A day before our first day ^^

Gah.. swear i've never jumped this much in 2 hours before. My legs are hurting now, too lazy to even walk .. and i'm going to fall asleep within the next hour ^^". There's some more training tomorrow morning and then it's the big performance for us. Please don't let us screw up.. please don't let us screw up..

So. Good news is i finally get an idea what we're supposed to do tomorrow. We'll do the lion dance at houses and shops nearby i think.. to drive evil spirits away or something like that (that's what i read on the internet). I kind of get the rough layout of the dance already.. it's not as hard as i'd feared. Bad news is i'm supposed to jump. Onto the person behind who's gonna be my ass (as in the lion's ass la =P). And today was the first time i was practicing those stunts. Man.. we're so lacking practice now..

For the first stunt i'm supposed to just jump onto the guy behind's thighs.. which was not so bad. Second one is the same, but he had to rotate 360 while i'm on his thighs. We scrapped that ^^". Third one is me standing on one leg on one of his thighs after jumping.. we scrapped that too haha - no time to practise. Last one had me jumping on the spot and the guy behind is supposed to step forward and let me land on his thighs. Almost the same as the first one.. no sweat =P. Last one.. man i still can't get the last one right. I was supposed to jump onto the guy's thighs, then proceed to step onto his shoulders and stand straight. Like, O.o . I can't even do that without holding the lion o.O . Gonna practise the last stunt again tomorrow i think.. my legs are already going to suffer from rigor mortis edi from all that non-stop jumping >.<

Btw heard there'll be a dragon dance performance in Seremban on February 11th. Hmm.. looks like i'll postpone my homecoming a little later ^^. But we only have exactly 2 weeks for training.. and that includes the days we had to perform during chinese new year. Gah.. why is everything so rushed.. ^^"

Oh btw.. Happy Chinese New Year to all my friends! May you all have a prosperous new year ahead! Get married soon so i can get more ang paus! =P

PS - Keat How left for his hometown this morning.. met Jason on the train while he's heading to Pudu bus station to go to his aunty's place in Seremban.. that leaves no Sem 1 student in IMU except me! So quiet around here.. except for the non-stop fireworks nearby..

PPS - This will be the first time i sleep before 12am on a CNY eve.. but what to do.. tomorrow have to wake up at 6am ^^"

A little update ..

And then there were two.

We started out with 2 sad IMU students who are not going home for Chinese New Year. Then Wen Chieh joined, making it 3 from IMU. Bout a week later 2 more joined, Loh and Goh (not sure their full name.. coach always refer to them with their surnames only). And the last to join the training was Keat How.

2 days away from our first 'real' performace, we ended up with 2 sad IMU students who are not going home for Chinese New Year. Wen Chieh will only be joining us on the 3rd or 4th day, Loh and Goh somehow disappeared halfway through training, and Keat How was never free during Chinese New Year in the first place.

Sigh.. so it's up to me and Esther to perform on the first few days of CNY. Seriously we only learned a few moves in lion dance, not really sure what we are supposed to do also ^^". Got some jumping around la .. and some rolling around .. that's all >.< . Hope we don't screw up ^^".

Btw an indian boy joined us today.. he can speak Cantonese (i think) so much better than me >.<" . And there's also another new member.. a mute/deaf guy. Time to put my sign language lessons to good use! (actually i forgot everything liao.. next time have to bring along the sign langugage book to talk to him ^^")

Got woken up this morning by Daddy's call.. at freaking 10am >.<". Told him bout my results, thankfully he didn't lecture me or anything. Well.. come to think of it i never get any lectures from him when i do badly.. or any praises when i get good results. He always sound neutral when i told him my results. Not that i mind.. think it's just the way my Dad is la ^^. It's good in a way i guess.. i never really felt any pressure from my parents to do well in exams. It's all up to me all the time. Still.. guess i have to put in more effort in the coming exams.. i only have myself to answer to for my exams results ^^"

self thought - wonder if Jacky's group going to join us.. they are really good. But i doubt it la sigh.. (me and Esther won't be in the centre of everyone's attention if they are there..). Wonder what's really going on.. maybe there's more than what we were told? =/

