Just another day.

Its amazing that I've actually begun reading a little bit in the midst of all this mugging (reading books other than textbooks I mean)...Finally picked up Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors after leaving it on my shelf for...a year perhaps? I like buying books. Finding time to read them is another thing altogether. Well, came across something interesting in there. So here goes.

Question of the Day
The Himalayan word "yeti" means...

a)Abominable Snowman.
b)That thing over there.
c)Omg! Bigfoot's cousin.
d)Big furry man-like animal.

By the way, for those of you who don't know Gaiman, he's an amazing writer. Seriously. His imagination is...like no other author's I've seen. Then again, I'm not that well read. But trust me, he thinks of the most interesting things you probably never will. He's got a new book out in stores now. Can't remember what it's called. But for starters...you could pick up Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods...and of course, Sandman...if you want a good read. And if you're a 2nd year medical student, please do it after 27 Nov (or maybe after 10 Nov), it'd be hard to put down once you've started reading. That reminds me, Zhimin , if you're reading this, you've had my American Gods for more than a year.

Anyway, some random stuff. I was sitting at the bus stop today. On my way to church. And I noticed some ants had crawled out from their nest somewhere to poke at some...stuff..on the floor. Then I noticed that their formation around that 'stuff' had a distinct measurable radius, apart from 1 or 2 individuals. So it got me thinking, what's the range of an ant's inquisitiveness? Or rather, how far are they willing to go to check something out? And then I started wondering more about how they operated..and why the 'radius' around the food/stuff. Ok, whatever. Just exposed the nerd in me. If anyone ever bothers to find out. Let me know.

Resignation. Surrender.

Question of the Day
You know you've been mugging too much when : You're peeling prawns at dinner and you notice that black stuff (well, shit actually) in the prawns flesh...situated at the tail end...and the first thing you think of is...

a) I dont want to eat shit! I'm gonna eat around it.
b) Nah, it wouldn't hurt to eat some prawn shit.
c) It probably contains some dietary fibre.
d) Fecal - Oral transmissions.

No prizes for the correct answer. Sorry!

Anyway, I've come to a point where I feel resigned to my fate. At this rate, I'll never finish studying for the CAs. Its....a disgusting feeling..of desperation. Sigh.

So much for a Holiday?!

I had 2 points of human contact today.

Once in the morning, when my dad woke me up to ask if I was gonna drive him to work. He offered to let me sleep some more, so I did, and he left for work. For those who might wonder why my dad would want me to drive him to work, we save on parking in town, which comes up to...10-20 bucks/day? And some other considerations la, but I'll not go into that.

My 2nd point of human contact...was when my brother came home after work and said thanks when I told him I was doing the laundry. After which, he changed out of his work clothes and promptly stepped out of the house, again.

So what else did I do today?! - One might ask, especially since there was no school today. Well, one need not ask, coz I was bored to shit today. Spent the day at home, alone, with my lovely books and nice hand-decorated notes for company. For most of the day of course...in light of the coming -ahem- CAs...

The only escape I indulged in was cooking lunch and dinner for myself. Which...wasnt that interesting coz I made the usual. Mac & Cheese/Pasta, fish fingers, sausages and hot dogs. Alright.. enough rattling on about how boring it was. I bet it was boring too. Pardon the pun please.

Ala Vivo.

Spontaneous post-floorball/mugging outing to vivocity on friday where we jalan-ed aimlessly and sat to wolf down some Carl's Jr. After which, I went to fetch Dad and had my 2nd dinner. Been overeating these few days. And NOT running. Damn. The books are taking over everything.

Made my first attempt at cooking spaghetti yesterday. Olive oil based...with onions..tomatoes...er...sausages..ok thats weird i know, but I didnt have any minced meat and I don't really like prawns. Oh wait, we have ham, didn't think of that. Haha. To think, I was proud of myself for thinking of crushing black pepper seeds -since we didnt have any black pepper- to add into the spaghetti. Think i overdid it with the olive oil....and I dont know what else. What surprised me was...when I was cooking, my bro asked if I was cooking for Dad and him too. Haha. Fortunately for them, I wasn't.

An apology is a friendship preserver,
is often a debt of honour,
is never a sign of weakness,
is an antidote for hatred,
costs nothing but ones pride,
always saves more than it costs
and is a device needed in every home.

My not-so-perfect Hotdog...and other random shite

Another home-made dinner. Another attempt at Hotdog making. One day, I'll set up Doc Joe's Hot Dog stand...Haha. One day. This time I used mozerella cheese for one...melted some below the chicken frank and some on top...The bun was a bit burned in the end coz it was in the oven for too long. Stuck with cheddar cheese for the other one. We've got loads in the fridge. The mozerella cheese did taste distinctly milkier than the cheddar though. I'll try colby soon! Thanks! Anyway..I probably shouldn't have put relish on both hotdogs...and maybe not mustard either..Or maybe just not too much. Felt it overpowered the taste of the other ingredients. Need to find a balance! And better sausages! My dad put the buns in the fridge and got them all squashed up..kinda..spoiled it a bit. Oh well.

