html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> I Need an Invention, Intention, to stop Temptation to Scream...: July 2008

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Why do they have to do this to me now?!?

First, MYER have to send their promotional email....

Then, JustJeans....


And the ultimate would have to be Boost!!!

I WANT!!


And I want my FREE Boost!! =((

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

OMG

The following are excerpts from various news report on the latest happenings at US investment bank, Merrill Lynch. Singapore’s state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings is its largest shareholder.

Forbes
Temasek agreed in December to invest up to $5 billion for a 10% stake in Merrill Lynch at $48 per share. Since then, more than 50% of the market value of Merrill Lynch has evaporated, to the present level of $25 a share, from more than $55 a share just before the new year.
Temasek was savvy enough to have negotiated protection against equity dilution when it concluded the previous deal: under the terms of the agreement, Merrill Lynch must compensate the Singaporean wealth fund if it raises new capital at a lower price in the future. Still, Temasek is still at risk of booking loss if the share price of Merrill Lynch dives further.

Bloomberg
In yesterday’s statement, Merrill said it agreed to sell $30.6 billion of collateralized debt obligations — the mortgage- related bonds that have caused most of the firm’s losses — for $6.7 billion. The buyer is an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, a Dallas-based investment manager.
Merrill has lost almost 55 percent of market value this year. Only Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has fallen more on the 11- member Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index, dropping 77 percent. Merrill fell 12 percent yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

AFP
Singapore’s state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings, the largest shareholder in troubled US investment bank Merrill Lynch, confirmed on Tuesday it was increasing its stake.
Merrill Lynch announced Monday it was dumping billions of dollars of mortgage debt at a steep loss and raising 8.5 billion in new capital, including the 3.4 billion from Temasek.
The announcement came after Merrill on July 17 posted a net loss of 4.89 billion dollars for the second quarter.

Temasek had already committed in December to injecting 4.4 billion dollars, which it could increase by another 600 million dollars, into Merrill Lynch.
That initial investment came with a requirement that if Merrill raised more capital within 12 months at a price lower that the 48 dollars per share that the Singapore fund paid, it would be compensated for the difference. The Singapore firm is putting that 2.5 billion back into Merrill, along with another 900 million dollars.

Associated Press
The world’s largest brokerage says the sales will trigger a third-quarter write-down of $5.7 billion, but plans to raise $8.5 billion in new capital through a public offering. Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, will purchase $3.4 billion of common stock as part of the deal.

Forbes
Following a session in which the Dow fell 277 points, Merrill Lynch said Monday it will take a $5.7 billion third-quarter write-down on bad debts, and will raise $8.5 billion by selling new stock, a $3.5 billion chunk of which will be bought by the Singaporean state investment firm Temasek. (See “Merrill Moves To Shore Up Books”)
The move shook confidence in the banking sector, rekindling fears that the credit crisis that has gripped the world for the past year has more to run. It followed an announcement earlier in the day from Australia’s ANZ that it would write down more than $1 billion in credit-related losses.

The Independent
Merrill Lynch, the investment banking giant that has lost more than $40bn (£20.1bn) on its mortgage investments since the start of the credit crisis, shocked Wall Street last night with plans to raise $8.5bn in new shares. As part of a sweeping financial restructuring, the company is dumping most of its remaining holdings in risky mortgage derivatives and tapping the Singapore government for an emergency $3.4bn cash infusion.

The news of Merrill’s financial restructuring came after a day of mounting rumours it was facing new writedowns, just 11 days after it had posted its last results, containing a bigger-than-expected $9.4bn of writedowns. Its shares sunk 12 per cent to their lowest close in almost 10 years.

Reuters
Temasek will plough that money, plus another $900 million, back into new Merrill stock, potentially increasing the state-run fund’s stake in one of the best-known U.S. banks to more than 10 percent.
The fund had been facing huge paper losses on its initial investment in Merrill at $48 per share as banking stocks slid this year amid writedowns on risky debt.
The rebate, announced less than two weeks after Merrill posted a $4.9 billion second-quarter loss, effectively reduces the cost of Temasek’s existing shares in the U.S. bank by more than half to $21 a share, according to Reuters calculations. Neither Merrill nor Temasek disclosed the price at which the new Merrill shares would be offered.
————–Merrill’s malaiseFinancial Times

Witching hour ought to be moved forward from midnight to early evening in New York. These days, the few hours after the market’s official close all too often play host to announcements of profit warnings, bank failures and writedowns. Merrill Lynch added to the Wall Street horror show last night with news of yet another multibillion-dollar writedown and capital-raising effort.
Less than a fortnight ago, Merrill sprang another after-hours surprise on investors in the shape of worse-than-expected quarterly results on the back of, you guessed it, big writedowns. Rumours of more bad news had already pummelled Merrill’s stock throughout yesterday – it closed down almost 12 per cent to hit its lowest level this decade.

