Monthly Archives: January 2006

The final CNY holiday

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After waking up yesterday morning, seeing that my younger brother was out and my elder brother was still asleep, I tried to continue burning the CD for Guoxin even though I had many other things to do. It didn’t work like in the past even though I was doing all the correct steps.

Soon, it got my blood boiling. It was doing fine when Guoxin came to my house during the Chinese New Year Eve to do it himself and I was by his side to teach him though I didn’t succeed before. How could it work that night and suddenly everything went berserk? It wasn’t as if I had done anything step wrongly, because I did succeed when I was in camp.

That morning I almost went crazy. It took too much effort to troubleshoot but came to no avail. That was just one of the reasons why I didn’t want to help anyone to burn things – the CD writer sucked, I didn’t buy the empty CDs and there wasn’t any empty casing to keep the burned CD unscratched.

My brother woke up and told me he hadn’t tried burning CD for a long time and he did experience it before, wasting so many CDs. I just didn’t understand why it was alright when Guoxin came; perhaps, he was lucky.

My brother asked me to join him at Peiying’s house and since it was near Jurong Point, where I was supposed to be at, to meet up with Mingfa and the rest. I accompanied him so that I wouldn’t be travelling alone.

It was a safe but torturing journey. It didn’t seem like Chinese New Year at all with the small ratio of Chinese to others, which was quite a good sign for a racial harmony country except that the kids weren’t taught properly. One of my entertainments was to play with kids but that morning when I was still sleepy, the high pinch of the unknown language was bursting my head.

Yangkang drove us over with Eng Thai and Xinying. I was glad Peiying had two dogs at home named Willy (sounds like this) and baby. Willy quite liked my companion for I petted him well and he reminded me so much of Jack, except that he didn’t understand commands like “sit”, “down”, “hand” and “BANG”. He was much smaller size, much more sociable and most of all, toilet trained.

Peiying’s mum cook fried prawn mee for us and the standard was as good as those selling at hawker centres. However, I was too lazy to wash my hands after playing with Willy that I didn’t squeeze the lime. Xinying pushed all the prawns to me and I had a very hard time taking my brunch. I hated to eat food with bones and shells, and that afternoon I managed to finish everything with only fork and spoon that I was so trained in handling prawns already.

I felt awkward since I didn’t know all the people well. They were from GESS and were of my brother’s batch, one year older than me, and I hadn’t seen them for long time. I couldn’t recognise Peiying as well even though she was the hostess but her name was so familiar. Her mum was very friendly as well that she talked to my brother and I about the two dogs and two cats.

I left, joining Mingfa and the rest downstairs near 4pm, after which we went to Mingfa’s new house. It was amazingly and beautifully done and most of the stuffs were designed and done by his dad. I took many photos but wasn’t that confident of the lightings. I hoped they would do good enough to help him recap in future if his house ever turned upside down (LOL).

Mingfa finally had his own room and it looked so cosy that I got so envious of; I didn’t even have a proper sleeping area. However, for this new flat, his sister had spent her money that she couldn’t start a business for him to handle. Hopefully he could make a good mark by coaching volleyball for schools.

I left with Guoxin after 6pm to attend Jasmin’s 21st birthday party. He was going to Bishan to watch movie with his friend and I bid him goodbye at Jurong East, where I started to stroll towards Chevrons. It was my first time entering the place.

I called Jasmin and pretended I was lost at Bishan until I walked near the pool and she saw me from far. I knew none of her friends there and it was disappointing to realise none of the people I knew, previously from GESS and excluding some special ones, was attending. It was already after 7pm and the buffet was available and I was glad I didn’t go earlier else I would have to long even longer. She asked if I wanted to join in the mahjong game but I rejected, and she had forgotten that I knew how to play.

Being invaded by boredom, I SMSed Weitat and bluffed him that there were very few guests (true enough but many were coming soon) and Jasmin was very disappointed.
Mingfa called and told me they were coming soon to surprise Jasmin, else I would most probably be leaving for home. I told him I was joking with Weitat but they were already prepared to go down.

Bihong came but she didn’t seem to recognise me anymore; I was too lazy to approach her also. Then, Charis and her gang came and I didn’t even look at them such that I didn’t even know what she was wearing. We stopped talking years back and it was quite awkward to face each other, I supposed.

