Dagnabbit!

Crap. I typed out a really long rant about something that really ticked me off today, but Firefox went and crashed on me and I lost it. Anyway, I really can't be bothered to type the whole thing out again, so let's just say I'm really peeved and leave it at that.

Stupid Firefox.

Spooky

Talk about a freaky coincidence.

I saw wins advertising his photo gallery on his MSN nick, and went over to take a look. Guess what? Not only is he using Coppermine (not toosurprising; Coppermine is quite popular), but the way he labels his categories and albums is almost exactly the same as I do.

Okay, maybe that may not be so freaky to you, but it sure is to me...

Everyone should learn from these guys

I emailed my webhost support team earlier asking about my malfunctioning subdomain (see here).

They solved the problem and replied to me in less than five minutes!

Now that's what I call service. Eat your hearts out, GEMS.

So if anyone ever needs any recommendations for a webhost, HostGo definitely gets my two thumbs up.

Oh yeah, and you can now access my photo album directly here: http://snowburn.lightingthedark.org/gallery. The Malaysian trip photos are fully up, by the way.

Ken's Place

So, seeing as how I'm leaving my current job soon, but have never bothered to describe the place, here's a few pictures of what it looks like.


Welcome!


Reception


Waiting Area


Our library


Recreation Area


Pantry


More of the Pantry


And finally, a view of my office

So there you have it, my work place for the last 2.5 months. I'm quite sad to leave the place, but eager to start on my new job. Come down for a drink on Thursday (my last night there) if you're free! ^^

Oh, by the way, the place is called D'Amistad (fondly referred to as Ken's place). We're a full service restaurant that serves alcohol, or a pub that serves good food, depending on who you ask. We're at the junction of Telok Kurau Road and Telok Kurau Lorong L (near Marine Parade), and you should definitely go check it out if you're in the area. =)

Photos, you want? Photos you shall have

After a lot of thought (about 5 seconds), I figured I'd start a new online photo gallery thingamajig. However, I don't trust myphotoalbum and photobucket and all those nonsense "free" sites anymore, so I decided to install Coppermine onto my ltd server.

It's supposed to be at http://snowburn.lightingthedark.org/gallery, but there seems to be something the matter with the subdomain, so for now, you can check it out at http://www.lightingthedark.org/snowburn/gallery.

I'm starting from the beginning of this year and will probably put most of my photos up till the current period, then go back and upload photos from pre-2006. It'll take a while, though, since the photos take a while to upload (as you might imagine).

Let me know what you think of Coppermine, though seeing as how I've already put up a fair amount of photos over the last couple of hours, I probably won't be too inclined to change to something else unless there's some big problem with it.

Oh, and I know the template's a bit plain; it's stock. Hey, but if you're reading this you should know by now that I'm way too lazy to bother designing a template (or even looking for one) for my own personal use, eh? I mean, look at this site. ;)

PS: Yes, I do indeed happen to know that most of the Malaysia Trip albums are empty. That's because I haven't finished loading those photos yet...sheesh...

Early Morning Madness

So,I was on the phone with Fabe this morning when we decided, at 4am, that we were hungry. The logical solution (naturally) was that we should go in search of food.

After some debate over what would still be open at four in the morning that wouldn't cost an arm, we decided to head down to Geylang Lorong 9. (For the friends not from the sunny island, Geylang is the local red light district, which naturally also means it has cheap food till late.)

The irony of it is that he supposedly stays in Serangoon (Central to North), while I supposedly stay in Upper East Coast (East, duh), and Geylang is in the East, but my cab fare cost $10 while his only cost him $6. How unfair is that?! I thinkwe should seriously review what we consider North and East and whatever. ;)

So anyway, we had a pretty good supper/breakfast of noodles and dumplings, and sat around chatting till about seven before we left. Something we noticed was that there were still girls out and about trying to do business. Are there really guys who come down to "buy" at seven in the morning? We figured it might be the night shift workers who do, but the only guys we saw walking around were obviously pimps.

On a side note, this episode makes me sorely miss the odd hour suppers we used to have in Melbourne. I wanna be back in uni again! =\

The List

So, I'm back from the interview and currently sitting here at work, swatting flies. But that's not what this post is about. Noooo, it's about the list of things I'm not supposed to consume till Sunday.

