Monday 31 December 2007

Passing Out Parade 2007.

Spent Boxing day, the day after boxing day, and 2 days after boxing day preparing for POP.

Wasn't online except at night cause trainings were from 8am-6pm.

Parade segment was quite okay, then went home to change, went to Chee Sheng's house to get the food, went to school, and everything else was more or less a rush.

Farewell party could have gone much better. But then again way too many things cropped up like the air-con leaking, teacher's meeting, and I would say if we had more time to prepare or a full dress rehearsal at least? But it's over anyways, hope the graduating batch had a memorable day. =)

POP was also the last training of the year, considering it was on the 28th December. So yay, no trainings for about a week?

Sunday 30 December 2007

Christmas 2007.

Okay I shall blog about everything that happened from the 23rd December to the 25th in a single post.

Weirdly though, Christmas feels as though it's super fast to me this year. Like in the past few years Christmas seemed to take forever to come? But this year it's like: "Huh Christmas already??"

Sighs, maybe it's cause I'm busy these few days, or I'm ignorant of the calendar, or I'm just getting old. =(


Anyways, woke up at 10am last Sunday and went to Church.

Then went home and spent the entire afternoon packing my room. =/ Gosh my room looks messy again after about 5 days. Blah.

Can't remember where I went for dinner or what I ate for lunch, so never mind.


Woke up at 7am on Monday and went to Eugene's house. Haha, saw Hao Xiang, Jun Liang and Wei Kit outside Florida waiting for Hao Xiang's father to bring the cups over.

Then we went to reading room, decorated the cups until about 1pm, then I went home.

Prepared for party. Haha, relatives came over to my house. Haven't met them for quite some time? And my niece can talk already! =D She was like :"狗狗!" when she saw Snowie.

Played cards with my cousins. Haha. Dam sad la, I got 3 kings, and Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 3 at one point. But then we were playing bridge instead of "Big 2". =/ So I lost pretty terribly.

Carolers came at around 11pm, didn't join them going around caroling, cause they were coming my house what. Hahaha.

Counted down to Christmas! Then my phone started lagging like crazy. Haha, almost all my messages I tried to send failed with a "Retry at 00:20" or "Retry at 00:26". Oh yes I sent out Happy Deepavali and Happy Chinese New Year messages to everyone. =D

Everyone left at around 1am, then we went out for supper. Lol. Hunted around for a 24 hour Macdonald's, in the end we found one at Rivervale Plaza cause the one at Rivervale Mall closes at midnight.

Reached home at around 3am, then woke up at a horrid disgusting 7am. Gah. Cause there was a Christmas Breakfast thing at Gracehaven. Woah, like after eating turkey and ham and all the "Christmas" foods at home for dinner, I'm suddenly looking at turkey and ham and more food. Haha, but I ate anyways.

Went to Church after that, Christmas Service. Ended at around 1pm? Went for lunch at J8. Ate Chicken Rice. =D

Went home after that and slept almost immediately. Woke up again at around 8pm, went to Jalan Kayu for dinner.

I think going to Jalan Kayu to eat curry fish head for dinner on Christmas is weird, but we were all so sick of eating "Christmas" food already, haha.


I guess that's about all that happened during Christmas. In retrospect, it feels like a blur? Maybe cause I didn't really pause to think that Christmas was coming, I haven't had time to really reflect and think back onto what happened at all these past few days.

Saturday 29 December 2007

NPCC BBQ.

Met up with Chee Sheng, Wei Ting and Elaine at Punggol Interchange last Saturday at 6. Took bus 3 to Downtown East. Haha so many stupid things happened on the bus. Like Wei Ting using a very unique technique to balance herself.

Walked from Downtown East to Pasir Ris park. There's like so many tents pitched and so many people barbecuing. =/

Haha barbecue was quite fun. Although it rained on and off for quite a while at first. Meaning everyone was squeezed under a couple of umbrellas near the bbq pit. Haha.

Chee Sheng was the butter boy. Like we got nothing better to do and there was lots of margarine so we just lathered the margarine onto the wire gauze and watched it catch fire. Like dam stupid la, haha, we even put margarine on the Sting-Rays and Sotongs wrapped in aluminum foil. As a result, some of the aluminum caught fire?

Then we played around putting ice into everyone's shirt. Haha, we played until there was no more ice. =X

And Chee Sheng has this weird taste for marshmallows on fire. Like he will roast the marshmallows over the pit until they catch fire, then take it out and wave it around before blowing out the fire and peeling off the burnt parts. Then eating the remainder. -.-

Played until about 10pm, then we walked back to the bus stop. On the way back Chee Sheng and me like super suay la. Cause the grass patch we cut through was simply overflowing with mud. In the end my shoes were like, super muddy? =\

Took 3 home with Chee Sheng who changed to MRT. Then went home, and went out again!

