Hello there.

The End

2010-01-29T03:36:00.002+08:00

Doubt I'll ever be posting again, so here's the short and quick goodbye. The blog will still be around because,

a) I like reading the older posts every now and then just to laugh.

b) The tagboard is still a good way to stay in touch.

But as something ends, another begins. To those who know and care, I'm going to be writing more at the other place. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not supposed to.

So cheerios for the last time!

HERE'S JOHNNY!

2009-11-26T13:44:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-11-07T01:00:00.002+08:00

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

2009-10-23T15:47:00.002+08:00

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

2009-10-19T11:30:00.002+08:00

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

2009-10-04T12:18:00.002+08:00

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

2009-09-22T14:03:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-11T05:41:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-06T21:46:00.003+08:00

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!

2009-09-01T21:39:00.004+08:00

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

2009-08-30T10:08:00.002+08:00

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

2009-08-26T00:52:00.002+08:00

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

2009-08-24T04:09:00.002+08:00

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

2009-08-22T14:57:00.003+08:00

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

2009-08-13T15:45:00.003+08:00

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!

2009-08-07T22:34:00.001+08:00

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

2009-08-06T11:16:00.003+08:00

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

2009-07-31T20:09:00.001+08:00

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

2009-07-26T23:36:00.000+08:00

Kenneth is the bomb. :D

'Nuff said.

Cheers.

Goodbye good friend

2009-07-22T21:18:00.003+08:00

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

2009-07-20T00:41:00.003+08:00

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

2009-07-18T19:17:00.005+08:00

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?

2009-07-16T12:17:00.003+08:00

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

2009-07-15T19:27:00.004+08:00

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

2009-07-06T23:56:00.001+08:00

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.

2009-06-26T11:56:00.002+08:00

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

2009-06-17T23:16:00.003+08:00

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?

2009-06-09T14:14:00.003+08:00

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

2009-06-06T11:00:00.002+08:00

"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

2009-06-04T23:06:00.003+08:00

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?

2009-05-28T09:57:00.002+08:00

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?

2009-05-26T12:54:00.005+08:00

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!

2009-05-24T00:38:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-05-23T00:57:00.003+08:00

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

2009-05-13T00:02:00.004+08:00

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

Cheers.

Funnn

2009-05-09T23:31:00.003+08:00

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

2009-05-06T01:38:00.002+08:00

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

2009-05-01T18:28:00.003+08:00

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

2009-04-28T13:56:00.002+08:00

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

2009-04-23T23:17:00.003+08:00

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

2009-04-17T21:52:00.003+08:00

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

2009-04-14T22:53:00.002+08:00

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

WOW.

cheers!

Why?

2009-04-12T21:46:00.003+08:00

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

2009-04-12T19:52:00.002+08:00

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

2009-04-10T21:14:00.001+08:00

Right I forgot this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIMIRA ELFRIDA TAMBUNAN. :D

Hope you had a good day!

Cheers.

Yes I'm a laggy boy

2009-04-10T19:17:00.002+08:00

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

2009-04-01T21:44:00.003+08:00

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

2009-03-23T22:59:00.003+08:00

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

2009-03-23T22:07:00.004+08:00

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

2009-03-18T22:18:00.003+08:00

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

2009-03-15T22:42:00.004+08:00

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

2009-03-14T00:08:00.004+08:00

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

2009-03-09T11:39:00.004+08:00

A slow morning with some good music.

Chad Kroeger's voice brightens my day.

"How the hell did we wind up like this?
Why weren't we able, to see the signs that we missed."

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

2009-03-08T19:23:00.002+08:00

"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

2009-03-08T18:45:00.003+08:00

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

2009-03-07T00:43:00.000+08:00

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

2009-03-02T22:38:00.002+08:00

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

2009-02-22T21:20:00.003+08:00

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

2009-02-22T17:01:00.002+08:00

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

2009-02-18T21:36:00.003+08:00

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.

2009-02-18T00:43:00.002+08:00

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.

2009-02-17T21:55:00.002+08:00

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

2009-02-11T23:53:00.004+08:00

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?

2009-02-04T22:26:00.002+08:00

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

2009-01-27T21:51:00.002+08:00

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

2009-01-22T22:16:00.002+08:00

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."

You never know.

2009-01-18T20:53:00.003+08:00

Wendy, I didn't update because I didn't HAVE ANYTHING TO UPDATE ABOUT. Apart from me going gaga over Folie a Duex which is totally awesome and worth listening to even if you're deaf, nothing really happened last week. Of course there was the whole hospital thing, but I won't put that here, because I don't want stupid questions.

ANYWAYYYYYY,

I'm updating today because today morning I went for this brilliant cycling trip at ECP with Varun and Eugene. I think Eugene will be putting up the pictures later. We cycled to the most deserted parts of ECP, and there were some moments I was totally BLOWN away by the scenery. It was quiet, beautiful, and above all, it seemed so untainted. Thanks mainly to Varun for knowing about all those amazing places, and for leading us there. There were of course retarded times (what else do you expect, Eugene is around) like when we tried to chase down a landing airplane on bike. Ask me no question and I won't have to lie. XD. Its funny how quiet places like that make you think a lot on the inside. About where I want to be, and what I want to do in my life. I've recently been fielding a barrage of questions from different people about university and beyond and sometimes I find myself unable to answer them honestly or with the same conviction that I answer all the other questions. I guess I'll cross the bridges when I come to them.

After the cycling and lunch, we WALKED (yes, all the way from ECP) to Eugene's house, and hung out there for a while. My plans for the rest of the day got ruined by BALAJI (THANKS ASSHOLE. HAHAHA) so i just came home and bummed around for a while, after which I had to help my sister with maths.

Cheers.

"Oh, baby you're a classic,
like a little black dress.
You're a faded moon
stuck on a little hot mess.
woah, woah
and oh, baby you're a classic,
like a little black dress.
But you'll be faded soon,
stuck on a little hot mess.
woah, woah"

Open house

2009-01-13T22:01:00.003+08:00

Open house today was pretty fun!

Not because there were a lot of people attending it. haha. But more because I got to catch up with a lot of people! Today reminded me why I miss TJC Cricket so much. Playing around with the guys, talking nonsense, meeting some of the guys like Nik again, man it was brilliant. Balaji and Ashwin came over to my house to watch cricket and Elstan joined us later! haha. Brilliant brilliant day.

Another thing that was great was when a big bunch of us ex-TA4s gathered in Miss Kwans room just to talk! At its fullest, there was Eugene, Varun, Wendy, Han Wee, Hui Min (Ong) and myself in her room talking about EVERYTHING, from jobs, to the TA years. I nearly spent 2hrs there! Man do I miss school. Mostly for the people.

