I stayed overnight in school yesterday to accompany my gf for her to complete her project. Of course I brought my laptop along to do my project. The night was chilling cold but we managed go through it and took an early bus home.

I am normal now :)
Mind is clear.

I find my life is a bit miserable.

Finally I am have re-coded the entire 500 over lines of coding which I lost it a day ago because my laptop hang. I was using the internet yesterday and because I need the USB port, I did a safely remove of the hardware but before the removal process was completed, I plugged out the port and nightmare came. System hung and I had no choice but to force reboot my laptop. I then realized the file which I had been working on for days was gone!

Worked through the night till 3am+ before I went for bed. I continued re-coding the entire file and finally completed it few minutes ago. Actually I was done with it by early evening but then when I tested it on school's Sun Solaris OS, one particular function just ain't working as expected. It worked fine on my Windows and Linux machine but I just couldn't figure out the reason for the difference. I took another 6 hours or so to re-code that particular function to make it work for all OS and thank god it was done before 1am. At least today will be the earliest time I get to bed for this week.

Tomorrow will yet be another busy day for me...

Posted a thread in EE and ask for interested parties for gmail account.
Going to invite a total of 6.

Time waits for no man

These few days I just don't have the motivation to write a lot. Anyway, I am just back from a chalet at Pasir Ris organized by my gf's sister. Regine's brother and his girlfriend, Regine's sister and her boyfriend, Regine herself and I were the only few who went for the chalet.

My history module is going to kill me. Read up till chapter 3 but then after a mere 4 lectures, the lecturer has covered chapter 12! Cannot imagine it. It seems I have got lots to catch up.

Trying to crack my brain to factorize some prime numbers and the smallest of them is of 77 digits. Going to be a challenge.

Today is my gf's birthday :)

Ronald Susilo and Li Jiawei are getting married :)

Still feeling very happy.. hehe..
Even though I am very stressed up this week..

I am very happy today :)

1 more Gmail invites to go.

2 more Gmail invites to give and I will reserve them for my gf's brother and sister.

First bug found!
http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/

WindowsXP Service Pack 2 is out.

Invited Poh Lee, Ser Nya and Sui Yin. Tried to invite 3 other guys but then all said no because they have got too many mail accounts to handle. 3 gals want gmail while 3 guys don't want.

Left with 3 more Gmail invites.

Headache again!
Now able to invite 6 friends to GMAIL.

Spent a total of more than 7 hours downloading oracle (3 Discs) from the internet, an hour to install Oracle which takes up 2.8GB of my disc space, half an hour to realise how user unfriendly it is, 10 minutes to find out it actually run 11 daemons, half an hour to deinstall (term is used by oracle) oracle, but nevertheless, I will still waste 3 CD-Rs and an hour to keep the installer (typical kiasu computing student).

I think I will stick to my friendly familiar neighbourhood MsSQL. There goes my sleep.

Invited Myo for gmail.
This is my second time I invited someone.
The first time was for my elder brother.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave an applaudable maiden rally speech yesterday night which lasted 3.5hrs. I only managed to catch just a bit of his speech on bus. From the papers, he seemed to have covered and included every single Singaporeans in his future plans. Hope he will carry them out. PM Lee also emphasized on his stand in Singapore's One-China policy. I wondered what Taiwan will react upon hearing his comments. Will the much favoured Taiwanese variety shows in Singapore banned replacing them with China's jiang shan wan li qing? Who know.

I am beginning to feel the pressure upon me. Getting more and more stressful as time goes by. Sleep is going to be a luxurious commodity to me. Bear in mind that I am categorizing "sleep" as a commodity now.

The world of Windows news watchers has been abuzz over the upcoming release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.

Microsoft has made the release available to Microsoft Developer Network members on August 10, and will push it out to Windows users via the Automatic Update feature on August 25.

EXICITED!

I have got an assignment to rush and hand in next week but then the lecturer has not uploaded onto the course site. Please be faster.

Managed to get all my tutorial/lab time slots except one. That one is one of my most wanted slot and I am not able to secure it. Guess I have to set it on my free day.

Watched "Twins Effect 2" yesterday.
Yet another hilarous movie (but it's supposed not to be).

yeah!!!
finally sold my "Genes and Society" textbook.

Went to school today to attend a makeup lecture "EC1301 - Principles of Economics" because of the National Day. I saw SP's "god", Tan Wee Kek! The "god" also takes EC1301. According to the "god", he is aiming for a honours in IS and I think it is no problem for him. Why do I address him as a "god"? The reason is because he is the top student when I was studying in Singapore Polytechnic many years ago. The "god" often was seen skipping lectures and tutorials but then he almost never failed to get a distinction for almost every module. On top of that, he held 2 MCPs and a certificate in Systems Engineering awarded by Compaq. Isn't that fantastic?

