Made in Taiwan

Well, the past weekend has been quite a flurry of activity. And I don't even mean the convocation. My sister got involved in some student exchange program and so for the next two weeks, we're going to have an exchange student from Taiwan living in our home. As the day drew near, everyone got really panicky as to how the house looked. We were perennially cleaning this, clearing that, trying to make everything as uncluttered and as orderly as possible.  It would seemed we were determined to present an artificial and fantastically wholesome image to my sister's foreign counterpart. hahaha.

Anyway, it went without much of a hitch. The exchange student arrived at our place on Saturday, and she seems nice enough. its a good thing my sister managed to get along very well with her. they had loads to talk about, so much that i even began to wonder whether the exchange student thing was just a ruse to get her school friend or something to stay at our place.>_<

Anyway, i know thats not true cos she has this unmistakable Taiwanese chinese accent. which sounds really nice by the way.

As for today, went for golf again and i think i'm getting the hang of it. I'm not missing as much as the first time and i even managed to hit a close-to 200m drive using a 3wood. Man, the sound, the impact, the feeling of satisfaction is soooo intoxicating, and i'm still only just a novice. I can now totally understand why those old men can stay at the driving range and whack ball after ball with careless abandon without any regard to the time. It is that addicting. though one reason i find this fun could be the company, it would be kinda boring if it were just me there. maybe i wouldn't hit any better since there won't be any suggestions or criticisms. sometimes, people really do make all the difference.

Closure

Today was convocation day. Was really interesting seeing everyone wearing the graduation gown and hood, though it really surprises me on the alarmingly large number of people who couldn't care less how they look. Now thats really strange because they are never going to have another opportunity to wear something like that again. And they don't give a rat's ass that the left side of the gown is lower than the right? that their tassel is on the wrong side? that the hood is all screwed up and sloopy? In front of so many people, the least people can do is to make themselves more presentable. And that is hard to do?

Well, the whole ceremony went without much of a hitch, though there was a little drama when some guy's mortarboard fell off when he took a bow. One interesting thing was, one of the pro-chancellor looked suspiciously like Lee Kuan Yew, while the other one was a deadringer for the late Ong Teng Cheong. I was floored for a moment and for just one instant i instantly felt so very important; that the MM himself would be present to present my degree to me^_^

Anyway, took a gazillion pics today. I was practically scouring the refreshment hall for any body i know; so i can waylay them to pick pictures with them. some people were so in demand that i literally had to "book appointment" for a snapshot. >_<damn i hate beautiful people. though the unfortunate thing was i forgot to bring a camera. It was a good thing Brauns was kind enough to be my camera-man for the day. he took most of my pics. So now all i have to do is wait for him to be online, so he can send them all to me. heh.

Besides taking pictures, today was also an excellent day for networking. I've learnt much about my friends' recent movements, as well as the various jobs they've applied/received, I've also gained some good guage of the current market sentiment regarding employment for CE graduates. No wonder there were a few HR agencies people on the prowl today.

swingtime

Sorta got cajoled by my neighbour Bernard and his friends to join them for their weekly golf session a few days ago, and i must say, this is quite an interesting sport. I've only seen golf on television before, never actually had any first-hand experience with the sport, so i guess i was a little looking forward to it too. We went to a public driving range in Taman Jurong and i was surprised to realise that golf can actually be cheaper than my bowling hobby. All you need are some clubs(a half set is more than sufficient for the novice) and you're off. the place is free and the balls are cheap.

Anyway, they all took it easy on me, knowing it was my first time on a driving range. Aw Yong took time to explain the basics of the sport; the posture, irons and woods, what the numbers mean, etc..
Bernard loaned me a 9-iron, and explained that this is probably the easiest club to get started. Well, i practiced adopting the right posture and had some trial swings and stuff like that, and then i thought i was ready to hit some balls. I lined up my first ball, swung, and promptly missed. well, i thought i got that one covered, seems i have much to learn.

Anyway, Bernard was hitting >200m drives almost all the time(which was really amazing to me), Mike and Aw Yong weren't slouches either. but what was really amazing to me was the fact that there are quite a few old people at the range and they were hitting balls with no effort at all. Its like they just swing and the ball just takes on a life of its own. I was also impressed most with Mike's equipment. the bugger's got a big bag with some fancy clubs, but what really stood out was this lean mean driver with a fantastically light shaft; all of them who tried it drove the ball further then their own clubs.

Well, this is fun, and i expect it to be better once i get better at it. i guess thats when i'll enjoy it more. Right now, it is quite exasperating not being able to even hit the ball every time. and i need to work on the grip as well as the posture. though i'm glad to say that at least the swinging motions are more or less similar to softball, a sport that i have more experience with. In fact, Bernard thought i was playing baseball when he first saw me swinging the club. i guess i've got to start working on reducing those body movements i've built up swinging a bat.

