Shopping King is coming back from Thailand on this Tuesday 22 August, 2006.
I’m thinking of receiving him at the airport. Who is on for it?
Place: Changi Airport Terminal 1
Time: 1400h
Flight: AY097Q (Finnair)
Plan to receive Gilbert
Reply
Monthly Archives: August 2006
Second placing – team KLEGG
[Thursday, 17 August, 2006]
I finally stepped into the camp after a week of disappearance. My initial plan was to go early but I could not wake up after the past few days’ lack of sleep.
Gilbert hurried me to go and train the CS game together but he was pulled to do work before we could start off. I thought he was coming back but he did not. Later on I realised he was strucked inside the theatrette and went up to join him. Then, we set off for lunch together and I was disappointed that they did not serve western food on Thursdays anymore.
After lunch, I went back to the office but only Louis and Edgar could spend some time to play with me; the effort was however useless since we were playing more with bots instead of training as a team, which was much more required.
Before the start of the game, I met Shep, Fredrick and Ivan at the stairs. She suggested holding an ORD farewell party for those who were going to ORD and then she wanted us to give our own speeches to let Protein know how we felt. Suddenly I felt so pressured. It was fine for me but I needed lots of time to prepare my million dollars worth of speech.
As the tournament began, there were not enough clusters of computers for every group to sit down. My team KLEGG had to stand at one side to witness the rest play the first match first. They agreed on no playing with strategy since it was just a simple tournament.
When it was our turn, I was nervous at my first competition and could not do well – I was super off-form – partly because I was very sleepy by then. My standard did not improve but managed to give a little aid to the team. We thrashed the teams in the first two rounds and finally got to play with Jimmy’s team in the final. Their team had long ago come out with tactics and even brought their own mouse and headset along. They played so aggressively and shouted all over.
As we played individually, we lost out to them badly until Louis decided to make some noises. Edgar impressed everyone by winning them in one round when he was outnumbered. We finally started to play with some tactic but it was too late. Perhaps, they were lucky to start as Counter-terriorists first since each round lasted only one minute forty-five seconds, which terriorists would consider lost the game when time was exceeded.
We ended up in the first runner-up position. I knew well I could get back to my usual standard or persuade them to play serious in the first place, results would be different. Nevertheless it was a good chance to play with my good friends in camp.
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The $20 NTUC vouncher and the envelop holding them |
After the game had ended, we went to the Spectrum to receive the trophy and envelop of $20 NTUC voucher. I would like to accompany the rest to enjoy the buffet meal but Vivi was waiting for me to meet up. Just when I was on the shuttle bus, she called me and told me we could not meet up anymore since it was too late already.
I went to the arcade with Sem and Ah Boon to watch them play the tennis game while waiting for Ivan to take the second bus to the MRT station. He thought I was very sad but I was just tired; in fact I was glad enough that she had been spending time with me.
We want more Queks
[Sunday, 13 August, 2006]
Meeting up with Gilbert to go earlier to Woodlands in order to send my phone for servicing, he was late and that I had to get out of train at Ang Mo Kio station to wait for him.
We managed to find the service centre soon and Edgar joined us. Just then, I received so many phone calls from the arrived parties like Ah Boon, Siu Hang and Kengster, and I realised I had cleared the address book inside my old phone.
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Gilbert double checking the map while Kengster KPOing |
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Walking away from MRT station |
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It was difficult to get them to take a group photo especially when Edgar was around |
We waited on for more people like Ivan and Yuan Le. It was still early and we wanted to take a little walk around Causeway Point or the Pasar malam but Gilbert was eager set off immediately despite the majority’s objection. It was difficult to get them to get a small group photo.
Gilbert was heading his way without heading any advice from anyone and actually I did not know if we had covered a little more distant. Suddenly, he halted us near Quek’s house to rest and everyone was getting frustrated as we could have done it at Causeway Point instead.
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Gilbert’s great design |
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Signing the card at the void deck |
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Pinching the cocky Kengster |
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Ah Boon and Siu Hang |
Eventually we realised his main intention was to gather us to sign the nicely designed card for Quek. This was a big problem in Gilbert that he did not explain things properly and thus causing doubts in everyone. Anyway, we were questioned by two policemen who toured round the area in their car so slowly before approaching us that any criminal would have escaped by then.
