last post, i moaned the fact that i lost a long post due to a technical glitch.. it's a fact that after i pressed the "post" button the familiar "your blog has been updated" page didn't come out.. what came out was a screen with "there was a technical fault" and a phrase "an engineer will look into your problem".. i don't think many people saw that screen before, as it was the first time i saw such a screen too.. i thought i would have lost the post for good..

until i saw that post ressurected from the ashes yesterday =)

kudos to the engineer!

just realised that my blog died on me when i updated it two days ago.. as in i typed a lot of crap in it, but after i click publish somehow nothing came up on e main webpage.. sian-ness.. wasted my 2-page long effort lor.. argh total waste =S

nothing interesting is happening to me these few days leh.. spending my time rotting.. it's a good thing my brother bought a 74-episode long korean drama called 'jewel in the palace'.. haha it's filling up my time nicely =)

will report on more recent job observations later.. maybe after i finish e 74 episodes? i'm at 24 already =)

it's hard to wake up at 7:30 in the morning when u're accustomed to waking at 8:45 daily.. but i had to make that sacrifice to attend my first driving lesson..

the day started off.. on the wrong note =( first of all the driving school agent, who was supposed to drive us to the driving school for our lessons, came late (as usual).. i had to wait for half an hour for her to appear, which subsequently caused our late arrival at the driving school.. when i stepped into the "lecture room" late i was unceremoniously waved to the front seat.. gone is the protection offered by camouflaging at the back of the classroom - i had no choice but to pay attention =(

i started off by taking a test to check for colour blindness.. when i was taking the test i was surprised by the fact that there were people coming in later than i did! but they got to sit at the back simply by the fact that the front seats were filled.. haiz.. *makes mental note to appear VERY late for next driving lesson*

after that, the boring FIVE hour lesson commenced =S the lecturer simply went through the more important stuff in this certain booklet given to all new drivers.. reminds me of my sec 4 chinese teacher who went through the 词语手册 and told us to tick important words, circle less important words, and cancel words that will not appear in the 'o' levels.. but i quite enjoyed the first half of the lesson cos the lecturer was darn lame.. and at the same time i was reminded about how bad my malay has deteriorated.. i dun have the ability to string a complete sentence of malay, although i sort of understand wad people say in malay.. so i was in constant fear of being asked to answer a question in malay.. sigh.. now i sort of understand how my students felt when i pressed them to answer chemical concepts they weren't familiar with.. sibeh stress =(

the second lecturer (for the later half of the session) was not as lame.. he just kept reading stuff from the screen without lamifying things.. and since i just had lunch i was pretty drowsy then.. and i kept on hoping that the lesson will end early (which unfortunately didn't =S) somehow i pulled through everything.. and arrived home with my brain swamped with numerous rules and regulations.. and too tired to think about anything besides playing and rotting in front of the tv again =)

will take my written test soon - shld be fine lah =) i only need 42/50 to pass..

since one of my friends commented that i always complained i was sian, with or without a job, i went to get myself a new one - it's a definitely more relaxing one - a couch potato =)
after hours of observation (i have only limited choices since my family doesn't subscribe to paid channels), i've reached a few conclusions:

1. that malaysian tv has vastly improved since those days when i was in primary school.. first of all there are 5 free-to-air channels (yes it's no news) instead of 4.. the newest channel is the best, in my opinion =)

2. that 'friends' is an overwhelmingly popular series here - how do one explain the fact that one episode from each of season 1 and season 3 is shown once per week? hmmm..

3. that censoring is still pretty strict here.. i can only see people swearing, but not hear them..

4. that malaysians are sport junkies - confederations cup and nba finals are both shown on tv (a great achievement man since the channels are free-to-air)

5. that my tv can withstand 10 hours of use per day =)

hope pistons win the series man..

more job observations coming soon.. should i take a break from my job to concentrate on gaming? =PpP

as usual, i had been slacking.. but what was different yesterday was that i went bowling with my bro.. the rates they charge here is way less than in singapore.. it's at least 50% cheaper =p so my pocket didn't hurt that much when i paid for the lanes =)

yesterday was a disastrous outing though =( had only one game with a >100 pinfall.. sucks lor.. got thoroughly thrashed by my bro.. the highest score i got yesterday was just a measly 111.. haiz haiz.. =(

then today went to take my own picture cos i needed passport-sized pics of myself.. i got a surprise when they handed me a cd with the image burned into it, instead of the customary negative.. high tech liao sia.. =) but then i was shocked again at the price of the pics - RM22 for 12 pics! i faintly rmb it wasn't that expensive last time.. but oh well.. since i got my pics after waiting for just 10 mins at the shop, instead of being told to come back on the next day, 算了吧 =)

i can now:

