign up so I just accompanied him. I was late for the session which began at 8pm because I waited for Bus 89 outside Pasir Ris Interchange for 1hr and 5 mins. I waited from 7.05pm to 8.10pm! I refused to take a cab because I did not want to waste money to attend something that I was not very enthusiastic about. We arrived at 8.45pm but luckily we were not given any scoldings and were told to just seat down beside the GRC members and observe. For the next 2hrs and 15 mins, I observed. I realised that people came to meet the MP for all kinds of reasons ranging from Housing to Educational problems. One man was in a desperate situation. He had two court cases - one for speeding, and the other for trademark infringement of the Louis Vuitton label. He was so poor he could not afford to pay the fines. Another mother came and complained that the temple she went to refused to give her daughter free tuition even though her daughter needed it. Now this is just absurd. Since when has religious establishments become part of the MP's responsilibity? The mother said that the temple told her that she did not get the free tuition because it was the MP's fault. That was just confusing and stupid. I would have told her to use her brains but I was just supposed to observe. For most of the time, I basically stoned and smiled at people. When the clock struck 11pm, we left. But we still have another two sessions to attend next two mondays.

Moving on to something more interesing (to me at least). I recently bought a Laura Pausini CD titled From The Inside and her concert DVD, Live In Paris 05.

From The Inside

Laura Pausini Live In Paris 05 Concert DVD

I love both of them a lot. I am not being biased but I really think that she has a super super sexy voice. Although she is a Spanish singer, From The Inside is her first English album. I can burn it if anyone wants to listen to it. Laura Pausini for the win!! If you know what is good music, you will enjoy it.

Ok thats all for today. Thank you very much for today! :)

2006-06-04T19:59:00.000+08:00

Movies

I watched several movies in the past few weeks and I have to say that some are great while the rest simply suck. Just want to give a brief view of these movies. There are some spoilers so do not read unless you want to get spoiled.

Mission Impossible 3

I have to say that the whole movie was very exciting. It was a relatively simple plot but the it was the action that made it worth the money. It was like climax all the way. Maggie Q (she has a very long name thats why Q is used) added spice to the movie with her sexy long legs. The plot is simple - Agent Ethan Hunt had to recover an object called the "Rabbit's Foot" before his wife gets killed. That simple. If you like movies with twist, do not watch it. If you just want action, this is for you!

Poseidon

Watched this movie a few weeks back on a Friday night with my CCA. We stayed out overnight at Dhoby Ghaut and watched the movie at the new, old Cathay Picturehouse. This is another of the movies with no plot and just people dying. Ok not really no plot, but a pretty lousy one. I know I watch a lot of junk movies but who cares. Anyway, the story is about a giant luxury ship overturned by a "rogue wave" and a group of people trying to escape. Those who defied the captain's orders to stay in the "safe area" managed to escape while those in the "safe area" died. How ironic. The show features many fresh faces so there arent many famous people. The most famous person in the movie was perhaps Black Eyed Peas' Fergie who just played the role of a singer on board the ship. She too, died.

The Da Vinci Code

Ok I admit that I did not read the book. Actually, I only read the prologue, up to where the curator died.(this, i told many people). My close buddy Jake said that the movie followed the plot very closely. Maybe that is true, but I personally felt that it was quite a bore. I watched this with my CCA again on a Friday night, and we caught the 2am show. My captain Chee Lin fell asleep and at the end of the movie he went "walao, pay $9.50 to sleep". I did not sleep but I stoned. I guess that reading the story would be intellectually exciting but making it into a movie is just a mistake. No need to talk about the plot because every person who isn't lazy would have already read the book. I'm just lazy to read it. I prefer moving pictures to flipping pages.

