Day 15 of Work & Travel - Off Tml!!

The day started off with me dragging myself out of bed for breakfast, it's my first breakfast of the week. It's the usual eggs & sausages, but i liked it. :) went back to room and take a nap after breakfast. Went to work after that. Seriously nothing exciting happened today at work, perhaps i was a little low on energy, mystic falls took my energy away. still feeling drained. I wasnt able to make anyone laugh much. :P

Mike, not the manager Mike, but the store&shipping guy Mike, plans to take some of us on a trip tml around the area. So i ask for a day off from Mike the Boss! And he gave it to me!! that was the most shok thing that happened to me today. hahaa.. but i kindda expected he would give it to me, cos we are kindda overstaffed and i heared he was rather tight on budget. So anyway, that means i'm off tml and i get to go on a road trip, and i'm quite looking forward to that.

After work, i headed down to the rec hall for volleyball. This was the best volleyball i've played since i've gotten here. played some 3 on 3 with some better players and it just makes everything so much more exciting. But my shoulder is really acting up on me. I just cant seem to get any power or control into my spiking or serving. Kindda depressed about that. time to sleep, gonna be a long day tml. :)

Day 14 of Work & Travel - Monday blues?!

Really wanted to wake up for breakfast today. But nope, couldnt drag myself out of my bed, just too tired. Whole body basically still aching from the 5hr hike yesterday. I think it will be at least 5 days before i go on a trek again.. body and mind needs to rest. :P I am so so weak!! :P

Went for lunch at around 11, starting work at 1130am. Early lunch is good, makes me not miss breakfast too much. I think having a full stomach before going to work is so so important. It just gives you more energy to work, talk, smile, EVERYTHING!! Seriously, i totally cant remember wat i had for lunch. But i was quite sure i was full, and i quite like the food. hahaa.

Work today is pretty good, tried out a few new things in my cashier position. Finally had a traveller's check coming in, and i really think traveller's checks are SO SO dum. oh well, some ppl still prefer using that to credit cards. I wonder why. And i also sold a few art pieces without the artist being around. Usually the artist will do most of the paper work and we just check out and cash. When he's not around, there a little more for me to do. I'll need to write down his painting codes, write the price, check out the item, wrap it up. Print enough receipts, one for white, one for yellow and none for pink.

Work with 2 new ppl today, both from US, John whose hair covers his whole face, he totally reminds me of a caveman!! and something else, he sucks at folding t-shirts. He only wanna stand behind the cashier and cash out customers, everything else he does, pretty much crappy. The other person is Alison, she much more active and positive compared to John. And i was like being a joker the whole day, and ya, i think i made everyone's day a happier one, even the guests. :)

I remember what i had for dinner, it's spaggetti with a simple tomato & basil sauce. They had fettucini labelled on the dish, but i knew it was more than that. There was fettucini, spaggetti and angel's hair all in the same pot. MUahaha.. oh well, nobody seems to be bothered, so let it be. :P there's meatloaf too, had meat loaf a few days back too, but this one today is so much better, at least for my tastebuds.

Oh well, there was suggestion from shawn and lorraine to buy a car. I'm very tempted to get it with them, then we could drive aroud easier on our off days and that would basically solve the issue of bring dear from the airport to yellowstone. :) Let's see how this works out. Shaw & lorraine are doing more research, they are very thorough in this aspect, and i like that. Saves me from work. hahaa..

I got off at 8pm today, well not at 8pm slightly after due to a last minute crowd coming in. So me and alison stayed back for a while to get rid of the crowd. I did my packing up and counting of my bank balance pretty fast. guess i'm getting good at it. alison is still new and not very fast at it yet, so i had to show her many things. I feel good!! hahaa.

came back to my room to rest for a while before heading to the Bear Pit, which is a pub next to our gift shop. Went there with Lance and alvin, it was lance's suggestion, cos he had 5USD spare to spend. haha. that's basically 1 glass of beer. I ordered 1 glass too, it's called Moose Drool. It's tastes quite good, flavour is much stronger than the usual beers we have in singapore and not too bitter. Not bad, for only 4.50USD.

My face is red and eyes bloodshot after just one glass. But i still feel very clear, however, I feel tired now and in need of sleep. time to go to bed, I want my breakfast!! I'll start taking photos about daily activities tml!! :)

Day 13 of Work & Travel - Sunday Off!!

Guess wat!?? i somehow overslept again!! i missed my breakfast and also my bus tour. I hope that tour was actually fully booked so i wun feel so bad about missing it. so when i figured i've missed my morning activities, i went back to bed, and only woke up at almost 12 for lunch. i had a seemingly light lunch, cos i only ate some meat and dessert.

I went back to the gift shop after lunch, cos another manager is leaving, and today is his last day. His name is Travis, tall, big, old guy. Nice person but always intimidating. Scary sometimes working with him, always have to worry about "did i do something wrong?". So we took a few pictures with him as remembrance.



he's more of a strict father figure than a friendly boss, however in no way is he mean or bad. :)

I continue walking around the old faithful area myself. I really explored the general store and the gift shop at the old faithful lodge this time. I bought a sweater for myself. It's a really big and cosy sweater, with yellowstone printed in front.. i think i really liked it. :) and it's quite cheap also. It only cost me 21.19USD compared to the 25USD i had to pay for a pair of gloves!! CHEAP CHEAP lar.. :)

I came back to my room after wandering around the place, just to wait for an early dinner. I decided to join shawn and Lorraine on a hike up to the mystic falls. Su join us also cos her boyfriend was working. At dinner we met terrence and rachel who are also planning to go to the mystic falls. So 6 of us went on the hike together after dinner. It was almost 5 when we set off. and it was a long long trek just to get to the base to mystic falls. it took us almost 45mins but that was the easy part. The bottom of mystic falls is a hotspring basin known as the biscuit basin. And the picture below shows me in the mist if the famous sapphire pool. quite cool, feel like sauna. :)



we took a rather adventurous route to the mystic falls, we went up to a lookout point with is way up on top of the hill. The tiny trails were steep and winding, i was super exhausted halfway up. I took a brief rest and catched up with them. reaching the lookout point is only half the journey. there was another mile or so before reaching the falls and as we continued on the trail, there were several parts which were still cover in snow. We have to trek thru the snow, and I only had SAF-issued track shoes. Ice was in my shoes and pants. COLD!!!

Thankfully, the view we had of mystic falls at the end was pretty amazing. We took quite a few pictures there before heading back home. Basically the whole trek took us almost 5hrs and covered at least 12KM!!!

Day 12 of Work & Travel - Off again!!

after working for the past 7 days it's finally time for me go off again!!! yeah..but however, i did not have anything planned for today initially and i also waked up late. missed breakfast again. been talking to dear the whole morning since i woke up. haven talk to her for along time. connection kept breaking, luckily it held out today. lots of things have been happening while i'm not around her, and i think we really miss all the stuff that we do together.

We talked until i went for an early lunch. Burger set, I have to say it again, i think i really like the food here. hahaa, but i do miss the local food back in singapore. especially when dear said she's gonna have minced meat noodles!! aarrggghh.. :P

planned to go out for a hike around 3plus to 4, but it's raining. I wonder wat else i could do. the rain gods of yellowstone seems to like playing with me. at about 4, the rain stopped and the sky looked good to go. so i gather a few people to have dinner before heading out to the trails. But as we finish our dinner the rain came pouring down even heavier then before!! aarrrggghh.. there goes my trekking.

I din want to spend the whole day in my room, so i went to the rec hall. there weresome sports going on and so i join in. basketball and volleyball. my shoulders are now hurting from all the sports. luckily, i have my yoko yoko with me. gonna soak my shoulders with that later on. there was a hiking trip to mystic falls at 6pm leaving from rec hall, there was vacancy but i wasnt prepared for wet weather dun have the clothes nor shoes prepared for that. so too bad.. but it turned out to be a good choice that i did not go. cos my frens, xiaodan and wanglin who went, were totally soaked!! PHEW!! hahaa...

oh yah.. i'm gonna take part in the 3on3 volleyball tournament. i'd most probably be joining 2 others from ukraine, a guy and a gal. not sure if we could win anything. but it's for the fun. so we shall see about that. I'll be joining the volleyball league as well. I hope there are more pro players there.

I hope i can have a more eventful day tml. I plan to go on the bus tours organised by the hotel and emplyees get to go on them free if there's vacancies. so ya.. time to sleep early, cos the bus leaves at 8.15am.

Day 11 of Work & Travel - Movie Night

2nd morning shift in a row, i can really feel the strain to get out of bed. Especially after quite a long day yesterday, work at the inn and lodge followed by volleyball at the rec hall. Even though it was rather amateurish, it still drains me. Perhaps it's the altitude. Today it's been on of my busiest days so far. there were endless guests coming in for the majority of the time. Worst still was that one of my co-worker, Kelley, she got sick too. So she was sent home to rest after a while leaving me in the cashiers ALONE!! sobzZ.. but it was alrite, just handle watever i could and the rest will have to wait.. no choice...

