Happy New Year and Decade!

The decade of chaos, violence, epidemic, digital evolution, and everything else is coming to an end. What's gonna happen in the next 10 years? Certainly another decade of unexpected events coming up. Technology is gonna grow by leaps and bounds, but like everything else, there will be a balance and surely Man must do his best to save Gaea from being destroyed by his own hands.

What about my next 10 years? No ones knows for sure. Will I meet my destiny? Will I achieve my goals? Yes yes yes! Yes we can! Obama did it so why not me? Nolah I dun wanna be President. What a waste of my youth (not much left of my 20s). 明年会更好! 加油! 加油! 加油!

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It's An MKG Christmas 2009

24th December 2009, Thursday

Well this time we have a Christmas dinner right in the comfort of a home, thanks to Huimin and Albert hosting it. We got lotsa food for the dinner. Shepherd pies (woohoo finally tried it for the first time, damn nice), pizzas, chicken wings, logcake from Awfully Chocolate. Then we watched a bit of movies and then Uncle took out his pix that he took at New Zealand during honeymoon to show us. That completed the night. Nice! OMG feeling hungry again... Want more shepherd pies!

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And Rudolph Came Early...

...in the form of me and my red nose. Been sick since the weekend. SianzZZzzZZzz... What a way to usher in the Christmas season... Haven't been so sick for quite a while. Wonder who passed the virus to me. But then again the weather has been rather weird. Sometimes blazing hot, then suddenly stormy weather, then stop raining, then downpour again. WTH...

16th December 2009, Wednesday

It's another one of those impromptu drinking sessions with the guys of Blk 22. We went to Timbre and it's been rather a long time since we met up for drinking. Charles, JJ, Jason, Adrian, Wilson and I then had a few drinks, and grilled Jason for the truth about the recent happenings. Conclusion is: Jason is an @sshole. LOL... But oh well... Perhaps it was all for their own good that things turned out this way. So we then finished up our drinks and said goodbye....

17th December 2009, Thursday

I had this sudden urge to take half a day to play bowling, and also a good chance to watch Avatar since it opens on that day. So I planned this bowling outing with Ron, who was on leave for quite a while. Oh before that I went to the Fila sale with Eileen and Justina during lunch and I got myself a waistpouch. It's been years since I last got a pouch for myself lol. Then I rushed down to Bugis Junction to meet Ron. He initially suggested playing a few rounds of L4D but since I don't really enjoy FPS, we walked down to Marina Square to play pool and bowling instead. We played almost 2 hours of pool before we finally got a lane to play. Ended up playing 4 games each. Woot I got a highscore of 180 this time round. Last time at Hougang Superbowl was 196. When can I beat my personal high of 203? Then Zhangjing joined us for dinner and then it was 161 mins of Avatar! I didn't really watch the trailer before but after reading reviews from GV's website, and thinking that it should be a really good movie cos of James Cameron, I went ahead to watch it anyway. Initially I thought it was a purely animated movie, but it actually has real actors and actresses in it. Only one word to describe the movie - AWESOME! I may want to watch it again in 3D. Should be damn worth it. As we finished the movie, it was time to dash for the MRT, cos the last time for Ron and ZJ was less than 10 mins away. And we were at MS! So we made a mad dash for City Hall. ZJ was panting like mad halfway through lol. ZJ needs more RT! In the end we all made it for our trains phew.


19th December 2009, Saturday

Alan jioed a GIP gathering at City Square Mall. Those who turned up were ZH, HS, KW, NZ, Alan and me. They had lunch first while I joined them after that. We then walked around Singapore's first Eco-Mall. Got some free LED candles from a shop. Then we went for ice-cream at Swensen's.
Then all left except NZ, so we both wandered around Little India, with me snapping pix here and there. And I finally ventured into the flea market just behind Sim Lim Square. Everytime I take bus 23 and move past that flea market, I always see tonnes of people there. Always wanted to take a look for myself what kinda good stuff there could be. I finally found a chance to go there. It was really interesting to see so many people place all their stuff there to be sold. From old CDs, DVDs, games, electronics, souvenirs, handphones, whatever you can think of, are sold there. I even found a similar doll that we see on top of the box near Expo everytime we go for lunch! So eerie! Like it followed me or something O_o!!!
NZ then brought me to try some Bak Kut Teh near Bugis. Quite good but damn ex! $6 each. But ok lah when I asked for extra soup, they gave it to me free. Hmm... We then walked around Bugis Junction, Iluma and I continued my shooting spree. I even wanted to check my Japanese Advanced I results back at JCS but the whole place was locked and closed. Can't have the experience of checking my results like what we see on the Japanese schools lol. Then NZ left while I hung around until it was time to meet up Eil, Cha, Jus, Ron at Settler's Cafe at SMU. I didn't know there was a SC at SMU until they told me. We played TransAmerica, and some game which tests reaction speed by doing some handsigns. Forgot the name of the game. We then ended the night with Balderdash, another silly game, but you actually have to kill some brain cells to play it well, contrary to what they claim - a brainless game.

