Spring cleaning~

Today was my before-school term spring cleaning day. Swept under my bed, around my cupboard, emptied my wastepaper basket, packed away my old lecture notes to the top of my cabinets, wiped the dust off everywhere, cleaned up the droppings of the many many geckos co-habiting with me... Now my room even smells much cleaner lol~!
Took a picture of my spanking clean bedsheets together with my seashells! That spikey shell was taken home from a seafood steamboat dinner with WM, Tony, HL and guys many years ago, from Ah Yat seafood at Marina South when it was still there... this shell was green and brown and smelly when I took it home! It took me almost two weeks of soaking, scrubbing, sunning, and re-soaking in bleach to get it cleaned and white... While its meat wasn't quite nice to eat, at least it looks good on my shelf! The scallop shell is from my neighbour...
Have been coughing and coughing and coughing for a week already... Lesson learnt - Cannot eat too much durians even despite drinking a lot of water, at least in my case... Cannot be greedy~!

My cycling weekend~

Took to the trails on Sunday, had great riding, apart from my mistake of pumping my tires maybe a little too hard and making for some back-breaking, teeth-chattering moments on some downhills... Thought the trail would be damper than what it turned out to be... Totally tiring~ I've been cycling everyday for the past 3 days! Went to Labrador Park on Saturday evening hoping to see the Air Force rehearsing for NDP, but turned out to be a no-show, probably due to low rain clouds over the area... Then cycled to Bt Panjang today to help Mas collect his lost staff pass... Had great fun switching between my two bikes! One for the mud and rocks of the forest trails, one for the smooth roads! Saw this beautiful clump of Nepenthes Ampullaria pitcher plant on the trails near Lower Pierce reservior, I love the beautiful wine-red mouths of the pitchers~! Totally unlike the all green pitchers of my plant at home... My very own National Geographic moment along a short 10m muddy stretch along the trail, where 3-4 different species of local pitcher plants can be found growing alongside each other! If only the stray dogs in the area were friendlier...~

Spent this Friday afternoon researching on my FYP, feeling lost man! There're really very little information online about the testing of ceramic armour materials... Got to go back to the stash of journals that I've compiled during my time at ST Kinetics, here's 2 of the 4 thick binded books, with various ST brochures as my front cover haha! This's a brochure of the tank that I've been driving around when I wear green... I love the flour coated green pea snack~!

Still couldn't really find any good methods to do ceramic testing apart from those tests that I've been using all along... Getting stuck, I decided to go running... Did a run of almost the perimeter of Bukit Batok! This is Little Guilin, a place which holds much childhood memories for me... My primary school is just opposite it, and I used to spend many many afternoons here after school, fishing, catching various water creatures, and plain playing a fool... My dad used to bring me here to catch fish when I was really really young too... those days were good days...~

Here's a map view of my run today... totalled around 9.51km, and I took about 55 minutes, so it works out to be a speed of 10.5km/hr! I love running in the rain! So cool and comfy and can breathe so much better... Machiam fitting turbo to the lungs haha~! Need to train more, IPPT in 2 weeks time... I'm aiming for Silver and $200~!

Back to the trails~

Took some time to try to fix my rickety old Giant, was itching real badly for some trail riding after watching videos and pictures of the Mt. Snow US mountain bike championships haha! Got it to stop creaking, until 15 mins into my road ride to Bt. Timah haiz... Realized how heavy a real mountain bike is as compared to my other bike which has no gears and roadie tires, must be a good 5-6kg more! And it feels so much softer and comfy, like comparing a sofa to a wooden park bench! Having gears allows for faster speeds at lower effort levels, but it doesn't feel quite as fun as suffering on a singlespeed bike...

My first half of BT was sort of an acclimatization ride, having to get used to the loose gravel and muddy surfaces and dancing around rocks, roots, logs and durians after months off the trail... Then when it all started to come back to me again, then I really opened the throttle... I managed to catch, and overtake a couple of riders who were on super expensive carbon-framed Scotts, first by riding right behind them and pressuring them, still they stood their ground and didn't want to let me pass them... I noticed that they really couldn't climb, turn and descend as fast as me, and I shifted to my big ring and blasted right past them on a climb, on my heavy creaky rickety bike! That felt real good wahaha! Ok ok, I know I'm a competitive person... =p

