Just 'loaned' a Canon DSLR, it's my uncle's but he didn't want it anymore. Playing with it for a while, but too tired to read the manual... haha!! Trial-&-error-ing with the manual settings... Got a 'ghost-shot' of my bike tyres... =p


Big tyre small tyre~~

Went into the trails for the first time in a long long time this morning yay! Had to skip part of BT trail because of a bunch of kids doing hiking and mountain biking from the OBS camp nearby. And it drizzled a little halfway through my morning. So so muddy, so so tired, cramped for awhile on my way home. But it's so so shiok!! Seems that a whole week of anticipation has made me even stronger and yearn for more, I was spinning big ring on the trails for the first time ever! Shiok shiok shiok! Surely be back for more tomorrow morning! Forgot I'm no longer using a camera handphone, no pictures this time round... =)

My Giant's back online!

Took a few shots of my new SLX cranks and rear D in their best before I get them all dirty as soon as this weekend! Only after trying brand new stuffs again did I realise how much friction I've been living with with my worn BB, rear D and chain!

Finally couldn't stand it anymore and took the plunge to wheel my old but still so pretty Giant to the bikeshop to get it back into ridable shape (bikeshop uncle also commented on how pretty my Giant frame was! My Easton Magnesium stem too! So proud me!!!), required a new SLX crankset and rear D. This means I'll be able to ride my trails again next weekend yeah!! I couldn't take it watching the Mountain Bike World Cup every week online, and seeing all the beautiful photos of people riding in magazines, and about half-year off the trails is so torturing! At least I'm spending the money originally set aside for my diving course... 

This will be just an interim move though, I'm eyeing the red Eclipse hardtail hanging off the ceiling of CycleMax! Ferrari red with huge frame tubes and shapely curves, just like how I like women to be! And it's not crazy expensive at all! Drool... Apparently the uncle got it from my favourite Uncle Ah Chai, so I'll probably go down to BikeLabz to have him to build it up for me, when I have the dough that is hahaha! I'll then save up some more dough to see if it's worth revitalising my Giant with some choice parts upgrades, if not then it will probably be left as it is or stripped apart and put down into cold storage...

CycleMax in Bukit Batok Central is also good! Although it looks totally unassuming, no nice cabinet of bike fetish jewellery, the walls and floor are just plain cement! But the uncle does bring in wonderful stuffs, and the uncle does know and love bikes too! And he's a friend of Ah Chai too! That makes him my friend too heh! Good to have a nice friendly bikeshop so near my place for my little bike needs =)

My mum's already questioning why I'm having 2 bikes, if she knows I'm planning for a third one, she'll probably go into more interrogation-mode! But my third one's my motivation and entry ticket into XC racing again, so it's more than just another bike for me... And at least I have lesser bikes than my sisters have shoes and bags... =p

My Giant's now awaiting revival at CycleMax, should be done by tomorrow. Excited!!!

Down with a virus infection since yesterday. Didn't feel quite right when I got up for work yesterday, measured my temperature but was clear of fever, so I made it for work. Until an hour or so, when I started feeling totally weird with bad backaches and headache, and my temperature kept rising. Held on until lunchtime before going to the doctor near work. Was so dizzy that I didn't really care or register any that anybody said to me. Went home, had 2-3 mouthfuls of my lunch before taking my medicine and then stayed on the bed for the next few hours. Kept cursing because my backache kept me from sleeping properly. My temperature kept rising even after 2 rounds of medicine, almost hitting 39 at a point, so I went to the clinic near my place again. Luckily, after taking the new medication, my temperature finally went down by this morning, together with the backache, leaving only a little bit of dizziness at the time of typing. Need to start scheduling work for next week, headaches headaches... 

Photo from Mountain Bike Mag

I'm having to go through stacks of scientific journals again, this time at work... and also go through the ASTM test standards and test equipment... still feeling pretty much the lowest lifeform "aka BMT recruit" in the offices that I work in, especially since I'm still pipping hot fresh grad and not up to the same levels as my 1st-class and 2nd-upper honours colleagues... Might really need to re-consider my future some time down the road when times get better or if life gets worser... not really feeling confident at all at the moment haiz... like a hardtail mountain bike traversing a trail meant for army tanks... phew phew phew ouch ouch ouch crash bang ouch...~~

Went to Marina Barrage with the FD guys, my first time there... 

Played with the shutter speed... got this 'aurora effect' from a shot of a water fountain... =p

Arts Festival performace, with the backdrop of 3 'Marina IR robots' and a giant praying mantis! 

CYB in action...

Aw in action... don't know how he managed to squeeze in between the railing and the wall...

Wailoon in deep thoughts...

Mas in action...

Almost like walking through a giant water canal...