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Corridor |
We went up soon to the familiar place as I had been there once before. It was good to see Quek again and his eldest daughter was friendly enough to greet us. Kwang Han and Tze Siang arrived soon and followed by Yuqing, Fredrick and Rehan who drove over.
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Part of the food |
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After eating |
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There she went |
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Kengster with his forever-cannot-finish Otak |
The food was topped up very soon. After which, Siu Hang and I surrounded Kengster for he had been very cocky and uttering rubbish. He continued to eat as to stall time, taking each bite of less than one millimetre of the Otak. In the end, he failed to escape still.
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Obscene |
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Kengster being pinned down |
We dragged him into one of the rooms while Edgar helped to take photos. I was quite disappointed as nobody else had come to help us even though they seemed to be supportive in the first place. We managed to pin him down onto the floor easily but I did not want to overdo it and let him off soon.
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Back to eating |
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A blurrish photo taken by unknown of Quek and the star of the day, Ci En |
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One of the group photos |
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Bing Bing playing with her swing; besides her was her relative who she did not seem to like |
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A stare from Kwang Han with Rehan waving behind |
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Kengster acting cute |
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Rehan, Gilbert, Ivan and Tze Siang |
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Casanova Yuqing in his sexy looks |
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Bing Bing playing with her “computer” |
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Was she hinting for ice-cream? |
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There she went AGAIN |
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Fatherly love |
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Kengster trying his CPR |
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A fierce battle |
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Scene from his corridor to the unfinished construction of the new Republic Polytechnic |
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Looking at something |
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Bing Bing trying to play with the baby after her ice-cream feast |
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Cleaning up |
Later, I got to play a while with Quek’s eldest daughter, Bing Bing. She was friendly towards us but not to another little girl who seemed to be her relative. We witnessed her cry a few times and Quek brought her down to spill ice-creams onto her clothes.
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Group photo taken by me |
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I finally managed to get in |
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Bingbing said bye! |
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To the cars |
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The gangsters |
We took group photo before leaving. We divided ourselves to take the three cars off. I did not collect back all the money.
I appreciated those who went or made effort to try to go. Quek was one of the most efficient, welfare and kindest persons in camp and I believed it was a good way to show appreciation to him. Nevertheless, those who had benefited from him and yet did not even want to chip in for the gift were just ungrateful scoundrel to me.
Buying Quek’s daughter’s gift
[Saturday, 12 August, 2006]
Ivan and I had a big problem deciding when and where to meet to get Quek’s daughter a gift. It was for an invitation to his party to celebrate his second daughter’s full month birth. It could be actually started by a suggestion from me weeks ago.
Nobody was as supportive as Ivan and I as we got to interact more with Quek and admired his character so much. We were the ones worrying most about the gift but were also quite tired of going out.
Through the chat in MSN, I dragged Kengster and insisted him to go along. He gave a later timing and we lazily accepted it. There was a further change of timing by Ivan as he was watching VCD. Then, my mum arrived home and cooked a bowl of noodle for me. Thus, I was delayed.
Since I had three direct buses to Suntec City, I told Ivan I would be going there straight instead of taking train to Cityhall and took the long walk through Citylink. However, just when I was about to reach the bus-stop, Kengster called me, saying he was at Suntec City already.
I could reach there in around ten minutes’ time but the problem was that Kengster was another road-idiot. I was not very familiar with the shops there as well except for some big shops like Courts, Carrefour and Harvey Norman. I asked him to meet at Harvey Norman since it was near the bridge linked to the bus-stop and I quite liked his attitude for he assured me he would find it himself.
I hurried and got there soon. I was shocked to see the location of the Harvey Norman store being under renovation and Kengster was at Carrefour, which was at the other end of Suntec City. To avoid losing track of him again, I walked all the way over to meet him up and then back to the first location to gather with Ivan.
