jimmy jammies and the whim whams

2006-10-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

this bird has flown.

the king is dead. long live the king.

inspect the carcass at http://thebackupplanarchived.blogspot.com/

2006-10-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

so i've been back for about a week now. and the haze is starting to clear.

i've gotten used to the heat and perhaps even a little bit to the crowds.

i get reminded of familiar things such as when you drink from a cold bottle of water there is so much condensation on it that it trickles all over your clothes and feet as you take long cool swig.

familiar things such as the constant cling clanging of the chai dao kuay seller's twin spatulas resonating into my room from downstairs. also the once in a while wafts of aroma from his cooking.

the bulk of the upgrading work in my neighbourhood has been completed. it's nice to be able to not return to a construction site again. the neighbourhood looks changed enough for me to feel like it isn't my home. i haven't really soaked in the new environment but i guess it'll be just like home soon.

the goons in perth got diarrhoea over the weekend due to some suspect nasi briyani consumed at the perth royal show. my mother said, "you tell them 'see lah! you not there only they all get diarrhoea!'". if only i had such powers of protection. i do miss my world in perth but i'm grateful i wasn't there to fight for the toilet with them.

so now starts the job hunt and the quest to be fiscally useful and self-sufficient.

2006-09-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

i've uploaded some videos of death cab and okkervil river at youtube if anyone's interested. no vids of sigur ros cos i didn't get to record much at all and no broken social scene cos i was standing right next to the speakers and the bass distorted the sound something really horrible.

2006-09-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

okkervil river rocked out more than i expected. real small crowd. prolly like 200 or 300 people. again i could not drink because i drove there and i was alone. i met my pal from school, tim, there though. saw a few other familiar faces from school. what an indie hive the arts faculty at my school is.

2006-09-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

this is prolly the last gig that i will go to in perth. it saddens me greatly as i learned recently that the new pornographers, modest mouse and pete yorn among others are coming to perth in the near future. it will be a hard step to take onto the plane home knowing i will miss these gigs. but it does make it a bit easier knowing that when i come back my cousin's stomp gigs will be on.

local music here i come.

2006-07-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

yesterday was my first kind of free day as a graduate. i spent it looking for soil around the neighbourhood to fill my pot and planted some basil seeds. if all goes well, it will be fully grown around the time i leave.

2006-07-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

there go the holidays.

well, technically i'm still on holiday since i'm done with uni. but still today is the first day of school.

so, my mother left perth yesterday. i think she had a nice time here. many, many photos but i don't think i'll post them up.

went to the death cab gig while mother was here. chatted with this fella while i was there. well, he came to talk to me cos i was all by my lonesome self. he just wanted to promote his own band in some semi-final of some band competition really. death cab were good. ben gibbard wouldn't keep still though and kept swaying to and fro which resulted in shit photos. well, i wasn't very close anyway.

2006-06-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

there goes uni life.

2006-05-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

the fruit juice, which expires in 2007, has by itself somehow become carbonated and cider-like. most interesting. and also, tasty.

i hope it has no detrimental effects upon my well-being.

2006-05-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

last saturday was free comix day and we scored these two comix. i picked justice league not knowing it would be of the cartoon. oh well. by the way, superman, do you only know one damn pose. god knows if batman's got the same stance going on in the justice league cover too.

and today i scored this for myself. hellz yeah gonna check them emo boys out after this sem ends.

2006-04-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

go mario go!

2006-04-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

so, yes, the toaster issue still chews at my mind every once in a while, mostly whenever i make some toast. so today i was mulling over what snack i should have to tide me till when my housemate comes back from work cos we have dinner together when she gets back around 10. so i decided, well i'll have myself a bit of toast. right.

so this is how it is. lately i've been keeping the last few slices of bread in the freezer cos due to a general profusion of other types of foodstuffs, we have in this semester on some occasions neglected to finish the bread before it decided to grow mould on itself. so yeah, into the freezer they go.

so yes, my snack. now. you remember there is the issue of the toaster setting. so, taking the bread out of the freezer, my mind started mulling again. and i had a breakthrough. perhaps it goes up to 7 because people toast frozen bread. so i'm thinking hellz yeah that's it. so i'm like i'm gonna just stick this frozen slice of bread in and toast it. so, bolstered by my conviction that i had solved the puzzle, i turned the toaster all the way up to 4, yes 4, and i even didn't stay around to monitor the process, as i am usually wont to do, due to my quite anal ways about some things. i pushed the plunger switch down and i went to...i can't remember what i went to do. it was possibly something to do with the toilet.

so well, yeah. after the slice of bread popped up, i ended up having to scrape the black off my toast with the butter knife over the sink again.

yeah, so the issue still stands. i am contemplating finding a company email address online that i can pose this question to.

2006-04-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

go watch this animation:

Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006!

zombie smashing fun.

2006-04-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

riddle me this, batboys and batgirls:

why does my bread toaster go up to 7 when toasting at 3 as good as almost burns it?

the most satisfactory answer gets some toast, at 7.

2006-04-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

peench a keister thees easter, meester!

2006-04-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

sigur ros last night was good. they sounded great inside the perth concert hall. it was less a gig than an experience and a performance. as with usual with me when i listen to sigur ros, i got lulled into feeling like i wanted to sleep at some parts. the light display didn't really help either. some of it was so distracting i had to close my eyes, which made me want to sleep even more. BUT, it was a good gig. i didn't get to take much photos cos an usher told me to put away the camera cos "the band doesn't want photographs to be taken of them". still, after seeing many camera flashes going off and cameras being wielded openly by people around me i took some photos anyway. but he came over and said "there's no filming of he concert tonight, mate" when he saw me filming a clip and i was like ... and sian after that so i just didn't bother with any more camera stuff.

so yeah, back to doing my philo essay.

i hope more good acts show up in perth.

2006-03-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

list of affected CDs.

2006-03-11T04:13:00.000-08:00

all y'all in singapore, get to the arts house and watch this.

2006-03-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

on my insistence, we have gotten a basil plant for only 2 dollars. mmm, nothing beats fresh herbs.

2006-03-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

access pass admit one.

oh yeah broken social scene was shit good yo. i was right up front at the corner of the stage. it was awesome. as usual my ears are ringing now. i took mucho pics and vids and i might load them up later. off to shower now.

update: i've uploaded some of the photos and you can check 'em out here. the vids are great viewing but unfortunately i was right next to the speakers so the sound is pretty bad cos basically the low frequency sounds as good as drowned out the high frequency sounds.

2006-03-01T04:41:00.000-08:00

this shit is funny with a capital HA.

2006-02-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

that's right boys and girls. i'm going to see sigur ros. all i hope now is that i'm not blocked by gangly ang mohs.

if you haven't heard, perth is bitch hot but today is much cooler than normal cos there is rain forecasted. but still, it's muggy. well, in my apartment anyway. i must keep an eye on the skies cos i got clothes hanging out to dry.

2006-02-25T03:58:00.000-08:00

so i'm sunburnt. but not as bad as my housemate. my face is still reddish. i'm gonna be really slathering on the sunblock tomorrow for soccer. the sun here is really killer. all i did was be in the sun for maybe 2-3 hours. won't be taking any more chances. don't want to the soccer session to turn into a barbecue.

it's kinda hard to start an exercise regime when the sun eats into your face the moment you step out of the shade.

so, grocery shopping today. we got the essentials. though the area that was really replenished was the snack cupboard. it's so replenished some of the stuff has to go on another shelf. i must say i had very little part in that. all i bought was some biscuits and gummies. because gummies rule.

remember the job i was moaning about not getting last semester. well, this sem i got it and i might be starting on monday. the job title is a tad grand for my liking and i am now pressured to live up to "computer support assistant". d00d i am |ike officia||y a g33k. |33t!!1!

speaking of which, if you get the chance, get your geek on and watch 'the IT crowd', this new british comedy about an IT department in an office building. it's packed with gigglebytes of laughs.

2006-02-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

so i'm back in perth. i realised as i unpacked and cleaned up the place how much i like staying here in this house. somehow i forgot what it's like to live here when i was back in singapore.

the flight back was a bitch. never had quite an ordeal like it. walked all the way to the end of the departure area to my gate and the security fella there says it's been changed to a gate that's on the other end of the fuckin' place. so everyone has to fuckin' hightail it to the other side and you do realise this is changi airport which is a huge ass place and not perth airport where one push on a skateboard would take you from departures to arrivals. then from the gate, when we finally got through cos there was this line of tired panting people who qualify for "i did changi departure lounge in 10" t-shirts, we had to take a coach to the plane which is sitting out in the middle of nowhere. and so we board real classy and all up one of those staircases on a back of a truck and the plane's air-conditioning is not on. like what gives? then i realise this 223 is not the same 223 i've been taking for the past 2 and 1/2 years. this one's older and shit. then later finally after maybe 45 minutes delay, the plane takes off and the air-conditioning comes on, and it begins to get so cold you'd think frosty the snowman just farted big time. well, anyway, we got here and i had to go through the longest fucking line in customs just to declare 3 packets of sauce while adrian and mindy with more goods to declare than i have sail through other much shorter channels which had practically no line at all.

so hey whatever. anyway, i'm back and the weather's not been a fiery bitch so far so that's good. gots to stock me up some food and stuff. the fridge is empty and cold, much like my heart.

peace out bitches.

2006-02-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

hey y'all. i gots myself a pair of indoor soccer boots today. now i'm a hankerin' for some a soccerin'.

anyway, help me do this here thing, alright? in the name of better self-understanding.

2006-01-30T05:59:00.000-08:00

that's right, kids. this here be a ticket to a broken social scene gig. much thanks to yvonne for putting in the legwork. now to mull over the usual question of whether to bring my digicam along or not.

sometimes i love perth.

i'd really love to see the arcade fire also. here's hoping they'll hit perth within the next 8 or so months.

2006-01-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

so. i had a pizza night.

2005-12-11T03:55:00.000-08:00

so hey whassup i'm back. yeah i know. i've been back for about 3 weeks now. there wasn't anything much happening besides the usual back in singapore stuff. but me and the boys just had another cook in two days ago so i got photos up for y'all to scope out.

so yeah i'm still bumming mostly and i am looking for a job. so if anyone's got any leads on that front drop me a note.

2005-11-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

ah all my assignments are done. now it's time to study for exams.

anyway, last friday me and a buncha friends headed down to the city to check out the pillowfight flashmob and i got stuck into the action big time. i didn't have a pillow and intended to grab someone's pillow but the blows were coming from all over and i was pretty damn well pummelled.

anyway, found this vid that this guy took. i hope he doesn't mind me hotlinking it. so check it out y'all if you want to. i'm right at the start of the vid. you can see me in mid-jump landing and then flailing my arms about, and then running into the mob at the left. chaos ensued. then at about the 32 second mark, i emerge out of the mob at the right of the screen.

2 minutes of fun. wonder when's the next flashmob gonna be.

2005-10-30T06:26:00.000-08:00

this is becoming more of a regular feature than i want it to be:

zeitgeist says:
so did you understand my animation. did you get stuck along the way.
bored says:
huh stuck? no wat
zeitgeist says:
really.
zeitgeist says:
how long was it.
bored says:
quite shirt
bored says:
short
zeitgeist says:
so when did it end.
zeitgeist says:
what was the last thing you saw.
bored says:
erm he looked away
zeitgeist says:
and? what was the scene like?
bored says:
wat like that lah
zeitgeist says:
the end scene.
bored says:
he looked back at comp it hink
zeitgeist says:
was it him at the office table.
bored says:
he was at the office tabvle all the while
zeitgeist says:
did you actually see a 'fin' appear
bored says:
no
bored says:
hahahahah
zeitgeist says:
ok
bored says:
ok wait later i go see again
zeitgeist says:
neh mind its ok. you performed exactly as i expected.
bored says:
ILL KICK U ASSHOLE

i really don't need any more fodder.

2005-10-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

finally it is done. here's my flash project for this semester if anyone cares to view it. the theme is 'identities'.

now for the next 3 essays.

