No. 2

After church today, went to Xin Ning's mom's shop to get my 2nd piercing. Kinda stressed cuz I think I'd prefer going to get my piercing done alone, and Xin Ning and Shiqi came with me. Her mom is really funny, was almost nagging at me before/during/after especially when I wanted to pierce tragus/cartilage, which she does not do, then it was about the piercing like how to take care of it, remove it, yada yada. Great to have a place nearby where I think I'd do my 3rd lobe (LEFT LOBE LAH!) piercing at.

Met Brian at west mall later, who was entrusted with the task (and 2 dunno how much limit credit cards and a blank check) of paying up his sis' wedding dinner bill. Xin Ning wanted to catch Warlords too. Really nice show, at least I feel it's worth the ticket, since I don't watch movies much. After that basically talk cock and eat at Al Ameen. Super nice to hang out with both of them. Would have been great if Kiat was there too. But I think he'd have a continuation of the onslaught at lunch from Brian. Schedules kinda clashed abit. Bleah.

Saturday at Home

Seems like I plunged head-on into Diablo II again. Worked on my sorceress for half of yesterday and a great part of today and finally got my full gear. Couldn't have been done without the kindness of the guy who rushed LazyFatAss and I the other time, and a whole lot of good luck.

I guess when I'm bored of it I'd look right back and think to myself why I had spent these hours playing D2 instead of putting it to something more productive. Perhaps, working is a good thing after all, so my time spent on D2 will be limited. But then again, I feel that I don't always have to look out for the long term; if something could make me happy for a time, no matter its transience, it could still be worth it.

Recovering from an extremely sore shoulder and twisted left knee/ankle after badminton with Kiat, John and Nelson at Kiat's club again. It's the result of not playing for one year and suddenly going at it for more than an hour. Now my body feels like its broken and time is the only way to mend it. Anyhow, it was really fun. Takes me back.

First Day at Work!

Today was my first day of work which is at my uncle's company in the city. Last night to this morning had this first day of school kind of feeling; the anticipation and also the anxiety. Anyhow, they were kinda unfounded because the people there are really nice.

Worked really slow though, because alot of this is new to me. I think accounting is kinda like math, the more you practice the better you become, and also, if you don't know what you're doing you can sit there for hours and still not know what you're doing, which happened to me.

Youth Camp

It's the time of the year everyone in COR youth congregation been waiting for, YOUTH CAMP 2007. And once again, I "missed" the registration date. Kinda hate going to camps, not youth camp in particular, rather, camps in general. The feeling of not knowing what's going to come next, the restrictions, I think that overwhelms me. My parents remind me that the next 2 years in NS will be a long camp; but then again, why experience it sooner than later.

For others, it is also a special time, to get out of the house and stay out. Brian had a mega long youth camp stay with the "extra" 2 days of youth camp spent at my place some 3 years ago. Sampling some of the world's finest cuisine prepared in the kitchen of my house, he lives to tell the tale of brown rice, beef rendang and vegetables to this day.

This year, Kiat is spending youth camp at my house! Kinda bad though, for him I mean, because at home I almost never entertain and thus my house is as exciting as the nearby Community Centre. Instead, he took me to his country club, which is a really nice place, compared to the one my parents joined, which happens to really suck in comparison. After what I would be ashamed to call a swim, because I basically was just standing around and frolicking in the water, had dinner (which happened to have really fast service, again compared to my club, but I shan't go into that before there's another lawsuit), bowled and played arcade, of which, the last 2 I hadn't done in a long time. Needless to say, I was really bad, but had fun nevertheless.

I love youth camp! <3

Dim Sum and Puppy

Let me introduce to you the new furry temporary member of the Krishnasamy family. Meet Whiskers. He arrived yesterday afternoon as an uncle of mine was going to Thailand with his family and decided that rather than to let this dog fend for itself, we could take better care of it.

My sister was worried that he might feel cold at night left outside, so it was decided that he should let him into the comfort of the house. After all, the dogs in the arctic region have access to blankets and hot showers.

Please do not be deceived by his cute and innocent demeanour. This son of a bitch, pun intended, was yelling his silly head off at 4am in the morning, because he didn't know who was the newspaper man outside and decided to show his displeasure aa a result of this ignorance by waking everybody up. He succeeded. However, if this keeps up I will have no qualms about leaving him outside to the elements and to fend off carnivorous cats who have, on one occasion, climbed into my window and attacked my arm with its fur. I am sure they would like to devour a noisy puppy who would be disturbing their sleep.

