Thursday, August 30, 2007
Am scheduled to fly back to Penn tomorrow (after postponing my flight after my horrid struggle with my infection).
So I realize that while I may absolutely love to travel and collect experiences and meet interesting people from all over the world, I will always, always call Singapore my home (ooo sounds like a certain NDP song now, doesnt it?) Dont get me wrong. There are many things I dont like about this country, issues which probably shouldnt be discussed in a blog as widely read as this one, but there are also many things which I love about Singapore.
I love my friends: my bestest buddies who were willing to come visit me when I was sick, who would do silly things like sit in the middle of an Orchard Road junction and take a picture, with whom I shared so many memories with this summer - diving at Dayang, cooking at Nolan's house, midnight horror movies at Cathay, getting drunk at Zouk, getting drunk and playing 'never have i ever' at Temasek Hall, beach parties at Sentosa, midnight margaritas.. all that in half a summer!
Plus all these random meetups for coffee/dinner/prata with my dancers/Fel/council peeps/SIA colleagues/random people met at parties.. I will honestly miss calling just about anyone at 2am and still expect to be granted with company over a late night prata.
I love the foooooood: ban mian, chicken rice, nasi lemak, wantan mee, bak chor mee, prata, satay, beef noodles, ramly burger, char kueh diao, hokkien mee...
and the drinks! Omg, you dont know what its like to live without Yeo's till its gone.
I love the social scene: Really, its much easier to communicate when you can use distinctive singaporean terms that no one else in the world understands, but conveys so much more meaning. Much easier to flirt with too. And did I mention that Singaporean girls are the prettiest in the world? (possibly incurring the wrath of my international friends with that statement)
So as I leave once again, to start off my sophmore year in Penn, I'd like to say THANK YOU for the summer memories. I honestly wasnt expecting anything when I returned to Singapore other than a boring internship to contend with, but you, dear reader, you have taken my summer and turned it into the most dynamic one I've had yet. So thank you. :)
he rocked the party at 10:30 AM |
So after more than a year of not being sick (its true!), I got hit, out of the blue, with a full blown viral infection, the day before I was scheduled to fly back to Penn.
Like how unlucky is that?!
It was really sudden too: It hit me while I was facebooking, when the muscles in my right calf suddenly felt very.. achy, if you know what I mean: the feeling you get when you dont stretch properly after a 4.8km run. And I started feeling really cold in the airconditioning right, so I jumped under the covers, and it only got colder.
So by nightfall, when I was supposed to go for the last dinner with my parents before I fly off, my muscles had melted into mush, my right calf was screaming in pain, and my head had ten kangaroos bouncing in it. Attempts to sleep early didnt solve anything either. I was writhing about in bed, a result of feeling feverishly hot and trembly cold at the same time. I also got up like 10 times last night, each time wondering if I should postpone my flight. Okay, im not exaggerating when I say I thought I was gonna die or get paralyzed or something, remember SARS? Kept having images of what people were gonna say at my funeral or something. In my delirium I kept imagining Isky, Nolan, Eug and Ervin trying to play "ji niu nai" with my corpse. Morbid.
Apologies to everyone I had arranged to meet for my one last final mambo night before I leave. Sigh.
What has this taught me? That no, I'm not immortal, I cant expect to party/sleep at 7am everyday and go to gym after and still live forever. That I love my life, my family, my friends (and mambo night, haha) so so so much. Guess everyone needs a little life-threatening virus (or at least, the possibility of it) to jolt them to their senses sometime.
he rocked the party at 10:07 AM |
Monday, August 27, 2007
My adventures in the land of yummy yumcha should be best described in pictures.
With the family, in line for a tram ride up "the peak"
Yes mummy, i love seafood.
Dad helped me carry the burden of a planet at Disneyland
With the Hongkong gang at the most happening karaoke lounge ever. Armed with 2 bottles of Red Label, 10,000 cantonese/chinese/cheesy english songs, we were well stocked to stay till 6.45am. (which we did)
Janice and I just couldnt decide what to buy at Mong Kok.
Zipping around in Gordon's PORCHE
Watching a really cool laser show projected on the amazing HK skyline with Gordon and Keri
Yummy butter/honey toast and fake sharks fin with the lovely model-cum-food-connoisseur Christie
Picking our own seafood at an ulu-ated restaurant in New Territories
And of course, who could forget clubbing at Lan Kwai Fong with Gordon and the lovely Penn Hongkong ladies?
