Fire in da house!!!!

We know that we've seen so many videos and clips on fire and the dos and don'ts of it. We also know that such a thing is real, but deep in our hearts... we kinda know that it will never happen to us. Or you thought so.

I was having a great sleep, when suddenly my mother shouted, "Hurry up! Hurry up!". I know that it was the year of the Dog and that it is the 1st day of Chinese New Year, but why is she so 'kan cheong' (nervous) about it? Then suddenly, an unfamiliar manly voice shouted, "Everyone hurry up!". And from my half sleepy eyes a man in blue uniform. Oh my God WHAT THE HELL IS A POLICEMAN DOING IN MY HOUSE!??!?!

Then I realised that something is wrong. I can't remember if I heard it... or I felt it... or I knew it... but there was a FIRE!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!! This is like some drama coming alive!!! I ran out of the house and did all the wrong things:

1. Took my teddy bear down
2. Had 'time' to ask my father to unplug my handphone from the plug, cos I was charging it.

Super 'salah', but yeah, I did it. Anyway I took the nearest sandals and ran down the stairs. I was freaking worried. So many questions, so little time. Out of the main door, I saw my maid, uncle and grandmother across the road. I ran to my grandmother and asked her if she's okay. Was really really worried and relieved that everyone in my family is okay.

While the fireman and police were frantically taking care of the area, onlookers just stood watching the fire coming on and off. The fire was actually in a building near my house. This building, called Eng Wah, used to be some movie studio or something like that. And I think the old films were stuck inside. Guess one of it caught fire.

Here are some pictures of the scene:

That's how big the fire was!

Part of my family at the scene

Look at the amount of smoke!!!!

It was so big, 2 fire engines were needed!!!

The onlookers of the scene

My younger brother and I at the scene. We are so tired. And yes this is me with my teddy bear!!!! He was so scared!

After what seemed to be like forever, the police let us return to our nests... oops I mean our homes. It was truly an experience.

High Hopes for Mariah!!!

Hey hey! Like it or not, MARIAH IS HERE TO STAY!!!!! Check this ratings from a VH1 Grammy poll by adult respondents:


Album of the Year Rankings
1. "The Emancipation Of Mimi" Mariah Carey - 26%
2. "Late Registration" Kanye West - 20%
3. "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" U2 - 17%
4. "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." Gwen Stefani - 12%
5. "Chaos And Creation In The Backyard" Paul McCartney - 10%

Record of the Year Rankings
1. "We Belong Together" Mariah Carey - 26%
1. "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" Green Day - 26%
2. "Gold Digger" Kanye West - 20%
3. "Hollaback Girl" Gwen Stefani - 13%
4. "Feel Good Inc." Gorillaz Featuring De La Soul - 3%

Song of the Year Rankings
1. "We Belong Together" Mariah Carey - 33%
2. "Bless The Broken Road" Rascal Flatts - 21%
3. "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" U2 - 19%
4. "Devils & Dust" Bruce Springsteen - 9%
5. "Ordinary People" John Legend - 5%

Singing Lessons from Best Female Pop Vocal Performance - Nominees Rankings
1. Mariah Carey - 32%
2. Sheryl Crow - 23%
3. Kelly Clarkson - 16%
4. Gwen Stefani - 11%
5. Bonnie Raitt - 10%

(source from News section of Mariah Carey Official Website)

Gambatte, Mariah!!!!!!!!! WE BELONG TOGETHER!!!!!!!!

Sick Sick Sick

I was just on my way to camp (as usual) on a Monday morning and just as I alighted from the bus, my stomach felt very very queasy. It was a pretty weird feeling that I was getting. When I went to camp, I had to rush to the toilet. Diarrhoea! I reported sick in camp at the MO. They gave me some medicine. Didn't help me. After lunch, I went to the toilet like 5 times in 3 hours!!!! And it felt worst. It was so bad, I didn't have enough energy for anything!

To make things worse, I had a practical test on that day. If you were gonna guess that I would fail the test, well... I did. I had to redo it the next day. I felt horrible. I failed because I... argh I'm not interested in the damn stuff that they are teaching me now in the 1st place anyway! It's fuur-eeek-king boring and stupid!!!!

