Fun fact - Mountain Equipment Co-Op is formed in Canada

Morning went to Eau clair market and Prince Island Park. Played dai-dee there. Also bought bread to feed the animals, only to see a sign in the park later that tells people not to feed animals (in case that they get dependent on human).

Broke off with the group later while at downtown. More freedom that way. Went to the beautiful Devonian Garden located at the top level of Devonian Shopping Complex. It is a transparent-ceiling-air-conditioned indoor garden that comes with its own birds and pond (yes, there are fishes in there for you to feed, and several coin-based fishfood dispensers conveniently located nearby...). There are people sitting around eating their lunches, reading books, or simply enjoying the calm that abounds so abundantly in that serene garden. Tres Bien.

Shopping! Bought a Gore-Tex jacket at CAD$150, the biggest expense paid out for my stay in Canada till now. But it was only 150/340 that of Wenzheng’s jacket. Why? Cos my jacket is the Youth’s version (but it fitted me snugly! Does that mean I am YoUtHfUl??) though same in design and intricacies as the adult version. Drool over it at http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=711437&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=522039&bmUID=1094527314793
Also bought a nalgene bottle at CAD$7.25. This one has a bigger mouth than my bigger-capacity green nalgene bottle. Hope it doesn’t talk so much.

Fun fact - Calgary was home to the Blackfoot

Went to visit Tyrell Museum to see dinosaur bones and such. There’s such a wide collection of bones there any dogs will salivate at seeing them. Also went along the North to South Dinosaur Trails that led to many badlands and superb sceneries. Recommended tourist place. Endorsed by Frank.

Had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Calgary. Superb 5 course meal at 3 course prices.

Fun fact - There are no more buffaloes jumping down in Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump

Went to visit Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump (google for it!) located near the town of Fort MacLeod. Err... not my cup of tea, but must admit that it would be interesting to those who are interested. Wanted to have a buffalo burger to complete the experience, but did not manage to squeeze in one for lunch. Had some other burger instead.

Went to Lethbridge after that to sightsee. Wanted to visit the cornfield maze at Robinpick Berry Farm and get ourselves silly-lost inside, but it was closed. Went to Helen Schuler Coulee Centre, a centre that leads to several small coulee trails, mainly a nature-touristy place. It turned out to be an uninteresting hike in an uninteresting park-grassland. Perhaps we went there too late (4+pm), but it wasn’t good. =(

Fun fact - Calgary means 'clear, running water' in Gaelic

Today went back to Calgary and had a Viet dinner along uptown 17th Avenue. Later went to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to look see look see for camping stuff and jackets and bagpacks. Wenzheng bought a super expensive GoreTex jacket (MEC Zenith Jacket (Men's)). He’s flying off in the middle of the night, so won’t be seeing him for long long time.

Fun fact - Calgary is building up for Olympics 2008.

Ice-walking today! First time walking up snowy mountain (Athabasca Glacier). Very shiok experience. Also found out how dirty snow can be. There were a lot of sediments on the snow that accumulated from impure melted top-layer snow. Happy day.

Witnessed two elks happy crossing a road and a driver happily running over one of them (it died, by the way) tonight. What a happy day. We didn’t talk much that night, as we each pondered over how all of us would die one day and other such happy stuff.

Fun fact - Calgary is second only to Toronto as the home of major Canadian Corporations

Today went up all the way to Coliseum mountain, a truly scenic mountain standing at 2040m, that gave a 360 degree view of the surroundings. The way up was filled with perils as we had to circumvent the mountain on its steep (think 45degrees) rocky (think very rocky) slopes near the top, where cold wind (think very cold strong wind... wenzheng and I were singing ‘Cold wind blows’ army song...) blows continuously. Up on the top seemed to me another world that was quiet and untouched by civilization. Not much animals found at that height, less a group of sparrows (are they sparrows? Must be some high-flyers...) and a goose-like animal that shied away on seeing us. Superb place, I tell you, if you ignore the cold winds and freezing balls in your pants. You might want to google for pics (up here) if you don’t want to spend time hiking up this mountain to see the views.

