I'm down with a bad case of food poisoning. As I recall, I think this is my worst hit ever in my life so far. I had seven runs of diarrhoea, and four times of vomitting. Yesterday, when I went out to lunch, I was already not feeling well, with a sense of nausea. Before my next lesson, I had a run of diarrhoea, which I dismissed, since sometimes it happens. When I was in the lab, halfway through, it got so bad I went to the toilet to vomit. After puking, I felt alright enough to supervise the practical till it was over, counsel a student, and return to the staff room. Diarrhoea hit again, and I took a cab home with my fiancee who accompanied me. I rested a while because the clinic only would be open two hours later (bad choice...I should have gone to some clinic in Bedok), and inbetween, I vomitted and had the runs several times.

So today, I'm on mc, and I am finally well enough to blog a bit. My stomach still feels queasy, and even without a stethoscope, I can feel the violent churning inside. I will now attempt to eat my first meal since yesterday evening...

Time for something cheesy. A chemist's love poem:


SONNET 159

I can’t explain the forces of attraction
Or the bond between us we’ve created
Nor trace when fondness had precipitated
To become a tangible distraction.
The time we’ve spent together certainly
Catalyzed the twinning of our paths,
As you have buffered sorrow with your laughter,
Neutralizing negativity.
With you around, my heart is effervescent
With joy, behaviour freely radical,
Spontaneously reacting to the world
As I enjoy each moment of the present.
There is neither doubt nor mystery
There must exist between us chemistry.


Corny huh? I've written one with a theme on physics, and one on maths, but I figured I must write one about chemistry since my fiancee (never thought I'll be using this word) and I both teach chemistry. I guess I must view this poem, and the one before that I wrote for my proposal (if you are curious as to what I wrote, I think you just have to wait till you see the wedding photo album; it will be inside), as a breakthrough out of a writer's block for more than half a year.

The wedding date has finally been approved. I will get married on the 17th of November this year. So exciting! Now I just need to get a church venue and a hotel/restaurant in a hurry. Hmm. Let me see more of God's provision and guidance!

Fri 23 Feb

Again, I spent the whole time doing work. I managed to clear a good deal of it thankfully. In the afternoon, I was at the Masters' Course tutorial at usual. Now, it is usually very hard for me to doze off even if I am tired. I generally have a high threshold of tolerance for boring teachers/speakers/presenters as well. Today's tutor was dreadfully boring. His topic on statistical analysis was dry to start with, especially since I have studied this area at least twice in my life, and this is of no fault of his of course, but his voice was droning, and he spoke really slowly with many pauses. I see half the people in the class dozing off at some points in time. I think I dozed off for a couple of seconds a couple of times only, which was a good achievement.

During lunchtime, I chanced upon this little monster.






















For a spider in an urban area, this has got to be the biggest I have seen so far. The front legs of the spider were almost the thickness of the front end of chopsticks. Compare it with the size of the snack packet next to it and the rack, and estimate for yourself. I think my gf is quite calm to not scream when the spider popped out of nowhere and ended up near her hand when she was taking a box from the rack. Most girls I know would have had a big reaction to something like this.

Sat 24 Feb

I stayed home the whole day to work on my renovation and budgeting plans. The more I work on this, the more I realized that I can be a very meticulous and organized person if I wanted to be. Man, getting married really is a bomb of expenses. Getting a flat is far worse. It is little wonder why couples are getting married later and later these days. Most people would want to work a few years to have some financial security before committing such a huge sum of money to the wedding and all. Good thing my security is anchored on God than on cold hard cash.

I updated my poetry site with some sample poems from 2006, so I think the updating of my website is more or less complete. I think as my website slowly grows, it is getting more and more arduous to update. I wonder how many people have this much content on their homepage, especially when it's not for commercial purposes.

Wed 21 Feb

I brought my laptop to the lecture to do some work, but somehow the battery was flat. I think the plug was loose, so the whole battery discharged over the long break. I had my last lesson with the TA1 class I was relieving, since their rightful tutor had returned. They are a nice bunch; I'll miss teaching them. There was a long staff conference, and after that, my gf and I headed down to Tanjong Pagar area to check out some bridal boutiques.

We had checked out two a few weeks back, and we found one with nice gowns, but the photography wasn't good. Neither was the layout especially, because I wouldn't want to pay for something that I think I can do a better job of. However, the package was temptingly cheap, so we told ourselves that if we can't find a better one, then we'll settle for it. I prayed a simple prayer for God's blessing on our search, and at the start, we were dismayed, seeing that the shops were closed. Then, as we were heading off for home, there was this middle-aged man waving at us, apparently touting. Anyway, since most of the bridal stores were still closed for Lunar New Year, we gave this one, Di Gio Bridal, a shot. Surprisingly, the store had a pretty big and good selection of gowns, probably because they had two in-house designers. I think local talent must be good, because the other store that we shortlisted previously had beautiful gowns as well, and it also had its own in-house designer. The photography was quite professional as well, and it had what we wanted, only that it was above budget slightly. After some bargaining, we got a rather good package that we could afford.

