XMS HOMECOMING 2009

yest went back to my sec sch for homecoming (after watching slumdog millionaire for the 3rd time). not for the nostalgia though. while certain corridors and parts of the building do make me think back on those sec sch days, the sch just felt different. after all, i spent only my sec 1 and sec 2 days in the hougang site, while the other 2 years (sec 3, 4) were spent in a temporarily holding site at fernvale.

therefore, the memories that played in my mind were of those sec 1 and sec 2 days. but, homecoming had always been a special event. it used to be so fun, all of us planning and preparing so hard for the day, and working so hard on the day itself trying to sell our products. i definitely saw the same spirit in most of the students there.

i went back with the usual gang; kh yk wl hy. met a few familiar faces like renny jiayang, samuel, jasper... and even senior sebastion and junior lisa. both from choir. but... that leaves us with a lot of people who didn't go back. of coz... most of our teachers are gone, mostly transferred to other schools. so.. i only got to meet ms phan. i saw mrs lim hui hui but didn't manage to talk to her. i saw mrs song too, but shes here visiting the sch with her husband and daughters. i guess shes still attached to the sch/colleagues after transferring out.

the 1st stall we patronised was wl's cousin's class stall. we bought "bubble tea" which tasted quite.. bad.. frankly it tasted like mediocre colored/flavored water with fruit cocktails. but it's ok, its the effort they are putting in for the sch that we must appreciate, not the quality of the drink.

i didn't eat/drink anything else becoz i didn't wan to get my hands dirty/sticky when i'm handling my camera. didn't really hunt as many photos as i planned to, after all i'm with a group of frens who were there for a different purpose.


Click to see album

after the homecoming went to dg to play and eat. met maurice while walking on the street. still looks the same haha. thought he would look different after commissioning.
yk met quite a few frens, and every encounter leads to a 10min conversation that leaves wl hy and i staring around lol.

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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
6th entry; 050209 2240HRS

Having rain in Singapore is nothing surprising. In fact, the opportunity to sleep with a cold raining night gives thrill to most of my friends. But right now, I really wonder how can anyone live in a place that rains, half the day, every day?! Every night after my shower, I have to go through another shower of rain before reaching my bunk. =/

This week seemed to have an interesting trend for me. Work is ending earlier and earlier while last parade is getting later and later. Fortunately I got to use the internet for 10 min today. Not being able to spend quality time chatting with my closed ones sux though... Lets just say I took a quick gasp of air by seeing them virtually.

The book "THINK LIKE A MATH GENIUS" that I bought at the airport on the night of my flight is interesting! You must be thinking "Why spend $20 on a book on Math when you can buy something else that is more beneficial or entertaining to read?!" I don't know but the book sparked some curiosity in me, urging me to grab it. So anyway I've learnt, so far, how to mentally calculate the square of any number up to 100. Amazingly, the mehod originated from the quadratic equation formula of (x+y)(x-y)=x^2 - y^2...

While the amount of time spent working seems to reduce by the day for me, I can't help but envy my friend (who is going to ORD same day) because he is so free that he can have the whole day to himself, using the internet, have tea breaks, play PSP, read books, sleep, play squash, etc... usually he's tasked with near-negligible work. Compared to me, he is here in Brunei for a holiday. Maybe I shouldn't compare my worklaod and freetime with him just because we are from the same batch though... After all, I received a better ORD grading than him, and a CO medallion...

Today, over lunch and dinner, my colleagues and I discussed about certain people, and their bad points. Work politics & networking of friends came into topic. Come to think of it, I had a failed friendship with my partner, Jimmy. I find that a pity as Jimmy is quite a good friend to have. But I know the root cause of the failed friendship, and I'm not surprised about it. After all, I've always believed that I have a dual personality which is prolly the answer to why people wonder why I am so indecisive.

Breakfast please be good because it's a Saturday and I'm not at home. =(

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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK is a short ORD journal written, word for word, by Alvin during his last days of full-time NS.

Random Randoms

Have you wondered how to take this photo?




It's quite simple actually.
Well it takes no more than the simple logic of taking it up close!

~~

been trying out more photo taking again!
i really love my dslr! photo-taking used to be so restricted by my Yashica camera years ago, to such an extent that whenever i upload 80 photos, i only publish 10. but now, i delete only about 1/3 of all shots taken on the spot, and publish as many as flickr allows! ^-^

No Swimming; Who would want to anyway?


Finding The One In Hundreds


Being Indifferent


My Panning Improved!


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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
5th entry

The screeching sounds of metal against metal echoed through the bunk. A few people from Support Coy stared at me as they lay relaxed on their beds. Suddenly, the saw in my hand lost control, as it flew to the side and went straight for my left hand, guiding my right hand along. A sharp and acute sensation was felt in my left thumb as a small triangular rusty blade of the saw pierced into my skin. An exclamation of profanity could be heard, followed by the sound of the saw hitting the ground. What seemed like a clean cut turned out to be a bloody one, as waves of blood oozed out within fractions of a minute. I have just experienced yet another episode of my series of misforunate events.

The series started off with me buying an expired prepaid phone card (for international calls). That was not realised until the night when I happily made my way to the canteen, finally having my first early night (@9pm) to myself... Well I wanted to call my family and friends back in Sg to tell them how I was faring. However, probably due to the card's age or to my excitement, the 10-digit PIN got scraped off along with the foil. That totally ruined my night. After all, it's $10 wasted. But hey, Shih Shun (a perm staff at LC and my BMT platoonmate came and said hi to me!) He suggested that I use the internet. To which I did, but the bandwidth was being stretched by all those permstaff using the internet via their own personal laptop, and it took me 15 mins to sign in to MSN messenger!

So anyway had a quick chat before heading back to bunk, still feeling dejected by the fact I wasted $10...

Before I could cheer myself up, I locked my cabinet key inside the cabinet itself. Bloody shit... that worsened my already-ruined night. On a side note, I forgot my shower foam too when I went to take a shower, and had to borrow from a friend who was there forunately..

So anyway in the morning, I took half an hour walking around the camp looking for a lock-cutter, in vain. I decided upon a saw upon deseration, which was successfully borrowed from a construction worker after getting help from a Malay translator, my friend Rizal. Back in the bunk, I was hesitant at first, as I was unsure if a thick padlock really could be sawed. It was only after a prelim trial which scratched the silver metal that I was convinced that the saw is made of a harder material. So, after failing ot pick the lock with two sewing pins, I threw down my last card, though not a triumph card, and proceeded with the sawing.

It was successful, it took an hour, and I cut my left thumb. I hope that puts an end to my series of misforunate events, because I already suffered a night without brushing my teeth, washing my laundry, lost $10, and a $11+ padlock.