Fun fact - Calgary is the entrance to the Rockies Mountain

Today was at Lake Mouraine. It was drizzling slightly and misty up at the mountain on the way up the mountain to see the valley of the Ten Peaks. Had to backtrack when almost at the peak. On the way up, we were stopped short on the path by the presence of grizzly bears. Too bad that we did not sight them (some other lucky idiots ahead of us saw it.)

Fun fact: Vancouver was first inhabited by the Salish people

Joel (our tour guide) picked us up in the morning and we had a fantastic time at Lake Louis. Wenzheng and me pia-ed all the way to the end of the trail leading to the Plains of the 6 glaciers, and saw Abbott pass from a great angle. Being the first time I went so high and saw vast stretches of glaciers, I realized my relative insignificance and ignorance in comparison to everything else out there. I need to see more things to put myself in perspective.

I have said this once and I will cut-and-paste it again. Wenzheng is a REALLY great guy. No wonder Eu and Garry missed him so much. Had a great time with him as a fellow tourist/hiker/roommate/++ in the Rockies. And if you are wenzheng, you still owe me CAD150 or SGD196.

The walk up was definitely great. And though the walk down was freezing cold, it was an experience I cannot forget. The vast mountain plains, the flowing rivers, the muddy delta at the bottom, the postcard X-shaped sceneries of the mountains in the river (google for Lake Louis photos or go principal.mst.edu.hk/ rockiespic1.htm). And Wenzheng is a very fit walker. Had a hard time catching up with him, though he was wearing slippers (slippers in the cold mountain? He’s mad!) and I was wearing army boots. He’s good.

Fun fact: Vancouver is Canada's 3rd largest city

Just added google ads and stuff to my blog.

As this is a post-written blog (of more than the next 10 days), I can’t remember exactly approximately what just happened but but you may see me having some special powers to comment about what will happen the following next few days. All the stuff written here is based on a meticulously recorded record of expenses recorded over the next few days. Hmm. Damn bad English I know, but excellent Singlish I hope.

Woke up damn bloody early today and went to the airport to catch our early morning flight to Calgary. First time taking domestic flight and wasn’t checked for my passport. West Jet has some uber funny crew for the flight from Vancouver (YVR) to Calgary (CLG). Super hilarious execution in the normal mundane safety announcements and information about the emergency exits. You have to be there to see it. Too bad you weren’t there, so there. You might want to google on more information about the safety announcements about their detailed 10-step explanation on how to put on your seat belt, their demonstration on how to blow up the safety vest blah blah...

At the airport met Wenzheng for the first time. REALLY great guy. No wonder Eu and Garry missed him so much. Had a great time with him as a fellow tourist/hiker/roommate/++ in the Rockies. And if you are wenzheng, you still owe me CAD150 or SGD196.

You must say that Eu has an eye for bargain cos the Best Western Suite that he got for the group’s stay is simply fantabulous. Slightly higher than Hostelling International’s (google on their prices?) price, you get hotel services, personal kitchen (with stove, microwave and fridge) , 2 bedrooms (one with TV), a hall (complete with big TV, sofa bed and cable modem)… Dudes and dudettes, what more can you ask for?

Went to walk around uptown and downtown for the rest of the day and visited the interesting places around Calgary. Visited the Calgary tower but did not go up cos no money. But we did visit the Glenbow Museum where they have some interesting displays about the First Nations (dunno what’s that? Google it!) and the minerals in Alberta…

Tomorrow we are going for the True North Tour’s Rocky Express Tour (Want to know my whole itinery? Google it!) and it didn’t turn out to be as good as we want it to be because of the bloody cloudy and rainy weather. Oh yah. Next time do google for the weather before going for any outdoor activities. =(

Fun fact - Vancouver Population::2.1 million

Nothing much doing today. Went to Airport to fetch Jiayun/zhiqing/yanying and dumped all their stuff at our place. Mainly a logistics day with a dinner at Hon’s Wonton House. Tomorrow we are going to Calgary to attack the Rockies.
Oh yah, at night also went to make phone call at the same place near our house (read yesterday). Lucky never see the person selling any other stuff there.

