feeling poor

i'm suddenly inundated with new stuff and my bank account has been severed drained..

haha... yeah, went slightly crazy today and bought my laptop, webcam and a pair of good roller blades within the day and ended the whole craziness with a sumptuous meal @ Seoul Garden (been years since I went there)

honestly now i'm starting to fret how i'm gonna lug my skates over the US.. but heck.. think about that later.. now I wanna maximise the use of it after taken a freaking long hiatus over ice skating.

ate myself silly @ Seoul Garden and had a blast of a time with inane antics like throwing vegetables at each other, fighting for the cooked food and coming up with the funniest jokes. then after the whole thing I felt so guilty I walked back home from J8.. which made me highly frustrated with my skates.. sianz

aniwez.. gonna try to breathe some life into my new computer and get it all prepped for US le.. sometimes honestly I feel like I'm so darn useless lor, know nuts about alot of things, alot of stuff leave to my parents to settle and then in the end I know nuts lor.. haiz.. must grow up le and start really KNOWING stuff like computer specs, ironing clothes, choosing vegetables and so on..

wah tough sia. haha

huh.. that's it?

Life is sipping a caramel macchiato and eating a lemon citron tart at Starbucks Holland V whilst reading the papers... =)

oh well. aniwez, i finally went to do my VISA application today. Mind you, I was duly "frightened" by my parents and friends who warned of Hello-Kitty type of queues, sullen and unhelpful staff and insane waiting times. oh yah, and officials that were impossible to talk to, rejected you outright if you forgot to bring even a minute scrap of information and so on.

so yeah... i went at 7.20. and saw no one. -_-

went to grab some breakfast @ Tanglin Mall and when I came back, a small queue had formed outside the guard house which prompted me to jump into queue straight away (weihong was late.. -_-)

aniwez, the proceedings were decent lah honestly, people were generally decent (i wouldn't say friendly) and well, i "chopped" seats cos I was early.. =)

and the vetting process for my VISA was like..

official: please sign ur I-20 form
me: okok.. here it is..
official: so you going to cornell to study?
me: yeah..
official: ok.. you VISA has been approved. please come and collect it on friday.

WAH. that's it. haha. i'm amused by the exaggerative powers of some people. or maybe I'm lucky. either way, I'm glad lah. painless sia

oh.. and a tip to those people going there.. BRING A FRIEND. cos the guardhouse confiscates your handphone and other electronic devices like MP3s.. so unless you are "traditional" enough to bring a book, you'll be spending eternity inside staring at your toes and at other frustrated people waiting. NOT FUN. haha.. hence the use of a fren. haha.

dumb thoughts

i realised..

i mainly eat the tau suan for the fritter bits.

i mainly eat chicken rice for the rice. and the chilli.

my watch didn't take ANY pictures of our sailing expedition!!! arggh!

maple story is my secret addiction. haha!

yeah rite.

OBS experience

seriously must thank God for preventing YET another loss of my wallet today. Honestly I dunno how I can achieve good grades for stuff and yet do the most inane, foolish, careless things EVER. went to order dinner at a foodcourt @ Meridien and after paying I just took my tray and went to sit with Ed and Linken, leaving my wallet conspicuously lying on the COUNTER-TOP of the STALL for like a FREAKING 10 MINUTES.

only when I was about to buy drinks did I realise the loss lor. amazing man. then I panicked and dashed back with a sense of impending doom. Yet, it was still lying on the counter-top amidst the people queuing to order food.

WAH THANK GOD MAN. serious. I'm like the most careless person alive.

talking about today as well, went to Ben and Jerry's @ Cathay to try out their ice cream. The design of the stall is pretty cool with plush cushions and nice tables and because Cathay is still like ghost town, there's still lot'sa seats. Aniwez had a "Merlionster" with the rest of my friends and succesfully prevented Edwin from ordering a sorbet as one of the flavours.

HONESTLY. i dun like sharing ice-cream creations like Topless Five with people who have exotic tastes and go on suggesting clashing tastes of like Durian and Mango Sorbet or what mixed with the normal "classic" flavours of Cookies and Cream and so on. eeeks.

Aniwez, meant to blog about OBS, basically it was a 5 day course of Marine Mobile and went to a watch called Barker (which was a pretty decent name compared to the bleak alternatives of Sui Sen and Munshi. yuck.) Really didn't know what to expect lor, considering my last time to OBS wasn't too appealing and then I still had flashes of my army experience tinged with it.

