-Luke
Thursday, August 31, 2006
The Fucked Up Day
Some of you reading this may perceive this entry as whining.. and that is exactly what it is... today was a fucked up day... at first, i was drawn in unsuspecting, by the seemingly harmless facade of the day.. then i was fucked over for letting my guard down... it started during prac... prac was completely useless and i was so damn sick of looking at dead bodies... not sick sick but bored sick.. so i spent 3 hours just prodding around aimlessly... after an arduous 3 hours of standing around, i came home and realized i forgot to clear the trash and my apartment smelt of garbage... anyway.. i cleared the trash and went upstairs to do some final editing of my essay.. which is when i scratched my left hand on the edge of my table.. the cut was damn deep.. it only looks like a small scuff now cause it has been doused repeatedly in cold water to reduce the blood flow to the area.. anyway... i decided to go buy some dinner... i went to a chinese restaurant downstairs and bought some black pepper beef noodles.. but the chef must have gone mad with the black pepper cause the entire thing tasted like a bowl of chilli padi... anyway i forced half of the stuff down my throat for the sake of nutrition and went back to my essay.. an hour later.. my laundry that i had put in earlier was done and i went to put it into the dryer.. which is when i got my finger on my right gashed by some fucking metal thing inside the dryer... what are the chances of cutting yourself on a household items, let alone two times in two hours??? anyway... i have decided to stop everything to avert further disaster, and on kenneths advice, sleep my irritation off... and my hands still smell of whatever chemical they use to preserve bodies, which is disgusting... some days, u are just fucked...
-Luke
-Luke
Monday, August 28, 2006
The Perfect 7
After sweating it out on the jogging track for 7 weeks, I can't help but seek greater motivation for better athletic performance in more places other than the pursuit of my fundamental fitness goal. Running a grand total of 210km over the past 7 has reaped rewards that surpassed my expectations. In tangible terms, my stamina has improved considerably and is pleasantly complemented with a leaner, 7kg lighter frame. In respect to non-material progress, I mentally cope better and more readily with increasing quantities of stress. Also, these runs inexplicably facilitate the unlocking of certain mysteries of my mind such as my recent revelations on physical beauty- what defines it as well as why this word shouldn't be loosely used- as I've been rating the appearances of girls rather inconsistently. Without further digressing from my topic sentence, the theme and source of greater motivation for tonights run is Courage. If a man is defined by his labours, then above aptitute and skill, courage notwithstanding the presence of other qualities, is most pivotal to attaining personal success and sets the weak apart from the mighty . Indeed, it also takes courage to set high targets and to steer oneself back in his intended direction in the event he stumbles. Therefore, attaching this merit of courage to this race elevates running from a crude, energy diminishing activity to a more meaningful one that also encompasses a life significance I'd like to grasp in greater measure. In this case, I'll run my ass off as a demonstration of courage agaisnt my inherent slothful/dormant nature and also for the significance of chasing this moral excellence.
-Kenneth Wong
-Kenneth Wong
Sunday, August 27, 2006
The Midnight Tales
At the finishing point of my regular run, I met a fisherman who initiated this encounter by commending my strenuous effort as reflected on my flushed and exhausted countenance. After a while, this conversation took a mysterious twist with this stranger telling me tales about fugitives who've once trodden on part of my running route(which I'm glad to follow their glorious footsteps HAHA) in their escape from captivity and his peculiar encounter with the third kind at The Village(Kampong then) which was on the opposite bank of the canal. Being a naturally inquisitive and curious person with time to spare, I decided against hastily ending this conversation and listened on with cautious as well as skeptical interest. The added fact that I am so familiar with and frequent the places these bizarre encouters took place further urged me to stay and hear him out. Yet, at the back of my mind, I constantly reminded myself to take whatever had been spoken with a pinch of salt..or two.
Right now, I shall re-tell these stories to u amigos in the 3rd person, as well as provide my personal commentary and opinions on them.
Tale #1.
This fisherman who apparently regulary parks himself along the canal, has claimed to have manifested an apparition darting across the expanse of the kampong in the period of '94-'95. To add a further detatil, the apparition resembled a shimmering, luminous satin cloth violently tossed by the blustery winds.
Commentary
As it was my first time hearing such a tale, I can't help but think that it was a poorly spun one. Also, such an event seemed ever too cinematic! Though this story appears to have been too conveniently created based on these elementary details, or perhaps a genuine figment of his imagination, I think i'd go against my better judgement and give him the benefit of doubt just in case.
Incidentally and on a totally unrelated note, this stranger witnessed this flying figure in the same period I intruded and fled from the golf course adjacent to the canal, with wild abandon o course. I swear, the village was terribly, hideously terrifying man; with glass shard strewn all over its ground, dilapidated and standing against a pitch dark background then. The combination of uncertainity, danger and of course adrenaline fuelled my mad dash home and unfortunately the village was the only way through. In case you don't know, I was already chased by a furious caddie who discovered i trespassed. Holyshit, it was like being IN 2 concurrent horror movies that I am not intent on re-enactign.
Tale #2
In an unspecified number of years ago, 2 fugitives scaled the inner walls of Changi Prison and managed to reach the perimeter fence. The guard on duty slept on his job and they broke a weak-link in the fence wiring. Through that opening, they fled for their lives. Somehow, they reached the canal, darted across the bridge into the village and disappeared in the wild forest. Surprisingly enough, the connecting chains that linked each of their cuffs were broken too..
Commentary
This is absurd! Changi prison is how freaking far from my canal man! Escaping without getting caught while handcuffed is in itself a miracle, but to gain access to handcuff breaking equipment and later travel that far by foot? My foot! This fisherman sure talks too much cock and failed pathetically at lying.
Tale #3
Once upon a time, there was an illegal immigrant that hailed from Java who docked at the mouth of the canal. It is along Changi beach. He got caught by the police coast guards and thrown into the shell. One night, he asked his fellow inmates if they wanted to escape and told them he knew how to. Nobody believed him. This Javanese used his sharp fingernails to etch a figure of a boat on a wall of his cell and alledgly performed an incredulous feat of black magic; his body vanished into the boat figure as though it were a portal to somewhere else. For the record, the fisherman claimed that to this day, the etched figure still exists, but not the body.