The day was spent later at a restaurant tucked in the middle of Chinatown. If any of you have some craving for Dim Sum, I would recommend Yum Cha Restaurant. We had the high-tea buffet which for 16.80++ (coming up to just under 20) per person, meant that we could eat whatever we want from an extensive menu. 3 hours, countless plates, numerous tea refills, language barriers sidestepped later, we were satisfied. Somehow, despite feeling full, this buffet didn't give the queasy feeling I usually get when eating at other buffets such as the fast-foodish sushi ones (you don't need me to spell out S-A-K-A-E, right?).

The Usual Suspects. Clockwise from top left: Millardi, Jingwen, Me, Ravinder, Kenneth

(see, we look so happy, told you it was good!)

Diablo II

It's almost 4 in the morning and I'm still up, which could mean only one thing. Shit, I'm back on D2, the crazy never ending game that sent many people over the edge and flushed their grades down the toilet bowl. Despite a 4 year hiatus, it feels like I've never been gone. Sure, the servers are a little more dead now, but everything that makes it quintessentially D2 is still present. Fruitful night. Levelled up a bit and made a new friend, LazyFatAss.

One thing I love about the game is the feel of control I get when playing. From the third person view, it's as if you have possessed your character, controlling every movement. And yet, having to take care of it, although detached from you, as each hit it receives brings a jolt to the senses. Teleporting, throwing blizzard spells is a little like writing poetry, albeit with a clumsy hand, with my haphazardly put together gear

Think I better not do this again. Thing about playing so deep into the night; instead of feeling sleepy, I'm wide awake now. Game sure is better than smoke or drink but nonetheless equally addictive.

SHUTUP ALL YOU HELLGATE LOVERS WHO THINK THAT THE CREATORS OF D2 MADE HELLGATE. HELLGATE NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE.

The last of S04 together

Yesterday, my JC class, 06S04 had a gathering organized by our beloved (and often teased) class representative, Jason. He put in alot of effort to ensure the class had this chance to meet up and have a great time. First time I played mahjong under the tutelage of Kevin, Nicole and Pamela (who apparantly isn't very orthodox). Can't imagine how people can spend hours and days even playing this game which was to me, rather boring and repetitive.

It's probably the last time, with many of us from/going to different countries, that we can gather as a class together. Though I was pretty determined not to enjoy my 2 years in SAJC, being in this class, with our zany civics tutor, Mr Fong, has changed that.

Stayed over at Kevin's place after that (Thanks Kev!) with Mil as well. Pro Evolution Soccer, movie, Simpsons later we talked abit. Woke up the latest I have for pretty long, still feel a little woozy, but it was great.

As are over!

Someone told me the As would just fly by really fast. Man, that person was obviously lying. Halfway through and it felt agonizingly long. Am I glad it's over and finally I can do (hopefully) all those things I told myself I had to do after the As.

This would be a time to give thanks, to all those who gave your prayers and best wishes, THANKS A BUNCH, you guys really made the As a little more bearable. To all those who shared notes that you got from dunno where; Millardi, Pear, Jingwen, Kenneth, Jason, Pamela, Kevin, Samuel, Valerie and the rest I forgot :P POWER TO YOU GUYS. And a shoutout to Samuel, who was my uber maths cum GP teacher.

The time has finally come to enjoy my break before NS. Bleah.

Night Out

Had my penultimate A level paper yesterday. I know I'm not supposed to have a life and have fun yet because my exams aren't over (damn you all who agree with this!). Was Vincent's last and he wanted to have some fun so we let Brian take us out for the night. Met with Kiat at potong pasir and embarked on the never-ending journey aboard bus 14 (EAST PLACES ALL SO FAR, HOW YOU EAST-IES TAKE IT HUH). Fast forward 2 months for the journey, we ended up at Siglap.

Had a great time there with the guys and Brian was pretty determined to make Vincent drunk, to no avail though. Halfway through my first bottle I was O.O already (yeah weak, whatever). Didn't exactly know how to get home from there and Brian offered to put me up for the night. Talked rubbish until 2.30am because he had to get up for work the next day. Seriously, can always trust Brian to know where's the nice places to eat and hang out.

One for posterity guys! From left: Kiat, Brian, Me, Vincent

Super Toning Exercise Routine

Presenting to you... the greatest exercise routine of all time to get your body to shape, drawn by the legendary artist Quan Rung (not Alexis) Van Gogh! Just doing those exercises as directed in the picture will get you on your way to achieve the FHM/MAXIM body you always dreamed of! (or Quan Rung can ask that model for her money back)

Painstakingly hand-drawn for this I-wanna-have-a-toned-body-too! piece of blubber who is writing the post you are reading, this picture is available too for all to peruse and learn! (gotta actually do it too, to see the results, damn!) But if you do steal this picture and post it on your blog without giving credit to Quan Rung, you can bet your spare tyre that I am going to bite you (not on facebook) but really bite you until you scream like a girl (or if you're already a girl, just scream).