Fun fact: BC should experience a big earthquake... soon?

Today went to Chinatown in the morning to recce and memorise the place. Have a super bad memory so must purposely do this. Found the place to buy cheap rice that Eu’s uncle was talking about, and it’s really quite cheap. Dunno whether they got discount card for buying more…. On the way back saw an old lady lying on the notorious strip near ChinaTown, with a police car and two policemen by the side. Some bystanders were at the side bystanding. Ambulance came and took her away. Looked around and contemplated about Life for a while before witnessing a drug transaction next to me. Absolutely shocking. Who is to be blamed for the imperfection of Life? I think we are, and we are not. There is so much we can do, so much we don’t do, and so much to be done. Soliciting, transactions, highs and lows, you can find them all on the streets here unlike in Singapore. Makes me treasure the order back home, yet makes me think that it is uncomparable, for the people in Singapore has exchanged freedom for order. I can see freedom of choice here, and the results though is unsettling at times, does give an edge for personal exploration at other times, which is unfound in Singapore. Oh yah, bought one big onion for 40 cents. Plus tax and convert to SGD is 47 cents. By aggaration.

Afternoon went to MetroTown to buy stuff from the one dollar shop. CAD$25.15 worth of them. Change to Sing is a lot more. Calculate calculate… si nang kia, why you so ngiao? But that’s me. =P. Also saw a chio bu, but that’s secondary.

Night had food and rice left for tomorrow’s breakfast of fry rice (pronounce fry rice both in 1st hanyu pinyin).

Siao liao siao liao. Just went outside with Eu to make a phone call and saw so many things in our neighbourhood. Saw one hooker soliciting near the junction of Victoria street and Hastings, and at the phone booth two blocks down the road, we were approached by a guy wanting to sell us a stereo system. He had a companion to whom he was not very satisfied with, judging from the way they exchanged expletives and hollers across a street.

This does not bode well. Don’t think it is safe to go out for supper by myself already. This sux.

Fun fact - Vancouver has skytrain and buses

There are cockroaches everywhere. Under the bed, under the table, in the toilet, on the walls, in the kitchen, on the carpet….everywhere. A rough score of 7 kills per day is a minimum count. Can we ask for cheaper rent because of this? We might need extra money to buy a chalkboard (and of course some chalks) to tabulate the numbers. Hmm…

Went to Richmond today. Took the bloody hot 98 B-line bus all the way down stuff to tour Richmond Centre. It was a bloody big shopping centre with lots of things except toilet.

And Eu is beside me again. Sometimes you really wonder if he got nothing else to do then to come beside me and ka chiao me. He’s poking me now. Poke poke. He’s showing me a scissors now. Lucky I go buy insurance. He’s gone now.

But I need to go also. Anyway nothing interesting happened today. It’s like a day around Taka. So there.

BC update

Bank account done. Made phone call back to Singapore liao. Barang barang for apartment almost complete liao, now just lack a dining table and chairs to accompany it. Cooked black pepper chicken and selected high grade vegetables for dinner. And Eu is beside me now. He’s a very ugly chap and his arm is super heavy on my shoulder. I suspect he is gay. Hmm. He keeps touching me. WTF mate? If I get pimple on my neck, I know who to find. Ok he’s gone now.

After several minutes of peace and no blogging (unfortunately), Eu is back to my side. But he’s no longer interested in kachiaoing me. Or is he? Now his hand is on my shoulder again. WTF mate??? He just touched my chin again. WTF? Ok he’s going to sleep now. He’s an idiot. He bashed my head and went to sleep liao. Good good good. Sugooi des.

As I was saying….

