hold on hold on

i know lack of updates despite the holidays.....suddenly work is flooding and i need to slacken up...yes slacken up. As you can see there's a lack of photos these days and thats just because i maxed out my harddrive with old photos and mountains of teevee series. Thats gonna change soon with my acquisition on a motherload of dvdrs i just bought...yes let the potos return!

oh and i need cash to extend my flickr pro account...please please please. ka ching!

anyhoo had a run with Thomaso at Caldecott Hill today (damnit the houses are very chio/fargging ugly and mega huge) and after that we went to his place to shower (not at Caldecott Hill...but Farrer). Checkout how he redid his room for the holidays sia...friggin looc!

haha kidding anyhoo thanks brudda for lending me the shoes.

(from My Confined Space)

oh and check out this crazy dance routine in times square!

of CAP score

wah lau JY why you must remind me of exam results?
for the past month i totally forgot that just a month ago i sat for exams, pondering over notes of Building Services and not answering the last question for archicon (i do remember that the building was very nice). Heck i had some problem recalling what i did for design too. But what i did remember were the lessons learnt, the hardships that i went, the useful skills I've gained and the priceless knowledge i'll try to treasure, the studio mates and tutors who made the semester a fruitful one. So i refuse to let those grades determine how my semester went and in five years time i promise myself that I'll get more out of university than just a paper qualification.

four sems have past and every sem my need to check results have faded nicely to a comfortable point where i have to be forced into looking at it (points at JY). It used to be fear but now its more like can't be bothered, and its the can't be bothered in a good way. Because this holiday was dedicated to doing things i set aside for too long (travel, running/losing the ponch and photography), its a fulfilling break to get away from slogging it day and night in a office or in front of a computer*. I tell you if this mentality can go on for 3 more years i will gain CAP score enlightenment, when i receive my paper degree, i'll float across the stage and exude some weird aura where every graduate in the audience will suddenly tear and their 4.5 CAP would seem futile. Then when i hold that paper up it'll just disappear along with me and i'll end up in the Sahara desert constructing large solar cells that will save the world while standing next to Buckminister Fuller floating along in the dunes too. The sight will be so magical the tearing audience will start to cry heavily (no no they will not break into some totally wrong scene of an orgy like that movie Perfume : Story of a very twisted wet rock smelling boy) and then cancel their alumni subscription.

*though at present i am technically a research assistant, its a relaxing way to keep myself up to date in academia with the easy schedule.

Maybe i should grade my holidays instead like for EX1011 i.e. long distance running i should get like an A- for finally doing a sub-50 10km (eh! for phat guy thats fast) or GYM1021 at least should get me a B because i can now bench 15kg per hand without panting (sleeveless polo tee bollywood dancer guy's BO helped in my controlled breathing) and a C minus for TC4013, Teochew classes i get from talking to grandma more often these days (which is the surprise gain for the holidays.....wah eh teochew zhai boh?). Those are much better to modules to take.

so even if you did well or not, don't let the grades spoil your holidays. Don't even let lousy grades inspire you to study harder, such promises based on mere digits hold weak foundations, instead study harder because you want to. Because you want to be a better architect, because you love the subject, because you want to be more than just a degree holder, after that then your cap score will settle itself so you don;t have to worry.

I bet you're wondering where I'm going with this.
Well, so am I. i love mindless Sundays

Dreams in Flight by La Fura dels Baus in Singapore

short video of the opening for Singapore's Annual Arts Festival. Running for its 30th year. This is the ending of the performance with fireworks in the background. Apologies for the poor quailty video from my phone cam.

The Fireworks look much much better than what you see here and that grid like thing by the side is actully people! Yeah local volunteers who hang there...HOW COME NOBODY ASK ME? I want to join them!

I want to fly also!

You'll Never Walk Alone!

you're a dirty player Inzaghi! Pool should win, they should have but they didn't...sigh. And damn the kelong-ed Ref for not finishing the extra time grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

But every pool fan should still be proud for playing well, showing courage and walking on!
You'll Never Walk Alone!

the uncle who prepared my mee goreng pataya most probably was a AC Milan Fan

the view from our table where me and Thomaso sat, i think we were in the ah-peh's section. The guy in the middle was damn irritating (AC Milan fan). And yes Ang Moh and I are ah-pehs in training with our Teh Halias and Kopis.

