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Before 2004 comes to an end, I'd like to pen just a simple few words...
2004 was generally peaceful and rather uneventful for me. In some ways, I fear life becoming monotonous and mundane. Yet looking around at the world I live in, I find myself fortunate and blessed in so areas. When life is presented to you in such a fragile manner, you can't help but value even the tint of precious air that we have to breathe. Guess we wouldn't really understand what we behold till it's not really there anymore.

To 2005.

*Innopocket Metal Case for Sony Clie TJ-37
*Pair of Diva Plain Crystal Glasses
Infra-red port with extendable USB Cable
Designer Dog Door Stopper
Piggy Magnet
Plain Glass Candle Holder
Christmas Candles
Pretty Necklaces
Mirrored Black Bag
Gold Mummy Bookmark
Handphone Holder
Toiletry Gift Set
Box of Famous Amos Cookies
Can of Chocolate Chip Cookies
Candy Bag
Chocolate Sticks

*Stuff on my Wish List

Not forgetting the Ultra delicious feast for the festive season
Crystal Jade La Mian
Home BBQ
Ichiban Boshi @ Esplanade
Kum Boat (Buddha Jump Over the Wall)
Brios' Beef Patty Burger
KFC
Miramar Japanese Buffet
Zion Road Nasi Padang

It was a week of crazy fun, booze and good friends hanging out. Starting with D&D last Friday, where I didn't win any of those fabulous prizes... I'm still sore.
Had another wonderful dinner at Lis' place on Saturday. The company and food was perfect. Alva was our surprise guest, he had lost so much weight his tummy pouch disappeared. Thanks again to Auntie and Neeta for the dinner spread, it was enjoyable.

Sunday ended with an old STYGgies gathering with an Indonesian spread. Damien brought us to a 50% Solomon discount, he was going ga-ga over a pair of yellow and black 5 wheeler speed skates which will set him back around $450 at 50%. It was really good value. Unfortunately; we had to place an order for his size. With so much rain this season, I've slacked on the wheels. Hopefully one of my New Year Goals will be wear out my K2!

The gang gathered mid-week at this rather strange Board Games cum Dinner Place called Straits Cafe somewhere near Clarke Quay. It's situated along a row of old shop house but the cafe was decked with game boxes (of all sorts), anime posters and a cool coloured sofa. The feel was homely, the food sucked but the games were cool. One of the co-owners joined us in this mighty awesome murder cum betrayal cum omen infested hunted house kinda game. Sharon turned out to be the betrayal, Charles behold the Magic Spear and I got badly killed in a blood fight. For a night of gift exchange, this turned out to an added entertainment.

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.
In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

His mother, in the house was looking out the window, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother.
It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go.

A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn't let go." You and I can identify with that little boy.

We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic. But, the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you. The Scripture teaches that God loves you. If you have Christ in your life, you have become a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-o-war begins, and if you have the scars of His love on your arms be very, very grateful. He did not - and will not - let you go. Time is a very precious gift of God; so precious that it's only given to us moment by moment.

Author Unknown

My company celebrated our Annual D&D at Swissotel Stamford last night. I was drooling for the crazy prizes: HP PDAs, 3 sets of SHARP 42" Plasma TV, Home Entertainment Systems, Travel Vouchers, Trip to Maldives and Cold Hard CASH! Damn I so wanted to win! I was beaming with envy for those lucky souls that struck the jackpot. The prizes and entertainment were good, the food and myself were not fantastic. I even felt a bit dizzy to walk around and socialise. After a week of popping flu tablets and sleeping early, some signs of my illness still linger. I thought I would rather my body take it's time to regenerate itself back to health, instead of jumping onto the course of anti-biotics again. Just that I have to stay away from alcohol and ice-cream... eeee...