Day 1 - Vertigo Challenge
So Day 1 was all on orientation and warming up, I kena-ed Store IC due to my QM introduction (-sianz-), and we basically worked well and I even conquered the Giant's Ladder which I honestly thought was impossible when I gazed up. (yah.. cos the separation of the logs get further and further) U really needed cooperation between the two people up there and hence I was super super glad to be paired with someone who was really confident and helpful. haha! That was one great reminder liao of how really I must forget myself and work together as a team to achieve a target.

Day 2 - Setting Sail, Camping @ Quarry Area
Learnt how the sail worked, learnt the different functions of the different sails and so on, which was a chockful to handle. It was a miserable rainy morning but things improved in the afternoon and I got to be Captain for the later part of the journey to the Quarry Area. Got to know my watchmates better and we started sharing more about ourselves.

Camping at the quarry area was pretty miserable at first considering we only reached shore and night and realised we forgot to bring stuff like can openers and funnels, which I obviously attributed to my fault... =( But we did fine and cooked up an impressive delicious meal of Chicken Curry and rice and so on. WAH... was really impressed with the girls and their ability to cook rice. Cos honestly my impression of cooking rice outfield is like burning to rice or ending up eating hard uncooked grains. Night was spent trying to sleep like packed sardines as 4 guys shared a tent.

Day 3 - Quarry Rafting and Sailing to Sembawang
Morning was spent building the raft and trying to let it float. And boy, again I was surprised our junk-look-alike actually managed to float and do pretty well amidst water fights. hehe.. goes to show that scholars DO indeed know some stuff well enough not to screw up.. like knowing that your raft pretty much disintegrates if you places barrels directly underneath the poles.. and compared to the previous OBS where the RJ guys/gals tried to make the raft work to no avail (the raft fell apart once it touched water), haha, take THAT man. (hmm.. do i sound bitter?)

Set off for sailing again and I realised as the days went by and we got to know each other better, we got crazier and started crapping more and our focus shifted from manning the sailboat to that of chit-chatting and trash-talking. Like on the first day we were still interested in wind direction and how we can only sail in close haul or what, and were just bristling with excitement when we were supposed to perform a seemingly tricky manouevre of tacking or gybing the sailboat. Then as the days got by and the winds did not pick up for large parts of the time, our attention shifted to playing inane games like "First Object, Second Object", doing silly stuff like water bottle manouevres that were done during JC(which I apparently sucked at doing), and just agonizing each other out by singing irrelevant silly songs from Powerpuff girls to National Day Songs (yah.. i nearly got seasick over them)

Basically it was like we would play play play, laugh, joke and talk and then when the hapless captain shouted orders for a jyb or a tack we would momentarily react to the situation for that few seconds, adjust the sails and then get back with our conversations.. haha.. din think our instructor was too amused with the situation..

Sailed to Sembawang and ate another good dinner before adjourning to the cutter sail to spend to night. I "insisted" on sleeping on the bow of the boat but then soon grew a little regretful at my decision when I was pretty much grasping at the railings at the edge of the bow whenever the sailboat started to rock, and even the assurance of a rope attaching me to the mast did nothing to assure me that I wouldn't fall off the boat into the sea in the middle of the nite. but it was a very interesting experience lah.. haha.. once in a lifetime mah

Day 4 - Shitting on the Ship, Sailing to OBS Camp 2 and Playing Polar Bear
I awoke with a urgent need to shit, which was kind of a problem aboard a sailboat. See, even with peeing and so on, one needed to head to the stern of the boat the then just get the Captain to say "Eyes on the Bow" before he/she took care of their business standing/sitting whilst grasping the mizzen sail mast. Which is honestly kinda tacky. I mean, peeing ain't that bad for guys lah, but SHITTING?

hence really it took a REALLY urgent need to motivate me to go and shit. (and i turned out to be the ONLY PERSON to shit on the boat) How did I do it? Basically it involved me grabbing a bucket and then heading to a rubber dingy boat which was attached to the stern of the boat, and then scooping up sea water into the bucket before sitting on the bucket and shitting.

which was REALLY miserable lah. imaging grabbing one side of the sailboat trying to keep your balance whilst getting into the mood of shitting whilst worrying other sailboats might see you. but the WORST PART was taking the bucket and pouring the brown muck with floating bits back into the ocean. EEEEEK.

the worst part of everything? we had to jump off the sailboat to "kiss the bow" shortly after that. Uggh. haha..

