What am I doing?

Where am I?!

2010-10-27T09:11:00.000+08:00

Dear readers! Look here!

Our Lovely Tiger

2010-10-09T10:50:00.001+08:00

Tiger boy, you have been and still is a joy and blessing to our family. I really enjoy playing with you in the house. Everything about you especially your facial expressions and movements, creates joy in my heart. Everyone loves you and I love you too! Just "STOP LICKING!" me! :) Sweeeeeet boy!

Theory

2010-09-19T23:40:00.000+08:00

"It doesn't mean that you say the person won't change means you don't tell him the problem and solution."

School and Its Challenges

2010-08-29T15:54:00.000+08:00

School started three weeks ago on the 10th of August. Another phase of tertiary education has begun. I was eager to experience what university life will show me. I thought it would be similar to polytechnic education, but I was wrong. Never knew that university would be so difficult to manage.

In the polytechnic, as long as you revise your work, complete your tutorials and finish your assignments on time, it would not be difficult to score a decent grade. I had friends who only studied a month before their exams and still managed to do well. However, it is not the case in university. If you plan to just learn how to tackle questions, you probably be only able to pass. The concepts of the study is the most important which is why questions in exams and tests always change to test students' understanding. And unless you are a genius, you are bound to spend a lot of time revising and going through lecture notes.

Time is another challenge. Juggling time to study, time to rest, time to do outside activities like meeting friends and etc became difficult. Initially, I wanted to join activities in school but I was worried about the work load that slowly piled up over the days. I also started feeling sleepy in class which meant I needed more time for sleep. I would be hit with this thought on some nights, "Should I sleep? But I think I should revise a bit more."

These challenges are just the tips of many icebergs. It is an eye opener, it constantly reminds me of my priorities and the balance. I must also seek the strength of the All Mighty One. I must remind myself not to be swamped with work. How exciting! Thank God for such a wonderful experience.

//Is there a way to upload photos that are as sharp as how you see it in you computer?

O_O

2010-08-12T19:01:00.001+08:00

If I see this, I will not buy their products. How will I know that it is a brand new set? Okay, maybe they are displays and if you order the furniture, a new set from the warehouse will be sent to your house.

I was shocked at the sight. Clearly not a very professional scene. The man then proceeded to use the small coffee table to read his newspaper after the meal.

When I walked past the display for the last time, I saw the bigger lady sitting comfortably on the white sofa with her back rested and one leg crossed over the other, checking her phone.

I even saw a signboard on another sofa that said, "NO RESTING". Enough said.

Sate! (pronounced "Satay")

2010-07-31T13:35:00.028+08:00

During my trip in Bali, we ate pretty normal things most of the time for our meals. There were reviews on the internet talking about two "must-try"s in Bali. They are Suckling Pig and Crispy Duck. Crispy duck was on the pricey side at 68,000 rupiah. Suckling pig was much cheaper at just 25,000 rupiah. Both had interesting flavours and was definitely worth the try.

On the fifth day of our trip, the group decided to break up and go do whatever we want or need. So it was the boys and the girls. While walking down from Seminyak back to Kuta, we walked past a stall along the street! With a stunning green signboard that spelt out SATEGULE. All I recognised was the word SATE. Satay!

Authentic street style! Bali style!

It is advised to eat from street stalls that cook your food on the spot. That way, you have more assurance that the food is safer for consumption as compared to ready-cooked food waiting to be served. We ordered ten sticks for chicken satay each, and a bowl of kambing (mutton) soup.

Preparation before the fire,

Into the fire!

The charcoal he used were small and easy to burn. Looked like charcoal chips! If you notice the uncle's fingers, I guess he got burned quite a bit. :(

The satay was served differently over here. We are used to seeing the satay and sauce separated from each other. But here, they will pour the sauce on the plate and use the ten sticks of to swirl and coat the meat.

The sauce tastes and looks different too. It is smooth instead of chunky peanuts in it. It has a nutty taste and a slight "burnt" taste too. Very nice! :)

And because it was so good, I bought another ten sticks to takeaway! Look at how they wrapped my satay sticks!

Newspaper wrapped satay with the sauce inside, like newspaper wrapped fish and chips! Oh boy!

I was blown away by this awesome dish! Delicious! Definitely unforgettable! I will highly recommend those going Bali to add this into their 'to-do-list'! The kambing soup was really good too! But the satay was just unbelievable. Lastly, a bowl of kambing soup and ten sticks of satay just cost 10,000 rupiah each! That is S$1.50 for AWESOMENESS!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! :D

The Power of Words

2010-06-29T11:44:00.003+08:00

When conversations fail, write a book.

Oh yes, my blog is best viewed using Google Chrome.

Wind Portal

2010-06-18T09:06:00.002+08:00

I was in Popular at Thomson 2 days ago, reading the Stuff Magazine on gadgets where I came across this awesome looking product! The interesting design made me want to read about it.

And guess what? It's a fan! Wooooooooooooooooooeeeeeeee!

It's a product from Dyson. A company that I first heard of it from Chris. Their first main product was a vacuum cleaner which did not rely on filter bags. Instead, it generates a mini cyclone inside the machine to suck up dirt. Because of that, the vacuum does not lose suction caused by dirty filter bags.

And this is their newest gadget! It's called the Dyson Air Multiplier. Probably inspired by jet engines. The vents at the base sucks in air, it then accelerates the air inside and forces it out! Resembles a Portal where things go through it get sucked into lightspeed! I showed it to Mum and she said cleaning would be easy!

I believe the price will be considerably more as well. If I remembered correctly, the small, handheld vacuum costs about $150+, which was about the same as the typical household sized vacuum.

The design is nice! The idea is fresh! Inspiring! :D

Should I be Mr Pringles?

2010-06-15T12:08:00.008+08:00

Hmmmffff!! :)

If I how does the Pringles logo look like, I believe many will say it's the face with the mustache! Well, I thought of growing a mustache after I saw an advertisement by Louis Vuitton which is shown below. (It took me a long time to find this on the net!)

Look at him. So calm and collected. It gives me the "Shakespeare, classy, arty, high end" vibe. Hehe. Hope B is fine with it! :D Looking forward to no shaving for an indefinite period! Wee! Soon there will be 2 people in the family with mustaches.

My dear readers! What do you think of this?

Hairspray!

2010-06-08T15:59:00.000+08:00

Since when did my hair look like this!

Two drawings by different people believe I have a flat top. Hahaha!! That's very cute. :)

Someone's Coming Back!

2010-06-08T15:49:00.000+08:00

In 3 more days! :D

Is 11th June at 2am? Or 12th June at 2am? *crosses fingers*

x b

2010-05-25T23:50:00.001+08:00

I think this can match your photos! Ha! :D
Oh, it's my 100th post!! *Fireworks!*

An Apple a day keeps my work away!

2010-05-18T10:28:00.002+08:00

Ever since I got my iPhone 2 weeks ago, I have been using it regularly at work! Not to play constantly but to achieve work-play balance. "Yaaa right..". :P So far, it has not disappointed me. I used to be very negative towards Apple products solely for the reason that I think people buy Apple for the cool factor. If you compare just technical specifications alone, a laptop of any other brand would beat it! So the extra money probably goes into design, interface, branding, the Mac OS, aluminium body and etc?

But I think it was really childish of me not to buy Apple for the above mentioned reason. Anyway, I would like to write a short review about this product.

Noticed how handphone sizes changed over time? From the big, heavy, "use it as a weapon" size to the very slim and compact, when Samsung came up with very nice looking phones for the business market, and now into the era of smart phones where the size is getting back to big. Sounds like fashion. Hah!

Size
I am not complaining about the size. Fits my hand well. After all, I would feel uncomfortable carrying a small phone where the feeling is like carrying 2 coins in a clenched fist.

Interface
The interface is awesome. It does not lag when you slide from page to page as you view the apps. A satisfying feeling that I get everytime. Similar to when things transit smoothly during concerts, performances and etc. Getting around the default apps is easy.

Apps
This is another power-to-the-ma feature. HTC and BB have apps but not as many as the iPhone's. And because many are free, you just want to grab them all! If for instance, an app is just released and it's available free just for that day and you downloaded it, it sticks into your account forever. So even if the app cost goes all the way to $99.99, you won't have to pay it! So got to go app shopping frequently to get good deals. Hehe!

To me, I think the iPhone is a good buy. Keeps you updated, people will constantly create apps because many many people are using it.

With a data plan now, everything is so much more convenient and accessible. I read my mail more frequently now! Hahaha!
If any of you wish to ask for more feedback regarding it, feel free to ask me. I will not give a biased view. Honest! :)

Haiku 2

2010-05-07T14:17:00.002+08:00

I made a mistake
I typed it incorrectly
I've learnt my lesson.

A Loaf of Meat!

2010-04-29T23:30:00.014+08:00

It can also mean the musician. (He looks pretty round doesn't he? Might be all the loaves he ate and gave him inspiration to sing! :D)

I think this dish is very common in the United States. It was there that I tried it for the very first time at Mel's Diner. I have seen in comics, and hear about them mentioned in movies. Like when the kid comes home and the mom shouts, "Son? There's meatloaf in the fridge." or the mom says, "We're gonna have meatloaf tonight!" and the children reply, "Not agaaaainn?".

Aunt May left Peter Parker a note in the kitchen that wrote, "There's meatloaf in the oven." when he came back in the night.

Meatloaf is really easy to make. The ingredients used are easily found in the kitchen. This recipe had good reviews so I decided to make it for dinner at Kat's place after cell group. The baking time is an hour so you have plenty of time to prepare other things or for my case, wash the dishes.

The two ladies who helped in the making.

as you can see the uncooked meatloaf above. We placed it in the oven and...

It came out like this!

The crust-like layer is actually the sauce that I poured over. Made of only tomato sauce, mustard and brown sugar. I like the combination a lot! And it comes out thick and viscous like caramel. Sweeeet... :D

We cut it into 9 slices and but it was actually meant for 6. The portion would feed 6 nicely. I made it again (except I forgot about putting in the onions) the next day at Alicia's place. Same size but to feed 4. It was a huge portion! Mark was happy because he was starving after the soccer match. I think the amount of food taken in should be just nice. So people won't get the "very nii!" feeling from it. For example, KFC.

I'm very satisfied with this recipe. Will go and try out other variations in time to come. Just need to tell mum that I want to cook dinner and the opportunity opens up. Heh. Go try it! :)

Haiku

2010-04-20T20:52:00.016+08:00

Time management's important,

Discipline I need.

And that I have to improve.

-Aaron Sim, 2010

Ssssss~.... Squeak!

2010-04-15T21:51:00.012+08:00

Awesome! I got a new gadget! Thanks Mark! :)

This is my new snake mouse! Exactly the same one! Blue! Green was out of stock.

I was planning to get a gaming mouse before the start of school for quite some time already. Since I will have a new laptop to replace my trusty, still going strong, 5 year old Acer, I will be able to play more resource demanding games and it would be nice to have a good mouse to match up to it. So the search begins. I looked into 2 brands of mice, Razer and Logitech.

Kenny uses a Logitech G9x and I felt it was really good! The specifications of that mouse is wonderful! The wheel scroll can swap between stepped or smooth scrolling, it has a resolution of 5700 dpi, it has large feet that spans the whole breadth, and you can add up to 28 grams of weights to achieve the perfect feel! All that for... $159! :(

It was too expensive.

So I opted for Razer. And was reminded that Eugene works at Razer! Matthew helped me out by lending me his mice. I tried the Copperhead first. The green glow from the mouse was nice to look at. It is an ambidextrous mouse so the shape will not follow your palm. Then I tried the Deathadder. Feel wise, comfortable and I was more reluctant to move quickly due to its ergonomic right-handed design.

In the end, I chose the Diamondback 3G which is an ambidextrous mouse like the Copperhead. In Eugene's opinion, it is the best mouse. I felt it was not necessary to get such an expensive one because after all...... (wears sunglasses and looks away into the distance) it is the skill that gets the frag. YEAAAAAAAA!!!!

So I was supposed to collect it from Eugene once he got hold of it. After dinner with mums and Mark, I went back home and Mark returned like 15 minutes after that. Out of no where he took out the Diamondback!! Then I realised why he left us earlier after dinner. I was so happy!! I wanted to pay him back but he refused. He gave it as a gift to me. I had no choice but to accept it. Thank you very much Mark! "SNAKEEE!!!!" -Colonel Campbell

"If I am a girl.." Episode 1

2010-04-12T21:52:00.004+08:00

I have decided to launch a new series on my blog. It's called "If I am a girl...". What it means is that I will express my thoughts and ideas as if I am a female. For instance, "I really like this shoe! But, it's for girls. If I am a girl..." or "Wah, that make-up of hers is very kua zhang! If I am a girl...".

I happened to come across this dress. If I am a girl... I would buy this dress!

I like flare skirts. They give me the sweet, smiley, happy girl impression. Haha! It's also very plain which means adding a bit of accessories will suffice. On sale $59 from _______. :) What do you readers think about flare skirts?

And by the way, I have added the picture of the New Balance shoe. It's called New Balance 769. It is an older model so I would have to go to it's factory outlet at IMM to check it out.

Weak

2010-04-09T00:41:00.006+08:00

Dang. I felt lousy during and after running today. My legs felt heavy, my heart couldn't pump easily and overall, I felt weak. And I think the reason is because, I have been drinking too much milo in the office. Not forgetting cappuccinos as well. Mans.. And henceforth, I have decided to drink only water during work!

From time to time I have to remind myself about fitness and keeping healthy. I really want to make it a habit. So readers, once in a while pleas help me by reminding me about running! :)

I thought of buying new running shoes too! Many say Asics is like the best. But, I think I would want to try another brand like New Balance perhaps. Mother said it's good and I think so too. It's cheaper as well. I went looking around and happened to see this shoe at J8's New Balance!

Paddle-pop yea!

I thought, "Wow! Awesome! I wouldn't mind running in that. Funky and colourful! It would definitely inspire me to run.". Then I saw another set of colours beside it. It was black, hot pink and blue! So nice!!

