Cos CNY got 15 days!

初四:

Post Kukup: 捞鱼生 cos sis can't make it on 人日!

Impromptu session decided before we realize the jam isn't that jialat; so we went back to nap (and overslept) before coming out for this again! 

初五:

Back to hall and forgot my cheque (bro brought it to me at night). And guess who came back...

Some have left; some just came back; some are leaving; some are absent; some will soon leave this second home for good... 

Steamboat session one with batchmates/clique peeps; definitely gonna become a rarity as we all enter the next phase of our lives one by one...

Also, 露天麻将 after this! 

初六:

Spent the afternoon sleeping/nuaing/zoboing before leaving for West Coast to prep for Steamboat session 2, this time round with the current C4 Fappers. Sadly, everyone was busy eating and transit to play poker immediately after that no photo was taken -.- 

Also, I won $3 

初七:

Happy birthday everyone! 

Woke up seven early eight early to visit Leon's family stall:

This is really some good stuff we have here! 

Spent another afternoon going through the same routine instead of studying and waited for the night to come before we headed out for Basketball's team dinner at Zhihan's family restaurant, 西湖, at Farrer Road, which served really nice food, especially the 扣肉包! Will definitely go back for more. 

Some left for Zouk (3 only actually), while the rest returned back to hall... And that was the start of a chaotic night seeing Bryan drunk, Zhihan going around talking shit with people, Marcboobs tanking all the alcohol, Shengyu accepting toasts everywhere, and Gerard puked all over C4 (and they continued the night at C1 while I retired back to my sanctuary of peace and quietness)...

初八:

Let's just say I'm still a student after all...

But still managed a Maggie party session! 

Good old year-1 memories~

初九

Went for a Q&A session for 4101 cos too many people asked for consultation; didn't really clarify much, cos all that I don't understand is taken out from the test by the prof. Cool story. 

Went biz lib and continued being a student then came back hall to resume the festive "celebration": mahjong! Broke even after a round in Terence's room before Yunfeng jio to me to play at his friend's (Sandra's) place along with Penny. Won $9 but ended up spending $14 cabbing back cos Yf's bike couldn't take a weight so light as mine after losing one of its parts. 

初十

Kinda slacked the whole day off cos meh...

初十一

Annual God of Gambler Meet at Grace's! Won my cab fare to and fro this time round wahahaha 

And Le Random supper with the gang and free ride back to hall hehe

Gonna spend the rest of the CNY days studying and having midterms so I doubt there'll be anymore updates. Till next Lunar new year then! 

Kukup 21/2/15-22/2/15

It's been quite a while (8 years at least) since I last return to this place I sort of grew up in (going back every major holiday and spending days to weeks there) and so much has changed

This side of the village used to be just water; everything was built up in recent years as an extension to accomodate the expanding population (mainly tourist population though) 

Set off early 初三 (Saturday) morning in my sister's car (brother fetched my parents; 小叔 fetch his son and 英姑; plus 月姑 and family on their own car) and custom was pretty clear; reached Malaysia for a short breakfast before we continued the 1 hour journey into Pontian then Kukup. It's been quite a while since I've seen Kukup so crowded (largely because I haven't been going back during the festive period) and we even had to wait for a good half an hour before we got our lunch at 龍皇 (which moved by the way). Not only did the restaurant moved, many of the shops were new and the buildings were all made of cement! To be honest, I was pretty disorientated and felt alien in this pseudo-hometown of mine. 

Met 四舅 and 小舅 before 三姨 came along as well to join us for lunch. After we settled our stomach it's time to head for the chalet! Didn't get one of my maternal relative's chalet cos they were all overbooked but they still got us a pretty decent alternative (they're really all the same). First thing first: mahjong! Which is basically what we do (along with Banluck) throughout our "free" time there. 三叔 also came in unplanned in the afternoon and manage to enjoy the chalet without paying! Haha. I must emphasize at this point that some of my maternal relatives and my paternal relatives are pretty good friends because most of my maternal relatives depend on my dad/mum for shelter and assistance when they come Singapore. 

