朽木百哉のブォグ

Didn't sleep too early the previous night as I was fixing the Windows XP issue - I had no choice but to do a clean installation as kernel was screwing up the whole system.

Busy day, OT till aftersun which had been quite the norm all these days...so if OT is short / none, I would have feel strange.

More to be fixed tonight...and I got my fair share of workout.

Wanted to catch sunrise but by 6am, Batam time, the sun had been up and sky had all been bright - there goes my chance to capture a sunrise shot in Batam.  The time difference is an hour earlier in Batam.  For a moment last night, the ferry tickets could not be found, but was located in our room, in the business envelope.   Phew...it had saved us a journey home.

Still not used to the currency despite things being cheaper, as all Indonesian Rupiahs are in thousands or tens of thousands.  We had a good time walking around the huge mall, for a moment, I can't recall the mall's name but it certainly was huge.  This was part of the city tour that our package came with, after the first stop at Mi Le Buddha temple where many shots were taken.

A seafood lunch was done before we headed for the mall, and Darrel's dream came true on sharing table with the FG and male FG whom created a noise pollution when on the boat ride to Batam last night.

I didn't get much things, except for a pack of squid crackers as the local delight.  A live performance by the locals of ripping coconuts, glass eating, coal eating and jumping through the fire hoop was all nearby the seafood restaurant, known as 933 seafood restaurant.

Final boat ride was at 6:45pm and we reach Singapore around 7:30PM; I've sent dearie home before making my way home, though feeling a little tired, but still maintaining my composure.

It's the first weekend gettaway to Batam which dearie and I are going with Fericia and her hubby, Darrel!

Boat ride took us 45mins but the top deck had been disturbingly noisy from a bunch of FGs and a male FG, smoking, talking loudly and disturbing the peace; managed to get a few shots of the sea, the sun and also us, on the boat.

Arrival to the mini immigration booth with 3 males in bicycle tights and their expensive racer bikes, obviously here for a cycling adventure; and we saw big trolleys of golf clubs in bags for those who come here to play golf.  Darrel, as usual, is pretty quiet and there are times where I do feel awkward about where to trigger a conversion to keep us forging the relationship better.  Heard that he's unemployed though he has contributed to start a partnership in an interior design, after completion of his Premium Plan contract with SAF.

Had a totally KO full body massage at the Villas, it was a really good massage that I had that threw me into deep slumber.

Our home is situated at the top of the hill, guarded by 2 Chinese status which I had heard of before I came here.

Fortunately the place is airconditioned so we could sleep in comfort...dinner, was done at the resort, KTM resort's local restaurant.

Welcome to Batam. Along the way, many types of boats can be seen passing us as we made our way there via Jetraider.

The morning had been occupied with some waiting as we made our way early to get ready to check into the ferry terminal at Harbourfront. Battled successfully against the Mud Monster made the journey to the Gents', a little more challenging as the walk became more robotic when nearing an available spot.

Afternoon (-1hour from Singapore Time), while we await for Fericia and Daryl to finish their massage. The sunny weather had turned into a sudden downpour as we are halfway into the massage session. First, was a seasalt foot scrub followed by jacuzzi that lasted for 15mins or so, then, the massage.


Saw some vodka at DFS but didn't get any as it was more expensive than that at airport. Skipped.

Massage was deeply well done as it casted me into deep slumberland as I lay back faceup in Villas 6 of KTM Resort where we put up.

Dearie had been running a mild temperature; hope she'll be alright after she has awoken from the deep sleep beside me on the resting room, Villas 7.


•クラドーのiPhone•

Some idiot who doesn't understand about writing in for her request tried being sacarstic with me on the phone, saying 'you mean I can write in anytime, even at midnight??'. I could hear the increased oxygen intake over the phone...could well be any smart alec who thinks her loud voice is a Scud.


•クラドーのiPhone•

Finally the pics are salvaged; most of them being ok!  Being to near perfectionism as my nature, that was the reason why I had been so determined to get it fixed despite having a lack of rest the day before.  All thanks to Pandora Recovery!

