Spain: Champions of Europe

Fernando Torres scores the only goal of the match and Spain has ended their 44 year wait for a trophy! Wow! 44 years, that's a long time. That's their captain cum goalkeeper Iker Casillas lifting the cup. Congratulations! I didn't support the wrong team!

[Pictures taken from Soccernet]

BBQ at Pasir Ris Park

Went for the BBQ at Pasir Ris park with Fuji Xerox people on Saturday night. You can't believe how far the place is. After a 1 hour journey by train from boon lay to pasir ris, we had to take a feeder bus to the park and after alighting, we still had to walk a long distance to the pit. Upon arrival at Pasir Ris park, we started feeling tiny droplets of rain falling from the sky and we could see flashes of lightning streaking across the sky. I started to wonder: "Is this going to be our day?" Seems like we had made a mistake in going.

Thankfully, the sky cleared up and it was business as usual. We really started eating only around 9pm. Each of us had paid $20 for this barbeque and we were expecting some really good food. In the end we only had sausages (enormous ones I should say), satays, fish, squid, pork chop and chicken fillet. It turned out that there were still a lot of food left uncooked and those were the expensive ones; there was a packet of beef sirloin. Major cockup. No wonder Chae told me he was pissed that we kept cooking the sausages.

Ironically, the most enjoyable part of the day came about when we were away from the BBQ pit and playing basketball. Im not much of a basketballer myself but the others are good. We mixed the temps and the perms for the first match and for the second match, it's temps vs perms. Yong Bin is too damn good, we can see the difference in class from the way he plays. Weiqi is very good as well but he can't go on for more than 15 mins (or was it 5 mins? Haha.) On the FEW occasions when he wasn't sitting down on the floor resting, we caught glimpses of how good he can be. :D Lionel was aggressive enough and hit a couple of stunning long range shots that had us awestruck. Melissa was always involved in the build ups to our attacks, but she got hit by the ball more times than she would have liked. Haha.

After the game, we were all sweaty, oily, stinky, smoky and in very pathetic states. It was already 1 plus near 2 when we left. So we shared a cab home, bathed and slept.

Viva España!

I watched my first live match of Euro 2008 this morning, and it's the second last match of the tournament! All the rest of the matches I watched were either highlights or delayed telecasts. Spain vs Russia was the match I watched and thankfully Spain won; I can wear my España t-shirt (The one Im wearing in the picture above)proudly. Haha. Euro 2008 final: Germany vs Spain. Monday morning 2.45am. I'll be watching that, I even took leave on Monday for that. Will Spain win the tournament?

Over at work, the new project started this week: Wajima 2 Bytes - Simplified Chinese. But progress was very very slow. I finished only less than one third of what Im supposed to do. We had been too slack, that's why we can't get back to working mode. Have to catch up next week, which is also the last week of work. Feeling a bit guilty over my incompetence....

Part of the reason why progress is so slow is because I was learning Cantonese from Melissa. Weiqi was learning too. It all began with his "Lei ge kar lat dai hou yuk xun." :D From there it led to him learning how to sing 好心分手 in Cantonese and me, 情深的一句 and 当我遇上你. I think Melissa is the first person I know who has heard of so many Andy Lau songs, but she certainly hasn't heard as much as me. But damn it, I printed the lyrics with cantonese pronunciation but forgot to bring them home. I had planned to learn them over the weekend.

It's friday night and Im at home blogging. In fact, I didn't go out the whole week. Guess my energy has been expended from the KTVs and such from previous weeks and Im reverting to the "homely" guy that I am, aka 宅男. I want to watch "10 promises to my dog" but nobody wants to watch with me. Everyone is saying "me and my stupid dog show". Melissa even told me not to be so "girl". Wtf? Guys can't watch these kinds of shows? People nowadays don't have a heart. Haha. If only I can bring Chippy to watch together, but then she wouldn't understand what's going on anyway. So, who wants to watch with me???????

