Public Transport Idiot

I am such a "goon-doo", also known as idiot, when it comes to public transport. I am excluding the cabs here because, to toot my own horn, I am quite pro when it comes to locating taxi stands and I know the charges like the back of my hand. =P



Due to the enlarging hole in my pocket, I have tried to stick to taking public transport as diligently as I can. Today, I decided to take a bus to Beauty World to visit the doctor. Catherine dropped me off at a bus stop in the Jurong area after school and I decided to take a bus to the interchange before changing to bus 52. After waiting for around 15 minutes, I realised that bus 157 and 66 go to Beauty World too! But I have to board them from the opposite side.

I managed to board bus 66 but I alighted too early. In the end, I had to drag myself to Beauty World under the glaring hot sun.

When it was time to go back, I boarded the wrong bus. I took bus 52 thinking that since the bus stop near my house has bus 52, I should be safe. But I took the bus in the wrong direction! In the end, I ended up at MacRitchie Reservior because after that bus stop which I alighted from, the bus went straight to the expressway. The first bus stop it came to after the expressway was the MacRitchie bus stop.

How unlucky can I get with travelling today. Not to mention that today my dad's car broke down in the middle of PIE. I think I need to take more buses, get lost a few more times, be "unlucky" for a few more times before I become a expert in taking buses. Bleagh.


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Planning Taiwan, A Funny Love Poem

Just spent the whole afternoon planning for my Taiwan trip. It is confirmed!! Pei Xuan and me confirmed the date on Friday. We plan to go on 10th May and return on 24th May. 2 whole weeks in Taiwan!

We want some adventure in Taiwan. White water rafting, theme parks, river trekking, cycling, etc, are on our mind. I said jokingly to Xuan that we are going to come back tanner, toner and fitter. Haha!

Due to all the physical activities I foresee, I am going to start running at least twice a week starting from tomorrow. My body is badly out of shape, literally too, so I have to put in more effort in getting it back to shape.

Besides planning what to do, have to plan how to get to the different places, what to wear, how to pack, etc.. I was tired trying to plan the flight details already. Dunno how long we can last.

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Last Saturday, I went to my cousin's wedding. In the morning, I accompanied my bro to her house because he was the "door opener" for the groom. My parents didn't go with us.

History repeats itself again. People thought we were a couple. Including my relatives!

At my cousin's place, my 4th uncle asked my brother when he is going to get married. But he didn't ask me! Later in the morning, when he walked passed another cousin (sister of the bride) and me, he asked my cousin whether she knew who I was. Then he added happily, "This is Shi Yin, your cousin." It was obvious he got my real name from his wife! My relatives do not call me by my real name. So I concluded he forgot who I was and thought that I was my bro's gf.

I chatted with another cousin of mine, the bride's sister. After some small talk, she turned to me, stuck out her hand and asked, "And you are...?"

I replied, "Shi Yin, your cousin."

She looked shocked for a second before covering her mouth and exclaimed, "Oh my god! I remember you!" She thought I was my bro's gf.

I think my bro is one of the major roadblocks that are hindering my success in meeting new guys. The "brothers" of the groom are all tall, quite good-looking and are architects. Such a wonderful chance! So, I made my bro call me "Jie Jie" loudly in front of them. Haha! But I think he did it too softly... Bleagh.

Anyway, in one of the games before the Sisters allow the groom in, the groom and his brothers had to come up with a list of household items. They came up with cushion, pillow, stool, chair, spoon, toilet paper roll and doormat. The groom would then have to use these items and come up with a poem to describe the bride.

This is the poem.


I remained standing on the doormat,

Even when I had a chair and a stool

Because I remember you as soft as a cushion

To me you are as soft as the toilet paper

While I am as rough as a toilet roll

But together we make a toilet paper roll

When you feed me with a spoon

From now on

We will always have a toilet paper roll at our side


Aww...


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Odac Genting Trip!