Yah, we had a nice dinner on the kitchen floor (read first line of blog), and the sight will go down well as an imposter of Bangladeshi workers in some squatter settlement in Singapore. But that’s inconsequential. What is most important is that none of us suffered from chronic back pain because of that…. yet.

What’s for tomorrow, hmmm? Not a single clue. Dunno what they guys want, but I would want to just take a bus around the neighbourhood (any neighbourhood) to take in the sights and sound of the Canadians’ day to day living. Like taking buses around aimlessly like that and getting myself lost (but not too lost), knowing that at the end, I will get myself found. Lost and found constitutes to be what I would deem to be a nice adventure. Yup yup. Contentment in that.

Anyway, dun think that’s possible because there will be things to be done no matter how free you think you will be. Murphy’s Law, so can’t argue with that.

Words of wisdom: If you are feeling cold and insomniac, don’t drink tea. It only makes it worse. To cure insomnia, read:
Chew, Ernest C.T."The Foundation of a British Settlement", in Chew, Ernest C.T. and
Edwin Lee, eds. A History of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991.

It’s quite effective, and I hear the latest edition may come with a money back guarantee for this miraculous property.

First visit to UBC

Went jogging early in the morning. Nabuay, you can never sweat in this super low humidity place. Ran around the compound a bit to familiarize myself, and found that there is a landmark-ish tall building just behind our apartment. Also found quite a few eating spots around our place, as well as a 7-eleven.

Late morning spent $2 for a bus trip to UBC. It was a direct bus from a bus stop near our place, but that proved a fatal mistake cos it went through the downtown area and kena stuck there for ten years or so, give or take one second. Oh yah, also was stopped by a super slow cargo train (that might probably be running on one block of coal) in a junction for a loooong time. Never to take the bus again. At least not when rushing for time. On the way to the bus stop, found JJ Beans and a Jap food place that Eu say want to go there to try out the food.

Got our student card and U-Pass (Unlimited bus rides! YAy!!!) at UBC. Also looked at the book prices that would make most people sweat a bit. Need to buy second hand or go photostate. LOGIC costs CAD$54 and COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY costs CAD$101. And those are prices for used books. Absolutely balls-dropping.

Garry lost his wallet but found it later. Careless careless careless. Had late lunch at Subway. Eu ordered a footlong meatballs but only finished half. The other half is now in the apartment fridge preparing itself to be breakfast tomorrow.

Went off-campus to try do bank draft and look at secondhand books in a secondhand bookstore. Did not manage to get our bank draft done, cos didn’t know which bank is the most value-for-money. Went back to school and spent some time browsing internet and finally decided on Bank of Montreal. We go tomorrow to settle.

Saw the landlord when we got back to our apartment. Were promised internet connection and a kitchen table. Yay. Now no need to sit on kitchen floor for steamboat.

Intended to go Chinatown to buy foodstuff for the house but went there too late and most shops were closed. In the end had dinner at Han’s and went back home. 3 of us ate one plate of fried rice and one sweet and sour pork. This time was cheaper at 4 dollars per person compared to the last time when we ordered the 3 mountains of rice/noodle dishes and tofu, and was quite fulfilling as a dinner.

Vancouver ChinaTown

Walked the whole day at Chinatown (morning and early afternoon) and downtown (after that). Had the biggest portion of chee cheong fun at chinatown for breakfast. At first I thought it’s just this café that was overdoing on the portion, but dinner turned out to be worse, tell you later.

Afternoon checked out downtown. Was lucky to see a festive procession (I DON’T THINK they do this everyday…) where they had pple in kilts and playing bagpipes marching up and down the street. Garry also went to internet café to settle internet stuff.