Commentary
In FrozenThrone(Warcraft 3 expansion) the computer game, I know that the Way Gate(teleporting gate) exists and had been my saving grace on numerous occasions. However in real life? I find great difficulty in coming to terms with it. Physical prison breaks are possible though extremely improbable; like the exemplar Andy Dufrene in The Shawshank Redemption(btw it's based on a true story) who caved his escape with a simple and small rockhammer. With that mentioned, Tale #2 seems even more plausible compared to this. I must also admit that I'm unable to grasp the supernatural or the spiritual realm because I haven't experienced anything first hand in that respect nor have i had the luxury of dealing with any evidence of such. Yet, the lack of such knowledge usually leaves me ambivalent and at times, disconcerted.
Just to let yall know, I do my routine running dead into the night while most are already deep in slumber. Yeah, I operate in a similar fashion to the BFG(Big Friendly Giant) in respect to our common topsy turvy waking times! Somehow whenever I cross the bridge to the barren region of the razed village, I never fail to be consumed by this foreboding evil and darkness which inevitably translates into larger and quicker strides as a physical manifestation of my horror.However I must say, that I'm rationalising these premonitions away because I know they're unfounded and stem from no definite reason. Yet just for the sake of good measure, a tad of such a lingering fear might actually be constructive as it provides me with the impetus to flee in the event I feel like ceasing a workout due to tiredness/laziness.
-Kenneth Wong
Right now, I shall re-tell these stories to u amigos in the 3rd person, as well as provide my personal commentary and opinions on them.
Tale #1.
This fisherman who apparently regulary parks himself along the canal, has claimed to have manifested an apparition darting across the expanse of the kampong in the period of '94-'95. To add a further detatil, the apparition resembled a shimmering, luminous satin cloth violently tossed by the blustery winds.
Commentary
As it was my first time hearing such a tale, I can't help but think that it was a poorly spun one. Also, such an event seemed ever too cinematic! Though this story appears to have been too conveniently created based on these elementary details, or perhaps a genuine figment of his imagination, I think i'd go against my better judgement and give him the benefit of doubt just in case.
Incidentally and on a totally unrelated note, this stranger witnessed this flying figure in the same period I intruded and fled from the golf course adjacent to the canal, with wild abandon o course. I swear, the village was terribly, hideously terrifying man; with glass shard strewn all over its ground, dilapidated and standing against a pitch dark background then. The combination of uncertainity, danger and of course adrenaline fuelled my mad dash home and unfortunately the village was the only way through. In case you don't know, I was already chased by a furious caddie who discovered i trespassed. Holyshit, it was like being IN 2 concurrent horror movies that I am not intent on re-enactign.
Tale #2
In an unspecified number of years ago, 2 fugitives scaled the inner walls of Changi Prison and managed to reach the perimeter fence. The guard on duty slept on his job and they broke a weak-link in the fence wiring. Through that opening, they fled for their lives. Somehow, they reached the canal, darted across the bridge into the village and disappeared in the wild forest. Surprisingly enough, the connecting chains that linked each of their cuffs were broken too..
Commentary
This is absurd! Changi prison is how freaking far from my canal man! Escaping without getting caught while handcuffed is in itself a miracle, but to gain access to handcuff breaking equipment and later travel that far by foot? My foot! This fisherman sure talks too much cock and failed pathetically at lying.
Tale #3
Once upon a time, there was an illegal immigrant that hailed from Java who docked at the mouth of the canal. It is along Changi beach. He got caught by the police coast guards and thrown into the shell. One night, he asked his fellow inmates if they wanted to escape and told them he knew how to. Nobody believed him. This Javanese used his sharp fingernails to etch a figure of a boat on a wall of his cell and alledgly performed an incredulous feat of black magic; his body vanished into the boat figure as though it were a portal to somewhere else. For the record, the fisherman claimed that to this day, the etched figure still exists, but not the body.
Commentary
In FrozenThrone(Warcraft 3 expansion) the computer game, I know that the Way Gate(teleporting gate) exists and had been my saving grace on numerous occasions. However in real life? I find great difficulty in coming to terms with it. Physical prison breaks are possible though extremely improbable; like the exemplar Andy Dufrene in The Shawshank Redemption(btw it's based on a true story) who caved his escape with a simple and small rockhammer. With that mentioned, Tale #2 seems even more plausible compared to this. I must also admit that I'm unable to grasp the supernatural or the spiritual realm because I haven't experienced anything first hand in that respect nor have i had the luxury of dealing with any evidence of such. Yet, the lack of such knowledge usually leaves me ambivalent and at times, disconcerted.
Just to let yall know, I do my routine running dead into the night while most are already deep in slumber. Yeah, I operate in a similar fashion to the BFG(Big Friendly Giant) in respect to our common topsy turvy waking times! Somehow whenever I cross the bridge to the barren region of the razed village, I never fail to be consumed by this foreboding evil and darkness which inevitably translates into larger and quicker strides as a physical manifestation of my horror.However I must say, that I'm rationalising these premonitions away because I know they're unfounded and stem from no definite reason. Yet just for the sake of good measure, a tad of such a lingering fear might actually be constructive as it provides me with the impetus to flee in the event I feel like ceasing a workout due to tiredness/laziness.
-Kenneth Wong
Friday, August 25, 2006
The results thus far...
Thought i would just update u guys on my gym progress.. Costa has lived up to his promises and proven himself to be worth every dollar im paying him, increasing my weight by 1kg in 4 weeks of training. We are right on track to reach an increase of 10kg in one year and im finding my sessions with him extremely productive and entertaining... ok.. thats it from me... cya guys!
-Luke
-Luke
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Hostel-ity
Hey peeps. I haven't been bloggin for a long time so here's one for u guys.
As u all know, Malik and i are probably much settled down in NTU after 3 weeks of school. To begin with it all, let's start of with the 1st week of school. I skipped all the orientations that were held by my hall, various groups in school and lastly, those wasteful talks for new students. (obviously they were a waste of time la because much can be read from the school's webby)
Lessons began on the first week with no tutorials so the lectures kicked off first and to my horror, half of the lectures i have to attend hold the cure to insomnia. (lecturers juz talked into the microphone as if they were recording an autopsy or something and it was so freakin boring..i succumbed to my slothful nature)
My course lacks babes and eye candy by the way. They should have lectures organised by the business school and my faculty should learn from them instead. The unspoken standard "uniform" the chicks in the business school dawned was like denim skirts that were so damn short, not to mention, they seemed to be all dressed up for clubbing (instead of lessons) perhaps they were having lessons on clubbing. But either way, they still look pretty hot. Engineering gals are either made in china or somewhere else in the world...includes indonesia and india..
