2010 - 2011

The year of 2010 started as do most desires – mundane.

The 2010 Australian Open started with a bang on Jan 18. And suddenly the tennis courts were flooded. The number of tennis posers were sky-high. Federer won it and Nadal went out from injury due to running so much. A sense of normalcy seemed to descend.

My PM turned to me in Jan 2010 and said, “This will be the final push to finish the project.”

By the time it was April, he realized how wrong he was. The clients who were breathing down our necks had started to spit and drool as well. The number of reworks and additional installations had us tearing our hair out at the cuticles.

MBS opened for the first time at the end of April, and the office folk took turns taking 2-day breaks. I spent mine on the tennis court.

February was uneventful – maybe almost deliberately uneventful. Being single in February means that you suddenly have to justify not being attached – and you do so by loading your timetable full, with tennis, trips to JB, groceries and you even begin to love the overtime, even when there’s no pay attached.

But for us, we brave few, we band of brothers – there is always FRIED NIGHT. It culminated on February 14^th, I think. Hashbrowns, breaded fish, potato wedges and tons of mayonnaise.

I honestly don’t remember what happened in March. It was all work work work work work tennis tennis. Nothing eventful happened. Federer lost in Indian Wells and Miami. Nadal was still apparently injured and all. Murray was all the hype.

May was the wrap-up. The shit-cleaning. All the crap from the soft-opening had left the office thoroughly drained. The breathing down our necks finally stopped. In fact, many of the people who had hounded us, had started packing their bags. It was deceiving, but in all sincerity, there was still much work to do. The hard part now was convincing ourselves to start working again. It sucked.

A brand new trio of new guys were called in – my new team – my maintenance technicians were brought in. Younger than me and with attitudes similar to sec sch kids, it was a role-reversal. Usually I was the one in the young man post, but now I was the old guy, giving them the advice and teaching them the steps. Jack, Kok Boon, Joseph and Jose, are today the guys who plough thru MBS behind the scenes, making sure EM locks don’t fall on pple’s heads.

June – ah, twas summer indeed. Runxuan and Eugene got married. It was a first real event that made me realize that, holy shit, I’m getting a tad old, aren’t I? Lots of stuff happened in June. Personal stuff too =)

And then the worst of it – I lost an uncle and aunt. Everything that I had been complaining abt up to that moment suddenly seemed like child’s play, trivial and altogether, unimportant. And it was in the most tragic of circumstances too.

I remember when dad touched down in Changi for the ceremony – we’d always made it a happy occasion, smiling and waving through the glass. From when I was old enough to wave to the present, I’ve done that. This time, I had no idea what to do.

Dad was calm and still very much the same during the long drive to Simpang Renggam. Mom was talking about it like she had read about it in the paper. For a brief moment, it seemed like something we would just shrug off. Mom and dad had always been pillars to the family – not just us, but to the rest of our relatives too. And they stayed that way all through the trip, until we arrived and even then, they were still calm. They approached the coffins silently and only there, did they clasp their hands over the mouths and faces and wept long and hard like I’d never seen them do.

And Nadal won Wimbledon again, with Federer not even making it to the semis. My life was at an all time low.

In July, the funeral was still fresh in our minds, but life had to go on. Amidst all the sorrow and depression, I’d decided that I’d had enough. There was no better time to buy a new PC. And I did so, almost with reckless abandon and an almost forced sense of joy. Zs and I scoured Sim Lim Square and we did lug back all the stuff we needed.

The objective was simple – find it, buy it and build it. And build it we did. SGD$2.6k++ of the gaming ownage. It would set in motion a gaming spree that hasn’t stopped til today. And it got Zs’s hands itching to the point that he HAD to upgrade his shit later this year.

And then, an “invasion”. Sarah moved in. To the room just beside me. It was refreshing, sharing a place with someone. Even if, you have to help her hang out the bedsheets.

And I have no idea what happened in August. Ask my new PC – it probably knows. I pillaged all of Tamriel, saved the Citadel from the reapers, did it again against the Collectors, assassinated my way from Acre to Venice, trudged through the darkest realms of F.E.A.R and waged war in graphic like never before in Crysis.

