HERE'S JOHNNY!

Blogger seems so alien now.

What's cool now is that hardly anyone even visits this page anymore so I can be a little more personal in what I write. That makes me quite happy. :)

So its been 3 months now, give or take, and in exactly one month, December the 26th, I'll be back in Singapore. 3 months mostly filled with never ending work, insane deadlines, and sleepless night but also filled with good laughs, quiet times spent with new found friends, and just a new sense of purpose and direction. Maybe it's because it's USA. The way success is perceived seems to be highly different around here. I am what I am, and I know what I want to do in life now. And I don't believe that I'll shrink from it now.

I'm also amazingly blessed to having been put in a great hall. 6th Lewis really makes the homesickness, the sad days, and the stressed out wtf-I-am-going-to-DIE days disappear. So many different people, all in one hall. It's funny thinking about how fast this term has gone because it comes to my realization that by next year, 6th Lewis would split, going different ways. But I doubt I'd ever forget the memories. Late night studying/cramming, floor wars, soccer, FIFA(!!), MK vs DC, parties, everything.

Thanksgiving break right now, and tomorrow I'm heading to A-Ro's place for a real Thanksgiving celebration. Should be fun. Right now, going back to watch The Watchmen. I really like Rorschach's monologues. His outlook on society, harsh and dark as it seems, does have some grain of truth embedded in it.

Maybe I'm so random tonight because I'm all alone in this hall. haha.

Cheers.

All-Nighter!

I just pulled my first all-nighter!

Finishing up my engineering project took that long, but damn did it feel good when I was done.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. I didn't do too good in the last set of mid-terms and they've kindda been worrying me. Add that to the insane project that I completed at about 5+ am today morning, time has been a little short.

So updates updates!

Halloween was amazingly fun. Went to the haunted house in Yipsilanti with the Singaporean people. I'll admit, it was pretty scary at some points. After coming back to UofM, it was party time! haha. Too bad I didn't get a proper costume. Next year then! :D

Floor wars in Bursley have begun! haha. I really love my hall. They're all so supportive and fun to be around. Can't wait for the dodge ball and ultimate Frisbee tournaments for floor wars! And I also can't wait for SEA games Indoor Soccer tournament. Yea you read that right, I said SEA games!




TGIF. It always puts me in a good mood.

CHEERS.

Grateful

After finishing what was probably the worst exam I've done in my life, I realized its time I stop being frustrated with everything and start counting everything I've been blessed with. I'll admit. The last week has been a bad week. I can't wait for this weekend to pick myself back up and get back to smiling. Its funny when people notice that you've been smiling and talking less since they first met you.

So some random things to be grateful for:

1) I'm in Michigan. Duh.
2) A great hall filled with amazingly diverse people who make my life here so much more amazing.
3) Friends who sit and do ME hw with you till 3.30am in the morning and provide you with some welcome laughs.
4) Friends who email just to keep in touch.
5) AMAZINGLY supportive parents and sister.

6) You. :D

Its just about 4am Friday morning here and I just got back as mentioned above. Been listening to way too much soft and mellow rock and all it does is make me a miss home like crazy. I miss those times after and before As, where we'd go to Jons house for stayovers and chill there for the whole night, just guys talking about everything guys normally talk about. I miss going to school and enjoying the awesome-ness that was 1A, 2C, 3A and 4A. I MISS CRICKET. I MISS FOOD. haha. But at the same time I've come to realize that there's so much more here for me to experience. I came here with one set dream. Maybe its now time for me to expand my horizons and explore different things. I have the time, I have the resources.

Being sleep deprived helps you think clearly about life and where exactly it is you want to go.

Smile peeps, because it a new day.

Cheerios.

Fall Break

Heyo peeps.

It's fall break! Not really a break for me because I have two mid-terms this thursday, but heck, I have taken the time to unwind and relax. Lets start from Friday shall we?

Friday night, after finishing up my stupid Engineering 101 project, my hall went down to party! haha. It was pretty enjoyable just unwinding and not worrying about any kind of homework for one night.

Woke up at past 12pm on Saturday, missed the game, but once again just plain relaxed in my room, studying a bit for the two exams that I have coming up. Went out with Dan to eat at No Thai, where I finally got some spicy food after a long long time! Just hung out in the hall and went to bed on Saturday.

Sunday was CEDAR POINT day! hahaha. CEDAR POINT IS AWESOME. I have never done so many roller coasters in one day. Epic fun. Escape theme park is for three-year old kids. Really.

Monday was a really lazy day, just sleeping, studying, and playing egyptian rat screw! hahaha. Its a really really retarded game.

I guess I'm beginning to really enjoy myself here.

Cheerios.

Back live

Man has it been a while since I've seen the blogger compose page. I promise to keep posting more often because I've come to realize that I need some kind of vent for all the emotions that I keep pent up inside me each and every day. Sometimes its frustration, sometimes its happiness, etc. And maybe blogging more frequently might help me feel better.

So it was a pretty good week as far as weeks in college go. I got through my first mid-term pretty well (95/100 :P) and I managed to get through all the HW and studying without a lot of staying up and stressing out. Sleep has been pretty easy to get so I've been happy and relaxed over the week. The weekend so far? It hasn't been great. I've got another mid-term next Friday for ME211 (mecheng). It's a really fun class and probably the one that I enjoy the most. The content is really interesting, I understand equilibrium for the first time in 3 years and the people in my pseudo study/hw group are really awesome. But the questions are tedious and take time to do. A 50 minutes 6-7 question paper is quite a challenge for this subject. And time to study seems very hard to come by. There's still Engr101 project 3 to do by Friday, and Math215 written hw due on Thursday. NEED TO MANAGE TIME BETTER.

ICMD concert next Saturday. I may only be playing one song, but it still looks and sounds pretty awesome. The enthusiasm all these people here seem to have really blows me away. I wish rehearsals didn't take so long though. Nyeh.




Talking puts me in a good mood. Thank you.

Cheers

Apologies

Here's my apology to everyone who's emailed me and everyone who's visited this blog recently looking for a new post.

I've been really sick for the past one week or so, fever and the works. When I went down to the university health services, they happily told me I had suspect swine flu and sent me back to my dorm with absolutely NO medication. Two things were/are wrong with that statement. One, I never had swine flu. Two, I definitely need medicine for my cough and phlegm. Three cheers for bloody UHS. Never going back there again. Thanks to them I missed a couple of days of classes and am now having to work pretty hard.

To Jon, Varun, Shreya, Raghu and my Sister, I'll reply soon. To everyone else. Don't give up on this blog yet!

Cheers.

It's been a while

Classes have started and you can already see people going crazy with study groups popping up and people complaining about the work load.

I'm one of them too.

I've got a good bit of homework up for Mecheng 211 and Math 215, and a ton of reading that needs to be done for Engin 101. Thank god my last class won't be that insane. I was up till 2 yesterday doing my ME reading and almost missed my Math lab class. I've got programming for Math. Wtf. But I'd be lying if I said that I thought my classes are boring. The 2 engineering classes are amazingly interesting and the Math one is kindda fun. Tamil is going to be absolutely side-splitting if what Hari, Bharat and Haines say is true.

As far as other activities go, I've got Ultimate Frisbee tryouts on Monday. Went for a long run today to check my fitness level because the Americans are insanely fit. My ankle is still giving me trouble though. I'd really like to get into the team. I've also signed up for ICMD, Autonomous Vehicles Engineering, and SSA. Don't know how taxing its going to be. But I think I'll be fine.



There's this funny emotion I experience every morning. I wake up, and expect to be back in my own room. And I grope around for my spectacles in the place I'd expect them to be back home, and then it strikes me that I'm not home. And I feel like crap. For just a short while.

And then I get on with my life.

December 26th couldn't get its ass over here fast enough.

Cheerios.

Welcome week

Welcome week has been insane!

Hmm, lets list some of the stupid stuff I've done. After all the crazy CTF games, last week we had the Freshman Convocation ceremony which was freaking brilliant. The amount of school pride that they have here is insane. It made me very proud to be a Wolverine that day. After that was Artscapade and Escapade where in true Singaporean fashion, we hit the place looking for free shit. I managed to win myself a shirt and loads of other rubbish.

