Suicide and redemption

Song by Metallica

Its been more than 10 years since I bought my last Metallica album. Reason being that they changed direction and their music sucks ever since they released 'Load'. But this new album, 'Death Magnetic,' sounds great. They aren't the same band as they used to be but they I feel they are bringing that old speed metal music back which is so awesome. I listen to the album everyday after redeeming with my UOB points. I only stopped recently.
I finally got Silver for my IPPT !!! Alhamdulillah. I was a bit stressed, nowadays I'm like almost stressed about a lot of things, when I haven't cleared it 2 months before my birthday. So I trained and diet like crazy and I lost about 2 kg in the process ( I have gained that weight back
;-) . When I was running my 2.4km I keep telling myself '$200, $200,$200,$200..... I aimed to clear less than 2 minutes per round and I almost didn't make it but I really pushed myself and I manage to clear within 10 seconds of the timing to get Silver. $150 went to Qurban in China and $50 for Xbox 360 games. I ran the 10km marathon 1 week after that with my wife. It was her first and she felt flat after that. She recovered after 4 hours of sleeping.
I got a lot of presents this year for Xmas and my birthday. I felt so much loved man. Great to know that a lot of my ex colleagues remembered me. I spent my birthday in Bintan Lagoon Resort with my wifey , my best friend and my nephew and niece. The short holiday was great but I feel that they charge exorbitant price for food and other stuff.

Cahaya di Aidilfitri

Song By BDB

As usual I didn't make the most out of Ramadhan. Again I didn't finish my Quran, actually I finish of the last chapter but couldn't finish Al Baqarah. Sigh. This time around the excuse was my Winning 11. I played too much of it during the Ramadhan nights.
Anyway the great thing is that during this time I get to see my nephews from Oz. They grew up so fast man. I brought them to Vivo, bought them a couple of Wii games and they broke fast in my house. They stayed overnight and beat me in Mario Kart. I suck at that game. They flew back to Oz 2 days after Raya.
Hari Raya was great as usual. This time I don't race with my in laws during the visits. My bro in law drives like crazy sometimes. Good to see everyone again, especially on my side. Of course we are still visiting during these last few days of Syawal but most of my cookies are gone.

Country Road

Song by John Denver



" Close your eyes ... and no peeking!"

" Ok."



So I put my hand over my eyes and yes I peeked. " No Peeking!" she cried and she went around her beatiful condominium house picking up flowers and leaves. When she finished she came to me and said. " Ok, this is for you" . And she handed me over a small tiny bouquet of flowers neatly arranged in a group of leaves. To think that six year old girl can do that is simply amazing to me.

" Thanks, but you cant do that ok... the flowers and leaves aound your house is not for you to pick, " I said. Thats what her mother told her too. My niece then hold my hand and we went around the neighbourhood and she showed me where her friends live.

Its been a while since I ve been to my brother's house and its great to see my nephew and niece again. I went swiming later with her while her dad watch closely. Her dad, my brother, bought some high grade durians for everyone. Me and my wife finish them up in minutes.

Just the other day we had some fresh durians. My colleague had a mini durian plantation in Johor and me and my other colleagues went there to take a look. Not only he had some durian trees, he had some rambutans, coconut, mangosteen and jackfruit trees as well. " All the trees you see here was planted individially by me and my husband many years ago," said my colleague's mom. Looking at the size of the plantation, I was clearly impressed. I just had to relieve my childhood memories and climbed some trees to pick the mangosteen and the rambutan fruits. We brought back so much back to Singapore of them that we took 2 days to finish them all.

That was the second time in 2 months that I went on a road trip to Malaysia. The other time was not really a happy occasion . 2 reasons, one my father-in-law's mom passed away in Perak and the other ....well my car got slightly scratched by this @$%* driver.

Go to goal

Song by Pop ( Winning Eleven 2008 )

This 2 months has been an up and down month for me as a soccer fan. Firstly , I was very happy to watch my team , Man U, winning both the title and the Champions league. Especially the latter cos its the most prestigious cup in Euro Club football. However, I was very dissapointed to watch my country lost 3-7 to Uzbekisthan. I watched the match live at the rundown national stadium with my best friend and my 'enemy.' I always feel that Singapore could perform well if they have more self belief - just like Poh in the movie Kung Fu Panda I watched yesterday.
I am also dissapointed that I missed some of the recent matches in Euro. But I tend to make up for it for the next few days ... then I would really looke like a Panda cos of lack of sleep.
Yesterday I went to Orchard and guess what... the BPL tophy was on display. I paid $5 to take a picture with it but it was worth every cent.

Down Under

Song by Men at Work

Its been a few weeks since I got back from Sydney. The holiday was wonderful. The only regret is that me and wifey did not get to climb the Sydney bridge due unforseen circumstances ( flight delay actually). Nonetheless we did see some fantastic sights like the blue mountains, the ' 3 sisters' , the echo valley and manage to walk on some of the great beaches in Australia. Getting to see the world famous opera house up close was a nice experience. And as always, what is an Australian holiday without visits to their animal parks. I always love to feed the kangaroos and petting the koalas. But the highlight of the whole trip to me was the sand boarding experience.
We walk the city streets at night and shop around. Although we ate other stuff, I did not know that I can manage to survive practically on kebabs for 3 days. I have not bought or eaten the food since I came back. We manage to take the tram and the city train rides on the last day. It's so hot in Singapore now that I really really miss the weather there.

Breaking the Habit

Song by Linkin Park





Its the period of time again. It happened about a year or two ago and now its happening again. People around me start to die. Life is fragile. You dont realize that until things like this happen.


My close colleague's husband passed away 2 weeks ago. I went with my wifey to visit her. She was quite disraught and my wifey gave a good hug. My other colleague's grandad passed away too. She had it better cos she did not seem so sad when she came back.

Stop and Stare

Song by One Republic

As I walked down the path I heard a rumbling noise behind me. In a split second, I realized that it couldn't be a dog cos its too loud so I turned and looked. The 2 brothers who were behind me were stunned and nailed to the ground as they saw what I saw.
It was a humongous wild boar, biggest one that I ever saw in real life, stomping past us. Just when we thought it was over, a small little version came scuttling out to follow the mom. All of us were shocked and surprised. We talked about the incident the whole afternoon.
That was my third trip to Ubin. I loved the place . It is one of the islands in Singapore that is idyllic and untouched with a little bit of kampung life. As I did the last time , I cycled, together with the two brothers from the mosque. Both being half my age, were going faster than me. It was quite fun going around the island. Especially at Che Jawa where we get to see mud skippers, crabs and other creatures that hang around the mangroves. Everything went well till one of them fell down from his bike down the slope. He had a cut at his eyebrow and bruises on his arm. I took him to the hospital to see if he need stitches. It turns out he didn't. Thank God, Alhamdulillah.