Went to Mustafa at 12 midnight. Like siao one right? My family are nocturnal people. We went Mustafa because there's no other place to go that's open 24 hours. Unless you count 7-11 or Cheers or Macdonald's la.

Walked around looking at things. Like Mustafa seriously got millions of things? Saw a Nikon D-80 kit at $1700. Which is probably cheaper than anything you can find at Funan or Sim Lim Square.

Reached home at around 3am. This time I went to sleep. =)

Tuesday 25 December 2007

Merry Christmas 2007!


To all the super ultra geeky nerds who are using the computer during this festive season and actually reading this blog. Haha. Merry Christmas!

Saturday 22 December 2007

Dinner.

Okay, went back home after PSL camp, and finally had a chance to use the computer after 3 agonizing days. It wasn't that bad la, and I'd not that mad about computers and such.

Anyways, went out for Corps Christmas Party at 6. The party was like: Woah. Especially the dinner. I think after having spent 3 days eating rice with dishes and fast food and dry mee siam had something to do with it. But the buffet dinner was very nice la. Got all the stuff you'd expect at Christmas like turkey, ham, log cakes, and I didn't see a single grain of rice! =D

Party was cool too, there was a magician doing tricks, and I remember seeing his cut a cross with 1 line trip from somewhere. I think it was a camp I attended with my father some 8 or 9 years ago? I can't remember anything significant about the camp at all. =/

Party ended at around 9pm? Then because we had nothing better to do, I went to Orchard Road with family. Walked from Far East to Dhoby Ghaut, seeing about 5 different bands performing, a choir from somewhere and lots and lots of lights. =) Went to eat at Gelare after that. Waffles! Then went home, reached home at around midnight?


Went to Church on Sunday, went home, then went out for dinner again! This time to Bugis Junction. Haha. Steamboat buffet! Haha, like 2 days in a row kind of thing? I think I regained whatever weight I lost during the chalet/camp? Bleh. The buffet was quite nice, but much more expensive then the Church one.

Walked around Bugis Street after that, saw the giant fan! It looks like it's going to drop at any moment? But it's quite windy underneath even though it's running at 20% capacity?

Walked to Little India, then took a train back home after that, reached home at around midnight?


Monday, went to Ding Qi's house to discuss POP. Went with Hao Xiang to Hougang mall where we walked around contemplating the various options for dinner. Then we went to eat at LJS, then went to the library, borrowed books (haha nerds!), then we went to the arcade and played Time Crisis 3. =D

Haha I'm such a pro at Time Crisis okay? I cleared about one and a half area all on my own after Hao Xiang died. =P


Tuesday, went to celebrate Nina's belated Birthday. =) At first was supposed to meet up with Hao Xiang in the Morning and buy his PSP, but then I suddenly remember I was supposed to go some book fair with my mother at Suntec, so I didn't meet Hao Xiang. Then in the end Hao Xiang said he not going so I asked Denise to go buy a present with me instead.

Saw Chee Hock and Chuan Hui at Kovan. Then after buying both the present and the cake we went to the White Tangerine cafe at Kovan-Paya-Lebar CC. It's a nice cafe, haha, something like Settler's cafe with lesser board games? It has a pool table though.

Haha, Chee Sheng and me were like waiting inside the cafe whilst everyone was outside cause we wanted to "surprise" Nina with the cake. Then we started playing 13, 8, 5 which is like Dai Di? =D

Finished eating at around 10pm? Then went home. When Denise was about to get down the bus she realised her MP3 was still with me. So I got down at the next bus stop and walked back. Then walked all the way home. =/ But it's like exercise or something cause I think I gained a few kilograms from all the dinners. Reached home at around midnight?


Wednesday, woke up at 7am feeling like going back to sleep. But Minghui is clever now! I jumped out of bed immediately, changed then went to Hougang MRT. Waited for Alvin cause we were supposed to go to the Health Promotion Board at Outram Park.

We were sort of like a focus group? Cause they got Alvin's number through the Anti-Smoking competition. Then now they needed feedback on an upcoming website? Neeteen. I think the web design is quite cool, lots of vector graphics and AJAX commenting and it discussing health topics in a very youth-orientated tone? Something like Stomp bah. Ironically, I was asked for comments on Stomp before it was released too. =D

Haha, but I think me and Alvin feel dam paiseh. Cause they gave us free breakfast, free drink and a $10 Popular voucher at the end of everything. =X

Went to Vivo for lunch after that. Ate at Pastamania. Then we went to find Jian Hui's present.