In my opinion, there comes a time when I need a good ol spendthrift cityshoppingeatingclubbing holiday to maintain my sanity. And with an awesome family and funky Penn pals to take me to secret dessert/karaoke/brunch places, there's no way I can go wrong. :)
Viva la Hongkong, baby!
he rocked the party at 12:57 PM |
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Have just arrived in cosmopolitan, chinky chinese, delightful dim sum-ed HONG KONG, and will be staying here for the week for a well deserved, spendthrift holiday. (hooray)
Will be with my family till Wednesday, and staying on by myself till Saturday, so any spontaneous decisions to fly over, crash at a fabulous hotel in Causeway bay, and eat, party and shop with me and some HK friends from Penn, are certainly more than welcome. :)
Have obtained a temporary local number (63596930), so do call/text me your outrageous plans.
If not, I shall see y'all when I return on the 25th, for my LAST FIVE DAYS IN SINGAPORE before I fly off to the good ol US of A again. (boohoo)
he rocked the party at 8:06 AM |
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
...because mambo night is just SO much more fun with alcohol added.
Am recording this for posterity in case I ever complain about the sorry state of Singapore clubbing again. I take it all back. Mambo with the "partying core" (as I like to call them) of the immortal 25th Student Council has redeemed zouk in my eyes.
When was the last time we kicked back at the kopitiam across the road, with a couple of bottles of Heineken, uncle style?
Or cheers-ed to our posterity with good, high quality tequila shots?
Or forced horrible-tasting-but-oh-so-lethal graveyards down our throats, feeling the high kick in faster than you can say "love in the first degree"?
I dont even remember how 4am crept up so quickly. It only felt like a couple of songs.
Good times, good times.
Now, I'm going to have to find some way of getting over my hangover in the office. Think I need coffee.
he rocked the party at 6:51 PM |
Sunday, August 12, 2007
She stands by the road, enticingly beckoning the middle aged man in the car.
He slows down, winds down his window and waits for her to make her offer.
She states her offer, eyes pleading for him to accept it, but her hopes are dashed when he shakes his head firmly, driving off faster than you can say "choa chu kang"
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we're talking about cabdrivers. Or, more specifically, those impertinent little pricks that stop for you but refuse to take you to your destination if it doesnt suit them.
This little instance has happened to me one too many times for me to ignore it, enough to dampen my post ndp nationalistic spirit anyway. Since when were taxi drivers given the luxury to pick and choose customers as they please?
Are we, the honest, paying customers who just want to get to our destination in a decent half hour, reduced to nothing more than prostitutes, desperately scavenging for a cab, any cab, to take us, even though we know nobody wants us?
Perhaps, in all fairness, we could look at it from the cabdrivers' point of view.
That fuel costs are expensive, that shifts are changing and their driver for the second shift is on the other side of the island.
Well, the latter is no excuse. You can get practically anywhere in Singapore within half an hour, give or take a few minutes.
If they really have to be such a stickler for cash, drivers for different shifts should split the fare (and fuel costs) that takes up time from both shifts.
Would it make sense if I had to get to somewhere urgently enough, and every empty cab that passes by has a "changing shift" sign? Not a characteristic we'd like to advertise about our "world class" public transportation system.
And what about those insolent buggers who cruise around, refusing to pick up fares, choosing instead to wait for a call so they could earn the extra 3 bucks? Frickin ridiculous. In that waiting time they could have easily picked up and dropped off a fare, at no extra cost.
In the end, its all about economics (hee hee) ladies and gentlemen. Everyone acting in his/her selfish intentions only makes the pie smaller, with glaringly large inefficiencies which could have been easily elimitated.
So lets bring down the social marginal cost curve:
I propose opening the market to hundreds of taxi operators. Let the streets be flooded with cabs. Make the picking up of fares so scarce to taxi drivers that it teaches them the preciousness of a passenger willing to take a cab.Want to wait around for an "ideal" passenger, one who's going wherever you want to go? Tough luck dude, he's being picked up by someone else right now.
With such an abundance of cabs, there would be a reduced need for call-in orders. The mysterious disappearance of cabs during rainy days could be partially solved.
Let competition give cabdrivers an incentive to find the fastest route, service the remotest parts of singapore without an extra charge (like my workplace), and above all, enforce customer service.
You too, dear reader, can do your part to ensure those little crooks dont get away with such behavior.
Take down licence plate numbers of offending cabs and report it to the cab company. (I screamed at the last cab driver who drove off: "I know your licence plate number, you #$@%^!")