had another fun sail experience that day especially when the winds picked up during the squall of a storm and wah.. was fortunate to be in the position of the Jib Sail Helper where I was tugging at the ropes connected to the Jib Sail for my life, fighting the strong winds. Literally I can struggle with all my might and pull the rope and yet the rope would adamantly start slipping from my hands due to the strength of the winds. it was that point that our instructor was glad that everyone was taut in attention and watching every change in wind and just having fun and the true excitement of "real" sailing. We had to switch sitting positions whenever the main sail switched sides in order to balance the boat(whereby I coined the term deadweights) and the boat was really tipping alarmingly at times such that one girl even screamed when she thought the sailboat was about to capsize.

sailing adventures aside, at night we got our first chance to bathe and then head for a nightwalk as well as an underwhelming "labyrinth" escape. mine was particularly unimpressive cos once I reached the main labyrinth area the person before me opened the exit door and I saw everything lor. basically lasted in there for like 50 seconds? bleak.

after that we adjourned to playing polar bear which turned out to be GREAT addictive fun as the confused villagers tried to figure out who were the polar bears and so on. I was deemed a STUPID VILLAGER cos I ended up "helping" the polar bears take out 4 innocent villagers in one game, leaving there to be 2 villagers and 2 polar bears. So when I wondered out loud why I hadn't been killed before the polar bears said I was like a semi-polar bear myself. -_-

Day 5 - Ending
Nothing much lah. Basically just shared our feelings about the whole experience before it was time to say adios. Really bittersweet cos it was really very fun and yeah.. would cherish the time spent there.

-end- =)

barking mad

had a blast at OBS thanks to the superbly fun and motivated group I was in. Barker rocks! haha.. made many friends in mere 5 days and yeah, had lots of fun despite the muck and grime that accumulated..

guess when you throw 13 people aboard a cutter sail and ask them to cooperate to operate the sailboat, it is inevitable that people would bond. but honestly I felt what made the trip so fun was the fact that our group was the perfect mix and loud, spontaneous, bubbly personalities with the quiet, observant and motivated others. so yeah, as the days went by, we "forgot" out roles on the sailboat and instead were playing inane games like "Johnny Woosh" and "Fuzzy Wuzzy", laughing till it hurt at people's incomprehension of the riddles and so on..

think the ultimate was playing "Polar Bear" till 1.00am on the last night where seriously I think I never had so much fun defending myself or psycho-ing villagers to kill others. (yah, i ended up mis-killing 4 people and was deemed a stupid villager.. -_-)

with regards to conquering fear and stuff, honestly.. haha.. i KNOW i have slight fear of heights, so honestly I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing the Giant's Ladder with the help of Lip En.. haha.. thanks dude. and yah, just had the realization that hey, I don't have to necessary be GOOD at everything, sometimes I can just be pretty sucky at stuff but hey.. it doesn't matter... just learn and try your best!

Another thing that I realized was how you don't actually need a leader, or bossy people to be around for things to be done. Our watch was seriously "barking" mad at times but hey, we functioned efficiently and pretty much sought out each other's opinions..

so yeah.. really enjoyed myself.. nice change before I head to US.. hope it's as fun there, but more clean! my eyes are shutting le.. g'nite!

cable skiing

ok.. i'm off to army-lite the next week and will be uncontactable for most parts of the week. (yah.. OBS) honestly, having mixed feelings about OBS cos the previous time I went I got my worst experience of camping outdoors during a thunderstorm, shivering through the night in my soaked clothes in a pathetically built tent that fit so many people it was like some disaster relief tent in Somalia.

(well.. it was the worst till experiences in Brunei trumped it)

Aniwez, uploaded the pics from cable ski liao.. A little upset with them cos I didn't manage to get shots of me gliding through the water looking like a pro (haha!) or the one where I was imitating a jump start at cable ski.

It was darn fun lah, mainly cos I DID IT! haha.. the few rounds that I managed were really fun especially the turns where you got yanked across the water and the speed was just exhilarating.. and then upon reaching the dock, you get to attempt a suave homecoming moving which hehe.. looks darn pro.