THE "GOD" HAS ARRIVED!!!

I have decided to drop 1 module to make it average workload. Other modules' workload is too demanding and there are a total of 4 projects and of which, 2 are of 50%. CS2281 is the most incredible module with its final exam contributing to only 20% marks.

Met up with poly friends today. Purpose of this gathering is to pass Ser Nya's and Myo's belated birthday presents to them. It has been due for several months. Initially, I suggested to dine at Orchard Plaza food stall but then I changed my mind to the Somerset's outdoor hawker last minute. I guess it's a good change. This is the second time I had my dinner at the hawker. The previous time I did not manage to have my omelette because of the super long queue and so end up ordering only fried prawn noodle, char kway teow and fried carrot cake for 2 person. Today, we ordered BBQ seafood comprising of sting ray, sotong, kangkong, you tiao, prawn omelette (this is not the one from the super long omelette stall queue), 7 plates of rice for the 6 of us whereby I had 2. I think the dinner was quite worthwhile with each of us having to pay only $40 divided by 6 and of course I myself paid an additional of 50 cents for the extra plate of rice.

After the sumptuous dinner, we went for a drink at coffee bean. I ordered my usual "Iced Mocha".

I witnessed the change of Prime Minister and his new cabinet on TV few minutes ago. I am impressed by new PM Lee Hsien Loong for his remarkable, eloquent, and inspiring speech. Hope for the best.

I have washed my hands off in selling my "Genes and Society" textbook.
Please stop sms-ing and calling my hp anymore.

GEK2000 and SSA1201 readings are a lot!

I have to thank many who have been too nice to me in providing me notes / textbooks.

1. Quek Ser Nya - for giving me OS textbook for free.

                - for providing help in finding a book for CS2102 module.

2. Eliane - for giving me the whole bundle of SSA1201 readings.

3. My girlfriend, Regine - for providing me Maths assistance if needed.

4. And many more. Apologies to those whom I left out.

Hey, I saw "Invite a friend to Gmail"!!!
It's at the left hand bottom corner (below the Labels).

Going to invite my brother :)
He surely be ecstatic hearing this news.

I was watching NDP just now. The parade procedures and music was very similar to what I been through during 2003 SAF Day. Of course what I gone through was more tiring than this one because of the duration of the parade. I wonder when will they change the music played for marching. No creativity.

SCHOOL REOPENS AGAIN tomorrow.

I saw many familiar faces yesterday at City Hall on my way to Esplanade. Saw Joel with a girl and they are not holding hands. Seems like Joel is interested in the girl. I also saw my seconday school friend, Boon Kiat. I also saw Sgt Daniel. wow!! so happy to see so many familiar faces.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Singapore. Today is Singapore's 39th birthday.

I went out with my girlfriend and her friends to Esplanade yesterday to witness fireworks display. The fireworks display has been going on for some Sundays and yesterday, there was particularly many people who went for the display. One word to describe the fireworks display - FABULOUS.

Think I will go to school alone tomorrow to come out a theme for my CS3266 project for my coming semester. Anyone wishes to accompany me? :'(

I woke up early in the morning to accompany my girlfriend to JB today. We reached Singapore customs at around 10am and the queue for Singapore was longer than normal Saturdays maybe because of the super long weekend. We finally reached JB customs at around 10.30am and saw what was simply incredible. Queues for Singaporeans were all very long and disorganized. Queues at the right side even stretched up to the public road. My girlfriend was sweet enough to accompany me in the queue. The queues were so disorganized that I couldn't even figure out any queues from the crowd. The crowd became rowdier as time passed by, with people beginning to complain the slow service of JB custom officers and the condition of the air in the customs. My girlfriend accompanied me for around 45 minutes before she advanced to the Malaysian gantry, leaving me to fend myself in the midst of the rowdy crowd.

There were a minority lot whom I classified them as barbaric, uncivilized morons. There were particularly 2 morons, a pair of old Malay couple, who made their way all the way from the back of the pack to the front, ignoring the eyes of everyone. The atmosphere became tenser when the air condition became stuffy. The old couple was stopped by a Malay young lad. The lad challenged them, asking them where were they from and asked them to go all the way back and fuck off. Sad to say, "Fuck off" did not deter them from making their further advances.

Queuing alone in such a cramped packed crowd was kind of tough and boring for me. I had got no one to talk to, no room for movement, and nothing to keep me occupied. There was a family of four people queuing in front of me and one of them, a girl, suddenly felt giddy. Her lips turned pale, her eyes became yellowish, and her hair was wet with cold perspiration. The girl's mother quickly took out a bottle of Chinese medicated oil and passed it to her another daughter. The daughter applied the medicated oil on the girl's nostrils, temples, neck and hands. The mother used her passport to fan the sick girl hoping it would help. Another couple in the queue offered the girl a "mentos".