I've got something to strike off my Christmas List!
Yupe it's Item No. 3) Go for Confession

It was the usual Penitential Service last night with the familiar faces of the City district priest. I took some time on the bench to prepare my thoughts of what I sincerely wanted to say and then braved myself to the shortest queue. I didn't know who the priest was and I didn't care. When I finally faced this old crossed eye (I thought he was) priest, I went through 2 items on my spiritual flaws. Then perhaps I paused a little too long and the priest shared his thoughts on something that 50% didn't relate to what I confessed, and shockingly; gave me his resolution! But I was only at my 2nd item...

I pondered later if that confession was even okay. Charles shared that when God forgives, He forgives everything...
That made quite a bit of sense. And like what I was sharing with Charles earlier on, it's what we do (or try not to do) after committing yourself to a clean slate that ultimately matters.
And when I looked around and saw a genuine smile on many faces, I felt a change.

I'm still in the midst of putting together an eCard designed to look a little like the Bethlehem scene. I'm half way to being sick, so the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I've got some ideas to piecing the design into a nifty Flash sequence and I really hope I can complete it real soon.

"I Followed Footprints of Camels at Giza,
Walked Sandy Paths to an Oasis at the White Canyons,
and Climbed a Rugged Mountain to Experience Sunrise at Sinai"

10 more days to Christmas and counting down!

I think I've been gently hit by the flu bug. Had all the obvious symptoms: achy body, stuffy nose, bad throat, slight fever. My mom made me pop a flu tablet and 2 panadols on Sunday afternoon to try to control the situation. I felt so drowsy after the medication I slept through the afternoon rain. By evening, I felt much, much better. So I stayed up pass midnight to watch 'Blade Trinity' with Derek. I'm still suffering from a stuffed nose at current. I just hope everything swifts by quickly as I'm looking forward to a D&D and 2 friends get-together in the weekend. I really don't wanna be too sick.

What no. are you?
http://www.blogthings.com/numberquiz.html

I'm No. 1
You're a responsible person - with a clear sense of right and wrong.
High standards are important to you, and you do everything to meet them.
You are your own worst critic, feeling ashamed if you're not perfect.
You have the highest integrity, and people expect you to be fair.


In some ways, it's kind of true... but I never thought I'm a perfectionist... just take a look at the state of my room!

Derek and I took a stroll down the glittery Orchard Road on Friday night after a hearty meal of NYDC. We taught we’d like to soak into the festivity and check out the costly decorations. Surprisingly for a Friday night, there wasn’t really a crowd. Especially at the tallest Christmas tree grounds (next to the Orchard MRT) with a fake outdoor ice-skating ring. The skating ring wasn’t really made out of ice, but some special pieces of floor boards that allowed real skates to glide. There were a couple of children in the ring, but that was pretty much it. It’d actually be cool, if we had a real ice ring… There was this stretch along Takashimaya that displayed the Nativity Story, with life size characters of Shepherds, sheep, Wise men, camels and the Holy Family. For once, there’s a biblical representation amongst all the fairy lights. We walked down towards Centrepoint which used to display the best Christmas piece; but this year, the theme didn’t really gel. And as we walked back to towards Hereen it poured buckets down. I may have caught a chill cum flu from the bizarre weather, I felt kind of horrible on Saturday.

We’re about 2 weeks from Christmas, and I’ve decided to design a biblical Christmas card from the pictures I took in Egypt. I’ll top it up with a Christmas verse and hopefully everything will look decent. There’ll be the traditional printed card and an online graphical version. I’m hoping I can do a Flash version… but we’ll see how time works out.

I’m starting to notice the Christmas To-do list is getting very similar.
I’ve narrowed this year’s To-do list to 5 main points (which I’m reeeeeeeeaaaally hoping I can complete…)
1) Design Christmas Card
2) Give something to the Poor
3) Go for Confession
4) Spring Clean the Room
5) Clean-up the Wardrobe

Take a look at last year’s To-do list.

I’m already feasting my ears on Holiday music. Loving Avalon’s “Joy” and Harry Connick Jr’s “Harry for the Holidays” album.
I’ve yet to crack my brains for the special presents for the annual gift exchange… hopefully I can come up with something soon.

