Deanism Theory 11: The beginning of a bad day is marked by waking up at the wrong time.

I had overslept and the result is that I can't meet up with Alan to get the CD from him during lunch in school and also I can't meet up with Huihui during lunch to pass her CD. Oversleeping also means that my JB trip is delayed. And due to a last minute meet up with a client, I had to cut short my trip. I had planned on going on a movie marathon over there. With the meeting coming up, I had to abandon the movie plan. Haiz... things don't seem to go as planned these days.

JB Trip: The trip down was smooth, no traffic congestion at all. Once I've cleared immigration, made my way down to my favorite eating place and had... Maggi Goreng Ayam (Fried Maggi Noodle with Chicken)! Spicy and nice. Then again, everything's good whenever you're hungry. Drank 2 cups of iced milo as well. Damage: RM8.00 (RM is short for Ringgit Malaysia, the currency for Malaysia. Exchange rate was SGD$100 = RM230.30). Thereafter went to my usual barber to get my hair shaved. Damage: RM12.00. Then I went around to shop for my stuffs before rushing back to Singapore. A fast end to a short trip. Haiz... well, the consolation is that I earned some money today, instead of splurging. Haha..

Anyway, good bye November, hello December! Hahaha...

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 4th December, 0111hrs > Back to the top

Yes people, Christmas is coming. Quite a number of friends are already in the mood. And you can't escape it no matter how hard you try. I mean, just take a walk inside any shopping centres within Orchard area, and you'll see the decorations for this festival. Even the songs they play are Christmas carols. So you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout cause I'm telling you why... Christmas time is coming... to town.. xP

Day With Dean: Had work earlier today which dragged on later than expected. This resulted in me being late for class. But the greater crime was that in my rush this morning, I had forgotten to place Huihui's CD into my bag. The funny thing was, all along till I bump into Huihui in school, I kept thinking that the CD was in my bag. So imagine my horror when I discovered that it wasn't there when Huihui asked for it. Pretty embarrassing moment, to say the least. Haiz...

Anyway I went for my lecture. Thanks to Weiyang, I had a seat near the back of the lecture. During lecture the following conversation took place:

Weiyang > You sure or not?

Me > Yeap.

Weiyang > You don't bluff me leh... you sure or not?

Me > Bluff you for what? Of course I'm sure lah...

Weiyang > Who knows? Bluff me to make yourself happy?

Weiyang had asked me what I had wanted to do after lecture. I told him that I'll be staying back to study. From the point I told him that till the end of lecture, he still found it hard to believe that I had wanted to stay and study. Haha.. I had my notes with me, and had set my mind on studying. Soon after class I found myself having a meal before heading to the library. Having settled down, I started on my studying. Just as I was getting in the mood, my mom contacted me and wanted me to be home early to welcome some visitors. Haiz... so much for studying. Thereafter bumped into Ivy, Aileen, Ingrid, Jianhao and Tessa. They were studying elsewhere. We all chat and joked for while before leaving school together. They were going to watch Incredibles. I was just heading home. Bummer....

Anyway I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Going to head down to JB! =D

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 4th December, 0025hrs > Back to the top

Had to drag myself out of bed this morning. Literally. After bathing and changing, off I was to Sitex. This time to work.

Reached Sitex earlier than expected, so lingered around. The place sure is different without the customers. So I roamed around near my booth, checking out prices of computer stuffs. Much of the things were selling cheaper than on the first day. But at the same time, some of the good stuffs were already sold out. Hmm... will probably write-up a guide to surviving computer exhibitions some time soon. ;)

Worked started, and I'm surprised that I will be assisted by 3 gals from NEC. It made work much, much easier. Oh, my booth was at Packard Bell, and my job was to educate customers on the concept of Digital Home Lifestyle. Thereafter I will provide them with free gifts once they completed the survey forms. Easy work to me, as all I needed to do was to share my knowledge. Didn't have to promote or sell goods, just ideas.

As the day passed on, the crowd grew in size. At some times, I had difficulty rushing to the toilet as it was hard to squeeze through the crowd. Met some familiar faces at Sitex though, namely Amy, Michelle, Kai Qi, Sharon Ong, Eugene, Cindy (Eugene's girlfriend), Zen Li, Zen Li's boyfriend (don't know his name) and many others. Heard that Linting was around as well but I got the wrong info as to where she was working. 

