3 Nights in India

India was incredible, a certain part of it at least.

Attended my cousin's wedding which was a fun culture collision of India meets Taiwan. Visited cultural places like the palace of the King and Queen from centuries ago and a "pilgrimage" to St Alphonsa's Church. Had the pre-wedding party on Sunday and the actual wedding on Monday. I'm glad to see that India is improving and slowly picking itself up. I did feel however like I have been living in the stone ages the past few days of living there.

It was exciting still getting to meet family that I've never met before and some that I have but couldn't quite seem to remember, darn, it made me feel just awful about. Kinda shows how my memory is just deteriorating. Time to boost the brain cells! I have yet to receive pictures from the wedding so I'm only uploading snaps from the "touristy" areas.

Walking up to the Palace

The Deer Park

A dinosaur made from fibre glass

Priceless

OK, decided to make a quick post before I fly away and leave you high and dry.

Visited St Joseph's home last week to spend some quality time with the elderly and visit Brother Herbert who turned 94. Something I realised about an aged home is that it is also like a school. You have the timid people, the bullies, the talkative ones and the smokers! Ah, and i saw many inspirational quotes on the walls of the home. The quote above impressed me the most.

Flying off to India tonight for my cousins wedding which is literally going to be a culture collision! Wish I could stay in town though with all the school projects piling up and most of which I have yet to start. Guess I'll be saving them for Wednesday when I get back... Ah...

Cassaundra Gail is Rebellious

Alakazam!

To celebrate Cassie's 19th Birthday, Corey, JH, Debbie, the birthday girl and myself had a rebellious night out at Clarke Quay. We had dinner at Hot Stones which serves steak and seafood. The restaurant adopts the unique style of cooking your own food which was very enjoyable especially when we began poking fun at one another especially Cass since the clock was ticking, as we only had a couple of hours left to "disturb" her before it was officially her birthday and as the rule states, we're suppose to be "nice".

Following dinner, we had ice cream from the Turkish stall. It was absolutely delightful and embarrassing. They are really incredible in their job of creating this unique way of serving ice cream to people which was quite like a magic show. Moved over to Rebel for some partying. It looked great inside and even better music.

Last but not least, what is a birthday without something sweet and delicious?.. So, to end off the night, we surprised Cass with a cake at Nectarie. We ate, talked and were merry!

Hope you had a fantastic 19th. Happy Birthday gorgeous.

Mind Over Matter

No SLEEP. No FOOD. No WATER.

I have been feeling very lethargic for almost a month or more now. Think it could be because I'm growing older! Reaching two decades of your life can really put a toll on you it seems. Well, but I have reached another theory. Recently found out from a scan that I have a very low water level in my body, less than half the amount that is required to be retained by the body. Furthermore, I have not been getting much sleep or food. My meals are so inconsistent, it's crazy. Can people actually forget to have lunch or dinner. Ah, well at least I've just started having breakfast now since it's supposedly the most important meal of the day. So just gotta start reminding myself everyday now to drink more H2O and sleep earlier.

However, this could just be all in my head. The mind really is very powerful. If we put our minds to it, we can overcome any obstacle. So if we set a goal or an idea in our minds and be really focused on it, we can conquer. How we set our minds determines our abilities, whether we can or we can't. Like the saying goes, Potest Qui Vult, "When there's a will, there's a way". The goal now is to start getting active again and keeping my mind motivated and running.

Wicked Games

Push yourself to the limit!

Travelled to town this morning to Gym at California Fitness with Darren. He had a buddy pass and asked me along too, especially since there was going to be a personal trainer for this session. Seriously, I understand now how the stars keep fit especially those that give birth and display their abs and post-baby bods within a month... Heidi klum for instance! It takes whole lot of commitment from the individual and in addition, physical and mental strength. Persistence is key in delivering. If you want it, you've gotta work hard for it. Trainers normally expect a 100% commitment from their students too. The facilities there are great anyway.

Met Toria afterwards for lunch and coffee following that at Gloria Jeans. Thought it was about time we catch up since we hardly meet these days in school.

