Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas 2008 and countdown to 2009!

Think my last blog entry was on 24th Dec on Christmas eve, here's the continuation! (On a side note, I didn't realise that so many pple actually bother reading my blog, there isn't really anything interesting here, just the nonsensical emotional rambling of a 26 year old! hahaha.. but thanks for reading, don't take offense at some of the strong opinions here! =P)

Dec 24: Lunch w YQ n friends, Christmas service, Momo's birthday and Ip Man movie!

Left office at about 12.15 pm to meet up with Yongqiang for lunch at Vivocity, didn't realise he was bringing along another 2 friends, Mandy, a very loud and overly excited and friendly girl named Mandy, and the other girl, didn't talk at all, so I can't remember her name, I shall call her Wallpaper. Haha. But anyway thanks Yongqiang, for the delicious lunch (if i remember correctly, it was at Secret Recipe, and I ordered mushroom sauce chicken chop)and for a great time of fellowship! Its always great to catch up with old friends (not literally old as in age! haha!) and its also nice to meet new pple. Mandy is from New Creation, smokes, drinks, clubs and likes to talk to guys. Haha. No further comment needed. She used to be from CHC, but she said she couldn't stand the strict standards and the naggy cell group leaders, so she went to NCC where she can do whatever she likes and God will forgive her anyway. Haha! I was really quite amused by her thinking. But who cares, I'm there to pass YQ his Xmas card n have a nice lunch, not talk to her about her warped perception of Christianity. After lunch, went home for like an hour before going out with family n Mindice to Seletar Country Club for afternoon high tea! i was kind of amazed that i could still eat the supreme meesiam with chicken chop after my lunch! haha. then went for the Christmas services with family, neighbours Stanley n Carine, Alex and his family. Thank God managed to find seats quite easily. So total I brought 8 friends for Xmas! Hahaha.. Thought the drama was quite boring n too many stupid jokes thrown in, the singaporean dialects, the lame humour, the unfunny jokes, I was quite disapppointed, as the title sounded really big, "Operation Save The World" i.e. a copy of save the cheerleader from Heroes. Only part which I woke up (haha) was when the flying angels came at the ending scene. Now, that was cool! But it lasted all of 10 seconds. The message was short, the candles we held for the candlelight service kept being blown out by the air condition, so it was really annoying we had to relight the candles every half a minute. What a drag. Anyway the fun part of the night was after service, when Joan n I went to meet up with Momo, Jeanette, Jaric, Boon Kiat, Elaine, JJ, Clifford n a few others for Ip Man, the awesome kungfu movie! I must admit, the movie really cheered me up after my disappointment with the Christmas drama. it was action packed, really funny also (the part when the young kid cycled out n said "mummy says you better start fighting back or else more furniture will be broken") and touching as well. it really stirs up the nationalistic feeling in Chinese! pple in the cinema actually applauded when Donnie Yuen kicked the crap out of the Japanese guys! woohoo go Ip Man, kick those Jap-asses back to their own country! it was a damn good show, and best of all, the hero doesn't die in this movie! I really don't like sad-ending hero movies, when the hero has to sacrifice himself, or someone he loves has to die, n the show ends in a very sad way. Ip Man has a feeling of triumph n excitement, that no matter how dire n bad the circumstances, when one man fights for justice and righteousness, things will change for the better. Awesome action, realistic to the core, i don't mind getting the DVD for this movie! After the show, a few of us when to Swenson for supper. there was jeanette's boyfriend n the Shortguy who joined us as well. it was nice to have BK drive us home, as tired as he was, we cracked a heck of a lot of jokes while in his car. haha.. think i reached home around 5 am in the morning!

Dec 25: Christmas Lunch at Angus, shopping and nothing much

Didn't really do much on Xmas day. I think the sad thing is, no Christmas presents to open at all this year. I guess I really miss the joy n excitement of tearing open the presents which I used to get from friends n relatives. Since young, i used to get dozens of toys n books n stuff for Christmas, but i guess we're all grown up now, its time to do the giving. Had lunch at Angus (had to wake up at 11.15 am! super sleepy n stoned) the usual steak set lunch. walked around orchard shopping and bumped in to many of my parents' friends! it was like old pple outing to orchard! my bro said all the young pple are at orchard on Xmas eve partying n at home sleeping on Xmas day, n then all the old pple come out for lunch at orchard on Xmas day! quite true isn't it? bought some clothes n shirt for Joan's dad, then went to my house to sleep, buay tahan anymore. i can't remember how long i slept, must have been 1.5 hours or so. oh yeah, we went to a CAKE shop to buy cakes n other deserts for tea! man, i think i put on some weight, eat n sleep n eat n sleep for the festive season! hahaha! wanted to watch movie but the DVD had some problem, so after playing a bit of COD5 game, I sent Joan to the bus stop n went home to continue playing before sleeping. I know, very "nerd" n no life, always stuck at home playing computer games right? but i can't help it, i bought a new computer simply for immersing myself in the latest FPS games! n i still can't complete the campaigns on L4D! quite frustrating. LOL!

