Simply.Just.Pure.Me
20
Helping people find jobs
Qifa.Commonwealth.Hwa Chong.
BMTC II.AFS.SOA.PLAD
Ren.Ray.Jan.Yu
Woon.Zing.Ner.Aili.Re.Ngai.Li
Blue.White and hazel choc
Travelling.Reading
For 2007, I hope to...
:Enrich myself as much as possible before Uni:
:Do well in Uni:
:Visit Hong Kong or Taiwan:
:Learn hip-hop dancing:
:Not involve my car in any accident:
Free shoutbox @ ShoutMix
"Dun teach so much until you have no time to spend the money..."
That was what my friend Zing told me last year when I started giving tuition and when I shared my experiences of having multiple students. And that is so true and so coming back to haunt me now...
Anyway I found myself trying to squeeze out time out of my NS work and also away from my tuition hours to have fun, and found it so difficult to do so. I mean, of all my available hours out of work, nearly half is taken up by tuition. And because of that sometimes I find myself torn between going out, having fun with my frens and staying in touch, and having a good rest at home. Both of which are very needed.
But sometimes, when I look at my students, and seeing their zest and eagerness to learn and to want to do well in school, and of course the remuneration, I find it so diffcult to let go.
Sometimes I also wonder if I am doing this for any sort of weird psychotic need to prove anything. I'm not so sure anymore.
But the reality now is that I feel so torn and in between 2 situations I am stuck in.
Sigh. enough about the ranting, it's always the most boring part. On a brigther note, I managed to salvage a little life out of my hectic schedule. Friday I was on off (yay!) and I went to have a lavish (kind of cuz the food wasn't fantastic) dim sum breakfast. Heh. Haven't had one for osme time. At Redhill... the restaurant was called... oops I forgot liao. But not very good la.
Tuition in the afternoon... followed by woon and ner's hall drama production performance at NAFA. So funny. Me and Zing were like lost sheeps wandering ard Bugis trying to find it cuz we were late and directionless. Anyway the show started late cuz most of its audience were too. However, the show was a little disappointing to be frankfully honest. I dunno... maybe it's me being in drama for 4 years and under strict standards of both teachers in sec sch and jc, that got me taking note of every thing they could have done better, and which got me criticising (in my mind of course) the things that were not so right. So sorry if this offends woon and/or ner but ur performances were great... many others' weren't. Lol.
Then on saturday, I was able to finally catch FD 3, long awaiting its arrival after I saw its movie poster in Bangkok last december. On sat... thanks to ray who was in town on fri night to help buy the tix... or else the lethal combo (of weekend show, new show, town area) would almost ensure no seats available if we were to purchase the tix on the day itself...
Movie was exciting as usual... but it lost much of its gore (to censorship?) and also much of its appeal to me: the keep-me-in-the-edge-of-my-seat-cuz-i-noe-some-death-is-about-to-happen-and-i-noe-it-would-make-me-cringe feeling. A lot of it just went poof. I like the ending tho... it screams FD 4 in neon lights!
It was followed by a wonderful dinner at CJ LaMianXiaoLongBao at Scott's. Very nice outlet to visit cuz it is quite unknown i think and thus, there will usually be no queue. The staff were quite frenly and prompt in service. We had such a wonderful dinner, with dim sum and dessert and all haha. Splurge it out man!
Then it was no life sunday (all tuition)...
Then yesterday was much better. I was working but not really working as well. You see, there's going to be a new ammo management system launched in April, which, judging by the amount of bugs and cock-ups, most of us predict would not happen, and so every ammo depot has to send a few ppl to go and learn how to use it so they in turn can teach their campmates.
So me and 5 others were chosen, and we went down to harbourfront to have the training. It was a bad start as a lethal combo of 1) 3 full 188 buses 2) not enough time and haivng to take a cab and 3) bad jam on AYE cost me a $14.20 cab ride to harbourfront... -.-'''
So anyway the only good thing was that we attended the course in CV attire, not No.4. And we had a loooooong 1.5 hour lunch break, as well as an early fall out at 4 plus. Muahhaha. The downside? Work was slowly ut surely accumulating back at my workplace.... But it was good la... It made me feel civilian... being able to walk ard HBF in CV and all...