I went off to stroll around and realised it was actually quite a small place. Then, I went into the arcade centre and started playing a shooting game and lost all my four credits after killing so many hostages when I was too tired to differentiate before triggering.

Mingfa and the rest arrived soon. I was glad they really came as it would certainly make Jasmin happier with more friends, although she already had enough guests. At least, Weitat was closer to her and the more he should be there; they became so close years back after I got Jasmin to join in our outings.

However, they seemed shy like me with all the strangers around; at least the birthday girl spent more time with us than when I was alone. It was weird that they didn’t really want to stay longer after taking cabs down. Jasmin didn’t drag them into the chalet during the cutting cake session as well and then we “flee” to the arcade centre.

I was amazed that Tze Khit was quite good in the Time Crisis 2 game; Mingen was expertise in the games too but he didn’t display his skill; even the secondary two Davin was quite good and I was actually quite ashamed of myself. Our special guest-of-honour, the long missing Jingkun, left the earliest, and then followed by Mingfa, Meijun and Mingen.

The rest of us decided to go back to fulfil Jasmin’s dream of taking photos but only Ah Bee, Weitat, Tze Khit and I went over. She entertained other friends instead and left us the last group behind to take photos. She walked us to the lobby very soon and we took the shuttle bus to Jurong East MRT.

That was the first time I talked to Tze Khit about Anqi – on the journey after Ah Bee alighted at Clementi, we finally got to chat again after so long. I really hoped they would get back together because both of them were my good friends and special people.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Outing photos

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Hey guys,

Remember to get the outing photos from me a day after the outing day onwards. But sometimes if I don’t shoot many, I might not upload them into the computer so soon. Please do not pressurize me because sometimes I’ve other things to do as well.

I can’t remember exactly who I’ve sent them to and many of you didn’t message me to get them until so long and I’ve deleted the zipped files or even from the servers (if I did upload in any).

Anyway, most of the times, distributing files in MSN are slow and might take hours before it automatically disconnects it and can’t be resumed; hence, I might upload them into webspaces (thanks to Ganasan and Irwin), which would provide faster download speed than my direct transfer, and available to more people at a time. However, I need to delete them soon such that they won’t take up too much of the space. Let’s speed up then.

2005-12-23–Rehan_hse.zip
2006-01-28–CNY_EVE_River_Ang_Bao.zip
2006-01-31–CNY_KC_Hse.zip
2006-01-31–Mingfa_Hse.zip
2006-01-31–Mingfa_Hse_Design.zip
2006-01-31–Chervons.zip

These are some of the latest albums, with others in between the dates. Please remember to get from me ASAP for those who have attended the outings.

I’ll try to upload all photos cropped and described into my website but it’s going to be a long project, so hang on there.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Kok Chiang's place

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I just got back from Kok Chiang’s house a few hours ago. His mum was so friendly, funny and entertaining that I almost didn’t want to leave.

In the first place, I didn’t really want to go. It was a last minute notice and I was even told that we might have to leave before nine if Kok Chiang was going out. I was purely lazy.

I dragged on, taking short naps and updating my journal and time flew. Kok Chiang told me he wasn’t leaving anymore since his girlfriend was going to his house too and then I had less hesitation. However, it wasn’t nice that we had to depend on his girlfriend whether to stay for long or short time. Nowadays, everyone seemed to care too much about their girlfriends.

Anyway, I left my house at around seven in the evening. It was a short journey afterall, from Tanjong Pagar to Buona Vista. His mum still remembered me and my vocation in the army, but not my name.

There were basically nothing much for me to do there except to gather, watch my friends play, eat and watch television since I didn’t like gambling. Small bet would eventually lead to big one. And also, same like Ah Teck, I hated losing; but he couldn’t resist the temptation in the end.

It was then I realised Ah Bee’s number had changed since more than two years ago. I even called and tested the number and that new holder SMSed me back. It was quite embarrassing for me; I should have clarified the number with him first before dialling.

Denis was there too and then he went down to bring his girlfriend up, who looked pretty. Then, it was Mingfa’s turn to fetch Meijun and Ah Ma. So, there was actually increasing of couples in the group.

There was an urge for photography since I was bored but the room was too squeezing to move around to find good angles. I took some closed up ones like usual instead. I didn’t really do good jobs mostly as to rush for time and waste no time on adjusting the brightness and even the focusing.