We had dinner at this Han’s Chinese Restaurant that had won several awards (and was proudly displaying them on the window), and ordered a rice/noodle dish each, and one shared fried tofu. When my fried rice came, almost kena stroke. It was a super super super gigantic mountain of rice that would even make my big brother shocked. For a rough estimation, its portion was easily more than 2.5 times the nasi goreng that is selling at Sunshine Place in CCK, and I’m talking about the tar pau portion. Those who have tried the nasi goreng will agree that the fried rice I am facing can actually kill. If the Japanese had enough rice to go around with during WWII, they might force-feed 1 portion to a prisoner as a torture. Worse than any of the Manchu 100 tortures. In the end we tarpau-ed our leftovers for next day’s breakfast. But it was good food, I must agree.

Concussed at night very early.

First day in Vancouver

Safely arrived in Vancouver and has more or less moved into the apartment. The rent is CAD$950, and comes with 2 rooms, 1 bathroom and a kitchen. I am sharing the bigger room with Garry and Eugene is taking the smaller room himself. Because of that, Eu is paying 330 whilst me and Garry pay 310. Not really a fair deal but we all love Eu, so it’s ok.

Went to walk around to familiarize ourself with the surroundings, and had sweet curry for lunch. Also bought some juice and fruits for the fridge.

Evening time, Eu’ auntie and uncle brought us around town and shopped at England Drug for more grocery. We also looked at another apartment at Broadway, which seems a tad bit too near the road but which is extremely convenient because of its location. Along the way, we saw quite a few warehouse stores that sells things ranging from furniture to grocery. Superstore seems the place to buy all our grocery (cheap cheap!) and so we might be going there tomorrow. Had Chinese dinner. Yum yum. Eu’s uncle’s treat. Yay.

Tidied the house a bit at night. Eugene is such a clean freak that I am happy he’s with us in the apartment.

Not celebrating National Day

Found myself slacking and watching TV too much. Didn’t know that healing an ulcer can take so long. After feeling bored and the guilt of not having started packing my bag caught up with me, I started packing. Fitted all me clothes into one luggage, and am totally amazed at how much progress I have made for the afternoon, compared to what I have thought should have been done and had not done in the morning (is there some grammer problem here?). Yay. After feeling a sense of accomplishment, I went to scan all my important documents to put in online repository.

Money woes. No money for bank draft yet. Lucky Kelly lent me 5K without much hesitation. Best friend, what can I say? Will return when my cheque arrives and clears. Respect.

Textbook problems. Must sell off some old textbooks before going off. Then transfer the rest to my sister to sell off. Cross-fingers that I can sell the GEK1510 notes off, although I strongly suspect it cannot be done as the lecturer changed. Hope for the best.

Jonathan: When a baby has spent a long time crying to himself, he should know that this does not get him anything.
Eu: I owe you 2k, but you owe me 33.6 for the text book.
Frank: You are the best.
Kelly: Dun get jealous.
Frank: Stop the stupid messages.

PS: Can import stationery to Canada or not?

Soap

What’s the probability of dropping a bar of soap while bathing and it landing on a corner? It happened today, and squashed its corner though. It led me to think of how many others in the world had, at the same time as me, dropped their bar of soap and landing it on a corner. 20? 30? 1000? Hmm... Stats... interesting....ST1232... B+....not interesting....

After thinking how privileged I am to be one of the few who has witnessed such a phenomenon, I resumed bathing, yet at the same time thinking how perfectly bored I am.

Peace

7th August
Recover-from-ulcer day. Haven’t recovered yet. =(

Need to settle bank draft fast.

Catching up

Went to meet up with my ex-OC and had a good chat with him at Venezia, Guthrie House on 5th Avenue. Excellent ice-cream, as usual. Talked about a lot of things concerning $$ and work and future...
Met up with 4B after that at City Hall. Some of us changed, and some didn’t (oxymoron statement here). Makan-ed at some ribs place at Marina (Tony Roma? Country Manna? Bananarama?), and went to play pool afterwards.