Got my tuition pay today... makes me think that all my hard work is worth it... I hope.
"Dun teach so much until you have no time to spend the money..." I hope I try to keep this line in mind.
Terence pens his legacy at 11:02 PM Had a really wonderful day today spent enjoying myself in JB with Janelle. Really haven't had a day like this in such a LOOOOONG time. Gosh! So therapeutic and fun and everything... and Jan was such a good sport too.
So anyway we met quite early in the morning, around 9.40am. Then we took a bus and passed s'pore customs and upon arrival at the msian customs, surprise surprise the customs were so empty! So we just breezed thru them. What a good start right? Not like sometimes when we had to queue for like 30 minutes which is such a waste of time!
So anywaywe decided to go buy movie tickets and book the ktv first cuz we knew from experience that the the queue/waiting list would be damn long once the crowd started flooding in. So we did that, and wanted to go over to Komtar which was just next to city square to bowl. But sadly... when we arrived... we saw the place where thew bowling alley once stood being let out for lease. *Sobs* No more cheap bowling liao!!!
So nvm. We decided to be bitchy tai-tais and had pizza hut sides for breakfast. We ordered tempura king prawns, tempura calamari rings, garlic bread and soup of the day for the both of us for breakfast haha. Indulgence man! To the power of ten yo! Ok so no pics for that cuz we just gobbled down everything before we realised we hadn't taken a picture. Haha. That's two hungry/greedy pigs for you!
Then we went back to city square. The movie was at 1.30 but it was only 11.15 byt the time we finished breakfast so we decided to do some shopping. But when we saw the crowd (or lack thereof) we kind of passed on shopping and instead went to the... ARCADE! Yea! Nothing like good ol' childish fun. We spent RM10 only but we had lots and lots of fun and spent about an hour there playing and laughing ourselves silly. We played Daytona, Bashi bashi champ, photo hunt and time crisis 2. Phew... so much adrenalin and fun.
After that we headed for lunch at Sedap Corner Restaurant, which Jan and Ray went to before and which they highly recommended too. And here's what we ordered:
Clockwise from top left: Claypot tofu, Beef Rendang, Baby Kailan, Fried Rice.
The food is really good I tell you. Maybe a tad oily but not salty at all unlike most restaurant fare. Had a nostalgic home-cooked feeling to it. Lovely! And all these only cost RM34+ after service charge and all.
After that sumptous lunch we went to watch "The Descent". Again a very nice movie. Intriguing, scary, keeps-you-at-the-edge-of-your-seat movie. I think the run locally has ended but if u guys have missed it wait for the dvd. I think it would be worth the buy cuz it's a really great movie. The ending may be a little confusing tho but still that doesn't steal from such a wonderful production. Def better than "The Cave" I think.
Then we headed straight to Neway KTV after the movie. And we sang our hearts out for umpteen times over and over again. Ok, granted the both of us aren't fantastic singers, we still had a great time teasing each other's singing, trying to outsing each other (yes, we shamefully did) and just having a good laugh thruout at each other's singing. Haha. I think we did a good duet on Shan Hu Hai tho... Oh well but nosong can be that good with Jan on the mike lol. Haha. Oh and I had and am still having a sore throat and slight cough too so of course I wasn't on par. But nvm I was still better haha!
That's Jan awfully singing haha.
And here's our dear serenading crooner! *Applause please*
Heh. Alright enough of this ego trip. We did have a great time tho...
So anyway after the K session whcih ended at 7... we wanted to have dinner... when we passed this Neoprint station shop thingy. And in the spur of the moment we decided to make a Neoprint card for us. To remember the day haha. Show the pics later. After we snapped those candid shots, we headed to Seed Cafe wanting to have a good dinner. Then upon arrival, we saw... carton boxes. tonnes of them. All stacked up. Sad... I really loved the food there but...