The rest of the selling of the day were normal, nothing really special happened. there was this group of taiwanese aunties, who were very troublesome. I find the taiwanese aunties the most troublesome of all the different countries i've seen so far. They were like buying 1 key chain each.. and they couldnt decide to pay with cash or credit... or to pay together. in the end.. all 3 aunties used credit card to pay for a 2.5USD key chain... totally a waste of my time...

that was the more irritating incident, but there's also these 3 guests from new zealand. Me, Su & Alvin were chatting with them. About the trip, about Singapore, New Zealand. Basically i think we made their day. They even came back in a while with a comment card saying how much they appreciated us. That pretty much made made my day too.. think perhaps tml i'll go look for the comment card and take a picture of it.

Since i started early i was going to end early too.. 3.30pm and i'll be off. just before i knocked off, i met george. My roommate back at mammoth, he was with his wife and they are here for the morning. Yup, he was the guy who drove us to old faithful. I was actually contemplating to have them drive some of us down to the lake where they are at for the night, but he scooted off before the rest knocked off.. hahaa... scared already... :P

oh well, so i arrange to meet up with su and lorraine at 8pm at the lodge. cos lorraine moved to a new dorm with better facilities at the same price. so i wanted to go take a look. so me went back to the dorm to change, expectiing to play some ball b4 8pm, den i met up with xiaodan for dinner before heading over to the rec hall.. played some basketball till 7 den they started showing movie, cos it was movie night. thanks to popularity vote, we watched "the illusionist" good show, but i've already watched it. but since i was still waiting for ppl, i watched it again. But in the end you know wat? They left for the new dorm without me!! SObzZ....so i went back to my dorm. actually even if that dorm is really very good, most likely i would not move, cos it was much further away. Now i only take less than 3 mins to walk to my giftshop.. whereas the new dorm is like 15-20 mins away.. no good...

so that's like my day, time to catch a good sleep.. super tired after 2 morning shifts.. oh and volleyball too... shoulders & back all aching.. feel so old.. and it was so cold when i playing.. it was quite hard to warm up..

Day 10 of Work & Travel - Volleyball

My first super early monring shift today. Start at 7am, 6am must wake up and start doig stuff and have breakfast. Quite tiring to wake up and work so early. especially when i din really sleep super early last nite.

Met corry in the dining area and a few other co-workers in the morning, during breakfast. He just came back from the grand tetons and will be on his way to his new work place soon. Starting work at 7am although tiring but it's actually quite slack, cos morning not much people coming in, mostly looking for newspaper. And yes, we sell newspaper too.

nothing much happen during work today, except Mike, my boss asked if i could go help out at the Lodge after my shift. I agreed cos i wanted to play volleyball today after work, the place to play is just next to the lodge. Went over to the lodge to help out, nothing much to do there, really dun see why they need the extra help... hmmm..

anyway, i treated volleyball as the highlight of the day but it was rather disappointing cos the standard really very amateurish. So i just play along and act dum every now and then. There will be a volleyball league going on soon, i hope i can be part of that. Hopefully the standard is more exciting. :P

Day 9 of Work & Travel - Snowfall

It started off as rain early in the morning. As i went for breakfast, the rain got lighter and becamed snow. It the first time i ever saw snow. Started work today the earliest i've done so far, 10am, it's a rather weird timing, cos there's 2 meals during this shift, which is also quite a waste of my $$ earning time. I skipped breakfast today so i could sleep alittle more. However i think i still had a pretty good day.

I got to know the resident artist for our gift shop, his name is James Reed. He does paintings which are very very very life-like. So i spoke to him for a while about what he does, what i do. Oh yah, he's a full-time artist now and he was a fireman before he retired. Cool rite? When he told me he was a fireman, the first image that came to my mind was all his painting burning up and he fighting the fire to save them. hahahaa..

That was slightly after lunch, during lunch i ate with a few co-workers who were from US, there's Kelley from yesterday, her sister Katherine who works at the gift shop at the Old Faithful Lodge (we work at the Inn) and also Lance from our gift shop. It seems the snow brought ALL the crowd to the lodge and they were having a crazy day over there. Perhaps because of that Katherine seemed really sick, anyway I'm actually quite glad everyone stayed at the lodge instead od coming to us. hahaa..

It's GAD (Guest Appreciation Day), we were expecting hoards of people coming in to grab the offer items, we have caps, mugs, Tees, photo frames, plush toys and tote bags all going for 5USD. I believe that wouls cause a stir too, but thanks for the snow, not too much of a rush was created here. Like i said the lodge was going crazy, cos the snow prevented people frm getting out, and the lodge is the place where they could see the Old Faithful geyser from indoors.

I did about 2hrs of extra work today, cos Zing, also fell sick. So i cover for her as she went back to rest. Those 2 hrs did not feel like extra hrs as all. I think i was kindda enjoying my time working there. I'm starting to learn to talk to guests more and that makes my time happier.

I took a few pictures as went for my breaks during lunch/dinner and also after work. Seeing snow really got me pretty excited. But too bad i could grab someone to go take photos with me. Only managed to get Lance to take a picture for me during lunch.



Oh, I had Lasagne for dinner, it was really good!!! hehee...

Day 8 of Work & Travel - Work

My shift timing is the same as yesterday but i woke up for breakfast today. I told myself not to eat too much for breakfast cos i'll be having lunch in a very short while. Breakfast the the usualy american breakfast stuff, but it's nice, it's like eating macdonald's breakfast everyday.. quite shiok. hahaa.

Went to the general store before going for lunch & work cos my shoes have opened mouth both front and back for both pairs. So yah, in need of super glue which doesnt really work when i tried it on at night. i wonder how long my shoes can last me. I also bought a pair of gloves, 25USD, the cheapest ones in US, but those are the only ones here. Brrrrrrrrr cold..

work went pretty well today, accounts balanced at the end of the day. another manager from snow lodge came over to help out while corry is gone and waiting for another manager to arrive. so in any case there are always 3 managers around. Travis is the manager from snow lodge, he's very very organised and sticks very closely to the book, whereas the manager of my shop, mike, is quite casual about most stuff. relaxing to work with him.

several interesting things happened during work today. first there's this indian american couple who came in for a shopping spree. Our shop has this promotion where you can get a wool blanket for 15USD when you purchase above 50USD, and when you spend above 100USD, we will aloow you to buy as many blankets as you want. And since this couple was on a spree, they had above 200USD to start with. And guess how many blankets they got? 13!!! They only have 3 kids. Anyway, I helped the deal along the way and i'm very happy with that. :) that was definitely the sale of the day.

then there was this other couple whom i identified as french due to their accent. and so we start chatting abt some french, they were very nice and very eager to teach me some simple french words and i have a few.

mer ci = thank you
s'il vous plait = please
de rien = you are welcome

I could only pronounce the 1st 2, the last one totally destroyed me. I cant make the croaking throat sound at all. hahaa. interesting couple. :)

Work was following and i was just going on and on. Tml will be a special day called GAD day. Guest-Appreciation-Day, this is a day where there are several items which will go on sale for 5USD only. Supposingly a very busy day, so me and alvin stayed a while beyond our off time. And in turn we were given 5USD of cash vouchers to use in yellowstone. COOL!!

I had lunch with a co-worker called kelley, she's from washington state and in nursing. the both of us closed the sale for that indian couple together. chatted with her quite a bit during lunch, mostly about singapore, cos she is like totally alien about singapore. she's never been out of the american continent before. I was introducing her to come to singapore at some stage of her nursing career, cos singapore is so short of nurses, especially nice ones which i believe she will become.

Oh yah, i got to know a few more people tonight, they are basically frens of another of my colleague, sze ying, who goes by zing over here. She just had her 21st birthday yesterday. Really cute gal, and her frens, a few guys and gals are like so surprised that my room has internet connection. :P it was nice knowing everyone. :)

hahaaa.. until tml....

Day 7 of Work & Travel - Work & Hike

I slept thru breakfast today, but it was ok, cos i'm working at 11.30am so i'll have an early lunch. I figured that i would have too heavy a meal when i had breakfast and lunch in like 2 hrs interval. Anyway it's off to work and today i was incharge of stock. I seriously don't like stocking, i dun mind carrying the stuff up and putting them into the shelves. What i really hate is to look at the shelves and deicde what needs to be stocked. I just cant figure wat i need or dun need. 8 hrs of stock is really very tiring, i would rather do cashier whole day. :)

Today's the last day of one of my assitant managers, he's Corry. He's going to take charge of another shop at Canyon. He's a nice guy, very corny and always teasing gals. That seems like the common factor for most of the US guys.



After work, I rushed back to my room to change and get ready for a full moon hike. The moon was really full and bright. You could really see the ground just under the moonlight. The hike consisted of a huge group of people, there wasnt any registration required, just be at the rec hall and be ready to move off. There were 6 of us in the gang initially. Su & shangzhi, lorraine & shawn, wanglin, and me. We were going up to observation point. Although i've already gone thru that way with wanglin a few days back, but going there at night was a totally new experience.