Reward those who pick your fare with a smile by tipping them generously.
We need to cut kiasuism just when it rears its ugly head.
Now, if you excuse me, I need to go take a cab, and if he refuses to pick up my fare, good luck to him.
he rocked the party at 8:28 PM |
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Its amazing how a holiday can zoom in a blink of an eye.
Wednesday was:
Deciding (correctly) to skip the veryvery highly anticipated zouk Mambo Night to go for KRUNK II, new urban male's beach party @ Siloso, easily one of the best parties I've been to since I came back. Music was fabulous: the DJ played mostly hits from way back in the day (when jc parties were popular and free flow still existed), sort of like a mambo night, r&b style.
The pre-party highlights werent bad as well: stand up comedy by none other than Kumar (the Queen), Sheik Hiekel (however the heck you spell his name) and Jaime Yeo (irritating), and a fashion show in which one of the models was the absolute most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life. Ever. Like jaw droppingly beautiful. sigh.
Thanks to EUGENE, who, through his great connections, got us VIP passes so we could enter the VIP area, which consisted of bored looking bums (and Sheik Hiekel), and for bringing his entourage of cool smu friends, who were fantastic company. Pooh, who needs zouk when you've got great music, great friends, and the cool sea breeze? Discounting the sweaty half naked guys, this would've been the perfect party. Heard from friends the next day that zouk was horribly packed. nyah nyah ni poo poo.
Two egg pratas and one ice milo with newfound friend who lives opposite my estate later (yay cab/prata buddies!), I found myself collapsing into bed, exhausted, at 6am, only to be woken up at 10 by the how-can-i-say-no-to-you felicia, for an invitation to ping zhi's house to make pancakes. See, how can you say no right? Plus breakfast was damn power with strawberries, icecream, whipped cream, sausages, bacon.... and a pancake man.
kayt's masterpiece
and pingzhi's superduper fun trampoline.
And then, to top it all off, I got to go to National Day Parade for the first time in my life with my dad.
Frickin amazing. I mean, I've been to NDP previews before, but the real day is just waaaay better. And I hate to say this, but my army loyalties die hard. Imagine my thrill at meeting my former S2 (and absolute favourite boss) while walking to our seats, and finding out he's this year's GOH commander! Or swelling with pride when 1st Commando Battalion marched past, or seeing the Red Lion's names appearing on the screen as they landed, and realizing that I knew/trained under half of them. Makes a guy want to relive the red beret days, as much as I hate to admit it.
yeah Red Lions!
Super nice view of the city skyline
Okay, so I admit it: there are a lot of things wrong with this country, but I love it anyway. Happy 42nd Birthday!
he rocked the party at 9:22 AM |
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Amazing What You Can Stuff Into Your Pockets..
Apologies for the flurry of angry/emo posts of late. Studying overseas has made me even more contemplative/cynical, but if you've met me at all these past few weeks, you'll know that I'm still full of nonsense. (and if you haven't, what are you waiting for?! i have less than THREE WEEKS left on this sunny island!)
Anyways, this was taken by newfound friend Kayt who was curious to see what I could stuff into my pockets:
Ta-daaaaaah: Wallet, phone, ipod, shades, cap, tissue packet, glasses, and wax.
Why're you looking at me like that for? It pays to be prepared okaaaaay. (and just so you know, im not that vain, i was carrying wax that day cause I'd just cut my hair)
Oh, and just for kicks.. THIS is how I stand in church, subtly taken by Felicia, unknown to me, during mass on Saturday:
Aiyuh, I was training my balance laaah...
he rocked the party at 8:45 AM |
Monday, August 06, 2007
So is this the life you have to offer me?
I thought at first that perhaps it was Singapore: the suppression, the keep-your-head-down-and-work culture, the comfortable, mindless bubble, the selfish attitudes...
And then perhaps, (and I might be imagining things) but for the majority of office drones all over the world(filthy rich ibankers included), arent we all nothing but glorified hamsters, toiling away and selling our souls to save up our little hoards, just so that we can enjoy the "fruits of our labour" later on in life? (or so we think?)
Oh, to have the courage to screw it all and live a life of selfless, meaningful experiences. Because I've found out not long ago that a life of selfish abandon will probably not make me very happy, even though that takes guts to do too.
I don't ever want to grow old and be like everybody else.
he rocked the party at 7:56 AM |
Oh, the shameless advertising:
The University of Pennsylvania presents: JETSET, the Ultimate Sendoff Party!