So we went over to Season's Cafe instead. And we had baked rice for dinner. Together with a cream of mushroom soup and ice cream haha. Indulgence again man. 3 course dinner in the house! Food was quite ok only tho... Rather pale in comparison to lunch...
After dinner we went to collect the neorpint cards and here they are:
We had so much fun taking those photos too haha. Having to come up with 6 poses within a short short time haha. But finally we only chose 2 to make into the card. And it cost quite a bit too but for the memories it was worth it la haha.
So there. That concludes a really lovely day. Many times thruout the day I asked myself how many more opportunities like this I would have... With NS, and subsequently uni, then work... these kind of outings seem rather distant. The day ended rather bittersweet tho, knowing that such days are going to be few and far between next time. But again, I cest'la vie-ed. Lived for the moment. Planning the next one already!
Terence pens his legacy at 10:19 PM
Are we really happy?
My first guard duty on a weekday other than friday happened this wednesday. Gosh. Not a really good feeling... Having to continue work on thursday is really taxing... Ok so I just briefly explain for those who dun really noe how guard duty works in my camp. Guard duty is split into 4 shifts: 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm, then 9.30 pm to 1.30 am, then 1.30 am to 5.30 am and finally 5.30 am to 9.30 am. So there are 2 details (of 2 ppl each). And we have to do either shifts 1 and 3 or 2 and 4, other times in which we could rest. But of course with handing/taking over and stuffs, the supposed 8 hours we can get usually turns out to be 6 hrs max. Couple this with the fact that we usually tok kok with the other ppl in camp, or for the detail doing shifts 2 and 4 (we can't possbly sleep from 5.30pm to 9.30pm) and u get only ard 3 hours sleep at best.
Then we get duty rest from about 9 plus to 12.30. But it never really turns out this way la basically. So we just get very little sleep. Period. And we have to continue work as usual after that. And u noe wad's the worse part? I heard that in the past, the duty personnel are allowed to go home after their duties. SO UNFAIR!!!
So anyway that over liao. But i still got duty tmr!! Grr. Yup. Thankfully I had the whole of saturday to rest myself and play my dear heroes 4 and watch my accumulated recordings of shows from as far back as the week before. Yes. I'm a realty-tv freak. Then on to roday which was the exact inverse of today. If yesterday was X, today it's 1 / X. Day started in the morning. Tuition from 11 to ard 3 plus 4. Then rush rush home (having a quick lunch on the way). Dump my stuff. Head to gym with lao da (after a good one month can u believe it??!!) where I worked myself out. Yes it was a real workout cuz my muscles were slacking after one month of no-work. The dinner at BPP after that. Then back home. So there. One day gone again.
I guess this is the reality of my sundays from now on. Kind of self-inflicted I think. I like to use the phrase "self-inflicted pain/torture" because I really believe many a times we feel terrible because we let ourselves get that way. We (or I) choose to load ourselves with so many things and responsibilities that we could have done away with otherwise. Is it greed? Or the need to prove our worth? Or our "oh-pls-dun-shatter" pride? I dunno... I read my horoscope once and it referred to me the "classic over-achiever". As good as it may sound it definitely isn't easy getting there...
Or sometimes we allow others to get under our skins. To make us feel frustrated when all we could have done is to have simply taken it easy. Haha. easier siad than done right. Ok enuff with this philosophical talk. My point is - just try lor. Try to make urself feel good and at ease. Money and status def cannot buy u that... so dun try to work so hard or try so hard to get those. Internal happiness is what we (or I) should be craving for.
And I am trying hard...
I think.
Terence pens his legacy at 10:58 PM Happy V Day. Or should should I say Sad.
V day today. My dept office was very empty. And so was my camp in genral. Only around half the usual strength showed up in camp today. My dept worse. Only 3 out of 9 ppl showed up. So sad. We are the three miserable unwanted stooges. OMG! Someone pull me out of this predicament pls! Sigh. Actually not 3 stooges. Maybe only 1. I think the other 2 ppl who came also have gf except me! Shyt!
Hmm... But nvm la. I mean I dun have to feel particularly sad on v day when I dun have a gf. I mean, without a gf, I already feel kind of sad almost everyday liao muhaha. What's another V day?
