Current Figures


Indonesia: 79,940
Sri Lanka: 24,743
India: 7,330
Thailand: 2,394
Somalia: 120
Burma: 90
Maldives: 67
Malaysia: 65
Tanzania: 10
Seychelles: 1
Bangladesh: 2
Kenya: 1




Total: 114,698

A man driving his car as a makeshift ambulance to bring people to a hospital, miles away even while suffering from the shock of losing his own family members.

A shop keeper offering anything remaining on the shelves of his shop of the survivors of the tragedy.

Both unsung heroes of the tsunami tragedy doing what they can to help their country and its people out of the deep hole that that the killer wave created. People like them need the help and support of all of us. Even as they watch their families and livelihoods being washed away by the tons of water the tsunami brought, they selflessly donated THEMSELVES to the cause. Not just throwing money around and thinking that money will solve ALL the problems. Wake up. It won't.

What is needed in the countries devastated by the tsunami? Clothes, food, medicine, transport vehicles like trucks and helicopters and they also need people like medical professionals to help care for the sick and dying in the jam-packed hospitals. The money will only help once everything is cleared up and the recovery process is underway. Right now, in the clear up process, the money will do no help.

Large countries like Germany and the US are contemplating cutting the debts that some of the affected countries owe in the hope that the money will be used for helping the victims. But this is merely a token gesture. The debts that countries like Indonesia owe amounts up to 81 billion dollars and reliving some of that debt will not really help the country except maybe in the long term. But they need help NOW!! Now "later", not "in a while" and definitely not "another time".

"NOW!"

CONFIRMED DEATH TOLL
Thursday, 30 December, 2004, 07:31 GMT

Indonesia: 45,268
Sri Lanka: 22,493
India: 6,974
Thailand: 1,829
Somalia: 100
Burma: 90
Maldives: 67
Malaysia: 65
Tanzania: 10
Seychelles: 3
Bangladesh: 2
Kenya: 1

The scale of the tsunami that the earthquake caused can be seen on the toll. Countries in Africa have suffered casualties along with the South East Asian nations. Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya just three of the affected African nations.

And the death toll continues to rise. The tsunami itself has claimed so many lives but the aftereffects of the tsunami are just as deadly. Water-borne diseases threaten the survivors and the corpses of the dead being washed up even now are decayed and can spread other diseases.

"The dead ones are the lucky ones", said an ex-policeman from Sri Lanka. Some may be inclined to agree. The tremendous task of rebuilding the nation falls to the survivors of the tragedy.

Had it not been Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, the casualties may have amounted to even more. The beaches were relatively empty as compared to a normal day at most of the seaside resorts that line the coastlines of the affected regions.

76,902. That is the currently the total number of people the tsunami has claimed.
God rest their souls.

on a much brighter note. today was choi's pool party thingy at her house.
had loads of fun. in the pool playing "captain's ball" with the gurls, the bbq etc... THANKS ALOT AH CHOY!!!


haha... and man fuzzy makes damn good chicken wings... nicely barbequed... damn shiok sia....

have you ever felt that you don't really have a purpose for living....
i'm not the contemplating suicide kind lar... but seriously...
how many of you out there have a specific plan and a solid, realistic vision of where you want to be in ten years time....
i'm not talking abt fantasies abt being a multi-trillianaire, owning twenty BMW and those are just the cars that you can fit into your mansion's gigantic garage....
those kind of visions are something that anyone can dream of...
i'm talking abt knowing what you want to do in life... what you want to achieve in the little time that you have here...
i don't really have my own vision... i can't imagine what i'll be like ten years down the line...
i live from day to day... and that is a problem... there is no goal.. there is no aim... nothing to strive for.... at the moment, my only aim is to get a good A level cert... but beyond that is totally blank... i can't envision ANYTHING past graduation... i know the path that is more or less set out in front of me... after college there is national service and after that the uni... but that is too general a path.... what am i going to do in uni etc etc etc... i just don't see it...

help...

xmas as usual was a very busy time. preparations for xmas dinner at my house, going to church, going to ppl's houses....

basically it was eat, sleep, eat, sleep all the way... feel like a bloody pig now lar..

finally got my guitar... and i'm telling you... it is B-E-A-U-tiful...
it's a washburn guitar with amp....
dark mohogany coloured with a rosewood fingerboard...
locks on the strings to keep it in tune....
double-single-double pickups....
wah... si bei chio sia....






christmas... my favourite time of the year... a time for everyone to get together and be merry....