When the quarterly results were announced, the hopeful explanation was that John Thain, chief executive since December, was ripping out the kitchen sink with gusto. In saying Merrill will take a third quarter charge of $5.7bn and needs to raise another $8.5bn – about a third of the current market capitalisation – Mr Thain has confirmed that rotten plumbing still needs to come out.

Tellingly, Merrill is selling collateralised debt obligations with a gross value of $30.6bn at 22 cents on the dollar. What’s more, Merrill is providing financing for the buyer, Lone Star Funds, for three-quarters of the purchase price – with the funding secured solely aginst the heavily discounted assets that the fund is buying. In effect, the money Lone Star is putting up itself to take the portfolio off Merrill’s books equates to just over 5 cents on the dollar of the gross value.
Mr Thain continues his job of scrubbing Merrill’s toxic balance sheet. He has even managed to persuade Temasek Holdings to come in again on the latest capital-raising, albeit at heavy cost. The problem is, like most horror franchises, the sequels to Merrill’s original chiller appear to be never ending.

Source: TOC

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Book reviews

Hi folks I'm back! Yeah. Here's the book reviews that I promised! I've been buried under these pages for most of the time at the instance of any free time. Highly addictive and contagious if you ask me. The perfect companion for those arduous journey to the east or journey to the west rides on the east west line.

To those who have not cultivated a habit of leisure reading, I'd like to encourage that habit. For many, finding a book that sustains one's interest is probably the most important challenge for all of us. So for 'starter' readers, my advice is to find a book that stirs your general areas of interest. For example, I'm a big fan of conspiracy theories, mysteries, and of course HISTORY!!! Therefore it is no surprise that I'm a big fan of Dan Brown's books. It's a pity he has only written four books. Haiz. So choose a book that will suit your interest and more often than not you will find yourself lost in bookworming.

Finally after a long search and running through of what I term 'mediocre' books, I have located a good author that writes in a similarly entertaining manner. One that will literally leave the reader at the edge of his seat. Meet Steve Berry!

But first, the source of my books. Unlike Weasel, I usually do not have huge 'capitals' to buy first hand books from Kinokuniya or Borders. Hahaha. Peasants like me usually borrow books from the national library, or do a once-in-a-blue-moon splurge at maybe Sans Bookshop? But one place that I usually scan for cheap and good BRAND NEW books is usually Carrefour. Both the Suntec and PS joints. I happen to chance upon these books at the book bargain corner at Suntec City. At $5 each, for hours of page flipping action, I'd say its money well spent man.



Set in the near future, Secret introduces Jakob Volkner--Pope Clement XV--a German "caretaker pope" who, nearing the age of 80, was elected as John Paul II's successor. But three years into his papacy, the thoughtful Clement has begun to quietly express skepticism about papal infallibility and the Church's restrictive dogma, and to make odd requests of his longtime secretary, Monsignor Colin Michener, an Irish-born but American-reared priest whose vows of celibacy have been tested--and found wanting. Clement has also made repeated visits to a guarded sanctum within the Vatican archives, where sacred and historic documents are stored. And he's dispatched Michener to Romania to locate an elderly cleric who, in the 1950s, translated three cryptic prophecies, purportedly offered by the Virgin Mary in 1917 to a trio of children in Fatima, Portugal. Those secrets have since been fully disclosed to the world. Or have they? That’s the question facing Michener in the wake of Clement's shocking suicide, as he pursues a twisted trail of clues, crimes, and religious forecasts from Rome to Bosnia to Germany, accompanied by his former lover, journalist Katerina Lew. But making any additional secrets known to the world will put Michener in confrontation with doctrinal reactionaries, led by Cardinal Alberto Valendrea, the Vatican's Italian secretary of state, who's determined to follow Clement as the Vicar of Christ--even if that requires inventing a few new sins and flouting a 900-year-old prediction of doom for the next pope.
- http://www.amazon.com/Third-Secret-Steve-Berry/dp/034547614X