Anyway I've finally got my hands on Folie a Duex, the new Fall Out Boy album! ITS GREAT!!!!! If you liked Infinity on High, this one will blow you awayyyyy! (Extra "y"s are for dramatic effect and also because I'm bored.) I strongly recommend everyone to get a copy of this one, however you people get your albums!

On a funny side note, I've been having a very funny recurring dream. And you were always in it. Maybe?

Cheers.

"I wanna scream I love you from the top of my lungs,
but I'm afraid that someone else will hear me.
You can only blame your problems on my world for so long,
before it all becomes the same old song.
As soon as we hit the hospital, I know we're gonna leave this town.
And get new passports and get get get get get out now."

HUMP

2009-01-09T00:12:00.005+08:00

Just for the record,

| Dimira | says:
ok ok fine PEACE
HUMPPYYY

YES FOLKS. DIMIRA ELFRIDA TAMBUNAN JUST SAID HUMPYYY. WITH AN EXTRA "P"!! SEE! HUMPISM IS SPREADING. HUMPISM SHALL SOON BE THE GREATEST RELIGION!

HUMPYY TO ONE AND ALL!

Cheers. XD

The bravest man in the world

2009-01-07T20:43:00.003+08:00

Today morning I watched something simply amazing on TV. Something so amazing it kept me rooted to the screen, mainly because I couldn't believe what was happening.

I was watching Graeme Smith bat as the last batsman for South Africa, in an attempt to save the last test match against Australia.

I bet most of you are like "pssshhh whatever." If you are, shut up and listen. Graeme Smith is the captain of South Africa. A test match is a game where each team plays 2 innings. Think baseball now. Baseball has 9 innings, and the team that has the greater number of runs at the end wins. Well a test match is similar, with only 2 innings. Its played over FIVE freaking days. The stamina that goes into it is quite amazing. Graeme Smith has been playing this tour of Australia with a dodgy elbow where he has some condition that required him to have his own blood injected into his elbow. And in the first innings of this test match, he took a ball travelling at 140kmph right on his left hand. It fractured his wrist, and he required medical treatment. But today, when he realized that his batting might allow SA to draw the test match instead of losing it, he came out to bat, wearing no protection for his hand, and a borrowed kit. It was an amazing sight when he walked out of the SA dressing room. The crowd at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) gave him a standing ovation. The Australians who were fielding were totally blown away. It was the LAST thing they expected. But this man came out to save the game for his country. THAT IS COMMITMENT.

All those bullshit soccer players who are part of the crap-ass club vs. country row should look to cricket. In fact, SOCCER PLAYERS (all of them) should look at Cricket players and learn how to behave. Screw the whole Sydneygate incident last year when India toured Australia. Apart from that, Cricket has, and will always be played in the most amazing spirit. No stamping on each other, no diving, no insults, no bullshit. And cricket players earn a LOT less than what soccer players do. And this is not the first time a players has played on through injury. Rick McCosker, and older player from the past, played on with a broken jaw. Malcom Marshall BOWLED with a BROKEN HAND. BEAT THAT.

THIS is why I watch cricket, and I proudly say that I play cricket. Who cares if people don't know or understand it. I love it. For the players, the teams, the game.

Cheers.

The big "O-9"

2009-01-05T23:28:00.002+08:00

So 2009 is here. Funny how this sounds exactly like how I started the previous entry.

But anyway its been a pretty fun week or so since the last post. I had a great new year. Spent new years eve at East Cost Park and I think the flares released by those on the ships look so much more awesome than the fireworks that look like they've just been rinsing and repeating the same old box since god knows when. The flares seem to be ever lasting. Like big red lights just hanging in the sky. I was there with my family, and a few family friends, and it was quite enjoyable.

After that it was an all guys reunion at, surprise surprise, Jons house again. As usual after an awesome dinner provided by Jons mum, we went on to talk loads of cock, and play retarded games. One of them stood out to being the STUPIDEST game I have played in a while. Not because the games retarded. No, Pictionary is quite fun. But when you're playing it with Eugene? You've got a BIG problem. He's got this DUMBASS way of drawing animals. I can't really explain it, but all I know is that we really just couldn't stop laughing. I'll upload them once my handphone stops being cranky and lets me transfer the pictures. After that we played risk till like 5 in the morning. I HATE Risk. I think its really annoying, mainly because I don't like being to expansionist in that game, and it comes right back to bite me in the ass. Then I played a few games of Magic with Jon, and I finally realized that my deck is pretty decent considering that I beat him three times in a row. Of course he was not using his best deck, and I did get lucky a few times, but hey, I'll take that. XD

Friday was even more fun, with the whole SIFAS gang reunion. So after 2 whole sleepless nights, I went (in quite a groggy state) to hang out with the SIFAS gang! Nandita, Bharat, Varun (NOT SONI), Shreya, and Sudarshan. Funny enough, other than Shreya, none of them read this blog! haha. Anyway we had lunch, lots of laughs, and then we went to watch (quite a random decision actually) Seven Pounds, the new Will Smith movie. Here and now, I'd like to say that Rotten Tomatoes is BULLSHIT. They totally rubbished this movie, but let me tell you this, if you can watch this movie and not get emotional and all teary eyed even once? Go see a bloody doctor. It was brilliant. Will Smith acted quite well, and the whole story was really touching. Dont believe the reviewers. Just go watch the damn movie. After the movie, I had to head to the airport to see Bala off (NOT BALAJI) and there I hung out with the cricket dudes for a while, ran into Warran, etc. By the time I reached home, I was ready to collapse. haha.

I just spent Saturday at home, and then Sunday was Sasta Preeti (I think thats how you spell it, so sue me). Its this funny prayer thing I go for at the beginning of every year, mainly because I get to meet most of the SIFAS gang and other friends again. I spent most of the time helping out in the kitchen and talking cricket with everyone there. Then to serving food which was quite difficult considering the number of people. Bleagh.

OH. And btw, I've heard that the results will be out mid-feb this time. God knows why its been pulled forward so much, but yea, that's what I've heard. So I really have to get my ass down to enjoying whatever time I have left. HAHA. OH AND TO ALL TJCIANS WHO ARE NOT IN NS ON THE 13TH, DO GO DOWN FOR OPEN HOUSE! Haha. Miss Kwan told me to get everyone back, and so I have. XD

Well peeps, thats all.

Cheers.

"I’m the oracle in my chest.
Let the guitar scream like a fascist.
Sweat it out, shut your mouth,
Free love on the streets, but
in the alley and I ain’t that cheap, now!

I don’t care what you think,
as long as it’s about me.
The best of us can find happiness,
in misery."

2008

2008-12-30T22:39:00.003+08:00

So the big year is finally coming to an end.

A-levels? check.
University applications? check.
Passport and VISA? check.

