It’s just me.

Well the dinner at DCJ was great, largely due to the fact that it’s been an excellent gathering for us. group’s small though, but that also means more time for one another, and more intimacy, right? ha ha. Thanks to ET (again) a prospectful job seems to be on its way =D

The trip home was quite a hair-raising ride cuz weiqiang’s the driver! haha finally, at god’s mercy, i could be home safe and sound.. lol just kidding. “god’s blessing you now, god’s blessing you now…” XD

Touching on the topic of travel… I miss japan lots n lots!!! sob sobz…

it’s the christmas season!.. and i like to think i’d left my ass around too much for too long to have a slice of the festivity. but Kavan fell ill in time in order for us to miss our christmas shopping on saturday. okies, and sunday too if you like. and to think i would have to sacrifice a clubbing opportunity due to extreme exhaustion as a result of keeping myself awake through the night. nope i haven’t been waiting for santa to come, just in case he decided to come early. but sometimes it’s really hard for me to curb my occasional insanity really. seriously though, the thought of making my very own xmas tree till dawn breaks really turns me on! i mean wouldn’t it be such a thrill to see them gasping in profound confusion the fact that a xmas tree was born into the house overnight!? it’s almost esctatic, to the extent that i still couldn’t turn in by 8am. Anyway, as much as it is to my disbelief, and with the dose of humility that i have, i have to confess that the d.i.y xmas tree looks really professional! even more handsome! i always think i have a flair for making handicrafts. well i guess this time there’s no chance to think otherwise. i feel so acheived=D

Decided that i will miss the xmas service this afternoon as i felt i was rather half hearted about it. HA HA what an excellent excuse. i went to get a new set of footwear instead at queensway mall together with cuzzies. well i say it’s footwear because it doesn’t fully fit the description of a sports shoe neither does it have the traits of a pair of sneakers and i have no idea what it’s called. but it’s chio la anyway.

so christmas this year is as mono as it can ever get, i hope. and perhaps it’s a good time for me to reflect on the purpose, or necessity, of celebrating this festival entirely as a non-christian. because i think it’s foolish, for those who really take christmas close to their hearts to think, oh christmas is the time for celebration, for buying and exchanging presents, for singing carols. all for what? for fun, and just because it’s the special christmas HOLIDAY? it’s always this one quaint moment of the year when people practise the same acts with or without reason, and it’s as if i am obliged to follow senselessly. for now, doing all these just feel so meaningless. at least, this is only my opinion. though, my faith in santa claus will never waiver, hor santa? =D

on a quirkier note, i’ve been craving for mcvites cookies these days, and i’m telling you it’s fast becoming an addiction already.. leaving me much wonders about this uncanny obsession. but it’s really really tasty, don’t you think! it’s like, it goes perfectly with almost any stuff you can think of? it’s crazy.

briefly:

slept at 2+. woke up at 8, which is considered super early.

went to pay old grandpa grandma great grandpa great grandma a visit at the temple. today’s dong zhi! haha to think the whole family could’ve forgotton…

met up with good old pal xuan aka tu di for a swim. chatted lots more than we swam actually. but it’s still a fruitful 1 dollar entry. =D

lunch with tu di. a young lady joined us at our table.. like,???

shopped for chritsmas tree materials at popular thereafter

met marcus at raffles place. missed the stop initially so had to make a u turn at tanjong pagar. n it was raining. so shopped at bugis instead… there goes my discounted CK…!! =X

swiftly hopped over to taka. almost fell asleep while shopping, from fatigue, not to mention legs giving way.

got a couple of stuff at arts friend and realised i was heavily cheated by popular.

went next door to wisma for dinner. its teppanyaki sucked to the core no matter how hard the cook was trying, sadly. also got cheated there, again.. that’s it mann.

finally got out of wisma after bumping into the wrong doorways a couple of times.

went back to taka to pass her some stuff. n thanks for the cookies anyway =D

decided to push my stamina further with another hour’s pool and partly to satisfy his crave too la (yea its excuse i know), apart from the maze-like journey there.

by then, brain’s already hovering dangerously low on the energy meter.

there’s no k-boxing for marcus for the night. so it’s home sweet home… finally!

crazily tired. nitenitez

haha my flickr acc hits above 100 clicks!.. ooo.

Anyway, went to help out at the children’s christmas party. the decor erm seriously speaking was very bad according to my taste=X.. but there’s nothing i can do since it’s almost completed when i reached. as for the cute and adorable kids, they certainly had been a total joy to be with ^-^ except those times when one after another would start screaming and shouting for attention..lol. Haha, hmm so working with kids isn’t that kind of hell afterall.

there’s a bit of progress on next year’s backpacking trip; at least we locked on europe..=D but all hopes will be gone if i can’t find a job…awwhh. backpacking has o be one of the best things in life you know. really hope this trip can come true.