Met up with Jian Hui at Boon Keng and passed him his present. Nike Oxygen. Haha. Then went to Kovan and went to Ding Qi's house to discuss POP. In the end we played Dai Di until left with me, Woei Jiun and Ding Qi. Then we went to White Tangerine (again) for dinner. And Dai Di. Lol I think we're becoming addicts to that game. Must...control.

Went home while the 2 went for Taekwando. Reached home at around midnight?


Thursday, spent the day at home cause I didn't want to go out.


Friday, woke up at 7am and went for Marshalling duty. Sec 1 Registration. Did car park duty for a while and directed cars to where they were supposed to park, then helped manage the queue line for people buying the school uniform. Blee. In a way I was reminded of doing Kettling during the Starbucks? Cause I'm also walking up and down the queue, only this time I'm not holding a container in my hand.

Marshalling ended at around 12pm, went for dinner at LJS with Wei Kit, Chee Sheng and Hao Xiang. Wah, the 3 of them said I couldn't finish eating and started making horrible sounds and suggestions meant to induce vomiting. Haha. But in the end I finished everything la, except a few crumbs.


Today, woke up at 7am, went to school to discuss POP things with the Sec3s and the instructors. POP in 6 days.

Ended at 1pm, then went for lunch at KFC, then went home. =)

Going for BBQ later tonight. And that's my entire week in one blog post. Probably missed out some insignificant parts though. =/

Monday 17 December 2007

PSL Camp 2007.

Woke up at 6am the next day. Met Hao Xiang at MRT at 7am, then we went to school for PSL camp.

Bleh. Didn't bring my consent form la. Had to go home and take. =/ But it's kind of justified la, making me go home and take, cause I must set an example and all that jazz? But the worst part was my consent form was right below my wallet but I forgot about it. I should have put the form in the wallet.

I'm taking 2 Joy next year. Awesome! I'm so looking forward to it! And cause I'm taking 2 Joy, I grouped with 1 Joy people too. Edwin, Daryl, Zi Hao, Fion, Xin Yi, Tai Yang, Ing Lee and me. Our group zai one okay?

Started off with a workshop conducted by Lifeskills something? How to be a PSL, leadership skills and all that. Would have been really dry and boring and like a magic sleeping pill, but thankfully the speaker made lots of jokes and could engage the audience? =)

Lunch after that, rice with dishes. Better than ATC, worse than NCO/NRC.

Station games after that, we were told to take out our shoes during wet activities, so the extra pair of shoes I brought along were useless la. =/

Went around to different stations doing different things like running around the school looking for teachers, guiding a partner to throw water bombs at other pairs, and balancing on a chair whilst passing chairs and messages around.

We didn't get to play Soapy Maths, which is like sliding around on soapy stuff aiming for a soap. =(

Shower, then dinner after that. Dinner was rice with dishes. Same type of rice, different type of dishes.

Night walk at night. Awesome! It was the most funny part of day 1 in my opinion. Became super high with Hao Xiang whilst waiting for our turn. Did lots of super lame stuff. I don't think it's scary at all, but everyone else like so scared? Even the Haunted House at Escape is "scarier"? Got one part quite disturbing though, there was a full u cover which suddenly swooped down from the side. I suddenly imagined everyone with flying full u covers in np. Hahaha!

Slept on tables in the classrooms. Quite comfortable lor. We should have slept on tables during NCO camp. Much much better than poncho.

Was quite cold in the morning, went to brush teeth, then was breakfast.

Breakfast was Nasi Lemak. Rice with different flavour, ikan bilis and egg.

Then was the workshop again. Played this circle thing where you have to lie down on the lap of the person behind you?

Until you form this never ending continuum people lying on each other and the combined weight and gravity pulling down is spread out and dissipated evenly.
Quite interesting la. =D

Workshop after that. More interesting things discussed, how to conduct debriefing and all. Although I learned almost everything taught from NP? Haha, but it's a good workshop la.

There was a 1 hour break where we had lunch. Lunch was rice with dishes! Same type of rice, different dishes.

Went for NPCC after that instead of the workshop. Blee. POP auditions, I think POP is really GG.

NP ended at around 6, went for shower then dinner. Dinner was rice with dishes! Same rice, different dishes. I'm getting bored of typing the same thing too. =D

After dinner was Campfire! At this point I really felt like closing my eyes and sleeping already. So wasn't really high during campfire. But Joy's campfire item rocks okay!? We got 28/30, best class! Wee. We acted a skit where I played Romeo and Edwin played Juliet, then Juliet would suddenly turn out to be a guy and it was super hilarious acting la.

