The Egg Has Dropped

告诉我

2009-04-12T17:39:00.001+08:00

My favorite singer, Cheer Chen came to Singapore for a concert on the 4th April. This time, I got the 7th row tickets! It was a really fun night and the concert this time was much better than her last concert at Max Pavilion. The venue is better, the sound is better and I got better tickets!

"告诉我" by Cheer Chen

Paris from my room!

2009-04-10T17:27:00.001+08:00

Nobody Nobody but chew!!!

2009-02-19T10:15:00.000+08:00

“I want nobody nobody but chew!”

Take a listen, this song will stick in your head for at least a day or two! Even the dance moves are pretty cute! I like the way they pronounce ‘you’ as ‘chew’… so cute!

"Nobody" by Wonder Girls

Egg in an award winning photo!

2009-01-28T12:38:00.004+08:00

"Who am I? You sure you want to know? (I'm not spiderman)"

The Broke Egg has got himself into an award winning photo! So, there’s actually an Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association which is also actually a division within the Wedding Photojournalist Association. Anyway, the award winning photo was taken when all of us were busy doing our toast to the bridegroom Ah Boon. It was a whole lot of fun! The link is here

Hopefully the link stay alive for a while longer and everyone gets a chance to verify this historic moment! In case there is anyone who wants to know the photographers, their website is here

Densha Otoko!

2009-01-22T05:08:00.005+08:00

The past few weeks has been rather busy… I went into shift work and had to adjust to an entirely different sleeping pattern. In fact, today is my off day and I’m still wide awake at 4am in the morning. Now I can’t really sleep at night but I can’t stay awake in the day!

During this time too, I’ve been glued to my laptop watching the Japanese drama “Densha Otoko” (translated as "Train Man"). This show is based on a true story of a 23-year-old otaku (Japanese geek) who intervened when a drunk man was harassing several women on a train. The otaku eventually got to know one of the women and started to date her out. The big problem is: he has absolutely zero experience with women! He started posting his experience on an online forum and got a lot of dating advice and eventually even managed to win the girl’s heart!

Initially though, I didn’t quite like the protagonist. He seemed weak and can’t even finish a proper sentence without stuttering. The girl (acted by Misako Ito) was so pretty and graceful and way out of his league. I think anyone of us by instinct would have thought that she deserves someone better. However, I did get touched by his sincerity for the girl and actually hoped that they really get together as the show goes on! This show really reminded me of myself when I was still young and clueless. The show captured the feeling of the uncertainty… the helpless feeling of having a mega crush on someone… wanting to know what she thinks of you… the internal struggle to call or not call her… planning how to ask her out on a date… planning what to do on that date! It really reminded me of my first date! Of course, I didn’t get the girl that time and maybe that’s why I wanted to see the protagonist win that girl’s heart! Wait… I even posted on online forums before too!

Also, the show is set in Tokyo and I’ve been to most of the places in the drama! The fun part is that I was at Akihabara, Tokyo before I've even seen this show! Okay, Akihabara is really the paradise of otakus… and I have to admit I do have quite a bit of otaku in me! Being in the Tokyo before actually made the show all the more believable and personal to me. Now I’ll have to deal with the withdrawal syndrome of finishing a such an addictive tv show! (and make myself sleep now that it’s 5am)

"Sekai wa sore wo ai to yobundaze" by Sambomaster [Densha Otoko ED Version]

"Twilight" by Electric Light Orchestra [Densha Otoko Opening Song

Sic Bo is sick... (KL/Genting 20th Dec - 22th Dec)

2008-12-26T13:43:00.007+08:00

I went on a road trip with de, dan and zj to Kuala Lumpur and Genting Highlands over the last weekend. This is second time I’ve driven my car to KL in two months!

The drive up was pretty nice. In fact, I actually quite like driving long distances! Maybe it’s because it gives me a sense of space… like the world is so big… it’s a bit lame but I really do feel this way!

At KL, we pretty much did the same things I did a month ago… which is shopping at Sungei Wong, then singing KTV at Green Box at Sungei Wong. We stayed at the Swiss Garden Hotel this time, which is one notch higher class than the Alpha Genesis Hotel I stayed last month. Both rooms were quite ok for a one night's stay but de and I got upgraded to a deluxe twin room at Swiss Garden and there’s free internet in the deluxe rooms! The breakfast is definitely much better than Alpha Genesis. I guess all in all, both hotels are quite a fair value for what you pay for.

The more interesting part of the trip is when we drove up to Genting Highlands on Sunday. Genting Highlands is only about an hour’s drive away from KL and is the place to be if you like casinos! (Nowhere close to the glitter of Las Vegas but hey… this is the only one land casino in Southeast Asia)

After learning a lot from my master’s program at NUS, I decided to put to test, the fairness of the game of Sic Bo (Big – Small). The odds given by wizard of odds (see www.wizardofodds.com) are 48.11% chance for Big, and similar for Small. The remaining % is for triples (Chinese call it ‘Leopard’). After sitting down for 100 games on the big dice machine (the only big dice Sic Bo machine), I recorded 48 Bigs, 48 Smalls and 4 Triples. Uncanny but the odds are really quite accurate!

Unfortunately, this statistics experiment didn’t make me any richer and I ended down a couple of hundreds. It seems like our yearly pilgrimage (we last went in October 2007!) always end in a defeat. But this year was fun… thanks to the Fire and Ice slot machine! De’s lurk-behind-the-losing-aunties strategy worked so well for me that I managed to claw back half of what I lost at Sic Bo! I even got an ‘Ice’ jackpot (which is really small anyway… we really want the ‘Fire’ with 5 digits payout!)

Overall the trip was great fun! Good travel buddies always makes good trips… so now we want to go Bintan next!

If the wind loves the sand

2008-12-16T12:24:00.005+08:00

Here’s a pretty nice song by Van Fan 范逸臣, 国境之南. This song is from the Taiwanese movie Cape No. 7, 海角七号. I think the lyrics is quite beautifully written and I can actually visualize the song… a quiet starry night on a beach… with the waves gently rolling onto the sands… the sea breeze softly blowing on my hair… and missing someone…

国境之南 by 范逸臣

Night rabbit in eighteen days

2008-12-08T13:22:00.002+08:00

I got eighteen days of daylight left!

Looks like I’ll be on night shift for January 2009 and will rotate between day months and night months until we get a lot more people and hopefully, finally, a fully staffed permanent night shift. It’s not all bad though because I’ll get a two long weekends per month, which is good for traveling plans. But that is provided that I find some traveling buddies!

Even though I’m most active at night… I still prefer to keep my most active time as my personal free time! I guess I’ll have to cherish my December more now… but it’s rainy today (probably rainy the whole month!).

The three rabbits are a coincidence! (Night Rabbits by chicho21net@deviantart)

Thank god... it's Friday!

2008-11-28T06:55:00.001+08:00

TGIF!!! I’m on leave to study for my coming exam on Monday though… suddenly it feels like all the best movies, all the best concerts and all the most interesting events are happening this weekend. And I can’t go.

Here’s a lame quiz: I went to the market today and was at the veggie seller. I asked the veggie seller, “What’s good today?” He answered, “TGIF”. I paid up and walked off with my veggie. The question: What veggie did I end up buying?

The clue is in this picture!

Veggie Love by Charlatan999@deviantart

The answer is: Bean sprouts! (cos ‘Tau Geh Is Fresh’!)

Don't sail away from me

2008-11-24T18:52:00.002+08:00

Here’s a bossa nova number from A-mei. It’s called “Don’t Sail Away”. I'm quite impressed with her diction in this song. She managed to sound very at ease with the language, which is a rare quality among Taiwanese artists.

I’m not sure where the MV is shot at but it reminds me of Washington DC… the low-rise buildings... the fire escape staircases... the sidewalks... and old-style iron radiator heater in the room.

張惠妹 - Don't Sail Away

Happiness batteries

2008-11-24T11:57:00.001+08:00

Just got through one weekend of uneventful study… Studying for exams is still as painful as always… god I still have another weekend to get through! I’ll still like to thank someone for providing some batteries to keep me going!

Happiness Batteries by Huginn@deviantart

Would you stay and listen to my song?

2008-11-22T21:03:00.004+08:00

Jay Chou's latest album "Capricorn" is out! Here's an MV from his album "給我一首歌的時間". This song is about asking a girl to stay around for one last song before she leaves. He's got some pretty cool dance moves in the MV too... I think I'll do well to learn from him... cos I'm pretty lousy with dancing!

The girl in the MV is very pretty! She's called 王思平and also acted in one other Jay Chou's MV "陽光宅男".

給我一首歌的時間 by Jay Chou

Kiss Goodbye

2008-11-16T01:23:00.003+08:00

Recently, I got hooked on Wong Lee Hom's song, Kiss Goodbye. The is a sad song about loving someone so much that you can't part with your love for even one moment.

Here's a clip of the him performing the song live. He can really sing and play the piano!

Kiss Goodbye by Wong Lee Hom

Maple leaves and Rainbow

2008-10-30T22:45:00.003+08:00

Here's a pair of interesting music videos by two different artists, Jay Chou and Will Liu. The interesting part of these two videos is: they are linked! Jay’s video is the first, followed by Will’s video.

In the first part of the story, Jay’s always hanging out with his best friend Will and his girlfriend. The thing is, both Will and his girlfriend did not know that she used to be Jay’s girlfriend until she lost her memory. At the end of the first video, she somehow got into Jay’s room and saw all the photos of them being together (and thus regaining her memory).

In the second part of the story, Will was in a very happy relationship with his girlfriend… until she came back from Jay’s room (this you’ll have to see the first video to understand). She still stayed with Will for a little bit before leaving both Jay and Will. Probably because she can’t love two of them at the same time and can’t choose who to love more. And so she left.

I’m gonna make sure I can sing two songs at one go next time at the ktv!

周杰倫-楓

劉耕宏-彩虹天堂

Rainy day

2008-10-27T15:38:00.002+08:00

My new favorite song… 下雨天 by Lara. She’s from the group 南拳妈妈 and I found out that she’s also the girl who sang the duet 珊瑚海 with Jay Chou. Check out her nice earring… many stars in it!

The song is quite meaningful and quite sad. It’s about her missing someone on a rainy day.

