With so much time to spare, I've been mahjong-ing a lot, and welcome our newest tai-tai Melissa Chew who has become totally addicted. (YEAH!)

First up was at Stratford Court on Thursday, then at Tracy's place on Friday.















Wah look at all the TIM TAM from Australia! Got like 5 million flavours unlike Candy Empire in Singapore.



Then it was back to our beloved Temasek Polytechnic to meet up with Ms Ivy Tan. Took us to the new restaurant which is being run by the culinary students and unfortunately, much to our dismay, you have to reserve a table ONE MONTH in advance. Yes, can you find a restaurant hotter than that? In the heart of a tertiary institute man. Ding Tai Fung may be one of the top 10 restaurants in the world but at least I don't have to book ONE FREAKING MONTH in advance for a table. (In any case, I hate Ding Tai Fung. The Xiao Long Baos taste like decomposed fish.)

So anyway the restaurant is called The Top Table !



That's the closest we got because when we wanted to tour the restaurant, the manager quipped 'Wah. You think this is a zoo ah?' Yes, I quote, word for word. But for a restaurant which needs to be booked, I repeat again, ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE, I'd like to sit down and enjoy a good meal and tour the restaurant then.

But for those who want a prelude to what our dear culinary students can offer, there's another eatery below The Top Table called Sugar Loaf which serves desserts and beverages. Waiting time is about an hour unless you are so kiasu (like me) to go before the lunch crowd comes in. Pretty decent stuff there too.

Caught WANTED in the afternoon.







Let me just say the show was so awesome I caught it AGAIN just now. Look at how hot Angelina Jolie is. Please. This will put Madonna to shame. In fact, the second time around I just went to admire her hot fish lips and totally forgot about the show and the retarded-looking James McAvoy.

Mrs Smith-o-meter: 5/5

Yes. Fish lips are hot. For once, I am envious of Brad Pitt.


Sakae sushi with Mels and Tracy







And after mahjong, in a haste to go home, Mel and I left all our stuff in Tracy's house. How wonderful.

I have become the ultimate movie freak. Like everyday is nothing but Downtown East. Weekday movies before 5pm for only $6 (NETS payment). Cathay always rocks my socks off.



GET SMART last Saturday was quite hilarious, not in the range of Zohan which I went to watch twice, lol. Anne Hathaway never looked so gorgeous since her weird role in Brokeback Mountain. Steve Carell and her can win an award for best dance item in the show. And I have the say The Rock looks very retarded, couldn't they get someone better?

Agent 99-o-meter: 4/5

Today was, where else, Downtown East again with secondary school teacher and classmate. Consultation session cum career advice cum resume/CV editing time! Had the most outrageously gastronomic meal at New York New York.






Thereafter it was THE HAPPENING



Considering THE VILLAGE and LADY IN THE WATER was absolute crap, this one finally scores for me. Although I have to say I can never quite see plants the same way again. But it was an excellent movie, and one which reminds us, or specifically America, that time is running out and let's fight global warming more aggressively.

photosynthesis-o-meter: 4/5

And I can't find M Night Shamylan in the movie. He always appears in the movies he writes, and I can't find him. Maybe he is the plant?

Met Nicole in Cineleisure for 21. Knew it was gonna be a hot movie so I bought the tickets in Downtown East.





Please, please go and watch this show! Brilliant movie! 5 students embarking on road trips to Vegas every week and counting cards to win Blackjack and be rich. If that's not brilliant to you, I don't know what is. (Watching Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't count as brilliant) Inspired by a true story and probably the best conclusion I have ever seen in a film.

Ban Luck-o-meter: 21/5


Back to German pork knuckles vs Turkish Delights on TV.

WELCOME BACK THE QUEEN OF FONG ZAO AND HAR GAO, MELISSA CHEW JING SI.

We shall go for Dim Sum soon and I will convince you that Har Gao is the best thing since Mahjong evolved.

And thank you for this absolutely lip-smacking bottle of Absolut which really resembles Madonna in all ways.

We Wii-ed the whole afternoon playing tennis, boxing and bowling. By the end of the session, I was sweating like a cow and dead beat. This is so much better than playing soccer. Exercising in the comfort of your own home and gaming at the same time.

Spent the night working on my CVs and resume. My search for a job starts earlier than expected. Keeping my fingers crossed!

As if my life isn't great now, here's another icing on the cake:




Hahahaha so who's the smart one now hur hur hur. I am so gonna pass on my first try and run to Ubi and buy my dream car: a red plate red auto Picanto! October October!

Had dinner with Jules and she wouldn't believe that I passed.