I was totally ready for a long hike, with xtra jacket, tripod, torch, food, 1st aid kit. I could hike for a long time. But the hike was pretty short. And it was so crowded at the observation point that we could hard find space to take photographs, anyway we did end up with some photos. My camera just din really perform too well at nite. sucks man. oh well, that's wat you get for being just semi-pro. hahaa.. the pro part is acredited to my tripod.

Day 6 of Work & Travel - Back to Work.

After 2 days of off, it's time to get back to work and start the money rolling. I wonder if it's working blues, cos i didn't really felt like going to work today. Maybe cos it's a sunday, but ever since getting here, it doesnt matter wat day it is. As long as there are guests coming into yellow/old faithful, there's work to do.

This was only my 2nd shift of work, so i'm still relatively new to everything. But i feel quite confident about most of the procedures already. So quite good. There's a few new staff who came in today, Jane from Ukraine and Kelly from Washington State. Also got to know a few more seasoned staff who werent around the past few days, Rob, Lance and Delicia.

I think there's nothing much to say about the day, cos there were too many customers and i couldnt really remember anything special happening. I was focused on making sure my numbers tally. Anyway, my numbers did tally today and i clocked in 2.6k USD. which was about 1k more than thursday. Woah!! Never expected myself handling so much cash. Real cool.

Because i was working for most of the day, there wasnt any pictures taken except a few which i tried to take of the moon while i was walking back to the dorm after work. None of them looked nice anyway. :P

Tml will be a better day.

Day 5 of Work & Travel - Off Day 2!!

This is my second day off and there wasn't much plans to start with. Except to go to the Rec Hall office again, this time to sign up for hikes and trips and not just looking. That in itself had been topsy turvy. So let me start from the beginning of the day. I've arranged to meet Su and Wanglin for breakfast @ 8am. Wanglin only woke up at 8 when i went to knock on her down. Damn funny, cos when she finally realised someone was knock on the door, she went 我的天啊! I almost burst out laughing, but i left her to get ready while me and Su went ahead to the EDR first.

breakfast was the usual stuff, there's always scrambled eggs, which is fine. Anyway, the food here suits my taste!! I'm good with it. :) sidetrack a little, carlos, the guy from columbia, he totally dare not try the food here. He says the tastes are different from his home and he doesnt wanna eat them. So he's always having sandwiches and salad. Funny guy.

After breakfast, Su went giddy she went back to her room while i'll help her sign up for the trips. So wanglin and I went to the rec hall to sign up trip my trips, wanglin already signed up yesterday. But since she had nothing better to do, she tagged along. We got to the rec hall, only to realise it's not opened yet. We were there at almost 10am, but it only opens at 1pm.

So we decided to venture into the trails and to our best of luck, the trails which were closed due to bear sightings were being opened as we are walking there. So we were lucky enough to be the first few people to walk trail ever since it was close due to bear sightings. The trail itself leads us to several places, Observation Pt, Solitary Geyser and also the Upper Geyser basin. The toughest part it the first part of the trail UP to Observation Pt, although it's only an ascent of 200ft, it was 2km of walking uphill. Super exhausted when we reached the top. But the view was great. :)



The next part of the trail took us to the Solitary Geyser, like its name describes, it's a geyser by itself way up on the hills. Geysers look very nice and are deceivingly dangerous. They are filled with bacteria because of the high temperatures, they could also cause surround ground to become brittle and if some unlucky guy steps on the brittle ground and falls into the hot spring or geyser. It's SAYONARA!! The water temp inside is way above 100 deg celsius. scary but beautiful.



Finally we got down the hills and arrive at the upper geyser basin. When they say geyser basin, it's literally loads of geysers gathered together in sort of like a basin kindda place. Some of them go exploding all the time. Some take a few yrs to explode. After going thru the various geysers at the basin we had to go for lunch before it's gone.



Lunch was quite good today, we had burgers at the Snow Lodge. It was quite good, better than the burger i had at mammoth. Met Alvin and Lorraine at the Snow Lodge EDR. And Alvin went on with his blabbering again. Can't stand him. Talks super non-stop. After lunch Alvin tagged along with me and Wanglin to the rec hall office.

It was not a sight i was expecting as i got to the office, all the trips and hikes which i was interested in are already filled up. I was kindda sad and disappointed, but the good new is, more trips will be available every friday. So when the new ones are up, i'm going to sign up immediately. Rraawwrrr!!!

That's basically the end of my day already, wanglin and i intended to continue our track up north from where we left off. But after lunch we were feeling the strain already. So some other time. We just went back to the dorm and rest.

Xiaodan came to my room to chat after she finished her work, cos she was the one who was super enthu in the hike up the hills. It was close the past few days so she couldnt go, and when the trail finally opened, she's working. She wanted me to bring her there, but i was just too drained already. hehee. So we just chat and use comp in my room. Later alvin join us in the room, and my room kindda became a lan shop, everyone with their own lappy. hahaa.

So far Alvin has successfully made everyone who he came into contact with be afraid of him. Why? cos he talks non-stop. He is very knowledgeable, and he can talk to you about everything in the world and he will always ask you questions you CANT answer. He's nice but just don't know when to stop.

Gotta rest, working tml. And very sleepy now, seriously, i dun think i'm losing weight. I hope i can.

Day 4 of Work & Travel - Off Day!!

Several dum things happened over the nite. I sent my clothes to the laundry for washing. I was in Tshirt and shorts and the laundry room was in the next block. SO just imagine pitch black, super cold, Tshirt & shorts!!?? Ya, you can imagine. :P Anyway, i was actually in Tshirt and shorts the whole nite. COLD...

2nd dum thing i did. My dorm room will lock whenever the door closes. I took a bath in the morning, all was fine, i remember to bring my keys, but when i got back to the room, pick up my toothbrush. I closed the door, with my keys still inside!! that's it, i locked myself out of the room, SUCKs!! I was in tshirt and shorts again... so smart of me. :P.. I had nothing except for my toothpaste and toothbrush, so i could go for breakfast, the RC (resident coordinator) will only be in at 8, which was time the breakfast ends. I kindda accepted the fate that i will miss breakfast due to my stupidity, but @ 730 i felt i had nothing to lose. So i walked to the EDR (employee dining room) and go ahead with my breakfast. Luckily the staff allowed me to eat after i told them i locked myself in the room. When i got back from breakfast, the RC is in and i could open my room with his master key!! SO all's well!!

I've been trying to get online when i came back into my room but it seems the connection really sucks when there's more people using. I'm constantly surviving on 1 bar on connectivity. But somehow the photos slowly get uploaded, emails are slowly received and MSN sends messages with a lag. AND I wanna re-emphasize SLOWLY!!

Cos it's my off day, i intended to walk around the area and get to know it better. However, due to the not so fast internet connection, I only started my wandering around old faithful after lunch. but i'm glad i only started after lunch. cos the moment i step out of my dorm, I met wanglin whom i knew from san francisco airport. It was great to see her again and it's her off day too. So we went walking around together with another guy called carlos. he's from columbia and a very funny youth guy, I knew him from the bus ride in bozeman to HR.

We asked our way around and got to the recreation hall office. That's where we could find out abt organised trips for employees. On the way to the rec hall office, i spotted another fren xiaodan, and 4 of us went to the office together. There were a few trips which we wanted to join but i wasnt sure of my work schedule so i have yet to sign up.

And since we were at the rec hall, we shoot hoops for around an hour. finally started sweating after a while but our shooting really really sucks!!! and the basket seems higher than normal. hmmm... anyway the rec hall looks like a cosy place, i'll be back for more sports and entertainment.

Carlos had to rush back to the dorm to get ready for his work in the evening. I brought xiaodan and wanglin the the gift shop at the old faithful lodge where i tried to show stuff which i found interesting as much as i could. to the extent of my limited knowledge at least. I wanted to visit the other gift shops also to visit my fellow trainees at mammoth. there are 3 gift shops in olf faithful area, I work in the old faithful inn and there's 2 other old faithful lodge and snow lodge.

Outside the gift shop, we met the driver who drove us into yellowstone from bozeman airport. Her name's kelly, very nice lady and she totally reminds me of a female version of hagrit. We chatted with her for a while and we went on to see the old faithful geyser. It was an amazing sight, the water shoots up over 10 storeys!! WOAH!! look at the photos for more insight. I've linked all the photos to the fotopic website so you see all the photos.

Day 3 of Work & Travel - From Mammoth to Old Faithful

Today I woke up at 3am and started going online to do stuff. When to bed at 10pm and i had 5hrs plus of sleep and i felt good when i woke up. Seems like we need to sleep less and the body seems to recharge faster. Den i went to study and read thru my manuals @ 4plus.. den i started packing my stuff into the bag to move to old faithful @ 6plus before going for breakfast.

after breakfast we had some familiarization practices on the cashier and i think i did quite good for a first timer, and considering i only read the thick manual this morning. :) it seems others think i'm doing well too.. so that's good.. Anyway, i only got news this morning that i'm on duty this evening!!! which was like super shocking to me cos i only read the manuals this morning and i'm suppose to handle customers in the evening!!?? anyway, it's done deal. I have to do it!! :P

we were suppose to start moving over to Old Faithful after lunch but cos of the duty in the evening, our trainer suggested we should go earlier. so at 10am we got a ride from my roommate was going in a similar direction. He was going to another village further south. so 4 of us packed our luggage and other stuff into his car, which was amazing cos we managed to get everything in.