Mum and Dad watch Heroes too

okay before i go one i must say this OMG! Heroes rocked!!!! I love Hiro Nakamura! i wanna marry her sister so my kids can get that special power in their genes too! Please please go watch the last episode

okay back to main story. The mother and the father have been trying to clock in two to three episodes a night of Heroes since last week and now they're at episode 13 or something along the part where Sylar got caught. Its damn funny trying to explain who's who in the show when you already know what happens. For example, Mum will ask what Peter Petrelli's power is, "he can fly right? how come he can paint also?" and then i go like....hmmmmmmmm and try to explain to her about his special ability without spoiling the excitement of figuring out yourself.

Tonight mum wanted to watch the next episode of which i would usually burn two episodes on a rewritable cd and load it into our DivX friendly dvd player for her daily dose of Claire Bennett (My Mum's name is Claire too, I think its her favourite character). Thing is I burnt the Season Finale last night for myself and forgot to record where Mum and Dad stopped, btw they never take note of where they stopped and if they accidently loaded the season finale and saw that somebody had somebody's power and the other guy has the power too, i would be so doomed.

So to ask questions about what happened in the last episode they watched without spoiling too much (or getting the wrong episode which could be a massive spoiler) i had to be really careful with my words, like "Mummy! you watch until Sylar got caught already or not?. But when i reached the word Sylar, Dad already said "yeah he in that jail already! and mum goes "so fast get caught how to end the show?" of which i had to really resist the urge to say "Sylar very Powerful you know! not so easy one"

and then there ar eother questions like
"who's Ted ah? is he the one that can explode?" (reply "yeah Mum he got radiation")
" Wah this Linderman fella, who is he ah?" (reply ...better not tell you")
"This Indian fella got power or not?" (reply "no but he's very important".... replies back "then why no power?")
Dad on the other hand just sits there and tries not to read too much into the show, sometimes looking confused because Mum irons and thus can watch more episodes than Dad who prefers Deal or no Deal. Sometimes i have to explain to him that Claire's Father got no name one he's just HRG, that sorta thing.

anyhoo gtg Episode 13 and 14 are ready for the DVD player, i think i can rewatch it with them.

on a side note: wouldn't it be wonderful to see Isaac Mendez paint something like Steven Gerrard holding up the Champions League Trophy and then you see Claude (invisible guy or in mum's words that transparent man) or Peter Petrelli in the background, clearly showing that they stopped AC Milan from winning which would have brought great anguish to the world.

filippo inzaghi

Was talking to Molly, of kereta Arsrnal dan Thierry Henry fanklub snd bhd (KL- branch) president over tomorrow's big game. Yeah the one where Pool Trash Milan ass. Well it got to if i would be attracted to a hot chick sporting a AC Milan jersey and If i ever married a AC milan supporting wife (stressed the IF, chances are 0% even if her name was Jessica Alba) i am so gonna have a headache giving my offspring names.

jon: must return steering wheel after 80% says:
me: gerrard!
her: paolo!
me: steven!
her: Kaka!
mj: working is not fun says:
yesh! KAKA
mj: working is not fun says:
i agree wif her already
mj: working is not fun says:
hahaha
jon: must return steering wheel after 80% says:
you can be the godma of my third offsrping, clarence
jon: must return steering wheel after 80% says:
clarence lin see dorf
mj: working is not fun says:
omg, terrible
jon: must return steering wheel after 80% says:
shite i got a good one
jon: must return steering wheel after 80% says:
philipo lin za ghi
mj: working is not fun says:
OMG
mj: working is not fun says:
tht killed me
mj: working is not fun says:
pipo lin....soooooo kawaiii
mj: working is not fun says:
lin za ghi sounds vulgar though



his ful name would be
philipo lin za ghi jon the third
how looc will that look on a IC xia?

and when your done with the scrin campaign....

so your done with Command & Conquer 3, now what? STARCRAFT 2 of course! *^*%*%&^$ yay!

there this!
ah yes i know many of you have msn-ed me about the exciting video and all, aku was waiting for it since friday night lor, i'm the one with no life remember? Watch the high def video using torrent here(yay blizzard for recognising how we REALLY download good stuff) . Anyhoo the video will look good regardless of platform (Blizzard being one that usually supports MAC, yes people you can DOTA on a mac), damn chio lah.



think of it! three years from now everyone in studio will start top play some DOTA like thing but instead of saying "my life for Auir" you just hear alot of hissing noises.

in other news i have no driving blood in me whatever, left turns are my bane. Here's a stupid thing to do: visit the gym and with the heaviest set of free weights you can lift do your bench press and shoulder curls, then try learning how to execute sharp left turn at high speed, damn exciting xia.....and mother dangerous.

oh btw! welcomes back ang mohs! welcomes welcomes.

i is like ratatouille!

its friggin cute lah! plus its ALL ABOUT COOKING! yayness



go watch it on high-def here

btw Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish made of tomatoes, onions, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers and herbs de Provence (rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme).