2005-10-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

my cousin's cat needs adopting. know anyone?

off her blog:

miles is an affectionate and cheerful kitten who urgently needs a new home and family to care for him.
he is fully vaccinated, dewormed, defleaed and sterilised.
he is very friendly with people and other cats, is curious and responsive and is also litterbox trained.
he needs a caring and responsible new owner who would look after him with a lot of love, and will bring joy and companionship to the family that chooses him.

the following items will be provided to his new owners:
- food and water bowls
- litterbox + scoop
- his favourite blankets + toys
- cat bed
- scratching post
- collar with name tag
- vet certificates
- revolution applicant (one box)
- brush/comb
- food vouchers
- CD containing all his photographs
- travelling case

pass the word around y'all. she's in murdoch uni by the way. so this is oz specific.

2005-10-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

the original agent 86.

rip 25092005.

2005-09-28T01:37:00.000-07:00

yo y'all. been a busy month. here's what's been keeping the illustrated philosophers series from being updated.

first of all it was work. i was called up by the director to do lighting for the italian dramatic society's play again this year.

so yeah that was taken care of. it wasn't as funny this year as the last. but the cast was nicer. to me. i got paid again by the senora so ^5 to her.

after that was done it was the 2 weeks break. i spent the first quarter of it finishing a philo essay and then it was party hearty till i break aparty.

first i got a blowjob from ol' steve while his dog kept watch and i kept the crocodile at bay. danger no entry sign be damned.

then i headed to rottnest wit the arts gang and others for a day of frolickin' in the sunshine. that rocked. i didn't get sunburn nor darker so that was weird. then yesterday me sam sab and mindy headed to the perth royal show for a day and night in mao mao yu and freezing wind. but it was good too.

so yeah here's the anti-climax cos that's it.

2005-08-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

illustrated philosophers 01

welcome to the first instalment of the illustrated philosophers series. big ups to old walter. my comm studies coordinator bears a striking resemblance to him methinks. put up a request in the comments if there's a particular philosopher you wanna see come under my virtual brush.

2005-08-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

ah perth you always have little surprises for your residents in the water supply. no boys and girls i don't know what that cloudy shit is. but it dissolves away in about 2 minutes. i have to admit it looks like a really thick and wholesome glass of homemade barley water. but it doesn't taste like it though. i know cos i still wash up in the mornings, even if it looks like i'm washing with extra virgin rice rinse.

2005-07-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

great. my one chance to work in the place i've always wanted to has come to nought. all the available time slots are like a 90% match with my timetable. which means if i am to work there at all, i have to disenrol from everything. hey thanks you gods for mocking me once again. you fellas are doing a real doozie of a job up there.

2005-07-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

major bummation. interpol gig tomorrow night and i can't go cos it's sold out. man i really wanted to go to this one. big ass bummer. dear elvis in heaven please land me a ticket to the gig.

2005-07-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

ah internet up again. and another semester begins.

today is the first day of the semester but i got no lessons today so i only went to school in the morning to go to the computer lab. besides that, i went to the old agent to settle some stuff and spent the rest of the day at home lounging around surfing and moving a table to a friend's place.

oh yes, home is not where it used to be anymore. i have moved to a new place. two buildings away from where i used to be at. this place is generally better than the last one on almost all counts and a little bit more expensive. but still a much better place to live in. i have my own room now, it's originally a study but it's my room now. it's also a balcony of sorts so i'm almost surrounded by windows on 3 sides.

so well here are some pictures.

front door. dining area to the right. kitchen to the left. that's the coffee table peeking out the bottom right. this place is pretty cool in that it comes with quite a bit of furniture for a pretty low rent. the stuff that came with it are the dining table and chairs, a big fridge, a too big microwave which we don't use (that's our own smaller one on the counter), a queen bed in the bedroom (which is mindy's bedroom now), a wardrobe cupboard (also in her room), a long comfy 4 seater sofa that can be split in 2, a study table (now mine), a small table thing on wheels which is the crappiest piece of furniture to come with it, and a study chair (which i'm sitting on). oh yes. and a big ironing board.

the kitchen. much bigger than my old place's. but somehow it's more difficult finding space to put stuff in. which is why the counter is cluttered with stuff. it's better now, but still cluttered. very mysterious. that metal thing on the wall is now replaced with a clock. it's actually a mini ikea ironing board. but we took the cloth cover off and it's hanging on another wall as a notice board now. the fridge is great. never had a fridge like this before. it even has a huge freezer with twin ice trays that you just twist in place and the ice cubes drop into the container below. that's fun stuff, which explains why we have lots of ice now.

the tv area and the door to my 'room' on the left and to mindy's room next to the tv. the 'notice board' hangs above the black study table now which is now not there anymore cos i gave it away.

living room. look at that sofa. it's a pretty drab colour but it's comfy as hell. we've only been in here about 2 weeks but many naps have already been taken on that sofa. it's so comfy that it has its own blankie. the blue thing on the floor in front of it is mindy's bean bag. that's comfy as hell too. that guitar aint mine it's my friend's. just here for the time being. my room's in the background. yep you can see right into my room what with all the windows. but i'm pretty fine with that. considering that my previous 'room' in the old place was the living room, this is a huge improvement already.

and here's one end of my room. i think it's a balcony converted into a study now converted into my bedroom. see that little table thing on wheels my printer is on. that's the crappy thing i was talking about. the previous tenants used it to place their 15 inch tv on. behind it is more stuff that is being tompanged at my place for a while. the study table comes with the house. but dig this, it isn't really a table. it's just a large piece of wood placed on top of two mini cupboard things. what a gyp huh. but it'll do. it's nice and large. allows me to spread out comfortably. legs are pretty cramped in that small space though. the curtains that come with the place do not cover up all the windows and are really drab and don't even move smoothly on their rails. so i'm voyeuristic fodder. not really an issue but it does get a little creepy at night with all the large windows all black and reflecting instead of letting me see through. also there's this huge tree that blocks out most of the sun in the day which is a bummer. what you see is the evening sun shining in now.

and here's my bed. and laundry basket. i put up a white bedsheet on the walls cos the walls are made up of old brick that has like holes and stuff and it isn't something i want to be brushing up against when i'm sleeping, or even close to in general. i think it makes the bed area look more clean and comfy too anyway. see all those speckles of light. my room would be bathed in sunlight if not for that tree. i wish someone would get rid of it. this unit is the only unit that is almost totally blocked by that tree.

the front of my place. looking left. view of the opposite block's laundry area. there are steps just round the corner. that beigish box on the wall is the gas heater for my place. those things really flame it on when you turn on the hot water in the house. almost 3/4s of the heater box is filled with a huge flame. scary stuff. i know cos at the old place i had to fiddle with the heater once cos it wasn't set right and seeing the flames right up close didn't warm the cockles of my heart.

opposite view from end of the corridor. i'm technically on the second floor. there's only one unit directly below me. then you get that garden thing up those steps. i have not made contact with my not very friendly asian neighbour whom i always catch glimpses of going into her place without saying hi. and i really mean glimpses. i don't even know what her face looks like. i only see her stepping in. end of the row is warren who i think is the caretaker of the block. he's not gregarious as hell but he affords me a gruff 'hey' or 'hi' or something that sounds like that when he sees me. i once saw him peeling this onion or whatever it was over the ledge letting the shavings fall into the garden. pretty ironic for a caretaker.

well yes so enough of the house for now, it's time to turn my mind to scholastic matters. the arts toilets really do have the best scribblings.

2005-06-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

my current internet connection is going to be disconnected and i'm applying for a new one so i'll be offline for a while. might take anything from ten days to a month. later vaders.

2005-06-09T03:12:00.000-07:00

what a gloomer of a day.

my feet are freezing.

2005-06-06T05:27:00.000-07:00

another severe weather warning day. my feet are freezing. so are my hands. and my place is considered to be a warm house already. oh well.

idlewild gig just over. missed that. interpol gig coming soon. going to miss that too. what an ass of a bummer.

anyway if you guys wanna check out the flash animation i did for schoolwork recently, here's the link. i think it will open up in the whole browser window itself and not as the 550x400 sized frame its supposed to be in, but i think it's ok. if any of you guys see it, drop me a line to tell me if the button at the end works. cos it doesn't work on my computer for some reason.

update: another link to my flash animation. this one is much smaller than the intended size, but it shows what is actually meant to be shown.

2005-06-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

so it's june and the semester's coming to an end. i'll be quite relieved when it ends, even though this is the first sem i feel some sense of ease around the locals. there's an interpol gig coming up and it's on the night of the last day of my exams, which is probably a sign that i should go. it's around 50 dollars. we shall see.

ah i just checked interpol's site, the show is reported to be sold out. there goes my thing to look forward to. the gods never fail to toy with me.

speaking of toying with me, this car has a daily routine of having it's alarm go off for no apparent reason at all. some days, it happens twice. it's been happening for more than a week. and the beautiful thing is that it's parked directly across my place, like maybe 15 metres away. i have fought urges to open my balcony door and yell or brick the vehicle (i think i'm capable of projecting one over 15 metres) or go down and put a notice on the car (something to the effect of "please fix your alarm you cheebye kia, thanks"). i'm pretty sure the locals don't appreciate it much either seeing how they value their ps and qs.

2005-05-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

my oh my liverpool.

grobbelar your spirit lives on.

2005-05-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

tired.

water in a cider bottle.

highlighter and pencil taking turns to make marks.

a loose-cuffed sweater.

distant hum of a television.

improving my ratio.

glances at the void.

the warmth of the hard drive against my wrist.

blinking away the blurriness.

sleep lay claim to this body soon.

2005-04-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

well on tuesday the agent came again with another couple. the agent told us they'd be over at 1 and i had a lesson at 12 so i thought ah then this would be a good opportunity for me to come home while they're there and take my sandals off in front of them. you know, to make them feel embarrassed.

but as luck would have it, i came back too late. they just left when i returned.

but as luck would also have it, mindy, who was at home, told me they took off their shoes when they came in.

the potential buyers were an asian couple. the agent followed their example.

what to say? nothing to say. so that's that.

-------------------------------------

while in the shower, this popped into my mind again as it does every once in a wandering while:

when i was in the army as an rp, i had to attend pt sessions in the evenings at a cement track surrounding a field near my camp. physical exercise usually doesn't stoke my fire that much but in camp it was quite a welcome break from guardroom monotony.

so one session after we finished off with a i don't know how many rounds run around the track, my rsm, who is the warrant officer in charge of the rps and thus my boss and who periodically attends these sessions to show (off) how fit he is and cast a disdainful and disapproving eye on us unfit louts (especially me since i happen to answer directly to him and am sort of his personal assistant), suddenly called out to us to come to the starting point as we were panting our way to the training shed for some water.

when we got to him he told us to walk backwards one round around the track. that's right. backwards. and i don't mean go in the opposite direction we ran in. i mean walk backasswards.

of course, all of us were confused and i guess a little bemused at this instruction but him being the rsm, and we being the maggots he loves to dish bile on, we just acquiesced without question. we looked at each other exchanging wide-eyed half smiles and proceeded to walk backwards around the track. just another case of in the army don't think just do.

the rsm, being the excellent example that he is, also walked around the track with us, also backwards. and after rounding the first two bends in the track he proceeded to tell us why we were making like we were participating in some primary school p.e. game.

his logic: your whole life you spend going forwards and doing things in a forward manner etc etc. so it's good to once in a while go backwards and...and...oh fuck this is so fucking stupid i don't even know what to say. i can't even remember the illogic he used as an explanation. go backwards and rewind? go backwards and balance your body? all i remember was thinking he's an even bigger loony than i thought.

i don't think i have really told anyone this before which is quite amazing i think but it's just something that is that bizarre that you're not really sure if it is as senseless as it is. bizarre to the point that you think hey maybe he's right. maybe there is some school of thought out there that does this backwards shit. seriously, i can't be arsed to search the internet for shit like this. this is one of the things i totally believe does not exist anywhere else except for that one moment in the time space continuum where about ten of us were walking like fuckwits around the cement track backfuckingasswards. the one instance in the whole history of time itself where god or elvis or some higher being can rewind history and do a double take and say "hey what the fuck how come these bunch of morons appear to be going in the right direction as i'm rewinding the world?". after that pt session, nothing seemed senseless anymore, nothing was too stupid to comprehend. after that pt session, what emerged was approximately ten individuals who could face the world and not be jaded and fazed by its machinations. we had gone through this one thing. and we had seen it all.

i have no answer to the question of why does man wage war and kill himself and destroy his environment. i can only relate to you the story of this particular pt session as an answer and you will ask no more.