Thank you.

FREEZE or I'LL SHOOT!

Just got my NS letter. Was praying super hard just before I opened it because I didn't wanna go in right after my A levels, in the December intake, that's be a real killjoy. ANYWAY, my intake is the March one, which means I still have the chance to retake my napfa test and hopefully clear my 2.4 so I can go in April instead!

I got posted to police, which apparantly is a good place to get posted to. (*thinking about Infernal Affairs... woo so cool!!*)

Now that I have a few months after A levels to enjoy, I can go find a job somewhere (maybe with Brian's mom's shop, HAHA), or go on a holiday, OR BOTH!

Suddenly the future does not seem to bleak anymore!

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e

Just finished watching this J-drama after 5 days!! Was really trying to control myself and limit myself to an episode a day. But.. It wasn't to be and I just watched 5 episodes today.

The show portrayed a school that I believe most of us would love to go; where the emphasis is on character building and having fun and not so much on grades. The festivals they had, though, were certainly out of this world and so amusing.

The actors were great and expressed their emotions well. They led me through the rollercoaster of their own feelings, difficulties, and resolve to overcome them.

Although it's quite a feel good show and I generally don't like shows with predictable endings, I have to admit I enjoyed this show thoroughly. (am I turning into a himbo... NOOOOOoooo!!...)

Thanks Quanrung!! for intro-ing me the show!!

Dororo

"It's strange... The pain in my heart... Doesn't go away"
-Hyakki-maru 百鬼丸

A great first Japanese movie for me! Succinct, witty, funny, heart-rendering while not cliched; it's been a while since I've enjoyed a movie this much. Shibasaki Kou's portrayal of the mercenary, yet innately kind hearted imp-ish thief is a side I would have never expected from only hearing her J-pop songs.

Home Almost Alone

It's day one since my parents and my second sis flew off to Israel, leaving me and big sis at home. The perks of having the home to ourselves include (not in any order): we get to eat out, sleep whatever time we wanna, live without concern nagging etc. Of course the flipside is we have to clean up and do the laundry ourselves. It's great to report that 18 hours after they have flown off, we are still alive, the house is still in liveable condition, and we haven't spent all our money.

It's been an awfully long while since I've been to IKEA. I've been meaning to get a nice chair to use at my computer for the longest time, thus I jumped at it when my sister asked me if I wanted to shop at IKEA. Anyhow, I finally got a real computer chair and I can say hastalavista to this excuse of a computer chair that I've been using for the past decade or so. Walking around IKEA makes you think there are so many nice things in life that you don't really need, but really wouldn't mind having. It doesn't help that they arrange their displays really nicely. Then again, I don't think I would want my parents coming home and think they entered the wrong house in two weeks time and besides most of the things at home are still in usable condition. I wouldn't want them leaving home again just 5 minutes after coming back or finding their old cupboard outside waiting to be thrown away and deciding to crucify me on it.

The Start

Just finished my 5th Haruki Murakami book. I think there aren't anymore in SAJC although he has written a few more titles. Well, I hope there isn't so I would not spend so much time reading and probably begin to study for A levels, seriously. Every of his books has been great, with my favourite being Norwegian Wood. Much has been said about this author already so anything more would be verbose and unnecessary. I fancy his stories to be more of poetic and philosophical than rather being stories per se, which incidentally, end up semi-fantasy-like. It's the kind of book that just bulldozes your pre-conceived ideas and values and gets you thinking. This is not to say that the stories are nothing to speak of; but rather they take a backseat when compared to Murakami's free-flowing and thought provoking prose.

It finally appears that there is nothing left on my plate besides the A levels, with my 3rd reflective service playing the violin over. I think my playing messed up the sound a little but hopefully I didn't interrupt anyone from worshipping God since that would be disasterous.

With 5 weeks to go before my A levels, hopefully I'll be able to start the ignition for real and get myself going academically and work my rusty study-engine for real since my O levels.

