Blog-guy, not blogger.

On Holiday.

So, I've managed to find a little motivation to do some of my work this afternoon. Not much though, but at least it was a start. Headed down to east coast to meet some of the church people for cycling. Short one at that though, real short. But it was fun, and thank God we didn't get into any accidents, despite a few close calls. RachTan tried to get herself into the photography craze everyone's jumping into and i have to say that jump looks quite enticing, not that i have the cash to jump though. hahaha. Shall post the pictures up soon.

Then it was the overnight movie marathon at church. Didn't catch any movies though, since some of us were at the other room with the guitar, blabbering to whatever vintage songs we could remember listening to. Stuff like M2M, backstreet boys, Sclub7, Bardot, N'sync....bla bla bla, you get the drift. And it's funny to know that there aren't any more of such songs in the scene. Shows you how much music can move. Time to start writing down the songs you're listening to now so you can laugh over them when you turn 35.

Left early for home to get some rest before the Malacca trip happening tomorrow, or technically, in 2 hours. Guess the rest will come when i'm in the car. This trip will mark the end of fun till the mid-sem tests are over, or so i say.

I found these 2 songs in my inbox when i came back just now, courtesy pris, and i have decided to upload them. Somehow, they appeal more to me than our live-recording. So yes, this is our band, Hope for Monday's practice session, proudly recorded by Philip and Priscilla Su, with Hinghwa's equipment. The quality's not all great and there could be some rough edges around. hahaha. But do take a listen and feel free to comment. (:

No funds, no fun!

So, Tues saw myself having to bear with the comments from others every time i walked together with kat. To make matters worse, she was my "only friend" for that lecture cause we went in late. Dang. How much more coincidental can this get.

Green and white all the way.

The day was supposed to be a short one, with one lecture and home for some more sleep. But during the lecture, my phone vibrated and i saw this message from Niki, in these exact words, " Marcus, my hse tonight on? :)" Boy, was i excited. hahahahaha. Geddit geddit.

Headed to ben choo's house after the lecture to get a touch of his latest toy, Grestch White Falcon. It's a guitar. Cool stuffff.

Down to Niki's house , exciting. But with the others and only for dinner. Awwwwwww. Anti-climax. Her house tonight on. Of course, outings with Niki, or more like in-tings (geddit) with Niki, you can always be assured of pictures. So....

Gather round people.

Pizza

served.

How better to let the food digest than watch a movie rather than taking a walk. hahaha. Ah long pte ltd's good. Local shows do actually have some credibility to themselves. Hopefully they'll make a name for Singapore's productions sometime soon, known internationally like hollywood or bollywood. We could be Pore-lywood. That's copyrighted, right now, tm and c with a circle around.

Beating the theatres hands down.

And where could you find a theatre seat that would allow you to do what i did.

Ah la la la la long long

The tuesdays, without many many otherssss.

Well, so much for telling myself that this shouldn't be happening every Tues lest there wouldn't be anytime left for work and stuff. hahaha.

Wed night was an expensive but worth it one. hahaha. So, the band met up for dinner to grab our recordings from yew jin (pronounced exactly like eugene. haha), just to catch up and also, to celebrate BenChoo's birthday. Our recording didn't sound anything like us somehow, a little digitised here and there. hahaha. But it was cool learning lots of new stuff from Yew Jin about studio recordings. Hopefully we'll be able to record one soon with his help.

We did the cliche-est thing ever and headed down to fish and co. glasshouse for dinner where we waited a million years for our food. Dang. It was really fun though, just talking, laughing, talking and laughing. There were a million birthday celebrations there that night and so we decided not to embarass ben. Seriously, so many that we agreed if there was just one more, the crew would go crazy. hahaha. Imagine singing that same song so many times.... Hearing it so many times is bad enough.

Pictures.

ROCK

ON!

Lem of God and his halo.

Traditional never fails.

Crazy food. C-food.

When you feel paying for service charge is just manners.

The bunch of us strolled down to Roomful of blues soon after dinner. No regrets heading there at all. The music was awesomme, as always. Gilbert and the band, entertainers indeed. It makes you wanna quit music altogether when you hear them, and the fact that they don't even practice before their sets makes it worse! His vocal range is crazy. To think we thought of getting up onto the stage to do one song ourselves. hahaha. Sadly gilbert mentioned it was by law that guests were not allowed onto the stage, before rach actually broke the liquor bottles with her voice.

Great company, drinks, music. LIFE IS GOOD.

Ben, myself, Lem. The trio, haha.

The live band.I guess experience comes with age. hahaa.
They're are crazy, seriously. Catch them if you have the chance to.

Hope for Monday, yew jin.

And of course, how could we forget, BenChoo, finally turning 18.
Happy birthday, hope you had a blast, cause our wallets did..HAHAHA.

