I am supposed to blog about Christmas and New Year events, but both events seem so long ago that I felt it will be boring to blog about it now. Worth mentioning was that I received some fun gifts this Christmas.
==========
Introducing Matthew Wong, my nephew less than a year old.
A very naughty boy, but I was so happy to carry him in my arms whenever I can.
==========
Rileon had free tickets to Wild Wild Wet, and we went together with Aguda and WoaHaHa. Except for the 'Slide Up' ride, the rest of the rides and attractions available there were, in a word, boring. Only the 'Slide Up', where you slide down a three storey ramp provided that split second sense of thrill.
But throw the 4 of us together in a fun-seeking situation and we can make the most out of it, we were all so tired at the end of the day from laughing, pushing, shoving and ogling at ah lians in bikinis.
==========
Thanks to Socks, we went for the gala premiere of Sherlock Holmes. I love the movie! Both Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law were so cool and I thought it was great to portray the original characters with a dose of american humour. And which hot-blooded young man wouldn't look twice at Rachel McAdams?
The entire film lasted 2 hours with quite alot of action and some lengthy dialogue. Sherlock Holmes' explanations and display of his Holmesian deduction has always been the highlight of the Holmes franchise and you will appreciate it.
Two thumbs up!
==========
Out of curiosity and boredom, I bought this horoscope booklet for Scorpios in Year 2010 at SIM's popular bookshop. It's a complete waste of money at $3 and I don't even believe it.
According to the booklet, my general luck for the entire year is:
Romance: 60 Wealth: 72 Career: 80 Health: 86
And also, it gives a general and brief description of best partners and worst partners as your romantic interests according to star signs. I linked them to women I know and are as follows:
Best Partners: 1. Cancer (Socks) 2. Scorpio (Ha-Jie) 3. Pisces (Diane) 4. Taurus (Stella) 5. Capricorn (Elleen)
Second Best Partners: 1. Libra (Xinyi) 2. Aquarius
Worst Partners: 1. Leo 2. Gemini
Also, I have very good instincts and can make a small windfall with small gambles, but will lose big time if involved in heavy gambling (Common sense! You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes or a Scorpio to know that!). And when it comes to money making plans or investments, I will make decent profits even though the results will not be fairly proportionate to the effort I put in. Profits are maxmised when I am in a business partnership with some other people.
If only the booklet was true! I am always in need of money. And if I really have so many potential romance interests, I wouldn't feel so lonely.
In a few more minutes, I will be off to Malaysia for my grandmother's birthday!! Quite alot of events transpired these past few weeks, and all will be blogged in due time.
As Stella so pointedly highlighted, my birthday photos/videos are really way overdue! But at least they are now finally on Facebook!
Celebrated my 25th birthday two weeks ago.
Rileon and Aguda came and fetch me at around 830 in the morning. The plan was to go to Bedok Reformative Centre where due to Rileon's work nature, we can have access to the KTV facilities at their staff's mess, which mean hours of free karaoke session at our own comfort. Rileon booked the facilities in advance from 9am ~ 4pm. We have no intention to stay so long, of course, as we have other plans in the afternoon but he just book the entire available time slot anyway. And when we reached the staff mess... we realised the mess opening hours is 5pm to 12am!! Duhz!! No wonder the time slot for 9am to 4pm is available!! My best friend is really a 'blur sotong'!!
So, we spend the rest of the morning driving around, looking for breakfast options and ended up at IKEA Tampines for the swedish meatballs, cheesecake and coffee. All three of us were quite in the mood for some karaoke session and we decided to entertain our enthusiasm by driving to Kbox@Cineleisure for their K-Lunch package.
2.30pm. We went to Botanic Gardens and met up with Chester, Stella, Socks, Suxian, Ha-Jie, Kelvin Chia. It was really my pleasure to introduce my best friends to my close SIM clique. Chester organised a picnic at Botanic Gardens for my birthday. It was my first ever picnic at BG with friends and I was rather skeptical about how fun can a picnic be. But it was fun! Thanks to Chester's efforts and everybody's participation!