Just need to ensure it's good for supporting the feet. I may consider it as one of my choices. Must not be impulsive. Hehe. :)

And you know, I accidentally crushed a snail with my right foot and a cockroach with my left foot that night. I'm sorry. Sigh..

Update

2010-03-30T22:22:00.012+08:00

The post man is coming soon!

"Generalisation... Civilisation... Caramelisation..." -Morven

2010-03-19T08:26:00.010+08:00

Whenever Morven cooked dinner during our time in Adelaide, he would start pretending to be a host of a US cooking show. He's dialog goes something like this, "Ooh boy... Look at the beautiful colour... Mmm.. Caramelisation... Generalisation... Education... Automation... Civilisation... Globalisation... (Long pause as he thinks of another -tion word)."

I'll never forget that. Not only because it was funny but because he set off the smoke alarm like 3 to 4 times? Argh.

I wanted to make caramelised onions some time back. I bought the onions and kept them close to 3 weeks. When I wanted to use them, I saw maggots crawling around in it! It was uber disgusting! I felt bad the onions were wasted because of my procrastination.

Just 2 days ago my mum bought onions.

I cried painfully! :'(

Morven! This is the reeaal deal!

I'll make sure he reads this. Haha! You have to cook it for a very long time before you see results. I used red onions. I'll try white ones another time and see if I can achieve a stronger brown colour.

The rice was mixed with the egg+parmesan cheese sauce used in the carbonara. Overall very happy! :D

Puzzle Time!

2010-03-11T13:01:00.003+08:00

I went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum at San Francisco and saw this puzzle. Thought it might occupy my time if I'm bored. I have yet to come up with a solution. Many Sundays have passed.

Try it! :D

The End Is Near.

2010-03-03T22:37:00.007+08:00

Non, it's not the end of the world. Instead, it's

9 more official days!

And it seems like it refers to many other things too.

Congratulations Kenny + Audrey!

2010-02-27T09:18:00.012+08:00

One for the history books in the Sim and Shen family. I was waiting for the professional photos to come so this post will look good. Haha.

To Kenny and Audrey: May you two have love abundant for each other and that love carries on forever. Everything else will follow behind it. :]

To Jia Mei yan: I wish you all the best and your new family! Thanks for listening to my stories and then falling asleep after that. And somehow, I always remember this one particular time during Junior Soldier class, the older ones were teasing me and then you stepped in and said, "Hey, don't bully my brother k!". It has been 10 years since you said that? Hahaha. Though you spoke little compared to Mark and myself who were always shouting in the house, your presence in the house was always felt. The family and I will definitely miss you but remember we'll always be there for you. :) Take care and I love you Aud. Now you're the odd one out! You're married! Hahaha.

Burdgert King

2010-02-22T22:11:00.001+08:00

Disclaimer: All prices mentioned below are in US dollars.

The last day at Lake Tahoe, we took our lunch at Burger King. Fast food ain't cheap and one meal cost about $6.95. But on the whole menu, there was a section that wrote "BK Value Menu" and everything under there was super duper cheap! I got really excited when I saw the Whopper Jr. going for just $1! Many items were also going at $1 like Double Cheeseburger, Spicy CHICK'N CRISP Sandwich, small onion rings, small fries, small soft drink and Chicken Tenders (4 pieces).

What awesome deals! We wanted to fill our stomachs, so budget we did! Many many of this and that burgers, many many fries, rings and tenders, and was it 1 small soft drink? Hahaha. Every fast food outlet has free flow drinks.

I ordered a double cheese burger and the chick n crisp burger and stacked them up!

So it's equivalent to a Mega Mac? No la. Burger King's burger volume is smaller than Macs. That's how I managed to eat the 7 patty one last time. But it felt good having so much to chew. Satisfying you know. I went Ikea once and had Grilled Dory with cream sauce. With fish being soft and easy to swallow, it felt like the food portion was very little. :(

We spent about $24~ for 6 of us? Nice. Super budget. Wish they have these $1 deals in Singapore too! :)

From Holland?

2010-02-15T09:56:00.005+08:00

At last, it has been made! For weeks I have been looking for the day when I can make this. I first saw it in the movie Julie and Julia. The main character Julie Powell made hollandaise sauce and used it as an artichoke dip. She briefly read out the recipe and I thought, "Wow, so little ingredients, not complex, and looks really good! Must try!"

I used this recipe. There were others that said to use a double boiler but I did not want to do it that way. It felt too troublesome. I'm sure it can be done if you have good heat control. It was because of this recipe that I bought my mixing bowl! That will be covered in another post. :)

The main ingredient is butter. Loads of butter! We melted 1 and 3/4 sticks of it! We're clarifying the butter here.

Oohh! Fattening natural butter!!

Joel and I were holding up the pots during the mixing of butter to the sabayon. So our forearms kinda ached a bit after that. Hahaha, we need more training.

The colour of hollandaise sauce is very nice. Light yellow cream. However, I felt it should be less yellow but Dora and Joel said it's okay! Maybe I try another time with less yolk. We added 4 yolks instead of 3 because apparently my eggs were not "large" enough. I'm going for 3 the next round. I'm also going to try more pepper and less lemon.

Well, that was dinner. Eggs Benedict without the bacon and English muffin. Substitute by Wagyu beef patty, wholemeal and white bread. Hehe. :D

After dinner, we still had leftover sauce to do this! Port wine courtesy of Joel and a Big Bag of Calbee Hot and Spicy Potato Chips!

What's this?

2010-02-02T22:10:00.003+08:00

Pedxing!

At first, I couldn't understand it. Stared at it longer and I saw the light.

I'm sure you can too. Interesting sign.

Mini Frosty

2010-02-02T21:40:00.011+08:00

On the last day at Lake Tahoe, we decided to go and visit the lake. The shore's sand was covered with snow. White Sands? Hur hur.

It was HUUUUGE!

The mountains in view were magnificent. So vast and big! The snow makes the mountains look more exciting. Imagine just green slopes. Will the snow melt at such altitudes?

We strolled around, attracted attention from others by "zhi lian"ing. We also saw some snowboarders making a low ramp for themselves. Afterwhich they filmed themselves tackling it. As we left the beach, we saw snowmen (2 only) standing in the open patch, and then we decided to make a snowman for ourselves too.

I could pretend I'm making a snowman but secretly preparing ammo for a fight.

Packing ice is simple. Just collect shavings and plaster it over. I tried combining 2 balls together but it doesn't grow.

Frosty needs to look good.

Frosty: "Voila! In view a humble vaudevillian veteren, cast vicariously as both victim and..."

If you focus your attention to the top left, you'll see big daddy snowman there. He is a whole lot bigger than what we made. And it took us 20-25 minutes making this puny fella. It would probably take an hour or more to fatten him up to big daddy's size. We couldn't spare the time.

After we made good use of him, we killed him off. Run before David Caruso shows up! (~You won't get fooled again!~ music plays)

Sliding on Ice Kachang

2010-01-13T20:08:00.009+08:00

Let's kick start the US Tales with Lake Tahoe! It was chosen because it was where we could experience snow! There is North and South Lake Tahoe but South was taken because it's nearer. The lake is very big. Singapore's total area is 710 square kilometers while Lake Tahoe's area is already 496.21 square kilometers! That's more than half of our island!

We were there from 29-31 December 09. It was really cold. In San Fran and LA, I could walk around with just a t-shirt, a long sleeve piece and jeans on. The nights will get colder but it was still manageable. I got down from the bus at Lake Tahoe with exactly what I mentioned above. And then I started to shiver just standing there so I decided to put on the gloves and beanie. I just had to test the temperature! :P

That evening we took a walk around the shops. We entered this shop named 'Heavenly' to enroll ourselves for a day's lesson on snowboarding. The mountain was called Heavenly too so I conclude the shop is the official school for that mountain. It cost us each USD $160 + GST. Not to mention the rental of waterproof pants and my jacket. But it was all worth it!! I was totally excited and happy!

The next morning, we actually wanted to go earlier so that we can stop at the first stop of the ride up the mountain to look at scenery, but grabbing our boards and putting on the boots took some time so that didn't happen. The ride up on the gondola takes 25 minutes which means plenty of photo time! :)

The picture above shows very little bit of the mountain. I initially thought that was all the mountain that snowboarders and skiers had but I was wrong! There is a lot more mountain behind it! It snowed lightly and temperatures reached -7 degrees Celsius. Because of the low temperature, it was tough to take out your camera to snap pictures. The cold would start biting your hands. If you put your gloves on, you won't be able to use it properly with the fat fingers.

Up there, we met our instructor, Michael Gutman. He gave me a cool impression of himself. He wore a helmet, sunglasses and mitts! Always smiling as he explained how it works. He would remind us about going back to our proper stance by showing off an action. And everytime he did that, it made me smile. The action was just very funny!

Down the mountain we surfed. It certainly was tiring climbing up the mountain to go for another try. But why not use the ski lift? There was a long queue and i think I can climb faster. Just pant more! The ski lift ride was nice. The seat and structure was so simple, steel tubes around you like a roll cage and a cushioned seat. :)

Snowboarding is easy to learn. Just have to get used to it and keep reminding yourself on the good practices. I will definitely go for a second round if given the chance. If you get the chance, go for it! May he be an inspiration for you! :D

A Brand New 2010 Folks!

2010-01-04T22:20:00.004+08:00

Coming back from overseas into 2010 is exciting. To wrap USA in word, it would have to be "Super"! Will definitely blog about the trip bit by bit once I get my pictures from Tourist Tan and David.

What was disappointing about the trip is that my 600+ photos were deleted. Do not know how it happened but it did. I certainly did not press 'OK' to 'ERASE ALL?'. Sigh. Must just remember the experience of what happened.

Just a quick update, started work again and it felt awesome! My army friends are a nice bunch. There is always something to laugh and joke about in our conversations. I feel really blessed to have formed this bond with them. :)

And guess what! The Army has given me my 2nd Kit Kat bar today! My rank looks like this now! Wheeee!!! Super.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Red & Fast

2009-12-14T01:12:00.009+08:00

I was walking to Chris's van one afternoon and guess what I saw! Not one, but four Ferraris parked along a driveway! They were the older models but it still looks really good.

Can I have one since you have four, please?

I think Ferrari is getting common in Singapore nowadays. Lamborghini as well. A car that will catch people's attention now would probably be an Aston Martin. I used to dislike it because of the front grill. It looks like a fish. And when I see pictures of those used in races, the outline of the grill is painted which makes the car look like it has fat lips.

Talking about the front grill, I noticed quite some time ago that supercars have this common design trend of where they place their front grills. Take a look.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Noble M600

Porsche Carrera GT

If you have observed well, the front grill is placed below the headlights and very near the ground. Looks good right? There is engineering explanation for this. Since cold air sinks while hot air rises, the cold air will flow through the front grill. Cold air is denser and produces more power when combustion takes place. To many, I think the change is not a great deal to them.

And you think only exotic continental cars are following this design trend? Japanese cars have them too! Smile! :D

Mazda MX-5

If I'm going to design and engineer my own cars in the future, this trend is definitely going into my cars. Hahaha!

And I Think to Myself

2009-11-30T00:55:00.004+08:00

Sometimes, people don't appreciate the details. Be a General.

Mmmm!

2009-11-24T22:12:00.004+08:00

One Friday afternoon, Kathryn, Joel and I went to this meat wholesale factory somewhere in Jurong. My mother will usually go to this place with Kathryn and every time she comes back, she will have loads of stuff to stock up in the freezer. You know, there was a very strong smell of sesame oil when we came out of the place.

Q.B!? Not related to your $10 snip snip shop.

Best! Definitely.

The spread was big. There were many types of meat from various countries. They would even state the country where it came from. There were like cheese sausages, bratwursts, otah, clams and many others. What made me excited was their label on the packaging. It wrote,

Meats, Marinates & Much More!

We bought 1 Ribeye steak, 1 Angus Ribeye steak and 1 Wagyu Ribeye steak. We wanted to taste the difference between them. So off to Kat's house! She has a cast iron pan with ridges so we can create Burger King's beef patties! Awesome.

Meet Snoa Band. That's his name according to the tag.

I'm Bosch.

Cooking the beef was fun. We only seasoned it with pepper and salt. And then came the taste test. Comparing the three, the normal beef steak had the strongest beef taste. Made you feel like a REAL macho man eating that. Angus beef had this "I don't know how to describe" taste which masked the beef taste, and Wagyu beef had the same "I don't know how to describe" taste which masked the beef taste at a greater level.

To me, the difference in taste is not a big deal, but the texture and softness of the steak has to be done nicely. Tough beef is not very nice. We also made potato wedges and fresh greens. All in all, it was a great day!

*Did you know that it is not advisable to use soap to wash Cast Iron pans?

Low Carbo Diet

2009-11-05T23:38:00.006+08:00

I'm practicing on carbonara now. Again I searched the web to source out good recipes. I wanted a recipe with little ingredients so that it's simple.

And I did find it. Turns out that in the original Roman carbonara recipe had no cream, no mushrooms and made with spaghetti. Great! I did not have cream which makes this recipe ideal for me. All it needed was, spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, pancetta and eggs. The egg mix would become like cream sauce for the dish.

I also did not have pancetta so I replaced it with bacon. I bought linguine instead. Kinda preferred that to spaghetti.

I've tried this many times. First time, my egg mix became tiny curdles of egg, the linguine was a little hard and the taste was not really there. Was disappointed but I wanted to do better. My most recent try (probably 5th or 6th), I made sure the pan was not hot so as to not cook the egg so quickly and it did. Looks the nicest compared to the previous batches. But there are things still lacking. The egg mix does not have enough taste, the noodles can be a little softer. And maybe not burnt bacon.

I will try it again until it's good to be sold outside! Hehe.

I Scrambled Everywhere for Scrambled Eggs

2009-10-22T14:56:00.003+08:00

Long time long time.

For the past month, my office mates have been watching Hell's Kitchen. It was really interesting to see the contestants getting scolded for their mistakes. But I think as the one scolding, it's not fun at all. As an instructor, if I see my cadets commission without the right standards and values, I would feel like I have failed. Likewise for parents I'm sure.

