Been feeling rather unhappy for most of the past month - issues with work, family, relationships, friends... everything.

For the longest time, I had examined most of these issues, and pretty much found that I was just not contented with what I had. I beat myself up almost everyday for feeling that way.

Well, no longer.

Just for today, I will embrace discontentment.
Why?

Discontentment makes you sit up and think.

Discontentment makes you hungry for something better, to seek ways to improve - first yourself, then the situation around you.

Discontentment pushes you out of that comfort zone, to get off your fat lazy butt and throw some punches at your opponents.

Yes, this definitely means that I've thrown all conventional wisdom out the door.

As long as I have a direction and purpose today, I don't care if I don't find contentment.

Friday
Post work shagged quick read at Borders.
Family dinner at Grange Road
Hero the movie and 10 speaker home theatre effects
Late night surfing for.. er.. nice websites

Saturday
Dim sum at Asia Grand
Shopping at Actually
Body Combat (or something like it) at Raffles Cali
Volleyball at Sentosa
Tai di for 6 under the storm
Dinner at Food Republic 'Bashing of the Asean Scholars'
Real shopping at Vivo.. new slippers and tank top!!
Pretzels and Crayon Shinban at Zion

Sunday
Late breakfast + nagging dad
Folding mountain of laundry at Drews
Too strong ice mocha
Grocery frenzy at Giant IMM
Potluck dinner + Vodka Peach = Happy People
Pictionary
Missed countdown
Late night styling fest for 8 model wannabes
Illegal parking at Rochester
Stomping dancefloor at Graze
Final entry at Tg Pagar
5am McDonalds at Ridout Garden

Monday
Lazing in bed
Washing smelly smoky laundry
Making mushroom omelettes
Car bombed with bird crap
Real late gym at Orchard
Charlotte's Web
Zhong Hua La Mian
Late night styling fest for 4 model wannabes (again)
Incredible queue + near fight at St James
Home sweet home

Tuesday
Sinful peanut butter sandwich
Lazy newspaper read
Gym at novena
Lunch at Redhill Market
Volleyball at Siloso + crazy happy losers
MORE sinful char kway teow + nasi lemak
The date movie

Peace.

It's been a happy, happy new year so far.
Lessons on looking back at 2006..

On driving and cars
- Never follow so closely - especially on a sloping road. You never know if the fucker in front would stop abruptly.
- Do take some time to wash your own car at least once a week - it's a wonderful time to check wear & tear, as well as for self reflection

On friends and relationships
- Always speak up about what you feel regarding the friendship. There's no point in holding it in and being tormented while enduring certain facets you don't like. Giving praise where it's due helps too.
- When dealing with indecision - learn to listen, but offer your own opinion as well. With strong justification, people would listen to you. When it just can't be helped and you feel too strongly about your own path - just go ahead and excuse yourself - it's a lot easier all round.

On work and skills
- Don't be afraid to try something new and tough. In order to earn that credential, you've got to just step up and try a new task. Once you've tried it, your value would grow, even if you didn't succeed massively. The experience would take you further.. and it would feel better.

Yesterday goes down in history as my most memorable day ever.

I got half day off for work done over the weekend, and decided to go home for a coffee before blading at East Coast.

Just as I was washing the mug, it slipped from my hands into the basin, and burst upon impact. My right hand cut right into one sharp edge just as I was retracting it.

The glass cut right through the flesh all around the base of the ring finger.. the bone being exposed.

Screaming and yelling.. I watched as the blood spurted out of the vein all round the walls and basin... and then it started shooting in small spurts, like a fountain.

Luckily Mum was at home, and she stemmed the bleeding by making me grip a mound of gauze, which quickly started dripping.

We quickly grabbed our ICs and hopped on a cab to TTSH Accident and Emergency, where I received 8 stitches and a lot of painkillers.

Now we're just waiting for my appointment with a hand surgeon next week, cos there's a chance I may lose nerve feelings in that finger.

May not be able to play on the piano normally again... but I'm thankful I still have all 5 fingers in place.