Finally my withdrawal syndromn has lessen! I am prepared to blog a super long entry about my trip because it was one of my most "adventurous" trip. I guess being with Odacians, one can expect a lot of walking, walking and more walking.

Day 1

My Genting pals:

From left to right: Xiao Mei, Jia Hui, Me, Esther


Back row left to right: Zhi Hui, Bing Cong (Bear), Henry, Zhao Rong, Jia Wei
Front row: Johnny, Xiao Mei


Once we reached Genting, we checked in and headed to Kuala Lumpur immediately for lunch. I think that as Singaporean kids who are used to travelling from the west to the east in under an hour, we didn't expect to reach KL Chinatown at 5pm despite leaving at 3pm. By then, we were SUPER hungry and some of us got rather cranky.


I don't really like KL Chinatown. It is the place to go to for fake goods. There were sooooo many! And they looked pretty genuine to me from far. I got no interest in fake goods though. Filling my stomach was the top priority at that time.

We headed straight to A&W. It seems that Singaporeans love to go to A&W overseas. Haha! The Rootbeer float was shiokness! By the way, I tend to use "shiokness" a lot these days, especially during the trip. Shiokness!

After the meal, we couldn't decide where to go. So, we decided to try out the Bak Kut Teh recommended by Zhi Hui despite having just eaten. The Bak Kut Teh was so different from our Singapore version! It was served in a claypot and had lots of goodness inside served with fragrant herbal soup- mushrooms, 3-layer pork, pork ribs, pork innards (which we had them replaced). Shiokness!





We were joking that the boss must be very disappointed that we ordered so little. They had to set up a table for 10 and we ordered only Bak Kut Teh for 6. =P

After the super-filling meal (or snack), some of us had cravings for the Satay that we passed by on the way to the Bak Kut Teh store. But sadly, our stomachs let us down. We were damn full and couldn't squeeze in anything more. The Satay smelt damn nice lar!

With no real purpose in going Chinatown, we decided to WALK to KL Berjaya Times Square. It was a REAL FAR walk! Especially it was drizzling at that time. I don't know why we walked instead of taking the train. The risk of getting rob kept ringing in my mind too. I guess it was a very "ODAC" thing to do.



There, just to show off how far we walked. In the rain. =P



Ok, the nicest thing about the walk was that we saw a rainbow.

The Berjaya Time Square is huge! I think it is easily twice the size of Vivocity. And the most, most wonderful part of the shopping centre is that there is a theme park inside it! When I saw the huge roller coaster tracks with its many twist and turns, I was awed and adrenaline immediately started pumping furiously around my body. Esther and I decided to ask the rest to go for a ride when we met up at 9pm (we split up to do some shopping). We were practically jumping off our shoes on the way to the theme park's entrance. BUT! The theme park closed at 9PM! If only we said to meet at 830pm! Argh!

Super disappointed.


I guess our Taxi ride back made up for roller coaster fun we missed. IT WAS DAMN FRIGHTENING AND EXCITING. When we made our way up Genting earlier in the day, we already noticed that it was very foggy. On our way back at night, it was even "foggier"! We couldn't even see the road more than 5 metres away! It didn't help that the mountain roads have no streetlights. We could only depend on the reflectors at the road sides.

There were many cars parked at the side on the way up. Maybe the drivers were not confident enough to drive up the dangerous roads. I will never forget what I saw next. A car got stuck in the cliff! Let me try to show you what I saw.



Ok, have to use a bit of imagination here. It was at night and very foggy. I only saw the car when we were directly at its side. What surprised us was that the car was not touching the ground and it was tilted down! I don't know the driver managed to jam the car into the wall and how he is going to get it down. Good luck to him.

Luckily for Xiao Mei, Johnny and me, we had a good driver who was awake and confident and whose car was working fine. Unfortunately for Zhao Rong, Jia Hui and Esther, they encountered a sleepy driver whose headlights were not working. They had to "borrow" the light from the headlights of other cars! And when the driver managed to nagivate one steep turn, he let go of the steering wheel and clapped! He was so unbelievable! Zhao Rong told us he was stepping on brakes-that-were-not-there throughout the way up. Haha!

