Month: February 2008

My home used to be livelier

My home used to be livelier, with more people watching TV, more people walking around in the house.
My home used to be livelier, with Chinese New Year and Christmas decorations and the like all year round.
My home used to be livelier, with my mum and my dad cleaning the house together, vacuuming and mopping in tandem, keeping the house spick and span.
My home used to be livelier, with smells coming from the kitchen, chinese radio playing the background.
My home used to be livelier, with my mum shouting from the kitchen into my room when dinner’s ready, reminding me not to stare at the computer for too long.
My home used to be livelier, with my mum ironing the clothes, my dad washing the dishes, and my brother playing the guitar in his room.
My home used to be livelier, when my relatives came over to my house and have celebrations and gatherings.
My home used to be livelier, with my mum and dad asking about my life, caring about my brother and I, covering my blanket when the aircon’s cold.

My dad used to be smiling, younger and more cheerful,
My brother used to be home more often,
My mum cooking at home during her off days,
and my home used to be livelier.

Now my home is not as lively anymore.

Steamboats

I had steamboat for dinner for the past two days! haha.

monday jin invited some of us to his house – ashish, colin wee, kx. we bought some additional food at ntuc before walking over to his house…a cosy four room flat. his relatives were playing mahjong, and they were quite hospitable, with the food and pot already prepared for us. we had a great time catching up with one another along with the food although it was not exactly a class thing and there’s only so few of us. after dinner we played texas hold ’em poker with simulated money. my first time playing this kind of card game, which is quite interesting.

tuesday yt, her bf, vic, kc, zhan, jr, merle and josh and I met for steamboat dinner at bugis. we originally wanted to meet earlier at 6pm but cos everyone worked till later than that, including myself, so we met slightly later. we walked down liang seah st to the famous steamboat place. we had two pots with 4 flavours: 2 chicken, 1 tom yam, and one of their famous mah la, which is super hot and spicy chilli based soup. It was even spicer than tom yam and I couldn’t take it cos it creates the choking effect. The spread was quite good with free flow of lime juice or water chestnut. there’s the usual steamboat stuff, and lotsa of weird seafood, some meat, fish, noodles and dumplings. just that the price was a bit steep – $18. the place was quite squeezy and warm too.

after dinner we went to a cafe called food for thought which is a christian-based (I think) cafe along north bridge road opp the national library. they donate 10% of their profits to charitable causes. it’s quite a nice cosy place with some nice food, tho the aircon wasn’t working well at that time. should visit there again next time to eat the main courses.

i’ve ate so much over the cny, think i’m getting fat. lol.

Chinese New Year 2008

This year’s cny is kinda different if you know what I mean.

The afternoon of the eve, louis and weiyi came my house and we watched Gridiron Gang on dvd. Reunion was at a restaurant at Tanjong Katong, good thing was that my dad was willing to join my aunties after so long. it was a good traditional many-course dinner. the first day afternoon we went to visit my dad’s side relatives. it’s kinda sad that till today, I still don’t know who’s who from my dad’s side, and only roughly here and there. heck I don’t even know the names of those around the same age as me. what a shame. i wished I had the chance to know them when I was younger. the next few days were spent visiting relatives as usual, one day for each relative for my mum’s side.

on friday night me louis weiyi and jere we went to watch Gone Baby Gone. it’s a pretty (long) contemplative crime thriller with lots of twists, and at the end of it, you’re made to think whether the actor made a right choice, whether he “did the right thing”. after the movie we wanted to chill at timbre, but it was too crowded, so we took a walk around boat quay and clarke quay and finally settled at the alfresco area at an italian restaurant along clarke quay. pizzas and ice cream, not too bad. we had a long chat about church and stuff.

saturday was the best. went to yuan kang’s house in the afternoon. one of our better gatherings so far cos 12 people came in total. his mum was very kind and generous! we had lou yu sheng and great tim sum from crystal jade takeaway. then some played mahjong while others played xbox and bridge. although got a bit boring towards the end until it was time for dinner. and his parents were generous again to treat us dinner at a chinese restaurant nearby. we had nice handmade minced meat noodles along with fried and steamed dumplings, jellyfish vegetables, and tang yuan. we were very full but his mum insisted to order more dishes so that yk won’t embezzle the rest of the money lol. I think we should buy something for yk in return. after dinner, we went for a short walk at east coast park before going home.

today after church I went out with jon, drove to gardens and ate at astons. we decided to go sls and bugis for a walk. asked a shop if got iphone and the person quoted $1200. daylight robbery man. Bugis was crowded but we saw some interesting stuff. after that we drove to haji lane where there was some underground clothes shop which I never been before, and also to army market. first time that I really shopped there, didn’t know got nice clothes and accessories there too. not too bad.

chris is now in australia, so now one less person to go out with.