1. buy cigarettes legally
2. barge into clubs openly
3. drink alcohol in front of policemen
4. watch movies with more 'mature content'
5. drive a car (with a licence, of course)

sadly the un's children's charter no longer covers my rights.. if i ever run foul of the law i wouldn't have guaranteed anonymity.. so moral of story: it's always better to be younger =p

crap man.. my notebook modem got toasted when a bolt of lightning suddenly struck.. i heard a 'pop' sound and my notebook screen went blank.. sibeh scary.. den when i restarted my comp i discovered i couldn't log on the net now.. but heng my comp is fine (aka able to play games) =p mom say she'll bring me to an acer shop tmr.. so see how much e freaking lightning costed me lorh =S

and i've just discovered msn messenger 7 cannot run on IE 5.. cos my old desktop only had IE 5 =S so had to borrow my bro's comp.. sian.. cannot do funny stuff on his comp.. haiz..

it was very hot yesterday afternoon.. so my mom suggested that i go to the library to chill out, and at the same time borrow some books - which i thought was a good idea - so i asked my dad to bring me there..

i was aghast when i found the library closed.. what the hell lor.. how come libraries can be closed on saturday afternoons?! maybe i'm too used with the fact that libraries open nearly 24/7 in singapore.. sigh.. wasted loads of petrol.. so in order to not make the trip a wasted one i suggested that we play snooker (cos the sad fact in ipoh is that pool tables are a rarity.. so rare that i have yet to see one in a shop) at ipoh parade, which my father readily agreed =)
snooker is less fun in a sense that a) it takes more time to pot all balls and b) more accuracy is needed.. unlike pool where you can just ram the cue ball and wait for your balls to bounce and drop into a pocket =p my snooker trip was cut short when a bunch of @#$%^& bouliao teenagers approached my dad n me and asked us to play pairs with them.. really la.. dream on man.. bet they never heard the phrase 'there is no free lunch'.. expect us to pay for THEIR entertainment.. think they are out to prey on weak lambs like us.. just because we don't smoke like the majority (and can't knock balls into the pockets fast enough) we are preyed upon.. sucks lor.. so i decided to just call it a day since i've played for 2 hours..

then today i was told that my computer can't be upgraded past 256 RAM.. i bought my laptop from a relative of mine, and when i asked him to upgrade it for me (it takes my comp 3 mins to boot up, and one to shut down, which irritated me) he told me it was impossible cos supposedly my comp can only have 256 RAM.. i was a bit skeptical at that time but i didn't say it out.. so i decided to play detective and found:

http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/Acer-Travelmate_281X_XP_PRO-laptop-3-nd2.htm

which says that my computer can reach 1GB RAM.. erps.. think i'll go buy the RAM myself and plug it in (somehow) =) $$-wise, i'll let my parents pamper me some more =p

looking forward to faster loading times and smoother processing.. yay yay =)

i've been back home since four days ago.. but just got an internet connection up again yesterday.. sigh think i need to get used to the fact that i am on a pathetic DIALUP connection.. it has been a long long time since i have been on one.. the only good thing i can think of about this connection is that it's way more stable than the wireless connection that i have been tapping for 4 months =)

i'm spending the bulk of my time home playing games.. 'fantasia sango' can be pretty addictive, i discovered =) and i'm starting to watch tv now heh.. 'the apprentice' is now in its 3rd season.. and still as addictive as ever.. watched the second ep yesterday.. last two seasons the contestants were grouped by gender.. now it's by education level (high school grads vs. college grads).. wonder what will happen next season..

shall enjoy life now =)

am going to learn how to drive soon.. hope i dun kill anyone on e way =)

will be on my way an hour from now.. guess this IS the goodbye i've been dreading.. =S

i'm now staring at the night view of singapore while typing this entry (i'm forced to place my computer in a certain spot in my room so to steal wireless connection =p) and thinking how much i'll miss it when i go back.. sg is so different from my hometown.. i can see high-rise buildings all around me here.. but when i go back the highest structure around my house would be the floodlights on the expressway (my house is around 100m away from a toll gate of the north-south expressway)..

it's so different.. yet i am more attached to viewing the former, since i've been seeing it regularly since 6 years ago..

to think that tonight is the last night i get to admire the concrete jungle of singapore.. initially i didn't like the view - thought it was super unnatural to have buildings all around me - but now i've not only gotten used to it, i've developed some admiration for it.. especially since singapore is such a young country.. its pace of development can only be rivalled by some other countries in the world.. it's so unlike my hometown - i bet it'll look almost the same ten years down the road..

