Back.

Yes I’m back in Singapore already. Didn’t really update for the past few days because of this devil by the name of laziness.

Saturday was spent seeing relatives and walking around Mong Kok (again). Then went to Lan Kwai Fong in the evening and I was very happy to go there, even though I was alone. The great thing abolut Lan Kwai Fong was of course all the pretty people there, and I had a nice time walking around and observeing people.

Went to Wong Tai Sin temple on Sunday and offered some joss sticks, while also getting my fortunes told. Apparently Wong Tai Sin had it that my dad would probably be OK this year if he doesn’t start thinking about crazy things, mum would probably have to watch her health for small but niggling illness, sis would be successful in her university application. The most important thing probably would be for me – I would be having a great year in general, and it would be better for me to move westwards out of Singapore for my career (Wong Tai Sin said China would be a good option) and as far as getting a girlfriend is concerned, I need to take the initiative if I find someone of my liking. Nice advice – almost a confirmation of whatever that I was thinking about anyway! After Wong Tai Sin I went back to Kwun Tong to try to get some Lao Po Bing, and realised that the Korean actress Song Hye Gyo was going to have an apperance there! So I was standing there, waiting for the actress to appear. It’s like, since everyone’s been telling me how pretty she is I think perhaps it would be nice to try to see her in person. And man, she was indeed very pretty. She had the very classy type of beauty and I think that’s the kind of beauty that would blow people away. I admit I got somewhat blown away by her beauty, but I didn’t exactly think that she was a very warm character per se, because she didn’t seem entirely interested while on stage. Probably the language barrier was a problem, but she still didn’t seem to be as composed and elegant as Lee Young Ae. Oh well, it’s good enough to have seen her anyway, so I don’t think I can complain.

Then went to Lan Kwai Fong again at night to watch Man United vs Wigan in the League Cup final. Would have stayed at home to watch if I had cable TV.

Then Monday was the day to come home! The flight was not very nice again because of the constant turbulence, but at least the flight wasn’t really full, so the stewardesses bothered to put up a smile. Again, I would not choose to fly budget again if I can afford it in the future. It’s not just about the flight, but the entire experience. To start things off, I did not even get to board the plane from a proper boarding gate in Hong Kong! I was made to wait in a general waiting hall, and then when it was time to board the plane, I was ferried to the plane which was quite a distance away from the terminal itself – the first time in 9 years that I actually had to board the plane by climbing the stairs in Hong Kong!

Anyway this trip was nice, just that the last few days were rather cold and I didn’t really have enough warm clothing on me. The good thing was I got out in time because apparently the temperature is going to drop to 10 degrees tomorrow! I probably would have frozen if I were to stay there!

Have been real busy since coming home yesterday, and it seemed like I have a million and one things waiting for me to settle. Oh man.

Interview.

After the written test yesterday, today I sat through an interview. I think I did OK, so now I just have to wait for them to think I’m good enough for the next round of the selection process.

Came back home at around 12 after the interview, and slept through most of the afternoon cos I was so tired. Contemplated staying at home and not do a single thing, but then I spent so much money to come over here I think staying at home isn’t going to do myself much justice. So off I went, and now I’m sitting inside my favourite Internet cafe in Mong Kok again. After my time here is up I probably will head over to Langham Place to try to get that bag for my sister. If I can’t find it there then I probably will have to cross over to the other side of the harbour (probably Causeway Bay).

Still got places to go: Stanley, Repulse Bay, Wong Tai Sin… not enough time!

Should be seeing some relatives tomorrow.

Cold.

I am beginning to question my own intelligence in not bring my sweater over to Hong Kong. It’s cold here! I resisted bringing the thick sweater because I thought a temperature range of 15 to 20 degrees do not call for a thick sweater – how wrong I was! Just now when I got out of my house to come over to Mong Kok, with just my polo t-shirt and a windbreaker, I was chilling from inside out and outside in!

Anyway the test just now was pretty tough, but I think I did kinda OK. Would be going for another interview tomorrow – because I’ll be going back to Singapore on Monday, so I guess I’m kinda lucky. The thing that I was wondering just now during the test was that while some of the people around me looked pretty young, there were some who somehow looked older than me. Oh well, maybe when people dress formally they tend to look slightly older. Maybe that’s the same for me as well!

