spooktacular!

it was a joy ride.

POP LO!

HTC Snap

went to recontract and transferred ownership for my mobile line yesterday. used to be under my dad's name, but as of today, i'm taking full responsibility for it! hehe. got the HTC Snap together with singtel's 3G flexi lite plan which cost me nothing. made my dad's line the key mobile line within our mio home package, so he could enjoy 25% discount for his plan's pricing. really appreciated the excellent service i received; the salesman was tops, told me stuff i never knew my family was eligible for (like the key mobile line thingy), etc.

anyway, here are a couple of photos of the HTC Snap.


front and back view. still trying hard to get myself used to the user interface and all. the 'qwerty' keyboard can be confusing, especially if you intend to input numbers and characters. oh yes, this is a non-camera version, which means i can bring this phone in to AFTC. hopefully this applies to tekong as well. speaking of tekong... okay never mind, let us just leave it at that eh?

met up with almighty ohy, shaohui and ruiwen for dinner @ chompchomp. had fried hokkien mee, white carrot cake, bbq stingray, la la, oyster omelette, bbq chicken wings and sugar cane juice. bloated like hell. quality-wise... the fried hokkien mee was pretty bad, but that was due to the stall which i frequent was closed, and we had to order from an alternative stall; bbq stingray, chicken wings were still awesome as before; carrot cake was so-so, couldn't finish it. did not try the oyster omeletter nor la la because they were not my cup of tea.

headed home straight after that. still feeling very full.

V for Victory

woots. we actually won! final score: 4-3. :DDD

well i dare say we were the better team. defensively we were more disciplined than the previous match (which was ages ago), the back four covered each other really nicely and stood firm before the opponents. although i must say it was disappointing we conceded all 3 goals from set-pieces. corner kicks, to be exact. something we have to pick up on if we want to stop conceding needless goals like those today.

nevertheless we fought hard for the winner, and moments later davis provided us with that. an absolute cracker. the ball was superbly well-met on the volley, execution technique timing etc were perfect. if i might add, the placement was excellent as well. peach of a shot. left their goalie in no man's land. i guess it's like what maradona used to say, every player will have their moment of magic.

there were several rough patches here and there, our team probably suffered the brunt of injuries and perilous tackles, but never once did we stop fighting; i'm glad we won. :)

supperclub;

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41821&id=1600931169&l=040e179acc

sadly, dance floor not populated enough, and also not very sporting i guess.
or maybe it's because we were all dancing like fucking retards. due to the fact that we had no idea what the hell to do with the drink coupons so we kept calling tequila shots. had 5 or 6 of that. and then graveyard, treated benson and ohy. 75 bucks flew away just like that. make that 100 including the entrance fee. hah. then we had flaming lambo. nailed me right there.

left the place in a very unglamourous manner. puked whatever light dinner i had earlier at raffles city. i think i was such a sorry and pathetic sight. a completely mangled state, i would just lay slumped on the ground and sleep, knocked out. shaohui was like a medic, trying to relieve us of the bloody hangover bullshit we were facing. bleh. mustered the remaining strength in me and dragged my feet to the taxi. then i just died in the car. don't even remember alighting the taxi and am still wondering how i managed to get home without problems. lol. i swear it was the craziest night ever. now looking back, it was really bad. fail night? perhaps.

sunday 9am, canberra sec. our team's second "official" match.
and afterwards i wish monday would never come. :(

UPDATEZ

like finally.

loads of stuff to mention.

first up, my first overseas trip after 5/6 years. last time i went out of singapore was in secondary three (if i remember correctly). had to apply for a new passport since the old one was defunct already. armed with the new passport, i was ready to go to phuket, and it was my first time being there too. awesome place. travelled on air asia, stayed at andatel patong hotel, had white water rafting, atv rides, snorkelling, swimming, clubbing, drinking. basically we just let ourselves loose there. went all crazy and stuff.
only problem were the people tend to get too "sticky" and are fucking persistent. the only way to refuse them would be to put on a murderous face and say something equivalent to "fuck off".
photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27064&id=1600931169&l=cc76211ee5
not alot of them because it would be suicidal to bring my handphone (pics taken with my pixon) on such extensive water-based activities. just a couple of group shots and some of the scenery when we had to climb up and get a peek of a waterfall, and several shots of the beach.

rest of the holidays were spent mostly on fyp. fucking fyp. fucked up.

next came timbre. belated celebrations for me and ben's birthdays. had the usual roast duck pizzas, happy hour drinks.
but on that day we tried something different as well. we had a couple of shots. first challenge, b-52 shots. tasted like milo, easy on the throat, mild effect. i felt nothing though.
then shaohui dared us to try barcadi 151 shots. said something like he had it in china and nearly died (or was it uva?) and so we partaked in the barcadid 151 challenge. had a teeny weeny sip at first, and fuck, my entire mouth literally felt like it was lit on fire. several minutes later, we braced ourselves. prepared for the one big gulp. down the alcohol went. goddammit i nearly choked and coughed my insides out. throat went completely dry and it was like having a sore throat for the next half an hour or so. uva the coward drank the shot in halves. noob. LOL.
supposedly the strongest shot (claimed by uva and shaohui), but it didn't really take its toll on me. think i would prefer tequila pops any time.
oh yes, photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29146&id=1600931169&l=b00c5695f8

that's about it for now, i guess.
really want to go for another overseas trip, this time, hopefully to taiwan or japan.