She was lying on the bed waiting for me to come join her. What could i do? I lay down next to her.

I played with her brown hair and stroked her head. She turned onto her back and looked at me, wanting more.

She is a REAL bitch. Not offense to her, but that's what she is.

She looked at me playfully and rolled over. She jumped on me and our noses touched.

Then...






"SHAGGY!!! STOP LICKING ME YOU STUPID DOG!!!!"

in case you don't know, shaggy's my dad's cousin's cocker spaniel.... super cute dog...

and hey.... stop thinking dirty you pervert....

it was april 2003... a friday.... grandma's condition was getting bad... she was in pain... but as usual, she would never say it... she would never admit any discomfort so that we won't worry... but we did anyway... we decided to send her to the hospital so that they could check her up... i was having chinese tuition at the time when the ambulance came... i heard her groans of pain coming frm downstairs... totally couldn't concentrate on my lesson... until i couldn't take it...

i broke down... my tutor was so nice that she offered to come back another day... and i sat on the steps listening the commotion down, unable to bear to come down and watch my grandmother being carried away... after they left, i was alone in the house with my maid...

somehow i knew that that would be the last time that i see my grandma... i believe that it was Him trying to prepare me for the end.... i know it... i felt it in my heart... i called my friend... and for the first time i poured out and cried on the phone... and she was such a dear to listen to me.. and comfort me...

i told her that i had felt that this would be the last time that i saw her.... she tried to tell me otherwise... and i so wanted to believe what she was saying... but i knew that it wasn't true.... i wanted to banish that thought in my mind that my grandmother would not be coming home... i pleaded to Him not to take her now...
"not now.... pls Lord... not now..."

days passed... then my dad brought me the news.... she had gone into a coma... and it wasn't looking too good... we couldn't visit her cuz she was in ICU... my dad, my uncle and my grandpa were the only ones to visit her...



then it came... 23rd of april, 2003... i had gone to play bball with yuto and co... to try and take my mind off things... hadn't really worked though...
i took the bus back... 147 if i'm not wrong... as soon as i got off the bus, i saw the white marquee that had been set up at my house.... without reaching my house, i knew what had happened... desparately wanted not to believe it... praying my heart out that it wasn't so... my delusions of it being a party to celebrate her miraculous recover from the brink of death.... my footsteps slowed, my bag got heavy... i didn't want to go home to that... i didn't want to see the big wooden coffin in my living room... i trudged home...

the first person i saw was my uncle and my younger cousin... both of them didn't want to talk... den my grandfather came out frm the house to greet me at the door... at first he tried to scolded me for coming back late... trying to pretned that nothing had happened... but i knew that he wasn't really angry... just needed an outlet... den he hugged me and brought me into the house to view my grandmother in her coffin... he told me:" grandma isn't with us anymore."
he was sobbing... and i was doing my best to hold back and stay strong for him...

my grandaunt and uncle had flown all the way frm london where they stayed to try and see her before she passed on... but they came too late...

i was strong... i didn't show my pain...

then my sister came home... by the back door... so she didn't see the white marquee out front... the first thing she saw was the coffin... she cried on the spot... there was no holding back for me... i couldn't bear to see her cry like that... i sat alone in the corner of the house and cried til my eyes were dry... i had never cried like that before... even during all the tantrums that i was said to have thrown when i was a child... my grandaunt came and gave me tissues and my dad brought me to my room...

she was so peaceful... she was lying in her coffin with her beautiful smile... the one that sort of seemed to say:"why are you crying? i'll never really leave you."

in the next few days people streamed into the house to pay their final respects... the teachers that were under her when she was principal... ex-students that she had taught... TV news ppl that came to report her death... everyone that had known her...

