Sheep happens.

Sunday, December 31, 2006

happy new year from thailand

Every new year is a mandatory universal bricolage, lashing together unthinkable complexities of miscellaneous individuals of every possible characteristic. The preceding years would just be fait accompli, an antecedent which would never matter.

Embrace the future, grasp your destiny. Celebrate the coming of another flickering moment in time. Celebrate 2007, and with all that's been said, happy new year dudes.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Chapter 1/2: Hope

Adrenaline pulsed through his veins as he rushed down the empty street, turning down a deserted alley in search for a much needed escape. The Evil One was gaining on the boy, and surely there would be an unthinkable fate which would befall him if the Evil One ever laid his hands on him.

The stench of death filled the air.

The alley was engulfed in darkness, and along with all the rest of the city, devoid of any signs of life. The Evil One had annihilated every single human being in the city, with the exception of one particular individual; one seven years of age. This boy proved to be a much tougher nut to crack compared to the rest of the population. How ironic it is, the Evil One chuckled to himself, that boy is the Chosen One? Once I get my claws on him, the treasure would be mine. I shall bring Armageddon to this Earth.

His breathing grew heavier and heavier. There has to be a way, he thought as he looked around him in despair. He could hear heavy footsteps approaching, and he could feel the ground shaking. The Evil One was only a few strides away, and an ominous feeling churned in the depths of his stomach. There had to be a way. Running past his deserted home, he recalled how his mother used to say “When there's a will, there's a way, Sonny.” A brilliant plan came to his mind almost that instant, along with a stream of tears, for realization had dawned upon him. Papa and Mama were gone, who would play with him when he was bored? Who would console him when he was crying? The boy ran right into the arms of darkness, and he could be seen no more.

The Evil One, sensing that his prey had stopped running, hastened into the alley. He was greeted by nothing but darkness. A pair of luminous, crimson eyes pierced through the darkness, searching for the boy. Nothing could be seen, for darkness engulfed everything. The Evil One swung His humongous arms blindly, and everything gave way; but the boy was nowhere to be seen. A roar of fury escaped Him. The ground shook.

“No one, not a single living thing, had ever escaped my clutches after I have set my eyes upon them. What more a little boy? No. He must be hiding somewhere nearby, and I will find him, wherever he is. I shall hunt for the treasure till the day Death himself greets me”, The Evil One said in a deadly whisper.

True enough, the boy was indeed hiding somewhere nearby, not daring to breathe for fear of the impending doom which would meet him if he was found. There was no way out now. The Evil One was approaching his hideout.

Tears streaked across his face as he surveyed the scene before him. All he wanted was to be at home with Papa and Mama, just like he used to. He wanted to feel the warmth of home; the warmth of his mother's embrace; the warmth of his father's smile. Simple things they might be, but it was all impossible now. What awaited him was the fiery wrath of the Evil One. The poor boy had been subject to two extremes in the matter of one day. Wounds dug themselves into his heart that day; wounds that would never heal.

“Be brave, m'boy. Be brave. Papa will be so proud of you.”

Papa’s voice rang in his head. Yes, he decided that he would be brave, so that Papa would be proud of him wherever he was. The boy took a knife out of his pocket- Papa had given it to him before the Evil One came to the city- and prepared to face Death himself face to face.

An iron grip clenched itself on his stiff shoulders, sending a jolt of fear through his veins. He tried to stab whatever it was that was gripping his shoulders, but something pulled the knife out of his grip. Feeling utterly helpless and defenseless, the boy began to cry.

“Shh! Don't make any noise! We don't want that beast to know we're here!” The voice of a man whispered fearfully.

A pair of crimson eyes appeared right in front of them. Those gigantic arms were stretching out, poised to get a grip on the Chosen One. A burst of energy emerged from within the boy, and everything seemed to slow down for an instant, slowing down almost to a halt. The boy wriggled free of the man’s grip and jumped towards the Evil One- knife in hand- thrusting the knife forward with all his might.

The knife dug into flesh.