All I now have to do is wait for the damned results.

Anyway I'd be lying if said that this year hasn't been a great year just because of what happened in the past week. It was an awesome year. A lot of things that happened this year have helped me grow, hopefully into a better person. I got new friends, and old friends became better friends. There were several parts of this year I was seriously down and doubting myself, but many friends helped me through it all. And yes, you too Sarah Soh. :D haha. I know you're always annoyed I never mentioned you here. So this one is for you. Lol. Just kidding. You were a great help. XD

Anyway, it just sucked that this year ended on such a messed up note. But life's like that I guess. Maybe its time I said it here. I've been accepted into two out of the four Universities I applied for, namely University of Michigan and University of Illinois. I'm very happy to be honest, because there was a time after prelims I was wondering if I even had a chance to get in anywhere. So now its just a waiting game for me. Hopefully my results turn out fine, and everything gets better for me in 2009.

Oh and on this note, please do keep reading this blog. Sometime next year I'm going to try and embark on this round India roadtrip all alone. The basic rules I've set for myself are no cabs. Buses and Trains only. I think it'll be quite fun. I need to get the hang of some basic Hindi, but my mum can help me with that. I'll regularly update my experiences here when I'm there. I'm quite excited about the idea and also mainly because my parents thought its cool too!

So anyway, that's all for now I guess. Balaji comes back tomorrow and we've got the whole memorial/service for Sanstav to finalize and plan by tomorrow. Please do try to attend, all of you who read this blog. It will be in TJC. Maybe we can try to work out an arrangement for those of you who are not from this school.

Anyway, I'm out.

Cheers.

"One more song,
we can sing along
to our big break.
No more mistakes.
One more time,
we'll do what we have to
to get this off the ground.

No more should've been,
no more could've been,
There's no last thing now."

Closure

2008-12-22T12:23:00.001+08:00

So now we have word that Sanstav Paul's body has been found. Funny how it seems that prayers never get answered eh?

Gone

2008-12-21T23:44:00.004+08:00

Today evening I found out that Sanstav Paul, my senior is assumed dead after his plane crashed. He's in a pilot school. His body has still supposedly not been found, but the search has been going on for over 21 hours now.

I can't really explain how shocked I was when I got that phone call from Ashwin today. This hollow numbness, like every little bit of emotion was being sucked out of you, leaving just an empty shell. Comprehension was difficult. At first I was told that he was dead. Just plain vanilla dead. A guy who even this year I had played cricket with, laughed with, argued with, and most importantly spent time with was gone. Just like that. And later I was told that there is still this inkling, of a chance that he might be alive, considering that he still hasn't been found.

And all that did was give me a spark of hope. One that I never wish to see extinguished. Its bubbling amongst all of us. Its holding us together. And we all can only pray and hope. He was honestly a really good friend of mine, and my direct senior in Cricket.

If there's a God out there, you know what to do.

Cheers.

The fun ends here

2008-12-18T23:20:00.002+08:00

My folks are coming back tomorrow morning, so I guess the fun ends tonight haha.

I guess its been a pretty fun week. I've learnt to do everything on my own, from cooking, to cleaning the dishes, to cleaning the house. And I'll be pretty happy to see my folks again. I'm going to catch them at the airport tomorrow early in the morning, so no late night mapling for me! hahaha.

Bernice popped over tonight to give me a pleasant surprise! haha. She was at Jawi's house, and she wanted to come over to see my FRIDGE? hahaha weird girl. Anyway, she tried to play Call of Duty and Viva Pinata haha. And we also played chess, where I tried not to win! haha. JUST KIDDING BURNIS. :D

I hope Folie a Duex has been released in Singapore already. I want to go get it tomorrow. Then all the music I need for a while would have been purchased! hahahahaha.

Oh well anyway, I've got to go clean up the place. :D

Cheers!

Stoned

2008-12-17T19:04:00.008+08:00

Man do I feel hung over.

And the worst part is, I don't drink.

Yesterday Eugene and Gavin stayed over at my place. Basically we spent the whole night playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare and that means that me and Eugene were repeatedly PWNed by Gavin, who'd played this game before. But it was insane fun. What was even better was when the four of us, (Kenneth was here also at an earlier time) played VIVA PINATA party animals. Haha! It was so much insane fun. After that, Kenneth had to leave, and the remaining 3 of us kindda died, playing Maplestory for the rest of the time.

And today morning, I went to play CRICKET! hahaha. Been sooooo LONG. And boy did it feel good. Maybe cause I've been watching cricket on TV and trying to pick up some tips, but my batting has REALLY improved. And so has my bowling! And on this note, INDIA WON. Yea I'll be honest, I will always support NZL more than India. But winning this game felt different. It was an amazing feeling to watch a Mumbai born player win the game for us. After the shit that happened there, maybe people finally have something to celebrate about. It was quite obvious that this win was more than just a stupid cricket match. I had something to do with the morale of the whole nation. And besides, they were playing England, and I HATE the England cricket team. haha. So this made it more sweeter. :D

I just purchased the Road to Revolution CD, (LP's new live album!) and I have to say, I LOVE IT. Linkin Park is the FIRST rock band I ever properly followed, and I really enjoy their music. Don't flame me about this, I won't care. haha.

Oh well, still very dazed. Too little sleep + physical exertion = one woozy Raghav

Cheers peeps. XD

Airport, AGAIN

2008-12-13T10:46:00.003+08:00

I should seriously look into whether it's possible for me to get some kind of award for the number of times I have been to the Airport for fun over the past 2 weeks. Yesterday, dad and sis left for India too. So now (Drumroll please) I'M ALL ALONE. XD. Well not for now, my cousin is over for the weekend. We spent the night yesterday playing 2 player co-op LEGO STAR WARS. HAHA. IT WAS SO HILARIOUS. When you kill people, they dont die, they fall to lego bits! haha.

The chalet with the guys was quite enjoyable. It started with Marcus pwning all of us at Cutthroat Caverns, (28 prestige? wtfh?) and then it progressively got more retarded. After the barbeque the guys were watching retarded Chinese dramas and playing cards simultaneously. OH, DURING THE BARBEQUE, WE WERE WATCHING DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS, AND SINGING ALONG SIMULTANEOUSLY. XD. Then LT, Jia He, Fidot and Han Wee left, so it was down to only the 4 of us (Gavin, Kenneth, Marcus and Me). We continued playing cards, talking (lots of talking) and we took this crazy night walk around the place. Back in the room, more talk, lots of Citadel, many many stupid talk shows on TV, Yogurt drinks out of the cartons, SEXY BUSINESS CRACK (inside joke :D), and finally abt an hr of sleep.

