Back from Australia

The Human Sydney Opera House.

One of the best things to be a national open player is that you can get to go on overseas trip without having to pay any money. (Muahahaha) On top of that, you have an excellent manager who never lets your stomach go empty. (I can't imagine life in Sydney without Vicki - when you have no $.)

Other than gaining playing experience, it's good to have a change of environment. The weather in Australia is just perfect. And may I add, the lifestyle too. You'll never find a kancheong spider there. A place for slobs like me. Though, I still prefer Perth. Feels more familiar.

However, when it comes to shopping, there's no place like Sydney. Sale here, sale there, sale everywhere. I can finally buy clothes that I can fit and look good in. Oh, and did I mention.. they are cheap, cheap, cheap! And as I looked obviously like a tourist, I was free from discrimination by the locals. No rude people in buses. Nice. (We didn't take any public buses though.)

Whatever it is, there's no place like home lar. It's good to hear people speaking broken english, chinese and hokkien whey again. And of course, seeing my 'very missed' friends and family - (other than the open team people) - is the most important factor.

Good to be home~
and.. yes, I found my peace. Thank you Inky, for your kind wishes and very sweet messages. =) [even though they might cost a bomb -heehee, haven got my bill yet- I still appreciate them.]

Blood Donor

Had my very 1st blood donation today. Finally could be a proud blood donor after being rejected twice in a row in my prevoius attempts. My blood is not dirty and I certainly do not have syphilis, AIDs or other STDs. I was rejected cos I was too young the 1st time and menstruating heavily the 2nd. With my persistance, I finally got to be an official blood donor. I went through the registeration and was interrogated by this doctor. Instead of having to answer a whole series of questions, I could have just told her that I've never had sex. But I shy laa..

Throughout the process, there's no hassle at all. I left with a blue smiley band aid on my arm. The thought of being able to help someone made me real happy. And the needle didn't hurt more than an itch in the arm..

However, I was made to pay for my recklessness in walking straight to the donation drive through training in the evening. I was supposed to abstain from exercise the same day after blood donation. But silly billy me acted hero and decided to get on with training anyway. (Hey, it's not entirely my fault. The training program stated that we were supposed to do the review on the m'sia trip tonight.) I thought losing that bit of blood wouldn't make a difference as one menstruating. Hell, I was wrong. I couldn't catch my breath during training and had to stop halfway through the drills after feeling giddy. It'd be dumb if I were to announce to them, "Oh, cos I went for blood donation today." So I used the excuse of being hit in the face by Vane's ball to explain my giddyness.

I've learnt my lesson now. But I didn't regret going for the blood donation exercise. I'll choose a better timing instead. Now that you know donating blood doesn't hurt that much, you are encouraged to practise good karma too. Just make sure you don't act hero and train afterwards. =)

TV/Games addiction

Been looking for this article tt I've read abt for a really long time. Glad that I managed to find it. It's about how from watching too much TV or playing too much computer games can over stimulate a part of the brain, affect its developement and lead to mental illnesses.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,75297,00.html

Pretty long ago, I suspected that I was suffering from some mental disorder due to my abrupt change in behavior. (o, and I had a teen bit of 'self-diagnosed' compulsive behavior too.) I was irrational, irritable and couldn't get my priorities right. This article explains the minor symptons I had and made me see the light. I realised that having spent too much time in front of the screen, I got too absorbed in the games I've played, so much so that I forgot about time. I skipped my meals and paid attention to nothing else. I didn't respond to anyone who called for me or any messages that I received. And I got so pissed with those who disturbed me in the midst of my game, I would shout at them to leave, regardless of who they were. It's quite scary to think about it, like I'm in a trance, not being able to see anything else except my game. I recalled playing a game for 24 (or was it 48?)hrs non-stop. FF7. And I felt so sad and lost upon completion of the game, I didn't what to do next. Luckily I changed my delinquent habits on the computer soon enough, else you'd be visiting me in Hougang chalet now.

I've kinda learnt my lesson. Guess I don't have as much time as then to play comp games anyway. And when I have the time to, I do tear my eyes off the screen now and then to communicate with people in the real world. I switch between reality and the virtual world more readily as I take charge of my priorities. I promise to touch games only when I really really have the time. heh~

Just a word of caution to those youngsters, don't waste your life away in front of computer games. There are bigger things to accomplish. =)

New Year New Template New Resolutions

I read from somewhere that someone realised how fragile life is after the tsunami tragedy, things that one worked so hard for were simply washed away by the merciless waves. Inspired, I urge everyone to stop and smell the roses, savour every moment and have the courage to explore cos life is, indeed, beautiful.

After months of lazing around (I really like the frog pic, and I knew that creating a brand new skin will take years.), I'm finally motivated enough to create a new template. I have decided that I'll have a brand new look for my blog in the new year. (Also, I'm doing Siti a favor so that she won't have to avoid looking at the frogs whenever she reads my blog.)Thank you Yingqi for moving me, Here it is..

After 2days of hard work, it's finally done. Phew.. The script for this skin is pretty complex, I must say. It took me hours and hours to decipher which code is for what through trial and error. Also, another couple of hours, admiring the picture even though I made tiny changes. Time wasted as I decide to put pictures in and out of the layout cos I didn't want them to block the background. But most of all, it was the message that I wanted to convey through the look that took the most time. Though the resulting template could have taken me just a couple of hours to do, my perfectionism surprised me. (GRACE SIM --> PERFECTIONIST??!! my toes are laughing.)

Now that I'm done with it, I think it'll take quite some time before I'm ever gonna change my template again due to the following reasons:

1. This skin is just too nice. muahahahahah
2. School's started and I'm starting to dread computers.
3. Not much time la.. (Trainings and stuff and stuff.)
4. No design inspiration as yet. (Just lazy to kill brain cells.)

Whatever the reasons are, they are excuses. I'll try my best to beautify my blog whenever I can. It's a always nice to receive compliments about my blog skin.


Year 2005 will be a brand new start for me. I'll be kicking some bad habits now than I'm no longer a Teenager. One of those habits includes my sloppiness and another.. much to the BHPians dismay, my greediness for food. (Now that will be hard.. trust me)

Meanwhile have a great year ahead and a pleasant new year. =)