The first few days in school were damn horrifying cus it was so hard to find the lecture theatres cus our lessons scheduled in the timetable had their lectures held in lecture theatres ranging from one end of the block to the other end of another block.. and to get to the next lecture meant dat u have to walk freakin far..climb many many many many steps (up/down) to attend the next lecture. However, i have come to realise..that i can actually juz watch my lecture over the comp since they recorded it and posted it online..so dat means u dun have to attend the lectures.. u can juz fast forward all their bullshit until the part where they reveal the more vital details of the lecture.. i juz did dat yesterday actually (now's week 3).. haha..
Parties are constantly held weekly by the various schools in the campus.. cus i have received invitations to a few already.. but never had the interest to party (i have tuned up to mugging mode lately)..
Hostel life is pretty alright. the rooms are big enuff actually since i realised that most of my time spent is at the library. My room mate is this LSA guy from some SIR who disrupted to further his studies in triple E. Seems like a disciplined guy. He allowed me to use his laptop since i didnt have a comp. There are few babes in my hall.. but sometimes other babes from other halls will come by to my canteen for their meals...cus the food in theirs suck. The baes in my hall are hard to come by..cus they are always mugging in their rooms i think.. dunno abt dat..yet..
SO far school's pretty alright.. getting used to it already.. realised dat u need to study consistently.. cus the rate of the lectures/tutorials are like 1-2 topics per week. My tutorial teachers are quite havoc..i have a fresh grad teaching my class for physics...a chinaman for math...and a guy who looks like darth sidious for materials science.. interesting huh? Oh yeah..talk abt tutorials.. my tutorial group comprises of half the strength being made in china...a quarter made in indonesia... and abt an eigth made in singapore..the rest are either made in malaysia + other countries (eg korea, vietnam)
actually the china girls are prettier than the singaporeans...i realised.. more pleasant looking..and the indo girls are damn nerdy looking..haha.. oh well..it's damn drastic la..that's the main point i'm driving at..
There are many people in NTU whom i know even befor uni started..so dat made uni life less dull for the first 2 weeks.. had a few gals' contacts given to me cus i was at this booth (which sells playing cards) at one of the school's activities (comprising of stalls set up by the undergrads to sell stuff)... my friend (ex victorian) was running the booth...so he was like.. "u cud flourish and draw the crowd".. so dat's wad i did..and there really was a small crowd..(or u can say a gathering)...yep..sales went up for that 10 mins or so when i was there.. so it was a good thing...it was even better when some chicks came up and asked for my number.. while the others asked if i cud show them a trick or 2.. (they gave their numbers after dat and asked if i wanted to go clubbing...like wth)
oh..juz yesterday i was eating (with my study mates..all guys) in the canteen...and this gal and her friend came up to me and asked me if i was a freshman..so i was like "yep".. then she asked if i needed textbooks..(i have gotten my textbooks already so i ddint need any)..so of course i said no then she went on to ask me to spread word to my friends if they needed textbooks..to find her..and she gave me her number after dat.. i asked her if that number cud be used to spam smses...(jokingly).. then she said.."yeah..only urs right".. anyway she's been msging me ever since.. but..dun get the wrong idea...although she's from business school..
my hall people seems to be quite "on" cus they have been organising outings which i have declined to attend due to having my weekends tied up with other social meetings with my magician friends. lessons have been both interesting and boring..interesting ones are the life science ones, forensic science and this module titled...effective communication...hahaha...i was like..i dun need dat..wad i really need "effective slamming avoidance communication"...
oh yeah... i've only seen malik once in school..in 3 weeks.. haha...even though he's attending the same maths lecture...the same boring maths lecture by this honkey tong.. (luke's prolly wondering...but maths is fun wad)...hahaha..it is la..but the lecturer CMI..
oh well..i've gotta go to school to attend this stupid shit called union day...it's some election day for various committees in the school (sounds damn political...darn right is...) they have some posts called honourary secretary general...(like wtf?) and business manager and logistics officer..dunno wad shit they can come up with...totally bogus..i need a good luff...so.yeah...going to check it out..fill u guys on more upcoming events..btw i'm having continual assessment on the week of sept 11...so is malik..hahaha.. so i prolly shud be mugging like hell then..hahaha..15 % of the score...for 1st sem..haha..must grab...
hope to see u guys soon man..have fun..
-Ur number one slam-target
Elvin
As u all know, Malik and i are probably much settled down in NTU after 3 weeks of school. To begin with it all, let's start of with the 1st week of school. I skipped all the orientations that were held by my hall, various groups in school and lastly, those wasteful talks for new students. (obviously they were a waste of time la because much can be read from the school's webby)
Lessons began on the first week with no tutorials so the lectures kicked off first and to my horror, half of the lectures i have to attend hold the cure to insomnia. (lecturers juz talked into the microphone as if they were recording an autopsy or something and it was so freakin boring..i succumbed to my slothful nature)
My course lacks babes and eye candy by the way. They should have lectures organised by the business school and my faculty should learn from them instead. The unspoken standard "uniform" the chicks in the business school dawned was like denim skirts that were so damn short, not to mention, they seemed to be all dressed up for clubbing (instead of lessons) perhaps they were having lessons on clubbing. But either way, they still look pretty hot. Engineering gals are either made in china or somewhere else in the world...includes indonesia and india..
The first few days in school were damn horrifying cus it was so hard to find the lecture theatres cus our lessons scheduled in the timetable had their lectures held in lecture theatres ranging from one end of the block to the other end of another block.. and to get to the next lecture meant dat u have to walk freakin far..climb many many many many steps (up/down) to attend the next lecture. However, i have come to realise..that i can actually juz watch my lecture over the comp since they recorded it and posted it online..so dat means u dun have to attend the lectures.. u can juz fast forward all their bullshit until the part where they reveal the more vital details of the lecture.. i juz did dat yesterday actually (now's week 3).. haha..
Parties are constantly held weekly by the various schools in the campus.. cus i have received invitations to a few already.. but never had the interest to party (i have tuned up to mugging mode lately)..