I'm amazed how fast we've been settling things once we leave it in God's hands. Next up, church booking and hotel ballroom booking!

Thu 22 Feb

I spent the whole day working on many things. I find that in the last couple of weeks, I hadn't been socializing much in the staffroom, which is tantamount to saying that I'd been busy. School work alone already took up much of my time, so much so that I'm working on my house/wedding planning as recreation, which implies I am not really resting or relaxing much. Still, I feel gainfully employed and focused, and I like it this way, despite the fatigue. In all honesty, I still don't see why so many people have been telling me that wedding preparations are draining and blah blah blah. I find it quite exciting to be able to have the big picture in mind, and plan out the nitty gritty, especially the many things I think I'd do a better job myself. I think I'm covering plenty of ground each day, and I still have about 9 to 10 months more. Why would the time not be enough?

I'm beginning to suspect that the people who feel like they can't manage things or have to delegate most of the work to wedding coordinators, be it friends or hired professionals, merely aren't interested or motivated enough to make things happen, focused on other priorities, or just aren't skilled enough. I would like to see how far I can take all this by myself and with my gf.

I went for dinner at New York New York with my gf, her cell group and affiliates. This time, I didn't want to experiment much so I went for the ever-delicious spaghetti with pork chop, and tried something new, sharing the seafood platter for 2 with my gf and three more friends at the table. I say, the seafood platter has a wow factor, which is good. When it came, my first thought was 'how can this be for two only?' because the serving was big. There were three pieces of fish, each piece sized to be quite a good portion for one person already, calamari rings, prawn fritters (and the prawns were extremely fresh), slices of smoked salmon, and one cold crab. I think that the price of $33.90 is quite cheap for all these, especially when I think it can easily feed three persons. We also tried the fried Mars bar, which was pretty good, so I think at least one of the desserts here has potential, contrary to my initial impression that the desserts were just mediocre. The shop had orange-flavoured candy floss today, and this is by far the best tasting of the few flavours I tried till now. Good food always makes me happy. Heh.

Sun 18 Feb

It's first day of Lunar New Year! I stayed up late last night to 守岁(actually I am just finding a nice sounding excuse to sleep late...according to my mum, every night I also help give her longetivity...), and watched many episodes of Gankutsuou, or the Count of Monte Cristo. It's a superb anime. I think the plot borrows much from the original literature classic, although I must say it's been so long since I read the book that I can't be so sure about this. Anyway, the anime is set far in the future, and a mysterious Count has surfaced, with great power and wealth, and begins his plan of vengeance against people who had betrayed him before. Since the plot revolves around the slow revealing of the background of the Count, I shall not describe too much. In any case, the animation is very unique. The entire animation is full of colour, and it's a powerful bombardment on the visual aspect. The interesting thing is that all the characters' clothes and hair are drawn very differently. It's as if the texture or the pattern of the clothes or hair do not move as the characters move, so it looks like someone cut out the shape of the, say hair from the top layer, and the fixed hair pattern is below. Hmmm...I think seeing it will make it clearer; a linguistic description doesn't work well.

I went to visit my eldest uncle's wife and family (my eldest uncle is recovering well in the hospital), my second aunt, fifth aunt and third aunt. At each house, I met some other relatives, so the first day alone was very fruitful. Anyway, this is probably going to be the last time I can get red packets. Argh. Since I give a token sum to some aunts and uncles who have helped my family over the years, come next year, I will be dead poor once I have to give to the younger generation too.

Come to think of it, my uncles have a lot of tenacity. Other than my eldest uncle's example, there's still my third uncle who had stroke and was paralyzed in half of his body, but now he is able to walk with a walking cane kind of support. My cousin gave my mum and I a ride home, and stopped by my place for a visit. I invited his kids to play Xbox 360, which was a mistake, because they were hooked right away. One at least managed to pull himself away to go see fireworks when it started going off. Hmm, I think this may also be the last fireworks I'll get to see from my corridor. Unless I move house after National Day.

Mon 19 Feb

My gf came over to visit and eat lunch at my place, and my cousin and his wife (by the way, most of my cousins are in their late thirties to forties) came over to visit. After they left, we headed over to my gf's grandma's place. We had a second lunch, and had their family tradition of tossing yu sheng. One of her cousins is trained in Japanese cuisine, so he cut salmon sashimi for the yu sheng and separate plates for us. I think salmon belly sashimi is top notch! I think I must learn how to cut sashimi, then I can cut cost next time by just buying an entire fish instead. Bwahaha.

