Guide To Getting Lost : Derelict Buildings

After a week of exams and projects presentation, I have decided to take a break over the weekend and immerse myself in 2 days of fun(Sat-new drumming activity and Sun, exploring SG). Yeah... I'm fully charged =)

Many people often complain how small, hot and boring SG is and they fail to look at the positive factor here; safety. Its pretty safe here as compared to other countries and societies and getting lost here is no big issue. One can simply just look into their iPhone maps to get directions or call for a cab if they are really lost.

So one of my favourite past time in SG is to getting lost (not relying on GPS etc) which Tim and I found ourselves in the middle Kranji industrial estate looking at an abandoned army camp, while heading towards Sungei Buloh Wetlands.

Here are some photos of the disused camp

Abandoned

We were basically looking at the camp from outside cos its a military place and we cant enter.

The gates

Barred

Electric meter. If only we could get it working...

Wired

No entry

Disrepair

Arc

Johor across the waters.

A Music Day out

It's a perfect sunny evening (somewhere in June) n we decided to make a trip down to Fort canning. Here's my Friend's violin and my flute.

Side reading

Yeah... Its an enjoyable day!

My First Pay/ Helpdesk

During every vacation, I look forward to my time at the helpdesk even though it can mean very long hours and late nights. Its where I picked up my technical skills ever since I was a non technical related Biomed poly student and its where I decided to take up Com Sci as my major in Uni. I'm glad and fortunate to be given the opportunity to learn in the technical field even though I started off without much technical knowledge and am a female. (In the Techie world, its still pretty much a male dominant industry)

I enjoy the company at the helpdesk. My colleagues and I (we are in the late teens or twenties) would go for coffee or late after work suppers and would talk at length about studies, friendships, relationships, our future, bread and butter issues like housing cost, raising cost. We would often calculate how much we need to pay for our uni fees in return to our parent's CPF (for my case its my CPF) and how much we need to in our CPF to pay for a flat. We also chat abt the high housing cost and joke that we should try our hands at lottery. (Naw, the odds of winning are one in a million but we chat about the possibility of the things we would do with a winning sum - migrate overseas, buy a house, car, travel around the world etc) and what we would invest in.

Till date, my biggest investment is my Uni studies (yeah, I spent the large bulk of my savings on my studies after graduating from poly and working for 2 years ). Eh... I guess I will see its returns when I graduate =)

I remember when I had my first pay in 2007, though mum and grandma did not expect nor told me give them monthly allowances, I set aside monthly $200 for mum and $100 for grandma
( after so many of years upbringing, its the a responsibility I should do as a grownup and yeah.. I would like give more but that's the amount I could set aside then after setting aside a bulk on savings for my Uni studies, bills, expenses and insurance.)

I was seating at the living room sofa and wondering how I would pass the money to mum and grandma since it was my first time and passing the cash in the normal way (like how we pass cash to people) seems too hard-cold and normal. I thought, giving the cash in an envelope would look very much like giving a resignation letter and ang pows are meant for elders giving cash to the younger generation.

In the end, I placed the cash in two small mooncake boxes. After dinner, I told mum and grandma I just received my first pay and would like to give some allowances before giving them each a mooncake box and blushing.

Yeah... That's my first time giving allowances and the feeling from getting my first official job pay then was something special (cant really describe it but its a feeling more to independent and grownup).

Technology Literacy

Spore is a technologically advanced country. However, in this advanced pace, its surprising that there is also a large group of people who go up and about their life in the most traditional ways; not owning or using a mobile phone, not using the atm machine and go into the banks to do their transaction, queuing up to top-up their ez-link card at the counter(I cant remember the last time I joined the queue at the counter to top-up my ez-link card) and many more.

My 78 y/o grandma is one of the large group of people who do things the traditional way, even if it means taking a bus and queuing for half n hour or so just to perform a simple transaction. I asked her several times about it and she said " Ai yah, I'm so old. The ATM machine words are too small and too fast for me. So many options, I dont know which button to press. The bank counter is better, the cashiers at the bank counter are helpful."

In grandma's words, the bank counter cashier is more user-friendly. I feel grandma could take more autonomy in her own transactions and after some thoughts, I decide to do an experiment; to take "baby steps" to convince grandma to use the ATM machine. So I wrote a simple application (I named it Withdraw.apps and wrote the program using JBuilder) , which has the options of an ATM machine and a log in module (authentication module). I went to sim lim square to look for a numerical keypad (so it looks just like the normal ATM machine keypad) and a couple of weeks later, I got it up n running.

The most difficult part was convincing grandma to use the application. I racked my brain cells and told her I was testing out a sch assignment for elderly use and grandma said she would help me. So grandma got down at my laptop and started learning to use the "ATM machine app" for the very first time! After a number of trys, grandma said she's getting use to the application. I told her it works just like an ATM machine and took the opportunity to convince grandma to use a real ATM machine.

A few days later, we were in the bank and grandma applied for an ATM card. We went to the ATM machine outside the bank and I could feel the moment coming. I watched with bated breath as my grandma started typing the options into the atm machine and after 30secs the machine chunked and soon, grandma turned with her ATM card and two $10 dollar notes in her hands! Yes! Grandma did it! I apologized to grandma and told her the truth that it was not for my sch project. She said that I was very cheeky =p

Anyway, I believe if anyone would learn, technology is not as difficult or complicated as one would perceive it is.

