It has been a day of surprises! Yes yes yes. Thank you so much dear chelle. In 2 days time, I will be 25. How fitting that I shall be celebrating my birthday just before I begin a whole new phase of my life. I'm actually feeling tired as I type this entry so hopefully I am gradually beginning to sleep earlier...

Exercising has been fruitful and I feel so much healthier, lighter and warmer. Shall continue to fight the fats! Finances have been a little messy of late but I definitely will sort it out before NIE. Gonna implement saving and resist unnecessary spending! (like not adding any further mods to my car... =P)

Here's a pic of the recent cycling trip, taken at Bedok jetty just before events took a turn for the worse...

Spent a good 3 hours washing the car and then carefully giving it a full body wax. Phew. Black does look so good when it is given that gloss! The only minor regret that I have is the lack of proper shelter in the house for the car, making it vulnerable to rain and shine, birdshit and carelessmaidswhosprayyourcarwithwaterwhilewateringtheplants. EDITED: Well it seems that parking the car in the porch does not prevent those darn birds from shitting all over it!!! In the span of an afternoon, I had to clean away birdshit from my car roof twice!!!

Finally met up with the elusive z-stab man and got my hands onto two sets of the acclaimed device. Through a tiring DIY process, I've successfully installed it in my ride. It is worth mentioning that I almost got fried by the car battery three times too... heh. Anyway, I'm glad that I learnt something new today.

The Continued Misfortunes of Night Cycling... As a continuation of a previous episode of night cycling, my friends and I picked up our bikes from Chelle's place at around 11pm. We began with a promising start, as we cut through the EXPO and made it safely to the ECP. But the hands of cruel fate had plans for us... We stopped at Bedok jetty to enjoy the night breeze before we continued with the remaining stretch of the ECP. As we drew closer to 7-Eleven, Jon suddenly realised that his front tyre were flat and his rear wheel was also losing air fast. Shit happens. It was 1:30am and all the bicycle shops were shut. There was no way we could continue the planned journey without tubing and an air-pump.

The final decision: wait till morning, get Jon's bike fixed, continue home... It seems to be a simple plan but what were we gonna do while waiting? Well, we decided to drink, eat and make merry. In fact 2 whole barrels of Heineken were downed by just the four of us! At 6am, fatique and alcohol finally persuaded us to sleep for a few hours. Thus I lay on the rocky wave-breaker and fell asleep to the sound of waves and the smell of seawater. The rest that ensued is too tedious to narrate on this blog. All I can say is that once again I found myself pushed to certain physical and mental limits. Whoo Hoo.

Collected the new ride today and rushed straight down to AMK to get the new rims and tyres fitted. Never has the Toyota Vios looked more beautiful... Original bodykit, OZ Superleggera, 195/50/R15 BF-Goodrich G-Sport tyres... Yes the car may be made in thailand and there may be slight imperfections here and there, but it is definitely a keeper! I will try to get some photos taken and posted as soon as I can!

On another note, me dad has also gone nuts... coz he too changed his stock 175/70/R14s to light-weight 15" Kyowa Racing rims along with 195/60/R15 Michelin Energy tyres!!! Justin must have been very happy at all the money he earned from both father and son. Although my rims cost almost twice the price of my dad's, I have no regrets. Like the car, they are here to stay.

SFK2475X. That's the number plate. If you ever see it, know this - it's my preciousss...

This song by Dashboard Confessional has gotten me hooked onto it... Especially the vocals!

Saints and Sailors
This is where I say I've had enough
And no one should ever feel the way that I feel now.
A walking open wound,
a trophy display of bruises
And I don't believe that I'm getting any better.
Any better.

Waiting here with hopes the phone will ring
And I'm thinking awful things
I'm pretty sure that few would notice.
And this apartment
is starving for an argument.
Anything at all to break the silence.

Wandering this house
like I've never wanted out
And this is about as social as I get now.
And I'm throwing away the letters that I am writing you
Cause they would never do,
I would never do.
Never

Waiting here with hopes the phone will ring
And I'm thinking awful things
I'm pretty sure that few would notice.
And this apartment is starving for an argument.
Anything at all to break the silence.

So don't be a liar
Don't say that
"everything's working"
when everything's broken.
And you smile like a saint
but you curse like a sailor
And your eyes say the jokes on me.

But, I'm not laughing
You're not leaving
Who do I think I am kidding?
When I'm the only one locked in this hell

Waiting here with hopes the phone will ring
And I'm thinking awful things
I'm pretty sure that few would notice.
And this apartment is starving for an argument.
Anything at all to break the silence.

So don't be a liar
Don't say that "everything's working"
when everything's broken.
And you smile like a saint but you curse like a sailor
And your eyes say the jokes on me.