The next day had an insane number of things to do. Maize craze was crazy and so was the pep talk for the Football game which was to happen the next day. The first chance to see the cheerleaders and dancers. :D Oh and once again, free stuff ahoy!!! After that was, (believe it or not) BUBBLE TEA PARTY. hahaha. Americans love bubble tea! But it's crazily expensive. Like 4-5 bucks a cup. But they were giving out free bubble tea that day so wooooots.

Later that night was MEIJER MADNESS. Meijers is this insanely gigantic shopping market here and that event was where they were giving out free stuff, and also quite atrocious discounts. I bought a 12 pack root beer for 1.50!

The next day was Michigan's first American Football game. The whole place went crazy with the buses to central being retardedly packed. Us Singaporeans went to play soccer from about 2 to 3.30 and after that we camped in one of the lounges in Couzens Hall to watch the game on TV. It was quite awesome to see the crowd and the fanatical support that they have for the Wolverines. OH. MICHIGAN STADIUM (THE BIG HOUSE) IS BIGGER THAN ALL THE EUROPEAN AND ENGLISH SOCCER STADIUMS. The Big House can seat at 110,000 people. Even Nou Camp is smaller.

Nothing much happened after that, apart from the fact that I've signed up to try out for the Ultimate Frisbee club team.


Cheers peeps.

Capture the flag!

The list of countries from which I've met people has expanded! It now includes: A Colombian, a South African, a Brazilian, an Iranian, an Israelite and a Turkish girl!

Anyhoo, yesterday was the day where we International engineering students register for classes. It was quite an annoying process because we guys are signing up for classes the latest (the American students have already signed up for classes in Summer) and we had all the last choice classes. So trying to fit them into our time-tables was quite a messy process. Listening to the swearing going on in the room in a multitude of languages was amusing though.

I finally met more people from Bursley hall yesterday! After meeting and talking to them for a while, we ended up going down to the Diag (Diagonal) to play capture the flag. It was INSANE. There were about 100 students there and we split into North Campus vs. Central Campus (North comprises of the Engineering, Music, Theater and Architecture schools while Central is mainly the Arts schools). We then played Capture the flag till 1030pm in the night. Quite a sight to see for everyone walking through the Diag yesterday. And it was about 12 degrees Celsius when we were playing, and everyone was in shorts! WTF! I was in jeans and it was still cold. Need to adjust quickly! Everyone is really nice and its quite easy to fit in. Might be going back to play again today. :D

Cheers!

Orientation

Just finished the first two day of orientation!!!!!!!!!!!


Nah, it didn't deserve so many exclamation marks. It was mostly talks and formalities on both days. But it was still fun. Learning the Michigan Fight song was hilarious and the play they put up to describe the “life of an undergraduate student” was entertaining. Getting to meet all the other international students from an AMAZING spread of countries was quite cool too. I met, (in no particular order) a Mexican, an Australian, a Spaniard, a New Jersey native (why she’s international I don’t know) two people from Hong Kong, an English girl and a BOATLOAD of Indians. Oh how could I forget? Out of about 500++ international students, one third or more are Chinese. And special mention goes to this guy living on my floor in my residence hall who’s from Kazakhstan. Cool eh??

Day one comprised of introductions, formal Homeland Department check-in (yea one of those American governmental things) and a campus tour. Everything was alright except the last one. The tour. Not that it was boring. IT WAS IN THE SODDING RAIN. The weather on day one sucked bad. It has been raining incessantly making everything soggy, wet and COLD. Stupid tropical storm Danny (yea that’s what the current hurricane system off the east coast is called) is messing everything up. I was drenched like a dog and we still kept walking. Thank god I didn’t get foot rot or something. But today (Day 2) was just brilliant. It’s nice and sunny, but there’s still a cool breeze flowing non-stop. Day 2 was a bit retarded because all we did was to sit down and listen to stupid talks. The first one was supposed to be designed for us to learn how to properly use the Wolverine Portal system at UofM, but it turned out to be a talk where an old lady was lecturing us on how to use the internet. Pretty much EVERYONE zoned out and went to sleep. The student panel question and answer session was more interesting though.

A couple of days back me and my dad decided to be adventurous and drove all the way down to a place called Auburn hills to meet his friend (mentioned 2 posts ago). Although we did have directions, it was still a bit scary considering that one missed turn and you can end up anywhere. And it was raining. Like hell. Sense a pattern?



Despite all the fun I’m having out here, I’d have to admit that I’m still missing home a bit I guess. It’s just the general Singapore-ness that I’m missing. Anyone who’s lived there and then moved out will know what I’m talking about.

Cheers friends.

Home and Time

Its 6.00am in the morning when I’m writing this so I apologize early for any bad grammar and spelling that might crop up.

I’ve been in Michigan for about 3 days now. And I guess the realization is slowly dawning on me that this is going to be “home” for me for the next 4 years. And as I type that sentence, I wonder, what is home? The place you were born? Or the place where you grew up? Home must surely feel like the place where most of your memories are found right? Homesickness I already gnawing slowly at the outsides of the strong front that I’m trying to put up for the people I meet. What’s made this all worse is the fact that I haven’t been able to get an Internet connection at the place that I’m staying and that’s made talking to and emailing the people I care slightly more vexing. So even though Joan has been an amazing Innkeeper and all, I’m going to be really happy to move out to the Days Inn where a “high-speed internet” (as advertised) connection is available. (EDIT: Yea I’m here now, and the internet is awesome)

Monday was a fun day (I’m going to refrain from using words like yesterday because that could lead to confusion.). After breakfast we walked down to the student services office to get my MCard and my bank account opened. We actually expected it to take a lot longer than what it did, so we ended up with lots of time on our hands. We walked all the way to North Campus (distance close to 7km I think) without even knowing that we walked that far. The weather is one thing that I have really fallen in love with. At least, I’m going to say that until the winter comes around to bite me in the ass. But yesterday it was about 21 degrees Celsius (warm by Michigan fall standards) and it made walking that far amazingly easy. Almost zero perspiration too. Bursley Hall (my dorm) seems to be situated in the middle of some kind of forest! The engineering campus is also spectacular. Another thing that only came to my realization yesterday is that this is a 192 year old university, and many of the original buildings are still standing. I’ll put up the photos when I post this so you can see what I’m talking about.

The only question that seems to be on my mind is “where the hell did 9 months go?” I realize that I’ve left a lot unsaid and undone back home. And that makes me a little frustrated because things might have changed drastically by the time I get back this December in a hope of fulfilling some of these things. I now understand what Kenneth meant by, “Time’s stopped for me. It’s like the world kept moving while I was still stuck in the past.” Granted those aren’t the exact words but the meaning is still the same. I just hope I won’t be too late.

And I’ll keep hoping.


Cheers.

Land of the Free

Right. So this is a bit late.

(A little warning, this post will jump all over the place and will not follow any set chronological order)

The excuse first. The Inn that I’m staying in for now doesn’t have an internet connection for one reason or the other. So even though I typed this in the morning here, I’m only uploading it from a nearby Starbucks. But this problem will be remedied from Monday evening (local time, erm Tuesday morning for you guys) when I move into Days Inn. Ok, excuse done.

So I’m here. Believe it or not, it still hasn’t really sunk in that I’m in America yet, and this is where I’m going to be for the next 4 months at a minimum. It still feels like it’s a momentary break, like I’ll wake up one morning back in Singapore. I’m pretty sure the loneliness will really bite down when my dad leaves 2 weeks from now.

A little add on to the last post. I realized that I didn’t really explain anything in detail or properly when I was sitting at Narita. It’s simple saying that you only realize what you’ve got when it’s gone. Or in this case, when you’re gone. My last few days in Singapore led me to the realization that I have fantastic friends. And the surprise at the airport really affirms that and makes me want to say that again but in caps.

I HAVE FANTASTIC FRIENDS.

Yea, there. That’s done. Let me be honest. I was pretty bummed about the fact that my flight was at some ungodly hour that would make any expectation of people to show up almost inhumane. But the fact that 9 guys stayed over in the airport from 11pm the previous night was just so amazing. The cheesecake, the photo album, the letter, and the gay passport pouch (I love you Gavin :D) was even more astonishing. And everything just added up to making leaving so much harder. But seriously and sincerely, thanks one and all.