Anyway I was so sick I took a cab back home, went to a private doctor to get medicine and a jab that made me sleep till the next morning. It was a good sleep, I suppose. I felt a little bit better and I went back to camp. I couldn't eat much stuff cos it was against what I was supposed to be eating. *Bleah* pass my other practical test and the test that I failed.

Wednesday and Thursday was fine. I was on the road to recovery and I was supposed to be better by Friday. But on Thursday, it seem like my stomach was acting very weird again. I think I had constipation. Then later in the night, it came back. Was sick again. Couldn't go back to camp. Went to yet another doctor. Ai yo....

I hope I'll be well soon...

Not the best of moods...

Yeah I'm like so freaking pissed and fed up and sad at the same time. Okay, went back to camp today because I reported sick yesterday. Went to the polyclinic yesterday. And guess what? I got a freaking scolding for reporting sick outside. This instructor, A (undisclosed name), told me off for reporting sick. He told me to check the schedule next time before reporting sick. He even said that I 'don't even bother to ask about the lesson yesterday'.

Never mind. I had to go for a quick revision on yesterday's lesson (thank you Azmi!). And the lesson started after that. It was more of a quick revision. And he started asking me questions that I don't know and I don't have the answer to it. I felt so embarrassed because he started shouting at me and making me feel so 'lousy'. I couldn't eat properly, talk properly or even look at people properly (maybe that's an exaggeration).

Okay... 1st thing 1st... is there a schedule for reporting sick? 2ndly, I did ask my buddy beforehand about the lesson and he told me that it was not easy to explain it through the phone. How can he assume that I was not bothered in the 1st place? And he taught us in an extremely confusing way, so I think I got confused myself! And I'm just so... stressed.

The fact that everyone in class seem to be better than me... the fact that my buddy is coping well (it's not a bad thing.. it's good and I'm happy for him).. the fact that I'm not interested in technical stuff, or army life to begin with... doesn't help the situation. I'm so down. But I did try to lift myself up. Talked to Vanitha (chi fan le ma?), Jem and a few others on the Net.

One thing that I need to remind myself. Not to give up. I'm trying not to. studying like mad, reading, revising. Ai yo. If only I was in TP... life was so much better then...

Anyway I need to go and iron my uniforms and stuff. Gotta catch up with my sleep. See ya all!

Simply Fàn-tastic!!!

Hey everyone!!! It's a bright lovely Saturday! So what activities has Mr. Blonde arranged for himself? Well... I would be out the whole day, but it's not *THAT* busy lah. Hahaha! Okay today woke up around 7am+, hanged around at home and left the house for school (of course I showered and everything!). Now, you must be wondering why I'm going back to TP all of a sudden? Well, because of CAREER FAIR! Hahahaha I went back to my beloved Temasek Polytechnic for the Career Fair. There were a few talks that I was gonna attend, so I came down.

Went to the bus stop and, yes, bus 23 never fails to be late. Hahaha, so I was just a little bit late, but thankfully the talk haven't started yet. When I reached school, I climbed up the flight of stairs and suddenly all the great wonderful memories started following. I don't know why, but I felt so good. There was some kind of an estastic feeling about coming back to TP! I know it's sounds crazy to at least 99.99999% of you people reading this, but I really felt so good! And happy!!!

Okay enough nonsense! Hahaha anyway I entered the auditorium area (where my registration for my course, graduation etc were held) and registered on the spot (I think there were problems online or something). I went for 3 talks and in between those talks, I went to various booths to check out the job prospects that they are offering. Okay here's the rundown of the booths and the talks:

[talks]

CAAS: The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the people behind THE airport, came down and talked about Air Traffic Controllers. Highly paid, they are the people who control the aeroplanes coming in and flying out of the airports. They control the air traffic movement in the skies too! It sounds interesting but tough too. The pay is good, but you work like shift work. That's not the problem. They have very high requirements, like you must be decisive, be a good team player, speak fluent English, have un-shaky voice etc. Plus it's shift work, so you gotta work at funny hours (well, that's not a prob) and be prepared for standby, meaning you have to replace someone, should that person fall sick or whatever (okay that might be a prob!).

SIA: Great way to fly indeed! Not only did their video presentation show the 'glam' side of cabin crew, they also showed the real side of it, like what training they had to go through, the things that happen behind the curtains (yeah when you are walking to the lavatory... that curtain), the sleeping pattern etc. Actually I found it quite scary! Hahahha! I mean... there's standby (again!) duties and you might get dry skin, bad hair and some other funny sickness on board. Plus you have to be able to uphold the name of Singapore Airlines. It's tough, but don't mind giving it a shot (even though my height is kinda like the factor that would make them turn me down). Yeah.... plus get to travel far!!! Why not?!?!