Jerms: Eh do you have Chiongster's i/c no? I need to book my TP.
Jules: Erm, are you even ready?

And that's not all. She went on ranting about how Chiongster was telling her stories ABOUT ME being so muddle-headed and not passing FTT.

Well I don't care what anyone really thinks. Fact is I'm still gonna pass.

JULES! MAHJONG MAHJONG!!









I was quite disturbed by this gay 'couple' in Simpang wearing matching pink polo tees.



Maybe I should post this on Stomp.

Oh yah I'm not kidding when I say this but I'm really cutting down on prata. I will still eat all the other stuff in Simpang but I have to think of my health, cos Matthias was lecturing me on how much saturated oil is in prata. And basically it stays there forever in your arteries even if you like exercise and stuff.

Probably my limit is like, once a month? Haha, that's quite impossible I know.

Friday was the start of my post-ORD exercise regime. Gym, ping pong and tennis and Ben Foo's house. And I have to add - ping pong in the baking sun!

After that brought the guys to TP to eat cos it's the most convenient. Mensa oh mensa. My beloved Western stall which serves weird dishes like Beef Goulash. Impressive.



Newcastle's away kit next season! So preeeetty!!!

Can I just say it's less than 24 hours after being a civilian once again and I'm absolutely lovin' every single moment?

You cannot imagine how carefree I am. No more worrying about countdown to ORD or any project assignments. I have 24 hours do whatever I want to do and not worry about what time to sleep or what's happening the next day. I mean, just take a look at this drastic change in my schedule. Just 6 months ago it was like this:

Monday: Work / Night class
Tuesday: Work / Night class
Wednesday: AM Leave / PM Work / Night class
Thursday: Work / Night class
Friday: Work / Soccer training
Saturday: Off day (but work on assignment)
Sunday: Off day (but work on assignment)

And for the next, I dunno how many months (or even years?!), it's gonna be like this:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off

I love my life so bery bery much.

And I have to write down some post-ORD tasks before I forget.

- Call M1 and cancel my multi-sim card
- Following that, flush my non-camera phone down the toilet bowl
- Sort out all my barang barang I brought back from camp
- Following that, spring clean my stuff and throw away any uni/poly notes that I don't need
- Send laptop for repair (3rd time already)
- Renew Safra card
- Hit the gym and pool
- Finish watching all my DVD series
- Watch the remaining 8 Euro matches
- Settle itinerary for Batam trip

And I would have added 'find job and send out resume' but what the heck. I have my whole life ahead of me. Let's just take some time to smell the flowers.

Anyway, 3 movies in 3 days. Yes I was already in party mood before ORD.




INCREDIBLE HULK was much better than I expected, though I didn't watch the 2003 Ang Lee version so I can't compare. The whole movie panned out quite well. What I didn't like was the battle scene between Hulk and The Abomidable and the latter was defeated by the Gamma Wave, which was, in my opinion, one of the worst finishing moves by any Marvel superhero. How do I know that? Try playing Marvel vs Capcom, the Gamma Wave would probably only give you max 5 hits, as compared to Gambit's Royal Flush (36 hits), Megaman's Rocket Launch (20 hits) or Wolverine's Weapon X (20 hits).

Yes I don't look like a tech geek but I actually play these games in the arcade and I am the undisputed champion -_-

Gamma-o-meter: 4/5



I honestly don't know what to make of KUNG FU PANDA. Though it was extremely light-hearted and somewhat hilarious in an uncanny way, it didn't quite live up to its hype. Or maybe I was distracted by the rather boisterous kiddy crowd that filled up the theatre at Downtown East and laughing at every damm joke and I'm pretty sure some of the younger ones didn't even understand the joke but just go with the flow.

Fatty bom bom-o-meter: 3/5




I'm quite surprised that I'm gonna say this, but YOU DON'T MESS WITH ZOHAN is a must-watch. To say that it was hilarious would be a complete understatement. I was very impressed with the amount of wit and humour littered in every single scene and I was literally in stitches throughout. It's not as lame as it looks, trust me (even though the reviews say otherwise) because it had an interesting storyline to go along, but you can't help but burst out laughing whenever Adam Sandler even attempts to impersonate his role as an Israeli hairdresser. Another plus? Mariah Carey stars and she should consider an acting career!

Zohan-o-meter: 4.5/5


Anyway just now was bowling and supper at 85 with Lisa, Matthias and Eugene. As if I haven't laughed enough, we chatted over primary school politics ('I was just playing mind games with him!') red-coloured and alphabet-shaped home-made cookies, peculiar marriage proposals, and then Matthias decided to brainstorm for names for a girl just in case he gets a sister.