Waves

If everyones' life could be compared to something, I think mine could be compared to a wave; a wave that continuously beats against the shore. In many ways my existance is as measured as a wave, consistently moving forward and then pulling back. Yet such a seemingly uncontrolled movement is restricted by the drift lines, or boundaries I set for myself. Wittingly or unconsciously, under normal conditions, it is unlikely that I will cross this zone of content. As I remain in this mode, there is this bugging feeling that impending storm will come; a storm that will surge me past the driftline into some foreign place. And yet with the removal of the storm, an equilibrium is quickly restored, where I once again beat upon the shore with a predictable rhythm

Promises

I remember when I was playing studying in kindergarten, there was this fad that came about, where all promises required the prefix "I swear". Somehow, in the absence of the term "swear", suddenly whatever the person said doesn't really count. So, in a sense, swearing gave someone alot more credibility in his/her words.

I guess in those innocent childhood times, swearing was some kind of ultimatum we gave ourselves, that we had to do that something that counted. Nowdays, adults, sophisticated people they are, do not find swearing that credible (anyway, adults just like doing the same things children do, albeit differently and insisting so) and instead prefer to waste monies hiring this guy in a suit to write down what they intend to do so that they will do it. Well, after all the economy is all about creating wants that didn't exist before and then finding people to fulfil them, aka redundency. The reminiscence of those much more senior than us is that in the past, everything was sealed with just a handshake (though I suspect everyone was carrying some form of weapon in their other hand). That, in today's context, sounds like folklore not unlike vampires or witches who flew on broomsticks.

Receiving promises is a really beautiful thing. However, the pain associated with unfulfilment more than negate all the joy the promise brought. Hence, those around me would be quick to point out it is rather difficult to illicit a promise from me, since I hate breaking promises a little more than broken ones. I believe many of us (or if none of you, then just myself) trust and love people based on their fulfilment of past promises. Keeping a promise, no matter the size, shows that the beneficiary of that promise is in some way, or another, important to us. Granted, there are some people who have a memory of a goldfish and knowing so, we can't really hold it against them.

This post seems to be taking the form of a [broken] promise already: an earnest start, with no concept of fulfilment or conclusion (oops!).

Well, it's just a random thought

So think hard before you promise someone something because it may mean alot!

Tomaso Antonio Vitali - Chaconne in G minor for violin

It isn't very often that I find a musical piece I really really like. Granted, there are many songs that I think sound nice but that's pretty much it. Even though I play the violin, most of the songs I truly appreciate are actually recent Japanese compositions *whips open an umbrella before a barrage of stones arrive* that have a hint of melancholy in them. Although they are far less technical than many of the classical compositions, they have beautiful melodies. Throw in some decent accompaniment and I am suckered hook, line and sinker.

The classical pieces that I really like number few. Those that have brought a tear to my eye when I'm listening are even rarer - just 2; Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, third movement and the one that is the subject of this post.

If I ever made a movie where someone close to the lead had to die. I'd probably play this song during that scene. Although it's disputed if the original score is anything like the one we hear nowadays or Vitali's original work has been grossly mutilated, the intepretation I heard by Sarah Chung just blew my socks off. Intensely charged, passionate, virtuostic, it's got to be the best song for any tragedy.

If I am ever going to fulfil my secret morbid dream of being a funeral violinist, this song definitely has to be in my repertoire. As such, this is the first piece in I don't know how long I'm going to seriously work on, unlike all the other songs that required a skill level high above mine that I attempted to learn and then gave up.

Till then, none of you is allowed to die.

Psalmist Retreat 2007

This retreat was a great time for us to come together as a ministry and and have a time for fellowship, laughter, fun, and not to mention eat nice food. Kelvin brought his wii and we had a great time playing on it of which tennis was the most popular and boxing was the most entertaining. Vincent and many others put in a labour of love this time to prepare each elaborate meal for which they are to be greatly appreciated.

What I believe many of us gained from, besides the fellowship, was certainly the time of sharing by pastor Chi Shyan. On the first session he shared from Exodus 17 where Moses and Joshua engaged in combat. Unlike Joshua who was in the frontline of combat, Moses was on the mountain top lifting up his hands and interceding for God to help. Although most of us can relate to being in the frontline as Joshua was, we sometime may forget that someone has to pay the price of intercession in the fight and how these roles, neither of which are superior, are interdependent for the battle to actually be won. God has given us different gifts and callings and thus we are independent of the mode in which He has called us to serve for God's glory to be manifested. Another important lesson was later in the chapter, where after the successful battle, Moses returned to build an altar to God to give thanks. Personally I can relate to Moses before an uphill task like the battle Israel faced. More often than not, I forget God's provision soon afterward and sometimes even forget that God was the one who has blessed and me and start to have illusions that it is by my own strength that I completed the task, when it was insurmountable when I called out to God in the first place. Hence, this lesson was really instructive and relevant to my life.

