"blog blank" update 4

Update #4!!! Here are some of the people I have spent time with. People in whose company I can just be myself (an insensitive baboon). Of course there are more of you buddies out there! I just need some pictures! Especially you two: JUN YAN AND WEI JIN! We need some pictures together! sounds so..... -->(three letter word for happy, rhymes with the fifth month of the year)

Jeremy Chan and Chan Ailin.









The FAMOUS Miss Lee (dun say I never put ur pic yeah)









My noisy neighbor Tan Poh Yi and new fren Nikki









Chan Jisan... Forever busy and stressed beeeeee. Relax la!














Chan Hean Lynn!!! My SUPER BUDDY who's gone to Singapore to fly SIA... sigh... can hardly see her now.






It just occurred to me that most of them have 陈 (Chan/Tan) blood! FAMILY FAMILY!


Okay I noticed that I've been doing only updates recently, which are surprisingly taking up more of my time and brain cognition to do. Sigh... regret not blogging these down when the memories were still fresh... when I could easily recall the events, remember conversations, appreciate the people involved... and in so doing further sustaining the memories that will be cherished for years to come. It's not some faulty logic I came across in Philosophy class. Apparently recalling a memory within 24 hours of learning or experiencing it will prolong its existence and increase its accessibility for future recall. Serious! As much as approximately 85% for a long period of time. That's why we're encouraged to read materials before class and/or look through what we've learnt at the end of the day. Study tip from the chubby panda! OKAY! ENOUGH GRANPA TALK...

So yeah I realize that I tend to have moments when I try to recall what happened maybe a month ago and suffer a minor writer's block. I'd literally stare at the screen, stare at the pictures wondering what happened, where to begin, what to write etc.... It's seriously taking up a lot of time! Moreover it's not very productive taking into account the sacrificed time and cognitive efforts I could've used to reflect on more recent events, begin thinking about and blurting about many other things besides MY LIFE'S HAPPENINGS A MONTH AGO. I would really like to shift the focus on other issues... Which has been hard to do lately... Argh!! Do we have a name for that? The "id" syndrome? the "me me me!" syndrome? Maybe SELFISH? <-- This is random but I am recalling Caroline's response to being called selfish:

"No lah where got selfish? Sell Prawns only!"

So this will be my last "blog blank" update... I will start writing about more recent events. Also I will start engaging in much needed mind probing, reflecting and hopefully life changing!

CHEERIOS

"blog blank" update 3

June 15th 2008 was pretty memorable for me. Shannon, Yuan Harng and i went to Halo Cafe. It's kinda like a Chinese Stage Performing Cafe. You get to request songs and hear them being performed as u eat and drink. Three of us, 3 close Malats at Halo Cafe on a Sunday night... It's either we're that sad with no other activities, or it's time for some heart to heart talk, or both!


So on that night it started with a chicken chop, a jug of tiger beer and some smoking impersonations of Shannon. Slowly it became relationship talk... GUYS TALK ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS TOO!!! We talked about the mentality of today's opposite sex, puzzled with the Million Dollar Question "What women want?" and shared some very personal experiences (obviously all three of us have had very negative ones).... I shared with them something very personal which I won't disclose here... They were pretty shocked and empathized with me! I can testify to that! I remembered victor's jaw dropped and shannon's eyes almost popped out of their sockets! :P Anyways... I'm thankful that I'll always have these two very very close friends to share life's ups and downs with. We agreed that for us, it's not so much counseling or advising... it's just being there, being out with one another, not speaking at all sometimes... but in silence merely feeling and empathizing with one another's troubles and sorrows. "tai kar sam jiu" (we all know in our hearts) Cheers to my buddies! <=== They will surely say YOR!! Weng Hong! So yok mar! hahaha but oh well... Sometimes appreciation should be celebrated! Ohh... after the HALO cafe session, I drove to my dad's cemetery for some midnight grave robbing! lol nah My intention was to go visit dad at his grave. I parked my car... went in like 15 paces... saw a lot of wild dogs and chickened out! Okay ghosts and spirits I'm not afraid of... but wild dogs... erhhh... they bite!! Why would they rest at a graveyard anyways??? hmnn...

"blog blank" update 2

My Family: Daniel's 2nd Birthday!
Standing from left: Rochelle (my maid maid) & my mom
Bottom from left: Rebecca (my sister and mother to Daniel), Daniel & Fook Yin (my Brother in law and Father to Daniel)

Okay one of the big additions to my family!!! This little cute kid's name is Daniel Chan (he saw me wearing shoes and imitated me by putting my other pair of sneakers on! Cuteness!! :>). We just celebrated his 2nd Birthday. So he's not such a new addition to my family. Just that I've been away for about 1.5 years, so I missed 1.5 years of him becoming a 2 year old. I never had any siblings, so it was a very enriching experience during the past 2 months for me: taking care of him, teaching, playing, feeding and just spending time with him. For those of you who didn't already know a little about my family, let me fill you in.

I was the first and only child in my family. My father, Tan Ah Bah (that's his real name. I AM DEAD SERIOUS) passed away when I was 5 years old. I really do appreciate the irony in his name. Tan Ah Bah. Tan "geh" Ah Bah (Tan's father in Cantonese). Anyways, yeah so my family had always included only my mom and I.

