basically...

friday was straight forward. i woke up early and drove my sister all the way to croydon to settle her visa. but the problem was i sat in the car from 7am till 2pm to wait for her and i couldn't really sleep coz i didn't wanna to pay the parking. anyway, i couldn't afford it either. it's bout 4 pounds for 2 hours. crazy! but she finally got her visa settled and we went for lunch. and did i tell u that driving here is crazy. u literalyl got to fight for every inch of space on the road. but i gotta say i fight pretty well for a first timer in london.
can't really remember wat we did on sat... but it's the bank holidays anyway. public holiday from sat till monday.
sunday was church in the morning. went to Hillsongs with my sister. it's quite an eye-opener. the set-up, lightings all the technical stuff, i like it. the praise and worship reminds me of my days in Speedlight. anyway, in a nutshell, the pastor talked bout being alone/ lone ranger. no man is an island. but of course he wasn't talking bout BGR, but talking bout having friends, family, people to people relationship and community. after service, we went for lunch and we decided to play scrabble. and we went to Hemleys. it's a mega big department store that only sells toys!!! it's cool! sort of like toys R us, but different. it's more fun!
and today, we wanted to go to a park and feed some deers (and maybe hunt some too), but the weather didn't look to good when we woke up, so we stayed indoors and played scrabble. and we did go to the park in the end. parks are nice here. firstly becoz the weather allows u to hang out in the open. u won't end up hot, sticky and sweaty like in Singapore. and the parks are nice... i just like it lar! haha.
anyway, living here is different than in singapore. not just becoz my parents are not with me and i am in a foreign land. but becoz right now, i got to adapt and do things that i don't usually do in singapore. i still can't cook, but when living with other people, if someone cooks, the next best thing u can do to help out is to wash the dishes and stuff like that. anyway, i've been washing the dishes ever since i got here! haha.
well, it has been a long blog, hope u enjoy it.
=)

london-ed

2hours flight from SIN to BKK, 3 hours in transit, 12 hours flight + 2 meals from BKK to LON... and finally, here i am! london! the place where i will be doing my working holiday.
landed at london in the morning and the day started out pretty ok. from the airport, my sis and i took a cab to her friend's place. zee, who's putting us up for the time being. his apartment at russell square is really really nice! i hope the place that i am getting is as nice as theirs! hehe.
but after we put our things down, the rest of the day wasn't so smooth sailing. firstly, she had to wait for 3 hours before she can collect her admission letter from LSE. but that was ok, coz we had already made appointments to view flats. the first flat was ok. but the single room was pretty small and it had no lift... so it was out. the second appointment was with another agent and we had an hour to spare. so my sister and i went for a drink. we shared a can of coke. =) and when it was time to meet the second agent, he told us that the flat we wanted to view has just been rented. damns! aiya! waste our time and money. and finally, it ended like this: we were bout to collect a car that we rented becoz my sister has to go to croydon the next day to settle her visa. but guess wat! the car rental co. refuse to rent us the car coz we could notproduce our current UK address. and after soem negotiation, he will only rent us the car if i show him my return air ticket, which i didn't bring along with me! so, i had to run all the way from euston station to russell square! and run back to euston! it's crazy but i got no choice! i was panting like a dog after everything, and we even had to give the guy a tip coz he was suppose to close his shop at 7, but he held him back till 7:30. enough of bad things for a day or my stay in london!!! but after that, we went back to russell square and had dinner and fellowship with my sister's friends... =)

lots of time but very little space

i'm bad at speeches, i'm bad at talking & conversations and i'm definately bad at goodbyes.
i'm only good at listening, having fun, talking crap and irritating people.

so off i go to the airport later. taking a flight to london. arriving in a foreign land with just my backpack and a suitcase, i'll have to rent a house to stay & look for a job to work.


if u ask me why am i doing this? i'll reply, why not? we study, we work and we die. this is what everybody will be doing and go thru. i'll go thru the same thing too. but wat makes life interesting and different are the things that we are able to experience for ourselves personally.
so here i am, going to experience something and something different. it could be easy, could be tough, it could be anything for me there, but at the end of the day, i won't learn anything less nor experience anything less. afterall, u never learn less in life. and i got stories to tell my children and grandchildren when the day comes. haha.

keep in touch and seeya ard next year.
Take care & God bless u all!