Then over at BT, a bunch of young riders on super expensive downhill bikes and the full gear were practising on the stairsteps-downhill section. I have nothing against young riders or downhill riders, but these guys were quite arrogant, and still blocked my way! Man I was pissed, and I showed them how to descend that stairsteps section at speed on a 3-inch suspension travel cross-country bike... Who needs their 8-inch travel bikes for that little section? Cheap thrill~

Found 2 little durians along the way, but I had no knife to open them, nor carrier bags to bring them home, so I can only give them to the passing jogger uncle haiz... But later in the evening, my uncle brought durians to my home yeah~! Everyone in my family have this same character where we don't really talk much, resulting in a really quiet house most of the time... My uncle and his family on the other hand are rather chatty and fun-loving people, and only in the presence of them do our house really have that jovial, prosperous atmosphere, good to have them here~

NDP rehearsal, in the rain~

I think my cooking has improved by lots ever since I've started cooking lunch and dinner for my mum everyday... At least my dishes do look a lot more palatable nowadays~! This is fish and watercress and wolfberries, good for eyes! My creation~!

Went with the FD gang to take photos (everyone else) / watch (just me~) of the NDP rehearsal... Missed the flag fly-by and F16 starburst fly-by because of a toilet break with Wailoon... Hmmm, this is the first time I actually get to see the top of my head! Good good no mess no white hairs haha~!

Luckily still got to see the Black Knights, our position quite strange, it's the turning point for the planes and Mas almost got his back and neck broken while trying to shoot pictures of the planes flying overhead~! But good spot because the planes were doing stunts almost right on top of us, good to watch, good sound effects, not so good for photographers... The dark clouds in the skies are a warning to what will happen later...~

It rained pretty heavily before we got to watch the fireworks display... Panic for all the camera peoples~

First time I'm watching fireworks hiding from the rain under a building...~

The fireworks display actually was split into 3 segments, either intentionally or not I don't know...~

While everybody was packing up and chit-chatting and eating Aw's Pringles, the fireworks came up again for the 3rd time as though making fun of us~!

Saw this gecko at my lift lobby... It was huge, probably even longer than the length of my palm I think! Must be good nutrition all those cockroaches around my void deck...~

Midnight Playtime~

My plant's flowering again! As usual, it bloomed at around midnight, and the single flower's very big and white this time round! Must be the new chicken poo poo fertilizer that I'm using, stinky but so yummy to my plants! I've always regarded this as my lucky flower, hope that it has brought good luck to whatever things that requires good luck now and forthcoming~

Flower's point of view of my estate~

My friends have told me several ways to alleviate my occasional sleepless nights, like warm milk, relaxing and not thinking about serious stuff, although my mind train still insists on chugging along full-steam ahead on those nights... Yesterday was going to be one of those nights, and this was my solution - mangosteen vodka! Probably not the healthiest solution, but definitely among the best tasting! Nope I'm not the type whose body alcohol content is higher than body water content, but I surely do enjoy my drinks once in a while~! No need to get drunk, but a glass does help to soothe the rampaging mind train and the fun of drinking really takes the less-enjoyable thoughts off mind~

Scared~

My mum's cataract operation was done yesterday, it was a short operation, lasting only about 30 minutes in the OT, although the pre-op registration and checks took a good 2.5 hours, not including the barrage of urine and blood tests the week before. My mum only has a cataract in one eye, the other looked pretty normal to me, so hopefully this will be the last time she'll be here... Now post-op she's doing pretty fine, although she's being rather 'pantang' and avoiding many foods and daily activities that other relatives (fellow uncles and aunties...) say is bad for her, although the nurse had said otherwise, like no housework, no cooking, no TV and newspaper reading... so she's sitting in her room looking really bored, next to the radio that I had moved onto her table, with her sunglasses and curtains drawn because of a sudden sensitivity to light on the operated eye, while I have to cook for her everyday, and I'm doing all the laundry... My cooking isn't good at all, must think of ways to improve otherwise her tastebuds might be dead after 2 weeks haha~!