This book in my opinion blends the mythical history of catholicism along with modern day issues. Its a good read especially for Da Vinci Code and Angel and Demon lovers. Its another great chance for one to immerse oneself and travel through time and retrace the path of the famous Fatima secrets. In the course, exposing one to nail biting untelling turns with mysteries and surprises lavishly littered along the way. While most of the information, like ancient catholic rituals, portrayed are true, watch out for those that are not. At least the author's note at the end allows the reader to discern what is true and what was pure work (albeit brilliantly) of the author. I like the way Steve discloses the methods he used to obtain information and how he came about developing or creating his fiction through imagination.

Set in present day Russia, Miles Lord, a workaholic African-American lawyer from Atlanta, is in Moscow to help Stefan Baklanov, the Romanov claimant his high-powered firm is backing. Since the new tsar will reign as an autocrat like his ancestors, both big rubles and big bucks are at stake—not to mention access to nuclear weapons. Lord soon discerns that Baklanov is corrupt, a tool of the mafiya. While digging through old files on the Russian Revolution, Lord comes to believe Baklanov is the "raven" Rasputin predicted would help save the royal house in 1916. Teaming with a beautiful acrobat, Akilina Petrov of the Moscow Circus, Lord attempts to discover whether any children of Nicholas II escaped Lenin's executioners. A series of exotic clues propel the pair on an international scavenger hunt. -http://www.amazon.com/Romanov-Prophecy-Novel-Steve-Berry/dp/0345460065/ref=pd_sim_b_1/105-9991382-2735620

This book works for me. As an ex history student, I have always been interested in what had really happened in Yaketerinburg, where the family of then Tsar, Nicholas II was executed. Rumours have it that 2 of his children, Anastasia and Alexei miraculously survived the massacre, and their descendants live among us till this very day. Banking on that plot, Steve Berry has got history buffs like me falling for the book, hook, line and sinker. Relive the Russian Revolution all over again!!! Ironically, Rasputin the infamous Russian clown turns out to be the ultimate hero! Hard to imagine eh (for those who studied RR before)? Hahaha. I think not. People at A04 might stone me for professing my love for history so readily as most didn't have happy memories of doing history at A levels. Hahaha.

Well borrow the books from me if any of you folks are interested! While stocks last! Whee!

Time to go sleep. Gotta train for AHM tomorrow. I need those ironman jet packs under my new balance man.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Full time student, Part time soldier

Wow it's been more than a fortnight since I last penned an entry. The giving up of privileges like basketball or even blogging would be the de rigueur from now on I suppose as the other commitments take full swing and dominance.

The past couple of weeks was quite a blast with many incedible events happening at different fronts. From Jermaine's 21st birthday bash at our humble abode to my reservist briefing over a couple of days last week, everything moved once again in a flurry of blur that leaves me staring agape, wondering at the incredible loss of time.

Of noteworthy issue would be the closure of a chapter in a school and hopefully the beginning of a new one. Well its an epic issue and if you're from my course in SIM and you're not in the league yet well you may be living in the mountains for sometime. But whatever the issues I'm only glad that its over and we can all get back to the 'peace and quiet' of our humming laptops with keyboards dancing at full speed. YES ENOUGH SIDE SHOWS! TIME TO GET BACK TO PROJECTS!

Anyway I'll be happy to share if anyone wants to know the epic stories. Might be as exciting as 'Red Cliff'! Some say even more exciting than that. Moving on, I would like to share the 2 interesting days that I have spent at ClementiCamp doing a reservist briefing for the upcoming high key in camp training. I still have not confirmed my deferment so well its time to be a full time soldier, for 2 days that is.

I managed to rummage my cupboard to take out the most faded (and therefore the most comfortable) set of No. 4 (the standard green camouflage uniform set). It took me a good 15 minutes to fold both side of the sleeves to my acceptable 'Smart 4" standard. Tsk Tsk. Fortunately they still fit despite not donning them in 2 years! The pants feel a bit baggy instead. Maybe because fats take up less space than muscles? Hahaha. The interesting bit is that I have forgotten how to tie the 'lazy knot' when it comes to the boot lace. Fortunately I recalled it just before leaving the house. With the minimal preparation I left for camp, reporting just on time.