2005-04-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

two days ago (three if you're picky) some people came to take measurements and photos of the house for valuation purposes. they didn't take off their shoes.

then our landlord came with the agent. they took their shoes off. thumbs up.

then yesterday (don't be picky) the head agent came with some potential buyers to view the place cos the current landlord want to sell. they never take their shoes off also.

eh why. don't you see me barefoot in my house. my landlord noticed and was sensible enough to take off his shoes then the agent followed. mindy say cos angmohs always wear shoe into the house. but still i'm not wearing any footwear in the house in the first place. the rest must be blind or have no common courtesy. maybe asians no money to buy shoes to wear in house. i was about to take a shit when the potential buyers came but i tahan a bit so that they can have a pleasant experience viewing the bathroom. i think next time i know they coming i'm going to fucking take a funkilicious shit and maybe even not flush. maybe even fry sambal open durian throw feng you on the walls and make the whole house fragrant as hell.

aside: one slice of pizza never cuts it. always makes you feel hungrier only. like eating one or two pieces of fried wanton.

2005-04-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

so i got a haircut today. made mindy cut my hair. not as hardcore as i wanted it to be. but there will be more haircuts to come. so chekkit out.

my artist's impression of how i should look like on the left cos mindy had in her mind to cut some layered thing and didn't get what i wanted. and the finished product on the right. pretty close to what i drew huh. but maybe it's cos i wielded quite a lot of artistic control during the process.

i know the picture looks like i've got a passable mohawk, but i've been getting suedehead vibes more from this haircut.

the next time i'll make it even more hardcore.

by the way everyone listen to stars. been listening to them this past week or so. blissful wistful pop music.

the new weezer single is only so-so upon first listen. but it kinda sticks to you and grows on you after a few more listens. so much so that i catch myself singing the chorus out of nowhere. the video is pretty nice too which is expected of a weezer vid. chekkit out at weezer.com.

2005-04-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

seen on the singapore students' society forum:

"yeh bIIm are very very talented.. i LOVE archaepialago singing, where they sing without any music...
makes my heart melt!!!!! heheehe"

which was replied with:

"??? i know you know more bout music than me, but isn't that a group of small islands??? i thot it was called a capella?"

and

"uh ... ACAPELLA. I don't knw WHERE U got archipelago from! ..."

and the lame defence from offender:

"ehhehe i musta been thinking of the new cake i was thinking of creating... heheheh
I DUNNO!!!!!"

...boh wei gong.

i don't think i will be visiting this forum anymore after this initial visit.

2005-03-14T02:45:00.000-08:00

[X]Weezer's 5th album has been officially titled "Make Believe". Its release date is still pending but should be in May for sure.
We are deep into work on the website, you should see some changes starting around the time of the release of 'Beverly Hills', which is coming up in the next 2 weeks.

man oh man. new weezer single out in two weeks. and the new album out in 2 months. this semester is dedicated to music.

update: "Make Believe" release date: May 10th. "Beverly Hills" release date: March 23rd.

2005-03-14T00:39:00.000-08:00

yeah rock-it baby. that stamp on my hand isn't full but you can make out it's supposed to say rock-it. i got the stamp when i entered the licensed area where they sell alcohol and where all the kids weren't

what can i say about rock-it? what i can say is that it was fanfuckentastic. what made it fanfuckentastic? two words boys and girls. green motherfuckin' day.

the event started at 11.30am but me and my bunch of rockiteers only got there around 3pm cos the first few bands didn't seem too interesting. there were two stages and i initially wanted to catch the oz band little birdy at the smaller stage but the tent the stage was in was so packed that i just headed to the main arena and hung out in the licensed area. that place was an alcoholic wasteland with empty crushed cans and bottles of booze all over the place. piles of cans and bottles were everywhere. woe is me for not bringing my digicam along for fear of not being allowed to enter with it. there were digicams everywhere. oh well.

when we got there this hip-hop act scribe was on the main stage and the flairz were on the smaller stage. i didn't see the flairz cos it was packed there and i didn't really pay attention to scribe cos it was mostly huge bass sounds, requisite turntable scratching and one mc giving it up one time. and also cos most of that time i was in the queue at the merchandise tent. how could i not buy anything huh c'mon. my bounty at the end of that were a green day american idiot 2005 tour t-shirt, another green day tee with a picture of a flying guy dropping bombs ala dookie and a green day book bag. they cost a fortune but i just shut my eyes and said get me those things and tried not to think much about it. i only wanted to get a tour tee initially but the other things were nice and the bag was (relatively) cheap.

so we got a beer and hung around watching/listening to shihad formerly known as pacifier, a hard rock band. they weren't bad but again i wasn't paying too much attention to them. prob cos the bass was so resounding that it drowned the guitars out. or maybe it's cos i wasn't standing too close to the stage.

we then went to the boundaries of the arena to sit cos the boundary is sloped up so you can see everything. after a short break simple plan came out to play. they were alright, they had presence. i mean i paid more attention to them than shihad. no dis to shihad though. they started off with shut up and ended with i'd do anything and in between played quite a few songs including worst day ever and something like you are the worst whatever. the lead vocalist proclaimed pretty stock remarks like "we love perth the best" or something like that and "why are the girls here so hot?". the highlight of the set was when they stopped playing cos people were getting flattened at the front of the crowd and the lead guy was like if you see someone fall pick them up everybody just back up a bit and he got a bottle right smack on his chest. the nice guy routine took a break there as he warned whoever to "stop throwing those fucking bottles...or i'll come down there and fuckin' kick your ass". to which i think the guitar player said "he will too. he's tough." confirm highlight of the set. well so much for simple plan.

and then after another break and watching some fights around the place and security guys chasing the troublemakers around which was really very amusing, grinspoon came on. they didn't say much but stopped a song also to tell people to not flatten those in front. grinspoon were good though. they just came out, played their songs, and rocked the shit out of the place. no fuss at all. the australians really dig grinspoon. they were all singing along to most of their songs, and i felt envious of this show of local support. compare it to local scene in singapore, nothing to say man. nothing to say.

finally after many toilet trips and fights and attempted sneak-ins into the arena and high people falling and slipping down the sloped area, it happened. green day were on stage. with a flourish billie joe greeted everyone and they started things off with american idiot. by this time i had moved down closer to the stage so that i could move around better. and i went insane. to actually see them on stage rocking it out after about nine years of wishful thinking. i went fucking nuts. i danced i punched the air i pogoed i screamed the words. i think that's about as close to elation i can get. as expected, after reading so much about their performances, bille joe was hyper as fuck and running all over the goddamn place and being a pretty good showman too. he led the crowd in (too) many call and responses. with his 'i say heyyyyyy oh!". when i first heard him yell that out i had shivers running down my spine cos the only time i ever heard it was on a bootleg cd of a live performance and that was years ago. then after american idiot they did jesus of suburbia and holiday to which bille joe said "this song is for george fuckin' w bush" or something and a few more songs from the latest album. then the fucking highlight for me of the set, which was in itself amazing, was when they ended a song, i can't remember which, and tre cool immediately went into the drum intro to longview. longview gene longview! immediately i thought about sec 1 recess times when i would scream the chorus of longview to gene, who i hardly knew then, and he would think i'm some spaz nutcase but eventually get into green day as well. i was grinning and laughing like a maniac and then mike dirnt finally came in with the bassline. holy fucking shit that was just fucking amazing. then they did brain stew, then basket case then the unexpected, they did knowledge, the operation ivy cover. i thought they stopped doing that song totally but when i heard it i went crazy too. then as usual they got three guys up to form a band and play knowledge and the guitar guy got to keep the guitar he used. then i can't remember what songs came next and they left the stage and then came back (of course) for the encore. they launched straight in boulevard of broken dreams which the crowd went mad about. then they did another one or two songs i can't remember and then finished everything off with a cover of we are the champions.

crazy man crazy. here are some photos my cousin took. she was in the front near the mosh pit so she got pretty decent shots.

hey oh billie joe. here's him being theatrical and pointing to some imaginary object in the air. mike's behind him.

explosions on stage. lots of pyrotechnics went off during the performance. the stage looks cool don't it.

a pretty damn good picture of them doing hitchin' a ride i think. look at that won't you. green fucking day right there on stage.

billie joe giving the finger i think while some guy shows him some love and blocks most of the view.

a blurry pic of billie joe on one of the video screens flanking the stage. that blurry thing could only be billie joe.

a photo of mike on the screen. intense baby intense.

yeah well at the end of the night, i'm splashed with beer and have a piece of chewing gum stuck on my left sleeve. but whatever it was worth it. one or two more photos can be seen on my cuzzin's site. today i'm wearing the american idiot 2005 tour tee. and i can't describe the feeling of wearing the tour tee when the tour is still actually ongoing. well that's it. end of my rock-it ramble. i've seen green day. i've been totally rocked out by them. i'm a happy boy.

2005-03-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

nothing hits home the fact that i'm living outside in my own place more than having my fingers smell of garlic all the time. not the fact that i handwash my clothes cos the washing machine for my apartment block is spoilt. not the fact that i feel less secure about my living space. it's the waft of garlic that enters my nose everytime my hands go near my face throughout the day. ahh...domestication.

what removes that smell from my fingers i wonder. i think i'll search for a solution.

2005-02-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

here we go here we go.

2005-02-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

my neighbour's cat oscar! today as me and mindy reached home and i opened the door oscar appeared and hung around. he looked like he was looking for food or something. i went in to put my stuff and then came out to fool around with oscar. i opened the screen door and let him in and he ran around the place looking for god knows what. then later he went outside again. i put out some water for him and he lapped it up something crazy. must've been really thirsty.

oscar deliberating on his options of being in the house and out of the house. well just as i was taking my cam out to take more pics of him my neighbour opened his door and oscar made a dash to go in. so that's that.

ah i love having a cat around.

2005-02-25T17:57:00.000-08:00

i have made my mark on the weezer.com news page. karl didn't refer it back to me or nothing but i know that it came from me. the catandgirl info on the 18th feb post is mine all mine. i sent that sucka an email and all.

i'm a weezer fanboy.

2005-02-25T04:57:00.000-08:00

i say can you dig it? yes you motherfuckin' can because green mufukkin' day is performing here on march 13th.

[X]"we've just confirmed that our headline, international power-punk supergroup Green Day, will now play a full 2 hour set at this event and will perform under one of the biggest festival lighting productions Perth has ever seen...."

i am so fucking there.

simple plan are playing too.that should be interesting too though i'm not the biggest fan. the rest are oz acts. if i remember correctly the last rock it had blink 182 i think. but i'm most probably wrong. but who cares. billie joe and gang are heading down to rawk out. and i have been ready to be rawked out by them since 1994. RAWK ME OUT BOYS.