Btw, his name was George, so he drove us all the way to Old Faithful, on the way we saw loads of stuff. Herds of bisons, elks, boiling rivers, piles of unmelted snow everywhere. it was a beautiful sight, and i forgot to take photos many times... we did stop at this one little fountain to take some photos though.

Old Faithful looks totally different from Mammoth. It still looks very countryside looking here, but there's much more people because of the famous Old Faithful geyser which spurts water up high at regular intervals. I'll be working in the gift shop, and the one here is 3 times the size of the one at mammoth. I'll be thrown directly into the thick of action.

but it wasnt bad. I think i kindda got into situation after the first 1hr or so. There were loads of guests but they were very patient cos i told them it was my 1st day there. And it was great. Most of the guests were very nice and very accommodating, but there were a few who were black-faced the whole night. But overall was good, at the end of the day i clocked about 1.7k of sales, but my final cash was $1 short. According to my sups, $1 is not a big deal. okie!! me and vj are supposed to be on duty, but su told the manager she wanted to work too. but she was just walking around cleaning up things everywhere, and she earns as much as i do, she is so SMART!! hahaa... so that's the end of my 1st shift!!

Here's some photos and a map of yellowstone so everyone wun be too lost about the wheres i'm talking abt.

Day 2 of Work & Travel - Training Day in Mammoth

Among those who arrive on the same day as me, there's only 2 people assigned to Retail and i was one of them. And i found out that i was a reserved position, which meant i was only allocated this position at the last minute. Think they figured they need more people and so here i was. The other person is Lorraine from NUS as well, graduating Biz student.

Yesterday i got to know a few people, Alvin from NTU Sociology, he has a weird british accent. Imagine a singaporean in USA speaking ina UK accent? WEIRD. But thanks to his introduction of the place and people, i got to know a few more people here. There's this guy Frank, he's from Germany, but he speaks good english and he's really funny. He's a bell captain aka bell boy, but he's 42 yrs old. Most of the older people are very nice. There a lot of retirees here, it's like this is the post-retirement job. How nice is that?

Anyway, today's my first training session and also my last. Will do some practice in the morning and i'll be off to old faithful. Had the full 3 meals here in mammoth's EDR (employee dining room). Food is much better when you arrive earlier. :)

Today's training consisted mainly on general knowledge and sales procedures, dos and donts and also how to use the cash register. First time on a cash register, kindda nervy on that. But it was fun, the training Marlene was very nice. I was lacking suitable pants for work as were Lorraine and Su, who came earlier then we did. Marlene drove us into town and got some from our uniform store, Su & Lorraine even got new shoes.

The 3 of us went up the hot springs trail for a hike after dinner. It was a vertical ascent of 300ft but the windings and steps really make us OUT of breath. It's not just me. :P here's some pictures to tell the story.

Day 1 of Work & Travel - To Yellowstone

due to the confusing time differences, i'm considering the time i got to san francisco as my day 1. the flight from taipei to san frans was quite boring cos there wasnt any in-flight entertainment available, which was super disappointing considering the good quality entertainment we had on the flight from sg to taipei. there wasnt any personal tv or game consoles, no nice music, so in the end i spent most of the flight sleeping, waking up in between only for food and to go back to sleep again. boring, even the movies on the big screen were boring.

things have been good since getting to san frans, i made some frens. when i walked out of the customs, i bump into these 2 guys whom i felt i shld try to get familiar with, paul & jianlong. I was repaid well, thru them i got to know 4 others, first was kangwei & ailing, then wang lin & xiao dan.


knowing them relieved me of the feeling of being alone and immediately i was feeling happier. although we had to spend the nite at airport for the transfer, we had a pretty good time exploring the airport compounds together. the result was a great find, a 24 hrs subway which has a promotion price from 12am to 4am. 2 footlongs for only 9.99USD, which adds up to only 5 USD per footlong, which adds up to 2 meals, which is SUPER SUPER worth it!! :)

the first 4 people i met were all from NUS final yr engine students. initially they were together with me then we realised our final flight to bozeman had different timings which meant we could be at different villages, which is kindda sad. So i'm left with the 2 gals, wang lin is from SMU 1st yr and Xiao dan NTU Final yr. So we have a conglomerate of ALL Unis in SG. hahaa.. All 7 of us took quite a few pictures together, loads of fantastic mountains in my pictures, i'm definitely going to blow the limit of my photo space in fotopic, i wonder if i shld buy more space, hmmmm....



At san frans, there was no free internet but there was still reception on my auto-roam phone. At bozeman, there isnt any auto-roam AT ALL!! That's a huge proof that the place is RURAL. had my social security application done and job allocation done. I'm in the gift shop as a retail staff, how cool is that? hehee.. the best thing is that it's different from the usual housekeeping and i'll most likely get to meet lots of people. Challenging, exciting and getting kindda scared and shivery now... :p

Anyway, i'll be ending up at Old Faithful, which is kindda cool cos that place supposing has internet access and great view. BUT, i'll be staying at mammoth for 2 days for a training session. I'll only go to Old Faithful after that. I'm on the way to mammoth now. I'm typing this on the bus in advance. :)

HELLO YELLOWSTONE!!

Finally found a way to get online. I'm now in my dorm in Mammoth, same thing, no Hp recep but luckily we have wireless here. Otherwise i'll feel so so so disconnected. Had my first meal in yellowstone, we were late so there wasnt much food left, so it wasnt really fantastic. I got to know a few people, whom i'll be training with. Really have to get to know loads of people really quickly. Everyone seems to know everyone!! It's a really small town at mammoth, 5 mins walk and it's one end to the other end. Will post some photos about mammoth tml. Meanwhile, it's time to sleep.

Day 0 of Work & Travel - Transit in Taiwan

I'm taking a break now at the first stop of my many transfers to get to Yellowstone. I'm now at taipei, toa yuan airport. And i'm quite happy to to find sockets and free wireless available here. :)

My next flight will take me to San francisco but i still have a few hours to burn. And my electronical devices somehow seemed drain of their juice, all needs recharging. Luckily for the sockets.

8 Year Anniversary

Today is our 8th year anniversary, but she's in Vietnam and i'm flying to USA today. The next time i'll see her will be 2.5 mths later. So we had to celebrate our anniversary on saturday. We spent the whole day together. Went to the Singapore flyer for a great view of the city and a great dinner at Hog's Breath.



It was a happy day, and i'll miss you loads dear!!

________________________________________________

Movie

1. Made of Honor

It's a comedy, a good one. But sometimes i would rather it be a pure romantic love story. Great acting by the cast and interesting storyline. Great show to catch.

(score = 3.8 of 5*)

MAYDAY MAYDAY!!!

HELP!! My jaws are aching like hell!!! I made the boldest decision in my life to remove all my wisdom tooth at once on monday. And now i have 2 VERY VERY swollen cheeks!! OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! It's really painfull and torturous, but i'll have to do it in SG. Cos i'm leavin gfor US next monday, and healthcare & medical in US is super super ex... so it's impossible to do it there. I just hope now that the swelling and the pain will subside soon. Cos i really really feel miserable now.

Have been eating porridge the whole day. I cant really chew, cant really talk much, cant really open my mouth at all. Feel quite paralysed. Very depressed that i have to feel this way after my exams. Will be off to US soon, better be well by then, or else!! I dunno what i'll do there.

This week is supposed to be busy, wanted to meet up with my various groups of frens before going to US. but this aching jaw is really turning me off all those ideas of going out.

_________________________________________________

Movies

1. Nim's Island

I was actually looking forward to this movie. The trailer was good, so i was expecting some excitment and adventure to be going on. However, there was none. quite lame actually. disappointing.

(score = 1.8 of 5*)

2. Ironman

This movie is actually quite good. One of the better superhero movie of recent years. Quite cool, all the high-tech gadgets and stuff. Some parts were really funny too, but not to the lame extent, so that was good. Oh, if you are watching it, remember to stay after the credits. It tells us to expect Ironman 2 soon.

(score = 4.8 of 5*)

April's Fool

Nope it's not the day of the month... but the person of the month. I'm declaring myself as the officialy fool of the month.. Oh well.. I shall not wallow with my grievances... i'll juat talk abt the happy things.

Went Melaka with dear last weekend. Drove up to Melaka. Drove so far up north for the first time. It was really shiok, but tiring. yet it was all worth it when we reach the destination.

Watched a few movies over the past few weeks.

1. Definitely, Maybe

Story about a father telling his love story to his daughter. And the daughter guesses which character in the story is really her mum. This is a very funny yet touching movie. Very NICE.

