World Cup Fever!

Football night at my cousin's house on Sat. I only watched the Ghana vs Australia match. I must say the Socceroos gave a good game with only 10 players on the field! Decided to raise the stakes after and made a bet with my niece. I'm on team Brazil and she's with Argentina. So whichever team goes furthest in the competition would win the bet! PS: If anyone wants to bet with some real cash just lemme know! LMAO!

Basically if I win, she has to give me the royal treatment the next time I go over. Roll out the red carpet and "paparazzi" stuff. But if she wins then I give her a treat at whichever place of her choice. Pretty excited for more upcoming matches in the weeks to come!

We also celebrated Karen's birthday this weekend with a very satisfying super hot female lunch which left my heart racing and head pounding. I literally could not bear walking after that. Time to return back to gym this coming week.



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Bad Things Happen To Good People

Crash Into Me Real Hard.

An Early Departure

This has been a really slow week for me. I was down with the flu and cooped up in my room for three days. Almost back to full recovery but I decided to make an early departure and went out today. Looks like the best remedy I could have asked for was getting out, some exercise and breathing in some fresh air! I need to pay a visit to the spa soon for some lovin'.

What's Your Type?

From my experiences of hanging out with different people while casually having drinks at a bar or clubbing at night clubs, I have observed three breeds or... types of drinkers.

Type 1's are those that become very boring and quiet when they start drinking.

Type 2's are the ones that get out of their comfort zone and basically are entertaining.

Type 3's are the out-of-control individuals. They can't be tamed! Stay away and be nice at all costs!

Running's The Name Of The Game!

I have officially signed up for the Army half marathon in September! Been a dream of mine to run for some time now. Hence, in the next few weeks it's gonna be running and more sports for me! Looking forward to the new living aka the new routine. Oh and it's gonna be good training for the army too!

Last but not least, Addison will be coming back tonight after 3 long weeks in Thailand on his military mission! I'm glad he was able to rough it out and survive the strenuous activities. Some motivation for me when I enlist later in the year. But anyway welcome home, buddy!

No More Drama!!!

Being human, we are forced to succumb to various feelings and emotions.
Some are easy to handle and some you only feel like running away from.
Sometimes, all you wanna do is submerge yourself and hope for something new.
A new place, A different time, A simpler life.
At the end of the day, the only comforting lie are the thoughts in your head and the words of wisdom and care from the Angels passing through in your life.
There is no greater power than the power of goodbye!

A new place

A different time

A simpler life

The Lotus And A Wish

Vesak Day, an annual holiday celebrated commonly in Asia was just a bit more than a week ago. Living in a multi-cultural society my Godfather suggested we do some visiting to learn more about this holiday. We did a few of the common practices during our trip like bathing the baby Buddha and placing the lotus flower into a whole array of other similar ones and making a wish simultaneously when performing both these customs. It was indeed an interesting visit and experiencing and learning more about a different culture.

Karen bathing the Baby Buddha

Chong Jin and I placing the Lotus

Excuse Me, Mister!

What do you really want? What do you want to know?

What do you want to see? Where do you want to go?
I got places to be. When you're ready let me know!
Just a little Bossy. I like it how I like it when I like it and that's how it is.

Trust me. You want me happy
Punishment can be severe
Please me And I will gladly
Brighten up your atmosphere
Just a little Bossy. I like it how I like it when I like it and that's how it is.

A Rock Steady Vibe

In the blink of an eye. The world go 'round.
Take a few steps. And You learn to fly.
Why become rock stars just for a day?
When you can live the way you wanna live everyday.
Put on a little bit of swagger.
Unleash the rhythm.
Dance and move to the groove.
Then show everybody what you brought.
Because when you think about the fun,
There ain't nothing you ain't got!

Juliet, Where Art Thou?

Beautiful girls all over the world. I could be chasing but my time would be wasted. Everywhere I go, I'm always hearing your name. They might say "Hi" and I might say "Hey" but you shouldn't worry about what they say cause they got nothing on you. Hands down there will never be another one. I've been around and I've never seen another one. Look at your style I ain't really got nothin' on and you're wild when you ain't got nothing on.