am spending most of my time nowadays talking to old acquaintances.. met a good friend of mine from 2 to 9 today.. i really treasure the 7 hours cos i wouldn't have such a chance to talk to him like that for a very loooong time.. cos we'd be studying in two different continents in 4 months time.. sigh..

leaving tmr.. expecting frantic packing to start tmr afternoon =)

yay these two days had been quite eventful.. basically i had non-stop fun since fri morn.. which is rare since i started teaching 5 mths ago.. at most i could play e saturday away.. but i'd be frantically preparing stuff on sunday.. haha i think i have genes for last-minute work somewhere in me =)

had the rare chance to play w e junior class.. think it's e first time i spent so much time with them.. oops i'm a bad senior heh =) but i think skating for 4 hours straight is a bit overboard lah.. now i have 5 blisters on 2 feet.. walking and even SLEEPING is painful lor.. it's cos of the stupid skates lor.. but at least this time round i didn't fall down as much as i did when i skated for the first time last fri.. single digit compared to like around 30 last time.. yay =)

den today night i just had a class outing w e greatest turnout.. wah seriously i couldn't think of another occasion where most of us turn up (besides lessons and exams lah).. den e food wasn't too bad either (i'm not a picky eater like some of my classmates are ;).. basically spent a lot of time chatting and crapping - it's like only 6 months but i had so many things to catch up w them.. den afterwards was forced by pear to give a farewell speech.. so reminiscent of last thurs' event where the students "encouraged" me to give a farewell speech.. haiz.. not accustomed to bidding farewell to so many ppl at once.. think it's a bit impersonal leh..

sigh i feel guilty now.. i feel that i should be sad cos so many ppl are bidding farewell to me.. but the weird thing is that i dun feel THAT bad.. is it cos i'm immune to it already? a few weeks ago when i thought about leaving all my frens here i was at the point of crying.. but when the moment came (aka now) i dun feel that bad anymore.. maybe it's cos i comfort myself w e thought that i could always find them on msn.. hmmm that's one of the plus points of being in a wired world.. u nv really need to bid farewell to people u noe.. cos even if u're two continents away u can chat real-time with them =D which makes farewells easier to stomach..

shld sleep now.. tmr need to start packing liao.. sianz =(

went out w my malay teacher just now (she's chinese, btw) and 2 of my malaysian friends who happened to work here also.. she wanted to treat us =)

i had a sumptous meal of pratas and murtabaks.. had a great time crapping arnd w them.. but on e way back on e bus it suddenly dawned on me tt i'll nv see all three of them for a long time..

sigh..

everytime i think abt leaving a place n e ppl there, i comfort myself w e fact that i can still contact them thru msn, so it's not as bad as like losing contact forever.. but truth is i doubt chatting online beats e fun of crapping n clowning arnd w a bunch of friends i grew up with, spent 6 yrs in e hostel (and boarding sch) going through e same experiences.. i really miss those days where we mugged together for the 'O's and 'A's.. especially e sight of 4 ppl listening to music from ONE barely-functional cd player (e cd player happened to have two audio output "holes" - so 2 earphones shared by 4 ppl) and munching on snacks bought by one of us... really made mugging much more easier.. some more we happened to take trip sci so it was easy to just clarify doubts when it arose (yes i have doubts one ok.. and a lot of them, if u happen to wonder).. we used to inspire each other to mug harder simply by sitting there n having a thick file to go through.. when we got sian we just teased each other.. cracked cold jokes that made e world freeze a few times over..

now two is gg to ntu, one to uiuc, and me to another corner of e world..

天下无不散之筵席?

sigh..

it's a bit sian travelling to kl in the morning.. spent most of the time staring out of the bus window.. can't sleep much cos i'm not used sleeping in the morn.. sian sian sian..

the reason why i "sacrificed" is cos i needed to attend a function in kl.. they were giving me a certificate to formally certify that i'm a scholar of their company.. which ended months of me worrying whether they'll go back on their word (which is very unlikely i know) so yah yay i'm most probably able to fly off in sept.. but 2 things still haven confirm - visa n army =S it's e latter that i have the most headache abt.. wahlao they never send me any letters, keeping me in suspense.. haiz.. think i'll liaise with them when i go back.. currently i'm unable to write fluently in the language they're familiar with.. so must consult parents.. so ma2 fan2 =S

the return trip was much faster.. yay.. so that's why i can write someth now =) else i'll be stuck in some bus waiting impatiently for it to reach its destination..

hmm shall turn in early.. tmr still need to mark stuff.. =(