And he thought of MEDUSA.

Wonderful! You have a goddess as your sister!

Ok off for Euro 2008!

ORD LOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

PINK NEVER LOOKED SO NICE BEFORE!






Went back to camp for the last time today. I think like most guys, we have mixed feelings about ORD; on one hand we are glad that freedom beckons, but on the other hand sometimes we can't bear to leave everyone after all the friendships forged. I am no exception, but it was really hard going to my desk one last time, clearing all my personal stuff and taking everything back home. You won't believe how 'beautiful' my wall is. Michael Owen poster, Spiderman 3 poster, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gigantic poster, a thousand photos of me with my unit, BPL/Euro fixture lists, post-it notes of phone numbers and things to do (which I never accomplished!). And now, its barren, like a plot of land.

Well it was very hard to say goodbye. Chatting with my tekong mates, I was telling them it seemed like only yesterday we enlisted. I can vividly remembered my first day, trudging to tekong like an Ah Beng, shirt tucked out and hair as long as Rupenzel, slacking for 5 days doing absolutely nothing but sleeping, going to my new unit on the first day, attending a World Cup 2006 mess event on the second day, decked in my Brazil jersey.

Well nonetheless, this journey of my life will be forever etched in my memory. I have to say I am so blessed to be posted to my unit, where life was generally very very good, meeting people from all walks of life, joining the soccer team and attending tiring training sessions which made my volleyball training look like a piece of cake. I cannot ask for a better vocation and unit.

I will miss you guys!









This song is for you.

Boyz II Men
How Do I Say Goodbye

How do I say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh
Outweigh the bad.

I thought we'd get to see forever
But forever's gone away
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

I don't know where this road
Is going to lead
All I know is where we've been
And what we've been through.

If we get to see tomorrow
I hope it's worth all the wait
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

Dad's birthday at Lunar Bar in Clarke Quay was pretty alright, wasn't really much in the mood, so no camera/photos. I was really sleep-deprived after so many nights of Euro. Went over to Thumper after that and it was much better crowd and music.

Just realised Clifton was a HTM graduate in TP, no wonder the name seems strangely familiar. You will be missed, fellow HTM-er.

There was a rat in my office today. Well, we kinda expected it so we set up the trap (not the one you see in the movies with cheese) and the poor rat got trapped inside overnight. Mind you, it was not a small puny rat, but a really big and disgusting rat. My colleague took the cage (with the rat inside), dumped it into the dustbin and filled the bin with hot water. What a sad way to die. Another colleague commented that a more humane way was to feed it rat poison. Hello, rat poison costs money. What for spend unnecessary money on a rat?

Anyway, my heart goes out to the 2 servicemen who died while serving NS this week, one in Tekong and the other in Brunei. Life is unpredictable, and my heart goes out to their family members.

Did you read the latest article about schools in Japan?

There's a school for kids that staged the play 'Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs'.

The problem is, everyone wants to play Snow White. And the school felt it would be damaging to those kids who did not get selected to be Snow White. So they staged the play with 25 Snow White and no dwarfs.

And the parents approved the school's decision and agreed it was in the best interests of the children.

WHAT?!

Everybody, let's sing Rihanna's 'Take A Bow'.

How about a round of applause?
A standing ovation!

Firstly, how can you even stage a play with 25 Snow White. Please, someone, anyone, can you even start the story with 25 Snow White??

Once upon a time, there were 25 Snow White....

And then?

Secondly, what is so degrading about being a dwarf??

Look, back in Primary One, I acted in the same story ok. (Same one as in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs and not Snow White and the 24 clones) And tall as I was back then, I was selected to be the dwarf and not Prince Charming (whose role went to someone else and I really can't remember who) If that's not all, I was asked to play GRUMPY ok. I mean, can't they give me a better role like Happy or Lucky or whatever those freaking dwarfs were named.

GRUMPY. Ok. I was asked to play a GRUMPY DWARF. I still remember. Even after all these years ok.

Well I don't know what Japanese schools are thinking. Can you imagine next time how to have literature class? Romeo and Juliet? Everyone wants to be Romeo then how? Have 25 Romeos ah?


Anyway, speaking about strange, am I the only one who thinks this movie sucks?



Unfortunately....yes.

I'm not sure how this movie can be even close to getting an Oscar nomination, let alone winning it! It's not even in the same league as 'Crash' or 'Goodnight and Good Luck', and it resembled some low budget Mediacorp TV programme starring Vincent Ng and Fiona Xie. OUCH.