I've been to Los Angeles, i've been to Australia
even way out there in Bombay
back home down in Singapore to Hong Kong
But you always steal the show

The Banking And Finance Graduate (Edit)

I officially graduated Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Banking and Finance on May 19, 2010. Although Graduation went better than I thought it would, what made it less memorable was the absence of Christian and Victoria. The latter had also promised me that she would come but eventually didn't. That really sucked. At least the "goodbyes" and the "see-you-soon" from many friends over the past three years was pretty nostalgic and put a nice close to this chapter of my life. But enough said, here are some photos from Graduation. (More to come!)

And the after-party with Tor, Ver and some friends

I wonder what the future has in stored for this life.

The Simple Things Are So Hard To Find

If only life could be this simple.

It's A Man's World

Last week I watched an independent film titled "The Stoning Of Soraya M.". The movie set in Iran is based on a true story and was indeed brilliant.

It portrays the innocence of women in countries where men are superior to women and the latter are treated as second class. I.e If a man accuses a woman of a crime, she would have to prove her innocence without the man needing to provide evidence of the accusation to begin with. However, if a woman accuses a man of a crime, she would need to give evidence of his guilt without the man needing to prove his innocence. This discrimination towards women brings literal meaning to the saying "It's A Man's World".

In this movie, the husband of Soraya, Ali, wants a divorce from her so he can get re-married to another lady. Soraya refuses as she has four kids to feed and it would not be possible if her husband abandons and leaves her to fend for the whole family. Thus, Ali frames Soraya for adultery and convinces the entire town and "Government officials" that she is guilty. Her punishment... To be stoned.

It's really such a shame to see that this in still being practiced down there and other cities in the world. You would think that by now someone would have put their foot down and stopped this discriminating laws but it's not done yet. We can only pray for the safety of innocent people everywhere.

Honey, Where Did My Ring Go?

The whole reason I planned this trip to California to begin with was to attend my cousin's wedding. And on May 1, Melvin tied the knot with fiance Mayra with a beautiful wedding ceremony and dinner held at The Grand in Long Beach.

There's something about me that finds so much fun in attending weddings. I've traveled to India, Australia and now America to attend and be part of one of the biggest day one celebrates in their life. The other "big days" has got to be the day you move out of your parent's home and live independently, right? Or maybe the day you reach 18 or 21 and become legal to do most "fun" activities.

But anyway, this wedding was no different from all the others I had attended. Meaning, I always meet new family that I've never met before. The table I was seated at was arranged for us "kids" aka "cousins" and they were crazy and so much fun to be around with. Hope I get to meet up with them again.

The most unique idea at the wedding was this photo booth set up. Guests would go inside with props provided and get their pictures taken. When they are done, the photos would be printed immediately and pasted in the guest book and they can sign and write their best wishes for the couple next to their picture. I thought that was just genius!

Towards the end of the night, Melvin lost his wedding ring. The DJ stopped the music and turned on the lights disrupting the "club like" atmosphere going down on the dance floor. Everybody frantically started searching under tables and chairs until one of the Groom's men found it and and the party resumed! My cousin Briana is planning her wedding in California next year and wants a Military themed wedding. Ironic since I'm going to be in the army.

Giving Back, The Idol Way

My visit to California in 2008 coincided with American Idol Gives Back and being a fan of the show, I went for the opportunity and bought a ticket which burnt a hole in my pocket after that. I didn't really have a choice since the less costly ones were sold out and I had really wanted to attend the show. My only consolation? The fact that the money goes to charity!

Idol Gives Back aired again last night and this time it was held at Pasadena whereas in '08 it was held at the Kodak Theatre which was way more convenient since I was staying within walking distance from there. It was a pretty cool experience going for the event and I was seated in the middle on the second level.

