random scribbles

the belated birthday gift

2008-07-17T11:58:00.002-04:00

honestly, i thought i was getting some naughty garters and fishnets. not that it's not fine; i'd have no problems handing it to a girl in future. or worse, i could have got pink sweatpants with the word "PINK" on my ass. gosh, no.

thanks clarence and zhenhao. now i can say for sure that i'm well in touch with my moobs and ovaries.

arnold immortalized!

2008-05-26T10:12:00.002-04:00

NECA have decided to make action figures of CONAN, although their figures are far from having any action in them, thanks to little articulation.

this one's for arnold fans. check out that trademark snarl: vicious!

london london

2008-03-22T14:14:00.002-04:00

i'm so lazy to blog i just put all the pics in a slideshow. enjoy!

snowblind

2008-03-22T13:47:00.002-04:00

after last night's snowstorm, i've come to this conclusion.

spring is just a figment of imagination that wolverines invent to remind themselves that they're still living in a sane part of the world.

that said, i'm guilty of that too. look! spring is here and it's so lovely. so lovely that i'm still getting snowblind.

first sights/sounds/tastes of new york

2007-12-22T02:10:00.000-05:00

it helps being here the year before, and having almost two weeks to spend here. i kinda know my way around, and i can do it in my own time; it's so unlike the rush that was last year's trip.

so far it's been pleasant and refreshing. the much-welcomed familiar tingle of tastebuds from char siew and wontons made my day yesterday.

then i had some laksa which tasted more like curry noodle.

and super-oily penang char kway teow (woo!).

and chendol + ice kacang.

gimme more! (but not in a britney kinda way)

snowed in/out

2007-12-22T01:58:00.000-05:00

the first michigan snow storm arrived with a bang. and lots of howling.

perfect 'encouragement' in the middle of exam-slogging.

how much can a man take?

2007-12-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

monday: one homework due, two consecutive finals.
tuesday: two more homeworks due.
thursday: another two consecutive finals.

all these amid -7°C snow showers. and sleepless nights.

by thursday i'll be GOLD. but right now i feel like a hero already.

TG part two: a different thanksgiving

2007-11-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

tragedy

i only learnt of this last night. i haven't been able to do anything much throughout the day without this coming through my head over and again.

i am relieved and thankful that my brother darren survived. he was part of the singaporean crew on the dragonboat, and narrowly managed to escape. my mom related darren's account of the accident over the phone to me as i listened in disbelief.

but five others weren't lucky enough to escape. right now authorities are looking for their bodies. i happen to know one of them, from clubbing with darren and his pals a few times.

i'm not religious, but i think this year's thanksgiving has given me something to be thankful about. photos show the entire team without lifejackets, and reports say the current was very strong. it's a miracle that any of them survived, especially darren since he's not the strongest on the team. my thoughts are with the victims's families. and i hope the victims are safe out there somewhere, and the authorities find their bodies.

i'm still shaken.

reuben, you will always be remembered.

TG part one: a nutritious thanksgiving

2007-11-24T18:46:00.000-05:00

look at all the food. i don't know who did what, but it all tasted helluva good. and fattening. i'm glad we all ate till we almost exploded.

linguine alfredo

2007-11-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

home-made recipe with pork (it was in the freezer for too long), mushrooms and red peppers.

WOOT!

char kway teow...

2007-10-21T22:08:00.000-04:00

in ann-friggin-arbor?!

i must be bloody dreaming.

toyota celica

2007-10-15T15:02:00.000-04:00

my new car

my inner-beng spoke. and i listened.

the new enclave

2007-09-23T17:35:00.000-04:00

my new room!

ok it was already done up and everything was in place two weeks ago. i even took the photos and video two weeks ago too. but i didn't have the time to put this all up here.

my bed/loft! someone commented that my room's cool because of the loft. i have one more thing to point out. if you notice, there are exactly 3 very comfortable postions to sleep: my bed, the futon below it (you can rest your legs on the grey chair), and my full-back work chair. trust me, i have already explored all 3 positions.

my shelf. shelves are for placing books and other random stuff, but i'm clearly using it for other purposes.

and sigh, my workstation. i hate work, but being an engineer, i have NO CHOICE. bleur.

here's a walkthrough!

a first week of michigan firsts

2007-09-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

it was the first time leaving home for my sophomore year in michigan. as much as i knew i would miss home, friends and, yes, food, i was determined to put up a strong front. i didn't want my mom to cry like she did last year, so i bade a quick farewell and took off.

the view from up there in the atmosphere was fantastic. a sunrise looks way more stunning when you're above the clouds.

this is the first time that i'm living in my own apartment (ok, it's a shared apartment but still an apartment!), so the first inaugural home-cooked meal was imminent. we whipped up black bean tofu and oyster sauce aparagus, and supplemented them with a can of campbell's chunky soup.

it was a delight, and turned out a lot better than expected. i will just have to say a big 'THANKS' to my mom for the semi-intensive training that i received over the summer.