PS - my family might be coming up a day earlier than i expect.. on the 1st day of CNY ^^. But i'll be out from morning till evening on that day.. will be dead tired during our "tuan yan fan" ^^"

EoS results .. finally

Hmm.. guess i should be happy i even passed ^^". Just got the results for EoS, and it's just as i feared. Got a B- for Summatives 2.. but i kind of expected that. B for SAQ and B+ for OSPE. Overall get B+ >.<

Funny how many people thought i was going to get A.. me who never work hard like everyone else, me who rather sleep than open Marieb to study everyday ^^". But then i was never the kind of student who aims for an A and study damn hard for it. I'm more like study until i cannot tahan edi, then hope for the best. Hehe.. maybe i'm a B+ student after all.

Anyway, disappointed.. a bit la. Just hope my dad doesn't feel too disappointed and ask me to withdraw from those activities i joined >.< . I'll promise my Dad to get an A next time, but a promise will just be a promise anyway. Better just work a lot harder now.. especially since i'm depending on 'outside' money to study in IMU =/

No more lazing around for me!

.. politics? O.o

Hmm.. just came back from lion dance training. Learned a little on the drums and cymbals, practiced a little on lion dance, and found out that there's something seriously wrong going on.

Coach's brother-in-law, Ah Wong Darren (the coach called him that.. so we call him that also lor =P) just told us roughly bout what happened to the other lion dance troupe. Apparently the other troupe had some problems and split into two groups, one of which was the one we worked with the last week (led by Jacky). No wonder they only have 5 members.. i thought they were newly formed like us..

Then yesterday, Jacky's group was supposed to use the ground we used to train (let's juz call it our HQ =P). We didn't have training yesterday, but they told us they need to train their girls a bit more. Told us we can come if we wanted to join in the training, but if we don't want to we can just open the HQ's gates for them to go in to train. As our coach was still out of KL we decided not to join in the training.

And then when our coach were told bout it, he told Wan Chieh to tell them to ask the MCA head for permission before letting them use the training ground. According to Wan Chieh (he was holding the HQ's keys), he didn't receive any call from Jacky's group so he didn't go to our HQ to open the gates for them.

Today, Jacky's group was supposed to train too.. but they didn't come. Ah Wong told us they might not be joining us for the CNY performances.. due to some 'attitude problem' according to Coach. We were like, whuurrrtttt.. they don't seem to have any attitude problems to me.. but then maybe we were just 'outside the box'.

Maybe there's something else going on.. but we better not get involved in it la. Ignorance is bliss ^^". But really lor.. we are still seriously lacking people. And now this.. geez.. politics, politics.. >.< . Now we can't do the dragon dance edi.. sigh.

Btw yesterday during Tai Chi training Chow Chow asked me whether i'm going back for the 'tuan yan fan' (reunion dinner la..). And then only i realise.. i'm going to miss this year's reunion dinner in Senai O.o . Feels really bad to miss the reunion dinner.. in years to come i'll be away from home most of the time =/. Sigh.. but i seriously wanted to join the lion dance (might be the only chance i get to join).. just hope my grandma won't feel bad bout me missing the reunion dinner.. sigh. Me so unfilial =(

A little bit on lion/dragon dance rituals ..

Hmm finally found out what that ceremony i went to the Sunday before EoS is called. It's the 'Eye-Dotting' ceremony (Hoi Gong.. or Kai1 Gong1 in Mandarin i think), which is done to awaken the lion's 'spirit'.

The brand new lion is laid in front of the ancestral altar and its eyes and mouth are shut tightly (we did it with cellophane tape haha). Traditionally, a priest/monk begins the ceremony by chanting prayers to heavenly gods, and summons the spirit and soul of the lion from the heaven down into the lion. In most cases, an honoured guest of high stature or a notable public figure (in our case, it's the head of MCA Cheras i think) performs the "Hoi Gong" ceremony. Traditionally, the lion cannot be used for performances before the 'Eye-Dotting' ceremony.