The weather for the entire whole afternoon was really decent for a picnic. As the sun begin to set, we packed up and head for Jumbo@Dempsey to sate my craving for crabs!
Traditionally, I always have a small gathering of close friends to have dinner together for my birthday. This year, I have 21 close friends and my own brother who willingly come and splurge on a rather expensive dinner to celebrate my birthday with me. Including some especially rare presences whom I seldom meet in recent times - Veran, Leslie, WoaHaHa, Nomed.
Dinner was suppose to start at 7.30pm, but See Yah's group came at 8pm and we had to start dinner much later. I was initially a little irritated that I have to keep the rest of my friends hungry and waiting until I learned that See Yah's group had alot of activities earlier in the day and they rushed down for my dinner as soon as they could. No longer irritated with them, I was really quite touched.
I wasn't kidding when I said the dinner was expensive. I initially planned to dine at Dempsey's Long Beach, but changed my mind when I was told that Jumbo offers equally tasty crabs at almost 30% cheaper. What See Yah told me was that regardless of where I chose to dine, herself and her clique of friends will come and join me and treat me for my birthday dinner. I really felt valued and treasured by this clique of friends despite an outstanding absence in their activities.
The pepper crabs were really too peppery and spicy, so much that it masks the sweetness of the crab meat, not that I have alot to complain since I love all things spicy and peppery. Rather than saying it wasn't good enough, I like to think that it was made peppery enough for me. Finger lickin' good, actually.
And there is the 'not-so-surprising' birthday cake because the waitress gave it away when she asked if the cake was to be served after the dessert course. =)
My birthday wish? World peace.
And lots of money.
My sincere thanks to: WoaHaHa, Veran, Leslie, Rileon, Aguda, Nomed, Socks, Stella, Amanda, Kelvin, Chester, KK, Lavent, Veron, Meifong, Yuling, Julian (my brother), See Yah, Zhenhui, Bryan, E.T.
========================================
After dinner, I joined See Yah's clique for the movie '2012' in town. The only time slot available that can accommodate everyone was the 3am show. And even though everyone was visibly drawn and tired, no one wants to go home, unwilling to miss out on an opportunity to spend time together. We wandered in town and had desserts at Cineleisure's Xin Wang HK Cafe. Watched the first hour of Jennifer's Body at the preview lounge before entering our own theatre to watch '2012'.
I went into the theatre with the resignation that I will probably fall asleep and sleep through the whole movie. Instead, the movie had my eyes glued to the screen the entire two and a half hours. None of the guys slept during the movie while the ladies slept a little at the beginning of the film, but woke up soon enough for the thrilling parts and finished watching it. The movie was that exciting.
There was this dull ache at the side of my right foot's big toe which has been plaguing me for quite some time. I have long suspected that it might be an ingrown toenail.
Quite some time back when I was still in the army, a bunk mate of mine had the affliction of an ingrown toenail. As harmless as it sounds, his case of an ingrown toenail was apparently serious enough to warrant him a visit for a small surgery in order to remove his source of discomfort. The after effects of the surgery had his toe in a thick wad of bandage for several weeks, which during this period, he was excused from wearing boots (thus, 'Excuse Uniform' status).
So while showering today, I took the nail clipper and attempted to get rid of the offending piece of toenail that i think is wedge rather deeply at the side of the toenail in the skin. I had to clip and tear away chunks of skin and nail to reach my affliction and it was really a rather bloody affair. I had to wash away the blood quite often or I will lose sight of my target. Despite the pain throughout the process, my obsession with that offending piece of myself that I am trying to get rid of kept me going. In the end, the dull ache on my toe is lessened to some degree, but replaced with a rather sharp pain whenever there is contact with the area. I also hope Dettol body foam is a decent enough disinfectant.