(score = 4.8 of 5*)

2. Forbidden Kingdom

Jackie Chan & Jet Li + pretty gal Liu Yifei!! BUT the story line is very lame and expected. This movie is totally made for ang mos to watch. To asians or chinese, this story just produces loads of "????". The fight scenes are not extremely exciting. So yah, unless you are a HUGE fan, not that exciting.

(score = 2.8 of 5*)

3. Superhero Movie

Super lame show. Funny from start till the end. BUT!!! there was problem with the screening. missed like 30mins of the show. And we made GV compensate our loss. That was the disappointing part.

April oh April!!

April is officially the most dreaded month this semester. Deadlines, presentations, projects, reports, you name it i have it. At the same time it also means the semester would be over soon, and i'll be off to WAT very very soon.

In the past week, i've successfully abstained from all CE lessons, be it lab, tutorial, lecture. I've converted myself somewhat to a business student, how cool is that? Not very cool actually, business modules are deceiving, very deceiving. They make your timetable look damn good, sometimes 3 day weeks even. But when it comes to the workload, BOOM, hell-high. Readings, preparations, projects, the worst is projects, can totally take 10 times the "allocated" time to complete. Damn tiring.

Oh did i mention Exams start end of the month, that's also WHY this is the most dreaded month!!!!

Movies,

1. The Bucket List

2 terminally ill men met in their wards. When it became clear to them that they both have not more than a year to live. They made the bucket list, things they ought to achieve before the "kick the bucket". It's a very nice show, great acting from the 2 main actors and a very entertaining plot. A great show to catch.

(score = 4.8 of 5*)

Ghosting Time

Time is a thing, it's something,
you cant see, yet you know it's there.
you want to have, and never have enough of.
always seemingly working against you.
crawling slowly like forever, when you want it over fast.
speeding past you and you wont even know it, when you want it slow.
some people say can be made, if you arrange your activities properly.
only moving forward, it will never standstill or move backwards.

Time is Precious, and I'm a Pauper.

Time just passes me by, how i wish i can turn back time. I used to be happier, when things are happening within my understanding.

Yet time is my only ally, for i believe...

ALL will be FINE when time comes.
_____________________________________________________________

2 weeks past since my last post, and it seem like time just flash past me once again. And hence my passage above to somehow illustrate how i feel about time. I've also labeled myself the "Habitual Potang-er" in MSN. Been missing school many many times. Not very good for my grades, but i somehow convinced myself it DOESNT matter.

Tried to make myself feel better by spending more time with dear and watching movies, and other things that are supposed to make me feel better. None working so far. Well....

Movies,

1. 10000 BC

This show is about a legend, a legend never before told cos it was SO SO SO long ago. Most likely it's fiction, but the plot is quite refreshing. Even though the show was quite long, the pace was good, it's quite intense so you gripped in the seat and dun get too bored. Comp Gen graphics are not bad too, they had to create all those prehistoric animals. Well it was a good show to watch.

(score = 4.2 of 5*)

2. The Spiderwick Chronicles

Same actor as August Rush (Freddie Highmore), seems like this kid is popular in hollywood. He doubles his roles in this movie, he's a twin, which is quite cool cos he had to portray 2 very different characters. I wonder how they create the scene with them fighting each other. A very fantastical story, perhaps too out of this world to believe yet you feel it could be quite true. The ending wasnt fastantic though.

(score = 3,9 of 5*)

3. Slam

I would never watch this show if you gave me a choice, but this was a surprise screening and i was pretty much forced to watch it. the plot was actually quite good, the basketball skills portrayed in the movie were not bad, but too faked, too showey, not very realistic. Perhaps that just due to poor acting. Although plot was good but how they brought out the story was quite bad, motives not clear, sometimes i simply cant understand what they were trying to show or say. A bit TOO confusing especially the ending.

(score = 2.5 of 5*)

4. Vantage Point

This was suppose to be one of the shows i really wanna watch after seeing the posters and trailers. But it's quite disappointing, cos i was expecting more. It was suppose to show the different perspectives of various people differently involved in a certain incident. That was interesting, but they showed the different views one by one.. and there's this part where they had to literally, "rewind" back to the start point, not once, not twice but 6 times before they allow the whole story to unfold. the "rewinding" was really getting on my nerves!! but the plot and story is quite good, except it felt like watching the serial "24".

(score = 4 of 5*)

A week after Break

It's a week after the break and nothing much have changed since then. I'm feeling unmotivated once again. How will i find the motivation. I guess i've found the answer. I'll need to find the one thing that I really liked to do. The one thing that i'll feel very happy and satisfied after doing it. I've not find it yet, or rather i'm not sure if i really found it. I think it might be sports, it might be music or singing. It's almost definitely not studying...

I've just watched this movie "August Rush". This is the best movie i've watched this year. Once again it's a great movie with great music, i've always prefered that combination. Here's wat's the movie is about..

**WARNING**

this is the WHOLE plot. If you dun wanna spoil your mood for the movie.. skip the italics and watch the trailer below instead.

The main character, Evan Taylor (Freddie Highmore), can hear music in everything around him. He is being raised in an orphanage with no contact with his parents, although he insists that he can "hear" them. Evan believes that the music that he can hear in everything from the wind in wheat fields to the buzzing of electrical lines, is some kind of message from his parents, whom he wants desperately to find. During his stay at the orphanage, Evan meets a counselor, Richard Jeffries (Terrence Howard), who gives a name card to him, introducing himself as a New York child service department member.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that his parents were a famous concert cellist named Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell), and Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an Irish guitarist and lead singer from a rock band. They met and fell in love in one night, but through a series of events, were separated. Late in her pregnancy, Lyla was in a car accident and was told by her father (William Sadler) that her child didn't survive. Lyla and Louis both had trouble concentrating on playing music and were miserable without each other.

During one night, Evan hears what he considers "the ultimate call." He follows the sound with the name card from the man but gets sick and passes out. Evan is picked up by a trucker, is taken to New York, and the trucker calls the number on the card. Evan is told to stay in a certain spot but after the wind blows the card into a vent, he wanders around the city and finds a boy named Arthur (Leon G. Thomas III) playing the guitar. Attracted to the music, he follows Arthur and falls in with a group of street kids, all musicians of some kind, who are being cared for by "Wizard" (Robin Williams). Wizard is a busker who sees the children as "investments". Evan gets access to a guitar and begins to play music for the first time. He turns out to be a child prodigy, and Wizard gives him the name August Rush, both as an alias and a stage name, from a slogan on a random truck driving by about the August rush to the beach.

Lyla's father confesses to her on his deathbed that her son lived after all and that he forged her signature on the papers giving the child up to the state. Lyla goes to New York City in search of her son. Meanwhile, Evan's father Louis has also begun to play again, and while trying to trace Lyla, has also ended up back in New York City, where they had originally met.

Meanwhile, Jeffries is seeking him. He becomes suspicious of Wizard and has the police follow him. They raid the condemned theater in which Wizard and the kids live. Having run away, Evan hears a choir singing in a church and meets a little girl named Hope (Jamia Simone Nash) who sings in the choir. She teaches him how to read and write music, and he begins to play the pipe organ with consummate skill. Reverend James (Mykelti Williamson), the pastor of the church, has Evan enrolled in Juilliard School, where he does brilliantly, eventually writing a magnificent piece called "August's Rhapsody", which is going to be performed in the open on the Great Lawn of New York City's Central Park with the New York Philharmonic. By coincidence, Lyla Novacek, who has been repeatedly nudged by her friend to play with the philharmonic, agrees to do so.

But Wizard wants to make money from Evan, and having found him again through the concert advertisements, he forces Evan to leave Juilliard and the organizers of the concert by implying that he will tell everyone Evan's real name if he doesn't, in which case Evan will be sent back to the orphanage. Evan reluctantly goes with him. While busking under Wizard's supervision, Evan meets a fellow guitarist, who is, unbeknownst to both of them, his father Louis Connelly. Evan, who uses his name August Rush, says that he has a big concert coming up, but that he can't go. Louis tells him that if he had a big concert, he wouldn't miss it for anything. Evan decides that he must go to the concert. But first, he has to get away from Wizard.

On the day of the concert, Evan is in the subway station with Wizard and Arthur, counting money. Evan tells Wizard that he is leaving. Wizard does not let him go, but Arthur helps Evan by hitting Wizard with his guitar, allowing Evan to escape. He arrives at the concert just in time to conduct his piece just as Lyla is leaving the performance, who coincidentally is attracted to the music and turns around to approach the stage. At the same time, Louis and his band are in the area, driving in a car. He sees a lamp post advertisement of the performance announcing August Rush performing, like the boy told him, and also Lyla. He runs out of the car towards the music. After approaching the stage, he notices the conductor really is the boy he met in the park. Coincidentally he finds Lyla right next to him, listening to the music. As Lyla goes closer to the stadium, Louis follows and stands right next to her, holding her hand. In surprise, Lyla looks to her side and sees Louis. And as the piece ends, Evan turns to the crowd, and the three recognize each other. The movie ends as it fades out of the concert at Central Park, with Evan saying in the background, "The music is all around us. All you have to do is listen."

