We have Pedra Branca... to Singaporeans' delight?

Taken from Irritating Ivan's blog...

Weird sightings

Something landed on top of the bus!
























On closer inspection...
























I wonder on what occassion the shuttlecock landed there. Hmmm... Youth Olympics? Judging by the size of the thing, I guess it were some giants playing, not youths. hahahahahaha. You may choose not to laugh.

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I never once imagined the following would occur to me...

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The effects of waking up at 5.30am, 6 days a week.

one year back part I

One year on, I wouldn't mind....


...waiting very long for the bus to come while watching the cars whizz by...




...or walking back the long road back to the hotel, bracing the chilly winds and freezing raindrops...

The Air in the Far West

I saw this Bizarro comic in the papers today.
























I hope you get the joke. Hmmm. Haha, anyways, I think Bizarro comics are super funny. LOL.

And guess what????! They really have the kind of horses for tourists! In NY!!!






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Hmmm. Let's talk about work!

My previous 3 months holidays (2007) were well spent. I came back from USA, with a learned skill of fluent American accentuated English, in full sentences, articulative and confident!

Now, I predict that at the end of my 3 months internship communicating with contractors from all over the world, I'll lose my above mentioned skill, and gain another! I'll learn how to break my sentences into small parts, in broken Gibberish, coupled with appropriate hand gestures and sideway head movements. Hmmm.

I'm already feeling the symptoms!!!
HAHAHAHA.

My other intern frens and I are feeling the effects of the not-so-clean environment.

- Fren A has throat infection.
- Fren B has breathing difficulty. He complains that he "keeps having this chest suffocation feeling." LOL.
- Frens A, B, C, D, E and Me and Myself all unanimously agree that at the end of the day, our nasal residues are BLACK/GREY. Gooey-gross.

Lalala the long weekend!

Thank you Mr Vesak for giving us poor interns the badly needed long weekend!!!! I spent it wisely, aware that free days are hard to come by now, since I'll be doing my internship for 12 weeks!!! All holidays burnt. :(

Some pictorial updates to interest you all abit! In Digital Life today, 5 bloggers who earn several hundreds of dollars every month express that it's the pictures they upload which attract their readers. So I'll emulate them!!! Although no sponsors pay me to blog, I earn my blogging happiness by knowing that you guys enjoy* reading my blog! =D

*: assumption from Me and Myself.

Yeahhh... on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I stepped out of the area outside Tampines MRT, looked up the sky, and realised I was under many clouds of nine.

I thought the following photos are pretty well taken and artistic ma! Yes????? =)




NICE HOR?!?!

WAHAHAHA. And then a snapshot of, what in my opinion, were some odd coloured bananas.

Why got such coloured ones.... O_O

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During the relaxing weekend, I also attended TMSCO's committee handover ceremony.


Wasn't very entertained cos I don't know most of them. Which innocent young school student would wanna talk to an old uncle anyways? :(

NOOOOOO, I'm not referring to myself wor! In fact, I'm a very promising young man in his early 20s still!

But paiseh, unavailable hor, to your utmost disappointment. awwww... I saw ur smile drop... gua gua gua gua...

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My old time friend Koh Seng is very niceeee. Friends since Sec 1, we entered the same JC. Though we're at different Uni, but now our internship are with the same company wor! Anyways he was the one who fetched me to and fro the TMSCO event.

Today's my first pillion ride on an expressway! He was very kind to allow me to ride pillion back to the east all the way from Tuas. It's very veeeeeeeerrryyyyyyyyy exciting! As he weaved in and out of the trucks and buses and cars, I wasn't really nervous... because that's how I negotiate slow moving traffic too, but on my bicycle lol. When we picked up speed on the expressway, I realised I could actually use the phone but only if I hold onto it tightly enough haha.
























(Me and Myself thinks, it's once again a brilliant shot.)

Us going at about 100km/h. Sorry to bore the non-engineering students, but I discovered the effect of air resistance significantly increased at about this speed! Hmm... Fluid mechanics at work.

ANYWAYS! The ride wasn't bumpy or uncomfortable, but I lost sensation around my butt area when I finally alighted. HAHA! Nevertheless many thanks for the ride Koh Seng! =)

3 months Internship = 3 months BMT???

WOAH! My frens and I unanimously feel that working at Keppel FELS feels like back into army days. Here are the reasons why:

1) Going in and out of the shipyard feels like booking in and out.