And there is also this stiff lower back that I am having for the whole day that prevents me from keeping my back straight while walking or arching back, lest there be this unbearable pain. I think this is either from an improper sleeping posture from last night or it could be a slipped disc. The latter will mean too many complications with a somewhat pessimistic outlook in the near future. We will have to see.
=========================================
Rainy weathers these past few days is making myself and people around me sick, but oh, cold nights are so good to sleep in!
I remembered something from a friend's blog just last week when she says how nice it will be to cuddle up with someone she loves between sheets and blankets while reading a book or magazine together. How nice! How cosy! And how I long to do that too. All along, I have always find myself snuggling under the cover of my blanket, lying face-down and resting the pillow beneath my chest and comfortably reading my book. And I too, yearn to share this comfortable moment with someone. I had the same day dream, same longing.
Then, Reality kicks in. If we have to cuddle in bed and read together, we definitely must share a common interest in books. I don't think a magazine about Fahrenheit will interest me very much, which is what my ex-girlfriend likes to read, and I don't know of any lady who will be interested to read 'Xenocide' with me. In fact, the number of ladies I personally know who actually read books for leisure can be counted with one hand. Only. No one is even interested in 'Alice Through the Looking-Glass' anymore.
Most of the ladies I know are into clubbing, parties, clothes, designer brands, teen pop stars, gossips. Too little in common.
=========================================
Just 25 years plus a week old and I am already feeling ancient. Does anyone else have this feeling of being out of sync with the people around you?
A great rabbi stands teaching in the marketplace. It happens that a husband finds proof that morning of his wife's adultery, and a mob carries her to the marketplace to stone her to death.
In one version of the story, the rabbi walks forward and stands beside the woman. Out of respect for him the mob forbears, and waits with the stones heavy in their hands. "Is there anyone here," he says to them, "who has not desired another man's wife, another woman's husband?"
They murmur and say, "We all know the desire. But, Rabbi, none of us has acted on it."
The rabbi says, "Then kneel down and give thanks that God made you strong." He takes the woman by the hand and leads her out of the market. Just before he lets her go, he whispers to her, "Tell the lord magistrate who saved his mistress. Then he'll know I am his loyal servant."
So the woman lives, because the community is too corrupt to protect itself from disorder.
Another rabbi, another city. He goes to her and stops the mob, as in the other story and says, "Which of you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone."
The people are abashed, and they forget their unity of purpose in the memory of their own individual sins. Someday, they think, I may be like this woman, and I'll hope for forgiveness and another chance. I should treat her the way I wish to be treated.
As they open their hands and let the stones fall to the ground, the rabbi picks up one of the fallen stones, lifts it high over the woman's head, and throws it straight down with all his might. It crushes her skull and dashes her brains onto the cobblestones.
"Nor am I without sin," he says to the people. "But if we allow only perfect people to enforce the law, the law will soon be dead, and our city with it."
So the woman died because her community was too rigid to endure her deviance.
The famous version of this story is noteworthy because it is so startlingly rare in our experience. Most communities lurch between decay and rigor mortis, and when they veer too far, they die. Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.
-San Angelo, Letters to an Incipient Heretic (Excerpt from 'Speaker of the Dead')
=========================================
While I was blog-hopping many many months ago, I came across an article entitled 'Pornography' and the contents of the article were only remotely like what its title suggested. The contents is a critique by Stephen Bond on the book, 'Ender's Game', in which he compared it to pornography:
Imagine, for example, that you were unaware of porn, and watching one of those softcore "erotic thrillers" on late-night cable. Within minutes you would notice that it was no ordinary thriller, that something about the storytelling was a bit off. You might wonder if it was strictly necessary, from a narrative standpoint, for the characters to disrobe and hump each other every five minutes. You might wonder why random, pointless characters are introduced just to be fucked, and why the plot is contrived in such a way as to allow all the leading characters to hook up in every combination a heterosexual male might care to see. To one expecting a conventional narrative, the porn narrative has a demented, obsessive appearance; it is static, repetitive, moves only in circles.
