Date: 2009-10-07 03:12 Subject: Oh god OH GOD Security: Public Mood: nauseated

So I'm thinking, "Hey, I think I have an ancient blogger.com blog to jack up the linky-things", and I go look for it. After a few minutes I *do* find it and I'm surprised to see 19 posts.

Wow, did I post that much? I thought it's like... 5, before I gave up blogging for a while before Livejournal.

Anyway, those entries come from waaay back, in 2003.

I was 17 then. Holy Crap.

The entries are HORRIBLE. They're written by a SILLY TEENAGE BOY.

It's 3.15am already but I just can't not read them and cringe. I think I'm a masochist.

Date: 2009-04-05 06:46 Subject: I Return Security: Public

Hey guys.

It's been a while since I updated. My last one was pretty darn dramatic and stuff. After that I didn't really care about updating anymore since there was always something else to do.

Well, this will be a nice change. I'm currently staying awake at 6.48am, without having slept a wink. I blame this on the huge glass of mocha I had the day before, and this annoying cough that's really threatening to tear out my trachea. So I thought I'd just post a new entry here.

What's been going on? Well, since the last time, lots of stuff. The relationship's still going, and it doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon, thankfully. I'm on the second semester of my first year in Uni, and I've got pretty decent results on my first semester, although I think I could've done a little bit better there. It's spring break, which is the Easter holidays, so I have about 3 weeks of staying in my room with no classes. Of course, I shall need to study within this period of time.

I won't be going back home until mid-July at the earliest, as I have an excavation to go to. The location of this event isn't confirmed yet, though. I've submitted two choices of where I want to go; my first is a piece of land in the Isle of Man that holds a deconstructed WWI Detention Camp, meant for the Germans living in the UK at the time. This one will be held until the 27th of July, so if I get that one, I'll be having a whale of a time (hopefully), while going home extremely late.

My second choice is an Iron Age hillfort in Cheshire, which is really close to Liverpool and also means that I can continue to stay in my room throughout the whole thing, which is very nice. It finishes on the 17th of July which is another bonus to me, but the subject matter is clearly not as interesting as a WWI Detention Camp.

I also visited Paris during Christmas, which was very memoriable and I would totally love to go there again. Among the many places of interest, I went to the Louvre (duh), Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triomphe, Cathedral of Sacre Coeur in Montmatre, been outside Moulin Rouge, been to Printemps, and Disneyland, and they were all really really nice. But I think what makes it all so enjoyable is the company that I had during the trip...

That's it for now. Until next time.

Date: 2008-11-19 00:28 Subject: Oh, So That's How It Feels Security: Public Mood: :( Tags: relationships

I made a mistake when I said I 'gave half my heart away'. In truth, I gave all of it, down to the very last fiber, and now because of something I said or something I did it's hurting so much.

I never thought that the bad times were this bad, but now I know. And I don't like it one bit.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I tried to make it better, but it just got worse. I just want to stop it from getting worse than it is, but somehow I screwed it up again effortlessly.

But you're not the only one hurting. Did you think that I'm cheerfully playing my games now? I've found that I can't do anything in peace if you're not feeling well, emotionally and physically.

I should be standing in front of you and saying all these, but I lose my words whenever the moment comes, and let's face it, I suck at verbal sparring and you can cut me to pieces with it when I've barely even got my words out.

But the point is: I didn't know. You could argue that this was never supposed to happen, that I should be aware at all times, but I didn't know in this instance, and I didn't know the urgency of it.

I know you hate that I keep forgetting stuff. I know that I do, and I try my best to remember, really I do. All I can say for myself is that, this is really how I am. I am not able to remember every single thing. I will forget that we're doing sausages instead of prawns tomorrow night. I will forget that we're supposed to go shopping for pots next week. But this isn't because I don't care about what we agreed on. I, *truly*, forgot about it, despite my best intentions.

One thing I can say in defence, though, is that I will never, ever forget the truly important stuff, and if I do, it's because I wasn't sure about it and I'm to blame for that.

I've also realised that I tend to say incredibly stupid things that, while amusing in my mind, irks you a great deal. This I apologise. I didn't mean to, I was only trying to make witty banter. By now, it seems that I pretty much fail at it.

Like what I said just now, just when it got worse. I said it because I, to be honest, didn't want to go through it again. I now realise that if I had been more tactful, just that once, I wouldn't have to sit in my room and listening to sad Beatles songs on Youtube while surfing for relationship advice on Yahoo! Answers (which was a really bad move).

All I've ever wanted, since the beginning, was to see you happy and content. My heart aches if you aren't. No, don't mind me - this is what I chose to do. Don't feel like you have to be happy for my welfare.

I can sense that you don't like to tell people what to do, because you want them to 'figure it out' in the end, because it's how it should be. I'm sorry to tell you that your boyfriend here is a clueless tiger that can only figure out how to hunt with the help of a map. I will clean up whatever that is that's lacking, but I am me. This is how I am, the good and the bad. I'm not perfect, my dear honey, even though you might think and wish it.

