NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Constantine is voted out American Idol!!!! Why?!?! It feels like deja vu to me. Last year LaToya London, also a great singer, was out of the show prematurely in my opinion. *sigh* OK then, I'll pin my hopes on Vonzell then. Because there's no one else "suitable" to be the next American Idol.

This blog entry is going to be long coz I'll be writing on what I did in Singapore from 23~25 April.

~~SATURDAY~~
The diesel crisis in Malaysia is getting bad. The bus driver that sent me from BP to JB was stopping or looking at almost every petrol station along the way (100+ km!). And the saddest thing is, it is all man-made. The government is imposing a quota on the amount a petrol station may have because they want to stop "diesel trafficking", ie. diesel theives. But the root of the problem is actually because of the diesel subsidies. Hope the situation will be alleviated soon.

Anyway, I arrived at Singapore earlier than expected and I made my way to Orchard MRT station. My lunch was bought from BreadTalk in Wisma Atria. I just didn't feel like sitting in those crowded regions to eat. I made some phone calls and smses while I was eating on a bench in front of Marriott Hotel. Met up with KV around 12.30pm and we went to Grand Hyatt.

We got a poster, a T-shirt and some brochures etc. from the booth. We later heard from a prof that they had spent S$40 on each of us. Well, I was quite obvious they made an effort to "attract" us... there was dim sum and strawberry cheese cake and chocolate mousse cake etc. (man... I should have eaten more!) Anyway, the talk was OK, got some more info on the Aerospace Engineering course. But still, I have to see what NUS has to offer. Some people think that NTU is desperate for students... well, can't blame them. Lots of people I know shun NTU because they think it is out-of-the-way and "not-hip" and "ulu" etc. But I think in the engineering field they are equals with, if not better than, NUS. At least now that I've got a place more or less confirmed. NUS should do things faster!!!

After the talk, me, KV and his friend, Eugene went to Cineleisure. Wanted to play pool but it was full. Wanted to go K-Box (sing Karaoke), but too ex. In the end, we went to an arcade. People who know me know that I don't play arcade games one... But then, I still joined them for a "air-table puck game" (dunno what's it called). It was 2 on 1 and I was the "1"! Ay... so suey, but then they only beat me 12-11, so it was OK for me. Had dinner with KV at Cineleisure Pastamania. I didn't spend too much, just S$9+ (considering it is Pastamania). I don't think we did anything after that. I went to Anglican House.

Anglican House... not much diff to me. I got the key from the guard and then I put my stuff in my room. Then I (somehow) engaged a talk with the guard, and we talked and talked about lots and lots of stuff but mainly rotating about Singapore and Malaysian politics and government policies. Haha... Mdm Tan came down for her office duty, so I asked for pillows. I also checked the mail. Got one from IE Singapore, inviting me for a tea-session on the 17th of MARCH, which is long overdue. Another one from A*Star, which I'm not intersted in. Took some letters for others including NewMan Magazine for KV (but I read it first before giving it to him... haha).

Went back to my room to read (I like to read OK?). Then i started seeing people mengintai (spying; peeping) me. Then someone open the door. Then I saw Peklyn and Eunice (TPJC juniors) and some Indon boarders. Then I talked and talked to the juniors until 1am+. Took bath then slept. Aircon not functioning... darn...

~~SUNDAY~~
I woke up at 8am, expecting Oh Ching Mien (OCM) to sms me or something but he didn't. Went back to sleep. He was in the room already when I came back from the toilet. We went to see our bikes then we realised that they were locked together with a chain! &*^#$%$@*&! So I couldn't remove it and no one was in the office. *sigh* Anyway, OCM later went to church and I went down to Fengshan for breakfast. Came back to hostel, smsed Joanna that we're here. Later the 3 of us went to Simpang Bedok to yum cha. Then OCM and Joanna (both who got BioEngineering) went for their tea-session at Goodwill Park Hotel. I went to have lunch at Burger King (BK) with the ex-Study Group people (Jeff, Cliff and Winnie). Walked around Tampines Mall (TM) after that. Received a call from OCM so went to Orchard to meet him.

