Thursday, March 26, 2009

Discovering the thrill of Left 4 Dead versus mode, Strikeforce gathering 2009, getting sick on my leave day, and best friend Lewis coming back!

Well, the title just about sums up what has happened since my last post.



Had a nice dinner with the SF guys n the new pple, though there was almost friction between Ian and Liting, I think the dinner was alright. Fiona came back to Strikeforce! The cool girl with the blue hair, is how I always remember her. LOL..



I'm not feeling too good now, still having a bit of sore throat n flu, difficulty breathing and keep sneezing, plus on top of that, my skin rashes are flaring up again. sigh.. all over my arms and back and behind my knees. really quite itchy and painful as well.. i've booked an appt with skin centre on 15 April already, hopefully they'll be able to give me some meds which are effective in the long run!



damn tired also, not enough sleep from last night, cos the horrible itch was keeping me awake.. i wanna just quickly go home n sleep tonight..

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tired, lack of sleep.. Wish i can take an extended holiday!

Took a day leave on tuesday for no apparent reason, but just to take a day off n chill with friends.

Went L4D with Millie, Ian, Yuhong and Nic from about 11.30 pm till about 5.30 am in the morning! 6 hours in total, only $7.50, so quite cheap leh, cheaper than watching a movie!

Oh n before that, went to love the world cafe for swing dance lessons with daniel, audrey n mukhali. met some new pple, learnt the swing dance for free, so not bad lah. 2 instructors were present, a long with a few helpers to teach the public the swing dance. they performed lindy hop and jazz dances as well, really cool and looks fun! due to back ground in rock n roll dance, i picked up the swing dance quite easily, its really similar to rock n roll. 6 step basic, with the usual turns and changing place. Had a bit of finger food snack n drinks too, was surprised that they serve wanton and curry puff.

Anyway we L4D until tues morning, then had breakfast at the kopitiam till about 6 plus, then took cab home. its ok cos i shared with millie n nic, so reached home about 7 am, bathed, slept about 7.45 am till 2.30 pm! hey its not that much, only about 7 hours plus of sleep leh. haha.

arranged to meet up w bowen n daryl n bk for movie n dinner, but daryl didn't wanna watch movie n bk, well he over slept, think he woke up at about 5 pm! crazy fella, wonder what he was doing at night! watched the very stupid, crappy, ridiculously lame and low budget dragonball evolution. only thing worth watching was chi chi fight. the romance scenes were horribly awkward, chow yung fatt is totally unsuited for the role, the action scenes were far too short, only Hame Hamma Ma or something, then the bad guy is defeated already. The audience (mainly teenagers) were laughing throughout the show and making fun of the stupid lame characters. Really horribly done show, but ok lah, i guess the entertainment factor is there, i'm entertained becos the show is so stupid and funny! Haha.. met up w Daryl for dinner at BK, then went for SF practice with Joan at joo chiat.

Finally having my first proper gig for 2009! feels good to be hitting a drum n performing once again! man i've really lost touch with my 16s and snare parts, but can't be helped, where to find time to practice, given my busy schedule.. playing sudo this time round, with the octopus sudo! heavy man! hahaha..

Tonight going out with my new SF team, leader is Ian, helpers are Liting, Rallen and another guy i dunno who! Got about 10 new pple under us, so about 2-3 new guys for each of us veterans to train, i guess its a good ratio. Provided that Rallen turns up lah. Haha..

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Keeping in touch with friends

I've realised something during my short work life of about 1 year 2 months, that when you work, you hardly have time for friends.

The only way I maintain contact with friends is through facebook, purposefully organised gatherings, church-related events, or once in a long while, last minute outings.

I used to hang out with Strikeforce pple like Boon, Ian, Neo, Millie, Liting, Yongqiang, Lianghong, Chaokiat, Nic, Lingling, etc, for hours and hours every week, either at practices, rehearsals, or just waiting to play a gig. Now its like, I don't have time to go for MTT, and after MTT the rest usually have practice for some upcoming gig and have to go studio or something. I really miss hanging out with them, performing with them.

And how about my cell group members? I only see them during service and cell group. Kinda hard to meet on weekdays given that we've got like zero common interest aside from God and church.

And my ex-cell group members? I only maintain constant contact with Boon kiat, Daryl, Clarence, Bowen cos of gaming interest, and of cos Michelle, Mikki and Yishan due to our closer friendship, the rest are simply not free to go out all the time. I try to meet up with Yongqiang and Yujie at least once every few months.