I hope that we can let this go and continue on the Road together. It gets tiring sometimes, but I don't feel like walking it alone.

I don't want to walk alone.

Date: 2008-11-04 20:17 Subject: Late as usual! Security: Public Location: My Room Mood: content Tags: relationships, uni

Well! Time does fly, as I've discovered time and time again (ahaha). It's been a month since I've arrived in Liverpool, and there have been so many interesting happenings that it's kind of kept me away from updating my journal.

Where should I start? I have no idea, but these are the few things that I've already managed to get done:

- Go to a club, drink. Watch drunk people. Is fun.

- Went to a casino. Didn't bet on anything.

- Study study study.

- Enjoying school (kind of)

- Eating a tad more than usual

- Made new friends


I honestly have not the time to play games as much as I want to. There are a few factors involved, but they're all keeping me busy and away from them. I've only just started to find time to play again, but I still have things to take care of. Like my studies.

For the second time in my life, I *love* what I'm studying.

Of course, sometimes I get bored. Sometimes I nod off in class. But all in all I'm really really enjoying myself. I don't generally find classes to be a bore, I turn up for lectures on time, I even get my homework done on time! This is quite a big thing for me, because I'm usually terrible at homework deadlines. It still sucks, because I need to write 1500 word essays, and nobody does homework willingly (except Hermione but nevermind that), but I do my best to get them done on time. So far, I've submitted two essay assignments, a 'Draw-a-map' assignment for my Egyptology class and another interesting Google Earth assignment about finding Ancient Mesopotamian sites on the fun little program.

I know! Interesting, isn't it? Unfortunately, it takes more work than you'd imagine to finish the assignment.

But the hard work does pay off. I've since got my first essay and my Egyptology assignment back. The essay scored a 68, just two points shy of a First Class grade, and I got a B for my map assignment, which I think is pretty good for a first try. I was practically skipping when I walked home that day.

Speaking of home, I miss it. I've never really thought of anywhere else as home other than the one in Singapore, but it seems that I will have to label this room as such, for a while. It's not as bad as I thought; I'm rapidly learning how to cook a decent meal, and I can say with a bit of confidence that I can whip up a dish of pasta and some stewed chicken on my own, along with other bits and pieces. There's stuff that can be bought in Chinatown that reminds me of home when I eat it. And I have quite a few fellow Singaporean friends to hang out with.

The thought of flying home after a year with new experiences under my belt and a deeper maturity delights me, but I'll have to spend a lot more time on my own first before that can happen. Already I'm feeling a little more ready to spread my wings and fly solo.

Well, not that solo, actually.

You see... I've met a girl. A lady. She makes up for 80% of the reason why I don't have time to update my journal and play games for the past few weeks, and I don't mind.

The relationship is still in its early stages, but I feel more comfortable with her than I've ever felt with all the other girls that came before. I hope that's a good sign, because it feels like I've already given her half of my heart already.

Date: 2008-09-26 00:10 Subject: First Few Days Security: Public Mood: sleepy Tags: uni

It's midnight, and there's nothing scheduled for tomorrow, so what's a man gonna do? He blogs!

I've been out and about a lot ever since I came here, doing orientation stuff and hanging out with other Singaporean people. There are about 10+ of us around, and I guess you can say that we're a pretty tight bunch. The second year people have really helped us newbies out a whole lot; they've shown us around the place, making sure we've got the daily essentials stuff, giving tips and advice. It's been really nice being taken care of.

One thing I had a bit of problem with on the first day was just this feeling of... I dunno, gloominess? As usual I blame jetlag, but when I think about it more I just feel like I'm so out of place, that I'm totally not meant to be here, that kind of thing. It also doesn't help that everything's strange and unfamiliar and I can even get myself turned around when walking to a rendezvous point just across the street.

But that's all settled now. I know my way around a lot better since then, and I'm slowly getting used to the whole new environment and culture. I might change my mind sometime down the road, but right now I'm really appreciative of how things work back home and how the people are like. That's not to say that I suddenly miss the sullen mood the service industry usually wears (I'm really liking the friendly service here), but it's the fact that I'm just so familiar with it.

And the food. Oh god, the food. I will get into it later, though.

One side-effect of all that friendliness is that Liverpool tends to get a little rowdy during party nights, which means almost everyday. I'm sorry, but I'm really not the pub-crawling sort and I like peace and quiet, so I'm really not enjoying the noisy groups of people walking past my block almost every night.

There's also the element of racism in there. I feel quite safe within campus, but out in town I try to get back when it gets late, even when I'm with people. Just a few nights ago I've witnessed an exchange of racial slurs in the city center. I'm sure most people aren't like that, and it might be the booze talking, but I'm trying not to stay out too late, is all.

But enough of the depressing stuff.

As I've already half-expected, I'm the only first-year asian in the entire school of Archaeology. This is both good and bad. Good thing is I like being special. Bad thing is that I'm 'special', in that I have nobody else to identify with, except for the other international students, but none are from predominantly asian countries either. The people doing the exact same course as me are decent, but right now there's a sort of barrier between me and them. Like I said earlier, it's the culture difference that's the main obstacle. That and the accents. But I will get into that later.

