After spending half a day at my grandma's house eating snacks and catching up with cousins, I finally manage to reach home for a good rest...
Yesterday night while I was still dota-ing with the usual swiss gang, my parents asked me whether I wanted to make a trip to the temple at pandan road with them and my uncle and aunt. Though it was already quite late, I decided to follow them as I was hoping for that tinge of festive atmosphere where everybody counts down together in the temple to celebrate CNY, but I was so damn wrong.
After a 15 minutes car ride, we finally reached our destination at about 11.30p.m. Very little people were there at that time so we brought the incense without queuing, unlike chinatown trip 2 years ago. A while later, more people streamed into the place, followed by the lion/dragon dance troupe. We saw a pair of kids leading the troupe in front, quite cute and funny.
At around 11.45p.m., there was this priest carrying out the rituals (hokkien: key dang) with a lot of people praying behind him and there was also an indian guy in the crowd, even though he looked like he was clueless about the situation.
Some time right before midnight, people started to stick their incense into the large urn outside the temple door, so we joined in too, since we arrived early and were lucky to be standing beside the urn. Weird thing is, we had to HOLD onto our incense (extra big ones), even though its already sticking in the urn while waiting for the clock to strike twelve.
I felt semi-conscious during that time as the smoke was very thick and I couldn't even open my eyes because once I did, my eyes would start tearing. But we still held on to our incense while waiting for midnight, everyone was freaking despo.
Suddenly, the priest behind shouted 'HUAT AH' and people around him also shouted the same thing, then the door to the temple opened, and there was a mad rush into the temple. People in the front line literally SPRINTED in to get their incense into the urn so that they can be first.
Graphic representation:
Taken in Waterloo Street, and my situation was as bad as theirs
Can't find any video of people running into temples to place their incense into the urns, even though I saw it in channel 8 news...
Anyways, before we entered the temple my parents gave me a set of instructions: 1. Must place 3 small incense into each urn (total of ~10 small urns) 2. Must pray for good health and studies before putting the incense in 3. Remember to burn the incense paper after all that
And so, we entered the urn. The smoke was even thicker inside since it was enclosed, and there were even some idi*ts holding their candles right infront instead of above them, and I could feel hot wax dripping on my arms, painful like crap. Since it was so smoky, I quickly walked to each urn, and placed the incense inside, all done with eyes closed.
Finally, I threw the stack of incense paper into the furnace and waited for everyone else outside the temple.
Another weird thing was that, all those who had worshipped had to bring 1 extra large incense home. So while we were in the car, my mum and aunt had to stick the incense outside the windows, and you can also get to see many cars with incense sticking out in the expressway. Lastly, I hope everyone will have a fun CNY this year, and here's a video to start the festive season.
Spring Festival Greetings 2009 by Made-in-China.com
The people look like they are forced to do this, especially the guys, quite funny.
Went to class chalet on wednesday, and I had to rush there after cca, which means 50 minutes train ride from YCK to CCK to Jelapang, and then another 50 minutes from Jelapang to CCK to JW and then finally to Pasir Ris... Extremely long ride, fell asleep like twice during the trip.
I hate it when those aunties keep staring at people when they want seats in the train, makes me feel so guilty that I din't give them the seats even though they were carrying nothing, so irritating.
Anyways, the chalet was well-planned with good food and games. Actually most of the games were from orientation and they were fun. The dress code was supposedly black and white but not many of us sticked to it but the party was still very successful.
Stayed till 10pm and there were no feeder buses available at that time but Ms Raudah gave me a ride to the mrt station (thanks). Reached home quite late and still had to wake up early for cca the following day...
Hmm.... it's been some time since i last made a post, about 3 months? (looking at the last post I made) Due to my outstanding degree of laziness, I missed writing up on many enjoyable events during the holidays, e.g. project work presentation, sis coming back to Singapore, tennis at ngee aan, cycling trip with gang from bukit panjang to botanic gardens (will never forget the downhill slope to hell), and regular meetups with swiss peeps.
