1704hrs

Listening to: Muse - Hysteria


I was cleaning out my drawers at home the other day and unearthed some interesting stuff.



Lots and lots of letters, notes, cards from friends and special friends over the years. Some of them are written a long time ago by people reading this! Haha.



These two high-tech gadgets were my prized possessions back in secondary school and JC!



A photo sticker stuck onto a phonecard, taken on October 31, 1999. I remember the date well 'cos it was Ben's birthday (hence the "18 liao") and it was the first time we went to Boat Quay and looked at all the pubs, just days before the A levels.


And finally, today is Mothers' Day, so Happy Mothers' Day to my mum! And happy birthday in advance too :)

1505hrs

Why is it that the things that make me angry are always the same things?

Now that's one incoherent sentence.

1015hrs

Listening to: Jay Chou - Shi Jie Mo Ri



(ST photo)

A blast of cool air hit me in the face as I exited Toa Payoh MRT yesterday in the late evening hours. Immediately, I wished that all public places in Singapore were like Toa Payoh interchange and HDB Hub - air-conditioned.

En route to the library to return my overdue books, I noticed there was a huge crowd gathered at the large square in the centre of HDB Hub. "Could it be some Channel U outdoor filming?", I thought to myself. But as I looked up at the huge screen above, I finally realised why there were hundreds and hundreds of people who stopped eating, shopping, and generally just rushing about like all Singaporeans do.

I had arrived during the closing moments of the televised funeral. Our President was presenting the State flag and Mr Wee's medals to his bereaved widow. The TV commentator then called for a minute of silence out of respect for our former President.

And suddenly, the sobre atmosphere became deathly silent. Salegirls from jewellery stores stopped distributing flyers. Staff from Popular Bookstore and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf came out of their shops to take a look at the proceedings on the Jumbotron. On the central square, people young and old bowed their heads, or had their eyes transfixed up above. The only sounds came from the ST photographers who were capturing the scene for today's paper.

The lone bugler sounded The Last Post, and the live broadcast was over just like that. A pre-produced VT on the life of Mr Wee was put on screen.

And as if the "pause" button on a VCR was pushed, everyone at HDB Hub started moving on with their lives again.


(editor's note: try spotting me in the above picture.)

1426hrs


EXCLUSIVE
Agile NUS student nabs handphone thief

SINGAPORE, May 6 - A RECENT spate of missing handphones at a National University of Singapore (NUS) study area ended last week, thanks to the wits and athleticism of an alert student.

Justin Yeoh (below), 23, had been studying for the recent exams at Block EA in NUS' Faculty of Engineering, a popular revision area for students. The third-year Civil Engineering student said: "Over the past three weeks, some people have had their handphones stolen while they were studying here. After one of my friends lost his brand-new phone last week, I decided to try to lure the thief out."

On the afternoon of April 26, Mr Yeoh set up a simple trap - he left his own handphone on one of the study benches and walked away to a vantage point about 20 metres away.

About five minutes later, he saw a dark-skinned man in his 20s walking towards the bench where the handphone was. Mr Yeoh said: "He paused at the bench for just a few seconds, then walked away calmly. I quickly ran to the bench, and found that my phone was gone."

The suspect had taken the lift to the ground floor. From the second level of the EA Block, Mr Yeoh shouted at him to stop walking, but he instead broke into a sprint.

Mr Yeoh then leaped two storeys over a railing onto the ground floor, where he gave chase. He finally caught up with the suspect about 50 metres away from the EA Block and tackled him to the ground. The two men rolled down a slope at the entrance of the Faculty of Engineering.

Cornered, the suspect claimed that he had been running for a taxi. A body search revealed nothing, but Mr Yeoh looked around the area and found his handphone at the top of the slope. By this time, his friends had arrived and they apprehended the suspect until the campus security staff arrived.

Police spokesman Mah Tah Chu said: "Mr Yeoh has shown great bravery and a strong sense of upholding justice. We are recommending him for a Guinness Stout^® Effort Award."

The suspect has been charged in court and is awaiting sentencing.

********

editor's notes: 1) This is a true account.
                     2) My newswriting has gone down the drain. Yikes.

0652hrs


Waking up before the sun rose this morning, I was much reminded of those days years ago, when this was a daily ritual.

Damn... how did I do it back then? I mean, I'm still an early riser by nature, but there's still a threshold, haha.

Maybe I really should not have come home last night. The 100-minute trip later is not looking very enticing at all. (w)

And what's more... I'm beginning to think that there is a linear relationship between the geographical distance between us and my mood.

So it's Friday.. so what?

Sigh.

1645hrs

Listening to: Badly Drawn Boy - Something To Talk About


Finally, the rains came down and drowned the sweltering, stifling heat away. It actually feels a little cold!

Five weeks to the Swiss Alps. (y)

I really must cherish today. Is it an irony that I'm sitting in front of the computer typing this out? Hahaha.

Five weeks.

1538hrs

Listening to: Howie Day - I'll Take You On




Justin's new car is here... a chilli-red Honda City! Took a short spin in it last night... not bad. Hopefully it brings me luck! :D

Had lunch with Jon and Ivan... while we were at Cheers buying 4-D, Jon decided to try his luck at Scratchit!, the scratch-and-(hopefully)win game from Singapore Pools.



It looks like any one of those normal scratch-and-win cards lah, and costs a dollar each. But as you can see, you can "win up to $10,000".



You have to scratch the "stamp" part of the card and see what's underneath. If you have three identical values on the card, you will win that amount lor. Simple right?



The results! Jon has three $2 values on his card, so he won $2! After which he promptly queued up again (for about 15 minutes) and collected his "windfall".



Lucky Jon! Hopefully I will be as lucky tonight or this weekend, heheh. ;)