happy chinese new year

After the overwhelming response to my christmas tree on my x'mas post... how can i not have something on to celebrate chinese new year as well... Ha


Yes it's finally here. Chinese New Year. Four days of holidays. But a mountain pile of work. But lets not obscure the focus here. So go on and enjoy yourselves during this festive period and i wish everyone a great and abundant new year.

I know i'm still young and no where close to obtaining the "license" to give out ang-baos but this is my blog so i would like to give an ang-bao to you. May it give you good fortune and good luck for the coming year. It's the thought that counts anyway. Hehe.




So go on and enjoy this break and celebrate with all Chinese around the world.




~johncolombus.blogspot.com~ 恭祝大家新年快乐，万事如意，心想事成，身体健康，财源滚滚来，狗年旺旺旺！！

we are not stupid

"Celebrated" my friends' birthdays at Settler's (yes again) yesterday. Then had our treat after a long long wait. Then desserts. Very full. Growing very fat already. Thanks HT ZL and KL.


When was the last time you praised somebody?


When was the last time somebody praised you?


Very long ago right.



Yes. Just came back from watching this. All thanks to CNY and people not wanting to qian guo nian. Haha. Not a bad show actually. In fact i would say it's quite commendable. Got funny... got sad... got emotional... got stupid... got lame stuff. Not bad. Cast similar to "I Not Stupid" for those who watched that but characters are all different. Enjoyed myself after a few tough days at school. Maybe 4 stars out of 5. (I'm not someone who'll say something like 10 stars out of 5... haha sorry.) For those who don't mind watching chinese or local movies this might be a not so bad movie to check out.

没有教不好的学生，只有不会教的老师(父母)。

So lame... Cool man... Whatever.


Third week of semester ending in 24 hours' time. And i have registered like 10% of stuff covered thus far. What does this translate to?? BIG BIG TROUBLE. Havn't done any tutorials also. Haha. It's not supposed to end (or should i say start) like this. Time to wake up??

Maybe.



And finally to end this off with my fave food at the moment.



Yeah. Long live bak kua!! Bak kua wan shui!!

So lame... Cool man... Whatever.

jamx prelims

It is truly a great feeling to enjoy when so many people work hard together to achieve something. JamX06 Prelims went past us this weekend with the announcement of the names of the eight bands competing in the finals.

Faces quite a bit of problems during the process. Especially on the first day when it rained not once... not twice but three times. The actual performances were supposed to commence at 4.30pm after a whole morning of sound checking. And as zhun as it gets it started to pour (yes not only rain) at 4.30. But as they say the show must still go on. The rain also means there were no crowd to watch the bands perform. After a while the rain stopped and people started gathering at our stage. And as we thought all was fine... disaster struck again. It started to rain again. So the crowd was gone again. This whole process was to happen once more later on in the evening and the third time more heavy than the other two. However we still managed to complete the performances of the 19 bands.

Second day was better. A bit better. We were supposed to start around 5pm but it rained again at 4.30pm. However we faced another problem this time with a miscommunication with one of the judges and he was running very late for the event. But we also couldn't start without him. So we waited and waited... until the rain also stop. Thank god. And there were no more raindrops for the rest of the night. The judge arrived in due time and we kicked things off with the first of 17 bands for the day. And what a marked difference the rain (or rather the lack of it) made. There was quite a big crowd today. And that seems to give everyone involved more energy. The atmosphere was completely different from day one if you ask me. And it was good. Also thanks to the sound engineer present i learnt a lot about the instruments and band music today.

Really nice of him. Now then i know those speakers and monitors on stage are only meant for the band members to hear themselves and not for the audience. But a lot of bands do not know that and thus complained a lot. It is the balancing at the speakers that really matter.

It was a great feeling to be involved in the organisation of this event actually. Enjoyed myself. One times FINALS to go on 5th Feb 06 (need to advertise a bit what haha). Hopefully it will be an even better night. Do come and support on that day. We'll be at *scape behind orchard cineleisure. The finalists were chosen from 36 bands so are all not bad one. Haha. Yeah. But now very tired. Tomorrow 9-5 day with no break. Will die. Especially during the lab. Bless me.



JamX 2006 FINALS

Date: 5th February 2006 (Sunday)
Venue: *SCAPE (Behind Orchard Cineleisure)
Time: 5.00pm onwards

Special Guest: Ronin, S'pore Idol Top 3
Host: Carrie Chong

JamX 2006 !! Come support...

PRELIMINARIES

21st - 22nd January 2006

(Saturday - Sunday)

NATIONAL YOUTH PARK

4.30PM -- 9.00PM

Come join us!!