First, incense is placed on the ancestral altar. Then, a new Chinese calligraphy brush is dipped with symbolic blood or red ink (we used red ink). The dotting begins with the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and tongue, then continues with the horns down the spine all the way to the tail.

A red ribbon is then tied on to the lion's horn, which is a symbol of courage and honour, and signifies that the lion is tamed. The red ribbon is also a reminder for the lion to do only good deeds.

Last Friday was the 'Eye-Dotting' ceremony for the dragon ^^. Only difference is that there's no tying of red ribbon on the dragon. The night before, we had only an hour of practice and we were supposed to give a brief performance after the ceremony. Thankfully there's no major hiccups.. most probably because we scrapped some 'stunts' due to lack of practice (one of it requires half the dancers to jump onto the thighs of the dancer in front .. and i was one of the jumpers O.o - try doing that stunt while holding that heavy dragon.. i kept slipping down >.<)

I feel so 'chinese' right now. With all those chinese martial arts i'm learning and now this. Haha.. next i'm trying to learn how to read Mandarin.. after countless attempts =P

Edit (2.2.2006) - Found out last week that there is a ribbon tied to the dragon.. i missed it during the eye-dotting ceremony ^^"

'Bad company'?

Frankly, my dad was worried i might mix with 'bad company' if i join the lion/dragon dance troupe. Even the other troupe's leader admitted our coach was worried we might be influenced by the other troupe's members too. I mean, where does all this preconceptions come from?

Yes, it's true the other more experienced troupe wasn't good at their studies. And yeah, they smoke (a LOT.. i noticed haha). And they swear rather liberally too (but they kept it down when we're around). You know, those kind of people. But does this mean they are bad company? Why would you think they are bad company?

I admit, yeah at first i thought they would be arrogant as they are more experienced than we are.. and we are from different troupes (although all of us are under MCA Cheras). Or they might act like gangsters and not want to even have anything to do with us.. 'nerds' lol =P. Last night, Keat How even thought they find us a 'nuisance' (because we're supposed to help make up their numbers for their troupe for the performance this morning.. and we know shit bout 'lion dance').

And yet i was surprised.

Because i woke up late, we arrived at the meeting place 30 minutes late (but they were late too.. only we were later =P). But they didn't show any displeasure or anything (on the contrary, they smiled at us a lot). We just load everything onto the lorry and left for UE3. Have to note that this is the first time i sat in the open-air back of a lorry.. and as a lion/dragon dance troupe, complete with flags on the lorry ^^. Feels strange.. and exciting.. coz normally i only see those lorries from the outside, not in one.

Then during the performance at UE3, we proved to them how incompetent we are at 'lion dance'. But they didn't look at us as if we were stupid or something. Instead, they keep reassuring us and only take over when we really really can't do anything.

And after the performance, we went back to our 'HQ'.. And they taught us bout some basics - the cymbals and doing the 'ma bu' (horse stance). Voluntarily, although it doesn't benefit them in any way as we are from different troupes. And we didn't ask them to teach or something.. they just.. taught us. Even when we still can't get how to play the cymbals at the last part of the drums.. they still taught us, even to the extent of singling us out and explain our mistakes. (one of them said they are teaching us because we (lion/dragon dance troupe members) should be united)

All of them are younger than us.. one is 20 with 7 years experience, one 19 with 6 years, one 16 with 10 years(!). And all of them are really friendly towards us. Made me realise there's more to a person than what we see on the outside.. just because a person smokes doesn't mean he's 'bad company', or that he doesn't do well in studies mean he is a bad influence. Like, if my dad finds out about these people he'll surely ask me to stay away from them. And i would ask him not to jump to conclusions.