And i din't manage to post merry xmas and happy 2009 12a.m. shoutouts too, aw sad. Anyways, have a happy year ahead, gong xi fa cai!(even though it might be a wrong time to say it now...)
Went for the 4E5 guy's reunion party yesterday, it was quite fun and all thanks to joel for organising the reunion, cheers.
Me and Benghow arrived late due to Zhihong's jam... but he has made quite an improvement, from 1hour last time to half an hour, and with our extremely HIGH spirits, we finally stepped into joel's condo and we were greeted with cold hash browns...
Some photos taken by mr. cameraman JK while we were playing basketball in the afternoon.
Featuring Jiasheng... the ever-so-happy boy
Jiasheng looking like hes ganna pull out some 720 degrees slam dunk any time
Perfect basketballing stance by JS again
JS with signature smile
Okay this guy looks darn happy all the time but hes cool now cause he plays hockey in school, hah.
Weixian smiling to the floor (how awkward)
Another picture taken while the others were playing soccer, while i was playing cards and basketballing with weixian, binghan and kahwai in the condo cause i forgot to wear shoes... damn.
Joseph owning
And we finally had out potluck dinner in the function room. The food was cold but at least it was enough for everybody. Finally, zhihong brought out his *ahem* IP man exclusively from some secret vault in malaysia and everybody watched it together.
Even though the quality was alright, we saw some funny stuff while watching the movie with english subtitles.
Movie: 改天再打可以吗？ Meaning: Can we fight another day? Malaysian subtitles: Another day. Can or not? (REALLY)
Movie: 叶问 Meaning: Ip Man Malaysian subtitles: Leaf Master
Everyone was like rolling on the floor when we saw the epic subtitles, totally funny. Then we finally switched it to chinese which was much more accurate.
The show was great even though I've already watched it once with my brother a few weeks ago. The fights were awesome, with some humour added at parts of the show.
While I was taking 700 to esplanade to meet up with BengHow and JunHao, there were more than 10 people in the bus wearing the same shirt as me... felt like I was taking some nike school bus to the race.
There was a heavy jam in Orchard when the bus reached there and most of the participants got impatient and alighted before the esplanade station and I did so too. Initially, I had no idea how to get to the race venue since I was pretty far from the esplanade but I just followed the crowd and eventually reached there. It was amazing to see the town packed with people wearing the same shirt.
After some searching around, I managed to find junhao and benghow waiting for me at the baggage area and we moved to the starting point since it was almost time to start the race.
It started to dizzle when the emcees wanted to start the race, but luckily the race started as planned. We were at least 200-300m away from the starting line cause there were too many people participating so we had to walk all the way till the starting point with our fellow "considerate" Singaporeans shoving us from behind.
The race was quite cool, but not really competitive since there was literally no space for us to run at the first half of the route. The 3 of us ran in a straight row throughout the race and literally blocked the lane when we were overtaking people. There were also bands performing along the route but I don't think anybody paid attention to them (sad).
We met Wenjing after the race and he and junhao went to esplanade to do what they did best during NP days: 'bombing' toilets. After that, we took some photos outside the place.
Random photo of the esplanade
Was that usain bolt behind us when we took the picture :o
Junhao's super rare SEOUL wrist tag container in the middle.
There was free-flow of 100 plus and a concert after the race too.
Hosts MTV VJs Utt and Taya with WWF panda mascot which actually ran the race in the suit
Some local band
Some videos I uploaded on Youtube (Warning: Bad quality!). Boys like girls performed live!
DJ Inquisitive(2006,2007,2008 DMC national champ) scratching
BLG - Hero/Heroine
BLG - Dance Hall Drug
BLG - Thunder
BLG - The Great Escape
Crazy atmosphere =D
Last photo before we left the place
and not forgetting Benghow's large-ass superstar burger from carl's jr.
