Few more hours to 2009!

May the coming 2009 be a better year for all! I wish for the economy to recover, good health and world peace! May everything go smoothly for me in the coming year...

Today I was really unlucky with my parking during my driving revision....I hit the poles so many times that I have lost count. Haa, I broke my record...guess this is the first time I have hit so many poles in a day. My instructor has to keep going out of the car to pick up the poles...I told him that today is just not my day. I hope this is something rare and my parking will be super on 5th Jan. Pls give me a kind and lenient tester on that day. Maybe I should visit the temple that is next to BBDC before the test...

I joined InCinemas.sg's online contest and won a pair of preview tickets to Sammi's Lady Cop and Papa Crook on Monday. Sammi played a very entertaining role of a cop/madam in the movie and she was so natural. I quite like the movie and I don't agree with the movie review made by i-weekly, which said that it's a lousy movie. This was the first time I ever visited Balestier 1, Shaw Plaza and it was so far from Jurong! If not for the free tickets, I don't think I'll ever go so far for a movie. However, the theatre seats were really clean and comfortable unlike the Shaw theatres in Orchard and Jurong East. This is a really good website for contests' source: http://contestjunkie.blogspot.com (where I got to know about Incinemas.sg's contests). So people, if you have some free time, you may wish to visit the website to join the contests and see how lucky you could get.

Merry X'mas ~

Merry Christmas!

Yi, thanks for the delicious "buffet" that you have prepared! I was so full....I won the mahjong game again, hehe. Ling, told you that you always end up winning the most and my wins are not really big.

I just finished watching the Korean movie Le Grand Chef that my sister borrowed from her SP library. It was a great movie...recommended for all! There were many parts that touch the viewer's heart and the story wasn't boring at all (I don't really know how to cook, but the cooking scenes were shot so well that I don't find it boring) . This year, I received more Christmas sms than all other years, so it sort of make up for the lesser hands that I shook this year, haa.

The Singapore Flyer breakdown news made the headline in yesterday's Lianhe Wanbao. It must have been very scary to be rescued via a rope and I can't imagine been trapped for hours in a stuffy capsule. The company must have lost quite a sum of money on arranging the transport for the victims and refunding the tickets.

On X'mas eve...

I'm so glad that we got a half day off from work today~! This year is the year that I have received the most number of presents, and also the year that I spend the most on Christmas presents....However, I didn't really shake as many hands as previous years in my current company. Many were on leaves and all were rushing to take the bus back after the free lunch buffet in the canteen.

My mum and sisters left for Malaysia to visit my relatives, leaving me alone at home surfing the Internet. Tonight, I'll be meeting up with my best friends to exchange present and play mahjong...luckily I still have them or it'll be a boring Christmas.

Ever since I have completed my part time studies and driving lessons, my life became more boring. It's always the same thing - Internet, TV and manga. Maybe I should go learn a new language or something. I hope with a new car, I could spend my free time exploring places in Singapore. I hope I could buy an off-peak car next year...I learnt that it is expensive to buy an auto insurance under a new driver's name, and I should buy an insurance plan under an experienced driver's name and add my name as one of the car's driver (I think I would probably do that to save money).

I'm really envious of Jinglun, who got a chance to cut album and pursue his interest in singing. As his ex-classmate in JYSS , I wish him all the best in his singing career. Nowadays, I didn't really go karaoke much with my best friends. Luckily, I have got colleagues who like singing too or I think I won't have much chance to sing karaoke except on my birthday. I ever have a dream of becoming a music cafe singer, but I think it is hard to fulfill as I'm easily nervous and I have got bad memory with lyrics. It always happen no matter how hard I practise...in singing contests, I always freaked out at that important moment and all the things went wrong - the pitch, the lyrics, the rhythm....everything. Haiz. My favourite driving instructor ever told me that human is always envious of others who seem to do better. I think he's absolutely right.

Back from KL...

