The day before Sunday which is also the day after Boxing Day

Church tomorrow...and who to go with? Decisions....decisions....

Lyn? Sure why not.....maybe i could sneak in dinner...(movie?)...*devious grin*

Joyce? Well...if the time we both go is mutually compatible.....old flames still burn....but if I go with Joyce I have to exclude some of the names on this list.

Maybel? Hahahaha....planning to go eat Smelly Tofu after.....been wanting to go but our plans fell apart at the last minute...

Noel and Paula? They seemed real impressed with the The Christmas Wish and I think the time has cometh to poppeth the question again...

Mum and Dad: They had a good time the last time they came. Been wanting to ask them again. Maybe tomorow...

Others: Could just invite a friend who has never been to NCC...hmm....

The day after Boxing Day day.

We had a 'Staff Welfare' barbeque at the office today. It was a combined one with the fruits and vegetables section from HQ and Pasir Panjang. Some of the older folk had difficulties due to the 'long' walk in from the MRT. Guess they are not used to what those of us who work at Sembawang go through on a daily basis. It was an unique idea to have a bbq at 2 p.m. to say the least. The blazing sun and the passing rains made for some interesting logistics. So we positioned the pits under trees for shade.The barbeque food was on tables in the carpark! And the ready cooked food were placed on tables at the covered walkway. It made for some movement between the various points.

I got the 3rd prize in the lucky draw. The prize: an...erm...err...clay pot! There were some conspiracy theories being spouted when certain names were not found in the lucky draw box after all the prizes had been drawn. The plot thickens...

Looking around my room,I think it is time for another revamp. I arranged the room as it is now because there was talk of buying a Queen's sized bed and to make room for some cabinets and such for Joyce when she moved in. But alas with all the best laid plans things changed. So now my room is once again a bachelor pad but think that maybe if i had just one more cabinet that I would be able to fit in all the stuff I now place on shelves and sofa's out of sight. Maybe some cool posters and art on the walls might not be amiss.

Install McAfee Personal Firewall Plus on my PC today. Problem is that rather than keep malicious hackers out, it prevents me from accessing the Net and doing lots of the stuff that I do everyday. You cannot even download virus updates and security updates without disabling the program.Which kinda defeats the entire purpose of having a firewall if I cannot do anything (even keeping the firewall and anti-virus updated!).I tried playing around with the settings and setting it at lower security levels but to no avail. It only allows me to work when it is disabled. So ultimately it means that I have to leave my PC unprotected while I work. I am not even sure what will happen when i leave it on overnight....

Merry Christmas

Ho...Ho...Ho.....

Well it is Christmas once again. A time of joy, peace and love....blah blah blah...
Watched the news today and there were 6 flights from France to the US cancelled because of reports of terrorists activities. Gee....wonder when will we will ever learn that violence never pays...

Did you catch The Christmas Wish on TV last night or the replay today at noon? Woo-hoo! Jolly good show. Of course I am subjectively biased because my church was participating in it and were the sponsors of the show. Money well spent (almost makes me want to go to Marine Cove just watching the ads). For the first time the true story of Christmas was told on national TV (in music and in words) and not the usual commercial fluff we get around this time of year. The performances by the stars and the church members Rock-ed (geddit?)! Adeline's performance with the kids of We Are The Reason was sublime. That is not to say Pastor Prince's or Angeline's performances were shabby.....

We had Christmas lunch today. The highlight was that Joyce finally decided to come after much arm-wringing and persuasion on my part. Joyce is the sort who thinks too much into things at times. She felt that the whole world has a grudge against her for our parting. She was expecting a cold reception by my family members and that there would be an awkwardness because of all that had happened between us. But the reality of it all was that everyone was so happy just to see her. Some even had presents for her! Was really a great Christmas surprise to all those who were not in the know(I had only told my mum about my invite to Joyce). We all ate and ate....we always over-order Christmas fare. There was enough leftovers to feed a third world country after lunch. So much so that we literally gave some away to our dear neighbours. But still lots left to last us till...next Christmas?

Had fun making the xmas gifts for Lyn, Joyce and Khim. I painted a cat,a duck and a bear on wooden oval boards (or should it be oval wooden boards?). Lyn got the cat (*meow*), Khim got the duck (*quack-quack*) and Joycey got the bear. I kinda liked the cat best maybe cos it has the best colours of the 3. The bear was cream coloured which is kinda like a polar bear. And the duck..yellow.....pretty hard to be artistic with a yellow subject. Yellow is just....yellow.

Got lotsa gifts this year. Lyn gave me a fierce looking lion which now resides on my dashboard. Mum and dad gave me a shirt,socks and hankercheif combo. Leo and Lynn gave me an inflatable football chair (how am I gonna blow it up is what I wanna know). Noel and Paula gave me a Swiss Army set comprising of a watch, a swiss army knife and pen. Joyce gave me an illuminated globe and a key-chain.