Okay, better not divert too far. Anyway, Hell's Kitchen has inspired me to cook! So I thought of recipes to cook. I decided to go for easy recipes and came up with scrambled eggs.

The internet is good and bad. You get a lot of results, and that many state their scrambled eggs are the "perfect", or "ultimate", or "traditional", or "Mummy's" scrambled eggs. I searched for the one which required the least ingredients so that if I were to cook it at someone's house, I could produce the same results and standards. :)

And after experimenting for the very first time! I got THIS!

It was soo good! Never made eggs with such texture in my life. I believe it's what the recipe said that other recipes did not have. What's that you ask? I shall not state it here. Hehehe.

I'm going to tackle more recipes. Next one I'm going after is Carbonara. :D

Awesomeness at 10 Baht!

2009-08-17T23:04:00.004+08:00

The first time I went Thailand as a cadet, I had this amazing dessert after lunch at K-Town. Her stall was just a push-cart.

6 months later, I went back to the same place for lunch at K-Town and saw her again after the meal! She was selling the same amazing coconut ice cream!

She would take 2 scoops into the cup, followed by 2 scoops of sticky rice (the one you eat with the mango dessert at ThaiExpress) and then 4 more scoops of coconut ice cream. Drizzle the top with a spoonfull of roasted peanuts and evaporated milk and voila!

Ahh~

Just 10 baht! Awesomeness! :D

Mission Accomplished!

2009-06-27T14:35:00.004+08:00

Finally, I have managed to update every single song in my iPod with its respective album art!

Right now, my iPod looks like this.

Take a look at the most left cover art, that is one of Air's albums, Pocket Symphony. Just a random observation. :)

All I can say is Yay!

My New Mission

2009-05-18T00:00:00.004+08:00

It's been more than a month! I've always been telling myself to update and update but I always don't do it.

I am currently on a mission.

My mission is: To put good quality and well done up album cover art on every song in my iPod.

It's a very tedious thing to do and people keep saying "so free ah?" to me. Why I am doing this is because my laptop has revived! I bought a 120GB IDE hard disk from my friend. Since now I have more space, why not include the album art? It gives me a sense of satisfaction when I browse through the Cover Flow filled with many pictures. It allows me to fake that all my songs were bought too! I also get to know more about the band when I look for the pictures.

Rare!

Scary looking!

Nice.

I really like the last album cover art by Audio Adrenaline. It's the nicest among all their album covers. Once I'm done with my iPod, it's on to the 9k+ songs that Mark sent me. How long do you think it is going to take!?!

Commission loh!

2009-03-30T22:35:00.003+08:00

Yes it's a week late! Anyway, I am cadet no more! Trainee no more! One year of listening to instructions has gone and now it's my turn to give the instructions. Commissioning parade went well. A few hiccups on my part and a few around the parade. I'm very sure everyone put in their best performance. There is no point in brooding over it and should just take it as a lesson and move on.

Everyone at this point of time was 'ahm chio-ing'.

"We're proud to present to you the newly commissioned... officers!!"

The commissioning parade is third in order of precedence with National Day Parade coming in first followed by SAF Day Parade. The rehearsals started 2 weeks before the actual event. Afternoon rehearsals were the worst because the sun would shine right on top of us! School Sergeant Major was a very inspiring person. He knew how to push us and when to give us water breaks. The commissioning parade has silent drills in it. Everyone moves accordingly without any word of command but just the sound of the bass drum. My heart beats faster everytime we execute that move. The 14, 1, 2 was also very nice after looking at the video posted up on facebook.

I would do the commissioning parade again if I had the chance. Now I'm posted to Khatib camp as an instructor. I hope my cadets will learn as much as they can and be excellent artillery officers. Likewise myself, be a good example to them and instruct them well.

My First Sewing Project

2009-03-22T23:11:00.009+08:00

I bought an iPod Classic online recently with the help of Guan You. Initially, I rejected Apple from the beginning. It was stylish but I wondered if it really had the substance. I also felt that Apple products were made of lousy quality because almost everyone who owns an Apple product has gone to the customer service centre for servicing! I decided to take a more open approach at first impressions and decided to get the iPod. I am also going to test if product failure is caused by poor handling by the owner or the product is just lousy.

The iPod came and I realised I do not have a cover for it. Melanie has an iPod sleeve made from velvet if I am not wrong and is the nicest cover I saw. I do not like the chunky plastic ones or the rubber condoms. I think a simple cloth is enough to prevent scratches. I know it does not cover the impact of drops but if you protect it so much like how the plastic ones do, your iPod becomes so big and it won't look sleek and nice.

So I wanted to get one but the Apple online store did not have it. Even if it did, it would cost a bomb. I tried a few shops in Junction 8 but to no avail. Finally I decided to sew one myself!

Focus focus!

I used leftover cloth from my mother's Ikea curtains and made
this!

Happy happy! :) Following Kathryn's footsteps! Haha!

Finale

2009-02-17T01:33:00.005+08:00

Man it's great to be back to the hot and wet Singapore. I enjoyed the Thailand weather. It was cold at night but scorching hot from 12am to 3pm. I got a helmet tan line just working under the sun while cleaning the gun!To sum it up, the whole trip was like this.

Sleep sleep sleep.

Haha. That's obviously not true. It was entirely the opposite! We did not get much sleep and every night there was sentry duty to guard our equipment and frequent night displacements. Adding to not much sleep comes irregular sleep. Some could only sleep start sleeping at 2am, waking at 4am for an hour sentry and then sleep for another hour before the day starts. Displacing from one location to another can take an hour to go. The journey from our last deployment ground to camp took a whopping 3 hours! People like him enjoyed.

I got to execute my role in coordinating fire from the command post which was my choice of appointment since nearing the end of common phase. Felt nervous at first because when you say fire, they really fire! The key is to stay cool even when everyone is rushing you. Just do not let it bother you but of course, do not take your time. Working in the command post has its perks too. All the ration comes to you so there is always extras. Goody for me but bad for me tummy. Best is to spam the fruits or give all away to the gun sites.

The firepower coming from the 155mm Howitzer is awesome! You can feel the shockwave through your body everytime the round is shot. When we fired a higher charge, I couldn't stare at the barrel anymore! Imagine firing the highest charge, it might feel like a knockout punch who knows! After seeing such a magnificent sight, I don't want to be laughing or playing around when artillery fire comes. You don't want to mess with the King of the Battlefield!
Hot baby!

In the end, I believe everyone enjoyed themselves. We were all smiles. Many lessons learnt and more to come. It was a fantastic experience for me. Maybe I'll write little stories of what happened in between the trip when I have more time. :)

Big Feet Small Shoes

2009-01-24T13:19:00.004+08:00

I've been thinking of getting a pair of shoes. Preferably a canvas one. First brand that came to mind was Converse. I went down to Junction 8 a couple of times to check it out and soon found a colour that I liked. So I asked the lady about sizes and she said the biggest was 11! Turned out that only grey, off-white, white had size 12. I was disappointed.

Back then, many said that being big, having big feet is good because when sale comes, the weird sizes are left. But that is so not true! Now sales cater to the common sizes. Why like that. Have a size 12 at least in your inventory leh. :( Now everytime I see a shoe that I like, I will just ask if they have size 12 and if they don't I can stop thinking about it already. Maybe if I really really want to buy the shoe I'll try to fit size 11. Ha!

Not For The Faint Hearted

2008-12-07T17:10:00.005+08:00

Recently, McDonald's and Burger King have come up with very very appealing promotions. Definitely (read title).

Ooh yea! :)

Now that's what I'm talking about! :D

When both came out, I was really excited about it! I wanted to try it as soon I as could. Opportunity came one Saturday when I met my parents at Central. We were thinking where to eat and I initiated to go BK for dinner. My parents were not really hungry since they just came from a high tea celebration. However, they didn't mind going. From the advertisement, the BK Quad Stacker looked like it could challenge Carl's Jr.'s burgers in size or even beat it. I had to try it!

So I ordered the meal which cost $10.45 and I upsized it as well. I felt the price was steep because the Mega Mac meal only costs $7.45. That's a plate of char sao sao rou fan (Char Siew with Roasted Pork Rice) more! When the worker placed my burger on the tray, I got a surprise because it wasn't as big as I thought it would be! Even my father's Whopper was larger in diameter but lost in height. It was roughly 10-11cm wide. Putting that dissappointment aside, I gave my first bite. Mmm, a lot more meatier. :)

After chowing down till 1/4 of the burger left, I just did a count of the number of patties and I got a 2nd surprise! There were only 3 patties! Could I have eaten 1 whole patty? Maybe, but not likely because the melted cheese would have glued them together. Could the maker have placed the patty in an offset postion? Not possible because the wrapping was not jutting out. My father wanted to have some action so he complained about it to the manager and they gave me a whole new one! This time after unwrapping, the patty count was correct and I chowed it down. :D

I tried both Mega Mac and Mega McSpicy as well and to me, the winner among the 3 is the Mega McSpicy. It had the oomph and 'fill the stomach' factor. It even comes with a sticker on the box which I took it with me. Haha.

Standby

2008-11-02T03:05:00.002+08:00

Readers I'm really sorry for the lack of entries! I haven't got the focus and time to sit down to type out a post. Just to keep you updated, I'm doing fine in the army. Exams are just next week so I need to study real hard! I want to put up something interesting soon! :)

炮!

2008-09-20T17:16:00.005+08:00

Service term is ending and Professional term is just around the corner! Three white chocolate bars on our shoulders, more responsibility! I want to thank God so much for blessing me so much in OCS. Till now, I have not suffered injuries, I did get a minor foot rot but it has healed. I'm also very thankful to be posted to the Singapore Artillery!

King of the Battlefield!

I will be shifting my stuff over to Khatib Camp the following week. There will be no more 2 cadets to a bunk but 10 instead. Since I am in a unit, PSPs, DSs, MP3s, and the electrical gadgets are not allowed. I hope chargers are! Khatib camp is much nearer compared to SAFTI MI. We can go down to Casuarina Curry and enjoy a kosong or two with teh halia during nights out! Morven is going to artillery as well and that's fantastic news! We will meet again!

Artillery involves a lot of calculation (Finally the brain can exercise). Some say it is slack but I do not know how true that is since it is a unit, I'm pretty sure regementation is strictly enforced. I pray that I will get good instructors and also pray that I will complete pro term without complications! :)

In Oriente Primus! (Latin: "First in the East")

Route/Fast March Theory

2008-08-21T23:29:00.003+08:00

Fact: The shortest man's widest stride cannot match the tallest man's widest stride because of the difference in length of their legs.

Just an illustration

During my time in BMT when I did my route marches, I never walked in step. We did walk in step at the start but all followed their own timing after a while. I felt it was good because everyone can walk at their own happy timing.

After coming to OCS, all the route/fast marches conducted had to be done in step. That is everyone walks to the count of one timer. It is really tiring keeping up with the timing. The timer comes from the middle and it's very fast. Most of the time, I am controlling and limiting my steps and not able to stretch fully. No one can fully stride as well. So I asked the conducting officer why do we have to march in step and wouldn't it be better and more efficient if everyone marched their own pace. He told me it was for the sake of compromise. Fair enough. Then, I came up with the theory.

Having the shortest at the front to the tallest at the back, the first 3 cadets will open their strides wider than normal walking but at the same time, at a comfortable pace. Then everyone behind will follow the first 3's timing.

Conclusion: The pace will be slower, the distance covered will be the same, everyone will be less tired, everyone marches in step. Efficient.

Readers, what do you think about this? Does it make sense? :)

The Difference in Fish and Chips Standards

2008-07-19T14:03:00.011+08:00

It's been a long while. Have been busy with army and there's not much time to think about entries to put up. I was looking through pictures and found something that I could talk about.

Yes, the difference in fish and chips standards between Singapore and Australia. When I went to Adelaide, I tried South Australia's No.2 stall according to my colleague. When I went to Perth, I tried Western Australia's No.1 stall according to them.

Adelaide's runner-up.

Perth's best.

So what's the difference between these two and fish and chips from Singapore?

Okay okay, I have received answers that one has fries and one with no fries but that's not the right difference I'm looking for. Reader jessica says it's the paper! That's true. I have not seen paper wrapped fish and chips in Singapore yet.

The difference is the thickness of the batter on the fish. Fish and chips in Kopitiam, Fish and Co. and many places have very very thick batter to make the fish look big. Furthermore, the batter may not be very crispy or might even be soggy. However, these two that I tried in Australia had a thin layer of batter on it. So when it came out hot from the fryer, it was light and crispy! Goodie good stuff. Must just remember to drink lots of water after the meal because of the salt. Bring your own sauce too! Perhaps Lingham's sauce? :D

Ah, the fries were like Mos's. Haha. That's the end readers! Have a nice day!

There is an entry!

2008-07-05T21:20:00.002+08:00

How can this be?

:D

Shh..

Where am I going?

2008-06-21T15:27:00.003+08:00

On Friday, 20th of June 2008, our postings to different vocations and schools were released to us. It was exciting when the page was loading. I was hoping to see OCS on the screen when I typed down my details. Lo and behold! Thank God for answering prayer and placing me in... OCS!!

I am really happy that I'm posted there because I aspired to be an officer since my dad and brother were officers too. The training will definitely be more intense compared to BMT and I will go in with a positive mindset once again! Make good friends, try not to do foolish things that will get me injured, do the right thing and follow instructions and many more. I do not wish to get into trouble too. The grueling 9 months begins on Monday and there's nothing better than to start it with a 3 week confinement! :|

3 months ago, it was to the far east and now to the extreme west. Alamak. Haha!

POP loh!

2008-06-10T22:02:00.005+08:00

Yippee! My 13 weeks in Tekong has finally reached an end and a new phase will start soon. Here are some photos of the graduation parade. It felt so good! Thank God for great weather! No rain, mainly cloudy. Marvelous!

Taurus contingent

Doing the march pass

Mama and Papa! Thank you and you. :)

Brother!

Hope to be an officer too.

Bed and best buddy!

"We're proud to present to you the trained...... soldiers!!"