Dec 26: SF gig at Orchard, jamming with Michelle Lim n my brother's band

A really bad gig! Out of the 3 gigs which we played at orchard ( i only played for 2 out of the 3, missed the first one cos i was working) i felt this should be the worst one. out of time, players not concentrating, certain players forgetting their parts, no vibe, wrong speed for the wrong sequence, wrong assignment of instruments for players, no obvious signs of leading the performers, pple getting tired after a short march, no support for the octopus, n many many other mistakes, I made a few mistakes myself, especially getting tired after the march along orchard road, as it was my second time playing the sudo (1st time was at F1) and my arms got tired from smashing the mallet on the sudo drum skin! really need to work on my stamina, and also my performance skills, i was so stiff while playing the sudo, its quite different from dancing n swinging the tom around! the sudo is so big n difficult to move around, n i probably didn't adjust the correct height. i was quite annoyed by the wrong playing of certain players, i don't want to name names since pple read my blog, but i think they know who they are. could hear Chow kiat shouting "Wrong! Wrong!" at those certain pple when they played wrongly, or can see Ian stare at the person who played the extra beat.

If these pple don't even know they played wrongly, they shouldn't even be performing in a gig. How can you go into a performance without being well prepared? Skill, mental preparation, stamina, sense of timing, etc. All crucial to a good performance. Honestly i was quite annoyed, i thought we could've done way way way better than that. Even Rallen's super energetic performance couldn't save the day, nor CK's fantastic solos (even though even this guy made a few mistakes here n there), nor the grand finale of FHW. Could see Boon was really angry with us during n after the gig. Haiz.

At least most of us had fun during the gig! And thankfully, the audience loved it, lapped it all up, and asked for more! After the FHW, the emcee asked for one more sequence! we were all shocked, wondering whether or not to pack up, whether of not CK's RIP would surface, or what else is there which we can play! Haha! That was the joke of the day man. Hehz.. In the end, we just played the usual space jam sequence loops.

Went back to Joo Chiat studio for sheraton hotel gig practice, but had supper at Astons first, since the other group was practicing first. That was where we had the "suan Nic about Meiqi" session! hahaha.. Guankeat really likes to laugh at other pple! He doesn't even do it subtlely, he does it outrightly! Poor Nic, first shona, then meiqi.. he went for the Tic Tac Toe thingy last sunday, but still can't over the SF girls. haha..

After prac, jammed a few songs with my brother's band, was quite bad, they weren't prepared for the songs which we originally intended to jam, ended up playing a bit of rubbish, only 2-3 songs were alright, the rest sucked. the drummer really lost form, the lead gutarist couldn't flow with the band, Michelle can't sing rock songs, n i felt it was a waste of time. But at least we had supper at some prata place, before my bro went to send everyone home. Haha i don't have to be the taxi driver liao, ever since my bro got his licence. Reached home around 5 am again.

Dec 27: Sujin's wedding, JC friends mini-gathering

Didn't do much on saturday except sleep until 2 pm! haha! i can't believe it, the weather was so nice n windy n cloudy, it felt really shoik to sleep! went over to joan's place for her to get ready, (met up with a few SF peeps at the TPY macs, they were practicing their rack sequence) and reached the OCC restaurant at about 8.10 pm. Amazingly, we weren't the latest pple there. The wedding only started at 8.45 pm, and honestly it was a bit weird, some pple were wearing t-shirt and bermudas and slippers! Oh man, for my wedding, if they don't wear long sleeve and at least a jeans, i will ask my bouncers to throw them out. So disrespectful to the wedding couple! One good thing about the wedding is that it gave me a chance to catch up with my JC friends, Wilson, Yewkwan, Kevin, Yiwen, Adrian, Qinning and our class teacher Ms Siau. We had a lot of fun making fun of Bengthye n his KTV skills n the sleezy location of the wedding, and Raymond with his cannot-make-it flirting ways! Qinning is the next to get married, Joan noticed the big diamond ring on her finger. Oh man, what an obvious signal, the ring practically shouts "i'm getting married soon!" hahaha.. Oh n Cuixia and her short pudgy BF came late, after the 2nd course then they arrived, if i remember right. Then they both went out for a talk with Adrian (who has liked Cuixia for a long time) and Wilson n YK n I immediately started laughing about the possibilities. The food was alright lah, not too bad, but the fun was chatting with old classmates. Kinda scary now that everyone is grown up n working n getting married!