The distance between "Counter 9" and me was less than 5 metres but though near, yet it seemed so far. At this point, the crowd separated itself into 2 queues, one for "Counter 9" and the other for "Counter 10". The situation became worse with the queues did not seem to proceed at all because of many barbaric, uncivilized morons. There were 2 male "mama shop" look-alikes morons, carrying a huge luggage each, making their way through the crowd. I was not alert enough to let one of them past me. He ignored many stares. I deliberately crossed my arms and used my elbows to block the other guy. That second guy whom I shall name him "Stupidest of all morons" here, tried to evade my block by looking for any free space around me to sneak in, however, all possible free space were blocked by my rocking left and right motion. The "Stupidest of all morons" had got no other options other than applying constant push on my back hoping I will let him get past. I would never give in to violence. No matter how hard he pushed, I remained rooted to the ground, not wanting to give in to his pressure. What the "Stupidest of all morons" could do was just watched how his friend made his way to the counter. Very soon, the "Stupidest of all morons" and I was just one queue from the "Counter 9". I noticed he attempted to squeeze his way from my left side along the left railings. I quickly hold onto the left railings to block the "Stupidest of all morons" and used my right elbow to guard my right side. The "Stupidest of all morons" finally lost his cool and told me to move forward into the queue in Malay. I understood the only word "Masuk". In English, I told him to wait for the person in front of me to have her passport checked before I could move forward. He placed his passport on the counter in an attempt to grab attention from the counter officer to have his passport processed before me even though he was behind me. To counter his actions, I placed my passport on the counter nearer to the officer and of course not letting my left hand off the left railings. I was careful enough not to let the "Stupidest of all morons" have any opportunity to sneak in like a smelly little rat.

My poor girlfriend must had waited for me until mushrooms and fungi started growing around her. Poor thing. Other than the legendary MacDonalds' "Hello Kitty" soft-toys craze few years ago, I couldn't recall having queued up for more than 1.5 hours long. Today's queue definitely earned a place in my "Guinness World of Records Book".

We had our lunch at one of the coffeeshops near City Square. After which, we had a movie "House of the Flying Dragons" at City Square's Mega Pavilion. The show was average to me.

I think I did something wrong today. I will not commit it again. Stupid me.

Module bidding is in a mess for me. I managed to secure 3 desired modules at 1 programme account point each and another module at 365 general account points. I was unable to secure EC1301 (Principles of Economics) and was out-bidded. Can you imagine minimum bid for that module in round 2A was 2000 and in round 2B was >2000? Because of I being out-bidded, I have to look for other alternative module and I found GEK1038 (Scientific Methodology). Pre-requisite is 'O' Levels Maths, Physics, Chemistry or Biology and I meet them. However, when I tried to add that module, I got an error message saying I do not meet pre-requisite! I guess this has to do with I being a diploma student and not a JC student. I have already made a total of 4 (excluding the one I going to make for GEK1038) appeals because of pre-requisite issue and so I would have made 5 appeals altogether and this number is just enough to make up modules for a semester! A big WOW! The appeal got approved after the bidding round ended and so I bidded for GEK2000 (US: From Settlements to Superpower) instead. I am not going to give up EC1301 and will fight till the end. I will bid EC1301 as my 6th module. Yes, I think I going to take 6 modules again just like last semester.

Going to rest till the next round (3A) opens on next Tuesday.

Today then I realized how slow ICQ saves its message history. The time taken to save is longer than the time it needs to take to format and reinstall WinXP. Of course the time taken to save message history is exponentially dependent on the number of message events but then it just simply is taking too long to do that. It's simply ridiculous! Hope my gf recovers from her sore throat asap.

My poly friend, Myo, just earned himself a promotion from analyst programmer to senior analyst programmer. Because of his promotion, he decided to give me a dinner treat to whatever place. I suggested bringing my girlfriend so I can introduce her to him and of course I and my girlfriend will settle her bill. We went down to a jap restaurant at Bugis for a $9 per set lunch. On top of the jap set, Myo ordered side dishes comprising my favourite soft shell crab and beancurd. The dinner cost a total of $58.25 and he was generous enough to pay for everybody including my girlfriend's. He's a very nice gentleman.

Justice has been served. The ASP cheater alorentz got a complaint from the fritz_the_blank (overall No. 1 in ASP) for being a copycat. We shall see! FtB, you got my support!!!

So happy today because my gf made oreo cheese cake yesterday and I have a share of it :)

Last Friday of every July is "System Administrator Day". All system administrators please do not work too hard.
http://www.sysadminday.com/

The vote is a cheat now.
I bet one of the EE members has written a script that makes automatic removal of cache and voting. Votes for EE has shoot up by 100 in just few hours.

