Orangeous Dailies

A laugh-out-loud film about a Chinese boys misguided attempts at opening an Islamic bank account.

Finally had the time to upload Michelle’s 20th birthday pictures and videos.

Touched down in Singapore at 9:45 p.m. today.

The moment I stepped out of Changi Airport, I complained to Jessie about the horrible weather here.

Will probably take a week to gather all the pictures taken from various cameras.

I’m back from the exams. And tomorrow I’m off to Sydney, Australia till Saturday, 290809. Jessie, Nuraisha and I would love to extend this trip to 2 weeks, but our term break is only a week.

The rest of our classmates who are not going to Australia for the Student Exchange, are heading to Laos. Plenty of stories to share on Monday (310809) when we meet for the usual lunch break.

Honestly, I haven’t packed yet. I don’t think I have much to, since National Service has taught me how to reuse a single underwear for 2 consecutive days.

Itinerary

230809 : Arrival at Sydney Airport at 9:30 am.

240909 : University of Newcastle.

250809 : University of Newcastle. Westfield Kotara for shopping.

260809 : Port Stephen trip.

270809 : Stockton sand dunes.

280809 : Sydney.

290809 : Back to Singapore.

Exam week.

Will be back on 210809 (Friday).

One of the best pranks ever.

Parking Ticket 100809.

I assumed that parking was free at Bedok Food Centre on a public holiday.

Wen Jie gave me two tips to determine which kind of carpark requires parking coupons on public holidays :

1. The carpark is next to a popular dining spot.

2. Or if the parking signboard is lit up at night.

Nothing much to update.

I’m armed to the teeth with coffee with cigarettes. And of course, rewarding myself with mugs of ice cold beer in the evenings after a long day of mugging.

We’ve been studying really intensely for the exams on :

Business Finance : 17th Aug 1400H

Finance : 19th Aug 0930H

Consumer Behaviour : 21st Aug 0930H

Will be flying off to Newcastle, Australia for a 1 week student exchange programme from 22nd Aug to 29th Aug.

The new trimester starts again, 2 days after we return, on 31st August.

Tell me more about long vacations!

Michelle’s 20th birthday, held on 110809 at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar @ Raffles City.

(From left) Jessie, me, Michelle, Robert, Yi Jie, Yun Xing, Jie Ping, Siru, Chor Kwan, Hui Ching and John.

Michelle.

Happy birthday my dear sister!

Photo Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157622181832912

Videos : Blowing Out The Candles

Related : Michelle’s 20th Birthday

Michelle’s 20th birthday, held on 110809 at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar @ Raffles City.

Michelle blowing out the candles on her cake.

I have spent the past 15 years of my life studying.

Honestly, if you were to ask me about my secondary school and polytechnic days, I have no memories to share which I am proud of.

During my days in Victoria School, being a menace was the cool thing among the crowd in the lousier classes. Students from the better classes were labeled as stuck up assholes or fucked up nerds. We would walk out of classes, skip school and sneak up HDB blocks after school to smoke. Cigarettes could be bought from the nearby coffeeshop. We had to take off our school badges and go behind the drinks counter to buy cigarettes from the uncle. Lab lessons were spent copying from one another, playing aimlessly with (or stealing) chemicals and squirting distilled water at one another. The trend those days was cyber gaming. After school, we would hop on the bus down to Sim Lim Square. We had to put on a smelly unwashed t-shirt fished out of a huge cardboard box because we couldn’t play in our school uniforms and we were lazy to bring extra clothes. Besides, the extra clothes wouldn’t even fit inside our schoolbags, which were barely big enough for a textbook. Every time test papers were returned, the same old conversation would take place. For example, the Additional Maths paper…

Me : How much did you get?

Classmate : 10/100. You?

Me : Haha! 3/100.

Classmate : Haha! Better score than mine! How?

Me : Oh, I only managed to do the simultaneous equations. And I didn’t get it right.

Classmate : Haha. I got 42 points for my prelim. How many did you get?

Me : 49 points. Higher than yours.

Classmate : Haha, let’s spend our next few months roaming about. Not like we intend to get into JC anyway.

I got so smashed the night before on beer and glue that I didn’t even turn up for the Biology paper.