Well for those of you who have no idea what Dashboard Confessional is, here's a link to their site -> Dashboard Confessional. Don't forget to check out the vid of Saints and Sailors!

Just finished watching an exciting soccer match between Czech Republic and Netherlands... The Czech Republic won 3 goals to 2!!! Euro 2004 is really turning out to be a season of the underdogs, with Greece and Czech Republic definitely advancing into the quarter finals.

The OZ Superleggera rims are gonna cost quite a bomb at $235 each! Can't wait for the new week to begin... It will be so much better to have a 109bhp car that reaches the century mark under 10s. Played against a Nissan X-trail on my way home just now and here's what happened...

Nissan X-Trail (2.5 Auto) VS Toyota Corolla (1.3 Manual)
The traffic light turned green. I had my air-con turned off in order to gain a slight increase in horse-power. The Corolla moved off with a promising head start... Either the automatic gearbox or the driver of the X-Trail was slightly slow in reacting to move off. I was filled with exhilaration as the Corolla was leading!!! From the corner of my eye the X-Trail began to catch up... I looked down at the meters and saw that I was at 3rd gear pushing well into 5000 rpm... The X-Trail overtook and continued to pull ahead... The Corolla was already hitting 110km/h on the speedo and so I decided to play it safe and relax on the accelerator. Yes I lost but at least for the first few seconds, I am sure that the Corolla kicked the ass of another vehicle with an engine that was two times more powerful. I dare say that the Corolla hit 100km/h first! Imagine that. If only I was already driving the Vios... =)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Definitely an epic sci-fi movie that deserves more than just 2 hrs of screen time. It is a story that is set in such an immense world that the lack of sufficient detail hinders proper appreciation of it rather than un-complicating it. The Lord of the Rings came in a trilogy and still many feel that it did not do enough justice to the book. This movie leaves us wanting to know more, in a way very much like Underworld. Maybe next time the producers can get their lazy asses to add on another hour of screen time so that a good movie may become a great one - which is the least it deserves in the case of this movie.

Shout for joy!!! My Vios has arrived and I will be collecting it sometime next week!!!

Drove up to Ipoh for the weekend to spend some time with the family, so here's the Ipoh update...

Food was the only attraction. Ipoh hor fun was great, seafood was great, and this certain specialty chicken with bean sprouts dish was good too. Actually the bean sprouts, being locally grown, were fat and juicy. The chicken was just average. Singapore chicken is far better. Oh and I must mention the ice-kacang at the Ipoh stadium. Actual nuts were added to the ice shavings, along with gula melacca, to make it a unique and refreshing desert. Ipoh ice-kacang beats the boring Singapore version anytime! Did get to drive quite abit on the return trip and boy was it boring like hell... Well that's it I guess. There's not really anything else worth blogging about with regards to Ipoh. The other minor details are for those who would be interested and therefore ask me in person. =P

Whee... did another OC quiz but this time round I did not get Seth...


Which O.C. Character Are You? Find out @ She's Crafty

Whoa... lots of alcohol intake lately. But at the same time, I've been exercising quite a bit. The old corolla will be scrapped really soon and I can only hope that my new ride will arrive early July... preferably before I begin NIE. Indeed I've been bumming greatly lately and I don't care what others may think... This is my last chance to slack before NIE begins so I'm gonna make the most of it! =P

I am proud of myself for having cycled all the way to Changi Airport on Thursday evening... After having not gone on a proper cycling trip for a long while, Thursday's trip was not only enjoyable but it brought back many fond memories. I'm also glad that I bought the GT Aggressor as a good bike definitely makes cycling a whole lot easier and enjoyable. Will go on another trip soon... especially since we definitely have to get our bikes back from chelle's home.

In my stubborness to go to bed I did this quiz and I like the results...

You are Adam Brody! You're adorable dorkiness is
absolutely contagious, not to mention you're
super cute! You're a bit more reserved than
most, and find it harded to open up, but you're
always there when it counts. What's behind you
doesn't really matter, because you're all about
the future, and the people there with you.


Which OC Cast Member Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

It's been a while since I blogged and it was simply because I've been trying to complete Morrowind. Once again the massive world of Vvardenfell is not only breath-takingly immersive but it makes me wonder at the future possibilities of rpgs when technology would be even more advanced!

Anyway, I've caught the sneaks for the latest installment of Harry Potter...

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban: A great third installment to the Harry Potter series. I'm glad that in the standards set by the previous two movies are maintained in this one. I must add that the creature effects for the hippogriff were done superbly! I've only seen pictures of the hippogriff and the visuals from the movie does help in bringing it to life in my mind. A movie that everyone should be catching in June!

Many thanks must go out to chelle for shedding much appreciated light on the history of the various characters in JK Rowling's world - the stuff that only one who has read the books would know...