Headed over to St Patrick's in the evening for a Legion of Mary reunion. It was fun catching up with everyone again.

Made it home in time for Poker night. The guys were playing a drinking game using the roulette to get warmed up. Roulette was wicked! Played poker until 5am. Was worth it since i made a reasonable profit eventually. Family friends from US came in at 2am and will be staying here. Lorenzo made a joke that our place is "like an open house". We get visitors all the time and it's fun having people around the house.

Deeper with... An Icon and Champion: Roger Federer

15 grand slam titles to his name and has reclaimed the throne as World number 1.

Roger Federer is undoubtedly not only a legend but an icon. He has been an icon and has inspired for the past 3-4 years now. He possesses the qualities of a champion like humility, strength and graciousness. Federer has been without a coach for awhile and his ability to train himself displays maturity and determination for his love of the sport and willingness to commit wholeheartedly to challenging himself by reflecting on his game and making changes where necessary.

On June 5, Roger Federer made history by being the first man to win 15 grand slam titles at his Wimbledon victory (5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14). Kudos goes to his his opponent, Andy Roddick who delivered a great game and was just as close to winning his first Wimbledon. Roddick did not let Federer walk away without a fight which made Federer's triumph something worth remembering rather than an easy win in straight sets.

Roddick put up a brave fight and playing like I've never seen him play before. He was amazing on the court and proved once more why he was world number 1 back in 2003. He has surely won over more fans worldwide from his display of tennis at the finals and inspired many Americans especially.

The Centre Court was packed with over 15,ooo people including tennis legends like Pete Sampras (who flew in from California to see Federer superceed his 14 slams), Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver. Other famous names in attendance were Sir Alex Ferguson, Woody Allen, Russell Crowe and close friend Gavin Rossdale who cheered on for his pal!
The Wimbledon final was amazing to watch and spurred a roller coaster of emotions which got me jumping on the couch and running back and forth around the house. I'm so determined to experience Wimbledon live at centre court someday soon! But hopefully I don't fall off the seats or something knowing how frantic I can be.

Queen V

Victoria turned 19 yesterday, and Dominic and I brought her out for lunch at Say Cheeze in Tampines 1. We would have bought a cheese cake from there but crazy me forgot and got it from 4 leaves instead, which Tor loves so it's a win-win i suppose. After the main course, I clearly instructed the waiter to bring the cake out with the candles lighted and everything but he brought it out with the plastic bag still attached. I signalled him to bring it back without anyone seeing and excused myself to explain to the waiter again. He clearly still did not understand so we just lighted it ourselves, which was fine still. On the plus side, the service and food there was fantastic. Decided to travel back to Tor's house to play poker.

Happy 4th of July

Bring on the fireworks!

Headed to Church this morning for the annual lector's retreat. Didn't feel very up to it but still attended nonetheless. Turned out better that i was expecting it to be. The speaker was quite inspiring and funny too, so that's a plus.

Since it ended early, went down to St Patrick's for the carnival since Corey was still hanging there. Met and chatted with friends and teachers mostly and caught up with the godfather after a very long time. The rides looked exciting but we weren't really dressed down for them so we basically spent our tickets on subway cookies, yeah! It was all to raise funds for the school and am glad we helped still, though the little that we did.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

— Mother Teresa

Disconnected

It's amazing how I've come to realize that it is already July 2009.

Almost seems like I've been disconnected from the World around me. Not only with the World but my goals for this year too. At least I can say that the past 6 months have not been all too bad.

Tried new things from playing poker to fishing. Travelled around Asia mostly, especially to Malaysia, Indonesia and India and met cousins earlier in January that I've not seen since I was probably 3? because they migrated to Canada. Did all kinds of water sports in Bintan too which made me challenge my fear of the sea! As for now, I bought a new tennis and badminton racket and will start playing next week for sure. The next phase is to find a job. Yeah, I'll probably get about applying for the one at Esplanade that I've been procrastinating for almost a year already. Damnations! Well, this post is really more of a guilty pleasure. Just trying to keep myself grounded and focused.