5 days of hedonistic pleasure.
5 days of unforgettable memories.

Orchard gym
Cineleisure foodcourt
The Prestige
Rushing to pick up car before end of movie
Ah Bengs at Somerset carpark
Vultures at Newton Hawker Centre
Spilt strawberry ice kacang
Sinful Hokkien Mee

Placating baby Ethan
Chauffeur at Bishan
Too much duck rice and happy relatives
Posing at Malacca Street on a Saturday
Nice petrol pump uncles at Caltex Jelita
More posing+freezing at poolside Heritage View
Tze Char + XO fishhead beehoon - Holland Drive
Last minute scavenge for parking at Zion Road
Fashionably late for Lee Hom concert
Sitting next to with boss :(
Tang yuan + Sour oranges
Chi chi Hacienda at Dempsey Road
Casual Fong Seng at Clementi Road
Running from police for illegal parking

Xin Wang Cafe at Cineleisure
Shopping at Heeren
Repair blades at East Coast
Blading + Pita platter at Murphy's
Stories of bizzare encounters(!)
Missed family dinner and family dinner round 2
Beautiful nap
Queueing at Attica
Frustrated tempers at Attica
Crazy clubbing and biting
N70 drama
40 McNuggets + 4 big packs of fries

Aimless morning
Quarrels
Bt Timah Market
Beautiful shops at Haji Lane
More Beautiful shops at Raffles City Marketplace
Orchard gym
Teochew porridge at Bt Timah
Broken vase at Zion
Bridge
Chicken porridge at River Valley

Selfish pricks at KM8
Crowded Siloso
Barcodes at Sentosa
Cuppage Foodcourt
Meet Joe Black

Supreme satisfaction =)

Don't know what possessed me, but I actually went for BodyPump class at Cali Novena yesterday.

To be honest, I've always hated pump, and felt that it was the second stupidest class on earth (next to step class). Maybe it's to compensate for my lack of a life in general.. but I guess that's a start of things to come.

Still did my swimming and blading, and sent the car for servicing in the same day.. so I haven't changed that much after all.

So it's official.

Ah Fai is boring. Non sporty. Predictable.

Yeah, so I only like doing certain things again and again.

I like weights, I like swimming and I like blading. Probably wash the car on weekday nights at home. I like browsing in shops.

Not much of anything else.

But that's the way I am. That's who Ah Fai is, to be honest.

I'm not a fan of volleyball.
I honestly don't need to catch movies every Friday night.
And I certainly don't need to be seen at clubs every week.

Should I pick up newer sports and interests to keep my life current and keep everybody else happy?

Would I be happy just by making everyone else happy?

Ok this is not working.

I've confined myself to the room for the past 2 days -- missing 1 house party, 1 fantastic movie, 1 fantastic afternoon at the beach and tons of work in the office.

AND MY FLU IS STILL THERE! In fact, there's blood coming out of my nose.

I think the blood is flowing not cos of the influenza virus, but from final stage boredom-citis.

That does it - I'm going out to yum cha, shop and gym right now.

Haven't really been blogging as much as I hoped to.
No, it doesn't mean that I no longer have view, opinions or thoughts. Just been so busy running around all over the place, and my social circle has, like, tripled in size over the past 3 months.

I've been staying out of the house more often since buying the Colt. Staying out more means getting to know more friends, clubbing more, having supper more, gaining more weight, and having more sleepovers.. haha

When is it time to rest and chill? Well.. now is the time - I'm down with flu, cough and the worst sore throat imaginable.

Ah well. It's been a fantastic time of my life.. and I'm grateful to my friends for fueling these unforgettable memories.

Another round of suck and blow? hahaha

Renault has finally put to rest naysayers who doubt their ability to design beautiful cars.
Here's Renault's new Nepta concept.. the most sexy luxury convertible ever.

Gullwing doors.
Carbon fibre body.
Endless legroom.

I do hope they build the Nepta true to concept form.

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it." - Margaret Thatcher

Had a fantastic trip in KL over the weekend.

