Everything is relative

SAT score drop biggest in 31 years

Yeah, Baby.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 5:58 PM 0 comments

My name... is Neo

Just back from a run. I'm dripping sweat all over the keyboard but I don't give a shit. there ain't jack to watch on TV and I have to wait for my body to cool down before having a bath so I figured that I might as well do today's post now.

Got a little scare this morning when I switched my PC on, there was a sound emanating from it that I don't normally hear and when XP came on I had no control of the mouse and keyboard. Opened it up and poked around. Worked fine after that but i still don't know what happened so I guess it's time to backup my data. Which is a huge pain in the ass cause I have more than 200 gigs to backup.

Got a letter from CPF tell me I have to repay my pop's CPF account just under $6k for my poly fees(Plus interest! 500 bucks! For two years!). As regular commiserators of my sorry-ass life would know, I'm pretty much flat broke. Went to my parents groveling for help and after some blahblahblah about my NSF pay(What pay?! It's an allowance.), they let me use my uni money to repay that loan. Guess I'll have to skip a meal or two or 1,200 over there. Thanks ah, Gahmen!

Took a break from running on Sat because my legs hurt like hell while running on Fri, and didn't run yesterday because I went to the "training" session yesterday for the job at the end of the month(Selling laptops at COMEX, if anybody wants to know). That slackness took its toll and I felt punished every step I ran today. But at least I knew I was running off the bingeing during the chalet and yesterday's Carl's Jr(It's been a long time, okay?).

Was digging for info to use as ammo to blindside some poor dumbass into buying from me during the PC fair(I know I'm bad, but I need the money, okay? Save your ethical bullshit for somebody who has cash to burn. Money can't buy everthing but you can't get jack without money), when I got tired and decided to take a break. For some reason I went to Mr Miyagi's and started digging through his archives. I discovered My Heritage nestled amongst his numerous posts and had some fun with it. Renée, when you called me I was doing this so you'll have to forgive me for being distracted. This shit is way too funny. Here are some of the results I got:


























Had myself a grand time giggling away at those. Pathetic, I know, but when you're bored out of your mind even the simplest crap amuses you, y'know? And for the record, I don't think I look like any of them.

P.S. Hmmm a huge gap has appeared between the main body of text and the pictures. It looked fine when I previewed it, and I'm sure it has to do with the table, but I'm too lazy to go debug.

P.P.S. Note to guys reading this. Wear a shirt when cooking. Sizzling oil and bare skin aren't exactly best friends.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 5:42 PM 0 comments

Be sittin' up in my room

Took it easy today. No running, nothing productive done. Just me, a coupla movies and NFS:MW and waitng for a call that never came.

Had some excitement in the evening with Pool winning narrowly. Can't wait for Sissoko, Riise and Carragher to recover for the derby, 'cause Aurelio can't defend for shit, and Gonzalez don't look too convincing yet. Internationals bar the World Cup Finals suck. At least we'll head into the break with a win on the table.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 11:39 PM 0 comments

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Don't bother about the title. Didn't know what to put so just plonked the first thing that popped into my mind there.

Wanted to post yesterday, but somehow couldn't connect to Blogger. Anyway, went for my second driving lesson on the 24th. Finally got the hang of the clutch and stopped stalling the car when I try to move off. 1st lesson was embarassing.

Went for my platoon chalet after that. Stood at the BBQ panging the food, and as a result filched lots of food. I think my effort of running this whole week is gone because of that, but it's all good. Times like that don't come often and I'll enjoy then when they come. Pictures are on Jason's blog. Too lazy to collate from the different cameras then post them up now. I'll do them when I got them pictures and the impetus to do it.

Oh yeah. Talking about pictures, finally got my POP photo. That was like, more than a year ago. But I guess it's equal because we owe them our orbat chart. Think we'll be the 1st platoon to ORD without an orbat chart. Heh.