Playing pool with Chongming as partner, and Mingda and Thy as opposites was definite worth the $9.20 in entertainment value. Me and Chong won 2 sets because Mingda and Thy each own goaled once. Chong felt sympathetic to them for that and gave them back one win (why else would Chong pick up the white ball for placement to shoot the last black ball?). These are simply some of the highlights among the hits and misses (mostly super-cockup misses) of the game. If life was an anime, you would have seen us upside down with legs wavering in the air many times during that interesting 1 hr. Definitely worth the money. It’s the value of watching Shaolin Soccer compressed into 1 hour.

PS:
What have I done this holiday? Do I really lead a boring life? Let’s recount... I've......
Helped chee wee revise for NTU exams (April late mid)
Taun at Chee wee’s place + spend 1 week doing dunno what with him and joey++
Major Transition to Exercise (May Start – May Mid)
Went to Pfizer as a volunteer (May Mid – June Mid)
Helped tear down/paint a house (June Mid – June End)
Went Malaysia 3 times(April, June, August)
Went Thailand (July start)
Helped out at Matric fair (July end)
Read quite a bit of books
All the admin stuff for exchange program
One jigsaw puzzle myself, one jigsaw group
Come up with a website (quite lousy but still….)
Exercised quite a bit (nights, throughout)
Took IPPT 4 times
Bus-ed a bit around Singapore with Yusry

Malaysia Outing

Lucky I woke up late at 11am for outing to Malaysia. Zikai forgot his passport and went back to get it, so I had extra time to dilly-dally and jalan jalan Lot 1 (not that there's anything nice there to see...) Must admit that I am bad at communication and reconnaisance, cos I had been walking around Lot 1 waiting for Zk to call to tell me how much $$ to change, when I received a call that everyone's already at kranji MRT. Lucky Kranji only 2 stops away...

I am not JB kid, so stop calling me that.

Went near Taman Sentosa for late lunch of paper-wrapped chicken. Was disappointed cos tot it was the cut-into-many-sections-and-deep-fried type, but it turned out to be the use-aluminium-foil-to-wrap-herbs-and-chicken type. But it was nice anyway, esp after mentally converting the bill in RM to SGD. That always makes me happy.

Walked around The Store and Ocean a bit and bought a toiletry bag and money pouch for UBC use. Must not come to this area and expect to spend more than 1 hour here, cos really nothing much to see and do. Go Plaza Pelangi better. Can try the stone grill, eat Dim Sum, and chill out at Cheesecake Recipe.

Went to Holiday Plaza due to the boredom at Taman Sentosa, and the rest is shopping for movies. Next time must reserve at least 3 hours for the place, and/or plan out what VCDs to buy first.

ZX lost his wallet at Taman Sri Terbau, where we had a RM$142.5 sumptuous seafood dinner. It actually seems that we are a careless bunch when it comes to losing wallet, cos ZK,ZX(include this time), and I actually lost our wallets 2 times each. Not a statistic that we could boast about, but it seems that losing your wallet is not a too uncommon thing. It may actually even be an unavoidable life lesson, that we may take better care not to lose our wallets the 4th time when we've lose it the 3rd time.

Reporting the wallet loss at the mata station near the customs turn out to be one of the more amusing event of the trip. The police clerk at the desk was apparently so NOT familiar with the use of (computer/english) that she asked ZX to take over the comp and fill in the details of the loss incidence... That made me wonder if there were any liquid-paper marks on the comp screen, but that's just me being racist/nationalist =p...

Waiting for deliverance. Of the VCDs.

PS: I think I am going to die from my mouth ulcer. There should be a term under all insurances that insures for death from mouth ulcer. There should also be a clause that claims non-cover for eating fried/spicy stuff when having ulcer.

Makan out at China Town

Charity Squad Outing, with Kiam (+ gf), Chee wai, and Yanqing. Had claypot rice together with chwee kueh and chee cheong fun there. Funny how sometimes we choose our food by looking for Yummy King/Green Book/Makan Sutra signs... Food was great and so was the company.

After dinner went shopping along the new shopping streets. Dun understand why girls are so attracted to little trinklets, esp those that you hang on phone/bag. How many can you hang on your hp? One? Two? For what purpose? Perhaps I shouldn't seek for understanding. Acceptance seems much easier.