A loud roar- of agony this time- escaped the Evil One. The knife had stabbed the heart, whether was it by sheer luck or by Fate’s hands. The Evil One had fallen in the battle against the Chosen One. The clouds opened up and a massive spectrum of light filled the city. The lifeless body came crashing down onto the ground. A feeling long forgotten- hope- entered the hearts of the survivors. They had survived the ordeal.

Friday, December 15, 2006

POST!

Alright, so I am finally sitting here typing out my first post in about a week. Many apologies to my oh-so-faithful readers- accompanied with much gratitude- for making you wait so long. I was in Jakarta, where there was minimum and very painfully sluggish internet access for me. My blog took ages to load and I could not even tag my own board, much less publish a post.

So now, here is the post you guys have been waiting for!

According to my sources, the results for PAE has been announced, and apparently my beloved class has a huge majority of CJ-goers. Whew. The fun is just beginning for you guys! Meanwhile enjoy the holidays to the fullest though.

As for the team, it seems that we have been spread between four JCs; HCI, VJ, CJ and MJ. Which has me literally running every night for my life, next year is going to be one super tough year. Yuan Hong and Edmund would be formidable opponents if they are to be Victorians, and they definitely would not want to lose to Hwa Chong if they're Victorians, would they? Now that's a good reason to train ultra hard. Marcus and Benjamin are in CJ, and Cheng Yew is in MJ. Wonder if they will continue playing? Regardless of all that, we still have Chiang Mai. One last tournament as Catholic High Softballers, but hopefully not the last one together as brothers-in-arms; I would miss being a part of this brotherhood.

I am very much looking forward to JC life. I miss school, and that is how unproductive and boring my holidays are. I simply cannot wait. I think when I go out to the society, I would miss my school days a lot, and I am pretty certain that I am not the only person who thinks that way.

Meanwhile, I still have one more week here. The food is obviously good, the people are great, but the life's a bit boring. I have to resort to TV-whoring my day away. Not healthy, and definitely very favourable for stomach expansion. I have to run more.

Christmas is here again, and I am wondering why its here so hastily! At this rate, before I know it I'd be a sickly old man riding on a flying saucer (suppose someone finds an adequate alternative for fossil fuels) wondering why time travels so quickly. How long would the supply of coal last? Around 40 years? I wouldn't be dead by then (hopefully), so how am I going to survive? I wonder.

Alright it's a bit late now, so I am going to end off here. Miss everyone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Sunday, December 03, 2006

My First Time

Hiya!

Good holidays for you I hope? It has indeed been a very interesting trip for me, coming into the fourth day of my "holiday". I have been faced with many challenges during these four days, and I would very much like to share one particularly huge challenge with you, my readers! Aren't I kind. Haha.

My first ever lesson. Oh me gosh alright yeah I did go teaching English to children of about seven or eight years of age. Let's say it was a good experience. Yeah. Sure.

Alright, here is how it went. I was down at the school to help out as an assistant for the English Club they had there. Well, fine. I got myself sent to class and guess what. There were twenty kids there, I had to take 10.

I thought I was an assistant. >.< ... Alright so I had to go impromptu.

"What's this?" I asked the group, pointing at the whiteboard. I'd expected no answer.

"WHITEBOARD!" The kids chorused. Oh dearie me, I underestimated them.

"What's that called?" I said again, pointing at the clouds.

Silence. It appears that I had stumped them. Ooh yeah.

"CLOUD!" One kid shouted. My, my. Smarty pants. They were good.

I proceeded to draw things on the whiteboard, telling them to spell out the words. All correct. It was as if they did not need me at all.

It was time to teach them the difference between a hat and a cap, but apparently one particular boy was not listening. In fact, he was running around the room shouting like who-knows-what. Apparently the boy was stupid because he tried to crash me. When I caught him by the shoulder, he looked shocked; as if anything he ever crashed had given way. Party time.

"Sit down." I tried to say nicely. Wrong move. He began running about again that instant. Time for plan B, if there ever was one, I thought of something that very moment.

"FIVE marks off your paper if you don't sit down." They had done a worksheet in class previously, and the boy achieved the lowest mark in class- 11 out of 15- not that it was a great achievement that would leave you ga-ga-ing over. He was about to beat the record.