At first when my brother told me he wanted to come in his uniform, I felt it was unnecessary. However, he wanted to wear it and I also started to like the idea. Looking back at it now, it was really fun! Haha. Good thing no one farted during the parade. I also must thank God for having a great bed buddy like Mahathir. He is hardworking, mature and great to work along with. He does not complain when work has to be done. Continue to give your best in whatever you do!

Leaving the island was draggy with so many parents and privates. Heh. Now it's time to enjoy the block leave before going back to the jungle! Oh ya! Must exercise too! Rarrr!

10/13 weeks

2008-05-17T13:31:00.002+08:00

Wow wow wee wah!

2 months has just passed. Many things have changed. Cannot say much about the army or I might land myself in DB, so just come find me and I'll tell you. I have a super long weekend this time. Friday morning booked out and will book in on Monday evening. How nice. :)

I must remind myself not to eat so much and remember to exercise. I have IPPT coming in 2 weeks time and that is not a lot of time! Train train train! Okay, it's time to go and grab a pao from the kitchen. POP LOH! (soon)

Salut and take care!

2/13 weeks

2008-03-29T13:05:00.003+08:00

2nd week of army has passed. How you look at a situation determines the outcome. I want to thank God for sustaining me so far. He is good and always will be. Just yesterday, I passed my 2.4km run! I hit 13:07! Before the run, the sun was shining brightly on us, but after the start, the clouds shaded us and gave a cool running environment. So happy! :)

Got so much to say but I don't want to type it down. Ask me and I'll tell you. Hehe.

Loyalty to Country!
Leadership!
Discipline!
Professionalism!
Fighting Spirit!
Ethics!
CARE FOR SOLDIERS!!!

Save 10 cents, save the world.

2008-03-05T01:47:00.004+08:00

Going to Ikea is fun because it's big and there is so much to see! I will picture my future house and what I will put in. Haha. I got my 2 cute bears quite some time ago from there. However, someone doesn't like them at all.

So I was at Alexandra's Ikea one day and had my dinner there with Mark and Clarence. The meatballs were so satisfying. I think I can eat it everyday man! After dinner, we made our way to the next best thing, hot dogs! Talked about challenging each other to hot dogs. First one to give in pays for all the hot dogs eaten. We all stopped at two in the end.

Mama asked us to get a packet of frozen meatballs and so we did. For the sake of going green, Ikea charges 5 cents for a small plastic bag and 10 for a bigger one? I think so. So Ikea charges for plastic bags but provides free brown wrapping paper. What's next?

Make your very own paper bag! I thought Mark was going to make some envelope to place the frozen meatballs in there until I saw him tearing a slit for the handle and it was so funny when the handle slit started tearing even wider as he walked away with it! We took it back to the paper wrapping station to improve the bag's toughness with scotch tape. Clarence and I were laughing the whole time. I saw the security guard looking at us with a puzzled face. Hahaha.

The meatballs made it home safely. The bag's base did not tear even though it soaked up the condensed water. I guess the many layers of paper helped. Haha.

Oh yes, when I was returning home on the bus, I saw a black Nissan GT-R! It was so cool! It was only released in Japan on December 6th 2007. So fast and someone has it! No way!

Nine! :(

The End

2008-02-23T15:21:00.005+08:00

The three long years of tertiary education has ended. Exam papers went well and I thank God for that. He has given me plenty to learn and experience. I'm a big boy now. Oh yes! I can put down 'Polytechnic Diploma' as my highest education level achieved. :) Eh, but I do not have the certificate yet, so does that count?

Power packed lecturers! Friends! 40 cents Tea with milk! Campus Deli Sandwiches! Haaf spling jiken lice! Ya'll be surely missed!!

Have A Fish Every Year!

2008-02-10T23:08:00.001+08:00

It's the Rat year and they come out to celebrate with their cheese looking pineapple tarts! Yes I know it does not make sense. Anyway, want to wish you all who are reading this a Merry Lunar New Year!

"The cats have no year of their own! That explains their behavior!"

I think my family is a little different from most families that celebrate this festive occasion. Usually, reunion dinner happens on the first day and it's with the whole lot that includes grandparents, sons and daughters of the grandparents and children of the sons and daughters of the grandparents. So the size of the gathering is very big and I will say it's normal. However, the reunion dinner for my side only consists of my family! I do go and visit my relatives but it's always a week after the start. Strange but I don't mind. Haha. Yupp, a little something about me family.

Oh boy am I glad that school is over. Left with exams and I'm done! My last two semesters in the polytechnic was fun- meeting new friends and all. Yea. Got to prepare for the finals!

"What's up internet?"

2008-01-29T00:20:00.000+08:00

I really had a good laugh at this video. It was super funny! Listen closely to the melody of the song as well. Ladies, please be careful of him.

Guitar Hero 2 Rush YYZ on Expert

Goosebumps

2008-01-28T23:02:00.000+08:00

Whenever I listen to music, there are times when I get this "hair raising" experience. My brother told me that very nice music to him will make his hair stand but I never understood how that could happen. But nowadays, I can feel it sometimes too. It sounds so good you can feel the chills riding down your spine!

Some songs that achieved that feeling for me are,
Phil Collins - You'll be in my Heart
Hillsong - Forever
Jars of Clay - Worlds Apart
Jars of Clay - I Need You
Jennie Lee Riddle - Revelation Song
Planet Shakers - Evermore

The flow must be good. I had a copy of I Need You by Jars of Clay which had a slight time skip from the chorus to the verse and it ticked me a bit. But someone saved me and sent me the real stuff! Thank you again!! :D

Anyway, this is the live version of I Need You. I prefer studio ones though. Haha, but it will do.

Tragedy! Boohoo!

2008-01-18T00:42:00.000+08:00

My mighty mouse is dead! I tried sending electrical shocks to it the opposite way and it came back to life once but it did not sustain it any much longer. I'm very happy it helped me with many of my assignments and missions in GTA. You'll always be remembered.

*Pip Squeak!*

This reminded me about my pet hamster that passed away a very long time ago. It was really sad to see one who was like part of the family leave. My mum and I gave him a burial just near the street soccer court. The next day when we came to check the area, we found he was gone! I think it was the pesky little boy who saw us burying something into the ground and thought it was gold.

2008-01-14T00:25:00.000+08:00

I'm still here.

:)

The Ending Weeks of 2007

2007-12-29T02:32:00.001+08:00

I must say that this year did pass fast. 5 months in Australia, holidays, back to school. Week after week they pass. I'm overall very happy with the 2 weeks break that I had. I met up with my secondary school friends at a barbecue party over at Jefferson's. I said I'll cook an egg dish for the event and I did! Not wanting the fried egg to be typical, I tried making Tamago. I read a book on how they cooked it. It requires folding of the egg to create layers.

I made it with 10 eggs, soy sauce, sugar and water. It turned out good from the way I look at it!

Looks like a normal fried egg yea? But no!

It was 4cm thick. Yay! Successfully learned a new way of cooking eggs! Hehe.

Yup, the rest of holidays were spent in corp, doing carolling on Christmas eve, practices, shopping, eating and talking with friends. Enjoyed it a lot. You are appreciated. :)

Christmas Partaye!

2007-12-19T23:42:00.000+08:00

The Christmas party was fantastic! I really enjoyed myself and had a good laugh. Chris doing the exaggerated actions of the song "Catch a Falling Star" was hilarious. Food was good too though I did not eat much because I felt full after eating my first plate. Dang. Stomach is smaller. Yay. Singing carols was fun too when everyone there were singing happily.

Playing in the band was also a enriching experience. It was a stressful journey but we pulled through and landed with smiles on our faces at the end of the day. Patience with each other and supporting one another is important.

Thank God for everything and all He has done. :)

It's Time for Me To Protect Your Buttocks!

2007-11-19T23:32:00.000+08:00

Sigh. I am enlisting on the 14th of March. Since my vacation starts on the 25th of February, that gives me slightly more than 2 weeks of enjoyment! :(

But, I've already made the choice to do the PTP (Physical Training Phase) for army. So I shall use that 4 weeks of training well to become fitter and healthier. Doubt anyone will hire me for a month anyway.

I was out having a barbecue on Saturday when my mother messaged me saying, "Aaron, you are going into the army on March 14 man." I was surprised it was so soon. I thought I would be going in around April or May. Oh well, when you got to go, you got to go. I hope to be the man in the center of this picture. Those who know, good for you! For those who don't, go watch the 10 part show!

"Are you sure it's safe to take a picture in the battle zone?"

Turbo Lag

2007-11-16T00:01:00.000+08:00

Sorry dear readers!

It's hard! I'm trying to think of something interesting to write about. Well, since I'm on the net looking and reading up on cars, I want to share this (some might call it silly) idea that I came up with.

Many times, I have things to share but I cannot put them in words. Yea, so this idea is rather messy. I hope you won't get lost! There might be a lot of grey areas too.

Let's go. Say for instance you have two cars. You can afford both. One has a 4 litre engine while the other is a 1 litre engine. Both same fuel tanks. You drive them economically. For which car do you have to pay more for petrol? I hope many will agree it's the 4 litre engine. So if you have to pay $120 on petrol for a full tank for the 4 litre in a week, and only pay $40 for a full tank in the 1 litre in a week, you save $80 on fuel!

So the conclusion is, you can actually use that $80 to have more fun driving the 1 litre car. You can rev higher, have the feeling of racing, sound powerful, don't feel so guilty on wasting fuel but in fact you should because we should conserve energy! You will visit the petrol kiosk more often that's all. You still pay the same as the 4 litre car that drives economically.

Does it make sense? Haha. Well, that's about all to my silly idea.

Let me add a photo to make this post a little more "attracting". I think this car is nice. It's the BMW 8 series.

I think this car was featured in The Italian Job at the scene where the leading actress meets the gang. Handsome Rob exits from this car I think. The detail that caught me in the movie was the 2 small squarish grills.

Smooth Criminal

2007-10-31T11:59:00.000+08:00

This sweet, white flesh goodie should be behind bars.

Skin smoother than a baby's.

It might be too exaggerated but when I tried it last night, it was fantastic. It gave me a very happy eating experience. No complains about it. It was not over sweetened. I really liked the texture. It did not break easily and when you put it in your mouth, it seems to slide everywhere.

Some beancurds have rough surfaces and I find it "alright lah" though smoother ones are the best. Sometimes, you get a "powdery feeling". I wonder if there is a difference in the texture between a cold and a hot bowl of beancurd. I need to conduct tests one day. Haha.

Anyway, this stall is in a coffeeshop in Choa Chu Kang. Block 302 just beside Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange. Rochor beancurd is also good! Lastly, I apologise for the poor picture quality. Happy reading! :)

My first week of school!

2007-10-22T00:02:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the dragged post. Haven't had proper time to think of what to write down. I'd like to share about the above title!

So far, all my lecturers are really fun except for that one particular one whom I wrote about in one of the previous posts. They are all so friendly. There is one lecturer teaches with a smile on his face. Maybe he is not smiling but his normal face shows a smile. I don't know. I'm having a lot of fun in applied thermodynamics because it involves engines! Something that I have been reading up a lot on. I'm going to have a lot of fun in school. :)

This question have been asked a few times among my friends and it is,
"How do you differentiate a year 3 from a year 1?".

And I have answers like,

- See their laptops. If it's vista, a year one. If you see fujitsu, year 1, acer with inbuilt camera with vista, year1, acer with inbuilt camera but with xp, year 2.

- See the dressing.

- For lunch, year 1s go in big groups while year 3s go in groups of 3 or 4.

Anyone has anymore to add? Haha.

Right or Left Brain?

2007-10-11T23:59:00.000+08:00

I stumbled upon something very interesting. My brother's friend were talking about it and I asked what's it about. They brought me to the link and I tried it.

Do you see the dancer turning anti-clockwise or clockwise?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it."

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above chunk was just copied. The first impression and answer you give is the most accurate answer. You do not have time to think of the other way. I saw the dancer turning clockwise but according to the information, I'm a right brainer which is rather interesting. I find myself to be more on the left side. Oooh... So coool.. It's like knowing your secret powers! Ya right. Have fun people!

I am Peter

2007-10-04T01:17:00.000+08:00

Find out what heroes character are you at LiquidGeneration.com!

School is starting!

2007-10-03T11:29:00.000+08:00

In just 11 days, my holidays will come to an end and my final leg of the race will start. Back to being a mugger. I will be in a whole new class with those students that went for attachment in their first semester like me. Timetable looks pretty good. All new lecturers. Tutors the same except for one man. Shall not say his name but he is definitely the most unhelpful lecturer/tutor I have ever met. Why?

During my 4th semester, he was the teacher in charge of my practical class. During the experiments, instead of looking around and supervising us, he went to the back of the class to read his newspaper. I caught him doing so because I wanted to ask a question. We complained to another lecturer about his behavior and in the next class, he did better. And his attitude while explaining the answer to us is really bad. I better go find another guy who teaches the same module to help me. :S

My friend told me there is going to be one big project. Better put in effort daily so it won't be a problem towards the end! Anyone wants to study with me? :D

My 6 Days of Work

2007-09-27T10:51:00.000+08:00

I took on a job to help Kat's father with the deliveries. Job scope involved loading/unloading of goods, being a navigator and speaking to clients with regards to their goods. I must say it is a labour intensive job. Everytime I go home, I feel clean because I perspired a lot.

The goods can be heavy. The weight of a carton of umbrellas is astronomical! Sometimes the goods are light but they are bulky. I am very surprised that everything going out for a delivery can fit so nicely into the van. Uncle Alan has superb judging skills!

I've also been to places I have never set foot in before. The addresses were so foreign to me. Where is Teck Whye Lane? Ceylon Road? Ghim Moh Road? Even for the places which I've heard before like Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok, they have not been explored for almost my entire life! So I did manage to learn a bit more about Singapore.

Food! Prices are about near my school's. I always eat from the same rice and dishes stall because the variety is good and the taste is yummy too. Accompanied with that is a cup of iced coffee to keep me awake!

Lastly,

Me! Me! Me! Pick me!!!