Maybe, we really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. These are great people i had the privilege to know, and it made me feel i'd regret it even more if i didn't join the lion/dragon dance troupe. This is what makes my extended stay in Bukit Jalil worthwhile =)

PS - before the performance at UE3, a 10-year-old boy came up to us and just stunned us with his lion/dragon dance drumming skills. And he learned all that himself by watching performances O.o . Whoa.. THAT is one little guy i respect. He's half my age and plays the drum bloody much better than me (erm.. i juz started learning, so give chance la =P). His mom told us he's always wanted to join a lion/dragon dance troupe, and always pester her to stay to watch lion/dragon dance performances but never had the chance to join. Needless to say, he's one of us now ^^ (and he talks and asks damn lots of question too.. -.-")

Dragon & lion dance brief performances

Ever since EOS is over, life here seems to quiet down.. most of my friends are already back home by now. Hasn't really start enjoying my holidays yet, somehow i'm still not in the holiday mood.. most probably worrying bout EOS results.

Spent the last few days sleeping (like, duh =P) in between the lion/dragon dance training. Finally get to train again after missing so many days because of EOS.. seems like the dragon finally reached here a few days ago. On Thursday night we joined with another troupe to practise some 'dragon dancing' (because we didn't have enough 'dancers' =P), then on Friday night was the tian3 dragon ceremony (something like bless i think.. i'm not familiar with the customs =/), which was done before a new dragon is used for performances. This is the first time MCA Cheras organised a lion/dragon dance troupe, according to some MCA fellar doing the 'blessing'. Though i don't think our first dragon dance performance was impressing.. it was so damn fun =)

This morning, we were 'volunteered' by our coach to help out the other troupe to perform lion dance at UE3 in Cheras (don't ask me where is it.. it's a dead shopping mall.. except during CNY, according to Wan Chieh). Us.. me, Keat How and Wan Chieh who barely knows how to 'lion dance' O.o . Not like we had a choice anyway.. so we just went along. And i woke up late again ^^".. supposed to meet Wan Chieh at 8.30am but i woke up 10 minutes late.. again.

Didn't do much.. coz the plans were altered at the last minute to save time. But me and Wan Chieh did get to play around for like 5 minutes (he was the head, i was the tail) at the front door of the mall before a more experienced 'dancer' from the other troupe took over the head. From then on i was doing all i could to avoid tripping him AND myself.. coz the head is moving so damn fast (well, he's experienced.. wat can i expect). And 30 minutes covered with such a thick cloth made me feel like i'm being steam-cooked under the lion >.<

After that brief warm-up performance (kind of) we rested till 1pm something, coz the VIP Datuk came late (*roll eyes*). There were supposed to be 3 lions on stage, but it was reduced to only one to save time. And i was supposed to be one of the heads this time (i bloody don't know what to do coz i wasn't taught anything yet). Maybe next time la haha..

Failed Genting trip >.<

So.. Jackie, Chui Han, Chia Huan, Jane June, Gary, Wei Cheong and me went up Genting Highlands on Wednesday morning, along with another group who's gonna stay there overnight (Alex, Tai Jih, Shao Yang, some other guys from our batch whom i forgot their names >.<). Woke up at 7.40am, 10 minutes later than the meeting time ^^", had to wash up and rush down in 10 minutes coz Jane June tak boleh tahan edi haha. Anyway we took LRT to Titiwangsa, then bus up to Genting with Jackie as our tour guide hehe. Reached the theme park just before 10am, and guess what, half of the rides are closed for maintenance. Wtf.. how unlucky can we get.. sien tiao. All the thrilling rides aren't open, so we didn't go into the theme park as planned.