Talking about owing, those of you who still owe me crap, please return them/pass them on to the next guy. Is it a Singaporean trait to take loaned things as yours until the original owner asks for it? Damn, if I had a penny every time I loan stuff out and lose contact with it for at least 6 months, I can change my name to William Henry Gates III. Some of the stuff I have has resided in other people's possession longer than it has with me. LEND ≠ GIVE, PEOPLE! And it takes repeated prodding and badgering for them to return said stuff. Return my stuff once you're done with them! *&@^#$*%^$&*@%&*@#%&*@#%@%*

Worse still are those who lend out the stuff that I lent them. It's a loan to YOU, not Tom/Dick/Harry/Ah Kow/Ah Lian/Santa Clause/Steve-O/Tua Peh Kong! It's not yours, so even if your Momma/best friend/dream girl\boy /pet dog wants to borrow it, at least have the courtesy to ask the owner's permission first. I'm sick of hearing "My fren haven return yet leyyyy" or some equivalent.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 7:51 AM 0 comments

How to get into movies free

Damn long never see Syah already, so today jio him out for movie. Had vouchers expiring this month so die die had to use. Sold him my Matrix DVD to boost my bank account a little too.

Anyway, after lunch we went up to watch My Super Ex-GF, but as we approached the ..uh, turnstile? Anyway the place where your tickets get ripped, the person there walked off to go somewhere, leaving the place unattended. I don't know if s/he saw us or not. We waited for about a minute, chooted a couple of times then decided to let ourselves in. If we hadn't gotten the tickets, we'd have gotten a free movie.

Afterwards we walked to Esplanade, talking cock all the way. Nothing much to do so we went home after that.

Came home, dozed off on the couch, then forced myself to wake up to go for a run. Felt super lazy, but have to run 'cause I'm fat. Tried to follow the Gurkhas again but as usual they run too fast for me. Hopefully within a year I can run as fast as they do.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 8:26 PM 0 comments

Adieu glasses

My favourite pair of glasses is a wreck. Yay. More money spent. I know it was an accident, but I'm still pissed. Don't feel like writing more.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 11:35 PM 0 comments

The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it

Was digging through my photo collection to see if I could use anything for the new banner, and after a while I couldn't stop grinning. It's been quite a ride, and I'm glad I shared it with you guys.






















P.S. Waiting for the photos to upload was a pain in the ass. Did a few quizzes to kill time. Didn't want to add a new post just to post my results, so here they are:

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 9:28 PM 0 comments

Say Magna Feet!

A prize to those who can guess from which game that line was from. ;D

Anyway, spruced up the blog a little, took out the bit and pieces that I thought didn't fit. More aesthetically pleasing now, non?

Click on the link under Ancient History. Took me all morning. Now I can't stop clicking it. Heh.

Okay, enough messing around for one day. My eyes hurt from all that coding.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 3:45 PM 0 comments

Fun with metaphors

I love cars. I mean I really adore cars. A Murciélago drives past me and my jaw drops, my brain turns to mush and I cannot help but stare. I would like to own a car myself one day. A day I can hardly wait for.

But for now I'm denying myself that. Reason being I'm not ready. I mean, I'm one of those nuts who believe for the maximum driving experience, a car should be an extension of oneself, driver and car should form a symbiotic relationship of sorts. My dream car is the GT-R R34, but I know just because I like its performance and looks doesn't mean its the one for me.

Another reason why: I'm damn near broke. And cash isn't exactly falling out from the sky. Rather holes are appearing every which way I go, sucking my already depleted reserves into oblivion. I won't be able to upkeep a car, with the price of gas rising every day and servicing costs and crap like that.

Final and main reason. I'm already getting my ass outta here. Few more months, a year, tops. Why would I want to get a car now? I won't be able to bring the car along with me when I leave. I'm gonna study, and my parents are investing a motherload of money in my education. Last thing I will want is to be distracted by how my car is doing, whether there's grubby fingerprints all over the paintjob blah blah blah.

It's very cryptic, I know, but those who are meant to get it, will. The rest of you, keep guessing.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 9:05 AM 0 comments

Fork stuck in the road

Did damn near nothing of note for the past few days, so nothing to post about. Teddy Bear, I'm still waiting for my Subway.