Some peeps beside me thought I was a seat filler and they became pretty fascinated when they learnt I was from Singapore... that never gets old.

Keeps Getting Hotter

The temperature this past week soared to over 29 degrees. You would think being on a hot island back home I'd be used to it by now but no. The changing conditions from hot to cold and cold to hot put me under the weather for a while.

It showered on Monday so we pushed our Disney plans to Tuesday and went to the mall on Monday. Wednesday was California Adventures and with the recommendation of Nikki, we tried "California Screaming", a roller coaster ride with a 360 degree loop.... Went on it TWICE! We would have gone more but the heat was a disaster. I was really surprised how my 3 year old niece, Haley was so confident and braved through rides like "Tower Of Terror", "Space Mountain" and others. In one photo, she turned around to look at this guy with a really frightened face. It looked like she was thinking to herself "Why's this guy screaming? RELAX!"

Then Thursday we drove down to Irvine Spectrum where many popular brands are located at. Venice Beach was on Friday, one of my favourite places. The beach was beautiful! There was quite a handful of really weird people too. I guess that just adds to the culture of Venice Beach. And the homes there cost a bomb too. You're basically paying a fortune for living in the area and getting crappy houses. Woke up early on Saturday for a two hour drive to Palm Springs. This one's another beautiful place and Gwen Stefani vacationed there about two weeks ago. It was my second time in this area. Again like in 2008, we went up the mountains and breathed in some of the cleanest air you could ever inhale. Walked around in the snow and went down to the outlet malls for some crazy shopping afterwards.

After Cassie and Malcolm left on Sunday, I went to a sports bar with Nich and watched my first hockey game. After being a patron in there, I wonder how people enjoy watching soccer games at coffee shops? lol... Then it was Mass at Church and a close to Week 2.

Welcome To Orange County

Updates from my trip thus far.

Arrived into LAX on Tuesday evening. Danielle, Vanessa and I went to Yard House for dinner and then met some other friends over at a bar, "Envy" at Downtown Fullerton to party a bit.

Decided to chill at home on Wednesday with family. We ended up playing "Family Feud". What did I learn from game night? That, basically I need to work on my general knowledge and speed skills!

On Thursday, Danielle and I ran some errands and I created an account with Bank Of America. Yes! I officially have an a checking and savings account and a debit card with BOA. My card should be arriving in the mail within 5 days.

Went to the airport on Friday to pick up Cassie and her brother. Had some lunch at home and after my Aunt dropped us at the mall where we spent almost 5 hours browsing through every store possible. This was followed by our Good Friday service at Church.

Put on our blue suede shoes and left for Hollywood on Saturday. Took on some star power on the 2 hour Hollywood land tour and Mdm Tussuad's Wax Museum.

Attended Easter Mass followed by family lunch, Easter Egg Hunt, Beer Pong and Poker on Sunday!

Live Like We're Dying

April Fool's Day was made to humiliate people and a day to joke and lie without feeling bad about it.

2 years ago (2008) when I was on vacation in Los Angeles, Big D and Small D pulled a really twisted and deceitful prank on me. It all began while I was out at a mall with my cousin and I got a call from Small D saying that the group of them were out cycling and Big D was hit by a truck. She continued on that they were on the way to the hospital and she was afraid and didn't know what to do. She sounded so sincere on the phone.

After we hanged up, my cousin and I talked:

V: It's April Fool's today, Danny
Dan: Yea, you think their pulling a fast one on me? She sounded so frightened on the phone!

Small D continues to call me through the evening with updates at the hospital and sounds really worried from each call. And after about an hour or so she begins crying and sobbing through the phone! An hour later, she calls again with news that Big D died! She doesn't know what to do! She's so scared, etc. I'm going like WTF? Is this for real or what! But I try to comfort her still.

After the call with Small D, I phone my cousins and they tell me it's all bullshit and their pulling a prank on me.

(5 minutes later)

Big D and Small D: April Fools!!!

Dan: B*#$%^&! Nobody jokes about death!