We then made our way in the evening to my youngest uncle's place. His wife prepared a simple dinner for us, and then we headed to my cousin's place for mahjong. I don't know how and why, but every year I play with them somehow I lose money. Highlight frustration of the night was when I was waiting for one tile to complete my thirteen wonders, and someone else won first. It could have been the second spectacular time of my life to accomplish that. Ah well. I was one tile short of 十八罗汉 at one point too, with three gang, and that one is something I have yet to achieve. Anyway, a big part of my red packet money went to cab fare today. Going to my youngest uncle's place at Boon Lay from Aljunied costed a lot. Going back from Boon Lay at near midnight to Bedok was another bomb.

Tue 20 Feb

I met my cousins for K Lunch in the late morning at Jurong East. I actually bumped into someone I know at K Box. In that far away place. Unbelievable. Considering my prolonged shout of anguish when my thirteen wonders was broken last night, I'm surprised my vocals were intact enough to sing. We then headed down to Marina Square to catch Protege. The movie was better than I expected. Like Infernal Affairs, the movie revolves around a police mole in a drug trafficking syndicate. Interestingly enough, the two main characters here were also in Infernal Affairs. The show actually goes into great detail into the processes of the drug industry, and the golden triangle, so much so that it feels like a documentary woven into an engaging plot. If the movie was meant to inform the audience at large about this dark world, I think it has succeeded; if it was meant to shock us with the grim reality of being addicted to drugs, I also think that it has succeeded. The helplessness, despair, and darkness were all conveyed and protrayed well enough.

I would have thought though that it would have been an interesting parallel if they had drawn more attention to the diabetic condition of Andy Lau's character, the head of the syndicate, since he has to inject himself too, only that it is with insulin, a different form of drug, for survival rather than for kicks, like the drug addicts in the show do. That might have thrown a different light on the emphasis of the movie. In any case, the movie was quite gripping and thought-provoking.

After the movie, I made my way to visit my gf's place, and I guess that neatly concludes the short respite of a public holiday.

A happy and prosperous lunar new year to everyone!

I spent the day packing up the house, and clearing some rubbish out of my living room and all. I'm also mentally taking note of what to get rid of when I eventually move to my new house. I think I keep too many things, even when I don't need them anymore. I think I'd better make sure there is ample storage space in my new place.

I just watched the third Ghost in the Shell movie, Solid State Society, and it was superb! I think both Ghost in the Shell series were excellent, and the two movies before that as well. I don't know how the writers always manage to write conspiracies so tight and plots so brilliant, but they have yet to disappoint. Unlike the previous two movies, this one has a very complicated plot, and a deep conspiracy to unravel throughout the 1 hr and 40 plus minutes. The animation is as usual awesome, and the soundtrack is of similar style as the predecessors. The movie begins with a series of suicides that thickens into a conspiracy plot involving an unknown perpetrator behind the scenes known as The Puppeteer. As the movie develops, the main characters discover what is the Solid State Society, which I must say, was surprising. The clues lead them to the abduction of twenty thousand over children, all covered up, and hint at the involvement of the government. Amazing stuff.

I realize that all the Ghost in the Shell movies and series have plots that revolve around social commentaries actually. To be more precise, the plots are based on something that, given what is happening in society today, could possibly be the outcome decades down the extremely high-tech future. Hence, since what happens in the plot, set in the future, is a sort of prediction of where we are heading, the shows are in fact critiques of what is happening now that is leading us down the paths of ruin. Solid State Society is a warning of a dire future of an aging population and declining birth rates.

I really hope that there would be a third series of Ghost in the Shell. If I have spare cash, I would go purchase the DVDs of the previous two sets to replace my VCDs. I think I rank Ghost in the Shell as the number one futuristic sci-fi anime.

Thu 15 Feb

I had a TA3 meeting in the morning to finalize some parts of the curriculum this year. All of a sudden, I was roped into another action research team, because the ideas I had for the topic I am in charge of fell neatly into what the year one action research team planned to embark on this year. So other than the action research team I am heading for my organic chemistry game, now I've got my hands into another work in progress. I am also stretching myself to help out in corporate communications committee to do design work, on top of my already exceeded extracurricular duties, and outside of school, I'm also helping my pastor with his book. On top of my planning for my new house and renovations, and further on top of wedding preparations. I say, bring it on! Bwahaha. Like this then got kick sia.

I headed down to Burlington Square to attempt to collect my free home theatre system, but apparently, they ran out of stock, and I can only collect at the end of the month. Not wanting to make a wasted trip, I decided to tour Sim Lim Square a while to buy a couple of things I had always wanted to get, especially since now teachers are given $400 a year to spend on courses, peripherals, including IT equipment. I bought an Altec Lansing THX MX5021 speakers, and man, it rocks big time. The woofer is powerful, and the sound is crystal clear. The woofer also weighs a ton, and I heaved it home by bus from Sim Lim Square. It felt heavier than a 10 kg pack of rice actually. I searched the whole place, and finally found one shop which sold it at $219, 20 bucks lower than the rest. The other thing I bought was a tablet pad and pen, which is to make it easier to do graphic design on my home computer, since the mouse has limited sensitivity, and the control just isn't there, even with a laser mouse. That costs a whopping $268, but at least the active area of the pad is sufficiently big. Yep, I blew the budget somewhat.