It was after eight that my mum called and told me they were at the River Ang Bao waiting for me. I left at nine plus with Wilson and Pauline but my mum called me when I passed by the control station to inform me that they were heading home already.

I went back to Kok Chiang’s house to join them again and then greeted his mum again, in the kitchen to give her a surprise. After some time, I went to the living to watch the “Zhang San Feng” show with his dad, who asked me questions about photography. I wasn’t really good at it but luckily managed to answer him some of the simple questions. Poor him had to leave for work after a while.

I left the place without finishing the show since I didn’t want to miss the last train to waste money on cab again.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

A year has passed

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Morning was to meet up with the GESS volleyballers to attend Mr Ng’s memorial for his first year death anniversary.

I didn’t sleep early of course, but managed to wake up in time. I took the train to Bukit Batok MRT and met Jinyang there, who looked like an Ah Beng, kind of beyond recogization. After calling him several times, he didn’t look up and I had to sound his handphone to make sure I wasn’t seeing his long lost twin brother.

We waited for Sichun who came with Tze Long and then met up with the twins and some of the juniors in secondary four. I couldn’t recognise most of them but my ex teammates seemed to know them well and I felt I was in a different world.

We took bus 852 (should be) to St. Mary church, where we “rushed” (Sichun was doing more of the running) into the place while the ceremony was near to begin.

I didn’t like all the songs. Pardon me but I felt if you were to memorialize someone, you shouldn’t sing praises of something else. Whatever. At least I had to show some respect.

I wasn’t supposed to feel sad anymore. The timing wasn’t just right. I didn’t know why the day reminded me more of the inter-formation game which I wasn’t allowed to take part in. I became quieter. The cough hit me more and rode me to devastation.

One thing I couldn’t understand was why Mr Ng’s son wasn’t present. He used to dote on this unfilial son, even brought him down for the GESS volleyball camp, who acted big shot. Maybe I wasn’t in position to judge whose fault it was, but What foe could they have? After his death, everything should be buried.

I heard that this spoilt child wasn’t staying with his mum anymore. She rented a whole house outside for him when he didn’t want to stay with her. How ridiculous it was.

If you don’t have the capability, keep your egoistic; if you can’t afford, don’t get it; if you don’t respect someone, don’t seek help from her. Insensible I must say.

Anyway, the secondary four juniors didn’t join us while we embarked to West Mall for a little light lunch at KFC. The chicken quality was way worse than years ago, and at first I thought it happened only for some branches but I realised they were all the same.

Then, we went Orchard for a walk, taking bus 106 from the inter-change and Mrs Ng dropped at Clementi. The guys including me and the girls were sitting so far away. Then, we parted at Orchard when the girls were going to Far East Plaza. I thought it was a good gathering but it ended up this way that we were divided into groups and separated.

The remaining of us (the guys) joined up with Chuanjie and took a walk around Takashimaya. Junrong bought a pair of Adidas shoes for around $150 and soon we bid each other goodbye.

A different Chinese New Year Eve it was.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Wilson and Pauline are bad companies

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There was this SMS from Wilson late at night, asking me if I wanted to go for drinks. At first, I thought he had quarrel with Pauline until I realised both of them were side by side.

They came down by CCK and I thought Mingen was with them but Jianhao was inside the car instead. So, the four of us went to a pub where Wilson’s sister worked at, along the road to Chinatown.

The atmosphere was weird and both Jianhao and I didn’t feel comfortable. Suddenly Wilson started to introduce the place was called MOX and it was a gay pub. Not discriminating gays, but I didn’t want to get too near to any. Things could get worse if any of them tried to get hooked up with us.

Pauline’s presence was a shield; at least I thought they would realise we weren’t part of their culture. However, I was in a white sleeveless shirt with a “69” logo behind, which might cause misunderstanding. Oh well, fcuk heck.

It wasn’t as bad when Wilson mentioned there were lesbians too and true enough, just a short distance away at the balcony with a transparent door intersection, there were these two girls sitting down there, and one of them was a babe. She was just nice at my angle but the darkness spoiled my enjoyment of the sight.

I had a glass of alcoholic drinks with a name of whatever “butt”. I felt it was strong as the first few slips already got my face burning. After a while, I needed not to look at the mirror to know my face was freaking red. I knew I couldn’t take it anymore after finishing the whole glass.