Sitting in my favourite Internet cafe in Mong Kok right now, and unlike the past few times, today’s really crowded!

Anyway I bought the PSP version of Initial D! Now I’ve got some drifting actions to look forward to on my way back to Singapore. And yes, Ivan – I get what I paid for… serves me right! Hahahaha…

Hong Kong.

After a long flight (not really long, it was about three and a half hours) and a long bus ride, I’m finally at home here in Hong Kong. My impressions for budget airlines took a dive after today, and I’m not going to fly budget again! The crowd on the plane was almost as if that’s the first time ever on an aeroplane, while the air stewardesses didn’t seem to be entirely interested in doing their jobs. Not to mention that everything on board was so damn expensive! I spent most of my time playing Winning Eleven 9 on my PSP, which was good and I didn’t have anyone disturbing me at all!

Arriving back in Hong Kong is always a nice thing, and I’m looking forward to my next few days here. But not before my written test tomorrow. Hope everything’s going to turn out well for me.

Working on a dialup connection now, but I don’t know what’s the connection speed that I’m working on now… hahaha …

I’ll see everyone tomorrow.

Changi Airport Terminal 1.

Yeap, I’m standing in Changi Airport Terminal 1, waiting for my flight to Hong Kong! Didn’t really tell everyone that I’ll be going off this time round, but for those who don’t know then, you know now!

Would be back on Monday, so it’s really just a short getaway trip. In any case, I have some work to attend to over there, so it’s not just a 100% play trip. Whatever it is, I’ll be making my way over to the boarding gate, so I’ll see everyone in Hong Kong!

Can’t believe that this is my fifth time to the Changi Airport within 2 months!

Looking forward to a nice flight and some nice coffee on board…

Discussions.

Went to school early in the morning for the discussion on my Understanding Careers presentation – not very fruitful though we had some headway in our discussions. The general big picture is still not there yet, and I think I have a very frustrated team leader already.

After spending the entire morning at Arts and BizAd, I hopped back over to Computing to meet Dr. Heng, my HYP supervisor, to discuss with him what I want to do for my HYP. Apparently he’s got something rather exciting for me to think about doing. And I think I should give it a serious thought. Perhaps those ideas may be interesting.

Then hopped over to LT7 for a Q&A session on NOC Shanghai and Stockholm. It would be fair to say that some of us managed to sway some of the applicants to think about Shanghai as a possible destination! That can’t be a bad thing.

Collected my box from the post office in the evening! I was very happy! To make things even better, the box came back in one piece, with none of the items inside being torn or damaged! Finally I get to start watching my 东北一家人 DVD after 2 months of buying!

Haven’t really finish packing my stuffs. I think I’ll continue tomorrow.

All these little happenings aside, I think I have some questions going in my head. Not very important questions, it’s more of trying to quench my curiosity. For those interested to know what the questions are, drop me a mail to the usual address.

Will be having a good rest after Thursday. I need that.

Disservice.

Just as I was talking about it yesterday, my box has reached Singapore and it’s sitting comfortably in the Jurong Point post office – I’ll go pick it up tomorrow!

One thing that I’m beginning to realise is that when we feel so strongly about one particular issue, do we really do something about it? Do we push on to make sure something bad doesn’t happen, or do we just withdraw ourselves and try to stay out of the issue? I realised that most of us tend to take the second approach. We withdraw in the light of challenge or difficulties, and not dare to push ourselves on to make a difference. If we don’t want something to happen, we tend to lack the guts and courage to challenge that situation. Worse still, when the bad situation actually happened, all we do is just sit in one corner and moan. We moan from dawn till dusk, but we conveniently forget that when the situation presented us a chance to challenge, we did not take up the challenge. So now when bad things happen, we have no one else to blame except ourselves. Silly, eh?

I think from now onwards I’ll try to adopt the mentality of challenge everything. It may be hard, but at least I try to do something about it if I don’t think that I like what I’m seeing.

Hangover.