I must have been real tired; plopped onto bed and only to realise myself waking up at 4:40 AM this morning with 5 missed calls from dearie...oh no!  Have left a message while she rests in slumber.  For me, my day has began even before a sparkle of the sunrays has slit the morning clouds.

Saw myself copying notes from Lim Li as if I was doing some form of revision class but she had left with a group of our classmates earlier, after having some discussions.  At 7pm later, it was our examinations and the place I was in, after looking around, seemed to be the furniture section of Spotlight, which used to be a big furniture store at the basement of Seiyu / DBS that had been resurrected to Tampines 1 today.

I saw my classmate Jocelyn who was revising at the other end; the usual tense aura that have during classes, but this time, magnified.

Wetback awakening...4:40AM

The aftermath of the 1st strike is still haunting me...for once, I felt really silly that I didn't backup the pics on  a regular basis and this happened...especially so for all the beautiful pics that I took of dearie...

Tonight will be another night of photo recovery as the evening...

Found this software: http://www.z-a-recovery.com/digital-image-recovery.htm, will it work?  Let's try it tonight.

I slept at 3am cos was editing photos and saving on my dslr's memory card; then suddenly got this "write delay failed" error and could not open the files - PC prompted that I have to format the card before using...that means I have to lose all the pics I've taken (especially dearie's)! Went to google for photo recovery software and found this site which claimed to have the full version of a software called "stellar photo recovery v 3.5" with a lifetime fee of US$26...so I signed up.

When I downloaded the program, I couldn't find the file as promised...so wrote an email to request for cancellation and refund the charges, which was US$56 after adding this and that (shocked!), when I received the confirmation email.  Man, I feel cheated!

I had to continue googling and found a few more; finally, found a free program; the scan will take around 40mins and it was 3am by then...so had to turn in...

Hope I can do a 100% recover for all these pics without financial losses...

Another evening which, fortunately, isn't that late as compared to yesterday; Christopher was teasing me when he was asking Linda to pray for the baby-delivering heron to visit him and his wife and for
me to be a more serious person, and marry Serene quickly.

As usual, him and his nonsense as he 'reported' to me that he saw dearie alone at lunch.

I'm almost ready to go off: hope to catch a shot of Snarling the Naughty later.


•クラドーのiPhone•

Feeling a little stony when I got back and reviewed this morning's shot; pretty decent composition though I can't get a close proximity of Snarling the Naughty.  From his behaviour, it tells that he has a master.

Took a few shots before I uploaded Snarling the Naughty's pics in my Facebook album.

I had to give today's workout a miss as my awakening had been later than usual; probably from the walk to IR and back since the Helix has not been fully completed.

Shortly after laying on bed, I had feel myself passing through the gates of Lalaland.

Here comes the first of my spitback day; was greeted by a snarling cat when I parked at Joo Chiat; it had droopy whiskers which made it look like a cougar / jaguar in some ways, yet having a naughty look. 

Not a chance for me to get close proximity since I don't have a telelens to get a closer shot.

No matter.

Worked for 12 hours with tons of callbacks as OT; though it's the first, it had somewhat triggered the addiction for overtime work, which I had been clocking high hours about a year back, when I came back to do overtime for emails.  Of course, there's the money, with tradeoff for personal time.

Back to my car, snarling cat is there, but at night, he seems more tame...see if I can get a shot of him tomorrow evening should I finish late again.

Dearie's back to work and she had work late too - all the influx of work came like a choked chute which had been liberated when someone pulled out the "jamming agent"...but again, work is work.

Looking forward to our Batam trip this weekend!  A double date!

It's the first photoshoot outing that I have with dearie.  Destination:  The Helix bridge which was newly constructed, which links people to IR, that spans 3.5km long.  Half the bridge isn't open to public yet when we took a walk there.

Managed to have some shots done at Marine Boulevard while we had Popeye's chicken for dinner, right at the building where Singapore Flyer stood; it had been a prominent landmark when I drove past it many years back, but without any developments yet.  Now here we have, a comfy restaurant, except for a attitude-stuck MIC whom displayed her poor behaviour at the counter when dearie asked for jam to go along with the puffs.  It tasted better than KFC, just minusing all the trapped oil under their flaky crusts.