Anyway Ben and Suzanne was there to shop and they dropped by my booth to chat. Soon after Zonghao and Ronghui came. While I was working, Zonghao helped to checked out prices of stuff I wanted to get (thanks Zonghao). After work, went off on a shopping spree to buy the stuffs I wanted. Ended up spending more than I had earned. Haha.. that's a very bad habit. =P

We then met up with Ben for supper. Soon after it was home sweet home. Just like that it was the end of the week.

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 29th November, 2140hrs > Back to the top

Sleep seems to be a luxury that I can't afford these days. Circumstances seem to prevent me from sleeping early and waking up late. I suppose I've to endure the tiredness for a while. Just need to find a day to waste away sleeping. Haha..

Anyway woke up early to go climbing with Samantha. We had postponed yesterday's session to today so that we can be in better shape to climb. However after 3 climbs each, both of us were done for the day. Tired, tired, tired. That's how we felt. The hot sun made it even harder to climb. There goes my bid to get fairer. =P

Later in the noon, had to session to conduct. Yup, work again. After work, I had planned to linger to catch up with my colleagues. However, I couldn't keep my eyes open, hence opted to go home instead. Again, the plan was to sleep.

When I got home, was online for a while. That's when Ronghui and Zonghao suggested meeting up. Since everyone's kind of free (and I did want to get some stuffs from Zonghao as well), we met up for supper at AMK S-11. I wasn't feeling hungry so just had my usual iced Milo. Carol was feeling very sick (her voice sounded bad over the phone) so she didn't join us. Still, the 3 of us managed to have an enjoyable supper.

As I was on the way home, I feel asleep inside the train and woke up at Sembawang instead! Got off, changed train and got back at Yishun. When I reached the T-junction near Northpoint, I saw the results of an accident. The police was there too. Well, a car had crashed onto the traffic light. The front of the car was badly damaged. From the looks of it, the accident had just occurred minutes ago. The police officers were attending to the driver and passenger. It seemed like they had sustained minor injuries to the heads. It's a good thing no one died. The car must have been traveling at high speed when it crashed onto the traffic light as the traffic light was tilted to one side. I managed to take pics of the accident scene with my handphone.

The accident sort of jolted me out of my sleepiness. It echoed the idea that Karen shared with me yesterday. More or less she said that life is precious and that accidents can happen. Hence we should do things to make life better not worse. Amongst some ways that we can do to make life better for ourselves and for others is to forgive and forget. Some things are not easily forgotten however it takes true strength and courage to forgive people for what they do. At the end of it we'll be a better person and life will be better than it was before.

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 29th November, 2054hrs > Back to the top

Got up and got to work, however work got cancelled at the climbing centre due to the rain. Lingered around at the office, chatting and catching up with Karen. But the weather was so cooling that I feel asleep.

Went home to grab my climbing gear, thereafter went back as Samantha wanted to climb. However, she too was not in shape and mood to climb when she arrived. Work had made her tired. We ended up chatting and catching up.

Got home in the evening. Had planned to grab some sleep but went visiting my uncle with my family instead. More chatting and catching up.

When I got home, I was thoroughly exhausted. Still, somehow I ended up chatting and catching up with some friends over MSN. Slept late again.

I am tired physically, but I feel good still after all that chatting and catching up.

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 29th November, 2011hrs > Back to the top

Woke up quite late today. That was a very bad start to the day. Things only got worse when I realized that I was late in meeting Ben at Sitex! I was supposed to meet him there at 1pm, but I woke up at 1.55pm instead! So sorry about that Ben. Immediately left him a message, and told him to look for Dao, who was already at Sitex. I bath and changed as fast as I could before rushing down to Expo.

When I arrived, the skies had become dark and it threatened to rain any time. I saw Kervin and Casey at the food court as I was looking for Ben and Dao. Kervin and Casey were there to check out the computer fair as well. I chit chat with them for a while before going on to look for Ben. After finding them, I had a quick bite before going into the Sitex fair with Ben and Dao.

Ben wanted to check out the digital cameras, so we went around gathering brochures, checking out prices and freebies. Soon after he left as he was feeling tired, whilst I continue to wonder around with Dao. Generally things there are cheaper compared to prices a week ago. However, Dao said that prices at Sim Lim is also lower than at Sitex during this time. Anyway, I was scouting for LCD monitors. As I had predicted, prices of 15" lcd monitors had dropped to below $400, whilst price of 17" lcd monitors had dropped to below $500. However they are still pricey. I'm waiting for prices to drop to below $300 for 17" lcd monitors before getting 2 of such monitors. Hee... guess I've to wait till next year or something.