Ended up having overpriced KFC for lunch, some shitty 4D Motion Master (wasted 8 bucks..) and then left Genting. The others went for the new Flying Coaster.. but i didn't join in coz it looks so boring (the ride was less than 1 minute.. we measured) . An impromptu change of plan, and we sang K from 3pm to 8pm with Chow (until everyone 'feng' tiao), walked around Petaling Street for dinner and then went straight back home (midnight movie was scrapped haha..). What a wasted day that could have been really fun.. damn Lim Goh Tong for scheduling maintenance on the day we went up.. >=(

PS - saw some strange ppl on the LRT ride back home.. lol.. if those people stayed in the train any longer we gonna go 'feng' tiao (as Chui Han puts it haha..)

The life cycle of a student

Sigh.. my life seems to be a cycle of sorts. It starts off with slack, slack, slack, rot, rot, rot every day. Then a couple of weeks before an exams i'll realise i have no time to finish studying, and life became study, study, study like mad, study like my life depended on it, study until my life BECAME depended on it, burn out. A few hours before the exams i'll give up studying and go for the exams with a 'wateva lah..' mindset. And then.. all of a sudden.. i realise i have too much time with nothing to do for the first time in weeks. And i slack and rot all over again.

Sad, yeah, but that's the life of a student. Wonder how long do i have to keep repeating this cycle. Life seems so routine.. then again, life IS a routine. I guess that's why something inside me keep telling me to take part in the lion and dragon dance tour. And joined all sorts of clubs and societies in IMU (wonder how packed my timetable will be.. and you all wonder why i sleep so much =P). Trying to make my life not seem so.. dull.

So.. this will be the first Chinese New Year i didn't go back home. Everyone will either rush back home after OSPE yesterday or stay for the results and then rush back home. And me, for reasons i don't even really know myself, decided to spend a big chunk of my holidays in Bukit Jalil. To train lion and dragon dance. I must have lost my mind somewhere along the fanatical studying and mugging..

The only thing that holds me back from staying is whether my grandma will be disappointed.. =/ guess i'll have to call her to wish her happy new year then. That's the least i can do.

Hmm btw, before i forget to put this down, SAQ on Monday.. was o-kay. Besides being more like an endurance test than a test on our basic fundamental medical knowledge (yeah, we're THAT noob), and the fact that half of the stuff i studied seem to decay from my memory the moment i sat down and look at the paper, and the few words i swear i've never seen before in my life, and that i'm writing answers down before i can even think of what to write .. SAQ was o-kay. Getting A seem too far-fetched now, the most i can hope for is A- (anything less and my parents will ask me to pull out of all the activities i joined.. that's what i tell myself).

OSPE yesterday afternoon.. was like what a Sem 2 senior describe it. Around 100 students playing musical chairs. For two hours. Haha.. well, at least it was more interesting than sitting down writing non-stop for two hours. Though i should have paid more attention to studying the synovial joint.. and the muscle.. and the blood vessels.. and the second messenger system.. heck, i really dare not say i'm looking forward to a good result =/

Anyway, it's a 2-months break for us now, Semester 2 gonna start in March, and until that time, i managed to keep my days pretty occupied (and i hope the rest of you too.. DON'T YOU EVEN DARE THINK OF TOUCHING THE MARIEB! =P). So, cheers everyone, and squeeze every last bit of fun out of the holidays! ..while i'm stuck here training lion and dragon dance.. >.<

PS - going up to Genting in 6 hours time >.< hope i can wake up in time..

On life .. and death ..

He opened his eyes,
blinded by the light,
seeing the world for the first time,
full of possibilities,
and untold uncertainties.
A child was born,
a life starts its journey.

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Christian Pouliot aka 'Sundancer' on their new baby boy! A warm welcome to Alexis Gabriel Pouliot Montero! =D

He closed his eyes,
blinded by the darkness,
seen the world for the last time,
full of memories,
and unreached aspirations.
A man has passed,
a life ends its journey.

Marcos Zeledon aka 'Zeta' passed away from brain haemorrhage at 3am, 9th January 2006. May he rest in peace. ='(

..........

I received these two news within the same day. I barely knew them both, but we were in the same 'guild' in an online game. Which means we worked together as a team, played, fought as a team for quite some time already. It's been a while since i last heard from both of them. Maybe so.. it takes some time for me to digest the news..