Sitex is running, together with a john little sale at expo. I actually went there twice today. Crowds.

The next 2 weeks will be hectic with school. I'm off to take my bath and probably give myself a pep talk in front of the mirror to last the next week. "Marcus you can do it, you are perservering, determined, hardworking.......and crazy to be typing this".

Till then.

A dime for time

I've finally come to realise that time isn't on my side. A million and one things to do.

- Projects, which haven't really been started on but watching every other group, starts the panic.
- Individual Journals, deadlines are drawing closer
- Exams, that are a mere 2 weeks from now and considering the fact that lectures have become talk sessions, it's time to start worrying.
- Youth camp, which is happening right after the exams, not good cause there are still so many things left hanging.

and these are just some of the more important stuff. There's still christmas presents to worry about and a bunch of other stuff.

The determination is finally starting to set in, it's time to start this semester right (after 5 weeks from the start of school).

Till then.

i SAT on the SUN

SAT

Unlike as planned, i failed to drag myself up to go cycling on the early morning of Sat. Other than a few glimpses of Dad coming into my room to try and drag me out of bed, the rest was a total blur and before i knew it, the sun had already taken its place in the sky. So much for time to get active. The worst part was waking up and even having the cheek to have some of the "chai-tow-kueh" he brought home before leaving. And left i did, to church with one too many things to carry. Met lem and we reached real early cause i wanted to get my first hand touch on my new toy, or maybe feet. Dang, the tutorials on youtube didn't help much when i started. hahaha. Much practising to begin to master the double pedal. It's like being totally new to the drumset once again. Managed to make use of it a little during worship, which was fun with ben and lem.

Cell was all smiles as we shared a little here and there and talked about revival. It isn't easy being young is it. Off for dinner then to dau huay. It's starting to become a weekly affair. hahaha. Mount Elizabeth and Gleneagles.

SUN

Played for service today. Sermon was great, simple. Be desperate about your faith. God's a slow God, but God's a god that's on time.

SOCCER, exciting. Amazing what this beautiful game loved by so many can do to people. I guess every man has his own pride to keep. In any case, we won, but it wasn't official because the match was stopped due to the threatening weather. Which got even more threatening when we left the pitch. I thought i was gonna have my first encounter with an accident right in front of me as a huge tree came tumbling down.

Alright, it dosen't look so drastic, but you've gotta be there to feel it. It hit the lexus that was going across. Thankfully nothing happened, another reason to work for a nice luxury car to own when i'm older.

The house is feeling a little quieter than normal, or maybe just a little unusual. The 3 dogs have dropped down to 2. Pepper, the schnauzer that's quite like a soft toy, ready to take all my hits and still sit there looking innocently at me, is hospitalised. She has an infection and is suffering from low blood pressure. Dang, she used to be so active. Dogs start of just as pets, but slowly grow to be one of your family. They say you never know what you've got till it's gone. They're right. At least she's only gone to the hospital.

On a lighter note, i should be heading to Malacca this coming weekend. (:

Till then.

The Cobra's Venom

First of all, Sam totally taught me the wrong stuff, if you read the last post. I now know its DIARRHOEA. hahahaha.

Morning class today was online which meant more time for sleep, but i'm glad i made better use of my morning today. Headed down to BenLim's house at about 11 to journey to Sweelee warehouse at sims drive, which technically was supposed to have a members' sale tomorrow. I figured since they were having a sale tomorrow, they'd probably give a good discount today, considering the fact that i went down with regulars. Ok those were just excuses, i had my heart set on the double pedal already. And when you set your heart on something, nothing really matters does it.

So, on the counter. Iron Cobra-HP900PTW. YAY. Got myself a set of new acoustic strings as well. Church was in need of a new snare, so that was picked up as well with a stand to go along. Ben was totally eyeing the steve vai signature model hanging there innocently, probably speaking to him in some guitar language asking to be taken home. Did i mention that the place was the bomb? A paradise of musical instruments and accessories. A million guitars hanging here, another million there, the drums section, percussions, bla bla bla. Pardon me, it was my first time there at the warehouse outlet. I probably overrated it a bit. The discount was good though.

Lugging the equipment along, i was off to school, all excited and butterflystomach-ish. Lecture, tut and off for dinner with A and D. Hokkien mee, cheaper and better than food republic. haha. Mad bonding time (geddit geddit). 21-ed home but fatigue got the better of me as i sat down on the sofa, and slowly dozed off. The parents arriving home woke me up. Another dinner, where i couldn't eat much cause of the earlier snack with the guys. Thankfully the parents came home late, more time to rest the stomach. hahaha. Dinner was awesome, took a trip to japan for

SUSHI!!!!!!!!!

The new toy.