Vote EE as top tech site
http://www.w2knews.com/

Went down to the Somerset outdoor carpark hawker with my gf yesterday. Very long queue for all stalls except Bak Kut Teh. We had fried prawn noodles, fried char kway teow and fried carrot cake. Just too bad that the queue for omelette is just too long :(

Managed to sell my CS1231 textbook at $15 :)

I don't like this expert, "alorentz". I understand he is the current number 1 in ASP for this year but then he doesn't earn my respect. Of course I have no doubts in his knowledge in ASP but then he should behave professionally. He always jumps in and says this is incorrect and that is incorrect, and then he will sometimes come out with something that is often a repeat of what is already said. I call that copycat. It has happened to me when he tried to answer his first question and today, it happen to me yet again. He accused my code will not work without going into detail and came out with another piece of code. My most respected ASP expert goes to Patrick. Patrick is the overall number 1 in ASP TA. Patrick is very professional and always, he will interfere and judge what is right and what is wrong. This time, he came and supported my code :) .  alorentz did apologise but then I don't give a damn.

alorentz, please do better than that.

"CS2102 - Introduction to Database Systems" course website used to be in serious infinite javascript error whenever the mouse is moved. I emailed to the lecturer and suggested a possible solution to the error and he tried my solution and made necessary ammendments to the code. IT WORKS!

It's working like a charm now. I am so happy :)
http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~cs2102/

Saw another Ponggol Marina full timer again today on bus 74. Guess if I were to take bus 74 at around 11pm back to Ang Mo Kio at MacRitchie Reservoir, I will be able to bump onto them. haha.. I actually deliberately took bus 74 today instead of other buses like 165 or 132 just to confirm my instinct. I was correct. This time I saw Ah May, a cashier.

I wonder who would I see next time.

Brazil advances to the finals meeting Argentina.

Finally I have set my mind on the modules I will be taking for this coming semester.

Did I mention "Ponggol Marina" in my earlier posting? Yes and an hour ago, I saw an auntie who used to work in Ponggol Marina with me on my way home on a bus. That's pure coincidence.
 
Her name is Mary and we used to call her Auntie Mary. She is one of the most experienced aunties around in Ponggol Marina. BTW, she is not the auntie I mentioned in my previous post.
 
Some updates from her:
1. Choon Seng Seafood has got 2 branches now - one at Bt Timah near Raffles Girls Pri and the second at Indoor Stadium. The Indoor Stadium branch will be shifted to Changi near the prison very soon.
 
2. Only Susan survives while the other 2 managers, Jessica and Pauline, are no longer working. The best manager survives! According to Mary, Jessica (the mean manager) was the one who suggested to get the Indoor Stadium ground and now the place turned out to be non-profitable. Very few customer patronizes that place.
 
3. None of the part-timers survive except Ah Meng. Ah Meng is one of the longest serving and he has been around even before Ponggol Marina was built. He is the only one who is earning $9/hr. Eric Ghoo ($10/hr guy who started work before Ah Meng) has quit. All the $8/hr staff including myself no longer work for Choon Seng. $7/hr staff too are no longer working. At present, all part-timers are strangers to me :(
 
4. Li Huang auntie, the one who always care for me, no longer works for Choon Seng. She bidded for a place in a primary school's canteen, got the place, and then end up giving it up. She used to told to me how badly she wanted to get a tuckshop place but then now she gave it up! According to Mary, she is now working as a cleaner in that primary school. Ah Lau, the 60 plus years old bachelor who always behaved like a kid is now seriously ill. He is down with cancer and is hospitalized. I am sad to hear that.
 
Very sad to realize that I have lost contact with many and at present, only Sharon and Angela are still in contact with me.

I boarded bus no. 132 at MacRitchie Reservoir on my way home and saw a group of aunties and one teenager. They worked in a same catering service company and were on their way home. There was one particular auntie who was particularly concerned with the teenager boy. She kept telling him where to alight, telling him many times not to cross the road after he alighted and to take bus 25 home at that bus-stop, etc. She even checked her watch making sure the boy would be able to catch the last bus and she even offerred to give the teenager some money if he did not have enough with him. That reminds me of the times when I was 16 working at Ponggol Marina, there was an auntie who always came to me asking me do I need this or that. Maybe because I was the youngest then.

Went to school today early in the morning to get a 2nd hand textbook from a friend's friend but then end up he bringing a book of an earlier edition which is not what I asked for. I remembered very clearly that I emphasised many times the edition of the book and I guessed it must have been overlooked. Sigh.. but it's okay.