Joyce agreeing to come today was great. It removed many of the doubts in her mind about how people perceived her. I think everyone who knew her and what happened between us still hold her in high regard. But Joyce felt that she had let down everyone and that everyone hated her for leaving me the way she did. But she could not have been further from the truth. We broke up (if you can call it that) on good terms and I still consider her a dear friend if nothing else. Like my mum said the other day, 'she still fam (family)'. Even my friends still ask me to ask her along on our outings and dinners. Seems like not much has changed outwardly since we parted....

Of prawns, fish and automobiles.

I was supposed to go with the gang for crabbing this weekend but it turned out that Lyn and Poh went prawning at Pasir Ris and Hasli went fishing at Sembawang Park. Lyn caught...*ahem*...a grand catch of.....4 prawns....live ones at that!
So anyway after work,after I had heard of the 'change in plans' I went over to my bro's office for some R & R. It is funny that the place that I go to to relax and chill out is an office. Go figure played with Camou,the hyperactive mutt cum Kangaroo spawn. After that we all settled down for a good ,wholesome game of Black Hawk Down. I played a few games until I got messages from Lyn that they were going down to Sembawang.

I noticed as I was driving to Sembawang to meet them up that there were white smoke emissions from my exhaust. I figured it had probably something to do with the engine oil I had topped up earlier. When I got to Sembawang Park I went about looking for Poh,Lyn and May. Lyn had said that they were at 'the pavilion' waiting for me.So there I was walking from pavilion to pavilion looking for familiar faces. I was almost tempted to join in one of the BBQ's I saw there. Mind you all this was going on whilst it had been raining all afternoon.

I finally got sight of the threesome on the beach.(far away from any pavilion-like structure).Like they say a rolling stone gathers no moss. We all came to a mutual agreement to go look for Hasli who was in some other part of the beach that was inaccessible from Sembawang Park itself.So the awesome foursome proceeded to the carpark with me in the lead since I was the only one that knew where Hasli was (that is if he was still there).

I remembered my white-smoke-emission-problem-thingy as I was walking to the car. I got in and started the engine.(cue:rattling sounds...thick white smoke......smelling real bad).This went on for a few minutes during which I managed to move my car out of the parking lot and onto the carriageway.Eureka! Now here I was with a broken down car with a problem I could not fix on the spot in the middle of a carriageway of the carpark. Fortunately it was a rainy day and it was getting late so my obstrusiveness was not very obstrusive in the end. I had to move the car out of the road into one of the parking lots but it would not start. So we came up with the almost brilliant idea to push the car and have Lyn steer and brake. Poh and I pushed it...Lyn steered (without power steering somemore as she did not turn on the engine!),May..errrm...instructed.So we managed to get the car into the lot(s) as the steering left a little to be desired.

As is the norm where little boys get into trouble is to call their momma. So mummy dearest arranged for the AA guys to come down to take a look. The guy in the yellow van came about half an hour later. After 5 minutes of questioning and attempts to start the engine he deduced in his brilliant mind that the car would not start and called for a tow truck.

Soon after mummy dearest and papa(could not think of any suitable adjective to put here) arrived and mummy's little boy was mighty relieved. May made some comments about how my parents were not really my parents which she apologised profusely for after that.I told her later that it was perfectly alright and that my parents had not even heard what she had said.

So Poh and his ladies left me presumably for dinner and looking for Hasli. Really appreciate all their help. So if you guys are reading this Thanks!. We (daddy,mummy and Leon) all sat in their car awaiting the tow truck guy.

The tow guy finally came and we had good fun (at least I did) talking on the way to Tony's Service Station. Apparently it was the changing of the shift and it being a wet day (where accidents abound) was the reason for the interminable wait. When we got there I generously tipped the tow truck guy....get this....$5.00. The workshop guys checked my car and found that the engine oil had been topped up to almost the top when it should be topped up between the 2 markings on the dip stick. So they drained out the excess oil and changed the spark plugs. And Sunny was resurrected from the dead! Sunny purred contentedly and in a final burst of noxious fumes Sunny filled the workshop with white smoke (not unlike those special car launches with laser lights and dry ice effects).For accompanying music we had chinese opera on the Radio instead of some thumping bass driven tune as is the norm at car launches). Funny how the opera reached a crescendo just as Sunny was reversing out of the workshop.

We/I then went back to Noel's place to fetch the wretched survivors of the afternoon storm. Paula and I (with Camou in his box) loaded the pooch into the Matrix. It should be noted here that the life of a pooch is worth 4 human lives. Noel and Leonard have to walk in the rain to the car, me and Paula got wet ourselves only not as badly but..alas Camou is home and dry!