Snake in a box

It's time to start practising and fully utilise this pocket burner. Also, it's about time to get out of this chair and start moving around to the gym or something. 2 dinners, not good at all. Gotta sleep now, early morning cycling with the father down to marina barrage and back.

Oh, the recording people from the SAC prom has our recordings ready and we'll get it by next week all mixed. Can't wait to get a hear of it.

Till then.

Food Republic-an.
(Sorry Obama)

Lecture today was off for some reason i'm not too sure of, but anyhoo, that meant no school. Tuesdays and Thursdays never fail to bug me every time i'm in bed, contemplating whether to head down to school just for one lecture, 2 hours, usually lesser. Dang, that feeling sucks, and always results in school winning the gamble due to the fear of missing out on something important.

So, on this thurs, my group members and i headed down to vivo and suntec's food republic to get a glimpse of their so-very-popular themes. You see, our client this sem for most of our projects is food republic, which by the way, isn't a food court but a food atrium, or so they claim. I was impressed though, with the vivo outlet, as we walked around and observed their designs. Down to the smallest details, with intricate designs of the olden times just to get a little closer to replicating the old times. Quite a spectacle i would say. Price-wise, do be weary as you would be paying for the different environment you're in. D would know best.

And how could anyone miss shopping when you're already there? The word "sale" screamed in our faces as we walked around pretending not to care. Of course, that pretentious attitude wore off in less than a second as we hurried to find our sizes here and there. Things don't usually work out at sales though. I didn't get around to buying much, other than a shirt. Was about time anyway.

D had to leave early for his date. Hung around with Sam and Kat just plain chatting and some singing. hahaha. And i have to announce that today, i have finally mastered the art of spelling this very troublesome and problematic word- DIAHORREA. Yes, that's it. Sam thought me, with the very simple way that teachers always used back in the day. Breaking up of the word. Dia-Hor-Rea. In your face.

The group.

Left soon after for musician practise at church. Small band, great worship. Somehow, i figured that the only way to get great music for service, was to care less about the music, but to flow together in worship as a band. And it feels good when the band does it as a whole. Bam!

Off for supper at lavender food square. Thankfully everyone wanted to go for supper or i had to da-pao something home. It was fun. The brick game, obama, bla bla bla. The best part- a ride home. hahahah.

Tomorrow's Fri, then it's the weekend again. I'd have to admit i didn't even feel the week passing by. Week by week, then its the tests again. Christmas is lurking around in the corner as decorations are slowly making its way into malls, mother's christmas presents are all ready (super kiasu) and this e-mail i found in my inbox. Check it out, it's quite hilarious, and true though.

(in the ever popular tune of santa claus is coming to town)

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:

Recession is coming to town.

It's hitting you once,
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise

Recession is coming to town

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's safe when you've got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:

Recession is coming to town!

Finance products are confusing
Finance products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk
So keep out for goodness sake, OH

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:

Recession is coming to town

I don't want a recession, it's christmas.

Till then.

Home-Stay

My mother has been nagging at me regarding the late nights and my absence at the dinner table recently. I sort of realised the part about coming home late so often when i realised i had never seen the "par-sa-ma-lam" downstairs, which opened not too long ago, at its busiest. Just when i decided i should take a stroll in there since it's been a long time, i saw workers taking down the tents and lightings. Dang, the next "par-sa-ma-lam" will probably be another 10 years.

So, i came home for dinner today, Mum said it was western (how to not come home right). Come to think of it, coming home for dinner is the best option yet. Namely, no cost, good food and of course, family bonding. This is my place for dinner, Marcus' place. My name should be jack.

Clam chowder, salmon sticks, steak, potatoes and the veggies. MMMMM.

You should see the potato with the salad cream and bacon bits.

And of course, some pictures from yesterday's dinner.

Christmas hints its presence

Niki, the star we all wanna take pictures with.

see what i mean.

wait,

actually, it was the other way round,

she wanted to take with everyone else. haha.

Brudder brother.

You can never destroy all of us A. hahahaha.

off we go.

M.A.D.

Food republic tour tomorrow for projects.

I'm supposed to be exhilarated now, or at least just now. Ben told me swee lee was having a sale this saturday, i budgeted myself out all ready for my double pedal and quite possibly, new cymbal.

2 min ago, he informed me the sale was only for members. Dang. Hate it when it drops from right up there, to right down here.

Till then.

Out-ting the In-ting.

The plan for ice-cream chef today was sadly cancelled due to the low turnout of people. The company was still good though, other than the constant reprimanding and disapproval from some parties which made life so much harder to live. hahaha. Dinner at Ajisen where niki recommended her Volcano ramen. Dang, i think the chilli oil was spoilt or something, my stomach dosen't feel too good, what came out wasn't too good. Off to starbucks soon after. Talk, pictures. Just a few of the pictures.

