Just back from the National Stadium, after long jams and taking a detour, and finally showered...sitting comfortably here typing this entry. It was really an unforgettable night!
For the last match in this old and grey National Stadium, we were treated to a tough match for visiting Thailand. With a 55,000 sell-out crowd, the hopes placed on the Lions after the win over arch-rivals Malaysia were high.
I managed to get a ticket after Kheng Hui had extra and passed me one, and I was seated with him and his dad, near the corner flag and amongst many Malays.
The match was fast and furious, and before the visitors had settled Singapore led through an Alam Shah goal, albeit one scored after successive strikes on goal by the hosts. It was quite chaotic near the Thai's penalty area at that time, but luckily the shot went in, though weak.
But after that, instead of seeing the Thais conjure up attacking football, they went down easily to Singapore's challenges, and ended up there were like 5 Thai players off the pitch in the first half for various injuries. 4 yellow cards were also flashed, with 3 at Singapore. Personally, I thought that Thailand players deserved some too.
The half-time whistle was time for us to get some food and drinks, but we ended up having to queue a long long time cos the stall was really slow and inefficient - we were not told that drinks were to be bought separately from the keropoks. We ended up missing the goal which Thailand scored in the 49th minute, and we returned to our seats hoping for more action.
Singapore played with a reshuffled line-up upfront, with Indra taken off for Amri, and Ridhuan moving to a more central position instead of the flanks, possibly to make use of his speed. However, it certainly backfired on the Lions, with the Lions lacking bite in attack. Nawaz, having a quiet game, was also taken off for Dickson, and Ridhuan was finally taken off for S. Ishak, which is definitely the best substitution for the match. After his introduction, the Singapore attack was flowing, with Dickson and Amri raiding the flanks, and Alam Shah making his presence in the box felt.
So much so that controversy followed with a penalty awarded after Alam Shah was fouled by a Thai player in the penalty area.
That sparked an angry reaction from the Thais, who walked off the pitch for almost 15 minutes. I was shocked and outraged at such unprofessional behaviour by the Thais, and the players should have been yellow-carded for walking off, or the cup awarded to Singapore for the Thais had effectively 'thrown in' the towel with their en masse walking out!
Allowing them to continue play after the disruption was certainly a disgrace. The fans were certainly displeased and showed it by booing every touch by the Thais, and definitely insults were shouted. The atmosphere was definitely terrifying for the visitors, but well, I guess they deserved it for unprofessional behaviour.
First we were treated to a I-fall-easily match by them, next we see a walk out by them...What's next?
Maybe Thailand's military will be activated should Singapore win, or maybe Singapore should follow the Thais by walking out on a decision by the referee since nothing apparent is done to punish the Thais. This, I feel, should be where FIFA comes in, and ban Thailand from participating in international matches, or fine them, or awarding the cup to Singapore.
All in all, Fahrudin managed to keep his nerve despite the keeper's distractions to slot the ball into the top left corner of the net. By then, it was almost 90 minutes, and an additional 10-15 minutes were played to make up for the loss of time due to the protests. Too bad Singapore missed a chance to extend their lead when Shi Jiayi crossed only for the strikers to head wide.
The crowd were certainly appreciating the Singapore team today, and it was a really great atmosphere! And this, possibly, will be the last competitive match held in this stadium before it is torn down to make way for a new Sports Hub. I'm sure glad to be in it, to feel the Kallang Roar, to be part of the Kallang Wave. Even on exit, we can hear cars and motorcycles honking in tune...soccer brings people together, just like during the World Cup season!
Singapore! Rock on yea!?! Go to Thailand and show them your stuff!
The Thais, if they do win in the end, certainly do not deserve it. Punish them, FIFA!
Current Mood: 
Happy
Current Music: Ayaka - I Believe
A long long day.
Yet I ended up feeling satisfied and craving for more...had fun with the S09 people, meeting up (at last!) for dinner and then K-Box at a place most of us are familiar with - Ang Mo Kio!
Ended classes at 6pm, with the Geopolitics class being the last one on the list. Thus I had to rush down to meet the rest at AMK MRT station at 6.45pm. I took 165 as 74 did not arrive, and soon I realised I had reached the outskirts of AMK and passing by Mayflower Secondary School, where I instantly remembered the landmark as that for the famous chili and butter crab! Got off immediately and told Aloysius about my discovery that 165 actually passes by the seafood area!