Dec 28: Last service and last MTT for 2008! Dinner at the Jap marche (expensive & very average)

Nothing much, short service, quick lunch with YQ n Drew n Jennifer Chen, MTT with 2 new friends n the Boon welcome speech, dinner at the Shukudo or something, spent about $30 for Joan n myself, but the food was very average, n i honestly don't like such self-service places, its just an expenseive food court! n they still charge service charge 10% on the bill.. but nevermind lah, since its the last meal with all the SF pple for 2008. Had pratice until quite late, reached home about 12.30 am. Millie came back from her KL trip with her office pple, showed us some photos of her trip n pic of Jaslyn (of SF) going clubbing w her. some pple really aren't who they seem to be eh, go SOT, all holy n stuff, but when they get a chance to unwind, literally let all hell break loose. Though Millie was gone for only 3 days, it felt like we hadn't seen her for along time! Hhaha.. That's how close we are, brothers n sisters in the SF! Millie was telling us about the dream she had, about Nic doing something really stupid n ruining the SF performance, n the scary thing is, it could actually happen! LOL! but it just shows how much she misses SF, even though its only a 3-day trip.

Dec 29: Rash outbreak, last dinner with Joan at Pizzaplace at city hall, SF prac for countdown n chilling out with David!

Took MC, went home n slept until 2.30 pm (again!) before eating lunch, downloading the track n playing Crysis. Pretty uneventful day, just a day to really rest, catch up on sleep n relax at home. Had practice at studio in the evening, but ended quite early (comparatively to other practices, even though we still left studio at 11 pm!). Played Crysis until 3 am (hahaha) and now i'm zombified in office, just wasting time away until 6.30 pm, when we go to boss house for company dinner. Hope it ends no later than 9 pm, i really have no mood to chitchat about trivial things n spend time at some place where i don't wish to be.

Time to start planning my goals for 2009.. here's a list which i thought of, just off the top of my mind:

1. start coming to office on time (i.e. reach before 9 am)
2. start sleeping earlier (12.30 am latest)
3. start exercising, jog twice a week, 30 sit ups twice a week, 30 push ups twice a week.
4. start reading the Bible from the beginning, praying for at least 20 min after reading the Bible, before sleeping.
5. learn to understand girls (esp Joan) better
6. spend less money on cabs (max take cab twice a week)
7. complete building fund
8. resume Bible study classes after coming back from Dubai trip
9. start to treat my family more often to meals n stuff
10. spend more time with the cell group (haha! if possible =P)
11. start planning my career path
12. cancel credit card if unable to control my spending! ( just signed up for a free 3 year trial with standard chartered visa card last wednesday with a girl names Posh, can you believe it, i never imagined pple actually calling themselves Posh, what a stupid name! but the 3 year free trial is not bad, plus i get 10% rebate every time i use the card to pay for things. every $100 i spend, i get $10 back 2 months later. not a bad deal, thought i'd try it out.)

God, 2008 has been a very unique year for me. I can't say its all bad or all good, but really a mixture of highs n lows. I've really never had such a roller coaster of a year before. I mean in all things, spiritually, emotionally, in my finances, in my ministry, in my relationship with Joan, my cell group, evangelism, at work, relationship with boss, my personal time, etc.. every aspect has seen the ups n downs in 2008. I suppose its been that way for many pple as well, though for me honestly its been quite an unnerving n a little scary. ok scratch that, its horribly scary at times. yeah, i'm not a super human, i have fears n doubts about many things, even being a "lawyer". sometimes friends n other pple tend to think, once i become a lawyer, i'm set for life. good pay, good job, whats there to worry about? well, they don't see the other side of the coin. being a lawyer also equals more stress, more scoldings from bosses, less time for family n friends, less time for personal alone time, less time to play drums n pursue my interests. pple also expect more from you, have a certain awe or keep a distance from me (whether subconciously or not) and i really don't wish to disclose my job as a lawyer if i don't have to. God, i hope 2009 will be a much better year for me, i'll try my best to improve myself n change all the bad habits n wrong attitudes n mentality that i have.

In Jesus name,
Amen

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