Hostel life is pretty alright. the rooms are big enuff actually since i realised that most of my time spent is at the library. My room mate is this LSA guy from some SIR who disrupted to further his studies in triple E. Seems like a disciplined guy. He allowed me to use his laptop since i didnt have a comp. There are few babes in my hall.. but sometimes other babes from other halls will come by to my canteen for their meals...cus the food in theirs suck. The baes in my hall are hard to come by..cus they are always mugging in their rooms i think.. dunno abt dat..yet..
SO far school's pretty alright.. getting used to it already.. realised dat u need to study consistently.. cus the rate of the lectures/tutorials are like 1-2 topics per week. My tutorial teachers are quite havoc..i have a fresh grad teaching my class for physics...a chinaman for math...and a guy who looks like darth sidious for materials science.. interesting huh? Oh yeah..talk abt tutorials.. my tutorial group comprises of half the strength being made in china...a quarter made in indonesia... and abt an eigth made in singapore..the rest are either made in malaysia + other countries (eg korea, vietnam)
actually the china girls are prettier than the singaporeans...i realised.. more pleasant looking..and the indo girls are damn nerdy looking..haha.. oh well..it's damn drastic la..that's the main point i'm driving at..
There are many people in NTU whom i know even befor uni started..so dat made uni life less dull for the first 2 weeks.. had a few gals' contacts given to me cus i was at this booth (which sells playing cards) at one of the school's activities (comprising of stalls set up by the undergrads to sell stuff)... my friend (ex victorian) was running the booth...so he was like.. "u cud flourish and draw the crowd".. so dat's wad i did..and there really was a small crowd..(or u can say a gathering)...yep..sales went up for that 10 mins or so when i was there.. so it was a good thing...it was even better when some chicks came up and asked for my number.. while the others asked if i cud show them a trick or 2.. (they gave their numbers after dat and asked if i wanted to go clubbing...like wth)
oh..juz yesterday i was eating (with my study mates..all guys) in the canteen...and this gal and her friend came up to me and asked me if i was a freshman..so i was like "yep".. then she asked if i needed textbooks..(i have gotten my textbooks already so i ddint need any)..so of course i said no then she went on to ask me to spread word to my friends if they needed textbooks..to find her..and she gave me her number after dat.. i asked her if that number cud be used to spam smses...(jokingly).. then she said.."yeah..only urs right".. anyway she's been msging me ever since.. but..dun get the wrong idea...although she's from business school..
my hall people seems to be quite "on" cus they have been organising outings which i have declined to attend due to having my weekends tied up with other social meetings with my magician friends. lessons have been both interesting and boring..interesting ones are the life science ones, forensic science and this module titled...effective communication...hahaha...i was like..i dun need dat..wad i really need "effective slamming avoidance communication"...
oh yeah... i've only seen malik once in school..in 3 weeks.. haha...even though he's attending the same maths lecture...the same boring maths lecture by this honkey tong.. (luke's prolly wondering...but maths is fun wad)...hahaha..it is la..but the lecturer CMI..
oh well..i've gotta go to school to attend this stupid shit called union day...it's some election day for various committees in the school (sounds damn political...darn right is...) they have some posts called honourary secretary general...(like wtf?) and business manager and logistics officer..dunno wad shit they can come up with...totally bogus..i need a good luff...so.yeah...going to check it out..fill u guys on more upcoming events..btw i'm having continual assessment on the week of sept 11...so is malik..hahaha.. so i prolly shud be mugging like hell then..hahaha..15 % of the score...for 1st sem..haha..must grab...
hope to see u guys soon man..have fun..
-Ur number one slam-target
Elvin
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Of Skirts and Words
Alright. At the behest of Kenneth Wong, well that’s part of the reason besides the inspiration drawn from my newfound life in SMU, I have decided to churn out this entry to update you Amigos on the SMU situation through the objective and unbiased eyes of yours truly.
I went for 2 orientations, the first being the social science one (my faculty) and the second being the official freshman one involving the whole school. The first was a 2 day 1 night thing held within the smu compound and the surrounding town area for the couple of amazing race like activities that were part of the rather slack camp. Well, to my disappointment, I saw ok looking girls but failed to spot a hot enough girl that will actually make me turn my head and say ‘whoa’. However, the camp was ok and I made friends. The second orientation was 3 days 2 nights held at Changi Adventure Camp and it definitely wasn’t a pleasant adventure as the site’s name suggests. It was specifically called Team-Building Camp and not Orientation Camp and that fact was constantly reiterated to us. So, as you can expect, the camp turned out to be more than a phantasma of irrelevant games and activities that were ill-catered to the proper nurturing of team-building (the camp’s main objective), which is in any case something we already know by now and for those who don’t, it’s obviously pointless instilling it now. The games and activities also required a reflection/feedback/AAR session after the completion of each individual one which became a bloody pain in the ass and a foolish waste of time. Since you have an idea of what this camp was like, I’ll spare y’all the lurid details save one: the bloody toilets were clogged by the time my group and a few others had our turn to bathe, hence we ended up bathing in the few miserable cubicles with our feet submerged up to our ankles in the grime, slime and filth infested water. And to top off the torrid tale, the girl situation was the same as the one in my first orientation camp. However, I made friends once again and this is the only consolation to a hellish 3 days of quasi-army rigour (ok I’m exaggerating). Haha.
This week is my first week in school and I’m still trying to find my footing in the classes I’m attending esp the Stats module since the mathematical recesses of my brains have been washed out by the VJ arts stream and more recently, army. I’m still trying to get used to the 5 diff modules/classes I’m attending a week this semester as it is rather peculiar in smu that we have discussion groups of 40 as compared to the more familiar few hundred-a-lecture in the other unis, thus our timetables are randomly arranged which results in barely a few ppl sharing similar timetables without minor or major variations. So, this implies that I have to constantly readjust to a new class of ppl. But I’m already beginning to spot repeated faces here and there and successfully locating the right seminar rooms among the multitude with ease. I’m starting to enjoy my classes esp the sociology, communications and political science ones.
Best of all, I’m starting to experience the proverbial and much vaunted about smu girls that are the drooling fantasy of many deprived Singaporean boys. Yes, today has been the main inspiration for me to detach myself away from my stack of readings to spare some time for this inevitable entry.