We hesitated outside the “Mothercare” shop because of the name; we did not want anyone to mistake our intentions. None of us dared to take the first step in and thus we walked off towards Carrefour’s direction. After walking a round inside Carrefour, we went up to the top level where there were shops selling babies’ stuffs and we started teasing Kengster by sounding out loud that we were looking for his daughter’s stuffs.
We moved on to Marina Square and eventually went into a shop called “Kiddy Palace”. We saw some cute stuffs but nobody wanted to take the initiative to talk to the salesgirls. I was actually quite fine with the embarrassment but just hated people not taking initiative. This was however too crucial that we had to buy and I took the move. I did not really want to pay for the stuffs first since I understood it was difficult to collect back the money, which happened to be true.
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Kengster at Suntec City Mac, looking retarded |
On the way to Suntec City’s MacDonald’s, we made Kengster carry the big plastic bag all the way. I was just lazy to carry it because it was bulky and soon, I realised the plastic bag had the shop name and that was why nobody wanted to carry it. We began teasing him more.
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Ivan loves Singapore. Cool pose? |
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Kengster hidding behind Ivan. Notice the 断手? |
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Kengster |
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Pushing the plastic bag to Kengster |
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Kengster hiding the label of the “Kiddy Palace” plastic bag |
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A weird friend found at the bus-stop |
After dinner, Ivan and I took bus 196 home while Kengster took the train.
A day meant to be on diet
[Wednesday, 16 August, 2006]
I was very engrossed in editing my website until quite late hour. My plan was to wake up early for a morning jog before going to Woodlands to collect my N6230I. However, there was a miscalculation and a counselling to enforce, that I only got to sleep after six in the morning. It seemed like someone had to do something to help the pig couple to get out of their daily unhappiness.
In fact, I was having problems myself that I could not solve, was never fit to meddle in others’ problems; but I could never leave things rot without taking any action. I was contradicting myself perhaps.
So, after sleeping for two to three hours, I got up to laze around on the mattress again but could not get to sleep. Having not enough sleep, I could not think properly, joined my younger brother in watch a movie until I realised time was running out.
Finally, I departed for Causeway Point at Woodlands again. The first thing I did was to use the toilet near the Nokia Service Centre, which stinked. Then, I proceeded to collect my phone, being told that my battery was actually alright, which I doubted so. Nevertheless, I had lost my contacts for nothing.
Before setting off for the library, I saw someone looking like Meiping and I remembered she had told me she was working at Causeway Point before. I sent her a message as I made a long detour to get to the opposite building. She did not reply me immediately but at least I confirmed that girl was her.
I lost my way embarrassingly, up and down the building, and finally got help from a cleaner to get to the location of the library. Seriously, there was no obvious sign to direct me over, or perhaps there was no sign at all. Maybe it was meant only for residents of Woodlands.
I realised I was nuts about library since I had not been to any for so long except for the small one at Pasir Ris Whitesands, which I did not even bother to look for any specific type of books. I walked all over the adult level and finally got what I wanted – books about PHP.
However, when I tried to borrow them at the machine, they said I was not allowed to do it. I went to the counter and they told me it was because I had not borrowed any book for too long. Alas, it was settled.
I went back to find Meiping, in hopes of filling up my stomach since I had only two slices of breads before leaving my house. However, she told me by eating at the foodcourt, the air would stink her eventually. Therefore, she did as usual to takeover her lunch while I gladly decided I could have lunch with Vivi instead.
Soon, I left for home. I met a babe on the train with her mum and I was quite impressed with her. She seemed a few years older than me, fair skinned, but with a very good figure, dressed decently and yet stylishly. However, she walked away from the door as her mum found a seat, and then after a few stations, both of them were seated and she faced her mum all the while and I could not keep myself entertained by admiring her. The worst thing was a foreigner who came in between us to block our line of sight.
After reaching home, it was almost two and I thought I was just in time to meet Vivi but she was busy with some misunderstanding again and told me she could only get there in around half an hour time. She wanted me to go and get my lunch first but I decided to wait for her at my house.
She came straight as I forgot to tell her to meet me at the bus-stop as planned. She was then too tired to go down to have lunch together with me and both of us went to sleep in empty stomachs. After that, we played with my N6230I but she deleted most of the stuffs I took.