Every birth i heard had me amazed at how miraculous life is. How the fusion of a sperm and an ovum can grow into a baby, a life. How every cells in the body work in sync with each other, keeping each other alive. How with millions and billions of these cells, all originating from a single embryo, life was brought forth to this world.

Yet with every death i heard had me realised how unpredictable, how fragile life is. How every time you hear or see someone, it may be the last time you ever heard or seen him. How an accident, a disease, a cut, a mosquito bite, can end a life, which was burning with ambition just days, hours before that. How a life, fighting to live, can be snuffed out from this world. Just like that.

It's ironic that we've come so far in medicine, finding cures for all kinds of diseases, yet all we're doing is just delaying death. The only thing certain in life is death. "In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases."

I don't know if i can take it if someone dies because i didn't do my best. Yeah, nobody's perfect. But can a doctor afford to NOT be perfect?

Sometimes, i think i think too much.

Life and death is part and parcel of living anyway.

Just have to get used to having a contact on MSN ..

.. that will never ever come online again.

*feeling grief* =(

the day i didn't study

So.. guess wat, i didn't study today. And i'm not fretting over the lost study time. No regrets. Coz this might be one of the few days i felt really happy.

Woke up early in the morning for once.. which is like 11am (hey that's early for me k..). Coz we were supposed to go Secret Recipe to celebrate my wife Deborah's birthday at 12pm =P. And she had the nerve to made us wait till 1pm coz she wasn't free. That woman..

Anyway, so we still end up in Secret Recipe anyway. Sebest and Pwassy (that's what Deb called them) drove us there. Then on, it's the usual.. eat lunch, cake appear, sing song, eat cake. Add lots and lots of laughter and you'll get DeBRA's birthday celebration =).

Only got home by 3.30pm. Wanted to study but can't (my mind was looking forward to the dragon dance training) so i napped till 6.50pm when YS's SMS for dinner woke me up. Guess i gotta thank you man.. i nearly overslept and miss the dragon dance thingy ^^. Met up with Esther (from M105) at 7pm and both of us made our way to the training at Cheras.

Yep, both of us ONLY. She said another two fellars backed out, and one can't make it. Sigh.. still we went to the training anyway. Took the KTM, then Coach drove us to the 'Majlis Belia' which was also used by Rakan Muda or something like that (i have attention-deficit syndrome =P). Coach said the other youngsters can't come coz it was raining. Which leaves me, Esther and another 20+ year old guy.

We learned the drums (which is used for the lion and dragon dance.. you know), the cymbals (ditto) and some wushu. All in like one and a half hour. Coach said we have to learn the dragon dance and how to sing 'Chai Shen Tao' also.. which we would sing when we collect money after the performances.

Yep, we gonna PERFORM.. like, go on a tour or something O.o . Esther said it's gonna be 15 days O.o o.O . Which means i'll have to stay here this holidays. IF my parents let me. Hmm... now i'm in a dilemma whether to go home or not..

If i chose to stay, i would have to go for intensive training in drums, cymbals, wushu, dragon dance and singing 'Chai Shen Tao'. But then i won't get to see my newborn nephew. Man..

So far i've decided to stay.. unless i really can't stay. Coz i had always wanted to learn wushu. All my life. And now that i got the chance.. i really can't just let it go..

I'm happy with the day i didn't study. Coz uni life ain't all bout studying and passing exams. Sometimes you gotta do what you enjoy doing. If only everyone understands this.. and stop to enjoy life for a day. But i doubt it.. coz we are living in a pass-your-exams-or-die-trying world. O.o

.. and a little thought on the future

As the clock ticked past midnight, and 2006 came to stay for a year, i felt .. a kind of dread.