Once again, I was punished by myself for the amount of alcohol I downed last night – I felt horrible for the entire day. A stinging headache, giddiness throughout the day, watery eyes, dry throat… man, I don’t think I want to endure this kind of horrible conditions again. Maybe I should really consider quitting drinking. As a result of my bad condition today, I didn’t really do much, to an extent I don’t even remember anything I did today.

The mid-term break is starting, though there really isn’t much break for me per se, as I have project discussions for these few days. Oh well, I haven’t been entirely hardworking at all for this semester so far, and I don’t even know if I can catch up with the amount of work that I’ve conveniently put aside for reasons I don’t even know.

Need to buy a new calculator – my personal one is still in the box on the way back from China. Or is it really coming back? I somehow have a feeling that the box is already lost somewhere…

Zouk.

Just like the last time, I came back from Zouk after horribly wasted myself with the drinking. But unlike the last time, I knew what was happening – I went to supper with some of my juniors (fair enough, almost everyone in school now is a junior to me), took a bus back (yes, a bus) and woke up just in time to get off the bus. So maybe I haven’t really wasted myself so badly. That said, I still feel very bad about being in the state that I’m in now. Like the last time I couldn’t really remember who I talked to, what I said, etc etc. And I almost feel that I’ve let someone down again for being in the state that I’m in right now.

Some updates regarding the fee hike: the entire issue has totally boiled over with people like me, who believe in rationality and putting up an united front, being horribly accused for siding with the student union. I guess some people miss the point completely. Instead of opposing the fee hike, they have chosen to enlarge their agenda by opposing to the fee hike, the university admin, the student union and the rational people like myself at the same time. I won’t say that they are wrong because what they believe in is different from what I believe in. It’s just that they choose to fight a war with many fronts, and I wish them luck in their battles. I’d rather be a self-appointed student union whip, but at least I can get my opinions brought across to the university administration.

It’s sad to think that people nowadays criticize youths for not being able to think for ourselves, and there we have kids who think with god-knows-which-part-of-their-bodies and oppose for the sake of opposing. Looks like a certain Mr. Chee would have rather good successors in political hooliganism in the future.

I’m rather drunk now, and I perhaps don’t make much sense, but at least I think an intoxicated person like me can think better than some sober people out there. It’s sad. Real sad.

Myself.

Today’s journal comes in two parts. The first part is some self-realisation. I think sometimes I really worried too much about what other people are saying to me, to an extent that before I do anything I would be thinking about other people’s reactions. And more often than not, I get so confused by what I think other people might react that I lose my own focus, and not do things that I should do, or do things that I shouldn’t be doing. I guess sometimes it’s about striking a balance. If something has to be done, then it has to be done. Similary if something shouldn’t be done, then it shouldn’t be done. Of course the question will be who decides what should or should not be done? I would tend to believe that at the end of the day I have to be the person making the decision whether to do something. I was watching some Hong Kong drama series the other day and one of the dialogues was “If you think the thing that you are about to do is right, go do it. And after doing the things that you think that you should do, tell yourself that’s the right thing to do” – I guess that’s the kind of advice I need then!

Then the second part is about how good you people know me. If you have some free time try answering the questions below and send them to the usual email address.

1. Which is my favourite movie of all time?
(Clue – the movie premiered in 1996.)

2. What is my favourite quote?
(Clue – some sports apparel maker’s ad used this tune a few years back.)

3. What is my favourite mode of transportation?

4. When was the first time I’ve ever done a hair colouring job?

5. On which day did I ORD from army?
(Clue – if you have been a loyal fan of my journal you would definitely know)

6. Among Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, which is my favourite city in China?

7. What is my name in Chinese?

8. And when is my birthday?

9. Which of the following language do I not speak: French, German, Japanese, Spanish?

10. How many active blogs do I keep? Where is it / are they being housed?

No price for full marks (maybe except a nice little e-card?), just a small test to test if you know me the way you think you do. There are some questions that you should never get it wrong if you think you are a friend, so please try hard.

It’s the weekend soon! And better still, it’s the mid-semester break!

La raison tonne en son cratère, c’est l’éruption de la fin.
C’est la lutte finale,Groupons-nous, et demain.