The rest (Guanyu, Hark Kah, Huijun, Shuwei, Weichuan, Yahui) arrived with Aloy at the coffee shop from the MRT station, while Grace arrived straight from home (yea nearby sia!)
After a brief wait and placing our orders for food, we sat down and were greeted by plates of good food, one after the other. Thankfully we had enough space in our stomachs to deal with the 4 crabs which Grace helped us ordered!
I've tried the food at the kopitiam before and I strongly recommend the 332 seafood outlet as it offers the yummy and tasty-looking butter crab (finger lickin' good!), as well as great chili crab and a wonderful crab beehoon!
Then, we headed over to the new K-Box near AMK library, and it was drizzling somewhat, so all of us eventually got some parts of ourselves wet regardless of the presence of the umbrellas - 'cos the umbrellas are simply too small! The K-Box was really new, and the person serving us were bemused as we apparently got high and became suakoo over the fittings, the presence of 2 LCD panels(!!!) and even a controllable air-con switch!
Well sounds like we ain't our age? And that guy thought that we haven't been to K-Box before. haha...As usual, the 'S.H.E' of our class singing their fav songs, HK with her Mayday songs, Gen and Grace with their Yang Chen Ling, HJ with her Zhang Shao Han, the guys with the irrepressible oldies to end the night...what a great nite!
Too bad I cant stay on to 'ton' the night away with all of them...how I wished I could stay back!!!! But...having a run the next day with some of the Rovers people for the hEart for Art run in school, so gonna get some rest. Went home via cab, but it still cost me 6 bucks when AMK is so near TPY?!? Can't really believe it also...
Just...gonna...sleep...
Grace! I wan the pictures!!! :D
Current Mood: 
Hyper
Current Music: Ayaka - I Believe
This beauty is a fully functional machine gun with TWELVE rotating barrels and a live action trigger. Loads 12 bands per barrel for a whopping 144 rubber bands that shoot off as fast as you can turn the handle! Great fun for kids of all ages. MORE than just an amazing machine, this is a true work of art. 
Yours for oni USD$395.
I need one of these...it's the closest to the thing which I need now. Just pass me one, armskoteman...
Met Wai Kwong today on 151...Finally see him after...4 years? Wow...and he still lives near my place...Talk about trying to bump into people who live near you, I dun even bump into my neighbour Jiahui who studies at NUS too...
Is Singapore so big? Or are we just not fated to meet up? There are like a handful of friends living near me, and I can name them...uni friends like Nian Jia and Geraldine; primary school friends (and fellow prefects!) Siok Kee, Henry and not forgetting Lewis; dudes in Army like Shaun and Ed...and many many more...and those names I've put there are just living in TPY...talk about being unable to meet each other in such a small space of TPY. Hahaa...
10am lecture, again. Yawn. It's getting a little routined. Sighs.
Current Mood:
PensiveCurrent Music: Elva - Bu Yuan
A person with feelings.
It isn't fair to be targeted, bitched and being the center of all hatred.
Like any of u care...
As long as you do well, you forget how much you hurt someone else to get to the end.
But hey, we all make the same mistakes too?
I'm sick and tired of this world.
Current Mood:
Sad
For a very very fortunate (and unfortunately still scary) girl, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :)
Well, the surprise had a couple of holes, patched over and it was executed almost to perfection! Kudos to Shuang and Lingz for making it a success, and almost the whole 26th comm were present (less Danny and Meena)! Wow...and we employed the help of Weimin to trick the veryfiercegal to Crystal Jade at Holland V (and there are 2 different Crystal Jade outlets in HV, all to take note).
Well to cut the long story short, we managed to successfully surprise her, and she was literally speechless and stunned, with the different presents given to her! A lovely calender done by Shuang, and also a gai-gai bag (which she needed)!
Moved over to Coffee Club (yea not much stuff around HV....it's all equally expensive for us school students) to chill out...air-con was as usual cold, and the sound of rain pitter-pattering outside made the environment cosy for all of us, short of being snugly asleep.
And the whole load of crap which we talked! But it's great to be spending time catching up, talking about anything (and everything) under the sun! From knees, we went to dentists, then to the stomach, and even about hair! For a moment, I felt so glad to have the 26th around, even though we've went our different ways...Jorin's on IA, Shuang and Candice going to graduate soon, Peiyu, Khenghui, Lianguo and me preparing for our exchange programme, Henghong, Tianqi and June disappearing, Wanling busy with her piano.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Maybe...