2) You can feel the ranking system in the shipyard. Us, clad in white overall, are like senior warrant officers walking ard. Then the groundmen from other countries are like recruits and corporals and look at us in awe and suspense when we walk past. They also give way to us when we climb stairs. o_O

3) Everytime we go onto the yard, we must always be in full PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) i.e. safety helmet, safety googles, overall and safety boots. It's just like during army, when the sergeants used to command, "Everything on!!!"

4) Lunch time is similar - 12pm to 1pm. We'll dash to be the early birds to the canteen so as to avoid the crowd. After a quick lunch, we'll hide somewhere to catch a wink.

5) Cannot afford to be late to report in the morning; also cannot afford to not leave the shipyard at 4.30pm sharp, or else we'll deem ourselves as very 'garang'.

6) We nickname the returning scholars as having signed on as 'regulars'. Indeed they are more lao-jiao i.e. experienced. Haha.

7) The most kua zhang thing is: Upon seeing my friend who is doing his intern at another Keppel yard, I actually asked him very naturally, "Which camp you from?"

HUH? Sorry? What? Pardon?

The words in the title are the ones I keep repeating when I speak to the groundmen. Now I understand why during the interview, they asked me if I would have difficulties communicating with people from other countries...

It will take more patience.

HAHA. Anyways, today, we CLIMBED UP ONTO AN ALMOST COMPLETED JACK UP RIG!!! We climbed the gangway, negotiated the tiny corners and crooks, climbed up and down the narrow and steep stairs. We saw the humoungous 'legs', the cantilever, the compactor, and the living quarters! Woah, the rooms look comfy leh. And they even have a sauna in the changing room!!!

And the most unforgettable experience - my first time stepping on a Heli-deck. :D WOO!

The Sunshine at Tuas!

For some reason, the sun at Tuas shines more intensively and brightly than the other parts of the island. During the walk round the shipyard today, my eyes were constantly squinting. And my skin burning. It is HOT.

It is quite like Las Vegas. A tourists' haven converted from what was once a desert, the outside environment is SOOO burning hot, we just feel like hiding in any building and not come out. That explained why my frens and I spent 6 hours playing arcade at LV, instead of going around visiting all the famous hotels, and so we missed the Bellagio fountain show. :( One of the many regrets. Haha. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed ourselves silly! Arhh... the memories...

Other undergraduates are enjoying their Holidays while I'm having my HELLidays... Although I'm not really totally enjoying my attachment now, but when I'm out in the sun, I'll just imagine that I'm at Las Vegas!!! :)







Today we interns took a 'tour' inside a cantilever, which is a part mounted on top of a Jack-up Rig. It is HUGE. and stuffy. and dirty inside. But it was an eye opener. :D

Internship Begins

I woke up at a crazily godly timing today - 0500 hrs. Brushed up, changed, and left house at 0515 hrs. Crazy timing. This's normally the time I fall asleep during the weeks I prepared for exams. Met Jx at Tampines Mrt and we boarded the FIRST west-bound train. Met Frankenstein Fab at Bedok, and we rested our butts on the seats ALL THE WAY till BOON LAY!!! like wth...

Even at Boon Lay, the sun was not even up...

We bought some light breakfast and separated ways... I reached Keppel FELS at 0720hrs... Super duper early... birds just starting to wakey only!!!























What Keppel FELS is world famous for: jack up rigs.

It was very nice to see many familiar faces there. So my 12 weeks won't be so bored la! Haha. All of us interns attended briefing in the morning, before collecting our equipment....

Items:
- white overall x3
- safety boots x1
- safety belt x1
- torch light x1
- batteries x2
- ear plugs x1
- spectacles hook x1
- safety googles x1

Hahaha. Then we tried them on!!! We looked like this.
























HAHAHA. I tried searching for pics from the Mediacorp show "The Peak" starring Li Ming Shun and Ou Xuan and Dawn Yeoh but don't know why they're not under google images. But yes, we looked like how they appeared exactly. Hmmm. feels smart! hee.

Anyways for the whole of today we attended briefing sessions... am glad to be with many likeable friends to intern together for the 12 weeks. We're under the Piping section. Am looking forward to tomorrow!

Lucky today's the only day I'll be taking public transport to and fro work. Cos they have both incoming and outgoing buses everyday. I can take their bus from the street just outside my house, and at the end of the day drop off at Tampines Mall. Wahaha so shiok!

It's now 11.32pm... gonna go sleep now le. -_- freaking early still. During normal holidays my night would have just started!

ciao guys! Take care!

USA tax rebate!!!