20th December 2009, Sunday

Wow my weekends are so tiring. Had to help out as a volunteer photographer for Peiyi's company's Volunteer Appreciation Day 2009. Yes it's Shan You's VAD2009, held at Geylang West CC. Was to take pix of the whole event from 3pm to around 8pm. Actually it was quite fun but I wasn't feeling very good already since Saturday, so the shoot was kinda taxing. Still it was kinda interesting to know that there are so many volunteers out there willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. Saw people of all ages at the VAD. Got some very cute young girls too. But I shall not post their pix here lol. At the end there was a lucky draw, in which the very first name being called was mine. Wahahha! Prize number 10. Am I lucky or what? Or is this really 善有善报? I didn't really think I would win anything, just wanted to help out only lol. They also gave us a goodie bag each. Walau ended up bringing lotsa stuff back home, inclusive of my bag of DSLR.
Saw this mother or father cat with his/her litter of kittens curled into a mass of fur when I was on my way to Geylang West CC. So cute lah...they kept staring at me and ready to flee as if I was some enemy lol.

Peiyi interviews one of the volunteers.

The volunteers got down to work to design some posters.

21st December 2009, Monday

Holy shyt was feeling sick the whole day. Wanted to take MC but many people are on leave, and got lotsa things to clear in office, therefore didn't. Evening time, I rushed off to M Hotel, where Ken and Angie's wedding were held. It's the 2nd Blk 22 wedding I've been to. I was one of the last few to reach, with all the other 10+ over Blk22/Hall4 guys there. Yeah all guys, except Charlene, who went with Ah Liang. Saw Nana there, who happened to be one of Angie's Sisters. Saw Terry Tan from FDS too, who is related to Ken somehow. And this must be the most interesting wedding dinner I've been to, cos Ken and Angie both prepared a surprise for each other. Ken got someone to do a short animation about how they got together and how he proposed to Angie. It was so touching and fun. Angie on the other hand also prepared something for Ken, by singing on stage with the song "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion. What a loving couple. And they're just 25 years old this year but got married already, while the rest of us seniors are either still unattached or still no money to get married lol.

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313 + 150 Trees of the World

Hohoho. Christmas is coming soon. Where's my snow? More importantly will Santa give me a present? Then again I already got myself an early Christmas present lol.

Went to 313@Somerset with family to pick up Cindy who was doing some caroling there. Went there for the first time. Just another shopping centre along Orchard Road, I felt. Throngs of people clogging up the walkways. There are a few new shops there. Looks cool, but I think the prices are not that cool. We merely walked around for less than half an hour before going to Botanic Gardens.
It's the event called "Trees of the World". It features 150 Christmas trees from different organizations, countries, companies etc. Saw quite a few interestingly-decorated trees. I'm sure it's better to go in the night to see all the trees lit up in glory, compared to seeing them in the day. It's the first time they have such a thing at the Botanic Gardens. Nice event to have a shooting spree. And it's the first time I shot so many Christmas trees in a single day lol.

A Christmas tree from my former primary school. East View Primary School

This tree reminds me of the Wraith from Diablo II.

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MKG Wedding Number 2: HY and JX

Second MKG wedding in 2009. Hak Yee and Jia Xiu. What a joyous event for the both of them. Of course everyone present were there to share in their joy too. It was held at Merchant Court. Can see that Uncle Hak Yee and wife were really happy beyond words. Congrats to them once again. =) Oh not to forget the very original and interesting speech that Uncle gave. "I'm going to end with a mathematical formula - If you're a sine square, I will be your cosine square, and together we will be one." or something along that line. Wahaha power loh. A Math teacher indeed. Awesome one Uncle!