And I realised that almost all the groups I've been in for acting always top one okay? HEEHEE. Like SANA course where I acted as a sadistic prison warden caning a drug offender, or ATC where I acted as a Sony salesman selling my "walkman with torchlight". Okay shall stop showing off here. =D

After campfire we had Macdonald's. Lol. Double Cheeseburger and some fries. Like woah, after eating rice with dishes and rice with dishes and rice with dishes, a cheeseburger is like shiok. =D

Slept on top of tables again.

Breakfast was dry Mee Siam. Yay No RICE!!

We were sec 2 PSLs so we didn't have any briefing. Instead, we had Area Cleaning! Yea! I was stuck cleaning the general area. Which is a pretty slack job really, but not as fun as cleaning toilet la.

Then played games like concentration and murderer. Haha. And we each got a piece of chocolate in the end.

After that was debriefing, then we were released. Went for lunch with Hao Xiang, Koon Tat and the Joy people at Hougang Mall food court.

Went home and started using the computer. Wee. Okay actually using the computer is no longer relevant to the title of this post. =/

I wasn't exactly enthusiastic or high or anything during this camp. Just like, antagonistic? Maybe cause I was super tired throughout the camp. =/

Class Chalet.

Tried to go to sleep at 2am, 3am, 5am last Tuesday. Finally succeeded at 6am. Insomnia? Haha. Maybe cause I was excited about the chalet (er...maybe), but I just couldn't sleep larr. Tried everything, from playing guitar to walking around to staring out the window looking at the first bus leaving the interchange. In the end I started writing a story until I felt tired at 6:15 and went to sleep.

Woke up at 9am. =X This time I was tired, but ah what the heck, tried going back to sleep but I didn't want to repeat all the things that I did again. So I went out and bathed Snowie. Was supposed to bathe him on Sunday.

Lazed around at home wondering if I should get to sleep. But in the end I was busy reading The Green Mile by Stephen King. Met Jude at Punggol Interchange at around 5pm, then took bus 3 to Downtown East.

Malvin told us the chalet was near the Cheers outlet larr, so me and Jude paid $1 each to enter the Coasta Sands Chalet(Downtown East) when they were actually at Coasta Sands Chalet(Pasir Ris). -.-

Stayed over at the Chalet for one night with Malvin, Chun Wee, Chee Hock, Koon Tat, Jun Han, Jude and Airil. Chee Hock, Jun Han, Jude and I wanted to go sleep at 1am for 1 hour, but I didn't really sleep much, mostly on and off cause Chun Wee was watching some Cantonese drama on his DVD player. =X

Went to Macdonald's at around 4am, Macdonald's was like the only place open for 24 hours there, so it was crowded? Haha, nothing much to do really, so we went back to the chalet.

Played a kind of sick version of Daidi, it kind of makes you really regret having the most cards on your hand if you lose. Haha. And Chun Wee was like singing stuff in a disgusting high pitch tone which none of us can la.

The rest all went to sleep after Koon Tat and Chee Hock left for CO which was around 7am. Haha, at first Chun Wee and Malvin went to sleep, then Jun Han, then Jude took out a marker and wrote "Lampard Sucks" on Malvin's foot, then he left for Soccer Practice. Then Airil went to sleep after playing Burnout against me on PSPs. In the end left me playing Burnout Legends on Airil's PSP and getting super irritated cause I kept losing by only 1 or 2 takedowns. Haha.

They woke up at around 10am, then Jemaine, Xue Ee and Yi Han came. Then we walked to Escape and saw Denise, Elaine and Li Jing. We started queuing for the Pirate ship, but just when it was our turn to enter, the ride closed due to the rain. =X

Stupid larr, so we went to the Haunted house and everyone was like so scared. I don't find the Haunted house scary lor. I think it's cool with lots of interesting details to see. But everyone was like rushing through and didn't want to stay for long. Haha. I think the electric chair part is totally off because the cap is made of metal and not black plastic, and the guy wouldn't shake so much unless something went wrong with the electrocution. And I think the only part which was mildy scary was when Airil and I were near the exit and everyone else had gone out. We were like in front of this "corpse" which was cut in half with it's body dangling behind, then Airil and I were like feeling his guts, and the top half of it's body started rising. Hahaha! Like going to cut Airil's hand off.