• Milk & dairy products
• Fried food
• Oily food
• Grilled food
• Seafood
• Fruits
• Fruit juice
• Soft drinks
• Coffee
• Alcohol
• Hair product

That's from what I remember. Well, the last one I don't "consume", but I'm not supposed to use any. Apparently I've got some fungal thingie at the neck area, which no one but my doctor seems to be able to detect.

Man, talk a "Bread and Water" diet. Lunch was porridge and dinner was macaroni soup. And imagine me, of all people, having to abstain from alcohol for FIVE DAYS.

Welcome to hell. =/

Happy Birthday to Me

Wow, has it really been four months since I last wrote here? Well, I guess not that much has been happening lately. I finished up national service about 2 months ago and am now working at a pub-restaurant at the moment where I cook/waiter/bartend. I'll prob talk about that in another post soon (if I actually get to one =P).

Anyhoo, like I mentioned, it's my birthday today (well, yesterday to be exact, but I haven't slept yet so it doesn't count as another day). Thanks to all the peeps who gave me shout outs. Appreciate it. =)

I've actually been pretty sick these last couple of days, no doubt thanks to the overpacked weekend I had (again, to be covered later). Been down with cough, flu and fever. Feeling better now, though.

Oh, oh, oh. Just got back from watching Fabe at the PartyWorld Singing Competition quarter-finals (I think?), and man, he really is quite a good singer. Think he blew most of the other contestants out of the water, though a couple others were good too. Here's a video of his performance:



Congrats, Bro!!!

Hmm..didn't realise the resolution was so low. Jan might have a better res video. Anyhoo, better head off to bed. Need to go visit the doctor tomorrow, followed by an interview in the afternoon, then back to the pub at night for work.

Ciao.

Groan

Been battling gastric flu the last few days. It hit suddenly on Monday night and laid me out most of Tuesday and Wednesday. Had to take MC for both days. Today was my first day back at work and surprise, surprise everything had piled up yet again. -sigh- Still feeling pretty crap and my stomach's still giving me problems, though the fever's subsided and the headache and dizziness are mostly gone as well.

On another note, watched M:I:III with renzi on Monday night. Didn't watch the first two, so no comments on how it fared against them. It's an action movie, and it has the relatively straight-forward plot of an action movie. At the same time, it does away with trying to be anything else and just goes out to entertain you like a good action flick should. Overall, I guess that's probably the best word to describe it: "entertaining".

Next up, the Da Vinci Code and Over the Hedge.

Hmm...pretty boring day at work. Now that the project's over and done with, all I'm left with is post-project processing, which, needless to say, isn't the most exciting job in the world. I'm not rushing though, since there isn't really any deadline.

Anyway, met siao-eh for drinks at the local pub, and we agreed to go wakeboarding on Friday. Should be good. =)

Splash

Went wakeboarding with TJ and a few of his friends today (Terrence, David and Ben). Thankfully TJ gave me a call at 7am, or I probably wouldn't have made it seeing as how I only slept a 3+ am (watched CNA for election news and analysis after I got home last night).

TJ and Terrence are pretty good. Even David and Ben aren't bad. It's only my second time, though, so everyone naturally looks good to me. ;)


Terrence jumping high

TJ follows suit

David shows his stuff

Ben's got much better control than me, and he's just 14! =P

Resting up between each run

Terrence and TJ explaining the finer points of "keeping your butt in".

And finally, here's a video of Terrence's warm-up run. Note: this is only his warm-up!

Out and about

Got dragged along to a flea market with Janz yesterday. =P In all fairness, it was quite interesting...if I'd been a girl. ;) Apparently they hold it three times a year, so we might go back again next time, maybe with oaks in tow.

Some pictures:

After the flea market, we met up with oaks at The Cathay to catch Paradise Now, which, may I add, is a pretty dang'd fantastic show. Well, at least to oaks and me. Janz didn't like it as much, but then again, what does she know? =P Anyway, go watch it. Now!

