For the past few days I had been largely unlucky. For one, my internet was down due to an unfortunate turn of events.

Let's continue all my unfinished stories starting from the 22nd. Then I can go on and blog about my thoughts! =) Oh well, the night before the 22nd I could not sleep due to unknown reasons. I was awake the whole night. Thinking back, I had too many reasons why I couldn't fall asleep. Maybe because for the pass two nights before that, I slept too much, chalking a total of 24 hours of sleep time in 2 days. Maybe because I could not get used to the bed? Maybe because I did not have something to hug to fall asleep? But, one thing is for certain, a lot was on my mind.

I thought about too many things that night. Maybe it is a withdrawal symptom from internet deficiency because that night I did not have the chance to go online even though internet was available. Of course, there is nothing to say if I were at the old house because there was no internet to start with. 22nd is supposed to be my mother's 4th anniversary of her death. I wonder why most of my thoughts does not involve her. Maybe time really make memories fade. I wonder how would it be like if it was me who was dead. How long would people remember me or miss me?

I 'woke up' around 7 in the morning. (I couldn't have woken up since I did not fell asleep) Strangely, my eyes were very very tired but my mind was very awake. I close my eyes all the time during the journey for the day but my mind is really very alert. I feel very strange, as if I was high on coffee. The first stop is to have breakfast and then we head to the crematorium where my mum's ashes were kept. Oh well, for people who are interested, it is at Nilai Memorial Park.

When we arrived it was drizzling. Not very heavy but enough to make you feel wet and uncomfortable. The number of walls have increased since the last time I was here, which I believe was last Chinese New Year. So many more people have died. I had the priviledge to wipe my mother's plate since I was the eldest. We, as a family, ended up talking about life in front of her. My father bought a plate of wan tan mee and some 'dim sum' for my mum. It was quiet because no one else bothered to 'walk mountain' (must directly translate this to chinese) since it was drizzling. Hmmm, I suddenly imagined what if more people were to pass away?

Then. we moved on to my uncle's plate somewhere else in the same memorial park. Heard he was involved in a motorbike accident earlier this year and died due to brain complications. It is funny how fragile life is. I always felt this after my mum's passing. It just made me more health-concious. However, my mortality and morbidity was further emphasized as a reminder in the form of a plate bearing Mr. Loh Wai Hong, just 3 plates away from my uncle's. Of course, the picture was different, and that Mr. Loh Wai Hong was alive 1987-2004. It could have been me. Or you. Or anyone else. Oh well, there are too many people with the same name, cause I saw Mrs. Lee Gek Kim, exactly spelt, and with the 'Mrs.' salutation. What a small world huh?

Later, I went home and slept. Too tired from not being able to sleep the whole of the night before. However, my rest was shortlived as my father decided to bring our grandma out for dinner since that day was also the 'tung' festival. Hmmm, since the passing of my uncle, she had been living alone. My other uncles and aunties were only able to give occasional visit. Think she needs people to take care of her since her kidneys had failed and her health is deteriorating. She couldn't walk very far and she needs to go on dialysis three times a week. Luckily my aunt from New Zealand is back on a long holiday. She stays with her currently to take care of her. My aunt is also not young herself, as she is already more than 50.

My grandma kept complaining that she cannot last very long more. Sometimes, these words make me sad because that was exactly the same words that my mother spoke in the period leading to her death. I wonder why dying people are so pessimistic. I think to a certain extent, these pessismism is a part of death. If we are pessismistic, we already let death win over us. If we are to survive, we must be optimistic about it. =) I had the chance to help her walk, so I could still feel she have some strength left. She was much stronger than my mother and my mother lasted so long so i bet she can still last. I am hopeful. She did not eat because she was scared she would get stomach ache. By the way, the feast that night was wonderful. I do not know the name of the dishes, (I know them in Cantonese) but hope to be able to eat here again.