Over the Hedge

A animation! Or cartoon. Whatever. They're all the same to me. I seldom watch cartoons but who cares. Anyway, this show is about how a bunch of animals living in a forest discover the place outside their home, and new ways to gather food. The story starts with a raccoon, RJ, trying to steal food from a big bear. Not only did he failed to steal the food, he woke up the bear and the cart of food he had gathered dropped off the cliff and got hit by a vehicle. So the food is lost and the bear is angry. Bear gives RJ 1 week to gather the food or RJ becomes food. There goes RJ to the forest and discovers the group of mountain pumpkins. RJ uses them to gather food from over the hedge and he plans to steal the food from them later. The story is mostly about how they gathered food in funny and silly ways. Watch it to see the ending. It is a relatively short movie, only about 83 minutes I believe. Oh you also get to hear Avril Lavigne's voice. She voices the rat I think.

X Men: The Last Stand

Finally the long awaited third instalment to the X Men movies opened. I watched it and after the show, I felt that the previous movies were better. The Last Stand was not as exciting as the trailer showed it to be. As usual, the bad guy Magneto continues his fight against the humans. This time, the humans have discovered a "cure" to suppress the mutant X gene. The ironic thing is that the "cure" is extracted from another mutant whose powers is to suppress the powers of other mutants. Magneto goes out to destroy the cure while the X Men want to stop Magneto from killing the humans.

Outcome:

Magneto loses his power (but he seemed to be actually left with some power at the end of the show)
Mystique (Rebecca Romijn, wooooooo ) loses her power too and becomes human
Cyclops dies (Jean is that you? How memorable =X )
Juggernaut runs into a wall and fainted (Famous quote: Do you know who I am? I''m the Juggernaut, biatch!")
Pyro got iced by Iceman
Wolverine kicked some balls (literally)
Jean Grey (or the Dark Phoenix) got killed by Wolverine
Professor Xavier died initally, but apparently, he is alive again at the end of the show.
Rogue decides to take the cure and become normal

Sounds exciting doesn't it. For your information, this movie isn't really linked to the past two movies except that Jean Grey is revived as the Dark Phoenix. X Men 2 coming up on TV one of these Sundays so watch if you are worried that you will not understand the plot. There are also hints at X men 4, and a Wolverine spinoff. Cheers.

The Nun

This movie is so bad it makes me become The Nuts. It is unscary, uninteresting, unexciting and a waste of money. The story starts with a couple of girls at a Boarding School in Spain acting as rebel teenagers. They kill the nun and dumps the body in a pool of Holy Water. 18 years later, the Boarding School was already closed and the Holy Water was drained from the holy pool. The Unholy nun spirit is released and decides to take revenge on all the girls who killed her 18 years ago. The twist in the movie wasn't really a twist. Long story short - All of those involved in the murder were killed as well. End of story. The Straits Times Life! rates this at 1.5 stars. It truly sucks because Life! is known to be pretty generous and in the past few months, I haven't seen many movies rated below 2 stars. I only like the movie because of the time i spent in the cinema.

There are many more movies coming up and I will be watching the following for sure:

The Omen
Superman
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
And a couple of junk movies along the way.

If you find the above boring, then you have wasted your time. No one asked you to read it anyway :P

2006-06-04T00:19:00.000+08:00

[Knight Online]

These are some pictures from the game Knight Online that I am playing. Its a free game but you have to download it. These pictures are for my clanmates to view. I am not playing that much now. For those of you who wish to try the game, go ahead. It has good graphics.

My Character (Level 64 Arch Mage. Level 70 is max)

Killing Harpies

Static Nova

Static Nova

Fire Nova

Will post more later. For my clan mates, enjoy it!

2006-06-03T22:57:00.000+08:00

Thank you

First of all, thank you to Phoebe for helping me set up this blog. I'm such a noob at this. I haven't really thought of what I want to post about in this blog, but it is unlikely that I will be posting much about what I do in my daily life. I'll post about it if I feel like it. I am using this Coldplay blogskin for now as I cannot find a Corrs one. It would be perfect if someone is willing to make one for me. Anyway, the blog is not really up yet and there are stuff that I will add later. I will think about what to post later. Thank you again Phoebe. :)