Awesome. XP

Got home and then I was totally blown away by the number of Xbox games my dad's friend had lent me indefinitely. (LEGO: Star Wars is one of them). So I guess my holidays are full. haha. Next week we might have Chalet part 2, where the guys now come over to my place and we have another round of fun, hopefully without burning my house down.

Now it's time to go shower and save the world from evil terrorists (did I mention Call of Duty 4 is AWESOME?).

Cheers.

"Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me like that.

Cause nobody wants to go it on their own.
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
Somebody else that feels the same somewhere.
There's gotta be somebody for me out there."

Star Wars

2008-12-10T11:13:00.003+08:00

Here's the first light hearted post in a while. XD

I never really noticed until Eugene said it that day. The post Star Wars era has begun to set in. People now days don't know what race Chewbacca is from. People don't know that he's Han Solo's first mate. People don't know WHO HAN SOLO IS. For me, its really weird. Star Wars was the first saga that I ever really followed. Oh screw it and stop calling me a geek in your head already. haha. But I'm serious. The movies, the books, the games, I know them all. But kids these days (my sister's batch) hardly know anything. Some people on youtube (random video, I don't remember) called the Force as MAGIC, and queried if you need MANA to CAST it.

O.O

And only few people my age realize that the Star Wars stories are actually quite deep! haha. The whole Jedi vs. Sith thing is more than just a simple Good vs. Evil struggle. If you haven't understood that till now, then you just ain't getting it. XD

Oh and on this note, I'd like to say something else. For those who know what an Imperial Star Destroyer is, (too few darn it) I RAGHAV TOOK DOWN A WHOLE STAR DESTROYER BY PULLING IT DOWN USING THE FORCE. hahahahahahahaha. Awesome video, its in the game I'm playing, The Force Unleashed. Watching it go down was an awesome feeling. Even this simple GAME has quite a spectacular storyline, that links the 3rd movie (The Revenge of the Sith) to the 4th (A New Hope). If you're really bored, and you don't have anything to do, PLEASE watch all 6?

Okie, I'm out.

Cheers.

"Do or do not,
there is no try."

Still standing

2008-12-09T08:46:00.002+08:00

Sometimes I think, that I overthink things.

Late night train rides make me feel very lonely. And there have been too many of them in the past week.

I went to watch a Tamil movie with some of the cricket guys. I'd have to say that it was a pretty nice sappy, mellow movie, but what it effectively did was put me in a very reflective mood. And that sucked. Couldn't sleep properly that night, and why? Cause I was busy talking to myself. About something I promised I won't talk about. Its that syndrome I was discussing with Gavin and Kenneth the other day. I must soon see a shrink about it. haha.

Thank God that I'm very good at hiding how I really feel.

Mum left last friday and till now things have been quite alright. Sunday was a seriously awesome day. All us guys went to meet Jonathan! He had booked out for Hari Raya, and thus, we all had this giant outing at downtown East with him. It was really awesome. Sitting around and talking cock, like the good old days. hahaha. I'm really going to miss those ASS CLOWNS (a new word taught to me by none other than Kenneth!). Oh and some of us guys are playing Maplestory again. hahaha. As one TA party. Haha.

This really doesn't make any sense.

Well that's all folks. Cheers.

"We'll be miles apart.
I'll keep you deep inside,
you're always in my heart.
A new life to start.
I may be leaving but,
you're always in my heart."

Airport

2008-12-04T22:54:00.002+08:00

I've gone to the airport twice in two days. Maybe I can redeem my frequent flier miles. hahaha. Sorry, I'm in just one of those wonky moods.

I got over my Emo-ness of yesterday thanks to long talks with Lee Tat and Wendy. Those two really helped, and the latter cheered me up like crazy! haha, of course LT too lah, especially after Eugene got into the convo! XD

Really really bored these days, but my next two days are quite hectic. I'm looking forward to Gavin's supposed X'mas chalet. Love hanging with the guys. Its awesome fun. I never knew guys BITCH so much! HAHAHA.

OH! And here's another thing I'd like to say. THANK YOU LUCASARTS FOR STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED. Its an swesome way to release stress when you're upset. Seriously. One Jedi + One Lightsaber + MANY Force Powers = FUNNNNN. I love lifting those stupid stormtroopers and tossing them right off the buildings. Damn FUN. hahahahahaha (And now you can guess that I'm this wonky, only cause I was playing until 5 minutes ago!!!!)

Righto. Anyway, cricket tomorrow, and for the first time in a long time, BOTH BALAS WILL BE THERE. WOOTS.

Anyway, thats all here folks. But before I go, here's a song my an awesome band called The Maine. Its called Everything I Ask For. Fuuny ass video. Enjoy.

Cheers.

I'm an idiot

2008-12-03T19:52:00.003+08:00

I never realized how difficult it would be for me to say goodbye.

Sorry for looking like a total retard. I hate how inferior I felt. I hate that I was there like a fool. I hate that I couldn't say ANYTHING to you. I hate myself. Period.

Goddammit.

"Cos you bring out the best in me, like no-one else can do.
That's why I'm by your side, and that's why I love you ."

Big Bang

2008-11-30T12:44:00.002+08:00

My head feels clear for the first time since yesterday afternoon.

Motor functions, check. Sensory functions, check. Thinking capacity, never really had it to begin with. Right, I guess I'm finally back to normal.

Reached home at like 9am this morning from Jon's stayover. We didn't sleep A WINK. It was playing cards and talking cock all the way till this morning. XD Awesome-ness. Im not going to really bother anymore about anything that happened during the party. As far as I care, it ain't my problem. Please talk to someone who cares anymore. Apart from that, the party was absolutely brilliant. The 4+ hours spent just sitting around and talking cock was amazing. I'm still feeling quite dazed right now, haha.

I'm really going to miss Jonathan. Its funny that even though we all call him the Confuser he's pretty much the first person I talk to when I need, um, advice that concerns the matters of the heart. (LMAO that sounded like a cheesy third grade romance novel.) And sometimes, ok that's being mean, many times he's given me pretty sound advice. Like after the Term 1 Incident, he was one of those people instrumental in me finding my feet again. Him and Chris Daughtry. HAHA. Ask me about the latter privately. And to me he really seems like a great guy, who'll go far in life just with his attitude! Stay in touch BIG brudder. hahahahaha (sorry couldn't resist)

Right, today's agenda: Recover from yesterday. XD

That's all folks. Cheers.

"It's our last time, to say goodnight.
Don't say goodbye cuz' in the morning we'll,
see you around, and we'll sing it again
same time tomorrow, yeah we'll all join in"

Best in me

2008-11-29T14:30:00.002+08:00

Just to continue with what I used to do regularly, here is a B-E-A-U-tiful song by Blue. It doesn't matter how old they are. I love this band. HAHA.

Cheers!