2005-02-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

wizzup all y'all.

i's got my internet connection up and running in my new place and so here's some photos to show you where i'm holed up in this time around.

this is the living room. i stay in a one room apartment with mindy so she gets the room while i sleep in the living room. that was my decision though so i'm not really being short-changed. anyways, yu brought over my table and bed really fast so i'm all set up with my basic stuff already. now for just a desklamp and maybe one or two other things. the bed is firm and hard which just how i like it mm mm so it's really comfortable. it's actually a sofa bed but i can't figure out how to fold it up so that it makes a sofa chair. but anyway it works as well all flat out like that too. people can lounge about on it and stuff. all decorations in this picture are my own. got the singapore flag up to represent so people know who they messin' wit' you know what i'm saying. i'm using one of the dining chairs. don't think i'll get another chair. i love this chair. is so retro. my mirrorball is up on the ceiling too but it don't reflect shit. so much for retroing it out.

and this is the other end of the living room. there's mindy's stuff on the floor. that area which her stuff is occupying will eventually be the place where the tv will be. when we get a tv. those are my clothes hanging on the wall that i just handwashed this morning. i'm handwashing my clothes cos some fool broke the washing machine in the laundry room downstairs. so that's a bitch. and if it seems i'm a little sartorially challenged it's cos the clothes are wet and they take on the same wet shade. but anyway i am lacking clothes i realised i didn't really bring a lot of tees this time. bummer. but means less to bring back so yay. check out that dining set man i love it so much. it's so fookin' retro. it retrorocks me out. up on the right is the kitchen.

one side of the kitchen yo. new 3rd hand microwave bought at the el cheapo price of 40 dollahs. it looked good and clean and sounded alrite humming when we turned it on so we bought it from this taiwanese dude who lives about 150m down the road with his girlfriend. i lugged that mufukka all the way back and trust me on this that mufukka is one heavy microwave. my forearms were all cramped when i finally set that thing down. and then immediately after i put it down yu called me up and said hey we're bringing your bed over now and i was like oh man what better time to carry a heavy bed. but luckily it wasn't too heavy. i'd even say the bedframe is just a little bit heavier than the microwave. wtf the microwave must be 2/3s lead. anyway yeah stove on the left, snacks on the shelf. window looks out onto the corridor.

other side of kitchen. condiments at the corner huddling together under the oppression of the guard pan. on the right an unexpectedly huge rice cooker yu passed me. my rice cooker at home is like half the size of this thing. the rice cooker is on the fridge, which while being not an incredibly big fridge, is already an improvement over the original fridge that was in the place which was thigh height. now it's like waist height. but i don't really have a waist now cos i'm so fat so it's more like tummy height. fuck i'm fat.

the corridor outside my place. that little rectangular thing on the wall by the door is supposedly the compartment where the milkman puts the milk in when he makes deliveries like decades ago. now i just throw crap in. whatever. the neighbour living at the end of this corridor has a cat! so i'm a happy boy. it's a ginger coloured cat called oscar. the next door neighbour leaves food out for him. i got to fool around with oscar last night cos in the evening the owner took him out and he scarpered off and she was like oh no i should never have let him out and then we saw him in the distance disappearing under a fence. then at night i found him eating the food next door and i was like to mindy quick call evangeline and oscar was like i'm outta here mate. so i was like oscar come here yo. then evangeline came out and grabbed him while he lay on the cement verge by the steps. i dig cats. the shopping cart in front of my place is there cos we put my friend's luggage in it and pushed it back from another friend's place. so...we have a cart now. maybe i should return it to the supermarket down the road soon. not after i'm sure we've bought all the heavy stuff we want though. oh yeah up the stairs leads to my friends' place. so it's up down up down into each other's places. even more like hall even though i'm out of hall.

here's my block. the pines at 74 broadway road. almost every block has a name i think. i like the name of my place. walk through that "bridge" and you get to my place i'm actually on the second floor even though it looks like it's the first here. cos there's a slope from this road to the one on the other end of the block. so from the other side i'm on the second floor. last night a whole procession of drunk ozns were staggering down the road and making a fuckload of noise and breaking bottles and shit after midnight. adrian upstairs tells me that it'll be quieter when school starts but he also said that it happens every night except mondays and tuesdays. i was right. all ozns do at night when the shops are closed are drink and get pissed.

the houses opposite my place. i'd love to stay in one of these places too but it's a little out of budget. how bout some of youse guys out there sending me some money huh so i can kick it in a bigger house with an actual room of my own.

well anyway yeah that's it. it's another beautiful sunny cloudless day and i'm listening to elliott smith. which is a little contradictory but the pace here is so slow anyway it fits. adieu y'all.

2005-02-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

alrite yeah i'm done with packing woohoo oh yeah lock and low. left only the electronic stuff now like laptop and digicam and shit. feel like i not prepared to leave yet though. like i haven't said my goodbyes to the place yet. ah but oh well. i think i'll miss my bolster the most for the first few nights. ah but i'm getting pretty pudgy anyway so i can just hug my tummy to sleep.

2005-02-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

here's a pic of it unstyled. yep i think unstyled is better. i am thinking that it looks more like a mullet than a mohawk.

my mother likes the back bit of my hair cos it's wispy at the bottom. she say it's nice cos "like girl liddat". i always knew she wanted a daughter instead.

2005-02-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

wizzup lay-eez an' gennimun. i's got a haircut.

it looked more funky hap messy and shit but i go and itchy finger and touch here touch there. the top and back is longer than the sides i'm sure you can envision it. some kinda funky ass stylo milo mohawk variation. more like a nohawk if you ask me. but i was like mmm oh well ok. i got not much hair to work with in the first place so i can't expect much. the hairdresser guy ran me through how to style the hair and seriously by now i can't really remember much already. lots of pinching and twisting and shit like that.

well i've taken a shower cos it's so goddamned hot and i think my hair looks much better unwaxed. probably also cos i'm lazy and waxed/gelled hair in hot weather is just really uncomfytable know what i mean. lots of wispy shit going on at the back of my head now. i can't be bothered to take another picture of my hair not poseurfied and anyways i likes it when you guys get to see me looking shit. so if you wanna see it come on down to the airport or wait till when i'm more boliao. right now i'm hungry. and when you hungry, you can't be boliao.

so watch out ladies. there's a poseur alert sounding and it's emanating from M to the E.

is it just me or is the right side of my face rounder/bigger than my left? fuck that shit looks freaky man. must be lens warp. yeah. that's it. lens warp. do yourself a favour and don't click on my picture huh alright.

update: due to some persuasive feedback from concerned netizens, you can no longer click on the picture to see the original sized picture of my mug. but if you wish to view said picture in its entirety, drop me an email. we'll work things out.

2005-02-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

goddamn i love it when there is so much good music that i want to listen to all at once. the feeling i get inside is so anxious and so fine man oh man.

i really wonder what will happen to me if i go deaf one day.

grammys were pretty amazing i think. save for a few performances. but i dig how it's music first awards second this time around. good mix of nominees and performers except for a few wtfs. but i'll take comfort that there are less wtfs than usual this year.

yeah and i should start packing soon. i'm not being very prepared this time around.

2005-02-13T15:04:00.001-08:00

6 am and i'm pacing the room like a madman with a rolled-up newspaper in my hand. my eyes are still glazed and lazy and my body is filled with lead, but my mind is filled with an uncontrollable rage.

ah to hell with it.

the goddamned mosquito will be crushed later. when i find it.

2005-02-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

dig it. my mother likes franz ferdinand.

i was playing the album and she was like is that the radio and i said no why and she said hao ting. rock and roll. actually it's not that surprising seeing how she liked weezer also when i was playing it years ago.

happy lunar new year everyone.

2005-01-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

more jiwwo chat shenanigans-

nyanko nyao says:
so whats the funny thing you wanted to tell me
jillian says:
today i was on bus
jillian says:
crowded buys and there was this really unattractive couple eating each other
jillian says:
but i just cant fathom
nyanko nyao says:
eat?
jillian says:
how she can bear to do it
nyanko nyao says:
eating each other out?
jillian says:
cos like
nyanko nyao says:
on the bus?
jillian says:
really not trying to be mean
jillian says:
but he had like 100000 piomplse on his face
nyanko nyao says:
fucking hardcore man. got take pic or not.
jillian says:
so like if she just miss his mouth right
nyanko nyao says:
A COUPLE EATING EACH OTHER OUT ON THE BUS IN SINGAPORE
jillian says:
shell be eating his pimples
nyanko nyao says:
HOLY FUCK
jillian says:
i felt so sick
jillian says:
ahahahahahah
nyanko nyao says:
got photo or not? my god.
nyanko nyao says:
a couple eating each other out
jillian says:
yux
jillian says:
NIOT THE EATIN EACH OTHER OUT PART YOU MORON
jillian says:
THE PIMPLE PART
jillian says:
ARGHS
jillian says:
nvm
nyanko nyao says:
YOU SAID EATING EACH OTHER WHAT
jillian says:
my poinmt
jillian says:
WAS THE PPIMPLKES
nyanko nyao says:
WHO EATS PIMPLES
jillian says:
DIDNT U READ MY MSG
jillian says:
Obviously not
jillian says:
moron
nyanko nyao says:
WHEN DID THE TERM 'EATING SOMEONE' START TO MEAN EATING SOMEONE'S PIMPLES.
jillian says:
sh
jillian says:
bloody moron
nyanko nyao says:
WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO INTRODUCE SOME NEW SLANG
jillian says:
snigger funny renmembering it
jillian says:
hahaaha
jillian says:
so gross i feel sick
nyanko nyao says:
EATING PIMPLES IS FUNNY TO YOU?
nyanko nyao says:
YOU SICK SHIT.
jillian says:
there is no accounting for taste
jillian says:
its hilarious
jillian says:
the bloody bus was so crowded I SHOT THEM DIRTY LOOK
jillian says:
and tsk them
nyanko nyao says:
please lah. you made out with samuel and edgar at the same time in jc.
jillian says:
blocking my entance
jillian says:
edgar's weird
nyanko nyao says:
ooOOOooOOOOOoohhhh you shot them a dirty look and tsked them ooOOooOOOoOOOHhhhh
nyanko nyao says:
jealous.
jillian says:
jealou swta shit lah
jillian says:
OF HER PIMPLY BOUFREN
nyanko nyao says:
dont get angry
nyanko nyao says:
its ok.
jillian says:
siao
jillian says:
come to think of it
jillian says:
does weicong have pimples
nyanko nyao says:
youre fantasising about him now arent you
nyanko nyao says:
i knew it.
nyanko nyao says:
I KNEW IT
nyanko nyao says:
RECIPROCATION
jillian says:
aer u nuts
nyanko nyao says:
then what has this got to do with him
jillian says:
why not
jillian says:
just thinking abt guys in general
nyanko nyao says:
thats a lame excuse
jillian says:
you're mad
jillian says:
so do u think weicong and i have a chance?*swoon*

my oh my oh my.

2005-01-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

are we so advanced that we got it down to the exact minute when milk will go bad? i'm really curious about that. i checked another carton of milk and it said 23:30. i'd like to know if that is really the expiration time. cos that is pretty sci-fi. anyone can enlighten me? will the milk turn sour at 3.08pm on the 6th of feb? i'm tempted to leave bit of milk till after the expiry time to taste it. by the way, this milk is expensive. over 3 bucks. i've switched to daisy hi-lo. why don't they sell milk in bigger cartons/bottles like in perth? these tall tower cartons don't hold a lot of milk. which is prob why daisy hi-lo has the buy two packs for a cheaper price deal.

2005-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

singapore singapore singapore!

pretty tame match compared to the last one against myanmar in the stadium. but still fun nonetheless. final match in stadium before it's torn down. thankfully singapore won. amazing.

no photos cos i didn't bring digicam along. cong took some photos with his holga so i'll be waiting to see how they look like.