That being said, i can't wait for the next session. hopefully, it'll be more fulfilling than the first.

Quote of the day: An albatross, an eagle and a birdie, more than just birds;)

Iron Chef

Had a BBQ session with my neighbour Bernard and friends yesterday evening. It started kind of awkwardly because it was all his friends. But that wasn't a big problem at all, thanks to my boisterous and amicable nature(heh heh!), we were soon getting on splendidly^_^.

though it was the first time i've ever seen such a interestingly cute BBQ pit. it has never been more challenging cooking food over something so small.

well, its hard to gauge the scale from the picture but 6 wings covers more than half of the wire mesh already. Anyway, one interesting incident that happened was, there's this guy who insisted on putting everything on foil("Its healthier lah"). Needless to say, this run contrary to our idea of a BBQ. Meat over open fire, thats the whole idea right? nothing better than carcinogen-laced charred-grilled meat.

Anyway, we had the last laugh since all the stuff we cooked over the foil all weren't cooked thoroughly. Anyway i feel we're all in for an "unhealthy" evening anyway, the moment we decided to have a BBQ session. not much way you can get food thats nice and not grilled when you're BBQing. in any case, i think that defeats the whole purpose of the activity anyway.

Anyway, this is like the dunno how many times some one has remarked that i looked like Austin Powers(groooovy, baby!), especially with my specs. the thing is, i have no idea whether its an insult or a compliment.-_-" What's more important is I don't think i even look remotely like him. the specs, it has got to be the specs(nods).

Seefood=(

Andy, the guy who got first in the Alpine ICE competition a few days ago gave us all a treat today. Sort of in celebration of his win. It was the first time i have ever seen someone rake up a close to $400 bill at a coffeeshop. Everyone tried to guess how much the bill was and nobody even came close.>_<

Anyway, i would have enjoyed the meal more if i haven't been plagued by this annoying cyst in my eye. I didn't touch any of the seafood or the spicy stuff despite all my friends encouragement that one or two isnt gonna hurt. I don't know why but it seems i always have this problem. when the weather gets hot or when i get sick, BAM! my eye starts to get screwed up. people who know me for a while would have seen me with a cyst in my eye at some point in time. Now i wonder how long this one will last. Its giving me a hell of a neuralgia in the face, and i'm drinking so much water now that i seem like someone trying  his best to get incontinence.

the worst part is i've got to endure the endless tauntings from people who always seem to think this condition is bought on by excessive viewing of "questionable" material.

To answer all the people who have, erm, expressed concern, I DID NOT PEEP AT ANY FEMALE UNDRESSING OR IN THE MIDST OF RELIEVING THEMSELVES. To this day, how this conclusion came about still eludes me.

Anyway, received in the mail some of Jasper's(EE23!) wedding pics today. well i have been to a few weddings but i have got to say his is the one i will remember for a loooong time. Anyway, these pics arrived by REGISTERED MAIL and you can see the painstaking work they've done to make it as unique as possible. Can you imagine they've got to do this individually for EVERYONE who came to the banquet? i really marvel at their creativity as well as determination to make this experience a memorable one both for them and as well as for every guest. Either that, or they've got a REALLY good wedding planner.

Anyway, here's a pic of how the photos came. It came binded in a small about A3 sized booket, rivet-binded and contains four glossy photos, one of which was a shot of me with the happy couple. A DVD of the entire event was also included and attached to the last page.

Now is that cool or what?

Ice Ice Baby....

Was at this Alpine ICE competition today, to lend support to 3 of my friends who took part. We don't really get much car audio competitions in our neck of the woods, so i was looking forward to getting a chance to talk to people and have a look at what type of setups are in vogue now. Anyway, this competition was unique since i think its the first one on our shores that has a mobile Ipod category. 2 of my friends were in the open category and one other guy was competing in the Ipod category.

Andy got top spot in the Ipod category(now thats a big trophy) but it was a shame my two other friends didn't get top three placements. I've heard their setups and i think they've got about the best thats possible in the market now. Oh well, i guess there's always one mountain higher. Now i'm dying to know the offical rankings, so at least i'll know how they fared compared to the rest. I've got this lingering feeling they just missed the top three.

Anyway, for non-competitors like me, the highlight of the day was when all of us got a chance to have a look at all the different setups and installs. I even managed to audit a Mini Cooper S who i must admit had one hell of an install. I was shocked when the owner let on that the interconnects alone were worth a whooping 6 grand. The sound was quite impressive though i didnt really connect with the subwoofer bass, too "raw" for my liking although its easily the nicest one i've ever seen.