Today has been an interesting day indeed. I had a class in the morning up till lunch (my classes come in blocks of 3hrs 15min) and another at 3.30. Incidentally, this not bad looking, funny and intelligent girl, who happens to be from VJ and topped VJ in French, from my social science orientation group happened to be in the same class as me and I bumped into her before class. She was talking to this other girl she just got to know and I said hi to her and sandwiched myself between them and got to know the other girl, who is incidentally really nice, friendly and faring pretty well in the looks department. I got both their numbers and for the record, THEY were the ones that asked me for mine on 2 separate occasions. Haha so that counts for 2 jackpots in a row. The next jackpot was bagging a lunch with the first girl (the one I already knew briefly from orientation) since incidentally again, I had a class at 3.30 which gives me 3 hrs to kill and she didn’t have anyone to have lunch with since her sis decided not to have lunch with her. Yet again, the jackpots persist in their roll: while having lunch, an above average looker albeit with unsatisfactory complexion from my social science orientation came up to my table and said hi and introduced herself. The next jackpot in my rapidly growing strikes of the day appeared in the form of a 3rd yr student sitting beside me during the next class cos the school missed her out during yr one hence her joining of my class. Again, a humourous and good natured girl who joined me in sneaky criticisms and making fun of our classmates, she eventually became my project partner cos both of us didn’t bother choosing so in the end we realized we didn’t have partners after class and became partners. Perhaps in the course of the project, we’ll be more than project ‘partners’. Haha. Ok. Last strike of the day: This attractive girl whom I recognized to be from the social science orientation happened to be in front of me when I was walking out of school. I’ve always wanted to strike up a conversation with her but failed to cos of lack of opportunity and her always being with her grp of friends. However, the tides turned when she turned and recognized me and to my pleasant surprise, she even knew my name from the orientation. I was embarrassed not to know hers but later reflected that that fact actually gave me leverage over her since she knows mine but I don’t know hers. Haha. Who da man.
As y’all can see, today has indeed been an eventful day. A day of skirts and words. Hope that the rest of my fellow Amigos, with the exceptions of the one going to Bristol and the other who is already well settled, are coping well with this new phase. And for all, hope that everyone is happy where they are including Kenneth who is venturing into a relative unknown, and that we will stand the test of time and flourish along with it.
Justin
I went for 2 orientations, the first being the social science one (my faculty) and the second being the official freshman one involving the whole school. The first was a 2 day 1 night thing held within the smu compound and the surrounding town area for the couple of amazing race like activities that were part of the rather slack camp. Well, to my disappointment, I saw ok looking girls but failed to spot a hot enough girl that will actually make me turn my head and say ‘whoa’. However, the camp was ok and I made friends. The second orientation was 3 days 2 nights held at Changi Adventure Camp and it definitely wasn’t a pleasant adventure as the site’s name suggests. It was specifically called Team-Building Camp and not Orientation Camp and that fact was constantly reiterated to us. So, as you can expect, the camp turned out to be more than a phantasma of irrelevant games and activities that were ill-catered to the proper nurturing of team-building (the camp’s main objective), which is in any case something we already know by now and for those who don’t, it’s obviously pointless instilling it now. The games and activities also required a reflection/feedback/AAR session after the completion of each individual one which became a bloody pain in the ass and a foolish waste of time. Since you have an idea of what this camp was like, I’ll spare y’all the lurid details save one: the bloody toilets were clogged by the time my group and a few others had our turn to bathe, hence we ended up bathing in the few miserable cubicles with our feet submerged up to our ankles in the grime, slime and filth infested water. And to top off the torrid tale, the girl situation was the same as the one in my first orientation camp. However, I made friends once again and this is the only consolation to a hellish 3 days of quasi-army rigour (ok I’m exaggerating). Haha.
This week is my first week in school and I’m still trying to find my footing in the classes I’m attending esp the Stats module since the mathematical recesses of my brains have been washed out by the VJ arts stream and more recently, army. I’m still trying to get used to the 5 diff modules/classes I’m attending a week this semester as it is rather peculiar in smu that we have discussion groups of 40 as compared to the more familiar few hundred-a-lecture in the other unis, thus our timetables are randomly arranged which results in barely a few ppl sharing similar timetables without minor or major variations. So, this implies that I have to constantly readjust to a new class of ppl. But I’m already beginning to spot repeated faces here and there and successfully locating the right seminar rooms among the multitude with ease. I’m starting to enjoy my classes esp the sociology, communications and political science ones.
Best of all, I’m starting to experience the proverbial and much vaunted about smu girls that are the drooling fantasy of many deprived Singaporean boys. Yes, today has been the main inspiration for me to detach myself away from my stack of readings to spare some time for this inevitable entry.
Today has been an interesting day indeed. I had a class in the morning up till lunch (my classes come in blocks of 3hrs 15min) and another at 3.30. Incidentally, this not bad looking, funny and intelligent girl, who happens to be from VJ and topped VJ in French, from my social science orientation group happened to be in the same class as me and I bumped into her before class. She was talking to this other girl she just got to know and I said hi to her and sandwiched myself between them and got to know the other girl, who is incidentally really nice, friendly and faring pretty well in the looks department. I got both their numbers and for the record, THEY were the ones that asked me for mine on 2 separate occasions. Haha so that counts for 2 jackpots in a row. The next jackpot was bagging a lunch with the first girl (the one I already knew briefly from orientation) since incidentally again, I had a class at 3.30 which gives me 3 hrs to kill and she didn’t have anyone to have lunch with since her sis decided not to have lunch with her. Yet again, the jackpots persist in their roll: while having lunch, an above average looker albeit with unsatisfactory complexion from my social science orientation came up to my table and said hi and introduced herself. The next jackpot in my rapidly growing strikes of the day appeared in the form of a 3rd yr student sitting beside me during the next class cos the school missed her out during yr one hence her joining of my class. Again, a humourous and good natured girl who joined me in sneaky criticisms and making fun of our classmates, she eventually became my project partner cos both of us didn’t bother choosing so in the end we realized we didn’t have partners after class and became partners. Perhaps in the course of the project, we’ll be more than project ‘partners’. Haha. Ok. Last strike of the day: This attractive girl whom I recognized to be from the social science orientation happened to be in front of me when I was walking out of school. I’ve always wanted to strike up a conversation with her but failed to cos of lack of opportunity and her always being with her grp of friends. However, the tides turned when she turned and recognized me and to my pleasant surprise, she even knew my name from the orientation. I was embarrassed not to know hers but later reflected that that fact actually gave me leverage over her since she knows mine but I don’t know hers. Haha. Who da man.