BUT of course I didn't quite pull off the homecoming move and always ended up tumbling into the water very un-glamly. (Linken perfectly the "damsel-in-distress-wondering-why-she-is-sinking" signature move when he just sank in looking astonished) Got a few neck aches and bruises due when I position my board wrongly and kena yanked off the board at the turns.

actually speaking of that day, there was also a thunderstorm and struck around 11+ to 1+ and forced us to play "ti-tee" in the leaking shed, and when we recommenced with the skiing, it was BLEAK. the combination of icy winds and incessant drizzle sent everyone into fits of shivering that grew pretty alarming esp with the girls and err.. Alvin (ha).. but I think after awhile I forgot abt the rain when I finally nailed the sit-start and started being able to get out of the dock area. =)

so yah.. very fun. reccommend to everyone, though if u are like my parents like that who keep wondering why people would pay money to get themselves flung into the water repeatedly and come back with bruises and aches aplenty, or if u are like linken who pretty much got WORSE and WORSE as the day went by till he was pretty much confined to the dock area and wailing about disgracing his family and being "Zen" like about the whole thing. pop trash sia.


Me and Alvin's Med Fac Frens..


Waiting for my turn at the dock.. See ma, no helmet! hehehe


4 of us

gonna sleep le.. think i got some last minute cornell forms that i needa feel up. ciao!

frank can cook!

haha.. i surprised myself today by actually cooking some palatable things at SHATEC today as part of the scholarship traning.. haha.. and it was pretty decent leh, like i actually finished the fried rice i cooked, and the chicken stew was inviting! haha!

perhaps it was the "Undomestic Goddess" horrific descriptions of kitchen screw ups or just my imagination of how Murphy's Law would come into effect at every single opportunity and turn our food into charred stumps that made me think this whole cooking thing was gonna be a helluva time. but HEY.. i did it! haha.. i'm so proud of myself! haha

now it's on to ironing and so on.. sianz.. i realised today how much I have to domesticate myself liao since really it AIN'T like army where u can return home each week and dump laundry at your domestic help. =)

dun really imagine myself cooking much but HEY.. with the knowledge, i think its more comforting to know I wouldn't burn down the kitchen or like splice my fingers or something.. so yeah..

one more step closer to US..

talk about suntan lotion

cable skiing turned out to be quite an experience, though honestly I dun geddit how being dragged along by a cable at fast speeds gives you tremendous neck and arm aches, as well as a whole array of cuts, blisters and wounds. bleah.

but all in all.. I DID IT!! yay! went round the lagoon 3 times successfully even though my attempts at skidding back to the dock suavely always ended in failure as I tumbled in clumsily as I lost speed. but wah.. it was very shiok being dragged along especially at the corners because you really feel.. PRO, and like COOL.

haha. aniwez, blog about this more when I got pictures.. nicer then.

what pissed me off was how we wasted $17.50 on sunblock when the weather was pretty much completely overcast and bleak the whole day and we were pretty much shivering in the rain whilst waiting for our turn at being hoisted by the rope. so much for a tan. BLEAH.

going to be quite busy these few days. scholarship matters beckon. travel preparations needa be done again. and YET i still feel like procrastinating. haha..

i didn't ask for upsize

i get quite exasperated these days when I eat with my relatives, esp with my grandmother.

cos like when we gather for meals and I try my best to eat less, (cos people all round have been chiming in that I've grown fatter despite my best efforts at exercising) I inadvertently get an "upsize" thanks to my relatives...

yesterday went to Jack's place where I ordered a modest meal of Chicken Cordon Bleu (which sucked) as well as Lobster Bisque. It's pretty "healthy" and little lah, but alas, that was not to be. My grandmother first dumped a slab of lamb chops onto my plate and then my aunt proceeded to offer me slices of her steak as well.. -_- Then though I didn't order desser my aunt shared her ice cream with me.. sianz

so I ended up overeating lor. haiz.

bleakness

friday mornings are the bleakest of times.

cos the part-time house cleaner my parents hired to clean the house always arrives promptly at 8.45 to rouse my from my sleep with the clangs, bangings and vacuum cleaning sounds. irritating thing is she zooms straight to my room for vacuum cleaning first of all.

then when i swithc to my mom's room to snooze, she follows promptly to vacuum. sigh, can't a guy get any more decent sleep?

...

which is probably why I am writing this now. bleah. I'm sleepy.

checking mail

sigh.. i've been tottering down every day to the mailbox to await for the elusive slip of paper called I-20. it's. still. not. here... and I'm heading to paranoia mode liao.. ARRRGH! this is so frustrating!

aniwez, just seem random musings across the week..

1. i'm so distraught by my mis-training of my maple character.. OMG.. LVL 40 LEH! now all down the drain!!! wah.. very very sian lor, but I'm determined to retrain a better character liao. (and i think most people think I'm siao)

2. My favourite moment of "Over the Hedge"? When Hammie went "I'm NOT stupid.." in the ignorant-crazed look. haha.. classic man. and honestly, Dreamworks PWNS Disney lor.. cos "Over The Hedge" is so much better than the trash Disney is spewing out like Chicken Little and Cars.. uggh. unappetising.

