Origami in Japanese class, Peanut Ice-kachang, Pocky from EGT

FFW 19 Days 1 & 2

New Year Resolutions 2008 - 1st Qtr Update

New Year Resolutions for 2008!

Presenting...

1. Learn how to cook - at least a dish a month!

Haven't learnt, will embark on it once JET is confirmed and now that I do not have guitar classes this may be it!

2. Learn the guitar - attend classes regularly! practice at least once a week!

Sadly guitar classes just ended, but I have been attending consistently! Now to hunt for an alternative!

3. Pass JLPT 2 - attend classes regularly! practice at least once a week!

Attending classes at PYAESS and enjoying every bit!

4. Research on Masters/PhD programmes - research at least once a week! map out timetable!

Haven't started, will embark on it once JET is confirmed

5. Exercise regularly - at least once a week!

Have been doing it well except for last week thanks to the course, but the challenge will be during the semester when it commences next week!

6. Read a book each quarter - I can only try!

I've read TONS of books thanks to the need to do research as part of my job scope. For leisure I am finishing Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class which I got from a book sales 2 week back. I re-read Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time some time back!

7. Contact everyone at least once - This one I have to do, especially if I go on JET in August

I have contacted a couple, especially during the time when I sent out CNY cards but did not follow up with lunch appointments with those who responded. Will do so, especially once JET is confirmed!

8. Try smoking a cigarette - Trying to be naughty!

Been there, done that! Kaching!

9. Backpack Japan - By hook or by crook!

JET, quick!

10. Learn first aid - something useful in life and encouraged by my workplace

This is one resolution that is the shakiest!

11. Learn card tricks - impress the ladies! ;)

Very sian leh, to learn such things for superficial reasons!

Catching up

It has been quite a while since I last updated so here it goes!

Last Wednesday to Friday was a wonderful time spent at the Foundational Facilitation Workshop (FFW) external course I attended. It was a fun time getting back to the basics of facilitation and gleaning new insights as the workshop has more of a organisational slant to it as compared to the classroom aspect which I am more familiar with. It was a lot of fun and laughter learning alongside people from various backgrounds such as the Airforce, Navy, MINDEF, MOE and Cerebos, the company behind the health supplements Brands!

I just came back from the Community Centre where I have been taking guitar classes and it was sad that the class has to be disbanded due to a lack of interest (I was the only student there just now)! Oh well, time to find a new instructor and I think the time is ripe to do so now that I have gotten some basics!

I am nervously anticipating the letter from JET to find out if I am shortlisted, an alternate or just plain rejected. I am really looking forward to Japan!

My brother got his toe bitten by this ant and it has been swelling for a while now. He better see a doctor, this boy!

Now that I have finally gotten my CPF account, I suddenly do not feel like rushing into it as I do not really know what stocks/shares/funds to buy into and I doubt I will be able to meet the clearance cutoff for CPF to release my funds to the stockbroker before the April 1st deadline. Oh well.

Then I met with the student exchange bunch which includes GD, JS, RY and sadly I missed JL as I went late. It was fun to have caught up with them and listening to their wedding plans which is supposedly at the end of the year. Before meeting them I was giving tuition to AD (not my colleague!) as usual when I chanced upon the amazing Hush Puppies/Renoma shoes sale at Suntec! My current 3 pairs of working shoes came from the same sale when it was on around this time in March last year! As such I went of course, grabbing 2 pairs of shoes and a bag! Yay!

I was at OG Chinatown once again with my parents (we never fail to hit Chinatown every month!) and I saw a nice set of watches of the brand Marc Ecko! A little too much bling, but boy were they unique! Perhaps I should get one!

School starts in a week's time and it seems like it will be super busy from now onwards. Come on Japan! Ask me over!

I am starting to explore the area around Tanjong Pagar for food which I go to after Japanese class at PYAESS, International Plaza and yesterday afternoon was a pleasant surprise. I found this bakery called Candy-something that sells nice muffins and I tried this slice of pie that has big-walnut chunks melded with honey! Quite nice, and I am looking forward to trying others such as almond next week!

JET!!!

はじまりの歌 / 大橋卓弥

An MTV about girls fighting over a banana? Nice song nonetheless...

Butch Walker

My Way

Best Thing You Never Had

Mixtape

BN's farewell - Bowling & Vegetarian dinner @ Tung Lok

Interesting look on professions and power

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/98tk/tk10.html

You / 木村カエラ

You / 木村カエラ

Mouse in the House! - office rodents

End of first (and so far only) debit card

Thinking about... investing

I bought "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" for a colleague/friend whom I met at work and that piqued my interest to read the book I had. I realised I have totally abandoned (or to say nicely, done nothing) to learn how to invest or to, in a more general sense, learn how to make money work harder for me.

Maybe I should switch to becoming part time and spend the off days reading up and learning about investing? Actually that would free up a lot of time to think about what there needs to be done as well. However I guess I should wait for the JET confirmation in April before I move on it. I guess I should check out that option at work tomorrow.

