I had a choice of Char Kway Teow and Oyster Omelette. I thought my choice was vindicated by the fact that I walked away with the last two plates of Char Kway Teow. In retrospect, I should have gone for the Oyster Omelette first. The Char Kway Teow was rather greasy and salty. Coming from a guy who submerges his sashimi slices in soya sauce, the fare dished out by the stall must have been really saltish. In addition, there were no cockles, which was disappointing as I consider them an integral part of Char Kway Teow. The prawns were hardly apt replacements, especially when they were not de-shelled.

It was my virgin experience dining at Gluttons?Bay and for all the hype about the Char Kway Teow (not to mention the queue), I found it not up to the mark. It was way too oily and salty and ruined my appetite.

It was my friend turn to queue up and he duly returned after ten minutes with a serving of Oyster Omelette. There was the small matter of seeing Slyvester Sim in person also. He has very smooth complexion but is a bit fair for a guy. Anyway, the stall had odd prices, as a small portion cost $5 while a medium serving set us back by $6. The medium serving of Oyster Omelette was smaller than expected and comparable to a small plate of Char Kway Teow though. The crispy batter was well fried and the chilli tasted just right too, not too sour and not too hot. However, I think my tastebuds were dulled by the Char Kway Teow and the Oyster Omelette seemed a little bland.

Never mind, I have made a mental note to try out the Oyster Omelette first the next time. Oh yeah, and the Roti Kaya Fondue too, as it looks extremely appealing.

(Should have taken photos of the fare, another mental note, take pictures whenever I plan to review the food)

I’m a Chevrolet Corvette!

You’re a classic – powerful, athletic, and competitive. You’re all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Quiz courtesy of http://www.xanga.com/paranoideugene

I caught Underworld: Decapitation, errr, I mean Underworld: Evolution at Eng Wah Suntec City on Saturday. My buddy did not enjoy it, but who the hell cares that he did not when I did? Especially when I paid for popcorn and the drinks. He can drag me to some random movie next week (thankfully he already saw Brokeback Mountain) and have me bitch about it.

I loved it for one reason and it is spelt K-A-T-E B-E-C-K-I-N-S-A-L-E. She was simply stunning. I appreciate gorgeous Caucasian women but my friend does not. Too bad. Oh yes, and there was the small matter of the beautiful aesthetics too. Another friend (who did not watch the movie with me) and I both concurred that the scenery was splendid.

Anyway, we almost missed the show to begin with. We tried to squeeze out some time for dinner before the show but the cab ride dashed that by taking more than half an hour due to a traffic jam. As we booked the tickets online, we thought they would have been sold away and actually asked for tickets for another movie instead. When only the seats in the first two rows were available then I casually enquired about the tickets purchased online. I guess it qualified as an online purchase since I was told the amount was debited immediately, as compared to the systems of other cinema companies. Since less than ten minutes of the show had elapsed, we collected the tickets and rushed in.

Our first scene was the annihilation of a bunch of men, with the last poor soul losing his head, literally. That about summed up the entire film, a bucket of blood here, a severed limb there. Some of the violence made sense, some of it did not. In the final fight scene, Michael and William were engaged in a tough battle and out of nowhere, Michael just rips William head off (and of course William dies). Len Wiseman probably pondered, ere a tough one, how do I kill off this werewolf when he just doesn die and the helicopter blades are reserved for Marcus?shredding?? got bored and decided to have Michael behead William with his bare hands.

That about it, I will not give too much away. Kate Beckinsale in latex might be the only reason to stump up for the ticket, but it sure is a compelling one.

Night school sucks. It is the best option for working adults who which to pursue a degree but probably not for me. I miss day school and the social interaction that comes with it. Night school students spend barely five hours a week going to school and most students are older than I am. Not that I have a problem with the company of older people, but the two years spent working with mostly adults at least a decade older than me during my national service made me realise that most of them have families and they do not have as much time to burn as teenagers like me. Whoops, it has been more than three years since I was a teenager, I really am getting old. Also, the school just seems so devoid of energy. I can feel the building sapping away my vitality each time I head for class. I probably should have enrolled into a UOL/RMIT full-time course instead, especially when I seem to be losing interest in what I am majoring in. Sometimes, I hate myself for not making it to NUS/NTU. Nah, I love myself too much to hate myself.

Another gripe I have about night school is the submission of assignments. Students are actually not allowed to hand in their assignments to the school, since most tutors do not spend much time there. In addition, we usually do not have tutorials close to the cut-off date. We are supposed to mail the homework to our respective tutors. Being the lazy ass that I am, I always deliver my work to my tutor mailbox on the deadline itself. I just did that yesterday and I almost fell off the chair when my tutor address read URONG WEST? WTF??? I paid the price of procrastinating and made the arduous journey to Boon Lay. I think the whole trip took me at least three hours. Three hours, I could have saved three hours had I bothered to complete it a day earlier.