Anyway the fair doesn't seem to have as much hype or anything interesting about it. It's generally a year end fair for people to do some Christmas shopping on IT products. I suppose the highlight for this fair is the battle between Creative and Apple for their products of portable mp3 players, namely the Zen Micro (Creative) and Ipod Mini (Apple). Apple scores when it comes to price and user-friendliness. Apple's Ipod Mini can support more formats than the Zen Micro. Zen Micro scores when it come to functions. There are more functions in the Zen Micro. However it's interface is not as user-friendly or cool as Ipod Mini. Which is better? Depends on what you're looking for. =P

As I went around, I checked out the price of the external hard-disk casing. Always thought of getting one since it'll make data transfer and data back-up easy. However, the price still has not yet drop though. Oh well, perhaps I get one at the next fair.

Whilst walking, I felt a pain in my right foot. It was then I realized that the pain that I encountered during the Extreme Challenge (cum Amazing Race) had come back. It's quite worrying. Especially since I started to have difficulty walking after a while. Time to see a doctor? Hopefully it's nothing serious.

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 27th November, 0216hrs > Back to the top

Today is the day that I went out with my friends from SIM to go visit each other's houses in celebration of Hari Raya. I was looking forward to this event for quite some time. Nothing could have stopped me from going, not even lack of sleep or a meeting with Theophane in school.

This time around, we had rented vehicles to make travelling easier. We traveled with style in a car and an MPV. Zul and Faizal were our appointed chauffeurs. Hehe... Zul picked me up at my place. He had already picked up Rizal and Rosz before heading over to my place. Together, we headed to Azza's place.

Azza's family had prepare a feast for us for lunch. I suppose everyone was feeling hungry then as we took to the food quite fast. Haha.. after that we took a group photo before heading to Rizal's place. The travel plan was to head west, north and lastly eastern Singapore.

We reached Rizal's place and was looking through his photo albums. Tuty did her 'duty' by pouring and serving us drinks. She was the appointed maid. Soon, Rizal came out of the kitchen carrying a birthday cake. On that cue, we sang a birthday song to Faizal. He was surprised to see the cake. I believe he was touched as well. Once we had finished the cake, we moved on to my place. Of course, we took a group photo before we left.

I believed most, if not all, of them were looking forward to meeting my younger sisters. Everyone was smiling when they came into my house, as my sisters greeted them at the door. We settled in, and ate the food prepared by my mom. My sisters were happy as well to meet my friends. I suppose it's because it's a rare occasion for my sisters to meet my friends. Soon after, we took a group photo and went on to Rosz's place.

At Rosz's place, we were joined by Yong Seng. He wasn't feeling well earlier but was better enough to join us. At Rosz's place, everyone was interested in looking at photos of Rosz from her younger days. Yong Seng had mentioned how different Rosz was and how much she had changed. Apparently he had seen the photos before. Haha... Soon we had some idle chat before taking a group photo and continuing on our journey. Next destination: Hafiz's home.

Hafiz had moved house, but it didn't occur to me till we reached his place. It was still in Pasir Ris, just that a different area. Whilst at the void deck, some of us took time out to take photos since the scenery is nice. After that, we proceeded to Hafiz's house. His house had plenty of flowers all around, hence it was a good backdrop for taking more photos! Haha... oh, we also had our dinner there. We didn't linger for long before we took a group photo and proceeded to Faizal's house. Oh, at Hafiz's place, another Faizal joined in the outing (to minimize confusion, I shall refer to him as Faizal B). He had drove his own car there, hence now our entourage has 3 vehicles.

When we reached Faizal's place, he warned us not to mess around with his cat. His cat is very hostile towards strangers. Azhar went near it and the cat snarled and bared it's fangs at Azhar. We were all shocked. I called the cat the Evil Cat and took some pics of it. Surprisingly, Evil Cat was friendly with the camera. Haha... anyway, after we settled in Faizal's house, Radiah and Azhar went to Evil Cat. Eventually Evil Cat warmed up to them and allowed them to stroke it's fur and play with it. But the rest of us were still kind of cautious of Evil Cat. Faizal's mom had prepared noodles and chicken wings for us, and we ate lightly as we had 4 more houses left to visit. Soon we took a group photo and headed to Tuty's place in Bedok.