In mid-march, I submitted this envelope... all the way to Texas for my tax rebate!!! Fingers crossed that my sincere hard work would get paid off, and reach its destination safely.


Yesterday my reply finally arrived! It took abit more time cos it got missent to Malaysia. Haha.



I carefully opened up the letter... so as not to damage anything that should be inside...



AND BEHOLD!!!!! So CHIO! MY SUCCESSFUL TAX REBATE!!!!! ^_^ Total of USD 404.16!!!

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Gonna bank the cash cheque soon before Singapore Dollar gets any stronger. -_- HAHA.

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Remember I told you guys that Ms Singapore Universe 2004 is my fellow lecture mate (blog entry here)?

Well, it's proven today - SHE IS A MOTHER!!!

And a hot one in fact.



Text from the Sunday Times - Ms Fashionable Mum Contest held at Plaza Singapore. Sandy Liu, 24, has an 11 month-old baby.

HAHAHA. Hmmm. Thinking about which, if a former Ms Singapore Universe didn't win it, wouldn't it very malu-ating?? Teehee.

Anyways, she very pro. She pon-tang like 90% of the lectures... hope that would do my results good by pushing me up the bell curve. =X

365 days since that day...

Today, 9th May 2008, marks the 1st year anniversary of the day we spent an unforgettable 3 months in wonderful land USA.

To celebrate this very special day, I cooked the last packet of instant pasta I had specially brought back... and kept it safe for a year.
























USD $1. Whole grains are a good source of dietary fibre and vitamins.

Into the microwave...




Tada! Ready to serve!!! :)

It so reminds me of the countless nights having that for dinner... Jx and me (we were room-mates) would always fight to use the microwave first. haha.

Anyways... I had that for dinner just now. Though familiar, the taste wasn't the same anymore. Just felt like going back in time during those lifeguard days....

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As promised, below are the Enid Blyton books I found in my cupboard! Boy, when I flipped through the books, those vivid memories all came flashing back into my mind. I could still recall some of the stories! HAHA!

I'm glad The Mom bought these books to accompany my siblings and I through our childhood years. Haha.

FREEEEEDOM!

Ok this is abit late... but hmmm. Still gotta announce it.

I'M ENJOYING FREEEEEEDDDDOMMMMMMM!!!!!!

Heh heh heh. But not too many days left till my internship starts :(

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9th May 2007 was the day we met at Changi Airport.


Our first smell, touch, sight, sense and hear of USA - At Los Angeles Airport, awaiting transfer. Our first taste of American food - MACDONALDS! LOL.

I'll be doing something real special tomorrow to commemorate this special day. Will blog about it. :)
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Final showdown...

I can't can't wait for the food glorious food at Bedok 85 tomorrow for dinner.

Chicken wings, BBQ stingray, oyster omelette, hokkien mee, char kway teow...

OH BOY. I am very famished. =D

Iron Man

My friends and I were discussing about Iron Man the other day.

Since we studied Materials for Engineers this semester, it was a hot topic to raise up. Some of the concerns were:

What is the material used to construct it?
- It cannot be Iron (Fe)-alloy, cause will rust easily
- Cu-alloy good for metal-to-metal wear, but not for abrasive wear
- Ti-alloy is good for its high specific strength, i.e. light but provide good strength. However, it is not suitable for elevated temperature usage
- Ni-alloy? Al-alloy?

HAHA. In the end, we couldn't come up with a suitable material.
























Went to watch Iron Man the movie with my sister.

Some of the scenes were indeed familiar. I saw soldering, heating then water quenching, and also things from the module which SONIC BOOMed me today.


SONIC BOOM!! HAHA. Apparently Iron Man could fly at speeds reaching Mach 1. And Sonic Boom could be heard as well. Haha. Interesting!

Well here are my reviews on the movie! I'd give 3.5/5 popcorns. For the occasional movie-goer, you should watch it! For a good movie, go watch an art film instead. But as for me, I love these kinda heroic/superhero stories (think Fantastic 4, Spiderman etc), which is why I enjoyed it very much. But hmm, it is not bad a movie la. With hunks and babes included!

I wanted to watch Funny Games as well. But looks like it's no longer being shown... Next up, SPEEEEEED RACER!!!! My sis so wanna catch it cos Rain's in it. (like...wth...) But I soooo wanna catch it cos it's one of my fav childhood cartoons!!! WOOHOO!!!! Also into consideration, Chronicles of Narnia part 2. Actually I personally felt part 1 was over-rated, I enjoyed the book more...

Anyways... here's the answer to the burning question - What is the material used for Iron Man?!

