2008 Reflections [part 2]

Reflections of myself in 2008.

2008 has been a rough year for me, being diagnosed with cancer after falling terribly ill during the early days of May.

I've been talking about the processes I face during my fight with cancer, but I haven't really reveal my thoughts and feelings through the whole thing.

When the doctor told me that I have cancer, my initial reaction was unlike anyone's. I actually accepted it and didn't feel sad at first. Maybe perhaps I have been anticipating it coming, as my health wasn't good ever since June last year. And when the doctor told me there was a cure, I was relieved, as finally the pain I have been gradually experiencing in my chest will be solved.

Ah, 0722 peeps that visited me on the first day must have saw me wiping away some tears. Actually that were not tears of sadness, it's the body wipes soap still on my hands, so when I rubbed my eyes, tears flow out LOL.

Then chemotherapy started to kick in. I think the whole chemotherapy process is perhaps one of the worst moments of my life. Having to sit for hours as chemicals are spammed into you. Boredom is one thing, having to stay in hospital for one week every 3 weeks. Side-effects are another. The loss in appetite is unbearable, and I remember by the last cycle of chemotherapy, I had no appetite for everything and only ate a few biscuits per day. Vomitting too gets worse as time passes by, initially the anti-nausea medicines were working, but by the last cycle, they were ineffective. Had to resort to sleeping to escape from reality.

And then there was difficulty in catching up in schoolwork. Fatigue set in but I continued to push myself, despite knowing that I probably couldn't catch up. At last, I realised that some things cannot be forced, and decided not to take my A Levels this year.

Then operation came. To be honest, I feared death then. But thankfully, operation was successful, tumour is gone, and now I need to be monitored for the next 5 years in case of there is a relapse.

Of course, after the operation, I stayed at home. And my social life was in tatters. I grew distant from my friends, and I stared at the computer screen for whole day. Often, there were times I asked why did this happen to me. However, I am a strong believer that things do happen for a reason, and this is fate. Life is full of challenges and I must learn to accept it.

One thing I regret during my long "holiday" is not maximising my time to revise. As of now I am in deep shit, oh well, I have a week to try to cover at least J1 schoolwork. Hope my trusty brain is still working, albeit a bit rusty.

In conclusion, I must say I am extremely glad for being given the opportunity to live life to the fullest again. The whole experience made me step back and think of how valuable life is.

I know it's going to be a bit hard for me next year, considering that I will have to be extremely independent in order to survive school.
However, let's hope 2009 will be a fantastic year for all of us! =D

Happy New Year everyone!

P.S Resolutions tomorrow. Lol.

2008 Reflections [part 1]

It's that time of the year again to do my traditional end-of-year reflections.

Shall divide my post into these categories:

TOP 5 Soccer Moments
TOP 5 Events of the Year
Reflections on My Life [on a seperate post]

TOP 5 Soccer Moments:

5)Eduardo's Leg Injury

Who could forget the horrible tackle by Martin Taylor on Eduardo during Arsenal's Premier League matchup against relegated Birmingham this year. Eduardo broke his leg and was ruled out for the rest of the season. It was also one of the turning point in Arsenal's title chase, as Birmingham forced a 2-2 draw late on, causing morale to dip. Without Eduardo, Arsenal lacked a striker who could finish off chances, something they lack deeply. After that incident, Arsenal never recovered, and lost the lead to eventual champions Manchester United.

4)Vietnam Suprise Triumph
They say it will be Singapore or Thailand lifting the Tiger Cup, now renamed the Suzuki Cup, yet again. Instead, Vietnam sprung a suprise, beating both powerhouses of ASEAN to lift the trophy.

3)Manchester City taken over by Abu Dhabi Consortium

A takeover that suprised the whole world, Manchester United is now property of Abu Dhabi Consortium. Announcing their huge plans to take the Premiership by storm, they signed Robinho on the final day of the transfer window. And with the winter transfer market opening soon, more money will be splurged to lure soccer stars to the Eastlands.

2)Spain: Champions of Euro 08

Spain finally ended their long wait for a trophy as they defeated Germany in the Finals to lift the Euro 2008 trophy. A deserved victory for the Spainards, who impressed everyone with the flowing football that they played.