And besides church friends, i've got primary sch friends, JC friends, and other friends whom i've known n missed along the way. Old friends like Christine, Lewis, etc.

And whatever time I have, I try to spend with Joan cos I know she is struggling with her school and exams, and its my duty to encourage and support her. Afterall, she is my girlfriend and takes priority over everyone else. And I even miss her when I don't see her for a few days.

I'm surprised that on a weekday when i end work early, i go home eat dinner and read comics and sleep early and still feel lethargic the next day! I really cannot believe i get so tired so easily after work, when just a year ago, i would still go out almost daily to meet friends after work.

Of cos another factor is the finances i have.. i've given a lot for the building fund. even though the church website only registers $1600, which is WRONG cos i know i have given at least $3200, i felt really pissed off that the church can have such wrong info. i sacrifice a hell lot to give my building fund, and this isn't the first time the numbers are wrong. And besides the building fund and tithe which combined makes about $1200, i'm contributing $1200 monthly for a joint account. Which leaves me with only a little over $1200 to survive for the rest of the month.

After paying my bills ($70), topping u fare card, taxi trips ($200 approx), offerings and cell group fund ($100), insurance ($250), i have only about $600 for food and enjoyment. Think that's a lot? Assuming I spend $10 a day on food on working days, thats $200. Thats $400 left for me to spend on weekends. Divided by 8 days, thats $50 per weekend. I watch one movie with joan and have a nice dinner with her, easily $50-60. Last weekend I definitely spent more than that already, having a nice dinner with Jessie as well.

I mean, I'm living on the allowance of an NSman. They don't need to pay for food and lodging and get $450 to blow on weekends and I have even less than that to spend. Its freaking ridiculous when i think about it. My brother, going through NS, is earning more than me becos he isn't paying for anything and gets about $700 a month through his wedding videos.

And pple claim that being a lawyer means i'm rich. I really feel like punching those pple who say that to me. I grin and remain silent, cos i'm known for being a nice guy, and i know its not right to react with violence, but still i feel irritated and upset when pple make such remarks.

Monday, March 09, 2009

A nice weekend with Joan, The Watchmen movie, and ex-cg dinner with Jessie!

Dear God,

What a wonderful weekend! I feel so blessed to have had such a great weekend with the people I love and cherish. Thank you Lord for enabling me to spend a nice weekend relaxing instead of rushing back to office to work on a Sunday or saturday afternoon!

Its been really horrible, i've got to work either on Sat or Sun for the past 1 month or so, I've never had a proper weekend to rest. Even when I had a weekend to rest last week, it felt like the weekend just zoomed past and i hardly had a moment to properly savour the moment, but still it was good, i'm gonna take a day leave either this coming Friday or next Monday, to reward myself for the work done so far.

On Saturday, went to get the balloons from the shop, which i ordered on Friday night. i thought it was quite cheap at $35 for the set of balloons, but apparently according to Joan, i got cheated, like every other guy who wants to buy balloons for the girlfriend! i really have no idea how much is the price of such balloons, i was expecting a range between $20-40, so $35 was still within my budget.

Anyway, picked it up from the shop at 11.30 am, and went to PS manhattan fish market for lunch n to wait for Joan to be pleasantly surprised by the balloon! oh and what a coincidence, we ate at the manhattan fish market, and the movie was about DR MANHATTAN! hahaha.. but anyway we took some pictures of the balloon, its still in my handphone, gonna upload it tonight. i have not seen a movie with Joan for so long, i almost wanted to cry cos i missed her. but yet she has to study harder for her exams, n i need to constantly motivate n encourage her, n i need some encouragement myself too.. Sigh, doesn't matter, God is the strength of my heart, i should be leaning on Your strength more n not depending on Joan to encourage me all the time.

I think Joan n i really enjoyed the Watchmen. it has everything, a good story line with many twists, superheroes, plenty of fighting, slow-mo effects, violence, gadgets, jokes, romance between unlikely people, politics, etc.. literally everything that you like in a movie, its in the Watchmen! i don't understand how can the newspapers rate it only 1 star, it is really a thought-provoking n for its time, revolutionary storyline, that isn't afraid to showcase the destructive nature of humanity. From the naked Bluie, to the fake fat Batman, and the pyscho guy in the changing mask with the rapsy voice, all the characters were too cool n realistic. haha!

i really wouldn't mind watching again, or perhaps get the DVD for the movie. would've loved to see more of the Comedian though, a classic anti-hero, barely fighting for the side of good, but being manipulated by the govt.