At night, I went down with my mum and relatives to visit my eldest uncle in the hospital. In any case, I think he is a really strong man. At the current age of 76, he is still riding a trishaw and working daily. He is the one I always quote when I told my friends that quitting smoking is possible; my eldest uncle smoked for at least three decades straight, but quitted overnight because his daughter-in-law got pregnant (they were staying under one roof), without nicotine patches and the like. Anyway, he was riding trishaw as per normal when he felt chest pain. He rested for half an hour, and when the pain did not go away, he checked himself into Tan Tock Seng Hospital, just in time because he then had a heart attack. Apparently his heart stopped for 9 seconds before the doctors revived him. I visited him on Tue actually, before his triple bypass operation on Wed. Cholestrol is indeed scary. Three of his arteries were 95.9%, 95%, and 75% blocked respectively. So Wed late morning to late afternoon, he had the very major operation, and the best thing was that by Thu lunchtime, he could eat porridge. When we visited him, he was in high spirits. He could speak loudly even, and didn't seem like he had undergone a major operation. Now this is toughness and resilience.

Fri 16 Feb

Today was Chinese New Year celebrations and the Annual Road Run combined together. I was, as usual, in charge of the sound system, but this time round, I decided to participate in the run. It was a new 3.6 km route, with quite a few upslopes. I gave it my best, despite the fact that in the last few weeks, the longest distance I ran was 2.6 km only. I finished the route in slightly under 18 min, and though I wasn't in the top ten league, I thought the timing wasn't too bad. Based on this timing, my 2.4 km timing would be under 12 min, and possibly faster since it is a shorter distance than 3.6 km, so taking proportion isn't accurate. That is a far cry from army days when I was managing 9.35 min, but hey, it at least is a pass. I think I should go and clear IPPT soon while I'm still having the momentum of jogging regularly and get some peace of mind.

After the celebrations ended, I went down to Marine Parade's Kbox with my gf and two more colleagues for K lunch. Unfortunately we got there around 12 plus, and we could only sing till about 2 pm, but it was still enjoyable. However, the shortness of it leaves me wanting more. Haha. I must practise Cao Ge's songs - they are nice but darn hard to sing.

I headed down to the Furniture Mall with my gf after the karaoke session, and I bought a L-couch for the upcoming living room. The couch costs a beastly $2100 thereabouts, which ironically costs more than my imported bed, but I think comfort is vital, so I am willing to spend that kind of money. The couch has a high back and can support the neck and head well, which I want, especially for watching my anime! Haha.

I went to meet my pastor a second time with my gf back at Marine Parade again. Essentially, that means an impending green light. Yep, this is going to be one happening year.

Tue 13 Feb

Tuesdays are fairly packed, but I was suddenly tasked to relieve a sick colleague of her lab session, and my timetable for today seemed almost back to back. I found enough time to go out for lunch with a couple of colleagues who were advising me on renovations and the like. Since most of the staff comprise of people older than me, I actually have many sources of information to look out for.

I went to meet my G12 brother Collin after lessons were over for a financial review. I am not cash rich like other people, hence I can only invest my CPF funds, but it is still comforting to know that the investment is bringing in returns, and at least higher than if it were left sitting in the Ordinary and Special Accounts. It is especially good to work with someone I can fully trust in financial matters.

Wed 14 Feb

It is Valentine's Day today, and the school was bustling with excitement, overflowing with soft toys, flowers and balloons, as usual. A student from another class actually called me on my handphone to ask for permission to give flowers to a student in my class during my lesson. Well, there was an interruption and an uproar, but at least the guy was courteous enough to ask me for permission first. I bought lollipops for my class, and I also received some little gifts from my students. A colleague was remarking that times have really changed. Students in the past, according to her, spent more effort making cards or gifts, and as the years go by, the students who actually give presents are fewer, and seemingly less thoughtful. I think I have too few years of experience in teaching, so I guess I'll have to monitor for a few more years to ascertain whether she is correct. Heh. Anyway, the chemistry department did a 'cruel' thing today by conducting the SPA practical examination for planning in the afternoon, to the dismay of many I reckon.

After school, I went out with my gf. We didn't really celebrate the occasion extravagantly, like other couples; we went to Sakuraya Fish Mart at Parkway Parade to eat sashimi, sushi and handrolls. The salmon and the swordfish sashimi were excellent beyond measure. High grade stuff. After eating the california handroll there, I think unless I want to eat softshell crab or something, I would give Sakae a miss and come here instead. Getting one slab of salmon, which easily makes about 2-3 red plates at Sakae, costs as low as 12 bucks, and for better quality.