1)Manchester United: Champions of Europe

Can't resist putting this up. Who could forget the infamous slip by John Terry, which blew the chance for Chelsea to claim the Champions League trophy. We know how the story ended, Anelka's penalty was saved and Mr Chelsea cried the whole week.

TOP 5 Events of the Year

5) Beijing Olympics

This edition of Olympics will forever be remembered as Michael Phelps grabbed 7 olympic golds. Usain Bolt's amazing dash is worthy of remembrance, and Singapore winning a medal after a long wait is one to savour too.

4) Mas Selamat Toilet Break

This should be the event of the year in Singapore. The terrorist, Mas Selamat, managed to flee from Whitley Detention Centre by escaping via...the toilet. Where he is now, no one knows. But don't worry, as our PM says, "WE WILL CATCH HIM!".

3) China Milk Scandal

Yeah. China milk which caused kidney stones. It started from baby milk powder and slowly, more products are found contaminated with melamine. One thing people wonder is: WHY DIDN'T THE HEALTH AUTHORITIES DETECT IT EARLIER?

2) Lehman Brothers Goes Bust

America was already starting to experience the credit crunch, and suddenly, BOOM, Lehman Brothers go bust. Other business firms start to suffer too, and America went into deep shit. The economic crisis spread like a bushfire to other parts of the world, and as of now, we are bracing for the worst recession ever since the 1980s meltdown.

1) US Presidential Election

WHO'S THE MAN? Barrack Obama is, for the United States of America. Obama triumped over McCain in the race to the White House. After months of gruelling campaigning, it was Obama who become the 1st black American to become the President of United States. It signifies change for Americans, as well as change in their way of thinking.

To Buy or Not to Buy

A $199 Foldable Bicycle is on sale at Popular Bookstore.
Looks something like the above picture.
Very tempting.

Should I buy? Or should I save money for rainy days?

Views anyone?

Monsieur Wenger...why?!

Early morning kickoff with Aston Villa against Arsenal ended in a 2-2 draw, after Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead.

Seriously, it's getting all too predictable by now.
Arsenal leads...opponents lose confidence...opponents score, regain confidence, Arsenal gets nervy, opponents equalise and may proceed on to win the game.

Our defence is like shit. Gallas should be sold before his value drops. Toure is not as good as he was before. A fellow Arsenal fan remarked that he wished there were 4 Sagnas. While I laughed at his comments, I found it quite true too.

We need a proper captain. With the absence of Fabregas, Almunia takes over, but he is too silent and not so commanding to be a captain. A captain needs to be able to motivate, have a lot of passion for the club and be a good role model for others.

If I were Arsenal's boss, I would appoint Sagna or Clichy as captain. These two fullbacks have the highest workrate for Arsenal, and they seem to play whole-heartedly for the club rather than money.

For our defence, we should sell Gallas and Toure, and bring in solid centre-backs. Fazio is a good choice, even Hangeland of Fulham and former gunner Upson looks solid if Wenger is looking for bargains.

As for the midfield players, we can get Toulalan and/or Veloso as our holding midfielder, and to cover for Cesc Fabregas, we can get our hands on Marcos Senna; although old, it is a short-term solution while our captain recovers.

And I would be glad to sell Van Persie and Bendtner, and in exchange buy Carlos Tevez.

Wenger should stop being a scrooge and his youth-are-the-best policy.

Or not, he might face the door out sooner than later.

HOHOHO!

Merry Xmas to those who celebrate it! =)
Have fun yeah!

NEED HELP!

Anyone who has completed the Prelim Exam Papers(Topical) for Maths during your A Lvl preparations, may I please have your answer script? I really need it for my revision.

Would really appreciate your help.

Crack and be fined

New Singapore copyright laws bans home users from cracking software

New copyright laws which are set to be in effect from January 1st in Singapore will ban home users from cracking old computer games and programs. Home users will not be allowed to use any key generators and the like and anyone caught breaking the law could be hit with a fine in the region of $20,000.

But the changes, scheduled to be going to affect on January 1, mean ordinary home users will be theoretically stopped from cracking old computer programs and games.

