Just a little update

A good friend of mine blogs more (more frequent and longer entries) when she's exhausted and rushing for time. It made me feel that some of my other friends (need a hint?) and I are rather lazy with respect to blogging.

It's time for another little update on my recent activities. I go back from Bintan on Sunday night without sufficient rest and went for work on the following day, while the rest of the gang, save for 1 guy, took a day off. They even have the nerve to sms the full details of their Monday lunch plans (ice cream buffet at Holland V Swensen's) and make me join them for ktv later at night without dinner.

How evil can people get?

Speaking of the Bintan trip, I have some photos with me while the rest are taken by Zhengbing. I shall not blog about it until I've received all the photos from him, because I dislike blogging without the full content. People who are interested to find out the juicy and happening details of the Bintan trip are strongly encouraged to bug Zhengbing until he sends me all of his photos.

Come weekend, I'll be going overseas again but this time to Pulau Dayang, Peninsula Malaysia for my diving test. I'll have to depart from Singapore on Friday night by coach to Mersing, probably around midnight, and then transfer to a boat to Pulau Dayang. Like some Navy SEAL training camp, where we go to the dive spot without much rest and spend the whole day diving and diving and diving. But I still like it.

This time, I've learned to be smart and took next Monday off. I foresee that the weekend dive will drain me completely, and I'll be nodding off every now and then like what I've been doing since Monday.

All these trips reminded me that I'll be going to Paris. I've been tempted - by my colleagues especially - to get a better digicam, or rather, a digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR). My interest in photography has placed me on common grounds with a few of my colleagues and since then the talk of upgrading to a DSLR has never left their mouths.

With a camera, I'll need a means of storage for my photos too. I don't wish to get a portable hard disk, and that leaves me with only 1 other option: get a laptop.

A new laptop plus a new camera will probably add up to about $3,500. Think I'll be broke even before I go to Europe.

Just as a small appetiser, here's a photo taken during the Bintan trip





Well, I already said it's SMALL and is an APPETISER.




Alright, if you must have someone in the photo, here's a better one






Looks like time to go for my daily tea break again.

Guess who's knocking at the door?

You'll never guess it. I'll be posted to Paris for training from 14th August and I'll be there for 2 months. Finally, my chance to go to Europe came!

Came pretty close to whooping with joy when I first heard the news, but I think my mum came even closer than I did.

Been feeling too tired to blog these days. Besides doing work and household chores I hardly do anything else. Watch an occasional World Cup match or just chat with friends online. The upcoming Bintan trip is going to be a much needed getaway for me.

Things have changed

According to a recently (only the day before from the date this blog was posted)conducted market survey (by yours truly), prepare yourself for this, the cost of a McChicken burger costs less than a Ramly burger bought from any local pasar malam.

Typically, fastfood is more expensive than food bought from hawker centres, coffee shops as well as roadside stalls. There a few factors which account for the difference in costs.

Firstly, the ambience. McDonald's provide a nice place for people to sit down and enjoy their meal. This is not counted if you order takeaways, roadside stalls have no place for you to sit down.

Secondly, we look at efficiency. McDonald's pride themselves for providing quality food within a short time. The local roadside stalls mostly want to reduce the queueing time of their customers and compromise quality as a result.

Finally, there's the quality of the food. The McChicken is made up of a bun, plenty of lettuce and a reasonably-sized chicken patty. Ramly chicken burger only has a sprinkling of lettuce, half a slice of cheddar cheese, an egg and a small chicken patty.

And yet, the McChicken costs $2 while the Ramly chicken burger costs $2.50.

Despite these facts, some people (like me) will always be suckered into buying the Ramly burger whenever we pass by their stalls because we don't get to go to Malaysia often (and miss out on their authentic and cheap Ramly burgers).

After this, I'm seriously reconsidering buying junk food from roadside stalls instead of fastfood restaurants. Miss the Malaysian and Taiwanese roadside stalls.

Inspirational story

I read this story from Demon's blog. Instead of copying and pasting it here, I'll just put up a link to the page.

It's amazing how people can come up with parables just like that. And of all things, it's a pencil parable. How do you actually link something so different (a human and a pencil) together?

Read it, be inspired and may you find purpose in life.

Pool lesson

When I first attempted snorkelling, while I was at Pulau Tioman with my friends, it seemed very difficult because I can't control my breathing such that air only moves through my mouth, and as a result, water will seep into my mask. Since then, I felt that I'm not cut out for scuba diving.

In fact, I was quite apprehensive about the pool lesson today. Not surprisingly, my second attempt at snorkelling (snorkelling is taught during scuba lessons because it is used when at the surface). Drank in a lot of water because the snorkel doesn't fit my mouth nicely.

After much adjustment, more mouthfuls of water and jaw ache (from clamping the mouthpiece) and I finally manage to be able to breathe with my head facing downwards. I would attribute my success to the quality of the mask. It can stop water from entering effectively. Unlike the one I was using at Pulau Tioman, every movement I made will cause water into flood the mask.

The exhilaration of being able to overcome my biggest problem was...beyond description. I had thought I would need hours before I could do it, but thankfully no, I did it in a few minutes. Once the snorkelling issue was resolved, diving with the scuba gear wasn't a problem at all.

To be able to go deep underwater and stay there is a great feeling (but not in a swimming pool of course). I can already imagine what it'll be like when I really get out into the open waters for my diving evaluation.

Feeling extremely tired after the lesson, too tired to even think of what to blog. I think I need to take leave and rest for a whole day in order to recover completely.