Highlight of the trip (yes, even this weekend getaway "back home" has a highlight; in fact, it's always the same highlight), is the fireworks at night! For further description and videos, please visit my Instagram and Facebook. Lol. 

放孔明灯！ 4/6 took off and most of them 起死回生: flying off after lying still on the swamp waiting to catch a wind. 

Really really love this twilight photo... 

Night was spent mahjonging away (came home with more ringgit than I brought in cos of the winnings haha) and the next morning was packing up, and we set off before the others cos we went around my relatives' house to 拜年 (and collect fishes; about 2-3 per house on average, as is always the case whenever we go back Kukup to pay a visit). Fortunately, most of them recognized me despite my absence the past decade! 

It was really a fantastic getaway, and despite everything physically changing so much, I still felt like home when I was there... I'll definitely be back very soon I promise! 

It's just not the same

I didn't work on CNY eve; reunion dinner's not with everyone else at Ah Ma's place, in fact, only 8 of us last night; and visiting was at Uncle Vincent's place on Day 1. It's just not the same anymore...

Still, 拜年 goes on as usual! And with one new member to the family haha

And ya, 双林诗 is also still the regular 

Something pleasantly new: Lou Hei! 小婶 being the health conscious expert she always is, added lots of fruits in this self-made 鱼生！

Also, not much Banluck and no Mahjong at all this year! Just thinking bout the guilt of not studying haha..

In any case, Happy 🐑 Year everyone! 

And here you see two goats wishing you a good Goat year ahead; according to Ms Blur, this is the most epic photo of the whole Europe trip; I think I win this time round. 

Chinatown 17/2/15

After exploring large part of Europe, I realize there're so many things I've yet to experience in this small little country I live in, so here's the very first of my escapades in my backyard: Cheenatown on Cheena New Year! 

--

Things they sell don't really appeal to me and since we went during the off peak, crowd was bearable as well. What really killed my energy was the sun: what a love-hate relationship we have! Highlight of this day out is, once again, food, but more with ice than not. 

Coins hanging all around, doesn't your childhood Mario-fantasy tingles at this?

Gave up fighting the heat to find those good food recommended online and just settled for the coffeeshop the Senso gang used to eat when we were working there, and we stumbled upon this nice Oyster Egg stall that was without queue (lucky for us cos the queue came after we bought it!)

Decided to buy this $3.50 matcha (with Earl Gret taste) ice cream from a Jap shop nearby cos, yes, it was too damn hot! Hid inside the MRT station with this while waiting for Bird 

Bird's $15 zoom-out clip-on really quite useful for selfies haha. And hi there, random strangers! 

Attempting to be a tourist: snap all the statues!!! 

And we finally gave up (again) and settled down for this shaved ice after walking two streets. Food coma sets in (I blame the sun though) and we didn't stay much longer after the cooling effect of this ice wonder waned off...

Didn't really have a full impact of the CNY atmosphere (I blame the sun again) but we did see Kym Ng, Bryan Wong, Lee Teng, and Desmond Koh rehearsing for the CNY countdown at the stage set up in the middle of the road! And I've also seen first-hand the legendary queue for Lin Zhi Yuan bak kwa (though I think the queue for Yong Tau Hu at the coffee shop earlier was more impressive haha!). Still, a really nice trip out of school that I've been looking forward to for days! 

Also, 新年快乐 to everyone!

Of slope, supper delivery, and sober nights

OC Males minus Zong and Zhong

Guojing came out with his Bombay Sapphire after this; but at least one bottle didn't become 8 this time round 

Happy valentine's day!

I really love how we spent the half an hour leading up to v'day: simple and happy. And really, life after you has been like this every single day...

Thanks so much, Ms Blur! ^^

Learning from the master

And coming home on the right day cos everyone else came back! 

