KL Holiday!

Whoppie!

I just came back from a 3D2N vacation at KL with my colleagues AD and IV! While it was initially supposed to be a rest and relax holiday, the irresistable year end sale where discounts go from 50%-70% for many major brands got us on our feets and shop till we dropped! I bought tons of things as well, which I think I have a difficulty transporting home (I came from work straight from the coach). Oh well!

Some keywords (instead of pictures):

• Happy ending
• 5-star hotel
• Siam massage
• reflexology

Merry Christmas!

Missed the magical moment, dang!

My colleague ET bought me these lovely pressies while on his trip to Tokyo. Doomo arigatoo!

Thinking about the future...

A very expensive gift from the Japanese students during the last visit!

Cloud Number Nine - Bryan Adams

Youtube
Ultimate guitar

Clue number one was when you knocked on my door
Clue number two was the look that you wore
N thats when I knew, it was a pretty good sign
That something was wrong up on cloud number nine

Well its a long way up and we wont come down tonight
Well it may be wrong but baby it sure feels right

And the moon is out and the stars are bright
And whatever comes sgonna be alright
Cause tonight you will be mine - up on cloud number nine
And there aint no place that Id rather be
And we cant go back but youre here with me
Yeah, the weather is really fine - up on cloud number nine

Now he hurt you and you hurt me
And that wasnt the way it was supposed to be
So baby tonight lets leave the world behind
And spend some time up on cloud number nine

Well its a long way up and we wont come down tonight
Well it may be wrong but baby it sure feels right

Well we wont come down tonight
Ya we wont come down tonight
No we wont come down tonight

We can watch the world go by - up on cloud number nine

Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi

Youtube
Ultimate Guitar

They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parkin' lot

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don't care about spots on my apples,
Leave me the birds and the bees - please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now, they've paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not?

Listen, late last night, I heard the screen door swing,
And a big yellow taxi took my girl away
Now don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now now, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not, they paved paradise
They put up a parking lot
Hey hey hey, paved paradise and put up a parking lot

I don't wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Hey, hey, hey
Now you wanna give it
I should wanna give it
Cuz you're givin it all away, no no

I don't wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Cuz you're givin it all givin it all away yeah yeah
Cuz You're givin it all away hey, hey, hey

Hey, paved paradise, to put up a parking lot
la,la, la, la, la, la, la ,la ,la ,la ,la
Paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

Avril Lavigne - Tomorrow

Youtube
Ultimate Guitar

And I wanna believe you,
When you tell me that it'll be ok,
yeah I try to believe you,
But I don't

When you say that it's gonna be,
It always turns out to be a different way,
I try to believe you,
Not today, today, today, today,(backround singer)today...

[Chorus:]

I don't know how I'll feel,
tomorrow, tomorrow
I don't know what to say,
tomorrow, tomorrow,
yeah, it's a different day,
tomorrow,

It's always been up to you,
It's turning around,
It's up to me,
I'm gonna do what I have to do,
just don't

Give me a little time,
Leave me alone a little while,
Maybe it's not too late,
not today, today, today, today, today...

[Chorus:]

I don't know how I'll feel,
tomorrow, tomorrow
I don't know what to say,
tomorrow, tomorrow,tomorrow
its a different day

Hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah, and I know I'm not ready,
Hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah, maybe tomorrow

Hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah, I'm not ready,
Hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah, maybe tomorrow

And I wanna believe you,
When you tell me that it'll be ok,
Yeah I try to believe you,
Not today, today, today, today, today...

Tomorrow... it may change [4x]

Avril Lavigne - Things I'll never say

Youtube
Ultimate-Guitar

Ladatadata ladatadatadadadatadada dadadadada

I'm tuggin' at my hair
I'm pullin' at my clothes
I'm tryin' to keep my cool
I know it shows

I'm staring at my feet
My cheeks are turning red
And i'm searching for the words inside my head

Cuz I'm feeling nervous
Tryin' to be so perfect
'Cause I know you're worth it, you're worth it
Yeah...

If I could say what I want to say
I'd say I want to blow you--away
Be with you every night
Am I squeezing you too tight?
If I could say what I want to see
I want to see you go down--on one knee
Marry me today
Guess I'm wishing my life away
With these things I'll never say

It don't do me any good it's just a waste of time
What use is it to you what's on my mind?
If it ain't comin' out, we're not going anywhere
So why can't I just tell you that I care?

'Cause I'm feeling nervous
Tryin' to be so perfect
'Cause I know you're worth it, you're worth it
Yeah...

If I could say what I wanna say
I'd say I want to blow you--away
Be with you every night
Am I squeezing you too tight?
If I could see what I wanna see
I want to see you go down--on one knee
Marry me today
Guess I'm wishing my life away
With these things I'll never say

(What is)What's wrong with my tongue?
These words keep slipping away
I stutter I stumble like I've got nothing to say

'Cause I'm feeling nervous
Trying to be so perfect
'Cause I know you're worth it, you're worth it, you're worth it
Yeah...

[Verbal Acoustics]

Ladatadata ladatadatadadadatadada dadadadada *2

I guess I'm wishing my life away
With these things I'll never say

If I could say what I want to say
I'd say I want to blow you--away
Be with you every night
Am I squeezing you too tight?
If I could see what I want to see
I want to see you go down--on one knee
Marry me today
Guess I'm wishing my life away
With these things I'll never say

These things I'll never Say...........