It was a good 2 days of commanders briefing. I had a good time of making new friends and reacquainting myself with old fellow instructors like Kim, Dennis and Ariff who all got called back at the same time as well. I'm sadly assigned to be the section commander of a platoon in Bravo company of my battalion. Arrgh! Kim is an Ops Spec in HQ Company. Lucky duck! Well I certainly hope I sucessfully defer this ICT. The training looks XIONG, more than any full time civillian can bear. As what the CO (Commanding Officer) has mentioned to all commanders that day, "You guys are all leaders outside there, lawyers, bankers, managers, but when you all wear the No. 4 suddenly all act blur and think like a private soldier." Well I can't agree more. For some reason the mind cease to function optimally the moment one becomes a full time soldier. Hehehe.

Well with my official deferment pending, some people have already took the 'unofficial' route. My company's officer commanding is missing in action, causing the poor 2nd-in-command to kena the OC role for this ICT. Furthermore out of the 9 men that are directly under my charge, 4 of them did not turn up on the second day of briefing. Interesting. I had a good time of interacting with my platoon sergeant (a trader) and also my platoon commander (manager). And I got a free lift home from my pc who stays just a min walk from my house. Pretty small world. All in all a good and fruitful reservist briefing!

Time to end off for now I got 2 book reviews to do! Watch for it!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Getting acquainted with Singapore all over again

It has been a humid 2 weeks and my body is slowly getting used to the weather. There are still some days when I crave for the cold and dry winter weather of Aus, where I do not perspire a single bit, and is able to dress up in layers after layers of clothing. Weirdly, I'm not having terrible withdrawal syndromes from William. Maybe the multiple cups of sugarcane with lemon, teh-peng, soya bean with grass jelly drink keep me more than satisfied. *grins. Neither am I thinking about the silken tofu stew from Da Chang Jin. Been eating too much as my escalating weight and ballooning tummy can testify.

Few things I'm missing are the weekly Coles shopping, visits to the hugeass Carousel and watching TV with Tricia and HuiHui in that lousy couch of ours (where we will oogle at cute guys and laugh at the crazy games during Friday Night Life). Gosh, I wonder how much we are missing out on BigBrother now. But now I'm back and not going back to that laid-back place, there are much I need to catch up on.

First up, spending time with Shaun before his school work piles and before I start work.


Clarke Quay enroute to CityHall from Raffles.


Fully satiated from the rushed 45mins buffet at Geek Terminal. It's 45mins only coz we reached there around 2 and they were clearing up! The fastest buffet we've ever eaten...


Then, the most vivid sunset ever seen. This was taken while coming out of Suntec and walking towards the escalator to the train station. Too bad my phone's camera could not do it justice. It was several times more nicer!!
~
Next were family members. Younger brother had slimmed down much and the youngest in the family had grown so much and is so so so vain!

With Yan. Not sure why the picture turned out so grainy though.


Video of Yan tying my hair.
~
Then there was Mimi, the guard kitty of my house.
Acting cute and rolling all over in front of me.

Then napping under the car during the day.
~
And the setting sun from Shaun's balcony.
It's a different feeling as most of my sunset pics of Perth were taken at beaches, or open areas, whereas this is occupied by high rise buildings.
~
I'm loving being able to shop till 9 plus everyday!! So much so that Shaun and I missed the closing time for the National Library Book Sale at Expo today because we, I mean I, was more concerned about filling my stomach first. So it was of some amusement when we realised that the sale had ended for the day at 8pm!
~
When I first came back, I was so appalled by the Singlish that everyone is using. Not that I was ever using perfect English every time I speak, but it was so difficult on the ear! And it was really embarrassing when I heard a sales-person talking in the usual Ah Beng English to an AngMoh.
~
And of course, the kiasu-ism, not that there was none in Aus (I remember that time when we queued up to sign for NeuroScience viva. We were the last few loh!! Coz the others rushed to queue even before the lecture officially ends.) Shaun and I went back to the said National Library Book Sale early in the morning. And when we were there, there were so many people queueing up already you would think they are giving away books! (More on the book sale later on!)
~
I remembered a cab driver telling me this of Singapore: She is such a young nation and it had achieved so much, yet Aus, which is much older and much bigger still is so much more behind and it shows how lazy Australians are. And it made me so proud of what Singapore had achieved in such a short period of time. Hmmm.. why does this sound so weirdly patriotic. Ahhh..... National Day is coming, and it means only one thing!! *BIG HINT!!
~
Oh another thing, I have an interview on Monday!!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Randomness


A very very full wardrobe. And my dresses are in another section, sweaters are kept in an Ah Thiong bag and there's another folded section of "at home clothes". Gosh. I've got too much clothes!


