Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 2.

Nothing is open on Sundays in Maastricht except for the first Sunday of every month.

With that, we braved the wintery winds and went exploring the dead town by foot. The first thing we found was the mart at the petrol kiosk that was open. Which sold porn. LOL! But things were really expensive, so we moved along after Ian bought some Doritos. We were searching for this Pakistani supermarket that Frankie told Karen about and Orleansstraat.

So we walked.. and we walked...

And we managed to get there! Not before coming across two squares of shops and an open bakery where we managed to settle our breakfast for Monday. Still getting the feeling that they have never seen Asians before, which is strange, since Maastricht is supposed to be teeming with exchange students. Hongkongers especially.

Anyways, so we got there finally, and it wasn't open! And since it was still early in the day, we decided to take a bus down to the train station to grab our lunch since the kebab store was supposedly open. In the end, we found ourselves in the central square because passed through it and decided that it was probably a better place to walk =)

I wish I had my camera with me, but I didn't. So no photos here. You'd have to look at Xiyu's album to see all the beautiful photos of the place. Really European, I think. Just what I imagined =) Little cafes lined the streets facing the square, and these cafes were open! So were most of the fast food places. Thank God! And so we managed to settle our lunch and our curiosity of the place at one shot. We are definitely gonna go back there when everything else opens up!

First Day in Maastricht.

I should really put my blog to better use now that I am overseas. Sadly I didn't take much photographs these past few days because I thought my camera was low on juice, while it was in fact, full.

If you have me on Facebook, you would know by now that we took 26 hours to actually get to Maastricht from Singapore. It was a back-breaking 2 plane rides where we got incessantly woken up by the air stewardesses for meals that we did not really need, and then a train ride where we got lost in.

The train ride was especially hard for the boys because the 3 of us had to help carry the luggages for the girls. It was okay for the first few times, but we tired after a few more times. It didn't help that the Hollanders gave us weird looks that said "Wow, I have never seen Asians before!" or "I wonder why they are here?". But anyways, we managed to endure those 2 gruelling hours by playing Name the Capital and "Who do you prefer". LOL. That was fun.

Sadly, it didn't end happily with us reaching Maastricht train station. We were left in the cold while we tried to find something to eat for dinner, and then we had to figure out how to take the bus over to Browerswag to get the keys to our apartments. THANKFULLY there was a college student there to help us find our way!

But of course, Browerswag was not the end of the journey. In fact, it was 2 km away from our apartments. You know, it really sounds easy on paper (blog) but imagine us each carrying a 30 kg luggage and a 7 kg hand carry, and lugging it all around town in the dark and cold. It was hell =S

When we reached Browerswag and got our keys we gave up and just ordered cabs to bring us finally to Talienruwe. They weren't as expensive as the rumours put them out to be, and we were glad to finally get here. And from there, it was just a matter of quickly putting on bedsheets, and falling deeply asleep.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Gatherings.



I had another gathering tonight. This time it was with my LOCC coursemates: Zhimin, Chee Wee, Chio and BJ. It was amazing how we could just talk about our lives and relationships and what we were up to for this semester as if we never parted. Gatherings with old friends always brings back fond memories for me, and oh boy, have I been meeting up with a lot of people this past holidays! In a sense, I am using my SEP as an excuse to reconnect with the people in my life!

We went to Commonwealth for some awesome zi char and talked on and on about the Army and the people who were in the army and what they are doing now, and what we are doing in school now, and all that.

There are parts of my life now that I really miss, such as kayaking and the Army days, and parts of my life that have shaped me into who I am today. I am soooo happy and thankful to God that I have all these friends with me in my life, and that I am still able to talk to them and all =)

I will really miss Singapore a lot when I am overseas I think. Because everyone I know is here, and everything that I hold dear is here too. Man, can't believe I am actually going to leave in 2 days time.

And it still feels as if things haven't really been sorted out yet in my family, and I don't really even know if things can actually be sorted out. I just hope that everything resolves itself with time?

Monday, January 24, 2011

Now, maybe this is a better car ad...

Joy made them No. 1?

I saw this advertisement on Saturday's Straits Times and couldn't help wondering what Joy had to do with Performance Motors being the Number 1 Luxury Car Retailer.

Was Joy a person? Like their top saleswoman who sold so many BMWs that they shot to the top? Did being really happy and joyful make their employees work harder to get better sales?

Then I found out: JOY IS BMW is BMW's (no, this is not a typo) new marketing campaign as shown in this video:

My question is, is BMW really joy? I mean, it is definitely performance, even the local dealership's name spells it out clearly. BMW is definitely power, masculinity, strength. Raw brutish energy even. But joy?

So I checked the inside of that gigantic spread out. Well, basically it said that joy made them No.1, and their employees are filled with joy. But that didn't really do it for me. Why BMW then? I could replace it with any other brand and still say that my employees are gleeful. To me, this was an advertisement that didn't work. Simply because I had to go online and google "Joy BMW" to find out why in the world they wrote that.

Joy did not make Performance Motors No. 1. BMW did. BMW's legacy of making great cars that perform, great cars that are a joy to ride in. Cars that bring you to where you want to be in the way that you want to be brought there - in style and aplomb. Nay, not joy.

Monday, January 17, 2011

我有真正快乐过吗?