We left for MOS (Ministry of Sound) and that was my first time going there. I was checked on my pouch at the entrance but the guy wasn’t thorough afterall and there were nothing else for my spectacle and contact lens’ containers and a camera. We went in with the price of $25 which I thought was actually a waste of money.

The place was big and at least there were girls. I didn’t know if I were seeing things or all the babes had gone there, that half of the girls were quite pretty.

So, was it a trend for all the pretty girls to club? Maybe that was the reason why I was alone because I didn’t have the money and time to indulge myself in these places.

But there were too many couples to be envied of. Girls and guys were dancing intimately and hugging, kissing each other. Sometimes I started to wonder if they were real couples or just got hooked up on the spots. The guys were of course lucky asses.

There were also uncles who made me laugh at their actions. It was good to be young at their ages and so I had to change my mindset to such that old people did club as well. Luckily, I didn’t see any old grannies wearing sexily, trying to get some loves.

Though I hated the smell of smoke, I was more immune to it. For strangers yes I would try to withstand but certainly for friends I would preach and nag.

The first glass of drink was diluted or maybe I was already drunk that I couldn’t feel the power of the alcohol; my head was already numbed before leaving the gay pub. The second one was stronger and tasted better. I didn’t know their names because Wilson was the one exchanging the coupons for the alcohols when I knew nuts about them.

Dancing wasn’t nice as the previous time two years ago when I was Chinablack when I had more friends with me. Wilson was funny and Pauline paused to stare at him a few times. Sometimes I felt Jianhao and I were lightbulbs but Jianhao was luckier since he could have brought his girlfriend along if she wasn’t working or what.

The fat Malay girl who shook her butts so well didn’t impress me at all. Then, the uncle was the last survivor on the higher ground (I wasn’t sure of the term). After some time, it was crowded again.

Anyway, we were at the spot where there were fewer girls, though Pauline told me it was good to get crowded with girls so that I could rub their butts from time to time. But I would prefer a non-sneaky one.

It was good to get high once in a while, especially when nothing turned up good; however, not to the extend of drinking too much. I shouldn’t have taken the hot stuff at the gay pub afterall. We left MOS after spending around two hours there.

Wilson was great with his parking and he could drive after drinking as well. He drove us to a nearby place for supper. The first coffee shop claimed that there wasn’t any plain roti prata anymore and we knew it was bullshit; they just wanted to sell more expensive food. I preferred it to be plain since young, same for other food, no matter what delicacies could be added.

We moved further down to another shop then and it had such high technology with an ordering machine outside! For such casual place I didn’t expect much and that was the cause of my shockness. The more stunning part was the cost of just a plate of fish and chips – eight bucks. It was just a coffee shop and not a high class restaurant.

I was granted with my two plain prata but suddenly I felt so floated in my stomach. Then, I started to get very high. There was almost such a big delay of the alcohol effect. I wished I could finish them since they tasted nice but I couldn’t.

Wilson sent me home before going to Jianhao’s house to get three bottles of unfinished liquor before bottling up near Wilson’s place. Just as I got down the car besides the stairs to my lift, I vomited. I sat down at the stairs outside my house but the dizziness didn’t go away. I went in and then started to vomit again. After bathing, it came again.

They were so much better than the previous time during my birthday though I vomited three times as well. Similarly, the highness didn’t drive all the shit away from my mind.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

It's destroying me

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I can’t get over and it’s stuffing my chest; I can’t breath.

I cough like hell and I know it isn’t because of any heaty food this time, since I’ve restricted my diet since long ago.

It’s hurting me so much and it keeps on hunting me.

I can’t get over and each time it helps to keep away the dryness of my eyes.

Let the sinners have their retributions, not to vent my anger, but to let them have a taste of their own doings and know how much harm they’ve done to others.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Absurd trip to Suntec City

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My elder brother asked my mum and me out to Suntec City Carrefour. It was around 8pm already and I decided we take a cab even though there were three available direct buses. I paid for the cab fare, the second time in the day, which was a miracle.