Had a real long post typed out, but decided not to air my laundry for the whole damn wide world to see. The title's still up there. Fill in the blanks. Heh.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 12:06 AM 0 comments

Len Wiseman is a lucky b******

Watched Click with GJ, Lindsay and Xian at Great World City. Quite a meaningful, if predictable, movie with it's touching parts. I actually teared up a little, something I have not done since my grandma's demise. Kate Beckinsale is so hot man. Len Wiseman is a lucky b******.

GJ rented a car today after passing his TP yesterday. Way to go, Brudder.

We then proceeded to Cuppage for dinner, where Renée joined us. Zhi Cha. Cost me 13 bucks #$@%%@#$#$@@#. Already told GJ I was broke still bring me go eat Zhi Cha. Food was pretty good though.

They wanted to go to Boat Quay for after dinner drinks but it was quite packed and they couldn't find a parking spot. Heng ah. Or else have to spend more. Ended up Driving to Lindsay's home and tuanging below her block with a few drinks we got at 7-11.

Okay tired. Don't wanna write any more. Night.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 1:24 AM 0 comments

Chasing Yusof bin Ishak

Dragged my ass to the gym this morning. I didn't feel like going but forced myself to go so that I can have more choices when I shop. I'm sick of eyeing an item but discovering that I don't look good in it of worse I can't squeeze my ass into it. Got damn shack after an hour (Weak!) and it was going to rain anyway so I left. True enough it did soon, real heavy like, and I hauled ass back to my block. The sole of my shoe came off in the process. Went back later and retraced my steps to see if I could find it and superglue it back or something, but no such luck. I can't afford another pair of shoes! @#$%$%##$#$.

Which brings me to another point. My bank account is running dangerously low. $@#$@#%@. Have to stop shopping for the time being. Bleh. Lucky Don had a friend who was recruiting for a PC fair end of the month. Hope I can sell more so that I can get the commission. I simply have to get me too much crap!

Saw a watch I liked yesterday and I wanted to see if I could get it cheaper on ebay or yahoo. Found it, but saw another nicer one by puma. Went to the puma site to get a better look, couldn't see any watches, but stumbled onto something they call "Mongolian Shoe Buffet". Tried my hand at it and came up with this:



I like it, but of course, I'm broke. #@%#$^^$#$^#$$#%^@#%@#!

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 9:12 PM 0 comments

Subway Rocks

Just came back from Suntec, where I spent the day with DonDon, Teddy Bear, Xiao Hong and Wet Wet. Fun day but now I'm pretty worn out.

Had Subway for dinner. Been meaning to patronise it for quite some time now but no kaki. Damn, it rocked. Had a roast beef sandwich, a whole foot of it with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and Jalapeños. Mmmmm. I'm gonna go get me more of that soon.

Don't feel like writing too long today. tired.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 8:48 PM 2 comments

Things I learnt in the SAF

Just came back from Hong Seng's house, where I damn near blew his computer up. He lost most of his videos and all his mp3s, and his bro's project files. Sorry, Xiao Hong.

ORDed yesterday, so today I think I'll write a few things I learnt in the SAF.

1: How to eat a chicken wing with fork and spoon.
This one, everyday can practise, because we always get chicken wing for lunch.

2: The art of ninja
The ability to smell work coming (esp. sai kang) and disappear before kena arrow. Ninja! *poof*

3: "Tai Chi"
The art of delegating blame. The higher the rank, the more powderful the skill. I only Corporal so my skill not velly powderful, but it's there.

4: Arrow
The art of pushing work to another person. Again, increased skill comes from rank (But strangely the Warrants seem to be masters of this skill rather than Officers.). My ass is so full of holes I feel I can change my name to Swiss cheese without problem.

5: Packaging and acting
The SAF is all about packaging and acting. As long as things look good, all is good.

6: Smoking and mirrors
Smoking is a skill that most soldiers learn within a week in Tekong, and I don't mean with cigarettes("Yes Sargen! I orreddy do fai set of seven poo up!").