Somehow, I got lucky and ended up studying Information Technology in Temasek Poly. Within the first 2 weeks of school, I had received 7 warning letters for zero attendance. The rest of the years didn’t go along well. I resorted to paying people to sign my attendance as well as to do my projects. $100 for a project, multiplied by my 3 years there, is a lot of money. There was a point in time I only came to school when my Dad didn’t need the car for his work. I would drop him at the office, and take the Kaki Bukit flyover to school. After school, I would drive to the nearest 7-11 to get beer. At 5:30 p.m., I would take the same flyover back to his workplace to pick him up. I was usually in a very tipsy state and he would scream and demand to take over the wheel. When I headed home, I would usually skip dinner and continue drinking till midnight. I remember getting wasted in the school canteen and bringing cans of beer into the lecture hall and tutorial classes. There was once I tried walking into school, swinging an opened can of beer in my hand, but was removed from the premises by the security guard.

The only project which I had ever finished on my own, was my Final Year Project. That “B” was the highest grade I ever got.

Time went by very fast, and soon I was in National Service. One night, after booking out, I was sitting at home, packing my educational certificates. I found my Temasek Polytechnic transcript and looked through the columns of “F”s and “D”s. I had a Grade Point Average of 1.97. Who the hell on Earth will be that insane enough to hire me? I just realized that I had wasted the past 7 years of my life, accomplishing nothing! I wasn’t even an athlete, I had poor grades and not even a testimonial to show.

I woke up. I woke the fuck up.

Immediately I enrolled myself for an Advanced Diploma in Business Studies course with PSB Academy and paid the $5k within the next week. It was my decision to study this time so I had better show some results. For the next 1 1/2 years, I spent most my weekends burnt and under a lot of pressure to do well. It came as a shock to me after slacking for 7 years.

The course ended just in time to join the University of Newcastle intake, also at PSB Academy campus. For a $5k course, Jessie and I were granted almost $9k worth of credit exemptions. It was the best decision I’ve ever made so far.

Everything has been looking good so far if you ask me. I have been handing up every single piece of school work on time. I enjoy the lectures and participate to the fullest during the tutorials. I am very satisfied with my results. I made lots of friends. I even found the time to hit the gym, skate or run every single day of the week. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the university ball held last week. It was the first time in my life attending a ball. Right now, it just feels as if the real school life had just begun for me. Even though we’ve got to spend long hours in school finishing up projects and sacrificing some weekends, I am proud of doing what I am supposed to do right now… to not worry about anything else and just study!

If I could relive my younger days all over again, I would have done many things differently :

1) In Victoria School, I would have aimed to be one of the “fucking nerds” in the better classes. I would have worked hard to be like the “suck-ups” receiving awards on Speech Day. Victoria School was a great environment to study in. The teachers were brilliant. The facilities and character-building activities organized were outstanding. Honestly, I was the only screw up.

2) In Temasek Poly, I would have picked up a new sport and joined a club. I would have aimed to be in the Dean’s List. I would have worked so hard to get my project featured in the Project Fair.

Then again, there is nothing in the past I can change now. The opportunity is lost. Now, a new opportunity exists for me to redeem myself and I cannot let this one slip.

University Of Newcastle Ball 2009, held on 310709 at Swissotel The Stamford Ballroom.

(From left) Gabriel, me, Jane, Jessie, Clarisse, Amelia, William, Wen Jie and Phonsak.

(Back row, from left) Phonsak, Clarisse, me, Pranav, Gabriel, Jane and Jessica. (Seated, from left) Wen Jie, Amelia, Jessie and William.

(From left) Pranav, me and Gabriel.

(Back row, from left) William, Gabriel, Clarisse, Jessie, Phonsak and Zung. (Front row) Wen Jie and I.

(From left) Gabriel, Jane, Jessie and I.

(From left) Me, Jessie, Amelia, Clarisse, Wen Jie, William, Jessica, Jane, Gabriel and Phonsak.

(From left) Jane, Jessica, Clarisse, Amelia and Jessie.

(Back row, from left) William and Gabriel. (Front row, from left) Phonsak, Wen Jie and I.

(From left) Jessica, Jessie, Amelia and Jane.

(From left) Clarisse, Amelia, Jessie, Jessica and Jane.

Dr. Gian and I.

(Standing, from left) Jane, Gabriel, Phonsak, Jessica and William. (Seated, from left) Me, Jessie, Amelia, Wen Jie and Clarisse.

Photo Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157621920214624/

Videos : Cheers, Table 19 and Dancefloor.

Related : University Of Newcastle Ball 2009.

University Of Newcastle Ball 2009, held on 310709 at Swissotel The Stamford Ballroom.

Cheers

Cheers to our friendship!

Table 19

The wild people of table 19.

Dancefloor

Partying on the dancefloor.