Search.Buy.Sell.Connect

2007-09-23T23:06:00.000+08:00

I believe Ali was inspired to write this because of the recent advertisements of Mocca.

"As do typical negotiations take place, you give me something in exchange for another thing. In this case, Aaron and I have swapped blog posts! Haha. But since he has given me total authority to write about ANYTHING, I shall write whatever I want and he has to post it all up sans censorship.

Okay everybody. What (oops, i mean WHO) we have here is a 1.85m tall (i'm guessing) big friendly guy up for grabs.

If you like guys to be big and cuddly, with a nice 'little' tummy, Aaron here is perfect for you. More so if you like bass players and people who enjoy their food. (Matt's taken!) Tho' abit on the fair side, Aaron is bound to make you feel protected wherever you go cause he'll tower over you and intimidate all other (shorter) guys. If that fails, he can always just sit on them.

If you're a movie junkie, the deal's even sweeter. What's better than having a guy who can spout lines from V for Vendetta or imitate the actions of Borat. He can even make the movie come alive for you by cooking the meals he see's on the show! (look out for his eggy in a basket post)

And on the topic of food - Mr food lover here is bound to spoil you rotten with food. (no pun intended!) From his long-ago inheritance of a McDonald's pie maker to his smashing rice poppies, you'll be certain you won't starve!

So what are you waiting for? Better catch hold of him before he's taken! :D Hurry hurry!"

Panic! at the Station

2007-09-15T21:54:00.000+08:00

I was on my way to Tammy's choir concert with Biru. I met her on the MRT. On the way, an old lady ~~did a pole dance~~ suddenly collapsed on the floor! She was in a slanted kneeling position with her right hand still grabbing the center pole. A few ladies rushed from their seats to help the poor lady. Biru and I just stood there and observed like the rest did. Too many chefs spoil the soup.

Young lady: Someone press the emergency button!
Aaron looks around for the emergency button and sees it, but takes no action.
Young lady: Someone please press the emergency button!
Aaron: Are you sure?
Young lady: Yes!
Aaron: Okay! (Reaches and presses the button)

Intercom through speakers: Please speak into the intercom.
Aaron (speaking into the intercom): Hello? Hello?
Intercom through speakers: (Words were unclear and only made a bit of sense to me)
Aaron (speaking into the intercom): Hello? Anyone there? Helloooooooo... (Heard myself coming from the speakers)
Intercom through speakers: (Words were unclear and only made a bit of sense to me)
Aaron (speaking into the intercom): Hello? Uhh, a lady just fainted and seems to have a problem. Yea.
Aaron returns to his original position and sees someone standing in front of the driver's door uhm chioing.

The next stop, two SMRT employees came to the scene of the crime. They reseted the emergency button and one employee helped the victim. The other asked, "Who was the ~~auntie killer~~ one who pressed the button?". I stepped out with Biru and confessed. Apparently, it was a game that the SMRT man never played. Haha

Anyway, the good news is that the old lady was fine after a while. She was on medication and it made her feel giddy. Thank God for the great experience! :)

My Heirloom

2007-09-13T01:28:00.000+08:00

Many of you do not know about this secret that I've kept for years. Ronald McDonald was my great grandfather. He left me this.

Now you know where those tasty pies come from!

Okay. Enough nonsense. I uncovered this during the time when the group needed to do some activity to pass time. It has been a long time since I've touched this thing. I just tried it again at Kat's place today. Clarence was a little worried about me using playdough with it but I assured him that I only used bread.

Cut with a special cutter, flatten the bread with the roller, fill the pie with whatever filling you want, fold the bread and press it down. Voila! Easyy!

I really had a fun time using it and eating miniature pies filled with kaya. Got to try more stuffings. I should bring out the hamburger maker one day too. Muahaha. :)

Un Film Fraçais

2007-09-06T01:10:00.000+08:00

I watched a French movie over at Ali's place one night. It was titled "36 Quai des Orfèvres" which is the address of one of the most famous police judicial buildings in Paris.

Génial.

I will not reveal the storyline here. What was good about this movie was the cinematography. It was not explosive or filled with a lot of typical American police action. It is somewhat more calm and collected, more artistic. Almost every scene had music playing in the background to supply the mood. Plus the language made it so stylo milo. I give it 4.5/5 for it.

Foreign films are quite interesting. Some that were really good was "Children of Heaven" and "Helen the Baby Fox". It can give you this expression on your face. :')

Haha and godspeed to you!

Where is the family?

2007-09-01T23:59:00.000+08:00

Fiesta Oneness! I wanted to give more thought about it that Friday night during cell. When Matthew asked who wanted to go, I happily raised my hand. During the announcements, Matthew used me as an example and said, "Look at Aaron, he took the courage to step up and join in this event." I was surprised and gave the "why arrow me..." expressions. Anyway, I felt that giving support to these kind of family events are rather important if we are to grow together. Plus it was a one time event so it was okay.

At the registration counter, I was made group leader and I was in greater shock! It was because Major Bob's father-in-law passed away and he was unable to attend the event. Another thing that surprised me was the amazing number of troopers from the youth that signed up for it! There were 13 youths there I reckon? Praise God for that!

The games were rather easy but one may feel embarrassed with the people observing and thinking, "Why are these yellow people running about for?". Did not have time to think what others thought but focus on the team and their participation. It was all held at corp and junction 8 which was good for those who dislike moving around too much. The tonic water that started off the event was... As I drank it down, there was a slight spicy taste to it. Found out that tobasco sauce was added in! Definitely fired up our bodies for the rest of the day. We walked around looking for answers to the treasure hunt. Lots of pictures were taken too.

The whole thing took only about 45 minutes to complete. After that, our group headed to Kim San Leng for tea. I had fun talking with the adults. They share a lot of their experiences like auntie Lucy and her stay in Victor Harbor, South Australia. I believe it was an enjoyable day for everyone. :)

Cheerios!

I have my own 4 walls!

2007-08-27T02:39:00.000+08:00

The title says it all. My very own space to study, sleep and chill. I am really very happy with it and extremely grateful. Not to mention the wonderful present from the group who gave it to me! A perfect fit. :)

My room resembles the one I stayed in Adelaide. The main door is also a sliding door and there is a door to the right when you enter in. My new room is slightly narrower. But it is a good thing because everything is within reach and it gives the cosy feeling. Whee!

I'm going to have my very own 4 walls!

2007-08-22T00:52:00.000+08:00

Just look at the title once more! Yippee!!

In my life I have only shared rooms at home. Due to space constraints, sacrifices had to be made. Not until one day when my table in the living room was a little cluttered and my father made some noise. I "complained" that I want to keep these things but I do not have space to do so! Discussion followed in the master bedroom. I also did request once to convert the study room which was filled with tons of my father's documents into my own room. However, the idea was rejected. But no more! Muahahaha! Just today, in just 3.5 hours, the entire study room was cleared. Files and folders all transferred to my grandma's room. Not to worry, since my grandma does not need to study, I doubt she really needs much space.

This is the cleared space.

Sorry for there is no before picture that you can compare it with. Just imagine a big shelf covering the 2 pipes and the USA map filled with books and a big wooden table in the center of the room. It is rather small actually but I like it that way. Everything is within reach and there is a cosy feel. My mother and I will be painting the unfinished wall and start shifting my bed, tables, chairs and etc. So exciting! My sister and I are going to be next door neighbours! :D

I am truly grateful to my parents for allowing and helping me with this. I am truly thankful to God for having a roof over my head as well.

My room will most likely be done in 2 days time and I am a very happy boy! :)

Mr. Sandman, give us a dream.

2007-08-15T13:08:00.000+08:00

My parents bought new mattresses for us. It is a little high and Mark's mattress is unable to slide under my bed. What to do? Get me to sleep on it and act like a weight. I feel happy because I get to sleep on Mark's bed for a valid reason! Back then, it would cause trouble to my mother because she will have to push it under to mop the floor. Nonetheless, I never felt this much joy in sleeping.

I am also happy that I can wake up on my own! No more "Aaron!! What time is it now? Wake up wake up!" from my parents! Those having trouble waking up yourself, I recommend you to buy something like this.

This is good stuff.

It worked for me so why won't it work for you too? If Aaron can wake up, so can you! Ciao!

Welcome to Singapore!

2007-08-11T08:23:00.000+08:00

"Good evening passengers, welcome to Singapore. Outside temperature is a nice 29 degrees. We hoped you enjoyed our service and hope you will fly with us some time soon. Take care and have a nice day."

The weather was not very nice at all. You could feel the moisture in the air. When compared to Australia's weather, you can definitely say this is good but it was just too good! I was melting! Now I have to do the reverse and think of Australia, and I will feel cool from within. Hehe.

I must say it is definitely great to be back being able to see everyone. Thank you my friends. Ultimately, I thank God for my safe trip back from Adelaide and for everything he has done for the past 5 months.

I had nasi lemak at Changi Village. Nothing better than meal at a coffeeshop with your friends. It has been so long! Sambal was sedaap! Fried wanton was oomphy and sugarcane was sweet like sugarcane. :)

It was a surprise to see the changes in everyone. Tiger was not surprised when he saw me! Maybe he was scared to show his true feelings when Mark is around. Hehe. My sweeeeet boy! :D

Coming up! It will be on any adventure that comes my way! See ya!

We call it "Eggy in a Basket"

2007-08-01T08:43:00.000+08:00

For all those who watched V for Vendetta, you would know what this is immediately. Ever since Evey took that crunchy first bite and said, "Mmm... it's delicious! God, I haven't had real butter since I was a little girl!", I have tried making my very own. "Eggy in a Basket" was what Gordon Deitrich called it. However, this dish goes by many names.

These are two screenshots taken from the movie.

Made by V. He used real butter.

Made by Gordon. It looks too perfect.

Made by me. Definitely the best.

Yes, the one I did was definitely the best eggy in a basket I have ever made. The egg stayed nicely in the centre and the butter yellowed the bread nicely. Mine was not done the proper way. I melted a lot of butter in the pan such that the entire bread surface will absorb it. Oh yea, it was good but I want to make V's one consistently.

In the movie, you can hear the oil crackling as the camera zooms out from the eggy in a basket that V was cooking. Which shows that oil was used and not butter alone. Next, take a look at their eggs. Their eggs are protruding from the bread but mine was not. Which suggests that their bread is thin. The bread I used was cut by myself and was roughly 15mm thick. By looking at the scene where Evey took the first bite, it was probably 10mm thick. Using smaller eggs could also be a possibility. See how clean Gordon's one is! Why does V's eggy in a basket look like there is lacquer on it?

The trouble I am encountering is not having a fixed way of making it such as equipment and the itsy bitsy details. I shall further discuss this when I come back and when I have made a replica of V's. Hehe

Next up! Home sweet home! Whee!

How often can I get this?

2007-07-19T16:00:00.000+08:00

Greetings!

Today, I am going to talk about someone. Not just anyone but someone as I have mentioned it before. This someone is a famous man. He walk the skies. He is none other than my uncle from Malaysia!

Nice cymbals.

My uncle's name is Jonathan and I call him uncle Jona for short. He works as an In-flight Supervisor for Malaysian Airlines. On the 12th of May 2007, I was surprised to hear from my parents that he was coming to Adelaide. It was exciting but I had the feeling of shyness at first. In the end, I did not care about it and met him up. He stayed at Holiday Inn in the city. If I am not wrong, he arrived very early in the morning on the 12th and had to depart on the 13th at around 12pm. I could only spend 1 day with him but it was a great time of fun!

As usual, he has a never ending supply of jokes. We laughed a lot, shared about what is going on at home, work experiences and a lot more. I asked him, "Uncle Jona, if you want an extra meal on the plane, is it possible?" "Yes of course!! They always carry extra and there are people who are vegetarians so they don't eat or some are not hungry. Don't hesitate to ask but wait until everyone has been served.", he replied. I love airplane food though it may not be as delicious as restaurants. The fun of opening the packet, the salad, the desert, biscuit and the small little coke can is just exhilarating. The same goes for hospital's food. I guess the environment and ambiance is an important factor. I also heard that food at high altitudes do not taste as good that is why airplane food is enriched with more flavour.

Dinner time. Thank you room service. :P~

Atlantic Salmon and (something) *oops

Butter Chicken Curry with Rice. Pappadum too!

Hmm, I cannot remember the name for this one.

The verdict, yum. I also tried on his uniform. I managed to fit in without blowing any buttons away. It look really strange because it was really formal with a blazer and tie. It was a first wearing a blazer.

When time came to turn in, uncle Jona got a room for me! One of the air stewardess stayed with her friend in the same room so there was a spare so I took it. The feeling was superb. Sleeping on a queen sized bed with a heater and sweets to munch on. :D

Uncle Jona bought for me a lot of Maggi mee and there still a lot more that I have yet to finish. Thank you uncle Jona for your hospitality and kindness. Thank you Lord for this awesome experience which may not happen again!

Next! I am sorry mates I cannot give you a heads up about the topic. I will see what comes to my mind. Take care everyone and have a good day!

Celebrating 30 Entries!

2007-07-11T09:12:00.000+08:00

This entry was supposed to be on the 30th entry but it does not really matter. Anyway, it's 30 entries! *Applause*

"Hello everyone, it's absolutely an amazing feeling to be standing here today and receiving this award. I never thought I could ever publish 30 articles. I would like to thank God for giving me the experiences so that I am able to write these events for everyone. I want to thank my parents for supporting me on this trip and their constant watch over me through msn as well. To the people like Kat, who gives me comments, thank you very much for it because it gives me encouragement to write more! And finally to all readers, thank you very much! :')

Right now, it's time to party! Ohhh ohhh ohhh ohhh ohh! Squaarree rooomss!!"

About the quiz that I asked that time, no one gave me an answer. :( That scene happened when Mr. Lee Kuan Yew cried during the interview about the seperation of Singapore and Malaysia.

Next article! A once in a lifetime event! Enjoy the long wait! :D Hahaha! I'll do me best to get it up soon! Take care everyone!

The Art of Becoming an Aussie

2007-07-03T07:55:00.000+08:00

What makes you truly Australian? The passport? Owning Holden cars? Saying "mate", "G'day" or "bloke"? Yea, that could help but for instant transformation, all you have to do is to do something that I am going to tell you.