Now for my experiences once I landed here. First, I realized that they’re really serious about immigration and security. But thankfully everything went along without a hitch. Met Rajkumar uncle who was going to drive us up to Ann Arbor for Detroit. Here’s a little back story. Rajkumar uncle is my Dad’s college mate from about 25 years back. They haven’t been in touch for almost the same period of time. Imagine my surprise when I find out that he, despite all his other commitments that day (which were quite substantial trust me), came all the way down to pick us up. Awesome eh? Right back to the original story. So we reached the Library Inn at about 6pm and we met the most awesome inn keeper around. The inn is great too. Pictures will be up on FB at about the same time this blog post goes up. Went for a walk with my dad to explore Ann Arbor, ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Seva where the food was great and I was introduced to a very important lesson. AMERICAN SERVING SIZES ARE VASTLY DIFFERENT. Actually, that’s something I realized for many things. Everything here is bigger. The Roads. The concept of size and distance is radically different in comparison to Singapore. Heh. I stop myself from typing “back home” and I type Singapore instead. I shall start using “back home” from now on. Haha. Walked back and fell asleep.

Woke up today (23rd for me, 24th for you guys) got breakfast and went down to Meijers, the local 24hr supermarket. And when Americans say super, they mean super. The ones back in Singapore are just trusty sidekicks in comparison. Walked around, bought some stuff. Haven’t done much after that today though. Rajkumar uncle took us to a BestBuy to get my dad a prepaid phone for him to get some office work done. Will be walking down to the North Campus where my dorm is later.

Right then. That’s it for now. Photos on FB!


Cheers people.

LIVE FROM NARITA

Sup people.

This is me live from Narita! Using some funny internet called BOINGO. haha. Nuff said. I've walked around for a while checking out all the awesome Japanese stuff. Got some shut eye on the flight so I feel pretty fresh right now. :D

Anyhoo, I had an AWESOME surprise this morning from the gang of guys I feel so honoured to call my friends. (yea and in 4 months I'll be spelling it as honOred.) The cake, the photo album, the passport pouch from Gavin, everything was amazing. YES I DID CRY. But only after I went out of sight. :D The photo album in my opinion is going to be used a lot to get over home sickness. haha. And the calls from Firdaus who's in camp and Bernice who was probably medicated were great too.

THANK YOU JONATHAN
THANK YOU EUGENE
THANK YOU KENNETH
THANK YOU BALAJI
THANK YOU GAVIN
THANK YOU ZHONG TING
THANK YOU KAI JIE
THANK YOU MARCUS
THANK YOU VARUN


Cheers!

Looks count for nothing

I happened to switch on my TV yesterday night and caught the last act on America's Got Talent. This total country redneck dude called Kevin Skinner walked onto stage to sing. You could tell that the judges had already made their call on him from his stupid accent and the answers he gave to David's questions.

And then he started to sing.

Rather than type out what happened next, here. Watch it.




Beautiful ain't it?


Cheers.

Cobra Starship!

Songs by Cobra Starship make me want to get up and just jump all around the house. Probably the most fun songs I've heard in a while. And the videos make me laugh silly! WATCH!





CHEERS! (good mood obviously)

Things you learn

Here's a little story I want to share here.

Yesterday, I fell asleep on the bus while reading a library book. I got up just before the bus stopped at my stop, tried to run down the steps in my groggy state, lost a slipper on the way down, had to go up and get it, and rush out of the bus thanks to a kind driver who waited for me. A while later I realized that I had left my book in the bus. So I called my mum to tell her that I'd lost the book. I was hoping she wouldn't give a damn, so I could just go pay the money and not care about this issue ever again.

Boy was I wrong.

In my defense, I had slept the previous night at close to 2am, woken up at 5.10am (needed to do some stuff that early), and hadn't rested a wink the rest of the day. I was frazzled and annoyed. So naturally I got really pissed off when my mum told me to get off my ass, go down to the interchange (which was the next stop) and ask if the book is there. I refused to believe that anyone would have given the book to the lost and found section and I thought I was being sent on this wild goose chase for nothing.

Boy was I wrong.

To cut a long story short, I found my book quite easily. The bus drivers were very nice and pointed out the L&F section upon my query and when I stepped into the L&F room, my book was sitting right on the table.

Now why didn't I think of that in the first place? My mum then told me something important. It may only be a book this time. But what she wanted was a change in attitude. The attitude of not giving in to the easier [albeit more expensive (isn't the easier route always more expensive)] solution is (according to her) very important in life.



Maybe I would have chased down the book if I was in a better state of mind. Or maybe not. I really can't tell for myself. But I'm ashamed I didn't.

Cheerios!

100 and counting

Right. So the reason I haven't updated this blog for a while, is mainly because this will be the 100th post on the blog and I wanted to make it substantial. Not another 2 liner, and definitely not something that confuses people. (Right Dim?)

So here we go.

If tomorrow comes around, it'll be 3 weeks till I leave. There's one question that I've fielded that tends to leave me a bit lost for words. Its nothing complicated really. "So, how do you feel?" is a question that leaves me speechless without fail. How do I feel? There are so many emotions that come along with leaving your adopted country, friends, and family and going off alone into the unknown that I don't know where to begin answering that one. So I decided I'll be nice, and try to tabulate a list here of the emotions.

1) Excited. No duh. I'm going to USA! For college! Land of the Free! ZOMG. Well yea, apart from sounding like a 16-year old air-head bimbo that's the simplest emotion to talk about. And even though I am going for schooling the fact remains that I'll be doing something that I really am interested in. No need to go and sit through double economics and what not again just because I HAVE to do it. The freedom that's provided in US colleges has me quite excited about the classes and courses that I can/will take through my 3 years. So yea, you can say I'm quite pumped about it.

2) Nervous. Another easy one. Its true that my dad will be there with me for the first 2 weeks, and this will help me settle down much easier. But the fact remains that soon I'm going to be alone, making my decisions on my own. And knowing how much of a lazy ass I can be, you can say that its prospects of doing everything independently does seem daunting to me.

3) Melancholic. Wow, listing the emotions does make it a lot easier to explain. I'm going to be 12 (or 13, during daylight savings) hours behind all the awesome friends I've made during my time here. It's going to be tough to talk and even with the comforts of modern technology, aka email and skype, the distance is going to be a problem. I don't want to lose touch or grow apart from anyone I really care about, and that's pretty much everyone I've ever called a friend. Add that to the inevitable homesickness that I will be facing and it's going to be a very very tough first few weeks for yours truly.

Well yea, those do sum up most of my emotions. There are others, that I don't wish to discuss here. Trivial ones. The main problem with having so many emotions attached to this is that they tend to rocket around in a bad-ass multiplayer game of tennis where the only one losing points serve after serve is me.

And now I'm going to shoot right off on a tangent and rant. I think the Tampines Library should be given an award for being the WORST library in Singapore. Good god does the collection of books SUCK. What kind of a library doesn't have Alice in Wonderland. Helloooooo, its a classic! 5 Prachett books? Really? 5? And whats the point of having books for a 7 part series when you only have 3 of the books! AND NONE OF THEM IS BOOK ONE. Bleagh. Frustrating place. Even the comic section which I once thought was awesome has lost its shine. I really wish they expand the fiction section. AND YOU AND YOU. STUPID SECONDARY SCHOOL KIDS. THE LIBRARY IS NOT A PLACE TO GET ALL COZY. GO GET A ROOM RETARDS. And stop gigging and laughing loudly and pissing the whole damn library off.

Grah. Ok. Rant over.

Some updates from life.

1) HP6 was a good movie. I liked it. A LOT. And Emma Watson is soooo hot.
2) Tuesday was a really good day. First Bala came over and we ended up playing crackdown and laughing our asses off the whole time, and then Jonathan came over for an MTG night!
3) UM Singapore Students Association formal reception tomorrow. Can someone explain wtf is smart casual? I'm too used to shorts and flip-flops. (And just in case you can't tell I'm joking and think I'm retarded, I DO KNOW WHAT SMART CASUAL IS. It means good looking flip flops only. :D)
4) I recently decided, that I will be opening a new blog soon. One that will only chronicle crazy backpacking trips that I take in USA. Keep your eyes out for that one peeps. This one will be around forsho. [yea Wendy, I'm trying (and failing) to speak ghetto. Word.]