The Alchemist

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." This is what the old king said to Santiago and the quote that I remembered most from the book "The Alchemist", recommended to me by Melissa. The book is about a boy Santiago who dreamt of treasures hidden under the pyramids in Egpyt and travelled all the way there to fulfil his dream (his Personal Legend). Along the way, he met with many difficulties that almost made him give up. He also met a girl he loved and almost wanted to give up his dream and stay by her side. However, he overcame all odds in the end and managed to find the treasure.

The story tells us that if we have a dream, we must go all out to fulfil our dream despite the difficulties faced. We must also not be too bothered about what we will lose, including leaving our loved ones behind. If we were to give up our dreams because of that, we will regret it in years to come.

So how does this apply to me? I don't really know. I don't really have any dreams in the first place. Since young, I only aim to study hard so that I can earn enough to give my parents a good life, just like they did for me. Other than that, I only enjoyed playing soccer and running. I once had a dream which is to complete a marathon. But now, I've done that twice. So what's next? Anyway, that's more of a personal goal than a dream. Seriously, I don't know what I aim to achieve in life, and I know that Im not alone. Which of you reading this post can tell me what your dream is? Im curious to find out.

In the book, the boy met a crystal merchant. He's used to his life and doesn't ask for anything more out of it and doesn't like much changes. His dream was to visit the holy city of Mecca but when he was young, he wanted to earn some money first so he started a shop. But when the shop is doing well, he couldn't bear to put the shop in another person's charge and so he can't bear to go to Mecca. Another reason why he didn't go is because it's the dream of going to Mecca that kept him alive. He was afraid that if he were to go, he will no longer have anything to dream about.

Im just like the merchant, too used to my way of life. Eat, study, sleep, run, watch TV, play soccer, spend time with my family and my dog. Many people asked me why I didn't want to go overseas to do my Phd because my results are good enough to do so. Firstly, I just can't bear to leave my family behind and secondly, I don't like to adapting to life in another country, just like the merchant. At least the merchant has something to dream about, I don't know if I have any. In fact, Im so used to my life that I've never gotten into a relationship. I don't know how my life will change if I were to do so, thus explaining why Im always lacking in intiative when it comes to these matters. Even on the few occassions that I tried to take the initiative, I failed. So now Im just waiting for others to take the intiative on me. Haha. Yes, I know that's wishful thinking, but just let it be then....

Something damn funny happened during lunchtime today. We were at Cold Storage at Holland Village when a funeral procession (出殡) was ongoing just outside. Then there was this Caucasian kid who shouted to his mum: "Mummy look! There's a chinese travelling circus!" And his mother looked as if she thought it was a circus too. We almost laughed our asses off.

Wild night at KTV

Went back to the Chinatown $10 KTV again last night with my colleagues from Fuji Xerox: Weiqi, Sing Hong, Lionel, Melissa, Yong Lim and Da Jie. This was a totally new experience, thanks to one guy - Weiqi. He totally brought the house down. Haha. 笨小孩 brought out the rocker in him and from then on, he went insane, insanely good I shall say. I still feel like laughing when I think of how crazy he had been last night.

His "One night in Beijing" left us totally speechless, no wonder he told me that is THE song he must sing when he goes to KTV. He can scream and he can sing, and the database of songs that he can sing is extensive. Yong Lim raps well and Sing Hong is good at Jay Chou's songs. Lionel sang a couple of English songs and it sounded good, but he was not confident of himself. Haha. Da Jie sang very little too, and she likes to sing in "Analog" mode. Maybe she's too pai seh.