(score = 5 of 5*)

The day that happens only once in 4 years.

Today is 29 Feb 2008.. Interesting day, this year is a leap year so there's an extra day in Feb. What's this extra day for? It's used to regulate the year. In our calendar there's 365 days, that is SUPPOSED to be the time taken for Earth to rotate around the SUN. It's not EXACTLY 365 days but for ease of calculations, ancient ppl rounded it off. SO, to prevent the days from getting TOO haywire, they added an extra day to offset the miscalculations. There you have it... Lesson for the day...

Now back to myself...

This week is my mid-term break.. supposed to do catching up and speeding up of projects one.. but somehow, NOTHING was done.. I'm quite demoralised by the fact that my groupmates arent really responsive about projects.. is it me?? or are they just not bothered?? I've done wat i could already, it's up to them to take the next step... I'll try to spend the weekend catching up on my own work. So boring...

Slightly more exciting is the start of my coaching theory course.. My class was HUGE... 100++ people, coaches from many different sport.. unfortunately i have made any acquaintance yet.. well.. there's still 8 more lessons to go.. Lessons for this course are quite fun, the speakers are pretty interesting.. What they say makes total sense...

Movie of the Week

1. Juno

Interesting show.. Witty speech.. realistic actors... Funny... And very real...

(score = 4 of 5*)

CNY is long over

CNY is long over already, or rather the holidays are over. back in school for 2 weeks already.. and this week i'm having 2 tests.. both from my CE modules... did one yesterday already.. think i kindda messed that one up.. but i think i might have learnt abit of how to do it during the test.. haha.. it's not open book..

2nd test on thurs.. water resource engineering.. i think i can do well in that.. but whenever i think i can do well i will not... so i also dunno what to expect.. just follow the flow i guess.

last saturday, did an idea presentation for my Techno Marketing module... although my groupmates said we did ok.. i felt we did quite badly.. technical problems... my laptop wouldnt work again.. which is shitty, cos it seems my laptop always gives problem during presentations.. there must be a problem... besides that.. the presentation not very well done.. cos only done on friday.. quite shabbily.. and i cant help think i seem to be the only one in this idea...

let's talk about movies!!!

watched 3 movies since CNY

1. Kungfu Dunk

another jay chou movie on the market.. i think he's quickly gaining popularity in the movies as well... BUT... i think supporters of his movies need to be fans of him in the first place.. that's the only way you will enjoy his movies.. cos.. his movie characters always seem to be portraying himself... always seem to be amplifying his inner desires... hahaa.. rather ego actually.. but nonetheless entertaining... but this show itself failed in one aspect, it's TOO much like Kungfu Hustle...

(score = 3.5 of 5*)

2. CJ 7

A much anticipated movie by acclaimed comedian stephen chow.. perhaps cos there was too much anticipation, the results werent amazing... the expected funny parts were damn funny... but it din really create impacts like Shaolin Soccer or Kungfu Hustle. But the idea is refreshing, however the plot is quite weak.. and the ending was quite lousy too.. not very intrigueing...

(score = 3.5 of 5*)

3. Jumpers

this is a very interesting show.. new idea i think... people who have the ability to teleport.. and they have their natural predators... interesting... and i expect there to be sequels to this show... just think it's really cool to be them...

(score = 4 of 5*)

1st Break of the year

it's week 4 of the semester, and it's CNY week... a much welcome break to the busy schedule... but i wonder it i can keep up the pace of doing things after this break.. i've been trying to keep up with the class speed but past few lessons i've been slowing down overall.. i can feel that i'm starting to lag here and there.. I just hope i can catch up during this break and catch up with speed... it's damn hard to keep the engine running... !!!!

Dear fell sick on monday.. damn scared she cannot enjoy her CNY.. it seems like she has loads of stuff to help out... so she basically doesnt have much time to rest.. so kelian... REST REST!!! Stop kpoing around e house!!

When Twilight Fades.. It's Dawn...

Classes have started.. and i'm 2 weeks into them.. let's say i'm going in HOT.. which means... throw into shit piles of work.. yup.. and it's only just the second week... tutorials are up... projects are starting... loads of assignments going on already.. it's really going into hyperdrive.. i've been wondering if i'm being too ambitious this sem.. although i'm only taking 5 modules.. but they are quite full project and assignments.. although i have a 4day week.. but it seems there is never enough time..

for one of my modules, i was drawn to be group leader.. 7 in the group... it's a marketing module.. essentially by the end of the semester, we need to come up with a business plan... i was ok with being leader, and quite motivated with the responsiblity on me.. BUT... response was quite lacking.. since last tues which was the lesson.. i have been faced with difficulty trying to coordinate for a meeting to discuss on stuff for the next lesson.. damn jialat... gotta improve!!!

but on the other hand.. i'm also quite happy with myself thus far.. i've been to all lessons and tried to pay attention to everything so far... which is really pretty good... most of the lessons make some sense... which is also very good... now it's trying to cope with tutorials & assignments that's really drowning me out...

while being busy in school recently, i haven been back to tj for volleyball in a while.. which is pretty bad.. not enough exercise.. i can feel my stomach bulging, and my mum's endless bursts of nagging is really driving me nuts.. played badminton a few times... but the way we play badminton is just plain reaction.. not much movement.. so not very effective in burning fats... just make u tired only...

oh well.. i think things will only get better... and i will make myself carry on watever good i've achieved so far...

NOW... movies i've watch 2 shows recently...

1. Cloverfield

It's a shaky film.. the either show was film to look like it was taken from a handy cam.. and it was a chaotic situation.. using a handycam really made it really dizzy... i find the plot quite interesting.. BUT the ending kindda sucks.. many of the viewers were hoping for some end credit specials.. but now.. it just ended without and ending.. I should have expected that, afterall it's a movie from the makers of LOST!!

(score = 2 of 5*)

2. 27 Dresses

This is a super sweet story.. all good and almost nothing bad happens in this show.. it's even more enchanted than enchanted.. hahaa.. but the plot is really good... good build up... good twists... and most of all a nice ending.. alls well and ends well.. i dun want to say too much about this show.. but it's really worth the $$ to watch...

(score = 4.5 of 5*)

Twilight ZONE!!

I feel i'm in some sort of a twilight zone now. Why?? Cos school is starting on monday!! So i'm basically on the verge of the end of holidays, which sucks. Haven done much contructive stuff over the pass few weeks, den BOOM.. School is going to be back in session again. That's like so so fast. oh well. It's time to face the books and notes again. At least i'm happy to know i have a 4 day week. :) And only 4 of the 5 modules have exams, but on the downside... there WILL be loads of projects. Perhaps projects will keep me going on better then tutorials.

2008 has BEGUN!!!

While i was still thinking iwhat to put in my last post for 2007.. 2008 came jumping at me.. took me totally unaware and unprepared..

the past year has been pretty ok.. in the sense nothing too bad had happened..

exams are ok.. scraped thru both semesters... nothing better than expected... first sem was more boring.. 2nd sem was alittle overloading with 6 modules going on... but i'm happy to enjoy a few module really much... but that main thing is i managed to scrape thru regardless how not involve i'm sometimes in during school...

i work at several places during last year's summer break... it was a good experience.. 2 places i enjoyed most is at the track & field meets & selling laptops in NUS.. working at those places gave me 2 things... exposure to different working conditions and also supplement to my $$..

talking about $$, last year.. i got my car!! finally... but $$ has been dwindling because of that.. increasing oil prices & all other car operation charges like maintenance, ERP, parking.. the list just goes on.. OUCH!! my Wallet hurts...

quite a few frens got married last year.. din hear anyone breaking up.. so i guess it was good in that sense too... me and dear are still going strong.. 8 years is coming up soon.. hehe.. relations with her family have improved over the past few weeks.. her niece seems to like me more than before.. and i tihnk dear's getting jealous.. :P

FOR 2008...

it's time to relook my directions.. set simple goals... when you set your goals too high.. u will not be able to see them.. and very soon.. you lose them... last year's goals were actually pretty simple.. but somehow.. i lost them after sometime too... so now... what should i do for the new year??

To make things simple.. this is my aim for the year...

"Pass IPPT, Pass Exams"

Highlight of the year would most likely be my trip to US for work & travel.. :)

And now.. it's time to look at module details again!! time to bid for modules for the coming semester...

Pre-X'mas Weekend

Another week of training in Tj has just past.. And there's this ominous cloud lurking over my head.. it seems to be telling me.. "you are losing the ability to instill confidence and spirit into the volleyball team, you better BUCK UP!!" past few training sessions has proven to be a bottle neck for me.. the lack of experience really left me stranded trying to think of ideas how and what to train.. it's really quite difficult, although having gone thru training, not all drills work.. especially when there's INSUFFICIENT players turning up for trainin, sometimes it's just me being brain-dead...