So yup basically I went to work. Work work work. Then after work went to give tuition. Lol. At the "boarding house" with all the foreign students. The singles there all gathered and the gals exchanged gifts and all. Acty a lot of singles too haha. They looked like they were having fun at least. Unlike me spending a quiet V day evening alone at home blogging. So NO LIFE!
Right I'll stop ranting. Very unlike me.
Next year it may be different. When I finally DO get out the army. Heh.
Terence pens his legacy at 10:31 PM
TOADY WEEK NOT SO TOADY SHOOTING LOL
Phew 5/7 of this toady week has passed. Thank goodness. Feeling tired half the time. Feeling shitty too... Sigh what a week.
Ok so anyway I promised to blog about germaine's grapes. Yes please dun think too deeply into this one I mean it literally. Lol. Btw germs is my tutee la, so anyway luckily tuesday's shoot ended darn blardy early (cuz it was only IMT which is like computerised and not actual shooting) so I had time to go home and rest and also germs wanted last minute tuition cuz (as usual) she has a test the next day. Lol. Yep. So I went down, and she told me she thought some grapes which her mom bought (at I dunno where YET) has fermented cuz it tasted alcoholic.
So I was like where got such thing? Then when I actually tried it OMG it was darn good la. It's like red wine without the bitter aftertaste. Amazing. So I know there are such things as champagne grapes but germs told me that these are more alcoholic than cham grapes. So there. If I knew where to get my hands on some I would muhahah.
Ok on with more of the toady week. I went back to work on wed. Only to see piles and piles of vouchers (or documents) piled up. All waiting to be inspected and filed and argh so many things. My upperstudy took an off (he had combat shoot too) so the exhausted me had to work and work and I worked non-stop except for lunch. Like seriously honestly. Phew. Really a bad move to DCC from my former duty team I tell you. Like seriously where can you find a job that allows you to sleep in the day when there's nothing to do???!!!
Thurs was the actual shoot. Woke up at 5 plus. Shoot was ok. My detail (or group of 6 here) had like 3 first-timers and all the other details with many lao jiaos were all like happy-dandy and all and of course were worried if we would be able to pass. Lol. Guess what. They became the second-lowest scoring detail while for the day shoot my detial was ranked 7th or 8th out of 26 lah! So funny the lao jiaos were stupefied. Stumped. Dunno what to say. I'm sorry but I did feel good then. Heh.
Yep and we ended shooting at like 9. Pack up and sai gang till 9.45. Arrived back at camp at 10.20. Packed up and left and arrived home at 11. Washed up (finally) and went online and watched Grammys and slept at 1am. Woke up at 5.30 am this morning cuz today was our Army Logistic's Pride Day. Some kind of like bonding/sports meet session. So proud indeed lol. Our depot (the organising depot this yr) had to arrive at PASIR RIS PARK by 7.15 am. SIAO!!! To help set up all the stores and stuff. So sian lor I tell you. Thankfully I only had to be a game master for some stupid running game and that was all.
Thankfully it ended early and I managed to get home by 1 plus. Showered and rested a while before heading out for tuition. Yes I am always packing myself to death. Afterwhich followed by badminton with Jan. Till 9 plus.
Seriosuly sometimes I wonder how my body works. Case in point: Thurs was shooting, so wed we had to stay in at our camp. And I had a good at least 6 hours plus of sleep. But I felt so tired the next day during the shoot. Last night (or rather this morning) I only slept 4.5 hours and yet I could push myself to do so many things without zombie-ing around. Like seriously. Tell me how much sleep you want you *&%$*& BODY!
Phew. What a toady week. Tmr I have to do a 24 hour gurad duty till sunday morning. Then rush off to tutor. I need retail therapy SOON!!!
I quote someone: "I hate all days wnding with a 'y'! "
Terence pens his legacy at 10:20 PM Long time since I blogged. Reason? Too tired haha. Post-cny mood as well as change in working hours have made we more than a wee bit exhausted... Haiz.