Before I sent her home, she confiscated my phone. The journey was quiet with her holding to my phone and doing something to it. I was too sleepy and hungry to talk as well and the quiet momentum penetrated throughout the journey.
I bought her a sandwich at the 7-11 store before we boarded the bus. I did not know if she wanted to finish up the whole of them or share with me, but was too lazy to ask. Eventually she finished off everything on the bus and I was quite glad later since she did not have dinner.
Before reaching her house, she suddenly realised she had tuition. So, I waited downstairs her house since I was already there to walk her to her tutor’s house. After camping for around forty-five minutes nearby, with my head lying on the stone table most of the time, she finally came down. I was of course too exhausted to say anything anymore, not even have the mood or strength to chew the slices of apple she brought along.
My mum rang me up to ask if I wanted her to buy my dinner. Then, she suggested I go straight to find her and buy the dinner together. I dropped her idea immediately as I did not want to waste anymore time waiting for my food.
I quickly rushed to the bus-stop so that I could board the earliest bus in order to view what Vivi had done to my phone; she made me view it only when I got up the bus. Then, I realised what she had done for me – taken a photo of herself at my house and editing it with sweet words on the way to the bus-stop. She was so sweet!
In the end, I still got home earlier than my mum.
In fact, even though starving myself and having so lack of sleep, I realised I was stronger than when I was in the army; the fatigue was no longer as unbearable.
Begin of house cleaning
[Tuesday, 15 August, 2006]
As the CS tournament was drawing near, I started some practising on my own. It was however difficult to stimulate a real tournament because bots were more accurate in their shooting but never as flexible as humans.
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I love water running on glass |
The day was not totally about gaming but also some packing of the house. I washed the toilet’s floor and followed by the bathroom’s basin, the mirror and the glass platform used to put lotions and toothbrushes. It was disgustingly dirty.
It was actually just a small area to cover in my messy house. Every place was a hazard and by the time when I was able to proceed on another round of workout, the previous areas would be dirtied and messy again.
Website down – Wednesday, 16 August, 2006
MRI again and her lost of Ez-link card
[Monday, 14 August, 2006]
It was my second time doing MRI but this time the venue was at Singapore Waiting Hospital instead of Raffles Hospital. To compare them, both places had very friendly staffs but the seats and waiting time at Raffles Hospital were more preferred.
I waited for around ten minutes at the registration counter and the nurse asked me to go over to the MRI department after she keyed in the details into the computer. After a while, the Pilipino nurse told me that I had to wait for another forty-five minutes. I was quite irritated at first because they could have booked a later timing for me instead of making me wait so long. Nonetheless, I did not show any temper for her friendliness.
The sudden call from Vivi to meet me up for a movie caused more anxiety than ever. It was such a rare chance and yet I knew I was definitely going to disappoint her.
I took the chance to go down and collect my medicine at the pharmacy. It was actually issued about a month ago but I gave up waiting in order to go and meet Vivi.
Back at the waiting area, suddenly, the nurse called me into the operation room for the doctor wanted to see me. I was shocked as the previous time for my back it was much simpler. After waiting for quite some time again, the doctor finally came out and looked at my left calf.
He sounded it serious, which was totally different from those specialists and I was once again being messed up in my brain; I did not know how good or bad the condition was. Then, I was told that I would be given an injection so that the blood flow could be visualised better. Then, he sticked masking tapes around the lump.
I was escorted out to change into the gown and later, waited again, before going back into the operation room and into the actual room. I was then put down on the bed and given ear plugs. The funny guy (operator) tied my leg so that I would not be moving around, to avoid causing any blur image.
So, I was pushed into the high class coffin-like cabinet and the familiar noises started again. I was however, still managed to doze off for around twenty minutes. The funny guy came in when I thought he had already forgotten about the injection. He started chatting with me in order to distract me.
His effort was of a minimum help as I was focusing so much on the needle. Halfway through the conversation when he was relaxing my muscle on my left elbow, I announced that I was afraid of needle.