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First Shooting Trip With 500D

Yes finally I get to use my 500D for a shooting trip - VivoCity's 3rd anniversary. Like the past years' anniversary celebrations, VivoCity prepared a wonderful fireworks display shooting from a ship right in the middle of the channel of water between Sentosa and VivoCity. This year we were not so stupid to stand at HarbourFront. We got a great spot just outside the King Louis' restaurant, which is just beside Daiso. There were plenty of shooters around, all armed with big cannons. Nic, Li Teng, as well as their friends and colleagues were all there.

Well actually Ron had organized a dinner gathering for us as Cong wanted to meet us and pass us the pictures of his wedding. We had dinner at Kim Gary's. Then I rushed up to the rooftop to where LT and Nic were, to get a spot for the shooting. Wah nice luckily I managed to squeeze a space right beside LT. Hock din join us for dinner but they managed to join me at the rooftop just before the fireworks started. Therefore I borrowed Hock's pro tripod to stabilize my 500D and started a shooting spree. Not many nice pix though. The SX100 that I brought along, which Sim used to take some pix, were in fact quite good. Same as what I used last year. Need more practice to get used to my new DSLR. After that we dispersed. I even saw Chang Chao after we left, and got to know that he was there for the shoot too. Looks like everyone was there lol.

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What A Hectic ICT

Not really the ICT but all the other bits and pieces of everything in between. First it's my Japanese exams at JCS. I'm glad it's all over. But the next most important thing is the JLPT3 coming up on the 6th of December. One more week to go. Dieeeeeeeeeee~!

Today spent the whole afternoon watching the whole of America's Best Dance Crew Season 1 on my newly installed mioTV. Woohoo shiokz! No need to download liao. The Singtel guy came down to install yesterday, just before I had to leave to go back to camp. And so today I was free and decided to surf around and see what's available for viewing.

Anyway been busy doing duty and studying for JLPT. Here's a recap of what happened for the last few days.

26th November 2009, Thursday

Right after booking out, I went to meet Li Teng for lunch at HarbourFront. And yes! Finally I got my hands on a DSLR. Been waiting to get one years ago. And it's all thanks to LT for helping me get the camera. After that I went to get the accessories from Cathay Photo situated at Peninsula Plaza as suggested by LT. Got the LCD screen protector and Hoya UV filter, as well as a normal Lowepro bag for my camera. What a big expenditure for myself. An early and expensive Christmas present lol. Gotta eat grass everyday until the end of the year liao wahaha.

27th November 2009, Friday

Went to Superbowl at Hougang with Li Teng and Nic. First time went there for bowling I think. The bowling alley is super old but maintained very well, as compared to the one at East Coast. The three of us played four games each. Wow haven't played so many games on a single day for so long. And we had great fun shooting down the pins and shooting with our DSLRs too. Everyone around us must be thinking "those guys are here to take pictures or play bowling?" wahhaha! We were virtually shooting with our cameras at every opportunity. Pretty fun way to take some interesting shots. And I got a Four Bagger! I think the last Four Bagger was when I got my highscore of 204. This time round the game had a score of 197. Damn I just need another spare or something to break my record! But it's really quite an astonishing achievement for me considering that I last played frequently almost 10 years ago.

Wahahah! My 2nd Four Bagger ever, after 10 years!
We're Charlie's Devils. Ahahah!

After the games I suggested we go over to the Punggol Nasi Lemak stall just across the road since I will be meeting Aaron they all there for dinner too. The queue is forever so long and we waited around 15 mins before we could order our food. My combi costs $6.20! 杀人放火! Can only go there to eat once in a while. Isn't really VERY fantastic anyway lol.

And after that the Citi people slowly arrived. Nic and LT then left. When everyone gathered, we proceeded to Jus' house which is very near the nasi lemak place. There we started playing Saboteur and Werewolves. Very fun gathering I would say. Charles was busy playing with my Canon EOS 500D most of the time. Even I myself didn't use it for so long since I purchased it.

Oh and here are the shots from Jus' house while we were playing bored games.