3. Singapore Idol is honestly appalling. Serious, compared to AI it's like Pauper Idol. The talent is just plain unappealing. Was watching this Rahida(i think) girl maul "Don't Speak" with her caterwauling wails and screeches and was cringing every second. AND SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE BEST?! Also watched this girl disgrace Kelly Clarkson's superb version of "Without You" by completely being inaudible at the lower ranges of the song. WAH. I seriously doubt there'll be SI3.

4. I really like the model Diana is working with in Project Runway 2. Her names Lesley.. and with the Barbie wig, she was so darn cute. haha.


CUTE!

movies galore

so 6th of June 2006 has almost passed silently away with no major disruptions or "antichrist movements".. despite what "The Omen" otherwise predicts.. haha.. some people honestly take everything literally.

and no, i didn't watch the show. for 2 reasons, cos I'm a scaredy-cat and cos I dun like such shows honestly. yah, but mainly cos I'm a scaredy-cat. =)

went to watch "she's the man" instead, which is really pretty funny, and I think it's the first show for a long time that got me enraptured in the plot and like forget where I was.. haha, see and learn, X-men 3, MI:3 and Da Vinci. it was popcorn-funny and cool to watch, plus Amanda Bynes looked strikingly like Katharine McPhee with her hair permed. (haha.. but Kat's still prettier)

aniwez, since I was on a religious note before, let me just take the opportunity to really, REALLY thank God for always being there for me, with me and guiding me, even when I felt like I was so darn unworthy or when I felt so distant.. (yeah, and it's pretty recent) God, you are a God that answers prayers, a God that is true and real, and my life is a testimony of it. Hopefully I can take this "testimony" and really live it out.

(yup, and if you're wondering why my recent posts are pretty unspectacular(not that they have really been good or wad.. haha), its just that everytime I have inspiration to pen something down, Blogger irritatingly refuses to load properly, then by the time I manage to get it working I've lost my mood liao)

dyed hair

today was like the day of reckoning for frank and his dyed hair.

was a little afraid to step into church with my "highlighted" hair and get some concerned old people wondering whether I had gone astray or something.. hehe.. thankfully, I escaped unscathed aside from several gasps and some people commenting that I was going "havok"..

aiyah please lor. it's just. dyed. hair. i dunno.. was deliberating like mad on friday whether I should just stick to my lame EC house and get yet another boring high slop cut or should I tag along with my mom to go to the salon she went. finally decided that heck lah, no point not trying lah.. never know what's the result.. so yeah

ok.. so comments have been mixed, some nice ones, some thinking it looks like wild cat streaks or like golden worms.. hmm.. heck. I'm fine with it, takes a little getting used to, I look EVEN younger now, and yeah.. i survived my church. haha!

insert random x-men here

stupid blogger site refused to upload yesterday, so i'm clumping posts together..

some rants abt X-men.. which has me pretty much shaking my head at the glaring inconsistencies and the way they just put characters on the screen for the sake of "using" the character.. it's like, the producers see a need for a particular mutant's power and then they go search the mutant database and just fit that mutant in for a mere 10 seconds and after which the mutant disappears completely.

- Callisto was supposed to be the leader of the Morlocks, possesing advanced agility and speed only. The sensing power was that of her allies, Caliban. Yet she not only gained a new power in the movie, but also became Magneto's croney.
- Arclight was part of the Mauraders and her power was a B-52 punch that could collapse walls, not send out shock waves. She was similarly never allied with the Brotherhood.
- Multiple Man was not evil as well, couldn't figure out his significance.
- Leech was part of the Morlocks, and had to concentrate to wipe out someone's powers. Leech was also an old raggedy man (i think)
- Pheonix is a cosmic force and not something Jean Grey suddenly had.
- Logan's healing factor takes quite a well to actually allow him to recover, yet when facing Pheonix's incineration, can completely match up and regenerate so quickly.
- and since when did Psylocke appear?

heck i'm tired liao... blog tmr.. had fun today @ Huimin's bday party, still haven't explained the rationale of my dyed hair and so on.. yawnz..

stop making me feel ill-prepared

i'm feeling a lil' panicky and paranoid nowadays.

was hooked up to the singaporean cornell community mailing list two days ago, and has since been flooded by a deluge of self-intros and queries and information.

all i can say is. WAH. i feel so unprepared. wierd terms are flying all around and people seem SO well informed.

i feel sick. uggh.