I told myself the 1st film I would watch after my return from Egypt would be Oliver Stone's 'Alexender'; and it was. There were scenes where I could identify with the papyrus paper, the Katush, the illustrated Ancient Wonder Lighthouse of Alexandria and the deserts of Egypt. I didn't know too much about the history of Alexander the Great, thus I'm not in the best position to comment on all the historical misinterpretations of the film. To me, it has served it's entertainment and and historical value. For the little history buff in me, it turned out decent for a Saturday afternoon. I was however disappointed that Stone failed to depict his conquer of Egypt (for very obvious reasons). Reviews for the film haven't been fantastic, but I thought Colin Ferrell did justice to the great legend and the battle scenes were better then 'Troy'.

It's been a week now since my return, and I've complied the 2,000 over digital images into 2 DVD playable discs. That works out to about 50 rolls of conventional 40 shots film rolls and would cost me about S$650.00 in development. My mom developed an additional 10 rolls on her own which caused about S$100.00. It's crazy. But the pictures turned out fantastic. When I figure out some time, I'd scan and put up the best shots on my Travel Log.

Yeaaaah! I've got snowflakes falling on my homepage again! And a little mistletoe for all my kisses!
Last year's Yuletide season was kinda screwed with an extra job, so I'm not about to repeat my misery again. I'm glad things are falling into place quite nicely. Closed most of my projects, nothing major in work to stress myself over, and am looking forward to preparing myself for a nice Christmas holiday and closure to year 2004.
It's freaky how you glance back at the year and discover your New Year's resolution is like practically flushed down the drain with so many items to relive itself again in the new year ahead!

I'm hoping I can work out some time for a little personal reflection. Think about the people I want to thank for touching my life and knowing how blessed I am. Think about having a good confession before hand and work out that hideous Christmas Gift and Card list!
I'm just hoping it's not the usual mad rush. It's never a good feeling.

So who wants to buy me a Christmas Present?
Wish List:
1) Set of 6 Plain Crystal Wine Glasses
2) Sea and Sea VX 950 Waterproof Casing for TRV 950
3) Wacom Tablet
4) Express-On Covers for 7250i
5) InnoPocket Metal Case for Clie TJ 37
6) Sony Clie TJ 37 HotSync Stand

Taufik Batisah was crowned as the 1st Singapore Idol beating Sylvester Sim, the rocker dude. In honest truth, my steam for the competition sort of ran out mid way as the voting got predictable and the singing was honestly not fantastic. Taufik is certainly a good singer, but that's pretty much it. In fact, none of the singers are even close to what America produced in Ruben and Fantasia.

Here's my run down:
Jeassea Thyidor - Now, this gal had potential. She looks good, sings well and has the X-factor. It's a real pity she didn't even get both her feet into the competition.
Beverly Morata - Her nose is too big; makes her character look unappealing. But similar to Jeassea, it's not entirely fair to judge her.
David Yeo - He's like a civilized Chinese "Ah Beng". He might do okay in the Chinese arena.
Jerry Ong - The truth is - he can't sing (period).
Maia Lee - She's got the moves. Her style is excellent for the night clubs or coffee shop pole dance stages that Tiger Beer organises.
Christopher Lee - He looks good, but should stick to stuff like church choirs or maybe musicals.
Leandra Rasiah - I thought she had the better voice, but then got bored through the competition.
Daphne Khoo - She's the female version of Donald Duck to me. But yupe, she's got talents and should stick to her grunge band.
Olinda Cho - She reminds me of an Auntie at a Karaoke session. Some aunties can sing very well.
Sylvester Sim - Rocker dude with a cute smile. I can understand why gals go ga-ga for his "bad boy" image. In some ways, his image is more sellable, but he can't hold a proper conversation.
Taufik Batisah - Sing well. Potential - good. How far he'll go... not sure...

The funniest moment was when I met this old neighbour Auntie and she was asking me if I'm going to vote during the program. I told her I don't vote. Then she pulled me towards her and whispered "No... you must vote. Vote for the Chinese boy. You know ar, we cannot let our 1st Singapore Idol be a Malay"!!! For a moment I was speechless, but I couldn't care less.