I so want to watch this...oh and of course Transformers.

but now on to dumb stuff like what is becoming a weekly dose of ninja/karate goodness/badass clips.

Indian Karate. yes my friends Bollywood has EVERYTHING! Stunts that defy gravity and commonsense.



nice way to end with the jiggle over your dead enemy's body.

and it gets worse in reality and reality i mean the "so you think you can dance" kinda reality. so you think your tough?



the afro ninja was looc-ness xia, even after the fall he still swung the nanchucks like nobody's business.

i is like the black music of not vulgar

was in the gym today and yet again 98.7 was blaring in the background, fortunately they were playing decent stuff like this. Its been ages since i last heard something from "da-Hood" that doesn't celebrate sex drugs or degenerate females. no "da shite" crap (the term of which i still fail to get)

a great song to run with too.



and yes, Cee-Lo is a genius! i finally figured out that Gnarls Barkley isn't a person. No no, i don't mean he's alien or anything (though his songs are out of this world hur hur hur). Gnarls Barkley is actually a collaboration of Thomas Callaway (Cee-Lo) and DJ genius Danger Mouse. read more here. Which explains why i had a problem googling this song for the lyrics when all i kept trying was variations of inputs that revolve around Gnarls.

anyhoo

i is like the new AMK hub in the neighbourhood. It is the very big and powerful. It got fashion store like this one here with excellent name for shop. Sometimes i think shop name is very sian one, sometimes very very sian and sometimes its just super super chao ji sian. But this shop name i rikes!

damn pro lor the shopname. SIANeder.

Then hor this architecture school very clever

Normally hor everybhadi know the façade is for outside one, no need say external but they façade is specials, got inside and outside one. Today when I pass by they say the sign say they is doing external façade, must be cosmetic lah. I know the interior façade is cannot make it one.

by the way hor isn't external facade like redundant?

façade
   n 1: the face or front of a building [syn: frontage]
   2: a showy misrepresentation intended to conceal something
      unpleasant [syn: window dressing]

what i've been up to all week

I confess, i've been a slacker lately, cause all i'm doing has been hanging out down the street. The same old thing, we did last week. Not a thing to do, but talk to you.Not a thing to do, out in the street. Oh yeah Mom and dad live upstairs The music's loud so we don't care Mis-used now But rock lives now.Oh yeah

wrongness

awesome movie! the power of gymnastics.



5/5 stars just for having a pummel horse to deliver badass kicks while your surrounded by bandits in the middle of the street. okay maybe not 5/5 but say 9.9, 9.9, 9.9?

oh and i knew it was going down but i still couldn't believe what i saw today.



this sad...so gxfc-ing sad. damn you casino!

random videos for your random uni holiday viewing

because i know if your working you'll get bored in your cubicle and if your not (like me) your just very bored at home with the poor television programming.

first up,
(warning! don't play in front of your well-versed elders or malay friends, though i think some of them will have a good laugh)

evidence of us Chinese are totally ignorant of other cultures, in this case the malay language.
if you don't get it well let just say i some people in army used this alot as a variation of some degenerate Hokkien term that refers to a certain body part.


this was even played in Malaysian TV okay! and i tell you even the pronunciation is accurate.

oh and since we are on the spoken language i think you guys might wanna check out what this guy had to say. (take note of the bad censorship at the end)



enough of bad singing, i now present you Micheal Buble's - Everything. I know i used to make fun of him, but Micheal Bubbles has finally impressed me with this song. But enough of me and my change of attitude towards him please enjoy the looc-ness video with cameos of Bono and Whoopi (I think)

the one where jon tries to lose his ponch

10K running route, originally uploaded by jonolist.

My favorite running route for the holidays. My home, factory zone, poly, the AMK hub, many many HDB flats, the other side of the factory zone and back. 10k goodness,

I need to start losing that archi school induced ponch of mine fast!
The weather has been killer these days, i think i have a very unglam singlet tan now from the scorching sun. Running at 2pm in the afternoon is torture (but good for losing that ponch), the only shade i got was when i ran under the expressways, but with that came alot of smog.