I think what caught everyone's eyes was Tuty's sister. Her looks bears a striking resemblance to Tuty. Hafiz even thought that they were twins. Anyway, I felt happy when I saw chocolates on the table. Not just 1 kind but 4 different kinds. There was even M&M's! Haha.. well, what else can I say, I like chocolates. I skipped the food prepared for us and just settled for eating chocolates. Azza and Rosz saw this and they advised me not to eat too much as it's bad for the skin. It can lead to outbreaks of pimples and so on. Good advice, just that I can't stop myself when I get started. Haha... soon, Tuty's dad and sister helped us take our group photos. Here, the worst news came: my camera battery went flat. Talk about bad timing. =(

Next stop was Faizal B's house. The colour theme of his house is green. Even the drink served was green! Initially I thought it was lemon lime, but it turned out to be honey dew juice I think. His mom had prepared for us murtabak, however most of us were kind of full to eat. We bite on the snacks available. Almost too soon, it was time to go, this time to Azhar's house.

Azhar's mom seemed tired. Later on I found out from Azhar that she had been waiting for us to arrive since noon. He had initially told her that we'll be arriving around noon, but forgot to update her on the change of plans. Still, she was a gracious host, and offered us chocolates bought from Germany. Here, the stopover was short too. By the time we left, it was fast approaching midnight.

Last stop was Radiah's house. Everyone seemed pretty tired by then. But the mood was still alive. Haha.. it was really kind of Radiah's mom to prepare for us noodles and fried chicken. She had come home from work quite late, yet still managed to prepare the food. We spent some time resting at Radiah's place, watching some TV while chatting away. Soon, it was time to bid farewell. At the void deck, all of us bid our good-byes to each other as we'll be separating from there. Zul will be sending Azza, Rizal and me home, whilst Faizal and Faizal B will be sending the others home. The whole event had been tiring, but I enjoyed it a lot. It's not just about the visiting. It's about the gathering, the concept of friends getting together and enjoying an event together. Well, I'm already looking forward to next year!

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 27th November, 0057hrs > Back to the top

Woke up, washed up, checked out of the chalet and headed to Beach Road Hawker Centre for lunch. Had pasta there, it tasted pretty bland and the gravy given was measly. Lucky for the stall I forgot it's name. Was too stoned anyway. Thereafter Jarrod dropped me off at Yio Chu Kang MRT and I went home. Couldn't sleep yet when I got home, so did some work on the computer before I finally felt too sleepy to carry on. Went to bed then, it was only 3pm.

Ronghui called around 830pm, he wanted to meet up for supper and to celebrate the end of his exams. Still feeling sleepy then, but I told him I'll be there around 1030pm. Reached S-11 exactly at 1030pm.

Ronghui, Zonghao, Sok Bee, Albert, Ben and Suzanne was already there. I felt happy to see them again. We had our usual chit chat, catch up and joking session. It's nothing grand, just a simple affair of friends catching up and staying in touch.

Just me enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 26th November, 0203hrs > Back to the top

Woke up early today. I wasn't able to sleep well even though I should. Perhaps it was the excitement and anticipation. No matter. Did my packing and it was off to school.

Amongst the first thing I did was to sign up for dance class. Yup, you read correctly. I signed up for the school's dance class. Why? They were offering competitive rates for the dance classes. Besides, it's something different from what I usually do, hence I thought I give it a try. Just for fun of it. Let's see where this will take me. Hehe...

Soon, the rest of my team mates came. Francis, Wayne, Huihui and Weiling. A total of 7 teams took part in SIM-ODAC Extreme Challenge a.k.a Amazing Race. The starting point was SIM. We had to travel wherever the clue leads us to. The answer wasn't so straight-forward, and deciphering the riddle wrongly can mean disaster. The first and only prize was $800 cash. For the game, we are not allowed to take cab or other forms of private vehicles. It was only the bus, train and other forms of transport. At 530pm, we were off!

First stop: SCP 2451 H (or something like that, I can't exactly remember the clue). We had to look for this car as it will lead the other clue. Looking for the car was tricky. The teams went all over known areas. Eventually my team found it. We weren't the first, but definitely not the last. The envelope containing the clue was found under the car. The clue : NUS Rock Room. I smiled broadly in my heart as I knew exactly where this place was. Had to go there by bus. Other teams were already at the bus stop.