The pic speaks for itself, really...

Anyway, there's more of where that came from. althought it isnt much and the quality is anything to shout at. well, you can't expect SLR performance since the pics were taken with my trusty handphone cam. Anyway, Its all uploaded here.

I didn't take pics of ALL the cars, just the ones i feel that really set themselves apart from the rest=) One thing i've noticed is that all the major soundshops have really raised the bar in terms of installation, workmanship as well as creativity. I see metal, veneer, paint, piano finished wood, even leather being used. There's a larger plethora of equipment being used too. In fact, i think the top three were all using different speaker models, quite a marked difference from before when its always the same speakers hogging the spotlight. its all quite a refreshing change and I'm really looking forward to the next big competition. Who knows, maybe i just might find it in me to participate=)

EH. Got ticket anot?

Collected my convocation gown today. Collected Chingwei's too. I have no idea about his sizes so i took the liberty of choosing a "safe" size. Met up with a few friends I have not met in a long time too. There were Quek(Hello army boy!), Jeremy(ORD lo!), Evelyn(wah.systems analyst), Justin(Yes Sir!) as well as Ah Bao(evil as usual) to name a few. I also must not forget PIERRE, who i have not met for a really loooong time. His name deserves special mention because one of the first things he said to me after so long was that he enjoyed reading my blog.^_^

Actually I almost never made it back to campus today.
It all started in the morning at around 1000hrs when i was still dead asleep. my cellphone rang and the conversation went somewhat like this.....

ME       : (yawn)Hello?
?????     : Eh. You got extra ticket anot?
Me       : Extra ticket? what extra ticket? Who is this?
?????     :Me lah. Guojun lah. Convo tics...you got extra anot?
ME       : Oooh. Extra ah? don't have lah. I also need two what. not tomorrow collect meh.
Guojun : tomorrow your head lah. Today collect gown lah. I just checked the website yesterday lah.
ME       : Shit. Sure anot. what time?
Guojun : wah liew. from 9 to 11 lah.wah lan, you still asleep ah??
ME       : yeah. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. ok ok. thanks leh. heng you call me sia, else jialat.
Guojun : yah lah.yah lah. eh. you know who don't want their tics let me know hor,ok?
ME       :Hor, ok ok....

And so by some strange twist of fate(well not really, but i've always wanted to use that phrase), it was all thanks to Guojun that i even knew today was the day. its strange though, because i distinctively remembered the collection date was supposed to be tomorrow:-| Anyway, we talked for a bit more but that was about the gist of the whole dialogue. No prize guessing what the bulk of the conversation was about most of the time.(Hint: it has something to do with tickets)

Anyway, i did some spring cleaning after that and i am amazed at the amount of crap i have. I threw away about 6 shoeboxes filled with miscellaneous papers. that was not including one colossal stack of notes that dates back to my secondary school days. I also decided it was time to junk my prized paper bag collection.

The latter did made me held back a little. When i was younger, i enjoyed collecting those nice glossy paper bags. Over the course of my entire secondary school period, i have amassed quite a sizeable collection. There were bags from Armani, D&G, Gaultier, Versace, Ferre, Moschino, Valentino, Aigner, Gucci, Cartier, etc. some i got for free, and some were acquired through some purchase. Some labels i even have paper bags from different season's collections.
you name it, and if its branded, more often than not, i've probably got it( i meant the paper bag). It was dumb but i was quite the mindless brand name follower then>_<(well, youth is always a good excuse for irrational behavior!)

now i've realised i've probably got no use for them, considering they have been collecting dust for the last 8 years or so, so now they are all showcasing their designer chic at the neighbourhood rubbish dump. Well, who knows, if they're lucky, maybe some fellow paper bag aficionado will come along and give them a better home=)

LOST

Was talking to one of my friends the other day when it suddenly came to us that he was from the same NS unit as i was; 1 SIR. Only difference was he was wearing those olive green uniforms and there were still Israelis in the army when he enlisted. That was in 1983. I enlisted in 1999. It was interesting to know someone from the same camp, although there were about 16 years between us, since we could talk about places both of us are familiar with and which miraculously, had not changed at all in these 16 years. I can tell it was really nostalgic for him, as he relived to us his days of conscription. He seemed to have been quite the party boy in the army, most of his antics i shall not describe, lest it becomes study material for enterprising young men awaiting enlistment, but i shall let on that they mostly involves visits to the medical centre. ;)

Anyway, something kinda embarrassing happened to me today. I was sending a friend home today and she lived in Yishun, we were around the paya lebar area and i HAVE NO IDEA how to get there from where i am. it dint really helped that she wasn't very road savvy either. well, i just tried to go in the general direction and fortunately, we came to a point where she recognised the surroundings and it was all good from there.