All you need to do is to drink this,

Ooh yea!

Given a choice of Starbucks Coffee and this, I will choose the latter. As you see in the picture, it is Farmers Union Iced Coffee. It costs AUD$2.55 in Woolworths and slightly more expensive in convenience stores. I always look out for offers in Woolworths when they sell 2 for AUD$4. Comparing it to a 500ml Coke bottle, it is definitely more expensive.

Woolworths have a huge section of it. Many South Australians drink this anytime of the day. However, it is not as popular in Victoria. Victorians drink Big M. Same sized carton of 600ml and it looks like this.

Put the Ms together and get MMMMMM.....

I spotted Big Ms around but nothing beats Farmers Union. Farmers Union also has a lot more flavours such as Iced Coffee Light, Iced Coffee Strong, Chocolate Milk, Coffee Milk, Mocha Milk, Strawberry Milk, Banana Milk, Choc Mint Milk, French Vanilla Cappuccino Milk and Caffe Latte Milk. The Banana, Choc Mint and French Vanilla Cappuccino flavours are not sold in Woolworths but are purchasable in convenience stores. Caffe Latte was found in Melbourne.

What I like about this drink is the action of drinking from the carton. Just looking at someone drinking it makes me want to have one too. It is probably same feeling when you see someone eating chicken rice and giving a satisfying face like this :') . Oh my~

So, want to be an Australian? Take my advice and give this a go. You will feel 80% Australian immediatly. Till then, cherish the 80c kopi in coffeeshops as Morven is suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

The next post will be an exciting one! We are going to have a celebration! Bring your party hats, gun poppers and paddlepops! It is going to be a big bash! Wheeee! And remember, "It's a Farmers Union Iced Coffee or it's nothing." See you soon!

Vive La France!

2007-06-28T15:50:00.000+08:00

Just recently, the office became more exciting and happening. 5 new French students have arrived to do their internships. 4 of them are from the same school while 1 is from another. They came in batches. 3 came first while 2 came next week. Morven and I got to know them and slowly broke the ice. On Saturday, 16th June, Morven and I went out with them.

However Benedicte, the girl from the other school had to search for an apartment and hence, was unable to go with us. We went to Glenelg beach. Along the way, we chit chatted and shared our experiences, lingo and actions with them and they shared theirs too. It was fun!

We took this picture after lunch. I bought fish and chips but it was not the one I am looking for. I am hunting for big portions of fish and chips wrapped in paper. Blast. I did see one shop along the way to Glenelg which looked like they served that. I MUST test it one day. Anyway, the gentleman with his hands by his ears is my co-boss on the desiccant air con project and his name is Bastien. The gentleman standing up is Julien, the gentleman in red is Alexander and the only lady is Audrey.

We walked around the beach and a lady with her 2 dogs were strolling on the beach. She took her tennis ball and threw it far, her dog went forth and chased it. After retrieving the ball, he did not return to the master but ran to us instead!

"I wished it was a giant meatball!"

We took turns throwing the ball. It was so fun to watch the dog chasing after the ball. The other dog was old and did not participate in the sport.

I want to see my sweet boy~! :(

We stroked her fur while she sat down near us. It reminded me so much about Tiger. Sigh. *Sniff* *Sniff* Can we take a break? (Tears flow from my eyes)

(Does this scene remind you readers of anything? Guess and write your answers in the comment page! The first one to answer correctly will recieve a prize!)

Okay, back to the happy stuff. We walked to places that I have never seen in Glenelg. No shopping this time. I saw a dolphin swimming around dock, a restaurant in a big ship, and The Old Gum Tree. I reckon you can go to a place many times and always find something interesting and new about the place.

Julien! You cheeky boy! Come down!

The day was just all smiles and laughter with occasions of puzzlement. Not to worry because when I come back, my French would have improved and so will their English. Someone was enlightened as well.

"All Clerics go up 1 level"

The sun setted but we could not view it because the clouds covered the sky. It was so relaxing sitting down, facing the big ocean and the overwhelming sky after a hard day's work. God is good, all the time.

Next issue! What makes you truly Australian!? Do not miss out on the formula of becoming a pure Aussieeee! Have a great day!

"You got to haggle haggle.."

2007-06-19T21:54:00.000+08:00

The title for this post is actually from an advertisement by Haggle Co. The tele always shows a lot of advertisements on discounts and sales. All very similar to the example given below.

From Haggle Co, "Carpets, 600 bucks? Uh uh (negative style with a shake of the head), under 200, under 200, under 200 (the advertisement repeats that particular part)... Small sized rugs at only 5 bucks, 5 bucks, 5 bucks.. etc, etc, There is only 2 places to be this weekend, blah blah and blah blah... You got to haggle haggle.. You got to haggle haggle.."

It is very irritating but the advertisement has done its job by implanting the message into your mind. I can even say it together with the voice in the TV. Sometimes Morven and I will say it together with the TV or we use it outside when the situation calls for it. Like the same way Dave and I will use our quotes from "V for Vendetta".

Another interesting thing about Australian TV is the timing of some shows do not start and end the same like Singapore's. Instead of of starting at, for example 8.30pm, it will start at 8.40pm. I was suprised when I saw the difference. Maybe it helps couch potatoes to have a toilet break, refill their beers and potatoes. Who knows?

A very interesting reality TV game show that I have been keeping up with is this,

So what is Big Brother about? To sum it up, caged up housemates living together while this Big Brother watches and listens to everything they do. I do not think he sniffs them out. There are cameras placed all around the house in Dreamworld in Queensland and a lot of fellow Australian inhabitants watches them. Many say it is a waste of time, it is bollocks or it destroys your brain cells. However, I find some of the things they do are really hilarious. Every day at 7pm, they will show half an hour of Big Brother and what has recently happened in the house. On Fridays, they have "Friday Night Live" where the housemates play games relating to a theme set by the producers and emerge a winner from there. The winner gets power to dish out chores to other housemates, is allow to enjoy the benefits of the rewards room with 1 other housemate and to save someone from eviction.

Yea it is quite complicated. You get to see people whine, cry, argue, moan and everything. The fun thing I like about this show is the games. They have very interesting clips of things that the housemates did and the hosts make the show very hilarious.

Good thing they show Prison Break as well. I am watching Heroes too and they are all going to end in 1 or 2 more episodes. I think I am feeling sad. Sometimes you like the show so much that you do not want it to end but it has to if not it becomes like "Days of Our Lives". A show cannot be too draggy to me unless it is like "FRIENDS" or "Frasier" where they have new storylines and jokes everytime.

Ah yes, I want to get the warmth of Singapore!! I have been freezing my ass for too long!

Next post, we go to France! E'nuff said!

My Preparation for Army?

2007-06-11T10:46:00.000+08:00

Just yesterday, 10th June, housemates Jin, Morven and I went to Hallett Cove Beach. We packed lunch and snacks for that afternoon. I made burritos, Morven made mashed egg sandwiches and Jin cut fruits and vegetables. We spent 3 hours over there but 7/10 of the time was spent walking!

On our way there, Jin never told us where to stop, she got distracted by us, missed the train stop and went an extra 3 more stops. We started scolding her jokingly such as, "Wah lao JINNN!! What kind of tour guide are you!?" We decided to cross the tracks and wait for the opposite train. While walking, the train was approaching the stop! "Ahh! Train come already!! Run!" This is the route we ran.

Take the best line as you go through the hairpins!

I felt like a fool running through the turns! Turn left, right, left... left right left. But it was so funny, we laughed as we ran. I reckon the drivers were having a good time watching the 3 of us run.

When we backtracked to the correct stop, Seacliff. When we alighted, Jin said confusingly, "Eh? This place don't look very familiar." And once again we went, "Wah lao JIN!!!". There was a beach at Seacliff as well. Took a break there and ate the burritos. Hehe.

This is the view of beach. I did not see any sign saying "Welcome to Seacliff Beach" so I will call it Seacliff Beach. Sorry, the picture is not very well done so do not focus on the joints and instead, imagine the full view.

She pointed to the left and said we have to walk that way. So we walked, walked, walked, walked, walked, walked. From sand, to tarmac and to wood. We realised we were trekking the hills instead of walking on the beach!

The Great Walk of Australia!

The pathway was so long! We stopped a few times to eat a piece of egg sandwich. We ate and breathed heavily like we have never eaten in for months! It was so amusing.

In the end, we walked the distance of 5 train stops and the place where she wanted to take us was actually Hallett Cove Beach. We could actually just stop at the correct train station and save our time. To sum it up, Jin thought the beach at Seacliff was the one she went to but actually wasn't sure at all, brought us there, noted her mistake, and walked the distance to reach Hallett Cove Beach.

It was a great experience nonetheless, the walk was definitely something to remember. Plus, the scenery was great and I will never walk this far to somewhere in Singapore. :P

What's next? Err.. How bout Australian Tele? Yep! That shall be it. Thank you for reading readers!

A Testimony

2007-05-30T21:17:00.000+08:00

I want to thank God for letting me out of the school!

It happened on the 29th. I was in the office till 8pm. I had the key to the office but, I did not have the 24 hour access card! The card allows entry to certain buildings after a certain time. Morven applied for the card and is the current holder. I hold the other part. It sounds like we are both needed to activate the bomb.

I was busy sending my supervisor my report and when I was done, it was already 8pm. Whilst packing my bag, I remembered that the electric sliding doors will close at 7.30pm! The only way in and out was by the card. Panic panic. I was hoping the PhD students will still be working and would kindly let me out. If not, I could call security but I did not feel like doing it. Either way, I had to go to the toilet first. When I came out, I heard a sound and walked quickly down the stairs, and I saw someone left the building!

We shall enter slow motion with the heart pouding *DoopDoop*,

*DoopDoop* (The door is open!) *DoopDoop* (Got to make it!) *DoopDoop* Aaron jumps the last 4 steps *DoopDoop* Door starts closing *DoopDoop* Aaron runs and says "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*DoopDoop*OOOOOOOooooooooo!!!!!!!!" *DoopDoop* (Doors slide the opposite way) *DoopDoop* "THANK YOU LORD!"

Also thank God for that wonderful bit of action! He has been giving me so many wonderful adventures! :D

Spice Up Your Life!

2007-05-29T21:28:00.000+08:00

Welcome back to another season of What am I doing?. Imagine ending a sentence with a question mark tone but you are not asking a question. How intriguing is that! Alright, let's keep that aside and back to the main topic!

F('oo')d! I mentioned something very delicious previously. What is it? It was mentioned in the movie "Parent Trap"! I myself do not eat this very often in Singapore but I got so excited when I saw it selling in the supermarket.

Woohoo! IGNITED leh! Ba-boom!

Frankly, there was no steam coming out of my nostrils or my ears. I did not combust by the ignition! You could still taste the spiciness. Mainly filled with kidney beans and meat. The full name of is Chili con carne but it is usally refered to just chili. Different from chili sauce. If you are looking for the most powerful chilli sauce, try "Dave's Insanity Sauce". I tried it at Matthew's place and it was a real killer even with just 3 drops.

When I opened the can for the first time, the smell reminded me of A&W's coney dog. I was really excited to eat it. The last time I tried chili was at Dan Ryan's with Kat, Daniel and Clarence and that was about 2 years ago or more. Can someone tell me if Singapore does sell it?!

Okie dokie mates, the deeelicious one was the above and now I bring you real Aussie food! I have managed to make contact with the real deals.

Take me to your leader or eat this green stuff!

This is called a pie-floater. Purely Australian but more specifically, purely South Australian. It is only sold here and it is a meat pie "sitting" in pea soup. It cost AUD$5.50 but if you choose special flavours for the pie, you pay a dollar more. Ian, Morven and I ate all 3 different pies so we went in a loop trying each other's. Sad to say, I do not remember the name of my pie. Sorry. The green pea soup was nice at first, but I struggled to finish it. I could not bear to leave the soup behind because it would be a waste. This pie-floater was not sold in a normal store. Instead, it was a container cum kitchen. You stand and eat along the pavement with 1 spoon in your hand.

Another Aussie snack is the Chiko Roll. I saw it on the menu of the snack bar at Mallala Race Track and I always wanted to try and know what it is. It cost AUD$3. A little steep for a snack but this is the way in Australia.

"Hey! Old Chang Kee's Spring Roll? No? A Chiko Roll? Noooooo....."

*Munch Munch* "I love it! A lot more meatier than a spring roll! Hehe."

The taste was very unique. The texture was a bit soft and mushy but I did not mind. All I know, it was hot and good. I bought 2 that day. Mutton, carrots, celery and more are all stuff and packed in this powah snack. Must be eaten immediatly when it comes out from the fryer. Not nice when cold.

Now do not say I have not tasted Aussie food! Haha!

Coming up next, an Australian reality TV show! Nuff Said! Have a g'day mate! :D

Man down! Man down! MEDIC!!!

2007-05-17T20:44:00.000+08:00

Shoot! The weather has become colder and more dry. No moisture in the air, dries things up fast. It is happening to my hands! On the top side of my hands, what I thought was just skin cracking turned out something even more critical. I think it was also due to the exposure to oil, dirt, water and lithium chloride.

I went to the doctor at The Promenade near my place. This was during office hours because I was worried. This is the first time getting this problem. I do not know why but I seem to get the most weirdest illnesses. First was the wart, followed by the ganglion cyst, and now tinea manuum?

I really thank God for curing my wart and ganglion cyst because it was really incredible. Warts could stay on your body for 6 months or years! There was a lady who had a wart for 10 years! Having it cured within 3 months was a miracle. No scars, no expensive treatment. The bump on my hand which I concluded was a ganglion cyst after my mum told me and looking at the pictures on the internet also disappeared after some time.

So right now, tinea manuum was what the doctor told me I had. It is fungus infection so he game me cream to apply. Hydrozole is the brand. Sigh. Having a form of sickness is not a nice setting to be in. I felt excited after knowing that the cream is made in Singapore. :D

Next issh! Food review on something that is sooooo goooood and deeeeeelicious! Oh BOY~! I'm drooling!! :P~~

The Adelaide Metro!