Today is the last day of work for me. Few days ago, we had made a deal to wear formally on that fateful day ie. I and Kumar have to wear long sleeve preferably with a tie, and the girls to wear collar shirt, shirt and office shoes. However, Kumar told us he will not be wearing long sleeve shirt because he don't have got one and so agreed to tuck in his shirt instead. We agreed. Everyone came to the office casually except Kumar. I wore slightly different today with a polo-tee, Poh Lee wore a shirt and jeans, while Geraldine wore a blouse and a dress, and as for Kumar, he wore a collar shirt tucked into his pants. The whole scenairo was so awkward because Kumar was tricked. I could see that he felt disappointed with the way we dressed but he decided to forget about it and smiled especially when he saw a card made for him by Geraldine (definitely not by me). She made a card each for Kumar, Desment and Fadzli to express our or rather her appreciation towards their care and concern over the past 2 months or so. Geraldine was the one who suggested making cards for them. She was the one who suggested buying chocolates for them. She was the one. Poh Lee and I just couldn't see the need for all these. Perhaps we were heartless.
 
We did not do much of work before lunch perhaps because we were simply too excited. I repeat again - Today is the last day of work. We chatted, played and joked, waiting for lunch time.
 
Finally the bell for lunch time rang. It was drizzling at that time and so I volunteered to buy in lunch the 3 temps plus Fadzli. Fadzli handed me a $10 note saying that was for us. So this meant he gave us a Mee Goreng treat. The Mee Goreng was hot and spicy, without any meat with merely slices of cucumber and pieces of egg.
 
Mention of Fadzli reminds me of he being a liar, indecisive and irrespsonsible. He mentioned of giving us a Pizza Hut treat 1 day ago (14th July), making appointment on 15th July. I could not make it because I had already made prior arrangements that day. Fadzli then rescheduled the dinner treat to that day (14th July) instead. He asked what we wanted to eat so he could order for delivery. After he left for a meeting, I mentioned to the temps it could have been better if we ordered KFC instead. After several minutes, we realised Fadzli actually was behind us all along! He came back from the meeting very early and we did not even notice his presence. I guessed he must have heard all Poh Lee and I commented because he walked towards us and asked us to order KFC instead of Pizza Hut. Oops... I really couldn't understand why he couldn't make the call himself since he was the one giving the treat. I guessed he's not sincere at all. Few minutes later, he suggested to have lunch at Simei KFC instead on that day. If we had our lunch at Simei, we would need to take a cab to and fro between Norelco to Simei. All of us (temps) found that troublesome and a bit of a rush. The bell for lunchtime rang and we prepared ourselves for KFC at Simei. At this moment, Fadzli approached us and said perhaps it's a bit too rush for us and it would be better to make it tonight (14th July) instead. We could only shrugged and nodded. I really felt he was not sincere at all, making empty promises, making irresponsible decisions, etc. We made our way to AB food court for lunch. After we came back from our lunch, he told us he decided to give us a treat to a Thai banquet instead at Parkway Parade. This time we simply said "anything, you decide lor". We were indifferent this time because we knew all were lies. Few hours later, he apologised to us saying how sorry he was because he just remembered he had got something on and so had to postpone the treat to next week. Bingo! All were lies. Today (15th July), he told Kumar to make arrangements for the dinner treat next week. Why can't he organize the dinner himself since he's the one giving the treat? Isn't he is be the one asking us when are we free? We decided to have the dinner when Thuy is back from Vietnam. Seriously, I feel this dinner treat will not be successful and frankly speaking, I really do not like this arrangement. I cannot believe my eyes why such a simple dinner can be made so complicated. Could today's Mee Goreng treat be the treat he "always" wanted to give? I am not sure.

Let's get back to today and forget about Fadzli. The last hour of today was exciting. We rushed and used our fastest speed possible to complete whatever tasks we were holding onto. That was the speed I used to use on the first few days of work. I bet Kumar really will miss us after we left. He will be bored to death and life will be back to normal for him. There will have no one to joke with. Sigh...
 
Below is the sms he sent to Geraldine, Poh Lee and I after we left,
    "hi guys, first of all thanks for ur hardwork. Second thing i am sorry, i know behaved rudely to u guys sometimes, please don't take it personally,its all because of work stress. GOOD LUCK FOR UR FUTURE. KEEP SMILING.keep in touch MEOW"
 
My reply to him,
    "No lah.. you are nice most of the time. when in stress, remember to MEOW"
 
His reply to my sms,
    "I WILL"
 
All this meow came about because of Poh Lee. She has got the talent of imitating the meow of a cat. She demonstrated meowing today and she really impressed all of us. That's made all of us practising meowing the whole afternoon.. haha... I couldn't mastered the art of meowing but then I had mastered that art of making sounds made by a lizard. BTW, I recorded the meowing sound made by her onto my handphone and I will play that to my gf one day.
 
That's about it.

12th July - My younger brother's birthday
15th July - My mother's birthday

Tomorrow most likely I will be working overtime again.