2nd stop: NUS Climbing Gym. I rushed down to the climbing gym. However my team wasn't able to be the first to reach, we were the 2nd team to reach. 4 of us had to climb a short wall. The last one had to boulder up some problems to get the next clue. I did the bouldering. The clue: Some weird combination of numbers. Eventually I managed to decipher it as the numbers for sms. The message : Woodlands MRT Station. And we were off.

3rd stop: Woodlands MRT. During the journey to the station, we took pictures at the station. We did take pictures at the climbing gym as well. The mood of the race was catching on. Already we were discussing strategies on catching up, how to possibly overtake, calculating our chance and so on. By the time we reached, had to search high and low for familiar faces. Found Theophane and Eugene at the far end of the station. We had to do a mini treasure hunt, which was completed abruptly. Next clue was tricky. The answer was right in front of us yet we managed to guess wrongly. Actually, I guess wrongly. We almost went to CK Tangs when we were supposed to head to Tang Dynasty! Lucky for us Wayne had a friend who helped to point us in the right direction. So off we were again, by train and bus to Tang Dynasty.

P/S: I've to stop here for now as I'm tired. Will continue again soon. Time to sleep. Sorry folks.

- signed and delivered by deAn on 23rd November, 0108hrs > Back to the top

4th stop: Tang Dynasty. To be exact, Tang Dynasty Superbowl. Here we were supposed to create a structure out of satay sticks that will be able to stand on it's own for 1 full minute, and that the structure has to be as tall as Aizah's shoulder. It took us some time to create the structure as the foundation (base) was wrong. Again, I was the culprit for the wrong foundation design. After completing this task we were to look for a person wearing a specific watch and upon getting that person's name were we able to obtain the next clue. To make the hunt harder, the person is a total stranger. It turned out to be a baby, whose name is Gabriel. The next clue: Hill Top Restaurant in the West. There were many possibilities, and the unfamiliarity with the west part of Singapore made cracking this clue hard. Many thanks to Ronghui here. He helped by checking out the information on the Internet and relaying to us the answer through the phone. By then, we were already on the bus, heading towards Hill Top Restaurant at Jurong Hill.

5th stop: Jurong Hill. Stupid hill has no short-cut stairs to access it. We had to run around the hill to reach the top. Quite tiring. Upon reaching the summit we had to take pictures of the scenery from the top of a tower and a picture of us in a star shape. Completing so earned us the next clue. Clue : After a night of cheonging, Kent could not ridge his park. This was initially a misleading clue. On the surface, the answer was thought of as Kent Ridge Park. But we were looking for a more specific answer, and Kent Ridge Park is pretty big. Hence I figured that the answer is Fung Seng, where people usually go after cheonging for supper. Travelled down we did, to Fung Seng. However...

6th stop: Fung Seng? When we reached the place, there was no familiar faces at all. Panic sang in as the realization hit that we went to the wrong place. We looked at the clue again the this time assumed that the answer to be NUH. Rushed all the way to Kent Ridge Terminal, boarded the bus and while discussing on how to get to NUH, 2 guys from NUS joined in the discussion. They were on their way home. They took a look at the clue and convinced us that the destination has to be Kent Ridge Park. We alighted near NUH and Wayne ran to the emergency block to verify our mistake. After he came back, we ran as much as we could towards Kent Ridge Park.

The roads around Kent Ridge Park are long and winding. It didn't occur to us to take the bus as we didn't really know where exactly to head. So we ran and ran and ran. It had started to rain by then. Soon, we saw the sign 'Kent Ridge Park' which pointed towards a road leading up the ridge. The road was quite steep, yet we ran as fast as we could. Upon reaching the top, we saw some people at the tower near the carpark. This gave us much hope that we ran even faster to the tower. At the top of it was Rae, Eugene and 2 other groups. We were the 5th group to reach that checkpoint.

Eugene then informed us that we had to burn out a joss stick by blowing at it. Lucky for us, Weiling had a mini-fan with her. By the time our joss stick had finished burning, the other 2 groups had already left. Rae then handed to us the next clue: Eve's Boyfriend Eating Place. Obviously the answer is Adam Road Hawker Centre.

7th stop: Adam Road Hawker Centre. The task here was to finish 2 bowls of food. Our team ordered the mutton soup and fish ball soup. We ate as fast as we could (the food was pretty hot). I believe many enjoyed this task as we were able to have a short break and fill our stomachs as well. There was also a timeout given to all teams that reached there. After the timeout, we were given the next clue. The clue was pretty long but the answer was obvious: McRitchie Reservoir. We made our way there by walking and running, in the rain. The rain had gotten slightly heavier by now, so most of us took out and wore our jackets. None of us from my team had brought along rain coats or umbrellas though.