It just got me thinking - what are the traits of ideal travel companions?

1) Tolerance - to be able to give in when necessary, and empathize with others' needs

2) Similarity in interest - Travel priorities could vary at different points in life, but it's important to be travelling with people with similar priorities at least for that trip

3) An open mind - Eveyone's equally foreign to the place, so it's important to be willing to try different suggestions from the rest of the group

Last but not least --

4) A crazy streak - there's nothing more fun than doing something totally unpredictable on a trip!


Can't wait for my next trip. Bangkok? Taipei?
Lemme check my bank account..

So I'm still caught in the epicenter of the accident saga.

So Mr Honda finally brings his car to his mechanic, and quotes repair $2000 plus, minimum. I negotiated for him to bring the car over to my mechanic who quoted $1000 plus, but Mr Honda refused to use a foreign mechanic.

So. Here I am, failed in driving, and also failed in negotiation skills.

Guess I'll have to claim this from insurance. The policy's so new, I haven't even collected the papers yet.

My insurance premium, already very high because of age group, is soo gonna hit the roof.

Got into an accident with the Colt today.

Some stupid car swerved into the path of the Honda in front, and I ended up sending the car straight into his rear end.

Fuck. The car is only two weeks old today, and I got it trashed.

Worst part is, I will probably have to pay for damages to the Honda as well, because I was at the rear - the court of law will rule in his favour, no matter what happened.

Took urgent leave from work to get some quotations and advice from my mechanic, and he advised me not to alert the insurance company. Means the whole damn sum for both cars comes out of my pocket.

This sucks.

What a tiring day.

Followed Dad, Uncles Drewy & Derek to Sentosa again yesterday. To my surprise, we were not heading for the nice comfy Beach Carpark. Dad mumbled something like "Sunset Bay closed... go Palawan instead..", so off we went on strange path and arrived at the Dolphin Lagoon carpark.

Oh gosh! Thaat carpark was strewn with mud and gravel.. and there were potholes everywhere! The sharp cheap gravel cut into my tyres, and my suspension heaved under the uneven ground.
The only space was at a forked junction, and I was forced to sit with my rear tyre in a pool of mud.

Dad and friends went off to the beach and left me alone. I was so worried about being kidnapped, and tried to hide behind my neighbour, a tall white van named Mr Toyota Liteace. Then again, it's not easy to hide when you're tall and coated in a lumescent shade of pearl white.

Dad only returned after dark, and -- win-- they smeared my slinky black carpets with sand and mud.

Thankfully, Dad work up extra early to clean me up this Sunday morning. I got a cool 2 hour shower and vacuum.. all the dirty bits gone now.

I'm a clean white car.. a happy one too.

Reason to be happy: I'm now the proud owner of a Mitsubishi Colt :)

I've decided to name the car Coleman - because it's a tall white box with plastic white handles, and it keeps contents chilled out in cool comfort.. hahaha

Just floating down the expressway at 80kph while running-in the engine, is sheer joy.

Was just chilling out in my room with mum this evening watching Project Runway. How do I know I've got bad taste in fashion? When my favourite ice skating dress by Emmett is the same one that got kicked out.

---

Received a letter posting me to FDS SBAB.. I think that's Field Defence Squadron, Sembawang Airbase. That's a sign of in camp training to come.. lots of IPPT, and lots of other strange duties to come. Facing the news with a certain sense of trepidation.. would I still be able to fire an M16? It's been so long.

----

The Colt's number plate will be SGJ2502U -- Sexy Gorgeous Jock To Fire On To You?
Aiyo.. that's damn lame..

I can't wait for collection day.

Spent most of the day alone today. It felt... almost.. revolutionary.

In a mutiny against common paradigms - I woke up late, went swimming alone, washed the car at home alone and spent the evening at gym all by myself.

I had some time to recharge, reflect and it felt like I did exactly what I wanted to do without considering anybody else's schedule.

Can't say I want all my weekends to be like that, but it felt kinda cool - just for today.