Had a run today, tried running from my place to Clementi via the park connectors. It was drizzling lightly, and I love it! Noticed how dark I had become, after all the cycling around last 2 weeks... Ran to this disused railbridge across the Ulu Pandan river, the second time I've been here, and crossed it. I had forgotten my previous experience, and wow, I now know that I have this real fear of crossing bridges over water. Strange, because I have absolutely no problems with high bridges over terra ferma. But I was shaking when I was on this railbridge, especially when I could see the river waters flowing through the gaps between the metal strips... I had to stop on the bridge twice, holding on to the siderails! And still I was so scared that the siderails might somehow give way~! I was scared that my shoe may fall through the gaps (the gaps are about 2 inchs wide?)... But halfway across the bridge, I can't chicken out, and I was cursing why the bridge is so long (it wasn't that long), man this bridge really brought out the wussy in me haha~!

It's not like I can't swim... and the bridge wasn't really that high too... But it wasn't difficult to make the decision to run the longer way home along the main roads rather than cross the railbridge and run on the park connectors on the return journey... Luckily my jelly-legs recovered immediately once I got onto solid ground and could try to look handsome (ok, no frog prince, maybe a handsome toad hahas~!) and run my way home~ =p

Funny road signs~

Here's a medley of funny road signs (screenshots) as seen on Top Gear...
What's the point here? In eye-catching, blood-red colour and big fonts too lol~!

So much for careful driving... The driver must had hit the signpost very carefully... lol~!

Hmmm... Doesn't look like smooth traffic on the left lane~

So the squirrels only live on this 11 mile stretch of road? What happens after 11.5 miles? Who would actually care to measure 11 miles while driving?

Hmmm... Red squirrels with horns and long spindly legs...~

Newborn Baby Panda~

This pink soft toy-like thingy is guess what? A new-born baby panda~! It looks nothing like a panda now! It looks really toy like... Every bit of it is so tiny and fragile, and I do find it particularly cute, with it tinnny paws and ears and muzzle, eyes still not yet opened... Aawwww...~
National Geographic

To Heaven and to Hell on a Friday~

Took my Friday off from work to go down to apply for the Wireless@Sg promotion at Suntec City... I want their free gift, a Creative Ep630 headphone set, but I can only collect it from 4 August onwards...
My Sennheiser headphones' sponge cover is finally starting to rot after 3 years... But it still sounds brilliant, only aesthetically it's starting to look its age...
After meeting my insurance agent for an annual review, I then walked down to Bugis Street, where I found my necklace~! How does it look on me? Don't talk about my hair... it's Bad Hair Day, everyday... lol~!
Met Kaiyeow for dinner... stressful... tiring... depressing... frustrating, he wasn't like this not so long ago~~
In the process of preparing for my mum's cataract op on Monday, stocking up on post-op foods, good-for-the-eyes-foods, putting up curtains, preparing sunglasses, washing the bathroom, preparing her psychologically... I'm even giving her my lab safety goggles in case she needs to do her laundry or any cooking~!

Sleepless at Nights~

Having trouble getting to sleep again lately... It's a bad habit, can't fall asleep when it's the proper bedtime, and sleeping when it's good to be awake... My mind has so many many thoughts running, some serious, important issues, some urgent issues, some not-so-important issues, some outright absurd thoughts, some purely building air castles on dreamy cloud 9 wonderland, it's during quiet moments like bedtime that my mind would totally run wild with such many thoughts... it's the holidays so I shouldn't be stressed out... I am still finding it hard to fall asleep without a boster... Years after discarding my old stinky one... One of my many thoughts: why am I missing my boster? Why can some people sleep perfectly good without bear-hugging a boster, while I feel so naked and vulnerable when sleeping without something to hold on to?

Finally got my Power98 call-in contest prize... 3.5 months after winning it on air... It's a hamper of 3 CDs, one rap single, one DOA movie soundtrack, and this album from Mika, which i find to be rather good surprisingly, for someone who doesn't listen to English pop at all...~

Journey to the South~

Went to the Southern Ridges park connectors on this Sunday afternoon, my first time there. Went on impulse, minutes after leaving home on my bike, and promptly got lost trying to find the entrance to the parks... Got to Mt. Faber, couldn't find any entrance, then cycled back to Alexandra, where I finally found HortPark and the high metal treetop bridge opposite it... And walked the trails to Mt. Faber, and then I cycled back to HortPark, where I walked the trails to Kent Ridge, and ended the day with a nice warm hilltop sunset... Being a good boy and the friendly and responsible cyclist that I am, I dismounted and pushed my bike for the whole journey. Nice tall bridges, I love the wind~! Nice hilltop scenery too, where I stopped to do little bike fixes and have that pineapple tart that I had brought along as a mid-ride snack... Happy! Because I conquered so many steep uphill climbs and tight switchbacks (Mt. Faber, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Kent Ridge) on my single-speed bike! I have legs of steel wahaha~! I love the downhill on Faber too! So many tight hairpin turns, and so steep and fast I actually got to overtake a motorcycle along the way wahaha~!