This coming Friday will be my last day of work and I will go back holiday life, waiting for the new semester to open. 2 more working days and no more. Should I feel glad or sad for it? I am not sure.

I will not be stubborn in the future.

Choosing modules is a headache.
I hate it.

Competition for providing better email services is getting very tense now. Yahoo is now providing auto completion for email addresses just like GMail. Monkey see monkey do...

Just received a sms from Kumar early in the morning telling me that the old woman Jacqueline is not working today. I think he is really happy without her around.

Yesterday (Friday) was very fun. I had a dinner with my working colleagues which invovled Poh Lee, Geraldine, Thuy, Kumar and Fadzli at Changi Village. Boon Ming and Desment were both supposed to be with us but then because of some reasons they couldn't make it. Boon Ming had to work OT and as for Desment, he was late for the company transport to Tampines. Desment told us that he will join us at Tampines Kenny Rogers and that was shocking because we thought all along he knew we had changed the venue to Changi Village. In the end, he decided not to join us.

Fadzli made his trip to Changi Village on his bike. This was the first time the whole gang plus Kumar took the same bus and the trip was exciting. We chatted, joked and laughed all the way from Norelco to Tampines. After 15min, we finally reached Tampines bus interchange where we took bus 29 to Changi Village. Along the way, Kumar pointed out some pretty babes and alerted my attention on them before asking me to rate them. I was never surprised by his actions for he was like that even at Ang Mo Kio, telling me what time that same girl will walk past this or that footpath. Sometimes I really did find awkward with so many pairs of eyes staring at us as if both of us were some peverts but I still stayed in the "game" with him.

Finally, we reached Changi Village. Each of us forked out $10 each to make up $60 for our sumptuous dinner. I volunteered to buy drinks while the girls make decisions on the food. Fadzli, being a muslim, bought himself a plate of don't know call what food but I knew it must be hot and spicy for its bright red colour, and 40 satay assortments comprising of mutton, beef and chicken meat with some ketupat to come along. Fadzli's noodle came followed by the satay. The girls ordered carrot cake, omelette, fried prawn noodles, indian rojak, and BBQ sambal stingray. The table was like so full and the girls started to wonder if we were able to finish everything. I assured them that we would finish it no matter what especially with me around.

Kumar's favourite was the carrot cake and he really really liked that a lot. We ordered a second plate of that and in the end only he and I were the only left surviving. The rest had enough. The carrot began to take Kumar down and I eventually emerged as the sole survivor. There was like about half a plate of carrot cake left before Kumar came out with a very stupid and silly contest which I found that rather interesting. He gathered a portion of carrot cake on the centre of the plate and said the one who managed to use a pair of chopsticks and grabbed that portion would be the eventual winner. We decided to play this game with him and like little kids, we picked up our chopsticks and positioned them at equal distance away from the portion. The game started and Kumar scooped up a big portion of carrot cake up that wasn't the portion as specified saying he were the winner. I thought I also did make myself like a clown for following him, scooping up another big portion of carrot cake from the other side of the plate. The reason as to why he fel he was the winner because the portion he scooped up using his spoon was bigger than the specified portion. That was childish but was fun. I continued finishing the remaining 5 or 6 satay, indian rojak, omelette, and carrot cake.

After the "main course", we decided to pack away some desserts and had them at Changi Beach. We bought 4 servings of desserts and then we headed towards Changi Beach. Kumar came out with the idea of sitting on the sandy beach to have our desserts, chit-chatting and enjoying the breeze. We thought that was a good idea and out of nowhere, Thuy took out "The Straits Times" and we used the "Classified" section to lay out "mat" on the sand. We formed a circle and placed our desserts in the centre. That was real fun. Five of us excluding Fadzli shared the four desserts. We talked about our life experiences, things we did in the past which we thought was exciting but wrong, etc. Here came the part where we really went crazy which was just before we left for home. There were quite a lot of desserts left and Kumar, Poh Lee and I unknowingly got ourselves into a "eat dessert" contest. The 3 of us were supposed to have a bowl of dessert in our hands and we had to have a spoonful of dessert before passing to the next one beside us in a clockwise direction. The speed just got faster and faster and then the 3 of us really got ourselves into a real mess. The next bowl of dessert came into my hands before I could even swallow the dessert in my mouth. Our hands got wet by the dessert in the process of passing around.

We left the place at around 10pm. I find tonight all of us really behaved like little kids. Finally Kumar is able to behave in the way which he prefers to be. Seriously, I thinks he will miss us after we leave the company. There will be no one around to joke with him anymore, no one to be entertain with his lame jokes, no one to have ice cream with him on our way back from lunch, no one.... The old woman, Jacqueline, definitely is not a candidate and without her will be better of. Boon Ming is tied down by the old woman's everyday nags. Fadzli is too old or rather I should say not young for Kumar to communicate in the way he is to us now. Document control department will be back to square one - quiet and boring. There will have only 4 people left working in the department.