After washing up, we hit the casinos. However, I had more fun in Zhao Rong, Jia Hui and Esther's room playing Mahjong! Another very "ODAC" thing to do.




Day 1 ended with us safely back in Genting.


Day 2

Day 2! The day for the theme park!

First ride - Dumbo ride!

Second ride - Pirate ship! It was my first time on a pirate ship. Seriously, I freaked out. I kept telling Esther, "I am so afraid!" =P

Group photo while waiting for the ride.

2nd row from front: Jia Wei and Henry
3rd row: Zhao Rong, Jia Hui, Esther and me
Photographer: Johnny



3rd row from front: Zhi Hui, Bear
4th row: Johnny, Xiao Mei
Photographer: Jia Hui



That day was very foggy too! The Freefall ride looked too exciting.







We waited for 1 and a half hour for the Cockscrew ride. Out of absolute boredom, we played "喜怒哀乐"! Must look from left to right starting from the top.








And the winners!




After a whole day in the theme park, we went to the Mushroom Farm for dinner. But before dinner, we had a short gambling session catered to poor students like us. Blackjack with a maximum bet of 50 cents in Ringgit. =P I won myself a handful of coins.





Each of us ordered a dish at Mushroom Farm except Xiao Mei and Johnny. The food was damn good! However, they underestimated us, or rather the boys, and made the portion too small. We were not very full after the meal. Headed back to Coffee Bean for Chicago Cheesecake. A delicious hot meal and creamy thick cheesecake equal to shiokness!







Our bill only came up to 192RM. Less than S$10 per person!

Cam-whoring while waiting for the van to pick us up back to the hotel. It was freezing cold out in the road. I believe that was the first time in Genting my teeth actually chattered from the cold.


Back in Genting for bowling session! We were impressed by the lights, the music and the glow-in-the-dark bowling balls. Esther and I were not impressed with the shoes though. They stank real bad. *Pukes*


Xiao Mei is a real neat freak! Sharing the room with her was stressful yet motivating in some ways for a messy person like me. It is the first time I saw shoes arranged so neatly in a bowling alley. I really took my hat off her. =P


Cam-whoring in the toilet.

Spent the last night in the casino and Mahjong in the room next door.


Last Day

We had Pizzahut for brunch and did some last minute shopping before boarding the coach back.





The pathetic fried prawn that tasted as bad as it looked.



One last group photo and then it was bye-bye Genting.


I had a lot of fun during this trip. There was a lot of catching up with each other and plenty of lame jokes to keep our spirits high. I am glad that despite us meeting up only twice or thrice a year, we were still able to talk comfortably with each other and showed care and concern in our little ways.

I really love this group of friends. =)

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What happened?

No I can't forget that evening

Or your face as you were leaving

But I guess that's just the way

The story goes

You always smile

but in your eyes

Your sorrow shows

Yes it shows...


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Withdrawal Syndrome and Being Vexed

I don't feel sleepy despite a full day in school and it being 2am now. I had so much fun in Genting that I'm having withdrawal syndrome now. The feeling sucks.

I have a feeling that something had happened to one of my friends. I am very vexed right now because I want to know what had happened and in what ways I can help. On top of that, I am very irritated with my indecisiveness and fear of being snubbed.

Feeling shitty now.




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Chloe's 1st Birthday and Enemies "Xmas" Party

I better blog about this before my genting trip. I can already predict that there will be a whole load of pictures to blog about after the trip. Hee! I am so excited!


2nd Jan 2010 Afternoon

We celebrated little Chloe's first birthday at Olive Tree, Intercontinental Hotel. This was such a coincidence because my Enemies wanted to go there for high tea one of these days. Well, after dining there, I still feel that nothing beats Carousel. *Salivates at the thought of Salmon sashimi*



I couldn't help taking many pictures of Alvin again. Haha! He has such a rubbery face and commendable cam-whorish attitude!