My aunt was funny too. She had been in New Zealand too long. She had little education but she was hardworking and had been working in a textile factory in New Zealand for many years, coming home occasionally only for events like Chinese New Year. She don't come back every year as well, so she was totally lost like me. She told us she saw our grandma's house from the highway but after lots of u-turns, she still could not get there. In the end, she had to take taxi for a super-short journey. She bought us lots of clothes from New Zealand! I am quite lost in Kl too and many things seem new to me. Roads change and my memory is still like last year's. There was definitely a lot of change this year.

Spent 23rd at my old house. Had fun cleaning fans. My house was very dusty so I figured out using a less dusty fan would be better for our health. In the end, it was a lot of fun. Those fans looked as good as new! The rest of the day was just spent resting. Had pasar malam again at night and I bought the exact same thing as the week before. I remember there wasn't any condos around the pasar malam area last year. Now the whole road are either apartments or condos, and distributed linearly along the pasar malam road. The cars from these apartments could not move out because the road was closed for pasar malam. It was definitely inconvenient for those living there and it is a marvel how fast things change. At the end of the pasar malam road is another condo under construction.

Went out on the 24th with Esther. She was complaining how Malaysia is boring since she could not use the internet and Astro. She said se ended up reading which is something she so not normally do. Went out to Mid Valley Megamall and seems like things changed a lot as well. I do not know what shops were there and what shops were not. Furthermore, I hadn't spoke English for 2 weeks then and I kept mispronouncing words and making a nuisance of myself. It was so embarrassing cause I mispronounce many simple words. Oh well, must get used to speaking English again if I am to go back to Singapore. Anyway, watched Narnia and think it was quite nice. Especially since it was Christmas eve and we were so lucky to be able to get tickets. Others were queueing so long for those and think most people did not get it. From last year's experience I am smarter this year...

Wow! My youngest sis got a Chicken Little soft toy from Santa Clause. She was so happy with her present. She kept on hugging it day and night and she gets real furious if you accidentally sat on it or something like that. Haha. The Chicken Little have a special place on her bed and is almost always covered in blanket. Think the soft toy is really very cute! Oh well, my streamyx was activated on the night of Christmas eve. That night, there was nice shows as well including concerts from hong kong pop stars. I had a great sleep and woke up the next day around 5. After I brushed and bathed, I plug on the modem and went online. Within minutes, my modem was fried. Things are so fragile nowadays.

So sad as I had only been on streamyx less than 24 hours then and already accidents like this happen. That is not the only thing that is spoilt. Some other things were spoilt as well and these also cost some money. One of them is particularly uncomfortable. The water heater in my new house has gone mad. If it's happy then you have hot water. If it's not then be prepared to get chillled. Bathing is particularly miserable in the morning since the water may be very very cold. Another was my father's front car lights. They went off suddenly when we were about to go out or dinner. In the end, we had to have our dinner below our house. The food taste is quite bad but it is better than going hungry. So far, I am lucky tonight because after a visit to Low Yat plaza today, I was able to replace all the spoilt parts. Think hard disk drives are very cheap today. I will keep the prices in mind when I am building my com next year.

When I finally went online just now, at 10.30, I received an online attack trying to plant some Trojan.Subseven in my com. I pulled out my connection immediately and by then I was already infected. Even with streamyx my connection crawled as if I was on 56k modem. Luckily it was not serious. I forgot to take down the ip address and I think I wouldn't be that careless next time. The total attacks was 3 and the ip start with 89. Cannot remember the rest. That was 2 minutes after I install the new hardwares and go online. I wonder how fast attackers are going these days. How unlucky!

Yay! Finally finished a brief run through of the past few days! Do check in more often for more updates! =)





Downloaded Windows Service Pack 2 and am now wondering why it is taking so super long to finish its installation process. Meanwhile I should continue from where I left off. If I remember correctly I came home on the 8th and arrived on the night of the 8th. Cannot really remember what happened that night but I remember my first plate of Malaysian food after so long is a plate of Char Siew rice. It does not really taste fantastic but think it is good enough to put many Singaporean Char Siew rice to shame. This stall's sauce is relatively nicer than many stalls I have tasted. Oh well, all these are subjective so I am not in a very good position to make judgment. At least I post what I think about them.