Whatever, I should be thankful that I am able to take up a degree course.

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Tammy NYP sex videos. Just when you thought this entry has ended, up pops something completely irrelevant. A buddy of mine mentioned that a deluge of hits flooded his site after he commented on the infamous video, referred by search engines from results of searches of ammy NYP sex videos? Just thought I would try it out for myself as a cheap way to obtain hits.

It was a gut-wrenching decision to make, possibly the most agonising one in recent times. It was due to a mixture of migraine, studies, working 6-day weeks and other personal reasons. I had to quit to afford myself more breathing space.

During my National Service, I realised that change is the only constant in life (i.e. Mr S or C or B getting promoted and/or transferred out) and that life goes on. Unlike many others, I was rather reluctant to complete my National Service with the SPF due to the friends I made during my two-year tenure. National Service taught me to enjoy it while it lasts.

I must say that it was an absolute blessing to have been posted to UOB Hougang North. I doubt if I will be able work with such a bunch of fantastic colleagues ever again. Although it was a team effort to maintain the camaraderie, a huge chunk of the credit belongs to the Senior Officers for fostering such wonderful spirit.

Thanks to everyone, especially C, for this chapter in my life which came to a close on 17/02/06, which I will cherish.

-Yours Sincerely
-Goh Wei Ren Wayne

Had my first ahjong?gambling session with my colleagues yesterday and I guess I enjoyed it since it was something that I had yet to do.

We had a fantastic host. She sated our rumbling stomachs with a sumptuous lunch consisting of chicken curry, vegetable soup and heng Teng?for desert. I felt that the curry would have been even better if there was more coconut milk. My manager also brought along a ou Hei?package and we had fun tossing the salad into the air. I really should learn to eat at a slower speed, I ended up being constantly plied with food each time I cleared my plate.

We finally waddled towards the table after an hour or so. The host took the first game and her husband promptly entered the room and commented that the person who wins the first game usually ends up losing the most (he actually turned out to be right). He was shown the door immediately. The stake was $0.50 for one ouble?(but we rounded that off to $1), $1 for two oubles? etc, with a limit of five oubles? I won only one out of the first fifteen or so games but managed to catch up as the round ended.

I think we took three hours to complete one round (four sets of winds). After that, the host graciously ordered and provided pizza for dinner and the host husband kept us entertained at the dining table with anecdotes of his travels.

It was almost nine pm when the host enthusiastically suggested we play a few more games. I think the host was hooked onto ahjong?as the initial plan did not include dinner. It turned out to my advantage as I won quite a few games (including one where all my tiles were of the same colour). I also made a horrendous mistake to screw up a winning hand with four oubles?by somehow having one extra tile. I was supposed to be eighty bucks richer but a joke about halving the winnings/losses turned serious and I had to decide since I was the big winner. I agreed, especially since the host ended up losing the most and I could not thank her enough for her hospitality.

I think still prefer aidee?even though I ended up winning the most money. ahjong?is just much more time-consuming.

Another morning, another headache accompanying my waking up.

The fever subsided yesterday after some Panadol and my uncle drove me to my paternal grandmother house before he left for the airport. We were not supposed to bai nian since my paternal grandfather departed in the previous lunar year. Hence, the two Mandarin oranges I brought along were consumed by my father and I at the void deck.

Only my sixth uncle family was there before us. I said it last year and Il say it again, my sixth uncle has three beautiful kids. For some reason, they were glued to me and made me the focal point of their entertainment. I wonder why I was suddenly so popular, maybe it was my lovely clothes. I was first bombarded with all sorts of kiddy questions. Then I played a game of Reversi (my first games with human opponents) each with the two elder children. I lost the first game to an eleven year old girl but saved some face by beating the nine year old boy. I think the girl lost her interest with me after beating me. Her brothers then spent the next few hours bombarding me with kid talk and climbing all over me.  If all children were as adorable as them, teaching would be much higher on my list of career choices.

We did not have our usual steamboat dinner since it was not working. Nevertheless, I still quite enjoyed the fare. The mood this year was somewhat subdued, especially when my third uncle and aunt did not join us for the dinner.

This Chinese New Year entry would not be complete without mentioning red packets. I must say that what I garnered was quite negligible, since I did not pick up a single red packet at my paternal grandmother house due to the no bai nian law by my paternal grandmother and did not take any cash from my parents. I guess I have no choice but to top up the difference when I replace my bottle of

Sigh, as if it was not bad enough not getting any pro-rated bonus.

The Chinese New Year Eve reunion dinner was a little different this year. My dear old maternal grandmother, having slaved the whole day in the kitchen, ordered us to the dining table at six pm. It did not matter that my eldest uncle and his family had not arrived yet. She had repeatedly stressed that she wanted us all to tuck in at six pm. They were actually doing their spring cleaning in the afternoon and were unable to finish even when they made their way over here. Anyway, we moved in on the sumptuous spread, reluctance worn down by the fragrance emanated.