However, it left quite a indelible mark on me. I think its quite humiliating not to know the way around a country thats not even 40km by 20km. i'm no good with roads and i think i'm screwed if i ever had to navigate through another gargantuan housing estate. thats one thing i guess i have to work on. i never really took the time to find out how to get to where from where. i'm OK in the west but i'm just no good everywhere else.>_<
i've always thought that for every place i don't know how to go, there's always the good ol' trusty street directory.

Though i seem like such a klutz, if i have to do that all the time...

Go Italia!!

Went to HMV today and got some cheap CDs. that's actually a misnomer because you can never find "cheap" and "HMV" in the same sentence. Its kind of sad that the only time when its feasible to get CDs from HMV is when they have some sort of a sale going on, like today. I mean, who pays 24 bucks for a normal CD when everyone knows that you can get the same thing for $18.90 or $19.90(sometimes even $16.90!) at a Music Junction or Gramaphone?  And the thing is all the rare export records go for 80 bucks and up-_-". they know no one else stocks those so they just jacked up the prices to kingdom come.

This sucks but whenever HMV has a sale, most of the time they have some drastic reductions. Its not uncommon to see  prices like $8.95, $5.95,etc.. Today was such a time. i bought 4 CDs for about 37 bucks. I don't know about you but thats a real bargain to me. that works out to about slightly more than 9 bucks per disc. Woot.

Anyway one album i bought worthy of mention is a bossa nova album by a Singaporean simply named Olivia. I've never heard of her before but apparently this is like her 3rd album. Anyway, for some reason, i've never thought much of local music; the last local album i got(and i liked) was Dick Lee's "Transit Lounge", and that was like 6 years ago if i remembered correctly. Somehow, i never warmed up to the likes of Corrinne May, Sun Yanzi, etc. i liked Tanya though, she has a unique voice.
Anyway, it helps that she looks kinda cute too.^_^

Anyway, now i'm waiting for the World Cup Finals. It sucks that Germany isn't in it. I was so sure they were going to get in. I don't really think the Italians play any better though it is disheartening to see how the Germans just collapse and stop fighting after the first goal, even if it is in extra time. Brazil on the other hand were kinda screwed up. All the same, i have the feeling that the general sentiment out there goes out to the French but i hope the Azzurri can pull it off. It has been a while since Italy last won the Jules Rimet trophy. Maybe it'll happen today.

Go Deutschland!!

Went for my cousin's wedding a few days ago. It sounds unbelievable but i only knew her name was Deon(cool name btw) on Saturday. All my life, i've known her as "Hong Hong jiejie". yeah, it sounds really corny, but thats how i address her everytime i see her. though I have no idea when was the last time i saw her before the wedding; i guess it was about 3 or 4 years ago. now that seemed like a long time. Anyway, going to weddings is fine, but its a whole different ballgame when you're somewhat related to the married couple.

The people asking you when is it gonna be your turn effectively doubles.

Well, that is just a general observation; didn't really happened to me, since the bulk of the people there are from my mother's side and i don't really have much of a chance to see them regularly, so i wasn't bombarded with queries about my marital status. Though i did found out that TWO of my older cousins are in fact, going to tie the knot later this year(not to each other). One is gonna be in September and another one is probably going to happen a month later. This, coupled with Edvan's(Batman!) impending wedding would mean i will have to go through another three yamsengs.

Well, i don't know whats so special about 2006 but it seems like a lot of people are getting hitched this year.>_<

Anyway, as i was telling a few friends of mine before(APNN!rem?), there are always two things you MUST do at any wedding.

FIRST->congratulate the blissful couple on their union.(this is very important)
SECOND-> enquire about the complimentary parking coupon. (you CANNOT not do this)

these are like the SOP of attending weddings.lol.

Anyway, the world cup has been in full swing for a while now and now there's only 4 countries left. As a matter of fact, i am making an entry now because its 0245hrs and i'm waiting for the 0300hrs match between Germany vs Italy to start. It's starting to seem like this just might be Germany's year, though i'm kinda sad teams like Brazil and South Korea didn't get in. England deserved to go home though. They didn't really looked like they were aware football is a team game.

Anyway its actually kinda hard for me to watch the world cup, considering i don't have cable tv at home. A friend of mine told me about this player thingy(thanks surfers!) at http://www.viidoo.com/ . Its actually a streaming player but it's a great tool for people who don't have cable tv. i can watch the world cup in a few channels(in Spanish if i really want to), and when there aren't any matches or when its halftime, i won't get bored with baseball at Sportscenter or those taiwanese variety shows. only downside is the size of the screen is fixed and it lags sometimes, but i guess its a small price to pay considering the damn thing's FREE.