As y’all can see, today has indeed been an eventful day. A day of skirts and words. Hope that the rest of my fellow Amigos, with the exceptions of the one going to Bristol and the other who is already well settled, are coping well with this new phase. And for all, hope that everyone is happy where they are including Kenneth who is venturing into a relative unknown, and that we will stand the test of time and flourish along with it.
Justin
Sunday, August 20, 2006
The Bristol Build Up
In nearly a month, I'll be jetting off to London with Bristol being my eventual destination. Though initially eager and raring to go, I am now somewhat nonchalant and cavalier towards this imminent prospect.
Anyway, after such a long time, I unexpectedly(after a while of waiting, I was numb to any expectations) received my accomodation confirmation in the mail at mid-day. Be it by sheer fortune, coincidence or skill at culturing some bullshit in my accomm application, I was granted my choice of hostel.
To give yall more insight on this matter, there're only 2 regions in Bristol where the various Halls are located; One is accessible by a 10min walk to/from Wills Memorial Tower(Law faculty) while the other is slightly more than 45min, by foot once again. All but one of the fully catered(comes with cooked food) halls are located in the more distant region.
Naturally, I wanted to lodge in the more accessible region and in a hall with cooked meals for convenience sake in face of the predominantly adverse and gloomy climate of South-West England. Therefore, I did what I thought would most significantly influence the Accomodation Officers to place me in my desired hall. In the specific disability and reasons part of the accomodation application form, I mentioned(more aptly, blew out of proportion) the severity of an average asthma attack as well as it's perennial frequency. Most importantly, I linked my disability to being unable to travel unreasonably long distances in the cold(to logically locate me somewhere nearby) and my strong preference of having readily cooked food in the event an asthma attack impedes me from cooking(for that specific hall). And despite being given the option to list my order of hall choices, I filled Clifton Hill House as my top and only choice. Somehow, things worked out.
Right now, I am satisfied that every of the necessary documents has been settled and finalised without any tangos with the local and Bristish bureaucracies. Not that I had lost sleep over those issues, but with all these practical depature stuff straightened out, I can only declare that I am physically jet set. Mentally and emotionally wise? I'm nearly there, with my eagerness kept in healthy measure against my reluctance to leave Singapore. But one thing for certain- Despite the miles that seperate every of us, I'm confident my friendships, with theamigos as a whole and as individuals, would the very least be well preserved and also with realistic growth potential, based on our online cross country communcations and whatever limited time spent here at home thus far.
Anyway, after such a long time, I unexpectedly(after a while of waiting, I was numb to any expectations) received my accomodation confirmation in the mail at mid-day. Be it by sheer fortune, coincidence or skill at culturing some bullshit in my accomm application, I was granted my choice of hostel.
To give yall more insight on this matter, there're only 2 regions in Bristol where the various Halls are located; One is accessible by a 10min walk to/from Wills Memorial Tower(Law faculty) while the other is slightly more than 45min, by foot once again. All but one of the fully catered(comes with cooked food) halls are located in the more distant region.
Naturally, I wanted to lodge in the more accessible region and in a hall with cooked meals for convenience sake in face of the predominantly adverse and gloomy climate of South-West England. Therefore, I did what I thought would most significantly influence the Accomodation Officers to place me in my desired hall. In the specific disability and reasons part of the accomodation application form, I mentioned(more aptly, blew out of proportion) the severity of an average asthma attack as well as it's perennial frequency. Most importantly, I linked my disability to being unable to travel unreasonably long distances in the cold(to logically locate me somewhere nearby) and my strong preference of having readily cooked food in the event an asthma attack impedes me from cooking(for that specific hall). And despite being given the option to list my order of hall choices, I filled Clifton Hill House as my top and only choice. Somehow, things worked out.
Right now, I am satisfied that every of the necessary documents has been settled and finalised without any tangos with the local and Bristish bureaucracies. Not that I had lost sleep over those issues, but with all these practical depature stuff straightened out, I can only declare that I am physically jet set. Mentally and emotionally wise? I'm nearly there, with my eagerness kept in healthy measure against my reluctance to leave Singapore. But one thing for certain- Despite the miles that seperate every of us, I'm confident my friendships, with theamigos as a whole and as individuals, would the very least be well preserved and also with realistic growth potential, based on our online cross country communcations and whatever limited time spent here at home thus far.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
The Plan
Listen up fellas, you all have just nearly more than a month to learn up 'Amigos Para Siempre' because we're gonna make a music video that is bound to encapsulate deaf defying out-of-tune feats as well as bad Spanish, yet vocalised in harmony all at once. The prospective plan is for each of us, bar(with witty intent) the consistently sober Malike, to guzzle from the nozzles, to the depths of the bottles, on Ile de Sentosa(a la Jack n Johnny, Sparrow n Depp) till we fall behind and beyond the vanishing point of drunkardness* HAHA! Well, at least citing intoxication as a bad excuse in place of admitting to having poor vocal chords may perhaps be our saving grace. Yup, so let me close with these 2 vital points..
1) If the prospective events follow the script, we'll end the day in a music video. If they don't, we'll prolly end up in shit if we steal those 2 bikes and ride them into sea. Or someone might just end up dunked. Speculate.
2) I bet a dive, in underwear only and head-first into the sea, if Elvin doesn't get high first. And Elvin, I'm waiting for u to up the ante man.
Welcome to hell. Its hinges break loose dead into the night on Sept 22nd.
-Kenneth Wong(sober for 21years and running)
* The scale has various levels- Sober, High, Drunk and beyond. So like Buzz Lightyear says: To infinity and beyond. Hell yeah.
1) If the prospective events follow the script, we'll end the day in a music video. If they don't, we'll prolly end up in shit if we steal those 2 bikes and ride them into sea. Or someone might just end up dunked. Speculate.
2) I bet a dive, in underwear only and head-first into the sea, if Elvin doesn't get high first. And Elvin, I'm waiting for u to up the ante man.
Welcome to hell. Its hinges break loose dead into the night on Sept 22nd.
-Kenneth Wong(sober for 21years and running)
* The scale has various levels- Sober, High, Drunk and beyond. So like Buzz Lightyear says: To infinity and beyond. Hell yeah.