A day of leave - OG Orchard Point 4th Anniversary Sales!

sale... oh! u noe it was so hilarious

when i went there at 9 (just as it opens) there were like already 100 pple queuing to enter!

then guess who i saw in front of me!

A part-time academic staff - HP!

then i cut queue and join her!

yah then inside hor i saw another person!

cos i forgot to bring the cut out coupons that came with the brochure which my mom got, and i was panicking cos i need the coupon to buy crocodile work shoes for $30

i saw the lifeguard at my institution's pool!

yah he gave me his, luckily also cos his feet is quite big and the largest size didn't fit him

May Lee show

Thanks to PML for suggesting her - gotta her out as well!

Ellen DeGeneres

So hilarious!

Ellen - Ellen and Laurie - some comedy serial

Ellen Degeneres - The Beginning - A stand up comedy gig

Ellen DeGeneres - Here & Now - Another stand up comedy gig

One night stand - Yet another stand up comedy gig

American Gladiators - Ellen Degeneres Sitcom

Night Safari!

Lion Dance

AM's wedding, a walk down memory lane

This has increasingly become what I deem to be a "Singaporean breakfast" which would be a cup of kopi-siew-dai, 1 piece of plain and 1 piece of egg prata. Am I starting to prepare for JET? Gosh!



Subsequently after Japanese classes I met up with VLR (which I guess was written in an entry earlier). That summed up Saturday!

Yesterday felt like another workday when I attended my colleague AM's wedding and mingling with other fellow colleagues who have similarly been invited. As much as my office is fun and loving (it really is), I felt rather dreary as I would prefer having time for myself. Oh well! Should have said no, shouldn't I?

Anyway it was held at an old housing estate which I lived my childhood years in and it was rather nice after the wedding when I rediscovered this lovely slope which was such a hit with kids then. What they did was to drag big pieces of cardboard up the slope and proceed to slide down whilst sitting on them - exhilarating! Obviously scarey-cat me could never muster the courage to do it (not to mention the trouble I would get into for coming home with dirty clothes) and could only admire from a distance.

Nice.

日本の形

日本の形

Meeting up with VLR

I finally met up with VLR just now at the cafe in Bugis which is just so quaint Food for Thought right opposite the National Library Board building. She'll be heading to NUS IRO for her new job, which sounds very exciting! I am so happy for her!

Meanwhile hmm that sounds like a good place to go to after JET, don't you think? To further develop in the international communications arena?

Pensive

I'm looking forward to JET, though I realise I would be leaving things I hold dear behind such as friends and family. However going by the probability of odds, I think this is definitely a better time to do this compared to any later when complications arise.

Workshop, Service, others

Today was quite a rush! I had to run a staff workshop with WS, my colleague where I would conduct the first half in the morning and he takes over from there in the afternoon. This is the second time I am running a staff workshop, and the first went rather alright mainly because I guess my partner was an original contributor of the workshop. This time round frankly I felt I was really nervous and it showed, with the primary culprit I think being a lack of ownership to the material and hence a lack of preparation and anticipation of possible questions. I was potentially late for the workshop by the way, so I had to take taxi to school which cost me a whopping $22. Gosh.

Anyway WS was very nice and definitely a cool mentor I would love to learn from, though due to circumstances we rarely cross paths except for work-related stuff which has to be settled in the fastest of ways. Maybe I should step back from staff training? Suddenly JET seems very appealing as a form of escaping!

In the afternoon I took half day leave to attend AD's mom's wake at Church of the Epiphany. It was quite a reflective moment for me, with thoughts such as "So life boils down to this" and hence making all that worry and despair that the morning brought paling in comparison.

I hope AD is taking it alright. Looking forward to catching up with him.

Meanwhile on another front JM seems to be having a rough time career-wise, which I would just say "Keep on going!"

That was a nice nap I took just now. My neighbourhood is turning into another spectacle as well, yesterday with ah-longs (a.k.a loansharks) hounding a neighbour of the opposite block and just now a younster was caught vandalising by another man armed with a camera and a loud swearing match ensued, before marching to the police station to settle their differences.

Life!

Some catching-up

I know I have once again been guilty of not updating my blog for quite a while since I have suddenly become busy at work. What can it be, some skeptics might ask? ;)

JET Shopping List

Glasses 250
Contacts (1 year disposable) 150
Jacket 250
MacBook 13", 2.2Ghz, 2Gb Ram, 160GB ATA5400, Applecare 2200
Electronic Dictionary (Casio XD-GW9600/9700) 600
== 3450 ==

Happy birthday HY! :) We went to this French crepes restaurant on Saturday night and it was nice to dine alfresco and enjoy the sights and sounds of the outdoor air. All the best to your plans this upcoming year - they look fantastic!

I just got a message this morning that AD's mom passed away... that came as a shock and definitely disturbing. I hope AD's taking it alright and coping well...

I guess it just tells once again that life's short and we should do what we think is what we would want to do to make each day the best.

"What if today is the day I die?"

JET!