We went to shop around a bit as well, and even though I decided to shelve the purchases of appliances for my new place, I chanced upon a good deal at Harvey Norman, and ordered a 40-inch LCD TV, with a home theatre system thrown in. In any case, I was impressed by the service of the sales executive who came to me, in that he was friendly, candid, and gave frank advice, recommending good and cheap sets to me rather than pushing for bigger sales. Although he was stationed at the TV side, he also explained and introduced to me some good washing machines and fridges, which I think these days, many salesmen would just redirect you to someone else in charge. I think nowadays I am just walking around, and waiting for God to throw some good deals into my lap. So far so good, I must say.

Sun 11 Feb

Today the whole college was mobilized to do old clothes collection. Early in the morning, we headed out to each of our assigned areas to collect newspapers and old clothes. At first, my class was working so fast I thought we would surely finish early. At 11.30 am, we were done with our 4th last block. What we did was that I would stay back with all the collected items of one block while my students go to the next block, and when the lorry came, I helped to load up. So at 11.30 am, I was there, waiting for the lorry.

The lorry came at 3 pm.

I was hungry and frustrated, sitting there on a stack of old newspapers for more than 3 hours. At 11.30 am, the navigator of the lorry which was serving my area said that they were held up at the container to unload the stuff from the lorry. After half an hour, they were still there, and the navigator requested another lorry to be sent to us. It didn't come. This went back and forth till 2 plus when a lorry went to pick up the stuff from my students waiting at the last few blocks. My whole class came over to wait with me, hungry and all, because the lorry was full, and we needed another one for the stuff I was watching over. Only around that time did I find out that the reason for the delay was that the lorries were sent to another area where there was a block with the same number as mine. The only thing was that when I told them my block number, I also told them my sector which the people in charge had mapped out. So unless even that was a mistake, somewhere somehow somebody screwed up. The irritating thing was that I won't be able to find out where things went wrong.

I had lunch with my class at MacDonald's nearby. The funny thing was that the cashier actually keyed in the price of a student meal for me, and I had to correct her. Like I always say to my friends, I think I have reached an age where something like that feels like a genuine compliment. Anyway, we were hearing this cat meowing away above us, sounding like it was in the ceiling. After a while, the manager came with a ladder and removed the ceiling boards, and out came a big rat-trap with a small kitten trapped in it. I think the rats must be laughing away when they scurried past. After lunch, I went to Parkway Parade with my class to play pool with them. I was quite off-form actually. I think I have not been playing at a healthy frequency to maintain my standard. From the way this year looks, I doubt that would be a fact that would change. To make things worse, Classic Pool does not provide powder, which for me, is a bad, bad thing. Still, I think it was fun hanging out with my class.

Mon 12 Feb

I think the Lord truly blessed me, and greatly at that. When I was praying over the flat, and I hadn't been inside it before, the Lord showed me a mental picture of what the house looked like, and I listed down all the things I saw as things to pray through, with my gf. Out of all the things I saw and asked for, almost everything came to pass. Good floor tiling, wooden parquet flooring from the staircase upwards, smoothened walls, L-box ceilings for the living room, and a bathtub. All those I saw, listed, and then witnessed today. I thought I saw dark marble toilets, but the colour was something closer to pinkish brown marble. I thought the kitchen cabinets would be darkwood, but there were no cabinets. I didn't know that the woodwork would also be removed when the flat was sold to HDB. The odd thing was that I saw greek columns in my mind when I was praying, but I thought it so ludicrous I dismissed it. But it was there. Two half columns crafted into the walls of the living room. In any case, I think God has granted the underlying prayer, which is to reduce renovation costs. The Lord provides abundantly! What more can I ask for?

After we were done snapping photos of all the corners, nooks and crannies so that I could go plan a more detailed renovation, we headed down to Marina Square and Millenium Walk to check out more furniture. We ended up buying a very nice round dining table from Barang Barang at a good discount, so that was great. We went to explore Millenium Walk as well, checking out the Harvey Norman there, and also Space. I read about Space in an interior design magazine, and the furniture looks pretty good, so hence the trip there. When we walked in, we were totally ignored. I suppose it was because we were wearing three quarts and t-shirts that as we wandered through the big store space, passing four salespersons, we were treated as invisible. I suppose it was because we didn't look like we could afford the furniture, which was true. Buying two L-couches from the shop would cost as much as getting a first hand Hyundai Matrix. I think my suspicions were confirmed when we were on our way out, and a Caucasian came in, and the saleslady went over to say hi.

If I ever am rich enough someday, I will make sure I still do my shopping in slack attire, and give business to people with better service attitude and who do not assume spending power based on looks.