Many many bridges? No... actually only one zig-zagging bridge~

Spotted 2 Nephenthes Rafflesiana plants high in the trees... These are pitcher plants named after Stanford Raffles. Nobody seemed to be able to spot them despite the signage placed right beside one of the plants. I was in a good mood, and helped a China aunty uncle couple spot this plant, and explained a little to them what this plant was... Haiz I shouldn't had tried to be an engineer... Nature is where I belong truly... My handphone's camera (SE K770i) stinks as compared to my old one (SE W800i) despite having a higher megapixel count... The colours are so dull, and the focus is so bad, and worse of all, no zoom while in 3MP mode! Ponying up for a real camera real soon hehehehe~

Sunset on Kent Ridge Park hilltop, to cap off my journey of the South~

Strange pineapple? A cute cycad plant at HortPark~

I didn't know hydrangeas actually smell so sweet! I had walked past them, until their perfume drew me to backtrack my steps to admire and smell them~

Yeah I got your names again ChaiChing and Ester! Sorry, I stink at remembering people's names hahahas~!

Lastly, Hamilton won yet another wet race! He's the new RainMaster after Michael Shumacher! And he won the race lapping everybody except the 2nd and 3rd placed cars! You rock handsum botak boy~!

My First Time~

Zouk-ed for the 1st time... Went with KaiYeow, wanted to make it for Happy Hour, but Ky as always, had some funny nonsense happening, had to go home to change his shoes as both of his shoe bottoms came off along the way... so we didn't make it as planned... Both of us are clubbing virgins, and we were totally blur~! We queued at 3 different queues before getting it right and making it into Zouk itself~! Inside, we were totally lost again! Got our drink, and then proceeded to join in Singles Night... Then we tried to dance after that... ok, conclusion, both of us cannot dance wahaha! But Ky really enjoyed dancing, so even after the alcohol wore off and I sobered up and retired to sitting at the bar, he was still on the dancefloor... Maybe it's the company I'm with, maybe it's just me, but I was pretty bored... So this was it, my first time at the clubs... Man I was really tired on my way home in the morning! I was nodding away while standing on the train! Really amused the aunty beside me hahas~!

In other news, I'm amazed that there were 3 S'poreans in contention for the Best Female Singer at the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards, but Fish didn't win to make a M'sia clean sweep, although she did get Best MV... and Hamilton isn't on pole at the British GP although all is not lost till Sunday chequered flag... I did get to meet Boss Sioh after work on Friday evening, albeit a rather interesting FYP meeting, doing it all while in his car, fetching his son from childcare, and while waiting to tabao fried spring chicken for his kid... But finally at last I can start my FYP proper~

Mid-Week News

Haiz... I have been bugging Boss Sioh since the start of June, till now I had still not managed to meet up with him regarding my FYP... He's down on MC till friday... more waiting... Man I really want to start it soon, although there are news that my project is being halted due to safety concerns over the usage of nano-powders... Now I might need to put on a respirator machiam ala scuba gear while using my DC plasma machine! Nonsense~!

I have been on a snacking craze recently, perhaps being sparked by the 2 weeks of reservist, where there's good food whenever I need it... Man I ate like 5 meals a day during my 3 days outfield exercise! On my desk now are 2 packs of Chipsmore cookies, a tube of Pringles, and a pack of crispy seaweed leftover from my Tuesday movie date... Ooops I just emptied the tube of Pringles! No dieting for me ;) ~!

It may sound funny, but those 2 weeks of reservist army training had been bad for my own fitness! After stopping running training for 2.5 weeks, I finally started running again today, a 11km night run to Boon lay and back. My knees were hurting pretty badly by the 5km mark, and I was pretty much going on willpower for my last 3km... Luckily my timing is still pretty much good despite the bad knees. I love the feel of night running! The quietness and cricket music and the clarity of the sound of my own breathing and footsteps really help to focus, and it's so relaxing in a special way... I like to take off my shirt while running, it's really so cool and airy and sweat rolls off so so much easily! And it helps to get used to the weird stares from people and the occasional cheeky wolf-whistles haha~!