I've finally got a feel of taking in full manual mode, but after reviewing the shots when returning home, it's better that distant shots to be done in AF instead of MF, as it'll save alot of time and strain on my eye through the viewfinder.  Dearie certainly look photogenic in those pics!

The evening was filled with fun as we had a farewell gathering after the exams; Tristan looks unusually bored as his girlfriend was not by his side and sang quite little at Cyclone Party Club.  One tower of Tiger for $62, shared by 7 people.  I've got dearie to join us and she's pretty amused by the way Tristan teased Stephanie when we all gathered at the usual spot during our breaks, the road between Centrepoint and Starhub Centre.

Kulvim had unleashed his singing personality from a few of the shots I've taken, a toast, to the best of our futures after completion of this course

I took a night rider with dearie back to her place as the rest went to Powerhouse for a party session - they might be meeting Gary there.

Final settlement to slumber done at 3:15am.

The day has arrived, "Behold, the Shogun Battleship" came to my mind as I awake, mentally equipped to face the exams later.

Minor tingling sensations of the examinations anxiety still lurk within me on a minor, yet repetitive basis.  The  mind's all set, but just wondering how my knowledge and understanding will be put on paper, just like this, without any referencing.  It's a closed book paper afterall, so why should I actually worry about it?  I guess the best solution I can think of is to do a closed book self-assessment on all the questions that I've selected for the papers; from there, I can gauge where I stand in the examinations.

Or maybe it's the ambience that makes it all an anxious event; some say it's good cos a little stress can be helpful to make us more productive in studies / or work, the former in this situation.

The feeling of suspense is most sickening at times, especially now, being the last paper!  I have to hang on to it till the paper's over...meanwhile, make good use of the time I have now.

2nd round of revision done with some mental noises bothering me during the course of revision, but I'm glad the 2nd attempt of the questions I intend to do at the exams, on the Final Kombat.

Woops, battery at 22% but I still can write abit more before getting some rest and recalling what I've learnt by writing down - that's my style of maximum absorption for topics which are componentised by a big mass of theory DNA.  Econs, after reading, writing and understanding proves quite a logical subject at this level so far.

Some changes; address of the blog has been changed for the purpose of keeping the readings to only people I trust.

Dearie's just home from a wake of a relative and I've noted a comment that Eve posted on my Facebook status while doing revision - I can't be bothered by that for now; no time for messing around with petty people as I have far more important things to do in life.

Though mentally a little challenged, the time spent on the books had proved worthwhile as this should be the way theorical subjects are studied.  I do feel bad about not having being able to keep dearie company, but it takes 2 hands to clap to make things lively and lovely between a couple...it'll be momental as I set a very important piece of pavement in my life - enhancement of education.

The day had been filled with frenzy cases that require additional attention, but it ended well as Linda gave us a short briefing on recent happenings and apologised for moments she might has raised her voice out of work frustrations.

Something different about her that makes her a good leader compared to many, or at least, the previous I was under.

I managed to leave office at the timing where OT ceased - and today's OT was still till a sun-lit evening; something that had been missing for the past week.  Though measures have been done to reduce call volume, sometimes I still wonder why the OT are on and increasingly high basis.  On the positive side, doing more means claiming more, which in turn means, more monetary returns.  I have to learn to put some of these additional earnings to good investment use in time to come.  Earning money physically and letting money grow through investments are 2 very different things.

A full day of Econs revision had been done yesterday and I woke up in time to do my workout; fortunately, all moves are done so I can concentrate on crunches when I get home tonight - no more new fish gathering momentarily as I need to clear the last paper and also focus on the moscow pairs I've just got.

Managed to catch up with Jannie and a few close friends about the recent happenings around; work, studies and all, and I'm glad I have such close and good friends to confide in when I need a hearing ear.

The Battle is still ongoing but I can't be bothered; continue to work towards my goal for the ultimate victory!  Simply sick of people stomping on me and the hurting and belittling words.  Such ought to be made to walk through the legs of the one who succeeds.