In the evening, I had dinner with my G12 brothers, and our sister cell's girls at Pasir Panjang Food Centre. One of the girls' brother-in-law has a steamboat business going, so we went to try the food. We had quite a sizable portion for $7, and the chicken was really tender and juicy. Some secret recipe apparently. I am not used to this kind of steamboat though. I prefer buffet style, so that I can eat maximum meat and seafood. Bwahaha.

I went down to the Furniture Mall with my gf in the afternoon, which is a stone's throw away from my current place. We were just planning to take a walk and check out the costs so that I can update my budget spreadsheet. We decided to cover the place from the third floor downwards, and upon reaching the third floor, I noticed a new shop, Mattress Atrium, in the corner which we were going towards. The guy in there was very friendly and introduced us to the beds the shop was carrying. He recommended us this imported bed with the frame made in Australia, and the mattress, from the United States. He invited us to check the bed frames made in Singapore to see the difference in quality, and the imported one was genuinely more sturdy. We asked him for the price, and I saw him keying in the price of the bed frame and mattress, and when I saw $3890, I was prepared to reject it, thinking that the whole thing after discount would still be above 3k, which was way above budget.

"$1890," he said.

My jaw nearly dropped. It turned out that this guy, Juo, was the owner of the shop, and it had just opened for 3 weeks. He was telling us that this price was warehouse price, and that after this weekend, he would not be anchoring the shop anymore, and the sales people he employed cannot give this low a price. Apparently, the parent company is not a furniture company, but a shipping one, and he was explaining to us it is because his company owns shipping vessels that the imported beds could come in at a low price. His point was that since it was a new shop, he doesn't mind pushing down the price so that his shop's name can spread by word of mouth. Furthermore, because I only need the bed in August thereabouts, which I estimate to be when the renovations can be completed, he threw in a quilt mattress protector (not cheap for queen-sized bed), and two latex support pillows. By my rough estimation, that effectively could be worth close to $200. With free delivery and installation.

I bought it straight away.

The bed was stylish and comfortable, and to me, for an imported bed of that quality and appearance, that price is a steal. Later, as we toured the place and casually checked out other beds, we really thought that it was a superb deal, especially because we didn't see any other beds that tickled our fancy. And it was from the first shop we gravitated to. I think this whole house and furniture hunting has really shown me God's blessings tremendously.

It is really quite exciting to be shopping around for furniture. The shopping part itself is interesting, in that I am getting more ideas what I can do with my new place. More importantly, it is the idea that I'm getting a place of my own that's exciting. All through my life, which amounts to 28+ years now, I have been staying in a rental flat (from HDB). Because the flats (my current place is the third one so far) were rented, I never saw a point to doing them up nicely, even though I have thousands of ideas of interior decor in my head, since they were all temporary. Now, it seems like I can turn my ideas into reality, except by the constraint of money, of course, and hence, the great anticipation. I'd better do up the new flat really good, because apparently, quite a few friends are expecting something spectacular from me, since I am supposed to be creative and artistic. Heh.

Thu 8 Feb

I managed to get permission from my HOD to go to school later, so I went with my mum to HDB in the morning. We were early, so we sat there monitoring the teletext screens as if we were watching the stock market. I even bumped into a church acquaintance who was doing nursery duty at the same time my gf and I were. Eventually, it got to my turn, and I went in and booked the flat, after filling gazillion forms and paying $2000 (ouch!) booking fee. The lady at the counter informed us that the previous owner hacked away some walls to enlarge the bedroom, so now I have to re-evaluate and design the layout again. On a more positive note, if the previous owner had the money to hack the walls and lay marble tiles, the house may be done up pretty well. If this is true, then this flat would be the perfect God-send, saving a huge sum on renovation.

We'll get to view the interiors of the flat on Monday. In the meantime I have been claiming what I envision different aspects of the flat to be like, and I'll keep praying on till I see it on Monday.

I have updated my website to include a new webpage which contains some information about my G12 leader, brothers and children, and links to their blogs and sites. It can be found here at Winning Twelve. I have also updated my Living Room main site to include a link to the page, and it is in the shape of a soccer ball. Obviously it is a spoof and pun of popular game Winning Eleven.

I have finally finished another anime series, which took a while since I was busy. The series I had just finished is School Rumble Semester 2, a continuation of School Rumble, a teenage schoollife comedy. As of the last season, a high school student Harima, who had fallen for his classmate Tsukamoto who had fallen for her classmate Karasuma, did not manage to confess his love, and is still trying to do so in season 2. The whole plot is absurd, and ridiculously funny, so if you enjoy this kind of comedy, you will like School Rumble. Now it's on to Gankutsukou, otherwise known as the Count of Monte Cristo, and nope, it is not quite a remake of the literature classic.