下雨天了怎么办我好想你
不敢打给你我找不到原因
什么失眠的声音变得好熟悉
沉默的场景做你的代替
陪我听雨滴

期待让人越来越沉溺谁和我一样
等不到他的谁爱上你我总在学会
寂寞的滋味一个人撑伞
一个人擦泪一个人好累

怎样的雨怎样的夜
怎样的我能让你更想念
雨要多大天要多黑
才能够有你的体贴

其实没有我你分不清那些差别
接近还能多一些
别说你会难过别说你想改变
被爱的人不用道歉

期待让人越来越疲惫谁和我一样
等不到他的谁爱上你我总在学会
寂寞的滋味一个人撑伞
一个人擦泪一个人好累

怎样的雨怎样的夜
怎样的我能让你更想念
雨要多大天要多黑
才能够有你的体贴

其实没有我你分不清那些差别
接近还能多一些
别说你会难过别说你想改变
被爱的人不用道歉

下雨天 by Lara

Feeling a little low

2008-10-19T00:42:00.003+08:00

Feeling a little low today… the world seem just a little more gloomy today and the colors just seem just a little dull today. Maybe this feeling will go away soon but I guess it’ll stay a little longer…

Feeling_Low_by_rinandharu@deviantart

心動的時刻

2008-10-11T11:56:00.001+08:00

Very nice guitar-playing and singing!

New Hamster called Tako

2008-10-09T01:09:00.001+08:00

My new pet hamster, Tako: unknown gender.

Tako grooming itself

Tako running on the ultra silent wheel!

Phuket trip

2008-10-09T01:08:00.003+08:00

After two months, I still can't sit down and write about my vacation in Phuket. I guess I'll give up and just post a video clip of the photos taken during my vacation at Phuket.

The BONUS is... you get to hear my singing. I've added in my cover of Wong Lee Hom's 'Kiss Goodbye'. Hope you'll like it!

Kiss Goodbye by B.Egg

August Diving Pictures

2008-10-09T00:56:00.005+08:00

My Afro!

On the dive boat...my hair looks worse on land

Ready to dive!

I saw a stingray! But not this one... but very similar

Scuba diving

2008-08-09T11:24:00.002+08:00

It’s been a lot of working these few weeks… but I managed to squeeze some time to take my PADI open water scuba diving course! (The diving school is Apache)

We went for a two-day theory lesson last week which was held in the apartment of the school owner…which was quite odd... but the sofa is rather comfy and our instructor, Ezy taught quite well so I guess we’re ok.

This week, we went for the confined water dive which is held in a private pool somewhere in Teacher’s Estate. I thought Ezy taught us very well although I really need more improvement in my fining! It’s really quite an experience to be able to breathe in water.

We didn't manage to learn all the skills over the two-day confined water diving lesson due to some bad weather on Thursday so all of us will come back next Wednesday to finish up our confined water lesson.

Then next weekend, we'll be going to Tioman for our real open water diving! I think it’s going to be really fun next weekend!

Resting...

2008-06-26T22:56:00.001+08:00

Don’t be sad, cos he’s found peace and he’ll live in your heart and memory always…

Peace Forevermore by ~sonikhanem@deviantart

Star gazing

2008-06-22T20:33:00.002+08:00

Maybe one day you’ll watch the stars with me?

Star gazing.. by ~Ry-C@deviantart

Toxic grape juice

2008-06-21T13:47:00.000+08:00

White wine’s toxic… you always end up drinking too much for your own good. I was badly messed up by this toxic grape juice last night… sigh……

See that? That’s white wine! (Toxic Waste Warning by ~Nocturnal-Devil@deviantart)

Rude

2008-06-16T21:26:00.002+08:00

Maybe some people are just born rude. I think I've found the second rudest person in my life today.

Rude for VirgelSparda by DominicShade@deviantART

Tioman Island (17th - 19th May)

2008-06-15T12:07:00.018+08:00

After some months of boring Singapore, I finally got to go on a nice short weekend vacation to Tioman island. Tioman is an island off the east coast of the state of Pahang, Malaysia, about 8 hours away from Singapore (you gotta add in all the waiting, transfers, bus ride and ferry ride!)

Our superior chalet one block from the beach. We've got adjoining rooms at the ground floor.

Nice king bed in the girls' room. No, I sleep alone in 2-twin bed room next door =(

The literary of the trip was pretty much snorkeling for a half day on the Day Two; the rest of the time was spent chilling and lazing around. I pretty much ate non-stop! One really great decision we made for the trip was to stay in Berjaya resort. The 4-star resort is a little expensive compared to the other lodging options in Tioman, but there you've got everything in one place (food, boat trip, well-kept beach and a games room for the long night.). I stayed in a beach hut on the cheap a few years back but we ran out of things to do by 9pm and the night became a little too long and a little too boring.

Tip 1: Stay in Berjaya (choose superior rooms)
Tip 2: Buy the half-day snorkeling trip at the Tioman Tourist Centre counter beside Berjaya’s own counter at Berjaya’s reception area (it’s cheaper and better)

Finally! We saw some sand after like 12 hours?

The highlight of the trip was of course the snorkeling. We had a boat-full of family-type people and it made for good snorkeling! They threw lots and lots of bread into the water to attract the fishes while we just pretty much snorkeled among the fishes! Without the bread, the fishes would be hanging around bottom at the sea bed and would never be as close to us.

Tip 1: Buy lots of fish food at the souvenir shop at Berjaya’s reception area (it’s rather cheap and definitely worth it!)

Raring to go snorkeling!

Smiling for the camera! (while I'm pulling the 3 of us together)

\
Yes. I'm small but I'm no fish.

Lunch break at Salang beach

Alfresco dinner time!

A real man drinks Tsingtao... (duty free beer is awesome!)

All in all, this trip was great fun! I think I might try to come here once a year now!

I don't wanna go home~

Singapore Flyer (26th Apr)

2008-06-15T11:05:00.002+08:00

My company sponsored us to a ride on the Singapore flyer. It was okay... but the ride was a little too long for me (and I'm hungry!)

We made a star!

Zombies Part Two

2008-04-30T09:00:00.001+08:00

In case, anyone is wondering what I was doing last night… I downloaded and completed House of the Dead III… I’m not kidding! Killing zombies has just become quite an addiction… really. This game is definitely way easier than House of the Dead II but hey… it’s still better than sex!

Go ahead… point your shotgun at that face!

I love Killing Zombies!

2008-04-29T12:20:00.004+08:00

My ‘study weekend’ has been absolutely boring. Of course, I’ll like to think that I studied enough to get outstanding grades for my upcoming two exams but really I’m just hoping to pass decently (a pass like D is not really a pass in NUS’s eyes… you really need a B- average)

Anyway in spite of the studying, I managed to squeeze some time to catch Superhero Movie and played some Wii over at GLD’s place. He’s got a new game, House of the Dead 2 which is fun, yet extremely frustrating to play since you’ll never get enough credits to finish the game. This game started off as an arcade game where you’ll have to throw in a 50cent every time you die but hey… we’re no longer kids with only 5 dollars every day to spend… we’re rich now! We should be able to decide for ourselves how many credits we want to have!

Anyway, I couldn’t stop thinking about that stupid game since Sunday and so I downloaded the game and completed PC version of the same game… which is really crazy (but hey... boys don't grow up!). Of course, it’s way easier on PC due to the fact you only need to use the mouse to shoot (left-click) and reload (right click). I can guarantee you that you’ll feel very very good about yourself when you beat the freaking Magician… it’s better than sex!

We DON'T get tired of killing zombies!

Wii love Wario Dancing!

2008-04-09T02:15:00.002+08:00

Some funny clips of some not very funny dancers!

This is a negative example of wario dancing. We expect better dancing next time!

This is a great example of wario dancing. It's good exercise!

An attempt at wario dancing. This thing is funny!

You can't break the BROTHERHOOD!

2008-04-03T21:24:00.002+08:00

You can't break the brotherhood! brotherhood by mad jojo@deviantart

Enough said! =P

Farewell to Free-Frag Joo

2008-03-10T22:44:00.007+08:00

So we finally got our act together and manage to get nine people down to Orchid Country Club for a paintball session yesterday! (all thanks to our hard working GLD!)

Some very serious terrorists...

The whole team

Incidentally it was also the last day of our one-week celebration of Joo leaving us for a work-stint in Thailand (We sang karaoke on Wedesday, did a big dinner on Saturday followed by more drinking at Clarke Quay, followed by more drinking and karaoke at PartyWorld Shenton until the morning of Sunday… it was waay too crazy…).

I have to say that this has to be the longest ‘celebration’ we did for any of our friends… Maybe we are really happy to see him gone! =P (Honestly, I’ll miss the ‘smkt’ sms every weekend from Joo.)

The 'L'ers

The winners... you can see the numerical advantage there... =P

The paintball session was great fun but it was really tiring… there was so much sprinting needed… now I can’t even walk properly the whole of today! I feel that we all needed this exercise but the whole workout was defeated when we went Chongpang Nasi Lemak and ate more fried chicken drumsticks…

Yes... I'm REALLY tired

Sensing

2008-02-10T10:20:00.000+08:00

"The most beautiful things on earth can't be seen or heard. You must feel them with your heart" title,picture,quote by garrit@deviantart

White Skirt

2008-02-09T12:26:00.000+08:00

An interesting drawing... a mixture of manga and photo elements

White skirt by =lian-blackdream@deviantart

心動的時刻 The moment of love

2008-02-03T11:37:00.000+08:00

心動的時刻 … how would you describe that moment? When you realize you are falling...

Beautiful guitar rift by Connie Sin

Flower...

2008-02-03T11:21:00.000+08:00

Love is like a flower… beautiful yet fragile…

Silent Beauty by gilad@deviantart

Red Hat New Year!

2008-01-09T23:26:00.000+08:00

The usual gang (minus “Whis-a-bao”... we all miss you whisabao... especially on a night like this!) got together again for our 2008 New Year’s Celebration. Needless to say… we had a whole lot of fun! The night started innocently enough…… up till the waitresses started giving out nice little red hats. Well…… we just got out of control with our photos once we got our very own red hats!

Happy 2008 Everyone!!!

We had trouble getting coordinated…

… but we finally got our lame pose right!...

…and we got more people interested in our lame pose photo-taking…

…and here we got Mr Joo being very special!...

…so now we got zj all excited about lame posing… haha…. haha! =p

…and then she decided to be the only one in the picture….

…so guess who is our 2008-champion-of-out-of- controlness? =p

More pictures are hosted at zj's picasa!