FINALS

5th February 2006

(Sunday)

*SCAPE

(Behind Orchard Cineleisure)

5.00PM -- 9.30PM

Guests : Ronin, Singapore Idol Top 3 (Taufik, Slyvester, Olinder) ....

Host : Carrie Chong.

tough semester ahead

It has been a long time since i last posted. Devoid of ideas. Devoid of words. Writer's block maybe.

Goodbye YK. Thanks for coming back. Goodbye Settlers.

This will be a tough semester. I can just feel it. Monday 9-5 with labs. Tuesday 9-5. Shagged. And no more mood and energy and spirit for wednesday thursday and friday. So very the tired. All my tutorials on odd weeks. Which just so happens to be next week. Damn. A bit of regret there. This weekend "burn". Because of JamX. Hopefully all goes well.

This will be a tough semester. MA3501 maths module. My archilles heel. I know... engineers supposed to be good with maths blah blah blah. I'm not good. Average at best. Period. ME2135 Fluids II. Continuation of Fluids I which i kinda buanged last semester. Just great. And it even "upgrade" to 4MCs somemore. Great. ME2142 Feedback Control Systems. Heavy involvement of mathematics again. Siao liao. Similar to EE module. Double siao liao. ME2101. No exams. Yeah. Two tests. Hmmm... lecturer reminds me of a friend. A bit of art... a bit of mechanics... also not very sure what it exactly is. KIV my judgement on it. ME2114 Mechanics II. Another continuation module. But whereas last semester content was majority a repeat of year one this semester's content is totally different and till now i'm already lost. And it's only week 2. GEK2001 Changing Landscapes. SS module taking as a gem. 450 points. Sucks big time. Dont wanna S/U this. Gotta do better. So far nothing much. But already got two big assignments on hand and a little extra "contest". And it's only week 2. Who studies in week 2?? Ok... a lot of people actually. This is going to be a tough semester.

Tutorials starting next week. Gotta start attempting. Cannot be like last semester. But where to find the time to both do the tutorials and sleep. I love to sleep sadly.

Sent my friend off at the airport on sunday afternoon. Went out from saturday night onwards. Prata... winning eleven. Never sleep. Monday and tuesday very long days. I'm very tired now. Really.

eight hours to new semester

Well... it has being a while since i wrote anything. Since the start of the year actually. And my first lecture of this new semester starts in 8.5 hours time. Time flies. A week ago i was still rather quite enthusiatic about going back to school and studying. But this week that thought took a 180 degrees turn for the worse. Maybe because of the shitty timetable. Monday 9-5. No break in between. For some weeks. What kind of undergrad must i be. Superman?? 450 points for my gem. Feel a bit cheated and buay song. HT i tell you this better be worth it. And i can't even call him a cheapskate anymore. Nothing going right. Well hopefully can discover a bit of enthusium soon or else it'll be the same old story all over again.

Did quite a lot this past week... the last week of the holidays. Felt quite busy so in actual fact should have quite a lot to write here. But no. I have no idea what to write. Writer's block?? Maybe. Standard of english dropping?? Definitely. Well here are some of the things still managing to stay afloat in my walnut brain.

Went Settler's twice. Yes the place where you pay to play boardgames. Had fun. Company was nice. Introduced to a game called "Jungle Speed" by another friend. Had a lot of fun when in actual fact it is quite a mindless game. Yes i love mindless games. I hate to think. But another game about settlements and roads which requires quite a bit of thinking was fun too. But cannot win. Not clever enough it seems. Jungle speed. Can try if you come across it. Sorry to settler's for almost breaking your tables.

Was on my way to bedok this morning to collect old newspaper and clothes when i chanced upon the you-should-already-know-now emergency exercise. Was told at gombak that the train does not pass through from outram to bugis. I asked the uncle in pink then how do i get to bedok. He said i should take the train to woodlands (which is the other direction by the way) and take a bus to tampines and then transfer back via train to bedok. Doesn't make sense to me. Sounds stupid. But then was told later by a friend that it takes only 20 minutes from woodlands to tampines. So actually its not a bad suggestion. Not sure how accurate this information is though. Anyways my friend who i was meeting to go together was late and by the time he arrived the exercise was almost over and we enjoyed a smooth and quiet ride to bedok straight.

But the rain was terrible. Rained for the whole day. Still raining as i am writing now. Good weather. IF I AM STAYING AT HOME. For your information i was quite wet at the end of the day.