Up for Adoption

My two Ryukin goldfish fr Mongkok fish Market. I named them Kinyobi and Mokuyobi (Kin and Moku in short) respectively; which means Friday - Gold day and Thursday - Wood day in Japanese.

With 2 more weeks to go before I leave HK, Kinyobi and Mokuyobi are up for adoption. I will miss how they brighten up my hostel room and yes, they are looking for a caring owner to give them a new home. So if you are a caring fish enthusiast, they are all yours. Goldfish bowl, filter, fish food, water plants and of cos, the two ryukins are provided!

(P.S Update as of 09/12/2010 - My room mate has decided to adopt the ryukins! She cant bear to leave them to someone else. Thanks roomie! Gd luck!)

The Non-Local Student

4 hrs flight and I'm in bustling HK for the next 3 mths n its our orientation week. I guess as a SG Chinese, our culture is more or less the same as HK Chinese. Here is what I as a non-local student will experience :

1) Lots of Leng Zais - Yes, I come here for exchange program but it wont hurt to look at the many handsome HK guys around right? Plus, they are better dressed here(pffft...not in boring T-shirt, shorts n slippers)
2) Food - Oh yes.... food, glorious food! I have high standard of the food here. (PS : HZ, I will tag u lots of Cha Chan Teng photos... U can see but u cant eat! Muhahaha!)
3) Night Life - HK is a city that never sleeps so here I come =p
4) Hostel Life - After 3 days here, hostel life in HK involves a lot of marching, song singing n laughing loudly in corridors (eh....Sounds very much like sec sch). Yes, we learn how to sing the Hostel song - Viva St John. (eh..) Oh... I was told to get some formal wear for high table dinners here, which is an important part of HKU hostel life.
5) Making New friends and have fun -Yes! That's a good reason why I'm in the exchange program. There's no way I'm going to hole up in my room and I'm getting ready my adventurous streak.
6) Photography - Photos, photos, lots of photos. The thing is, I'm too lazy to post them up =p
7) Lastly, mugging - Oh groans.... Wait, most lectures are on tues n thurs. So cheers!!!

Till date, stay tune =p

After 4 long years...

After 4 years, + 2 semesters in uni, it came. Now its another 3 more years to my goal of completing BSc...

Wisdom Teeth Aches

Lately, many of my friends have been getting their wisdom teeth removed. Its something common amongst young adults and we often hear them talking strangely(muffled) a day after the procedure and uploading painfully swollen face photos up on Facebook.

During a previous dental visit, the dentist was looking conscientiously at my teeth before declaring that I have wisdom teeth growing and asked if I was working(which I was then). He took an X-ray and told me that I need to get my perfectly growing straight wisdom teeth extracted.

I remember looking at the X-ray and asking him why do I need extraction since my teeth are perfectly fine and he said it might cause problems since they were still growing. He tried to reassure me that the procedure will be painless(common sense tells me it will be painless during the procedure) before further adding on that I will get 5 days of MC to rest.
(Hoho... I'm not an MC person and will not get MC unless I really sick and why would I subject myself to unnecessary pain and misery for 5 days MC).

I told the dentist that I prefer a more cautious approach and waited for the wisdom teeth to grow. In the end, my fully grown wisdom teeth are fine and I went to another dentist who said there is no need for extraction.

As for my ex-boyfriend, he was in NS then and he got all his wisdom teeth extracted via general anaesthesia (they were all growing normally too) I remember spending the day with him after his surgery and his face was all swollen, he needed ice-packs and was moaning abit(maybe its for me as a girlfriend to give him some tender loving care(tlc) or sayang/manja him) . We examined his extracted wisdom teeth together and later got into an argument about his wisdom teeth extraction, which eh.. for the first time, I won because of his given condition. LOL!!

Anyway, I wont want to extract my teeth unnecessarily cos its painful and will not get into an argument with someone if I have had a tooth extraction!

Smoker's Last wish

Growing up with my grandma, nearly everyone around me smokes. My grandma smokes, my uncles smoke and many of my other relatives smoke. Very often, family gatherings would involve a community of tobacco puffing. I dont know whether its a blessing in disguise but I have bronchitis since my childhood and cigarette fumes do cause me to go into a coughing fit whenever I'm down with bronchitis. Its because of my condition and being health conscious, I dont smoke and would turn to chewing gum n sweets.

Last week, I was spending some time at the hospital visiting granduncle who after 60 years of chronic Ang Hoon smoking is terminally ill with the final stage of lung cancer. His prognosis is poor and the doctors gave him morphine to relieve his pain.
During one of his more awake periods, he gladly accepted a cup of milo and drank it deeply with a straw before commenting that the chocolate flavoured cigarette is too sweet for his liking n he preferred smoking Ang Hoon.

Apparently, granduncle thought that the straw with milo was a cigarette! (At first, granduncle was very adamant abt the chocolate flavoured cigarette but after an aunt told told granduncle that he cant smoke in the hospital n its plainly milo and a straw, he was quite disappointed)

Before leaving for the day, Granduncle told us his one of his last wishes is to smoke ang hoon. I guess u can never get smoking out of a smoker.

5.00AM

Its now 5.00AM. One more hour before my duties are done. The night (or early morning)has been uneventful, with hardly anyone dropping by. Even the drop off point is desolated. Just one more hour to go. Hopefully, it will be just as quiet. I long for some pancakes and a good nap at hm.