Just hopes trainin will get better when school re-opens... there's alot of things to do for the new year... oh yah... that means new year resolutions again!! hahaa.. i'll leave that for my next post.. for now time to rot and enjoy the x'mas hols..

watched 2 BIG movies this week already... "I am Legend" & "Warlords" I cant say they are boring or bad movies, neither can i say they are very good. therefore i feel these 2 movies seem to be made for certain groups of people, some people will just appreciate and understand it more.. and i'm most probably not among that group of people.. dear said we haven watch any very good movie since "stardust", which was actually very true.. we watched "stardust" with little expectations but was thoroughly entertained by the show, well the rest have been below or rather different from expectations.

Tj Training Begins

Been going back to Tj almost everyday for the past week. Fung is not around, so i'm taking over training. Personally, i think the trainings went quite well, although the gals team is seriously lacking in attendance. gals played a frenly match against shss & cchs(y) yesterday and the guys played against xms today. the gals did quite well, won shss 2-1 but lost to cchs(y) 0-2. the scores really dunt tell the full story, fatigue played a very very larger part of this fixture, but i think the gals played well intially.

guys were supposed to have frenly today, but cos they somehow broke the indoor court net yesterday, and i believe they are finding chances to not train on saturday. They arranged for this frenly. I seriously think they should not be having frenlies at this stage yet. their basic coordination and movements are not up to mark yet. played 4 sets with xms, won 1st 3 but lost the last. why i say they played poorly?? that's cost they are playing against a team whose average height is like 10 cm shorter then them, and less experienced than them. there wasnt sufficient defensive coverage when our players spike, hell there was ANY coverage at all at times.. they won initially due to their height & physical advantage and skills wise, they are not there to match yet, which is quite disappointing.

Monday BLUEs...

Exams may be over but it's not total rest time for me.. that sucks.. i'm taking charge of tj training this week.. cos fung not around.. he's in china.. well.. we all know wat for.. first training today with the gals.. not very encouraging for me.. only 7 ppl.. and i was very quickly running out of ideas wat to do.. that kindda sucks..

Sunday was a happier day.. watched golden compass with dear for FREE!! cos she has GV vouchers.. hahaa.. den ate at toastbox.. den walked around at vivo.. den meet up with my MNO mates for dinner at marche.. it was a great time...

Semester 5, 07/08

This is my story of my whole semester. The 5 of 8 which i'll be undergoing in my NUS years. There wasnt much to look forward to at the beginning of the semester. Ever since i found out i got into civil engine, it just seemed like another blow to my ego, motivation, drive and many other positive things in me. but there's no one to blame but myself for landing myself in this state so i tried setting a simple goal for myself to achieve. improve my CAP, regardless by how much, just as long as i do.

with that in mind, i knew i had to do something, i had to take more modules. 6 modules, while almost everyone else had only 5, some only 4. besides taking 6 modules, i have to do considerably well for ALL of them in order to achieve my aim. seems like my aim is not that simple anymore.

I started the semester with watever enthusiasism i managed to salvage from my dwindling interest in studies. lectures, 1st impressions mean a lot.. some lecturers simple attract you to school, while others well.. do the opposite.. and in civil engineering, most of the lecturers are from the latter group. not a good sign at all..

wanting to try to deviate from the usual engine modules, i took 1 module from business and 1 from real estate.. the business module is a life saver, so much more interesting than everything else i was taking this semester.. the only module which i want to attend the tutorials.. though i somehow managed to miss most of the lectures still, even though the lecturer was really very good.

the real estate module was like non-existent for most of the semester... why?? cos, there was like only 2 tutorials for the whole semester and i've only attended like 2 out of the many mnay lectures there was.. i guess, my learning i affected by one very important condition.. location.. i realise i'm very reluctant to travel to different classes.. i'd still prefer, things happening the way they were back in secondary school & primary school..

MAKE THE TEACHERS/TUTORS WALK TO US!~!

Yup, that would really keep me in class and i'll have much better results.. i think i'm the sort whole will take things only if they are shoved down my throat.. sometimes.. not... hahaa..

the most interesting module for all 3 civil engine modules is this design project... it was really a very good chance to allow creativity to flow.. but somehow i think i was restricted by my group.. maybe my ideas are a little off the charts, but i seriously believe they were do-able.. epecially when this project is basically set without boundaries... yet, we were so box'd up in our traditional ideas... it's a pity...

i also took this really "moral" module call engineering poffessionalism.. it's really right civils and moral lessons back in secondary school.. it's all about doing the right things, making the right decisions.. blah blah.. but it was experience, cos i was working with people who were pretty competent, which made a light work out of everything.

my favourite is still the MNO module, especially when our project group took a whole day filming at DODO factory.. it was a very very good experience.. filming, acting, editting... it's all fun and entertainment.. if only everything about studying is like that... got pretty close with the bunch of them too.. which was really good..

exams.. i think i'm really really relieved it's over.. it's a torture for me.. going into the exam halls.. trying to fill up the black spaces on the answer script.. with answers which i know are hugely part of my own imagination.. this is my expected score...

B+, CE3101
A-, EG2401
C+, RE3481
D+, CE3121
C-, CE3115
B+, MNO1001

If i actually manage to achieve results like above or better, i seriously consider myself over-achieving.. and i'll be very very happy.. and best of all it means a very slight improvement to my CAP..

my overall opinion of this sem is me being pretty much a ghost.. seemingly non-existent for most of the semester with regards to my engine classes.. thanks to the non-engine modules which made my experience much more tolerable..

with that i'll end with some significant photos for this semester, significant to me at least...

Finally!!

The Semester has OFFICIALLY ended!! Yeah... last paper.. MNO.. 4 helpsheets.. i only managed to write 3. best part?? i left the exam hall early.. but dun misunderstand.. it's not cos i did too well.. i only bared managed to finish crapping.. i just did not want to waste time checking.. cos i'm quite sure i have nothing else to write. this sem is over and done with..

tml...

tml i will reflect on the whoel of this sem...

Exams Time

It's now half way thru the exams... 3 papers down.. 2 more to go.. and i have the luxury of a short break... but sadly... i doubt i did well for the past papers... might not even pass... so it's actually quite depressing... but... nothing much to regret about.. cos i wasnt working hard for it anyway... i'm just glad it's over... looking forward to holiday break...

School's Out!! Exam's IN!!

the final days of the school semester have been a horrific experience... loads and loads of deadlines to meet... loads and loads of stuff to do, study, read, do somemore... ridiculous... but somehow.. i survived it all!! with a few corners cut here and there... but still i managed to get out in one piece... BUT BUT BUT...

Exams are round the corner.. and after somewhat ghosting thru the semester.. this will spell the largest disaster that will befall on me.. now i have to digest and absorb... a whole semester worth of lectures/tutorials/readings in the short span of 1 week and try to get myself as ready for exams as possible.. how easy is that??

Ups & Downs in a single day

the day started off with something i was quite proud of... 1 pager due today.. and a 3 page teamwork analysis also due.. the task?? to get all the above done in 30mins... and miraculously.. i spent something like 40 mins to complete it.. amazing.. even though content was total crap but being able to cook up something in that short time.. priceless...

big down of the day... lecture test for soil mechanics... haven been to lecture/tut of any sort.. print out the notes for the very first time.. see them for the very first time... and BANG.. time for test... and the result was simple... blanks... blanks on 80% of the paper... 20% was MCQ so i could just select SOME answers... still it felt like shit...

so just to make myself feel better... splurge... hahaa.. watched GAMEPLAN... damn funny... child actors nowadays, are simply.. WOAH!! ate Waffles at Gelare... ate paste & Waraku Pasta... overall felt much better....

BUT!!! like i said before... deadlines are still lurking... and they are getting real close now...

--= *Stardust* =--

Just came home from watching this movie... it's been years since i watched a Claire Danes movie... in fact i think this is my first one.. cos i seriously dun think i watched her Romeo & Juliet with Leonardo Di Caprio.. hehe..

This story is a refreshingly new fairy tale... not any old plot i've seen before... so it's nice and new... hilarious throughout the show... but most importantly it's actually done very logically... even though it has loads of fairy tale fantasy in it.. it's still very logical.. the flow of the show is very logical.. it actually explains the plot very well.. there's no point the show where we go "hey wat happened in between" kind of things happening... there's always answers... timely ones as well...

Great actors with the likes of Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and this new guy... Charlie Cox.. he's funny.. and not to forget Claire Danes... she's really suited to act in this sort of shows... hahaa..

Anyway... i liked the show.. and love the happy ending... :)

I thought Wrong.. but What's New??

This week is supposed to be less busy... but i was wrong... deadlines keep coming back at you... finish one.. on comes another... there's always another deadline waiting for you... aaarrrggghhh...

but... I did a few happy things this week... i went to Hog's Breath at Vivocity... the food was good... it's a bit pricey... that's y me and yanli went on tuesday.. it's ladies night.. and they get 50% off the main course... which is good... oh.. and the service there is the best among all eateries i've been to so far... good service.. good food.. yum..

yesterday we also went to Ajitei , another restaurant by Ajisen... jap food.. nice!! not too expensive.. but the main attraction here is the desserts... haven got to try them yet.. cos we were too full after the mains... :P

finally... i've just uploaded fotos taken during MNO video filming.. please go see see...