又吵架了。这次是姐和哥哥。

不记得这个家没有吵架的日子。小时候是因为老爸脾气坏,拿妈妈做出气筒,他失业过后也是。然后是妈妈学会了吵回他。我们搬去婆婆家的日子又是阿姨们的争吵不休。搬回来后又是爸爸妈妈为了钱而吵。

现在是年轻人的时代了。姐姐越来越倔强,越来越不听家人的劝告。哥哥也越来越孤僻,不告诉我们他在外的事。

我好想小时候的我们喔!一起到唐城,虎豹别墅,圣淘沙游玩。一起玩。我是有快乐过的。快乐的是在父母吵架时,我们还能一起哭,一起笑。那是很久以前的事了。也许他们都忘了吧?

现在的我们根本不象一个家。一起吃饭难免会闹得吵起来。真的好累喔⋯⋯也许这次去荷兰能当作是休息吧!

我们大概回不到小时候了吧?

Thursday, January 06, 2011

I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D3100!

And he shall be named, Nick.

The Kit...

...and all the free gifts that came with it!

With enthusiasm, I tried it out on my collection of Absolut Vodka! There's really a clear difference in terms of vibrancy between my Lumix FZ-8 and this. Played around with the manual focus and the delayed flash too. Impressive! =DD

Here's my entire collection! Sans the Vodka Peach which was in the kitchen in the process of being finished up. Wah.. I do have quite a few don't I? Too bad my Vodka Pear was given away by my dad =(
Without flash...
..and with flash!
YAY! Now I have a DSLR to call my own and to take nice photos of in Maastricht! Can't wait to test it out in the open. But before that, I am going to get it an LCD screen protector and a proper bag so that I can haul it up the airplane.

-EXCITES!-

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Of Resolutions and Reminiscences.

If you have been reading this blog for many years, you would realise that I am not big on resolutions or remembering the past. Most of the time, I live it, and then I forget most of what I have done. And I do this because I always believe that new experiences should never be shadowed by the past. Then again, there are times when it's good to look back and reflect on what I have done for the past year, and to set goals for what I want to do in the future.

Reminiscences
2010 for me was really a year of maturing and finding out what I am good at. It was also a year where I believe I found my one true love. At the same time, 2010 was the year where I wised up to the world, which may not be a good thing.

2010 was the year which Bizad lost the Rag and Flag title to Science, who I might add, didn't win it gracefully, cheating on their no touch time, and refusing to meet with Dr Helen to even discuss some kind of concession. Then again, it was their chance to finally win. Perhaps playing fair wasn't exactly top of the list.

I managed to get my best semester of results yet in the previous semester, but I think it was still not up to par in the view of some of my family. To be honest, I was expecting to do better, but I was still glad to be able to improve fromt the previous few sems.. So good enough for me!

In the year, I matured significantly as a designer all thanks to the training that the Bizad Club gave me. I can't say that I am anywhere near being pro, but I am really proud of my body of work, and I really hope to be able to build on what I have and become better at what I do! Interestingly, Design has also affirmed my intentions in taking Marketing as a specialisation. Taking a course in Asian Marketing has reaffirmed that Marketing is truly what I like to do, and what I can see myself doing despite all the uncertainties and fears that I will not be able to land a good job when I graduate.

Of course, needless to mention, the greatest highlight of 2010 was finding Ms Oh Kai Li. We may have or little quibbles here and there, and sometimes we don't get why we do certain things and we get upset over each other, but at the end of the day, we are always able to talk through these things and realise that we truly love and care for each other. I can really see us being together for a looooooong time. And I am so glad that I managed to find such a wonderful girlfriend. Thank God!

-

Resolutions
I thought I would write myself some resolutions, not as things to complete in the year, but rather as things to work towards, a list to remind me of what I should be doing amidst the busyness of studies and all.

1) Maintain my relationship with God
Sad to say, i think I have lost a bit of that in 2010. I could feel myself leaning more on myself to chase after my grades and what I want, often ignoring what God wants, or what would glorify God more. I remember the days back in CCC where there was such emphasis on glorifying God and finding out what He wants to do in my life that many other things are secondary to that singular goal... I think I can find that back. And I really want to.

2) Lose weight!
Yes, I think if I wrote resolutions every year, it would be an annual item on the list. I am now at my heaviest weight ever. I have already been taking steps to lose some of my gut, but I think you can never have too much of a good thing. My target for this year is really to complete a triathlon. Let's see what I can get when I get back from exchange! Hopefully I am not tooooo fat then,,,

3) Have fun in Europe!
I'd better promise myself that so I will do it! Hahahahahas!

4) Get even better grades.
I really want to pull it up to at least a 2nd upper. And I know I have what it takes in me. I just need to keep the discipline when the going gets tough and the books get boring!

5) Save up enough money.
I don't really spend on big ticket items, but I think food for me is huge. So I always spend more than I need to on food. So here's reminding myself to cut down on spending so that I can have a better future, and have more money to spend next time!

6) Be a better designer.
I really need to learn everything from the basics, because so far, it has been intuition. I think in order to advance, I have to really practise practise practise. Who knows, maybe in the future I would be a graphic designer!

Well, that's all I can think of for now actually. Shall add to this if I can think of more!
 
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