A little bit more about Archaeology: I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there's another Singaporean doing Archaeology. Wonder of wonders! I was pretty shocked too when I learnt about it, but it has been a great blessing for me. Firstly, I actually have someone I can whine to when things get messy and expect an understanding nod and pat in the back, and secondly... I get free coursebooks! I really, really cannot underline how cool that is. Thank you Geraldine, thank you so much.

I really hope to not study my course. As in, I really hope that I don't treat my work as 'work'. So far, all of the coursebooks seem like stuff that I would (and have) rent(ed) from the library out of my own free will, but I won't know if I will read them willingly when the term starts. I'm kind of worried that Archaeological Methods will bore me quite a bit, but I'm prepared to trudge through it to get it under control.

There's no question that my aim would be to get first-class honours. Firstly, I want to get it because I want to get it (i.e. be the very best), and secondly because everyone's hopes are riding with me. It would be a shame if I got a crummy third class and let them all down, including me. It'll be hard, but I'll really do my best. I hope the things I've gone through during my army days are sufficient for me to get it done.

And man, Scouser (Liverpool) accents are really the worst. Half the time I need them to repeat their sentence, and the other half I have to spend five seconds processing what they're saying. I don't think Manchester accents even come close to the mumbling obscurity that is the Scouser accent. And it only reaffirms my belief that American accents are the easiest to understand yet. I'm half thinking about doing my Masters in the USA, when I get the chance to...

But I'm learning and trying my very best to stay in the loop, because it's important that I know just what the heck they're talking about. I mean, they could be joking about Barney the dinosaur or something and laugh and I'd feel like a dumbass if I just stood there like a dumbass. Fortunately I know enough to recognise the word 'Bar-nayye' when I hear it so I can laugh along like a normal person.

Okay then, enough about that. It's one in the morning and I need to sleep.

Date: 2008-09-24 09:01 Subject: What Would I Be? Security: Public

( Ima Deep Space Explorer! )

Date: 2008-09-23 23:54 Subject: The Feline Has Landed Security: Public Location: Hall Room Mood: sleepy Tags: uni

Welp, here I am, in the Good Olde Kingdom Which Is Rather United. It's been four days since I've touched down, and it has been very interesting and high-strung so far.

Firstly, I'm considering whether to release this page to the whole wide world and let anybody and everybody know about its existance - for almost five years only a select few people have read and known the contents of this archive (Oooh!), but now that I'm on my own I think people that I'm close to are kind of missing out on my daily activities as well. Right now I want to make all previous entries private.. I don't think anybody really misses them at this point. I have no idea how I'm going to convert four years worth of entries to private viewing as fast as possible though...

But nevermind that for now. I'll try and remember what I did since my last post. I'm kinda lazy and it's midnight here so I'm going to make it short too.

There were loads of people there to see me off. My family, my school friends (one of which I really hoped would show up didn't because he had to stay in camp, which made me rather disapoointed), and my army friends who totally took me by surprise. I never thought some of them would show up, and yet they did, which made me really really happy.

A few weeks before my departure, there was already talk about sending me off between a few friends. I really appreciated it, but I was also kinda embarrassed by the whole thing (never been one for huge public dramatic stuff) so I just said, 'If you can't make it, that's really okay'. They kept insisting that they would, so I just expected that few people to show up.

What happened after that was they spread the news around, so that everyone in my (former) company knew about me leaving. They knew the date, the time, and maybe even the flight. I don't know. But almost all whom I'm rather close to showed up that night, and the rest gave various messages and stuff on my phone, on facebook, everywhere. I got a gift as well; a card and a watch. They said I'd cry when I opened it (I didn't, but I was really very touched when they appeared in the airport one by one).

The flight lasted about 14 hours. I didn't think much about what I'm going to be doing after I land, just browsing through the various movies the plane had.

This part totally deserves its own paragraph. My friends were all joking about how I'm going to find the Crystal Skull, how I'm going to come back wearing a fedora and toting a whip and how I'm gonna be on the telly. And guess what was one of the movies offered on the plane?

Yes. It was the latest Indiana Jones.

I'm totally gonna get a fedora when I see one now.

Anyway, I watched that, Speed Racer (kind of weird but sorta cool I guess), Kung Fu Panda, and Iron Man (totally awesome, I could watch that twice, back to back). Then I slept and ate and slept. Then after 14 hours I landed and now I'm here.

I would type more but I'm kind of sleepy so I guess I'll stop here for now. I think I'll open a photoblog as well - Liverpool is a pretty pretty place.

Date: 2008-09-14 17:22 Subject: Five More Days... Security: Public Mood: indescribable

'Till I enter the next phase of my life!

At this point I'm starting to get all nervous and apprehensive and stuff. I can totally predict that I will not be able to sleep a wink and will be as alert as something that eats coffee beans exclusively.