8th stop: McRitchie Reservoir. Here the task became more challenging. We had to separate a bag of beans into two piles of green and red beans. The task was difficult as the beans were pretty small and there was poor lighting in the place. However, all of us had brought torch lights so we were able to carry out the task pretty fast. Once completed, our next clue pointed us to the direction of Serangoon Garden. This proved to be the main challenge for the night. Why? It's pretty far to get there by walking.

The roads leading to the place wasn't pretty clear. Fortunately, Francis has a friend who knows the way. He guided us by calling Francis on the phone. We had a bit of lead when we left McRitchie hence to maintain this bit of lead, we ran.

We ran as much as we could and as fast as we could. We ran till our feet hurt. We ran whilst facing stitches and ran after recovering from stitches. At times we gave in to fatigue and walked. But even as we walked, we jogged. All this while, the rain poured mercilessly upon us. It didn't stop, it got harder as we got nearer to our destination.

Personally, I was feeling very low. My feet had started to sore, I was feeling cold and hungry and the place just seemed so far away. I was tempted to take the easy way out. I even wondered if the prize was worth all this pain. After all, I can earn the money easily through working. However, the determination of the others helped pushed me on. It was truly a mental and physical test of endurance. When I saw how much effort everyone was putting in, how much we were pushing each other and working together, I found the will to carry on. However, where the mind was strong, the flesh was getting weak. Eventually I can't run any more and could only move as fast as my legs could carry. Lucky for us all, the destination was just around the corner. Even luckier still, we were the first team to arrive.

9th stop: Serangoon Gardens, the long bus stop. Best news... we were the first team to arrive. All the running earlier had paid off. Despite our exhaustion, we managed to smile as this was indeed a joyous occasion. I couldn't move about any more, so I sat down on the seat, took off my shoes and massage my feet. Shihui and Weiling headed off to the nearest 7-11 to help us buy food whilst Francis and Wayne got some very well-earned rest. Wayne was looking very pale as he wasn't feeling that well but he assured us that he was fine. At this stop, all teams were given a rest of 2hours. We tried to sleep but couldn't really do so comfortably as the rain kept pouring and pouring. The cold wind blew, sending shivers through our bodies. It made me shake all over, till I couldn't lie down any more. That's when I got up and about and just move around, without being able to sleep. At around 545am, we were given the green light to proceed. The clue : NE13-D. Obviously it's one of the station on the North-East Line, at the exit D. It turned out to be Serangoon Station.

10th stop: Serangoon Station. We took the first bus that reached us at Serangoon Gardens. The bus took us to the Serangoon bus interchange. From there, we ran to the MRT station. Eugene was there, at the exit. There was no task here, only a clue. The clue was : The last station on the purple line. Answer: Harbourfront MRT station. By now, Huihui's knee was starting to give way. She had a hard time walking. Hence I carried her into the station, till the entrance where we had to tap our cards. After that I supported her to the train platform. When the train came, we were still the only team to reached the station. The bonus for being first in line.

11th stop: Harbourfront Station. There was no direct indication as to where we should go, so we looked around the exits for a familiar face. We spotted Rae and she gave us a task to complete before giving the next clue. The task was to stand in a straight row, and put on an ODAC shirt without the use of hands. We used our mouths for this, and completed the task speedily. The next clue pointed us to the southern point of Sentosa. I knew where this place is like the back of my head as I was there for the SRC camp. I even knew what bus to take to get there and the layout of the place as well. It's amazing how such info can come in handy right? However before we could set off, we were given another break for us to have breakfast. I ate 2 pieces of Tosai with Egg at the hawker centre. Ate it fast too as I was very hungry then.

12th stop: Sentosa Island. First we went to the 'twin towers'. That was the southern-most point of Sentosa. However no one was there. We looked across and saw the ODAC people at the beach across. Ran there as fast as we could. Still the first team. Over here we had to complete a variety of tasks.

First, we had to swim to a platform, swim back and look for a ball buried in the sands. We had to find 5 balls, and they weren't easy to find. All of us had to swim. However, Wayne wasn't a good swimmer and we didn't let Huihui swim due to her injured knee. So in turn, Francis and Weiling swam for Huihui and Wayne. Initially I was supposed to swim for Huihui, however after I did my swim, I realized I was too tired to swim again. Almost couldn't make it back to the beach from the platform. After completing this task, we had to bury the balls back. We buried the balls pretty deep, deeper than they were buried before.