Are you flying off to live it up in another country? Do you know someone who is? Won't you miss partying the night away in good ol Singapore?
Then join us at JETSET @ ButterFactory on 11th August 2007 brought to you by the University of Pennsylvania! The summer holidays are coming to a close, and what better way to cap it off then with a smashing night with all your best friends, some of whom you may not see for the next few months?
Pre-sale Tickets: $13
Tickets at the door: $15
(If you RSVP as Attending, it'll be considered as pre-sale)
*Tickets include one drink redeemable BEFORE midnight.
PLEASE NOTE that ticket only allows for admission BEFORE midnight as well.
Drinks are 1-for-1 from 11.00pm - 12.00am & 3.00am- 4.00am.
Party ends at 4.00am.
Please contact the following people if you would like to purchase tickets!
Haresh
hareshtilani@gmail.com
Lionel Yeo
lioyeo@gmail.com
Gina Heng
sgina@sas.upenn.edu
Please help to spread the word.
Note: On the same night, ButterFactory is hosting the following theme: "Super Heroes vs Super Villains". So if you come wearing your underwear outside, we'll forgive you.
he rocked the party at 7:51 AM |
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Sorry for the looooong hiatus folks, I dont know why, despite my not having anything official to do, am still busy as heck, and getting even less sleep than I do in college.
Just some thoughts on things I've experienced back in the motherland, in no particular order.
Mambo night is the pits. Phuture is way too crowded with sweaty horny army guys (those losers who still believe that flirting entails attaching their crotch to random girls on the dance floor), and zouk is surprisingly packed as well. And the mood only rocks the house when they play those timeless classic songs. You know the ones I'm talking about: Love in the First Degree, Summer Rain, Together Forever.. gosh I'm such an old fogey. Other than those moments that come maybe once every 20 mins, the rest of the time is dead boring, bopping senselessly to songs you dont know, and furtively glancing at everyone else wondering why they know the songs that I dont.
Is there no hope left for clubbing in this world anymore? US had nothing to offer me, the haven of zouk has passed me by... gosh. Perhaps Ibiza might be worth exploring, on Debbie's recommendation!
A visit to a different church has given me a not so appealing perspective on the darker side of religion. I'm sorry, but I think that when pastors use their ministries to glorify themselves, its just such a major turnoff. And I know that many of you probably dont agree that its a fair judgment about the pastor in question, but at least that was the impression I got, the two times I visited that church. And I dont criticize people that easily, especially people who have supposedly given their lives for religion. Just everything he said, how he carried himself was very, how should I put it, egotistical? Egocentric? I guess I get irritated when I go to a church and the focus isnt on God. Its what I detest most: performance for the sake of performing.
And yes, the disclaimer: this is by no means an attack on Christianity. I've been to Christian churches before where the pastors were absolutely wonderful, including GCC in the US. But this, this particular instance has just pissed me off.
A visit to SAJC yesterday to give a talk about UPenn left me feeling veryveryvery good. The cynical part of me would say that its because its such an ego-stoking experience to have all these JC kids ask you about scholarships and Ivy League colleges. But deep down I think its not quite that. Its the glimmer of hope in their eyes when they hear that they are every bit as smart as a typical RJ or HC kid. Its the excitement in their voices when the flip through the Penn prospectus and realize that an exciting life full of opportunities is within their reach. Its the optimism in the air when they realize life is so much more than what we have in our little Singaporean bubble: studying, clubbing, movies, shopping. I honestly do hope that we'll see more SAJC people studying overseas, a domain that's traditionally dominated by these supposed "elite" junior colleges.
Realize I only have 26 days left in Singapore. Even less if you count my week in Hong Kong right after internship ends. Aragh. I'm so not ready to leave yet.
he rocked the party at 8:43 AM |
Long overdue pictures of delightful, deep, dippy diving at Dayang with the bruddas:
Nice picture, but without iskandar... that's why it was nice. haha
Not so nice picture.. with iskandar.
Looks like... Jurassic Park
We're all getting a blowjob! Sort of.
Bruddas of tha hood. Plus one princess fiona.
I wanted to get a shot of the finalists for Cleo's 5 most eligible bachelors, but I only managed to get their shadows. Oh wait...
Where's the beach, dude?
Sorry, no underwater pics, and I have another post to blog about, so check my facebook for more (scandalous) pictures!
he rocked the party at 8:21 AM |