Well, got to take some pictures of my family too. =)

I love my new shoes!!

Allow me to digress a bit more. Lawrence (Chloe's dad) bought this huge balloon for her which created many little green-eyed monsters. So these little green-eyed monsters turned to their parents and ta-dah, they had a huge balloon EACH. A single balloon costs an unbelievable $20!

Ok, back to Chloe's party. Here's the birthday cake which we couldn't finish.






Presenting the birthday girl! According to tradition, she put on shoes for the first time to signify that she can start to walk! I think that she didn't like putting on shoes much though. Keke!




I think that Chloe is sooooo cute! I'll be rich if I can bottled little Chloes and sell them. =P




2nd Jan 2010 Evening

Xmas dinner with my Enemies Ichiban Boshi. Xiao Pang's treat! If you are thinking whether I could still eat after the belly-bursting buffet, I will reply, "Don't look down on me." Haha!

After the dinner, we went to The Atrium at Pan Pacific Hotel. I love that place! Good service, good singers, good ambience plus reasonable prices! What more could I ask for? =)

All the while, I thought I was a pretty good drinker. That night, Ah Bun (the girl in the bottom right picture) beat me to it by having vodka neat in a glass. Haha!




After getting our drinks, we proceeded with our annual Xmas gift exchange. I received a Topshop card from Huli who received something essential from Xiao Pang.

Haha! Huli, you really need that! In fact, I think all of us, excluding Birdie, need that. Damn. Xiao Pang, you wanna buy this for us this year? =P

I didn't know if you notice something creepy in one of the pictures above. I think I may have caught "something" on film. If you are not used to looking at such pictures, I suggest you don't look at the picture below in case you freak out.

Scary.

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Xmas 2009

The Christmas this year had been fun! I had reunion with my NIE clique, Maggie's clique and of course, my relatives. There is one more "Christmas" party coming this Saturday with my beloved Enemies. Actually, it is more like "New Year" dinner than "Christmas". Haha!


Reunion with NIE Clique

We had dinner at "Out of the Pan" at Raffles City. The crepe was one of the best that I have ever tasted. Yums! Sharon received a present from her tuition kid's mother. Turned out to be this scary doll box thingie which is a free gift from a shopping mall. The mum really "buay paiseh".


Reunion with Maggie, Gwen and Ba Jie aka Biatch

Every year, the gang will hold the Xmas party in a hotel. This year, we went to Orchard Grand Court Hotel. Though the room was not as nice as Swissotel, it was bigger which meant that the guys would have more space to sleep. =P I didn't stay over but still had fun exchanging gifts with the 3 women.








We noticed a stain on the hotel room's carpet. Elvee came up with a story that would explain the presence of the stain. Well, it went along the lines of a mass orgy. You figure the rest of the story on your own. =P



Ah Wei Sis's Birthday cum Xmas Party

After joining the party above, I went to my cousin's house for her birthday celebration. Managed to take loads of pictures of my nephews and nieces. Haha! They are at the age when they are camera sensitive and are gung-ho to try out new poses.

Presenting Alvin, the rubber face..


He is so cute!

Also presenting Chloe, the fiery cutie pie...

Try not feeding her and you will feel her rage. Haha! And get your eardrums busted too.


This is a pic of her a few months back. This is already a better pic of her. I remember when she was a few months old, her hair was sparse and stood straight and wild on her tiny head. Sort of reminds me of the "grass toy" in the picture above. Haha! Glad that her hair is tamed now.


Presenting Ethel, the big sister..


...whom Alvin totally adores.


I didn't get a good picture of Aaron though. Pity. Will try to get more pictures of him this Sat when we celebrate Chloe's first year.

Lastly, I'm gonna end off with a picture I like. =)


HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! May you find the missing parts in your life in the new year!

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