My packing's not done yet, but I expect I shall finish it tomorrow. Other than that there's not much else to do. Register with the Singapore Embassy, cut my hair, do my nails, settle accommodation fees, compile event list happening over the next week, recheck required documents.

Not much else left to say, except that I'm feeling excited terrified nervous eager apprehensive thrilled contemplative worried anxious cheerful exhausted relieved moody restless stressed optimistic cautious analytic drained intimidated pleased determined amazed.

Crazy crazy crrrraaaazy. How do astronauts feel the night before their launch? It must take some special sort of bravery and madness to do what they do.

Date: 2008-09-09 18:07 Subject: Spore! Security: Public

So I've been playing Spore a lot.



It's been consuming my time like nothing else. I'd sit down and play it and then look around later and going, 'whoa, it's midnight already?!'

The general opinion on the internets is that Spore is totally underwhelming and simplistic. I can understand some of the complaints, but I'm with the opinion that Spore, while possessing multiple gametypes (Pacman, Diablo, MMOs, Civilization, Warcraft, to name only a FEW), it definately cannot be the pinnacle of each genre it takes lessons from, which I think most people were subconsciously expecting. I fell out of the loop a long while back and only got back just in time for the Creature Creator to be out and get hyped again. Although, not much, considering that I was way too busy and in camp back then.

Bottom line is, it's almost everything I expected it to be, and I expected it to be fun.

If anyone else has bought and played Spore, lemme know and I'll add you to my buddy list. :D


EDIT: Haha wow! My SSV Normandy got included in a Sporecast! And I'm pretty sure one or two of the ships featured in it are just modifications of my own...

You know what this means?! I'm FAMOUS!

Date: 2008-09-01 22:06 Subject: For Science! Security: Public Mood: amused

=

Date: 2008-08-03 00:20 Subject: Facebook! Security: Public

I'm usually really late on bandwagons (most recent example: TDK. *STILL* haven't seen that), so this is no exception. Decided to create an account on a whim tonight, so I'll be trying to add people left and right. Please add me back and stuff! It makes me feel nice.

I know I suck at updating recently but I will try to do so soon, since most of my work is now done and I'm now actually waiting to go to the UK.

Date: 2008-06-14 10:59 Subject: Taiwan Security: Public Mood: okay Tags: army, taiwan

Okay, I apologise. I haven't been writing as many posts as I want. Mostly it's because I'm lazy an d all, but I'm still away from home during the weekdays and that's really cutting out my internet time.

There's been quite a lot of things happening since I got back from Taiwan, mostly on the work-side. For one thing, I have just three (count 'em! Three!) months left before I leave the army, perhaps for good. I know it will go by fast, but these few weeks have been really crawling along like a dead whatever.

So anyway, how was Taiwan? As I said, it was great fun, although some parts of it definitely sucked, like the missing home part, but that happens only rarely. I spent almost the entire time working though, so it's not exactly a vacation there.

There were two camps that I stayed in while I was there. Obviously I can't reveal the names, but we'll call them Camp A and Camp B. Camp A was apparently their best that they've constructed yet, and it really shows. Red brick buildings in the entire complex, and really good amenities like hot water (!) and internet access, for a fee. How it works is that you slot a coin into this PC-ish box and then the computer will unlock or turn itself on (I've never really used it before) and then it will run for a set amount of time, like 45 minutes, before shutting down and requiring you to toss another coin at it. Personally I think it's genius, but I'm really puzzled by the mechanisms within the machine, specifically how it knows when it's time to work.

Oh oh, and the toilets are weird. We were told that the plumbing was the only thing that sucked, and if we drop the toilet papers down the drain it would clog and brown sludge will start spewing out, so what we had to do when we did a big one was to dispose of the waste paper on this trashcan. Yeeeah. Fortunately for us all there was someone around to clear the trash periodically. I'm not really sure who, I've never really seen that person in action. Maybe he/she/it just doesn't want to be identified.

The canteen was pretty good, personally. For some, it was an oasis of food. The deep fried chicken cutlets were especially revered, but I got bored of it after #3 of those things. Good thing too, since I didn't bring a lot of money over to spend and had to ration myself.

I think the only really bad thing about Camp A was the bunks we slept in. Think a room 4 by 5 metres wide. Then put in 6 double decker beds sitting beside each other. Add in 10 fully grown men and you have really cramped quarters. Needless to say there were a lot of gay jokes and innuendo thrown around, but hey, we're all straight as an arrow. Well at least I know I am. Also, by the morning of day 2 everyone discovers who operates the buzzsaws during nighttime and then makes arrangements to move as far away from them as possible.

If by now you think Camp A was bad, well, Camp B was worse.

I went to Camp B for the actual training phase of the trip. It was kind of bad over there. Well actually it wasn't *that* bad, but it was uncomfortable. We slept in the same double-decker beds, but with no mattresses, instead relying on sleeping bags that were issued to us, just in case we had to go in the field. It was tons better than sleeping on pure wooden boards, but a mattress would have made a world of difference. And we were staying in this huge room that has about 40 beds. And people from different units are sharing that same room, so you have people with different work schedules and identities living together and interrupting the peace all the time, with the non-stop talking and going in and outs and things like that.