i spent the whole day next to the coffin... i "talked" to her... the woman that had taken care of me thoughout my childhood... my surrogate mother... my teacher...
when i was young... i had a very bad case of asthma... and my doctor took me out of school... saying that i needed to be taken care of....
my parents were divorced... and custody of me and my sis was given to my dad... he had to work... so we were left in the care of my grandpa and grandma...

she was like my own personal nurse cum teacher cum parent... since i couldn't go to school... she home tutored me... she taught me what she could... and i couldn't have been in better hands... the ex-principal of Katong Convent during it's golden years.... and i prospered... i only attended pri sch during pri 5 and 6... my results.... A for english, A* for maths, A for science.. haha.. the only thing that she couldn't teach me was chinese... so i ended up with an E for that... not bad for a kid that stayed at home for almost the whole of pri sch huh... and i owe that all to her....

my grandmother....


and i didn't have the chance to say goodbye... i didn't have the chance to tell her how much she meant to me.... how much i had to thank her for... my doctor come for the wake... and he told me... "you are the one that will feel it the most"...
i don't know how true that was...



i loved her...

i love her...

and i will always love her...

woah... got a lot of new stuff... and for basement bargain prices... man... soooo proud of myself..
haha... and my new shoes.... super cool.... haha...

list of stuff that i got yest:
-canter ankle socks
-canter match socks
-adidas shoes
-adidas polo tee
okie lar... so its not really like a massive shopping spree like choy had in HK... but still....
oh yeah.. and i got a adidas tee-shirt frm choy... haha... thankz gurl...
hrm... looks like i gotta get you ur car le... haha...


played touch with the gurls in the morning.... haha... kinda got trashed by them... i don't think any of the guys really gave it 100%... i was turning on and off throughout... haha... the two funkiest things that i did was chase fyda, run in front of her, stick out my tongue and then tap her.... then there was the cut pass all the way to the wing(alfian) for him to score... haha.... the gurls looked kinda shocked when i cut all of them... haha...



xmas is around the corner... time for the bong family traditions to be dusted off again.... 25th of december is always a big thing in the bong household... we hold the yearly xmas party at our house for family and friends... usually abt 40 ppl some years more.... and we order tables and chairs and put it in the centre of the house in one gigantic table that takes up the whole house... then we lay tableclothes and put all the good food on it... chicken, turkey, duck, beef, xmas hams, lamb, vegtables and all the bounty that God has provided for us... it is really a magnificent sight, if i may say so myself...
this is the second year that we will spend without my beloved grandmother... it doesn't get easier... last year was a emotional dinner... not having my grandmother say grace before dinner... we don't usually say grace before our meals... so xmas is the one time of the year that she can lead all her family and friends in saying grace properly before a meal... last year was different... she wasn't there... altho i know that she was there in spirit, she couldn't be there physically... this year is the same... she'll be there all right... i know it... somehow you can feel it... you can feel her somewhere nearby watching over us and smiling like she always does... just enjoying the presence of all the closet people in her life...

man only has questions that cannot be truely answered.... none of the many questions that he has abt the world he lives in and the world beyond can't really be answered by his own means....

even in physics... a science.... answers obtained are all based on some assumptions that we have abt the world.... evaluating our assumptions is not as simple as it appears... for our assumptions are based on other assumptions... in the end, is anything that we study really undenyable true.... some may argue that it is proven fact... but who is it proven by... ... it's proven by another man.... another identically flawed human being....

the only 100% truely flawless being that i know of is the Man upstairs... as many refer to Him as.... i trust Him to reveal to us what we need to know, when we need to know it... not before, not after... He has His plans for us and though we might not understand it sometimes, we have to have faith in Him and let ourselves fall into His ever supporting arms....