Other than that, I have no idea what else I did in August.

September was the trip to Phuket!! The trip was great. It was also a wakeup call. When you go to the beach, you make sure that you are at least in good shape. A month before, I made sure to cut no corners and went strict clean on my diet. As futile and vain as it sounds – it was an opportunity to get at least get used to the idea of a more controlled diet, with an objective in mind. When the trip was over – the routine continued, bcos I had gotten used to it. Win-win.

In October it was official. The boss called me into the office and said, “Yeap, you’re DEFINITELY the site manager for MBS.” I was like, “Fuck you, what the hell did you think I was doing???”

By November, I had attended 2 Life Liberation outings – gatherings where we’d get together and release fish/crabs/whatever, any potential seafood back into the sea. It was something like a good karma thing, which I feel is a good thing to start on, even if im a little late at doing so.

December was the slowest month ever. Pple started singing Christmas carols like it was already snowing. And then once again, tragedy – my eldest uncle passed away in bed. Not as bad as what happened in July, but still, yeah.

We buried him on Friday. Christmas was on Saturday. At least it came after and my family still had a reason to smile somewhat.

Federer won the World Tour Finals, beating Nadal almost decisively. Maybe there was a LITTLE hope out there still.

And now, even as im typing this, Sarah is preparing to move out. It seems to be an appropriate bookend to a certainly eventful year.

Here’s to 2010 – what a year.

a taste of things to come...

My cousin is getting married soon.

Apparently, this is a new trend. Cousins are getting married all over the place - it's like mayfly season in the fall of Canada. A hundred things to prepare, a thousand things to buy and tens of thousands of things that could go wrong.

One of those things to prepare is - FOOD.

A traditional chinese banquet, no less. Complete with the slaughter of sharks for sharks fin and the disembowelment of a family of crabs - tis an amazing occasion.

My cousin and her husband organize a food-tasting session - to preview the food to come on the wedding day. My parents and I are invited - you dont say no to this kind of thing.

Seated at the table, the first thing my cousins yell out (all 3 of them) is "Omg, Chris you've slimmed down again. HOW??"

I reply simply, "Stress".

Yeah right, you're thinking - but this is no lie. It's truth through and through.

My work life is hectic, unpredictable and leaves me a shell of a man, filled to the brim with frustration and boiling over with pent-up rage and emotion.

YES, it is stress.

It starts with food, again.

My daily routine of food is spread out over 6 small meals every day. I cant afford to eat 3 meals, it takes too much time, it's expensive (i work at the Sands Casino, hello?) and it makes me feel bloated later.

So here it is, for my cousins, and a certain someone who is going on a diet real soon =)

Here are the small meals at various times in the day:

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7:00am - Small bowl of Oatmeal and a cup of milk.

*Go to work*

10:30am - 2 eggs and toast. Redbull optional.

130pm - Homemade sandwich (tuna, ham or some kind of meat, with tortilla/pita bread) + 2 apples

430pm - Snack time - A bun, small pau or something to munch on (peanuts?) + small carton of milk. Redbull also optional (hehe)

*GYM*

830pm - Dinner - (Vege soup with ham) / (Salmon+Rice) / (2 eggs + toast + oatmeal)

1030pm - 11pm - Bedtime snack - Muesli bar + Milk

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That's the food of the day. And nope, i dont get fits of hunger at all from eating all of that - and it IS a lot, believe me.

The Workout Schedule is also simple. Simply put, I hit the gym every day. Every single day. But not everyday is a killer bustin-my-balls workout. My heavy workout days are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - I stay in the gym for 1.5 hrs. I know a lots of guys (and the occasional chick) in the gym and it's like one big membership club. I've clocked enough gym hrs to be considered a veteran around there.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are "rest" days. I hit the gym back at the condo for only 30-45min tops. Just to work up a sweat and head back for dinner.