The big one

2008-11-29T13:17:00.003+08:00

Well I've finally decided to update properly.

Woots.

Anyway these days have been amazing. I've never felt this free. Period. Its like some huge-ass burden has been lifted, letting me run around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Ok, forget the last part.

But its been a blast. I've been playing cricket, Magic: The Gathering, Divine Blood, and CHESS. I've been raiding people's houses. XD. I've been watching stupid movies, and sitting in front of my TV watching cricket till my brain turns to mush, and I sound like Ian Botham commentating. And, I've also sorted out ALL MY PROM STUFF. Haha. It was actually quite fun. I'm looking forward to see everyone again. But hell yea, this feels good.

And I'm also extra happy about something else. I'll publicly proclaim it when I've gotten all the final details. XD

Anyway, I'm going to Jon's house later for some crazy stay over party. I intend to enjoy myself to the fullest.

But its kindda funny, when I realize that come next year, I won't be around anymore. And thats a really gut-wrenching feeling. I think I'll go into some kind of temporary depression when I first hit Uni. No Eugene or Varun to make fun off. No Jon to confuse me (HAHA). No ZT, Fidot, Marcus, JT, Oli, Bala, Cricket team, Shrey, Dim, Sarah, no nothing. Gah. Emo-ness. I don't think I'm in the best frame of mind while typing this. So bear with the bad English. I'm gonna miss EVERYONE here. Keep in touch PLEASE. HAHA. Ill put up my address, my phone number, my dorm number, my email, my second life account.... ok forget the last one again.

Bleagh. Can't write anything else. Apart from, SCREW YOU BASTARD TERRORIST WHO ATTACKED THE CITY I GREW UP IN. I HOPE THE MOSSAD HUNT YOU DOWN AND KEEEEELLLLL YOOUUUUUU.

Ok now I'm done.

Cheers.

"Tell me that you love me and it'll be alright.
Are you thinking of me?
Just come with me tonight.
You know I need you.
Just like you need me.
Can't stop, won't stop, I must be dreaming.
Can't stop, won't stop, I must be dreaming."

Its been a while

2008-11-15T22:36:00.002+08:00

Long time no see eh?

Well im only posting because I did this interesting personality test I ripped of Olivia's blog. Ill post a longer post on Tuesday. Anyway, here're the results!

Tell me if its true! (seriously) I feel I answered all the questions as honestly as possible. I think its true, but some of the statistics are overly skewed. Like the Perceiving one. Don't know, up to you guys to decide!

Oh, btw, FOLIE A DEUX COMING OUT ON DECEMBER 16TH!!!!!!! YAYYYYY!!!

Cheers

The End is Now

2008-09-20T20:33:00.002+08:00

Yes I am alive.

Over the last 2 weeks I've faced, and learnt a few things about myself.

1) I'm a total loser.

2) I'm probably never going to achieve my goals and ambitions in life.

3) I've wasted 2 valuable years where I should have been studying regularly, trying to have "fun".

4) I'm surrounded by amazing people who I totally do not deserve.

5) I'm pretty sure that come next week my whole life will be decided for me.

Just to warn everyone here. If things do not turn out the way I hope, I'm pretty sure I'll become a pretty different person. It's true that I have no one else to blame but myself. But that realization does not help ANYTHING. I'll be a broken shell. So please. No sympathy, no "oh it'll be OK", and DEFINITELY no "don't worry". I'm pretty sure I should be worrying, and regretting about the things I could have and should have done.

You see that point (4) up there? That's what I want to talk about now. Firstly, my amazing parents. They've stood by me during this prelims period, where bouts of insecurity and inferiority hit me. My mother especially has always been around with a comforting word. They've both helped me with my studies, especially my dad, who came home early from work a few days just to shore up my confidence more than anything else.

My sister. She didn't help much academics wise, but she was around when I needed to talk about anything other that P,C,M, or E. I've fought a lot with her, but I do love her.

Miss Kwan. Thank god that I've been blessed with a great teacher like Miss Kwan. Twice I smsed her unable to contain my anxiety about how badly my prelim grades will affect my uni applications. Twice she sent me comforting smses that, if not anything, ensured that I kept working hard.

Mr Hsi. Another blessing in disguise. Those smses before both Math papers helped me greatly. Thank you sir. I've said the rest in the card. XD

Shreya. What can I say other than, THANK YOU for being around.

Other friends. You guys might not realize it, but every time you made me smile, it took my mind off my screwed up future.

God Bless All of You. It doesn't matter that all your efforts on this boy seem destined for failure. I'll never forget ALL of you.

Cheers.

Its a Funny World

2008-09-03T18:40:00.006+08:00

Hello all.

And yes, I'm not dead yet. Call me back in 2 weeks and check. I might be.

These prelims are seriously freaking me out. I know I HAVE to do well to stand a chance of achieving my goals in life. But the way the teachers talk about prelims being set to be difficult is scaring me. The A-level papers honestly do not seem difficult. Prelims are scaring me to hell. I sincerely believe my chemistry and mathematics might be fine. Physics too, considering that TJC physics papers aren't as bad as chem or maths. I'm FREAKED out about Economics. I've NEVER done well, and I thought last years promos was alright. Gah. Nothing to do but just study hard and pray I guess.

This is going to be random. Some people have questioned why I want to go into Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.Take a look at this. Some of you might remember this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Kursk_explosion.
In short, a Russian submarine got completely destroyed due to some poor maintenance and some human error. 118 men died. Can you imagine dying in a submarine? All alone? Underwater? Waiting for the air to slowly run out? These men were soldiers, but they didn't die on the battlefield. They died a horrible death, on the ocean floor. And what made is worse is the stupid ego that the country had. Russia didn't allow rescue teams from foreign countries to even try! This was the first transcript that Russia publicized. The first fax to press corps was, "the submarine had minor technical difficulties". PFFFFFFFT. You know what a minor technical difficulty is? A faulty school OHP. Have you a seen a faulty projector KILL PEOPLE? I want to be able to help these guys, whether its submarines, or ships, not something far better. Stranded in the open sea, waiting for sharks or fatigue is pretty scary too. I might not do much, but at least I'm willing to try make a difference.

Well time to get back to mugging. But here's something HILARIOUS. Its the new discovery channel ad called "Boom De Ah Dah!" HAHA. Watch and enjoy. Adam setting fire to Jamie is priceless. This is a little different from the one on TV.

Cheers all.

"I candy coat and cover everything that I'm still hiding underneath.
It's been a long time, it's been a long time.
A thousand faces looking up at me hands are pointing ceiling oh what a feeling.

I've got friends in highly low places
I'll stand up push it and push it up, can't afford to lose now.
I've got friends in highly low places
I'll go inside when I wanna party, grab a girl and dance (don't touch me)."