Been away too long and I forgotten all the roads. Many at times, I feel disoriented and many places seems to be alien to me even though they were somewhere I have been before. I am not the type who likes to go out so I may take longer to recognize all the roads all over again. When my father drives, I do not even know the relative positions of my destinations even after my father explained them. I shall not elaborate further to save myself from embarassment.

On the 9th I went for the 5 hour pre-requisite lecture before I can take my basic theory. I went there half asleep as I was still very tired from travelling. Anyway, the driving school uncle brought us there ultra early and we were the first few. After standing around for a while, we finally got into the lecture room. It is only a small room, slightly bigger than my classrooms in JC, but it had 6 air-cons and two were blowing straight at me. Oh well, I was not in a position to choose my seats as the rest of the seats were occupied by Malays trying to reserve seats for their friends and family members. It was one of the coldest place I have ever been thought it still lose to LT1 on rainy days.

So much for being an early bird. I found out to my horror than I was almost 2 hours early. Luckily I got cleared fast and was able to get a seat. The rest were queueing while I am happily sleeping away. I was sleepy as I could not get used to waking up so early all of a sudden. Initially, I was sitting alone (seats around me was empty) so I apllied all the sleeping skills that I have acquired from lectures and I was able to sleep. Suddenly, I feel very lucky because I was surrounded by chiobus on all four corners. I don't know how but somehow, think they had no choice because the rest were Malays and I accidentally created a 'Chinese' corner. However, that did not really kept me awake and I continued to sleep until around lunch time. The lectures were from 10 to 1 and then we took an hour break before resuming classes at 2 all the way up to 4...

The canteen was not fantastic as well and in my opinion, expensive. I took my usual stuffs for nasi lemak and ordered 'Teh ais' and they charged me 5 ringgit. Hmmm, never mind, because it was not as if I had a choice anyway. Don't think the food was very clean because some had to spend some time in the toilet. Lukily I have a strong stomach. Anyway, the rest of the lecture were boring as well. The jokes are getting repetitive and I am getting more and more tired. At the end of it I just wanted to get out of the place fast. Then there is this long queue again for something like signing out. Have to place your thumbprint or else it was as if you never went for the lectures. When I finally got to the list I was even more sad. I felt so old. Most of the IC nos down there start with 8811... (Malaysians know what I am talking about, there is no need to elaborate... Kind of regret not taking it earlier.

The rest of the week were just spent cleaning the house, reading basic theory, addjusting to the houses and timings and so on. Nothing much happened between then. I took the Basic Theory the following Saturday because my earlier attempt to take it on Wednesday was foiled by some lazy person who was refusing to key in the names on time. Made a wasted trip to the place. Oh well, just take this as a warning that sometimes you cannot count on people to do things for you. Saturday was bad, because I had to take some two other tests after the basic theory. Hmmm, was lucky at the test. Suspect I did all the wrong answers due to my unfamiliarity with motorbikes. Oh well, my final results were 47/50 and I passed! Suddenly felt so relieved. Realized something. Malay ladies usually take very long to finish the test and I wonder why.

Been commuting between my oold house and my new house lately. To my friends who are going to ask me out in Kl, I am only free on Fridays and Saturdays. It is not that I am working or anything but I really have no transport on the other days. Takes some time to adjust to both places. Think all these commuting are making me lose my sleep. It is hard to adjust to both places especially you are sleeping part of the week here and part of the week there. Besides, now there are officially no more entertainment at my old house already. All I can do in my spare time is to tidy up the place. The place had been in a mess due to the duration of which we have resided in it. The new house is much less in a mess because we just moved in and we have little things.

Nothing beats the water pressure of my old house. Bathing is very 'shiok' in my old house and I take considerably less time to bath because of the strong water. By the way, the tap is only half open and the water shooting out is already so strong. The water pressure in my new house is very bad. Water is like merely able to flow out from the tap. I have to take a longer time to bath and even if I have bathed for a long time I don't really feel very clean. The water pressure in my new house is even worse than in boarding school. Besides, the rent for my old house is super cheap. Not sure if there are anywhere else in the world we can get cheaper. The food around the old house is nicer than the new one. There is a very nice chicken rice stall on the shoplots just opposite my house. The Ramly burger in front of the 7-11 may be a little bit expensive but I have not tasted any better ones. Oh well, when you are used to something, the inertia to move is quite big.