Juno-o-meter: 2/5

Still on the topic of movies, I had the treat of my life just now when I watched all the trailers of the upcoming movies in 2008! (Thank you itunes!) All I can say is, brace yourself for an exciting year ahead and yes, I even jotted down all the movies that I really really liked! Here it goes, in no particular order..

AUSTRALIA, starring Nicole Kidman and set to be this year's 'The Notebook'; THE DARK KNIGHT, the Batman series starring the late Heath Ledger as the joker; BIGGER STRONGER FASTER, a documentary about America's obsession with steroids; WANTED, Angelina Jolie's latest action-packed blockbuster; BRICK LANE, an epic Indian love story; WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER, about family love between a father and his son; BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, this year's Cassanova remake; MISTER FOE, about a man obsessed with voyeurism; CITY OF EMBER, a time travel flick with really excellent graphics; THE LOVE GURU, starring Mike Myers, Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake, nuff' said; FINDING AMANDA, a family's search for a daughter-turned-prostitute in Vegas; KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL, a story about a young girl's innovation to save her family from bankrupcy; FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, a comedy set in Hawaii about chasing an ex; JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLD, self-explanatory, I'm sure you have read the book; and THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS, Ellen Page's follow up to Juno.

Whew! You better be perspiring after reading that!

JOE MORRISON IN SINGAPORE

Joe Morrison is of course from the Football Channel, which the entire footballing nation in Singapore is boycotting because it is unbelievably boring. But I don't really blame him, it's the other pundits like John Burridge who likes to dress flamboyantly and is disgustingly biased against the under-achieving clubs and his comments are just so uncalled for.

Well Joe Morrison is a Newcastle fan who worked in Newcastle before Football Channel so the fan club arranged to meet him.







YEAH I'M TALLER THAN HIM !

I'm a little sad because I can't really stay up late and watch Euro every single night for the next 3 weeks. At least I won't miss matches from the quarters onwards but there are some titanic clashes in the early rounds which are at the weirdest hours of the night so I have to pass lest I become Kung Fu Panda at work. And well, NO ENGLAND. Why, why. I would love to see you gte whacked by Austria man.

Anyway, I rented AWAKE at Video Ezy since Juno is like forever rented out, don't know when I'll actually get to watch that show.



AWAKE is a psychological thriller about being awake while under anesthesia but your body can't move and you have to feel the pain throughout your whole operation instead of being asleep, like what it's supposed to be. Apparently, thousands of people experience this phenomenon and they can't really explain how it happens.

So Hayden Christensen is awake while having this heart transplant and he overhears the entire surgical team plotting an evil plan to kill him, but he can't do anything about it. Really good movie nonetheless, and a great ending.

Anyway I thought it was quite a cool movie because I was under anesthesia during my corneal op and fortunately, I fell asleep within 5 seconds of being gassed. I mean, I really can't imagine if I was really the unfortunate one who had to be awake while the doctors remove my cornea and insert a new one in. The pain would probably be like, so bad, you just wanna die? And I really can't understand how the drug works. It's like, it just hits you, within a few seconds, you're in a huge daze, you knock out cold, and WHAM! the next moment you're up and fully awake. How does a drug like anesthesia work on some but not others? Very strange, and interesting. But now that I know the cold ruth, I hope I will never ever be under the knife again.

I don't know why I'm still renting movies when there's like a truckload of them still waiting to be watched at home =)

I AM SO GONNA GET THIS! I PROMISE YOU!



NINTENDO WII!

I'm seeing this everywhere, Nintendo is literally trashing the living daylights out of Sony. All you playstation geeks, please upgrade to a WII! Jamie plays this constantly on One Tree Hill (the tennis game is so addictive!) and Ashton Kutcher on What Happens In Vegas (also the tennis game!)

And now there's the WII FIT, where I can play games and lose weight at the same time!

I WILL BUY THE WII.I WILL BUY THE WII.I WILL BUY THE WII.

This week was kakumei at St James Power Station.

Met Deep and Belinda there, and it was the most unusual clubbing experience with 99% of the crowd under 18. Just reminds me of my Chinablack days when I was one of them.





Following day was my unit's visit to Central Fire Station where I was the unofficial photographer. So sit back, relax and enjoy my disastrous photo-taking:















As usual, I am going to blame the camera - again.

Went to my colleague's house before he drove me for soccer. Check this out!

That's like an entire collection of ABSOLUT and more to come, the next one will be from Hungary and it's the latest gay edition of ABSOLUT! Yes don't ask me how that came about.

I would have had that collection, but the only difference is, instead of keeping the vodka, I actually drink it. Hahaha.


Lastly everyone, our joke of the century.

Q: Why do we want Pedra Branca so badly?

A:




HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.