next up is my first football game. believe it or not, i have never been to a single football game before, even though i'm a full-flegded sophomore here at umich. yes i know it's bad, so with season tickets this year, i intended to change that. the streets were lined with enthusiastic college kids pre-gaming with their favorite combination of beer pong and blaring hip-hop music.

taking the traditional route to the stadium, we walked with hundreds of other michigan fans. it was quite a sight, drifting along with the yellow tide and hurling random objects like mini-footballs along the way.

the big house lived up to its name. when the crowd cheered, all the sound was channeled into a sonic tornado on the pitch.

it was kinda shitty that we lost the game. ok, now i know that this year will not be our year.

sharing my disappointment were teddy and haynes. it was harsh to go to a first game and watch your team lose. DAMN!

well at least the marching band didn't disappoint. which led me to comment that the band was better than the team. ah well, it was still an experience all the same. i hope to go to more games in future and win. but in the meantime i'm selling off the tickets.

tea with the low-pro low-bro

2007-08-17T03:35:00.000-04:00

moon cafe served up desserts to tease and please the palate, served in paltry portions. from left: green tea ice kacang, green tea tiramisu, and tofu cheesecake.

the low-bro, handsome, ambitious and professional in his business attire, is gonna head the first ever student-managed fund investment in singapore. if you ask me, the self-declared "low-pro" tag's gonna disappear faster than ex-NKF chairman richard yong's assets.

blindsided at baybeats

2007-08-17T02:44:00.001-04:00

blindside was the perfect and probably only reason that i went to baybeats. i didn't know the other bands there, and yes, indie alternative music is good, but what's the point of listening to 'good' music and bopping your head along when it's too damn obvious that you've never heard the damn song before to even catch the tune, much less bop your head.

blindside was the most well-known band at baybeats this year. i was surprised that the organizers managed to pull them to singapore. hardcore as they were, i felt the urge to mosh like a teenager. but with my sling bag in tow, i had reservations. and there some really crazy mats and mat-wannabes (read: chinese) swinging their arms, legs and heads around. if i had a baseball bat, i would have went in.

the livewire performance was led by the energetic lead singer and his amazing screams.

'pitiful' and 'fell in love with the game' were perfect to get the bloo rushing. after awhile, it became apparent that these swedish polar bears were trying hard to cope with the equatorial heat. the gig was one to remember, not only for the mini-moshpit, but also for the wonderful closing performance for the day. i was thankful that even though they were probably the biggest band present, they weren't the opening or closing acts for the festival, cause then i wouldn't be able to watch them free.

2 big group photos

2007-08-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

one day, two bbqs, two meet-ups.

first, it was the nerdy meet-up with fellow tech-geeks and nerds at dsta.

and next it was down to paya lebar for a sorta annual gathering with the motley crew of VS 4A 2001.

so many faces, so much said and done. at the end of the day, i was tired out, but i'm extremely glad to have seen all the friends.

roma spanked yet again

2007-07-19T00:39:00.000-04:00

the most imbal match i've ever had. la liga leaders alaves give serie A title challengers a lesson in football. FM is mad.

oh yes, please transform me

2007-07-18T12:53:00.000-04:00

perhaps it's just transformer fever. or my inner-fanboy finally re-exposed himself.

i soooo FUCKING NEED TO HAVE THIS. or i will..kill myself..and come back to life via the allspark.

i was pondering over getting the MP starscream F15 jet earlier this year. but i didn't feel this strongly to get a transformer MP, until now. especially since it can function as an MP3 player! imagine listening to interpol or the killers on your way to work on a typically boring and overcrowded ride on the mrt, and suddenly you whip out soundwave and start transforming him. i bet the whole train of working class slaves will just fucking sit up and take fucking notice!

can your ipod do that?! can anybody's ipod do that?!

and now it seems my dodge viper DEAD END and mazda rx8 MEISTER (aka JAZZ) are gonna fly with me back to umich. they have been little more than shelf-warmers for me over the past year, but things will soon change.

B.E.A.T. is KRAZEE!

2007-07-14T04:41:00.000-04:00

the first clubbing adventure with my bro.

indie shoes!

we were clearly losing it.

alcohol does things to you.
and he's got the rage virus!

to the right to the right, all the apples you own to the right.

reading minds four times over was really fun. all the dirty thoughts didn't stop.

this should be an annual night cycling thingy

2007-07-14T04:18:00.000-04:00

painful butts

strained wrists

tormented thighs

a surprising view from my bedroom window

2007-07-13T00:58:00.000-04:00

simply breathtaking

sambucca-induced mambo monsters

2007-07-13T00:51:00.000-04:00

it was stupid. totally dumb. maybe even krazy. i don't like mambo.

but it was fun la.

mini adventure

2007-07-11T08:02:00.000-04:00

pics from the mini adventure at BHong's place.

at the dinner table

the soon-to-be-(in)famous burning crotches shot

one ah neh conspicuously missing. carloyn, come back! i don't want that the next time i see you, you'll have saggy boobs and flabby mom-arms!

click! here!

Justice vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends

2007-07-05T08:43:00.000-04:00

the perfect answer to the question: "what are friends for?"

i might be in danger when fall semester starts, since i tend to fall asleep all too often in class.