After the movie, janz managed to convince the two of us to go checl out the Butter Factory club, where she was meeting a friend of hers. Of course, with Janz leading the way, we kind of got lost for quite a long while. We managed to take some nice shots, though:













After walking around for a while, we decided to stop, sit in the middle of a bridge and take pictures:







So anyway, we finally located the place. It was not half bad. Music was kinda old school R&B. It was only about half full when we went in, but started getting pretty packed after a while. Here's the place from across the river, and some interior shots:











We originally planned to leave around 1am, mostly because we were a little tired, and I had to get up early today, but we kinda got into the swing of things and ended up leaving at around 2.

All in all, a pretty full day. Took one last pic before grabbing a cab home:



After our "Lost" experience today, we're thinking of meeting up regularly just to get Lost and walk around taking photos. Heh. See how it goes.

Oh yeah, speaking of movies, Oaks and I caught The Sentinel on Friday night. I had to practically drag her to the cinema and she was griping all the way. =P But even she had to admit that it was a pretty good flick. So yeah, go catch Paradise Now and the Sentinel. =)

Busy busy busy

Wow, it's been nearly exactly one month since I last blogged. This is probably going to be a short post though, seeing as how I have to wake in around 4 hours time to get ready for work.

A lot of stuff's been happening lately. I'm back in the Forces, for one. Work consists mostly of admin stuff. I'm with Air Manpower at the moment (think of it as the HR department of the Air Force) handling one of their major projects so I've been really swamped with work lately. Deadline's in April, so I'll likely continue to be swamped with work for the next few weeks.

I've kind of gotten used to handling admin work by now (it's been four weeks, after all), though I do miss being back in combat side. Some of the stuff I do is really repetitive and I do often start getting sleepy during the long afternoons.

Besides work, I've also started doing some research for an interview I'm planning to go for in three months (or so). Research is coming along slowly, but at least it's coming along. Hopefully I'll be prepared for the interview when it comes along.

On the personal front, I've been facing some problems lately that kind of left me rather down last week, but thanks to a few good friends, I'm back on my feet again. Thanks guys, don't know what I'd ever do without you.

Guess that's it for now. My branch is holding a chalet the next two days, so I'll probably only be back again on Friday. Oh yeah, and the Department Annual Dinner is on Thursday night. I'll try to update again when I get back. =)

Army Daze

For those who've been a little confused, I'm due to resume my national service. See, over here we have to undergo compulsory national service for about two and a half years (back when I was eighteen; it's been since reduced to two years). I disrupted four years ago to head to Aussie to study, so I have to complete my remaining five and a half months now that I'm back.

So, I'm resuming service tomorrow. Meaning in a few hours time. Can't seem to sleep, for some reason. Anticipation, perhaps? I've been posted to MinDef (the Ministry of Defence) for the remainder of my term, which is both good and bad. The good part is it's stay-out, meaning I get to come home everyday. It's basically an eight-to-five-thirty office job.

The bad part is it's one and a half hours from home, and it's compulsory stay out. Given such a distance from home, I'd much rather just stay-in, and come out on the weekends. Such a hassle to travel back and forth everyday. Luckily Dad's able to give me a lift in the morning, but it's still a pain coming home after work.

I'm also hoping to start running in the morning (in my new Aasics shoes), which means I should be getting up at six to run. Which means I really should be sleeping right now.

-sigh-
Time to go back to lying on the bed.

Two down, two to go

Did two camps last week; one for Saints and one for Trekkers.

I'd forgotten how tiring doing back-to-back camps can be. Plus the fact that the second one was the St. Pat's Sec2 camp (which is 3 full days instead of 2.5), these two camps really left me exhausted by the time the weekend came. I also lost my voice on Thursday night, so I've been talking funny for a few days now.

The good news doesn't end there. I also managed to break my Fila runners (the sole came off in the mud), so I ended up spending a fair bit of my pay on a new pair of Aasics runners. Then I decided I (naturally) didn't want to bring my new shoes to camp, so I went and bought a pair of booties for the coming camps. So I'm pretty much left with 3/5 of what I earned.

There've also been many small changes in the way things are run and conducted, and the place itself. Many new faces as well; I only know perhaps two or three out of the twenty-plus instructors working for each camp.

Still, it's been altogether a pleasant experience returning to camps after three years, at least for this short period of time before the army comes knocking on my door. Going into camp tomorrow morning (7am..groan..) for another two back-to-back. Here's hoping I don't totally lose my voice. =)

Going camping

Went to Zouk on Friday. Heard they underwent renovations, but nothing seems that different. Didn't manage to make the 10pm deadline, so had to pay the exorbitant price of $28 just for cover (though it included 2 free drinks). I miss Melbourne and being able to get freelist.

