I am starting work tomorrow. I have signed the contract, met the HR staff and submitted the documents. Almost everything is prepared and/or done except that I have yet to decide what to wear on the first day.

Went to school to play badminton with Marcius, Justin and Alvin this morning. This is the first and probably last time that I remembered to do warm-up before playing. Hope I don't have an aching body when I wake up tomorrow.

And so, I am quite sure that everybody I know whom are eligible for National Service this year have went for the medical checkup except Marcius. We are the only two special pre-enlistees who are going to have ours much later than the majority.

Don't ask me why. Ask the Ministry of Defence.

I am also planning to book a slot for the Napfa Test at Toa Payoh Stadium somewhere in June this year but the website has yet to open bookings for that period.

The only test item which is in my way is the widely-hated pull-up. I can garner at least a C grade for all the other five items. Maybe they should lower the passing mark for pull-up.

That's all. Wish me good luck in my job.

Starting tomorrow, another long (and possibly draggy) Taiwanese drama will be airing on Channel 8. Named 夜市人生 or Night Market Life, it consists of all the familiar faces from the ongoing [Love] drama being broadcasted everyday at 7pm.

[Night Market Life[ will take up the weekend timeslots while [Love] continues to dominate weekdays. Either way, Singapore's premier Mandarin TV channel is still conquered by the Taiwan typhoon.

Obviously, Mediacorp is trying to satisfy die-hard [Love] fans in advance by having this new serial. Expect a backlash of comments about missing [Love] after it ends if [Night Market Life] wasn't broadcasted beforehand.

What Mediacorp should do is film something like that on its own. They had [Your Hand in Mine] (想握你的手) which began in November 2009 and lasted for a record-breaking 180 episodes but achieved terribly low ratings.

However, the reason for [Your Hand in Mine]'s poor ratings had to do with its atrocious plot and mundane characters. The bottomline is the scriptwriter's quality.

Now, with Lucas Chow (the man with a white fringe) stepping down as Mediacorp CEO on 31 July this year, the company's criteria for his successor should be one whom encourages creativity and is willing to invest heavily on it.

Only with good scripts and entertaining stories can we win over the hearts of viewers once again. Notice that I used the word "we" as the subject in the previous sentence.

Mediacorp, you don't have to look too far for talents, yuan zai tian bian, jing zai yan qian.

I would like to announce that this blog will be undergoing some changes between 5 March 2100hrs to 7 March 0900hrs (GMT +8). During this period, you will be unable to view this blog as it is temporarily shut down.

I will be revamping the blogskin, tagboard, blog links, games. The only things that will remain are the content (of course) and the blog address (of course as well).

Also, I will be conducting annual maintenance to this blog which explains why there is a need to shut it down for the time being.

The reason why I decided to have a change is because change is the only constant in this world. Haha, actually the truth is I am a bit sick of the current layout and it's been stagnant for more than 2 years.

NBA

Yeah, Blake Grffin is the man!

But Kobe Bryant still rules the NBA...

First it was Tunisia, then Egypt and now Bahrain is up and coming. Who is next? Yemen, Jordan, Syria? Or how about Singapore?

Neh, Singaporeans are cowards but cannot blame them either since they are thoroughly brainwashed to be politically apathetic.

Oh, Budget statement is out, mainstream media is singing praises about it, equals elections are coming soon (for real this time)

Leyton Orient vs Arsenal

I got a strong feeling that Leyton Orient will pull off one of the biggest shocks of this season by defeating Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round tomorrow. Who the heck is Leyton Orient anyway? Sounds more like some departmental store name. It is just another English club two or three divisions below Arsenal.

According to Singapore Pools' website, the current odds for Leyton Orient to win on the 1X2 is $8 while a draw only amounts to $5.25. For those who love taking risks, selecting draw-home for the half/full time double bet type will yield a profit of 20 times.

This has always been the case in the FA Cup for the past few years. An unsuspecting game where an elite team plays a lower division side usually ends up with an unexpected result. Manchester United and Liverpool are fine examples of what I mean.

People might think "the Gunners came from a goal down to beat mighty Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, so what is Leyton Orient?". However, as I have always said, the ball is round so anything can happen. Furthermore, Leyton Orient have nothing to lose in this match.

I am predicting Leyton Orient to win this game with a 2:0 scoreline. My apologies to all Arsenal supporters.

Home MV

Not that I want to be a spoilsport and kill the joy but I have to say this.

Using "Home" as the theme song for this year's Total Defence campaign is like asking Kit Chan to take out the leftover fried rice from her fridge and getting 38 other people to fry it again with her, not to mention adding unnecessary extra ingredients to the dish.

Although, the organizers claim that it is a collective effort by 39 artistes, it is evident that everybody is trying to make himself/herself stand out as seen in the music video.

Actually, none of them really stood out except for one which I will talk about later. The only thing which really catches attention is the Dr Dre earphones that everybody was wearing on their heads.

Some of the artistes like Taufik Batisah and JJ Lin tried to be unnaturally mushy while singing which backfired. Others like Ah Do and Kit Chan herself who did it the "normal" way were those who succeeded in creating pleasant music.

As for the one artiste who stood out, it's got to be Sheikh Haikel. Firstly, it is his red colour costume which was already conspicuous. Secondly, and more importantly, was that he is rapping from the start to end of the song.