OCM told me that he met this guy at the tea-session who was also a Malaysian, also a JC ASEAN scholar, also stayed at AH, also studied in TJ. Supposedly the people who went to the bioengineering talk all got straight A's. However, this guy told Ching Mien he didn't get scholarship to Uni and the reason being he DIDN'T GET STRAIGHT A's. OH NO!!! I was worried then... remained gloomy for the next hour. Met up with KV and we went to Borders and Kinokuniya to look at books. We went to see Minh Huong at a restaurant opposite Yoshinoya in Ngee Ann City. She said the shop was going to close down that day after being in the business for 12 years. We met with Chen Hoay at Orchard MRT then ate at Breeks in Ngee Ann City. Played pool at K-Pool in Cineleisure afterwards until around 11pm. Apparently Chen Hoay chose Law as a first choice for NUS and he's going to take the tests and it's just for fun. JUST FOR FUN. Gosh. Anyway, me and OCM talked and talked at night when we were back in the hostel... reminiscing the past... haha...

~~MONDAY~~
We woke up a bit late. Got our meals refund (S$47 each) and I also took for Eric. Helped Eric take his Hp bills too. Took the chain off our bikes. Yi Cheng, Wilson and Yi Jian's bikes are still there. Hm... I'll send them an email or something perhaps... OCM went to TJC to get some stuff, while I proceeded to MPH at CityLink Mall to buy books (because I heard it was cheaper than Kinokuniya or Borders). Borders has opened a new (huge) bookshop in Times Square KL I think... should check it out... I bought 4 books straight away. Got 20% for "The Rule of Four" and "Angels and Demons". The other 2 books are "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time"(I've finished reading this... Nice read! There's maths and geog in the book though...). Went to meet up with KV in Somerset MRT. Me and Ching Mien were late.

We went to meet Eric who was working at Lemon Grass Thai Restaurant at The Heeren. He's gotten a bit too white now and has more pimples. Anyway, we passed him his stuff and then went to Cineleisure's K-Box. We took the lunch set, which was really kinda cheap, and all of us paid only S$20-something in total. If we had gone during peak hours it could cost up to S$20+ for just ONE person. Anyway, after singing, me and OCM went back to hostel I think... Met up with Lita and passed her the bike keys. I was worried I couldn't get back to Malaysia on time so I hurriedly packed my stuff and went to Kranji.

There was a jam at Woodlands!! I dunno why. Breezed through the customs quite easily actually. By the time I reached Larkin it was around 8.40pm. I hurriedly went to the booth to buy my ticket for the 8.45pm bus. Later, I realised that I was the ONLY passenger on board, and I was like:"........" Anyway, I only started talking to the bus driver when we were near Parit Raja. He said I was lucky because usually the last bus is at 8pm. It was because of the diesel shortage that the bus service was postponed.

I hadn't eaten my dinner yet and it was around 10.30pm when I was in BP. So my dad brought me to eat Yong Tau Foo at Ah Fatt's. Then I met Kiang Hao and Ong Chong Gene(who I had not met for, 4 years?). Kiang Hao had smsed me earlier and we were quite shocked to see each other. Anyway, he wanted to ask me about NTU and NUS stuff...

Phew! That took quite some time to write...

Got a letter from NTU yesterday afternoon. It said:"Congratulations on your gaining admission to the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) NTU. As a valuable addition to our MAE family......

Ok, basically they are inviting me to attend this High-Tea and Information Sharing Session at Grand Hyatt Hotel. How can I refuse? Haha... Got to "korek" (dig) out information from them. Have to be "was-was" (careful) because I must make sure their degree will be acknowledged by most companies and also because if I join them, I'll be the first batch of Aerospace Engineer Graduates from NTU. So there are pros and cons.

So I guess I'll have to go to Singapore earlier. Oh well, that's fine, as long as the hostel master allows me to stay an extra night. I found out from Minh Huong that our TJC junior's junior ASEAN scholars are not staying in Anglican House. *sigh* Don't get to meet them then. I guess AH will be meant for Tampines Junior College scholars from this year onwards... She also told me, Mr. Ng is giving us our meals refund (which amount to around S$40!). Yay!!! She'll be visiting JB and KL in May; don't get to join her i guess. And another thing is that she said no one told her about TJ Alumni Choir, and she's sad because she would've liked to join but it's too late now...