In the end the rain got heavier, so we went for Breakfast/Lunch at Burger King. The coke there tasted like water. But we didn't go complain la. Went back to the chalet after that. Then went swimming with Airil, Jun Han, Malvin and Chun Wee. Woah, it's been like 10 months since I last jumped into a swimming pool?

We played weird games trying to catch each other in the swimming pool until we were super tired. Then bathed back at the chalet.

Played some snap game with Denise, Fiona and Xue Ee. Denise was like Snap! Then grab my hand with her super long sharp fingernails and she shouted: "OW My Fingernails!" -.- Like my hand was impaled with those sharp fingernails and she says her fingernails pain. Hmph.

Went out to Escape again at around 5pm cause the rain stopped. =D

Played Pirate Ship which I was laughing cause Denise was super scared. =P Then went around playing all the rides there, didn't really feel excited or exhilarated at all. =( Felt super sleepy la.

Went back to Chalet, where they started BBQ already. Aww. BBQ was quite okay. Had lots of food and Sting-Ray and Sotong and Satay. Awesome. But I didn't stay long cause there was PSL camp the next day and I didn't pack yet. So I went home at 10pm, reached home at 11.

Started packing for PSL camp, went to sleep at around 2am.

Update.

Haha haven't blogged in a week. Maybe cause I've been busy or tired or lazy or a varied combination. Ah whatever.

Went to send Chee Sheng off last Sunday. At the Airport. Woke up late at 5.30am. =X Then went downstairs to meet Chin Ee and took bus 34 to the airport. Met Eugene, Nigel, Kristle, Hao Xiang and Wei Kit there. Chee Sheng almost went off without meeting us cause we were late. Haha. But in the end we met him, passed him his present wrapped in newspaper. Haha and he went to the same gate I went when we went off to Perth.

Went off for breakfast at Macdonald's after he left. Ate Pancakes. Then took the MRT all the way to Raffles, changed to Dhoby Ghaut, then to Punggol. Cause we were bored. =X Took about one and a half hour before I reached home. Then went out almost immediately to Church. Blee.

Church was okay, went home after that. Then went out for dinner at the Kallang Leisure Park next to the Indoor Stadium. It's "leisure" cause it has an ice skating rink, k-box, bowling alley, a cinema and an arcade. And it opened only around 3 months ago too. But it was cold though, super cold. =X Ate at this Japanese restaurant sushi thing which charges 90cents a plate, then walked around looking at people ice skate and went home. =)


Went to try and search for POP things on Monday. Ate at KFC for lunch with Hao Xiang, then Eugene was supposed to come and find us, but then Wei Ting asked us to go Ding Qi's house, and we went to meet Eugene instead. He waited for like 1 hour because we told him to cross the road and wait again when his bus came. =P

Then when we went Ding Qi's house she was waiting for us at the MRT. Waste money la. Took a train down to Plaza Sing, then went Spotlight to search for decorations. I think Spotlight is a place for old people, that's Minghui's horrid disgusting stereotyping for you.

But we didn't know what to buy really, so we went around walking everywhere. Went home at around 6+, then went out for dinner at some place which I have forgotten. Blah. I'm getting old.

I haven't blogged about Perth Day 4 yet, cause I just don't seem to have the time to la. Will try to blog about it some day. =)

Monday 10 December 2007

Out Of This World.

Woke up at 7am for Campcraft training yesterday. Saw Hudson at the MRT! Wah, he's taller than me lor. =X And he works at Subway? Blee.

Then went to school, campcraft training. We've been training like, 4 times a week. But didn't really improve?

Hao Xiang and Nigel left early. But Wei Kit, Eugene, Li Jing and me went to buy Ramly burger. Wee, I'm like eating Ramly burgers every few days cause a Pasar Malam set up near Hougang Mall. It's like super tasty la, and super unhealthy, but almost everything in the world that is tasty is unhealthy anyways. =D


Went to Gracehaven in the evening. There was an open house event thing. An 'out of this world' musical. Haha. I think it's quite cool man! Like the place was decorated with glitter and lights and stars and aliens and this disco ball in the center. =D

And the musical itself was great too. The only horrid thing was that I was constantly referred to as 'uncle bee's son'. Bleah.

There was food at Gracehaven, but it was super crowded, and it was mainly for parents.

So we went to Chomp Chomp. Wee. Felt super full though. Like going to explode at any moment. Haha. Took 136 home after that. Reached home at around 10pm.

Friday 7 December 2007

Passing Out Parade Auditions.

Woke up today at 8am, but then I felt so tired I went back to sleep, and woke up again 15 minutes later, then went back to sleep, then woke up again 15 minutes later, then back to sleep. Remained in this continuum until 9am, when I finally decided it was such a stupid thing sleeping and waking up again and again and I was going to be late if I continued.