Wireless on BUS

I just sent my car for servicing.. and now taking bus to school.. it's been a while since i took public transport.. and this is surprising.. there's wireless on board... cool.. hahaa..

the only side effect.. i cant do this too long on a bus.. or any moving transport.. i'll get headaches... i'm getting one now.. arrgghh...

Finally!!! the Video is Done..

Finally the BTSL Video is done.. after sleepless nIghts of editting... IT's DONE!!! and here's a compressed version which is uploaded into Youtube...



However that's not the end of work for me... more dealines coming up.. UURRgghhh.. What the hell....

Deadlines

Deadlines are lines which kill you when you don't finish your tasks on time... this is week 10... loads of deadline coming up this week... 4 out of 6 modules... super tired.. haven been sleeping much the past few days... felt really drowsy when i drive to school in the morning... BTSL video is coming to a close soon... left with editting and sound effects to do... den there's paper for engine prof... paper for urban planning... and huge project for infra project... everyday is packed with meetings and discussions and projects...

btw, i'll be going YELLOWSTONE!!! from 13 May to 22 Jul i'll be working in Yellowstone national park... i finally get the chance to go overseas further than china.. hahaa...

very tired now... need sleep....

How was NUS Week 8

this week is when all the projects actually have a meeting.. and that basically makes up my whole week... i haven been going for lecture.. nor have i been to much tutorials... but project meetings have been plenty... and most of them are enjoyable...

today.. i spent my WHOLE day at the DODO Fishball factory office... all the way at Senoko.. doing MNO video... elaine managed to get liyang(her long term chauffeur.. also the son of the MD of DODO)... there's yvonne who looked seriously like a female boss today, very professional looking lar!! den kah hwee or ah KAH after today, she just reminds me of the pantry.. all of us knkow why... elaine, well.. she's the future DODO bosstress... hahaa.. hope she dun get pissed by our irritance... hahaa.. Zerong, super funny was the stuff he says... especially those scenes which we were suppose to talk "rubbish" cos there would be no audio.. the "rubbish" he says.. simply makes everyone laugh till u drop!!! henkie.. our old man & bad man.. i think he had a great lesson in acting today.. hahaa... finally our main producer.. mr OH wenjun.. damn pro is what i have for him... and dues to our filming overrun.. think his family had to wait up for him for dinner... and FINALLY there's me!!! I think i'm a ultra crazy actor.. i think i like to act.. it's fun... or rather i like to be a comedian... just be lame...

that's just damn cool... we were running around the office shooting here, there, everywhere.. luckily it was public holiday.. so there werent much staff around to be irritated by us.. we were seriously noisy.. but there was loads of fun doing this video shoot.. and i got to act.. this is by far my first major role in any video clip ALL MY LIFE.. and i loved it.. it was just damn fun... although this video clip is ultimately supposed to be just 7 mins.. we managed to stay at the office for almost 12 whole hrs for filming... hahaa.. loads of wasted time on crapping and hysterical laughing... mostly by me...

technically it's elaine's birthday now... so we celebrated for her earlier on just now.. i actually bought cake for her yesterday.. and hid it in my car.. and i only remebered to take the cake after like 5 hrs of filming.. hahaa.. i shove it into the fridge immediately.. i guess it was still ok when we ate it.. heheee.. hope no one has problems after eating... think elaine was quite happy we celebrated for her.. and yah.. we TOOK loads of photos.. and loads of video today... cant wait to get my hands on them.... hahaa...

This is week 8

total there's 13 weeks of lessons... this means majority of the semester is gone.. and i feel like i have successfully GHOST past it... i managed to survive so far without any get failures.. but.. HOW the hell will i survive the final exam?? a miracle??? this is the time of the semester when i think i should find a religion.. or maybe practise some black magic... hahaa...

Get more for less

Ask for less and you will get more...

If you are less demanding, you find you have gain more than you asked for.. If you ask for too much to be done, it simply reduces your speed and nothing gets done... take one simple task at a time.. stay happy and live easy... :)

This Feeling is new

This is the first time i feel betrayed by a lecturer... you ask him about how the project should be done.. he gives you tons of ideas... you work on it... do and suit his tastes... but when presentation comes... there's another bigger shot there.. who shoots down almost every aspect of the presentation... and that dumb lecturer just nods his head along.. BETRAYAL... BIG TIME... there goes my results...

This Is My Mid-Term Break

Mid-term break... this mean it's half way thru the sem already... loads of things/assignment/projects... and my engine is still cold...

Week 6

Week 6 is coming up... and that's basically HALF the semester gone!!! Deadlines are coming up!! and what have i done for the psat few weeks??? NOTHING!! Practically NOTHING!! although not physically nothing... but the academic value adds up to ZERO!! A big fat ZERO!! I dragged myself to school early today... managed to reach here around 830am.. and since then.. i've completed a short PPT presentation for Eng Professionalism tut.. and that's all for now.. i'm drained... already...

last week is slightly more eventful... attended one of my airforce colleague's wedding.. it felt great initially to be meeting up with them.. but after awhile i felt i have lost touch with the way they behave, talk and think... And i realised most of them are leaving the force already.. something that i was trying so hard to get into, they were all trying to get out.. they say i was lucky to not be inside doing crap like they are.. but i feel i could have made a difference... too bad i wasnt there...

finally watched Ratatouille last week... it's a nice cartoon with a simple plot.. but the graphics.. WOAH... close to reality... it's simply stunning... further more i watched it at GVMax.. huge screen.. superb resolution... the only problem was the freezing cold temperature... BBbbrrrrRRrr...

also caught the lastest Sandra Bullock movie.. quite disappointing actually.. the plot became alittle too obvious in the middle of the show.. and the ending was... unexpected.. but unexpected wasnt good in the case.. i would prefer it to be the expected ending... i feel the show has some sort of religious linkage to it.. but i wasnt religious enough to understand it... :P

-----Suspended--------

This BLOG is From Now on.... SUSPENDED... for more News from the author.. please visit spikefire.blogspot.com

NUS Week 5, here I come...

Blogging has once again deteriorated to a once a week activity... i see 2 reasons...

1. I'm too lazy
2. No one's bugging me to do more often anyway

last week hasnt been any much better than the week before.. but as usual i still like my MNO class loads.. MNO is basically a very fun class.. so so so much more fun than all the technical crap in engine.. damn!! i really hate wat i'm studying.. aarrgghh... but it's my choice.. so i'll stick with it..

MNO highlights included 2 tutorials this week, one's the usual one on tuesdays.. the other is an extra lesson on saturdays.. called BAFA BAFA.. we played a game.. which was actually quite interesting.. first we learn some simple rules of our society.. den start on it.. the we start interacting with another tutorial group which has totally difference rules of games.. this kindda mimics a persons emmersion into another society.. you get the same kindda of lost of directions, you get the same cluelessness.. but you'll also start understanding what happens after a while.. even though you totally dun speak their language.. it's really quite a fun yet meaningful game...

watched evan almighty this week.. it's MUCH nicer in terms of plot and acting compared to Bruce Almight.. which is just a crappy show starring Jim Carrey.. and i really recommend watching this show... christians may not agree with wat i say.. but i think the show is nice... and funny... great entertainment... oh by the way.. i'm saying all this here because.. i'm going to end my movie addict blog.. cos it's rather tedious to maintain.. and their aint much viewership except for myself... so it's goodbye movieaddict.blogspot.com...

NUS Week 3 Over

3rd week was over in NUS, and still nothing much was achieved for myself.. got to know a few people in my MNO class.. missed many other classes... basically nothing much was achieved in school over the past week.. but i feel the ball is finally starting to roll.. so i hope things will start going on smoothly from now on...

friday was basically the highlight of the week.. going back to tj for homecoming dinner... met up with some 06 people.. and other tj frens.. too bad the turn-out for our batches not very good.. otherwise it shld be quite fun.. the current tj vice principal was my history teacher back in cchs.. and he still remembers me... which is pretty cool... i took quite a few pictures that night.. just follow the link on the left to check them out...

saturday went minds cafe with bingguang, jass, lihui, wanyang, yinglan, jingting & dear... basically, now i have a pretty bad impression of minds cafe.. pretty bad... the games are alrite, the food actually not bad... except when it came to mine.. my lasagne was frozen in the middle when they serve it to me.. no to mention mine only came after EVERYONE had finished their food.. super sad & pissed... so yah.. that's pretty much the last time i'll go minds cafe i guess... hahaa...

sunday had KTV at the NUS guild house at Suntec.. it's a pretty cool place.. the KTV facilities not bad.. i like the rooms much more than other KTVs outside.. their songs are piggybacked from the Kbox systems... but somehow less updated... but it's cheap and good... however, the membership to the place really quite ex... hahaa..

Week 4 has begun and it started off with labs.. 3 lab session in 2 weeks.. going to be a very very busy 2 week up ahead...