Orangeous Dailies

Everyone on Facebook was commenting about the 7.6 magnitude Sumatra earthquake tremors they felt at about 6 p.m.

I didn’t feel anything at that time as I was driving back home. When I reached home, the two dogs were very restless. They kept barking non-stop and standing up to scratch at my shorts. After which, they both walked away for a short distance before coming back and repeating the same thing all over again. I shoved them aside.

It was only after I had logged onto Facebook that I read about the tremors.

I think they felt it and were really pissed off about having to explain themselves so many times.

There was a Business Strategy project presentation going on today in tutorial class, regarding the merger of two automobile giants.

Q&As were already pre-planned (without the lecturer knowing, of course). The presentation by our three classmates went along well. They spoke confidently. Their slides were very well planned and designed.

The pre-planned Q&A went on as planned, with a little help from the students around who also gained participation marks for engaging the presenters. The questions were already written on pieces of handouts and secretly passed around.

Nothing could possibly go wrong with the Q&A. The last presenter, let’s call him Presenter X, decided to prove otherwise. He decided to go-the-extra-mile, but in the wrong direction.

Presenter X : Next question?

Classmate : Ah… yes, I would like to ask a question about XXXX.

Presenter X : Good question. Luckily, I have also prepared a slide on this.

His choice of words, coupled with his horrible sense of timing, with little acting, gave him away.

*Presenter scrolls down to the slide, which we have never seen*

The topic of the slide was EXACTLY the same, word-for-word, as the question asked. It was absolutely hilarious for the class to watch an already pre-planned Q&A session go totally wrong. Even the classmate who asked that question, as instructed, felt so embarrassed.

I could not resist and yelled out loud…

Wow! Fortune teller!

*another outburst from the class*

A few weeks ago, the bunch of us classmates were having supper. It was the last night of the Chinese Hungry Ghost festival.

Cherylynn shared with us a really funny story about what she saw on the way back home.

There were a lot of lit red candles on the ground. She witnessed a young Malay boy walking up to a candle. The boy squatted down, looking curiously at the candle. Then he exclaimed loudly…

Happy Birthday!

Thankfully, he didn’t blow out the candle.

You don’t need to be a professional magician to do that.

Edmund’s 22nd birthday celebration held on 200909.

We had dinner at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar @ Raffles City.

Edmund.

Followed by drinks at Brewerkz Riverside Point.

(From left) Ivy, Andrew, me, Jessie, Edmund, Florida, Samuel, Jun Wee, Katherine and Margaret.

(Standing, from left) Andrew, Margaret, Edmund, me, Jessie and Florida. (Seated, from left) Samuel, Jun Wee and Katherine.

Photo Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157622438172236

Videos : Blowing Out The Candles and Unwrapping Presents

Related : Edmund’s 22nd Birthday

Edmund’s 22nd birthday celebration held on 200909.

Dinner at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar @ Raffles City, followed by drinks at Brewerkz Riverside Point.

Blowing Out The Candles

Edmund blowing out the candles on his cake.

Unwrapping Presents

Edmund unwrapping his birthday present from a special someone.

The bunch of us, uni classmates, had agreed beforehand to join the Nike Human Race 2009 on 241009. There were about 8 of us. However, before we could even act, registration was full. So we aborted the plan.

A few days ago, William told us about the extended registration which Nike will be organizing outside Wisma Atria. Only 500 slots were available and registration would start at 11 a.m.

This is the first time in my entire life I have ever queued up more than 30 minutes for something.

We skipped class today, had breakfast at Wisma Atria, before joining the snaking long queue outside the Nike store @ Wisma Atria. By the time we had arrived at 10:10 a.m., there were already 267 people ahead of us. The remaining slots were snapped up very quickly. We were issued coloured stickers bearing our queue number, which we had to paste on our t-shirts. Let’s fast forward this damn story. It was almost 3:25 p.m. when we had completed the registration. 5 hours and 15 minutes worth of standing in line. When we finally reached the registration counter, we were ushered to one of the ten pathetic laptops on the table to fill in our details and complete the payment.

We were really tired from standing all day long, sweating like crazy, out in the open. Of course there were arguments amongst the registrants. One particular guy, who had were behind us from the start, kicked up a big fuss at the registration counter. He argued with the volunteers, kicked the queue pole, before dragging his girlfriend away. Apparently, this jackass assumed that he and his girlfriend could share a queue sticker. He was a local guy, which made him look even more retarded.

We were wondering to ourselves why Nike refused to adopt an online registration, and set a cap of 500 slots. It was actually a marketing strategy for their watch…

While we were queueing up, the organizers kept on announcing that if we bought the watch from them for $99, we would automatically be granted a place in the race and we need not queue up. Throughout the entire registration, they paced up and down a few times and repeated the announcements. Too bad Nike failed to understand the psychographic profiles (attitudes) of the targeted consumers. We, Singaporeans, will most likely queue through sun and rain. Maybe this strategy could have worked better somewhere else. Very few or even none took up the offer. Some left (but didn’t buy the watch) because they couldn’t wait any longer while the rest continued to stand in line.