Mr John Lim was the kind of teacher that you felt you could approach whenever you needed advice... not the kind that you would turn 180 degrees and speed away in the opposite direction the moment you see him coming down the corridor... and that is what made him special... i would have liked to know him better.... to be able to appreciate the kind of man he was... he is no longer physically with us... but i'm sure that every NYJCian will never forget Mr John Lim....
Teacher, Mentor and Friend to all....

woah.... 04S4B class outing today.... haha.... had a steamboat over at marina bay.... played some pool before that.... and after that just hung out at dhouby ghaut.... quite fun lar....

before that went shopping with my sis and cousin for xmas prezzies for ourselves and cousins n stuff... haha... it's kinda wierd knowing what you're gonna get for xmas den having to act surprised on the day you open the prezzies.... haha... but we did it like soooooo much faster than expected... like 6 prezzies in 1 1/2 hours..... and all in taka... haha...

hey.... it's nice getting stuff at xmas.... even if it isn't really abt the presents... it is still nice...

you never really know how short life is until someone you know is called to the Lord...
you don't appreciate the time that you have with someone until you can't spend anymore time with them...

if you knew when everyone's "time" is,
would you treat them any different...
would you like them any better...
would you talk with them any more...


nanyang has truely lost a pillar of the school... You couldn't find an NYJCian that didn't know who Mr John Lim was...

condolences to the family of Mr and Mrs John Lim...
+May God bless them and their families+

helped out at the ECG xmas party yest with boon and fawwaz.... played a few songs with fawwaz.... rather... I played and he sang lar... his stupid finger lar... cannot play anything... haha... had some great food and a great time.... didn't know that the SFX youth choir would be there.... meet some old friends.... said hi etc....

Christmas is around the corner again... the most beautiful time of the year tainted by commercialism.... we exchange presents with each other, expecting someone to give something back for the present that we give them... yet God gave us the greatest gift that anyone could ever give.... He give us His son to eventually die and redeem us from damnation... and He gave this gift without expectation of getting any sort of returns from it.... i'm not here to preach... but i just want ppl to know that there is more to xmas than the parties and the presents and the abundant food and rudolph and santa and the rest of it... there is also a deeper meaning to xmas that many people neglect...

+Lord be in my mind, so that I may think of You+
+Lord be in my lips, so that I may speak of You+
+Lord be in my heart, so that I may love You+

dammit... lost the stupid SP match... a match that i seriously thought that we had a fighting chance to win....

we fell to two kinda early tries in the first period.... and the rest of the period was spent defending...

the second period was by far our best... the whole period was played in their half.... and we had many 22 metre raids... but the try came from a scrum.... down the shortside, the blindside, whatever you chose to call it... i just love it.... used our 8-9-15 move... but in the end we didn't need the 15.... i tapped boon's butt, his signal to pick the ball and pop it to me.... and that is exactly what he did.... i recieved the ball and made my run... the standoff, full-back and blindside winger were already expecting a blind move and they all had drifted over to cover... but there was just too much space for me... i fended off the tackles from the standoff and the full-back and spun out of the winger's last ditch tackle.... and yes... i finally scored my first try for the team in an official match, not in a training situation.... really a highlight of my "career" and i really thank God for the sight to call the move and the presence of mind to get the ball past the line... after that try, the problems started... soon after the kickoff, fawwaz dislocated his finger.... man... gross... so he had to be taken to the hospital.... after that all the positions were jumbled around....

the start of the third period saw us equalising through dominic.... this guy that peerose brought down.... again... from a scrum.... he took the ball and drove it over the line with the help of alfian butting him on.... after that... i guess it got bad... partially my fault... since fawwaz had to be taken off, jamal put me into the standoff position.... and i didn't really perform in the position... i just don't really know how to operate in the situation.... but i wasn't getting any good service frm the scrumhalf... wad was i supposed to do... it is looking at the game frm a different angle frm my usual half-back role.... we went downhill from there... let in four tries... final score 6-2....

three periods, three different positions... out-centre in the first, scrumhalf in the second and standoff in the third... of the three, my favourite is being scrumhalf.... i just function normally in the role.... i don't have to think... i know what to do.... in all the other positions that i have played in, fullback, winger, out-centre and standoff... i just feel very gabra.... like dunnoe wad to do... not comfortable... not in my element... hey... i just noticed... i only have to play in-centre before i can say that i have played every position in the backline... haha... not that i wanna play in-centre... i'm just not cut out to be a centre....

got a few knocks for all the stuff that i did today... my nose got hit in the first period and my nose started bleeding.... not that serious lar... i just played on... blood on my jersey... cool huh... haha... then now i have a slightly sprained right shoulder that i can't lift up and something wrong with my left hip... can't rotate my left leg normally... but i don't care... i don't give a rat's buttocks... this is for the game that i love... for college and for my team...