The dinner at expo was horrible. should’ve gone all the way back to pasir ris instead of joining my parents and family there. regrets regrets. first they torture you by requesting your presence by 6.15pm when the banquet only starts at 8.30pm, tormenting you further, in the mean while, with the aorma of food that’s nowhere in sight so that your gastric juice overflows and the series of long monotonous speeches and de-appetizing performances. As if that’s not enough, the dishes taste really bad, and they won’t let you eat in peace with all these aunties and uncles from their respective singing clubs ganging up to take on the stage as another of their karaoke practice session. Later on, there was the auction as well to raise funds for building some stuff. In all, this event is totally meaningless to me. i strongly believe that in seeking the truth in and preaching the faith one practises, it only takes the heart, like all its founders have done. the rest are really unecessary lor.

pics up on flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/travel-jp/sets/72157594418584210/

now that you come to speak of it, i’m beginning to miss japan…

the debrief was quite an honest feedback.. erm haha. “so next year how?” I would just put it off with a laugh for now. lol. anyway dinner at the banana leaf apollo was decent enough–i’m not really a fan of indian cuisine to be able to judge critically, or gastronomically for that matter. in any case.. i still hope to be back again to help out.. i don’t know.

making tang yuan tomorrow. haha suddenly dad and sis felt like doing some knitting and rolling; basically getting flour all over the house. lol. then maybe i’m gonna try to make mochi! ^-^.. haha with glutinous rice powder? i hope it works.

Just for laughs: “Mochi is very sticky and somewhat tricky to eat. After each new year, it is reported in the Japanese media how many people die from choking on mochi…Some lifesaving experts say that a vacuum cleaner is actually efficient for stuck mochi.”– wikipedia

finally i’m back home.. =D

Don’t know since when, i’ve developed this habit of writing as i go. hmm. but the handwriting is too illegible even for me. so will most likely do my travel journal on a seperate blog.. and yea it’ll probably take a while.

Been busy uploading and editing the pics, and still doing.. siann. luckily i cleared the emails at the hotel already. Things coming right away: scsm appreciation dinner tomorrow and children christmas party this sunday.. and bowling with the guys too?

Haiz.. generally, i’m quite disappointed with those shots, like wrong focus, wrong settings.. and stuff =X But nevermind, i’ll learn. =D

went down to NLB for mr tong’s talk right after touching down. as always, learned a new perspective. n i hope i’ll find my end soon.

Anyway.. the S.E.N.S. albums are really nice!! Ex though.. but it’s like, from the BMG Japan label you know.. hehe. I feel so 幸福 ^-^

This stupid comp in the boarding lounge only allow 15 mins per patron. Arghh =X

Anyway, yeah. Am inside here already, waiting to hop on the machine in about.. half an hour’s time i guess. feelings? Err, like normal? like gonna wake up the next day finding myself in my cosy bed. seriously it seems like going abroad is a very ordinary activity to do for me already. or perhaps i become more adaptable to changes already. Maybe someday i may even dread ‘flying’ altogether. lol. but i think it’s quite impossible cuz the thought of flying my hands around frantically to get a message across still thrills me a lot.

In any case, 4 lives (including mine) will be in my hands, since yours truly is the one planning the trip. but that’s just a joke right? of course nothing will go wrong though i wishfully hope they screw things up and we’ll have to make do with, erm, business class seats? HAHA Okies…

1.38 minutes left. gotta go.

I am really really glad nothing screwed up (badly) yesterday! =D

Went for site briefing at 2pm. Got home right away trying to nap a little but I could only lie on my bed for 3 hours partly due to the string of smses that kept coming… before I decided to give up, bathed again, and finally slept in sis’s room for less than an hour. Then I was driven there, half dead half alive.

Time: 2.15am. First person I met at the volunteer tent was a bitch. Well i guess we all were, given that kind of ridiculous timing of the day. But then i was left totally clueless what to do. what report to the person in charge. Am i not the one!? Nevermind. The next time I went i found juli. haha heng ah. But it was already half an hour behind schedule. The volunteers had already arrived. There were so many things that needed to be settled; attendence taking, t-shirts, breakfast, lanyards, groupings, role assigning, volunteer shortage. omg. Luckily I got very capable assistants tricia and chek meng to help, and the group leaders, who did most of the things on my behalf, while i ran all over trying to get things right.

Time: 4.30am. The show starts. and it wasn’t before long that the full marathon baggage section became a chaos in the dark. Almost K.O. from all that running. but it was only the start of what’s coming.

Time: 6.00am and 6.30am, the horns sounded for them to run off. finally peace returned. But the time was spent sorting out baggages from the collapsing boxes, and restrategising. $3000 for some lousy cardboards! Haha and sheng li was free enough to come over and check out how shagged i am. lol.

Time: 8.30am. Half marathoners returned. Peak hours hit all at once for half mara, 10K men, 10K women. The queues were disastrously long. The bags all mixed up. It started to drizzle. Can you imagine. But I am really surprised by the proactiveness and innovation of the crew. very efficient and adaptable to situations ^-^

It wasn’t until 1pm when we finally got to rest and had lunch. of course we were the last to. stood down officially at 2pm, with several irritating late comers trying to get their things back last minute. The way to the info center with the huge box of unclaimed belongings was our final challenge. Then it’s done!! Claimed my $30 allowance. bade farewell to my new found mates then i’m off to ah ma’s house, on foot. haha another crazy feat.

There were several occasions when I almost gave in to the fatigue. but i’m really blessed to have such wonderful people around who went through the 12 hr long ordeal with me =D

I haven’t regret taking on the challenge as a baggage crew manager. in fact, I must really thank myself for daring to step out of my comfort zone and learn. this role has really taught me a great deal, in organisational skills, leadership, decisions making, in interpersonal communication, and what it takes to be a good leader and good servant at the same time. As much as it’s a once in a lifetime expeerience, i believe it’ll be a turning point in my life as well.

Special thanks to:

Tricia and chek meng my assistants

Din, daniel, skye, shawn and muhd my group leaders

Zhong Ming, Michael and Zi Wei ICs from events company

Sheila, Juliana, Yi Jun, Alvin and Qing Cai (green vege) from SSC