Right now, just continue focusing on my preparation for this Sat's last paper of my studies so I can complete this well and good, before moving to the next phrase.

Weather had been merciful, with a quick lunch done as usual....I miss lunching with dearie who has been on a long leave till her exams are over, but when she's back, she might be transferred back to HQ with a possible promotion that was mentioned, "without guarantee".   At her working experience with the organisation, it's high time she gets to do a more important role.

Now, this fear has seeped in again about being "left behind".  I have to step up after getting my Diploma!

Another day where my throat was sore; the effect had accumulated over the past 2 days when the call volume had been peaking and causing a strain in the throat, despite the continuous, religious water intake to replenish the depleted water.

Revision must continue with due diligence as I prepare for the final paper this coming Saturday.  Learnt from Kulvim that he has the entitlement to take examination leave which is apart from his annual leave at his workplace.  One of the benefits as a civil servant at CPF Board.

Revision to begin now!

A little tired as I had woke up earlier to make my way home; I must have dozed off last night at dearie's place as she helped me pack my camera stuff into the big bag from Audio House.  As I left the place, I was wearing the red Polo Ralph top that her brother had passed to let me wear - didn't want to display my bod to her gf whose still new to the family, all in the name of respect (maybe hunkiness).

The wind had been unwelcomingly cold, as wearing a red top has rumours that it might attract the supernatural - how true can this be?  Better google that.  The sensation had been more tingling as I walked back to the carpark alone, in the early hours of the morning.  Made it for my workout and went to work; though weather made me feel like sleeping.

Evening approached and this is the 2nd last lesson of the Diploma program, which also marks the end of the frequent education fellowship we have on Mondays and Saturdays.  Tristan has not started on his assignement and I decided not to send to him as I felt that he had not been responsible enough to attend all lessons, and yet went for 2 vacations at the cost of his education enhancement; quite surprised the rest actually aided him and forwarded a copy of their assignment to his reference. 

Managed to do a few more home shots before I called it a day.

It's the final lesson for this module, and also for the entire course which will all come to an end on 22/05/10 - the day of our final exams too.

The unexpected had actually turned up - Justin, Leon and Louis, as they wanted to get more info on what will be accessed.

Final lesson has been completed and tomorrow's lesson will be discussion on what is to be assessed.

Today is the trail shot run of the A500 which I'm armed with; dearie and I cycled to MacDonalds for revision but a large portion of the seats have been reserved for children's party, thus limited seats for more patrons; so we studied for awhile and decided to cycle to Sengkang Riverside Park which was just a 5mins ride away.

Right in the middle of the park was a man-made sculpture which looks like bronze with steel build, and decided to make a "hold the sculpture look" with dearie holding the "base" from an artificial angle.

There are so many new things to explore around, including 2 man-made ponds with schools of tilapia, and mutated wild guppies which can be so huge.  Managed to get many nice shots but ignored the banana tree and flowers in view of "spiritual respect".

We took a break at the top of the hill, which overseas the Riverside Park, that also covers the view of the "floating island" which is actually a shelter which was filled with the Malay community doing a performance with their traditional instruments which resounded like a soft gong with a musical ching within.

Airspeed increase; the skies turned darker with streaks of lighting that dearie had wanted me to capture; but due to the varsity of scope and random appearances, I had to give it a pass this time.  We concluded the evening with a grocery purchase at NTUC before heading back to her place; for once, I do feel a little tired as I've not done a long distance cycling for awhile.  It was a great time we had as I manage to take some quality shots of dearie and the surroundings; nature, being one of my favourite scenes.  A pity I don't have a more telescopic lens to capture the salamander along the swamp just below the bridge we crossed.

Dinner was done by dearie's mum, a feast, followed by a series of ghost stories relation that Alex had encountered a black shadow that lingered at the side of the chalet door when he was sleeping alone in the room, that appeared right in front of him the next morning when he opened the door of the washroom; nothing heard when Alex asked what "it" wanted, but he did come back to burn Chinese offerings for "it".  This was the Aloha resort that was in Changi - according to Weixiong, dearie's bio-brother, it was labelled one of the spiritually unclean places.  I shared my story about Haizul's guard duty patrol at Bedok Camp 1, and even his gf also agareed that banana tress should not be messed around with.