And speaking of my dad...I've just about had it up to here about the household chores. Ok I don't usually complain, but lets have some allowances shall we? Who's he to tell John to help me out when he doesn't? He spent the whole day at home today. And when I got back...breakfast dishes weren't done..the kitchen was dirty from all the frying..trash wasnt thrown properly...laundry wasnt done...I'm just a bit tired of his hypocracy. And what made it worse...was that I gave him his Birthday present this morning..a lacoste shirt...and when i got back in the evening...it was still at the dining table, in the same position from during breakfast. Thats 99 bucks gone to waste.

My stupid washing machine is making so much noise. Think I put too much in it.

The Perfect Hot Dog

Didnt have dinner today. So after church, I got home...and had to decide what to fill my near empty stomach with. Its been too long since I've had a good hotdog. Ever since Marche closed down and their hotdog stand disappeared..and Viking Hotdog left the scene...and well...Orange Julius hotdogs just don't cut it. Been craving a good hotdog for some time now. Someone tell me where I can find it! Alright, so I wasnt that impressed with the Swanky-franky at Botak Jones.

Damn, that looks good.

Well...no prizes for guessing what I decided to make for dinner/supper. I didnt have any buns, so two slices of toast had to suffice. Not very hotdog-gy I know. Decided to melt some cheddar cheese on one...and heated up two standard chicken franks in the oven. Topped with bbq sauce. It tasted better than it looked! I gotta be more adventurous next time. Time to stock up on mustard and sauerkraut...no onions for me though..And Ive gotta find an alternative to cheddar cheese! Someone help me. Haha.

I got so inspired I even went online to search for hotdog recipes. Made myself even hungrier than I was before eating. Its a bit nuts to start the oven up again for a pseudohotdog at 1.40 in the morning. But who knows? Ive taken to hanging up laundry at times like this. Damn, I'm hungry. Gotta eat something...

MAF at Em's Place

Friday 061006 - The End of another tiring week of school. And another week closer to...the impending CAs. So little time, so much to do! Well, once school was out....we drove out to town! Just to kill some time..and to get dinner..before heading off to Em's place. We wanted to eat at Sun Wave Moon..but they werent gonna serve dinner for another half an hour..and coz we hadnt made reservations, we'd only have a table for an hour. So it was on to crystal jade. Where we had a great dinner..though we were disappointed with the portions...but, I love the xiao long bao. And...Velda Han, I like chinese food too la. Dun make me seem more kantang than I already am. Haha.

Anyway, we made a stopover at Guthrie house..just in case any of us had stomach room left for venezia ice cream....and also to buy something to bring over to yem's place. We ended up entertaining overselves with one of those Kodak Photo Print machines though. Mini-me got a stranger to take a photo of us with zjs new phone...which we printed for yem and all of us.

It was a night of fun, talking cock, games..and lantern-carrying in tchs...Where we met this vietnamese family wandering around in the dark..which was kinda weird..They were taking pictures and videos and all...and the girls did get kinda taken in by their cute kid..Someone gave him a lantern.Haha..Well, it was pretty uneventful, except for Rou's lantern going up in flames and Liwei's ghostly clock tower pic. I don't think I ever carried lanterns around as a kid. I do remember always getting plastic aeroplane lanterns though.. the battery operated kind.

Well..enough moon cake and lanterns! It's time for some good ol' meat. Good-bye MAF!

Endorphine Release!

It's been another long week. And..really. THANK goodness its Friday tomorrow. Happy MAF everyone. I don't think I've ever wished anyone that before. Haha. School has been..well..the same...draining as always...We've been having 2 lectures a day on average..which is manageable. Till today, where we had FOUR lectures. And todays score was...Joel 1 : LT28 & Z monster 3. Been sleeping too little and too late...Better change that soon.

I've been talking to several friends about it..And I realize...that it's really important to set ourselves short term goals fairly frequently..just to give us that direction..and that much drive to push ourselves on. Especially when we can get so lost in everything sometimes..What with the amount of work we have...and the other things that we decide to fill our lives with. You get what I mean, short term goals...to take away that feeling that we're aimless and drowning...and to give us that much satisfaction when we're done. To "stratify" life into easy, manageable steps.

Which brings me to my short term goal for today. Which isn't to have mugged all about influenza viruses by the way, thatll come later.. But...my goal for today...was to do a run. Haha. What I did in the end, was another first time for me. By some stroke of genius (or foolishness), Kristanto, Kok and I decided to do intervals with Suriya. He was gonna do 10 X 600m..in 120s for each rep. Which is kinda daunting just looking at the numbers. So he gave us something easier..10 X 400m in 80s. Which is still daunting enough. I wanted to do my usual 40min run on grass...but no one wanted to join me.

Alas, I succumbed to peer pressure..and ended up joining them. It was better than I thought it would be. Tiring, of course...but when it was over...I felt accomplished. Tired, but re-vitalized. I felt free...liberated...I felt an explosion of senses...including the ache in my thighs...but heck..it was worth it.. It truly was the high point in my day. bbh indeed. Haha.