I had a bad feeling when my brother was chatting on the mobile phone. It was quite meaningless to walk on like that. After choosing a telephone, he decided to queue up to pay for it and then he passed my mum with two ten bucks notes to pay for him before he left to meet his new girlfriend. I knew he want to get the phone so that he could chat with her at home without using the old cordless one whose cells would dry up fast.

As for we had only reached there for a short while, I found it absurd. I regretted going there for I had planned to pack up my work area actually, dropped the idea since it was his birthday after all. I regretted footing the cab fare as well although he had paid for us dozens of times; he was someone who would spend every single cent and the $5.70 wouldn’t mean anything to him.

So, my mum and I continued to walk around there. She seemed interested in many things but was too thrifty to get any even though I told her I would pay for her. In the end, we got some cheap clothes.

When we were at the cashier, I realised all the staffs were working very slowly. This working attitude kept the queue long. I keyed in my code for the NETS card thrice, it didn’t work and I had to pay by cash. I was sure the machine really sucked big time since I couldn’t have repeated my mistake thrice.

I wanted to get a cheap wheeled chair but the shops had already closed.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Chinese New Year Eve celebration

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The camp’s celebration went smooth. Staff Quek got Kwang Han and I over to the MPH soon after the first parade. We had everything up fast and then there were numerous of rehearsals till the actual event took place.

My role was simple, plainly to switch the projector from Video mode to RGB mode and vice versa with the lousy controller; whereas Kwang Han had to operate the mixer which they made it quite tedious for him.

The food was great but the drinks were diluted. Then there was this Ang Bao and mandarin oranges giving session and there were only two chocolate coins inside the red packets. I hadn’t had enough of the food before they started leaving the place.

Most people from my branch were ungrateful ones. I helped them place their belongings inside the store room and then brought them out from the store room before I started to tear down the system and cabling. They just left without helping anything. Poor Sem with his injured knee was trying to help out as much as he could and we managed to clear everything quite fast, leaving the hall to those poor kids clearing the furniture and decorations.

At least, I was one of the fastest to get to the MRT station since Yuqing drove Chen De, Kwang Han, Sem and I over. I wasted the afternoon napping once I reached home.

The sickening thing was that I had actually overslept in the morning as I took my medicine before dozing off. I wasted $13.50 on cab fare and I could have reported sick and not attended the half day’s work since I was so sick.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Sense of achievement

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It got worse today again. I shouldn’t have gone to camp for the cough and flu so torturing. However, at least I got to learn something new today.

It was a tough day as usual. I hated it when being tasked to do things and yet others weren’t doing anything.

The good thing arrived during the afternoon. Kwang Han and I had to resume setting up the Multi-purpose hall with Staff Quek. I was more than happy to do that because it was more meaningful than staying inside the office to settle all the shit, being taken for granted.

It wasn’t a relaxing job. I found it stupid when I had to carry the big and heavy power drum from the office to the hall, which I was told to bring back from the Publication store, a nearer place, a few days ago. I estimated it to be around ten kilograms and it was quite bulky.

I had travelled so much distance, walking to and fro to get items. Line laying around the hall was tedious but quite interesting. Then, suddenly we realised one of the speakers wasn’t pronouncing sound. Staff started tracing the problem and I almost cocked it up while trying to help out because I didn’t start from the end of the cable, where there was this torn part.

So, I managed to learn how to fix the cable for temporary use, without soldering (I wasn’t taught as well). I was glad, though it was simple, but at least it was something new, compared to my past months of wasted time doing shit and yet not learning anything useful.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com

Feeling worse

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As my cough worsened with a little sore throat, feeling strengthless and irritated, the HLS run was finally conducted outside camp area. It was at a bad timing.

I was so weak that I couldn’t do much to lift my feet off the ground. Probably, sleeping for only nine hours for the past three nights played a part too.

Usually I was the one overtaking people, especially at the last stage where I would spin up, impressing others. This day, I was satisfied enough to finish the course. I lost track of Bryan since the start, unlike the previous time I was behind him until half of the distance.

It was a wrong choice to run after all; I should have slow down besides one of the pretty CCKS girls and enjoy the jog in the cool morning breeze.

I had a good breakfast with Ivan, Fredrick and Yuqing. It was the first time I took Yun Tun Mee at the canteen and it tasted quite good.

Going back to the office to start my day of hard work, I soon began to feel worse especially with my nose, probably the flu.

Skai Chan @ http://sillydumb.com