Such was my experience reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, which purports to be a classic sci-fi novel, but is actually, I now realise, a work of pornography. Some readers might be deceived by the book's scrupulous avoidance of sexual content, but it just happens that sex is not the particular fetish of Ender's Game: it finds its gratification elsewhere.
The book in fact caters towards two related fetishes. The most obvious of these is geek wish-fulfillment. Ender Wiggin, the protagonist of the book, is a classic Mary Sue — a pre-pubescent boy genius who is simply the best at everything. Compared to his peers at the space battle school for gifted kids, Ender is wiser, more intelligent, more sensitive and loving, better at his studies, a better hacker, a better fighter, a better leader. He is better than all of them, and they hate him for it. They all hate him for it — all except the girls, of course — and they never let him forget it. They want to crush him, humiliate him, kill him, but Ender is better than them, and because he is better than them, he always wins through.
If you are interested in the full article, as I am, you can read it HERE.
The article's usage of words and comparing a sci-fi novel to pornography, of all things, was funny enough to piqued my curiosity about the book which I've never read prior to reading the article. And it was only recently, when I chanced upon the novel 'Ender's Game' at Choa Chu Kang library, that I decide to find out for myself why people who read the book either declare it the sci-fi novel of the decade or condemning the book and reducing it to 'the worst possible trash ever written'.
Reading the Introduction section in the first few pages of the book turns me off. The author, Orson Scott Card, wrote the introduction like how a salesperson might introduce his wares. There was even a reference to an American soldier, who being a fan of 'Ender's Game', wrote a letter to praise his literary work and saying things like how he can empathise with the characters in the novel. The soldier had wanted to write to Orson Scott Card since reading his book, but had all along put it off until he was assigned to a hostile military zone, where he do not know what can happen tomorrow, thus, prompting him to write the letter before he don't have the chance to do so.
I do not know which is more believable between the two. The author? Or the soldier?
Regardless of how sickening I felt while reading the book's Introduction, I continue onto Chapter 1, and then Chapter 2. And quite suddenly, I realised how much I enjoy the novel. By the time I finished 'Ender's Game', I can barely contain my excitement at wanting to read the sequel 'Speaker Of The Dead', so much that I rushed off to the nearest library to search for it.
The first book, 'Ender's Game' has various themes that centres around the psyche and dilemmas of Ender Wiggin, child genius and protagonist of the novel. His relationships with adults who barely understand him, his relationships with his equally brilliant siblings, his compassion at odds with his ruthlessness, his sense of duty to the communities that outcast him, his guilt and moral dilemma about war and killing.
The second book, 'Speaker of the Dead', mainly revolves around religion, ethical issues, community morals and sociology, concepts of trust, truth and communication, relationships between humans and relationships between humans and what we (before reading the book) will consider as aliens.
I was never a fan of sci-fi, but 'Ender's Game' and 'Speaker Of The Dead' are definitely books of this genre that I can appreciate. Read it for yourselves!
I bought a $300 handphone pouch as a birthday present for a friend!!
Ok, technically, is -we- bought a $300 handphone pouch as a birthday present for a friend with 'we' consisting of 15 people, but the emphasis should be on the '$300 handphone pouch'. I was quite baffled as to why a handphone pouch can be so expensive. Probably because of the Yves Saint Lauren tag? At the end of the day, a handphone pouch is still just a handphone pouch, something to just hold your iPhone/Nokia 1208 with it (or hold it in your hand, its the same thing).
I have yet to see it, but it better be studded all over with diamonds or that Queen Elizabeth is using a similar handphone pouch as well.
Or that the birthday girl likes it, so as to make it worthwhile. =)
I copied and paste 2 different blogskins' coding onto seperate notepad documents, applied both blogskins to see their effects, compare the html codings and use trial and error to mix and match what I want. Took quite awhile too!
If my trial and error fails, I will google my query and search for an answer.