INJUSTICE

2008-08-19T21:09:00.002+08:00

I'm blogging today because I am totally outraged about the way Liu Xiang the Chinese hurdler is being treated.

For those who do not know the story, Liu Xiang was China's poster boy for this Olympics, and possibly their only hope for winning a gold in the track and field competitions. But he injured his Achilles tendon (I think, don't flame me for getting the body part wrong) right before his heats and had to pull out. Now the Chinese public are both disappointed and angry, and it has been blown completely out of proportion with some people saying that he purposely pulled out because he was scared. He's been labelled a "Coward", "Traitor" and what not. BY BLOODY ARMCHAIR CRITICS. The Strait Times has a excerpt of a HOUSEWIFE, calling him a LOSER. WTF.

Even though I may not even come CLOSE to the level of sports that can be witnessed at the 2008 Olympics, I would like to consider myself a sportsman for the context of this argument. I AM COMPLETELY HONOURED to even play for my SCHOOL, and if I ever get a chance (FAT HOPE) to compete in the Olympics, I'd most probably die of shock. So its really unfair to say that Liu Xiang might have pulled out because he was scared. All those bloody critics deserve to be shot in the head and left to rot. Liu Xiang is an athlete through and through, and I'm sure he would have run if he was fine. STUPID people who don't understand the extent of his injury, ought to know that running with a swollen Achilles tendon can end his career forever. He's young and he surely has at least 2 more Olympics ahead of him. Giving it all up just for the sake of STUPID, UNGRATEFUL people (who I'd feel embarrassed to call MY PEOPLE) is dumb. Get stuffed you idiots.

That's enough of ranting. These Olympics have had amazing moments, like Michael Phelps becoming the first athlete to get 8 Golds in a single Games, and the sheer audacity with which Ussain Bolt won the 100m Men's final. But the Chinese people expect too much from mere humans who have done no wrong other than be good at what they do. If that continues, these athletes will lose the passion they have for their sport and might even consider early retirement to escape the public eye.

Cheers.

I AM NOT DEAD.

2008-08-17T22:15:00.003+08:00

Like the title says, I LIVEEEEEE.

But not for long. Not after tomorrow morning, assembly. When me and Joey need to get on stage and talk about Singapore's Silver medal. WITHOUT KNOWING WHY IN GOD'S NAME WE GOT SELECTED. MISS KWAN IS EVILLLLLLLLLL. XD

So yes, this is just a post to reassure people that I'm still alive, so you guys can put those party decorations down, and tell those event management companies that the party's been cancelled. Although I really wouldn't mind people partying at my funeral. Lol. More fun than coming there and crying. Or pretending to cry.

Anyway back to the things that matter. Prelims is in EXACTLY three weeks from tomorrow, so stress is starting to take root quite deep. It will soon evolve into fright, then into paranoia, and finally FULL BLOWN INSANITY. Ok too much theatrics. People don't understand that the Prelims are funnily more important to me than the actual A-Levels. US applications people!!!

But anyway, here's the song of, um, two weeks??? You've probably heard this one OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, but here's another go! This is Viva La Vida from Coldplay. I like the album name a lot! (It's Viva La Vida or Death and All his Friends)

Well I'm out, back to that dumbass script.

Cheers.

"You'll always be a part of me,
I'm a part of you indefinitely.
Girl don't you know you can't escape me,
ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby,
And we'll linger on,
time can't erase a feeling this strong.
No way you're never gonna shake me,
ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby."

We Run From the Storm

2008-08-01T20:52:00.002+08:00

Another one of those quiet, uneventful, reflective weeks. After a lot of thinking, deciding, redeciding, confusing, I've decided that I'll be damned if I didn't, and I'm now officially going from Grad night. Its one of those things that has made me so reflective over the last 7 days, and the Economics remedial lession today in the old TA classroom didn't help.

I've met so many AMAZING people in the last 4yrs. I saw 4, because what happened before is a chapter I don't intend to go back to. It sucked bad, and I don't want to look back. But TA has changed everything. There are so many people I admire in TA, I don't know where to start. But starting will help. So I'm putting "Operation: Don't Forget" into action. Lol. If you don't ask, I won't have to lie. =)

Now for an early Song of the Week. This one is another old one. One of my ABSOLUTE favourites when I was younger. This is a beautiful song called Breathe Easy, by BLUE. For those who don't know yet, All Rise and One Love where the first 2 albums I EVER owned in my life. So here is an amazing song.

Today was also Cricket phototaking. I SWEAR I never imagined it will ever end. But today it has. With this photo, I'll now forever just be a memory in TJC Cricket. IT IS THE GREATEST THING THAT HAPPENED in this school. Period, no questions. I LOVE EVERY DUDE I've played with over the 4 years. And I'll MISS THEM LIKE HELL. I know I've said it OVER and OVER and OVER again over the past month or so. But I don't care. It means so much to me, and you might not understand, and I won't blame you.

Back to econs now.

Cheers.

"The remedy is the experience.
This is a dangerous liaison.
I say the comedy is that it's serious.
This is a strange enough new play on words.
I say the tragedy is how you're gonna spend.
The rest of your nights with the light on.
So shine the light on all of your friends,
when it all amounts to nothing in the end.

I won't worry my life away."

It Won't Be Soon Before Long

2008-07-26T20:15:00.004+08:00

Song of the week time peeps. Sorry for the non-updates during the week. Was either too lazy or too busy to blog. Well here we go with the song. This one is a really old track by Blue, featuring Stevie Wonder and a few others. Here's Signed, Sealed Delivered! =) The video ain't great quality, but It'll do. The little random black kid is pretty funny too. haha. And I must say, THANK YOU ELSTAN, for the Maroon 5 album.

Long tiring week. Injured my back pretty bad by falling stupidly during my SBJ. Worsened it by doing the 2.4 run after. Hurts like hell. BUT PAIN MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE. XD. Nanyang Concept Tests today morning were ok I guess. Hope to do decently.

I kinda missed the J1 boys over this one week. Don't ask me why. It's good that they'll be back after their stooopid e-learning week is over. Thats one policy thats just as bad as the Teach Less, Learn Nothing initiative. Lol.

Now for some cricket talk. India just got completely owned by Sri Lanka. All you Indian fans out there, SCREW YOU. Even New Zealand knows how to put up a better fight than that. Why put faith in a team that doesn't have faith in itself? On a lighter note, I've decided that I'm going to keep improving my pace bowling. Try to become a bit more of a hit-the-deck bowler. Haha.

Well I'm off, to infinity and BEYOND!!!!

"Go ahead tell me you'll leave again.
You'll just come back running.
Holding your scarred heart in hand,
it's all the same.

And I'll take you for who you are,
if you take me for everything.
Do it all over again.
It's all the same."