So yea. That's all I have to say I guess. Thats 100 down. Here's to good health, good friends and many more posts to come.



Cheerio friends. :D

Yours sincerely,

Me.





Oh. My flight is on Saturday the 22nd of August. 5.40AM. Yea. You read that one right.

The Fattest FTW

Kenneth is the bomb. :D

'Nuff said.

Cheers.

Goodbye good friend

My hard drive crashed on 21st July 2009. 4 years of work, music, photos and life, gone.

RIP good friend.

Now my computer feels very alien.

Damn.

Cheers.

Bliss

Fall Out Boy 45 minutes past midnight puts me in a dangerously good mood.





That's not right.

Cheers.








"We're only liars, but we're the best.
We're only good for the latest trends.
We're only good cause you can have almost famous friends.
Besides, we've got such good fashion sense."

Photographs

Middle of Nowhere trips with Varun are amazingly enjoyable. The album is up on Facebook! This time we were on bikes heading for Lorang Halus. :D

Cheers.








"Well I've got a fever,
a non-believer,
I'm in a state of Grace.
For I am the Caesar,
I'm gonna seize the day!"

What lies ahead?

I've been recently listening to this podcast called 2 Chimps on a Davenport. Here's the background.

When I first got my xbox, I was looking around online for some walk through on how to complete the Veteran missions for CoD 4. I stumbled upon this website called nextgenwalkthroughs.com, where these two guys, Jon and Dan, (they go by the names of Beer Baron and ExplicitD) do these video walk throughs with voice overs. At first I watched their videos because they just talk a whole load of bullshit during the voice overs, mainly because they're drunk to the heavens when they're talking. It was a while before I realized something a bit startling. That website? Playing video games and making video walkthroughs? That's their job. That's what they're doing for a living! Sure they don't make much money out of it, (they admit that they do get some money through donations and advertising on their website)(and they also have part time jobs) but the most important thing to them is that they're doing what they love for a living. And no, its not two geeky, fat white guys. Its two decently good looking guys and Dan has this SUPER HOT girlfriend. hahaha.

What's interested me most was the fact that they're willing to spend their lives doing just that because it's what they WANT to do. And everyone around them supports them with that dream. Maybe it's time we all find out what we really want to do. Ok. I lie. Most people already know.

Do I? I need to shed these preconceived notions I have about life and how I must live it.

Cheers.









"Red alert is the colour of panic,
elevated to the point of static.
Beating in the hearts of the fanatics,
and the neighbourhood's a loaded gun."

Stop this

Ah, it's been a while.

Yea, I've finally gotten down to doing the blog post that I've wanted to in a while.

When I was in India, I realized something. I realized that you can tell a lot about a person just by looking into their eyes. Cliche and as crappy as it may seem, they really are the windows into a person's soul. But that's when everything confuses you. I'll explain. When you look at that little kid, who's laughing, screaming and playing wearing torn clothes, running around in a slum what would you expect? You'd expect his eyes to show resentment about the situation he is in. You'd expect anger, hatred and sorrow. But what DID I see in those eyes? I saw innocence, excitement and just plain joy. Now that's not right is it? But take a look at his parents. The one's who're sitting down on the pavement on the cardboard box that for all means and purposes is the house they live in. You can see all of that in their eyes. The pain. The pain of watching a young boy who should be schooling, playing sports, watching TV and doing what a normal 10 year old would do. But here he is playing around in the mud without shoes to wear. Sitting in the car at that traffic light was almost painful.

And the cause for all this sorrow? Ah. That's another story all together. The politicians. These people stand in front of news cameras every day and preach to the world their ideals and promise multiple times every day that they can change the world for the better. And the poor people of my country lap up all the bullshit they spew insincerely and vote them back into power everytime a goddamn election comes around. Not that one is better than the other. It's obvious. From their eyes. All you see is a self serving, holier than thou attitude that is slowly if not steadily running the country into the ground. They don't give a flying shit about the people. Haha, you wish. That's just the pre-electoral talk. After they're in its about money.

And the worst part is? I spent the better part of a 1 and a half hour flight where I could have been reading, listening to music, or watching that cute flight stewardess with that cheeky smile, thinking about this. And getting angrier and angrier as the minutes passed. I really want to do something for my country. The people most importantly. Something MUST be done.



Anyhooo. Yea, feels good to now have that off my chest. Went out on Saturday for Syaks farewell party. It was really sad that she's leaving. But the ties that have been made won't be severed that easily I guess. I went there to have all the fun I could, and I did! haha.

38 more days.

Cheers.

So sue me

Yes I haven't been blogging.

I've been busy.

Yes I'm giving excuses.

I've got a lot on my mind.

So sue me.

Cheerio.

Guess who's back.

Yerp, I'm backkkkkk!

Got back home yesterday at 10.30am and after talking to my mum and sis for a while I slept till about 4pm. haha. Yes I was that damn tired.

There will be a couple of long post coming up. Going back home leaves me with a lot to reflect on.

Cheers.

I can't remember a word that you were saying

Finally, back on the Internet properly.

I've only played cricket once this whole damn trip. Annoyed. All the annanagar guys are busy, so I'm left at home watching B grade flicks on HBO. Some of them are highly amusing. Those who want to watch a seriously bad movie, go check out Kull the Conqueror! Or Fortress 2 - Re-entry. Really really REALLLLYYY bad movies. Oh and I've also been watching India play horrendous cricket. It's so bad it's painful. The England match? I nearly slit my wrists watching Jadeja and Gambhir poke and prod in a T20 match.

Idiots.

In other news, the trip to Tirupathi was done in a day! haha. For those people who don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, I'll show you photos. Spent the evening today going up to the top floor of my uncle's building and then climbing on top of the water tank and sitting there in the cool wind watching the sky slowly darken. It was quite an amazing sight. I could have stayed the longer, if it weren't for the mozzies that seem to incessantly demand my attention. Going to Shirdi on Saturday. Once again, I'll show you photos. I've been trigger happy with my camera this trip. And my trip has revolved around trying to shop for some important things for uni, playing with Sneha my niece, and watching dumb movies. Oh. And food. Good food. I can feel the phattt.

Yay me.

Cya next Thursday people.

Cheers.

Dearly beloved, are you listening?

Hello folks, here's Raghav, live from the first decent Internet connection I could get. The one at my grandmothers house seems to be dependant on the orientation of the computer, on the seating position of the user, on the tide, the phase of the moon, the stock market and the political situation in Bhutan. So yes, in essence it's crappy. But where I am now, its AWESOME. So an update beckons.

Here are things I've learned:

1) All you idiots who think Singapore is warm/hot right now, do come on over here. In the immortal words of the Jonas brothers, IM BURNING UP, BURNING UP. :D

2) The mozzies have really missed me the 3 years I have not been here in India. The bite count right now is about 20, 25.

3) Crossing roads are akin to walking a tight rope above a crocodile pool with the ends of the rope burning. Oh, and you have to cross the rope on a unicycle with your eyes blindfolded. Trying to get across the streets here is like playing Russian roulette.

4) The food here is wayyyy tooooo goood. Yes Jon, this is directed at you.

5) Family politics never change. Right Bala? :D

So that's it for now, I'll try to keep updating as often as possible.

And YES BERNICE, we'll get that plan together with everyone. :D

Cheers all!

The biggest loser

"ENGLAND LEFT STUNNED BY DUTCH COURAGE"

"ORANJE DOOM!"

"STU FOOLS FACING EARLY KO"

"DUTCH COURAGE UNDOES ENGLAND IN T20 SHOCK"



Need I say more? What a bunch of clowns. A test playing nation losing to an associate nation after racking up a decent score. Stuart Broad, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!

Cheers.

Under lights

I'm in a very very good mood. :D

Had a good day at training today. It has been a while since I've walked into that net and felt confident about my batting. The past few weeks I've been very nervous about batting mainly because of my bad form, and it has shown during my trainings. And not doing well in the nets shows on my mood. But today, it was one of those days where I walked in and played without any fear. And it felt good.