I should have just dragged myself out of bed at 8.

Reached school at around 10am, first time wearing toilet cleaner NCO tee.

Discussed the performance a bit, then went to buy a cake for Chee Sheng cause his birthday is this Sunday. =)

Bought a mango cake, then went to Hougang Mall food court to celebrate. But we didn't cut and eat cause there was no time. Like only half an hour left before we had to fall in.

Ate lunch, then went back to school.

Auditions was okay la. We received some good comments about the skit. Some. Maybe cause we were laughing ourselves. =D

Watched the Sec 2s and 3s performance, then we spent the rest of the training learning new cheers. =/

Ate dinner at Macdonald's after that. Shaker fries! Haha.


Didn't go to cell cause got Campcraft training tomorrow. Bleh.

Starbucks Christmas Open House 2007


Read the news first?


Haha okay, went to Raffles City at around 4.30pm, then I went off towards the Taxi Stand area where there was a Starbucks. I never knew there were 2 Starbucks at Raffles City. Haha.

Grouped with Yu Rong, Ming Ren and Cheryl. Staff there were quite friendly. =)

It was a 2 hour event that entitled anyone to a free tall-sized drink. Donations to the Salvation Army of any amount are encouraged. Although they put the Partnership thing in the footer, so many people just see the poster and go "WAH FREE DRINK".

Was quite a long queue although not as long compared to the Starbucks outside the MRT, but the queue moved fast la. Went around asking for donations from people in the queue.

I would say $2 was the average amount people donated. A Starbucks Tall cup costs about $4 anyways. Some gave like loose change from their pockets, like 20 cents or 50 cents, some said they already donated, some said they left did not bring their wallets. The worst though, were those that said a flat-out no? Like, not even 20 cents? And worse still, a few people simply looked away and dao us. Blah. Even after I directly faced them and told them it was for helping needy families.

Gosh, evil uncharitable stingy selfish disgusting revolting people. But I guess these people are part and parcel of everyday life, it's their conscience anyways.

But not everyone was bad la, some people donated $5, and 2 actually donated $10?

Oh and I saw Paul Twohill twice. Both times whilst he walked past the outlet. His hair is like, longer than Yurong and Cheryl la. =X

And I saw the Cadet Inspector in charge of my contingent for NPDP 2007. Like, I was thinking how he looked familiar, then I thought he looked like Justin, then I forgot all about it. Then when he was walking out I suddenly thought of Yi Hong, then I remembered who he was! Haha. But I forgot his name. =/

And we got a free drink at the end, we also donated lar... =D And we also got a coupon for another free drink and a name card to call if we needed a job.

Went back to Church to pass the metal tins and the money inside, then went to J8 for dinner at KFC, then went home. Reached home at around 11pm.

Wednesday 5 December 2007

How To Improve Your English.

FreeRice.com

Chanced upon this site today. You simply have to guess the meaning of the word shown, if you get it correct, 20 grains of rice are donated to help end World hunger. And it's legitimate too. =)

I got to about level 42 and donated 960 grains of rice. And your English will slowly improve over time as you are exposed to new words. =D

It's an awesome way to waste away your time.

Perth Day 3.

Woke up at around 6.30am, too late to catch the sun rise or go to the beach. Blee.

Packed up everything onto the bus, then took the bus to Macdonald's. Ate a bacon burger thing which we don't have in Singapore. Darren was at the same table as me, and he ordered pancakes. He ate by pouring just the right amount of honey onto the pancake so none of it spills onto the plate, then adds half of the butter from the "sachet" and spreads it evenly onto the pancake. Then cuts the pancake into equal, square sections. Gosh. I would have just spam everything at once and cut everything messily. Haha. Sophistication.

After breakfast, we went to an Apple Cider Factory. I expected a huge concrete building with factory doors and a loading bay on one side surrounded by a metal barbed wire fence. But it was in fact a small building made of wood surrounded by a plantation and a vast lake. With an abandoned mine in the center.

That wooden structure thing to the left is the mine called the Hunter's Venture Mine.



The factory/farm diversified itself into many different aspects of agriculture like fishing or breeding fish instead of just apples.



The "guide's" name was Steve and he was holding a Marron.
Black and White photos are nice. =)


This was a lake to the left of the farm that would be open for fishing in Autumn? If I remember correctly.