The next chapter pastor touched on was Exodus 24, where Joshua was willing to go where God led. Being a worship ministry, Psalmist is essentially asking the congregation to come up to worship God and encounter his presence. As an analogy to where God leads us to; from the peak of the highest mountain, the other mountains appear insignificant. Hence in His presence, our previous circumstances or past seem insignificant. However, the call to go is not an easy one to fulfil. Often we are eager to ask people to come; which is spurring them on to achieve certain things that we may have experienced and would like to share with them. The call to go, is fraught with uncertainty and thus it takes a much greater deal of effort. Joshua was about 45 at this point in the Bible, thus it is a lesson that age is not a factor when it comes to God's plan to using us.

Dallas shared that evening, getting us to reflect on our offerings to the Lord. The first part called us to reflect on who is our empowerer. In this rhetoric, the answer should inevitable be God but in our circumstances, it could be other reasons. The second part was whether our hearts were willing to respond and do God's work with the skills that God has endowed them with. The third got us to think about our own personal response and how we treat our offering to God.

The third and final session was this morning, by pastor. Sharing from Exodus 33, it was a chapter where Moses set up and used the tent of meeting to encounter God. The lesson here was that like Moses going up to the tent of meeting, for us to meet God or be set apart by God, besides aspects of the spiritual, physical effort is also needed for us to prepare ourselves. To want and achieve this communion with God requires from us time, energy and discipline. He shared on 2 groups of people who come to church on a given sunday morning during worship. The first is that of spectators, who are just there to observe the worship and not actually engaging in it, which is on the entirely superficial level. The second is a group that is dependent on the annointing of the worship leader or team. This is not something for us as a ministry to judge but rather to answer God's call to improve our serve to lead His people into worship, not just as musicians, but as worshippers. However, despite ample preparation or planning, not everything always runs to plan. This could actually be a humbling experience that God wants to impart to us, and perhaps could be His way of leading us to enter unchartered waters. Many of us view the people of that time to be much luckier than us, as they were able to see the manifestations of God. Despite that, they still hardened their hearts time and time again and turned away from him. We sometimes despise them for their weak will and their inability to remain faithful despite the experience of what God did for them. Thus it could be our argument that if we were living in those times, we would certainly not have any such premonitions to turn away. However when we consider what they experienced, even extraordinary things that happen regularly in their time, could well soon become ordinary. Hence, we may not require such manifestations of God in this day and age, where He has provided us the bible which is a rich source of His word. The questions pastor posed us to challenge ourselves were: 1. If there was something we desire in our ministry on a personal or ministry level that we do not have now. 2. If we were going to do something about it.

Pauli's Exclusion Principle

No two electrons in an atom can be at the same time in the same state or configuration.

One thing many students, myself included, find frustrating while studying science at the lower levels is that it has no application in our lives. This is ironic, since science essentially tries to explain the phenomena that we observe and helps us to understand it better; and yet we find this study totally detached from our lives.

The rare occasions that we see the congruence of what we study and what we actually experience or observe brings delight to many of us. I believe it is for this reason that some among us have chosen to make the pursuit of science their life.

I, however, belong the the thick-skulled variety who until now, am hardly impressed to what this pursuit has to offer. Having said that, I still appreciate science at a level that some may regard as blasphemy.

I came across this principle sometime in my physics syllabus. My reflection on this has led me to stray quite some distance away from the original definition. I muse at how in many ways we humans behave like these electrons - particles of such miniscule proportions that they do not seem to affect our lives at all. By ourselves, we behave in a certain way when nobody is watching and our actions seem to be of no consequence of others. Coming together, we appear to change very drastically, taking on characteristics that were unknown to our private selves and start to behave differently. Yet once again as we come apart we return to this familiar and comfortable state. Unlike from a scientist's viewpoint, I do not have theories to prove why this is so or seek to explain it. All I have to offer is my appreciation for this strange, inexplicable, yet inherent phenomenon in our daily lives

Bedřich Smetana - Vltava

The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Cold and Warm Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St. John's Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the Elbe.
-Smetana

One of my favourite classical pieces. Smetana fulfils exactly what he promises, invoking vivid imagery into this symphonic poem which is recreated by just an orchestra.

This musical piece is a great inspiration for those who have forgotten how beautiful and meaningful music can be.

First post

This is my second attempt at starting a blog. The first fell flat because I basically stopped posting. Thus, with a renewed vigour in sharing my thoughts once again, I decided to start a whole new blog which I will try my best to update.

Till next time.