I love this life

I hate this life

I made this life

I'll break this life

I live this life

I'll change this life

3 marvellous days in a row. Just let me give a quick breakdown of it ;)

* watch out for the boat with the orange, grey and yellow spinnaker/jenniker. That boat is Katana and there are a couple of pictures with it inside!! :D

Sat:

Had an unofficial catamaran race from Changi to Manamana East Coast. There were all together 10 to 11 boats competing. It was really fun although there was not much wind. Many boats were stranded near the naval base so they had to be towed back out to their original course. It took everyone around 2 to 3 hours to reach East Coast. After beaching our boats, un-rigging them and showering, it was a sailors' chill out and socialising session at this really relaxing alfresco seaside cafe within Manamana's compound. There was a lot of eating, drinking, chatting and joking going on and it actually lasted all the way to like after 9pm. Occasionally, some of us will break away for a while and walk together to some other place just for some fresh air and stuff. For me, I walked to the cable-skiing park with this other sailor. Seeing the facilities and crowd there, I was extremely thankful that I was no longer a cable-skiier . That place has become so........run down........its as if someone bombed the lagoon there or something.



sailing out of Changi


some of the sailors who had to be towed out of the naval base's waters



the male shower room at Manamana. Extremely new and really artistic, kind of gave me a Gaudi feel. lol

all the catamarans in a row @ Manamana

Sun:

This was the 2nd half of the race. All the boats had to sail back from Manamana to Changi. This time, there was practically no wind except towards the end of the course. Nevertheless, we still managed to have some good fun. Because the race back to Changi started later in the day and took a longer time due to the lack of wind, many of the sailors were exhausted by the time they reached Changi so most of them left soon after unrigging their boats and showering. Still, some stayed behind to chit chat for a while over some beer before leaving. Only a handful including me, stayed behind to have dinner together. It was still really fun though :) Needless to say I was sunburnt from being out at sea for too long.

rigging up of yabadabadoooo

catamarans in their 'naked' glory :p

Katana!! :D thats my uncle next to me by the way and yes, I know his hat looks weird. Its actually two caps piled on top of each other

launch off!! Can you see Katana in the left picture??




Mon:

Natalie had an early birthday celebration by having a poolside bbq party. It was really fun and basically lasted from 6ish all the way past midnight. The food was good, the drinks were superb, the atmosphere was great and the crowd was of course a fun and varied bunch.

fruit punch (background) and Melissa's special Sangria (foreground)

Melissa busy at work, she is a great chef by the way

chocolate candles. Interesting...................... and no you can't actually eat them

glorious FOOOOOOODDDDDD!! and some drinks :p

group shots ;)

I need to get out

I need a change

And I need it

NOW!!

Twilight Sailing

Saturday was my first time experiencing a twilight race. It was fun actually, although I was constantly feeling stressed during the competition. In the end, First Light ranked 5th out of the 7 boats competing. We finished the race only about a minute plus after Relax Lah.............First Light's sibling boat. As a penalty for losing the race (coz we didn't even clinch 3rd prize), the skipper (unc Kok Hwa) and the helmsman (me) were made to chug down a cup of beer during the Sailor's BBQ dinner. They were going 'Come on!! Drink up boy!!' lol. It was quite a fun experience if you ask me. The penalty for being a first-time twilight sailor was also downing a cup of beer (I fell into that category too). So it was another round of beer chugging with some of the 'virgin' twilight sailors. 'Friendly' penalties and protests were lodged and pinned against individuals after that with more laughter and beer downing :)

The crew of 'Relax Lah' downing beer as a penalty for mooning the crew from another boat called 'Simba'

Went to Jason's bday party after that at Pasir Ris chalet. It was fun.....met some new people and all, but I was super tired a couple of hours later. Thank god Geryll had a car so he drove me, Dora and Jonathan back home. Whew!! It was like 4ish when I came back.........