Gold Titanium Alloy.

(fill in for yourself)

Today is a sunny day. 79 innocent but confident students stepped into LT 7a, armed with their own saturated brains, smooth-writing pens and calculators. At 1 pm, ME3231 - Compressible and Unsteady Flow. Hmm... they actually attached bigger writing tables onto the existing small ones onto the seats in the LT.

"You may begin now."

After 2 hours...

All the 79 warriors slumped out of the LT, dragging their heavy feet and bruised bodies. Their feelings numbed, morale beaten.

WHAT AN IDIOTIC PAPER.
























Kena SONIC BOOMed.

So difficult!!! T_T Everyone was discussing why it's so tough this year round. All stunned! Nobody even knew how to solve Qns 2b!!!

And I feel very sian, I spent 10% of my brain juice memorising sth which I kinda confirmed it'd come out. I even reminded my friend 15mins before the paper! Which it really did appear, and I actually forgot about it... Damn sian.

Now I only wish there're many many many others who'd do worse than me. HAHA! *evil laughter* (there're several exchange students too... hmm...) After the paper, many people quoted Lippie's famous saying... A voice from above breaks out. (in a deep tone accompanied by solid echo) "Believe in the power of moderation." I certainly hope so... Looks like all my animals and amphibians from australia and argentina are flocking away liao. :(

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Hmm. wat to talk about now! Let's talk about Enid Blyton!! I didn't know her boooks are so famous, Brunei also has them! LOL!!! I shall dig out more of her books and blog about them ok. HAHA. And all the Secret Seven and Famous Five books!! Also by her!!! Hmm... both gangs have dogs rite? I remember! And I think Secret Seven always has meetings in a tent at one member's house... and they always drink GINGER TEA!!!!

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Yesterday was discussing about Bookworm with Jx. And I just realised that the characters are modelled according to Singapore context... You see, we have Koku who is Indian, Annie who is Malay, Simone who is Eurasian and Chinese like Samseng and Smarty (is this his name?)!!! Amazing. And the majority are Chinese! Haha. It's so like one of the modules I'm taking this semester - Singapore Society.

I learnt that since young, we have all been brought up and 'educated' and 'cultivated' to the thinking that multi-racial, multi-religious are the ideal policies to a nation's success. Hmm. Is it really the case? Well, it might indeed have seen real prosperity and success in Singapore, but have other problems arised as well? Meritocracy has indirectly brought about the 'kiasuism' and intense competition which so describes Singapore's working environment, there was this recent contest to find "Singapore's Happiest Person''. LOL. Many have also written into the newspaper forums, expressing their own definition of 'happy'. On a frank note - what do YOU really want to achieve in life? What will define your happiness?

Another problem the citizens are concerned about - the influx of foreign workers! I read from the newspapers 2 days ago that we have 30% of foreign workers!!! I was quite shocked at that huge percentage actually. While I do agree that we need skilled workers for construction work, I can't help but notice the increasing number of China Chinese working in coffeeshops and restaurants. Actually I don't have anything against their nationality; I only feel so when as a result of their low standard of English, they can't do their jobs as per required.... On another hand, HEY, our ancestors all arrived from China not too long ago.

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My next paper is on Wednesday... Singapore Society!!! WAHAHA!!! Don't need too much time to prepare for it... I need some rest this weekend.

I wish I could say 6 MORE DAYS TO USA!!!!

Here are pics from Washington, DC.




Below is the famous Washington Monument in the background... Check out the flawless clear blue sky!

Can you make out what message we're trying to convey here? :D GUESS!!!

A postcard from the States

Boy, was I touched.
























Thanks Lippie! I will study hard. =)
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Happy Labour Day to all labourers!!!

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These are sooo old school. I found them while ransacking my cupboard. I bet you all have also grown up with Constable Acai and Bookworm right! And of course with all the pixies and fairies and elves and magic by Enid Blyton!!!







































































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Do you guys happen to frequent Old Chang Kee?

Do you all remember how much was the sotong head the last time you all bought it? In my memory, it was like $1.10 a few months ago...

It's now $1.50!!!

WTH??! There's only soooo little flour needed for each stick, and you need to raise it by 40cents????? Taxi fare increased from $2.40 to $2.80 okay la, but the same increase for puny sotong heads on a satay stick???? Come on lor, there're not even like rice grains on it.

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Curiosity and boredom led me to my statcounter account.

I didn't know my readers came from so many places!!!








































And then!!! Guess how some chanced upon my blog?

They Googled...






ROFL.