Of course, since it had to be done, I faced it without any hesitation. I hated the feeling of the needle stayed inside my flesh, poking into my nerve for so long. I was too tired to lift up my head to witness it being removed, partly being cautious of not changing position of my leg. As he placed a cotton wool over and placed my palm on my right chest, I confirmed the needle was out.
Another ten minutes of non-movable life began and I could not even exert any strength using my left leg. The greatest fear was to have a cramp in that freezing room even though one of the nurses had so thoughtfully and sweetly covered my feet with a blanket; it actually caused some discomfort with the weigh pressing down my toes.
As the scan was over, the Pilipino nurse came in and removed the equipments. At that moment, I realised it was another hell moment for me as she removed the masking sticks from my hairy leg. Nevertheless, she was so gentle and careful, giving me less pain than expected.
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I was surprised to see two scars instead of one after removing the plaster |
Immediately, I rushed off to meet up with Vivi at the MRT station. Since she had forgotten to bring money, I helped her to top up her Ez-link card. It was followed by a short moment at my house. She grabbed a tin of biscuit and we filled our stomach while having a great chat. Soon, I had to send her home to discover her Ez-link card was not with her as we boarded the bus.
She was gloomy on the way and I went to the Outram MRT instead of going home straight. I was a fortunate man for the operators at the control station were holding her Ez-link card; it could be a reward for I always returned lost items.
I set off for her house immediately. After receiving her slow SMS replies, I confirmed her parents were not around and was glad I did not make a wasted trip for I was on the bus already. Subsequently, I realised she was going for tuition soon and waited for her downstairs her house.
The surprise visit was not enough to cheer her up, probably because it was not the first time already. The disappointment grew as the return of the Ez-link card was insufficient as well. She was just too tired.
After walking her up to her tutor’s house, I went home alone again. It was a blessing to get to see her but I was guilty to cause extra weariness on her.
Team KLEGG
[Tuesday, 15 August, 2006]
The application form for the CS tournament was finally submitted. Therefore, I would be going back to camp on this coming Thursday.
I woke up in the morning to see Ivan’s message on my tagboard, announcing the change of date for the tournament. I was very pleased since Gilbert was still around as he would be leaving for holidays at Thailand on Friday, and would definitely miss the game.
Immediately, I called Gilbert and tried to get the team organised and confirmed our members of Ah Boon, Louis and Edgar. I guessed I was the lousiest among the five of us.
Anyway, since we could not use IRBSUX, Ivan suggested XUSBRI instead but was rejected due to the high risk. In the end, they came out with KLEGG using our initials – Kailun, Louis, Edgar, Gilbert, and Ghim Boon.
Within seconds of hearing the team name, I realised they were trying to be sarcastic to me as well – KL EGG. I was not an egg!
I hoped the people who caused my main intention to take part in this tournament would participate as well. The battle would soon begin…
The despicable “Liang Ya”
I saw a photo inside the “Who Viewed Me” section in Friendster. I could not care to bother about it until out of curiosity when I was taking a rest from my work.
I went in to check if he was one of my old friends but to recall I actually had one more person to detest and despise on. I remembered his shameless and lack of integrity deed in the past.
For the first time I brought my new basketball to school during lower secondary time, I thought he was a respectable guy despite having a hideous looks, left the ball with him when I had something to attend to. He promised me to return it but in the end he left the ball lying around there.
When I went to him to account for the lost ball, he promised me to return me the money. Then, he dragged on until months later, he still insisted that he had forgotten to bring the fifty bucks along. Nearly a year later, he started to debate that the other guys who played with him had the responsibilities to pay up as well.
By then, I had fully seen through his true colours. He had no intention to return me the money in the first place and all he did was to humour me around and then push the blame to others. He succeeded in escaping from his crime because I was not firm enough, that he took my kindness for granted; perhaps I should really do more things or at least inform the school about his unrighteous acts.
His classmates told me about his character and I regretted badly to trust this irresponsible hypocrite. This incident had somehow reduced the trust I had for strangers; it was also one of the main causes that I stopped playing basketball.
One of the most shocking things I came to know was that he seemed to be an officer when he was serving the army.
Crafty people do climb higher.