I will miss the group of friends (small group).

What's the hell with Arts faculty? Till now they haven't updated their course site.

I have GMAIL was my MSN display nick for a mere less than an hour before my working colleague jokingly told me "hao lian". I never meant it.

I just got myself a gmail account all because of a friend who is kind enough to invite me :)

Went to ginza plaza today to meet a friend, Myo. We have not met each other for many months because of busy schedules. I suggested to have lunch at west coast hawker to save some money but then he preferred to have them at a restaurant. I simply said "OK". We ordered 3 dishes and 3 plates of white rice whereby 2 of the rice were mine. I guessed I had been eating too much these few days. Seafood at JB yesterday plus today's heavy lunch! After lunch, we had a pool session and I think he really played well today.

At around 3pm, I left for Bugis to meet another friend. We are supposed to meet at selegie's Mechmaster at 5pm for a pool session before heading for dinner. Dashun, Shaowei and I decided to meet at Bugis at 4pm instead because we really did not wish to play pool. On my way to Bugis, I called up a Japanese restaurant at Bugis to make reservation for 15 people. At 4pm, I reached Bugis and only Dashun was there as Shaowei was late. We bought orange juice and had our usual crap session and this time at Long John Silver to wait for Shaowei and at the same time wait for 7:30pm for the dinner. Unexpectedly and sadly, something happened and I needed to get back home to settle some family matters and had to leave in a rush. I waited for Shaowei to arrive before taking a bus to Yishun. I made a reservation and registered as "Mr Loh" and now Dashun had to take my place as "Mr Loh". I heard they decided to change venue and had dinner at Selegie's self-proclaimed famous "starhub" chicken rice stall. This gathering was meant to celebrate and welcome the return of JB from Australia study. I feel so bad to leave like that but then sometimes life is so unpredictable.

Life is full of surprises.
Life is full of disappointments.

Match is starting soon! My prediction is Portugal win.

Finally learnt something at work today. I was asked to help solve a PC problem. Today was the first time I ever tried "System Restore" feature and it indeed worked like a charm. So glad.

I had a super heavy dinner today. Went home early today and called my mom to ask her what she wanted for dinner. Initially, she said she wanted "cai fan" but then she changed her mind right after I ended the phone call. She calle back telling me she had already bought her dinner earlier on and so I should not buy her share. Blur and that was me, I bought dinner for her and myself totally forgotten she telling me not to buy hers. I ended up finishing all of them.

Something unpleasant happened in my department today. An IT technician, Teo, quarrelled with Fadzli because of something very trivial. Our department once had friction with the IT department when PCs were moved and shifted from the meeting room to the document control room without notifying IT personnels. This I understood and agreed that Fadzli was at wrong of doing so without the acknowledging them, however, today's case was a bit ridiculous. PCs were shifted from a table to another within the document control room and for this, Fadzli was reprimanded. Fadzli argued how unreasonable and ridiculous it was and in the end.. I really don't know what was the conclusion. I just know that it is better not to use PCs to listen to music to avoid any more friction with the IT department. Okay, no more music for me :( Ya, I made a stupid remark today and made the entire department laughed and it was, "Can I move the mouse?". hehe...

Today is a busy day for me. I was told to do scanning on all new drawings, afterwhich I was supposed to do appending on them before doing uploading onto the Edoc system. The heavy duty scanner was down for more than a couple of days already and no choice I had to make do with the slow scanner, one that required I performing manual transfer of scanned files onto my mailbox and then retrieving them. I managed to complete scanning but am left with 50% appending work and 100% uploading.

Tomorrow have to continue with that. Hope I can complete them before I knock off tomorrow.

I have lost the zeal in helping answering questions. I think I just stay in helping being a cleanup volunteer instead.

Today is Jeffery's birthday. We went down to PS's Cartel for the celebration and I ordered "Breaded Chicken". Till now, I still feel very full! The chicken just couldn't be digested.

Working is getting more fun nowadays. Listening to music openly, playig games secretly, using the internet secretly, etc. Wow!!! Guess life at work is getting better each day.

I going to sleep early for I do wish to live longer.

My colleagues and I were discussing on what have we learnt through working in norelco.

Poh Lee: I learnt I do have attitude problem especially to those who accuse me. I also realised I do look arrogant and cold at times. Need to change.

Thuy: This is my first job. I learnt that I will really hate those who are bossy. I am myself and I don't think I will change.

I: I did not learn anything. This is serious.

Geraldine was doing scanning that time when we were discussing. Anyway, I don't feel comfortable talking with her. I realised she has got the bad habit of staring and observing people and she really makes the stare obvious. I see that as a bad bad habit. So rude.