P.S. That song at the end is called All The Same, by Sick Puppies. Youtube it. I would have put it here, but the video is a little too depressing. Do check it out!

Where's Everybody Going?

2008-07-19T10:08:00.003+08:00

Well this week it's a little different. There are TWO songs of the week. The First one is a really old song, one that I LOVED when I was younger (like primary school younger!). Here is When You're Looking Like That, by WESTLIFE!!!! XD

The second song is a peppy makes-me-want-to-get-up-and-dance song by Alyson and AJ Michalka, better known as Aly & AJ. This one is called Like Whoa. Enjoy. =)

So the 8-a-side tournament ended yesterday, and the J1s didnt get through. But its really alright boys, it doesn't matter. I know that whatever they did, they would have put their heart and soul into it. 5 wickets against ACS(I) is quite commendable! And I am quite annoyed that we didn't even get a SINGLE DSA from an application pool of 8, but its ok. I'm sure some of them will appeal in, and even if they don't TJC Cricket will still fight on. We aren't CLASSY player, or TECHNICALLY gifted players, but what we are, what we will be forever are FIGHTERS. More than any team in Singapore. And JTS on MONDAY!!! And Friday's sportsman appreciation will be the last time I can legally be with my boys.

I'm off!

Cheers.

"Life has moments hard to describe,
feeling great and feeling alive.
Never coming down from this,
mountain we're on.

Always knowing we're gonna be fine,
feeling great and feeling alive.
Never coming down from this,
mountain were on.

The feeling so clear,
and it's crazy up here,
Life is amazing with you on the ride."

The One

2008-07-14T21:07:00.003+08:00

I HAVE FOUND THE GIRL OF MY DREAMS!!!

But unfortunately, she's in a tamil movie called Santosh Subramaniam, and really too good to be true. XP. damn. I fell for her watching her on tv on Saturday. Either ask me about her, or go WATCH THE MOVIE. Its amazing!!!!!

I love chemistry lectures in ELLL-TEEE 2 with the crazy Oliviaaaaa. haha. I end up spending it laughing my ass off for the whole 50 minutes. And amazingly I'm still able to finish my questions and do them correctly!!!! yay.

The cricket 8-a-side tournament is on this Friday for the J1s. I'm really praying hard that they'll do well. I'm immensely proud that the boys are not slacking about it just because the J2s are not playing and are really putting their heart and soul into it. Who knows what might happen? I'm praying hard that they do well. It won't matter to me that I'm not playing. I'll just be really proud in saying that I once played with these boys who might prove this Friday that determination and courage is all one needs to do great things. Good luck to you guys. Hopefully they never forget us J2s. XP

The last few days have been really lovely to me. Whether its playing around with my class guys or studying with the cricket dudeessss I've had a lot of fun, WHILE keeping to my time-table. Lovely. And tomorrow is Racial Harmony Day, and us INDIANNSSSS are wearing Veshti!!!! HAHA. Ill definitely put up pics of that when I get them. Its nice to have met so many amazing people in my life. I often wonder how life would have been if I hadn't come here and either gone to some other IP school, or stayed in VS. The people I might have missed, its just too much to think about. From retarded guys like Eugene and Varun, to the whacko wave-to-me-while-pinching-nose girl Bernice, I'll probably miss them all come next year. I've got a funny "dedication to one person per week" kind of thing in my head, but I've not yet decided about that. haha. You readers will see sometime.

Well back to Equilibriaaa... damn.

Cheers.

"How am I supposed to leave you now,
when you're looking like that.
I can't believe what i just gave away
now i can't take it back
I don't wanna get lost.
I don't wanna live my life without you.
How am i supposed to leave you now,
when you're looking like that."

Crazy Week

2008-07-12T19:58:00.005+08:00

Song of the week time!!!

This songs been stuck in my head for a while. Here's Won't Go Home Without You, by Maroon 5. Its seriously been playing im my head for a few days now.

Well this has been a mixed bag week. Quite pleased with the work I've done for chemistry and mathematics. physics should be done by tomorrow. Its just economics. Bleaghhh...

Cricket on friday was amazing. I'm really proud of my batting now. I'm sorry, I might keep saying this, but the way I batted on Friday made me feel real good. If only me and Anantha could share such a partnership in a real game. We'd own. hahaha. SORRY BALAJI, FOR THAT MASSIVE SIX. I DIDN'T DO IT PURPOSELY!!! ITS JUST THE BAT!!! HAHAHAHAHA.

Finalized grades for JCTs look pathetic. hahaha. Ask me personally if you want to know. Well it can only get better I guess. hahahaha.

Right, back to Kinematics.

Cheers.

Postcards from a Plane Crash (Wish you were here)

2008-07-08T21:05:00.003+08:00

So I've finally received all my stupid marks. DUMBBBB. Ask me personally if you want to know. I wonder where the "motivate me to study harder" part of these JCTs are. All they're doing for now is demoralizing me. Well, no time to "STAND and STARE", time only to MUGGGGG. Gah.

I came here only to say this. YOU are the most amazing person I've met. And that will never change. I'll wait. lol =)

And to the rest of you idiots trying to figure out who? STOP TRYING. You won't get it. :)

Cricket video taking this Friday. I can promise with people like Aditya directing it, it would be DAMN funny. hahaha. Can't wait. And JTS next Friday at ECP. Last time together officially with TJC Cricket. Damn. Typing this out makes me emo. :(

Just finished a study time-table. Actually it was done yesterday, but bah whatever. Looks bad. I'm sure you've read this on a MILLION and ONE blogs, but I'll say it too: I NEED TO PULL UP MY SOCKS AND WORK REALLY HARD. Haha. Btw, what idiot came up with that phrase? Pull up socks? WTH? haha. So random.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE TO GET 20++ CUSTOMIZED SILICONE WRISTBANDS??? PLEASE TELL ME. Silicone Wristbands are like those yellow LiveStrong bands. Please and Thank you!

Cheers.

"Where is you boy tonight?
I hope he is a gentleman.
And maybe he wont find out what i know,
you were the last good thing
about this part of town."

Emo Week

2008-07-06T10:14:00.003+08:00

Sorry I didn't post my song of the week yesterday, I was out due to nonsensical reasons the whole of yesterday. First the SMO second round which was DISASTROUS and DEMORALIZING, and then the RGS ICS night, which to me was an unnecessary waste of time. Well anyway, since this week has been really emo for me, I've been listening to some of the more hardcore rock songs that I used to listen to back in secondary two. Things like Smile in your Sleep by Silverstein, and Dear Everybody by JamisonParker have come out of the closet once again. But this shall be my song of the week. This is Anthem of our Dying Day, by Story of the Year. Quite a dark, depressing, moody song, so it was perfect for this rubbish week. So sue me.