Anyway, maybe it's because we were there early, but it was extremely unhappening; the place was only half full, and no one was dancing. We were going to wait for a bigger crowd to turn up, but something cropped up and we left soon after. Meh.

So anyhoo, I'll be away till Friday doing camp for Saints and Trekkers. Hopefully these couple of days will be a good break away from home for me; a lot to think about lately. I don't even know what's going on around me anymore. Doing camps are always good because you're normally so busy you have little time to think about much else, and it normally leaves me refreshed and ready to return to normal life. Tiring though.

Anyway, guess I'll write again when I'm back from camp. =)

-sigh-

I tried updating yesterday, but the connection died and all my words were lost. I really can't be bothered typing everything out again, so this is gonna be a point summary of what's been happening. =)

• finally graduated on Dec13. ok affair, if a little boring. preferred the mock grad, when we had more time to muck around and take photos. slept through most of the ceremony. luckily, sitting next to kimi, who woke me up when it was our turn to go on stage. must remember to order grad photos.


• returned to sg for good (for the forseeable future) on the 23rd. met up with some of the monash peeps for coffee that night. finally got to see the new house. mmmkay. need to get new furniture.


• met up with gnuheeK, janz and renzi for dinner on xmas eve, then went to janz' place to hang, and check out her underground bachelorette pad. met up with oaks for drinks in the wee hours of the morning.


• normal family xmas lunch thigie. standard affair, this year at our place. met up with a bunch of monash peeps at pigu's hotel room. she was down from kl with her family. ordered room service cos we were lazy.


• on boxing day, met up with cms, xing and caigeren at xing's club. nice seeing them again. went for a swim and some pool-ultimat frisbee. met up with more monash peeps at marina sq sakae for dinner, then drinks at esplanade.


• trs threw a xmas party thingie at his place, and most of us turned up. good food, great friends. watched infernal affairs trilogy. fell asleep halfway.


• xing threw his annual xmas/ny party at his place up in woodlands. saw many familiar faces and old friends from the R days. this year's party seemed a lot tamer, though. maybe we're all getting older. =P


• renzi's mum threw a NYE party at their place and we were all invited. the youngsters (i.e. us) adjourned to renzi's room after a while, where we held DS 1.5 (official). we didn't have our $8 friend, so we simply assigned penalties to dice rolls. lots of crazy fun.


• met up with cms, wen, xing and jd for lunch at tanglin club on the 2nd. nice to finally meet up with wen. had a nice time catching up.


• trs threw another party on the 2nd, this time a satay party. again, good food and great friends. watched Taxi (the french one) this time.


• went for a week trip to m'sia from the 3rd to 10th. renzi and i took SBS 170 to larkin in jb where we met cw for dinner, and caught a bus to butterworth. met up with cheng at butterworth and she took the bus with us up to perlis to meet susu. hanged around perlis for a couple of days, the main highlight being our day trip across the border to thailand (hadyai). the 4 of us caught a bus back down to butterworth, where we again hung around for 2 days, mostly eating and shopping. met up with pei kei (cheng's friend) and yvonne. the 5 of us (with pk in tow) then took the bus down to kl to meet up with christie, lah, Vv, cw and siao-eh. siao-eh was uncontactable most of the trip (no roaming) and he owes us big time for booking us in an expensive hotel in the middle of the red light district. ;) met up with mkuku in kl, and spent most of our time shopping and eating again. eight of us (w/o siao-eh) then caught the bus back down to sg on the 10th, though cw dropped off at jb. overall a very eventful trip, with good food, good friends, good sights and good experiences. can't ask for much more. =)


• cheng, susu and pk are visiting us in sg till saturday (putting up at renzi's). we went to the new MoS last night. no one told me it's in the cannery! kinda miss the place; haven't been there since the trekkers shop moved out. anyway, MoS is really big, and the drinks are pretty expensive (or maybe i'm just used to aussie and m'sia prices). besides that, nothing really spectacular. had fun though. =)

Yeah, guess that's it: my point summary of what's been happening in my life. Imagine how long the original post was. ;)