Anyway after the 3 hour movie, we spend about half an hour deciding where to go, then went up to the Equinox to take a look at the view.. the view is really spectacular and breath-taking. We really could see most of singapore from that view, parts of malaysia as well. i'm thinking, i should bring Joan there more often, since we both like the view so much. perhaps even make plans to pop the question there? Haha..

Had dinner at Dino's and then went to my house for a short while, then went to fetch my bro from merchant court hotel, and have supper at toa payoh. It was good spending time with my bro n mindice, i'm so glad mindice n joan can get along well! that's an unexpected blessing in our lives.

Sunday service was pretty alright, pst Tan continuing in the marriage series of sermons. Had SF recruitment after service, and then went for dinner with Jessie, Janice, Yujie, Yongqiang, Eunice. Colin last min couldn't make it, otherwise it would've been noisier and lamer! Haha.. it was really good seeing all of them again. Having Yujie n yongqiang as my two "elder brothers" giving me advice on working n marriage preparation, i really appreciate them n thank You for bringing them into my life. Didn't really get to talk to Eunice very much cos was engaged in quite a serious conversation with Yujie over shares, options, family planning, etc. He's really a very inspirational leader, and I'm glad to have his advice.

Dinner at Ma maison wasn't that great, i've always wanted to try the food at that place, and Jeanette said it was quite good, but turned out a bit disappointing, and the price was well, pricey. After dinner, we had a bit of supper at TCC near MOS at clark quay area, chatted and hung out until about 11 pm. Overall, had a lot of fun, but also a lot of thought provoking n advice given by my friends. Thank God for such good friends, who can actually add value to my life.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Chilling out at Love the World Cafe

Last night went to Love the World Cafe for free jamming with my bro n his guitarist Hanyuan, as well as Audrey n her friend Chantelle (sp?). Had a great time there, listening to the resident band, they were really quite good, singing a mix of Christian songs and pop songs, very tight and the keyboardist Melvin was quite skillful, super pai seh when he asked me to play on stage cos i really can't play very well! but just for the fun of it lah, anyway at least i knew the song they wanted to jam. My bro played I will survive with his guitarist, and the pub bosses seemed impressed. Haha. Reached home at about 1 plus, n slept at 2.30 am. Woke up this morning around 7.50 am and am zombified in office now. Haha.

Been sleeping for only about 5 hours for the past few days, hopefully cell group ends early so can go home n rest tonight. Tml is the last day of going out with Joan, i hope the cinemas aren't too crowded, i wanna catch the Watchmen tml!

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Part 6: "Reinforcements have arrived!"

Time seemed to crawl to a standstill as Grifter helplessly watched his team get overrun by the Wicked Orkas.

He could see in such detail, the look of despair mixed with rage as Reid thrashed about wildly, green muscled beings surrounding him from all sides, and Shona gripping the combat blade with the last reserves of strength in her, slashing and stabbing at the circle of Orkas, while Yuri's armour cracked with a group of Orkas stomping on him, roaring with triumph and eagerness to destroy the armour to attack the human within.

Even as he slashed his way toward them, he knew he could not reach them in time, not with Rallen hanging on limply on his back. Beside him, Yonq Iang's face was bloodied with human and Ork blood, his cape shredded and torn, but still fought on with crackling energy from within. Destiny and Sharlynette also fought alongside Grifter desperately, but knew they were merely delaying the inevitable.

Inside Grifter's power armour, alarms were going off and notices were flashing. "Armour integrity at 28% and dropping." "15 bolt rounds remaining." "Recommend immediate medical treatment for wound on left thigh, administering nanobots now." He shut them all out and concentrated only on 1 thing - taking down as many Orkas as possible in his final battle. But then, a message came, flashing amber. "Reinforcements have arrived. ETA in 10.. 9.. 8.." He could almost see the hope flaring up in his teams faces, even though they had their helmets on!

Streaming clouds of smoke, the Space Marine Drop Pods came screaming out of the sky. Rallen, though losing both his legs, gave a whoop of joy, while Destiny and Sharlynette shrieked in delight. Several Orkas were momentarily distracted and looked up at the sky, wondering what was making that sonic boom that resonated over the battle field, although most simply carried on the carnage.

"Brace for impact." the voice in Grifter's helmet instructed.

3 Drop Pods came smashing down extremely near Grifter's team, crushing several dozen Orkas, and throwing other Orkas to the ground in the impact. In a moment, the doors slammed down, crushing more Orkas on the ground, and out came the reinforcements!