2005-01-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Day 10

ahhh finally it's the last day. today the main thing was the cleaner's coming in to do a thorough cleaning. though i don't know how thorough it was cos i went for a swim at tp. by the time i got back i thought everything was ok but then in the afternoon there was an invasion. supervisors, workers, inspector and neighbours suddenly poured in and last minute touch ups were made to the ceiling and stuff. right now the guy is painting my living room. that's the last room to be painted. then we have to clean up the living room tomorrow and everything will be over for now. which is good cos i've had it with all the works for now. had my first home-cooked meal in ten days and it tasted pretty good.

here are the last batch of photos.

this is last night with all my stuff moved to the middle of the room so that painting can be done. what a goddamn mess. i had to clear it up and move everything back the first thing this morning when i woke up. you can see 3 clocks already in that photo and one more is under that mass of wire. yeah lots of clocks in my room.

dig my freshly painted room. this is the closest as to the actual colour as i can get it on my cam. its just a little lighter than the photo and the ceiling is white. goes really well together. drop by to have a look at its actual shade. yeah that's smarty and mickey up there. there's another smarty on the other side of mickey blocked by the air-con. they're all like "welcome to the room y'all!" to everyone who looks in. the other smarty is blind cos when i was young, i somehow decided to draw doodley circles all over his eyes/glasses and then after that i decided it wasn't that nice so i put some liquid paper over it. then i decided it wasn't too nice again and proceeded to scrape it off with the original pen i used. so...he's fucked up pretty bad. but he's still like "welcome!" and all that.

yeah new bathroom fittings. posh looking towel rack. toiletry racks. and a mirror. my shower gel is still all lonely while my shokubutsu is all like "hey how's it goin'?" but my shampoo is not even looking and more concerned with the prickly heat now.

toilet. racks. grab bar. blah. i dig the ass-washer. that sucker is one powerful spray. ok that sounds sick. i use it to blast the floor when it's dirty. really.

here's a buncha photos showing the renovation of the bathroom. you know the drill people, don't make me explain how to make sense of it again.

ditto for the toilet. one photo less cos i didn't take a proper photo of the toilet one day.

well that's the end. for those of you whom i've related this snippet to before, here's good old donald flipping the bird while he presumably heads off to bed. yes that's right. he's giving you the finger. this is part of the motif of one of my old bedsheets. you can see the whole thing in the first photo. i slept on this bedsheet when i was a little kid (and now too). and i realised that donald was flipping me off around then too. and you wonder why i cuss so much. keep this in mind when you buy bedsheets for your kids next time.

ah that's it. last update. there's no telling when the next post will arrive seeing how i'm not duty-bound to anymore. so whatever. maybe if there's something interesting going on with the upgrading around here i'll post more photos. adieu suckers.

2005-01-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

Day 9

no proper update today boys and girls. cos my room has just been painted and everything is in the middle of the room away from the walls and in a big mess. anyway there is nothing to show for today except some new fittings in the bathroom and toilet. so tune in tomorrow night for the final update for this series.

2005-01-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

Day 8

mmmmmmmmm i just took a shower in my new bathroom and my friends it was exponentially better than showering in a dirty portable toilet. so yeah i'm feeling pretty good. there's still some stuff to be put up in the bathroom and toilet. racks and stuff. but that isn't too much of a hassle. also as an added bonus, my house is getting a new coat of paint. my mother's paying this guy to do it so he does the painting work at night. he did the master bedroom tonight and tomorrow it will be my room then the day after it's the living room. a colour called 'peace' which just looks like light blue with a tinge of green. not quite torquoise yet.

on to the photos.

yeah dismantle that sucker. that's sheng long the plumbing guy getting rid of the portable toilet first thing in the morning. the other guy is waiting to grab the base.

goodbye you shithole. look at how dirty it is. all that dirt is from being in the proximity of all the upgrading work in the day. i had to shower in that muck. ugh. good riddance.

so after the tile repairs were finished and the bathroom and toilet works were done for the day, these two fellas came around and gave the kitchen a good scrubdown. they were pretty good at it. but i swept and mopped the whole place again after they were done. doesn't feel clean enough if i don't do it myself.

and here's the almost finished bathroom. and the mind-boggling thing i was talking about? just give the pic a once over to see if you spot anything unusual. and if you do, all i can say to the inevitable question is - i don't know.

and the toilet. come to think of it. i haven't used the toilet yet. hm.

yeah alright so that's almost it. the next day is for the last minute odds and ends. and then the 10th day is for cleaning and inspection by the head supervisor. and yeah there's also the painting of the house to be done. ahh feels good to have a proper bathroom and toilet again.

2005-01-12T06:12:00.000-08:00

Day 7

more tiling work today. and some repair work on the broken tiles in the kitchen. which made for quite a mess but it's all clean now. relatively. i just had my cold shower. my last cold shower in the shitty portable toilet! hopefully. tomorrow morning they're taking that cubicle of crappiness away and installing all the fixtures in the bathroom and toilet. which means that i get a proper toilet and bathroom to use again. and hopefully the new water heater works too. but i don't mind a cold shower again. just not in the portable toilet.

not much photos of upgrading today cos it's just tiling and also cos i spent most of the day chilling in my room before i thought to myself i better get some photos. so well whatever.

my brother and some chinese guy doing the tiling repair work. the chinese guy handled the floor and my brother handled the tiles on the wall. he didn't finish his job before beating it cos it was late already and he still had another unit to do work in. it'll get finished tomorrow.

so here's the bathroom with the floor tiled up. starting to look pretty good innit. tomorrow you shall be privy to it in it's fixtured glory together with something mind-boggling.

the toilet. likewise with the floor tiled up.

new kitchen drainage cover. looks so much better than a gaping hole of cement.

the stuff that's going to be going to be fixed up in the bathroom and the toilet tomorrow. mostly the bathroom. yeah that's the end of the upgrading photos. the rest of the photos are just irrelevant snaps to fill out the rest of this post.

evening view.

caught a bird unwittingly.

unfortunately, my family's power of invisibility does not extend to our footwear.

yeah please let everything go well tomorrow so that we can have a clean kitchen again. i'm a little tired of going downstairs to use the toilet.

2005-01-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

tiger cup final here i come.

2005-01-11T05:02:00.000-08:00

Day 6

right. only tiling work today. and only one guy did all the work with some others coming in to look see and chit chat with him. me i sat in my room most of the day and slept for a while. today so far is the most relaxing day. cos i get to hang out in my room instead of the corridor. only thing is still no toilet but it isn't that bad. a little used to it now. i kind of like walking around downstairs anyway. now i'm downstairs so often i feel a little more part of the neighbourhood in some way.

oh a side note, are channel 8 drama serials getting a bit too postmodern or what. i haven't been the most faithful follower of double happiness but in the about ten over episodes i've watched, there've been ironic references, in about at least 4 episodes, to the show being a drama serial by the characters in the show. even in the last episode they couldn't resist a final dig. having that guy write a story called "double happiness" based on the happenings in the lives of the characters in the show "double happiness". what's this. 2046? i mean it's just a little bit of an overkill. and what about the totally snook "twist" near the end of the show where chen zhicai seemed to die and jiaming seemed to have in the aftermath married jiaxi? that's just a leeeeetle contrived hey. the kid calling jiaming papa cos he's the godfather and chen zhicai daddy cos he's the real father. the drama is getting stretched a little bit too thin.

anyway not much photos today cos it's just one type of work.

as i said. tiling works today. so here are the piles of tiles all ready to be cut and stuck on the bathroom and toilet walls.

right this should be up yesterday but i forgot. the ceiling beam and the area above the kitchen windows have been cemented and plastered over so they're nice and white and smooth now.

here's the bathroom all tiled up. nice and pretty. well it would be nice and pretty if the guy didn't leave all his stuff in the bathroom to continue tiling the floors tomorrow. but it's alright.

the toilet all tiled up. except for the bit for the toilet roll holder.

yeah that's it.

2005-01-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

pretty nifty. i went to try it out after i saw this. it makes a pretty big folded tee. but hey it's pretty nifty all the same.

2005-01-10T05:31:00.000-08:00

Day 5

remember when i said that the first two days are supposed to be the dirtiest. i was wrong. today was the dirtiest. cos of all the cementing work done today. man there was cement everywhere. luckily after today it's not so bad anymore i hope. i get to hide in my room again from tomorrow onwards cos all the work that's left has got to do with the bathroom and toilet. yeah i still don't have the toilet and bathroom but i'm getting it back on thursday night if everything goes as planned so hurrah for that. on to the photos.

what was going on today mainly as i said, was cementing. buckets and buckets of cement. the guy's cementing the bathroom and toilet walls.

this guy's cementing over the parts of the ceiling that are spalling. only at the end of the day when they all left did we realise they missed out a spot in the living room. oh well. have to tell them tomorrow and endure just that bit more of concrete then.

everything covered up in my room. for once i get to take a photo of my room and get almost everything in it. wanna know why. check out the next pic to find out.

that's cos the goddamn windows have been taken out. the view's great but i don't think i could get used to it.

new windows. it took the whole day for the windows to be changed. pretty spiffy looking innit.

here's a sequence showing the process of window changing. i'm not gonna describe everything so use your imagination. for all those interlacktuals out there who are confused. the order is from top left to bottom right. you know like reading comics. morons.

guess who. i snuck a picture of su-lynn as she came in for the only time today to check the waterproofing of the toilet and bathroom. it's not very clear but she's a pretty no-nonsense supervisor so i didn't want to be caught. was pretending to look into the bedroom while i pointed my camera at her. wouldn't ah chuan love to have this photo.

so here's the bathroom. newly cemented walls. and new windows too.

toilet. also newly cemented walls. and i'm sure there's new windows too but i forgot to take notice.

right so that's that. nothing much else exciting happened today. i got to take a short nap on my chair in my room in the afternoon as the workers went on with their work. it must have been nice seeing me sleeping in my room as they toiled. but i was really beat. oh well. 5 more days to go.

2005-01-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

so this is where i beat it to yesterday. went over to ted's in the afternoon after going to an NTU talk with yaowei before that. we went early cos i wanted to and i took a nap there and then we started to cook the food we brought along for the dinner. chicken wings and fish. wings in the oven and fish in the hot oil.

ted's dogs. that's moey on the left and moe on the right. moe's the fattest dachshund you'll ever see while moey is just a noisy bitch. can't remember what breed she is though. always forget. one of the few photos in which they actually kept still long enough for me to get a decent shot of them.

yaowei and elaine frying up the dory in the kitchen. fry that fish yaowei. fry the fuck out of it. that blurry thing is ted's arm.

stuffed and sucking. my favourite muslim rash, wendy, grace, ansen and ted.

singapore just scored the first goal against indonesia. and everyone came over from the dining table to check out the action. which was good cos everyone decided to pay attention to the match after that.

and so after the match we walked to the old SA school site to do a little nightwalk and ghosthunt. i arm myself with my camera and took a bunch of pictures hoping to get something.

and look what i get. a whole bunch of orbs in this photo. this was the only photo that had "anything" in it. and there was "nothing" interesting in the school shots.

old woodsville site. given the old makeover so that it looks newer. it's dark as ass here. we're up on the old prefects' tower as i take this photo.

the tower we were at the top of. at the very top used to be a bell and rumour has it that a prefect hung himself from the bell once. which made the walk up pretty damn exciting. but not as exciting as the time in sec 3 when i had to walk up the tower myself in pitch darkness at 6am in the morning. that was fucking spooky.

and the obligatory group photo which i think we have never taken before. elaine, yaowei, wendy, rash, ted, grace, ansen, cong and me. titus left early. lit siong and joanna were not back in singapore yet. jasman wasn't there again.

upgrading resumes tomorrow and it's the day they change all the windows in the house. i have to move my bed and some stuff later before i sleep. man what a pain. i'm beginning to get really fucking sick of this upgrading.

oh well.