Users will be, “prohibited from using a password generator to generate access codes to play pirated video games or using software like DeCSS to make unauthorised copies of DVD movies,” says the Straits Times, going on.

Anyone caught breaking the law will face fines of up to $20,000, says the story.

However, the “visually-disabled” will be, “allowed to crack electronic books where the read-aloud function is disabled, so they can access the book’s contents”.

Basically I feel this whole thing is stupid. What's wrong with cracking softwares?
Mind you, downloading illegally and cracking are two separate matters.

My word of advice: Stay away from keygen websites such as keygen.ms once the new year starts and...

If you guys want to crack your softwares, crack it before January 1! >:)

MY PILOT PEN IS GONE!

I haven't been to Popular for ages, and yesterday I was shocked when I found out the pen I endeared myself to is no longer available on the shelves!

RAH! My favourite pen. No more refills also.

Anyway, today went to collect notes from Xiao Ying, with the help of Hao Zi. Her rooms in her new apartment are kinda small...oh well...it's a new-style flat afterall. Sorted out the notes I want, and then lamed around and played MapleStory for her-.-

At 1.30pm, Hao Zi and I left to meet Ming Han and we ate lunch at LJS.
Talked crap, and then went home.

Feeling so tired, I should start sleeping earlier.
School is starting in a few weeks' time. =O
Excited, yet sianed.

Meteor Shower

The Geminids, one of the most spectacular meteor showers, reaches its annual maximum around December 13. Unfortunately the maximum coincides with a full phase of the moon this year, severely hampering optical observations because of the poor darkness of the sky. Observers are nevertheless encouraged to submit their data for analysis. Meteor rates obtained under full moon conditions still teach us more about the activity of this shower than having no data at all.

Listen to the meteor echoes@
http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/video.html

Click the first option, use IE or chrome. Press play, wait for it to load for around 60 seconds. It should be static, with occasional "whistles" which signifies echo, and other weird sounds too.

Alternatively, ride down to Changi and witness the meteor showers at around 7am ~ 8am range.

Reborn! Quiz

Alright, since my blogskin maker went M.I.A, I decided to have some fun with Photoshop instead and came out with a picture to match with this default skin.

For those who do not know who the hell is that guy on top of my blog, he's Yamamoto Takeshi, a character from the anime Hitman Reborn!

Anyway, Reborn Quiz.
Which Vongola Ring suits you the most?
Ring Of The Rain:
You are a person who do not show their feelings to everyone as you do not want them to worry too much about you. You are sharp and tend to learn new things quickly. You can be naive at times, but you are always sincere in doing things.

Anyway, I'm embedding Middlesbrough vs Arsenal on my blog tonight, so if you're an Arsenal fan, do tune in. xD

Two Most Awaited PVs.

Velonica by Aqua Timez (Bleach OP9)


Last Cross by Masami Mitsuoka (Reborn! OP5)


Yeah I love Aqua Timez!

Bolt

Outing with PPFR peeps today @ Plaza Sing
Jia Jun, Cindy, Nicole, Asraf and KD who joined us for lunch.
We decided to watch Bolt instead of TDESS.
I was outnumbered by the rest...zzz



So anyway Bolt turned out to be quite interesting, though the storyline was obvious.
But simple movies are the way to go, this is perhaps one of Disney's finest production ever since The Incredibles.

After the movie, KD came and we ate at Long John Silvers. Laughed so much till cannot focus eating properly. Zzz...

Anyway pics:

95% healed

Hospital appointment with my surgeon today.
Seems recovery of my sternum is going pretty well, 95% healed.
And that means one thing.....

SPORTS!!! =D
Can finally play soccer, or go jogging again.
Though doctor says I still have to be careful and avoid collisions.

Anyway, for the past two days straight I have been pissed off by people.
Dunno why, my patience just ran out.
Shall not elaborate much.
Just detest people who are immature and accuses people without proof.

Anyway PPFR outing details:
11 December, 1pm, Meet at Plaza Sing GV.
Those who are going, or need further queries, please leave me a PM, thanks =D

Cool weather

Nice cool weather today, simply lovely.

