Today was MCYS Day. Took a bus 168 from my house and met Esther along the way. The bus ride was made less boring as a result of idle chatter plus gossips!! and also because the bus was just too god damn crowded and we had to stand throughout the whole journey till Woodlands!

Aahhh!!! My aching legs. :( If only my mIuMiUz was around, she would definitely find seats for all of us. Such is the power of my bb. Miss you loads!!

We sat with Nurmy, Chiattee and Serene from B. Nurmy taught me something today which was how to ask a rhetorical question. I was looking at my "goodie" bag when I fished out this compass thingy. While figuring out the connection between a compass and today's theme, Nurmy quipped that I could give it to her if I did not want the compass. Initially I thought it was for her children until she explained that she found it really handy by putting one into each of her handbags so that she could pray as and when she needed to. Woowww, I thought to myself. That sounds really logical, I kept to myself so that I would not look like a idiot. ;)

Since I had no use for the compass and it would be kinda awkward for her if I just put the compass back into my bag, I passed Nurmy the compass. Willingly I must add. :D Besides she could definitely put it to much better use than me, what with my room in a permanent state of chaos. I probably would toss out the compass eventually if I brought it home that day.

MCYS Day then opened with a speech by our PS. Interestingly he was on stage again with DS in a Q&A session which did not go very well as we on the floor were generally shy and did not speak up or ask intriguing, piercing questions. I guess it's true what they say about us. That we are an apathetic and armchair lot, always in the shadows or grumbling when no one is looking.

Heck, even when we dare to voice our views, we do it where we are most comfortable, at home, while eating at coffeeshops and while travelling in a cab. I have even noticed people looking back or around whenever they are discussing their views on the politics or policies in this country like some kind of immutable, unseen force is around. The government in Singapore is prevalent in our national consciousness. They are omnipotent. Even I believe that.

Not that I have anything much to say about them anyway.

(tilts head slightly for a little glance behind self) ;)

My only regret was that I did not step up to ask them about whether we would be accredited by SASW even though some of us might not be social work trained. We are after all working and slogging out hearts out and providing social services to the community, in my case, the youth offenders' special population.

Never mind, probably would not get a concrete answer anyway. :p In any case, judging from various social work students in my recent SW module and the feel I get from our lecturer, it seems that accreditation would mostly be the exclusive enclave of social work degree holders. That would be really unfair but then again, what thing isn't?

Talking about my SW module, I am really worried I will not get a good grade (B+ or above): my above average class grades being pushed down by my exam ones. :( That would be an injustice after I spent so much efforts on that module.

We were then treated to a slideshow and a speech on the achievements of MCYS for the year 2008. Wow. Nuff' said.

Highlight of the day definitely was the videos put together by several divisions. I cannot remember the 4 finalists except that the baby bonus one was really cute!! Hopefully they upload it on youtube or something. I personally prefer the baby bonus one actually but the table submitted all our votes for RPRSD, our own video production, a collaboration between Aftercare and PSU. United we stand*! :D

After lunch which was crappy with "rock" veggies and chicken meat, those who had signed up for their individual CCIP projects left on their respective buses. I had signed up to read to kindergarden kids at Bedok library. Andy taught us how to make hearts and Deborah how to make a rabbit while we were on the bus.

Andy's Rabbit which you can see is better than my pink one. :)

My pink rabbit!!!! :D Proud of it despite Deborah and Andy
having to improvise and help me along the way..

Two rabbits feeding on a heart I intend to give my
beloved Mamee for Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day!

Boonie
P.S. Really challenging engaging small kids. I had a similar experience which sapped me during Service Learning last December. Thankfully it was only for an hour this time. Sorry my dear. I am still a long way from being confident around them, let alone to own one**.. (o_O")

Nevertheless great day and experience all around. :D

Oh. And I went swimming when I reached home before rounding off the day with a tennis lesson at Mandarin Gardens with Kat. Good times!

*something to think about..
** more something to think about..

After tennis, went bowling with Kat since the next day's good Friday.

Before bowling however, we went to the HK cafe at East Coast Park. There was a singer singing live who was pretty good. Beatboxing etc. However, the singer was unable to sing "Bye Bye" by Mariah Carey after Kat challenged me to test the singer's boost that he would try to sing any song dedication from the diners. As it turned out, he could not, which Kat insisted was because it is such a very hard song to sing and that only Mariah can carry it off. Of course. It must take some large space to accomodate her lung bursting capacity. *ahem* ;-)

I have never done well at bowling. And I hated the sport. It does not provide for mch exercise and its frightfully expensive. Hurts your wrist too. Most importantly, I had never gone beyond 100 in my whole life*! That stung my pride. So imagine my horror when Kat wanted to bowl. And at 12am in the morning!

Cold, frustrated, smelly and extremely tired from the tennis earlier, and having to wait for such a long while for lane 26, I thought things could have gotten much worse. Imagine my surprise when I hit consistently and during the second last frame, had a score of 89. This was already atypical. It's been ages since I actually went into the 80's. I had four more rolls in which I had to hit at least eleven to go above a 100 for the first time in my life. I had been known to bottle it before. Would I bottle it again this time? That would be really sad and pathetic.

I started thinking in terms of averages. Hm.. If I hit at least three each time, I would be able to go above 100.

Concentrating really hard, I rolled the bowling ball gently, just hoping that I would strike something. 6!! Half of my goal had been achieved. I just needed another 5 from any three shots.