Oh well, the new house is definitely much tidier and less dusty. It is a better place to sleep in though I am still not used to it yet. I can sleep longer without waking but the problem part is falling asleep. Oh well, at least as consolation there is astro here and as of now, streamyx. I was quite furious at first when I found out that my area do not have the connection but maybe it was luck that on thursday when we walk past the shop, the shopkeeper checked and told us we were able to get it. Haha, I was laughing away and this is the first night I am using broadband, shall use it to the fullest. My new house is slghtly bigger I think, arouud 660 square feet as compared to 600 square feet. Not that it is a big difference and it really cannot be felt. I have seen Singaporeans who think that their house is small and then when you ask them how many square feets? They answer something like 1200, 1100, 1300... I give up.

For the past few nights I was not able to fall asleep. Oh well, think I am thinking too much. Getting more and more white hairs. There was even a night of which I did not sleep at all. There was a lot in my mind. I don't know why, that night was the early morning of the 22nd. It was my mother's fourth anniversary. I was not thinking about my mother but yet I could not fall asleep. I do not know why, but that night I kept thinking about ways to reduce cars on the road because it is really getting out of hand. Near both my houses area, parking lots are increasingly difficult to find. Even my sister wants a car now that she has her driving license. I start to wonder is having more than one car per family really necessary. The lack of parking lots are because many people own more than one car nowadays. That is but one of the things I thought about. I thought about many other things and I wonder why my brain is so awake when my eyes are so tired. Thought a lot about life as well.

Went for the 6 hours car lecture last Sunday. Nothing much and it was pretty much the same as the 5 hours lecture. This time I was only semi-surrounded by chiobus. Anyway, they spoke Mandarin to me and I looked like I was retarded because I kept replying in English. Oh well, I am never going to see them again anyway. This time around it is at a different centre. The canteen is even worse than the first one. A lot of people just bought many of those apollos mini cakes and treat that as lunch. The chiobus were smart! They brought their own lunch! Luckily there were roti bakar or else I did not know what would be my lunch. There was a Singh professor as the class today and he acted exactly like Mr. Venu Rao. Even his tone of voice were similar. He kept instructing us even though he was not the instructor but a student that day. However, his advices sounded very profound and wise. Made a friend today by borrowing newspaper. Then we talked whole day, finding out more about each other. Interesting day I had. His name is Suman and he is Indian. He just finished Form 5 somewhere and is now waiting for results. (DUh!)

Oh no, going to be 5.00 a.m. soon. I will talk more about what I did from 22nd onwards next time and hopefully share some of the things from my mind. =)





In a blink of the eye, I had not entered an entry for the past two months. I had been too busy to blog for the past too month. The A level's had taken a toll on me. Even post A level's I had been busy with packing. I really had too much stuffs in Singapore. Even after I threw lots and lots away, I still have lots and lots of stuffs. Think the next time I am back in Singapore I am going to throw way things for another round.

Over the past 2 months, of course a lot of things had happened. I do not wish to elaborate on most things because it would take me forever. Let's start with the A level's. I think that I was not really prepared for the A level's. It is over too fast for me to be really prepared to face it. I went for the first few papers and was relieved that they were not too hard and that I survived. However, as the first week was very tiring, I soon succumbed to fatigue. Towards the end of the week, I did massive screw-ups and they were too massive to be 'repaired' by doing well in the following papers. Maybe it was fated, but I did especially badly in three papers namely Gp Paper 2, Maths Paper 2, and Physics Paper 2. If you notice, they are all paper 2s...