There are so many things for me to do given such a limited amount of time. I have got a law-related book to read (have read 20+ out of 180+ pages), and 2 set of VB materials to type (I have done 0.5 and so left with 1.5). erm.. when I say a lot, it actually means only 2 tasks.

Hi-tech armed forces prompts shorter NS term

I am extremely tired today. My body is getting very hot today, my eyes are tired after whole day of work in front of a lousy PC monitor (my LCD monitor is being changed to a forever flickering CRT monitor), my mind not functioning well and always fail to forget string of digits, my... I think I will fall sick very soon.

I will go on.

I am waiting for my family members to get themselves prepared. My cousin's child is one month old. Guess we have to take cab later to Woodlands for the buffet.

Watched the first Euro 2004 match between Portugal (host) and Greece (underdogs) yesterday and the match ended Portugal lost at 1-2 scoreline. It was the least unexpected.

Few days ago, my superior, Fadzli, asked me if I knew MsAccess. I knew he wanted me to help him come out with a MsAccess and then in the end I guess he will claim the effort his own. Neh.. I don't want that especially I am paid only $45 per day. That's too little for IT work. I told him I forgot how to do MsAccess database application. I ain't cheap labour.

Will be meeting my friends again.
Dashun and Eddy are available.
Jeffery is unavailable because of exams (I think so).
The spider is forever unavailable.

I cannot sleep tonight. My brother has just announced that he will terminate the Pacific Internet account when it expires in July. This means if I were to continue using the account, I will have to pay twice the amount what I used to and it will amounts to approximately $75/mth. Add on to my M1 bill, I will have to pay about $100/mth. I guess I will have to do some research on internet plans and see if I can convert to other plans when my current plan expires. It has been quite long since I last have so many worries.

Just watched wrestling again just now and this time was a special one. It lasted for close to 3 hours and I was glued to the TV all the way. The last match between Eddie and John was brutal and bloody. It's an affair between the 2 where Eddie had got to defend the championship title. I hate the stupid John, looking cocky plus arrogant, making promises and guarantees that he will win the title no matter what prior to the match. Okay, he did win the match but I would classify that win as a "smelly" one. He used a steel chair to whack Eddie's head and this whack resulted Eddie to bleed like hell. His whole face was covered with blood and blood just constantly oozed out filling the ring's platform. That beast even tried a second attempt to use the metal title belt on Eddie's head but then was intercepted and in return, Eddie used that same metal title belt and whacked real hard on John's head. The referee saw it and disqualified him. That's unfair wasn't it?

I have got an ulcer in my mouth again but this time it is on my tongue. I have been getting ulcers quite often these days and I think it isn't a good sign. Better drink more water.

Will be working tomorrow =(
This time I will work alone without my partner.
Will be very boring.

Before I forgot, I had green bean soup when I reached home.
I know it is very late now but I think I will wait for those food in my stomach to digest before I turn in to bed.

I had a long good nap in the afternoon.

Ya.. I also had durians tonight at Bt Merah and I still can smell durians on my fingers. I was at Bt Merah bus interchange at around 11pm when I saw 2 police cars driving into the interchange and immediately I guessed something must have happened. One don't usually see police cars driving into bus interchange. What I saw was 4 policemen got off from the 2 cars approaching a middle-aged woman who was sitting slouched, leaning on one of the pillars beside the bus park. The 4 policemen tried to persuade the chinese race woman to get up and leave the place but apparently the woman was not really listening to them. My first feeling is the woman must have got lots of worries and troubles if not she wil not be there in such a late hour. What really amazed me was none of the 4 policemen deployed to persuade the woman were chinese and all were in fact malays. The police HQ should go find out the race of the woman before making decisions on whom to deploy so that at least they can communicate with the woman if she can only understand mandarin or chinese dialect. hmm.. I think I think too much.

I am just too full tonight. Had dinner with my family including my younger brother. To have him givig a dinner treat is quite a rare occasion but this time it is for real. He made arrangements to meet everyone at our self declared famous "zu cao" market coffeeshop at 7pm for dinner. He ordered 4 dishes and all except myself and my elder brother ate little and so... hehe.. I get to eat a lot. I ate 2 plates of white rice plus large portions of meat, egg, vegetables and tau foo.

Blame myself for that.

I am supposed to go out today (NOW) but then something crops up. Woke up early in the morning to see a notice on my whiteboard saying I need to stay at home to expect a cake from my mom's friend in the late afternoon. No one is at home at the moment.. my brother made the first move of leaving the house earlier than me (lucky him). The cake is from my mom's friend's son/daughter's don't know son or daughter's 1 month birthday. Blame it on I forgetting to tell my family I will be going out today earlier.

I think I will stay at home the whole day.. erm.. maybe jio friends living near my house for dinner later.