2007-05-09T08:03:00.000+08:00

When I first came here, I was lost. Took me some time to understand how the buses operated. There are the usual buses, trains and taxis. Extras are the tram and the O-bahn. For all transport services except the taxis, you must validate your ticket upon entry. A small rectangular ticket measuring 67mm x 30mm. Different colours state different types.

The red part shows it is a multitrip ticket. It entitles me to 10 trips. There are also blue ones and charcoal ones. When you validate your ticket, it prints a time on your ticket. If you board the bus at 1830h, the validated ticket will show 2030h. This means you do not pay when you validate upon boarding 100 buses and trains within that 2 hours. Once the time has exceeded, you will pay upon the next validation. So sometimes we try to get things done and validate just in time before it expires. Hehe.

There are ways to cheat this system and I see people doing it. The trains are easy to cheat because the driver cannot do anything. The buses are almost impossible because you must pass the driver. The tram have 1 driver and 1 bus inspector walking around checking if you have a ticket. If you do not have, you must buy. Maybe you could show an already used ticket? Possible. I have not sat in a taxi and I do not wish to do so because I heard it is expensive.

In a country where public transport is not heavily emphasised, they will have long waiting times. The train to town from my place comes at 30 minute intervals and 1 hour intervals after 6.50pm. The buses to town is similar as well. I have to plan the route and make sure we catch the bus or else, :| Susa man!

The O-bahn is something unique. Imagine a bus like a train. Similar to the Skybus at Changi Airport except the bus can mount and dismount from the tracks. Going on the O-bahn will allow the bus to travel faster and without obstructions. Not bad but making the tracks will have high initial cost. I took it once when sending my mum back to Singapore.

Overall, I think the transport system can be good and bad depending on situations. I miss my SGD$52 concession pass. Good thing I stay near my school and do not have to worry about missing the bus! :D

Coming up next! The entry may be much later than expected! Due to the editor taking on another job doing an interim report that is due by the end of the month! It will cost him a lot if not enough effort is put in! Sorry folks! Till then, happy waiting and thank you for reading! Good day!

"Will you look at that Jimmy!"

2007-05-01T16:03:00.000+08:00

I want to thank God for keeping me safe for 49 days down under. Many things have happened and I thank Him so much for all the experiences He has given me. Thank You Lord.

All around the city, there are interesting, fascinating and exciting structures or monuments that you can see. I saw a lot of statues of people whom I do not know. The first piece of engineering.

Is it a bird?! Is it a plane?! Oei! Where are you looking at?

I came across this interesting structure on the way to the Adelaide Zoo. It was popping out at the side along the pavement outside the museum. It's a water cooler. You're stunned I know. It's hard to believe isn't it that along a walkway lies a fountain of refreshment for everyone to drink. I found it very unique because where is the basin for the water that failed to enter your mouth? This is how it works. You place your mouth in between the splash guard and the nozzle which is the shiny tip. You depress the big shiny button. Water shoots out like magic into your mouth. Excess drops onto the splash guard and flows down all the way into the thin slot located on the ground. I have to say it is the most creative water cooler I have ever seen till now. It was not vandalised and the water was water.

The 2nd piece of engineering.

This is a street lamp designed by the Sustainable Energy Center (SEC) under UniSA. There were many located all around Victoria Square but I am not sure about the other parts of town. The solar panels are pasted on the oval shaped plate which is curved slightly. I think it is purposely curved so as to expose as much possible surface to the sun. It provided me with good shelter as well while waiting for the city shuttle bus.

The following 2 pieces of engineering are real classics.

Hi uncle! What goodies are you keeping from me?

These 2 machinery are older than me. The microwave is about 20 years old. It has outlasted 2 other microwaves in the pantry and still going strong! The microwave does not have buttons for you to press but a dial to turn instead. No digital readings but analog readings. As it counts down, the readings rotate to show the time left. The seconds reading is 5 seconds apart.

The refrigerator is even older than the microwave. It has been standing for roughly 30 years already yet still keeping our goodies cool. Only one door and has a freezer compartment hanging down from the top inside.

I was very impressed with them. Even after such a long time, they still last but definitely not forever. Sometimes I feel equipment built in the past have better durability than the new ones. Do not mess with the old birds!

What are you going to find out in the next issh?? It is none other than the transport system in Adelaide!! E'nuff said!

The Power to Drive You.

2007-04-23T18:15:00.000+08:00

Sorry folks for the 1 week delay. Internet at home is not very smooth and fast so I tend to blog after work in school. My sincere apologies.

Experience is everywhere. You can give yourself a pleasant experience by eating perhaps. Everyday I take pictures of experiences such as this,

and this,

These experiences is invaluable to me. A learning journey and practice for years to come. Skills such as cutting, slicing, mixing, flipping, beating, food arrangement are honed everyday in the kitchen. The more experience you get at doing something, the better you get.

At first, I made sandwiches for dinner for a whole week. Then I changed to eating rice because the bread will expire if I do not eat within 5 days. The bread package is not the same like Singapore where there are 18 slices inside it. It is the jumbo sized one. It was rather restricting. Chicken drumsticks are the cheapest among all the meat available. I have cooked chicken wings before but not drumsticks. First time, I fried the chicken for 1/2 an hour and turned out it was uncooked! I think I did 3 experiments on chicken drumsticks but it was only on the 4th attempt when I succeeded.

I saw Ian cooked chicken thighs and they looked finger lickin' good. I said, "Wah, looks good man. Cooked or not?" Ian replied, "It better be! I have been cooking it for about 1 hour." The missing ingredient to all these is patience. At 30 minutes, it looks cooked but no. I was impatient and wanted to eat the drumstick as soon as I could. Patience is very essential not only in cooking but in everything. Communication, relationships, driving, eating, drinking, waiting for people, etc. Right now, I can cook cooked chicken! If Ian can cook, so can you! Haha!

More interesting food in Adelaide, probably applies to all Australia as well is this,

One all beef patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle, onions on a sesame seed bun.

This would have to be the best McDonald's I have ever tasted! They do not have the metal rows that the workers make and slot the bun to await collection. They do it when you order so it is fresh (I do not think so). The moment I sank my teeth into that burger, I was flying among the clouds! The bun was soft and warm, they added generous amounts of special sauce and lots of lettuce! Indeed it's oh my~. Really good! Singapore's McDonald's are not as good because sometimes you recieve the burger that was made maybe 7 minutes ago and it has become a little cold. It was really great. AU$1.95.

2 flavours that I tried in Subway. The bacon and egg roll, and the pizza sub. The bacon and egg roll was going for a limited time only so must try. $5.95 for a foot long. It was yummy!

Look at the egg!! Oooh boy!

Tasted like..... pizza?

Subway is delish! You won't feel as guilty as other fast food outlets. It was nice but did not have as much impact on me like the Son of Mac did. Sorry for making you people drool. It was not intentional.... NOT! Hahaha! :]

Next issh! I don't know yet! Treat it like a mystery story!

The biggest show on wheels!

2007-04-15T22:11:00.000+08:00

Yes indeed the biggest show on wheels has stopped by the Adelaide Showgrounds on the 28th March 2007 and left on the 31st of March 2007. We went on the 31st. It cost AU$11 for students. We talked on the tram and got off the wrong stop. We followed the scent of exotic cars and fresh rubber. Nah, we had a map.

Just like all motor shows, you will at least see cars, tires, seats, steering wheels, registration forms and goodie bags. The three of us decided to make our AU$11 worth, we couldn't steal car but we could grab as much goodie bags as we can! We looted posters, a Nissan calendar, some bags, plastic bags, and jelly beans from Suzuki. I will probably say the jelly beans were the best at that time because I was desperately in need of something to eat. Dinner was just too far away.

Singapore's motor show just had cars. I do not remember motorcycles, but they did feature some ancient mercedes benz. The Adelaide Motorshow not only had cars, they had motorcycles, utility vehicles, hot rods, a playground, and an artificial 4WD test track!

Where can you find these in Singapore?

Can the suspensions take it?!

Nissan Pathfinder ready for launch.

The track was simply awesome. It had pot holes, humps, a pile of small stones, big rocks, a 45 degree up and down slope, and another item which I do not know the name of it. We were hesitant and scared to go register for it, wondering if we have to wait for a long time or do we have to pay. When we viewed everything, we headed back to the test track. Found out from the lady at the registration counter that the queue time was dependant on which vehicle. While thinking of what vehicle to hop on, she said, "The Pathfinder currently doesn't have anyone queuing, do you guys want to go for it?" "YEA SURE!! (Hehehe)" I replied. What a great experience. No waiting, enjoy the ride, went round the track twice. Heh. Plus I have most of it on tape. :)

Another interesting thing was this,

100 times more shiok than the arcade driving games!

I really felt like going for it but the queue was just too long. Stomach was hungry. I will play the real thing when I come back.

We had a lot of fun just sitting in cars, talking about cars and also looting the freebies. Ian worked in a car modifications workshop before and has extensive knowledge on cars. All of us like some vehicle or another so there is never ending chatting plus Ian's jokes and style of talking is hilarious.

Chinatown was calling us for dinner. We left the place with happy faces.

The dumb person taking the picture probably shook a bit. Not scolding anyone but it was really another crash dummy taking the picture for us.

Next issh! Back to the essentials of survival! Food! E'nuff said!

The Secret Society

2007-04-11T16:43:00.000+08:00

It is very difficult for me to take a picture of my working colleagues posing for shot because all of them are busy. Or maybe I do not have the guts. God helped me one day with a blackout. There was no electricity surging through the whole of UniSA. I did not notice it at all because I was cutting fabric under the power of the sun. The only thing I noticed was the BIG evaporative air conditioning unit (2 stories tall) that was churning a huge amount of sound suddenly lost its voice. I was happy because I could hear my radio more clearly.

I looked downstairs and saw the lights were out. Soon, my supervisor came to visit me. He told me about the situation and everyone in the office is just sitting down, unable to do anything. But I had to continue my cutting! He left after a while. I decided to head back to the office after I finished my cuts. The blackout was yet to be rectified. They were all talking about university and about degrees when I returned to the mother ship. It seemed like everyone was slacking. We digressed into races and countries and suddenly my supervisor wanted to take a group picture with his handphone. HAHA! CHANCE! I said, "Want to use my camera? Then I will send to all of you."

"Welcome to OZzie Tour Agency. We have many guides from all over the world"

2 Singaporeans at the back, front row from left, Chinese, German, Indonesian, Egyptian, Chinese. 3 Australians were not present when the photo was taken. A mix of culture and ways of communication. Fantastic. The Chinese girl is a PhD student. The German girl is on a 6 month exchange programme. Her degree is in between bachelors and masters but it is not called honours. It is the German education system and I did not ask further questions. The Indonesian is my supervisor and he is already a doctor along with the Chinese man. I am not sure about the Egyptian. Fantastic.

We will rob the bank tonight! Questions?

These 2 blokes are technicians who aid in many projects. Ivan is the bloke devising the plan, while Patrick is the attentive subordinate. Ivan makes a lot of comical remarks. Ivan is approachable and helpful as well. However I seldom start small talk with the other technicians. I just laugh at their jokes and their way of talking. There are a lot more working in the building as well. Maybe I will take a picture of the notice board that has the pictures of all the staff. Hehe.

Next issue! Don't miss out! Review on the Adelaide Motor Show! E'nuff said!

A game that Tammy tagged me to do

2007-04-10T16:16:00.000+08:00

Sorry folks, This is not part of the usual articles you get at What am I doing? but it seems I have to do it.

Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names.

1) Nothing weird about me. But I do have special things about me.

2) I have a permanent red mark on my arm.

3) I enjoy eating.

4) I laugh and feel happy at some things that people usually find it normal.

5) I am developing an interesting way of walking. While walking, keep 1 arm swinging following the normal timing while the other is at random timing.

6) Everyone is special!

I tag er.. Kathryn, Gerome, Amelia Soh, Tammy, Nikola Tesla, Jamie Oliver

I will be writing the new entry tomorrow!

Something is sizzling!

2007-04-05T23:59:00.000+08:00

We are sorry to interupt your daily television schedule to bring you this urgent message.
Blog Entry Generator Aaron said to official editor of What am I doing?, "I am going to interupt the schedule and post something else instead!"

Today, something very interesting took place. I did not pack my lunch because Technical Supervisor Alan Young told Patrick yesterday that there was a barbecue taking place today and I was invited as well. I was having thoughts of beef and sausages, and in large quantities! When lunch time came, I was a little shock because it was not like what I thought it was.

In many cases of barbecues that happen in Singapore, the organiser will buy all the food and the people share the cost. However, it was different for this case. You bring what you want to cook on the barbecue pit. I think it is a good plan to do it this way. It is fair to everyone, there will be no food wastages and you are to blame if you cannot finish.

You supply pit, he supply meat and I eat. Deal?

Gas powered, the pit was long. Look at the space that 4 sausages took up. It can hold up to more than 50 sausages! Tons of space just like Australia! Patrick said he had a piece of beef for me and I thanked him for it. Ivan brought kangaroo meat for lunch. He asked me to try it. It was not bad. The colour is the same as beef but I think it is a bit softer? I do not know. I took 2 slices of bread, placed the beef steak, kangaroo meat and grilled onions on it and ate that for lunch. I did not put any sauce for it because I felt awkward. They only have tomato sauce so I did not mind not having it anyway.

The barbecue took place in the workshop. The sun was shining brightly that afternoon. 7 caucasian technicians and 1 chinese student/technician. Definitely I felt outnumbered and small though big. "What if they do not get my joke? What about Singlish? Nah.. Better not." is what I thought to myself. I just sat there listening to their jokes, the way they spoke and laughed when I understood a joke or felt something was funny. Another thing was, burps were coming out when conversations were taking place. Loud and long, and no "excuse me". If I heard it correctly, someone burped and said yea at the same time as we left 45 minutes later. Incredible!

Now I know I must bring my own meat and bread and sauce whenever barbecues take place. I must get a barbecue pit in the future as well! A long one! And gas powered! Hehe :D

We shall resume the usual schedule on my working colleagues in the next issue of What am I doing? Have a good day mate!