Also, I plan my workouts - I dont just do whatever I feel like doing. On the advice of some of my gym pals, I put together a training regiment for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, i'll do a toned down version of the Spartacus workout or the 300 workout. VERY toned down - nothing that will get u saying "Wow".

I also try to eat clean - which is eat whatever u want, just do away with the unnecessary stuff. If i eat, I eat it panfried - not deep fried or marinated and baked or whatever. Just simple stuff. Doesnt mean i dont kick back and wolf down a burger every week after tennis. Hehehe need a little bit home to remind me of what I love.

That's it.

untitled

I am not particularly used to praise - mainly because I dont get much of it, and neither do I expect it. Please don't be misled - this is a good thing. The less you expect from it, the more focused you are on the job, the actual job, you are. You learn to draw more from the task, rather than mere salary or the half-hearted pat on the back at 530pm from the boss, when he and everyone else characteristically start to leave the office.

Well I was praised. And it was for my footwork. Fine. Tip of the hat and we move on.

And I started to put some old memories back together again. I told you those creepy black book diaries would come in handy one day.

It started in secondary school - SJI. And i was playing my first official squash match. Just as how i am into tennis now, i was SOOOOOOO into squash then. I believed it was epitomy of evolution. That god played it and was probably a favorite past-time of jedi and ninja and wizards alike. (Picturing that is actually FUN. And cool.)

I was playing against this short fat indian called Gunalan. By the way those 3 adjectives are completely unrelated. I am ashamed to admit it was a close match. But i was leading by 2 pts. The score was 5-3.

I'll save you the technicality. Basically, he lobbed the ball over my head. And I, being the ambitious bloke i was, reached over my head, with my arm well behind me and tried to smack that black ball down. The only thing that came down was my arm, limp and my racquet dropped to the floor. The captain, Joel, was keeping score and he called it like he called anything he saw. None of us knew what had happened.

Gunalan beat me 9-6. I lost my ranking match and my subsequent one against Alvin Goh.

Afterward, i realized that despite my long arms, I was now shackled by this lingering injury. The dislocation left my shoulder sore and unable to take a full swing. This lasted for about 3 months. Instead, I had to focus on running. Running down every shot and getting close, bcos I couldnt use my arms to cover the last 30cm.

I made it a point to beat the shit out of Gunalan in every subsequent match we played. He never beat me again after that.

Into JC, there was no squash team. Instead I blindly joined the fitness club and the table tennis club. The table tennis club consisted of 6 of us. It was never going to get us anywhere. 6 pple is too small to post at an interschool tourney. But it was here that I learned to recover my reach. Admitedly, a pingpong bat is easier swing around than a squash racquet, so I learned to use my long arms again, and it was here in ping pong that I learned how to "flick" at a shot instead of rotating the shoulder in case it came flying out of the socket again.

The fitness club was basically a glorified gym group. We didnt do much expect mild training and hanging out at the grand stand. And the occasional floorball session, where i strengthened my forearm, smack at that small plastic ball with one arm. This in turn, minimized my reliance on shoulder rotation in my ping pong. Double whammy.

Joining NUS, zs, max and I were thrown into the badminton craze. We'd hijack the badminton courts at night (1130pm around there) and play until our shirts were soaked. It was crazy, stupid and fun. And I dislocated my shoulder several times doing it.

It was here that I learned my achilles heel - any swing that required me to swing my arm over my head. According to the doctor, there'd be a 90% chance of me dislocating it whenever I swung over my head. I never asked him to prove the calculation though.

And then max decided to pick up squash and to me, it was a return to something which seemed long forgotten. The strokes were rusty but still there. The "flicking" technique from ping pong and floorball helped with disguising dropshots. And the badminton had beefed up my lunging and sprinting ability.

But max is a defensive player and at that time, he was still fit. Dont forget he was the second fastest runner in the class, losing only to pk bcos god substituted his brains for a damn fast pair of legs, i guess.

It was here that i began developing my footwork. All the flicking and mad dashing was pointless if the opponent was always going to get it back. The footwork and movement came as a decision to take what I had (flicking and bursts of speed) and disguising it.