I dreaded the day ahead, because i'll have one less day to study for EoS.
I dreaded the week ahead, because my stay at home sweet home gonna be over.
I dreaded the month ahead, because my brother will be flying off to Melbourne.
I dreaded the year ahead, because i'll be under so much stress to survive uni.
I dreaded the half-decade ahead, because i don't know where my friends will be.
I dreaded the decade ahead, because i don't know where i will be.

As time passes, i dread even more. Because nothing is constant. Nothing is forever. Everything changes. Life changes. As they say, the only thing that is constant is change.

I hate change. It makes me feel i wasn't in control. Like i can't control my friends to keep in touch with me. Or that i can't control the economy so that my parents don't have to work themselves crazy to put me and my brothers thru education. Or like i can't control myself to stop feeling so pessimistic bout the days.. no, years ahead.

It felt weird when my Dad told our neighbour how they had worked their whole lives, and yet they earned nothing at all. How i wanna tell him he earned his children's admiration, respect and love. How i wanna tell him he didn't worked his whole life for nothing. How i wanna tell him how much i love him for what he had done.

Yet i kept mum. Because i wasn't sure whether i'll be able to prove to him that him working his ass off putting me thru uni is worth it. I had always thought i was already giving my best to make every buck he earned worth it. By getting As for exams. By being among the top of the class. Now i had achieved all that, i wasn't sure anymore.

I wasn't sure of myself in a lot of things. Whether i'm going to be a good doctor. Whether i should be a doctor. Did i made the right choice studying medicine? What if this wasn't what i want? What do i really want??

I guess only with time will the answers be revealed.. for now, i shall dread every step i will have to take.

A little catching up on the past ..

2006. God, time really passes by so bloody fast. One moment i wanna blog bout Summatives 2, the next moment it's Christmas. Then when i wanna blog on Christmas day, it's already 2006. God. How i wish time will just slow down so that i can catch up on my blog.

Summatives 2, what can i say, BS really killed me. Should have gone over BS notes the day before, i thought it wasn't important and all based on common sense. I was wrong, obviously. Heh, nothing i can do bout it, and at that time i didn't even care coz it's holiday already hehe. Watched King Kong with Paul, YS, Jem and KeeFs (haha is that how you spell it?) at Midvalley right after Sum 2. It was nice, but didn't really catch me.

Christmas, did nothing on Christmas day, juz had a little chat over lunch and dinner. Went to Denise's church for some Christmas celebrations the day before though. Great performance, but yeah as Jem says, it stopped just when it was getting nice. It was the first time me going to church during Christmas. Have to say it's pretty interesting, altho a little short ^^.

After Christmas, came back to JB for a week, did nothing significant except going for the last gathering on New Year's eve's eve. 14 of us played futsal in the morning. Must say it's been really long since i last played. Maybe it's because i enjoy playing with my old friends more or because i finally scored my first goal =P but it was the best 3 hours of futsal in my life. Went to Irwin's house for the first time to bathe (lots of firsts for me, eh), had lunch at Season's, then 3 hours of cc. Can't say i enjoy cc as much as i did anymore. Grown up, i guess? Haha.. i AM getting old.

30th December 2005 was a sad day for pizzas all over the world. Coz 14 hungry boys just walloped 16 large pizzas that night mercilessly. Only left 2 anchovies-laced pizzas which everyone conveniently overlooked. Blame the person who ordered that pizza. Haha =P. Ate the pizzas at Yong Chen's new 3-storeyed semi-D home. His new home was.. luxurious. And there's a plasma TV there! ^^ Stayed over there with Jem, Ashok, Eric, Irwin and Chuin Hau blasting away at the PS2, as usual.

New Year's eve and New Year was.. just like any other day. Me and my family never go for any New Year countdown, yeah we were one big lazy family =P. I miss the times when there used to be countdown party on TV years ago. Now they just show the party 10 minutes before midnight, sing a bit, counted down, and it's over. Sort of makes New Year feel just like another holiday on the calendar. Which for me, it really is. Happy New Year to all my homies! May you all have the best of days ahead of you in 2006. Sigh..