Sometimes I feel that my cricket is affected my by emotions. When I'm confused, I play without any purpose. When I'm angry, I just want to hit that damn ball. If I'm down, I'm very lethargic. And so on. I think this is the same with everyone when it comes down to doing things they love.

Flying off to Chennai on Saturday evening. Won't be here till the 25th. Kinddaaa eager about going back. I haven't seen my cousins, aunts and uncles for almost three years. And I probably won't for a very long time due to college. Need to catch up with people, meet friends, PLAY MORE CRICKET, buy stuff, etc, etc, etc. Balaji can add in more things that we people do when we go back home. hahahahaha.

Righto. Now I just wish my good mood can help resolve the STUPID ticket to America issue.


Cheerio.

P.S. Anyone interested in watching "Dance, Subaru!"? I'm very interested.

And the winner is?

The events of yesterday morning require an award for the most anti climatic moment of my life. Quite amusing on hindsight really.

Cheers.

Nervous much?

It looks to be another one of those slow, ohgodwhytheheckamIsittingathomeandrottinglikethis week. Spent Sunday night/Monday morning at Anantha's place watching the final of the IPL. Funny how I predicted the tournament result even before one game had been played eh Venu? hahaha. Fixed much? Who knows! :D

Quite nervous about tomorrow, and it seems that everyone is bent upon adding to it. Warning, hysteria before an interview is a very very bad idea. I shall keep calm and attempt not to asphyxiate/hyperventilate/losemymind in front of the interviewers. Yesh, that would be a very very very bad idea. I'm normally ok with interviews. Some how or the other, I make the interviewers laugh, that's both a good thing and a bad thing depending on the circumstance. And I'm also lucky that I'm very good at hiding my nervousness. Faith and confidence. Faith and confidence. Two words for tomorrow.

I probably need to get down to studying again. Like really. Studying. With notes. And the works. I'm going to get burnt at the stake for this.

Oh, and before I go, here's an ad that I watched mainly because Varun put it up on Gene's tag board. I think its awesome. ROFLMAO at the old ladies doing the Black greeting at the 1:00 point!




Cheers!!!

Good win!

Hey peeps! Good mood post!

GE WON TODAY! And we didn't just win, it was quite a mauling. Put in to bat first, we made 216, mainly thanks to Nara who hit 102 of 55 balls! Super innings. It was amazing to watch. I was pretty upset with myself because I checked a shot that should have duly been smacked out of the ground and and into the side screen and got caught just in front of the very same side screen. Bleagh. But super good game. Really made my day.

Dad's back! :D :D :D Got to talk to him and spend time with him after a very long time.

Cheers.

Boring!

It's been a boring week. Excluding joining the juniors for their last game of the season, nothing really happened. Venu came over for a few days, so spent sometime chatting and watching cricket with him. The game against RJC was quite fun to watch. One, because RJC batted gloriously. Yea sure they're much better trained and all, yada yada, but there is quite the difference in the level of technique. Of course its always funny when they can't bowl us out, I mean come onnn, its pretty much the entire U-19 team! And we're TJC! Get us all-out first boyo, then we can talk about Malaysia. hahaha. Just kidding. I don't want flamers on my blog.

Game for GE tomorrow. I really want to do well. Bat well, bowl well (if they give me the ball that is) and field well. I'll declare I've been doing the last one, but I've let myself down on the batting front. i want to make it up tomorrow. :D


Talking to Varun is always damn fun. hahahahaha.

Cheers!

XD

And this is why I want a BMX bike

That thing with the tree at 1:21 is nuts. Serious.

Cheers.

Funnn

I've had quite a bit of fun since my last update! Firstly, I went to NTU to play some crazy gully cricket with retarded rules! After hitting the best cover drive I've ever hit in my life I was declared out because IT HIT A WINDOW. Damn hilariousssssssss. It was sooo much funnn. Although the trip there and back was frustrating as sheeet.

Friday was kindda sad. The TJ Cricket boys got knocked out of the tournament by rain and a stray helmet. Don't ask me to explain, I'm not that bored. haha. I feel really bad for them. They really deserved more than that.

Anyhoo, watched Wolverine today. Well it was a good movie. Great action sequences, and quite an awesome story. Although I'm still very miffed about how they portrayed Gambit. Pfft. Hugh Jackman is really really amazing. haha. Way too many good movies coming out that I want/need to watch. Transformers 2, Terminator 4, Angels and Demons, Night at the Museum 2, Ice Age 4 (!) haha. Yes way too many. :D

Cheers people.

Memories from a little-er Island

So yes here is my promised update on the Labour Day cycling trip at Pulau Ubin. Words that can be used to describe that day include:

1) TIRING

Yea sounds stupid, but this is the first word I'll use to describe last friday. And come on, give me a break. I stupidly decided to bring my own bike, and thus I had to bike down to Changi from Tampines, then bike for all those hours we were on that little Island, AND THEN bike back! I came home, and just COLLAPSED haha. But damn did it feel good when I got home and realized I had biked that much.

2) AWESOME

Cliche I know, but its the word that pretty much sums it up. It was awesome fun biking around with the rest of the peeps, talking rubbish, dissing the beauty of Chek Jawa (haha Bernice :D), following people on spontaneous route changes which generally end up at dead ends (erm guess who again?) and meeting JACK the giant pig. Wowie, never seen a boar that big in a while. Making fun of everyone else who was cycling around with Kenneth (farmer much?), making fun of Eugene while cycling around, and taking quite a few photos (Camwhore much? haha.)

3) Reflective

Yea this isn't in bold because its more of a personal thing. I spent a lot of the day thinking. Laughing, smiling, talking cock on the outside, but thinking all the time. I've recently had a lot on my mind, mainly to do with the BIG change that I'm going to run headlong into in a few months.
If you can't get it, go crawl back under your rock. It's quite frustrating. I've already realized that its going to be tough for me to get used to it. And there's that constant fear of fading away.

Dammit.

Ah screw it. I'll cross each bridge as I come to it. Till then, I'll put this damn bridge off, and go have fun with the people I care about. :D That means more Cricket, more IPL, more outings, more trekking, more biking, more violin, more MTG, more everything.

Cheers peeps.

Im Yours

Just came back from the an exhausting biking trip with Jon, Eugene, Kenneth, Jane, Hui Min and Bernice. Won't blog about that right now because I'm way too dead, but what I will blog about is the song I put on repeat on the way back. Its a song by the band The Script, and its called I'm Yours. I'm going to use a youtube video for the song even though the song doesn't really have a video because I'd like everyone to listen to the song while read the lyrics.



"You touch these tired eyes of mine
And map my face out line by line
And somehow growing old feels fine
I listen close for I'm not smart
You wrap you thoughts in works of art
And they're hanging on the walls of my heart

I may not have the softest touch
I may not say the words as such
And though I may not look like much
I'm yours

And though my edges may be rough
And never feel I'm quite enough
It may not seem like very much
But I'm yours

You heeled these scars over time
Embraced my soul
You loved my mind
You're the only angel in my life
The day news came my best friend died
My knees went week and you saw me cry
Say I'm still the soldier in your eyes

I may not have the softest touch
I may not say the words as such
And though I may not look like much
I'm yours

And though my edges may be rough
And never feel I'm quite enough
It may not seem like very much
But I'm yours

I may not have the softest touch
I may not say the words as such
I know I don't fit in that much
But I'm yours"

Take two

On Saturday I went to attend my first pre-release tournament with Jonathan, Matthew, Mr Hsi and Mr Low. And I had the most fun I've ever had playing Magic. It helped that I was lucky to pick up a decent pack to make a deck from. Yea sure I lost 1-3 but heck, I learnt a lot from the people who kicked my ass. One, stay calm. Two, capitalize on your opponents careless errors (yea I made a really stupid play and got my ass kicked because of that). Three, try and cheat your opponent when he doesn't pay attention. Ok maybe not the last one, but I found out after the tournament when discussing my final game with Mr Hsi and Mr Low that I got cheated out of a win because I didn't pay attention. Ah heck. If he wanted the win that bad he should have just told me. It was quite awesome playing Magic with very polite adults and teenagers, unlike the time when I used to play Pokemon cards back in primary school with little brats who like curse, swear and just piss me off. haha.