M for Marcus

Daron with his flair,

with more of his flair. Check him out at deviantart! (HAHHAHAHA)

So, if i'm not wrong, the O and A-level's have officially ended. Oh, the joy of ending the major exams. I remember mine, on that significant date- 16th of Nov, which come to think of it, was just 3 days back. The feeling to be "free". It's somehow overrated though, when you realise you actually have nothing much to do despite all the excitement in the midst of exams. Of course, the grass on that side is defitely greener than that of having school when others are having their happy holidays.

The uni people are either having or finishing their exams soon and will be having the holiday season like it should be- a holiday without worries. That leaves us poly students struggling with our tests in the 2nd week of dec, and having to worry aboutll our project submissions during christmas. Oh, the agony, the pain. hahaa. What gives. I've been a little worried for school since i haven't been doing much at all. The projects, the IJs, tutorials, nothing. Then again, it's not my fault, there seems to be no direction at all for the work. Procrastination kills.

It's time to pull up those socks and get on with school before the regrets set in when Uni rejects you. Huff puff.

Till then.

Trying to take back sunday

Sunday mornings seem to be the tired-est of them all. 9am appoinment at macs for meeting with the outreach team. The mega sausage egg mcmuffin i excitedly ordered is nothing close to mega. Headed down to church soon after for service. That was the last Sun for early bird registration for youth camp. Do register if you're interested to come people. (: Lunch then dessert at macs. No wonder they're so rich, and still want to save money on taking the garlic chilli off, come onnnnnn.

GEDDIT GEDDIT?!?!

Off to settlers yet again with the church people. The lack of sleep seriously took its toll on me this time as i slept most of the time there. I was supposed to leave at 4 with the guys to play soccer but they were nowhere when i woke up. They probably left without me, BROTHERS. On the brighter side, i would've been too tired anyways. Enjoyed the remaining time with the traditional game of uno stacko, always a classic. Lem had to dance on the sofa and shout his name for losing. hahaha.

Home for dinner with some guests. Mum concocted a feast right at home, something close to a 10 course dinner. She would probably make it big in the food business anytime, but says no to it as that would mean she can't look good on her job. Girls grow up not to be women, but just big girls, yea they do.

School today started with a test. Goodness, and a letter writing one that is. Just when you thought getting out of sec school meant you got rid of that. Class was funny, as kat, D and myself studied ways to get higher readerships on our blogs. I conclude that kat is greedy with her views. hahahaha. Got a ride home from the parents.

BenLim said this on Sunday during service-
The dollar is doing less for us nowadays because we do less for that dollar.

So true isn't it. Things are suddenly starting to get so expensive, but its much easier to earn money for an hour now compared to last time. If i remember correctly, macs paid $3+ last time. Goodness, hahaha. You could find a job that pays $10 an hour now without much trouble, and without a qualification at that mind you. I guess its all just a simple cycle, get paid more, pay more. let's just hope everyone's getting paid more though.

Till then.

Early Mourn-ings

So, the early morning on Fri began with class, lunch with the people, walking around a little (really) for CCN day and class again. I didn't have that much sleep the previous night of course, due to all the excitement from the event. The funniest part was waking up and actually thinking what had happened was a dream, for a mere split second. Got home after class to get some beauty sleep that was much needed, and to study for BTT!

Yet another early morning today, as i set foot from home at dusk all the way.....to the bus stop. The journey to Eunos was a half conscious one as my eyes struggled to stay open. I will never opt for another 9.15am test ever again. Dang. Lyd said she overslept so i had to kill an hour all by myself. BTT book in hand, i walked over to the hawker centre to have a drink and drill the confirm-forgotten-by-all-drivers facts into my head. I didn't intend to eat, but how could anyone not.

WHEN THE FISHBALL NOODLES WAS ONLY $2.
(seriously, where are such stalls nowadays, they used to be such a common sight)

Hopped onto the cab with lyd and we headed down to what she would call the cursed centre. The taxi driver was nice enough to wish us good luck for our test, not very common these days too huh. Press press press, think think think, hesitate hesitate hesitate, confirm confirm confirm.

YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND HOW HAPPY I WAS TO SEE THIS ON MY SCREEN.

Quickly snapped a picture in all my excitement. As you can see, my hands shake when i'm excited. WOOHOO. Got my PDL as well. Getting your Q number called out is as good as winning 4d. Nearly contracted Asthma and Alzheimer's disease (laugh if you're reading this lyd. hahah).

Headed down to town to have lunch. Soup spoon. Tangy tomato with basil (no matter how gross that sounds) was actually quite good. hahaha. Lyd left for home feeling all tired and that saw myself heading down to church. Message, dinner, dessert, all good.

Rach passed me her thumbdrive today and i've gotten hold of all the pictures of thurs night! I shall post a million up.
Don't mind if i do- pictures speak louder.