Robot! =D


This machine was actually used to do something to make the something into something. Okay I don't know what it's used for lar, it's just a random photo. =D

Tasted and tried some of the apple juice after that. Like, there were many different flavours? Apple and Cinnamon, Apple and Ginger, Apple and Apple, and Pineapple. Bought 2 1litre bottles, cause they were considerably cheap at AUD$4? Drank one throughout the rest of the trip, the other I brought back to Singapore.

After the buying and tasting and everything, boarded the bus again. This time we went to Springhill Farm. There was no reception for handphones, let alone Wi Fi. =/

First thing we did was put our bags in our room. Same room as Nick Chew, Wan, Nick Ho and Lenson. Actually it was just 5 beds lined side by side. But it's so much better than squeezing 6 or 7 people into a tent. =P

And immediately after putting our bags, we saw Kangaroos outside! And goats and sheep and this emu!

I think this emu is super greedy and evil. Because of the way it grabs food. Haha. It ate flowers.

I think Kangaroos are awesome animals.


The goats are the ones on the right btw.

Our rooms were to the right.

Then I went around to the back of our rooms and saw this sheep.

It was about 2 meters aways from me with no fence or border at all.

Tried very unsuccessful to get it to go back into the sheep pen. But then it could run super fast when it wanted la. O.o Like can you imagine losing to a sheep in a race!?! In the end it ran out of the farm. But the farmer said it would come back when it was hungry. =)

We had Chinese food for lunch. Actually I didn't know it was Chinese food until someone told me. =/

After lunch, we boarded the back of this truck thing.

I think we looked like sheep or cattle. Haha. But it was super windy when the truck moved.

The farm was about the size of 60 hectares, which is 1/10th the size of Singapore?

We went to this building which was super full of hay stacks.

There were flies everywhere though, swallowed about 1 or 2 flies. Bleh. The flies have no taste at all, just full of protein. =X


We took some hay from the hay stacks, then went to feed the cows after that.

I think the cows look super dao or buay song. Like all giving angry faces. =D

Even when they eating also so dao. =/

We went back to our rooms for a water break after that, then we went to feed the animals with bread. But I didn't take any photos. =D

Then we went to see how sheep are sheared. I think it feels so painful, like some barber cutting your hair botak with a razor.

Finished Product.

Then we went off to fish some crab/lobster/crustacean thing.


Inside that muddy pond was a small lobster like creature.
Er, this was taken after it was cooked. But it's like prawns or mini lobsters la.

Super irritating la, some would slip out through the nets, but it was very fun la. Like kampong fishing or something.

Then a few of us (actually a lot) decided to walk back to the farm instead of seating on the truck thing.

It was quite a short walk, and it was like 22 degrees weather even though it was bright and sunny.

The cloud looks like Australia?

The Sun rays were very nice. Breathtaking.


This tree looks evil! EEEEVVVIIIILL!!

This is a flower stalk. I don't know where the flower went.

We made it back to the farm alive. Haha. Had to cross some barbed wire fences and an electric one. And faced lots of dangerous creatures like the emu. O.o It drizzled for a short while too.

Then we decided to go and photograph the kangaroos up close. =D

National Geographic Photographer. =D



Went for dinner after that. Which was, Italian food? I dunno lar. It's edible can already.

Went out to photograph the sunset after that. The sunset was normal, but the surrounding horizon and landscape was amazingly large.



Haha and I decided to try if I could edit the Sunset.

Looks oranger?

Nothing much after that, oh yes we had desert which was ice cream with jelly and cocktail. =)

Bleh. That ends day 3. =)

Saturday 1 December 2007

Spaceport Singapore.

Link.

According to the website, it will be built near Changi Airport and is estimated to be completed in 2009? So cool lar. Spaceport in Singapore.

Yea, lets go spend USD$102,000 and go on a sub-orbital space flight. =D

Perth Day 2.

(Okay I know I'm taking a horribly long time to blog everything, haha. Been kind of busy the past few days, and now I have a sore throat and fever. =/)

Woke up quite late in the morning cause we slept late. =/ Went outside, and saw this cool car parked right outside our room.

So cool. It's like the car from Transformers. Blee. And the water droplets on the car were actually condensed. That shows how cold it was at night right?


Packed our bags, left them under the bus, then me and Lenson went walking around the perimeter again cause it was so boring waiting for breakfast to start.

Our room is the on the ground floor. It doesn't link to the upper level. =(

The long long road again!

There was a playground around the back of the inn! We played for like 5 minutes then we got bored. Short attention span. =/

Lenson decided the ground would make a nice photograph. No la, he was taking photos of a bunch of snails.