Back off (退后)

2007-12-29T17:42:00.000+08:00

This is Jay Chou's 退后... I gave up after 3 tries... just can't stop singing some lyrics wrong. This is a song about a breakup... and the moral of the story is "最美的爱情回忆里带去" ... it's better to let the most beautiful love slowly fade into a wonderful memory.

An evening stroll... (夜游)

2007-12-13T23:35:00.000+08:00

A stroll on the beach.. holding your hands.

空气实在太糟糕我等的人还没到
时间是一种毒药你喝了一口慢慢走向我
你的眼神太过朦胧你的赞美
我难以接受这么多的女生我不是你要的那种

空气实在太糟糕我等的人还没到
时间是一种毒药你喝了一口慢慢走向我
你的笑话我听不懂你所谓的幽默是临时编的藉口
骗我去无人的海边夜游

谁都看的出来你要的是什么
爱情路上偶尔犯错不要飙过头

空气实在太糟糕我等的人还没到
时间是一种毒药你喝了一口慢慢走向我
你的眼神太过朦胧你的赞美我难以接受
这么多的女生我不是你要的那种 (song by Cheer Chen)

An evening stroll!

Let's learn 天天想你!

2007-11-27T02:32:00.000+08:00

Wow... my favorite online guitar teacher finally put up a clip on how to play Cheer Chen's version of 天天想你! I'll be right on it!

Let's learn 天天想你!

Happy Dan's Day!

2007-11-26T00:35:00.000+08:00

This weekend, we had an unprecedented two-day celebration for Mr Dan… We had a surprise party for him on Friday at Café Iguana (which was really fun!). Strangely, Joo was more confused and surprised than our birthday boy! I guess it was one great excuse to set up a happy hour for our gang… we had great food… great drinks…. everything was perfect!

A happy Dan at Cafe Iguana!

Saturday, I had my 4th month eye checkup… everything (my eye) is still working fine but I was advised to wait out another 9 months before considering another lasik surgery. After reading in the papers that one unlucky guy got permanent quadruple-vision after a twice botched lasik surgery… I think I’ll wait any amount of time! (maybe even not doing it after all)

Later that evening, we were activated by Mr Dan and his darling for a last-minute majong session cum birthday celebration! We even turned off the lights, lighted a candle on the cake and sang a birthday song for him… lucky guy! (he won a lot of money too bbtw!)

A Happy Dan at an undisclosed illegal gambling den!

Back to driving school (again and again and again and again......)

2007-11-13T23:14:00.000+08:00

After four years of riding a motorcycle and one year of driving, I came back to Singapore… and failed my Basic Theory Test! It almost felt like me going back to school again and fail my Primary School Exam… or my ‘O’ Levels… or my ‘A’ Levels (which are all entirely possible btw!). Embarrassing as it, I have to book another test date again (which is going to be another few months’ wait!)… I realized in Singapore, common sense is just not enough to get you through a test… you have to memorize everything ten thousand bazillion times! Lesson learned!

Lonely (还是会寂寞)

2007-11-11T21:49:00.000+08:00

The creative bug struck me again on this lonely Sunday… I decided to record a short clip of myself playing Cheer Chen, 陈绮贞 ’s 还是会寂寞 (Still Be Lonely). I guess I need more work on myself and my sad little webcam!

还是会寂寞… I guess I’m still lonely...

Love's Like the Tide (爱如潮水)

2007-11-06T02:17:00.000+08:00

A sudden dose of creativity inspired me to make a short recording of my singing and playing… After an hour, I only managed a short clip of me singing 爱如潮水 (the direct translation is "Love's like the tide")... I guess I need a lot more work to be any good…. But it was fun messing with this Audacity software I've downloaded!

I had to convert the song clip to a slideshow using Microsoft Movie Maker to host it on Youtube so I hope you guys like those photos of me having fun at Monterey, California, back in April! I actually chose the pictures because the words 潮水 reminded me of those turbulent-looking waves rolling into Monterey Bay.

Enjoy my 爱如潮水!

Happy Pauly Wallnuts’ Day!

2007-11-04T13:43:00.000+08:00

Finally we had our yearly Pauly Wallnuts’ Day last week! I really appreciate everyone for making it a very special day for me. I could only hope it’s a Friday instead… that would mean a lot more drinking! (Of course we can never drink pots and pots of beer like Kiat!)

And what a great Paul Wallnuts’ weekend we had at Genting Highlands too! We had a very interesting road trip to Genting Highlands, Malaysia, 5 hours away from Singapore. Great food, great gambling (maybe not so great for me)… I was lucky to be in a car instead of the minibus… I heard it was rough for them!

We had our fair share of adventure on the way back to Singapore though… we got lost in Kuala Lumpur… we even got a ‘trick or treat’ (it’s really called ‘ticket or lesson?’)... we got pulled over by a cop in a sad little patrol car without even the siren lights on top of the car! Thankfully, our experienced Xiong got us out of trouble with a little ‘lesson fee’ to the cop.

Finally, I won the November session of our poker tour at Kiat’s house. That was a sweeet victory! Thanks everybaadee!!!

Let's go Paris 一起去巴黎! (Maybe Genting first for a start!)

2007-10-23T00:47:00.000+08:00

In between the working during weekdays, and the sometimes lazy, sometimes hectic weekends... the one interesting thing I did recently was going to Cheer Chen's concert here in Singapore a month ago! Of course, she was absolutely amazing and everyone there had a great time despite the limitations of the venue (which is Max Pavilion btw!)

Sidetracking a little here... I'll like to thank my visitors here... I didn't realise I actually had more friends coming by than I thought. I really appreciate it though! Some updates on my recent going-ons... I'm trying my best to persuade my family to add a new member to our house (which is a cat btw!) and I'm going on a road trip this coming weekend, with a bunch of my buddies, to Genting Highlands, 5 hours away in Malaysia(let's hope I'll win some money along the way too!)

Coming back to Cheer Chen again... here's a clip of one of my favorite Cheer Chen song "一起去巴黎" (literally meaning "going to Paris together"). She wrote the song for another singer 侯湘婷, so she never had this song in her albums. I love the bossa flavor and the idea of going to somewhere really romantic with someone I love!

一起去巴黎... come along with me!

Back to work!

2007-09-13T13:32:00.000+08:00

After some months of not really doing anything, I’m finally going back to contribute to Singapore’s economy (by being employed finally!)… which is really cool! I guess I’m going to miss this totally laidback life as soon as I start work though.

I also got to play at the Ark Café yesterday… about my performance… I think I didn’t do too well as my song repertoire is limited and I didn’t have much understanding with the other singers (well, in fact it was the first time we met). I guess it’s really different going into a performance as a singer versus a instrumentalist. If you are a reasonably good singer, you can walk into a performance and it will feel almost like a karaoke session for you. However, there’s a lot of preparation work to be done by an instrumentalist… the instrumentalist IS the karaoke machine! I have to say that the keyboardist was really great though… she’s a teacher at the Ark Music School also…. amazing. I think I will really need to work on my playing skills but it’s only going to get tougher as I start working next week.

Tweety Jr movie clips!

2007-08-31T03:57:00.000+08:00

Here are some movie clips of Tweety Jr!

Momma Tweety feeding Tweety Jr in the kitchen!

Clumsy Tweety Jr knocked into the window and tumbled down... so cute!

Tweety Jr

2007-08-30T02:40:00.000+08:00

Life is really grinding to a standstill for me after two months back here in Singapore… Unfortunately, there’s really nothing extremely exciting to really scream about here.

For those who are interested in what happened to our little baby bird… the bird finally flew off last month after growing to a rather chubby size!

The last day of its stay here was on 23rd July, which I think was its second day of flying. Apparently, the bird (I guess I’ll call it Tweety Jr!)... Tweety could not quite control her flying, got exhausted flying about and ended up stumbling into our kitchen.

Tweety Jr on resting at the chair

Tweety Jr rested on one of the chairs for a little bit before hitting its face on the kitchen window while trying to fly out. It then perched itself on dish rack recovering while chirpping loudly for its mom. Of course, the mom came in frantically to feed it more food! (Tweety Jr was fatter and bigger than Tweety by now!)

Tweety Jr recovering at the dish rack after ramming into the window!

Tweety Jr finally flew out to the bamboo pole outside our window before finally flying away from our house for good. I guess we’re going to miss our friendly momma Tweety and Tweety Jr…

Tweety Jr on the bamboo pole before it flew off for the very last time...

Texas... Hold Them!

2007-08-11T10:41:00.001+08:00

After almost two months back in Singapore, we finally got our Texas Hold’em poker night going in my tiny room last night! The poker chips were courtesy of coot and we had to add quite a few more majong chips (courtesy of coot too) to make up $1000 worth of chips… a little sad for now but I would definitely go get more poker chips!

Verdict: Awesome… beyond expectations for our first time

We’ve got a well-led tutorial by Yenz… we’ve got some really risky plays by Weijie… Boon’s (our big winner) got some amazing hands and Zhujuan won a very interesting hand (which changed her fortunes totally!). Of course, I was lucky to end up a little ahead with one lucky hand towards the end.

Hopefully we can get our monthly poker night going now with coot offering to host next month!

And so I hosted our very first Texas Hold'em game in my tiny room!

Cheer Chen - A Piece of Summer 2007, Singapore!

2007-08-07T14:09:00.001+08:00

Yes! Cheer Chen is finally coming to Singapore after 2 years (I couldn't get her concert tickets that time!). The concert is going to be at The Max Pavilion, Singapore Expo and the tickets are going to be on sale from 10th August, priced $58 to $138 at sistic...

I know I'm going to be there!

Lasik....botched

2007-07-20T00:32:00.000+08:00

Unfortunately, my operation was not successful today. The doctor was not able to create a smooth flap on my first eye, the right eye and the operation has to be aborted.

I was to undergo an custom lasik with blade. I guess I'm the 1% of the unlucky people who have complications. A microkeratome is supposed to be at least 99% successful while intralasik is closer to 100%.

The flap was put back into my eye and a contact lense was placed on it to protect it and promote healing. The contact lense will be in my right eye for about a week before it will be removed.

I am told that I'll have a full refund. The flap will take at least 3-4 months to heal before any eye procedure can be done on it. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to my contact lenses in a month's time. And hopefully no other complications will happen.

Currently, my right eye can still see reasonably and I'm still wearing my glasses. However, there's quite a bit of irritation on my right eye which I hope will get better real soon. Let's see how it goes when I go back for my checkup tomorrow.

Baby Bird!