Melissa is a great singer as well. Found out that she was from the choir just as we were about to reach the KTV. She mostly sang duets with Weiqi and they sounded good, except for the occassions when she forgot (or was it don't know how to read) the lyrics. Haha. Well, I did a duet with her too, and guess which song we sang? Yeah, 好心分手. One of my favourite songs and one of the few which I can sing well, I think. She sang her part magnificently, I hope my part was good enough to make the song sound good. Haha. The others I sang were mostly Andy Lau songs, some by Mayday and a few random others, and Weiqi said I brought the Andy Lau style into 童话. Ooops... Im just not versatile enough when it comes to singing. :P

The greatest disappointment of the day was that 动你脚车 failed to deliver 那就这样吧. 动你脚车 was the name of the duo of me and Weiqi modified from 动力火车. Haha. I know it sounds lame but what can you expect from two lame guys? We both like the song 那就这样吧 and we agreed to sing it at the KTV. But when the song came up..... there wasn't any scrolling lyrics!!! It was just a normal MV without the enlarged font and the blue filling. Oh my god! It was damn difficult to sing that way. Maybe Weiqi can do it, but I can't. Haizzz..... In the end, we flunked and 动你脚车 face the possibility of getting disbanded. :(

As they say, save the best for the last and that's what we did. We all got together to sing 朋友 just before we left and it was damn fun and funny. Weiqi kept doing funny actions as we sang and we played along with him, raising our glasses as we sang the 一杯酒 part. Haha. Lionel took photos for us and the photos should be up in facebook soon. A pity we forgot to help him take photos of himself so he wasn't in the pictures. What a waste.

To end this entry:

Adizero CS

Spend, spend and spend. I have been buying a lot of things recently. From T-shirts to DVDR to new shoes. Luckily Im working now, if not I don't know where the money will come from. The most recent thing I bought: a pair of Adizero CS running shoes. It's red and white and looks great. Lionel borrowed an Adidas VIP card from his friend and we went down to the Adidas Store and Vivocity after work yesterday to check out the shoes. The pair that I chose was originally $162, but it was on sale and there was 30% off. Using the VIP card, I was entitled to another 30% off the discounted price which makes it 0.7*(0.7 * $162) = $79! That's a good bargain in my opinion, the price I paid is only 49% of the original price. I really have to thank Lionel for that. He himself bought another pair of black Adizero which is the same as what Mun Wai is wearing. I wanted to buy a pair of soccer boots as well but the smallest size is UK 7.5 while mine is UK 6.5 (Yes, I know I have small feet). I tried the kid's size and the largest size was UK 5. So where does that leave people like me with feet size between UK 5 and UK 7.5? Or are males not supposed to have that kind of feet size? :(

Reached home around 8 and had dinner. My mum went out to do her newspaper job and left me with a super big bowl of pork porridge. I struggled to finish everything and felt so full after that. Usually I wouldn't have finished it but recently I felt that I've lost weight. Even my friends who play soccer with me told me that. Did I really lose weight? But why? There wasn't any changes in my lifestyle. And Im also not under any stress. That's puzzling....

Choosing to finish all the porridge was a bad decision. I couldn't sleep well at night because I was too full. I went to sleep at 10.30pm but woke up again at 11.30pm because my stomach felt uncomfortable. Tried to sleep again but was kept awake by some dog's howling from the opposite block. I hope that the dog is not being abused, because its howling sounded pathetic. But I have no idea which unit the sound came from. If someone was really abusing the dog, I wish that person a horrible death.

That's not all. After some time, the air-conditioner compressor (Im not sure if that's what it's called but it's the thing outside the window) from the unit above mine started to make a lot of noise. Im sure the thing needs servicing but the asshole of a neighbour just can't be bothered to do it. That is not the first time it has happened and the sound was damn loud. If there's one thing I really hate, it is to have my sleep disturbed. I feel like going up to slap that idiot who lives above me, stupid inconsiderate fool. But in the end I didn't and instead, tried to go back to sleep. The noise faded off and just when I thought that was it, it happened again. Arrgggghhhh.........

Eventually, I only got to sleep at about 3am and I woke up today at 7.05am. The alarm didn't sound, I just woke up naturally because Im used to waking up at that time. I had set the alarm at 8am. Ok, now that Im awake 1 hour early, do I
1) Go back to sleep?
2) Go and run?

