-M.S.N-

On this day, on MSN:

Singapore Friends' Nicks:
-Friend A: Burning!!!!!!
-Friend B: Hothothot

Aussie Friends' Nicks:
-Friend C: hates the cold
-Friend D: Brrrrrr....
--z.h.i.w.e.n-: -f.r.e.e.z.e-m.e-

End-of-Holiday Report 5

Italia continued. As we head into Florence from Rome, the difference between the 2 cities couldn't have been more striking. Gone are the historical ruins, and in comes the natural beauty and elegance of the "cradle of Renaissance". It is certainly not an overstatement to say that the city is so rich in art that it exudes that air of elegance almost effortlessly.

Taiwan's consulate at The Vatican. I shall repeat this. Taiwan is NOT a country. Period.
What's Italy without Ferrari Store?
Florence, ever so elegant.No Italian city is complete without The Duomo. I refuse to conform to what everyone loves to do, to pretend supporting the Leaning Tower. If anything, I would have have posed to push it further down. =X

End-of-Holiday Report 4

With the increasing backlog of outstanding posts, I have decided to continue with my End of Holiday Reports before it gets forgotten. First stop, Rome. It turned out to be my favourite city, even ahead of the more 'romanticised' Venice. The sheer number of ruins and monuments in this city has left me in awe of the tremendous history of this once-great civilisation. It was difficult to find words to describe the feeling of standing within the Colossuem, for example, at the very spot that gladiators fought it out almost 2,000 years ago. You could almost hear the roar of the 50,000 strong crowd despite there being just skeletal remains of the structure now. It is almost unimaginable how the human race could conjure up such an architectural marvel at that age. My 2-day stop in Rome, despite sufficient to cover all the major attractions, left me with an somewhat unsatisfying 'after-taste'. I certainly look forward to visiting this great city again in the future, spending more time to soak in and appreciate the history behind this historic city.

12 hours aboard the SQ aging Boeing 777-200ERs, equipped with the older generation KrisWorld Inflight Entertainment System. Loved every minute onboard nonetheless, Still a Great Way to Fly..

This picture just doesn't seem to do the Colosseum enough justice.

Vatican MuseumSt. Peters Basilica

Black Sunday

One by one, as they take their foot off the pedal, as they leave this world, the underlying message is clear. That, for their whole life, they have done their bit for this society, for themselves, for future generations. And now, the baton has been passed to us, to continue carrying this torch, not just to make a difference to all around us, but more importantly to be outstanding human beings.

That, I say surpasses everything else. As you close your eyes for the final time, what will people remember you as? As the CEO of a successful company? An immensely successful banker with Lamborghinis in your backyard? As a PPS Solitaire member of SIA? At the end of the day, it's the endearing qualities of oneself which will live on in people's hearts and minds.

Thank you for the memories, and have a good rest.

2009 Deloitte Commerce Ball

To kick things off, I would have liked it better if it was "2009 KPMG Commerce Ball" instead. =P In what may well turn out to be my first and last Ball that I attend at Monash University, maybe I can consider this to be my Graduation Ball all the same. I've always wanted to attend a Ball over here, just to experience how Univeristy Balls are like, and how different are the Balls here as compared to the ones in Singapore.

True enough, it turned out to be very different from what I had come to expect. The Glam Factor certainly wasn't lacking, with the guys looking pretty much the same for everyone, while the ladies dressed to impress. Gone are the performances and host for the evening... and in comes the dancefloor and free-flow alcohol. It didn't take too long after the main was served that the music was blasted through the dinner hall and the people starting to flock to the dancefloor, partying away. From then on, the ball was effectively a massive club with 1,200 pax. The drinks counters at both ends of the hall busy dishing out tequilas..vodka limes.. and EXPIRED beer. I'm lucky I'm still alive here typing this. LoL. In any case, the combination of alcohol and dancefloor proved irresistable for many, with many presumable-couples already locked in cuddles and kissing like there's no tomorrow. 0_o I can safely say my table was arguably the most boring of the 100-or-so tables, merely cam-whoring away without the partying bit.

A "ferocious" pose by Saerom. Absolute Classic. Accountant 3 + Chris Ng.See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?On the Red Carpet, literally.

A Fool on April's Fool

It's only a matter of time before my body broke down, and today, that time has come. Ironically, the feverish headache, which I've long been accustomed to, is the least of my concern. It has been a lousy couple of days for me. Mornings have been a nightmare.

A few days ago...at 08:15am, Flinders Street train station,

"The 8:24am Pakenham train is delayed for approximately 2-3 mins"
.
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"Pakenham train delayed for approximately 4-5 mins"
I was like, what?! wasn't it 2-3mins, 2-3mins ago? Never mind. I shall wait.
.
"Pakenham train delayed for approximately 6-7mins"
Great. Now you're annoying me, especially with rush-hour crowds building up on the platform.
.
Hmmm. No more announcements?
.
.
The train finally came, at 08:45am. A cool 21minutes late, on top of the 10-minute intervals in the morning rush-hour

Oh, did I mention that the train stopped for a few minutes on the track for-god-knows-what-reason before it even reached the first station? I would really like to express my sincere gratitude to Connex and the dilapidated train infrastructure of Melbourne for allowing me to 'skip' my 9am tutorial.

And today, Ooops! Connex did it again! But much better this time, only 8 minutes late. Well done, keep it up. But it's also thanks to Connex that I'll be receiving 2 free daily tickets due to their performance shortfall in March according to government regulations.

Facebook. A place supposedly for relaxation and fun. You stalk on people's lives, You Poke your friends, You play mindless/meaningless games. Yet, recent developments on Facebook, which were started by friends all in the name of harmless fun, peace and laughter, suddenly turned into utter embarrasment for me and eventually being subject to manipulative public statements.
For those of you who know, you would have known what's been on my Facebook recently. For those who don't, ignorance is a bliss.

And no, this is no April Fool's joke.