went to village with washington. had a great dinner oh man, the chocolate fondue is to die for. and xinghao, were you full? haha =)we then had a mini-ktv session right there at our table. thankfully they didnt chase us out ( business was quite bad as considered to their 'original', Marche),so we just sat there merrily and sang all the favourites songs we knew for about 2hours. it was a very nice fuzzy feeling to be sitting there and singing along with the washington ppl. and its simply amazing that in just a short span of 3-4 weeks, 14 ppl can gel together so well. i really hope that the glow wouldnt just fade out when everyone goes overseas. wld be gd to keep the 'flame burning bright'; afterall we're gonna be colleagues for a few yrs at least. brings to mind a certain grp of ppl that really disappted me very greatly.friendship is just transient to them, haiz...

and i think im starting to like beer. tiger and heineken used to taste like shit to me but it seems they're more palatable now. must be sufficiently chilled tho. on a more disgusting note, my retainers reek so badly of beer, my gdness. i cldnt smell it on myself but when i took them off, i was immediately assaulted by the foul odour of beer. YUCKS. scrubbed and brushed them hard with a generous amount of toothpaste. i hope i wouldnt have to do this in the future, only that it would be dentures instead of retainers.

ok its late, time for bed, gdnite world.

i got my retainers today, and i think its far worse than braces at times. for one i keep getting the gag reflex such that i have an urge to retch from time to time. and the worse thing is that my lower jaw seems to protrude out further; not to forget that my speech is impaired, its like i lisp very badly with a short tongue.wah... very uncomfortable. jaw's so tight and cannot shut mouth properly. its a struggle to speak clearly so after trying tediously to make every word sound normal, i cant be bothered and just string all the words together. they come out funny. the worse thing is that i have to wear it all the time save during meals and brushing teeth for ONE WHOLE YEAR and then only during the night for the second year....

for those people considering going for braces, i strongly advise against it. its simply not worth it; the discomfort one has to put up with, not to forget the time and inconvenience caused... unless your teeth are really up and down and in and out, if not, save up your 3-5k and splurge on other stuff that would bring about greater satisfaction. speaking has never been such a chore till now.

i managed to finish the above book by sidney sheldon today at kinokuniya while waiting for K to arrive.ive found a great way to kill time in the future when anyone arrives late haha.just pop by a bookshop and peruse through those books that are on the bestsellers' list and pray hard they are not shrink-wrapped.the reading was done in 3 sessions, the 1st and 2nd being extremely long ones that allowed me to cover 70% of the book. so the final coup de grace was delivered today and im so happy haha! this is the second book i completed in a bookshop sans buying it. thankfully my deeds were done in major bookstores so that wldnt 'injure' their sales much.the first time i did such a thing was way back in JC1 in VJ. went to parkway MPH and read 'the sky is falling' by sidney sheldon too. i love his books. good plot and easy reading. felt satisfied when i finished haha.now i know what to do when waiting for ppl next time.

anyway, wat arrested my attention was the afterword at the end of the book. the plot outlined how this megalomaniac, Tanner, who created havoc using this machine called Prima that can control the weather all over the world. Thus blizzards can hit Singapore at any whim of his, that kind of thing. I thought it was a whole load of bullshit of Sidney until I read the afterword.

In that, he mentioned that the notion of controling the weather was conceived in the early 1800s. and that the US and Russia, two of the world's superpowers ( for russia too? now? in the past maybe but now??) have already managed to manipulate the elements by the mid 20th century.other countries are rushing feverishly catch up. on a sidenote, i was pretty amazed to read all these, coz i've never read/heard anything about it before. he then went on to say that the principle involves the transmission of electrical energy through space. im typing from memory so i may get some facts wrong though the figures are correct; but somehow its pretty mind-boggling to visualise how we can toy around with artificial precipitation which can then have a tremendous impact on the global economies. eg if i were tanner, I'd play around with the weather in china to delay it from becoming a superpower since its now on the cusp of becoming one. i digressed.in 1977 US and Russia signed a UN treaty to prevent the 'misuse' of weather control for hostile purposes. however in 1978, the US went on a experiment that saw torrential downpours in northern wisconsin for 6 months. damages amount up to US$50 million.of course there were consequences to bear, with the TIME magazine reporting a few months later that 'there has been unusual temperature readings due to the blocking of winds over pacific ocean'( smth like that lah,e last part.)

a world leader once said that 'everyone's talking about the weather but no one's doing anything about it'. how true yet false. looks like the usual pleasantry exchange of 'hows the weather' may take on a whole new meaning in the near future. interesting...