2007-07-19T00:09:00.000+08:00

It has been a few weeks and our guest sunbird has been doing really well! After a few weeks of incubating her egg, we have a cute little baby sunbird!

A sunbird set up her nest on a mop hanging out of our window. Cute litle egg!

However due to the recent heavy rain, the nest actually got pretty messed up that at one point of time, there was only a few strands of fabric from the mop head supporting the nest. My god… your heart would literally jump when the slightest wind blow on the nest!

After a discussion with my dad (who incidentally is quite an expert in DIY), he actually fabricated a wire hoop and supported the nest from the bottom with four strings tied to a metal support on top. Now the nest looks waay more stable and will probably hold the nest till the baby bird grows up and fly off on its own!

Additional support was added for our guests' nest as the nest was dangerously supported by a few strands from the mop head.

Here is a picture of the baby bird taken today! It was all flesh colored when newly-born which quickly was replaced by a layer of black tiny feathers (could be hair but I’m no bird expert… it really look more like hair than feathers!). Now its black feathers are slowly changing into green feathers like its mom! I really wonder whether it’s a boy bird or girl bird… =P

The egg hatched and we got ourselves one cute little sunbird!

I’m going for my lasik surgery later today! Hopefully everything goes really well… I’m so looking forward to it!

Our New Pet!

2007-06-27T17:49:00.000+08:00

We've got a new guest at our apartment! A bird actually set up her nest on the mop we have, hanging out of our kitchen window. Looks like a hummingbird but I'm no bird expert!

Hopefully, we'll get to see some baby birds in the near future. In the meantime, my dad is all excited about her and is making sure that she'll stay on for a long long time!

Our pet's new house!

Our pet's saying 'Hi' for the camera!

Mt Fuji Clips (7th - 9th Jun)

2007-06-21T14:27:00.000+08:00

Here are two interesting clips from I've taken during my stay at Mt Fuji!

The nicest view I personally saw of Mt Fuji was on my Keio bus trip to Kawaguchiko Station. The setting sun was shining on Mt Fuji, making it all red... unfortunately, I didn't catch it on my camera thinking I will get some really awesome photos when I get to Kawaguchiko! =(

This clip was taken on my bus trip to Mt Fuji 5th Stage from Kawaguchiko Station. i do not know why but I can only see the summit view ONLY when I'm in some bus! This definitely reminds me of that dumb panda Kit Kat commercial!

Fleeting Mt Fuji

This clip was taken when I hiked about an hour from 5th Stage to the 7th Stage. The trail was closed so there's really not much people at all. Most of the climb was just me alone and the only sound I heard was the sound of my footsteps. I was the only one when I hit Stage 7... this experience is really quite surreal... to be alone with Mt Fuji...

Stage 7

Mt Fuji,Japan (7th - 9th Jun)

2007-06-09T06:37:00.000+08:00

7th June
After a 20-hr flight from Maryland to Tokyo, Japan, I’m back to my traveling days again!

It is definitely not a good idea to lug around 100 pounds of luggage while trying to find your way in the maze-like rail system in Tokyo! I had the most nightmarish time trying to get to the Keio bus station in the Shinjuku rail station because the escalators were tiny at best and some exits only have staircases! (imagine a jet-lagged 115 pounds boy trying to get his 100 pounds luggage up the stairs… omg)

The 2-hr bus ride to the Kawaguchiko Station is comfortable enough and it was really nice to have Miho from my hostel, K’s House, come pick me up at the station.

K’s House Mt Fuji is really a nice little hostel. It’s almost like going to somebody’s house where you have to take off your shoes at the front door. The dorm is nice and clean, there a really nice dining room/lounge area, a very clean and spacious kitchen with everything (more well-equipped than any kitchen I’ve seen actually). The staff speaks excellent English and was very helpful and friendly.

8th June
I took the first bus to Mt Fuji 5th Stage the second day (2000yen round-trip, 1hr) and started climbing right after I got off the bus. The temperature was supposed to be chilly but I was sweating so bad climbing, that I was more hot than cold!

5th Stage, Mt Fuji

I'm sooo exhausted! Stage 7, Mt Fuji

Me and my walking stick!

Looking out into the fog

The trail route was mainly loose black volcanic rocks and it was much like walking on sand except that it was upslope and rather steep… not easy! It was pretty cloudy/foggy along the way and it took me about an hour to hike up to Stage 7. Beyond Stage 7, the trail was covered in snow and I didn’t think it was safe to continue the ascent. I pretty much rested up, took some pictures around the mountain huts before making my way back.

Road block at Stage 7 (more like snow block!)

9th June
I couldn’t get any nice pictures of Mt Fuji due to the fact that it was pretty much covered in fog the whole time I was there. However, I did see a very nice sunset view of Mt Fuji during the first day when I was on the Keio bus to Kawaguchiko. The second time I saw Mt Fuji’s peak again was on the second day when I was on the Mt Fuji bus, about 2 mins away from the 5th Stage (again on a moving bus!). I tried one last time early this morning to catch a view of Mt Fuji at the Kawaguchi Lake but this is by far the worst day to try to catch Mt Fuji… the whole volcano pretty much disappeared in a mass of fog….

Adeus America

2007-06-09T06:32:00.000+08:00

I’m finally going back home to Singapore after a year and a half in the States! The eighteen months in US was really quite the highlight of my life (so far!)… For the first time, I was really on my own, away from family and friends, away from a life I’ve been so accustomed to. Here in Maryland, halfway across the world… I was treated like family, like a friend… It’s hard to describe the warmth I felt throughout my stay here.

Of course, along the way, I gained a lot of work experience… I learnt to be a lot more independent, street-smart and confident… I learnt to drive (once again… Americans love their cars! I hate to admit it but I end up loving my car too!)… I’ve finally seen the four seasons… and I’ve traveled a lot… and made many friends! And I’m really lucky and have met a mentor and friend in my manager Anthony Williams… words can’t describe how much respect I have for him!

In a little more than a year, I’ve touched eighteen states and been to major cities like Washington DC, New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco. I got to do very interesting things like climbing the Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park, visiting the largest waterfall in the world in Niagara Falls, visiting the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park, exploring the beautiful Yosemite National Park and then there’s the awesome Grand Canyon!

But all these travels are just a tiny part of my time in Maryland… it’s the work at Human Genome Sciences that made everything so great! I guess nobody would believe it if I say how much I enjoy going to work everyday… but the people in Human Genome Sciences just made it such a great place to work in! I think I’ll never forget this place!

HGS rock!

George Washington National Forest (18th May)

2007-06-04T12:30:00.000+08:00

After a year, John, Jason and me finally got ourselves to go on a camping trip together! We went camping in the George Washington National Forest in West Virginia. X came over for the weekend and joined me, while Jason brought along Jess, Mike and Kathy so we got a decent group of seven!

Needless to say... the trip was a whole lot of fun thanks to our outdoor expert, John! Yes... he has everything you can possibly think of for a nice camping trip.

Unpacking at our campsite

Jason's little tiny tent

After setting up our camp, we made our ascent to the Big Schloss. The climb was relatively easy but we were still rewarded with a great view up the peak!

The mountaineers (I'm the photog)

John's the man!

After making our decent, we started a good fire and John made us some good burgers and hotdogs with his outdoor grill. The drinks were good and we enjoyed ourselves totally, sitting around the campfire! The star-filled night sky was just so amazing.

Chilling by a nice warm fire

Cooking up a storm!

John still made us some nice pancakes in the morning! And of course, we can’t miss the good old coffee!

Pancakes!

Later in the morning, we went on another hike up Tibbet Knob trail. The view up the peak of the knob was as great as Big Schloss!

X's flying!

Me at Tibbet Knob

The crew

Check out my pictures at imagestaion

The Edge (24th Apr)

2007-04-30T11:18:00.000+08:00

Due to popular request... let me tell a story of a group of three crazy kids. The normally most rational, big sis, said to the crazy boy, "$20 to step on that rock jutting out into the cliff". The boy decided that the 'feel' was just too right for the best Grand Canyon picture and crawled onto the rock with his heart pumping so fast to take his picture. Little sis decided she loved that picture and wanted the same for herself. And big sis couldn't resist that 'shot-of-the-day' too... Luckily, they just couldn't find another suitable rock again!

I crawled to the edge and saw a most spectacular sight...

Yosemite, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon (20th - 27th Apr)

2007-04-29T11:32:00.000+08:00

It’s been a week and I’ve since returned from my trip! The lack of internet access made it hard to update the things we did so now I’ll do a quick ‘memorable photo- or video-of-the-day’ before I get down to writing down this really amazing trip in detail!

After a day of mist, cold and relentless snow showers... we drove into Yosemite in the morning of the second day (20th Apr). The view was quite amazing… totally different from the day before. Fluffy white snow on the pine trees… the winding road up into the mountains… it’s almost like a winter wonderland (but it’s really spring!)

The morning drive into Yosemite on the second day, 20th Apr

After the two days up the mountains of Yosemite, we drove across the Mojave desert to the bright lights of Las Vegas. The Mojave Desert… blue blue skies with those white fluffy clouds… with the mountains of Sierra Nevada always towering over the horizon.

This is the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, 21st Apr

We had a lazy second day in Las Vegas… did some shopping and later saw some of those crazy outdoor shows of those Strip hotels in the evening. Of course, my favorite is still the fabulous fountains of Bellagio!

The Bellagio… god I wish I were on the penthouse suite, sipping on my champagne with my someone =P, 22nd Apr

After two days in Vegas, we drove across the Mojave Desert up the Kaibab Plateau to Grand Canyon. The view when we got there… awe-inspiring… nothing quite that scale… nothing quite that vastness… it’s just something that one has to see for himself to believe.
We took a short walk along the trailhead of Bright Angel’s trail to absorb the atmosphere of the place. The trail actually leads all the way down to the canyon floor and it takes a day to get down to the canyon floor and another day back!

Bright Angel’s Trail, 23rd Apr

On our second day at Grand Canyon, we explored the canyon rim on the Hermit’s Rest Trail and the Desert View Drive later in the afternoon. Of course, we took some amazing pictures!

My moment with the Grand Canyon… the vastness… the beauty… 24th Apr

We went a bit off track on our way back to Vegas and lost about an hour’s traveling time but we finally got back to Vegas all right! The next day was spent resting (I was sleeping my noon away while the girls went shopping!). We finally got to see the pirates show at Treasure Island. Later at night we all had our own programs and needless to say, whatever happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas. I really don’t think I should come back ever!