Keppel Marina

Inside the Carribbean (Lica's place)

Had a superb brunch at Keppel Marina the next morning with my mom, koko Po Kwang, Lica and Tomoko.........I just discovered a rather swanky bar there and am sooooooo going there soon;)

Gee............why do I have the feeling that I am wasting my life away??
Oh right........because I am!! SIGH!! I am like doing NOTHING productive........haven't been wakeboarding, haven't been studying much. Been sailing though...thank god for that. But that is like sooooo not enough...................

SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I better buck up by next week and stop being such a lazy bum.........before I end up being stuck in the mud with dirt all the way up to my eyeballs :(

I LOVE Bangkok

I never thought that I will ever say this but its true. I came back on Sunday and I simply can't wait to go back there again. I'll probably choose Bangkok over Tokyo anytime for food, fun and not to mention cheap buys. Will go more into the details when I get all my pics sorted out. Stay tuned!! ;)

Its a damn cold night...................So many of the good things from the past that simply added happiness and meaning to my life have disappeared. Past inspirations and dreams all blown apart and away. Past ideas and hopes all shrivelled up and stepped upon. Past comfort now rendered questionable. Everything has to change because nothing is the same anymore. Im past having heartaches since 2006. Nobody understands why I have this underlying issue all the time. And they never will.

The past and all its riches are gone. I can't look back or feel anything about it anymore. But I have a future to carve out. And I am damn well gonna push it in the direction of the ultimatum that I have set for myself since I was a little boy.

This post is specially created for all my cousins who are living overseas and were therfore unable to make it for cousin Mark's wedding.

Mark's Wedding

10am-11.30am: Ceremony at aunt Catherine's house- The bride and groom came in 45 mins late for I don't know what reason. I opened the car door for Mark, something that was suggested by everyone in the house after which I got a nice hongbao for. It was a really casual ceremony with only a handful of family members so nothing much was done except some chit chat, watching the bride and groom feed each other and muching on some tangyuans and a simple 'pang tei' ceremony.

12pm-2.30pm: Exchange of vows at Four Seasons- Everyone at the house soon found themselves scrambling to get to Four Seasons Hotel to meet up with the rest of the family. Of course Mark and Su Yeon were the first to leave. By noon, everyone was seated and the exchange of vows began. We first sang some hymms, then we watched Lica and Ryan (the flowergirl and pageboy) walk down the aisle followed by Mark and Su Yeon. There was the exchange of vows, exchange of rings, lighting of the candles to re-affirm the marriage and the signing of the marriage papers followed by more hymms and finally, lunch. After the gorgeous lunch, it was the full 'pang tei' ceremony. I have to admit that I was never close to Mark unlike some of my other cousins.....but I had another hongbao from him just by shaking his hand during the ceremony!! :D Everyone left the ceremony after that to get ready for Mark's 'big night'

Mark's wedding dinner was at the St Regis. I have to admit that I was extremely excited as this was a newly constructed 'branded' hotel and residence. BUT, upon reaching the hotel, I realised that it was EXTREMELY so-so. I mean, even hotels like the Conrad were better. For a 'branded' hotel that created so much hoo haa, it was of quite a disappointing standard from my point of view. The toilets on the 2nd floor were quite impressive though. They were covered in marble (or was it granite?? eep!!), heavily scented with a spicy scent from an aroma therapy candle near the sink and speaking of the sinks, they were all in a modern and transparent design with individually rolled hand towels placed in stacks at their base. Anyway back to the dinner, there were 2 hosts throughout the night making the announcements and all. One made it in English and Chinese presumably for Mark's side of the family. And another in Korean, presumably for Su Yeon's side of the family. Dinner was quite so-so too. For a 6 star hotel, the food quality was really washed out. There was of course the cutting of the wedding cake, the pouring of the champagne and so on along with some heartfelt speeches from Mark and his friends. The dinner ended at around 10 smthin. Long story short. It was a wonderful night :) Just that the food kinda sucked. And umm.....thats all. How is that for an abrupt ending??