Year in Review

1 more day before the new year comes. Who's gonna look forward to it? Not many according to the economists. 2009 is going to be the worse ever they said, but who's gonna stop you from having a smashing year?

Anyway for those that are interested, these are my views on 2008.

5 things I had learnt in 2008:

1. Disappointments are plenty, it's how you deal with them that defines you.
2. There isn't short cuts in studies. Effort is required.
3. And on the flip side, results isn't directly proportionate to the time you spent mugging.
4. Talking to someone is much better than keeping it within yourself.
5. Time is always precious - during school term. It, however, crawls during the hols.

5 things I wished I had done in 2008:

1. Be more decisive. The more you delay, the harder it is to make decisions.
2. Get out of the house more often.
3. Woke up earlier for module registration.
4. Find a long term part time job.
5. Go for an overseas holiday.

So how's 2009 gonna be for me? I'm not one that lists down resolutions, 'cos let's face it - I will never get by to achieve them. Let's hope that it will be even better than 2008.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne.

Two Turtledoves

Victor has this idea of having a dinner with the OG guys, so we went down to have dinner at Plaza Singapura. The place is less crowded then expected but the queues for the eateries are horrible. Curtiz joined us a bit later as he has some entertainment to do at home. Let's hope that the same thing don't happen next year, 8 is a much better number.

Watched Ip Man after dinner rather then having some drinks. Donnie Yuen's acting is pretty wooden, the same exact facial expression no matter how he's feeling but the fighting is top notched. Joel said it's rather similar to the Hou Hou Hou Hou Hou Hou Hou Hou Yuan Jia movie. Powerful Chinese martial artist instills Chinese Pride when he defeats Japanese baddie.

Victor and Joel got pretty excited when they saw something in the same theater. Shit stirring is definitely gonna happen in the exco.

Luckily caught the last train back. Tried to dig up stuff from Victor on the train, but to no avail. The guy sure knows how to keep a secret.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

So how does one determine it's the festive season? For me is when I'm at home doing nothing. I know that I'm complaining but I seem to see a pattern forming. Every time at this point of the year, I will suddenly feel especially lonesome. I understand that everyone has their own priorities and I'm not blaming anyone. Maybe I should be more proactive in seeking company.

Anyway this year's Christmas's Eve seems to be in the right climate (for lack of better word), the entire day is cloudy, rainy and cold. Nice weather to enjoy a nice warm cup of coffee and a book.

So what's next after Christmas? New Year's Day and a week after that, school reopens. Maybe it's the way I've been spending my holidays but I'm beginning to miss the entire mad rush to various LTs/ TRs and cramming for quizzes.

Yeah, I know, Danny's a little crazy. And I'm going to see myself complaining that I need a holiday during the school term.

So while you're out celebrating, do remember the true meaning of Christmas. Have a Merry and blessed Christmas. =)

Edit: Saw this while reading through the BBC:

And the prime minister of Singapore gave Mr Bush $450 worth of fitness equipment, including a uSurf Wave Action Exerciser and an iGallop Core and Abs Exerciser.

What? A uSurf and an iGallop? Can you imagine how Bush will look like while using them?

Updates

18 Dec 08

Did some calling up for sponsorship matters. I gave myself a half day off as I completed it quickly.

Warmed the seat for the programmers' meeting before going to Marina Square and did a last minute shopping for Joseph's present.

As for dinner, the met up the usual MSE people (minus Gregory, who's 'eating air' in China). Ended up at some hotpot buffet thingy. Had a change of seats because the initially we are stuck in one corner of the store, facing the walls. Finally, got seats outside the store with a nice view of the cityline.

After some warming up (and lots of food), Juncong finally got into stride and began thrash talking. I guess that's what we had been missing for the entire semester.

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20 Dec 08

Met up with the FOC people for canvassing on an early Saturday morning in Admiralty. Did a few blocks before the whole fiasco with NJC paddlers forced us to stop for lunch early.

After lunch we did blocks that the NJ people didn't covered. And guess what, the Karung Guni man already covered them. I remembered doing an entire block and ended up only 2 stacks of newspaper and 1 tiny bag of clothes.

Saw a amazing huge stuffed white teddy bear sitting in someone's living room. Definitely larger than any of the girls in the group. This actually caused the girls to go 'wow so cuttteeee' and so on. Luckily the owner didn't come out and chase us away.

This year's newspaper collection wasn't as tough at all, there's like hardly anything to collect. But I heard good money was made.

Fell sick when I returned home. Fever, sore throat and runny nose. Still feeling the effects as I woke up this morning but was much better than last night.