I've finally got my Digital Sniper!  Behold, the A500!

Can't use it tonight as I'll need to give the battery a full charge before commencing digital fire.  Lots of stuff to carry back, and we had dinner at one of the Japanese restaurants in basement of Liang Court, before getting it.  The Japanese curry rice, usually my favourite, appeared to be so much saltier....not another chance on eating it.

Dearie's cousin, Fericia plans to go for a trip at Batam, and it'll be on this coming Sat after Vesak Day...a perfect gettaway as my exams are over and so does dearie...$138 per pax at Batam Cottage (did I get the name right); with seafood lunch and 90mins massage; sounds a pretty good deal!

I've finally sent my assignement slightly after midnight before going over to rest at dearie's place.

I saw myself walking down a dimmed corridor at my block, and a group of people who came up were celebrities including the Big Ear lady (didn't recall her name) who just got married, Yvonne Lim and a few were coming up the flight of stairs; I saw Yvonne in a brown off shoulder one-piece blouse and feminine cut trousers; dearie was beside me and pointed out "that's Yvonne!" to me and I called her; she turned and smiled; a pretty face matched with friendly aura that greeted me; it seems to tell me that Yvonne's personality is that of a friendly person like Zheng Geping.

The event that was taking place at that moment was some kind of wedding where their known-groom is here to fetch the bride; so here comes all the company.

I recall that dearie told me that she stays in the vicinity of Everitt Road as she comes from a well-to-do family.

Jumpstarted.  7:06 AM

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever received from a ISP; I wrote in an email to Starhub, requesting to cease my mobile and broadband service on 10/05, to effect it on the 15/05 and lo and behold, when I got home today, no internet connection; diagnostics first; did the usual by doing a direct connection, but to no avail; could it be a defective router that has been with me for the past 3 years, showing symptoms of dysfunction a couple of times back then?

Guess what I was told; my internet service has been terminated on 11/05 without a single notification except the acknowledgement!  The CSO told me that they had sent me SMSes and called me without success, but I could not see any missed calls; moreover, if it is from blocked nos, the likelihood of answering the call is almost zero.

The billing department has some explanation work to do now; let's see if they can give me a very valid reason, or simply to cut down any "adminstrative" cost to cease my internet service without following my instruction.  An even more valid reason for me to switch ISP.

Another trailblazer afternoon.  The sky looked more lenient when I stepped out of the office and made my way for lunch at the usual place near Maybank.

Songjie has been updating me about his beloved Meg who had visited his father at hospital, as he had suffered breathlessness due to blocked arteries; stress-triggered; and bought him bird's nest.  What elated him more is how Meg showed concern for his father...I can feel the sparkle that burns within him towards her...as what he said, this isn't the right time to declare his feelings for her.  So when will it be?  I shall stay and watch...afterall, I hope the best for my pal whom I've known since 1993; that's 17 years?

Strangely, poor receptivity when I called dearie while she's on the bus to school; might be due to the location where

Heavy rain - a solution to end the Trailblazer days during this period of time as I lose additional coolant while making my way to lunch.  It's a good thing as it makes the overall climate more cooling - especially so at home.

Full regeneration of fuel cells after plopping unto bed from a brief chat with dearie when I got home later - had a dinner with Norizan, Lirome, Lim Li, Crystal and Yusryn at Serai Makan Place - the name I've just found out today while eating at Maybank - known as Kee Huat Eating House - which was discovered yesterday.  We had a good laugh when talking about those silly calls we received - especially so for yesterday as each call was like a Gladiator match on the phone.

Guess this rainy season will last for awhile - can imagine how I can sleep in the bunk after all the gruelling training if I was still doing my ICT a few weeks back - time really flies - I've already done 5, and 5 more to go and I'll be a free man.

Dearie's exams are still ongoing, so that's something which is her major obstacle for the season - till it's over on 21/05/10, and mine on 22/05/10; that marks a momental freedom while awaiting results.  If all else is smooth, I can proceed to the next level in Oct 2010.