I spent this morning reading through Eugene's old blog. The entries from back in 2007. haha. The events he catalogued. Like the time when Varun got 1/25 for his economics test. The point of time where Zhong Ting liked to tap and run. :D The retarded lessons with Mr Varella in the 126 (issit? I can't remember) classroom. Haha. Once again, good times, gooooood times.

My sister just finished her first SYF and they got Gold. Listening to her talk about all her experiences during rehearsals for SYF made me wonder how similar it is to our lead up to our tournaments. Maybe it wasn't as physically tiring. But heck I think the mental strain was just the same if not more. The closer our tournament got, the more insane trainings got. We'd start at 4, 4.30 and end at almost 8. I still remember the shock that we all got when Kshitij (coach) nonchalantly went (right after warm-up) "Ok guys, today run 14 rounds." Why 14? "Nice number yaar." Haha. Priceless. We were so unlucky last year. That bitterness still stays with me till today and it'll be there forever. But I'll raise my head high and say that I am proud to have been part of the BEST squad TJC cricket ever had. Trainings were a blast, and it seemed like the more you push yourself to improve, everyone else also improved around you, and the cycle repeated itself. If only we had Kshitij for the whole tournament. Or Sagar. Or Saad like the boys have now. Anyone but Manbir. We'd have made it to the finals. Just that little bit more.


Cheers people.

Quick Update

Hey peeps, quick one 'ere.

I've been too distracted by the IPL. haha. There have been some awesome games especially the one today between Chennai and Delhi where Chennai feel agonizingly short. (Boooooo) If you don't know what the IPL is, go figure. Google is your best friend. Wikipedia is even better. That fakeiplplayer dude has lots of balls. haha. To completely diss his own team while being inside it is quite funny. Once again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it!

I'm going to write a bigger post during this weekend. But till then, its back to watching KKR play the Royals. Go Bazzie! :D

Cheers!

Those Days

I really really miss school every time I go and train with the TJ boys. I miss talking nonsense with the gang at assembly. I miss laughing every time Varun gets OWNED by the teachers. I miss telling Jon to SHUT UP and STOP SINGING. (haha) I miss making fun of Eugene. (XP) I miss taking the long walk to the other coffee shop to get food. (mainly because all the guys wanted to eat ban mian. haha did I spell that right?) I miss trying to run back to school so that we aren't too late for the next lesson after lunch. (once again mainly because the ban mian took so long to come and we had to get bubble tea after. haha) I miss running around like a dog during the 3.00 pm PE period. (yes I do) I miss staying back late for cricket training after that, and only going home at 8 earliest. I miss SMO trainings where I'd sit and STONE with Nikunj because we had no idea what was going on. (and we still got Silver. HAHA) Man I miss everything about school, barring the exams, the report cards and the A-levels.

Those were the days eh?

Training's are back on finally and its good to go muck around with the boys again. Game tomorrow morning at freaking 8am. Probability that GE will win at the rate they're playing?

Zero.

Oh whatever, I'm just playing to have fun.

Cheers people.

ZOMG

I JUST FOUND OUT THAT MR HSI AND MR LOW (the chem one) PLAY MTG.

WOW.

cheers!

Why?

Why do I feel this way?

So depressed, angry, frustrated and plain down. Why?

I need an answer.

Tick...

Tock...

Tick...

Tock...

Nothing.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.


Damn.

Lost days

I've had a bad weekend.

Nonsensical game for GE yesterday really ruined my mood. I really don't want to talk about it here, but I think it will suffice when I say that some people just show NO commitment whatsoever. And it irks me when they're on my team. Nuff said.

What's worse is that because of that long stupid game, I couldn't go hang out with the guys yesterday. I especially wanted to see and talk to the guys I haven't seen in a while, like Kenneth, Firdaus, Gavin and Varun. Dammit. Totally ruined my mood for the whole day, and I spent it sitting in front of my TV channel flipping, and never really watching a single show at a time.

I spent today morning watching the Kids Choice Awards hosted by Dwayne Johnson! haha. Or as many kids here would know him, THE ROCK. :D Was good fun, and as usual watching random actors/actresses getting slime-ed made me laugh. Went out to meet Jon later and spent some time talking with him. Man I don't even know what to type after this. Messed up much.

I've still got quite a while here and so much more to do, and I'm already starting to feel like I'm fading away. God dammit all.

Cheers.

By the way

Right I forgot this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIMIRA ELFRIDA TAMBUNAN. :D

Hope you had a good day!

Cheers.

Yes I'm a laggy boy

Yes I'm a laggy laggy boy. I've had a lot to do. Just shoot me.

The long and tedious acceptance and Visa process has begun. Letters back and forth, bank statements, faxes, emails, housing, and everything else. Tedious and tiring. On top of this is the annoying depression that I just can't understand. Maybe it came with my illness and all, but its been nagging me ever since I ACCEPTED the University of Michigan offer. Link much?

Cricket carnival today was annoying. I didn't do anything exceptional, and my team finished 3rd. Like I said a few entries ago, a captaincy is not a freaking dictatorship. And I don't like people telling me how to play. Don't. Do not. Or like Eugene would say, Do Naught. :D

I've been trying to catch up on some reading. No I don't read fancy philosophical or deeply intelligent stuff. :D All I'm reading is The Scorpio Illusion by Robert Ludlum. Yes he wrote more books than the Bourne series. And yes, the Bourne series WAS A BOOK before a MOVIE. haha. Just in case some people are wondering. I've still got to find The Last Watch by Sergey Lukyanenko, just to finish that series.

Sorry Jon, Ill push the Water Buffaloes post to next week. Till then or earlier,

Cheers people.










"I heard that some of you are getting help with your rhymes.
You're not an emcee if someone else writes your lines.
And rapping over rock doesn't make you a pioneer,
cause rock and hip hop have collaborated for years.

But now they're getting randomly mixed and matched up.
All after a fast buck and all the tracks suck.
So how does it stack up? None of its real.
You want to be an emcee you've got to study the skill."

Update

Wow it's been a while.

I had my second game for GE on Saturday, and I messed up my left foot really badly during the game. I've spent the last few days limping around like an idiot. I played well again though, but I really could not go back in to bowl. Damn.

I've finally been told properly that I should stick to off break bowling instead of screwing around with seam up. Haha. Time to work hard and maybe get somewhere with cricket. Watching the national guys train on Tuesday really put it in place. The gulf is amazing. I really have to work hard on my own. Hmm.

Anyway, I should stop talking so much about cricket. haha. Im losing readers. (Right Dim? haha) I haven't met or talked to the guys for a while. Was supposed to meet Jon for dinner at my place on Tuesday but he had to cancel on me. HMPH. (Just kidding man) Been bumming at home mainly because of my leg, and frankly I'm getting frustrated. Had a good day today because The Meeting That Always Gets Postponed finally happened. HAHA. It was good to meet the two of them.

Well nothing more to add. First cricket game of this season is tomorrow.
DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNN (HAHA)

Cheers.

Collision Course

I think the Collision Course album is AMAZING. I can loop it over and over again. Jay-Z's devil-may-care attitude and lyrics combined with the poetic genius of Mike Shinoda.

Bloody brilliant.

And yes. I did call Mike Shinoda a poet. His lyrics are amazing. Just go listen to some of his more emotional songs. Like Kenji (by Fort Minor). Or Hands Held High (by Linkin Park).

Cheers.

Sun, sand and insecurities

A good weekend on the whole.

Spent the whole of Friday with the guys. Jon, Kenneth, Gavin and I hung out at Sentosa the whole morning, swimming, playing stupid truth or dare games and just laughing at everything and anything. Its good to have guys who'll listen to everything that has been bouncing around your skull and sympathise and give comfort and support. Went over to Jons house when the weather looked like it would ruin our day at the beach. Watched a bit of Iron Man, played loads of Magic, talked lots of cock, and ate loads of BREADDDD. (right Jon? :P)

Saturday was nonsense, Sunday morning started with a stupid rubber ball cricket game. For one, I don't like people telling me how I'm supposed to play my cricket. It irks me. Let me do what I like, and shut the hell up. Please and thank you.