Calls

Today I really experienced what a business manager is all about -making cold calls to companies.
Looks like I'm destined to make calls or something, my last two temp jobs are call related and now I'm doing calls again.
Luckily there's always a meeting going on in the CAC room, so I'm not that lonely. The things people say during meetings sure are interesting.
I seriously think there's something wrong with the CAC Biz Team. Why are we working our ass off while the rest of the team are not chipping in? Not very pleased about this. Things must be done as soon as possible.

Found out that Woodlands feeder bus system is very confusing and dogs are rather cute when they don't bite/bark.
Actually someone asked a good question, as in why I didn't join Impresario. I guess I'm pretty honest about myself, as a performance is all about the entire package and isn't just the vocals.

Our work is never over.

Getting Older

Fell asleep while waiting at 4-ish pm.
Fell asleep once again at 9-ish pm.
Fell asleep later at 12-ish am.
Then fell asleep halfway through the football match, that's when I thrown in the towel and went to my bedroom to sleep.
And there's this tendency to take a (long) nap if there's nothing to do.

Guess I'm getting old, 'cos I used to be able to stay up until 3-ish in the morning AND still get up at 7 on the next day. I'm 22 now, can you imagine what's gonna happen when I'm sixty-four?

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Any help with blog layout? I just want to replace the title page with a banner like picture. Oh yea, any ideas where to get nice banner pictures with white as background? Too lazy to learn how to use CSS.

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Too bad I don't have a video cam (too lazy to dig up). There's this magnificent view of birds circling around the tennis court of the condominium across my house. I wonder if they're happier than humans? Do they have any worries that we have? Is absolute freedom even possible in the first place?

Maybe that's why Man isn't given wings in the first place.


Time to back off?

Senior Camp

Went to Jingjing's (ultra belated) birthday party at the Sentosa chalet on the day before senior camp. Jeannifer had a good laugh when she found out that both Joel and I are dressed in jackets and jeans for a trip to Sentosa.

Didn't stayed long as most of the OG mates left early. Left after the cake is cut. During the trip off the island that I commented that the weather's always cloudy and/or drizzling everytime I'm at Sentosa for 2008.

Tagged along with the car that's delivering the stuff needed for the senior camp in the next day, a little delay due to some mix up. Somehow I got a feeling Joel is going to get into trouble over this matter.

So for the first time the sun is up and shining when I'm on the island. Helped out a little with the programmers but mostly slacked and watched the games in progress. The log rolling game easily wins the 'Best Game of the Day' award. And no, not everyone knows how many carbon atoms there are in a guanine molecule (5?).

Stayed over at the chalet. Initially had some reservations as only main com are there. It turned out okay in the end as I knew everyone and made a paper eating friend (hi Alex!). Oh ya, 10 man Citadels is no fun.

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Sometimes I'm wondering whether am I reading too much into things because the signs rather obvious. Too many questions unanswered...

Take Me Out - of Shining afternoons and sleepless night

I wonder if having no time to blog is a good thing? That means that instead of sitting in front of the laptop to make a blog entry, I'm actually doing something else.

4 Dec 08


Watched Bolt with Shining. Better later than never eh? The hamster's incredibly funny, reminds me of a certain George. The last part of the movie seems like a little bit rushed, I was expecting something more 'epic' but overall its still a great movie to catch on a weekday ticket price.

I wonder how does someone doesn't know how to find the entrance to Plaza Singapura. Get out from the NEL side and you won't get wrong.

5 Dec 08
Accompanied Loo for present hunting. Did course registration on the laptop in Starbucks.

Random Danny wisdom:
'How heavy an object is based on how long you hold it.'
The crazy things I do just for you...
Greg almost turned green because nobody responded to his enquiries when he had some problem with the module groupings, luckily he's on the other side of the internet.

Anyway this semester sees a slightly better timetable with more days starting later than 830am.

Discovered that both of us aren't really that good with directions. Maybe because we don't frequent there that often. Can't believe that you go for these things haha

I somehow find that walking around and chatting is somehow more fun than watching a movie together. I believe that watching a movie means less time for interpersonal interactions.


5/6 Dec 08
Overnight Mahjong session with usual gang (excluding 2 missing people) at Curtiz's home. The funny thing is that we have 3 'westerners' going all the way to the 'east' to play overnight Mahjong. Luckily I won big for one round because I'm like losing most of the rounds, or else my losses will be too much to bear.

Learnt that 'Boss' canned coffee needs shaking, patience is a virtue, Jingjing can really talk on the phone and somehow we're all getting old 'cos we all look like zombies at 7am in the morning. Paiseh ah, didn't really talk much during the ride home 'cos I'm really sleepy.

So yea, that's how I got taken out for the past two days. Hope that there's more to come (provided Joel doesn't shoot too much arrows at me) for the rest of the hols.