Jiayou, dearie, for your exams!

Returned home pretty late after having dinner with our usual gang at work near workplace - I didn't know that they serve Italian-style cuisines, as I've ordered Mushroom chicken pasta - simply yummy at $5.90 a serving.

What made the company more enjoyable was all the laughter we had about work, each other on their outings and the company we had - just the group of us.  Missing are June and Kent.

The adverse weather and fatigue has given me the decision to head home for a rest; one of the days where I worked late for make-up with mentally-battling calls.

An exceptionally challenging day while my system works under a powercut due to sub-recovery mode; slept at 3am after finally managing to get the iPhone Spirited Away.

1st attack - a total loss female driver who does know know anything about insurance, saying that we are cheating her and threatened to take legal action against us, and blaming us for why the medical reimbusement for outpatient is so little as she assumed that her car insurance covers her for EVERYTHING - hello, the insured interest is her car, and additional coverage for injuries for self and passengers - yet she still got the cheek to ask for compensation for outpatient treatments which are not beyond the policy limits.  If she doesn't know, she should ask, instead of happily signing the proposal form in 02/2010, and later on, getting into a total loss accident. 


Now the insurer is giving her a new car and she could still say that we are "forcing a car" to her and making her fork out extra money.  While doing my rightful duty to explain factual information, she slapped me with the phrase "don't tell me policy this, policy that" though she knows I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.  What does she expect, shall I tell her "the policy does not cover (a), (b)...all the way to (z), to sum it up, you're not covered, so GOODBYE"?  

2nd attack:  Lawyer-wannabe threatening me, telling me that he will sue us till "the whole team lose their job", when the premium calculated had an increase due to his claims which was undeclared earlier.  My efforts of explanation fell to deaf ears as he insisted his way for a "senior management" person to call him to honour the premium.  The best had been done to pacify him and explain nicely, but an earwax-stuffed ear man is just beyond the headset. Guess what, he even threatened to sue till organisation shares plummet; and taunting me like a fool on the phone "you all want to play with me right, I'll sue you!  And when I sue, I mkae sure the whole team lose their jobs and the share price in NY will drop"...rattling endlessly.

Both Talib and I had a tough day - mentally, from the type of calls we received.  It must have been a taste of hell, or Callers from Hell.

I certainly need a good R&R (rest and recharge) when I get home after dinner.

This is my 1000th post..after writing for awhile here.

The early awakening had sank me back to slumber though I've awaken at 5am this morning for my scheduled workout; guess it could be due to the fatigue from yesterday's outing with dearie's family, and time spent with my own family...hope my mum will be happy that I've bought her something she likes eating, though it's not too sumptous.

Lunch had been brought forward, possibly due to lack of manpower on a Monday; quite a handful of people are not seen.  Are most on sick leave?

The majority of the assignement has been collated, so what's left will be touching up on the tex and layout, so that I can be ready to submit before the due date this Saturday...

Managed to catch up with Jannie via Whatsapp and discussed a little about Jeff and Jimmy; the 2 guys whom we knew when I was in the MLM business many years back; they had totally turned Jannie off on the basis of friendship as they had been putting on a mask; where are they now?  Jeff is married with a wife who is uncomparable with my dearie, Jimmy with a Viet wife; the latter comment is nothing on the basis of racial discrimination; but just that Jimmy's personality has irked both of us off totally.  Anyhow, all the best for them, and may our paths not cross.

That old hag (codename OB) at her home has made her life miserable and even turned down to join her and her family for dinner yesterday; I guess it's a personality issue within her spouse's family of being antisocial; that might be the reason for her unreasonable behaviour that has plauged her mentally.

That marks Midday for the 1000th post.  Dearie, jiayou for your paper tomorrow!

Though it's late in the night; the day had really been enjoyable as dearie and I both spent our day with our families for Mother's Day; I bought my mum a selection of dim sum for lunch, along with some tonic for her; likewise for dearie's mum, and we had a crab meal at a restaurant in Ang Mo Kio, which was located in a quiet place, yet exceptionally long queued - the queue can take up to an hour or so before you can even sit down.

