3,438 posts
since 2002
Chinese New Year follows the exact same sequence and timing every year. Visited my maternal grandmother first, then her eldest sister, my paternal grandfather, mom's business client, and finally my grandmother's fifth sister, the usual circuit.
While driving to my grandfather's place, a taxi signalled its stop early, so I was ready when it halted. The car behind me horned non-stop for thirty seconds anyway, uncalled for once the passenger had alighted.
Just woke up on Lunar New Year's eve. Heading to my paternal grandfather's place for reunion dinner: steamboat again, as always. We really need new ideas. I wonder whether our generation will even keep reunion dinners.
Two days to Lunar New Year. Finally started my ITP project, though I've added nothing to the log book yet. SP is lame; work is work, so why must we write a log book? Pointless.
Spent ten minutes at GMTI Building transferring the database to the live server, then napped and met Charlene at Plaza Singapura. Heading home from Tiong Bahru, I witnessed a funny incident before dinner at Heeren.
Woke early for breakfast at Cartel in Plaza Singapura, where the service beats Suntec's franchise branch hands down. It's the main outlet, run by my brother's table tennis coach. Met friends before heading to Sentosa.
My brother woke me this morning to say my driving licence had arrived. I was thrilled but too tired to leap out of bed. Opened the letter to find a short note with the licence attached.
Finally got some exercise with my secondary school friends: two laps around Queenstown Stadium's track and a swim at the complex. Did some sun-tanning and now my whole body is sunburnt. Feasted at Seoul Garden afterwards.
Transferred my final-year project to the live server at GMTI Building, so it's on the Internet. Bumped into JingWei on the way, meeting Calvin at Bugis. Joined them for CS, then dinner with JunXian and CheeWee.
First day of my Internship Training Programme, building a smaller-scale e-learning website like Blackboard. Spent most of it designing the database, to be coded in PHP and MySQL, ideally using object-oriented programming. Wandered around Chinatown afterwards.
Met Jacky and Laily at Bugis and headed to Sim Lim Square. Jacky's aunt wants a high-end computer, so I advised him to pass on. Walked around Bugis Street afterwards when my FYP client called me.
Drove my mom's car to Tiong Bahru Plaza for the first time. Got horned twice, once for not turning right when a van blocked my view, and again while giving way to a crossing pedestrian. Idiots.
A rundown of changes to my site: upgraded from b2 0.6.1 to WordPress 1.0.1, a tableless layout, pages now 99.9% HTML 4.01 Transitional, polls and the shoutbox temporarily removed, and site.php retired except for the sitemap.
Passed my driving test! Back from the chalet, where only six of us stayed the first night, just enough room to sleep comfortably. Returned to school for the ITP briefing, the ICT director's talk was interesting.
Broke my sleep record, waking at 5pm Sunday after sleeping at 5am the same day. What kept me up? Debugging WordPress 1.0. The b2-to-WordPress importer was one massive headache, riddled with bugs that wouldn't even run.
Had my driving lesson with the sarcastic instructor, though he eased off after I corrected what he'd wrongly taught me before. Met Jacky, Serene, Laily and her sister to watch LOTR: The Return of the King.
Met Hui Juan at City Hall to exchange Christmas gifts, then joined Jacky, Serene, Georgina, Suqin and LiXiang for dinner at Breeks in Marina Square. Around $30 each for decent food in a rather empty restaurant.
Lunch with Georgina at One More Restaurant in Marina Square, a buffet much like Marina South's BBQ but with teppanyaki. The food was below average, nothing special, not worth returning for. Headed to Far East Plaza.
Prayed at the Waterloo Street temple for my driving, then lunch with my auntie's family at Lemon Grass in Heeren, using a 25% Heeren Card voucher. Portions were huge; seven of us couldn't finish the average food.
Yesterday's driving lesson went smoothly, and I hope to hold that standard through my Traffic Police test on 8 January at 2.45pm. Took a long nap to catch up on sleep, then started my About section.
Possibly my longest post ever, over a thousand words. I enjoyed Christmas with my secondary school and poly friends, one of the best celebrations yet. Hoping for another next year, though I'll be joining the Army.
Gave my parents their Christmas presents and they were shocked; I'd never given any in nineteen years. From now on I'll give them gifts on birthdays and Christmas, and they're delighted, especially my mom.