The side of me that I thought had been buried and left for dead has resurfaced with a damn vengeance.

Go away.

I don't want you here.

Cheers.










"I've been travelling on the road too long,
just trying to find my way back home.
The old me is dead and gone.
Dead and gone."


(Yes I have used these lyrics before. But I think they fit.)

No way

The past two days have reminded me how much I miss TJC. Cricket camp on monday and tuesday was amazing fun. Hanging out with the guys in the morning, talking cock through the night, and umpiring the game on tuesday was awesome. Listening to all the J2 guys whine about A-levels always brings a smile to my face when I realize that I was in that same position just a year back. Good times. haha.

Umpiring was an experience to say the least. I'm pretty sure I made a gazillion errors, but I tried my best at being completely impartial in my judgement. I was pretty annoyed when that idiotic NJC player tried to argue with the leg-umpire. There's no way you should be showing dissent on field you idiot. Learn. It was good that the NJC coach was extremely professional about the whole incident.

Had a good long 20 minute talk with Varun today. It was nice catching up with him again after a while. Nice to know he's having fun. All the other guys are out now, so we're trying to plan something together!

Just realized I jumped all around in this post. Oh well. Story of my life. XD

Cheers people.

The next generation

WARNING: FOLLOWING IMAGE MAY CAUSE AN EXTREME EMOTIONAL OUTBURST. ESPECIALLY FROM GIRLS.


Meet my adorable niece, Sneha. XD

Goddamn saying niece makes me feel soooo oldddd. haha. But this girl is loads of fun. Kids are the answer to our energy crisis I swear. She's like a little pocket dynamo. A CUTE POCKET DYNAMO. haha

Cheers peeps.

Maybe

A little argument with a friend got me thinking. Maybe I do care too much. Somehow or the other I don't seem to be able to isolate and stop myself from helping. And self-praise aside, I also seem to be pretty good at picking up flaws and paying attention to small detail. It's just sad and quite frustrating that I never got a chance to use it when I was given a chance.

Whatever.

"No good deed goes unpunished"

A little saying I heard a long long time ago.

Looks like it came right back to haunt me.

Cheers.

Dreamy morning

A slow morning with some good music.

I recommend the song Dead and Gone by T.I. It's beautiful.

"Oh, I've been travelling on this road too long,
just trying to find my way back home.
The old me is dead and gone."
Have you people heard 1,2,3,4 by Plain White T's?

"There's only one thing to do,
three words for you, I love you.
There's only one way to say,
those three words and that's what I'll do,

I love you."

Good music makes my day.

On a another note, the song Love Story by Taylor Swift annoys me. Life isn't that happy.

Sorry bub. Ain't gonna happen.

Cheers.

Gives you hell

"When you see my face,
hope it gives you hell,
hope it gives you hell.
When you walk my way,
hope it gives you hell,
hope it gives you hell.

If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well,
then he's a fool, you're just as well, hope it gives you hell."



I LOVE this song.

Good game fellas

Somehow or the other, Venkat (Singapore head coach) called me up to play for General Electrics (GE) in the corporate league!!! haha. So I had my first game today with them on a totally horrible pitch that was water logged. The ball was STOPPING on is way to the batsmen, and timing pretty much went out the window during our batting innings. What did annoy me is the reluctance of the other guys in my team to double the singles. The throws of the fielding team were horrendous so why not double it? Sure you're 40+ years old, doesn't mean you can't run 22 yards a second time! I hit 22 of abt 30 balls with one HUGE 6 thrown in. haha. Felt good putting that ball out of the park. Right Bala? hahahaha.

Our bowling innings was a bit screwed up I guess. The pitch had dried up nicely, so the guys from Chameleon (what the hell? is that a company?) found it easy to time the ball. I bowled a decent first over, barring the last ball where I lost my footing got smacked for 6. next 2 overs of my only yielded 6 runs each because the field was spread out and singles were easy pickings. One over bowled by this "spinner" from our team lost the game for us. He gave away 30++ runs in that damn over, which had about 3 or 4 sixes in it. Quite nonsensical.

More importantly, it felt really really good to play cricket though. I was pretty happy with my batting!!! By the next game I play for them, I'll improve my medium pace bowling. haha. Maybe pick up a few wickets next time.

Great great day.

Cheers!











"This could be the last time,
it's a chance to fix mistakes.
One more for the last time,
don't you blow our dreams away.
Don't waste this chance with your smile,
1o seconds left on this dial.
This could be the last time."

CLOWN

I'M A CLOWN.
I'M A CLOWN.
I'M A CLOWN.
I'M A CLOWN.
I'M A CLOWN.




BLEAGHHHHHH.

I'm happy with my results no doubt, but still annoyed. VERY annoyed.

WHYYYY??????

Cheers.

And it ends now

The last week has been pretty brilliant.

Good bouts of cricket throughout the week. Trainings have never been this fun. Maybe it's because I don't have the added worry of having to come home and do Mathematics tutorial 12, and Chemistry Electrochem tutorial or whatever hell. Feels so good to play as long and as hard as I want to. I want to get back in the net thought. I can tell my bowling has improved quite a bit. Time to focus on my main trade on the cricket pitch :D .

Went out to play a Magic booster draft tournament with Jonathan on Saturday! Great day and I got to catch up a lot with him. Played a good tournament too. I luckily got matched up with Jonathan's brother in the first round, and I managed to beat him, so I assured myself at least one win in my first tournament! (hehehehehehe) Picked up really good cards too, good enough for me to rebuild my Naya deck today morning. Very pleased after I finished. Magic is one game that I find very fun for many reasons. One? The artwork is BRILLIANT. Two? I love the intelligence and strategy that is necessary to play the game. Play like an idiot and you'll get hammered for sure, and that's no fun, haha. Three? Building a deck from scratch is VERY, VERY fun. :D

Going trekking with Varun tomorrow again. Hope it's just as fun as the last trek I did with him. More updates after that.

Cheers peeps.











"And I can't wait to write you a letter for,
everyday that I can't bear.
You can fill these moments with words like forever
but you gotta swear,
don't forget to remember me."

I'm not the way you think I am

Late night cycling trips are a double edged sword.

On one side, you get to unwind and work up a good sweat that comes with a burn in the legs. But on the other hand, those lonely trips also give you too much time to think. Chad Kroeger screaming in your ears helps that. I found it quite amusing the way I almost subconsciously started singing along loudly when I hit a lonely stretch of road.

"Where is your boy tonight I hope he is a gentleman. Maybe he won't find out what I know,
you were the last good thing about this part of town."

I was watching the Ford Ranger Cup final today on TV and I was very very impressed by the way the Queensland Bulls fought tooth and nail to win by defending a paltry score on a good batting pitch. It was amazing. I'm so happy that Victoria didn't win again.

"Someday, somehow, gonna make it alright but not right now."

I've been very happy today. Happy, random and nonchalant. Brilliant.


Cheers.

Numero 60

Milestones, milestones.

The last week has been a bad week. But I'm ok now. The happy Raghav is back.

This is the Raghav that knows that moping and weeping all around the place isn't worth anything. This is the Raghav that knows that the best things in life exist in the NOW, and there's no point in worrying about the future, or the past.
And hopefully this Raghav is here to stay for a while.

Many many mistakes made and learnt from in that last week. My stupid arguments, my stupid mistake, my stupid thoughts, everything. I've learnt to not argue, and instead not care. I've learnt that jumping to conclusions is akin to jumping off a bloody plane without checking the parachute. I've learnt that happy thoughts help. A LOT.

And yesterday made it all better.

Yesterday the other guys (Eugene, Marcus, Kenneth, Jonathan, Gavin, Kai Jie, Varun) and I went out for dinner. We originally intended to go and eat at Lau Pa Sat (is that how you spell it?) but the atmosphere there just killed that idea. So we went to eat at NYDC at Suntec. After that, we fooled around at Toys r Us for a while, before slowly walking to the Flyer to get more food and hang out at the open air amphitheatre. The talking helped. Being honest with everyone there, the bullshit, the laughs all helped me totally clear my head. I realized yesterday how much I missed the guys. (No, that's not meant to sound gay.) Hopefully we can do this every week!