2005-01-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

Day 4

this is a day late cos i got back too late last night and was too tired to post an update.

yesterday upgrading work started in my next door neighbour's house so they're hanging around the corridor too and also hanging out in the next neighbour's place. soon all four units on this side of the block are going to be undergoing upgrading work and this corridor is going to be crowded as fuck. already today there was no space to even stand around. anyway work in my house ended early today cos they're still doing waterproofing and stuff like that and more spalling concrete repairs. here's the pictures.

this guy is the guy who does the spalling concrete repairs. my mother calls him samurai cos she says he looks fierce and like a warrior/samurai. i think it's just cos when she first saw him his face was caked with dust and he had his goggles on his head and bandana. he does look pretty dissatisfied most of the time.

neighbour's place with the plastic sealing. dust and dirt everywhere. at least my neighbours are pleasant people. a young couple with a little boy. makes upgrading a little more tolerable.

i am starting to question the materials used for upgrading. as far as i know niger seeds are for feeding birds and wheat flour? i really don't want to be able to eat my living quarters. torch brand or not i'm still not very keen on the idea.

and guess who showed up again today? my brother is back and my mother's got a new job for him. hack down more tiles. so here he is being a daredevil and making a mess out of the place again.

upgrading is boring dude. an even more unshaven me.

and here's loveable old ah chuan. i checked with my mother and his name is ah chuan not ah guan. here you see what he does best. kaopehkaobu-ing. that indian guy is the guy who was taking pictures in my flat on the first day. he really doesn't like ah chuan much. ah chuan is always scolding people in a real kaopehkaobu voice. later on i heard ah chuan telling a worker "you know i scared what? i scared su-lynn see the blahblah". su-lynn is that lady supervisor i was talking about in one of the previous posts. ah chuan's a real wuss when she's involved. all act in control and shit. it's really amusing.

my neighbour's toilet. all the upgrading work around the place caused three window panels to fall off in her toilet and it shattered everywhere. the glass bits were all over the kitchen floor even. after this happened i was called onto the scene to take some photos as proof/evidence whatever. i'm a threat to the contractor's i am.

the quiet queen of all that is covered. quiet (actually not really) cos she's got a sore throat. don't mess with this mama in her home. she's got you in her sights.

anyway i beat it to meet yaowei and then go to ted's place and on my way out to the main road i chanced upon baby jesus omg having a nap amongst the greenery! then i remembered that baby jesus wasn't a cat so i legged it.

and while waiting for yaowei at bugis i took a pit-stop in the toilet and omg guess what. my ass is on something that christopher lee's ass was on! and just like 3 days ago even! like our asses are almost like touching each other! fuck that is so gay.

later on we went to ted's for dinner and that was really fun. singapore beat indonesia 3-1 which is pretty amazing. i mean. i'm not against singapore i'm totally for us but taking a reality check, beating indonesia 3-1 is something i would never have imagined. singapore's got a fighting chance at winning the tournament now. hope they don't screw it up.

no photos of the bathroom and toilet this time cos they look practically the same as before just with a bit more cementing done so i'm not going to bother putting any up.

time for lunch.

2005-01-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Part 2 of 2

in keeping with the objective of this upgrading series, which is to show what the hell goes on during upgrading, i'm gonna post some pictures of the works. maybe this might be helpful to some other flat dweller like me. so here come the results of today's work.

this is the bathroom now. new pipes. the floor actually looks good enough to stand on already. i don't know if it's just me but the two pipes on the right seem to be further out than last time when they seemed to be more in the corner. maybe it's just the bareness of the bathroom. will wait to see what it looks like in the end.

the sewage pipe outside the bathroom. a whole lotta dripping was happening last night as the pipe above was a little leaky. the problem seems to be resolved for now. i don't see any leaking anymore. but maybe the upstairs neighbour just isn't using any water yet.

the toilet. new pipes also.

the work done on the spalling concrete on the ceiling so far. they've cleared the damaged bits and probably will do the cementing tomorrow. you can also see the ceiling beam that my "brother" broke the tiles off from yesterday. that will also be cemented over. and probably painted also.

this is what impressed me today. i got this out of the letterbox. the pic probably won't be big enough to make out what it is. it's a newsletter that informs everyone about the upgrading works. about what has been done last month. what is currently in progress. and what is scheduled to be done next. it's really informative and i think they did a pretty good job with the design as well, seeing how they relied on MS Word and Powerpoint to do it.

and this was what impressed me the most. they even had good wishes for students starting school this year. and check out that smiley schoolbus with the thought bubble. not totally anthropomorphizing the schoolbus by making it a speech bubble which would be a little tacky i think, but making it just cute enough with a thought bubble instead.

pretty impressive work.

alrite it's time for another cold shower. tomorrow's update might be later than usual cos i won't be around for most of the day and will be back quite late. but i'll try to snap a few shots before i beat it and i'll as usual take pictures of the result of the day's work.

2005-01-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Part 1 of 2

early update today. maybe i'll do another update later at night if anything interesting happens. all the major destruction in my house has already been done and today they're just doing some waterproofing of the sewage areas so that means not so much dust and crap. but still you know it's dirty. well anyway the reason i'm able to update so early is cos i'm in my room right now. i unlocked my door pushed it open breaking the masking tape seal and slid my bag in together with some newspaper and dived in a la soon-closing-door style. so now i'm holed up in my room with little ventilation but i don't really care. better than hanging around the corridor area doing nothing. so anyway here are a few photos i've taken so far.

8 am. too early to be up and waiting around. unshaven and sitting around in the corridor waiting for workers to arrive.

the view from my corridor. it used to be a nice walkway with trees and stuff. now it's just dirt. those metal sheets are for when the huge construction vehicles drive into the area to lift or deposit heavy stuff.

the gondola lift they use to fix up the new lift on my block. more than once i've felt like hitching a ride up and down but i'm afraid i'll break something or cause the whole column of lift building blocks to fall.

and this i took just before i intended to go into my room. right after i took this a whole bunch of people including one supervisor, a lot of workers and the lady supervisor who is like the boss of them all appeared and traipsed around. so i kinda hung around and waited for them to beat it before i started opening my door. i think of the male supervisors (i can't remember his name. ah guan or dunno what.) likes the lady supervisor. she's pretty alrite and she really knows how to keep things under control. they guys are all pretty scared of her. the reason i think he likes her is cos i took the lift with the both of them yesterday and he was all like hee hee heh heh goo goo ga ga and talking rubbish to her about the works after she arrived and he got off his handphone. before that he was being his usual kaopehkaobu self scolding someone. he was like saying in mandarin something about the toilet ok already blah blah blah. then the lady supervisor was all like can't be bothered/annoyed and said in mandarin you say things can say clearly or not. i don't know what you are saying. then he again blabbered something about the toilet then she got fed up and said you don't tell me unit number i won't know what you are saying. no unit number i won't remember. then he was all hee hee heh heh and then he looked at the floor. luckily, for all of us, we got to my floor after that so he won't have to keep trying to talk to her and feel like a fool after, she won't have to endure listening to him and i, can stop trying to laugh.

i don't know if any of the workers know i'm in here or not. but whatever.

ok i am reaaally tired. so i think i'll try to catch some Zs. if i can even fall asleep amidst all the noise from upstairs and downstairs and leftstairs and rightstairs. hope i don't need to go to the toilet too often. don't want to keep having to break on through to the other side.

2005-01-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

i wanted to post this up yesterday but was too tired and the upgrading update was taking really long cos of photo loading problems. so here it is now. stuff i noticed in the tuesday edition of the new paper.

notice the "for those who like" bit? well i guess it means that no one is going to like this show then. cos there isn't a single person who likes any of the shows listed.

this is up cos i think it's stupid. not cos i support piracy or what. but this whole ad is just stupid in that it doesn't have any logical reasoning behind that main statement at all. look at the next photo to read the small print.

"each time you reject piracy, you encourage creativity." hey thanks for repeating yourself. and then they try to make you forget to look for a reason by asking and targeting you with "Whose life do you think that will affect tomorrow? Yours.". this effort to support the statement by making the readers/perpetrators go on a guilt trip and also feel like they're at a major losing end is just stupid. and check out just check out the closing lines equating creativity with originality and hipness. of course hip is a play on the acronym HIP standing for the Honour Intellectual Property Alliance. it is like so totally unhip to like take part in piracy dude. come on man. at least. AT LEAST substantiate the statement with some sort of proper argument.

2005-01-06T04:08:00.001-08:00

Day 2

well i didn't go to town today as planned. i ended up going around with my mother and getting bathroom stuff again. so another hot and tiring day. yeah i'll leave out the long ramble today so on to the photos.

i found out what the metal container thing with the blue lid is. i saw this guy using it. he's the guy in charge of all of the containers. guess what. it's a vacuum cleaner. i thought that my guess of septic tank was right earlier when i saw him pouring water in the container. but i guess he was just washing it. anyway who would open a septic tank at the corridor.

my mother calmly telling my neighbour how she kept things under control with some sort of hypnotic kung fu. my neighbour is skeptical.

work work work. the chinese guy started to sweep the place after he realised i was taking photos.

beware my mother. good thing the guy started cleaning up.

then after the guy cleaned up the place this guy decided to show up and proceeded to hack down the tiles on the ceiling beam. so it's a mess again. when he arrived my mother wasn't around so he had to answer to me. and now i'm "brother" while my mother is "aundie". "brother" here had to get him a chair so that he could reach the beam and tell him to clean up the mess he made.

anyway while i was out today i happened across this in a public toilet. my favourite kind of retort graffiti. the ironic dumbass kind. reminds me jc times when my classmate danlin wrote on my foolscap pad cover "aloy is a idoit", without realising what she had done.

irrelevant photo taken going down the escalator into chinatown mrt station. look at my muscular arm man. well actually it doesn't look very muscular at all. whatever.

today's update has been brought to you by cock's head concrete. i feel really assured and vaguely amused that the foundations of the upgrading are made up of this. i thought of photoshopping the photo and replacing the cock head with a erm...cock head but i'll try to keep this upgrading series as PG as possible.

no photos of the bathroom and the toilet today cos the portable toilet is in the way and i can't take a full photo. all that's different is that there are new pipes inside. and also outside. oh they didn't dismantle the portable toilet. they just moved it aside. i should have figured.

thank elvis it ended early today.

2005-01-05T06:17:00.000-08:00

Day 1

so the first day has passed. the main thing they did today was clearing out the bathroom and toilet. and i really mean clear it out. it's as bare as it could be and there's some new concrete slathered about the place. today's supposed to be the dustiest and dirtiest day cos of all the destruction. i hope that's true cos it really is fucking dusty and dirty. i've finally gotten a shower and i'm feeling relatively much better and cleaner. i spent the whole day wandering about the neighbourhood with my bag full of stuff. stuff to ease my boredom. and finally in the afternoon went to get some stuff with my mother. bought a new heater and some light fittings for the bathroom and toilet. this is the list of the places i went today -

1. downstairs for breakfast after the workers came to start work and everything was underway at about 9am
2. to the CC to use the toilet
3. to the post office to pay bills.
4. to shaw balestier to hang out at macdonald's. tea costs way too much there. i got incredibly bored and sleepy sitting there waiting for my mother and eventually i...
5. walked sllloooowwwlllyyy back to my block and ran into my mother downstairs.
6. walked to the contractor's main office to check out the colour of the toilets offered and to see the study and rest rooms they've provided for the residents.
7. walked to toa payoh.
8. from there took a shuttle bus to turf club.
9. came back to toa payoh.
10. took a bus to kitchener road to get bathroom stuff.
11. came back home. reached home at 5pm.

by then the demolition of the bathroom and the toilet was done and i was like hurray we got back just in time. BUT we waited outside the house for them to clean up the place and put up the portable toilet inside until around 9pm. yes 4 hours. sweet. so after that we went down for dinner and then finally now i'm all clean and settled. kinda. i was so tired and tired during the day. man. it sucked. i think i'm gonna go hide out in town or something tomorrow. but trust me. trying to spend a whole day out of the house is not easy. especially when you start early in the morning.

good news is tomorrow they're starting work a bit later so we don't have to get up so early. but actually that is most probably bad news cos they might end later also. fucked.

anyway here are some pictures.

the first few workers showed up and the bigger shot is taking photos of the bathroom and toilet. it's procedure so that they have proof of how the bathroom and toilet looked before they destroy and rebuild them so that owners can't go like hey there was this thing in there before which wasn't. anyway i took a whole load of pictures of everything i could think of so that they couldn't get away with fucking something up and saying they didn't do it. so i've got them under scrutiny too. the other guy is proceeding to tear down the doors to the bathroom and toilet.