Went for drinks with my Cold Spray research team at the old Bukit Timah firestation. Great great place. Surely I'll be back soon, love the place, service, atmosphere, and big big mugs of Hoegarden! And it's just a few bus stops away from home! Away from the seriousness of work, the guys were a great bunch to hang with. Even Prof Philip from UniSIM, who is so totally cool for a guy as old as my own parents! He's in a totally different league from the profs currently in MSE (by the way Prof Philip was formerly a prof from MSE until 2003), in terms of personality and knowledge on thermal sprays. How nice if he were to be around when I was doing my IA and FYP... haiz... Will miss my mentor Siaoming when he leaves on Tuesday too... I love Prof Philip's zhnged-upped Subaru Legacy too!! Man it's the first time I felt the effortlessness to get up to crazy speeds of the 2.5L turbo and 4WD!!! And he drives in Manual mode with the steering wheel paddle-shift too! So cool! I want a Subaru too!!!

My first real experience of the true value of the 'TGIF'... best! =P

I hate waking up at 5.30-6.30am every morning, depending on where I report for work. Compared to the school exam period when I seem to be operating closer to a European timezone, it's like jetlag every morning when I wake up for work. Feel totally bad whenever I have heavy eyelids during the tedious theory training sessions with my mentor in the mornings.

Next week will be my crunch week, where I can foresee my ego, self-confidence, and spirit undergoing the toughest test yet since the interview with my big boss. Next Tuesday, my mentor will be leaving for Australia for his Phd, leaving me to fight the war after just 7 days of super intensive training, on just my 7th day at work. I'm already expecting myself to be totally lost for awhile, and expecting some scolding and nagging and comparisons. I need to win over all the contacts of my mentor, retain them, and then try to build on them as time goes. I'm seriously lacking confidence and competence in C programming and Maths, and they're among my biggest worries among other worries. Life's a total 90-180 degrees different from my life just a week ago. Man, I really need to release some hot air by this weekend, or I'll blow up like a pufferfish on viagra...

Went out to get a new phone, because my workplaces don't allow camera phones, and my old non-camera phones were all dead or dying after NS and industrial attachment... Got this Sony Ericsson G700, touchscreen with Symbian OS for $168, pretty worth it considering I wanted a phone which I would enjoy using, with the other non-camera phones being the super-cheap and super-simple feature-less phones... I wanted a phone with features like MP3 and radio because my workplaces don't allow the use of MP3 players too! Being my first ever touchscreen and smartphone, I was pretty excited to get it too, although it was a drag to copy over all the calender entries and stuffs from my beloved Nokia 6500...

It has been a crazy past week... ~~

Monday's FYP presentation, which didn't go exactly as smoothly as I wished it had, but I'm still pretty ok with it... anyways it's over already...

Tuesday's soccer with the MSE guys, haven't felt so breathless and cooked even though we played in the evening 4.30pm sun, really need to start working out again... my ass muscles hurt for like till today man!

Went for ST Kinetics interview on Wednesday for the research engineer job, the same position vacated by Xiaoming (ST K's not FD =p). Had pretty low morale and expectations after the interview... then I went for our MSE Grad Night. Pretty much sad that I'll be parting with all the MSE peoples after a pretty nice 4 years... Don't think I'll ever get to see as many pretty girls when I start working haiz... =p

Thursday's chalet day with Brenda, Liping, Hans and people. Christal from ST Kinetics called me just before I left home for the chalet, to tell me that I've gotten the job, much much to my surprise! Strangely I'm not that excited though... Helped to set up their chalet, and man this was one of the best BBQs I had, in terms of edible (good in fact) foods! Too bad Frizal couldn't make it... and that I couldn't stay for the night...

After the chalet, I had to rush home to do my job application stuffs... My printer's dead so I had to bike back to MSE com lab in the middle of the night to print out all 11 HR forms and scan my bankbook and stuff... will really really miss the com lab... scene of many many memories...

After finishing filling all the forms, I only had about 2 hours time to sleep, before I need to get up to iron both my set of interview clothes, and my Intercruise part-time work clothes... and then go down to ST Kinetics first thing in the morning to sign my contract and stuffs, before going down to Harbourfront for work... with totally dead legs after practically sprinting down on my bike to NTU and back the night before, and only having 2 hours to recover...

Phew... a crazy crazy week... so so tired, and I'm starting work next week! Life's going to be so crazy...~~

20 hours more to go for my FYP presentation! Just bought Kiwi Neutral to polish my shoes, dusty and scratched up during part-time work, used the Kiwi to freshen up my worn leather bike seat as well... Still need much reading up to cover my ass during the Q & A session, as well as a final run-through of the presentation... ~~

Post Exams times~

My treat for myself, an oreo milkshake from the Liquids Cafe beside Beautyworld... I lost about 3kg due to bad eating habits during the 3-4 weeks of exam mugging and bad moods... this will go a long way in helping get back that 3kg!


Thomas' Strawberry smoothie. I thought that the "ice cube" base of the glass was real! Very much plastic it was in the end...


Marcus' birthday pizza prata! From the "famous" RK House of the 'No pork no pork' fame =D


My bike on the top of the Labrador Park hill, overlooking the southern islands...


Loves the sunshine~~