All photos courtesy of Joseph's new extremely cool olympus waterproof and shockproof PINK camera!
Stylo
Me, Yongxiang, Junhao, Joseph, Binghan, JK
Underwater- Yongxiang, Junhao, MONSTER JK (eek)
Joseph piggybacking 3 people!
JTG with his "MUGAN PALM STRIKE"(as quoted from his blog) -.-
Other pictures and videos of us doing random and fun stuff can be found at Joseph's blog. Any modelling agencies desperate to hire J.K a.k.a Singapore's Top 'Model', can approach me anytime... wahaha. :D
I headed home from aj at around 2.30p.m. I was the only swiss ajcian who didn't bring the blazer and shoes to school so I couldn't go back to swiss with the others.
Reached home at 3.30p.m and I had to pack everything into my back fast. After getting everything ready, I left my home and rushed to the Bukit Panjang bus stop but when I reached the void deck, I suddenly realised I still owe Ms. Tan the comprehension book I had borrowed from her last time. Feeling A LITTLE guilty since the book has been with me for about 9 months already, i decided to go back home and get the book even thought I was already running late.
When I was in the bus, I started receiving smses from junhao and yongbin, saying my name will be striked off if I don't reach the school by 4.45p.m... Luckily, I managed to be on time for the LAST batch of briefing (I think the 4th batch already).
The ceremony was very boring. The new principal keep talking about lame stories which are suppose to motivate us and vincent and junhao were like dozing off throughout the ceremony... reminds me of Mr. Ravi's and Mrs. Koh's lessons last time, and the sad thing is that both of them have left Swiss already.
First highlight of the day: PHOTO TAKING SESSION
Get ready for photo-spamming...
4E5 Class Photo
4E5 Guys (WHY ARE ACJC'S AND ACSI'S BLAZERS SO DAMN NICE?!, i.e. WHY DO OUR BLAZERS SUCK?!)
Me, Weixian, Junyang(Master!), Xuanhan, Sokheng
Kahwai and BengHow (giants) with Huiying in the middle and me (People with average height!! wahaha)
Fiona and Kahwai
Huiying and Junhao
Junda and Huiying
Yuping and me
PJ, AJ, SA councillors
Swiss Ajcians
Extra feature: 4E5 Guy's Pull-up session!
76 pull-ups in total, next time we meet must reach 100 okay!!
Second highlight of the day: POST-SPEECH DAY BUFFET!
Food was good, and SOMEBODY (Hint: Name starts with Edward, ends with See) ate a hell lot that day. :D
ACSI student in action. Potential winner of Singapore's Major League Eating competition! Support local talent!
Joseph arrived after that and we started doing what 4E5 does best... sharing FRIENDLY rac-*cough*-ist-*cough* jokes. Xuanhan most 'productive' joker that night... but we still support racial harmony in Singapore okayyy!!
Third highlight of the day: Jiamin's Birthday Celebration
Everybody left for West Mall after that to celebrate Jiamin's birthday. It was raining quite heavily that time and we had a hard time finding a place for all of us to sit down at. Finally, we went to the top floor of the MacDonalds' beside West Mall and Swiss dominated like half the place there.
Jiamin making a wish
I took the train with weixian, kahwai, junyoong, edward and yongbin after the celebration. Must say that chatting with edward is actually quite good after 8 months(?) cause he talks a lot!(in a good way)
4E5 spirit and classmates still as nice as ever, much better than what I think I'm getting now. Hope that we can still meet up often as a class and keep the friendship strong amidst our busy lifestyles (awww).
*All photos koped from huiying's blog and video from junhao's blog. Thanks a lot!!
Name: WEIMING From: Bukit Panjang, Singapore About me:
09/11/1991
Scorpio
Student
Greenridge Primary School
Swiss Cottage Secondary School
Anderson Junior College
tanweiming2008@hotmail.com