here's the cardboard and plastic laid out onto the ground so that they don't fuck up the ceramic tiles. those two fellas are all deer in the headlights cos i accidentally switched the flash on while taking this picture. well. at least they know they're being watched.

the outside of my house. on the floor you see the cupboards that they've stripped down from the bathroom and toilet by this time. and the plastic thing on the iron grill door? it's their effort to make a sealed passageway so that not too much dirt will get to areas they don't need to be in. it's probably for some security reasons too. anyway if you don't get what i mean, you will soon in the subsequent pictures.

the mirror above my sink and the light cover from the bathroom or toilet. all going to the dump. i'm still wondering what the metal container with the blue lid is for. i'd like to think it's full of beer but it's probably for cleaning purposes. or maybe even a septic tank. i think most probably a septic tank. i know that i could ask the workers what it's for but i'm playing the part of the quiet amused son while my mother is playing the part of fussy housekeeper. it's a good cop bad cop thing. if the workers get irritated with my mother at least they see that i'm understanding what they feel too so they don't get too irritated in the end but feel amused too. hey this is all psychological man. and anyway, i don't feel like trying to understand what the workers say. i mean, they're not terrifically bad at english but i'd rather not try. they're actually really hardworking and nice guys. not surly and sullen.

here's the sealed passageway i'm talking about two photos ago. huge sheets of plastic held up with adjustable poles. and they even put up this doorflap thing in the doorway to the kitchen. pretty nifty. that's my mother going to give them yet another instruction. it was so dusty by then cos they already started breaking stuff that she retreated quite quickly after lifting the flap a little. at one point one worker exclaimed "aundie, go!" cos my mother was getting in the way and telling them a lot of stuff. ah that was funny. if you think my mother is fussy, all i got to say is hey you wouldn't want your home to be undergoing this shit and then end up having it all fucked up and not as you want it either. i'd be fussy too but i got to keep in character.

right i wanted to put this photo and the next up yesterday but blogger just wouldn't show the photos. this is the bathroom before today. it's looking pretty empty cos we cleared it for today. the shower gel is looking really forlorn and lonely on the floor. and my shokubutsu and shampoo aren't speaking to each other anymore.

and this is the toilet. goodbye squat toilet. it's the end of my squat toilet days at home. i don't hate it but sitting down is really less tiring.

here's the bathroom after being destroyed and partially patched up.

and here's the toilet after being destroyed and partially patched up. that white pipe is the pipe from the portable toilet. that object next to the pipe. i have no idea what that is. i didn't really look closely.

and the glowing cubicle of relief. the portable toilet. yeah it's a portable toilet but i really don't think it'd be a good idea to do a no. 2 in it. seeing how it has no flush. i just took a cold bath in it and i really feel a whole lot better. tomorrow it gets dismantled i think to make way for more construction work. i'd be really surprised if it isn't. then it'll get all assembled again at night when they clean up again. this is a special portable toilet cos it's actually the display portable toilet at the contractor's main office cos they ran out of portable toilets. and in the morning someone said that we didn't want a portable toilet in our house after the cleaning up so they didn't prepare one for us. so they had to lug the thing all way from the main office which is like maybe a kilometre away? and it being a sample display toilet. we can be assured that no one's used it before and that all the fittings are new. we know it's new cos we saw them ripping open plastic bags to reveal shiny new fittings to put in the portable toilet.

yep so that's it for today. i really hope tomorrow will be much cleaner. actually it's not so bad cos they clean up the place pretty well. i'm just hoping for a less tiring day tomorrow cos i ended up really hot and tired and sticky today after all that wandering about the place.

one thing. i made a mistake. EVERY room in the house is undergoing upgrading work. cos all the windows will be changed.

1 day down.

2005-01-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

Day 0

upgrading in my house starts tomorrow. ten days of dirt and noise. and i got to be out of the house for most of the days for most of the day cos they'll be working everywhere except the master bedroom. so it's a pain. i'll be trying to update every night when i get home to show the progress in the house. anyway, here are the pre-works photos, showing how the house looks like the night before the invasion.

everything covered and safe (hopefully) from all the dirt. the sofa's under there together with the tv somewhere. i've lost count of the number of coverings there are on the furniture. there's layers of plastic sheets and cloth. very kua zhang yes.

the other end of my living room. four dining chairs are under the paintings on the wall and at the end is my father's study area and some black bags containing some bodies we found under the sofa while clearing everything up.

look into the kitchen. and wonder to yourself (for those who've been here before), where the fuck is the kitchen table. well the kitchen table is in front of my father's table in the previous photo. no not that brown foldable thing. it's under my father's table.

a load of plastic on the cupboards, on the stove and covering the kitchen sink.

more plastic goodness over the washing machine and more cupboards. and yes the refrigerator. the refrigerator is all wrapped up. i feel cut off from it. i can't enter the kitchen without opening the refrigerator. and now...i can't.

this is how to really lose weight. i can't begin to fully describe the agony this photo holds for me. the fridge with all the food. the cupboards next to it with noodles and booze. the upright shelves that the upturned stool is on with more food. and booze.

elvis give me strength to last ten days eating and drinking and trying to pass time outside.

2005-01-03T02:29:00.000-08:00

hey like what the fuck.

so like i'm feeling tired and listless and i think i'm going to fall ill and this guy walks into my room and says hey like what the fuck.

and i'm like yeah i know.

and then we both agree that waking at 6am is not very good because of the chairs being at the tables when there's no one sitting at the table or on the chairs and it makes the air really crisp.

so then i pop another chocolate ball into my mouth and the guy says i like hearing loud screeching laughter so i pass him a chocolate ball and he's really happy only that it isn't much of a ball now that i've chewed it some but he's happy so hey like what the fuck as long as he's happy.

then he leaves and i'm all like hi thanks for coming over but he doesn't hear me cos he already left and i start to get up to go brush my teeth and then i broke the kitchen window into three equal pieces so that i would have three windows and now it's not so draughty unless i rub my eye because it's mine to keep.

yeah so hey like what the fuck.

2005-01-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

man oh man tonight's match was so fucking fantastic. totally the best match in recent years. i had so much goddamn fun. a whole malay family sat behind. like extended family. they were fucking hilarious and fun to be with and i fucking shouted like a madman all kinds of shit and whatever and that kind of endeared me to them. i joined in their cheers and they joined me for a chorus of 'pee por pee por' when the myanmar player was down and the stretcher was brought in. i fucking love going 'pee por pee por' at live matches. god that is like my favourite cheer/jeer. if you still are not getting what 'pee por pee por' suggests, it's the sound of an ambulance siren.

i feel damn happy and quite sad for elaine cos this is her first time going to see a live football match at the stadium. happy cos this is one fuckentastic match, and sad cos every other match after this one is probably not going to match up. hm that's a lot of 'match's.

i'm like gushing cos i'm still in the mood. i rushed back after supper to catch the last bits of the delayed telecast on tv. on that bit - delayed telecast of the semi-final on channel 5? wtf mediacorp? do you really have to rely on external pressure and sponsors to telecast live matches of our NATIONAL team?

this match had everything. the low - trailing 2-0 for most of the match, the high - finally equalising, agony - indra sahdan missing the last minute penalty which would have won the match for singapore, the bad and ugly - myanmar's total lack of sportsmanship with regards to both the team on the field for their incredibly aggressive play and their feigning of injury and their tossing of water bottles, and the fans in the stands who jumped over the barrier onto the field and started fights and threw rubbish bins about.

still the best bit was sitting with the malay family. man the kids were so vocal and unabashed in their support and opinions. and the makciks who were too vocal and totally enjoying themselves.

man i'm still buzzing from it. at the end fights started breaking out at the myanmar fans section and it really looked like something crazy was going to happen so me, ted, yaowei and elaine just beat it quick. something started happening outside the stadium at the main gate but i wasn't too keen on staying around to find out what was going on so i shooed yaowei and elaine from behind. all i know is that i saw the following vehicles around the area headed for the stadium - riot police buses, police cars, and i think fire engines or something. i can't wait to see what the newspapers will have to say about tonight's happenings tomorrow.

oh yeah i have to wake at 6am tomorrow cos a bunch of us old boys are going to SAS to check out the first day of school at the new school building at potong pasir. 6am. man i haven't gotten up at 6am for months. hope i don't oversleep.

2005-01-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

more tsunami links:

[+] scientific background.
[+] media critique.
[+] more animal news.
[+] how to be politically incorrect and insensitive.

2004-12-30T09:39:00.001-08:00

links:

tsunamihelp
tsunamimissing
tsunamienquiry

and an interesting related link.

have a safe new year everyone.

2004-12-24T10:42:00.000-08:00

merry christmas everyone.

2004-12-22T23:49:00.000-08:00

last night i waited an hour for the bus, and when it arrived, it was full, so i took the mrt instead. i took over one and a half hours for a journey that takes less than half an hour.

but enough griping about public transport.

so i went swimming this morning, with a pool full of old men. fit old men i might add. only later other age groups started appearing. toa payoh swimming complex is still about the same as i last went which was years ago. the biggest improvement is that the changing room shower cubicles actually have doors now. though this hot shot father decided to not close the door while he rubbed himself under the shower. sure everyone loves to see your pale ass contrasted with your tanned body mate.

after that i went to toa payoh central and decided to try the chicken foldover that's so hot and hip right now. you know what, it's nothing fantastic. it's just...another menu item in macdonald's. anyway, true to the saying that macdonald's gives you malnutrition and indigestion at the same time, my stomach has been feeling gurgly and weird since lunch, and i wasn't particularly satiated either. ugh. bollocks to macdonald's. and as usual, the actual product doesn't match the adverts. my foldover lacked all them vegetables in the tv adverts. i had a sorry cut (it wasn't even a slice) of tomato. and the fucking foldover is being promoted everywhere. on signboards at the door, on the flat screen tv in macdonald's and on the pa system outside macdonald's cleverly disguised as a radio show. wtf man, i was bombarded with chicken foldover propaganda the whole time i was near and in the premises, and right now too as my stomach struggles to make some sense of it. by the way, macdonald's employees refer to the foldover as cfo. i know cos i heard the auntie over the counter say it. and she even said it to me. "your cfo will be brought to you in a while". ugh no more macdonald's.

anyway, i just switched on the tv and that fantastic show heartlanders is on. and i just heard the funniest line on it. some crime boss is talking to a kah kia on the handphone -

"Make him (Vincent Ng) a pariah cop! Make everyone hate him! Har?! I pay you to ask me how?!"

and Vincent Ng just said -

"Auntie, Dere is a lot of shood dis and shood dat. Like, parents shood be arert of deir chilren."