2 more days to go

ahh, it's bout time i say goodbye to all my friends for a year.

looking ahead, it's really exciting and hopefully lots of fun to do this working holiday thing. to stay in a foreign land for a year and to look for a job... there's just so much in store to experience...

and looking back at the past week, the farewell dinners, lunchs, suppers and drinks that i had with my friends... i'm really going to miss ya all... my friends from primary & secondary sch, church friends and friends from SIM, i had so much fun with u guys and i'll always carry along with me the fond memories. anyway, i'll only be gone for awhile lar, i'll be back within a year. with lots more stories to tell u! (real-life stories, crappy jokes and good jokes) haha.

hopefully, i'm able to keep in contact with everyone thru this blog, email, friendster, msn or icq...

i've almost finish packing my stuff... suit, shirts, ties, pants, jeans, t-shirts, towels, shorts, socks, toiletries, cloth-hanger, batteries, shaver... wish i can pack u guys into my bag too =)
seeya and keep in touch

thursday

tie-hunting season is finally over! i've caught for myself a red tie and a champagne couloured tie.
and Robinsons is a good hunting place. there are lots of ties and the salesman was very patience. i spent a good half an hour going thru lots of ties and he was helpful. i am a satisfied customer.
and i did some extra shopping too. i've got for myself a thumbdrive. cool device! with 256mb, i can load my favourite pics, resumes and other stuff... it has been awhile since i got for myself a gadget! feel like a boy with some new toy!
and finally, i had dinner with joel and cherry. we had sushi buffet at Kushin Bo. sushi buffet reminded us of our trip to KL some time back. where we also had sushi buffet, but we were so kiasu that before we even dig into our food, our table already had starters, main course and desserts! haha. but this time round, we've matured and become more graceful. but that doesn't mean we are pushovers! when they made announcements bout special dishes being served, we went for it too. i think i've eaten bout 20 pieces of salmon. but it's not that i wanna make it worth my money, but it's just that i love to eat fish, especially salmon! =) it was a good dinner, maybe we'll go back to the same place when i come back next year.
hmmm, come to think of it, 5 more days and i'm leaving. so fast...
gonna miss alot of people and their company...

wat happen today

yea! i've served my last reservist today... it's not that i've ROD, but i've got a year's disruption to allow me to do my working-holiday experience. i had some fun today. used the ditigal camera and took some silly pictures. i'll post it on my friendster once i receive it. and i hope that i'll be posted back to the same squadron when i get back next year.
and i still cannot find my tie!!! i was at suntec yesterday, and according to the saleslady, solid coloured ties are out of fashion for this season. the fashion statement for this season are stripe-patterned ties! what the heck do i care bout fashion statement... ok, i do care about it alittle. but i just want my cream coloured tie... and my tie-hunting season shall continue...
and things that i have to do before i leave:
cancel my mobile line. transfer my internet account to my dad. return the soccer ball to shawn. iron my shirts. cut my hair. *dot dot dot*

a matching tie is not easy to get!

i finally got my suit! and i love it. can't wait to put it on and be a professional financial analyst and banker in the future =)
but now, i'm short of matching and nice ties!!! i've only got for myself a white tie with grey and black stripes. looking for a solid cream coloured, red coloured and maybe grey coloured ties next. and it's not easy! i've been to Isetan, Tangs and Taka to look for it and i can't seem to find any that i like! didn't know that tie hunting is tough!
other than the ties, i think i'm all ready for my trip...
time to watch 'average joe'... i'm such a tv junkie!

road safety

i did something unusual today... while driving my mum's car, i kept the car's rpm below 2500. and the reason for doing it... there's none in particular. but i can tell u afew off my mind now. e.g. save petrol, do my bit for the environment...
honestly speaking, it's a torture for me to do it. coz if u know me, i've got a heavy right foot and i usually rev the car above at ard 3000. and the greatest difference is that the car move off very much slowly than i am used to. but looking at the rear view mirror, it isn't that bad. most cars are still quite a distance behind which means that i am not moving too slow or they are just keeping their distance. the other thing is that driving at 5th gear and at 2000rpm, my mum's car can only go at 70km/h. once again, damn slow for me. i usually drive at 20km/h above the speed limit. and if u don't know, 40km/h above the limit is the max u can go, if u go faster, u got a higher chance of being suspended and going to court. and finally, to change gear at every 2000rpm and maintaining ur speed... i think that chance of getting into an accident decreases by 5-10 fold compared to 3000rpm. well, that's my opinion. i'm getting old, time to be a safer driver and live longer while i am on the road. the next time is to eat healthier to live longer while i am eating =)

doesn't make any sense!