-5. I still can't believe I did it, but well, a hungry man is an angry man. I was hungry and pissed then. 6 out of 15. Just what he deserved. Why? You ask. The kid tried to strangle me. Oh how cute. I very nearly wanted to kick him out, but nah. He's just a kid. Some super emo kid who needs attention. I tried to be nice again.
"Sit down, PLEASE."

He began running about again, this time punching a little boy in the face. He cried, poor boy.

I kicked the kid out, told him to go to the office and look for the principal (my uncle). Cruel? Far from it. I was just being kind, for all you know it might help. He didn't want to go, and I made him promise that he would keep quiet. Good. Peace, finally.

Now the kids know the difference between a hat and a cap. Nice, cute kids they are.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Holiday?

First time I'm posting from outside Singapore! I am in Indonesia now, for those who didn't know already and I will be here for around a month- until the 26th of December- right after your Christmas, which I hope will be a good one- and I probably will come back with more… mass.

It has been a ferry ride, a plane ride, countless car rides and a total of 3 days (exactly 72 hours), since I left Singapore. It felt like a month; mostly because I have had literally nothing to do but stone. I should take up photography or something, so I won't be bored when I'm stuck in an enclosed space. I could try taking pictures of my own shadow from like, 15,931 different angles. How's that?

Nah.

Let me list down all the significant things (other than living and breathing and crapping etc.) I have done since I got here.
1. Eat pizza
2. Eat pasta
3. Drink one heck of a cool glass of soda
4. Play softball with a cute kid
5. Tune my cousin’s mini guitar
6. Watch 3 DVDs (Kung Fu Hustle, Hero and Nanny McPhee)
7. Play arcade
8. Stone

Sounds like a boring trip eh? Yeah. For the first 72 hours only I hope. I seriously cannot stand living like this for one full month I’ll end up a pig.

Or am I already one?

It took me quite a bit of luck to be able to gain access to a computer (an office computer), good thing I went in the office when everyone's away for lessons. For your information, if you didn't already know, I am living in a Chinese tuition centre (with surround sound in my room) and a whole cupboard full of DVDs. Maybe I should just go and watch DVDs 24/7 until I get something decent to do.

Alright since I’m beginning to miss Singapore, let's talk a bit about the days before my departure.

Number One: I hate Vivocity

Wait, wait. Before you jump to a conclusion that this is some super emo hate column about the shopping centre, let me get something clear. It is not. No billingsgates will appear in this post (I rarely use them anyway), and it is just a personal opinion. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions in this "free" world, I believe?

Firstly, why in the world would anyone build anything so huge in Singapore?

I had much trouble walking around that gigantic block of concrete, I could not find anything I wanted to find, and the sore leg wasn't helping much. It was, say, a torture. No wonder there were so many people around sitting on wheelchairs being pushed by pitiful maids. Vivo is a full-fledged torture machine. When you get flooded by a throng of over-enthusiastic shoppers just to find out that the movie tickets were sold out (even if there were tickets, like, one whole lot of people were there queuing up for tickets. The tickets would have been sold out by the time I reached the end of the queue anyway.

Wait.

I had spent slightly more than three quarters of an hour walking around that thing, and I couldn't even locate a McDonalds. Was it me or what? I couldn't even find a directory when I needed one (all the time). Met quite a few people I know though.

With all that has been said, though, I have to learn to love that thing.

Anyway, was just wondering if the name came from the word vivacious.

I might learn to love it soon enough. The first place I have seen with both Coffee Bean and Starbucks. Oh-so-totally-awesome.

Number Two: Cineleisure?

Well, since I couldn't get my movie tickets at Vivo I ended up drinking coffee at the Starbucks opposite Cineleisure. Drank my java chip, wrote some Christmas cards and proceeded to go on to Cineleisure for some ticket-buying.

All I found were a few stragglers walking around aimlessly and there was no one queuing up for tickets at all. A darned stark contrast with Vivocity. Thank God for Cineleisure.

To the people concerned, thank you very much for a nice experience! Battle of Wits was really good, what with Mozi and all. The stars weren't too bad either, only that there was one little red thing in view. Maybe it was Mars? Chuckles.

Alright I have to go stuff myself on good, cheap food.

Have fun and goodbye! Be writing again soon! God bless.