Does anybody wanna join me in my "ponch losing" quest?

the one where jon visits the gym

Been doing alot of running lately and the knees were starting to hurt. Now before i go on i must explain that joint pain is a sign of old age and unfortunately not because of too much sex of which my softball coach used as a show-off excuse.

Furthermore it started to rain and ruined my plans to run my shorter/ah peh route. To continue my workout plan, I decided to go indoor. It's been two years since i last been to a gym and the ponch on my waist proves it. So I decided to head down to Yio Chu Kang Stadium's heartland gym, i think its called clubfitt or something. Its a nice place, mostly very experienced ah pehs and housewives, no techno music and everyone uses towels. My kinda gym, yes i know, it sounds sissy and all but i like my gym clean and friendly with less gym rats the better.

I remind you that the last time i gym-ed was at this very premise and damn it! Things have changed over two years. The moment i stepped in i could hear 98.7 blasting in the background and the place was filled with gym rats. The experienced ah pehs were around but they were out numbered by the large protein filled bodies attached to dumbbells. I guess most of these garang-types were from the nearby poly canoeing team or something because when i was registering my IC number the whole list was filled with S87***** and S88***** people . They must be on Creatine or something because they're like twice the size of me (excluding ponch), sigh...the things kids eat these days.

Worse thing was some of them didn't even bring towels! grrrr! The 3rd Sgt Jon in me would have screwed those non towel users one time jialat-jialat followed by two rounds around the parade square. Anyhoo i wasn't gonna let the excessive grunting and disgusting non-towel ettiqutte spoil my "first post-uni" gym experience.

After a very wossy set of 4xLat pull downs (think very useless pull-ups where the bar moves instead of you) i decided to take a break and get some water. I don't know why but they had to place the water cooler in the toilets so i was sitting there in front of the basin area looking at the mirror enjoying my peace time away from the grunting gym rats. Then this bulky indian guy walks in and changes to what i can only describe as a sleeveless polo tee with a mismatched red collar. He was muscular in a lazy kinda way as you could see the muscles beyond the blubber (yeah it was wobbly) on his sleeveless arm. He started to started to wet his hands and do up his hair (which already had like half a bottle of gatsby holding it up), i made no eye contact at all but i guess he was so focused on Armani fringe that i was oblivous to him. I started to smell this heavy coconut odour, probably from him...now i know i'm not supposed to make fun of that smell and all, in fact i actually like the jasmine variety, but his was more like BO. Not very pleasant but still bearable at a distance of say..ermmm 100m?

He was at his hair for the longest time and he kept smiling to himself like some very ai-yan fella. Then suddenly he decides to do the best gym psyche up routine ever performed in a gym toilet. Stretching his arms wide, he suddenly jumps up, landing with feet apart, all the time looking at the mirror with this toothpaste commercial smile. He does some magic fingers thing and what followed was a very special 10 second bollywood dance routine sans banghra music. Jiggying his arms he half turns his body, pumping his man-boobs side to side while shaking that huge ass of his in my face. left, then right then two more lefts and many more left rights. He ends off in a jump with his hands mimicking guns shooting at his own reflection which now showed a face with a extra wide crooked smile and eye brows raised. He does a "click!" sound and raises his eyebrows again and then returns to do his hair with a straight look on his face. The whole time i was completely invisible to him, damn it was so tempting to beat the wooden bench and provide some bollywood dance tempo. I had to am-chio for at least ten seconds before he left where i started to fall on the floor laughing. Shite that dance routine was damn funny, i'm sorry but i'll never look at indian guys with sleeveless polo tees without laughing ever.

That wasn't the end, I was at the circuit machine later doing some silly looking bench press thing when an Indian couple next to me were gossiping. The guy was telling his girlfriend something that proved my racially unbiased-senses weren't wrong after all.

Guy: eh you see that show-off guy in the red collar

Girl: where? oh that big sized one ah? big arms xia

Guy: yeah biiiiggg... but you know what? He's got f***ing BO man, damn smelly.

Girl: *giggles* oui! evil lah.

At least going to the gym these days isn't so boring like the past.

the other stuff you see in bangkok besides food

yeah so as we walk between one food stall to another on the streets of bangkok you see interesting stuff. like these



i don't understand why these shirts are still around, wait wait wait! if you archi peeps focus hard enough look out for that very familiar t-shirt...yes my friends "no Money no Honey".....now doesn't that ring a bell?



just outside our hotel, its next to a massage parlour that provides free wireless. how convenient...



and you wonder why some Singaporeans still think its unsafe here

anyhoo i was at Siam Square on busy friday when we happen to see this

nice shoe rack idea hur? the books though were just a decore

more of where all that baht went

Wanton Mee
from a market place somewhere near Chatuchak and the Domestic Bus Terminal, reminds me of Serangoon Gardens. the noodles are good! you may not like it but the bland flavour was heaven, i can eat it everyday.