The pirate show at Treasure Island. Not quite like your usual pirate show! 25th Apr

Our final day was spent flying back to San Francisco. San Francisco just has that laid-back feel to it… we talked a lot… life, career, relationships, love… looked back on our two-week trip and shared how we experienced each place we visited in our different ways.

I guess this trip would probably my highlight of my 18 months here in the United States!

A walk among the giants, Yosemite (19th Apr)

2007-04-20T20:57:00.000+08:00

We started our Yosemite leg of our travels today with a walk at the Mariposa Grove. The giant sequoia trees are pretty awe-inspiring.

A fallen giant… a giant sequoia tree, Mariposa Grove

The giant sequoias are the largest living things on earth, Mariposa Grove

As we drove into Yosemite Valley, it started to snow and the snow shower lasted for pretty much the rest of the day.

The famous Valley View shrouded in mist

The world is so small… we met another Singaporean couple at the Lower Yosemite Falls! They were pretty much traveling the opposite direction of our two-week itinerary. The lower falls was really pretty but it is only less than half the length of the upper falls. We could only see a little bit of the upper falls from the valley floor. (The hike to the upper falls is a full-day, 6-8 hrs hike and is classified as very strenuous! And yes, we didn’t want to rough it!)

The Lower Yosemite Falls

This unknown dome is pretty much the best view we have of the sheer granite cliffs all around the Yosemite Valley. Let’s hope we’ll do better tomorrow! (or today as I’m writing this at 6am!)

An unnamed dome beside the Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Valley

I saw a whale (18th Apr)

2007-04-19T23:09:00.000+08:00

We went whale-watching off Fisherman’s Wharf at Monterey yesterday. The weather conditions weren’t really too good as the ocean swells were quite strong.

We caught some humpback whales heading out west to the ocean but we can’t hang with them long with the swells getting stronger as we move further out the bay. Later on, we headed back to the bay to see the huge populations of sea lions at the bay.

Humpback whales off Monterey Bay

Here are some of the interesting clips I’ve taken so far!

Otters action@Monterey Bay Aquarium

I’ve finally reached the Pacific Ocean!

This is my favorite, the chipmunks!

Some cute chipmunks near the Bird Rock viewing area of the 17-Mile Drive, Monterey

Lombard St, the crookiest street of San Francisco!

Cute seagull on the pier, with the Golden Gate Bridge on the background

A picture a day (13th Apr - 17th Apr)

2007-04-18T21:15:00.000+08:00

This San Francisco trip has been awesome so far. Great company in Elaine & Weizhen, and we visited so many nice places!

I've decided to try to blog a picture a day of our travels (sort of like my 'picture of the day), since it'll be quite interesting! =P

Union Square@San Francisco, 13th Apr

Sea lions@Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, 14th Apr

Golden Gate Bridge… peace! 15th Apr

My moment with Big Sur, 16th Apr

Sea lions chilling at Coast Guard Pier, Monterey, 17th Apr

I finally saw a Slam Dunk! (28th Mar )

2007-04-13T08:36:00.000+08:00

After a frantic month, this is my frantic attempt to blog my going-ons before I leave for my west coast trip!

I went to my first ever ‘live’ NBA game (which is on my ‘to-do’ list!). Well, we got cheap tickets to a Toronto Raptors – Washington Wizards game at the Verizon Center in Chinatown, DC.

Watching an NBA in the stadium is far better than catching it on the TV! There’s the non-stop action… the snacks… the chatting… and more notably… the cheerleaders! I think I ended up watching the girls cheering more than the game!

Raptors attacking

Alan & Char

Me & Akano

Smile!

Some basketball action, Raptors@Wizards

Liberty Mountain (15th Mar)

2007-03-25T01:06:00.000+08:00

Finally got expert snowboarder, Alan to let me tag along with him snowboarding. It's actually very late season, the resort was closing for the season after that weekend. However, it was a very good day for snowboarding because of some six inches of fresh powder on Friday night! (driving back home after work on Friday night wasn't a very happy thing for me though!)

After my third time snowboarding, I am now able to carve left and right. I think I'm actually ok on the slower 'green' slopes now. Even tried going down a 'single black diamond' slope (okay it was quite intimidating really!). They brought me to the free-style park but I think I'm still a few sessions away from doing tricks (basically I sucked).

Shucks, I realised I kinda want to do this often. Too bad, no more snow for me in the near future... maybe I should go Japan, catch up with my buddy Norman next winter season!

Alan

Eric

Charlene

The cool expert snowboarders!

Posing

Me and Charlene

Adams Morgan (9th Mar)

2007-03-24T23:56:00.000+08:00

We had a secret birthday party for Alan at Dupont Circle on the 9th March and we later went over to Chloe in Adams Morgan for the drinking.

Dupont Circle would be kind of like our Orchard Road and City Hall while Adams Morgan is all about pubs and small clubs, which is quite like our Mohammed Sultan.

It was tame and all at first... not quite like 1223 at Dupont Circle. However, I was only into my first drink when a cute latino girl approached me for a hot little dance! Wow! (Of course, thou shall not show photos!)

Dinner at Lauriol Plaza

Me, Shayna, Alan

After a few shots with Alan

I Miss Food

2007-03-23T23:37:00.000+08:00

I saw this email from www.singaporeday.sg, and man... I miss Singapore food!

Chilli Crab, Roti Prata, Bak Ku Teh

Satay, Char Kuey Teow, Nasi Lemak

Snowman (23rd Feb)

2007-03-01T13:38:00.000+08:00

I woke up on Sunday to one big snowfall! After getting through the chore of getting snow of our cars and drivewy, I actually got to play sled with Ricardo and his son, Sebastian. We made two snowmen too! It was my very first time making a snowman and funnily, it was Ricardo's first time too. (Even though he was here for 6 years!)

*Snowman or baby cuter? My vote goes to baby!*

Happy Snowboarding New Year! (15th Feb)

2007-03-01T13:12:00.000+08:00

It' been a while again but... here's some updates! Basically Chinese New Year here was a non-event... I didn't even feel that the day is THE DAY. Anyway, I still had fun! While it was Chinese New Year in Singapore (it was still eve for me), I was on my snowboarding trip with John and Jason to the Whitetail Mountains Ski Resort in Pennslyvania, about an hour's drive away. After my second time snowboarding, I finally figured out the bare basics to survive on a slope and of course, I 'graduated' to the longer green slope (green is for beginners) which was definitely way more fun than the baby slopes!

*See the ski slopes of Whitetail. Awesome!*

*My snowboard on the left and Jason's on the right. We are both groovy too, which means left-legged!*

*John came by to look for us at our baby beginners' green slope after he got his fun on the experts' black slopes*

*We finally got confident enough to go for it!*

*The view on the top is simply nice... it was a nice day indeed!*

Ski lift@White Tail, Pennslyvania

Thinking of you

2007-01-31T16:00:00.000+08:00

One of the few songs I can play and sing along with, 天天想你 (Thinking of you everyday) is almost a classic chinese pop song by 张雨生 (Zhang Yu Sheng).

Here is a cover of the song sung by Cheer Chen. Very nice! ^_^

January going-ons

2007-01-30T12:54:00.000+08:00

After the one week drama (or lack of drama!) in Los Angeles, I’m back to an uneventful January. Well, there’s still the lost luggage saga when I touched down Ronald Reagan National Airport followed by a week of cold/flu which was one morale downer. Otherwise, it’s been pretty uneventful.

With less than five months to my hot little island of Singapore, I guess for the next two months I’ll be hanging around Maryland before going for a big two-week trip of San Francisco-Yosemite National Park-Las Vegas-Grand Canyon (and maybe Death Valley) with Weizhen and Elaine.

Despite the lack of drama, January has been pretty inspiring to me. I’ve been working out at a gym for a bit. I joined an indoor soccer league with Alan that plays Sundays. Then we got our biweekly music night going in Andrew’s condo with Jonathan and some of Andrew’s pals (some of them are pretty good musicians!). Interestingly, one night, we jammed to my rendition of 天天想你 (Thinking of you everyday) and it was pretty much only me who knows the song! That’s the power of music!

And finally, I stumbled onto a treasure trove of Cheer Chen’s tablatures on youtube! That got me playing hours and hours of guitar every week! I’m making it my personal target of learning two cheer’s songs every week! Anyway I realized youtube is actually very fun to use and you could make your own playlists and make them play one after another! This could potentially make youtube much better than watching the Chinese MTV channel! I’m definitely going to be messing with it for a while!

Here’s one playlist I made which is a six-song concert by Cheer Chen. Sweet!

Kim's Haircut

2007-01-28T04:12:00.000+08:00

Finally got a decent haircut in a Korean haircut place in Silver Spring. Showed her a picture of Nicholas Tse and got this! This is so funny!

My Nicholas Tse haircut!

My Humble Abode

2007-01-28T03:55:00.000+08:00

This is the how my basement apartment look like. I'm renting the basement of a townhouse. The interior is like some sort of a studio apartment which I furnished myself (bare minimum!)

This is the entrance.

My 'bedroom' portion with a fireplace (too lazy to use) and my guitar!

My mess of a 'living room'!

My cooking area.

The bathroom. The stairs to the upper portion of the house which I don't go to. My landlord's family occupies the upper two floors.

This my very own bathroom (very important to me, I realised!).

Snow@Fence Post Court (19th Jan)

2007-01-28T03:36:00.000+08:00

This is the place where I'm at for the past six months. I guess you must have wondered where all your presents and letters went to? On January 19th, we had our first snow of the year and it was also the first snow of this unusally warm winter.

Fence Post Court

The community

My snowy Mustang!

First snow of 2007!

Messing around with snow!

The townhouse I'm at. I walk past the sidewalk by the side of the house to my private entrance from the backyard.

The walkway towards the backyard.

Messing with snow again!

Paul in snow!

That's how the townhouses look like from the back.

My entrance.

The back of the community is a downslope to the main road.

Los Angeles, California (25th Dec - 1st Jan)

2007-01-07T11:43:00.000+08:00

Mimi's Cafe... breakfast before the first day of Disneyland

Breakfast at Mimi's... really good!

Everyone lining up for a shot with Goofy on Main Street U.S.A. Disneyland

Disney's famous castle!

Adventureland where we sat on Indiana Jones Adventure, my No.3 favourite ride!

Mark Twain's Riverboat, Frontierland

Tom Sawyer's Island, Frontierland

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Frontierland

Mad Tea Party, Fantasyland

California Adventure Entrance

California Screamin'! We took it 3 times; 2 times in the day and 1 at night! My No.1 fav ride!