Fri 9 Feb

Today was a mad rush for me to complete some administration, because the deadline was today. After the hustle and bustle, I managed to squeeze out some time to draw out the entire floor plan in Excel, so that I can plan the interiors, and verify on Monday whether it were possible. In the afternoon, six of us colleagues headed down to Katong, to a restaurant named Astons, for lunch. It specializes in western food, and the price is quite affordable. Although my colleague recommended the steak, I ordered pork chop because I was dead hungry, wanted rice, and thougth steak wouldn't go with rice. The pork chop was quite alright, but I think I would peg the standard at New York, New York's pork chop, so it still fell short. The mushroom soup was good, but my gf's salmon spaghetti was disappointing. The salmon reeked of fish stink, and the spaghetti was virtually tasteless. We were there to celebrate Lena's birthday actually, so here are some photos.

The birthday girl with the cake...






















The female quartet...
















Four of us headed back to college, and then my gf and I went for our Masters' Course as usual. I was struggling to keep awake at first, whereupon some ideas for my own research popped into my head, and then I was wide awake. I think I would actually enjoy what I am researching, since it is my devised game. Hehe.

Tue 6 Feb

It was a long day at school today. I cleared some administration, and marked some SPA scripts, and had a tutorial with my class where I let them play the card game I devised. It was a mixed response I gathered, but from my observations, those that didn't enjoy it much were unprepared. Food for thought. I had a practical session with my relief year 1 class, and then went back to prepare some things for tomorrow's finals for the chemistry competition.

I called HDB a couple of times to ask about different things, which I couldn't find on the website. That meant either the website was unfriendly to search, or not comprehensive enough. I squeezed out time to go for a jog, so I guess so far, I am keeping to my resolution of exercise. The true test of my determination will come once the weather becomes hot, humid and unbearable.

Wed 7 Feb

Today was another long day in school. Lessons were almost back to back, but the civics lesson today was a mass talk done by some external speaker, who was talking about the Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti issue. He was quite entertaining, and got the students in an uproar. In any case, I think I'm quite a balanced person. I think my brain is a waffle with spaghetti coils in each compartment. Heh.

There was a really long staff conference, and then a few of us went to set up for the semifinals and finals of my card game. The whole thing took way longer than anticipated, and I left the school at 7+, hungry and tired, and unable to make it to the leaders' meeting in time, since I told my mum to prepare dinner for me already.

So exciting! The flat I want is still available! Tomorrow I'm going with my mum to select the flat. By my estimation, the keys should arrive in 3 months, and renovation work may take another 2 to 3 months, so I guess I'll be able to move by late July to August. I'm going to turn from a Centralite to an Eastie. A Far Eastie at that, since it is at the end of the east MRT line - Pasir Ris. I wonder if I can adjust from having Bugis, Cityhall and Orchard in my backyard (sort of) to having...um...Downtown East instead?

Today is the day of friendly cats. After school was over relatively early, my gf and I went off to view a few more flats, but so far, we were still most keen on one flat we viewed earlier on. In Tampines, I saw this cat with really pretty fur rolling on the grass. I made my cat-call, and it immediately responded. Oddly, she walked one round along the bricks and came to me instead of cutting across the grass. The fur is very clean and soft, and she doesn't seem to be a stray, but I wouldn't know.

Pretty hor? She actually followed me quite a distance before giving up and finding shade underneath a van.






















We headed to Pasir Ris to check out the flat we like one more time, and that friendly neighbour came to speak to us and informed us that there were other visitors who did not seem as interested, amongst other things. He is an enthusiastic and helpful old man, I must say. We went back to Tampines for dinner and to shop a while, before I accompanied her home. While we were there, we bumped into a lady who worked as a receptionist for our school's general office, and she had since left to go into property. She is raking in the big bucks right now, earning I think easily ten times of what she was. She is a very devout Christian, and was encouraging us a lot. She kept repeating, "Trust in the Lord" throughout, and I take it that God sent her to tell me that I would get the flat I like. Heh.

On our way back to her block, we passed by this black and white cat which reminded me of cow cat back at my block. I made a cat call at it, and it came right over. It looks like a very young cat, and it was really friendly. It kept going towards my gf because she was carrying some food, but would then come back to me to be stroked. Maybe I have an affinity with cats of this kind of fur. Haha. So far, the cats in Bedok have been very unfriendly to me, and had not responded to my cat calls. Most of the time, they looked spooked when they furtively look around for the cat which made the sound, and can't find any. This is Bedok's cow cat.


















It's quite an affectionate cat, but very energetic. I'll go play with it again. If I can find it.

Sat 3 Feb

I went for a 2.6 km jog in the morning, and it felt good. At least I'm not aching horribly after the run. It is interesting to note that I had diarrhoea several times later in the day, so I'm surprised I still could have jogged. I met my gf to go check out many more flats. We found two more that we liked, so now got more options to pray over. Haha. Flat hunting is exhausting, but actually quite interesting. Too bad we can't see the insides else I think it would be even more exciting. Now it feels like if I'm just taking a bet on the renovation previously done.