Spare!! This was going better than I had anticipated! I would definitely go above a 100 now. For the first time in my life, I had gone above a 100. I know it might not be a big deal for those who can bowl consistently above this score but hey, who cares, I want to have my day in the sun!!

103. With two rolls left. I hit a 4 and a 1 subsequently. Doesn't matter. I had what I want.

Before the night was over, once more above a 100 as I headed home with Kat on a cab. Final score 108 and 101 (last strike was an error by the lane).

Proof of my scores!! =)

P.S. My previous highest was 97, lowest 36.

Boonie

Your very own fortune teller on facebook:

According to the Wedding Algorythm, You Will Marry In: 1 YEAR AND 9 MONTHS
Right, with who? Duhz.

Add me on libel_suit@hotmail.com!!

Eww.. so cari kawan ;)

Boonie

My best friend is the best!! :D

Story: Ryu the brown dog.

Once upon a time, in a country filled with dogs, or rather just a country of dogs, there lived a brown dog named Ryu.

Ryu could bark, run, sing, walk and even think like a human. However, Ryu did not like to use its ability to think like a human. Ryu was sufficiently intellectual to have attained a position of considerable stature and influence but it preferred to spend all day sitting on its hind legs, wagging its tail and visiting the marketplace. Particularly the fluctuations of the marketplace held great interest for Ryu.

It so happened that everyday Ryu would need to perform a circus act. This circus act would need to be performed on stage and in front of an audience. Dependent on the performances, the audience would decide whether to throw stuff at Ryu, or to pamper it with their applause. More often than not, this demanding audience would choose the former because of Ryu's abysmal performances.

The day following every disappointing performance, ringmaster, Master Near, would try to whip Ryu in a bid to make it understand that being in a position of influence and having access to lotsa tidbits (which helps Ryu to fuel its marketplace fetish) comes accompanied with standout performances.

However, Ryu being too comfortable in his position for too long, would scamper out of its cage in fear and divert attention by biting the puppy staying in the opposite cage. Likewise, Ryu also loved delegating chores like jumping through the fire hoop and running round the cartwheel to this particular poor puppy who is never appreciated and most certainly never rewarded. Let's call this puppy, Oonie, shall we?

Notwithstanding this, Ryu would often abuse the respect and goodwill of this particular puppy who would pity the former and offer assistance to it sometimes. However, Ryu, being a scaredy cat (pardon the pun, even if characters in this story are all dogs) and what the dogs in the world would like to call a "shoot kia" would take a yard whenever the poor puppy gave him an inch. Ryu loved to overwork the poor puppy because where else in this country would you find another dog which it could exploit and bully while maintaining its position of doing nothing all day long?

One day, the poor puppy could not take it anymore and he left.

Thereafter Ryu could not find anymore puppies for it to bully and exploit. It could no longer aim its arrows successfully or bite another innocent puppy each time the ringmaster wanted to whip it to shape. At the same time, the ringmaster and his audience also finally wised up to the truth that Ryu was useless and that the latter had been feeding off them like a parasite for years.

It was finally time for Ryu to leave the circus with what was left of its dignity preserved. Ryu thus left with its tail between its legs, never to return.. but not before grabbing a final bite from the circus administration. *Chomp*

Oh, who are we kidding?

The actual ending (much more realistic and believeable):
Ryu laughed to itself, "That's one more puppy off. No loss. Them circus will always feed me. I will never go hungry and no dog can and WILL ever be able to prise me off my lazing position. Muahahahha!!!"

And till now whenever the ringmaster comes around, Ryu can be heard *chomp*ing and even sucking the blood of another poor ill-fated puppy..

What did you expect, a happy ending for this story? This isn't DEATHNOTE can??!! :D

GET REAL.

Disclaimer: All characters are entirely fictional and any similarities in characters, names, events are entirely coincidental. Some guy once said that we are all dreaming when we are awake. I wonder whether I dreamt this story up :)

Lara Croft, a toy which had been with me since 2001. $25.90 to the lucky person. :)

The game is so popular that (personally I have only ever tried a demo but NEVER found it worth my while or anyone for that matter) it has spawned two movies starring Angelina Jolie (HOT.) with very crappy storylines not worth mentioning..
For the first I always found something captivating about the picture and I didn't know why until my friend from army pointed out the obvious.. hmm (o__O")

And the second poster using almost the same strategy, though this time trying to disguise it by using the allure of a rising sun. Come on, who are they kidding? ;)

Then I found a picture from a self proclaimed nerd's website depicting the evolution of Lara Croft through the ages. You can see the obvious changes from the beginning to present. :)

Which brings me to the end of my post:
A screenshot of what you get when you type "LARA CROFT" on Google images.. something for the boys.. ;)

Sports Update:

1) England soccer team loses 2-1 to Russia. Qualification for Euros 2008 out of their hands.
2) Lewis Hamilton loses F1 title to Raikkonen.
3) England loses in the Rugby World Cup final to South Africa.

My thoughts:

1) Overhype. Overrated. Pompous. Delusional. Second rate. How they can consistently harbor hopes of winning the World Cup and citing their players as world class is beyond me.
2) Nothing personal against Hamilton. However could be a case of calling the Alonso black. Remember how he drove in Japan?
3) Drop kicks. One man team. Extremely lucky. Poor All Blacks. :(

And don't even get me started on England's cricket team.

Stevie G? BAH.