Farewell Jurong Institute

Okay this is a rather special post. I went back to my ex-college, Jurong Institute, last week. I was supposed to meet Mr Ram, my ex-soccer coach, to get a set of new soccer boot studs from him when I noticed something amiss. Everything have been torn down. It's like the entire campus became a dead city or something. It was only through Mr Ram did I learn that the school is moving. As it was scheduled to be moving only in June next year, it was a surprise to me that they have brought forward the date to 27th of December this year. Anyways, it was a pretty emotional day for me when I was there. That short one hour that I was there brought back tonnes of memories of my life in JI 3 years ago. I had spent a good 3 years of my life there from 2001 - 2003. It was also there that I met my Band of Brothers and my Darling. And what better way to share my memories with you people than to take you round my school for a brief orientation. As for you guys who were part of my JI memories, here's a recap. Enjoy...


This is the General Office where the principal and the HODs worked. Yes I have been in and out of here for as often as I can remember. I was never an obedient student in school. Always had to see the disciplinary mistress and the principal for shit that I did.




(1) Pigeon holes where we submit our late homeworks to our lecturers.
(2) The staff room where all the teachers work.
(3) The PE department and that is the backview of my soccer coach, Mr Ram.
(4) The corridor outside the PE department.




(1) Mr Ram's car. You can see him loading his car with stuffs that he wanted to shift over to the new campus.
(2) The small blue door below the staircase where our soccer boys keep our soccer balls and other soccer stores.
(3) Our Science block. The two famous umbrellas where we always wait at before a science practical test.
(4) The pots of plants who were religiously taken care of by our OM, Operational Manager.




Besides plants, our OM has a fetish for cats as well. This is one of them whom he feeds every single day, even now, during the holidays.




(1) Our tennis court.
(2) The basketball and volleyball court. This is also the court that we soccer boys used for training on times when we wanted the field to rest.
(3) The spot we always choose to change into our soccer gears before training commenced.
(4) The walkway between the PE department and the tennis court.




(1) The corridor outside the staff room and the general office.
(2) As you can see, the overturned desks ready for disposal as we are about to move to the new campus.
(3) The little pathetic bookshop with a retarded, down syndrome uncle.
(4) The stairway to the school hall, on the 2nd floor. D'uh!




(1) The pond I never visited before. It's normally used only for photo taking sessions with the top students after A'Levels. That explains why I have never been there.
(2) This crap painting we always see while walking to the canteen.
(3) Our canteen, with all the tables and benches removed.
(4) My favourite wall painting in the entire school, it's drawn on the wall at the back of the little pathetic bookshop. Familiar?




Nothing much, this is our classroom blocks. Just a quandrangle of 4 storey classrooms. Boring...*yawnz*




(1) The toilet which we soccer boys always bathe in and messed up after training.
(2) The entrance to our soccer field.
(3) An alternative entrance.
(4) Our boots washing area, where are the brushes which we paid for???




(1) At the top of the stairs is a fitness station.
(2) The very pitch we always train on. My share of sweat has been absorbed by this field.
(3) The little training shed which was included at the end of 2003, rarely used.
(4) Our running track for recovery jogging.




Another lousy wall painting. The tiger looks dead.




Now this is interesting. This is the door of my classroom when I was in Year 2, that's in 2002. And I was surprised to find what I scribbled on the door still there. Brothers, any impressions of this? I can't believe it, there it was, my handwriting, looking strong there after 4 years. *haha*




My classroom when I was in Year 2. All the memories of my Band of Brothers with my home tutor, Mr Pillai. Slacker of the year.




Look at this!!! We made our own sepak takraw court at the back of the classroom by pasting masking tape on the floor. After 4 years, the court is still there. Probably still in use even. I almost died laughing when I saw this. *hahahaha*




And this, is the work area of my 2 favourite aunties. They were cleaners in our school and I had a strong friendship with them. They even gave me a huge Ang Pow during one of the Chinese New Year.




That is where my Darling and I always played volleyball after school. Those were the sweet old days when I first got together with her. This is at the back of her classroom actually.




4 different views of my classroom when I was in Year 3, 2003. Nothing much lah, no legacies that I left behind here.