End of an era

So Ms Blur and I both ended our IHG season this year with (almost) perfect happy endings: her winning 3 golds in 3 sports and me 2 (kinda) out of 2. 

While she found a new drive next year for her LYLC, my presumed "LYLC" this year meant I was prepared to not play another IHG to begin with. But really, life kinda stood still ever since the first day I stepped into hall. Going on exchange made me realize I have been giving too much to this single entity the past 3 years, neglecting my life outside of it. 

In fact, I figured it's a whole new world out there, and I'm ready to explore, to escape... 

I'm just a little scared, really, that I've forgotten how to live. 

Why do I come back immediately after I land?

Because this is legitimately my second home, housing my second family...

Came back after lessons at 5pm and told Samuel I was hungry cos I haven't had anything since the 2 slices of bread in the morning, and next thing I know, he left some food on my table...

They were really delicious too! Always walk past this stall at West Coast but never had the appetite to try it. Haha

A reminder

This year, I spent most of the basketball season sitting on the bench watching my fellow teammates fight for the title. We won it. But next year, I'm gonna be a part of it. 

Photo credits to Cheng Boon! 

It was indeed beautiful

I know it's one of your on-and-off thingy going on again and you'll probably pick yourself up very soon. But no matter what, thank you... 

I feel so lousy

So much that I'm hoping time stood still in Sweden and I'm never back. This roller coaster feeling sucks. 

Having the captaincy the past two years meant so much to me; it meant I've picked myself up from where I fell few years back. Having to play my lungs out in year one meant even more; it meant I was part of something again. It wasn't a championship title; I couldn't care less, I've had so many of them while I was just sitting on the bench. It wasn't even a finalist spot but it was such a nice feeling to know I fought for something I love, or loved. It reminded me of my C'div time, when we played for the game, not the title. Of course, all of us wanna win. I wanna win. I wanna win my name on the line-up sheet; I wanna win my spot in the team; I wanna win my playing time with people who love the same thing I do, or did. And yes, a small part of me wanna win the title. Even when I've admitted that I can't keep up with the team, even when I've resigned to fate that I'm not gonna be a big part of it all, even if I've come to terms that I was even registered out of courtesy, I still feel so damn defeated. I feel so lousy...

I know strong people react to situations like this by telling themselves to come back stronger, to prove people wrong, to fight for what has been lost. But all that was going through my mind was how defeated and lousy I am; and how I wanna extricate myself from all these forever. I know, I'm a coward. But I'm really kinda tired of the fight... I'm always at the margin, always struggling to keep afloat; maybe when I stop paddling so hard, I'll start to surface. 

I tried so hard to tell myself that all these are but the small things in life; who cares if you were part of the team? Who cares if you've won the title? Who cares about IHG 10 years or even 5 years down the road? There are, indeed, so many things in life that matter much more. 

But I can't; I just can't. Right here right now, nothing else mattered more. Maybe it's a sportsman thing; maybe it's an ego issue... Maybe it's just me. 

--

Then something changed all these. 

Rex's comment on Facebook complaining about me neglecting my 6 other "Valentines" reminded me not only that there're some things outside that matter more, but also that there are people outside that loves me and don't judge me for what I do but who I am. 

And also, my real valentine's old chicken attempt at cheering me up. 

I'm probably feeling 10% better now. 

It's really been quite a long while

Bishan chicken riceeeeee, also, oyster!

With this gang (sorry I downloaded Samuel's whitagram photo so got gap here haha)

And...

Sheares' Daniel Naan 

With this gang! 

At least it's not my mum

Killing aunties since 1991

Was having such a bad day but this really made it better, though it's really quite joke HAHA

On another note, looks like someone's mum is anxious of her being left on the shelf XD

Second time disappointment

This feels too familiar. 

When Mr Chew announced the team and retired the Sec 4s in favour of the juniors, the immense disappointment and self-doubt hurt so much I didn't recover until years later... This is gonna take quite awhile.