If still fail, I will nudge Xael on MSN, wait until he can switch away from his girlfriend's chat window to mine, ask him my technical question, wait for him to switch back to my MSN window again and ta-dah!
Went to Sentosa last Sunday with Chester, Stella, Elleen, Socks and Kelvin. Was initially expecting 10 people but there were last minute change of plans. Nonetheless, everybody had fun playing beach volleyball and some impromptu games as improvised by Chester!
Mwhahahahaha... I was a happy man that day, but I shall not say why.
Jun-Jun and Xael joined us for dinner and L4D LAN gaming before we ended off for the day.
Yes!! To the Liverpool v Man Utd match last night, which I took such utter relish in. I was dismayed at Vidic's various attempts to break Torres's leg, I chuckled when Carragher brought down Owen and I applauded when Vidic got sent off. It was definitely a dramatic match and tension between the two teams were running high. But there is no doubt that Liverpool was the better team last night and Man Utd's loss can only be attributed to their lacklustre performance... Or you can attribute the blame to Nani or Valencia. But seriously, Valencia's shot at the post, which really found its mark, was so incredibly accurate that I almost cheered for him.
There might be people out there who cried tears of joy, but definitely not me, I know my favourite red team still has a long way to climb to the top. Then again... tears of joy?! I mean, what the fuck man, seriously?
Champions or hopefuls. We can only root for our favourite team.
And school resumed, classes started. I am satisfied with my new timetable: Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon, Saturday morning.
The only problem is my late-night animes, late-night gamings, late-night MSN chats and even late-night 'staring into space', which effectively translates to me being late for classes or unable to concentrate or making out intelligible words from the lecturer's droning voice.
You can tell that we were quite drunk, or at least very high. We finished a bottle of Macallan 12 while playing some drinking games. With the exception of Kelvin Chia, none of us were exceptionally good drinkers. Chester did a dance which vaguely resembles Wondergirls' 'Nobody', that more or less says the state he was in.
Went for my second Editorial chalet. When Xael and me checked in, there were only the 2 of us for the next few hours at the chalet. We just checked out our chalet's facilities, chat about our relationships, went for a run, went for a dip in the swimming pool. Then we went for dinner where Iris and Pearline joined us and subsequently, more people joined us. We spent the night playing 'Articulate', sort of like a variation of Taboo, and then we tell stories until the next morning. The next day was spent more on preparing that evening's steamboat dinner.
The downside was that my first Editorial chalet was really good. I think that was when I really bonded with Xael and Junyu and many other people. In comparison with that first chalet, both Xael and I were a little disappointed at the turnout rate, but we made the most out of it.
And in the end, I had fun and was sorry not being able to stay for the second night due to the Nike Human race the next morning. It's really the company that counts.
And then there was the Nike Human Race 09!! I participated this year with Rileon, and we joined up with Chester's group and Socks' group. I ran with Leslie last year and achieved a 1 hour 5 mins timing, this year my timing was 1 hr 10 mins. Overall, I feel quite good about the run and my timing and even the rather impassive, cynical Rileon agrees. So I have already made up my mind to run more often and participated again for the third year running in 2010!!
Rileon: Really left me behind!!
Coreen: 8km Queen!!
Socks: A little distance behind me
I really ran till I was quite shagged. Saw quite a few familiar faces before, during and after the run. Near the finishing point, Weibin gave me a little speed boost with a little encouragement. I really should have trained more before the race.
After the race, we went to try out this free leg massage provided for at the Nike Human Race event. There were free ice creams and free polariods to take too! Either Nike is really rich, or they really know how to do their maths well. Probably both.
After the event and lunch together, we parted ways with me, Rileon, Socks and Coreen going over to Aguda's place to play mahjung!
Am I all alone in the universe? There's no love on these streets I have given mine away to a world that didn't want it anyway So this is my new freedom It's funny I don't remember being chained But nothing seems to make sense anymore Without you I'm always twenty minutes late
...