Monsoon season is coming, I presume.

Nothing much else to say I guess.

Happy Hari Raya Haji to my Muslim friends and relatives.

Arsenal vs Wigan

Short Trip To Sim Lim

A trip to Sim Lim Square today.

Damage: $42
Sandisk 4GB Memory Stick Micro M2 @ $30
Genius Headset w/ Mic @ $12

As I walked in the rain, I can't stop thinking. The connection between uncertaincy and change.

Parkway Parade

Went to Parkway Parade with my parents today.
Hmm I have been to Parkway Parade quite often for the past few months.
Not that I mind though, eyecandies a plenty there...=X

Anyway today I tio scammed at Giant!
Wanted to purchase a 4GB Micro Memory Stick for my handphone, and its price tag wrote $34.90.
Bargain right? So I decided to buy.
Then to my horror, it cost $49.90.
They printed the price tag wrongly
Forced them to refund me nia.
Giant's service is bad.
Had a couple of bad experiences already.

Hmm, feel like going Sim Lim Square tomorrow or Thursday.
Anyone wanna tag along with me?

Time flies

And before I knew it, December has already come upon us.
Hmm 1 more month to school.
Thinking of it, I basically wasted my life away for the past few months staring at the computer screen everyday.

SO, I'M MAKING A PROMISE TO MYSELF.
I SHALL START MUGGING TODAY/TOMORROW.
I shall make every ounce of motivation to study count!

Anyway, RVP's quick double-fire yesterday helped Arsenal to a 2-1 victory over their London and title rivals Chelsea.
Sweet, considering that Arsenal finally broke off from their poor run.

Cousin's Wedding

Today, I attended my cousin's wedding.

Going there was a hassle; there was a road closure and we had to drive through Lim Chu Kang cemetry.

That place is very creepy, look around and you will feel a slight shiver down your spine. Futhermore we got lost, so my other cousin had to drive round and round the cemetry.

Back to the main point, the occasion was quite interesting as this was my first time witnessing a Malay-Chinese style wedding.

Everyone had a chuckle as the bridegroom was a bit blur on what he had to do, and he cracked some jokes too.

And guess who I met there.
Miss Juliana Tay. (the one Si Hao called ogre =X)
the no-longer zhss art teacher
she recognised my other cousin whom she previously taught before.

Hmm, that's about it.

Simplicity rocks!

Today I met up with Shuqian and Jeremy, two of my good friends in secondary school.

Ate a simple meal at Food Junction@J8 and spent the rest of the afternoon playing Dai Dee at a nearby void deck.

It is always nice meeting up with old pals and reminise the past while playing simple card games.

Back to the topic of simplicity, I feel that certain games have gone through several developments till they become too complicated.
Some examples:
-Football Manager 2009: Everyone wanted the 3D-match engine, and true enough it came. But loading and gaming time takes longer, thus making the game not as addictive as before.
-Call of Duty 5: Simple question. Do you prefer COD5 or COD4? There's your answer.

Yeah, the past few days, I've been playing back old classics and found them to more addictive than the current ones.

So what do you guys think?

Side-note:
To those who are bored-
CounterStrike 1.6 Non-Steam
Garena
Download the two above and play CS with me. LOL.

I shall be posting up more game download links. =D

Fabregas appointed captain of Arsenal FC

Fabregas has been appointed the new captain of Arsenal after Gallas was stripped of his captaincy for his ranting of the club.

Well for me, the appointment came as a suprise as I expected either Toure or Clichy to be named as captain. But I guess Fabregas is everyone's favourite for the post and furthermore, it was incentive for Fabregas to stay with the Gunners, seeing the tough patch the Gunners are currently going through.

Whether Fabregas becomes a good captain or not remains to be seen. At just 21 years of age, he is one of Arsenal's youngest captains. Tony Adams was made captain at the same age, and he proceeded on to be one of Arsenal's finest captains. Will Fabregas be able to emulate him? Or will he falter like Thierry Henry; a star that became captain, but failed as one as the team over-relied on him. Only time will tell.

One thing's certain, it is the beginning of a new era for Arsenal FC.