And the toilets. Oh my god the toilets.

An overview of Camp B: It's a really old camp that's close to decommissioning. It's probably been around for 10 or more years, probably longer, judging from the newspaper cuttings pasted around the blocks (Amateur Archeology ftw guys, seriously). Because of the impending doom, most buildings are abandoned, leaving only a few for the remaining Taiwanese troops occupying the place, and us. In the worst blocks, there was no water supply at all in those toilets, and the place smelled strongly of ammonia. Someone told me that at night it turns into a Silent Hill-ish toilet, with flooded toilet floors and flickering lights and everything in a state of moderate ruin. We wanted to investigate those toilets one night. It never happened.

As for the actual toilets and bathrooms we're using, those aren't that better off either. The toilet floor does flood, and you can imagine the kinds of things floating around that one cannot see with the naked eye but can *feel* it's disgustingness. I did my best to not wear my sandals inside, and if I did and got contaminated by the water, I'd quickly rinse it off as best as I can. It's disgusting.

And the bathrooms are pure fun. Hot water runs from 8pm to 10.30pm. I get off my shift at 10, so that only leaves me a half hours time to catch it. Some days I get it and it's glorious. Most days it's deathly cold and I rant about Taiwanese indoor plumbing. There was one night where a typhoon was blowing about nearby and I had to take a cold shower. Holy crap. I thought I was gonna freze to death.

So yes. That is bad. And I have to stay there for 3 weeks too! Because my shift runs from 10am to 10pm, there isn't a lot to do in between my working hours. All I can say is that thank the heavens I brought my iPod along, or I would've perished with the horrible ennui.

That's really all I can tell you about my working experiences unfortunately, all the other stuff is deemed classified. (Oho, James Bond theme starting right about... now) Seriously though, they aren't very important as individual pieces of information, but you know how paranoid the government is.

After all the hard work, we were allowed a week off to visit the outside world. We went to this little town called Dou-liu that has all the necessary places but none of the luxury. The food was pretty good. Of the weirder things I ate, I tried fermented beancurd while I was there, and ostrich meat in one of the restaurants. The beancurd tasted good with all the garlic on it initially, but the aftertaste tasted strongly of sewers and garbage, which isn't very nice. That will probably be my one and only experience with that stinky food, methinks. Ostrich was really good however. Think a cross between chicken and pork. I ate quite a lot of that.

There was also this amusement park situated at a mountainside, which I can't remember the name of. Reminds me a lot of Genting Highlands in Kuala Lumpur though. I'm not really interested in amusement parks, but I still had a pretty good time there watching people take those crazy crazy rides. The ones I did take I yelled incoherent sentences in hyper-speed because it's fun. On top of that I took a couple of videos of my commanders riding the rides, juuuust in case I need blackmail material, bwahaha.

(Note: My own commanders are vastly different from what you'd think. I might write about this sometime, but don't count on it.)

We then went to a major city next for the last two days of sightseeing before returning to Singapore, and that would be Kaohsiung City. Weird spelling I know - people just pronounce it as 'Gao-xiong'. I have to confess, I live in a city-state that's relatively tiny, so I wasn't very prepared for the hugeness of the place. The city is about 2/3rds the size of my country! well okay, maybe a little bit more than 1/3. But it's still really really big (IMO). And in the two days I spent there, I barely covered even 15% of the entire city. I also felt like a complete noob when I tried the local train transport, even though there's a similar system back here.

There were so many things to look at too, although it's mainly a shopping paradise. There's this one mall that's so massive that it's about 15 stories high from top to bottom, all crammed full of departmental stores. And they separated it into two halves - the left and right wings. And there's a ferris wheel on top of that mall. It's really massive, and as someone who rarely shops, I can tell you that any shopping fanatic should go through it at least once.

Plus it has a huge bookstore with two levels worth of books. :O

Come to think about it, we spent the the entire last day on that mall alone, returning to the motel just hours before the flight back.

That's really all that I can think about now that's important. There are some minor things, like:

- The girls over there are pretty hot.

- I got ripped off by a guy in the night market. Must learn art of haggling.

- I bought a book there in a Kinokunia store, with a really nice packaging, and it's still unopened and sitting in my cupboard back in camp.

- Considered getting a tattoo but was too expensive for me.

- Food is really, really good.

That's about it. Wow, been a long time since I've done such a long one!

Date: 2008-06-01 20:30 Subject: 3 More Months! Security: Public Tags: meme

So instead of doing a standard journal post, I shall now do a meme. I'm such a slacker.