DFS: The speaker was well-mannered and professional in her speech. However, she came to most of us as some 'Ice Queen b****' cos she was 'cold' and a little 'plastic' in a way. Okay on with the job, there were many opportunities for us in DFS. The only problem is... there's too many. And we don't even know where to start! All I know is that you can broaden your mind by meeting people of different cultures and going to different places and departments. Ahh! Too confusing man!!!!

[booths]

Well... there were many booths. From McDonald's to Raffles Hotel, I was able to find quite a variety of companies. Most of them wanted to recruit people, but unfortunately, my talents have to be wasted for another... 1 year 9 months? Yeah... sorry guys! Wait for my emancipation later... hahha!

Some of the 'interesting' booths include Mini Toons, PastaMania and Starhub. Up to now, I'm still wondering what a diploma holder can do in Mini Toons? It's not that we are trying to search for 'high class jobs' or whatever... it's just that, we ain't sure if we can fully expand our minds and talents with a place like that. It's a tough world, man...

During the breaks that I had in between and stuff, I managed to take pics of my school:
My Lovely TP! Come down now!!!






The Flags of TP (including the National Flag)















The new ITAS Canteen! It's air-conditioned. Unfortunately, it was closed, so can't go in. But anyway managed to take a pic of it.















The other side of the canteen.

















Seriously, who in the world would bring their pets to the school??? Unless they are taking a Diploma in Dog and Cat Shows, I don't see why!!! (found at entrance of canteen)













The koi pond in my school...


















My school in a different angle.























Anyway after all of that, I head off to Tampines Mall, one of the hangouts that I would go to sometimes after school (or before). Still as busy as ever loh! It's like the next Orchard Road. Did you know that the McDonald's in Tampines is the busiest in Singapore? Unbelievable right? Tell me about it. Talking about that I DID go to McDonald's for my lunch! Hahaha. And I had Fàntastic Burger!!! Cool, huh? It's the latest burger to hit our lovely island! It comes in 2 flavours: beef and chicken. Obviously, since I love beef, I tried the beef burger:

Chi fan le ma?? Hahahah!!!


Well the burger actually tasted good! It does taste like the one at Mos Burger, except that maybe it's oiler, so I wonder how healthy the whole thing actually is. It's worth the try! Fàn-tastic! I'll try the chicken one next!

I walked around Tampines Mall and Century Square. Busy, busy, busy! Everyone seem to be rushing somewhere. I found a Converse bag that I like. Quite small, but I don't care I LIKE IT! Hahhahaa! I went into a lot of shops (and of course I didn't buy anything). Just window-shopping, as usual.

At Century Square, I chanced upon Discovery Studios, a studio that kinda allows you to make your own CD at a reasonable (supposedly) price. They have many packages; some with 1 song, some with a few songs, some with makeover etc. I would love to give it a shot, but not sure. I mean S$38 for a CD with 1 song? And what song will that be? I also don't know...

After nearly 3-4 hours of walking everywhere (including a stop at Wang Jiao to read all the brochures that I got from the fair), I made my way to Pasir Ris MRT Station to meet Billy. Billy was punctual. Really punctual. Then I found out that he actually came earlier than me by 1/2h!!! That's crazy!!! Hahaa! But at least you wouldn't be late. We walked to DownTown East for Jim's, my OETI buddy, birthday.

He has *SO* many friends!!! hahahaah they were literally everywhere! He invited quite a no. of people, including his friends from some Chinese Orchestra group that he's in, his secondary school teachers (oh my God) and some various here and there. If not for stupid training, his BMT friends would have been here too!!! Ai yo!

Despite not talking to him much during the party, I got to talk to Colin, another guy from OETI and Billy (although Billy left early for another party). Yea it was quite nice. Didn't know that Jim is the middle child (same as me). His family is so... homely! Hahhaha! I don't know. After hanging around for a while and taking photos and cutting (and munching on) the cake, Colin and I left for home.








My buddy, Jim (Zhong Xiao) acting silly!














(from left): Billy, Jim, Colin and I


















The lovely birthday cake, Quite nice leh!




