Random Fried Food Stall
And if you ever had to buy deep fried stuff you got to buy them from someone who knows what they're cooking, like this lady here. I'll buy that deep fried bread with meat thing from her everyday!



Balls
chicken pork beef fish and many other random dodgy stuff that taste good. The lady selling it looks like the sister of Random Fried Food Stall lady-who-knows-her-stuff.


Dunkin Donuts
Technically not bangkok food but yeah they have it there and we don't. Not Krispy Kremes at all.

Kinda heavy especially the butternut, nice but you get a mild sugar high followed by a real low soon after.

the one where most of the Baht got spent on

FOOD! enough talk!
now for the pictures!


Instant noodles with Chicken
this one has all the ingredients for comfort food, instant noodles with fried wanton, random parts of pork and a large drum stick. oh and it has that pig blood tofu thing, yum!



Pork Fried Rice
try the prawn/seafood one too, get it anywhere, cheap nice, very gan-dong kinda food.



teh

Thai teh aunty: ice?

Me: yes please
(sweating profusely after some tomyumgoong)

Thai teh aunty: you want sweet?

Me: no sweet

Thai teh aunty: starts to empty half a can of condensed milk into some very small cup and begins stirring with two hands (show off xia)

Me: errr no sweet!

Thai teh aunty: 22 baht (smiles, hands over a very sticky pair of plastic cups)

Me: Kob Koon Krup (well its only polite to thank her for getting half of what i wanted, its was quite a nice teh though, if you didn't mind the diabetes)



some fried bread
Reminds me of Indo's Roti Bakar, never got to try it, had to much dunkin donuts



sun dried meat
I love sun dried pork!
sun dried beef ain't that bad too. As unhygienic as it seems this jerky/bahkwa like thing is heaven with light sauce. Perfect companion with beer.



deep fried pork knuckles
wanted to try but couldn't risk the clogged arteries for this



Mango Salad
standard fare found anywhere, the raw salted crab meat looks diarrhoea inducing. Nice though just very salty



some ampon like thingy
fried flour with some sweet coconut paste on top. 5-star snack



deep fried random goodness
the prawn is good, and for 20 baht its got to be the cheapest "ebi fry" i had EVAR.
goes well with those dodgy sauces they place in front, I suggest the sauce from the white bottle that tries to be mayonnaise.



random street sausage
this has a sour taste to it, Adriel says its abit funny a first but the taste gets to you and before you know it you develop a craving for this sausage.

I dunnoe man, the sour thing doesn't work for me.



grub (of which I didn't try in the end)

was quite garang on trying it but the sight of those shiny cockroach like thingies just made me humji.

non-food pictures coming up next

they have A&W in BANGKOK!

they have A&W in BANGKOK!, originally uploaded by jonolist.

probably seen in Adri's flickr but i also want to post!
Damn this is nostalgia to the max, screw the Macdonalds twister, i'll take this anytime.

Second round of breakfast with Adriel and Adri at Patnip Plaza, its next to the KFC of which my Brother reminds me, totally rocks because they serve chicken on a ceramic plate!

adri's curly fries shot

more food shots and the rest of Bangkok soon, i am seh-ed for no reason (Bangkok everyday sleep so shiok) plus its 9 hours to holy communion.

here we go!

Packing Up, originally uploaded by jonolist.

dear backpack, i'm sorry i always take you to the bus, to always bring you to studio, i know you deserve better. I know the rest of your friends get to climb mountains and ride grand rivers with their owners, i'm too humji for that now maybe next time, but hey today you get to fly! so don't be worried when your chucked into luggage with the samsonites and the deuters because soon you'll get to see the great sights of bankok and smell good food and i promise i won't get a new bagpack when go to MBK, i heart you too much.

your owner
jon

Prawn grows 21!

Prawn&Benita, originally uploaded by jonolist.

happy birthday plankton!
okay i owe you one bangkok present. good things come to those who wait ah

we all need to thomson prata soon lei!

Of The National Stadium

nothing much to say just let the pictures work their thing here. but please do pay a visit to this place, for sentimental reasons, for nostalgia, for something to show your kids in the future whatever, before it all goes away.














people who were there: Geraldine JY Darryl and Hong Guan