Monday, August 07, 2006
The speed of light
Hi everyone... it has been a really long time since I did my last blog entry, but thats because nothing interesting was happening in my life. This entry that I am making has nothing to do with cold plays hit song. It has to do with my first day of my varsity life. I only had one lecture today, and it happened to be a physics one. The lecturer was talking abt optics, which is about light and its properties. I took a seat beside 2 china scholars, because I did not se anyone familiar in the lecture hall and also the center seat seemed like a good seat. Make no mistake, I did go to uni to study hard. I was browsing around for familiar faces for the rest of the lecture. Alot made late entries.
Then suddenly, just as the lecturer made the statement that the speed of light is 3 times 10^8, I saw UZY. Serious. He is doing common engineering. He was seated beside casper the friendly ghost. I waited till the end of the lecture before i went over to say hi. Casper was apparently not going home with Uzy, and since i also had no company to go home with, we decided to go home together. It was a long walk to the bus stop, andUzy was extremely patient with me and my ludicrously slow walking speed. I did ask him some really stupid questions during our long conversation. For example, after asking him if he was staying in the hostel, which he was'nt, I said he should consider since he was living so much far away. I felt really stupid after that... I mean whats bedok to jalan bahar for someone who can run at the speed of sound right. I know my title is speed of light, and i just told you that he travels at the speed of sound. Truth is, noone knows exactly how fast he can run. Also, he is still training with his VJ team, so he could have improved many times since the last time we knew him. The reason why it is impossible to see him when he is running is because the light emitted from him never reaches our eyes! Now this is an application of physics theories. So we finally reached the bus stop. While waiting for the bus, he gave me this particularly interesting theory. I asked him if he still kept in touch with luke and kenneth and the rest of them and he said no. So I was telling him that ken was going to bristol while luke was already in australia. Then he suddenly said, Luke should just give me some money. This reminded me of kens theory of how everyone owes him money because remember that time... Anyway he later said that since Luke is so rich, he should just give Uzy some money so that he too can go study overseas. He said that the money spent for Lukes education in australia was equivalent to peanuts for Luke. Then he edited it by saying it was probably more like a bag of peanuts. Then he further edited it. Get a load of this. He said it was like a cadbury bar. I am not a huge chocolate fan, but I do not remember any cadbury chocolates having peanuts. Then again, he could have imported them from the US!
Anyway the bus came, and we took it to head to boon lay interchange. On the bus, a second shock awaited me. 5000*5000=25000000. Thats how much I would have won from ken if I had bet a single dollar on this day. I saw Harith! Harith was looking for hall 7. So we were talking for a while on the bus, when i realised that Harith should get done soon or else the bus would head back to boon lay. Harith was actually on this bus from Boon lay, and looking for his hall from the bus. When we got to the last stop before the bus headed to the PIE, I told Harith to get down. He obviously thought that the bus keeps going around NTU until he finds his hostel. Obviously, he had got into the wrong bus( Hariths personal tour bus was nowhere in sight). So he decided to get down. When everyone had already got off, he still took a leisurely stroll form the end of the bus to the door. It might be difficult for luke to understand what I am saying because he never takes a bus. So just try to imagine from my vivid descriptions Luke.
Finally we reached Boon lay.. Me and Uzy took the train. I alighted at queenstown. During the journey, he also asked me if i knew where hanafi was. I said no, and he said maybe he was in Lebanon. At that point, I had reached queenstown, and decided to get off. I took the elevator down, and before entering it, I took one final glance at the train, but Uzy was nowhere to be found. Just like that, (spoof!), he was gone!
-Malik
Then suddenly, just as the lecturer made the statement that the speed of light is 3 times 10^8, I saw UZY. Serious. He is doing common engineering. He was seated beside casper the friendly ghost. I waited till the end of the lecture before i went over to say hi. Casper was apparently not going home with Uzy, and since i also had no company to go home with, we decided to go home together. It was a long walk to the bus stop, andUzy was extremely patient with me and my ludicrously slow walking speed. I did ask him some really stupid questions during our long conversation. For example, after asking him if he was staying in the hostel, which he was'nt, I said he should consider since he was living so much far away. I felt really stupid after that... I mean whats bedok to jalan bahar for someone who can run at the speed of sound right. I know my title is speed of light, and i just told you that he travels at the speed of sound. Truth is, noone knows exactly how fast he can run. Also, he is still training with his VJ team, so he could have improved many times since the last time we knew him. The reason why it is impossible to see him when he is running is because the light emitted from him never reaches our eyes! Now this is an application of physics theories. So we finally reached the bus stop. While waiting for the bus, he gave me this particularly interesting theory. I asked him if he still kept in touch with luke and kenneth and the rest of them and he said no. So I was telling him that ken was going to bristol while luke was already in australia. Then he suddenly said, Luke should just give me some money. This reminded me of kens theory of how everyone owes him money because remember that time... Anyway he later said that since Luke is so rich, he should just give Uzy some money so that he too can go study overseas. He said that the money spent for Lukes education in australia was equivalent to peanuts for Luke. Then he edited it by saying it was probably more like a bag of peanuts. Then he further edited it. Get a load of this. He said it was like a cadbury bar. I am not a huge chocolate fan, but I do not remember any cadbury chocolates having peanuts. Then again, he could have imported them from the US!
Anyway the bus came, and we took it to head to boon lay interchange. On the bus, a second shock awaited me. 5000*5000=25000000. Thats how much I would have won from ken if I had bet a single dollar on this day. I saw Harith! Harith was looking for hall 7. So we were talking for a while on the bus, when i realised that Harith should get done soon or else the bus would head back to boon lay. Harith was actually on this bus from Boon lay, and looking for his hall from the bus. When we got to the last stop before the bus headed to the PIE, I told Harith to get down. He obviously thought that the bus keeps going around NTU until he finds his hostel. Obviously, he had got into the wrong bus( Hariths personal tour bus was nowhere in sight). So he decided to get down. When everyone had already got off, he still took a leisurely stroll form the end of the bus to the door. It might be difficult for luke to understand what I am saying because he never takes a bus. So just try to imagine from my vivid descriptions Luke.