Sheikh Haikel was definitely the biggest winner in this project since the original "Home" song didn't had rapping in it.

One notable absentee from this collaboration was Corrine May. One of the most successful female singers from Singapore's absence in the MV is surely not a positive thing.

Well, it is still a decent piece of work compared to JJ Lin's super-failed YOG cheer.

Last day in SP

I would be lying if I said I am not having mixed feelings now. I feel sad and excited at the same time. When the sun rises up the next time, it would be my final day of schooling in Singapore Polytechnic.

For the last couple of days, I have been asking myself this question. Do I have enough good memories in SP to look back on after I graduate? I had lots of them from secondary school, too much that I believe I had forgotten some.

Also, this question has been popping up in my head lately, what difference will there be in my life if I had not enrolled into SP? The most obvious factor would be the people I had met/known while studying there.

So I thought, if I had not met this people and be friends with them, will there be any change in me? I think the answer would be a yes. However, whether it is a change for the better or not remains to be seen.

Throughout the six semesters, I have seen for myself what it means to be in a job for the sake of money and not passion or commitment. The lecturers there are the perfect example. They teach for the sake of it and not because they want to impart knowledge to others.

The poly life is too "computerized" and "standardized", there isn't any human touch at all. You do tests online, check your scores online and find course materials online.

When students enter a classroom for lesson with the teacher inside, the teacher acts as if there is nobody and continues to stay silent until 15 minutes had passed since the time the lesson was supposed to begin.

Back to my friends, it was nice friending, working and playing with all of you and also falling out with a few. I realized that almost everyone has fallen out with at least another person within these three years. You know, school politics.

Tomorrow will be the last day I am carrying my bag as an SP student. I have been carrying it for more than two and a half years. In fact, this is only the second bag which I use for schooling in SP, the first one was the free Acer laptop bag that lasted for three months.

I will carry it with my head held high up. Yes, I am proud to be a student of SP. Forever and a day.

Nobody nobody but her

Weird and outrageous style. Exclusively to Lady Gaga. Well, at least she did win 3 awards so people wouldn't criticize too much about the egg she was inside.

And for the first time in my life, I felt sympathetic to Justin Bieber. He (or you can say she) lost the Best Newcomer Award to erm, Esperanza Spalding? Spalding who? Who the hell is that? The company which manufactures basketballs?

SEEE D&D

Wah, cheap sia! Only forty dollars leh. A ticket to School of EEE's Dinner and Dance costs only that much.

It is stated in the email that graduating students are strongly encouraged to attend this event. I think the real meaning is to inform us that this is the so-called prom night for us.

I remember when I was still a Tanglin Secondary School student, the ticket price for the prom night was seventy bucks. Of course, me and many other smart people chose to boycott it as a protest against the high price.

If I did not remember wrongly, only half of my sec four class attended the function. This half were either student councillors (who were teacher's pets [dogs]) or vain people who just had to be present there.

This is the first time I'm seeing SP coming up with something at such a bargain price. Pay or not pay the forty bucks?

Last week in SP

This is the penultimate week of me studying in Singapore Polytechnic and there are still some no, a lot of tasks which I have to fulfil for the past three years.

Next week is the final week of the semester, the final week of me sitting in a lecture theatre and the final chance to do those things that I had always wanted to do in SP but forgot/had no time to do.

I have decided to list them on this blog to remind myself and hopefully I can get them done in a week's time. Warning, don't get a shock if those things seem retarded to you.


"Cope" plasters and other useful things from the first-aid box

Man, I have never done this before. I have "coped" stationery, papers, sweets, chilli sauce, wires and my friend's homework before but I had never thought of the first-aid box.

It was not until Maha told me that the first-aid box in the lab was empty that I realized that it is a wonderful source of freebies.

There are so many things inside a first-aid box, from the costlier items like medicine to worthless ones like bandage cloth. Cannot wait for Monday to arrive.

Playing pool

I have always been remembering to do this, just that the price of playing it turns me off. Whenever I pass by the Moberly building, my first instinct would be pool followed by "Is Nick inside there?"

Nick, you treat and teach me pool lah. Take it as a goodwill to end your SP life on a good note.

Try out every single food stall

I told myself about this when I was in my very first semester but sadly, the mission is still unaccomplished.

I have finished trying everything in Foodcourt 2,3,4,5. I'm only left with the Muslim stall at Foodcourt 1 and a few stalls at Foodcourt 6 located at the "mountain peak".

The Muslim stall is always boasting a long queue and I hate to climb up the "mountain", which explains why I have not tried out all the stalls.

Visit the principal's office

I am referring to a tour and not something negative. I know this one is impossible. One wonders what he has in his office. Stacks of cash? Karaoke system? Gold tap?

Work at the library (for one more time)

I have volunteered to work at the library in year 1 for my Character Development module (expectantly and unfortunately, it didn't better develop my character) and I missed it.

Many times when I stroll past the library counter or see a library staff working, I have the sudden urge to sign up as a volunteer again.

I would have been the top volunteer for SP's library if I did not oppress my urge each time.

That's all for now. The rest are all minor and trivial stuff which can be done at ease.