Hmm, about CNY first. Earnings went down a little this year sadly. Cuz we didn't go to visit as many relatives this year compared to last year. In fact, my family only went to 3 places this year. My mom's mom's place, my great grandmother's place on day 1 and one of my aunt's place on day 2. Yep. I think my dad was tired that's why... But anyway my dad and mom both gave a substantial amount each so it was enough liao. Now now we shouldn't be greedy should we?
This year wasn't as festive as last year I thought. Firstly becuz we din go relative-hopping. Secondly my maternal granddad passed away last year so the mood was a little solemn in the house this year. And thirdly, I consciously told myself not to gorge too much on new year goodies to watch my bulge. Ya. Not being careful enough will make it grow... Top it up with lack of exercise due to a strained ankle and strained timeline... u get the picture.
But the good thing was that I won around 47 dollars on gambling. Yes yes I promised to keep away but it was too difficult to resist the temptation when all my relatives gathered to play. So I edited my promise to my Lord. I promised to only play with monetary stakes during CNY public holidays and no days else. Hmm so the winnings brought my total "income" to nearly that of last year's. Good enuf la hor haha.
Yep I had an amazing time at jan's place on day 3 playing mahjong with ray and yu as well. So much laughter and fun. I really miss the times when we could just play mj or cards every weekend... back when we all haven't all had our "own" lives to lead. Army, uni, poly final year... so many timelines to coordinate. it's so rare to have a common time nowadays. So to all ppl slogging away in school... cherish ur sch years. After that life takes on such a bad twist it tastes so sour and leaves such a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.
Yep so officially in the 8.30 to 6 dept on feb 1 wednesday. Oh my I was so tired the whole day due to not sleeping well during cny. Chionging games and all till the wee hours of the night... Then thurs I still haven't really recovered from the post-cny mood and fatugue. Then comes friday when I had guard duty till sat morning. Can die lor lol. Wanted to go out in the afternoon but I was to exhausted I slept thru the whole afternoon. Lol.
Met up with Ly in the evening at Coffee Bean Holland V. Chilled out. Had a great mocha ice-blended. Chatted heartily. I think I am gonna need these sessions as therapy. The great tasting (forget the fats in the whipped cream) coffee, the nice quiet environment, the being able to let all ur frustrations out and know someone is listening. It's really great. Advised for all stressed up workaholics.
Sunday... tuition in the morning. Yes tuition is up n running again. Which means... no I have to say stress first. Then next comes which means... more money muhahaha. It will go into my "spending account" but of course since I dun spend so much it will add on to my "save up for post-ORD big-bang holiday" fund. Of course any donations would very kindly be welcomed and appreciated. Lol.
Having combat shoot this week. On tues (tmr) and thurs. So I have to stay in tonight and on wed night. Fri is Army Logistic's PRIDE day. Kind of like a sports meet/telematch thingy I think. Sigh. And guard duty this saturday. I tell you this week is gonna be toady (I quote Ner). I'm gonna be edgy and easily irritated. Hazard class 1.1 - highly explosive. Stay away!
Was talking with one of my real close fren on MSN. He was complaining that life is so boring and so "no-life". Sadly, I think army (or at least those doing office hours) is a very good reflection of the reality of our lives in the future after we finish uni and get to work. Mon to Fri just work and work and getting ourselves so tired by the evening that we dun feel like going out or doing anything else. Much less go out cuz the next day we would still have to work. Then we keep anticipating the weekend and when it does arrives (this is true for me) I am so tired from the working week that I spend a substantial portion of it sleeping away. Sigh... And in the army we meet all sorts of people from all walks of life... Worker bees, slackers, domineering ones, not-so-bright ones. Which we probably will see again in our workplace next time.
Delayed gratification, as our wise old Mr Choe Kee Cheng from HCJC would tell us. Next weekend is totally freed up (cept for sun morning la but that's inconsequential). I'm gonna so like splurge or something. RETAIL THERAPY!!! JB maybe even. I dunno... MAY THIS WEEK BE OVER SOON! PLEASE!
Terence pens his legacy at 5:16 PM
Story of My Life
August 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
July 2007
August 2007