We were collecting old newspaper and clothes for a school project and we managed to earn $500+ from 10 blocks and around 6 hours of work. Not bad actually. Though got a lot of flats no one wants to open the door though it was damn obvious that people are inside. Don't blame them though. Maybe i will do the same. We had around 16 or 17 people so the turnover was quite good. Also took a lorry-back ride in the pouring rain from one part of bedok to another and got so wet it was fun. Perhaps the funnest (told ya my english id deproving) of the day. Got one auntie asked me if i am a karang guni... do i look like one!? No right. Maybe in the future but definitely not now right.

I know i got a lot more to write but can't remember much now. Short-term memory... my apologies. Yah ate seafood crabs at seng siong foodcourt the other day. Not bad. Long time since i had crab. Watched a old chinese ghost file at my friend's house after that. Corny show. Didn't even complete one disk due to a certain somebody. Will be some time till we have fun again like that i think.

My friend said he finds it hard to cry. I don't know why but i have a lot of tears these few days. Can tear while trying to sleep. A bit lah not the type that can start flowing. Maybe can sell some to him. And i say again being afraid of heights does not make you a pussy. Period.

2006--01

Had been a busy few days. Very busy. Finally have the energy and mind to sit down here to write something. Did a lot over the past few days but ended up sleeping very little. It's a long time since i've slept so little over the days. But it's Ok. School is starting in a week's time and so it's another kind of slogging and tiredness.

Met up with a number of people over the days. For some it had really been a long long time. Some a long time. Some Ok lah. Haha. But nonetheless i had fun. Be it eating, walking around headlessly, having drinks, bbq, drinking, supper, basketball, movies, boardgames, ice cream... i really had a good time.

At least now i know where mustafa is.

At least now i know how the guys are doing.

Spent new year's eve at orchard doing nothing. Very crowded along the ngee ann stretch where there's a party going on. Was on our way to cineleisure and had to duck and walk with eyes wide open to get out of the way of the foam that people spray. What's the fun in that i also don't know. Don't really wanna get myself wet and dirty. Though the ground was very slippery. And the street was quite dark. Some of you might know.

Caught "Merry Christmas" at cine. The french flick about the ceasefire that occured on christmas eve on the warfront during world war 1 or 2 i not very sure. Sorry... i'm not a very good history student. That's why i took geography. Not a bad film actually. Half expected myself to fall asleep as it was already 2am and i was already running on ery low fuel over the few days beforehand but that didn't really happen. Except for the early part where i really did not know what was happening the rest of the film was fine. Supposed to be sad and all but i found it to be quite funny and heartwarming at certain parts. Maybe it's just me. The end was a bit sad where they were all punished. But the middle part was funny.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

To myself. Haha. One year older. Time to grow up.

To YK. I still think it's a strange thing that we were classmates.

To ZH. For being a year older than me. Well... almost.

To all january babies. It's a good month. Because i think it is.

To all capricornians. It's a good sign. Because it is.

Had dinner on my birthday with a bunch of good friends. Really great to know all of you despite all our differences. Thanks for the time and dinner every year. No one else bothers. Haha. I'll try to use the "thing" you all gave me. Haha. Take some getting used to. Had a great time. Thanks YK SO ET KL KW.

You'll meet a lot of people in your life but it's funny how only some become good friends. So be thankful. Some you never thought possible as you got off to a bad start (ahem sorry for the batteries). Some because you've gone through so much together. Some you know will become your friend.

It's great that all of us managed to survive another year. And it's really amazing how time flies. It has been 10 years since sec one. It has been 4 years since i enlisted and almost 2 years to the day i ORDed. Known most of you for 8-10 years. It has been 8 years since the day i was condemned by my form teacher for "something". It has been five years since the day i can actually run. It has been almost four years since the day i felt the accomplishment of doing the first chin up myself without any assistance. It has been almost four years since we were treated like shit and "tortured" but came out so much stronger. It has been almost three years since we were enjoying ourselves on the eve of one our "greatest" day but was caught and charged on the day itself. Funny. It has been almost two and a half year since we fell into that stupid drain. Really sorry about that.

I could go on forever. But i don't really have a very good memory. At least not when compared to a lot of people. Definitely not when compared to mr 'my brain-is-full-of-shit'.

Just some random thoughts. I know it it has been a hard read.

Resolutions for 2006
(not that i have a habit for keeping them)

1. To stay healthy.

2. Actually... to stay alive.

3. To grow up and be better. Better in everything.

4. To cherish and care for the people around me. My family... my friends.

5. To be thankful for what i have.

6. To not be jealous for what i don't.

7. To sleep less.

8. To work more.

9. To work harder and better my results.

10. To find my passion.

11. To open up.

12. To forgive.


Enjoy your year ahead. May it be better than your last.