(1) "Metamorphosis", an art gallery the art students put together to display all their artistic works. Brothers, do you guys still remember that this was actually our classroom back in Year 1 before it became this art gallery. I still remember our home tutor Ms Alhamid. That was in 2001, so long ago.




With a reluctance, I left my good old school. A few of the famous road signs and bus numbers that service the routes to our school. Those memories that can now only be memories and nothing else...




And of course, with a new campus, comes a new name. It has since been renamed, MI, Millenia Institute.



With a heavy heart, good-bye JI. Good-bye Jurong Institute.

Too Much To Update, Help!

This is a bit of a rush, a lot of things happened in a week. I don't have much time to explain everything in details but let the below pictures tell on my behalf. So much more pictures to upload. Have a go at these...


Have you ever read the book "True Singapore Ghost Stories"? This is the author, Russell Lee. For the past decade, he has never shown his face before. Always behind this black disguise. Anyways, this is him in Singapore Expo in one of his authograph signing session.




And this is a very cute Chow Chow I found in Pet Lovers Centre in East Point Shopping Centre. Isn't he so adorable?




Check this out, this cat is a PR of my block. He is permanently staying at the void deck of my block. I've named him Cat 469.




Introducing, Nana a.k.a. Cupid. She's my darling's dog. A Chihuahua X Maltese. Here, my darling's trying to teach her some mahjong skills. She's doing pretty well actually. See how she's concentrating?




Some fish I found in Changi's house. Changi's one of my soccer kakis. I went there some time last week to meet him and some other friends for supper.




Whoa whoa whoa, relax. This is artificial. I was back at SAFTI Medical Centre, where I served my National Service, and this is a new equipment they used to educate the new soldiers on personal hygeine. Innovative huh? Sick as well!




Remember Cat 469? The orangy + yellowish one below is one of his buddies who show up at the void deck once in a while.



I was in JB last week to help my parents clean up the entire house. While I was there, I was walking around the shopping mall near my place with my darling. We came upon this huge poster and guess what we found? Look closely! Yeah!! A huge fly resting on the face of the model in the poster. *hahahahahaha*




That's a few snap shots of my house in JB, Johore Bahru. Nice huh? It's the exterior of the house taken at night.



Later that week, we attended my Dad's birthday party cum his IEAust Christmas bash at the Mandarin Hotel. This year, he is promoted as the president of the institute. So proud of him! Happy Birthday Dad!!




And while we were at Mandarin Hotel, I took a few snaps at the beautiful lightings of Orchard Road. I love Christmas. I can feel the Christmas spirit already.




Nothing new, just a few more snaps of Cat 469.




Maybe I am into taking photos of stray cats and other animals these days. Call me crazy. Anyways, this cat hangs out at the NTUC near my house. To my Australian friends, NTUC is like Supa Valu / IGA in Perth. Nice kitty.

Raining Cats And Dogs

Hi there, it's been a week or two since I last got in here yah? I promise, I'll be updating my life in Singapore as regularly as I can. Been really busy with housework (believe it or not), my darling, soccer and stuffs. Haven't even really gone out to have fun or shopping ever since I come back. I do look forward to the trip which I will be making to KL from the 16th to the 18th though.

Currently it's been planned as such, Darling, Eric (her brother), Quincy (her brother's girlfriend) and I will have a 3 day 2 night trip to KL. But it seems that Eric and Quincy are facing a little problem about going for this trip. Anyways, darlig and I will still go nonetheless. And hopefully I can meet Fung up while I am there. By then we can talk about our results which will be out on the 13th. Crikey! I can't wait. Oh I have so many pictures to show that I can't post them all up in one post. Here's the first part which features some of the stray cats that wander about the streets in Singapore and of course, the reason and title for my blog, Dino...my dear baby. Here we go...


I spot this cat while I took a drive up to Changi Village with my darling's family. Changi Village, by the way, is a pretty famous place in Singapore where you can see AGUAs (transverstite). This cat was sleeping on a chair in a coffeeshop in Changi Village. Look at the position she was sleeping in, isn't she adorable?




As soon as she heard the clicks from my camera, she lifted her arm a little to check out who was taking snap shots of her. *haha* Cuties...