somehow the loss today wasn't that bad cuz we managed to "crack the egg"... scored two... one frm me and one frm a guest player.... not to shabby.... my only regret was that i couldn't play scrumhalf for long... just when i was getting into the situation, jamal called me up for standoff duties.... darn it... i think that we could have scored again if everyone had stayed in their positions instead of getting shuffled around.... and i think we could have won... but like wad BX told me... anything can happen in rugby... you just don't know what will happen... and you gotta be ready to play in any position that needs to be filled...

i'll be working to that....

super sick.... came home sniffing and sneezing.... now feeling a bit warm....
and the SP match is tmr... and i so wanna play and redeem myself after last weeks horrors....

we painted the field today.... by we i mean me and abang... fawwaz came earlier before work and helped to paint a few lines and mark out a couple more... but the rest was done by me and abang... haha... and we did it in pretty good time too.... it was all done in a few hours... its not the nicest field that we have painted... but it still looks pretty decent...

suffering now.... gotta carry a tissue box everywhere i go.... and there is this pile of used tissues that keeps growing and growing til i clear it every few minutes.... argh!! can't take it... i hate being sick... it really sucks...

repercussions are an indirect impact that is produced by an action that you have taken... call it karma or whatever you want to... do whatever you do has consequences... and whatever you do, you better be sure that you can handle whatever comes ur way cuz of what you did.... i have done a few things that i regret but when i look back i realise that there is only one way to look... and that is forward.... but i also realise that there are a lot things that i don't regret... i don't regret making the choices that i have made cuz if i hadn't made those choices, i wouldn't have met all the fantastic ppl that i know today... so guys... thanks for being a part of my life....


no regrets... ever....

all hail the four goal hero... haha... in case you're wondering, we played soccer not rugby... so that's one of the reasons i scored four GOALS instead of four TRIES... haha... but four tries would be good too... haha...

the o level students cancelled totally last min... so we couldn't have the match.... so Jamal decided to play soccer with us... to "train our fitness".... haha... riiiight....

well... other than that, the day was kinda normal.... the OGL workshop thingy and all the activities.... had a lot of fun... but i'm sure tired.... hope that i will make the final cut to become an OGL... i need the service hrs... and i really wanna be a part of the orientation expirience again.... but on the other side this time...

its gonna be tight.... fawwaz and i are doing a little something for some episipsy patients on sat.... yupps... this saturday... and we haven't even practiced or discussed wad songs to play... darn....

i was thinking of doing:
-The Drama Summer by The Starting Line
-Eight of Nine by The Ataris
-Looking Back on Today by The Ataris

plus fawwaz has a song he wrote.... hrm.. i think it'll be good....

woah... damn tired now.... OGL workshop thingy today....
literally spent the whole day in sch... haha...
was kinda fun..... but exhausting lar.... tmr will be another tiring day... a match in the morning followed by the OGL thingy....
darn... but it'll be cool...



hey ppl... it's nothing... serious.... dun make it into such a big deal when it is really just one evening.... and nothing is going on okay... so don't do stupid things ar....

hey... so last night wasn't as bad as a lot of ppl expected it to be...
let's face it... nanyang is not exactly the number one action-packed JC in s'pore.... in fact it is really bored.... but i guess last night was quite fun.... had a great time dancing with amanda and got to see boon get pretty stoned... haha.... but in the end, i guess everyone got back home safe and sound....

i seriously have no idea how much boon drank... i myself only had very little to drink... a tequilla shot, vodka and a glass of beer.... the rest of the night was spent talking cock and dancing... haha....

thanks to all the guys that came and the organisers.... had a good time...

so i guess master yoda was right in the end....
fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering...

we were, i was, too intimidated, fearful even, of their size... give them too much respect and to much room to operate....

cuz of that i got angry..... not with anyone... but with myself... my confidence dropped like that first ball that i was supposed to catch...

i hated myself for missing so many tackles.....

in the end, we all suffered a bigger loss... the insult of losing the match by such a large margin added upon the injury of some of our players....



sorry guys... i guess i have a long way to go to become a good fullback....