Oh well, at least I should supply some details on the extent of screw-ups... For Gp I looked but did not see the second part of the requirements for Application question. I just shot myself in the foot! For Physics I was very distracted because everyone around me decided to shake their legs in unison and so I was unable to even recall simple equations. I think this is the worse paper I ever attempted and I think there is a very high possibility that I will fail this one. For Maths Paper 2 it is really my fault. I had been slacking in Statistics and till the eve of Paper 2 I still know nothing. I have Michael to thank for giving me a crash course on Statistics the evening before the Paper. I sat by my table and did the tys questions for the rest of the night all the way till the paper. I was grateful that the earlier part of the paper was easy and I can focus on my weakness, Statistics. Even though I practiced all night, I was still unsure and I could not even make sure that my answers were correct. Oh well, just hope I did not screw-up that badly. Anyway, it is over and there is no point lingering on the subject matter. I wrote it down here so that maybe a few years down the road when I read the blog again I will remember.

Think I fell in love with those exam days. They are definitely better than usual school days. The pressure is usually over quick. Even though before the paper your heart beats so hard as if it was going to fall out, before you know it, it's over and you're out and free. There is this joy from an unknown source that fills you after every paper. The feeling is so high as if you were never that happy before. Unfortunately, as the exam drags, this feeling gradually diminish. During the last few papers, I actually felt doomed after each paper. At the end of the last paper, I was actually very sad and I wanted to cry. I realized for once that I never have the chance to wear the school uniform as a student in school again. My fun schooling days are over and it is time to move on into the cruel reality.

Oh well, I survived the post exam blues. However, suddenly there isn't the drive to play games anymore. I had been playing games even more during the exam days for unknown reasons but once the exams are over, so does the continual drive to play games. Suddenly games seems very pointless to me and since my wife(my computer) is on the verge of breaking down, it is only my duty to give it a long rest. I has contributed long enough and deserve a good rest. Think next year if I accumulate some money I am going to rebuild another computer. By then, Windows Vista would be out. Now dreaming about the parts that I am going to buy for my computer. Can they ever come true?

After the exams, I had been pretty much packing everyday. Everyone ask me why do I pack so long? I actually read every piece of paper before I threw them away, including notes. Maybe some people would think that I am too sentimental, but I feel sorry to those papers. I feel that they have been so used by me and I felt bad if I threw them away. Besides, I am ruining the environment. So the least I could do was to read them all before I threw them away. A lot of things brought back a lot of memories and if I list them all it would be too long. Let's just keep it simple. I miss a lot of people, I miss my classrooms, I miss my hall, and I miss lots of other things...

Sentosa trips! I made two trips consecutively in a row and it was loads of fun, fun, fun! Besides to have fun, I also wanted to keep fit because I have not have the chance to exercise due to exams. After not moving muscles vigorously for two months, I actually felt difficult at first but luckily I adjusted quite fast. The first day I went with the boarding school people(J2s), some I knew for very long time. It was very fun to be able to chat and catch up with them because I did not have time to do so previously. I think I actually made some of them closer to me. We managed to conquer the free volleyball court near ShangriLa Rasa Sentosa. Haha, realized my volleyball skills were not bad. My teammates volleyball skills were excellent as well even though all of us hardly ever play. We had Harley who kept using legs to play but at times it was really hillarious. We also played water polo, monkey, and beach soccer. Other than that, we did some swimming and sight seeing. Albert treated us to some food and think we were very well prepared. Beach soccer was fun. We had to play two on two because others decided to go for a sun-tan and all they did was lie flat facing the sun. It was a pity I did not have a camera to take the photos. They were all about the same height and they were doing the same actions so it was like lots of mini-me(s) or clones. Now about the beach soccer, I was lucky to be teamed with Harley. Being a Vietnamese, he plays soccer very well and we won something like 5-3. I have very little experience but yet due to luck I was able to score 2 balls. When I scored, I think I looked like a seasoned pro but it is all due to luck. I have come to accept that luck is also huge part of strength.