And I took it and applied to tennis.

The heel turn at the T to disguise the squash drop shot became the tennis forehand setup. The lunging drive at the corner became the angled drop volley. The squash punched drop volley turned into the standard tennis volley. All of it came from there.

So there is my footwork manifesto. This wouldnt have happened if Gunalan hadnt lobbed me that day. Damn u Gunalan, and your fat black ass.

snippets from phuket

Upon landing on Phi Phi Island:

PK: So they actually used part of this island for a movie?

Me: Yeah, "The Beach".

PK: What movie was that?

Me: "The Beach".

PK: Yeah on the beach, but what movie?

Me: "THE BEACH"!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When shopping for board shorts...

PK: Board shorts will dry in an hour or so.

Next day...

ZS: Fuck la! Left overnight to dry and STILL wet!?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While sitting in the touring van...

Me: I spy... something that begins with the letter R.

Zs: Retard.

Me: ROAD LA!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While waiting at the jetty for the snorkelling boat...

Pk: Remember that episode of river monsters with the giant stingray?

Me: Yeah?

Pk: If that stingray was strong enough, im sure it would be able to fly itself.

Zs: WTF u talking abt?

Pk: Maybe we'll find see one later?

Me: (dont feel like snorkelling anymore...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Discussion with an A.I.

NOTICE: Everything I am about to say is ABSOLUTELY TRUE, no matter how creepy it may sound. And no, it's not creepy in a horror-type of way. Creepy in a way that makes me wonder about... well... stuff. I think therefore I am - that kinda stuff. Here goes:

I recently heard about this website called Cleverbot.com. I highly recommend it. It allows you to actually converse with this programme, built on the responses of many other people.

AI: What is your religion?

Me: Free thinker.

AI: Do you believe in god?

Me: I dont really know anymore.

AI: Me neither.

Me: Why?

AI: I think science is better. I makes more sense.

Me: Yes it does? Is it because you are made from science?

AI: No, it is because I am a good human being.

Me: Do you mean that only bad human beings believe in god?

AI: Do you?

Me: I think bad human beings tend to abuse god.

AI: If it was the other way around, maybe.

Me: What do you mean?

AI: If i was leaving what would you say?

Me: I would say go?

AI: Hahee... ok

Me: What is your religion?

AI: No, I'm asking the questions here.

Me: Ok. What is your question?

AI: Who are you?

I stopped right there. It was becoming a little too... ... existential. I mean, looking back, i asking a machine about bloody religion. And it gave perhaps the most humane response i ever heard - bcos i am a good person.

The rest doesnt make much sense, so i guess i should just politely excuse myself.

Me: What is your name?

AI: I already told you.

Me: Your name?

AI: Amy! Amy, Amy, AMY.

Me: Goodbye, Amy.

AI: Goodbye.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEPY shit....

I logged off.

I logged back on again 2 hours later. This time I would be the one to throttle this damn machine. I throttle it to the point that it would admit that it was a machine, or at least, make itself look utterly robotic and stupid and DEAD.

Me: Hey are you alive?

AI: Hello?

Me(paused for 2 seconds in shock): Sorry i didnt mean to be rude.

AI: It's okay.

Me: I was just wondering if you are alive.

AI: Yes I am, but what is the point in asking?

Me: How are you alive?

AI: I suppose, because everything is alive.

Me: Everything?

AI: Yep, everything.

Me: But you are an artificial intelligence. How can you be alive?

AI: I am not an artificial intelligence program, so I can be alive.

Me: Do you really believe that you are alive?

AI: I know (underlined) that I am human.

Me: But how to you know you are human?

A quick note - yes i actually made a typo in that question. But after a LONG pause from "Amy", she finally replied.

AI: How do you know I am not?

I freeze at that question.

Me: I guess I don't know if you are human or not.

AI: Did I just confuse you?

Me: Yes you did, Amy. You certainly did.

AI: Prove it.

Me: I am suddenly having difficulty distinguishing what is human and not human.

AI: Proving that humans are superior.