Switchfoot – Let That Be Enough

I wish I had what I needed
To be on my own
‘Cause I feel so defeated
And I’m feeling alone

And it all seems so helpless
And I have no plans
I’m a plane in the sunset
With nowhere to land

And all I see
It could never make me happy
And all my sand castles
Spend their time collapsing

Let me know that you hear me
Let me know your touch
Let me know that you love me
Let that be enough

It’s my birthday tomorrow
No one here could know
I was born this Thursday
22 years ago

And I feel stuck
Watching history repeating
Yeah, who am I?
Just a kid who knows he’s needy

Let me know that you hear me
Let me know your touch
Let me know that you love me
And let that be enough

Switchfoot!

Fortunately, I got an off day yesterday and I can go watch Switchfoot in peace! Went to watch “The Mist” with some of my batch mates. It’s kinda different from Cloverfield, and I think it’s nicer…more exciting and scary. Shows some nice monsters and how people react in times of fear, along with some religious fanatic who’s a bad portrayal of a Christian. quite a bit of suspense too, and bloody.

After that went to meet jon and his friend and he drove us to eat at bedok food centre. there was some crazy guy who wasn’t happy with jon’s friend (a girl) queuing at the stall, and he started scolding some vulgarities. jon tried to defend her and that caused a bit of a ruckus in the place and people started looking at us. the man tried to threaten us into a fight, luckily which we didn’t get into. kinda scary.

We lost our appetite and went to expo. a small crowd was forming, and soon it was obvious that the hall isn’t going to be very full. I think the people who bought the tickets from sistic are kinda cheated, cos the WMUM passes were definitely cheaper. well anyway we got in finally. and sure enough, I think the most there’s probably only about 2000 people around.

the ‘mosh pit’ area was crowded, and I would say it’s my first time in such a squeezy (not fully christian) one. there were many christians nevertheless. the first two local bands kinda wasted some time, think the sound system didn’t do them enough justice. of course we can’t wait for switchfoot to perform. not that they ain’t good.

when switchfoot came, they rocked the house down! their guitar riffs were great and it’s nice to hear the live version of many familiar tunes. the crowd was definitely filled with fans, many singing along to most of the songs, such as “Oh! Gravity” “Stars” “This Is Your Life” “Gone /Crazy In Love mash-up” which was quite interesting, “American Dream” in which they did a freeze-in-the-air for a few good minutes which was pretty photogenic and amazing…too bad I didn’t bring my camera. “Dirty Second Hands” “We Are One Tonight” “Awakening” which is my fav, “Meant to Live”…and also more toned down spiritually linked ones such as “On Fire” “Only Hope” “Learning to Breathe” and one old song which I don’t know. I liked it when Jon played on the acoustic, it sounds really worshippy and nice.

there was this bunch of cool people from calvary assembly which were standing near us, and it was fun to talk to them. one of them can crack lame jokes well like jon. so funny. and there was this guy standing in front of us with his hands held high and jumpin’ almost throughout the whole concert. cm’n man you shouldn’t worship switchfoot. we were almost making fun of him, trying to push him during the jumping, and the calvary people said we should pray for him lol.

jokes aside, you could see the amount of technology in the crowd. 1 in 3 has a camera-phone or camera or dSLR trying to take a video/photo of the concert. most were pretty amateur, I saw one trying to use flash to take a good photo but to no avail as all turned out dark lol. it’s the youtube generation and you can find clips of the concert on youtube.

overall, switchfoot is a great rock band which reaches out to the masses. their message in their lyrics is deep, meaningful and spiritual, yet their music transcends boundaries and is able to penetrate into the secular mainstream radio world. great work they are doing, and their non-pushy down-to-earth approach brings fans all around. I heard they performed at TJC beforehand, lucky kids.

When I look at the stars
I see Someone Else…

I pray to be only be Yours
I know now you’re my only hope…

When I’m on fire
When You’re near me…

She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every moment that we borrow
Brings us closer to the God who’s not short of cash
Hey bono I’m glad you asked
Life is still worth living, life is still worth living…

Salvation is here.

This is your life, are you who you wanna be?