Have You Ever... (Yes or No)

Smoked a cigarette: Nope
Crashed a friend's car: Nope
Stolen a car: Nope
Been in love: Yes
Been dumped: Kind of
Shoplifted: Nope
Been fired: Nope
Been in a fist fight: Kind of, kind of not.
Snuck out of your parents' house: Nope
Has feelings for someone who didn't have them back: You bet
Been arrested: Nope
Gone on a blind date: Nope
Lied to a friend: Yeah
Skipped school: Oh yeah
Seen someone die: Fortunately, not yet.
Been to Canada: Nope
Been to Mexico: Nope
Been to Hawaii: Nope
Been to Europe: Not Yet!
Been on a plane: Uh-huh
Been on a cruise: Nope
Purposely set yourself on fire: Nope
Easten sushi or sushimi: Uh-huh
Been skiing: Nope
Met someone from the internet: Uhu
Been at/to a concert: Um.. nope.
Taken painkillers: Yeah
Missed someone: Yep
Had a friend die too young: Well, a classmate, really. When I was 13.
Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by: Once or twice
Made a snow angel: Nope :(
Had a tea party: Nope
Flown a kite: Yep
Built a sand castle: Once or twice
Gone puddle jumping: Once or twice
Played dress up: Uh, no.
Jumped into a pile of leaves: Nope
Gone sledding: Nope
Cheated while playing a game: Man, item hacking in Diablo II was oodles of fun. Also related to 'Lying to a Friend' question. I can't just give the secrets of my success away!
Been lonely: Yeah
Fallen asleep at work and/or school: Nobody can not do this and survive.
Used a Fake ID: Nope
Watched the sun set: Yeah
Felt an earthquake: Aftershocks only
Slept beneath the stars: Oh sure.
Been tickled: Yep
Tickled someone else: Yep
Been robbed: Nope, thankfully.
Been held up and/or mugged: Nope.
Been misunderstood: Uh-huh
Petted a reindeer/goat/kangaroo or jackalope: Not really
Won a contest: Yes. I won a packet of candy when I was 5. Woot.
Run a red light and/or stop sign: Not really.
Been suspended from school: Nope
Been in a car crash: Yep, but I wasn't driving.
Had braces: Nope
Felt like an outcast/third person: I only notice it clearly sometimes.
Eaten a whole carton/pint/gallon of ice cream in one night: Nope
Has Deja Vu: Oh yeah
Danced in the moonlight: Nope
Liked the way you looked: Rarely
Witnessed a crime: Nope
Questioned your heart: Sure
Been obsessed with post-it notes: Nope
Squished mud through your toes/in your bare feet: Once or Twice
Been lost: Sometimes
Been on the opposite side of the country: I go back and forth every weekend. :p
Swam in the ocean: Nope
Felt like dying: Never
Debated methods of suicide: Only scientifically and philosophically. (Is that even a word, philosophically?)
Cried yourself to sleep: Nope
Played cops and robbers: Nope
Recently colored with crayons: Nope
Sang karaoke: Yeah
Paid for a meal with only coins: A few times
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't: Can't think of anything obvious now, but I think so.
Made prank phone calls: Not really..
Laughed until some kind of beverage came out your nose: Nope
Laughed so hard you peed your pants: Nope
Caught a snowflake on your tongue: Never did
Danced in the rain: Nope
Written a letter to Santa Claus: Never
Been kissed under the mistletoe: Nope
Watched the sun rise with someone you care about: Nope
Blown bubbles: Yep
Blown spit bubbles: Yep
Made a bonfire on the beach: Yep
Camped out on the beach: Sure.
Crashed a party: Nope.
Gone roller skating: Just some impromptu lessons.
Gone ice skating: Nope
Had a wish come true: Not explicitly a 'wish' wish, but yes.
Jumped off a bridge: Nope
Gone sky-diving: Nope
Gone bungee-jumping: Nope
Built a snowman: Nope
Gone hiking in the woods: More than I ever wanted.
Won a race: I guess
Stayed up all night: Yes.
Cut your own hair: Just my sideburns
Been to Africa: Nope. Nearly went, but... nope.
Steal any traffic signs: Nope


And now for the Survey...

What time is it?: 8.45PM. Crap, gotta shower. BRB
What is your full name?: Simon T*** C*** Y***. Privacy and theft on the interwebs
Any nicknames?: A lot. I won't go into details here, but they are pretty imaginative.
What is your mother's full name?: I'm not going to answer this one.
What is your favorite drink?: I really like soda, as in Pepsi and stuff, although Pepsi kind of sucks.
How much do you love your job?: About as far as I can throw King Kong.
Have any tatoos, if so, what and where?: Don't have any.
Body piercings, if so, what and where?: Don't have any.
2 door or 4 door?: I don't understand, but I will say 4 door.


What's your...

Birthplace?: Singapore
Favorite vacation spot?: No preferences.
Cup size (A, B, C, D, DD, etc)?: I dunno, it's just a regular mug... What?
Favorite Pie?: Beef pie woohoo
Favorite number?: 10
Favorite movie?: LotR. After all these years, too.
Favorite holiday?: Christmas
Favorite food?: A nice steak. Or beef stew. Yes I'm a carnivore.
Favorite day of the week?: Saturday for now.
Favorite brand of body soap/wash?: No favorites. If it does the job, it's good.
Favorite TV show?: Oh man now I don't know. I'm currently going through Desperate Housewives, which I've never actually seen before though.
Favorite smells?: I hope this doesn't sound too creepy or anything, but the smell of the shampoo that one's love interest is using is just so damn intoxicating. Not that I have one right now, of course.