(happy thoughts, happy thoughts happy thoughts!)

Cheers people!











"I'll be there for you,
when the rain starts to fall.
I'll be there for you,
like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you,
cause you're there for me too."

The Rant

What do you do when something you believe in implodes before your eyes? Few things.

First you get angry. You get upset. You can't believe it.

Then it sinks in. Depression follows. Regret.

In a bid to get it out, you laugh. You joke. You smile.

But all the while you deny. You don't show it, but you don't want to believe it.

Then you forget. You bury. You lie.

But soon enough that lie collapses.

And finally you accept. And realize.

I'm done. It ends here. And now.

Cheers.










"I don't care what you think,
as long as its about me."



P.S. Don't ask me about this. Just don't.

Never and never again.

Its funny how clearly one can think once he stops lying to himself.

Never and never again.

Not even going to say cheers here.

18km and back.

I FEEL ALIVE.

Trekked for 18km today with Varun. Went to Bukit Timah, warmed up for 2hrs on the trails in there, ate lunch, and set of on the real goal of our expedition, MACRITCHIE. Yes you read that right. We trekked from BT to MacRitchie. If you have facebook, go look at my new album. It was brilliant.

Hanging out with Varun has been awesome fun. Not only am I getting exercise, talking with him about sane and insane stuff always helps me get my mind of stuff. Other stuff. And I also get to explore things I would have definitely not done on my own. Honestly, how many other people get the chance to visit Murnane Service Reservoir? Awesomeeeee.

The weekend was bullshit. Emooooo. The only silver lining on this dark cloud is that fact that Dim came back (!) and I got to catch up with most of the dudes (!!). Couldn't hang out with Dim much though. Haha. Shopping isn't my thing. Ate dinner on Saturday with the guys and then strolled around the pasar malam at Tampines before parting for home.

Nothing else important to report.

Cheers.








"One night and one more time,
thanks for the memories,
even though they weren't so great,
he tastes like you only sweeter"

Flying high and pretty fine

Its been a great week.

Loads of cricket,both on TV and in real life. Good bit of laughing, because laughing is always good. The cricket team is filled with amazing guys who I enjoy being around, even the new J1 guys. Its also nice to know that its not all fun and laughter, and that I'm getting progressively better at my game, both in the batting and bowling department. Getting a compliment out of the coach about my fielding is an added bonus, considering that I was wicketkeeper from the beginning!

Something related to cricket, but not really. Everyone must know about the crazy Australian bushfires in Victoria recently. If you don't, you're probably living under a rock somewhere, and you should crawl further under it and die. Its believed 300 people died, and many more might be homeless. Its here that the Australian cricketers showed how HUMAN they are. From State players to National players, everyone chipped in to raise money for the Bushfire victims. Selling things, donating, hitting sixes (yes, 5000 dollars was donated for every six hit!), etc, the entire Australian cricketing community did whatever they can. And it didnt stop there. Read this. I think it is pretty amazing that the entire Australian cricket team went all the way down to help with the relief efforts. These guys are International Cricketers who have to play a game on Friday. But they went down just to help. To show that despite all the fame, they're still human. So SCREW all of you who say that Australian Cricketers are cheating, bullying, racist, egoistical players. I've never seen ANY OTHER cricket team do ANYTHING like this. I may not support them in any game, but I have great respect for the team. Especially after this.

Sure, any other Indian guy would be busy posting about the come-from-behind, never-say-die Indian win in the T20 against Sri Lanka. But to me? That humble gesture on the part of the Aussie boys overshadowed everything.

Its lovely when people show they care don't you think?

Cheers.

Can you hear me now?

Nothing of importance to update. Looks like this blog has died anyway.

Went on an awesome biking trip with Varun on Friday, where we went to (quite fittingly named) the middle of FRIGGING nowhere. The pictures are up on Facebook, and if you see them you'll understand why I say that. Been a slow few days after that, mainly spent watching movies and cricket, plain lazing around. Met some of the new cricket J1s today and they seem quite an awesome bunch. Somehow I feel more attached to the cricket guys this year. Funny.

I've been having annoying thoughs bouncing around my skull and they've really messed my head up. Rational thinking has taken a break. I'm looking for sane conversation with a person who doesn't mind talking to an insane person. With someone who'd tell me I'm a total idiot and will give me a good boot in the ass to go along with it.

Cheers.

Happy happy kid

Yes folks, Raghav is one happy happy kid after the CNY hols. I've had a lovely few days, and I just know that its things like these that will make me miss this place and the people even more when the time comes for me to go.

On Saturday, the guys mentioned in the last post, plus Bernice, Hui Min, Jane and Syakirah went for our giant amazing outing at ECP. The beach was beautiful, the sun was bright, the sea was clear and the fun was there for the having. Cycled, Ate, Frisbeed, Talked, Swam, Waded, Skimmed, Laughed, Cycled back, Coke-d. Yea. That about sums it up. Pics are HERE. It was really a great GREAT outing with those peeps. The bicycle rides there and back were tiring, but the company made it great. It was quite sad that Gavin and Kenneth couldn't make it. But barring that there was absolutely nothing that could ruin the day, barring a really boring Uno game, right jon? hahahaha.

Monday was another retarded day. It was Ashwin's birthday. Before I go on, I'd also like to say that it was VELLAY'S BIRTHDAY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY VELLAY. XD. Right. Some of us Cricket guys, (Balaji, Ponku, Nachi and I) decided to surprise Ash, so we called him over to Bala's house. (He didn't know that the rest of us would be there!) After the shock and the humping, we settled down to watch the SA vs. Aus cricket match. So between the 6 of us, (Bala's cousin included) we downed, 4 pizzas, a pot of AMAZING biryani cooked by Bala's dad, and 5 bottles of soft drink. it was pretty crazy. There were also random games of cricket at the void deck, and the day ended with us HUMPING TRISHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. (INSIDE JOKE)

Well after a quiet day today, it's TRAINING tomorrow! Can't wait.

Cheers!









"I'm the invisible man,
who can't stop staring,
at the mirror, at the mirror.
I want to make you as lonely as me,
so you can get, get addicted to this now."

The great outdoors

Yes, this post is titled so because I've decided enough is enough, I need to get my butt out the house more. I've been running, and I'll be going for cricket trainings more regularly with the new AWESOME coach. Enough with the xbox!

Anyway, the most hilarious thing that happened today was that I finally decided to clean my damn bike which has pretty much been rotting for the better part of 3 months. Its a 3 year old bike, and it looked SO MESSED UP. I'm pretty sure I messed up an entire micro ecosystem when I cleaned it up. My sister's bike seems to be in worse shape. It looks like there are THINGS GROWING ON IT. Eww. And my mum wants me to help clean it up too, after she saw what a good job I did on mine. I still had to go get the brakes replaced, but its decent now. It will last me for now. It is infinitely better than the bike I rented the last time at ECP.

On that note, CALLING ALL PEEPS! Us guys, (Me, Eugene, Varun, Jonathan, Gavin, Firdaus, Marcus, Kenneth, Zhong Ting [hopefully lol]) are organizing a get-together at ECP this Saturday! Picnic/Biking/Kite-flying/Talking/Running/Swimming/ANYDAMNTHING. Contact me, eugene or varun about it! I'm looking forward to it. It'll be good to see the guys again. And the girls too, if the ones we're inviting SHOW UP. hahaha.

I should also be taking my violin out someday soon. haha. It's just been sitting in its box for about a month. I hope I can resume classes from next month. It'll be awesome to go for classes and learn songs for fun without worrying about grade exams. XD

Oh, and like Bala mentioned there was this hilarious incident on the bus yesterday. If you people have noticed there is this fire HAMMER in buses which are to be used to break the windows. Well what you probably don't know is that if they're knocked of that holder they are on, a loud annoying alarm sounds. Bala knocked it off with his head, and we guys got stared at by the whole damn bus. On hindsight it was pretty funny, because we were desperately trying to put it back properly, and the driver did it in a matter of seconds.

And I'm dry. (Sounds wrong doesn't it? XP)

Btw, I LOVE DILBERT.

Cheers.









"I've got troubled thoughts,
and a self-esteem to match."