The Twilight Zone Tower of Horror! It was thrilling and funny at the same time. My No.2 fav ride!

Disney's Castle gates... the castle is way tinier than imagined actually.

Waiting for the fireworks at dusk! It was really pretty!

Finally got a chance to sleep on Westin's Heavenly Bed! Westin, Las Vegas. We also caught a Cirque Du Soliel show "Mystere", definitely one nice show!

Back to Los Angeles, a skaterboi at Venice Beach

Breakfast at Venice beach. My Eggs Florentine with a glass of Mimosa!

The coast off Venice beach... I finally got to both ends of USA, meeting the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Downtown Santa Monica... where we had our slightly happier moments

A mad drive uphill just to catch a glismp of a quite tiny Hollywood sign

I reached the top of the city of LA!

Kodak theatre where the Oscars were held... it was amazingly normal. Just like a normal movie cineplex.

I walked on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Tom Hank's Star

The Chinese Theatre beside the Kodak theatre. Interesting architecture.

A friendly Michael Jackson!

A rather fat Spiderman!

Truth is hard to bear

2007-01-07T02:39:00.000+08:00

Some truth you already know beforehand and yet choose to see it happen. Some, you only know it after it happens.

Just happen that I learnt the two ugly truths in a single day. Makes me wonder about the principles where I based my life and relationships on… am I wrong? Why do I keep tangling into the lives of the wrong people?

But… I just couldn’t change myself… I’m the way I am because I chose to lead my life this way. All my friends… I will always treasure.

Random thoughts on 2nd Jan

2007-01-06T12:25:00.000+08:00

I realized how much I missed home when I was at the airport… I wished I were on the flight back to Singapore rather than back to Maryland. And I realized how much I hate goodbyes…

Touched down at the National Airport at 11am after a long four-hour transit at Atlanta and they lost my baggage. I had to stay till 4pm for the next flight from Atlanta and hope that it will miraculously appear on that flight. Lesson learned, never leave your most valuable possessions in your luggage, definitely not your house keys. Incidentally, I lost my house keys the last time I traveled to Utah-Idaho-Montana-Wyoming, and decided that by putting my keys in the checked baggage, I won’t lose it. I guess the next time; I’ll just leave the keys under the doormat!

First time I see a flag flown on half-mast. I asked a lady and was told that the United States flag was flown half-mast till the burial of President Ford.

My luggage didn’t appear at 4pm and I had to leave the airport to stay over at Anthony’s. I can’t even say how much I appreciate him, helping me so much through my year in the States so far.

Xmas Eve...

2006-12-25T04:18:00.000+08:00

It's Xmas eve again... lovely day, peaceful day. Tomorrow is going to be my long planned, long awaited trip to California. We'll be going to Disneyland in Orange County, Las Vegas, and back to Los Angeles for New Year's Day! Hope this will be a nice ending to 2006!

Present!

Company Gala (02Dec06)

2006-12-15T17:06:00.000+08:00

For the first time in my life, I got to dress up a lil' bit more formal! Needless to say... I had a whole lot of fun! ...When the bartenderess automatically pours you your preferred wine the moment you walk up to her... you know that the night is going to be pretty interesting!

Paul is doing his slick dance move!

Thanksgiving (23th Nov)

2006-12-15T16:45:00.000+08:00

My first Thanksgiving... It was supposed to be a road trip to Anthony's in-laws at Virginia Beach, VA. Alas, I had an unfortunate fender bender on I-95. The rain and the terrible traffic convinced me to turn back (I'll never be able to make it to the Thanksgiving dinner in time). In the end, I crashed into my landlord, Ricardo's Thanksgiving dinner! (The food was great btw!)

Sebastian with our Thanksgiving dinner!

Baby! (cute!)

An early xmas tree!

Paintball@Hogback Mountain (3th Nov)

2006-11-23T13:35:00.000+08:00

The past month has been hectic! Of course there's the working life, and then the Egg-get-fit routine (which is going to gym btw), and of course the perpetual setting in of laziness. Well, I must say that after a month of diligent working-out, I did not become a muscle-god but I did feel good and definitely in a much better shape!

Here are the pictures of my first-ever paintball outing to Hogback Mountain in Leesburg, Virginia. Mind you, the people here are serious about their paintball and it was some great fun!

My folks in Pilot Plant... we are mean!

All set to kill!

Lunchtime bustle

Hogback Mountain - the paintball courses are all up there

Women, Children and Medics

The mean terrorist

First birthday out of town...

2006-10-30T02:11:00.000+08:00

Time flies, and I just turned 26… and I spent my first birthday away from Singapore… I couldn’t help feeling just a little bit lonely... Even though I’m not a fan of birthdays… my birthday is usually a day when I will get all my buddies and treat them to a nice ‘zhi char’ dinner… nothing beats that!

I received a surprise present from my friends from Singapore… really appreciated it… can’t get better friends than you guys… Thanks! Called home too… nothing beats having my mom wishing me a happy birthday too! =)

Here's the cardigan from you guys in Singapore! Thanks a lot!

Here's the gloves... will come in handy in the coming winter!

On the day itself, I was at work as usual… and I got a surprise birthday lunch from more than twenty of my co-workers I worked with across three departments! I was really honored and grateful for all of them making this day one of my most memorable moments in the States! We had Brazilian barbeque at Rockville pike… where it was a buffet… the meat was served by waiters, who come with huge slabs of meat on big skewers and they will slice off the meat on our tables! We had sausages, pork loin, turkey-n-bacon(which was really good!), beef kabob, lamb and sirloin… I ate the most amount of meat in one sitting!

Thoughts… grateful with a smile on my face… Paul had a happy birthday!

Clips of Yellowstone

2006-10-19T01:35:00.000+08:00

Of course aside from pictures, I took some interesting short clips when I was at Yellowstone National Park. Here's a little taste of the stuff I've seen there!

A small geyser spurting boiling water in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Castle Geyser in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin erupting, Yellowstone National Park

Black bear spotted at while it was snowing in Dunraven Pass, Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park (5th Oct - 8th Oct)

2006-10-16T12:11:00.000+08:00

Get ready for a long story! This Yellowstone trip is definitely the most memorable trip for me in the States so far! Took a plane out of DC early Thursday morning (5th Oct) and reached Salt Lake City, Utah in the afternoon with a quick stopover in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Well… flying into the city itself is so amazing… Salt Lake City is such a beautiful city: the mountains at one end, and the massive Great Salt Lake on the other…. it really set up the mood for my solo road trip!

Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City

Great Salt Lake west of Salt Lake City

Took out my rental car at the airport and quickly headed up north on this 6 hrs drive to West Yellowstone, Montana. Of course, I have to stop for a sugar-overloaded breakfast at an IHOP in Layton, Utah. I had scrambled eggs, hash brown, a nice pot of coffee and a super sweet syrupy French toast (you can only imagine how much syrup is on it… and it’s topped with strawberries!).

My rental, a Pontiac Vibe... the easiest car to drive ever

After breakfast, I headed back on interstate highway 15 and crossed the state of Idaho (mainly farmland… with mountains as a backdrop)…. Seem like there are a lot of mountains around here eh? Well, all these mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains that stretches from British Columbia in Canada all the way to New Mexico in the States! …so the mountains accompanied me the whole drive across the 3 states Utah, Idaho and Montana.

Stopped for a short break at Idaho Falls before heading northeast on route 20 towards West Yellowstone. After driving through Targhee National Forest, I finally reached West Yellowstone right about nightfall. Of course, I had to reward myself with an nice dinner with sliced beef brisket, and potato salad and cheese grits sides. My hostel was the Madison Hotel of West Yellowstone… a log hotel with a history of 95 years… it was the best hostel I’ve stayed so far… the bed’s made everyday, towel’s changed… almost a hotel except the room’s shared and the bathroom is at the end of the hallway. The first night was shard with an English who drove from San Francisco and planning to go to Las Vegas next… the second night was spent alone (yes! Alone… in my own hotel room!)… the third night I met a very interesting guy who biked (bicycle) more than 10,000 km from Toronto, Canada! (fyi, 10,000 km is a quarter around Earth)

Reward for a hard day on the road, a sliced beef brisket dinner

The Historic Madison Hotel of West Yellowstone

My hostel room, I slept on the top left hand corner btw

I went on a bus tour on the lower loop of Yellowstone National Park (most of it is bounded by the state of Wyoming) on Friday morning with an older couple from Vancouver Island, Canada and a lady from Colorado. The Madison Valley greeted us on the East entrance with elks and bison roaming freely in the grassland with the Rocky Mountains in the background… it’s all so surreal… like walking into a documentary! Pine trees occupy most of the otherwise hilly parts of the park.

Bison in the vast grassland of Madison Valley

Yellowstone is most well known for its hydrothermal features and there are so many hot springs of various shades of colors and gurgling geysers and of course the famous Old Faithful geyser which sprays water and steam up to 56m! …very unusual… interesting and strangely beautiful…….

Firehole Spring

Fountain Geyser

Old Faithful Geyser

We stopped by the Yellowstone Lake… the largest alpine lake in the world. The lake is so beautifully calm with the snow-capped Absaroka Mountains bounding the east side the pine forests of Yellowstone on the west…

Yellowstone Lake

Finally we stopped by the Artist Point overlooking the imposing Grand Canyon of Yellowstone… definitely very awesome... amazing… Of course, every vehicle here always has their fair share of ‘Buffalo Jam’! Of course after seeing so much buffaloes running around, I got to have my buffalo for dinner!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Buffalo jam!

Awesome buffalo meatloaf dinner

The next morning, I went to the Grizzly Discovery Center in town to see some grizzly bears and wolfs. At about noon, I went on my evening wildlife van tour with another 3 Chinese guys.

Wolf

Grizzly bear... pretty big actually... probably a bad idea to meet it in the wild...

A herd of elk in the plains of Madison Valley

This time we went on the upper loop of the park (the main road in Yellowstone is shaped like a figure of 8, with a upper and lower loop and it takes about a day to do one loop!). We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs Village before going on past Tower Falls and up Dunraven Pass (2700m) where it actually started snowing! We were all so excited to see a black bear up close there!

Roaring Mountain

The massive Orange Mound... my tour guide is the guy in the bottom left

Angel Terrace

My favourite photo, a bull elk in Mammoth Hot Springs Village

It's starting to snow! (Dunraven pass)

Black bear sighted!