My own musical box from Melbourne! The figurines rotated when the music plays. =))


I love the cute little figurines!! Especially the red colour hair! Heh.


While Shaun prefers the penguin more...

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

A new phone finally

My good old Nokia 7260 was finally able to rest when I got back SG. Since then till now, had been using one of Jermaine's old phone. And I finally got a new phone yesterday!! After more than 3 years!!





As you can see, I had a field day personalising my phone, and transferring some songs into the 2GB micro-SD card! Wheeee!! No more polyphonic ring tones!! =))

ZQ Reunion

It was a night filled with lotsa catching up, juicy gossips, which are interjected with serious issues like work. Much had changed since we met each other 4 years ago. But nothing much had changed too. I'm glad I have friends like you all. Now that Joanna is in Adelaide, and Jun is in Melbourne, it'll be another year before the complete ZQ reunion can be achieved.

Seoul Yummy at Novena Square.
I'm so gonna go back and try their dessert!

Monday, July 07, 2008

I am back!!

Been back for roughly 5 days and am still trying to adjust back to the weather. Doesn't help that my air con is not working at the moment. I really miss dressing up in cold weather!! And I feel that I'm absorbing all the humidity as well. Felt so bloated - my ring felt tight; and when I tried my boots, it was so tight at the calf area; the new pants that I bought felt tight too. And it wasn't as if I have eaten alot! Still yet to have my crab, hokkien mee and lots more!!

Have finally finished unpacking and my room is all neat and tidy now!! Erm.. quite. I remember opening my luggage and all my stuffs were cold!! As if they had been refrigerated!! So I managed to pack a little of the Perth weather back to SG. Too bad it lasted just for that few moments.

As Shaun has mentioned, I am in the midst of searching for a job. I mean thinking of getting a job. Not sure where I wanna work. Hospital? No experience but pay is higher and can learn much more. Aged care? Too depressing especially in SG. Community? Poor handling skills. Stepdown care? Ditto. Guess I really have low self confidence about my skills level. Will see what happens.


A trip to Ikea gave me a surprise!! =))

P.S. It's GREAT to be back!!

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Another New Start

*Warning: Naggy post ahead! Not recommended for perusal without a comfy seat and a can of soft drink!

Hi friends! In a blink of an eye July 2008 has sneaked up right behind us. The month heralds the end of the school break and the start of another semester.

Yours truly has been very busy the past few weeks, mostly on the process of applying for the overseas exchange program. For those who have not already know, I have applied to be an exchange student to firstly the University of Maryland at College park and then to the Pennsylvania State University at University Park, both in the United States of America. If successful I will be heading to either destination come the beginning of 2009.

I have always wanted to study abroad. Especially more so after seeing the Princess successfully complete a very eventful year in Curtin University. The 'holiday-as-you-study-everyday' feeling apart, it is a good chance to explore and push one's personal boundaries. I am definitely looking forward to that challenge, which was the key reason for applying for the program in the first place.

And a challenge I got, more than what I bargained for perhaps. But alas, I have sold me soul to the devil of the overseas exchange. No turning back now. Right from the onset of the application, I was bogged down with tons of administrative work. From gathering the necessary personal information required, to filling up seemingly endless application forms and triplicating it, to hunting down willing local lecturers to write referrals, to writing your own personal essay for applying, and much MUCH more. I was cursing and swearing almost every step of the way. Hahaha. Good ol buddy Desmond can vouch for that. Because he was cursing along side me every step of the way as well (He has applied for the exchange program too). Hehehe.