Okay, went for breakfast after that. Breakfast was a hotel buffet style kind of thing. Got bacon and eggs and hash browns and sausages and cornflakes and toast and milk and orange juice and other breakfast foods. So shiok la, but I didn't take any photos. =/

After breakfast, we boarded the bus for another long drive. This time we went to the Valley Of The Giants Tree Top Walk. Awesome place man. At this point we travelled about 452km from Perth already. It's a forest made up of Karri and Tingle trees and has Red Tingle trees which can only be found in that area.

Entrance.

And the tree top walk is much higher and longer than Singapore's HSBC one, which I visited when on an NPCC Unit hike 2 years ago.

All of the signs at the tree top walk are shaped like leaves.

The trees are super tall man. Taller than me can? =X

The suspension walkway was not exactly rigid and stable. But it would only shake around at most.


We reached the highest point, which was 40 metres above the ground. The highest point for the HSBC one is 25 metres.

There were various viewing platforms to stand on.

So tempting... ;)

Mr Yeo and Mr Koh. CSI photographers? =D



We also saw this trail that would lead all the way to Perth. About a 6 week hike? I think your legs would be like super nua jelly at the end. =D

That's our bus with Lenson taking a photo of something.

Okay after the awesome giant taller-than-Minghui trees, we boarded the bus and went to a Lavender and Berry Farm.

Lavender and Berries!

The farm was located at the edge of a lake/pond/river/body of water which had really picturesque views. Like something out of a fairy tale or Enid Blyton book. You can just imagine pixies jumping around or rabbits and Teletubbies hiding around somewhere.

Alpacas were like Llamas? Don't have a nice picture of them though. So go google.

Saw this doll near the toilet. I think it looks really freaky. All you need is some horrid image editing.

Rawr.

We had a pinic lunch next to the lake/pond/river/body of water.

Fresh is best. =D

Erh, not really nice cause of the numerous flies swooping down and trying to land on the fries and chicken. Blah. But after that we had berry-flavoured ice cream. =)


And I realised I don't remember seeing a real live duck when in Singapore. Goat, sheep, white tiger, boa constrictor all see before. But not a single duck. =/


The water is much clearer than any lake in Singapore. Unless you count swimming pools. =D


This duck was like less than a meter away cause it thought I washad food.

And we were given food to feed the Alpacas. But most of us used the food to feed the ducks anyways. (Cause ducks are cuter! =D)

They didn't really dare to eat out of our hands, unlike the animals we would feed later.

And there were lots of bees getting nectar from flowers too.

The bus which "accompanied" us throughout the 6 days in Australia.

We stopped at various petrol kiosks and rest stops like this BP throughout the journey.

Bought a stick of mentos. It looks exactly like the mentos in Singapore! =D

After another arduous, long bus ride, we went to the Ngilgi Cave.


See the sign pointing to the cave? ;)

Before entering the caves we stopped at this bird bath which was directly above another point in the caves.



Taking photos in a cave is near impossible without a flash or tripod so the lighting looks unnatural.

Directly above this "corner" was the bird bath thing.

We went on the Torchlight tour which required no climbing or crawling, although there was another Adventure tour that went down to the deepest parts of the cave.

Saw lots of the Stalagmites and Stalactites scattered throughout the caves. And I had to crouch about 30 degrees at some points because minghui very tall the ceilings were so low.


Then, whilst in the cave, the most unbelievable thing happened to me. It was shocking, unpredictable, unimaginable.


My camera ran out of battery. =(

Ah wells, so I didn't take any photos at all after that.

But we went to a sheep farm, saw lots of small cute lambs and sheep. And we ate lamb for dinner there. =\

Then we witnessed how the farmers fed the lambs milk there, and some of us got a chance to try it. Then we went to a souvenir shop where I bought a dog and lamb soft toy made of wool, which I gave to my sisters back in Singapore. =)

The dog is the one on the right btw.

After the sheep farm, we took the bus to Broadwater Beach Resort.

Stayed there for the night with Nick Chew, Wan, Nick Koh, Rayson, and Si Peng. The resort we stayed was quite large with an attic and a kitchen and all.

Lenson and I went around to try and find some place that sold food. All we found were some vending machines and a games room where everyone was playing pool or arcade games. Haha.

Then Lenson and I went to the bar there. =D Tried to buy food, not alcoholic drinks okay? But the till was closed, so we couldn't buy anything.

But we met this guy who was friendly and asked us where we were from. Turns out his father was a soldier who served in Singapore and he lived in some estate as a child.

Kind of interesting to meet someone from another country who used to live in the country you live in?

But anyways, we went back to our room/chalet after that. Slept at around 1am.

Day 2 ends here. =)