The black bear got tired of the attention and went across the road down the mountain

We stopped by the other side of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone this time before heading back to see the spectacular sunset over the Madison Valley.

Yellowstone Falls

Sunset in the Madison Valley

I left West Yellowstone at about 4am (8th Oct… first had to solve the problem of ice on my windshield!) and drove through very dark and misty conditions back to Utah. Watching the sun rising over the mountains on this good old country road was really quite an experience! I stopped at Blackfoot, Idaho for gas and later at Tremonton, Utah for an emergency 5min nap and coffee break (I was dozing off while driving!). Stopped at Temple Square in Salt Lake City for a short while before flying back to DC.

The towering Salt Lake Temple

The Yellowstone turned out to be much bigger and much more beautiful than my imagination… I can only wish that I’d taken more days off for the trip… Hopefully I can come back again to this amazing place!

Summary: crazy road trip; alone; awesome unusual place.
Feeling: awe; love; beauty; and everything in between.
Price: priceless (well… a couple of hundreds)

Operation - Get Back In Shape!!!

2006-10-14T13:44:00.000+08:00

Almost a week back from my most fascinating trip in the States so far… Being dropped right back into work straight after the trip did drop my productivity a lot… I’m struggling to get back to the Eastern US life (which is pretty much city life)… had to sleep a lot, which is really an excuse for my laziness! Will blog more about my travels over the weekend…. I had some stuff written in a small notebook but it was incomplete….

Today was my company’s manufacturing department’s company picnic and we had a nice half day eating and playing sports and stuff. I was pretty disappointed in myself… mainly my shocking lack of fitness!…. I was dying after 10-15mins of small goal post soccer! What the heck?! This was what I’ve been doing pretty much the few years in my secondary school! Wait… secondary school is almost a decade ago too……

Pretty much… I think I need to buck up and start working on my horrible fitness…… join a gym and start on my fall/winter workout routine and hopefully be in good shape for traveling again come January 2007! (California! ^-^) Also there is talk of doing an overnight camping trip next month with John and Jason again (we climbed Old Rag Mountain together in summer)…which is going to be awesome if we manage to do it! Everything’s all good except for the chill of autumn… god I missed summer!

Annapolis (9th Sep)

2006-09-24T13:22:00.000+08:00

Here are some photos from the ‘city’ of Annapolis, Maryland, which I visited two weeks back. Annapolis is more like a small town… at least that’s how downtown Annapolis looks to me.

Quaint little Annapolis...

Cute brick house

The whole downtown area is all 18th century buildings and it is pretty interesting walking around town. I had a walk in the United States Naval Academy and saw the beautiful Naval Academy Chapel and also visited the State House of Maryland (not too interesting for me though).

Beautiful chapel in the shade of my fav color blue!

Boats of the Naval Academy

Maryland State House

That’s that for this little town… it was still quite an alright outing for me… finding an excuse to get out and drive out and actually do something different over a Sunday… but I guess I’ve pretty much went to most of the places I want to see in Maryland already. I’m thinking of making a day trip to Philadelphia and probably a long weekend trip to Boston before the end of this year which will sort of round up my northeastern travels in the states.

Falling Leaves

2006-09-24T12:36:00.000+08:00

Fall has come and I have finally fulfilled one of my wishes coming to the states… to see the 4 seasons! Fall… the amount of daylight you get reduces as we get closer and closer to winter… the leaves on the trees start to turn from green to all shades between brown and yellow and fall to the ground… and the days really start to get colder.

As much as I liked the quiet cold beauty of the winter, the promise and hope of the spring... I ended up liking the warmth of the summer most. I like the hot sun burning my skin… which is pretty much like Singapore at the end of the day! (minus the rain and humidity!)

The traveling bug is biting again! After my initial plan of going to LA was delayed… I decided to make a trip to Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming in two weeks time! This is a more adventurous trip for me I guess! The plan is to take a plane to Salt Lake City, Utah, rent a car and drive over 300 miles (fyi Singapore is only 85 miles or 137 kilometers long!) over 6 hours through Idaho Falls, Idaho to West Yellowstone, Montana. The plane trip will have a short stopover at Minneapolis, Minnesota, so I will actually cover 4 states in this trip! … and I’m doing it all alone!!

As far as I know nobody usually try to do these kind of traveling alone and in fact most of the American friends I known haven’t been to Yellowstone before! Well, I’ve read about the Old Faithful geyser when I was a little boy (from Bookworm books… yes I’m a nerd!) and since I’m here, I might as well do something I will never think I’ll do right? So look out for my trip report!

On a side note… this freaking TV I got since I moved, has rendered me to a lazy ass couch potato! Finally I got to mess around with my blog a bit… changed to colors to kind of reflect the fall color and actually blog a bit! I’ll make an effort to up more songs and blog more!

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (2nd Sep)

2006-09-13T13:36:00.000+08:00

I went over to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, Virginia over the weekend of Labor Day. This center is part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and is located very close to the Washington Dulles International Airport.

It was pretty neat with those full size planes which includes those humongous passenger jets and even a space shuttle! However, you can't access the interior of the planes which is really a downer... parking was expensive too! I guess it is still worth a visit if you stay in the Washington area although i much prefer the air and space museum over at The Mall... how many times can you see a real life-size space shuttle?

I can imagine my god-brother will be so excited if he's here... he absolutely love planes and there is a whole lot of planes here!

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Pre-1920 Aviation

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird

Space shuttle Enterprise

Concorde

National Museum of the American Indian (28th Aug)

2006-08-29T13:14:00.000+08:00

Another uneventful week passed... I was too lazy and before anything, the weekend was almost over. I decided to scramble a small outing for myself and went to the National Museum of the American Indian by The Mall.

It wasn't as interesting as most of the other museums I went to around The Mall but it was still pretty educational. Here are some of the pictures taken.

National Museum of the American Indian

Entrance, National Museum of the American Indian

Museum facing the Jefferson Drive side

Potomac, National Museum of American Indian

Allies in War, Partners in Peace

Atlantic City, New Jersey (10th Aug)

2006-08-18T09:45:00.000+08:00

I took 'off' last Thursday and went to Atlantic City with my co-worker and his friend. Atlantic City, in the state of New Jersey is on the east coast of the United States, right by the Atlantic Ocean and most famous for its.... casinos!

Heyo Atlantic Ocean!

We headed straight downbeach to Tropicana, which is right on Boardwalk. Here's one interesting fact: Boardwalk is actually one of the properties in the original Monopoly! It is the most expensive property in Monopoly... now I know why!

Boardwalk (Monopoly's most expensive property... no kidding!)

Needless to say... I lost all my money... but this time it was more 'controlled'! I left my friends in the casino and took a walk along the beach... Took off my shoes and walked into the waters... I finally touched the waters of an ocean!

Hmmm...... the water was cold ......the water felt just like...... water. Duh!

Atlantic City...

My feet... I reached the Atlantic Ocean!

What does ~~a loser~~ someone usually end up doing in Atlantic City?
He:
1)walks around aimlessly.
2)will grab a free newpaper and try to see what's going on in Atlantic City.
3)will grab a cuppa and waits hungrily for his buddies who are still roughing it up in the casinos!
4) all of the above!

This is what you do when you lost all your money!

Tubing on the Shenandoah River

2006-08-07T12:05:00.000+08:00

A friend invited me to a tubing trip on Saturday. The place is Shenandoah River in Luray, Virginia, about 2 hours away from Washington, DC. So what is a tube? A tube is kind of like a donut-shaped float. Basically a group of us just took a tube each and drifted slowly down the slow river...

What made the experience so therapeutic and relaxing was that we also brought along 3 coolers worth of beer and food, which also floated down with us in their own tubes. We can paddle about, take a dip whenever we want to, or just nap under the sun while floating, or tie our tubes together to chill out together… I can’t describe how relaxing these 5 hours of tubing went!

The only downside was that being in a river all the time, it was quite impossible to bring a camera and not wetting it, so I didn’t bring my camera along. I was badly sunburnt at the end of the day despite not feeling anything at all throughout the trip… ended up looking like a red lobster! Lesson learnt: always put plenty of sun block when you are out in the sun, no matter if you feel the sun is hot or not!

Pohick Bay Regional Park, Virginia (30th July)

2006-08-05T13:29:00.000+08:00

I was invited to a BBQ cum fishing outing last weekend (30th July). Pohick Bay Regional Park is a small park pretty close to DC. BBQ was great... I haven't ate anything till 4pm that day, and that beef patty was just so tasty!

Pohick Bay Regional Park, Virginia

Everyone had a go at fishing that day and we didn't have much luck... The good news was... we actually caught a fish... yup! just ONE fish. Everyone took turns taking photos with the fish before we released it back into the water. It would have been really fun if we were not bitten by those 'killer flies' on the 'beach'... they actually look like some houseflies... only that they are immune to bugspray and they suck blood!! Not surprisngly, we didn't stay very long there!

I caught a fish! (I'm lying!)

Overall, it was quite fun to know some new friends and hang out a little bit. We later had some blue crabs in a crabhouse where I finally tasted crabs the Chesapeake Bay way!

Capitol Building Revisited (8th July)

2006-08-05T13:09:00.000+08:00

This is kind of a late post... my friend Meiyan visited me one week after the Niagara Falls trip and we went to visit the Capitol Building in DC. Time passes are need for a tour of the building and they are limited and usually will go out in an hour or two (in the morning by the way!!).

So we actually had to get there early in the morning (quite sad for a Saturday actually...) to get the passes and waited till 12-ish before we can go for the tour. It feels somewhat like visiting the Istana in Singapore... some Singaporeans just might never do it ever in their lives... (like me for example...)

Anyway, the Capitol tour was really good! The guide was very informative and the architecture was quite amazing. The Rotunda was like the books said.... quite awesome. We were only allowed to a few sections of the Capitol, which is heavily guarded. Check out the art of the Capitol Building here.

The Capitol Building, Washington DC

The Rotunda, Capitol Building

Old Rag Mountain, Virginia

2006-07-24T12:53:00.000+08:00

Went hiking on Saturday (22nd July)with 2 of my colleagues over the weekend… destination Old Rag Mountain, Virginia (my first mountain in my life I think?!). Old Rag Mountain is part of the Shenandoah National Park and quite possibly the most spectacular mountain in the northern Virginia Blue Ridge.