Eagle-Eye Cherry - Save Tonight

Youtube
Ultimate-Guitar

Go on and close the curtains
cause all we need is candle light
You and me and a bottle of wine
going to hold you tonight
Well we know I'm going away
and how I wish, I wish it weren't so
So take this wine and drink with me
let's delay our misery

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

There's a log on the fire
and it burns like me for you
Tomorrow comes with one desire
to take me away it's true
It ain't easy to say goodbye
darling please don't start to cry
Cause girl you know I've got to go, oh
Lord I wish it wasn't so

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

Tomorrow comes to take me away
I wish that I, that I could stay
Girl you know I've got to go, oh
Lord I wish it wasn't so

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone

Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone
tomorrow I'll be gone
tomorrow I'll be gone
tomorrow I'll be gone
tomorrow I'll be gone

Save tonight
Save tonight
Save tonight
Save tonight

New Year Resolutions for 2008 (in progress)

Reviewing 2007's resolutions:

1. Learn Japanese for JLPT2 in 2008 - on the way!
2. Read a book each month - oh goodness...
3. Contact everyone each quarter - tough! could have been better
4. Exercise thrice a week - even tougher! I'm fatter than ever
5. Date - I went for a couple of speed-dating sessions, hope it was sufficient?
6. Learn how to invest - www.poems.com.sg - gone with the wind...
7. Learn to dance - two left feet! - disappeared into heaven...
8. Learn first aid - something useful in life - still can barely get past ABC of resuscitation
9. Be more forgiving and less judgemental - realised it is a bad goal as opens me up for setbacks
10. Learn how to evaluate wine - drink and be merry can?

1. Learn how to cook
2. Learn the guitar
3. Pass JLPT 2
4. Research on Masters/PhD programmes
5. Exercise regularly
6.


Some words of wisdom for ___.

Happy over inconsequential things

I am on leave today!

So how did I spend the day, you might ask? Well it was really nothing actually, maybe something but it's not a personal accomplishment or anything so it is quite stale on that front.

Ok, so I woke up rather early today at around 0830, as I slept rather early the night before due to the marathon to finish the anime series Monster. I am still confused about what happened after finishing the whole series I am afraid! Anyway I took a shot at my DS and completed a few bits of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass. After which my mother, sister, brother and I headed to the Grand Hyatt Orchard's Straits Kitchen to have a buffet lunch! While it cost S$38++, it was to my pleasant surprise that there was a whopping 25% discount when I charge the bill for 4 persons (and above) to my UOB platinum card! WOW!

After lunch I brought my mom to Tangs for some shopping as I thought Tang as the upmarket OG would suit her tastes better. Anyway she bought a pair of shoes together with my sister, after which they were all zonked out from indigestion and headed home. I stayed behind in Orchard, dropping by Kino for yet again another meaningless meander around the book aisles before heading to HMV. It was then I saw Dave Koz's new Christmas album, "Memories of a Winter's Night" which I have been eyeing since last week. I just love the track "Have yourself a merry christmas"! Nice and bobby. I called home to check if I still had my first Dave Koz CD "A smooth jazz christmas' but it seems I have lost it, so I had to run back to HMV orchard to get it as that is the only place in Singapore that still has it. Thank goodness!

Finally at night we met for dinner (SoC computing friends) at this place called Moon River Cafe, which isn't too bad. We then moved to Coffee Bean, where we played Taboo till closing time.

I guess it was quite a cool day today!

Department Retreat (without me)

Toastmasters meeting

Very frustrated!

Today is a lovely Sunday afternoon, with a partially overcast sky that is perfect in blocking out the searing sun rays. While I should be out enjoying what I want to do (I do have a couple of recreational activities such as guitar, Japanese, Nintendo DS lite, Toastmasters, Monster anime, swimming), here I am stuck in the office screaming at students and attempting to grade.

Life sucks.

I suddenly realised I have a new goal next year that will be a meaningful new year resolution - to learn how to cook!

Hirakata Senior High School Visit, a touching moment

Yesterday we finally met a group of Japanese students from Osaka whom we have been having an email exchange programme with in school.

While it was as usual interactions with the Japanese and Singaporean students, it was after the event officially ended, and the 2 busloads of students left the campus, that left the strongest impression.

My colleague JSC and I rested in my office, where a mini celebration of sorts was in the way. A couple of colleagues had gathered to spread the goodwill of the end of school for 2007, christmas and the new year 2008. Just as we were rested, however, my mobile phone rang and a frantic male voice spoke in very jumpy Japanese. It was the Science teacher who had come with the students for the short exchange earlier, and said there is a bag that was misplaced in the lecture theatre and they would turn back to get the bag from the bus stop. That was fine, so my JSC and I rushed down to the lecture theatre and found the bag. It was at this moment when I was about to leave for the bus stop when running frantically towards us was the Science teacher, with a female student in tow.

The Science teacher was definitely with age, with white hair and all, easily in his fifties. Here is this old grandfather running very much with finesse faster than the female Japanese student of 18 years old, and ran just as quickly as they had come after getting the bags from us. As they ran back, the girl apologised profusely in the loudest voice. To me, it felt like a sense of respect, admiration and gratitude that the teacher has done his best as expected in their culture, where the elder is fully in charge of the youth and the youth is very thankful of that protection, though there might be reckless rebellion at times.

The scene reminded me of some familiar Japanese movie/anime scenes where the teacher, being taken as the respectful elder, goes all out for the protection and goodwill of the younger one, similar to part of a close-knitted family.

081207 - Japanese Tea Ceremony

161107 - Digital Art & Technology Exhibition @ Science Centre, Naughty class

Bits of life, Another class swap