[Why?]
Before I took the final theory test, I bought a book that's supposed to contain all the questions. After I passed, it was still useful because the checklist used by the examiners were in the back of the book and it's helpful for preparing for the practical test.
Anyway, I was flipping the book today when I noticed something.
There's an advertisement inside the book...
...for the same book.
What were they thinking? People were going to see the ad and buy another book?
[$100 waiver]
I received a "$100 waiver" from M1 today. If I "upgrade" my handset now, I'd need to pay an additional $100 because my contract isn't up yet. With the waiver, I can purchase a new phone at the advertised price. So basically, M1 is ending my contract early, with regards to phone purchase.
I never understood why they termed buying a new phone as an "upgrade". Why don't they just say "new phone"? It's not as if I sent my phone in and they sent it back with new features. Now that would be an upgrade.
In any case, I've been toying with the idea of getting HTC Touch for a while...But one of the things holding me back was that I didn't want to re-learn now to use my phone all over again. All the phones I've ever used were from Nokia and if you've used one Nokia phone, you'd know how to use them all.
The thing is, I really want to get another clam-shell phone. I've used all three form factors before (candy-bar, slider and clam-shell), and I really want a clam-shell as that's my favourite design of the three. There are no good clam-shell phones from Nokia right now though...At least none of them catch my eye.
[Worst ad ever...]
I'm sure everyone has seen this ad either in the newspapers or displayed at bus-stops. I've been wanting to blog about it for a while, but never had the chance to take a photo of it until yesterday.
I know it's about contributing to your Medishield, Medisave, Mediwhothehellcares...Whatever. But really, do they really think this is a good advertisement?
Neck brace, wheelchair, and broken foot equals being a winner? If this is what it's like to win, then I'd rather be a loser.
[Neither here nor there...]
I printed my HYP poster today at this place near NAFA. Man, the female students from NAFA were HOT!
Anyway, before I went down, I took a look at their website and some of it didn't make sense.
Okay, so they may not be open on Sundays. We have to call to make sure they were.
But oh no! They don't answer phones on Sundays!
What a pickle.
I had it all figured out. How to keep my 2nd-upper even if I get only a B for my HYP. I'll just get an A- or better for my Cybercrime. Shouldn't be a problem, half of the material was already covered in another module I took two semesters ago.
What I did not anticipate was that low-life, piece of shit from MAS. Now I don't think I will get an A- or better from Cybercrime. To top it off, I crashed and burned on my Forensic Science mid-term. I don't know how that happened...When the lecturer went through the answers, most of my answers matched. My sister and her friends aced the mid-term, and their names were even on the top-20 list that the lecturer flashed during the lecture.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
And to make matters worse, while preparing for my HYP presentation, I realise some of the stuff I wrote was pure crap. Even I wouldn't give myself any credit. It was so silly, it's not even funny.
Well, it ain't over till the fat lady sings. I still have a chance to make up ground during the exams. But as it stands now, things don't look good. I feel like Man United now...Facing Arsenal in that FA Cup final whereby they played much better but yet lost to Arsenal on penalties.
[The last lecture...]
Had my last lecture in NUS yesterday evening. It's ironic, that the seat I sat at was the same seat that I was in for the module's very first lecture this semester.
The lecturer we had last night was a forensic pathologist, which meant lots of autopsy pictures. There were many "Eeewwwww"s and "Eeeeeeeee"s when he flashed some of the more explicit pictures, but these two girls were something else.
They were having dinner (western food). How they managed to eat while looking at those pictures is beyond me. I mean, I wasn't terribly grossed out or anything, but I definitely didn't feel like eating while looking at the pictures. And here's the best part...They "eeeee"-ed the loudest (seriously), and immediately after that they put another piece of meat into their mouths*. Pretty good appetite for someone who's apparently grossed out by autopsy pictures.
And to top it off, they kept talking non-stop during the lecture. There were a few "sshhuuuussshhhh"s from the people sitting in that section, but they didn't care. Stupid bitches bimbos.
* Yes, I wrote this on purpose. You either get it, or you don't
[No way out...]
Lift upgrading works are going on in my area. Many places are blocked off while the upgrading is going on, and some of them, in a way that makes you wonder what were they thinking.
[Does not compute...]
I had the craziest conversation with a stranger at the bus-stop today.
I was at the bus-stop outside Assumption English School when this elderly woman approached me.
Woman: (translated from Mandarin) Excuse me, do you know if 170 here goes to Woodlands? Me: Er...No. (170 on the side of the road we're on goes to town) Woman: Then why did they put the number there? (gesturing to the signboard with all the bus numbers)
At this point, my brain basically had an illegal operation. How am I supposed to answer her? I tried to remain civil and told her that if she wanted to go to Woodlands, she should cross the road and take 963. Anyway my bus came at that point, so I didn't have to deal with her anymore.
My bus concession expired today. That's it. No more concessions for me, ever.
Although...My card was programmed to last for 4 years. I'm not sure what their practice is, but maybe I can still buy concession for another year. Hee hee hee...
Took this picture while on the bus today.
I think it's probably a Japanese word...But did they really think it would be a good idea to put an "a" behind shit and use it as their brand? And their logo...Doesn't it look like it's giving you the finger?
[Places in your past...]
I was watching an episode of CSI last night which ended with Warrick looking at a rec centre, which he spent his childhood, getting locked up for good. There seems to be this stereotypical scenario with African-Americans on TV. They must have grown up in a tough neighbourhood, the main character must have made good, and when they return home, their beloved rec centre, that they must have fond memories of, is always in trouble.