Dearie had been entertained by my improved Cantonese with my mum; something I must learn from her as it will really be a pity if it's not passed on to our generation.  My mum is born a Teochew, raised by a Hokkien mother, and speaks Cantonese since young at school; something which is already pretty lost in today's Singapore society - most are either Mandarin / English speaking, making the Chinese dialects a lost legacy.  We must continue to keep the heritage going.

I wish the day could be longer, but I guess, time flies when quality time are spent.

Happy Mother's Day to my mum and dearie's mum!

I was at the top of a hill which reminded me of the E-shaped knoll where I did the MG range target mounting at the 2 last ICT, this time, a view a city's night shimmer.  There was a laptop I requested to borrow, which was under certain classification, and it was brought out of the "protected zone" by 3 people, on a trolley with some books.

I asked why it has to be so, and they told me that this particular laptop (resembling Macbook Pro) has a certain security clearance level, thus explaining the number of people who came along with it.  The "book" was actually a list of security SOP materials where I was supposed to read, but heck, who cares...

This Macbook gave me the remote access to a certain platform in the city.

Warped to a scene where a director was telling me that this particular advertisement "model" had been pissing him and wasting the time of his crew for filming a toothpaste ad; I had to apologise to him and explain that the model might be too tense and need a little bit more time.  Weather had been swealtering which had made it worst for them all.

Eyes opened, it's already 10:30am.

I was in this huge mansion with grey walls, marbled, and a flight spiral stairs leading to an upper deck with a Victorian style sofa.  I saw Norfazilah, whom appeared in the feminine attire, the unusual of her atheletic style during the ITE days.  The only time we all saw her in the most feminine attire was on the Secretary's Rendeveous during the last year of my studies in ITE Bishan.

There was a room, with lots of guys sitting around; appearing to be waiting for her.  I walked into the room and saw them all sitting around casually, and she came down and have casual chats with them on a one-to-one basis.  They're escorted by her out of the room on a solo basis, periodically.

I recall that she has went to CA to do her own business via Facebook; and what is she doing now, in this huge mansion, and so dressed up?  Don't tell me she's a social escort?  I certainly hope of the last.

We sat at a lavishly-built dining table; the purpose of the visit was some catchup with her, after not seeing each other since graduation in 1999, it's quite a surprise to see her "doing so well"...I've asked her what does she do for her business but the reply didn't seem very clear; probably in my mind, I was gasping in wonder, how much is she earning, that gave her the ability to stay in such a huge apartment?

I saw her once again later, coming out from a room near the flight of spiral stairs, and I was handed a note, saying something along the line of "if you had came in later, I will be getting the wrong idea"...again, with an underlying, mysterious meaning.

Next scene, I saw myself and dearie walking up the stairs, and then lay on the Victorian sofa, with dearie already almost at Slumberland's gate, and I tried to "camoflauge" into the colors of the sofa like a chameleon, and later on, seeing Kulvim and a girl (resembling Stephanie), coming up the same flight of stairs and I stood up after finding that, it's not possible to "morph" into the same colour as the furniture, and asked if they have watched Ip Man 2 or Iron Man.

The last appearance was in a bathroom-cool tiled room, with only myself and Fazilah chatting; she was dressed in a gown, which looks just right for attending any evening function where glam is required; gold coloured with a matt glow.

Bang bang.  7:30AM.  It's all a dream.

I've finally faced myself to challenge the imperfection by doing a 100 twist crunch with 10 sets of 10; it looks easy, but towards the last 3 - 4 sets, you can literally feel yourself being less flexible at the abdominals; it felt good, especially after that swealtering, weights ploughing session which more can be done if it was in my camp's gym.

A glass of milk to cultivate the Sandman mood

Saw myself reading an article about a local celebrity, Pan Ling Ling, having passed on "at the age of 32" on the main page of Yahoo with headlines snippets.

When I woke up, it was 6:59am.  No such news when I read about it.  Blazing beat was also one of the factors waking me up.  I recall dearie also having trouble coping with the heat as her air conditioner has malfunctioned recently.