Screw you heartlanders. even steph song and the other chick couldn't save the show.

by the way here's some more amusing dialogue courtesy of jiwwo. here's some context, we're talking about the clocks in my room. the wall clock always moves faster than the rest of the clocks in the house, ever since secondary school. that's as far back as i remember. also i have a lot of clocks in my room -

logical fallacy says:
my room always has too many clocks
logical fallacy says:
i have about..4-5 clocks in my room
logical fallacy says:
and only the wall one is moving faster.
logical fallacy says:
hmm
where's the bloody star?! says:
I FOUD THE STARRRRRRR
where's the bloody star?! says:
you have so many for wat siao
logical fallacy says:
it just always ends up that my room has a lot of clocks
logical fallacy says:
not on purpose
logical fallacy says:
quite mysterious innit
found it! HEE says:
yeah finall y done
found it! HEE says:
wats so mysterious
found it! HEE says:
it just means the batt nto workign
logical fallacy says:
er..i do not even understand your reasoning
missing koala bear says:
your batt not workig lor
missing koala bear says:
maybe
logical fallacy says:
yeah. its not working thats why got a lot of clocks in my room. yep sure explains it
missing koala bear says:
harhraharh
missing koala bear says:
I DUN CARE
missing koala bear says:
maybe gravity
logical fallacy says:
yeah sure that fucking explains it too
missing koala bear says:
explains everything
logical fallacy says:
gravity pulls all the clocks into my room
missing koala bear says:
theres more grabity in that area
logical fallacy says:
yeah. and it attracts only clocks
missing koala bear says:
only THAT clock
logical fallacy says:
yeah so gravity attracted one clock into my room while the others just sauntered in
missing koala bear says:
harhar thats really dumb
logical fallacy says:
im glad you realise what youre being
missing koala bear says:
shut up pest
missing koala bear says:
YO IMNG
logical fallacy says:
i promise you this is going to be posted on my blog
missing koala bear says:
waht?!?!
missing koala bear says:
YO MING only wat
logical fallacy says:
you and your great gravity theory
missing koala bear says:
just like how
missing koala bear says:
gravity affects me MOST strangely enough
logical fallacy says:
what has it got to do with you now.
missing koala bear says:
see?
missing koala bear says:
thats why im in taf
logical fallacy says:
dont give your appetite euphemisms
missing koala bear says:
hARHRAHARHAR
logical fallacy says:
moron
missing koala bear says:
bwahwah
logical fallacy says:
find it amusing do you
logical fallacy says:
see how amusing you find it on my blog
missing koala bear says:
WAT DID YOU SAY

yeah that's it. my stomach still feels weird. ugh.

2004-12-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

download it before it gets banned.

i went jogging today. i almost passed out. after 2 rounds around the track. holy shit i am super fit.

2004-12-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

so last night i was on my way back home from town. i'm in the bus and for some reason it's reached maximum capacity (or not. maybe just some morons near the back who aren't moving to the back). so i have to think small and stay really still in order to not get slapped with any lawsuits. so this guy sidles up to the pole which i'm holding onto and proceeds to lean against it, pressing his whole back onto the pole, getting comfortable settling against the goddamn pole and my hand.

now i'd like to take a moment here to say to all you goddamn moron pole-leaners out there: fuck you.

it's not like i don't fucking do it, but i only do it on the mrt when there's like no one in the fucking carriage who seems like he/she's going to grab onto the fucking pole next to me in the near future. i'm fucking holding on to the goddamn pole when this moron comes to lean against it for fuck's sake. that's like, double the inconsideration and triple the moronity if these attributes can be measured.

so i'm standing there, carrying my bag of purchases in my left hand, bag slung across my body and my right hand being violated. the sweetest thing is, the goddamn moron doesn't even realise he's leaning against my fist. my knuckle ridges not prominent enough for you fella? how bout if they were in your goddamn face? maybe the sensation of my fist against your mouth would be of a more pleasing nature?

yes of course now if it were some hot girl who were pressing herself against my hand i wouldn't be as bothered by it. well not in the way i'm bothered about this. i would be all gentlemanly about it and be like ahem excuse me you are pressing your hot self against my rapidly melting hand. ho ho ho what a charmer i am. BUT this is against moronic pole-leaning in general, focused upon one male perpetrator. shit like hot girls pressing themselves against me don't happen.

anyway so i tried to move my hand higher up the pole so that i won't have any corporeal relation with him and the moron turns his head about and looks at me sideways from the corners of his eyes like i'm some goddamn fool who got his hand trapped there. i'm sorry mr moron. i'm sorry my hand got in the way of you being an inconsiderate asslicker. so he kinda shifted his weight about and i moved my hand higher up the pole and guess what, he fucking settles down again now that he really has the pole to himself. hey schmendrick, the bus is fucking filled with people, i'm sure they love seeing how you're being a goddamn stripper against that pole right now.

anyway i look around, and i see that every pole near me has a moron leaning against it.

seriously, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

are we a goddamn society of retards. cos it sure feels like i'm in one. only thing is, i'm not as retarded as the rest of society is.

yes yes you'll probably say why didn't you say/do something about it? i'm a very non-confrontational person, which is like a nice way of saying i'm yellow. not skin colour you fucking moron, stay with the context here. anyway i was too tired and zoned out to even be a sentient being last night. so get off my case, i'm not the one i'm prosecuting here right now.

oh yeah and more thing, this is for microsoft. why do the motherfucking windows updates always not install themselves immediately after they've been downloaded, and only try to install themselves immediately after you switch on your computer again? making it so that the computer has to be restarted immediately after it has just been restarted? every fucking few minutes the fucking cheebye windows updates reminder window pops up and says this shit has to be installed to take effect. hey fucking microsoft fuckhead program, why didn't you just fucking install yourself last night when i downloaded you you goddamn motherfucker. now i have to fucking restart so that i can be free of your fucking annoying reminders. thanks for giving me the fucking gorgeous choices of 'restart now' and 'restart later', when all you're going to do is fucking annoy the bile out of me every few minutes by reminding me again.

by the way, fuck service pack 2. i award service pack 2 the golden middle finger award for Dec 16th 2004. moron pole-leaners got the award last night for the 15th in a late last minute surge to victory, overtaking people who expect you to move out of the way without saying a goddamn thing to indicate that you are in their way. fuck those people too.

2004-12-13T09:06:00.001-08:00

"Downhill Battle is a non-profit organization working to end the major label monopoly and build a better, fairer music industry...Our plan is to explain how the majors really work, develop software to make filesharing stronger, rally public support for a legal p2p compensation system, and connect independent music scenes with the free culture movement."

"Bannedmusic.org is a peer-to-peer collaboration that makes it impossible for the major record labels to ban or censor musical works."

2004-11-24T03:22:00.000-08:00

dig this.

2004-11-23T00:03:00.000-08:00

wah lan oeiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

upgrading is nothing compared to what i just got awakened up by loh.

downstair the coffeeshop got some kind of karaoke thing going on loh.

hokkien kua that's louder than the piling thing loh.

wah lan oeiiii.

i want to put my guitar amp at the door and play some improvised solo along with the songs loh.

buehhhh tahannnnn ah.

2004-11-22T04:31:00.000-08:00

guess who i saw in town today boys and girls.

he and another guy were selling his book from a trolley cart thing with a signboard above it in city hall outside raffles place where the escalators to the mrt are.

it's good old J.B. my friends. good old J.B. Jeyaretnam.

there were quite a few people buying his book for 20 bucks and getting him to sign it. i wonder if they really wanted to read it or just wanted a souvenir. i wanted to get one but in the end i didn't. i don't know why. should have though. and if you were wondering, yes there was loud and clear voiced advertising by jeya's buddy. jeya doesn't do that kind of thing. he's too classy. "Come on my fellow singaporeans yadayadayada". ok i'm not too sure if he said come on people or come on my fellow singaporeans. i blame chee soon juan and his booming voice, in orchard road advertising for his book, for messing with my memories.

i have to admit i don't know much about him and his stand. all i know is that he's antagonistic to the PAP. but one thing is for sure. the man sure has some hella funky sideburns. take a look at em mutton chops man. those things are the shit. i'll support him for his sideburns alone.

anyways if you people want to get more jeya in your system check thinkcentre out. i've had it on the link list on the left for yonks but i haven't been there for yonks too. think i'll head on there to see what's boiling on the anti-PAP front.

on a more conspirational front, when i tried searching for the jeya image on google the second time, the search results were empty. zilch. nada. not a thing at all. is the PAP regulating the net? i think my ip address is being watched now. mmmm...

2004-11-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

yes i know it's been quite long. but it's only been 11 days. im back and gotten used to the weather after a while. and am currently spending my time being bored at home.

my area's still being upgraded and the whole place is in shambles. and also, it's really dirty and noisy. but somehow i'm not really bothered by the noise. pretty amazing i should think, seeing how the last holidays i came back i took a while to get accustomed to the normal ambient noise here. anyway here's two photos to show you the construction sight of the construction site that is my area. (big up to sheik haikel and the other cap/hat wearing guy for the lame pun. asia bagus is old school sgidol asian style don't forget that. but you can forget about the fame awards.)

right see here's the pounding thing that's just below my kitchen window at the moment. a whole lotta piling is going on down there right now as i type this. but at least the suckas downstairs have sped up their work. the other day i was at the window watching this lone guy work the thing (yes yes i was that bored), he just gave it a few whacks and he went off for some extended coffee break or whatever. the whole day to just pound one steel beam. then suddenly over the weekend they got really enthusiastic about the whole thing and pounded like 4. and now they've reached the window next to mine. so mine is next. pound that bastard. and pound it hard. by the way the steel beam's under that hexagonish hammer thing that's right in front of yellowhardhat.

and here's a closeup of that rickety looking thing that's waking up infants and senior citizens (and me) within a 500 metre radius. i wonder how they get the steel beam to get in totally straight everytime. you can kinda see the sucka bending forward to have a closer look at elvis knows what. but he's probably just having a breather. a breather from pushing a lever yeah it's tough work. i always see guys knocking the beam around at the sides with hammers and or kicking it and shit. but how do you even get something so huge to budge with a hammer? when you think about the level of expertise that's involved in construction work and relate that to the sight of these guys working in a construction site, it's just...you can't really connect the two. i mean hey, just to fucking file a piece of metal nice and flat and smooth or hammer a nail straight in was a pain in the ass in D&T class. these suckas do this shit on an exponentially larger scale and realise this, the building you are currently inside of has not collapsed and has lasted for years.

think about it. would you actually use the crap you made in D&T class? i wanted to, but i mostly didn't in the end. my fish slice would've scraped the top layer of metal off the wok. my garden spade couldn't dig shit. the only thing i really use is my photo holder, and even that's a flimsy piece of shit. could never get the edges to be as smooth or as nicely rounded as you want. and my O level project? my guitar stand with a score stand at the top of it? i didn't even collect it back from the school after the exams.

yeah this post is not really about anything. just thought i'd take a picture of the view out of my window again to compare with the one i took and posted about a year back. i even included a bit of the bamboo pole holder in the first pic just like the last time. i should link it here but i'm too lazy to search which month it's in. you guys go find it yourself.

2004-11-11T01:52:00.000-08:00

oh packing is such a chore.

i think i'm done.

2004-11-06T06:37:00.000-08:00

more fuel to the fire.

it's over. it's finally over. my school year is over.

now i've got a week to just chill and hang around and do whatever. catch is, i'll be doing all the chillin' alone, but that isn't too much of a change of scene for me.

back in singapore in about a week compadres. that should be ample enough warning for all of you to change your handphone numbers or just keep a look out in general.

=w=eezer rocks.

2004-11-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

4 essays in a week is not good people.

i am struggling to even get started on the 4th one. i am so sick of doing essays.

ugh.

2004-11-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

sing it to my soul yeah.

"Across the Sea" is still an all-time favourite.

because rock is important.

|oo|

2004-10-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

more signs of overwork:

last night(this morning) while taking an approx. 2 hr nap from about 4.30-6.30am. i had a dream about the references in the essay i was working on that was due today. i was bringing my flatmate mindy around to these hella abstract places. proper physical places. but they were really abstract. and i was all like. see this is blahblahblah! to mindy and gesturing at the place. and the places were all physical manifestations of my references. trippy. one place was all blue and like some empty street thing but was actually a narrow corridor. i wonder which reference that was.

you don't need drugs to have have trippy visions y'all. you just need to overwork.

today. i am a zombie. and as a result of the lethargy. i am easily depressed.

actually on hindsight, i was listening to pink floyd while working on the essay. i don't know if it was last night or two nights ago. wonder if that caused the dream. dark side of the moon does things to your moon y'all. moon? what the fuck? even just thinking of it affects my typing. does things to your MIND. YOUR MIND.

man i'm so tired.

2 more essays to go. ho ho ho. make all them words flow, tap them letters on a tempo. had a cuppa joe, rubbin' on my toe. making like i'm all, in the know. this rhyme is whack, like a bad tv show. all trying to front, like i's hawaii-five-o.

ah fuck i'm too tired.

off to get some dinner. if i make it to the food. it'd better be good. if not i'll be callin, all my boyz in da ho- oh shut the fuck up.