Sign, Old Rag Mountain, VA

Jason and I met up with John back in Maryland and took his trusty truck up the hills of Virginia… really a nice break from all those hustle and bustle of city life! The mountain is actually only a couple of hours away from Washington DC, and so is usually pretty crowded on weekends. Luckily (or unluckily!), a thunderstorm was predicted that day, which deterred most of the would-be-hikers.

The climb!

Old Rag Mountain is really not an easy day climb and the 2000 feet climb was literally quite a mountain for me to climb! (I haven’t worked out since I left Singapore!) The really tough part of the climb for me was the constant 20-30 degrees incline from the bottom up, for like an hour non-stop up 2/3 of the mountain (I really need to get in shape!). Now, come about the last 1/3 of the way, there’s some rock scrambling (something like beginner’s rock climbing), which was really interesting and challenging!

At the 2/3 point

Already spectaular view, 2/3 of the way!

Rock scrambling to the peak

The peak of the mountain is at 3268 feet and offers some spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains… It was simply awesome! On hindsight, I should have brought my cap and sunglasses along… after all that sweating, my hair was quite a mess… Come next spring, I think I would revisit this place again… Hiking is just fun!

The peak... awesome! That's Jason btw!

Team Everest... (Actually Team Old Ragged?)

Some Cantonese Personality Trivia

2006-07-18T14:20:00.000+08:00

人種的測驗

世上有分別五大種人, 以下的測驗可以測出你是那一類. 要嘗試一下嗎?
1) 你覺得最完美的約會是怎樣的?
a) 二人燭光晚餐 b) 去遊樂場玩 c) 去公園踩Roller d) 睇滾石演唱會 e) 睇戲

2) 你最喜歡的音樂是那種?
a) 搖滾樂 b) 其他 c) 軟性搖滾樂 d) 古典樂 e) 流行曲

3) 你最喜歡的電影是那種?
a) 笑片 b) 恐佈片 c) 音樂片 d) 愛情片 e) 文藝片

4) 如果只有這幾種職業, 你會選那個呢?
a) 侍應 b) 運動員 c) 教師 d) 警察 e) 酒吧調酒員

5) 如果你有一個小時去浪費, 你會用在那裡呢?
a) 工作 b) 看書 c) 看電視 d) 聽收音機 e) 睡覺

6) 以下那種顏色你最喜歡呢?
a) 黃色 b) 白色 c) 天空藍 d) 藍綠色 e) 紅色

7) 現在你想吃些什麼呢?
a) 雪糕 b) 薄餅 c) 壽司 d) 意大利粉 e) 沙律

8) 你最喜歡什麼假期呢?
a) 萬聖節前夕 b) 聖誕節 c) 新年 d) 情人節 e) 感恩節

9) 如果你可以去以下其中一個的地方, 你會選那個呢?
a) 巴黎 b) 西班牙 c) 落杉機 d) 夏威夷 e) 荷利活

10) 在以下的人中, 你會選那個和你打發時間呢?
a) 聰明的人 b) 漂亮的人 c) 傻怪的人 d) 幽默的人 e) 感情豐富的人

You have 27 points. 你是第三種. 你很可愛而且每個你認識的人都喜歡你. 你是能夠成為別人最好朋友的人所以沒有人會嘗試做任何事而引致失去你. 你從不傷害別人的感覺和我很少傷到自己的感覺的. 生活對你來說是輕而易舉的. 你經常表現可愛和平靜的. 你只要避開金手指就能夠無憂無累了.

Check this out http://www.mathsking.net/test/question.htm

Road Trip - Niagara Falls (30th Jun - 4th July)

2006-07-17T13:58:00.000+08:00

Had one hell of a road trip earlier this month to Niagara! One of my uni friends, Meiyan came to stay with another uni friend, Yingying who is in New York for the summer. So the 3 of us got together for a weekend trip to the Niagara Falls.

I drove up from Maryland to New York to meet up with the 2 girls on Friday (30th Jun) and then we set off early Saturday morning (which is 1am) for what turned out to be a 9 hours drive to Niagara Falls…

The drive was really interesting… you get to see the scenery change from the urban skyscrapers of New York, to the misty hill roads of Pennsylvania, to the foggy lakeside of the Finger Lakes and the vast farmlands of Buffalo… I never really felt tired throughout the whole drive… this is really one totally new experience… America is such a beautiful country…

We finally got to Niagara Falls at about 10am and quickly checked into our hostel… I had to take a quick nap before we can go about our exploration of Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls is like what it is said to be… it was an awesome sight… We got to visit the Cave of the Winds where we actually got down and real close to the American Falls! We also explored the sights in Goat Island and saw the American Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in different angles. Of course THE attraction at Niagara Falls is taking the ferry, Maid of the Mist, which took us real close (I mean really CLOSE!) to both waterfalls… where you really get to feel the power of the Falls!! We were so lucky that 1st July is Canada Day and we got to see fireworks over the Falls at night… really quite an amazing feeling to be there to experience everything…

Cave of the Winds (Niagara Falls, USA)

Horseshoe Falls from Terrapin Point, Goat Island (Niagara Falls, USA)

The next day (2nd July), we walked across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada where we had a nice breakfast by the Niagara Falls. We missed the Journey Behind the Falls because of the long queues (we had to get back by noon). The view of the Falls from the Canadian side is definitely much better. I would say you get to feel the power of the Falls on the American side but you get to see the Falls properly on the Canadian side.

American Falls (Niagara Falls, Canada)

American Falls up close from Maid of the Mist! (taken on the first day)

Maid of the Mist going into the Horseshoe Falls (Niagara Falls, Canada)

We drove back to New York at noon and I stayed a further 2 days there, crashing in YY’s place so I can get to see the fireworks in New York on the 4th July Independence Day before leaving at night so that I can get to work the next day!

One interesting thing I did in New York on 4th July, I went to Little Italy to try to catch the World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany! The place was packed, packed, packed!!! And I can assure you that Italians are defintely very passionate people! If only I have came earlier and grabbed a nice spot before the match!

Italia Italia! (Little Italy, New York)

Overall, I traveled across 4 states (Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York) and set foot on Canada, drove more than a thousand miles, with about 28 hours on the road… I must say this is one hell of a road trip… I got to do this again!

Jealousy...

2006-07-06T12:31:00.000+08:00

爱上了你... 爱上了你的一切...
挥不去的... 是那个没有我的世界...
心中的一个结... 紧紧的锁住我...
微弱似风中不安感受...
该如何面对你温柔眼神当心中有了疑问......
而我是不是你的唯一...
而你是不是真的在乎我...

请相信我... 请相信我的心...
就这样地... 坠入幸福的深渊...
嫉妒你的快乐... 它并不是因为我...
真心退缩在黑暗角落...
该如何倾诉你温柔声音它并不只属于我......
而你是不是真的在乎我...
而我是不是你的永久...

From Cheer Chen - 嫉妒

My First Baseball Game! (16th Jun)

2006-06-30T14:07:00.000+08:00

DC Nationals vs New York Yankees! (16th Jun)

My very first baseball game... My only knowledge of baseball all came from a Nintendo 100-in-1 game I played eons ago! Basically (thanks to my mentor, Jason!), the baseball game experience is hanging out with your mates... drinking lots of beer... eating lots of hotdogs, popcorns and pretzels... watching girls........

the game is secondary!

This was a sold-out game with the DC Nationals playing at home against the New York Yankees and we had to buy tickets from the touts! The Nationals were not doing too well this season and the Yankees is like the best team in baseball... and not surprisingly, the Yankees won... but not without a good fight from the Nationals! It was a pretty good game by baseball standards too!

Baltimore Road Trip (11th Jun)

2006-06-29T23:41:00.000+08:00

Had my very first driving road trip to Baltimore on a lovely, peaceful Sunday (11th Jun). Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and is about one to two hours away from Gaithersburg, where I’m at now. The drive to Baltimore was pretty straightforward, really quite enjoyable (except for a little scare when I had to make a major braking stunt on the highway!).

I went straight to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor where all the major attractions are. The Inner Harbor is quite a pretty place itself… Sunny and peaceful, you can see people with yachts boating into the harbor and just chilling in the sun there. The initial plan was to do the Maritime Museum and the National Aquarium… however, due to time constraints (a certain lazy ass woke up late), a decision was made to just do the National Aquarium.

Baltimore Inner Harbor... beautiful place!

The Baltimore Maritime Museum basically consists of several historic ships and landmarks in the Inner Harbor. So basically, a ticket will give you access into those ships. I’m actually very interested to get into USS Torsk, which is a submarine from WWII. However, I guess I’ll save the money and come back again and explore it properly next time!

USCGC Taney - Last surviving warship from Pearl Harbor

USS Torsk - submarine (as you can see!) from WWII

Hard Rock Baltimore!

Back to the Aquarium…the National Aquarium in Baltimore is the largest tourist attraction in the state of Maryland and is really the jewel of Baltimore. It has two main buildings, right by the harbor with a rooftop rainforest, a central ray pool (“Wings in the Water” exhibit), multiple-story shark tanks and a really good dolphin show.

I was really impressed with the shark tanks where you walk down a gentle decline over 4 storeys of tanks and the 4 storeys actually simulate an ocean environment with corals and smaller fishes on the upper levels to those really big sharks in the dark bottom level!

Baltimore's Jewel - Baltimore National Aquarium

Wings in the Water... beautiful! Baltimore National Aquarium

The dolphin show was also another highlight of the aquarium. The dolphins are really intelligent and well-trained! I was really impressed and actually managed to get some good clips of those dolphin stunts!

With this pretty good trip… I can probably move on to slightly further trips now! In fact, the plan is to drive up to meet two of my uni friends in New York City (4 hrs drive) and then move from there to Niagara Falls (another 4-6 hrs?). I’ll definitely be blogging about this trip soon!

HGS Company Picnic (3rd Jun)

2006-06-20T17:04:00.000+08:00

My company had our annual picnic ona very nice warm day on the Saturday of 3rd Jun... I had a great time there... eating! Here are some of the pictures! We had hotdog stalls, one tent that serve just crabs and shrimp! ...and one shelter that serves BBQ food... it was really a treat! I only uploaded the pictures of food but we had a lot of other activities going on there like rock climbing, flying fox, volleyball, basketball, horseshoe throwing, mini-golf, dancing and some giant floats for kids! I only played volleyball the whole day though... aside from eating!

Outdoor hotdog stalls...

Grilled chicken and a cute girl! =P

Grilled corn...

Grilled... sauce?