I appeared in room that looked like the front office of my workplace, where some agents are served; I was attending to this Harry Lim Chek Hai, whom was a grumpy man on the phone; the role I was in was somewhat hybrid, answer calls and come out to attend to "callers" like him who called to get a quote.

The details was written on no a paper, but some plastic hand-sized model with the name on the top left corner; this customer's name is "Remon" and some of the info could not be read in proper sequence, that irritated this Harry Lim.  I could see it from his expression and vocal tone that he is becoming unhappy...and when he started grumbling off track, I amplified my voice and challenged him "you think I can't speak louder?  It's only because I chose not to raise my voice" and he started telling me that he could shout till the entire ammo dump could hear his voice - since when did he work in ammo base?

I could feel my throat a little strained after using that Lion Voice against Harry.

Next scene was the Tampines Bus Terminal, bearing the appearance of that before the recent facelift - I saw that there was an identical bus that brings us to Larkin in JB, Malaysia, but this time, this bus is bound for Thailand, and there were some Thai words scribbled by the side of the English text.  Weather was blazingly hot like that of the recent climate...and I saw my ex, she called me and was talking to her; she had wanted me to board the bus with her but I walked off after hanging up; to "booth" which was like a defunct information counter, identical to those in Bukit Batok Bus Terminal, which was away from the view of the boarding berth of this "Singapore-Thai" bus.

I woke up, indeed, with a sore throat...so it's a no action day at work.

Another mental challenge in the evening as working hours come to an end; call volume suddenly sprang up to 20+ queue calls in the morning, but some new implications will somewhat help to reduce workload on our end that had been briefed to all of us.

The next hurdle, mental challenge during lesson; got to chat with dearie over the phone, Bluetooth to Bluetooth while she starts using the new Jabra BT2060 I got as her birthday present - superior quality without any trouble on audio quality.

The lesson today had been mostly based on graphs, but certain graphs are not "disturbed" as hinted by our lecturer.

Not many from our Hoarde has appeared today; Step:  down with stomach flu, Leon: unknown reasons, Justin and Louis had left class during the break; Econs may sound like an abstract subject, but noticed most are theorical and yet, being a core module.

Just the last lap to make it back; Wan had just touched down at Singapore near 10pm from Jarkata; I gave the ice wine at the DFS he dropped by a miss as cheapeset was $180, simply overpriced!

I had a deep sleep soon after freshening up at dearie's place, before she came to my place for revision, and we caught a meal at A-Star coffeeshop - Za Jiang noodles and for myself, Teochew noodles; the meal was pretty filling.

Weather had been pretty warm, and the sight of Fat Cat near the bubble tea shop was simply a sight - laying on the road and oblivious to the surroundings people walking, he was finally "combated" by an umbrella from an elderly woman, who conversed with me in Cantonese about his fatness; and that he has been spayed (marked by the chip-off ear).  He wrestled with the umbrella and finally sat up for a good photoshoot.

Dinner was done at home under the connosieurship of Chef Sihui, who made the meal really sumptous - an Italian dinner minus the settings and music.

The evening was spent at Pu-Yi's place as she held a housewarming; managed to get some wrappers for regifting as the present is of odd-shape where I can't wrap with normal paper-textured wrappers.

Dearie's mum had helped me with the wrapping and it turned out just beautiful!  Weather was like a open air oven where I was baked at every foot set under the sun - fortunately Pu Yi's place was very windy.  We spotted a tree lizard and took a snap of it after attempting to find "free parking" around their area.  Nice shot done from various angles, till I was too close for its comfort and it scampered away.,

Daryl, Fericia's spouse, Alex and Kai Ling are here; it's rare to see them at such events; in fact the first time seeing them after awhile; especially so for Daryl; "no show" after their wedding.  They will be getting their keys in a few months' time, and will all be within close proximity.

I took quite a few glasses of red wine, which turned myself into lobster within minutes;  so dearie was tasked to drive my cute pica back for rest, before we caught our Ip Man 2 show at Century Cineplex. 

It was a hit!