Option 2 was chosen. I put on my running shoes (not the new pair) and off I went, approximately 5.6km around the neighbourhood. Reached home at 8am, washed up and left for work around 8.30am. Im quite late today but when I reached the office, Im still one of the first few. Haha. I wonder if I can survive the day with less than half the amount of sleep I get from a typical day. Hopefully I can, but today's going to be a long day because we're going to KTV after work! :)

$10 KTV at Chinatown

Went to the $10 KTV at Chinatown on Wednesday after work with Ronghua, Jastinian, Weiming and Jastinian and Weiming's girlfriends. The place was not bad, but I heard that it was difficult to book a place, especially on weekends. This is the first time I went to KTV with this group and they are too good! Weiming doesn't sing but the rest of them can sing very well. I was quite stressed. Haha.

Tried a few new songs which I've never sang before and realised that there are some songs I must avoid. For example, JJ Lin's songs will expose all my flaws because I can't raise my voice to his key. I tried to sing 一千年以后 but halfway through I know I won't be able to make it. Haha. I'll have to select songs with lower vocal ranges.

But I managed to sing 好心分手rather well, a duet with Weiming's girlfriend Peiru. I like that song but I didn't think I have much of a chance to sing it because it's not easy to find a girl who can sing cantonese to sing with me. So when she picked that song, I readily agreed to sing it with her. :D

Met Weiming and Jastinian for dinner on Friday at Marina Square. Had planned to go to the PC show to buy some DVD-Rs. But we took our time and reached the exhibition hall late. Stupid Weiming told me it closes at 9. When we reached there at 9 plus, it was already closed. Damn it. I think I'll ask someone to buy it for me since Im too lazy to make a trip there and mingle with the crowd. Crowds are scary things.

At work, one of my colleagues Mun Wai deliberately avoided another colleague Melissa because of a joke we played on him last week. It was just a harmless joke but we didn't expect Mun Wai to take it so seriously and get all stressed up over the matter, even after we had stopped talking about it. He started to do all sorts of funny things and that made Melissa feel awkward too. We had definitely joked with the wrong guy and made a mess of the situation. Things got better towards the end of the week and I hope that he will be back to normal. If not we will feel bad, even though it's not deliberate.

2 late nights

Went to Timbre@ the Arts House on Friday night after work with my colleagues from Fuji Xerox. It was sort of a farewell for Chae as he is leaving the company and at the same time, we celebrated Yong Bin's birthday. Nothing much to do in there except listening to the live band. It was cramp and hot, not what I had expected. I ordered a cocktail, Around the World. It didn't really suit my taste. I preferred Long Island Iced Tea and China Blue, but it's better than AK47 which tasted like..... yucks.




Went to St James Power Station with Weiming, Peiru, Shinneng and Rong Hua on Saturday night. It was my first time there. We had planned to meet 8.30pm at Harbourfront MRT so that we can enter for free before 9pm. However, I reached the MRT only at 8.45pm and we had to rush from Vivocity to St James. We managed to reach in time after a super-fast walk and run. :D

How should I describe my experience there? The music was way too loud for my liking, Im really not used to it. And we had to shout when talking, I think we weren't supposed to talk much anyway. We explored Dragonfly, The Bolier Room and the Powerhouse. All in all, I just have to say that it's not my kind of place. It didn't turn out to be a wild night like I have expected. What a waste...... :D

We left around 12 and went to MacDonald's for supper. I took the Nightrider home after supper and saw Shihan on the bus. What a coincidence. The last time I took the nightrider was also with her, and I happened to wear the same shirt on both days. :D That's where the similarities end, the difference: Nightrider is now $3.50 instead of $3! Wtf!

Results are out

Results are finally out. This is what I've got.

What a close shave. B+ is the minimum grade for FYP to get a First Class Honours. Anything lower then that and it's gone. Nevertheless, I got it, after 4 years of hard work. Harder in the beginning, not so hard towards the end (because I slacked). Sacrifices had been made, what should be done had been done, what shouldn't be done had also been done. Thanks to all those who had helped me in one way or another, and to all those who believed in me, I didn't let you all down. Haha.