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Power-packed Sunday

After booking out from camp early in the morning, I went home to sleep until 11+am. Then studied a bit for my 会話試験. Reached JCS at 2:10pm. Supposed to start at 2pm but doesn't matter because everyone only gets one random topic which consists of four questions, thus only taking one or two minutes, depending on how much answer you give. I kena the not so simple one. Walau totally blank out and forgot the answers that I memorized. In the end there was silence for around 10 seconds before I uttered just some simple sentence. The other few questions were also answered with a simple one-sentence answer. Holy shyt! Sure score very little points. Oh well as least it's all over! 終わりだ! But then again, here comes the real challenge. JLPT3!! 2 weeks to go. How well I do depends on how I can make use of my time in ICT to study. Maybe this ICT came at the right time. It gave me the time to study my Japanese in camp. And so after the massacre in JCS, Jiahao and I then proceeded to lunch, but I had a drink only since I ate at home already. Then he left for Sim Lim while I went to Suntec to join Nic at AFA.

It was a massive crowd at the usual level 3 area with throngs of cosplayers and photographers. I got the ticket from Nic that he helped to buy earlier. It is $15 this year. Don't remember it being so expensive last year. But anyways Nic continued to shoot the cosplayers while I went to the AFA exhibition hall. Lotsa Gundam, as usual, as well as tonnes of other figurines from all sorts of animes. There is the Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe as seen from the website. Can't miss it since it's specially made for AFA. Therefore after walking around the exhibition hall, I then got Nic to go up and together we went for dinner at the maid cafe. No photography allowed. ZZZzzz... But then I just snapped other things instead of the maids stealthily with my iPhone lol. And as expected the maids will say some cute lines followed by "goshujin-sama", meaning "Master". There weren't much set meals left on the menu, so Nic chose the chicken burger set while I chose the beef burger set, at $25 each. Very costly but it's just for the experience. There was a burger, with fries, soup and tea, and of course little maids in kawaii maid uniforms serving you and addressing you as "Master", so $25 is justifiable lol.
We were given just one hour to stay within the maid cafe. At least they give us a photo taken with their own camera and then print out for us, but we had to wait at least an hour for it cos they only had one printer. So the tea was served and we were asked if we wanted milk or sugar. We both wanted milk and so the maid serving us, Miyake, then opened the little cup of milk and poured into our tea. We effectively don't need to do anything. And then our main dish arrived. One of the maids then made special smiley faces on our burgers and decorated the rest of the plate with other cute drawings using chili sauce. LOL. Just like what I saw on those shows that show maid cafes in Japan. Then a few maids gathered around our table to do their magic. They did some hand signs, waved around and chanted a "Moe Moe Kyun Pa-wa Uppu!" (meaning Moe Moe Kyun Power Up) spell to power up our dinner. We saw them teaching other tables to follow their gestures but for our table they didn't tell us to do the funny gestures. Haha luckily, cos otherwise we'll be quite paiseh to do so. We see guys from other tables quite stunned and can't really follow what the maids were doing. But it's all kinda fun and interesting wahahah. We then took a picture with Miyake. KNS the male staff said can only give us one maid to take photo with. Previously Hitomi said can take pic with her and Miyake. In the end we only took one with Miyake.
And so one hours passed by quickly and we were shown the door. T_T And as we left, we saw another group of people, around 6 of them, taking a picture with 4 maids! KNS! Tio cheated. Why other tables can have so many maids! ZZZzzz... And so Nic went to the concert area while I went down to level 3 again to take pictures of the cosplayers. There were much more variety compare to last year's. Plenty of interesting and new costumes.
After scanning through the cosplayers, I then went back up to join in the concert. Nic got the actual concert tickets for two days which cost $188. And he got the front row seats, which was very up-close to the performing artists. The entrance ticket to AFA also ensured viewing of the concert, but at a much further distance away from the stage and the seated ticket-holders. But still I was able to see quite clearly of the performers of the day, namely Yoshiki Fukuyama and MAY'N. It was a pretty atmospheric concert hall with bright lights and some pyrotechnics. They also threw tonnes of lightsticks throughout the show to ensure that the crowd hyped up the atmosphere. Totally awesome. I was busy taking pictures and videos although the authorities kept announcing that video or photo capture was not allowed lol. Plenty of others were also taking pix and videos of the wonderful performances.
After the concert was over, I went to collect my photo at the maid cafe and also went to get the Gundam figurine that Tat Yeong wanted me to help him buy. And then Nic got the opportunity to go onto the stage and have an autograph of MAY'N and even take a photo with her! Nice! That is a very nice picture, as I saw it on Nic's DSLR. That picture is priceless for sure for Nic. And then that's all for the day. I stood there for almost two hours for the concert. Damn tiring. Even more tiring than doing guard duty wahaha.

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