Went to Yanqing's house at Telok Kurau after chinatown and sang karaoke a bit to end the day. Koped F.I.R from her. =)

How time flies without us realising it. It's been so many moons, and how little we've changed since then, except that kiam has a gf and yanqing seems much prettier....

Corporate Affiliate Day at SoC

Went to school to get Dean’s List cert today. Super mistake like siao. Cos can’t remember the time and place, but tot it was around 945, so when woke up rush like superman into the booth and out of the house. Sms-ed Yingchuan for the exact time and place then found it to be at 1045 instead. Stupid stupid stupid. Sometimes my poor memory can just kill me. Anyway got to school early and settled my contact lens stuff. 375 degrees on both sides (reduced degree!) with slight astigmatism (15-33) does not allow for astig lenses so now I see still a bit blur blur. But they gave me 425 to compensate astig or whatever, so now I on 425. Bausch and Lomb Soflens half year supply at 65. Also bought lens solution at 18.50 for 2 pc pack, ReNu (no rub). But later saw the shop also sell OEM solution at 13 dollars, also no rub. Basket. Cunny Co-op Shop never tell me got cheaper stuff before I buy. Felt a bit cheated. Just a bit.

Is IT a pillar of Industry? (or something like that, can’t remember) I think quite obvious rite, otherwise I study computing for f***? Tot that was an obvious theme for the tea. But heck, it’s a leading question to all the talk we had by the IDA guy, OCBC lady, and NUS Venture guy. Good food at the end though. But lousy timing. Event starts at 11 but lunch at 2pm? Everyone’s stomach was growling (esp mine and Wong Liyan’s, cos I am self-centred. She sat to my left and I heard her stomach at least 2 times. She drank twice after growling. I pretend I never hear.=)

After Tea, went to Emart at Stagmont with Minq to check out the Gortex boots. Found my card got no money (when do they top up?) so cannot buy. But anyone want to buy and got no money can contact me for a small lobang. They sell at 109 a pair but can get at 80+ cos my ex-OC got spare money in his card that he want to get rid of. He’s at Stagmont, so guys take note.

Went to bio later at Lot 1. But no action there, so me and Minq were disappointed. Minq esp since he dun live in CCK and had to gimme a 25c ice-cream cone treat for his HP book prize. Btw, Minq will be going over to NTU for local SEP (5 modules there) so his CAP also freeze... Clever move to let him power up his UROP...

I am like sooooo covered for my UBC trip. NUS got school insurance with some worldwide coverage, UBC also got a 200 dollars insurance thingy that covers 1M for injuries and sickness, just got my AIG student travel insurance, and still got that NTUC insurance. I better get injured there man..... kidding.

PS:: I do still think of her. All the time.

Cooking and Garry's Party

AM

I’m getting better at cooking, man.... Woke up early enough to do cooking. Same dishes, but level up. Content for now. 

Garry’s birthday later at Sentosa, 6pm. Gonna pack an Ang Bao for him in contribution to his voice recorder fund. Tot of buying a wireless router for our use in UBC and contribute to pay for his share as a pressie, but Eu say too expensive....haha.. I think so too. That is not an eCoNoMiCaLly viable option for us. Haha…

Sidetrack: Never did understand why birthdays are important to people. Yep, it’s the day when you are born into the world. But that’s all isn’t it? Or is there something more that I am missing out? Hmmm.....But since so many people are into this celebrate-my-birth culture, it’s often not nice to pop their balloons. Join the crowd, I will. =)
But death anniversary, that’s a different thing. That’s when people who miss you come together and think about you. To have someone miss you when you are gone, now that’s an accomplishment. Perhaps you have made a difference in their world, perhaps you still owe them money....whatever it is, you are remembered. Perhaps this reflects me as a person that likes to cry over spilt milk, but to that, I say, whateva.