They arrived twenty minutes past six, by which my second uncle already had his fill and I devouring the last morsels of my meal. It was selfish of my eldest uncle to have been so late. Some people just never change, year after year. I believe that biao ge (I only have one biao ge) would never have been late if he was not at home and probably waited for his parents out of respect. Speaking of him, he was my childhood playmate and I have fond memories of my childhood with him at this very house. Pity those days are long gone and probably never to be recaptured again.

I spent the rest of the night half-asleep and playing cards (ishing?. Four hours whizzed past just like that and everyone else departed. That has been the case for the few couple of years or so, nobody to keep my grandmother company. Ever since my youngest cousin reached her teens, there has been hardly anyone staying over to keep her company when my uncle’s wife is not around. To make matters worse, she is unable to travel overseas together with my second uncle and his wife (who are childless) when they return to her homeland, Thailand, over the Chinese New Year period. I wonder how she is coping with this, I must speak to her about this one of these days.

Bedtime could not have come fast enough and I missed the countdown as expected. Ten hours of sleep were followed by migraine and a slight fever. It is only twenty minutes after noon, I hope I survive the rest of today.

What the hell was I doing awake on Chinese New Year Eve, with only three hours of sleep under my belt? It was half my brain yelling at the other half. It sure was an almighty struggle to haul my ass off my bed and go for work. Thankfully I survived the four hours of torture.

Looking back twelve hours later, I guess it was worth it, barely. Dream Theatre celebrated twenty years of rock music at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and I was there with a friend. I owed him one, as the Christmas event I pulled some friends to was not one of my better ideas. Hence, I readily agreed to attend the concert despite never having heard a single Dream Theatre song. I figured that they could not be too bad, since I liked their genre of music.

Let just say things did not get off to a good start, Dream Theatre getting their act together an hour after the stipulated time. They certainly wasted no time in working up the crowd though, kicking off with fast-paced singles. What was the point of assigned seating when everyone, except for those seated in the most expensive area, ended up in the same area when the concert-goers surged forward when it began? It was also a pity there were supposed echnical difficulties? probably the sound system having a base that was too strong that blurred the singing.

We had a date with Jet Li on the big screen at midnight and the fifteen minute break at ten-fifteen was not exactly news we wanted to hear and we had to quickly inform the others to try for a later timeslot. The songs after the break were not as good but they thankfully saved the best for the last with their two encore songs.

I think it was midnight when the crowd started filtering out of the stadium. I felt that it was poor planning, as the kids (those in their early teens) had to get a parent or guardian to fetch them. I wonder if there were any stranded kids.

We made it just in time for the movie at 1am. The opening scene already hinted that something untoward would happen to Huo Yuanjia towards the end of the bout. The storyline was mediocre, only saving grace being the fighting scenes. Well, it would have been a big-time dud if it did not have well choreographed fight scenes. To compound things further, the cock-up by the snack counter only made the movie worse. Two starving souls ended up eating the wrong hot dogs.

I will probably miss the countdown tonight in favour of some slumber. Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

You know that age is catching up with you when friends invite you to singles?events. I attended one on Sunday morning at East Coast Park out of sheer desire to do something different.

It was quite a while before we proceeded to the beach from the scheduled meeting point. Even then, not everyone came on time. We started with the usual icebreakers before splitting us up into two groups and going on to the games.

The winning teams of the various games got to doodle on the faces of the other teams?members with face paint and that must have been quite an incentive for some of them. Thankfully, my team won most of the games, so my face was violated only once. I would have considered at least half the games boring, if my schools/CCAs had better orientation activities, or in the case of my university, none to speak of.

The games were predictable, we had a game where teams have to squeeze everyone into a small piece of paper, treasure hunt, Frisbee and Captain Ball. Playing Frisbee and Captain Ball on sand reminded me that I should start running again, as my muscles are slowly wasting away. Either that or I am old (or both), I prefer to believe in just the former. Speaking of Frisbee and Captain Ball, both games are quite similar so I felt that one of them should have been replaced by a different game, perhaps football with modified rules (i.e. only girls can score). Anyway, at the end of the Captain Ball game, I had scratches on my arms and feet, and a sore left calf due to a cramp. In my defense, I had to run a long distance in slippers to the provision shop for an item in the treasure hunt. Also, the girls played like wildcats, since only girls were allowed to score and I was defending. One of them wrestled me down each time she dropped the ball and the cramp occurred during on such incident. Come to think of it, I feel like a weakling, since I should be around twenty kg heavier than her.

It was a pity the afternoon ended off with a really lame segment. I guess I can say that I enjoyed myself, but it is not something that I would want to do on a regular basis.