Three years later, my mom employed a maid from the Philippines. She was a great blessing and addition to the family. Her name's Rebecca Ramos. She's been with my family ever since 1990. You ever heard of or experience problems with maids? You know... Runaways, stealing, cheating etc.... Rebecca has never given my family that kind of problem. We share the same faith, and in every way, over the years she has been like a sister to me. Three years ago, she married Fook Yin, a Chinese Malaysian and have ever since been residing in my home as part of my family up till today. This cute little boy is their son, and by right should be calling me uncle instead of what my mom's taught him to call me - "Kor kor". My mom wants to be God mother instead of God granny... sigh....

So yeah... part of my almost two months of "blog blank" was well spent learning to be a kor kor (big brother) to a 2 year old cute toddler... Oh I'm so glad I might not be here when he turns into a 6-7 year old brat! lol. Just kidding! Enjoy the pics! He's CUTE right? I think he'll grow up and be quite handsome.

Cheers!

"blog blank" update 1

Okay enough sorries... This is the first official update... A lot has happened during my "blog blank" is there such a word? haha... sounds nice. ANYWAYS, a lot has happened... I can't possibly update everything... only those with pictures, and yes i understand that photos don't do them enough justice because they are precious memories.... It's just too bad I can only let the photos do the talking for now... I know... "WHO ASKED U NOT TO BLOG THEN!?!" lol ok here are the pics.


Shortly after the May 23rd entry, I went to visit Thailand with some friends from UNL. It was an 8 day (I think) trip. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have from the Thailand trip with me. Long story but I will get the pictures when I return to US. From left are Olivia, akua, pei wen, myself and another akua. FYI, She-he grabbed my hand and put it on her left "CHEST" ok? I didn't do it on purpose...but I thought since it's there so I might as well take the pic! :P oh and if you really dunno what akua is, I wikied it up and it's called Kathoey in Thailand.


Here are some pics from Adeline's birthday, & Chek, Pei Wen and SUPPOSEDLY Ivan's farewell. We went to Poppy's.

The very very controversial photo. Hafiz has started a huge chat about this photo on facebook. Mostly surrounding the "Mysterious green alien", who is actually Adeline's friend Sarah.


From behind left: Hafiz, Chek, Zandra
From front left: Pei Wen, Adeline, Sarah









Left: Ivan and girlfriend Poh Yee. Dun mind the dude next to them I dunno how he got in there.

















Right: Chubby Panda, Adeline, Pei Wen










Left: Cute photo of Chek and Pei Wen

Bottom: Pei Wen, Elaine, Chubby Panda, Ivan and Poh Yee






















Left: I dunno her name, Elaine, Esther, Zandra















Left: Adeline trying to force Alcohol down her throat.










Okay this is the first update. It's 5:07 am now so I will do the rest later today. I WILL! Sry not much food for thought the past two entries...

CHUBBY PANDA

ermmm... Hello??

*peep* *hide* *peep* *lifts hand, clicks on mouse* *puts both hands on the ready on the keyboard*, *looks left right front back* *deep breath* *PHEW*

ahhh.... So very paiseh now... but I have to write again SOMETIME right?? :P Okay okay.... I haven't blogged since MAY 23RD! *shy* I know... can't blame it on not having internet because I had it a month ago. I didn't even write a single draft!!! :( "Weng Hong, Weng Hong... no discipline, no determination... tsk tsk tsk".

I really have no idea why I didn't blog... Initially, I was just very occupied(first two weeks with internet) and too pissed off with the internet connection - Maxis Wireless Broadband (sue me!). The signal is ALWAYS weak! It keeps disconnecting, and I need to unlock the dumb sim card via a 3g phone(it's still locked) or it'll ask for an unlock code EVERYTIME I try to connect/reconnect the stupid thing! Which is an average of every 5 minutes if it is bad. It's gotten better lately... but still... URGHHH!!!!

So that was the first two weeks... After that... The idea of blogging hardly ever crossed my mind. Everytime I turn on the computer, I'd either chat, read, facebook, listen to music or watch movies/chinese drama. I had plenty of free time! Too much that I'm sometimes bored! Many times I look at my web browser bookmarks, I see Chubby Panda Chatter... and a pang of remorse hits me. Even so, I would do nothing but click on another website, or close the web browser.

Just some random thoughts now - "Ever had a good thing going? Something you are very happy about, but for some reason you had to stop it for the time being? Could it be that you were physically restrained, financially restrained, or even emotionally restrained? Time passes by, you carry on without that good thing, but when it was possible for you to re-engage in that good thing... You do nothing... You want to resume that good thing... but you've been discouraged, feelings of disappointment flood your cognition and you forget how appealing, how much you enjoyed and benefited from that good thing? Does that happen to someone who's lost his passion? What makes him/her reignite it?" -

Rekindling my thoughts, I think this probably applied to many things I had going in my life and this time, it probably applies to me not blogging, but some of the reasons are too personal to share in this blog... oh well that's for me to ponder and work it out IN PRIVATE. :) What's important is that I finally signed into my blog, and am currently typing my way, DRAFTING a new post on Sunday 3:17am! Woot! Way to wake up schweepy for church! :) For those who've hinted, mentioned, pestered about me not having any entries(you know whom you are!) I thank you for your persistence. I know I've said "okok this week" all too many times. Your NAGGING has helped! I shall start a new post immediately with actual updates other than the current whiny sorry boo hoo full of excuses one. Ohhhhhh AND THIS TIME WITH PICTURES! :) Again Sorry for not posting! I already "cham char Yeng Chor" (Fetch Tea admit sorry) <-- such a literal translation but you get it! For whatever it's worth, it is a really huge cup of tea! :)

Cheers!