Nike, thank you very much for the offer. You can keep your watch.

Honestly, I didn’t expect to wait this long, so I parked at Lucky Plaza, which was nearby. The total parking cost when I left at 4:40 p.m. was $18.25. I should have taken a cab instead.

On the brighter side, I met some friends (Jun Ying, his girlfriend and Leonard) who were queueing up as well. Even though they left because they had something on in the afternoon, Jun Ying gave up his queue sticker to my friend, Phonsak, who wasn’t in time to get one. It was because of him that Phonsak could join us for the race.

Overall, it was a horrible experience queueing up. No, I will never do it again unless I absolutely need to.

Fire at PSA Terminal.

Took this picture at about 5 p.m. from 21 floors up @ Spottiswoode Park.

The kids are faced with difficult decisions to make.

My friends, Horny Goat Weed drinks are bullshit.

A few days ago, I had just parked my car when the security guard approached me. Pointing to a white Mercedes drenched in the water gushing out from the burst pipe above, she told me to avoid parking in that area. Apparently, a sewage pipe had burst about an hour ago. The poor car was covered in shit and piss.

Three days after the incident, the security guard approached me again. This time, she did not tell me to avoid that area. Instead, she told me that one of the residents copied the car plate number and bought 4D lottery. He apparently won $500.

This is shit luck.

Related : Newcastle 2009

3rd Student Exchange Program to the University of Newcastle, Australia, held on 220809 to 290809. We arrived at Sydney Airport on 230809. Made our way down to Newcastle and stayed there till 280809. We spent the last night (280809) in Sydney, before heading back to Singapore.

Group photo.

Sydney Opera House. Jessie and I.

Circular Quay. Jessie and I.

Circular Quay. (From left) Me, Zung and Glenn.

Chinatown. (From left) Glenn, Zung, Wen Bin and I.

Photo Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157622229309769/

Videos : Market City and Wen Bin’s Nissan Skyline

Related : Sydney 2009

3rd Student Exchange Program to the University of Newcastle, Australia, held on 220809 to 290809. We arrived at Sydney Airport on 230809. Made our way down to Newcastle and stayed there till 280809. We spent the last night (280809) in Sydney, before heading back to Singapore.

Changi Airport. Group photo.

Newcastle YHA Backpackers Beach Hostel. Jessie and I.

Blackbutt Reserve. Zung, Glenn and I.

Blackbutt Reserve. Jessie and I.

Port Stephens. Me, Zung and Glenn.

Stockton Sand Dunes. (From left) Me, Jessie, Glenn, Aisha and Zung.

Port Stephens. Jessie and I.

Railway Stations. Jessie and I.

Stockton. Zung and Glenn.

Stockton Sand Dunes. Jessie and I.

Stockton Sand Dunes. Me.

Stockton Sand Dunes. Jessie.

Stockton Sand Dunes. Jessie and I.

Stockton Sand Dunes. (From left) Me, Jessie, Glenn, Aisha and Zung.

The Brewery. Glenn and I.

University Of Newcastle. Jessie and I.

University Of Newcastle. (Back) Me, Glenn and Joseph. (Front) Chris and Zung.

Herald Newspaper. Spot any familiar faces?

Photo Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157622329753608/

Videos : Blackbutt Reserve Koalas, Blackbutt Reserve Piss, Port Stephens Dolphin And Whale Watching and Stockton Sand Dunes

Related : Sydney 2009

3rd Student Exchange Program to the University of Newcastle, Australia, held on 220809 to 290809. We arrived at Sydney Airport on 230809. Made our way down to Newcastle and stayed there till 280809. We spent the last night (280809) in Sydney, before heading back to Singapore.

Market City

Wen Bin’s Nissan Skyline

There were 6 people crammed inside Wen Bin’s Nissan Skyline.

Related : Newcastle 2009

3rd Student Exchange Program to the University of Newcastle, Australia, held on 220809 to 290809. We arrived at Sydney Airport on 230809. Made our way down to Newcastle and stayed there till 280809. We spent the last night (280809) in Sydney, before heading back to Singapore.

Blackbutt Reserve Koalas

The koalas at Blackbutt Reserve.

Blackbutt Reserve Piss

Visited the Blackbutt Reserve on 270809. Took a short clip of us 4 guys pissing behind a signboard.

Port Stephens Dolphin And Whale Watching

Visited Port Stephens on 260809. Dolphin and whale watching cruise.

Stockton Sand Dunes

Visited Stockton Sand Dunes on 270809. We did some sandboarding, had a 4WD tour around the dunes and visited Tin City.

(From left) Jessie, Michelle, me, John, Hui Ching and Joyce.

John doesn’t live in a mansion. He lives in a freaking castle!

We all left in a healthy shade of red!

Currently consolidating and sorting almost 7.9gb worth of pictures taken during the trip to Newcastle and Sydney.

I wonder how long it’ll take to upload everything to Flickr.