My buddy and I. It's a funny pose, don't ya think?
















Billy and I when we arrived earlier in the evening.










What a day man! Hahahaha if only I can have days like that every day! Oh no! The week ahead is packed with stuff!!!! Tests, another birthday party, work, movie... oh my God! But wait, Sunday is just tomorrow!!! Yeah!!! Hahahah! Need to sleep and think about it tomorrow!!!

Surprise Early Dismissal & Mini Shopping Trip!

Another regimental day starts again; wake up at 5.30am, leave the house at 6.20am, reach camp etc... it's yet another boring day at OETI. Well, I mean, life isn't exactly boring there, but I guess learning something that you are *SO* not interested in makes you feel so bored. I mean, who the hell wants to learn about the different parts of an engine of a land rover!??!! Do I seriously need to know them! Crap!

Today was different, though. 1st thing, my instructors were not to be found. While the group that was doing the man truck (think of a big truck that can hold lotsa stuff) started their lesson, my group members and I were there waiting for the instructor-in-charge to come. In fact, we didn't know who was supposed to be in charge, so one of our other instructors, who was supposed to do another group in another platoon helped us. And yes this shows how efficient SAF is, once again.

We were supposed to take the engine out, so we were re-learning the parts of the engine and the systems before the removal. Because today's Friday and the Muslims have to go for their prayers and we were extremely behind time, he rushed the lesson a little, so it was... confusing.

Anyway, the funny [and good] part was after lunch. I came back, only to find out that we were given 'flexi' (in my camp, that means early dismissal due to the finishing of lesson at early timing, supposedly), but we had to do area cleaning and take out the engine, which is like crazy!!! We rushed through everything and we managed to be dismissed early!! Woo hoo!!!!!!! :) and the funny thing is... although I was supposed to be part of the 'removing-the-engine' team, I ended up cleaning the toilets due to confusion and, thus didn't get to remove the engine today! Hahahaha :P

Anyway I went to IKEA and look around for a birthday gift for my buddy. It's a funny place to be getting a gift, but I was so close to getting a shoe rack (hahahah) cos I know that he liked it, but after much thought, I thought it was ridiculous to get a shoe rack that is big, plain and plastered all over the newspaper (hint: price on the papers...), so in the end, I just left after looking around for like 1.5 hours.

I took a bus to lovely Orchard Road with a freaking heavy bag (try to imagine a pair of boots, 1 set of uniform, 1 set of technician coverall, 1 pair of shorts, socks, books, notebooks, pen and others in a small sports tube bag) and stop over at my favourite store... HMV!!! This month, there's a clearout on many stuff, like CDs, calendars, DVDs, books etc. But, I'm beginnning to wonder if the clearout sale is *REALLY* a clearout...






Wah lau!!!! Kylie Minogue at S$4.95!!??!?! Who don't want!??!?!







What's a clearout if the CD is just $2 off the actual price of the CD?!??!!








Seriously, who would wanna see Britney and Kevin for that price? they must be out of their mind.

Notice that the 'import' sticker cost S$9. Kinda ridiculous to have 2 different prices.

Well, that's their definition of a clearout sale. Anyway I bought a 2006 calendar for S$3.95 :D cool right? "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" somemore! So cute!! I browsed around Heeren and found something for my buddy finally (cannot tell you yet...). Then I went back home, realising that it's so sunny today and that if I don't take the opportunity to swim, I might never get a chance again. I mean, it's been raining like forever!!!

Long day tomorrow... I'm going back to TP for some talk, then I'm going for a birthday party tomorrow evening. Yes... till then, this is Ron Tan - OUT!

P.S. Stick to Curry when you buy Old Chang Kee curry puffs. The Pepper ones are small and not really worth your dollar.

Welcome!!!

Hello everyone!!! Thanks for popping by my blog! I guess the previous 'music critic' blog was ineffective and not feasible, so I've blasted it off (BOOM) and here's presenting (drums roll....) .....

That's So Ron!!!!

Ahahahha it's my blog, so it's about my life, the happenings around me, my thoughts on current affairs etc. It's everything you *can* imagine (well, maybe...) Hahahah! I'll update you with my crazy thoughts, my fitching, complaints and whatever else you can think of!

Oh wait... the 1st entry is coming up soon.... see ya!!!!