On top of the initial difficulties, one who applies for the exchange program would soon understand that the difficulties would only be more complicated as the duration rolls along. There is the constant nagging of uncertainties. Confusion confounded with complication, in decisions, in applications, from all directions. Surely the only thing certain in life must be uncertainties. Fortunately, a respite would come everytime we seemingly hit a brick wall. Somehow above the futile emails to overseas university coordinators, the lack of understanding of matters from the local coordinators, the sparse availability of crucial information, and even above some nonchalent attitude of local lecturers to refer one, there exist somewhere a silver lining behind all these veiled patches of grey. Everything would just work out at the end of it all.

It is due to that fact that I'm through with the first round of applications and am now finally about to submit the second round of applications after many trips up and down the school getting the necessary things done. Hopefully I will finally get it all ironed out and submitted before the start of the semester come this very Wednesday. All things happen for a reason. And it once again points that despite the wisdom and the effort of man, perhaps everything has been already chartered by God himself. I have did what I already could. So it is in His hands that I leave my application form with.

Moving on to school. Semester 5 is already proving to be quite another new challenge after I downloaded, printed those darn course guides and finally got down to reading them. I expect it to be as challenging as Semester 4 or even more so. The module of all modules for all students in RMIT Business has finally apporached! 'Strategic Management' boasts of a strict overseas coordinator, a stricter local lecturer, a set of crazy individual and group projects and all made more unappetising with a historic failure rate of 40%. Neat or what! To rub unrefined salt on an enlarged ulcer, I am due for reservist come September for 18 days. Hahaha. I think I've already forgotten how to strip down a M16, much more to say the other platoon assault weapons. Wonder what is it like to go and chiong suah and rub camouflage cream all over again.

And here I am wishing that I could hit the magical 'Distinction' level for that module to have a realistic shot of graduating with the degree with distinction. Sheesh. If I don't sucessfully defer it would mean missing about 10 lessons and having my potential group mates cover my share of projects. I'm not so worried about the other modules but as usual I have a knack for complacency and procrastination as all good SIM (maybe don't even need SIM people?)friends will know. Hahaha. I would definitely require some divine intervention to pull off yet another miracle this semester. So in lieu of all the sh*t lined up for me, I will heed the proverbial "thou shall TRY to put in more effort this time" mantra, coined famously be the King Procrastinator, yours truly himself. Hmmm didn't I say that at the start of last sem? Or was it the sem before???

Ahh memory must be failing me, but what the heck. I am secretly looking forward to school somehow. It might sound absurd especially to hear it coming from me but yeah school rocks if you ask me. The past 2 years have been great. Despite the downside of school work at times, it was in it that I have learnt much more and found true friendship among some. And in this project based course, it would be almost impossible to do well without the coorporation of a good supportive team. And if somehow a relationship beyond work has been developed in the course of interaction, swell!!!


Good ol' comical memories of last semester: When all group members put display pics of "HD" after doing well for all the projects. (High Distinction picture taken at Macdonalds. Illustration made possible with 3 french fries and a unique 'D' shaped onion ring from the then newly introduced "Kungfu Panda" onion ring set. Picture taken with an Olympus Fe-5500 set on macro mode as a result of a childish maneouver by its bored owner with a deranged mind arising from the immersion of excessive project work accompanied by the best 2 partners in crime one could ever ask for, over a dinner at a Macdonalds outlet in town)

Well I don't expect straight HDs but I'm sure if we pull our weights we will succeed just like old times. Let's relieve it again guys! What would I have done without you guys. . .

And lastly as you would have heard, finally after a year down under, the Princess has returned uneventfully to the sunny island of Singapore. These days she complains of the crazy weather and lack of opportunities to put on the pretty winter clothes that she has vested a 'token' amount of money in. She is now torn between finding a job, ie. starting the cycle of slavery of routine work day in day out, as to relaxing around, ie. watching serials after serials and reading comics after comics on the comfortable couch of hers. Hmmm its a NO-BRAINER decision there if you ask me. But fortunately you didn't. BUWAHAHAHA!

Thank God for rationality among some others anyway. I will leave it here for Nightstar to carry on when she feels like it. Hehehe. *I'd bet its the packet of famous Bedok Chwee Kueh on the laptop keyboard that is getting in the way of her blogging attempts. I can't imagine what it's like to miss good local food for so long either. So be patient there!

Its 2am now and I suppose its time for me to curl up in bed with a very good read (that warrants an introduction on its on at a later date!).

Good Night my friends! We'll meet when we can! =)

Carpe Diem!