But the most powderful smoking + mirrors I experienced was at the "Special" Investigations Branch (*ptui*) of SAFPU. They surpass David Copperfield's level of skill. They will make all sort of promises and threats(Chalet si boh?!) to make you sign confession. All they want is to close the case, no matter if the poor fella they arrow as scrapegoat is innocent or not.

That's all for now. I'll add more as I think of them. Feel free to leave a comment if you think of something I don't.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 8:24 PM 2 comments

ORD LOH!

Today is my ORD
Doo Dah
Doo Dah
Today is my ORD
Doo De Doo Dah Day
No more AOE
No more IPPT
No more warrant tekan me
O R O R D!

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 6:41 PM 0 comments

The beginning of the end

The exodus begins with my buddy today. Went back to camp to clear my cupboard and dekit and get more crap signed, and he came back to get his pink IC. Tomorrow's my turn.

Got my stitches out in the morning. Finally can move my jaw without having to favor the left side of my mouth.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 6:18 PM 2 comments

The melancholy sunder begins.

This is the last day that A2 will be a whole platoon. Heh. It's funny how I've waited for this day for more than two years, yet when it's just around the corner, I want it to last just a little longer.



Tomorrow, the disbandment commences of the best platoon there ever was, and there ever will be. We are the the winners of the hattrick of hattricks. Every long training night, every shack out deployment, every 'stunt', every punishment, every shitty job we've had to go through, it was all worth it. It was my honor, my privilege, to be able to serve with you guys.



I wanted to write a longer tribute, but as it is I'm so choked up that I think if I continue it'll all be gibberish, so I'll just leave it at that.

I'll miss you guys. All of y'all. Huat ah!

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
- William Shakespeare
Henry V,4. 3

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 3:52 PM 0 comments

Leave your brain at the door.

Boring day yesterday, didn't feel like posting. Stayed home, watched the original Star Wars Trilogy for the 163rd time, got nagged at.

Went to watch The Fast and Furious with GJ, Lindsay and Xian today. Nice cars, but don't go in looking for intellectual gratification, cause you'll come out sorely disgruntled. Just.. leave your brain at the door and enjoy the looking at the rides and perving at the skanks.

Parting shot: How the hell do you stuff an SR20DET into a Mustang?

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 12:35 AM 2 comments

Sean in a nutshel.. er... Flash

There you go. Me, condensed into a little 30 second flash. I'll design a frame for it someday. Now all I wanna do now it sleep.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 10:16 PM 0 comments

Why I'm getting my big fat ass outta here: Part One

Over the weekend, I brought my grandma to see the NDP Preview. Accompanying me was one of my cousins. Older than me by three years, she's pretty settled into the regular adult life here I guess. Got married a coupla years back, job, HDB flat, the works.

Midway through the program, she posed me this question: Why do I hate Singapore? I replied I didn't, then she asked, why was I in such a hurry to leave? I told her the stories about the chocolate milk and the family of geese and the newspaper vending machine. (I've told those stories thousands of times and if you're reading this then I probably have told you too, so I won't be repeating them here.) Judging by the expression on her face, she didn't seem too convinced.

So let me further illustrate another point with a little yarn, a parable, of sorts. This is the story of Sammy the Squirrel.

Sammy the Squirrel lived in a forest called Singalong(Called that because the trees seemed to sing when the breeze came through). It was pretty big, so the Council of Green(the elected representatives of Singalong) divided it into smaller areas called Green Recognized Camps. The Camp that Sammy lived in was called Ponotg Pisar.

Sammy had a job cracking acorns at the factory. For that, every week, Sammy got a sheaf of acorn husks to take home.

This acorn husks, in Singalong, would amount to what we use for money here. It was the product of a technology discovered by a group of squirrels called the Apa. Before its invention, Sammy's ancestors had to lug around whole acorns to the market, which was pretty troublesome. So with acorn husks, it was very convient and of course, the Apa, its inventors, became pretty popular and a lot of them ended up in the Council of Green.