Next, we had to do a mini-relay. There were plenty of stations for this relay. Francis and I ended up having to wear adult diapers and run around the beach before swimming to the platform and back with our diapers. We even had to bury Huihui and drink a bottle of very sour stuffs, as part of the relay.

Lastly, we had to wait for the other team to complete their relay before engaging in a tug of war. The loser will be penalized with a 1 hour delay. We were to play 3 rounds but after the first round the organizers cancelled that game as the rope was causing some injuries to the players. The rope was too thin anyway. On a more happy note, we won the tug of war. =D

Around noon, we were able to resume with the race. The clue pointed us to the direction of Marine Parade Library and Community Centre. We could go there by either bus (no. 30) or train and bus. We opted for the train and bus instead.

13th stop: Marine Parade Library and Community Centre. We didn't know exactly where to look at, hence spread ourselves to look for the checkpoint. It ended up to be at Starbucks. By the time the rest of us gather, the other team had reached us as well. It was then I learnt that there was a faster way to get to Marine Parade from Harbourfront, and that was through bus no. 10. Anyway the next clue had us stumped. Clue: Fly 2 BK. Obviously the last acronym meant Burger King. But what about fly 2? We cracked our brains but came up empty. It was then I figured it may meant Blk K, unit 2 of Costa Sands. We took a bus down and was running towards the chalet when Wayne said his friend had deciphered it to be Terminal 2 BK. That was a more probable answer, however we still checked out the chalet. That cost us dearly as it was the wrong answer and we had lost some precious time. We then ran again to the bus stop. This time we missed the bus no. 36 and instead took bus 31 to Bedok MRT Station. The plan was to take the train down to the airport.

14th stop: Terminal 2 Burger King. Lucky for us, the BK outlet was just beside the train station. Rae was there, and she was surprised that we had lost our lead. We got the clue from her and the answer was Bedok Jetty. Immediately we ran down to the departing train and got onboard just as the doors were closing. After reaching Bedok MRT station, we took bus no. 31 again to get to near Bedok Jetty.

15th stop: Bedok Jetty. Here, I was starting to run slowly. There was a sharp pain at the sole of my left foot that prevented me from running as usual. I was awkwardly running on one foot. When we reached the end of the Jetty, Eugene was there. He told us to search for a tag of sorts. All of us spread out over the jetty to look for the tag. Eventually Francis or Wayne found it and we were off running. But Huihui and I couldn't run any more due to our injuries. I tried to run fast on one foot but that foot was also about to give away. I can feel it getting sore all over. Fortunately, there was a bicycle kiosk nearby. We each rented a bicycle and raced as fast as we could towards the next checkpoint.

Last stop: Bench Near Costa Sands. When we arrived, another team was already there. We were the 2nd team to arrive. We had lost the race. I finally gave up fighting the tiredness and feel asleep at the bench. We were all disappointed. For me, I'm happy to have completed the race. Despite the exhaustion and injuries, the experience that I went through together with my team mates gave me a sense of achievement. We had gone through a great ordeal together, and even when the odds were against us, we had persevered, endured and found the unity and will to push on, not just alone but together. For that past few hours, we had really became the Incredibles. That was our team name, by the way.

Epilogue: After recovering a bit from our injuries, we headed to the chalet and got some rest. I didn't really have the mood to eat. My focus was on the pain in my leg. It made walking much harder than usual. Oh well, soon, sleepiness took it's toll and I sank into a quiet slumber.

P/S: More pictures in the gallery!

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 26th November, 0044hrs > Back to the top

Day With Dean: There was a funfair/bazaar today in school. It was to celebrate the school's 40th anniversary. Lots of stalls but nothing fancy caught my eye. There was a dance performance, but I missed it. Oh well, perhaps can catch it on Thursday or something.

Eventually I met up with Huihui. We had planned to go NUS after school for our 'training day' which consisted of jogging and climbing. However, the rain prevented us from leaving school after class. Given time to kill, we went to the 4th floor to chit chat and idle the time away. Initially we went to the 4th floor because I had wanted to shit. haha.. the higher you go, the easier it is to shit. Let gravity do it's magic. =P

After I was done with my business, we idled the time away crapping and joking and chatting. Eventually the rain stopped and we made our way to NUS. Weiling was supposed to join us but she backed out at the last minute. Oh well, that didn't deter us from proceeding.