Today was another day of rain...in fact the rain never stopped since yesterday's sudden downpour in school! Was with Nian Jia and Selina on the ill-fated 151 which took like 45 minutes to bring us from NUS to the last bus stop along Clementi Road. The bus was already showing signs of breaking down with problems in closing the doors, and there was the constant beeping from the driver console panel!
Managed to hop onto the next 151 (which was rather empty! wow!) and instead of sitting snugly, we had to stand throughout the remaining journey along Bt Timah Road, which was jammed at certain junctions too.
Rain and bad weather...and jams arise everywhere. Why is that so? Even in the morning, there were reported jams along AYE, PIE and all roads leading to NUS. In fact Clementi Road was packed and Lornie Road was....wow.
A review in the drainage systems and land transport system? Maybe...
Current Music: Li Sheng Jie - Chi Xing Deng Dai
Well...shall use this as a publicity area for my club as well.. (thanks to HB for uploading the poster. HAHA. I kapo-ed from u de)
Join Join Join! See u people there!
Oh on top of that...the booths are on the 23rd and 24th of this month...and we MIGHT be doing some long-haul trips, so just take note! :)
And it was a great way to celebrate the start of a new year with a bang (literally) with Rovers overseas! And we were blessed by good weather and a great place to have jolly good fun!
Prior to the trip, we were contemplating whether or not to go on with the trip, with the bad weather and flooding being reported, it kinda dampened the spirits of us party-goers. After some discussion, we went ahead with the initial plan and I'm sure glad we did! (Well, I'm wondering what we would be doing in SG, maybe watch the fantastic fireworks on display at Marina Bay area?)
And the first thing which we had planned was to meet at Clementi at 6am on Saturday. Having arranged to meet Jason at 5.30am, I set my alarm to wake me up at 4.45am, since I was a little sick with a blocked nose already, and I had barely 5 hours of rest.
Guess what? I was late in meeting him! Argh. Mum woke me up at 5.30am, and I jumped out of bed, rushed to brush my teeth whilst letting him know that I was going to be late, and I prepared to leave...in 15 minutes! Well I guess I've to thank the army experience for allowing me to do things with such efficiency, but in the end I was still kinda tired and shacked...was half-awake when the 2 of us arrived at Clementi MacDonalds'. By then, CK, Luiyee, Mufeng, Pei Geok, Shuying, Stephanie, Weiguang, Weihuang and Zhihui had arrived. Geraldine and Nicholas arrived shortly after, both coming from their hall...and Hwi Bee was the last! (This was confirmed 'cos she just woke up when Shuying called her, and she met us at the checkpoint in time).
But anyway, we managed to proceed onward to Malaysia via chartered minivans, which swiftly brought us to our destination - Tanjung Lehman - the jetty whereby we take a ferry over to the kelong.
The long road ahead...
Arrow marks the spot.
Boarding the ferry to the Kelong
Me, Guang, Geoks, Zhai
Ah Mu and Guang on the boat
Leaving the breakwater
Geri & Luiyee - Geri's frightened? o_O
Nearing the Kelong!
Climbing up to the Kelong at low tide
After arrival at our Hotboys Kelong, we proceeded to explore the area...it was really a step back to an easy-going lifestyle, away from the hectic life and hustle and bustle of Singapore. Everything there seemed to be pass by us slowly.
Fishing and mahjong in the middle of the Sibu Sea, what a great way to spend our time away! Away from books, away from the Internet, away from many other things which define our fast-paced school life. It's like a getaway from Singapore, and I certainly enjoyed the fishing which we started on after lunch! Although the fishes were not particularly big, it was certainly amazing on how 'easy' the fish took the bait. The fishing rods on rent were interestingly cheap at RM31 for our entire trip! So we had like 4 rods rented, and including Mufeng's, it was a total of 5 rods for all of us!
Our bunk for the 3d2n sleepover!
Interesting.
The black tank there holds our water for the day
BBQ pits available too!
Fishing is the standard activity here
Our beautiful kelong
Guang and his MLE text on the Kelong?!?! No!!!!
The first to be caught
Cages for fishes...Used by the owners I believe.
Mu & I preparing to kelong-jump.
(back to front) Steph, Luiyee, Guang, Geoks, Huang
So it was just catching, and reaping in the rewards, as well as learning new techniques in 'enticing' the fish to take our 'bait' and learning how to cast our hooks...another thing which I had to do so often was to undo tangled lines, which was super mafan and a total waste of time! Like Jason and I having to spend almost an hour solving a complex tangle, it was even worse than having to do our maths questions!!!