However, Sammy's Representative in the Council was not a Apa member. He was a wise old squirrel called Cahim. Sammy liked him because he made sense. He was liked by Sammy's father and grandfather as well, and that was why he had been the Representative for Ponotg Pisar for a long, long, time. The Apa had tried time and time again to represent Ponotg Pisar, but failed because of the high regard the squirrels there had for Cahim.

Now, every week, before Sammy got his share of acorn husks, The Boss would take half of the pile and set it aside. It was to be given to the Council of Green for miscellaneous stuff, like funding the policesquirrels who kept Sammy and his family safe at night, and creating paths throughout Singalong so that Sammy could get home faster. Sammy was happy with that arrangement.

One day, Sammy had to pull an extra shift as another squirrel had squirrel fever. After the long day, Sammy was looking forward to getting home fast and getting a hot shower and a nice supper before bed. It was dark, but Singalong had firefly posts all over to light the way for squirrels. There was one stretch near Sammy's home that strangely was not lighted and Sammy slipped on something and fell and broke his arm. Fortunately, a kind squirrel nearby heard his cry of pain and brought him to the squirrel doctor.

The next day, Sammy went back to the area where he had his unfortunate mishap. He saw that he had slipped on a glob of walnut paste, a favourite snack of squirrels. He was pretty mad at the inconsiderate squirrel that had dropped it there and just scampered off. But he was also pretty mad that the path was not lighted as, if it was, he could have seen the glob of walnut paste and avoided the fall. To his surprise, that particular path did have firefly posts, but the containers did not have any fireflies inside.

Upset, Sammy went to see Cahim about it. Cahim told him that he did not have the acorn husks to exchange for fireflies anymore. The Apa did not want to give him any. Perturbed, Sammy went looking for the Apa squirrel, whose name was Ceetoo, that had tried to represent Ponotg Pisar at the last Choosing. Ceetoo told Sammy that since Ponotg Pisar was not represented by Ceetoo, the Apa had chosen to use the acorn husks to provide for other Camps that the Apa represented. Sammy was pissed to the point of speechlessness.

Moral of the story: You're free to choose, but make the wrong choice and you'll be punished.

Long Grandfudder story I know. Thanks if you read it all the way through. Just had to get it off my manboobs.

Caveat: The above story is pure fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental and should not be inferred as regarding the story on today's newspaper.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 9:30 AM 0 comments

The BitchMan Cometh

Been having so much fun messing around with Html and crap that I forgot what I created this thing in the first place. To update people about my life and, occasionally bitch about stuff.

I'm getting fat and weak. Tried running today but gave up after about 100m 'cause the stiches still hurt so I think I'll give it a coupla more days before attempting again. Settled for push ups and barely got to 10 before sweat started breaking out on my brow. Weak. Had to break it up into more sets of less push ups. My chest is starting to look like manboobs again. Don't want that. Gotta start weight training again. If you're in NS and just passed out of training(I'm not talking about Tekong. Tekong is just basic conditioning. I'm talking about the shit that comes after that.), don't assume that your body will last forever like that. Lulled into a false sense of fitness, I traded my night training for night snacks. Now I'll be paying penance for that attitude.

Still feel the site is pretty plain so I looked around for some Flash stuff to spruce it up and personalize it a bit more. Found a site that offered Flash tickers for US$19.95. Pfffeh. They has a couple of samples on their home page so spent coupla hours digging thru the page code to find the URLs to those and ripped those. Now I gotta figure out how those thingamabobs work and craft them to my needs. Look out for them in the not too distant future.

Wanted to go back to camp today to do more clearance and dekit and clear my cupboard today but I'm on Attn C and my mom advised me not to. *Shrugs* I guess I'll have to do that on Mon. Never thought I'll be saying this, but it's coming sooner than I can believe. "ORD LOH!"

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 5:51 PM 0 comments

Banner up

Didn't want to use the stock banner, had no idea what to design, so just whipped something up to replace it. Will do another when I have an idea on how I want to proceed.

posted by CompulsiveShopper @ 6:42 PM 1 comments