23 August 2009, Woodlands Ring Secondary

Our team's very first "proper" match. Wasn't that great (I mean our performance), but I wished I could have played more, unlimited substitutions you see.

Met the others at Admiralty MRT at 2pm, waited (as usual heh) for the latecomers, then proceeded to the school field for warm-up, briefing on formation and tactics (gawd I can't believe we were actually that serious... we even had those stuff on paper). Referee came along and we started the match pretty soon enough.

Lack of communication, being too kan chiong, plagued our game. Understandable though, because we never had any formal training, and it was the first time we were playing as a 11-man team, so I guess our confidence level were quite low at first. Conceded two goals but we cameback right up to bring the game level before halftime. Then conceded another in the second half. Gee, that really brought out our fighting spirit. But still, our communication was insufficient. Called every teammate on the pitch during the last several minutes to launch wave after wave of attacks on the opponent goal, but we simply couldn't take our chances. Argh, DULAN.

Final score: 3-2. Yes we lost, however we shall take it as a lesson learnt and what made it better was that everyone actually did some self-reflection and AAR (After Action Review) after the match. Well, we can only get stronger, faster and smarter after every game.

Projects. Reports. Presentations.

What the fuck. Give me a break will you?
Not only do we third-years have final year project (FYP) to contend with, there are numerous assignments to be done, and their weightage ain't small either. And these stuff just keep piling up.

Then there's GEMS which is stupid, and unfair to our batch because we were the last to have our GEMS score included in the semester GPA. And there are also the elective modules. Gosh, why the hell are they throwing all these shit at us in our final year when we are supposed to concentrate on our FYP?

Damn, I couldn't really be bothered already. Have yet to begin revision for the semester exams, holy shit.

July 26 @ National Stadium

A spectacular and magical night. One which I will never ever forget.
Rafa Benitez deserves a huge "Thank You" from all the KOP fans for fielding players like Reina, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Riera and Torres. If only Gerrard was there that night. That would have totally made my day.

I can still hear the roar of the crowd (and screams of fan-girls amidst that) when Torres and Alonso came on. People yelling for Alonso to shoot as soon as he got the ball. The hot lady sitting right in front of me going crazy whenever the ball reached Torres' feet. And most of all, I can still hear myself singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" along with the tens of thousands of Liverpool fans. That was all it took to move me. The particular song ringing in my ears; it was like both the KOP and Anfield had arrived in Singapore.

It was the best experience of my life, so far. I couldn't ask for more, maybe except for Gerrard. XD

Til then, it's gonna be another dull day at school.

finally.

the indescribable feeling of scoring goals at freewill. sliding the ball past the goal line, leaving the goalkeeper in no man's land. it's truly been too long, my friend.

i took into liberty to savour every single moment of it. as i raised my arms in triumph, and the faces of despair were imprinted onto my mind. what satisfaction. what joy. but let it get to my head, i must not.

it was a great boost to my confidence. and i shall add, it pays being selfish at times too. that's what being a striker is all about, isn't it. forever preying for goals, and taking full advantage of the opponent's mistakes. still i owe my gratitude to my teammates that day, they have been really supportive. and when they run over to congratulate me, it truly brightens my day.

simply unforgettable.

p.s. when will i ever get to buy my braun buffel wallet? :(

Soccer was epic yesterday. Vulgarities and sweepings were flying in from everywhere. No cramps, but someone got injured in two different areas of his body though. Sucks to be him, really. I understand what it feels like - the anticipation for soccer after weeks of not playing and the initial BMT confinement period, the two weeks that serve as an orientation to regimental life. All these, totally killed off due to injuries obtained while playing the game which you had so wanted to get back into. And now you've got to answer to your superiors, there might be a chance of you to "re-course" (which means retaking BMT). If I were him, I would totally feel so fucked up.

I find myself getting more sluggish in my movements with each passing week. I shoot like crap. I can't finish cooly in one-on-one situations. My dribbling is pathetic. In short, I lack confidence these days. When I receive the ball, I feel insecure. I'm afraid of taking a shot because people might grumble and complain like it was a wrong decision to make.
Yesterday I tried to be selfless. There was an instance when I was fully capable of taking the goal for myself, but I saw a teammate in a much better position thus I passed the ball on to him. Guess what. He fluked it. But I won't blame him. There have been incidents in the past where I couldn't score even after the set-up was perfect and the goal was at such close proximity. And then I heard people saying I should have just taken the shot. I was utterly discouraged. No matter how selfishly or selflessly I played, the rantings just keep coming.

Are we humans really that shallow? Must we only lament on negativity and instead take positives for granted? Wrong decision or not, why do we not appreciate the thought put into it? A single sign of disapproval is enough to take my confidence level from skyhigh to the lowest depths of hell. And I start playing like shit. Then I get frustrated. Emo. Moody.

How do I deal with such distraction that continue haunting me as long as I touch the ball? Ignorance is bliss, but it is easier said than done.

Btw, congrats on reaching the end of this post without clicking the red X button on the top right corner of your screen. Would appreciate your input on this one too.