And time goes by so slowly The nights are cold and lonely I shouldn't be holding on But I'm still holding on for you
And the lyrics just flowed into my mind as I sat in train stations wondering which train to take, where to go. It's funny how accurately I can remember the lyrics although I haven't heard the song for years.
We made plans on Tuesday night to meet on Friday, but turns out she made other plans with other people on Friday morning. It happened many times in the past, and it happened again today. Nothing changes.
And when she told me shes angry at me for making her come out all the way to town, I snapped. I left the pink pouch in the garbage bin at Tanjong Pagar. The effort of many nights, the effort of more than 3 months, I want to leave it all behind.
Every single time she stood me up for something or some people, I feel like a fucking spare tyre. You know, the type of spare that you go out with only when there is no other things to do, no one to go out with.
As I waited in train stations and wandered in town, everyone I text either have their own programs or never reply me. Some I don't bother messaging knowing they will be busy or won't bother with me anyway. No one wants to be my spare tyre. And I felt so very hungry, furious, disappointed and lonely. Where are my friends when I need a companion?
I switched off my phone.
Loneliness is the one reliable companion that is always around for me. Oh well, most of us will die lonely anyway.
I am supposed to wake up at 6am for my trip to Malacca, but I can't even sleep.
There were some significant events since I last blogged my last entry.
1. Went on a trip to Cameron Highlands with my family. 2. Worked on a 3 week project at ExxonMobil to earn some pretty good cash. 3. Rileon self-draw a 'Thirteen Orphans' winning hand at mahjung. (T_T) 4. Steeled my resolve to conclude things with her. 5. Rileon concludes his driving lessons and bought his own car! 6. Rileon drove us around with his new car! 7. Went for Mayday's DNA Concert '09! 8. Release of exam results. 9. My keyboard is haunted!
My youngest nephew and newest addition to the 黄 family. At 3 months old, he loves to play with water and constantly demonstrates his amazing dexterity by putting his own toes into his mouth.
The only photo I took at Cameron Highlands with my handphone while the rest is in my Aunt's camera that lays in her handbag, which lays in her wardrobe's drawer in her bedroom at her place in Ipoh, Malaysia.
The 2 and a half weeks spent working in ExxonMobil is both refreshingly productive and satisfying. To spend time working instead of rotting at home and being appreciated by your boss and colleagues for your work is refreshingly productive. To have a significant boost in your bank statements at the end of your work stint is satisfying.
And this is Rileon who self-draw his winning hand and won all my lunch money for an entire week. How dare he!! And I tried to psycho him into treating us dinner by warning him how incredibly bad luck it is to win by the 'Thirteen Orphans' (十三幺) hand. Of course, I don't believe in such nonsense superstitions, and apparently he don't believe either but at least he paid for drinks over dinner. LOL.
Rileon also spent $41,000 on a 2 year old, black, second hand Hyundai Avante. He actually paid a whole $10,000 more to have the sunroof version of the Avante rather than the non-sunroof normal version. Why he wants to pay $10k more to have a window on his car roof really baffles me.
But to be honest, I feel really proud of him because he bought his own car with his own money. Never mind, the extra window on the car roof. Never mind his inability to recognise roads and destinations. Never mind how sitting in the front passenger seat while hes driving reminds me of some past horror movie that I watched.
Paying for his own driving lessons, passing his driving test, buying his own car and driving it around while learning the roads, this beats any motherfucker who drives and flaunts his rich father's Benz, hands-down.
And we went to Mayday's DNA Concert '09 at Singapore Indoor Stadium on their 2nd day of performance. They are terrific!! They really rock everyone off their feet and their guitar work was fantastic! They performed till way after midnight on both days so as to not disappoint their fans, even to the extent of singing themselves hoarse, as evident when they start addressing their fans. I still remember when I bought my first Mayday album back in 1999. And 怪兽 was my favourite band member.
My Saitek Eclipse keyboard seems to have a mind on its own. Every now and then at random intervals, my keyboard will toggle mute on and off, start repetitively typing keys 'asd', opens adobe acrobat and opens 30+ Windows Search windows. Everytime it begins, I have to unplug my keyboard for a few mins. Like what the fuck right?