Me trying out fishing!
A struggling fish
I'd think this is a zebra fish?
Hwibee, Me, Jason
Geoks fishing
Slicing a dead fish for bait
Hwibee & her catch!
Our catch on the first day!
Geoks and her catch!
Guang pulling the line up
And the wind was really strong! All around the kelong, I could feel the sea breeze - strong yet calm, powerful initially and gradually fading away...it was really a great life to just relax there! And not to forget, things flew when the gusts of wind blew by - Shuying's slippers went into the waters during one of the windy periods.
Food onboard the kelong was great too! Mostly fish, but we also had crabs, prawns and even duck for our meals! The best thing was that they were really tasty and filled the stomach!
Mu's name on the table...they actually write down who is sitting on which table for meals!
The sunset of Day 1 @ Kelong
The rest of the time was spent on taking photographs or playing mahjong - the ultimate past-time for any group of 4 people! At least 2 tables of mahjong kakis gathered, and one of the tables was into playing with money (RM, not SGD since we are in Msia)...and it was a whole night of mahjong with LIVE EPL saturday night soccer! Nicholas and I were partially focused on the table in front of us whilst watching the soccer match, with Hwi Bee and CK being the other 2 on the table.
Me, Geoks, Nic doing the 'SMU-jump'
Managed to stay up from 5.30am till 8am on the last day of 2006...31st December 2006! And although the sunrise wasn't that pretty, the changing colours around us were wonderful! From black, till blue-black, then slowly the far off mountains can be seen, then the clouds seemed to have appeared, and the surroundings lit up! Anglers (or fishermen?) were awake at that time, trying their luck in catching big fishes and casting their lines far out.
Early morning...a fishing line cast out at sea throughout the nite.
Early morning, and the fishing lines are out at sea...
The early morning plate of noodles.
A sotong (is it?) caught!
Tried my luck fishing for a while, had breakfast by the sea, and then back to sleep, a wonderful early morning nap. In the afternoon, it was off to the nearby Sibu Island (apparently there's a resort there...wow!) for some beach fun and games! The scenery was picturesque and idyllic! The weather, which threatened to rain ever so often, cleared up! The beach was untainted (possibly because there were not many people on the island) and the waves were amazing! Taking pictures, dunking each other in the water (landing on the butt at times and having a huge wave come crashing down on u) and 'riding' the waves...too bad we did not have a surfboard, else we can do smth like Baywatch. Muhahaha. Coconut juice was also served, and it was refreshing!
The lonely boat
Us @ the jetty!
Swaying with the wind...
WH in ad for beach boys
Us having fun!
It should read: 27 ROVERS
Too much fun!
Ouch!
Nic & me
Back at the kelong, it was more mahjong, followed by watching of TV (Liang Jing Ru singing on TVBS and the Taipei countdown show)...as the hours ticked by, and we played Action Heart Attack, the end of 2006 was near and 2007 beckoned.
Yings, Zhai, Geoks, CK, LY
LY, HB, Nic, Me!
Last sunset of 2006!
The box of fireworks! (yea they come from boxes o_O)
On top of that, we've sparklers...
The best thing was...the kelong had fireworks! And to see the fireworks all being set off right in front of one's eyes...simply fantastic! (Well I'd wish to set off my own fireworks too..haha) Then there were the sparklers that we played, and the happy new year greetings to all...it was wonderful!
The start of the new year was spent drinking vodka and engaging in fruitful (and interesting o_O) talks, chit chat and interesting tidbits of each other...hopefully we'll get more of such chances in future!
R O V E R S
The guys (full strength!)
Yings, Me, Geoks
The last day of the kelong trip passed with the morning spent on catching up on lost sleep, and after lunch, we took pictures, talked and finally bade farewell to the wonderful kelong trip...a memorable one indeed. The ferry ride back was full of people, but it was okay...the adrenaline rush has passed and we're on our way back to where we belong...
En route home, we had to deal with the jams at the Malaysian side (the Johor-Kuantan road as well as the Causeway) and listened to the 93.3FM countdown on radio! Shiok! But the best thing was that we wrapped up our trip with the sighting of a new year rainbow! Too bad the vehicle was moving, else I'd wished I could get to some big field and take the picture of the rainbow, in all its grandeur.
What a way to close 2006 and to receive 2007 with open arms! Hopefully 2007's better for us all! :D
The New Year Rainbow :)
Current Mood:
HappyCurrent Music: Elva Xiao Ya Xuan - Biao Bai