But it got me thinking...What about the places I spent my childhood or teenage years? Are they still there for reminiscing?
I don't know how the system works now, but when I was a kid, we had three years of pre-school. I only had two. I can't remember the reason why, but I think it was because my parents forgot or didn't know I was of pre-school age. In any case, I spent one year at this church kindergarten. The church is still around, the one at the Rail Mall, at the junction of Hillview, across the road from the bank whose name I cannot remember right now. The place has changed. A new wing has been added. I have several memories of the place, but the exterior is definitely different from the memory in my head.
I spent my second year of pre-school at South View Primary School. They had this foundation class thingy, at the end of which, you get "promoted" to Primary One. I believe that was one of the reasons why my parents enrolled me at that school. They figured they could send me there for my primary education. I can't remember where the school was located, but I'm almost 100% certain that it has moved.
As it turns out, I did not stay at South View for my primary education. My mother went to great pains (I think, can't quite remember the facts) to get me into Bukit Panjang Primary School. I think I wasn't allocated a place at first, she actually went in person to talk to the Principal or something and I was finally granted a place.
BPPS was originally on the land that is now occupied by Ten Mile Junction. I still remember the place as if it was yesterday. It was extremely old, and was even used by the Japanese soldiers as their base for the area during WWII. The building was built with wood and concrete. Yes, wood. The second-level floors were made of wood, imagine that.
I spent one and half years there before moving to the new premises. The new BPPS is still around and has undergone major changes since my time. I pass by it often, on my way to NUS. I can no longer recognise most of it. I believe they made several additional wings to the main building. In any case, from what I can see from the street, a lot of the places where I had many memories are no longer around.
Moving on to secondary school...My secondary school was recently torn down for re-building. So yeah, more memories, gone forever. I won't go into it too much, I really haven't a lot of nice memories to share of my time in secondary school. David Beckham once said he had a little black book filled with names of people who's wronged him in the past and one day, given the chance, he'd do something about it. I have such a book too, but it exists only in my head. More than half of the people in it, I met in secondary school. But Singapore is a small place, and really, the six degrees of separation thing is sometimes true, and it brings me great comfort to know how screwed up some of the people from my past are now. Balls to you. All of you.
After secondary school, I attended Ngee Ann Poly for three years. I haven't been back there since I graduated, but I know for a fact that the place I was at for my Graduation Ceremony is no longer around. The bus-stop has changed a lot too. I remember the railings we used to sit on and the dirty wall next to it. They're gone now. Now there's a Cheers right behind the bus-stop. During my time, we had mosquitoes instead of convenience stores.
After I completed my diploma, I enlisted. Not by choice, but whatever. The camp I spent most of my time in has been taken out of commission. I still pass by my camp a lot, during my driving lessons. It brings back memories...Some good, some not so good. Most of which I can do without.
Fast forward to the present. SoC moved to the old Law faculty this semester. The other day when I was on the internal shuttle and passed by the old SoC buildings, I saw that extensive re-modelling was taking the place. Some of the rooms where I spent a great deal of time were no longer there. The walls have been torn down, and all the small rooms are gone and it's really just one big room now. You can't stop progress. If you're not fast enough, progress will run all over you it seems.
So there you have it. All the places from my past that created so many memories in my head are mostly gone or have been shut down. What about your's?
And it's probably because Singapore is such a small place, but on my way to NUS, I usually pass by my pre-school kindergarten, primary school, secondary school as well as Ngee Ann Poly. That's practically all the places I've been in, education-wise. Maybe that's why the memories never fade...
[The end is near...]
I was so caught up with trying to finish my HYP on time that I only realised this today: Next week is the last week of school.
It is of great significance to me because this is the end of my student life. It's quite a milestone. I've always had a "student" mindset all my life because even when I'm done with a particular stage (like "O" levels, diploma, etc), I know that I'm most likely going to go ahead with another phase of education. That's all going to change. I don't see myself going for further education anytime soon. Maybe somewhere down the line, I might consider a Masters (by coursework, I really don't want to do research again), but that's nowhere in the foreseeable future.
And in all the "excitement" (using the word very loosely here) of working on my HYP, I haven't really considered what I'm going to do after graduation (I have some idea, but we'll see). I have yet to send out any resumes.
[Top 10 wrestling personas...] Askmen has an article on the top 10 wrestling personas. Would be an interesting walk down memory lane if you watched wrestling in the 80s or the 90s. Most of the characters are no longer around.
Broken for now. :( If anyone knows of a good way to display tweets without using Twitter's awful looking widgets, please let me know. Preferably something that allows me to retrieve my tweets in plain-text format.
What's this about?
Anything and everything under the sun. I write about my day, my thoughts, things I see in public, things to get off my chest, or sometimes just some senseless rants that make sense only to me.
About Me
30 year old male. Always with too many ideas in his head and too little time. For my 15 minutes of fame, I want to be a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Interests
Movies, TV, cycling, computers, planted tanks, cherry shrimps, P2P legal issues, Manchester United, WWE, TNA, UFC, etc...
Disclaimer
Best viewed @ 1280*1024 or above. Views are expressed are mine and mine only, and are not meant to offend or influence anyone. Designed for readers with a sense of humour. If you can't laugh at yourself, you probably won't like my style of humour.
