Blog Blog Blogging away

There is a reason why there’re so many more ‘functions’ –
planned or unplanned this year.

This is the year my father officially retires.

Yes, after 40 years in nursing, he’ll be retired come this
March. Right now, he is clearing his leave and kickstarting his new career-The
Homestay Karaoke Talent. I am already weeping for my mom….

Anyway over the weekend, I was so busy entertaining that I
hardly found time to even do my projects or study for my skills test next week!

Each time I am engaged in conversations with anyone, my body
is there but my mind is screaming, “oh shit….oh shit…..there’s more than a
month’s worth of skills theory to study and I have done nothing!”

The only time I was fully ‘present’ was whenever we were
playing card games (ie. Gambling). My hand at the beginning was really good, I
kept getting 21 with 3 cards and kept winning, it got even better when I was
made the ‘banker’, I won $10 after only 2 rounds! Then the stakes got higher
when my uncle joined in and invested $10 to my $2 for a single hand. Needless
to say, we won. My cousin was miffed that her own father only played 1 hand
just to win $10 from her.

My luck started running out when my younger cousin became
the banker. Damn he’s smart! He practically made me loose almost half my
earnings. Everything went downhill from there. Jason, whose luck had been
bottoming out, finally turned in his favor and he won a few hands. Even my
sister won back what she had lost initially.

Overall general damage to my wallet after the weekend = -$5.

<-my sis, waiting for Jason to deal the cards…she’s been winning..

<- Ooh Brandon, ‘big money! big money!’

<-2007 Gambling Anonymous meeting convenes for the first time..

It was pretty fun playing the card games even as the ‘above
50s’ were yodeling away on the karaoke. When we were not playing cards, all of
us ‘mid 20s’ were engaged in all sorts of conversations from animes to the
latest PSP and career woes or lack thereof.

The party this weekend, never seem to end-especially for my
dad. Even right now, he is singing karaoke with his buddy-to their own unheard
rhythm. My mom told me that earlier, it was free for all acoustic sing-a-long
of John Denver cover versions.

Thankfully I was out.

Sometimes saying goodbye is the hardest thing
The tears are in my heart

Sometimes saying hello is the hardest thing
Knowing you could never understand a word I say

Sometimes not saying anything is the easiest thing
But seeing you in pain hurts

Sometimes not knowing is the easiest thing
Then I remember you as you once were

Sometimes loving you is the hardest thing
As you like your independence

Sometimes hating you is the hardest thing
Especially when you look blindly through me

Sometimes talking about you is the easiest thing
Because you were a huge part of my life

Sometimes forgetting you is the easiest thing
It keeps the pain away

Sometimes when I think of you, my heart breaks
Sometimes I miss you, my heart breaks

Sometimes I wonder if I should have been better
You should never have been alone

Sometimes I wonder if you are happier
If God is treating you better

I will always miss you, Bobby.

Last Friday, the 9^th
of February 2007 a couple of us went all the way to the airport to try Popeye’s.

I cannot remember how
the idea came up in the first place but, somehow, it became an unofficial
outing after school to the airport.

Crazy eh.

We actually took a
train all the way from Yio Chu Kang to Changi Airport itself, changing
TWICE-once at Cityhall and another time at Tanah Merah, all in the name of
FOOD.

<-Ooh look! Auntie May was with us too!

<-The 2 strong advocators of Popeye’s, and Ben

I have eaten at
Popeye’s before, twice to be exact, and always with my brother when we were
either sending or picking up my parents from their trips overseas. I remember
the hard bread-biscuit that was made out of corn and tasted so damn good that
my brother and I would order an extra piece, also, I remembered the small corn
bit that came as a side which you had to order. Somehow though, the memories of
their chicken were relegated behind the bread and corn bit whenever I think of
Popeye’s. My brother, the lucky fella, used to eat it almost everyday when he
used to work at the airport under CIAS.

So, it was with much
anticipation, stomach prepped and appetites whetted feeling that we zeroed in
on Popeye’s the moment we arrived. I thought it was rather cute that 6 of us
ladies and 1 guy were so intent on ordering our food that we did not really
cared much about our upcoming Bio Test (which, incidentally was today).

Alas, Jun and I found
to our dismay that the menu seemed to have changed. Gone were the corn bit and
the bread-biscuit as well. However, they still served us the bread-biscuit but,
it was a saltier version and the chicken was still the same. HOWEVER, the
mashed potato was still as I had remembered it, slightly herby with a tinge of
spice to its sauce, and what generous amount of sauce it was!

<-Its a good thing one of us had enough sense to remember taking this shot before tucking  in. Thanks Nicole!

<-When you’re at the airport, its a tradition to take a picture(as if you’re flying away) at the viewing gallery.

So, after Popeye’s
was done, we had a real problem. We had to find a place to sit down and
actually do some studying.

After much ‘blind
leading the blind’, we finally found a place at Coffeebean at T2-right smack
infront of Mini-Toons and Mini-bits, and diagonally across was the Candy store….so
imagine the amount of side-tracking we did.

<-On a lark, we decided to go to Chinese Gardens to take in the beautiful festive scenery-as if!

It was amazing how I
even managed to get up to the part about “Oxidising Agents” under the Sterilization
section of my bio notes by the time we left.

It was Saturday morning and I was already up and about by
7am! Freakin weirdo-NOT.

Had an early appointment to meet CT & Mel that morning.
We were going to shoot…..

My brother had to accompany us cos he was the only one with
the membership and license. So, he dragged his weary ass out of bed around
7.30am.

I have no idea why, but I actually gave CT and Mel the wrong
meeting place and did not even realise it till my brother told me that we had
reached the stop. Confused, I kept asking him," But where is Choa Chu
Kang? Choa Chu Kang already?"

"Huh? What Choa Chu Kang? Its Boon Lay. The last
stop."

"What?! What?! Oh shites! Oh shites! I told them to
meet at Choa Chu Kang! Why is it not at Choa Chu Kang?!" I actually
freaked at the platform. I knew the moment I got Mel on the phone that I was
‘dead’ when I told her about it- I could even hear CT yelling behind her that
she was going to kill me.

Yeah, so I spent the next 10-15mins wondering how I was
going to die whilst waiting for them to finally meet us at Boon Lay.

And they had planned to have me as a ‘live’ target.

Thankfully, the novelty shooting overshadowed that morning’s
screw up and thus, I was spared. Hee!

At the range, we had this particular target picture of a man
in yellow t-shirt, that somehow looked like a certain lecturer in our school.
It was really strange because this was the first time I see a cina-looking
target, with the stereotypical squinty eyes and ang-moh-rish 5 o’clock shadow.
I was so used to seeing big fat ang-moh targets from watching all those cop
dramas and movies that this one was, so out of place.

So, here’re the low-down of our shooting, according to my brother:

Mel: He was so sorry that she had to endure the empty shells
smacking into her. Despite her ‘Ows! Ows!Ows!’ she managed to score the eye of
the cina target-which was good. Moves at her own pace whilst shooting and quite
calm.

CT: Eager. Did the snap when she shot continuously but
somehow always aimed low. Suspected she must be short-sighted. Did better with
the cina target (I wonder why…hee)

Me: Eager also. Did snap also. Must aim above intended
target site and make up mind about which hand and eye to shoot, aim.

So, generally we all did alright. With a little more
practice, we would have gotten over the initial shock and jolt of each shot.

Some pics of us amigos (thanks to CT’s camera):

Fierce Mel..

Determined CT…

Confused me…

This is how it shoulda been…..with smokes and all, 5 rounds out before you even take a single shot.

The 3 Amigos….and the suspiciously CINA looking target that looks like…..