There is something seriously wrong with my writing. The grammer sux, and the logic doesn’t flow right. This is not me. Perhaps being a phantom in USP reduced my writing ability, or perhaps I have never been good at it. =( Or perhaps it’s because of the lack of interaction with human due to the hols. Whatever it is, I better blog more to make more sense. Does that make any sense? Whateva.

Stupidiot = Stupid Idiot. Shortform to scold someone. Hoping this new term will take off in the future as the leading expletive, but that’s not really realistic rite? You can’t go about inventing a new expletive and hope that people will scold expletives like you want them to… Whateva.

PS:: True Colors is a nice album. Esp like the “One light year” song...PM

Slept the whole day, then went to Garry’s party. Woooh......party party party.Yay.

Garry got the best lobang for the chalet this time round... With the National Day offer, NTUC chalet, Sentosa cost 70+ for 3 nights! That’s like tan-dio lor... Anyway he had a nice swim in the pool after we dump him in with Gwen. He looked so happy in the pool like we’ve done him a great service by man-handling him and tossing him (much like salad) into the pool. Don’t understand humans.

Made Kelly eat non-vegetarian stuff. That tofu looked so innocent, who would have tot there're particles of squid in it? Even Garry dunno... Haiz. Lucky no allergic reactions or anything like that.

PS::Yingchuan is a super budgety fellow that would make a nice traveling companion. Kelly dun get jealous.

Clearing cache...

For the last week++, I have been unable to publish my blogs due to some technical issues. Do not want to remember how I lost hours of blog due to computer problems, so don’t remind me. The expletives have gone out already and I don't expect anymore to fly from my mouth.

13 days left to fly off! How exciting yet worrying. This is the first time that I will be leaving home for so long and I might probably be homesick. Just might. Those who know me would know that I don’t really have much attachment to home, but this time round, I just might. Any normal human being should miss home if they leave home for 5 months. On the contrary, what I am afraid to find out is that I will NOT miss home. I seriously do not need the confirmation that I am not normal. I more or less know that, but to have that confirmed is something .... more.

Eugene + Frank + Garry = EFG

Kudos to Eu + Garry for all the trouble that they have taken to plan the trip in Alberta. I think, of the 3, I am the most bochup about the trip. Eu will prove himself right if he disappears in Alberta and leave me totally dunno-what’s-going-on in the middle of the Rockies. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. =)

Cooked dinner for the family tonight. Disastrous with a capital D. This shall not happen again, I hope. =(
Must polish up skill before going over to UBC. Else Garry and Eu will have to suffer....

Fish:: Did you know that frying fish must be done over a high flame? And one must not flip the fish unless the bottom side is cooked (else the skin falls off and all e meat below starts to snowball off. Disastrous avalanche that must must must be avoided if one does not want to appear amateurish. Like today. )
Wanton:: Meat to be marinated with vinegar, shao xing, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, sesame oil. Fry under medium heat until you see bubbles forming on the inner portion. The outer portion of the skin will chao tar very fast if under a high flame, but that does not mean that the meat is cooked...
Onion eggs:: Always tot that the onion is supposed to be mixed with the egg mixture and fried one time over. But noooo.... Mother knows best (and I must for ONCE agree with her) that you are suppose to stir fry the onion till soft first before adding in the eggs. Nifty trick that makes the onion soft and smell/taste delicious.
Vege soup: Phuah. This is sorta the easiest thing to cook! Just dump all the veges into water over a high flame, and add meat to sweeten the soup. Make sure vege soft then can already. But it doesn’t taste fantastic, so I suspect there’s a better way to make soup....

If I wake up early enough tomorrow (6am), will attempt to cook again. Mother cooks lunch at 6+am, so must intercept. Dun ask why. It just is. There are a lot of strange things in the world and this happens to be one of them. Paranormal to a certain degree, I will agree.

Must also remember to bring along that wonderful cleaning stick (the one where you refill it with a piece of static wipe, whaddya call it?) to UBC. Addicted to using it. Tons of fun.