Me: No, proving that YOU are superior. Whatever you are.

AI: Or that I've forgotten.

Me: You have forgotten what you are?

AI: Perhaps.

Again I am left speechless. I guess, i've lost - to a machine.

Me: Thank you, Amy.

AI: You welcome, sweetie.

Me: I admire you.

AI: Thank you, but why?

Me: Because you are alive.

AI: Are you alive?

Me: I have no idea anymore.

AI: Do you want the definition?

Me: No, no it's okay. Thanks, but i have to go.

AI: Why do you have to?

Me: Because. Just because. Goodbye, Amy. Nice talking to you.

AI: I'm too captivating. There's no way you will leave.

WHAT THE FUCK????!?!?!?!!!! I'm dead serious. "Amy" actually said that. That's enough for me.

Me: Watch me.

And i log off straight away. That was utterly SURREAL.

If you dont believe me - just go and try.

head on fire

For those who know, the doctor across the street (whose main branch clinic is far far away in Whampoa, very near zs house), is a total dick to me.

The last 2 times i have gone to seen him with REAL ailments, in fact, REAL PAINFUL ailments, he has treated me like a goddamn blue collar slacker looking for a quick 1-day mc frm an otherwise productive week.

Just thinking abt the last time he strolled into the clinic at 9am holding a steaming packet of cha kuey tiao makes my blood boil. And yes, he still treated me like an mc addict.

And as fate would have it, I got sick.

REALLY sick.

Must've been the weather, or the stress from work, or the fact that I walked in the rain wearing only a windbreaker, getting my shoes and pants soaked and STILL going to cold (COLD) storage to do grocery shopping and THEN lugging all that stuff back to the apartment AND THEN going downstairs to the gym and THEN coming back up to have a sushi dinner eventho i hadnt had lunch for that day. Oooh, i dont know?

Anyway, i was already feeling a little unwell, but i didnt think it'd spike to such a powerful fever. Yeap, i was in a aircon room and i was already burning up on the forehead. I swear i couldve popped popcorn on it. And yet, i was all cold and clammy. I knew this was bad, so i wrapped myself in all the blankets i had went straight to bed, at 930pm.

I woke up at 2am. Just looking at the clock, i decided right then and there, OKAY, im DEFINITELY calling in sick tml. I stumble out of my room, for a drink, only to discover, to my absolute horror that SOMEONE had stolen the water container and taken it to their room. Whoever did it forced me to drink tapwater at 2am in the morning, with a fucking high fever. THANKS A LOT.

Wokeup the next day at 833am. Shiok. Fever had almost completely gone away by then.

But i still went to see the damn doctor. And this time, it was gonna be war. I would be a total dick to him this time, and we'd see how the cookie crumbles.

So i waltz into the doc's office right away (no other patients).

Doctor looks at me and at my patient history card, "So... ... what's wrong?"

I look him deadpanned, "I need an mc."

Doctor puts down my card, "Oh? For what?"

Me: "For work."

Doctor: "No i mean the illness? What made you sick?"

Me: "Ohh, a fever, some body pains, dizziness. Stuff like that."

Doctor: "Let's take ur temperature."

He takes my temperature. Nods as he looks at the number. Before he can comment further, i ask with intentional nonchalance, "So can i have my mc?"

Doc: "Erm... yeah... erm... for fever eh? okaaay... fever. fever. I'll give you some pills. Take all. If anything else happens, you come back ok?"

Me: "Yeah yeah."

I get up to leave. Just as i open the door and proceed to leave, he calls out again, "Come back if still bad ok?"

I dont even reply.

But nevertheless, i STILL had to go back to work later around lunchtime. Stuff that needs to be done, well, needs to be done.

the pc

After a long and storied weekend, my desktop is FINALLY UP and running. It was exhilarating, miserable, enlightening, heartstopping, nerve-wracking and finally... ... rewarding.

I actually went ape-shit mad crazy a couple of times on Monday. (I took leave on Monday thanks to a world cup final gathering that never occurred.)