I really don't have anything else to say this time. Lol. Its just been one of those weeks.

Cheers.

"Take this stupid heart,
I know it's all you ever want me for.
And I hope you keep it close,
so that everyone knows
that it's all because of you,
that im dead to the world."

The Beginning of the End

2008-07-03T20:10:00.003+08:00

JCTs have been a complete failure. I need to buck up. Seriously. 9 weeks left, need to make good use of whatever's left. Damn. :S

Lets list all the screwed up things that have happened this year:
1) The Term 1 incident
2) MCTs
3) Cricket tourny
4) JCTs

Lets list the GOOD things that have happened this year:

1) The Term 1 incident (Yes, its both, it did feel good. So sue me.)
2) Violin

So the final ratio is 4:2. For every good thing, 2 things must screw up eh? Damn.

Anyway, yesterday was Cricket elections, and as good as handover. A lot of mixed feelings like Ms Kwan aptly put. I am relieved that I won't have to deal with any stupid admin and yada yada, but at the same time, its was also really saddening when I realized that my time with TJC Cricket is nearly over. Put me in a very nostalgic mood throughout yesterday evening. TJC cricket has been one of the best things that has happened to me ever since I set foot into this JC. I've loved it from the first day, and it was also heartening to see that every year I got a little better, from someone who absolutely couldnt bat, to a reliable top order batsman. I've seen so many different people, from great leaders like Rakesh, to jackasses like Tejas Rao and Aditya, to people who give it their all whether or not they're in the team, like Ponku and Nachiappan. Especially with this batch, I have become EXTREMELY close. And like I promised sometime before, I will be back to help these guys in any way that I can. This is a promise I intend to keep. Cricket gave me a lot through these long 4 years, and I intend to give as much as I can, back.

To Vinoth, Balaji and Aditya, good luck with everything. I'll always be around to help in any way possible. I know you three will do great. It made me so emotional yesterday evening that I sat down and wrote EVERYONE who's ever done ANYTHING for TJC cricket. Including, teachers, coaches, and former players, the list only came up to 48. In 4 years. A really small number. But I love them all the same.

Cheers.

"We'll be miles apart,
I'll keep you deep inside,
You're always in my heart.
A new life to start,
I may be leaving,
but you're always in my heart."

The Last Day of Freedom

2008-06-29T11:51:00.005+08:00

Well, today can easily be said to be my last day of freedom for a long while. After this I'm pretty sure I need to start paying lots of attention in class and doing everything they tell us to do, if I want to do well and get anywhere in life. :S

Today marks the day I feel IMMENSELY proud to be a New Zealand Cricket supporter. Yesterday night, NZL thumped England in the final ODI, to take the series 3-1. This is after a CRUSHING defeat in the tests, two thumping defeats in the T20s and a 100+ run loss in the first ODI. NZL love being the underdogs, easily the most NONSENSICAL word to associate with them. Are underdogs in a competition supposed to be the most reliable semi-finalists in every competition? NZL came with that tag to the champions trophy a few years back, and WON it. They have a team with literally no depth, and minimal talent. But boy, do they have spirit. They play for each other EVERY game. They never give up fighting. Not even when one of their batsmen was hit by a vicious bouncer to a point where he lost 2 teeth (long story), did NZL stop fighting. Not even when Paul "I'm-a-bloody-cheating-bastard" Collingwood chose to uphold his appeal against Grant Elliot (longer story), did NZL give up. And they NEVER will. Its exactly what I LOVE that team for.

People ask me the most annoying questions sometimes. "Why don't you support India?", "Are you unpatriotic?", "NZL are such a bad team, why do you support them?".
SCREW ALL OF YOU. Why don't I support the Indian Cricket team? Simple. It don't see why I should. Sure they're talented, and really nice to watch when in full flow. But the politics involved in Indian cricket disgusts me. Even NOW, when Zimbabwe is in deep shit, and the ICC is ready to ban Zimbabwe from cricket until it sorts itself out, INDIA IS THE ONLY FREAKING COUNTRY TO "READILY STAND BEHIND ZIMBABWE CRICKET. wtf? For once stop thinking about the money and powerplay involved and think like humans idiots. All this translates to the team itself. Youngsters aren't given oppurtunities, players from Tamilnadu DONT even get a LOOK in. Disgusting and stupid. Just beacause I don't support the friggin cricket team doesnt mean im not a patriot morons. -.-

After the cricket on Friday my shoulder HURTS LIKE SHITTT. Haha. But pain is good. Pain means your alive. :] Shall make sure I enjoy this day like crazy. :]

Cheers.

"So I'll say why don't you and I get together,
and take on the world and be together forever.
Heads we will, tails we'll try again.
So I say why don't you and I hold each other,
and fly to the moon and straight on to heaven.
Cause without you they're never going to let me in."

Post JCT

2008-06-28T15:09:00.004+08:00

Well, JCTs finished on Thursday, and Ive been having too much fun for my own good after it ended. Cricket on Thursday, Cricket on Friday, Movie on Friday night, and Jeff Dunham and Dave Chappelle all Saturday morning. Woo Hoo.

Cricket on Friday was really satisfying. I finally managed to hit my batting groove again and then I bowled with a really nice rhythm and line. There were a couple of yorkers I managed to bowl which were really good. So pleased with my bowling that has improved from a guy who couldnt even BOWL a ball in TA1, to a pretty decent part time medium pace option. And I really think that bowling pace is WAY more fun than screwing around with spin. "Run in, Bowl fast, Scare people." Well said Dale Steyn.

The tamil movie that I watched with the cricket guys, Dasavatharam wasn't really great. There's a reason we should not be trying to make hollywood like movies. No, it just wont work. We're only good at making unrealistic movies with skewed plots and too many song and dance sequences. And we're VERY good at that. So let's stick to that.

And today morning, I just finished watching both of Jeff Dunham's specials, Arguing with Myself and Spark of Insanity. I also watched Dave Chappelle's For What its Worth. All we're AMAZING. hahaha.

And here's something new that I'd like to start from this week on my blog. A song of the week thing. Ill change this every Saturday from today. For this week, its Savin' Me by Nickelback. I think this video is AMAZING.

Cheers.

If Everyone Cared

2008-06-21T12:12:00.001+08:00

Here's a beautiful song I've been hooked to over the past few mugging weeks. Its funny that I started listening to Nickelback again after a hiatus only after I realized that I'd lost my All The Right Reasons album. If anyone who reads this has borrowed it, PLEASE RETURN. XD

Here's Nickelback, If Everyone Cared. The music video is a bonus. XP

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

[Chorus:]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

[Chorus x2]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
When nobody died...

[Chorus]

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

I FINALLY GOT THE TIME STAMP FIXED! HAHA