The meeting at KL was a bit tiring, but it was good to meet our counterparts from M'sia and HK. Our hotel is conveniently located in front of a very big mall, so it wasn't too boring. I would like to visit the Sunway Lagoon's theme park one day. Sleeping alone in a corner hotel room was a bit scary...I don't have much quality sleep except the last night (have slept well with the help of beer, haa. It has been years since I last drank a beer). I kept hearing water dripping sounds in the toilet, but the water wasn't dripping when I checked. I had a weird dream on the first night - I dreamt that there are people lying under each layer of my bed. This is the first time I went to an overseas meeting, and I really enjoyed getting to know my colleagues better. Five of us went karaoke on the last night and it was fun. M'sia family karaoke chain - Red Box actually comes with free buffet, but we have had dinner before the karaoke, so wasted. The bill comes up to RM$310, which was a bit shocking (Luckily there were five of us to share the costs).

Today was my first driving revision class and I'm glad I didn't make any major mistakes despite stopping classes for 2 weeks. I only got my parking steps confused, haa. Today's traffic was a bit heavy and there were many vehicles who didn't signal when they are turning or changing lane. I hope I won't encounter such situation during my test. After my revision, I went to get a new haircut + rebonding & treatment for just $100 at N.D. Hair Profile in Jurong East. My hair is so much shorter now and I hope this would shorten my long bathing time that always make me late.

A rainy day dampens my mood...

I felt so down today. Was it because of the rain? I really don't like rainy days. I wanted to take up more driving revision slots, but it is too expensive and I have been spending more than usual on miscellaneous stuffs. My favourite driving instructor has been shuffled to a new group of instructors and that means I will never get taught by him again. I wanted to buy a car when I got my licence next year, but in Singapore, cars are so expensive to own, no matter how low the car price or COE price is. Today’s news stated that many people's full car loans were rejected despite earning more than $3k per month, as banks wanted to reduce their risk in this period of uncertainty. Should I get an off-peak car? I calculated and think I could handle the additional payments, but it would mean depleted savings and I fear I would not have enough for rainy days. Oil price in Singapore would never be as low as USA’s. Spending time at home would mean higher electricity bill, as I would either be watching TV or surfing the net. Nowadays, the electricity and water prices are so high that seeing the bills made me scared. I really hope my bill amount would significantly drop after the decrease in electricity price next year. Going out would cost more, as I would be tempted to spend more on food and other miscellaneous stuffs.

Now, I must convince myself that these are all nothing, compared to people who do not have enough to eat and people who have no home to go to. It is so hard to be contented with life, but I must try. It must be my lack of sleep that made me felt so down. I shouldn’t have played Viwawa until so late when I’m working the next day. Haa, I'm too addicted to its games.

December is a month of festive season!

I'm so glad that December is here! This month has the most rest days - 2 half days off (courtesy of my company) and 2 public holidays~yeah! I finally recovered from that dreadful jet lag. Work has been really busy, as I was also preparing the material for the coming KL business meeting on top of the usual projects that I'm involved in. This will be the first time that I'm going to Sunway Lagoon...hopefully I'll have enough time to explore the place at night.

I was quite shocked to hear about the suicide news of a girl who won the 3rd place in the recent Taiwan Xing Guang 3 singing contest. She was younger than me and even has a music record contract...and her singing was really good (I like her singing style; she was really cool). I hope she will rest in peace, even though there's a belief that people who committed suicide would be punished in some way after death. Please cherish life - life may be tough at times, but it will become better if you act positively.

My next driving lesson would be the final lesson of the entire course - 5.01! Wow, time flies when it comes to driving. I hope I won't fare too badly in my mock test. I really hope that I could pass my TP at first attempt, but I don't have much confidence, as my driving standard isn't consistent...(it all depends on how nervous I get). I really like my group of manual driving instructors G6003 and I strongly recommend this group to all potential BBDC Class 3 students! They are very patient and experienced instructors. Hey Mr Lim, maybe I will write in a compliment after I pass TP, haa.