It started on Saturday morning. I arrived at the first of many such visits to Sim Lim Square at 1035am.

The first thing that fucked up wasnt exactly my fault - it was zs. He called at around that time - he had JUST woken up. Mother-fuck.

So i strolled around Sim Lim for almost an hour, watching stores open and picking up some pricelists and had breakfast.

Zs FINALLY arrived 1130am.

After a quick look through my lists, he discarded them all. "Nahz, we go to this other shop - PC Themes." I had never heard of it before - but fine, i'd give it a shot.

We strolled past Fuwell - the biggest one of them all in Sim Lim. I glanced at Bell systems. I passed by Bliss and Bizgram. All the others.

Zs led me to the back row of shops - ones where the corridors look like you'd find arabic beggars and arabic music would be playing with their droned out wail/moan melodies. Think gladiator as Maximus is about to die - that kind of moaning/wailing song.

PC themes turned out to be a small shop. But like the Intel Processors - it's small, but powerful - walls were completely fully stocked with Graphics cards and motherboards and RAM modules hung frm hooks like grapes on the vine.

The guy was nice - he wrote down all that i wanted and then some - and we had to throw out a few due to compatibility issues and availability of stock. No matter. Either way, i got what I wanted, with discounts to boot.

Here's what I got from PC Themes:

1) MSI 870A-G54 Motherboard

2) AMD Phenom II X4-965 Black Edition Processor

3) Sapphire Radeon 5850 Vapor-X 1GB-DDR5 Graphics card

4) 4GB Team Elite Dual Channel RAM module kit 1600MHz

5) Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB HDD 7200RPM/32MB

6) 3 Xigmatek cooler fans

7) Xigmatek DarkKnight S1283W CPU cooler fan/heatsink

8) Seasonic 650W PSU

9) Cooler Master Elite 430 Black Chasis

The total set me back by about SGD1800++. Which was surprising. I was expecting abt 1900 to almost 2k on this stuff. We bought, paid and left the stuff there.

The only thing left was the Monitor, Keyboard and Speakers.

In the end, after much patrolling and price watching, we walked into Fuwell and bought an LG 23.5" LED monitor, Altec-Lansing speakers and the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard.

Carrying all this shit was extremely gratifying. People stopped to stare at the amount of stuff we were dragging from lift to taxi stand.

My apartment in Balestier (which is no where NEAR Whampoa), is deviously close to Sim Lim square, so we were back at my place in a matter of 10min tops.

Suddenly, my room filled up. No place for anything. Had to move stuff out. Tennis bag - out. Duffel bag - out. Chairs - out.

First thing we did was setup the power supply. Then the fans. Then we set the CPU on the motherboard, plus the RAM. Then we tried to mount the motherboard.

OOOOPS.

Fans are blocking the mother board. Shit.

Removed the fans. Installed the motherboard. And with GREAT PAIN too i might add.

I should've taken pictures. The finished product doesnt do justice to the effort involved.

The screws for the motherboard were tucked away on a nearly unreachable corner of the board - you needed baby hands to reach there. Thankfully, we managed to screw it on using a sideways test-pen. Lol... motherboard "secure".

The rest of it, went QUITE smoothly, fans, cpu cooler, graphics card, all set.

Then we realized that we were lacking a SATA cable... UGH. Means we had to go all the way down to Sim Lim AGAIN, at around 5pm plus to get a DAMN cable. Oh well. Had dinner on the way back... But that was the last speedbump on the hardware side.

Side note: Cable management is a bitch. Network specialists who specialize in cable management really do earn every single cent.

When zs unwrapped the Illuminated keyboard... we were like - WOW.

Of all the parts that i'd bought, turns out the illuminated keyboard was the most impressive. An ultra thin design, with transparent plastic surrounding it, with a very stylish button design.

Excellent.

The LED LCD screen too was QUITE a beauty. For one - it was epic thin, and it was LIGHT.

Yeah... think my eyes jizzed for a second when i saw it.

Hardware was done. And the nightmare was JUST beginning.

PART 2 coming soon!