Training Day: It felt really good to be back in NUS, for climbing and jogging. It was also good to see familiar faces again. KC, Su Anne (Neo), Chee Meng, Chin Seng and Tiong Ann was there when I arrived. By the time Huihui and I reached, the sun was already gone. However the air and atmosphere was cool. A bit romantic too.

We got changed, warmed up and went about jogging. It's the first time for us to jog together. I didn't know how much Huihui can take, nor do I know how much I can take after a long break. So we jog at a comfortable pace. Even such a pace was enough to break out a sweat.

After jogging we were back at the climbing gym. Huihui didn't want to climb as yet, so I did my climbing while she settled down to watch me and the other climbers climb. I believe she was impressed by what she saw. After some time, I couldn't climb any more. My stamina, endurance and strength had dropped. Thereafter, Huihui said she wanted to try climbing. So I guided her along.

Eventually both of us got tired. Packed up and headed home. Actually she headed home, whilst I joined the rest of the climbers for supper. I didn't eat though. Somehow on the way to Clementi Central my stomach felt funny. Then it felt queasy. I almost puked. When I got home, had to rush to the toilet. The verdict: I'm having diarrhea. Bummer. 2 days before the Amazing Race, and I'm spending my night shitting away. Argh!!!

Anyway today confirmed what I had longed suspected.

I had gone from fit to fat. =(

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 22nd November, 1148hrs > Back to the top

Dead tired. I got home this morning, around 10.30am, feeling dead tired. I didn't sleep for the past 2 nites. It sure had an effect on me. Usually when I'm sleeping, I will wake up whenever I hear my mobile phone ringing. This time however, when I woke up (around 4pm), I had 5 missed calls and 13 messages. And the phone was just above near my head, on the bed!

I'm really sorry, Huihui, Azhar and Lewis. Especially to Huihui, as we were supposed to meet up for lunch in school with the rest of our team-mates.

And I was almost late for my movie outing! After returning calls and replying messages, I went back to sleep again and woke up to the sound of my house phone ringing. Usually I won't pick up the house phone but strangely some how I decided to answer this one. After answering it (a call for my sis), I looked at the time and was shocked (at the same time I'm glad I picked up the phone).

It's 8.30pm! I'm supposed to meet Ashley at Cineleisure at 8.45pm! The movie, 'The Incredibles', starts at 9.10pm!!!! Oh, the show won't be opening till this Thursday. Tonight Ashley and I will be watching a special preview screening that Ashley had won a pair of tickets too. Thanks for inviting me to the show Ashley! I really appreciate it a lot!

Well, I did a quick rush and a quick dash to the MRT station. Surprisingly the train was fast tonight and I reached the cinema just on time, at 9.10pm. Ashley was already there by the time I arrived. We went in and had to seat on the second row from the front. Oh, it was free seating.

'The Incredibles' Review: The show is excellent! The animation is good, the story is interesting and the action is fun to watch! Plus it's long (120mins) yet paced quite well. There's never a dull moment from start till the end. Plenty of laughter too. This is one show that can keep you entertained even after the show is over. The story is about a family of superheroes who try to get by their daily life while hiding their powers and identity. However something bad happened that made them come together to save the day. Truly, it's worth to watch the show, again and again (on VCD or DVD, or at the cinema if you prefer). I've yet to watch 'Shark Tale' but I'm told that this show is much better than 'Shark Tale'. For now, all I can say is that this show is incredibly good!

After the show, headed home. Ashley seemed pretty tired. She told me that she was up quite early today and didn't had enough sleep. Added to that, her cough has not yet recovered. Hope you recover fast Ashley!

- signed, sealed and delivered by deAn on 17th November, 0502hrs > Back to the top

30.11 - Trip Spoilt

29.11 - Study Spoilt

28.11 - Just Like That

27.11 - Jolted

26.11 - Chatting & Catching Up

25.11 - Sitex

24.11 - Visiting Is Fun!

21.11 - Simple Pleasures

19.11 - 20.11 - Amazing Race

17.11 - Training Day

16.11 - Dead Tired

Other Chapters...

Book 9 - February 2005

Book 8 - January 2005

Book 7 - 21.12 - 31.12

Book 6 - 01.12 - 20.12

Book 4 - 08.11 - 14.11

Book 3 - 01.11 - 07.11

Book 2 - 25.10 - 31.10

Book 1 - 17.10 - 24.10