i was in town to collect my suit, but it wasn't ready. well, i was ready, but the pants was alittle too short and tight round the waist, so i'm having it altered.

my key pouch looks pathetic. the soft leather has hardened and peeling... very pathetic right?! but anyway, i've been using it since i was in secondary 3, that's when i was 15 years old. and 10 years later, today, it's time for the key pouch to retire or to be put to sleep.
so off i went to look for a new key pouch. after looking ard in isetan, i narrowed it down to 2 particular models from Buffel. both were of the identical design and style... except that one was bout 50-80% larger than the other. but the smaller one cost $43 and the other cost $46! it doesn't make any sense at all! so here i am, in a dilemma... damn it!

how to save money...

for a bottle of GATSBY hairwax... it's cheaper at NTUC fairprice... and i found it out the hard way... i paid an extra $1.70 else where. damn it!!!
shavers and shaving blades are like printers and ink cartidges... the disposable item is more expensive. it cost 5 dollars for a packet of Gillette Contour Plus that has 5 blades. if u have to shave every day, u'll most probably change the blade every week. ( i change mine every 2 weeks coz i shave every alternate day) there are other shaving blades like Mach 3, Excel... which are more expensive. given that there are 52 weeks per year, that works out to 52 dollars spent on shaving blade every year.
it's like if u buy a can of drink every day instead of drinking plain water, u spent an extra dollar a day. in a year, that's a total of 365 dollars. u can do quite alot with 365 dollars. u can buy a pair of jeans and 1-2 nice shirts, go for a short holiday or cruise, buy a nice watch, buy 1-2 nice pair of shoes, change handphone...
here are some suggestions to save money:
1. not ordering any drinks during a meal is almost impossible... so u can start by ordering only 1 drink per meal! (u can save bout $400 a year)
2. every day when u go home, put all ur loose change into a mug or something. fill that coffee mug with 1-dollar coins! (u can save bout $200 a year)
3. buy things that you really NEED!!! think thrice before u buy anything don't buy something becoz it's cheap and it's a good deal. know EXACTLY what you need and what you wanna buy. window-shop for the particular item over 3 seperate days and places. and if during the 3rd trip, you still feel a need and urge to buy the item, it's most probably something that you need. haha. (u can save bout $50-$1000) hahaha
this is getting dumb... i don't want to write anymore... zzzz

sunshine!

i spent another $60 today... sigh... i think i shall stop buying my stuff for this week. it's quite depressing.
but on a positive note, i went swimming and got myself some sunshine. the sun was great this afternoon. but the water was rather cold when i first went into the pool. i guess i was there too early and the water wasn't 'warmed' by the sun yet.
22 more days to go... i hope all goes well...

shopping + jeanette + diving

i am still doing my shopping after all this while. and i bought a tie from G2000 and BRAUN shaver from C.K. Tangs today. doesn't seem like much right? but these 2 items already cost me $67.
is it me or are things getting more expensive?. ok, i admit that my mindset is still $2 for a plate of chicken rice, $1 for a can of drinks blar blar blar. but let's admit it, inflation is higher than it seems! and back to my shopping-spree that started last month, i do not want to go into the exact figure on how much i've spent... and the amt that i think i am going to spend coz i'm still in the process of buying my stuff... but i estimate that it's going to be close to 4-figures! yeah, u heard me! 4-figures!!! but half of the amount goes to the suit.
and i saw jeanette aw at orchard today. she look really tanned and quite tiny actually. smaller-build than i expected or imagine. or maybe she looks bigger and taller on tv lar. so i guess a camera really does make a person bigger =) and she walks with a funny swagger... something like cherry! haha.
and yes, i got to mention that i saw a pretty woman at ZARA and a pretty girl at C.K. Tangs. well, certain things got to be mention and these are the ones =)
and yes, i am going diving this weekend! and i just can't wait for it to happen! *excited*

today's quote

it's ok to start small... but it's not ok to remain small