In the evening, I met my boys to go to the Word Encounter at Touch Centre, where they played the audio bible of the New Testament. We were quite late, so we were in time only from 2 John onwards, but man, hearing Revelations narrated, with sound effects, was a solid experience. Although I must say the audio recording makes heaven sounds like it's full of soul music (hmm...no pun intended) or R&B.

Sun 4 Feb

I squeezed in a haircut before I headed off to church. I was supposed to meet a graduated student of mine, and I was late, but when I got there, he was nowhere to be found. He did not pick up my calls or reply my sms either, and much later, he called back to explain that his church service just ended. I felt like I rushed like mad for nothing, especially since he could have informed me that it was no longer possible to meet me.

After service, I met my pastor and his family, along with my gf. We met to discuss some values and temperament profiling, which was strikingly accurate. We ate dinner at the House of Sundanese Food (I think that's the name), and I had mee goreng. It tasted quite good, and was reasonably priced. My pastor is now working on a new project, and is roping me in to help. So exciting! I think this year is a year of many interesting ventures for me. I think I'll ride on the exciting chain of events, and try to publish my poetry this year. I'll make it even more happening! Heh.

Thu 1 Feb

I spent the whole day keying in the survey results, and doing a detailed analysis of the responses using excel, and heavy Visual Basic programming to get the file to process the data in the way that I want. I did a combined class in the afternoon because my colleague fell ill, and I released my own class early by a bit even though I wanted to do tutorial because they looked so fatigued after the mock spa that nothing seemed to be going in their heads.

Although I did not faithfully catch the 7 pm show, but I sincerely hope that the show is not endorsed by, or made on the request of, the Ministry of Education. Else a teacher would be expected to become a private eye, stalk students to find out more about them, lend them huge sums of money, and fulfil the teaching load. I really can't foresee any of my female colleagues or friends I know in teaching dressing up in school uniform to go and fool a guy who had been harrassing their students, so as to retrieve whatever item that was used to blackmail them. And I thought GTO was exaggerated. Little did I expect this, something (very, very loosely) based on local context.

Fri 2 Feb

This has got to be the most exciting and abrupt day of the year so far. I was late to leave the staff room for assembly talk, and on my way out, my colleague rushed past me, then stopped to tell me that there was a Walk In Selection open today, and that she was applying for urgent leave to go. I had almost no time to think about it as she was rushing me to decide if I wanted to go as well, and I tagged along with her, after trying to find some heads of department to sign a form, which in the end, was apparently not very necessary since neither of us were missing any lessons. We took a cab down to HDB hub, and got there by 8.05 am. Supposedly, the place opens at 8 am. And my queue number was...

510.

I couldn't quite believe that in the span of 5 min, or maybe 35 min if they opened earlier for the crowd, 509 people had gone by. Later, on talking to a lady applicant there, I found out that the people who were in the top 100 were there since Wed. Now get this: the email alert from HDB regarding the Walk In Selection went out at 6 am in the morning. So it really makes one wonder how wonderful it must be to know insider people working in HDB hub. Or unless they were in fact 509 prophets/fortune tellers. It was a mad rush, as with all good things worth queuing for in Singapore, such as Hello Kitty, Singapore Idol, and whatever not.

I went back to school after securing an appointment next Thu, and made it in time to help my colleague settle some administration with the new tablet PCs. I was also approached by a colleague who wanted me to help her design some stuff. I am interested, but helping her implies the taking on of another standing committee, and I am already one committee above allocation. Maybe I can hope for a bigger performance bonus next year? Hmm.

My gf went down to check out flats with me. I want to get a flat soon because my rental contract will be up this year, and naturally I would want the input of the person who would inevitably live in the same house. We shortlisted some flats in Pasir Ris, since it was along the way to Meridien Junior College for our course. We checked out two flats fairly near the MRT station, and we both noticed different signs that pointed to the same thing for both flats - the previous owners owed loan sharks money. We were quite dismayed since this Walk In Selection was to sell repossessed flats. We went for our tutorial as usual, and the lecturer was this interesting guy who did many interesting demonstrations throughout his lesson, but overshot the time.

After the lesson, we headed off to check one more unit near the MRT station, and this time round, we found a pretty nice place. The neighbours I approached were super friendly, and they came out to talk to us and gave us information. Now, I guess I just have to pray really hard that by my time, I could still opt for that flat. Or something better. We ate dinner at White Sands, at this Wan Zai Hong Kong style cafe on the second floor. The food was quite good actually, especially the wan ton noodles. My baked rice was a huge portion with half a chicken in it, and was not bad but not spectacular. It was quite worth the money though.