Nope, not trojans. Might be a virus though multiple scans all turned out clean. And I really don't want to give up my keyboard because it was a birthday present from the guys some 2, 3 years back and it really matches my computer and monitor!!
And to end this entry, I am linking a few videos of the infamous Peter Chao, introduced to us by Nomed. Check out his videos, they made me laugh till my sides ache.
The event "22 of Us to Redang" was a blast. Aptly named by a friend, Haze, and wrongly spelt as 'Radang' by Sharon. The soft sand, sun and sea of Pulau Redang will definitely enthrall those satiated with urbanistic Sentosa.
Pulau Redang was made famous by the movie "Summer Holidays" (夏日的麼麼茶) casted by Richie Ren (任贤齐) and Sammi Cheng (郑秀文) more than a decade ago. While pollution, tons of tourists and land developments in that area have mellowed down the scenic appeal as first presented in the film, it is nonetheless a great weekend getaway for beach enthusiasts.
We were on a snorkeling package that lasted 2 days and 2 nights staying at the resort Redang Beach Resort. On hindsight, the best and most luxurious resort will be the one next to ours, Laguna Resort, but it would seem to me that our resort is just as good a choice considering that the working staff were mostly cute babes and everyone were all smiles and heart-warmingly friendly. Accommodations and food were better than satisfactory.
Snorkeling sessions were only in the mornings and afternoons and for most of the time, we were exploring the island and the facilities at our own leisure. It was a fantastic beach party on the first night (alcohol is cheap!), and a search for 'blue sand' and KTV sessions (everything is cheap!) on the second night.
'Blue sand' turns out to be a type of tiny grain-like sea plankton that gets washed up onto the beaches amongst the sand and it gives off this blue luminescent glow that makes people think it's glowing blue sand. The plankton starts dying once it leaves water. Holding and cupping it in your hands or having it glow at your fingertips, its both mesmerising and serenely beautiful, but the glow starts to diminish after a minute or so and will slowly die away eventually. The most beautiful things in nature are also very short-lived, like butterflies and shooting stars. It's a law of nature.
The snorkeling sessions were fascinating. The colourful corals and their equally colourful residents. Signature residents include the gigantic sea eel, sea turtle, pufferfish (non-venomous) and a huge Grouper fish.
Corals, fishes made up a myriad of colours in the clear, cool waters pleasing to the eye, and even harder to forget.
There are plenty of other water sports and beach activities available as well. With the majority of people from our group being proficient players in beach volleyball, we attracted quite alot of spectators as we played a few good games. Even the inflatable water bed I borrowed from Xael turns out to be a huge source of fun!
Overall, its an entirely refreshing experience to go overseas with a huge group of fun-loving friends. The sun-tanning on the beach chairs together, catching the waves, chilling out over drinks, the late nights, the dancing, the walks.
The downside of it all? Pulau Redang is located off the coast of the Malaysian state of Terengganu, which makes the place accessible to us via a coach journey of 8 hours and another 2 hours or so on ferry. Just going there to and fro takes up one day and one night, severely incapacitating the time we can spend there. We started our journey on Thursday night and returned on Sunday night. If you want to go, I suggest taking a plane or something.
This event was made possible because of See Yah and Veron who took time and effort to organise, plan and co-ordinate.
The 22 of us are: See Yah, Veron, Yuling, Sharon, Weijian, Lavent, Cookie, Haze, Chernie, Jenny, Bryan, E.T, Henji, Jia Hui, Peiwen, Qiu Yun, Meifong, Ah Quan, Seok Ting, Ah Tai, Xixi and yours truly.
Rileon: Really left me behind!!
I really ran till I was quite shagged. Saw quite a few familiar faces before, during and after the run. Near the finishing point, Weibin gave me a little speed boost with a little encouragement. I really should have trained more before the race.
