American Idol

I am watching American Idol series 10 right now. This is suppose to be the last season with Simon Cowell. Paula is in the middle of her speech. I thought that she would be singing.

It will be a short 2 and a half hours before I make my way to Woodlands and then to Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. I wished I could go to sleep but I can't. So I did half an hour of low, very low impact aerobics. I'm sweating and that should be good right?

Its going to be a long drive. I pray to Allah for safety. To and Fro and beyond.

Just checked that website. Its jammed up pretty tight for both causeways. Oh well, two more hours to go and it could be different.

It is Vesak day and to top it all, it is the start of the school holidays. Oh well, time to grin and bear it eh?

Slim.

My noisemaker is a star!

Yup, he enrolled himself in a talent show and came in third. He could have come in last for all I care, he is a champion in my book. I felt so silly trying to talk him out of the competition, remembering how I felt in such competitions. Yup, he did it. He should have won it though. He sang without the music, the silver prize winner sang with the music, but we can't hear her voice and the gold prize winner stuttered all the way!

Here are some pictures.

Hooray Adam! Way to go!

Got my 15inch mac book pro back! Without having to pay a single cent. They replaced the logic board. I got myself a new battery as the current one is dying and that cost me $230 thereabouts. I love mac! Now, what am I to do with my 13inch mac book pro. In the meantime, I have decided to let Risa use it.

Today is my first 2nd appointment with HDB. If everything goes well, I'm going to get my cheque today. Hooray!

Anyway, should be leaving for kampung tonight. Having a kenduri on Saturday. Wish me a safe drive to and back...

Taking the bus.

Finished early. Taking the bus no 74. Listening to the iPod. Wonder
how long will it be before I reach home?

Slim.

Exams

Today is Sunday the 23rd of May 2010. Its is 11.30 at night and I'm sleepy as hell. But tried as I might, I can't sleep. Maybe I'm stressed out by my first sociological paper tomorrow. I've never done sociology before and after flunking my first assignment, the first ever, I think that studying is really hard. Duh!

Just finished my English papers last Friday. Alot of hard work went into that paper. I mean I'd studied for more than 24 hours, before the paper. A couple of friends booked a study room hours before the exam. Personally, I think that that is a waste of time. How could anything be cramped inside your brain just before the exam. But I must admit, it does helped to soothe the nerve a bit; at least I know that there are at least 2 other person who sucks at this as I am. However, the paper came, and went and I can confidently say that it was er, a good paper. There was this lady, who at half past the hour we started, stood up and leave. I mean, isn't that a good thing?

I myself left about 20 minutes before the time was up. After which I waited for the other two friends who kindly gave me a lift back home. They were nice.

Let me see, what happened today?

Hmm, oh yeah, I woke up groggy today. Perhaps it was because I went to catch Robin Hood. This one starred Russel Crowe. Boy, did he make SAF snipers looked like bo bo shooters. Amazing actor he. The movie started at 12.50 am, we were there at 11.30pm. And it ended at 3.30am. Did I mentioned that we were there at 11.30pm?

So, once I did managed to walk in a straight line, I drove Adam to his swimming class. Su stayed with him while I went back to catch some more zzs.

After which, we went to Woodlands Civic Center. There we went to Tom and Stephanie looking for a pair of pants for Adam. Its a big store. We went there to get Adam's stuff to prepare for his entry into the world, and here we are again, when he is 8 years old. We did found a pair, but its under the adult section. I guess, we can skip looking at the kids section from now onwards. We bought T shirts at $29.90 a piece and we bought about ten of them. When you add them all up, well, it just does not make any sense, let alone dollars.

Anyway, we picked up my nephew, and we had lunch at Causeway Point's Banquet. I really like the Korean Food stall. The chicken bulgogi (I don't know how to pronounce it correctly, so I just pointed to the picture) combo with saba fish is very, very satisfying. From there, we headed to my in-law's place where we nearly turn it upside down playing nerf. There were 5 guns and lots of darts that we had to pick up after the major shoot out. Note: googles are a must when you are playing with people who are not that safety conscious.

We ended the day at Woodlands Mart, where we had our dinner at Forks and Spoons. The pasta is a must miss!!

So now I'm here, and its just past midnight. So good morning everybody. And may I express my condolence to the family of the late Dr Goh Keng Swee. He may be Singapore's founding father, but he is after all a father to some, a husband to one and the one who introduced national service.

Slim.

My little noisemaker is busy

Adam is involve in his school's official opening day. He will be performing as part as of the English Speech and Drama item. He is also one of the official Greendale Ambassadors.

I have just keyed in his English speech and drama schedule. He will be very busy with some of the practise schedule to end at 8.00pm.

This reminds me of the time when I was involve with my primary school official opening ceremony. I was a cadet scout and was chosen as one of the door openers of the guest of honour's car. It was quite funny as the guest of honour alighted from his car about three meters away from us. He got back in and positioned his car at the correct location and gave us the honour of opening his car.

Ha ha! That was funny.

I missed my school. Min Xin Primary. It has since closed down. The building is used by Jamiyah's Halfway House and the students population has been merged with the school next door. I can't remember its name though, some chinese name...

Slim.

going for tuition soon

I have been giving tuition since the beginning of this year. Very tiring. Money is good, that is if you are charging. Let me see, I have 8 students now and all of them are failing! I think, if it not because of my cheap rates, I'd be out of work!

