Blast Imminent

Yes! have finally reached the "200 days to go" mark on my ORD countdown. time is really slowing down the nearer I get to ORD. it's strange how time flew past till the days when the number of days left started getting noticibly smaller and smaller. from that point onwards, it's been snail's pace all the way.
And to top it all off, I'm flat broke. If I were any more broke, I'd have to push my bike just to get around. lol.
Once I ORD, I have alot of plans. Get a job, get my 2A. get my KTM4 for the Tuas track. and have a break somewhere far away from it all. sighhhh.....

The Prodigality of Bong

you know. it's strange that when you have your head in the sink at some bar puking out whatever you just ate within the last two hours, you really have some deep thoughts.

I think that I have this whole Jekyll and Hyde thing going. I have this side of me that wants to be a good Catholic and Christian. And this other side that loves going bonkers and blowing chunks for the fun of it, burning up my lungs and killing my liver. Think it's rather unnerving to tell you the truth.

It's the Jekyll in me that's saving me from Mr. Hyde.

One and a Half Years on

I found an old post off my blog dtd October 21, 2005.
It had a list of the stuff that I wanted to do after my A's. 1 1/2 yrs down the road since that post, I review how much of it I can cross off my To-Do list.

things to do after As:
-get a job
did that. worked at two places before enlistment. met people that i never would have met if it hadn't been for this job. had fun at the cafe. caught up on sleep in the storeroom at ubi. learnt stuff. most imptly, got paid for it. lol

-get my bike license
accomplished that at long last.

-get my bike [the obvious next thing to do after I get my license]
got it. wasn't the one that I was initially eyeing. but it proved to be a damn good choice. check out my trailing pics for evidence.

-take up photography more seriously instead of trying to make shots off my digicam look good. hopeless task. (pending)
now this one is really something that I wanna persue further. but I haven't got the cash to get a better cam yet. in time. listing it as pending.

-do my time [BMT not jail]
have completed my BMT. now I just need to serve out the rest of my time.

-apply for WSO in the airforce
well. I got the application part down. wasn't accepted but that's alright. am now serving in the airforce though just not in the way that I initially thought I would.

-try for the airforce scholarships to local uni
nullified due to the earlier point.

-complete my bond with the airforce
see previous.

-NIE
i'm still up for this one. think i'll most likely be applying for NIE later this year or just after my ORD.

-teaching. the noble profession
almost there.

Julien Dupont

damn. makes BMX street look ordinary man.

Old Made New

Was reading today's newspaper and I noticed an article on the front page commenting on renovation Pre-war buildings (not the picture above. that's just some random building to build the mood) into new swanky clubs, art institutes, etc. While I agree that we should be doing something to keep these buildings preserved, I don't think that they should be totally transformed beyond the point of recognition.
Why can't we leave these buildings in peace! Colonial architecture is really beautiful. The little designs that decorates overhangs, the pillars, the archways. And places like Clifford Pier. The gigantic open space of the main foyer and the little details that gave it charm combined with the practicality of the pier. I'm glad that at least the Fullerton building retained it's frontage and was put to use in an innovative way. It would be a real tragedy if they had torn it down and built some uber neo-modern stylised million-dollar monument to some young punk of an architect. But I think that in doing what they did, they really set themselves apart and did the new-in-the-old thing pretty well. Kudos to the management.
I'm not saying of course that we shouldn't come up with our own styles and new trends in architecture. Just that it shouldn't be at the expense of the beautiful buildings of the past. But I really do find that sometimes these new concepts can be rather an eye-sore. For example, I saw another article recently featuring plans for a new combination condo. Combination in the sense that the front facade of the condo would be this restored colonial building, where all the condo facilities and the club house will be, with a new-age residential building behind it. Frankly... UGLY LAH!! Looked terrible. It was like a Frankenstein building. Or like some tai tai that had a boob job and a full body augmentation but the face lift from hell.
I feel that Singapore has always been obsessed with renovation, change, renewal and upgrading. We're forever building over and tearing down our past and building newer and bigger monstrosities. My only respite is that these Pre-war buildings have maintained their old charm but just been repaired to make them safe for occupation.
To me, that's the reason why so many Singaporeans don't really feel that strong a sense of patriotism to the land. I mean how many places can you look and say "This place hasn't changed since I was a kid" and reminisce about all the good times that you spent there as a child. Even in my short 20 year life, I've seen so many of the places that I used to go as a kid change. The shoe house playground in Serangoon North is now a "fitness corner", the playground at my old home in Hougang, Gardens would be unrecognisable to someone that hasn't been there for a few years and the houses around me are getting knocked down in favour of large multi-storey houses that look way too big for the land area.
It's kinda sad really. That you can't keep your childhood homes intact the way that you remember. But sometimes it really can't be helped. Singapore has that problem of limited land area. We have no where to grow outwards so we had to grow up and over the past. It's something that's unavoidable given the lack of space. I just hope that the history and legacy of Singapore's past isn't forsaken.

Tired

I have no idea why but recently I've been really tired.
and sleeping isn't really helping. i slept a whole 9 1/2 hrs last night and I still yawned thru my day at the office. ?? wth?
it's really kinda irritating. cuz it's not like I've been stressing out abt something or been doing a lot of physical activity or anything of the sort.
lack of iron? low blood count? what's wrong with me!!??!

well. it's been four days into the new month and nothing perverse has happened to me. so I guess it was just bad karma in June. *touch wood*
frankly, if you asked me to tell you which parts of my body have been hurt/injured/bleed in the past month... well.. it'll be a lot easier on my to list out where hasn't been hurt. basically it's just my head and my left upper arm. maybe that's why I've been feeling tired? loss of blood?

but anyway. let's not focus on what's happened and onto what's to come in the months ahead. healing, I hope.

Sian-sation

Terribly bored. It's a Tuesday night and there's nothing on TV, too lazy to surf the Net, tired of watching all my South Park collection again and I'm working tmr so don't really wanna go out tonight. aaaarrggghhh..