"Into the maelstorm of battle!" yelled the Sergeant of the reinforcement team, and Grifter had trouble identifying him for awhile, before realising it was his old friend, Veteran Sergeant Honggad! Bolters spitting death at the Orkas, Honggad gave a brief nod to Chaplain Grifter as his team came forth in support, to rain death and destruction on the Orkas. Grifter smiled to himself as friends were indeed a great welcome on the battlefield.

On Sergeant Honggad's flanks came Techmarine Nic, who released sentry guns while he fired his bolter in his left hand, and Sister Liting, expert in the use of agile close combat, having trained together with Sharlynette before, brandished her dual energy blades as she lept and decapitated Orkas who barely registered her presence. Like a shadow darting back and forth, no conventional weapon could even hope to strike her down, her speed knocking Orkas to the ground even as she flinted by. Finally came another huge Space Marine, encased in powerful Terminator bulk armour, with a huge chain bolter protruding from his right arm, firing incendiary rounds into the mass of green Orkas, punching through several of them, cutting them down and sending limbs and torsos scattering in all directions. On his left shoulder, a personalised emblem of an eagle on a pink shield, signifying his favourite colour, Terminator Robin was fearsome indeed. "How about some brute force to back you up eh!" Robin grinned at Yonq Iang. Nic, quickly laid down about 4 sentry guns and 4 battle drones, which formed a perimeter around the Space Marines, giving Grifter and his team some space for a breather.

Encouraged, Grifter, Yonq Iang, Destiny and Sharlynette fought with renewed vigor, after getting fresh ammunition and weapons from the Drop Pods. Grifter spoke into his combead, "We have 3 men down 20 meters to our West, near the broken defense structure! They need assistance!"

"Already on it, sir." A female voice voxed in reply. Sister Valerie and Apothecary GK was tending to Reid and Yuri's injuries and Sister Shona, knocked unconscious by the impact of the Drop Pod, was carried to it by Brother Daryl, who quickly locked her into a safe compartment, and resumed fighting the Orkas. Partly invisible and perched on top of a Drop Pod, Sergeant Arthur took out the biggest Orkas with his long las rifle, each shot piercing through the head of a lumbering Orka leader, or at least what he assumed to be the leaders. He quickly issued orders to the rest of his squad to re-join the battle once Yuri's injuries have been tended to. Reid's injuries didn't seem too severe and Arthur took him into his squad for the time being, and gave him a few more rockets.

And the third Drop Pod contained only 1 thing, but it was enough to cause the Orkas to pause in their assault. Towering more than 4 meters in height, heavily armed with a flame thrower, dual heavy bolters and missile launchers, the venerable dreadnought Luke ploughed through the mass of Orkas like it was taking a walk in a park. Rallen and Yuri, though heavily injured, cheered the dreadnought on and shouted in unison, "Luke Rocks!!"

But even with the arrival of the 6 Space Marines, 2 Sisters of Battle and the incredibly powerful dreadnought, Grifter knew they didn't stand much of a chance against tens of thousands of Orkas, no matter much many were killed, the swarm of Orkas just kept coming.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Happy birthday Boon!

Thanks to this man, Tan Boon, i've managed to really expand my capacity and realise my talents in music! and not to mention have a heck of a lot of joy and fun in the process, and finding many great friends and awesome musicians!

Celebrated his birthday at the Love the World cafe at the Singapore Flyer last night, i was asked to sing a few songs last min by Ian, and the band was pieced together to play those songs at very last min notice as well. It was really quite sudden, we had super little time to practice, n the whole event was, well, not as organised as expected, but still, most of us there had a lot of fun! and even the drummers and ex-strikeforce pple turned up, like Sebas, Soo huei, Titus, Gabriel, etc! old friends like Darshan even made a guest appearance! hahaha.. noticeably absent was luke, David and Justinn, but aside from those 3, most of the old birds all came! even Samuel n his wife came, n colin brought along his new gf, n we had lots of fun making noise n fellowshipping with the strikeforce pple! haven't talked to so many of them in such a long time, i feel like i'm missing my family members!

Its only a monday n already i'm feeling so lethargic and tired! got work to do but can't really do anything more, have a headache n my eyes are painful from starring at the computer screen, or from the glare of the afternoon sun during the meeting.. sigh. working life is really not easy, almost had to work through lunch today, and clients aren't being very cooperative so its worse..

But i guess i should thank God i still have a job lah. i'll have to force myself to wake up early tomorrow to come to work early, cos i really have no mood to carry on working now liao..