The next day I went again with my class. Somehow this was a bit less fun than the day before. It was nevertheless fun but let's look at the fun minus factor. I forgot what was the meet-up time but then for once, I was 15 minutes early, and the people that were there on time were only Esther and Say Lin. We spent lots of time waiting and waiting and by the time we got in it was already 2 hours later than our meet-up time. Never mind that, then as we walked halfway, they suddenly turn to go and buy drinks and we were like um, walking halfway to the bus-stop? Never mind that, when we finally got our drinks, printed some photos, we were finally there! But the girls decided to sit one corner and play cards, something we can just go someone's house and do. Hmmm, realized that they were the only few too, on the beach playing cards... Others were playing volleyball, basketball, soccer, frisbee, and even touch rugby. The 30th student's council were there too. Today my serve were mostly off target and somehow Say Lin's ball is giving me a hard time. I think it is too hard... My hands were in pain playing with them. We had to pay 5 dollars to use the facilities today but it was worth it because we got to use the kayak. After that, there were no Sakae Sushi buffet dinner as promised... Argh. Never mind, the girls had fun at the Sentosa luge and I had a fun time chatting while they were playing pool. After I bath, I turned really red as an accumulation of two days worth of sun. The sun is really bad for your skin. Do not go into the sun unless you have to!

That night was miserable. My skin felt so hot and painful. Even when the shirt that I was wearing just rub slightly against my skin I feel tremendous amount of pain. Slight movement also result in a lot of pain. I could not feel the outermost layer of skin anymore and the place most badly burnt were my shoulders. I was supposed to return the beach volleyball but it was too plainful to wear the slippers. When I bath, the individual streams of water from the shower head were like needles, and I was jumping around in the bathroom in pain. I could not fall asleep as slight movement would wake me up. Hmmm, luckily that lasted only for two days. Many thanks to Angel who bought me the Spring Water which was supposed to help me reduce the pain and heal faster. The next few days I was peelling like mad. For my shoulders area, after the peeligs had finished, my skin condition was worse than before but for my face and hands, they looked better after peeling. I do not know what are the mechanisms these work on but I had almost finished peeling by the time prom arrives. I do not know what happened to the girls. They were not very scantily dressed for the Sentosa trip and they were out of the sun most of the time and yet they got sunburnt. Worse part is, they started peeling during prom!

After that was lots of packing and packing again. And then there was prom. I was lucky to be able to borrow a suit and it was an eye-opener. Almost everyone at least had a suit on and I could not recognize some of the girls. Most of them looked much prettier than before. The guys too, look cool in suits! The decorations were magnificient as Luigi's mother collects mask and these were on display on the walls. Luigi have to take them down early for fear that the people there take these mask away. Most notable things are that my table, both Kelvin and Kai Yang, the two good Dota friends/partner were both chosen for lucky draw. The Miss Dressed to Impress was really very chio in her dress and the Mr. Dressed to Impress were not bad either. It is a pity that Mr. Willy Wonka did not make it. (He really looked alike!) Shall post those prom photos when I get them developed!

After the prom, days past like breeze. In an instant I have to finish packing(lots of stress) and leave. Some things I wanted to give away and yet nobody wants them. In the end, luckily I finish packing properly. The trip back was not bad. I was trying to evade the Rush Hour but in the end I was caught in it as well. I missed four busses in a row and it was lucky that I made it to Larkin. At Larkin, things went well. I got a 'jalan sekarang' ticket for RM25 when the usual price is RM24 and it was a nice bus which is going non-stop to KL. The journey took 4 hours and since I was tired from packing, I slept almost throughout. In the end, I am grateful to be home. Had char siew rice dinner and then I slept.

The next day, my pa came home and told me I have to go for the 5 hour Kursus Pendidikan Pemandu or the 5 hour Driver's Educational Lecture. It was only the first day that I am home and I hardly took a break yet. Oh no, it is nearing 4 a.m. soon and I am tired and wanted to sleep. Let's talk more about what I did after I come home the next time. Maybe it will take hours again. I have too much to say since I had not blogged for so long. If I do not have the chance to wish you all, I should now wish in advance, Merry Christmas! =)


Wai Hong is currently an undergraduate student at National University of Singapore. He majors in Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. He is a member of the forever sixteen :) club since he was sixteen. He was lucky enough to end up in Anglo-Chinese School Independent and then Anglo-Chinese Junior College, where he spent his best years and still looking to spend more best years. He was born into the world on 16th October, sixteen years ago. =)

Angel * Carol * Esther * Michael * Mindy * Samantha * Seraphina

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