Almost done... a few more questions..

What do you do to relax?: Play vidja games. Read. I'm playing Diablo II again actually. God help me.
Do you have a message to friends reading this?: 3 MORE MONTHS!
How do you see yourself in 10 years?: I am not sure, but I hope it is good.
What do you do when you're bored?: Play vidja games.
What do you enjoy receiving?: Books! Free food! Well, free stuff generally.
Who will respond the fastest?: Dunno. I'm not even sure if anyone would comment. :p
Who is the least likely to respond?: Heri, because she's like, gone. You need a vacation, srsly.
What time is it now?: 9.11PM. 19 more minutes until I go back to camp. Argh.

Date: 2008-05-08 03:02 Subject: I Hath Returned! Security: Public

And it was fun! :D

Will talk about it more later. For now, shower!

Date: 2008-04-10 16:48 Subject: Insert Witty Subject Title Here Security: Public Mood: okay, until tomorrow Listening To: Flyleaf - All Around Me Tags: army, games, studies

Okay, so, a few things, some you may be interested in, some you may not.

First off, I fly on Saturday... to Taiwan. :p I had thought that I posted about it here, but apparently I didn't... So I guess I'll do it now while there's time.

I'm going for a training exercise over there, and it will be about a month before I come back. Many people have said that it's a fun trip, that it's like the army pays for your vacation. I don't have any intense feelings about it actually. I dunno, it could be fun, maybe.

Which is why I needed to do those things I listed out a few days ago. So far, here's my status report:

1.) Get photo taken and sent (Done)

2.) Specify accommodation choice (Done)

3.) Get haircut (Done)

4.) Pack my stuff (NOT Done)

5.) Get a new book (NOT EVER GONNA BE Done)

1 and 2 is for the agency that's helping to manage my Uni application process. 3 is a regimental rule that I have to follow before I board the plane. 4 is a no brainer. 5 is for anti-boredom over there. I'm too lazy to go down to Borders so this will remain unfinished.

This looks like a good time for a new list. Let's see, things I should pack...

1.) iPod
2.) Books
3.) Extra Glasses
4.) Lock
5.) Meds
6.) Chargers
7.) Camera
8.) Extra clothes (?)
9.) Money
10.) ID Card
11.) Phone

I guess that's it.

I've been on leave since last week, so there was a lot of free time on my hands. I dunno about you, but I like my free time and I miss it ever since I started living at home 2 days in a week. So it's been really nice. I've been playing WoW (again) mostly, with a bit of Assassin's Creed and Guitar Hero 3 thrown in. I'm about 6 songs away from completing Expert but there isn't as much drive to do so compared to the previous game. But oh, I love the final unlockable song so, so much.

Behold, Through The Fire And Flames, by Dragonforce.



This crazy wicked song has me stumped right at the intro with those notes, but it's incredibly fun to play in practice mode. Can't get enough of it, really.

This will interest nobody except for maybe one or two of you, but my Tauren Shaman in WoW has finally received his epic flight form training and is now working towards exalted with the Netherwing and therefore a Netherdrake Mount. Can't. Wait.

Date: 2008-04-07 00:20 Subject: Quick To-do List Security: Public

1.) Get photo taken and sent (Monday)

2.) Specify accommodation choice (Monday)

3.) Get haircut (Thursday)

4.) Pack my stuff (Monday - Friday)

5.) Get a new book (Monday? Wednesday?)

The problem is that I'm being a lazy arse and I don't want to drag myself through all those tasks. But I must!

I fly on Saturday.

P.S. I will post again! I promise!

Date: 2008-03-15 02:25 Subject: It Is Done Security: Public Mood: worried Tags: studies

So I've accepted the university offer. It's funny, I have been waiting for this opportunity for so long, and when it's here I second-guess myself to the pits, all the while hemming and hawing about the final decision: Do I take the plunge, or not?

Before, all I had were dreams and aspirations, which were nice to think about and wonder, and dream, because that's all it is: a dream. All the good things without the bad ones to go along with it. How nice it would be to work under the shade of the pyramids! How cool would it be to trek through the mexican jungles?

But dreams aren't reality, and I know that very well. I might not get the chance to even study pyramids. Maybe I won't get used to the jungles. Worse still, I might not even be a professional archeologist when I finish my studies. I've pondered over all that, and there's only one conclusion to be had: What I'm doing is crazy, and when I start walking down this path, lots of doors that lead to possible and maybe better futures will close. And to top off all that, my studies will drain a huge amount of money, and I haven't yet figured out if my family can send me through without inflicting strain on themselves. Part of me feels guilty that I'm placing this burden on them just because I want to do what I want to do.

I'm scared. I'm frightened, actually. I can't shake the thought that I could be doing something wrong, that I might be sentencing myself to a life of regret. And I'll be a stranger in a strange land when I go, with only myself to keep me company. The financial burden still isn't resolved cleanly yet. And let's not even get started on the student visa and accommodation issues.