Surprisingly, this show was the most interesting out of the 3 shows i watched this week. wld not have watched it if not for the group outing, as im not a big fan of chinese shows, and moreover jay and his music doesnt really appeal to me.but it was quite gd as a whole, the racing action was really cool, and im gonna find out more abt motor racing if possible. for his movie debut, i think jay did quite a gd job, wasnt as stiff as i had expected, and the whole cinema was raucous with laughter at the slightest thing that the protagonists did, namely him, anthony wong who acted as his father and chapman to, jay's gd goofy fren. had to admit that i look at him at another angle now that ive seen this film. his small-eyed charm did manage to endear him to me somewhat, that kind of sha3 sha3 gong3 gong3 look haha.

chilled out at coffeebean after that with the gang, and there was lame jokes as usual, but it was fun as well. the gravity finally sank in that i'd be really alone overseas and others would be in the same course in the same uni and possibly in the same hostel. thats like how freaking gd, a comfort zone thats translocated across borders to UK/US....

and im really spending far too much, i spent about 200bucks so far just for these 2 weeks, looks like must tighten purse strings. still have a lot of stuff to buy, shopping would be fun, but at times it can be quite a chore too.

its late, time for bed. gdnite world.

Before:



Metal Mouth


After:



TRANSFORMED INTO DARLIE!!!!!


4.5k spent over a course of 1 yr and 11 months. come to think of it, it was quite fast, but the pain and ulcers and bleeding and dull aches are something that i'll never forget for a long time. feels gd to run my tongue over my teeth and feel smooth sliding instead of rough hard metallic surfaces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At The Beginning
by Donna Lewis & Richard Marx

We were strangers, starting out on a journey
Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me, I was going to find you
Unexpected, what you did to my heart
When I lost hope
You were there to remind me
This is the start

And life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning with you

We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

And life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning with you

Knew there was somebody somewhere
I need love in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing is going to tear us apart

Life is a road and I wanna keep goin
Love is a river I wanna keep flowin
Starting out on a journey

In the end I wanna be standing
at the beginning
With you


i had rehearsal for the award ceremony again today. am in the song/pledge grp, and we sang the above song as well as Emil Chau's 'Peng You' ( latter was quite cheesy with all the expected hey-heys and arm-waving, would have preferred Xi Shui Chang Liu but well, majority rules) . was singing halfway when the lyrics suddenly struck me as rather meaningful and germane for me. haiz, had sudden waves of sadness and it doesnt feel too good. from periods of being in limbo and wallowing in the doldrums to having to deal with all the adminstrative stuff and pre-departure preparation is can be overwhelming and unsettling at times.

on the other hand there's a lot of things to look forward to at the same time. phew... have to look forward and move on, must learn to let go...

these shld have been put on a long long time ago. here are some of them:




siqi,tim, me and zhiguo at the walk of fame



tsim sha tsui




5-star hotel room



shi jie zhi chuang, ShenZhen, China



interesting juxtaposition at the entrance of the above tourist attraction



Spore's represented here in e form of merlion,haha



transported to france next rite in front of l'arc de triomphe



some corner of italy i cant rem



spastic salute italiano



reclining on stonehenge



beside the sphinx



mutilated faces of e poor 4 founding fathers on mt. rushmore



jesus



easter island



the thinker by rodin,fake of course



forgot whats this called, in germany i think



view of big ben from atop eiffel tower

hey peeps, how does it look now? is it better or worse? comment pls!!!!!! i quite like the minimalistic look, tho i dun really look forward to meddling with all the html crap.

testing size...

To Buy List:

1) new specs
2) contact lenses
3) shoes
4) watch
5)wallet
6)handphone
7)digicam
8)laptop
9)luggage
10)socks
11)shirts,T-shirts,sweaters/jackets
12)jeans,berms,pants

that should be it. wah its gonna cost me a bomb. wonder where all the money's gonna come from. its time to save up.GSS's such an opportune moment to splurge and spend like anything. sickening thing is that tuition's not as lucrative as i thought. especially when some students postpone lessons almost every week, grrrhh... and part-time jobs are so hard to find too. an army fren with a diploma have quite a tough time seeking suitable jobs in the market eversince ord, which was in march. and the worst thing is that he has to spend more money on transport now just to go for interviews. tsk, the silly public transport council can really rebutt any points proponents against the fee hike raise. quite disgusted at that news article. the govt boasts of all the accolades singapore has to her name, yet she spares nary a thought to the fact that the increase in cost of living does not rise in tandem with the rise in wages. at least for across the board. f***ed-up is the word.

anyhow, im picking up my french and a level syllabus at last, luckily not too much stuff have ebbed away from the recesses of my memory. manage to refresh a lot of vocab and knowledge. feels gd mentally, as compared to bumming around and feeling bored all the time. all i need now is a short getaway, any of u guys interested?? a 4d3n trip to msia? thailand? anything goes as long as i have a respite from the drudgery of life now. time for tv soon,more dvds haha. think i've watched 4 hrs of tv so far just today alone, how no life..