Anyway, leaving for tuition soon.

Adam got back his results of his mock test. I don't know whats the objective of having a mock sa1, but his results were depressing. He scored 81 out of 100 for his math but could only manage a 73 for his english. He was so excited that he got 86 for his math, but soon cried after I told him that he won't be getting an ipad. The agreement was to score 85 and above for all three subjects.He cried and cried. I reached home and had a pep talk with him. I told him that he should be crying because he did not get the marks that he deserved, not because he won't be getting the ipad.

Oh well. It was me who cried. I was so disappointed with his marks. Looks like I have to buck him up!

13 inches

It is twelve noon. I should be studying, but since I woke up at 11, I guess I can backtime it an hour or so.

Bought myself a 13 inch mac book pro. Cost me $1788. It's one of those "I need it only to discover that I don't after I bought it" kind of thing. Anyway, the story goes like this.

Once upon a time, when it was a day for reckoning for this one person, he discovered that his 15 inch mac book pro died on him.

"Oh no! What should I do?" he panicked! "My offering to the god of assignment is due in a few hours!"

Knowing that he had backed up his entire computer into his time machine, he frantically went to his mac mini only to realise that he could only enter mac mini's backup if he went into the time machine. He desperately needed the sound file which was in the 15 inch mac book pro.

In desperation, this handsome man called one of his best buddies. This best buddy, who bought the same make and model of apple a few hours before he did, some two and a half years ago, told him that similar thing happened to his mac book pro. But he got it fixed for free as they were under a recall program.

So, both of them gather at the temple of IT stuff at Funan and sent the mac book to be serviced. Lo and behold, the gods of IT stuff and Mac, decided to have the laptop fixed for free. But the knowledge comes at a price. The laptop can only be collected in 3 working days.

"Thats mad!" Thats unfair! Take me! Leave me mac alone!" I cried, silently.

Again, the gods were merciful. This buddy of his had another buddy who knew another buddy that runs the temple of multi media, where for there were many macs to be had for some sacrificial plastic of credit.

"The gods of buddies must be with me..." I said with tears swelling in my left eye.

So there, with the aid of the gods of buddies and his several messengers, I manage to scoop a 13 inch mac book pro, without gst and it comes with a keyboard protector free! Rushed home, I plugged the 13 inch mbp and have the time machine do its work.

It worked! All of my data, application and settings were transferred into my 13inch mbp within 2 hours. "Wah!"

However, the gods of mac were laughing at me when I realised that I could access the file without the use of my mbp. All I needed to do was to click on the side bar instead of entering the time machine. Damn! All that was needed was knowledge and not anxiety. I have wasted 1788 worth of plastic credit and in a few days time, the god of plastic would be knocking in my letter box for my redemption. Sheesh!

But here I am, punching the black keys on the keyboard of my new 13 inch mbp. Not bad, although I could lose the keyboard protector.

Those who are interested to get into Mac heaven (there is no mac hell, thats McDonalds),

click here.

Me radio

Just dowloaded me radio. Fantastic. Allows me to listen to class 95
using my iPhone. The best thing is, it can work in the background. So
here I am, listening to michael buble, through my
iPhone which is connected to my small philips computer speakers. It
works!

Slim.

s90.

In my previous post, I wrote about me bike. Actually, I was saving the moolah to buy me a compact camera. The models that came to my mind was the canon g11 and the canon s90. A friend of mine, who is a professional photographer, insisted that I look at a canon dslr. I wasn't in the mood for a dslr as I, er have 2 myself. The problem with my panny lx1 is that the pictures are a bit too grainy for my liking.

Anyway, I took Adam's KM 5D to a table tennis session and I shot some er, shots. I'd say, give up on buying the compact and stick with what I have. The pictures on top justified my decision. And when I told my friend about the decision I made in buying a bike instead of a camera, he agrees, saying a bike keeps me fit, that is, if I use it. You bet I will!

For those interested in getting a new compact, I personally like the S90 and I like this site.

Bye.

Trek

Just got myself a new bicycle. It's blue, got the word trek on it and
it cost me a bit under $500. Bought it at treknology off yio chu kang
road.
Nice people there. The staff actually let you try the bikes before you
buy and they will recommend the bikes according to sizes. Mine is 17.5
to 19 inches. Finally settled for a blue trek 3 series with the size
18 inches printed on its frame
Although the shop is small, it has quite a diverse range of bikes.
They stock mostly trek and gary fisher bikes and the most espensive I
saw was a road bike that cost around $4k. Sheesh.
So they recommened mr a couple of bikes, not the pricier ones though
but the most logical. I like that in a sales person.
Went for a spin with it in the afternoon with Adam and Su. Headed
towards spc petrol kiosk, and bought some curry puffs. Adam's rear
tire went flat as I was about to inflate it and he had to cycle it
back. Poor he.
Now, am resting after cycling around the estate. Very, very, very
refreshing. Bike need some more tuning as I am still not comfortable
with the angle of the handle bars.
Actually, I fell. I fell when I tried to move off after getting out of
the elevators. Fell on my side, and I think I must have bounced!
So my new aim to wear out the tyres by the end of the month.
I have only cycled for only ten minutes, hoping to be at least 15
tomorrow.
Bye!

Slim.