I'm going to see an advisor tomorrow, hopefully. They help with the little things like visas and such, and bank loans. I hope I find out something that will let me go with a little less worry in my mind.


It's interesting how much of this feels like being in the Matrix, or the Real World, specifically speaking. I'm going on a journey that's risky as hell, where I'm not guaranteed a good life. But what's funny is that I could forget all this madness, take up a Computer Networking course in the local university, or even Australia if I'm hard-pressed, get my degree and start working to pay my way through life. I might even earn a fair bit too. But noooo, I had to choose the swashbuckling profession that suffers from common misconception* and thus is not well understood. Why must I go through all of this? I could just 'jack' myself back in and live a happy life. Take the blue pill. Or was it the red pill?

Either way, the rabbit has just gone down the hole, and I'm following closely behind, hoping that it's worth all the trouble.



*- I'm serious. I lost count of the number of people who said something to the effect of, 'Wow, next time I'll see you on the papers! "Professor Simon discovers another dinosaur fossil!"' That's Paeleontology, *not* Archeology. Get it right! Geez...

Date: 2008-02-24 19:43 Subject: Future worries, what's happening next, stuff Security: Public Tags: army, studies

I've been thinking a lot about the near future recently. My own future.

There's the university thing for a start. It's nice to have an offer already, but it's just the start. There are currently two outstanding problems that I have to solve: Financial burdens, and how I'm going to start school when I technically still belong to the army. Both of them worry me equally.

I might have to take a student bank loan for the money. I've calculated a bit, and I think I could use some info here if possible, but I think that I will need about S$150,000 for the entirety of my studying time. That's quite a sum, even though it's lower than what I thought. So I need to get that amount of money from some bank for a while, then I'm going to have to pay them back when I finish.

This branches off to a related, even more future-problem: Archeology isn't exactly a cash cow, and I'm worried that this thing I'm studying will not give me a job. I'm okay with working on something totally unrelated if it pays alright, but I would want to do something that I'm trained to do, and I'm not sure if there's a lot of work for me after my studies. Help, Lotje? :|

My other worry is about when I leave the army. If things go normally, my last day will be on the 7th of September. But UCAS says the first day of school falls on the 1st. Obviously, something has got to give, and I think the military has got to go.

There are two options. One is that they let me leave early, with no strings attached. I go and never look back. This looks to be increasingly impossible because I have heard that they stopped allowing people to do that some time ago. But I'm still going to ask my superiors one more time.

The other option is to go early, on the condition that I have to finish my stint when I'm done, even if I have only one more day left. This is quite stupid, I know, but I have no choice. I could be taking this route too, and come back to serve my remaining time when I'm on my holidays or something. (Yeah, it sounds like prison..)

Both problems have not been solved yet, but I will need to tie these loose ends up quick becauseI don't have much time left. I'm leaving for an overseas training exercise for a month in April, and I still have to do my student visas and stuff.

Gah, so many things.

In current events, I'm undergoing training week after week, in preparation for the overseas thing I guess. It's quite tiring and sometimes I wish I'm out of here sooner. I'm getting there yes, but it can't come fast enough.

I've played Call of Duty 4. It's amazingly fun and intense. People, usually veterans of war and regulars in the military have said that it's eerily similar to real combat situations. I can't say if that's correct since I've never been in one myself, but it's professional enough for me. I know campy when I see one.

Played a bit of Assassin's Creed too. Looks and plays better than I thought. Haven't got very far with it though. I'm playing WoW and The Witcher for now, and I still have Mass Effect in its plastic wrapper...

Date: 2008-02-07 21:29 Subject: Someday when I look back this could be on my Greatest Hits playlist Security: Public Mood: ecstatic Tags: studies

I JUST GOT AN UNCONDITIONAL OFFER TO STUDY ARCHEOLOGY OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS IN LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY! :D :D :D :D :D





I still have to work out the little things like my funding and the first day of school (anyone know this about UK unis?) and how I have to plan my final days in the military and where I'm going to live and whatnot, but I suddenly thought of this passage that describes exactly what I'm feeling now...


Sam fell on his knees, trembling. 'Get up, Sam!' said Gandalf. 'I have thought of something better than that. Something to shut your mouth, and punish you properly for listening. You shall go away with Mr. Frodo!'

'Me, sir!' cried Sam, springing up like a dog invited for a walk. 'Me go and see Elves and all! Hooray!' he shouted, and then burst into tears.


- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Pg 62-63

Date: 2008-01-27 21:20 Subject: Pictures from Hainan Island (Well, a little bit) Security: Public Tags: holiday

Welp, I've finally gotten off my lazy arse and downloaded all those pictures I've taken while on vacation into the compy. I don't have time to upload the whole shebang, but I've done two pictures to show how good they look. I couldn't believe the quality myself.

( The Statue of the Goddess of Mercy )


( A Shadow of Myself at a Beach on a Sunny Day )

There'll be more... probably.