And they are on their way!

2007-04-01T20:11:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, my technician invited us out for a race event! It is at Mallala Race Course. If I am not wrong, it is 80km up North of Adelaide. His name is Patrick. He told us to meet him at Mawson Central at 7.15am. That morning, the wind was blowing cold and hard. The jacket was of little help. My hands felt numb. We were wondering, "Why is he so late? Do not tell me he forgot that he must meet us!". While waiting in the cold, Morven and I saw a man wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts with shoes and socks, taking his dog for a walk. Alas, he came 55 minutes later. I did not comment on his punctuality because he is the driver. Instead, I commented on the weather. He laughed and said, "This is not cold, this is great weather for racing!".

The journey was long. We passed big fields of crops towards 3/4 of the journey. I saw dwarf horses, sheep, horses and cows. They were eating in the sun. The sheep were very cute. Patrick towed his own built car to the track.

He built his own race car?! My goodness!

The body, rims, electrical wiring, lights and many more were done by him. The engine is from Toyota. He also bought the bucket seat. Wonderful piece of engineering. He did some paper work and wrote our names down as pit crew. He had a small problem starting up his engine but he fixed it up very quickly. He brought down his car to be inspected by the scrutineers. I saw so many cars. There were old Porsches, vintage cars from some generation, home built cars and clubmans.

The cars are lining up in the distance for their practice runs.

These 5 race cars are called clubmens.

Patrick went for 2 laps on the practice run and came back to the pit. He felt something was wrong. When he opened the bonnet, the air in the intake manifold built up so much pressure that it force the pressure gauge tube out. He did a quick fix and as he tried starting up his engine, it did not work. The patient did not wake up. Patrick checked the heart. It seems that the head gasket blew. So what does it mean? It means Patrick will not be racing. He was so disappointed. The patient is dead. We pushed him back into the container and went to watch others race instead.

Having a picnic!

So we just watched cars race against the clock. The best lap time wins. At about 1pm, Patrick brought us to a man and we became flag marshalls!

I do not sweep the track.

What we do is to observe the track and the cars. When accidents happen or if there is an obstruction on the road, we raise the flag. We have seen some spin outs, a small accident took place at a corner and at another corner, someone lost his wheel! It flew out while exiting the corner. Very spectacular! We also realised that Daylight Saving Time ended that Sunday at 2am. The time has returned back 1 hour so Morven and I actually waited at 6.15am and Patrick arrived at 7.10am. What goons we were.

It was a bright and sunny day. I got sun burnt after that. I must get a hat soon. Lastly, I really like this car.

Nice~

Next up, my working colleagues! Thank you for reading folks!

Work? More work?

2007-03-27T18:35:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone. Today I am bringing you to a top secret research facility. I am a technician involved in a research project. This is Block J, School of Advanced Manufacturing & Mechanical Engineering. I go to this block every morning to put my bag down and write my daily report.

It looks so "matured".

The highest floor for the school would probably be the 2nd floor. This goes to show how much land Australia has. Now the following 3 pictures are taken in the office where the researchers do their paper work like reports and data organisation.

That is Kim in the picture. She does not want to pose for it.

Morven initially sat there but now I am taking that space.

The desk in front of the printer is where I initially sat. I have swapped with Morven.

When I come to office, I do not know what to do. Everyone around me are either doctors or PhD students doing their thesis. They all have their own computers and they do the work they have to do but for Morven and myself, we feel lost in the office. Morven swapped places with me because he needs to use the computer to do Microsoft Access. I do not know how to use it and neither does he but he is doing fine now. As for me, I turn on the laptop and do my daily report, once I am done, I turn it off and head to block M.

Block M is where the machinery is located. My fellow technicians' office is also located there. This is what the office looks like. There is a fridge, whiteboard, tea, biscuits, car magazines especially on hot rods and classics, tool boxes, yellow pages and a lot more.

I am the boss.

No, I am not the boss. I am a technician. I aid this man named Patrick in the project. Another guy who sits in the office is Ivan. He is also a technician. Both of them are into hot rods and Ivan is really funny. Patrick is like a father. He is just 1 year older than my old man. He has a lot of experience in machining like welding, cutting and so many more. He teaches me a lot of things as well. I am like the apprentice. I follow him around and watch him as he does the work. No, I do not slack. When he thinks I can do something, he will let me do it and he supervise. So far, he has allowed me to do drilling, bend sawing and grinding. Maybe a few more but I cannot think of it. Other things I did was also to cut fabric and become a tailor for a day. I generate ideas and suggest ways that we can do things. Patrick is really a very nice guy.

Where do we do the work? Our project is under construction in a place called the Mezzanine. The Mezzanine looks like this.

Messy messy.

The place is filled with a lot of things. Old air conditioning systems, prototypes of the project, PVC, wooden rods, lithium chloride, cobwebs and more. The table is where we do most of the work. The light is not turned on. The area is bright because sun light enters the roof through a plastic panel. No worries if a blackout occurs. So everyday is almost the same. Sometimes I get to ride in Patrick's utility truck and go out to DIY warehouses to buy equipment. I get to explore more places as well. It is quite nice working here.

Next up! A race event! Apologies for quite a long wait. :D

Into my stomach

2007-03-23T18:44:00.000+08:00

God is good! All the time! All the time! God is good! We survived 10 days! Praise the Lord!

A new pokemon has been registered into my pokedex.

The cheese is peeling off my bread!

I went to the cafeteria one day at 1.30pm and realised that my favourite $6 Chinese box has no more meat to serve! I decided to shift my head towards the burger section. I saw this burger named Beef Schnitzel. Schnitzel sounds interesting, the word looks interesting, interesting pronunciation so it must be an interesting burger. It cost AU$5.50. Its turns out to me like deep fried beef. The beef's exterior has a crispy crust and you see beef in the interior. Look at the burger again. No sauce to go with the vegetables?! In Singapore, we eat burgers with chilli sauce, mayonaise and such but in Australia, they do not do it. I am fine with no sauce because I get to taste it naturally. I was satisfied with the burger and plan to try out the others soon.

I also tried out the Lunch Express at IndoChina. It is a restaurant cum cafe selling asian food. You pay $6.90 and select 3 dishes from 6. Similar to the Chinese box in school. My housemate Ian (Singaporean) said they served big portions. I think it is not too bad. Fried rice, chicken wings and deep fried battered pork.

I also had Chinese boxes for lunch again. They served different dishes so I had to try it. I took pictures of it but I think it is not necessary because you know how it rougly looks like. Lots of sauce! Read the entry on Food glorious food to see the picture if you want to see.

I have decided to eat sandwiches for any meal that I eat at home. It may be boring but I think it is good for me to do so because it is healthy and easy to prepare. I will eat out if I am out. A sample of my sandwich.

Behold the tower of POWAH!

Friday night, I went out to eat subway with my mum. Since she was leaving the next day, we decided to eat out together for the last time until I see her again. We went to Subway! They had a new flavour called Roasted Garlic Peppercorn Steak. Something new so we tried it out.

Yea~

There are a lot of Subways in Adelaide. Eat fresh eat fresh. the price of a 6 inch is an average $5.95 and a foot long is price at an average of $8.95. More expensive than Singapore so the best is to buy a foot and share with someone. Hehe

Just yesterday, the 24th of March, I went out with Morven and Ian for dinner. We went to The Promenade, which is just a 5 minute walk from our house. Ate at IndoChina. I had beef with phat thai. They gave a lot of beef! The portion was bigger than the phat thais served in Singapore. It was indeed satisfying. It cost $12.90. Morven ate beef and mee goreng and Ian ate Chinese style fried rice. The ambience of the place was nice too. It was warm unlike outside.

Lots of meat!

For Morven's dish too!

No beef for Ian.

This is the latest up to date meals that I have eaten in Adelaide. I may have left out a few like Hot Chips which is simply fries. Thank you for reading! I write about my work life in the next issue!

*I made the resolution of the pictures to 640x480. The size of the file has also decreased so uploading is faster and loading is faster. I am taking quite a long time to write out my issues because the internet is rather slow. My apologies.

Closed - Out To Town - Come Back Tomorrow

2007-03-21T20:40:00.000+08:00

The night is still young! Not. This is because shops in Australia close early. Their "NTUC" which is called "WOOLWORTHS" closes at 5. Back then, it was not even open on Sundays! People complained and there you have it. It opens from 10 to 5 on Sundays now. People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

I can only go out on the weekends because I work from Monday to Friday. We decided to visit Glenelg first. It is further from the city. There is a tram from the city that will take you straight to Glenelg.

Glenelg is a nice place. The road is filled both sides with shops. The beach is there too. Allow me to show you what it looks like. This is the only road I walked down.

You can always see a big view of the sky because there is nothing above 3 floors!

The tram ends at Glenelg and stops very near the beach.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

I was planning to make a panoramic view of the beach but it will not turn out very nice because the left border of Figure 1 does not really match nicely to the right border of Figure 2. Even though there is a slight difference, it still looks ugly. Imagine the panoramic view as you look through Figure 1, 2 and 3. Only combinations 1,2,3 and 3,2,1 will give you the proper view. 2,1,3 or 2,3,1 will not work.

The beach was very windy! Probably due to the sea breeze. The sun was on and off. The waters were definitely cleaner than Singapore for sure but I have yet to see waters so blue and clear you can see the sand below. Tanning in Australia is nice. Hot sun but cool wind. However, there is a high risk of getting skin cancer. We walked down the jetty, enjoying the breeze and taking photos.

There was also a busker drawing a huge crowd with his performance. Birds were also watching his performance.

Bird 1: Will people give me money for doing a wingstand?

I bought a pre-paid card from one of the shops so that I can contact Morven if we are lost. It cost $30 for 6 months. I think it will last me 6 months. Maybe I will not even finish up the $30. Anyway, we left Glenelg at about 2pm and headed back to the city. Next stop, Central Market.

Central Market, as shown at the top right.

The lady in the foreground does have a face. Do not be afraid.

Central Market is similar to our wet markets in Singapore. Food is fresher, it is also cheaper. But it is in the city so Woolworths is my best friend. :) When we arrived there, it was noisy and shops were starting to close. I was thinking, "So fast? Now only like 2.45pm leh. The food stalls also closing!? No!! My lunch!". It turns out that Central Market closes at 3pm on Sundays. We had to find lunch so we went Subway. Everything is the same except here, they ask what cheese do you want and it is free. The 2007 Police and Fire Games are taking place in Adelaide so I saw a lot of participants walking around and eating lunch. We did not browse the place completely but I may do it another time. Next stop, Rundle Mall.

The city has a free shuttle service known as the Bee Line and the bus number is 99B. It loops around the city. While travelling to Rundle Mall, I saw girls lying in the park at Victoria Square sun tanning. Not a common sight in Singapore because everyone goes to the beach to sun tan. Rundle Mall is a busy place. Lots of people! Young and old are there.

I see taller buildings!

Currently the Adelaide International Buskers Festival was its final day here. It took place from 15-18 March. The buskers here are really fantastic. Their performance is worth watching. They have a thick green rope laid out to mark out a barrier to give space for the busker/s to perform. I saw 2 seperate people doing artwork and selling them. 1 was a lady who draws big paintings on the floor and takes pictures of it. Her last finished work was called "Adelisa", a slightly modified "Mona Lisa". Another was a man using spray cans of paint, using a piece of paper to help him flick paint onto the painting. Messy but nice. The way he does the painting is very unique.

Glug glug glug..

Noticed that he has a tube in his mouth? A self made air tank? I think it is. He probably needs it because some paints will cause permanent injury or maybe death. I like his art pieces. At that time, he was painting 2 dolphins jumping out of the water. Nicee. I managed to buy T-shirts from "Target". A shopping mall like Metro and take a look at the next picture.

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8XL?

They are huge! The 3XL size is very comfortable for me. I tried some Quiksilver T-Shirt at Glenelg earlier and it was tight fitting even though the label wrote 2XL! Something wrong. I bought a total of 4 T-shirts. :D I will try to find more because I will not find these Tees in Singapore!

I am finally done. Next issue will be back to food again for my foodiedex has encountered new food. Thank you for reading! :)

Welcome to my crib!

2007-03-18T13:26:00.000+08:00

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong...
South Australia, mountain mama, country roads, take me home..

Voila!

In view a concept looking house. Not just my house, millions of them!

This is my street.

I walk the lonely road, blah blah blah...

As you can see from the 3rd photo, it is very dead. No problem for me. It is not something that I can experience in Singapore. Maybe you can but I do not know where. The area is very sparse, there are still houses under development and many plots of land have been sold. If you go to Google Earth and type 62 The Strand Mawson Lakes 5095, you will see that the area is still sand. It is a newly developed area.

The house is not that big. This is the living room.

Alright, my laptop is featured there and so is my red slippers. Can you pinpoint my room in this picture? :] I currently do not have my own room so I frequently work in the living area. I will work there until tuesday for one of the roommates from Taiwan is shifting out to the city. Morven will then shift upstairs and have his own room. The room is square. "Oh oh oh oh oh! Square rooms. Oh oh oh oh oh! Square Rooms!!" It's from the song "Square Rooms" by Al Corley. Not funny unless you know what I am talking about.

This is where the master chef prepares his low fat, healthy, nutritious and absolutely delicious delicacies!

Ah~ Bonjour mademoiselle.

The house is a house. They also have a washing machine, a bath tub that is not working, a shower, an ironing board and iron, 2 toilet bowls, a back yard to hang clothes.

I think the funniest object in this house is this,

So small!

It is really very small! 15 cm wide only! I do not brush my teeth there for there is another sink in that toilet beside the washing machine which is bigger and harder to miss.

The people staying here are great too. There is a Malaysian girl, a Singaporean boy who is 5 years my senior in BPS and stays in Bishan (amazing!), the landlord's son, the taiwanese guy shifting out, morven, my mother and a very kind lady named Rosemary from Papua New Guinea. Everything is going well. Relationships within roommates are growing too.

Next issue, I am going to cover on my weekend! Do not miss it! :P