Oh I was on my way to the market one afternoon and I saw this cat sleeping on one of the stalls' tables. I believe it was bananas below this blue canvas. Should have been a fruit stall. So peaceful, so sound asleep.




And it was time for steamboat. Something I've yearned for. What a spread. Believe it or not, darling and I prepared this ourselves in less than an hour!




Now this bowl of special steamboat chilli sauce was blended by my darling. My mum taught her how to make it. Shh...secret recipe. Spicyometer: HOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!




And guess who tried to steal food even before the steamboat started? Let's have a closer look...




As expected, it's Dino, tha naughty Jack Russell. Luckily I caught this on tape, now see what he has to say!

My First Week Back Home

Hi there again, it's not easy these days to update my blog. I'm with my Darling most of the time and as you guys know, she isn't aware of the existence of this blog. So the only time I have for updating things here is when she's in school or when she' fast asleep at night. *Haiz* Blogging in stealth. *haha* Anyways, I didn't really do much over the past week. The week hasn't passed yet technically, cos' it's only Friday today. Anyhow, here are some snap shots of what I did over the last few days.


That's my Darling packing my luggage while my Mum was figuring out how to use the Microsoft Word on my laptop. This is taken in my house in Johore by the way.




That's my best friend, Dino. Lazing on my bed.




Another shot of him, this time he's a couch potato. Resting in front of the TV.




And this, is his house! I bought it for him. It's an igloo from IKEA. Nice nice?




And a few days ago, I brough my Darling to Si Beh Lor, a place for buddhist to do their routine praying. It was CROWDED! As usual there will be aunties and uncles trying to sell some wierd products.




More crowds...I was sweating buckets. Where in Perth do you get a chance like this to perspire?




That's my Darling touching the laughing buddah's statue. It's for prosperity and this statue is being fondled by almost everyone that passed by.




Now this is a shot from inside the temple itself. See those devotees? And I got a warning from the security guard as soon as I took this photos. "Sorry ah, no photos in the temple!" *dope*




Darling and I feeling bored after we got home from Si Beh Lor.




That's my Darling's first dog, Snoopy. We call her Pipi for short. Cute?



Okay now that fun time is over, let's talk about something more serious. I am 90% sure that I will be staying here in Singapore to do my degree. For a simple reason. If I were to stay in Perth, chances are I will be going to Curtin University or at most University of Western Australia. Of which, only UWA is a good university as it is in the Group of 8. However here in Singapore, University of New South Wales, UNSW, is setting up a campus here by 2007. Although the actual campus will only be ready in 2008, school term starts in March 2007. I can choose to do Chemical Engineering here or better still, a double degree of Chemical Engineering + Commerce. I've already submitted my application. Now I just have to wait for my results from the Foundation Exams to come out. And hopefully, all goes well and I can take the double degree course. Do you realise how much of my parents' money I will save if I choose to remain here. Of course, I will miss many things I once experienced in Perth. I mean, not everyone gets the chance to study abroad and if 2006 meant tha one and only chance I get to study abroad, I am contented. At least I get to experience it once in my life. On a brighter note, the degree from UNSW allows us to do the final year or final 2 years at the main campus in Sydney. UNSW is alsoa university from the Group of 8 and is widely recognised especially in Singapore. My friends from Perth, if you're reading this, you better keep in contact with me alright? Don't think just because I am remaining here to study means you can forget me like that. Anyways, I'm not worried. How does anyone forget me? It's not easy. *haha* And for those of you, like CODY, you should also seriously start considering coming over here to study. It's better to pay your tuition fees in Singapore dollars than Aussie dollars. Check out this website, http://www.unswasia.edu.sg/homepage.html Mazael, you might want to check it out as well. If you're interested, it's loads of money we're talking about that's being saved here. Fung, sadly for you, you're probably going to get your ass stucked to UWA huh?

Okay dudes, I got to go now. Having a severe sore throat. I'm going to go out and get some Strepsils and lots of food for tonight's steamboat in my house. And what always follows steamboat? Yeah! Mahjong!! It's been a long time now. Anyways, here's something interestingly funny, check it out.




I've been offered a Double Degree in Law + Business by Edith Cowan University.




The next day, they sent me another offer letter for a 4 year degree in Law. I almost laughed my guts out. *haha*