Finally we reached Boon lay.. Me and Uzy took the train. I alighted at queenstown. During the journey, he also asked me if i knew where hanafi was. I said no, and he said maybe he was in Lebanon. At that point, I had reached queenstown, and decided to get off. I took the elevator down, and before entering it, I took one final glance at the train, but Uzy was nowhere to be found. Just like that, (spoof!), he was gone!
-Malik
The More Meaninglful Entry
National Day beckons. After playing soccer I pondered upon what patriotism really means and am impelled to display my thoughts. Its significance undoubtedly stretches beyond the parading of flags, singing of anthems with pride, sensational feeling of belonging as well as charging forth with bad national decisions blindly. The concept of patriotism can be a misleading tool if selfishly harnessed to shore up national(more likely political) support at the expense of a country's interest by unification under this 'virtue' that had nothing to begin with. Also, it is wrong to exhibit condescending behaviour towards foreigners under the 'umbrella' of patriotism as a bad excuse, because it never did and shall never entail such an atrocity.
Patriotism, from my perspective as an individual, is about thinking rationally and critically about material national issues with the benefits of your country as your top priority, as well as courageously projecting them to those who've access to the corridors of power, with wisdom. Yet, it's also crucial to consider that in spite of a country consisting of merely patriots, we must recognise those're also individuals, and that can incite dissension among ranks and within nation in the likely event that combustion of the variants of opinion occurs. Therefore, it is not only my hope but more importantly wise that we Singaporeans treat the exchange of all issues and one another with great sensitivity. Also, don't misconstrue or undermine its depth, for patriotism is not merely about being an opinionated loud mouth in society; it is true courage because it reflects genuine effort in refined, objective and critically analysed thoughts, as well as balls when the occassion calls for the damning of a bad decision despite whatever impending eventualities it might bring.
I, therefore implore to everyone at large this national day, to set aside the many differences that have divided the Singaporean population and wholeheartedly indulge in the significance of this event by trying to love our country more, even if it doesn't come naturally. Be good celebrating citizens and patriots all at once. I hope this idealistic entry provokes each one of us to think about our function in society and how we can keep this fabric consistently intact.
-Kenneth Wong(I swear I didn't get paid to write this)
*I realised if the President could come up with some bullshit which we HAD to endure during army camp parades on the eve of National Day, so can I churn some too. Eh my tip of the day to all u NSFs is to take MC on Aug 8th.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
The Evasion
For those of you who do not already know, i have a 2500 word essay to complete... by when i am supposed to complete this, im unsure... yet, i refuse to check the deadline, which is clearly written down in one of my books which is currently no further than 30 cm away from me... it would not be strange for one to wonder why i refuse to check.. the reason is simple... for the same reason that i am not checking the date of my upcoming exam... because if i do check, i will have no choice but to actually get down to doing some work. so rather than being laden with guilt, and bullying myself into studying, i shall remain in this state of ignorance which i shall use as my unfailing excuse for lounging about watching tv and making a blog entry when i should most probably be engaging myself in more academic pursuits. Anyway... philosophy aside, its time i updated u ppl on the state of my life.. i am currently going to gym ard 3 or 4 times a week... 2 of which are with my trainer, costa, who should be working at a dungeon or sth as a slave driver... i have been trying to evade the singaporean gang in school, and talk to other ppl. it would truly be abysmal if those 8 or 9 ppl are the only ppl i talk to for 6 years.. which is often the case, as kentaro told me. i met up with him on friday and had a much more enjoyable weekend with his company alone than i could possibly have with the 9 ppl of the singaporean gang. it is important to note that the singaporean gang's idea of going wild is a night of bridge at someones house. Nick Yap.. if u are reading this, dont go telling all of them about it... anyway... i have been talking to some of the graduate students lately and been finding their company at the very least, refreshingly different. my place is currently in a state of extreme disarray, and i resolve to clean it by tomorrow night. also, the earliest flight i can and will be taking back to sg in september is the latest flight on the 21st, which means i will be arriving in the morning on the 22nd... kenneth, i hope u wouldnt have left to the uk by this time.. ok ppl... thats pretty much it for this update... cya!
-Luke
-Luke
Friday, August 04, 2006
The Catapult to Elation
Waddup all you slothful and predominantly dormant people of this blog! As if nearly coincidental to Luke's most recent post, I am hell psyched! This by the way, comes with an enormous morale booster as I was edified by consciously relying on one of my lifelong philosophies- Nobody but yourself can haul you out of the shithole you're in!- which once again I must repeat, pleasantly resulted in nothing that fell short of success. However, unlike the many other spontaneous record breaking moments of elation, I saw this big wave coming a few days ago and nothing beats the anticipation of being totally charged up for anything. During those few days, I physically strained myself with relatively immoderate running distances(With that kinda heat generated, not only did I substantially melt that glacier of boredom but also probably did power a platoon of machines towards zion for a day Haha!), held meaningless msn conversations(I swear it works, at the expense of..haha) as well as a near-futile attempt at singing an Italian song which I thought might come in handy when the need haha to serenade a beautiful girl arises. I also treated myself like an object of an experiment(guinea pig lah) by carefully varying the stimuli i'm subject to. To wit, my selection of more aggresive, staccato-like and life injecting music I pump my audio receptors with. An example is Pop That Booty by Marques Houston. Right now, apart from being psyched, I'm also physically rejuvenated, and from the stuff I managed to conjure and later laugh to myself about while being shackled to boredom, I also feel that my most recent of labours have inadvertantly fertilised this expanse of imagination in my mind. Yup, therefore amigos, boredom is but a state of mind and whenevre we find ourselves trapped in the many negative circumstances(despair..sadness..lack of motivation..whatevr), we have hope to extricate ourselves, only if we believe and try. Yay! I just saw 5 red cars in a row...hope I getta deja vu... yeah right..it's just a glitch in the matrix.
-Kenneth Wong
-Kenneth Wong
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The High Feeling
I have tonnes of work to do... I'm feeling slightly nauseas from a dinner of questionable hygiene... I feel a mild flu coming on... And my body is aching from yesterdays ridiculously tiring gym work out... But... I'm feeling great... I'm feeling so high, nothing can bring me down... I have decided to push my work aside for the moment and am chilling to the light hearted, cheerful tunes of Oh What A Night by Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, No Woman, No Cry by Spunge and So Happy Together by The Turtles, all of which i recommend u guys download if u dont already have... Life is great and I am invincible. Hope this ecstasy is contagious... Cheers! =)
-Luke
-Luke
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