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. So he has retired liao. *sigh* Everyone is getting older now. Time flies so quickly...

I've just added a new web link. I named it "Learn Stuff". It's actually "Tutorial Guide" ( http://www.tutorialguide.net/ ). Rather interesting site... you can learn many diverse things there, like basic photography, playing pool for starters, learning simple German etc. Of course, as it is online, no one can be there to direct you lah; but nevertheless, I believe this is a good site learn the rudimentary skills. Check it out!

Other stuff...
American Idol.... Nadia Turner is out. I used to support her, but now I'm supporting Constantine instead. He's astonishing!

My dad's going to retire soon... wah... But he's going to continue working anyway...

Called Mr. Ng (hostel matron) yesterday concerning our bikes. He said that he was going to remove the iron bar, and he said we took things for granted... ...then he said he should charge us S$10 for each month we've left them there (It's always about money for him leh...). Oh well, anyway, me and OCM going down to S'pore on 24th this month. Probably gonna donate the bikes to the church, if possible.

Went to climb Bukit Banang today with Theng Wei, Kok Hou, Joon Huan and Poh Sin. We reached the top really fast. Must be because we kept talking while we were walking. Haha... anyway, I brought my digital camera along so i shot a few photos of us on top of the hill (see Photos!--Meeting with Old Friends).

Next...

****American Idol****
This week's theme was "A song from the year you were born". Nadia Turner was my favourite, but she didn't do well this time. Hm... Vonzell did a good performance with "Let's Hear It From The Boys". She got the whole crowd like moving! Haha... but actually, the best was Constantine. Definitely. He sang this cool song by Queen called "Bohemian Rhapsody". I've heard it before and he definitely did the song justice. I mean, hear it from the notorious Simon Cowell himself: "Astonishing!". Can you believe that!

I hope Constantine wins! Rock on!!!

My whole family got sick 1~2 days ago. We either had headaches, fever, stomachaches or soreness all over. We still don't know what's the cause... but we believe it was more or less some form of food poisoning. By today everyone is OK already... thank goodness...

Lots of things to complain about... but I'm mainly disappointed by Syarikat Air Johor (Johor Water Company). We have had no water on and off for more than a week already. I dunno what in the world could have caused this. And strangely, it has been raining a lot recently. What an irony, seeing lots of water outside and no water inside.

Mosquitoes are dominating the house!!! We have no idea what to do! They seem to be immune of mosquito coils and they are omnipresent in the house, 24/7! Gosh... dunno how long it'll last...

Received an SMS from Ching Mien informing that Chen Hoay told him that Mr. Ng (hostel matron) is going to 'remove' our bicycles. Hm... I guess that means that I'll be making a trip down to Singapore soon (1~2 weeks time). My embarkation/disembarkation card expires end of this month...

Met Poh Sin a few days ago. He's a good friend of mine back in secondary school, and he was PRO in Bio and Malay. We (Steven, me and him) always compared our essay marks with each other, try to outdo each other in tests etc.... haha... the good old days. It was healthy competition.

Then, we all split; I got the ASEAN scholarship, so I went to Singapore; Steven didn't get anything then, so he continued on in Form 6 and eventually scored 4As (CGPA 4.0--highest possible); Poh Sin got into Matrikulasi and eventually scored 4.0 as well and he's going to start his 2nd Semester at UKM next month. Oh , by the way, he got Medicine... the hardest course to get...

Steven is thinking of Chemical Engineering at NUS. Kiang Hao (another person who scored 4.0 for STPM, not so close to me) also wants to study the same course at the same uni. What is going on? Why is everyone going for Chemical Engineering? I heard that this course has become quite hot in Malaysia as well, and for admittance to public uni for this course, you must get 4.0!

Amazing... imagine a story (over 50,000 words) without a single 'E' (being the most common letter in English)... but someone had done it. Only heard about it last time, but here's the actual thing!

http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby