Dreams of Mine...

2010-05-09T03:48:00.000-07:00

To sum up my current situation now in 2 words, it's just "Life Sucks!"..Honestly i feel absolutely lost at this point in my life. I miss the happier times in my life when i did not have to worry about issues like "how am i feed myself for the rest of my life,"; "did i make the right/wrong choice?"; "will i ever find someone whom i love and whom will love me back"; "will i succeed or fail in life?"...etc...honestly i feel like a failure in all aspects...work-wise, i feel that i haven't succeeded enough..So what if i'm doing percussion accompaniment at 2 well-known art schools?...I don't always feel that my playing is good enough..and also certain comments made by certain individuals on how a pianist did the percussion accompaniment for the open house instead makes me just wanna feel exasperated..What's the point of me being the percussion accompanist if the pianist takes over my role for the showcase because he is the key accompanist for the school?...Ok so i'm just starting out on my percussion career, and i don't feel confident at all when i'm teaching..thankfully i have a friend who is willing to help me out when i am teaching..it calms me down by a lot when i have her helping me..but i still don't feel i'm able to label myself as a successful percussionist etc...

love.....this is one of my biggest failures in life...i'm a complete failure in this...i see my friends blissfully attached, and all having people to share their lives with...while i never seem to be able to find any..and my love story is just a convulated tale of numerous one-way trips..i like someone, but that person doesn't like me...i try to move on, eventually finding someone else i fancy, but that person doesn't like me either...i move on again, find another person...and guess what, she doesn't like me either...yadda yadda....the story never ends, and it never fails to result in the same "...that person doesn't like me" ending...what a pathetic loser i am...All i wish for is someone i can share my life with, the happy moments in my life, the sad moments in my life, the excitements etc...and yet al i face each time is uncertainty, fear, and the pathetic fact that nobody ever likes me back...I guess of all the things God has gifted me, Love and a life-companion is something he will never give.

Right now i feel horrible...working with people whom i do not feel i can trust, employing a man i know to be a liar, a cheat, a drunkard...but a talented musician...what am i supposed to feel?..happy?...somehow having a company doesn't seem to be something enjoyable afterall. It doesn't help that my business partner doesn't exactly let me feel secure. I'm handling everything by myself, and i am extremely nervous and scared...sigh...

I just feel terribly alone now...i don't know who i can trust, i don't know who is my friend, (besides my 3 bros, so please don't mention them...they'll always be my 3 best bros)...I just seek companionship...this life of mine just feels lonely, scary, and sometimes there's just too much uncertainties that make me feel damn damn scared...

ok i think i've said too much.

Bye.

2009-08-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Every fucking day i wake up, and almost every day feels like the end of the world....dammit....i woke up this morning, and it was just as bad...i'm feeling increasingly isolated in a world of my own...nobody knows what i'm going through, nobody really understands me...what the hell am i still doing alive?...i don't really know...maybe it's just the 3 beacons of hope in my life keeping me alive still...Doing business isn't easy...it so fucking isn't easy at all...not easy to start up, and everything you do costs money....and money is making me very very vexed....dammit....haven't spoken much to my family since years, and they probably know the least about my thoughts, and the problems i face...they try to support me, but sometimes the way they do it just isn't what i need...and this just makes things worse...almost everything in my life is a failure...what a waste of resources i am...i've lost interest in many many many things....somehow knives also fail to keep my attention for long...i may get a new knife, but after a while it just becomes yet another knife...the only knife that remains special is cos of the sentimental value attached to it...that's the one i designed for Paul. What's happening to me?...truly i don't know...is it true that when a person's going to die he will somehow cause many people to hate or dislike him?..is that how nature works?...so that when the person dies, not many people will feel sad, cos they remember him as a bastard that they couldn't really stand, someone who never really fit in?...cos that theory seems to fit in where i am...

am i a failure in life?...i sure feel as though i am...i feel like a broken off branch that has landed in the river...useless, and powerless....what the hell man....somehow these are the laws of nature which i feel are true in life today:

1: Everyone is out to take something from you
2: Women are bitches
3: Romance is a fucking lie put up by fucking corporations to profit from it
4: Everyone is out not to help, but to hurt.
5: Each time you tell someone something about yourself, you're exposing yourself to harm and greater damage.
6: Life is a zero-sum game...there is no neutral ground. To win, you just have to cause the other to lose.
7: The world is full of fakes...so why bother being real?

that's all i have to say..
Bye.

2009-07-17T06:27:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the 26 years of Joy and companionship..Rest In Peace...You'll always be in my heart...as the box turtle that always smiled..

2009-07-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

My turtle's dying...I once had 2 turtles...with this one "Arkupae" the one i had since i was born...It's been sick for a few months..& doctors couldn't help it..Today it seems to be doing very badly...it's gasping for breath again...& I don't think it will last past tonight..I love this turtle so much...and I thank God for the companionship it has given me for the past 25+ years. The day i die & go to Heaven, I'll once more be with them..& maybe they won't just be my pets, but my friends...Thank You God for the wonderful companionship Arkupae & Jay have provided me...Amen.

Even as you ebb away, in my heart you'll always be..Thank you for the companionship...I'll always love you, and you'll always be special. May God bring you to His gardens where you'll stay..

Love,
Me.

2008-12-30T21:22:00.000-08:00

Hello!...

It's been a long time since i last blogged!..haha...had been very busy since the end of exams...my cell planned for the annual Youth Camp in church, and i had a wonderful time working with my cell, and was involved in helping out for logistics, and while it was tiring, but it was an enjoyable experience working with all of them..thanks especially to Cakes, for helping me out in logistics...it was nice working with u...:-)...

After the Youth Camp, i went with my cell group and some others to Chiangmai for a short mission-trip-exposure...and it opened my eyes a lot too, and also led me to think about a lot of stuff...still organizing my thoughts about that...will write a letter about that soon...

A lot of thoughts are going through my mind now actually...hope i can resolve them soon...nervous too for tonight's performance...really hope i won't screw things up manz...:S...

Lov lotts...
JP

2008-11-09T02:52:00.000-08:00

Hello!..

Yesterday was nice...brought my brothers out for Brunch at "Popeyes Chicken & Biscuit" at the Singapore Flyer. It's a bit crazy, but I've been having this "Chicken" craving ever since i came back from Madrid. It's like at first it was KFC, and last week after Roller-Blading, my brothers & i went to KFC at Plaza Singapura to eat!...initially we had headed down to the Kallang Stadium branch, but HT had smsed me to say the KFC there doesn't taste as good...and Elisha said the same thing too!...so i decided that we MUST eat good KFC!...and we took another bus down to Plaza Singapura..=) the 4 of us spent close to $80 there!...haha..

Well, yesterday we had brunch at Popeyes, and it was awesome!...haha..i think Popeyes is nicer then KFC..the 4 of us were saying, the fries are nicer, the mashed potato is nicer, and the chicken is nicer..Elisha says even the drinks are nicer...=)

Oh well, after so much eating, i really need to exercise to lose weight!..will be going roller blading or cycling with my brothers again this week!!..=)

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2008-10-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Somehow cycling or roller-blading with my 3 brothers always feels different...it just feels special...maybe it's cos i feel more comfortable with them, and i can let my hair down and just enjoy myself without caring about what others think...haha...maybe it's cos i can crack lame jokes, and not worry about being judged on them?...either way, every time spent with them is something i treasure, and will always remember...last sunday we went roller-blading at east coast park, & i really enjoyed myself..was a bit worried though, that either of them might fall down and get injured...sometimes on blades i feel so vulnerable..it's like if any of them fall down, i wouldn't be able to rush over to help him cos i'm not that good at blading...but still, i enjoyed myself tremendously, and it was nice hearing Elisha laugh a lot...haha...

Sorry guys if sometimes i ask people to join us when it's supposed to just be the 4 of us..next time if we go out, it's just us...unless u guys wanna ask others to join us...then sure!..=)

Will bring you guys out again soon!..haha...what do u guys want to do the next time?...roller-blading at East Coast still?...or?...maybe we should try some water sports...i'll think about it!!..haha..oh ya, and let's take more photos!!...next time when u guys grow up, it'd be nice to look back at these memories....

Cheers and Regards,
Zhu Pei

2008-10-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Corazon espinado

Esa mujer me esta matando

Me a espinado el corazon

Por mas que trato de olvidarla

Mi alma no da razon

Mi corazon aplastado

Herido y abandonado

Aber aber tu sabes dime mi amor por favor

Que dolor nos quedo

Chorus:

Ah ah ah corazon espinado

Ah ah ah como me duele el amor

Como duele como duele el corazon

Cuando nostiene entregados

Pero no olvides mujer que algun dia diras

Hay ya yay como me duele el amor

Como me duele el olvido

Como duele el corazon

Como me duele estar vivo

Sin tenerte aun lado amor

Corazon espinado

2008-10-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

I hate girls...girls are heartbreakers...i don't care if nobody agrees with me, this is the internet, and there is purported freedom of speech, so live with it!..."Love is patient, love is kind"...Dear God, i'm calling you bluff on this...if i could re-write that part, i'd say Love is blahblahblah(as the bible says) if it's reciprocated...else, love is just a farce...it's just a cover-up word for pain, hate....

I hate the world around me...and you know what?..i honestly don't give a shit if you disagree with me...if whoever's reading my blog is happily in love, so be it...go huddle up with whichever creature u love, and don't bother reading my blog...it's MY opinion, which you are not entitled to raise your disagreement with.

right now what do i like, LOUD music...the louder the better....maybe Boleros can soothe me, and give me peace again...but maybe not...maybe i just need more pump....

8 years of loving you can't melt your heart...i give up...i'm a loser....i'm probably just disgusting to you right?...i've heard from other people what u say sometimes, and honestly, it just seems you're scared of me....haha...no worries...from today on, whatever happens in my life, don't bother ok...i've been hurt enough in these 8 years..not your fault...just that i was stupid and dumb enough to have fallen in love with you, and thought that someday you'd feel touched and appreciate what i do, and give me a chance....sorry, my stupid......

to my friends, i appreciate the advice you've given to me...along these 8 years, i've lost friends too, and to some, i feel sad cos it's my fault that i lost them...to some, you left when i needed your presence, and honestly, that's when our friendship ended..whatever your reason may be, going to your girlfriend's church...or whatever, i can't be bothered...to those who are still in my life, i'm not sure...maybe you're my friend to stay, maybe not...who knows what the future holds?...maybe you'll change, maybe i'll change...and then we won't be friends anymore...but for now, thank you..

to my 3 brothers...i don't consider the 3 of u as just my friends...the 3 of you are the best...to me, you're my brothers, and i thank God for you more than anything else. No matter what happens to me, no matter how the world changes me, 1 thing i promise you, when i'm with you guys, i'm still the old Junpei..the lame, crazy guy etc....don't believe whatever others say about me...some people have poisonous mouths, and hearts as black as soot...and in front of others, i may not show my true self, but rather put on a different personality, a different mask...but to you, Elisha, Jabez, & Paul, i wear no masks, and i am who i was, who i am, and who i will be...all the same Junpei...

Cheers and Regards,
Junpei, Zhu Pei, dragonfly, Nick, or whatever you call me...

2008-10-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

8 years in the church band, i used to feel i was growing when i played percussions in the main service during bi-lingual worship...but the feeling's changed...enjoyed the last bi-lingual service i played for yesterday..and i guess that was a beautiful way to draw the curtains..=)..i've quit worship ministry as of yesterday.

I will still play when it's youth service, and my 3 brothers are playing though..

Hopefully my new life with the clubs will improve my percussions further.

Cheers and Regards,
Conguero; Djembefola;
Nicola

2008-10-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

Love...what a fancy word...What is love?...can someone please explain it to me?...i don't get it...i've come to the conclusion that i must be someone totally unloveable...ugly, stupid, useless, rude, etc etc...whatever...how come i try so hard, but it just doesn't work...life sucks...i hate this life of mine...my tagline for now.."If God is love, why does it hurt?"...your heart must be made of some uber-cool substance that has no melting point...cos no matter what i do, i can't seem to melt that ice-heart of yours...8 years...and it still hasn't melted 1 bit...i hate myself...i dun hate u...i just wish i were someone more likeable...i tried giving up so many times...but i can't...i just can't...don't ignore me now...if u do, i might really go die...

But i must say first...nobody ever knows what tomorrow holds in store...if i should die tomorrow, and you never see me again, please don't feel bad...move on...no point feeling sad after i'm gone...it would hurt me even more wherever i am....there's just no point in it already...

If i were to leave this world tomorrow, dun worry too...the fanclub can do without me...i've already jiao1 dai4 everything properly...website, badges, tee shirts etc...i won't inconvenience u...

If God is love, why does it hurt?
Regards,
Junpei / monkey / your friend...

2008-10-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

Life is unpredictable...you never know what tomorrow holds in store...Should the Lord decide to bring me back to him tomorrow, or whenever, these will be my last words.

To my 3 brothers, you guys have been the greatest blessing to my life...of the 3 of you, all 3 are special, and each of you are my favourites...no matter what happens to me next, no matter where i go, be it temporary, or be it permanent, i'm glad you guys came into my life...Elisha, you'll always be special because it was through you that i got to know Jabez & Paul..should i leave tomorrow, will you guys still remember me when you reach your 20s?...Will you still remember this big brother of urs?..Paul, lunches with you have always been fun..."behind you.." u always sms me..haha...but somehow i've always been able to find where you are, and spot you before you have a chance to sneak on me...if i'm gone, don't be too upset too...thanks for all the fun you've given me in my life..Jabez, u're very artistic, and hope someday u'll be able to put that to use...in an sms u once said u like following in my footsteps...only follow the good ones ya?..for the paths i've gone wrong, never follow them...=)

To You, haiz...i dunno...loving you has been the hardest thing to do in my life...i've failed...i have been trying and trying and trying...hoping that someday you might like me back...honestly now i feel so tired...if God takes me now, i couldn't care less...8 years i've tried, and 8 years of pain is what i get in return...i don't know what else i can do to melt your heart...what's your heart made of?...tell me so i can try to melt it!...anyway now all i have to say is this...should i die, and you realize i'm gone, i just have 1 last wish...that you don't feel upset for too long...becos that will change nothing...if i die, all i hope is that you'll move on...find someone you love, and who loves you back...someone once loved you so much that he would gladly give up everything in this world for anything that would make life easier for you, and/or make you happier..that's something you can be happy about...but seriously, should i die, the last thing i'd want would be for you to be sad...if i'm gone, move on...

Regards,
Junpei

2008-09-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

What if one day you wake to find me gone...

You wake up to a bright new day,
The sun shines just the same.
And you're busy just the same.
Sometime in the day,
You reach for your phone,
and realize i'd tried to call.
2 missed calls the screen says.
That one line just to inform you,
I tried calling but you were away.
An unknown number calls and you pick up.
This is the police the caller says.
We found your number in the speed dial.
Your friend's been in an accident,
and it looks like he's not gonna stay.

A week passes on,
Your friend's come and gone.
In his absence, is all the same?
Were you so busy, You couldn't hear him say,
I've loved you most in my life, i wish i could stay.
But circumstances say i can't remain.
There're many words i wish to say,
but i guess they'll follow me to my grave.
I wished we could have talked more,
but you were always too busy for me.
Yesterday i am, today i was
The sun shines just the same.
And you're busy just the same.
When i'm gone,
Will you remember my name?

2008-08-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

Wow!...

It's been so long since i last updated my blog!!...Much has happened ever since then!.=) Firstly, I've finally gotten my hands on an Apple 3G iPhone!..I got the black coloured 16GB one on the day of the launch, and it's been loads of fun using it ever since then! However, i'm kinda in a dilemma as to whether i should stick with the silicon casing i purchased, or to buy a clear-polycarbonate hard case for it. I don't quite like the feel of the silicon casing..it feels a little too squishy & sticky..=( Another sad thing is that i'm still awaiting to download fun games and other applications into my iPhone!..i've never been a fan of cashless transactions, and have so far stayed away from Debit & Credit cards. Sadly i need either one of them to set up my iTunes account, and thus succumbing to that, i applied for a Debit card...darn it! My Debit card should come in about 1 to 3 weeks time, and then i'll get all the applications i want!!

The other thing is that i've been pretty busy helping out in the 大风吹 fanclub. Weizhen's in this competition called 非常Superband 2, and her band is "大风吹". She's the drummer for the band, & the next round they're facing would be the semi finals!!..I really hope they make it all the way to the finals, & if possible, win the competition!..Here're some pictures of the stuff we did up to support the band!

Also, Paul & Jabez just had their birthdays last week, and this is the knife which i had designed for Paul's 13th Birthday, which a custom knifemaker Peter Carey brought into reality. Here're some pictures of Paul's knife, and mine:

Till the next time i blog!
Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly!

2008-06-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

Hello!..

Just got back from Tioman, and already i'm missing it!..=(..it was an awesome time there with my 3 brothers, and their family!..some of the parts i enjoyed the most was the snorkeling, the supper the 4 of us had on the rocks out at sea, the wrestling, etc..also, i learnt a new game called "British Bulldog"!..haha..it's a pretty cool game..let me see if i can introduce it into this year's church camp!..tried out some cool stuff too, like having Shark meat for lunch, the "Rock-tour" we had of the resort area!..haha..that was a little scary for me, but i thoroughly enjoyed it!..haha!..

On the first day, we had our "Rock-Tour" of the area..basically this meant that instead of exploring via the footpath, we decided to jump from rock to rock (the whole resort area is built on rocks, and so there are many rocks between the various houses!) to explore the area..that was pretty cool!..haha...i've heard from them about the rock-jumping they do in Africa, but i've never had the chance to experience it..till this trip!..haha..

After the "Rock-Tour", we headed back to our house..(Elisha, Jabez, Paul & I shared house number 7A, which was not connected to their parents' house, and their cousin's family's, so it was pretty cool!)..we stoned a while, and played the PSP, until 3pm, when we then grabbed our Snorkeling gear, and went out to sea to snorkel. Saw some cool stuff, and for me, my main fascination was with the Sea Urchins!..haha..

After snorkeling, we had some food at this eating house near the jetty..where the boys n myself ate Ramly burgers(Yummy!), and other stuff...and after dinner, Elisha; Jabez; Paul; me; Caleb went to the rocks to have our supper, and to chit chat..that was pretty cool!..here's a picture tt kinda illustrates what i mean..

the next day, we went snorkeling again..this time we took the boat out, where it brought us to a jetty where we could do "Jetty-jumping"(Paul's favourite), and could see the fish in the sea..that was pretty cool!..the next place we went was to this rock where we could snorkel around the rock feature, and see the various corals in the waters there!..after snorkeling we went back to the resort, where we tried Jetty-fishing, and following that, we had BBQ dinner!..after dinner we went back to our room..wanted to go to the rocks to thon, but we were all too tired...i guess tt's why we ended up just staying in our room, playing psp, and snacking..haha..i was kinda sad tt it was going to end the next day..=(..

Well..this morning i felt a little sad that we were leaving so soon..but left with fond memories, of a nice vacation..Hope the next one comes soon!

Cheers and Regards,

a "Chao 4 Da 1" dragonfly

p.s: here's some photos i took..

2008-06-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

HellO!..

Hahaha...Pete Carey just sent me some photos of the "Bulus" folder, after he had flamed the titanium handles, and it looks quite cool now!..personally, i think the colour which can be seen in the flamed handles could easily rival that in the timascus handled folder!..What do you think?..Hope Paul likes it!

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2008-06-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

Some updates!...Yesterday was a good day!..In the morning i was in church for the Camp Committee Cell Group Equiping session, till around noon time. After that, i went over to the boys' house, where we then headed down together to Safra Bowling alley for bowling!..During bowling, my arms were quite tired, so i took a light 8 pound ball to use, but when i used it, my thumb got briefly stuck in the hole!..so the ball ended up flying quite a distance in the air before it PLONKED! down on the bowling lane!..so paiseh can!..EJP were of course laughing their heads off because of the incident..haha!..

After bowling, we headed back to church to meet the rest of my cell group, to head down together to meet Ah Lian=) for dinner at Max Cafe...just as the boys n i reached church, the strap on my Havainas broke!..and since no one had an extra pair of flip flops to spare, i walked barefoot to the bus stop, and took the bus barefoot, till Orchard..Ah Lian=) helped me to buy a pair of flip flops so that i could wear, and she called me when she was at the shop, and told me all of the flip flops there look cute..(*cute ain't exactly what i want in a pair of slippers!*)..hahaha..well, i just asked her to choose one for me..so she chose this pair..which looks kinda cool..haha..i like the way the slippers can fit into the rectangular foam board!..haha...Check this out..Thanks Ah Lian=)!!

Anyway, dinner was pretty good, and affordable too!..=)..after tt i went over to the boys' house, where we played a bit of dota, and played with their french bulldog "Koolock" too..haha..i think Koolock's nice, and i quite like him!..=)..that's about all for yesterday!..

Today, i went to church to do some of my work..cos working alone at home's pretty boring!..haha!..in the evening, i went back to NUS to help out with Rag...i think the progress's a bit too slow though...and that's a bit worrying...sorry i can't help out much because of travelling..i'll help out with Hard Tech as much as i can ya?

Ohya!...today i bought a pair of Crocs!..haha..i know many people think they look ugly, but it's uber comfortable!..so here they are!..=)..hahahahaha..now the 3 boys and i all wear crocs!

Finally, before i pen off..i've got some Knife updates!..recently, there've been 2 projects which i've been involved in..

The first:
Sometime in January this year, i got involved in the designing of a fixed blade knife for a forum (http://www.candlepowerforum.com/), whereby i designed for them a fixed blade. A canadian knifemaker George Tichbourne took up the design, and made a limited run of 40 pieces of the design, plus 1 prototype. This small batch was sold out pretty quickly, and right now, the CPF knife i designed is all over the world!..here's a picture of the knife Serial Numbered #1, with my blueprint in the background.

Secondly:

Of my 3 brothers, the oldest is Paul, and his birthday falls in September!. He turns 13 this year, and as a birthday present, i designed a folding knife for him, and a maker named Peter Carey took it on and built the knife. Peter Carey also liked the design a lot, and requested permission from me to include it as a part of his regular catalogue. Among others, i requested for naming rights, and for acknowledgement of me as the designer. I present to you thus, the "Bulus" folder designed for Paul Chow, and handbuilt by Peter Carey. (Note the 1 (Big) plus 3 (Smaller) holes in the handle?..the reason for them is that it's Paul's 13th Birthday gift, so 1 big hole plus 3 smaller holes represent its dedication as his 13th Birthday Present)..=)

Wow..that was a pretty long post. I shall pen off for now!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-05-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

Hello!..

Haha...i know i haven't been blogging much lately...been too busy caught up with stuff..co-hosted a Percussions workshop for my church yesterday, and prior to that i had to arrange the rental, collection and returning of various drums..well..it was a pretty okay session...=)..Some people i have to thank:

Paul Chow!..Thanks so much for helping me in soooo many ways..helping me with the moving of the drums on the day and night before the workshop itself, and thanks so much for accompanying me on the drums on the day itself!..and thanks for so many other things!

Elisha & Jabez!..Thanks for helping us on the day before the workshop!..helping to move things, etc..haha..really enjoy having the 3 of you guys around...haha..you all are funny!!...haha & thanks Jabez for bringing ur friend (hahaha...i shan't mention the name i thought your fren was called)..haha!!!..

Well, today i went to watch Paul's tennis match..he played against a Jap guy..and was a pretty good match...pity Paul was too fatigued..=(..anyway, it's uber cool tt u've come so far already!..have a good rest manz!=)..

After the match, we went to Swee Lee with H.T., and then after tt he dropped us off at the shopping centre, where we had our lunch at Jack's Place!..haha...it was quite fun there...throughout the time there, Jabez was like trying to make us laugh...hahaha...and SOME jokes were funny lah..haha..but sometimes it was our(Elisha's, Paul's, and my) reaction that made it all uber funny!..anyway it was a fun time spent there chatting with the 3 of them, and hope u guys found the food Yummy!..haha...Paul, u always order the same thing there eh?..haha!...

After lunch, we walked to church, whereby we then went to their house..played wc there..haha!...and i ALMOST could have killed Paul for 1 round...but i withdrew too fast!..haha..oh well..next time..=)..

Well..tt's about all for today!..tmr i'll be playing the Cajon for a performance at Esplanade..hope the 3 of u can come and watch!!..haha...u 3 would be my favourite audience!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly!

2008-05-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!...

Today's been an awesome day for me!!..i collected my new LP Galaxy 14" Djembe from Jhon today!...and it looks and sounds uber awesome!!..but it is HUGE siaz!..haha...check out the pics!...Thanks Faiser, and Thanks Jhon!!...thanks bro...will miss jamming with you. Next time if there's a chance to meet again, let's do some gigs/jamming!..Muchas Gracias!!

Here's what my Djembe looks like seated in the living room...

Here's a pic to show how big it is...

A pic of Faiser, Me, and Jhon at Changi Airport

The bag i'm getting tmr. The bag's by Meinl, because LP doesn't have a bag big enough for this.

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2008-05-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

HellO!!!

Woohoo!..it's 1:44am now, and i can't sleep!..guess why?......no...i'm not getting a new knife again...rather, i'm getting a new drum!!..at 8pm later, i'll be collecting my new "LP (Latin Percussion) Galaxy® Giovanni Series™ Djembe" from Jhon Fernandez from the airport!!..a fellow conguero from Columbia, he now plays in Bangkok, and he did me such a huge favour by travelling 2hrs to the LP distributor in Bangkok to buy the Djembe for me!..it costs me only S$750 in total inclusive of the Djembe bag!!..in Singapore the whole set would have cost me about S$1200+++..Here's a picture of what it looks like:

Mine's the one on the left, which is the 14 inch (Diameter) Djembe, and has the deeper bass tones, and the nice crisp slaps!..woohoo!!...in 18 hours time this baby will be mine!!...

Will be bringing this with me to Batam on the 3rd of June for the Church Retreat, and this time this will be the instrument that i'll play there!..haha!..Also, on the 7th and 8th of June, will be going with Eunice, and most likely Elisha; Jabez; and Paul to a Drum Circle in Singapore..that should be fun!..i'll be bringing my Djembe or Cajon..still thinking..heh..

Oh well..got to go sleep soon!..

To YOU: Chill ya?..remember, no matter what ppl say, it doesn't matter...U are U, and not what they think "U" are..Rock on!..can't wait to show U my Djembe!!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly-conguero

2008-05-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hello...

Hahaha...can you tell that i'm really super duper uber bored?..and i can't sleep!..it's like 1:30am?..haha..oh well, here's an airport i built..and there's 3 Boeing A100 planes taking off...haha..

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2008-05-08T05:19:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

An update on today...I'd just gotten off the bus when i heard the sound of a sports car in the distance. Saw a beautiful red Ferrari on the opposite side of the road approaching, and was admiring it when WHAM!..as the car was turning around a curved bend in the road, it spun!..spinning 180 degrees, it came to a crashing halt after hitting the kerb, and crashing its front bonnet against the lamp post. What a heartache!...such a beautiful car, now a damaged car...See what happens when drivers over-estimate their own driving skills, and under-estimate the curve?...respect the road my friend...Check out these pictures...

See the tire marks?

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2008-05-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hello!..

Hahaha..here's a picture of how this nerd looks...with M's spectacles..haha...oh...but who cares if i look nerdy eh?..haha...this nerd just got $5,000 as payment for a knife design..haha...but it's not for the knife which is resting on the bills...but still..haha...this is a rich-nerd for now..haha!!

Cheers and Regards

dragoNERDfly

2008-05-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hello..

Currently i'm at the starbucks at One Fullerton, sipping some freshly squeezed Orange Juice, and listening to Brazillian Bossa Nova Music. I love the feeling. The sun rays reflect off the crests of the little waves that skim across the waters, and beam rays of joy into my soul. Well..here's some knife-pictures which i like..check them out..

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2008-05-01T22:45:00.001-07:00

*stasis*

2008-04-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

I've got my Kansei Matsuno folder coming in a few days time. Matsuno San's shipping it out tomorrow, and here are the Work-In-Progress pictures that over the month he has been sending to me. Looks nice eh?

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-04-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

Yay!!..

HT said that in June or May they were bringing the boys to either Tioman or some islands, and asked if i am interested in going along. Of course i said yes!..haha...although the 3 boys can't go for the Church Retreat, at least now i get to spend some days with them!..woohoo!...but that makes it 4 trips to the neighbouring places in May/June/July! There's 1 trip to Batam for the Church Retreat, 1 to Johore for the mission trip, 1 to Tioman for the Young Adults Camp, and now 1 more to Tioman with my brothers!!..haha...can't wait!

Also, Paul turns 13 this August, and i wanted to get him a custom handmade knife for his birthday. Asked his dad about it, and HT says he's fine with me getting a knife for Paul. Sent my design to ask if Pete Carey would do it for me, and Pete Carey says Yes!!...and Pete Carey then asked me if i was OK with him using this design for others. I said yes, provided that i am acknowledged as the designer, and so now Paul will own the 1st piece of that series, and which is also the PROTOTYPE!..furthermore, i asked Pete Carey to name the knife as "Bulus", which is actually Paul's name in Hausa. So now PaulC has a knife named after him!...

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-04-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

Hahaha..okay fine...i haven't updated my blog in ages..okay here's some cool stuff that i've got recently..some new blades:

Jim Burke Rockstar

Tom Mayo 2002 6K Stellite (it's the knife in the middle) Tom Mayo 2002 6K Stellite (another one) Tom Mayo 6k Stellite Necker(on its way)

Ernest Emerson CQC9 Kansei Matsuno Loveless Folder Spyderco Toad -Designed by D'Alton Holder (bought 2, one for myself, one for You=))

Swisstech Gold Anodized M4

Hahahaha...is that a lot?...OKAY lahz...just don't ask me how much i spent..and i have others coming in soon too..pending confirmation.

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2008-03-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

hello..=)

Today was a nice day, in the morning i met Siying to study at Starbucks at Holland Village. Initially i'd suggested Coffee Club, but i didn't realize that not everywhere is open at 9am!..so in the end we went to Starbucks...it was pretty nice studying there..i managed to get quite a bit done..thanks for waking me up too!..=)

In the afternoon, after my International Security Lecture, i went for Ice Cream at Daily Scoop's with Paul!..that was pretty fun..had quite a good chat too..i love chatting with all 3 of u, and it's always awesome to be able to talk to u guys...more awesome than anything else. Like i tell some of my friends, the 3 of you are the greatest blessings God has put in my life. Inititially. u guys were my 3 favourite kids...but i think u guys are slowly changing roles, becoming friends i can share more of my life with, and soon you guys will be my best friends!!..it's wonderful how God works in my life..giving me brothers i never had as an only child, and when i asked Him for 1 best friend, he's given me 3 instead! You guys bring the most joy into my life!...Thanks again!

In the evening, i had to head back to school to put up some posters...tt was pretty boring, and to top it, i missed my bus, and had to wait for the next bus..which took ages to come!..but then i saw YOU. Just before that, actually i was thinking abt the time when i bumped into YOU when u got off the bus to change to ur bus, and it was pretty cool to really bump into YOU just now...=)..

Alright, i've got to go sleep..need rest..and my new knives are not here yet!..My Jim Burke Rockstar, and my Tom Mayo Wharnie TNT!..hopefully they come tomorrow. Goodnight everyone, and once again, thank you God, for putting Elisha, Jabez & Paul in my life..

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-03-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

One of my bestest friends ever...PaulC.

Picture taken in the Boat a few of us helped to build in december..Thanks guys who helped me build it..(Elisha, Jabez, Paul, Xuening, Binglun, Jiangfeng especially, Isaac, Caleb, Weizhen, Weiling, etc..etc...)

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2008-03-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea,

and frolicked in the autumn mist,

in a land called Honah Lee.

Little jackie Paper loved that rascal puff,

and brought him strings and sealing wax,

and other fancy stuff.

Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea,

and frolicked in the autumn mist,

in a land called Honah Lee.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea,

and frolicked in the autumn mist,

in a land called Honah Lee.

Together they would travel,

on a boat with billowed sail.

Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail.

Noble kings and princes would bow when'eer they came,

Pirate ships would lower their flags when puff roared out his name.

Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea,

and frolicked in the autumn mist

in a land called Honah Lee.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea,

And frolicked in the autumn mist,

in a land called Honah Lee.

A dragon lives forever,

but not so little boys.

Painted wings and giant rings

make way for other toys.

One grey night it happened,

Jackie Paper came no more,

And puff that mighty dragon,

he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow,

green scales fell like rain.

Puff no longer went to play

along the cherry lane.

Without his life-long friend,

puff could not be brave,

So puff that mighty dragon

sadly slipped into his cave.

Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

in a land called Honah Lee.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

in a land called Honah Lee.

2008-03-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

hmm...i'm feeling quite peaceful today, glad to have spent the day restfully..had some booth duty today, and after that i went to church to practice on the congas!..managed to practice the following rhythms..Bolero, Mambo, Cha Cha, Rumba Guaguanco & Merengue!!..it was rather therapeutic=) I love percussions!...

Was reading quite a bit today, and I spent some time thinking too..I'm really glad for the presence of the 3 of them in my life..they're really damn fun to be with...like my msn nick says, when i count my blessings in life, i first count the 3 of them..=)..Elisha, Jabez, Paul, you guys rock, and Elisha, i'll always thank God for putting you in my group. If not i would never have gotten to know you, Jabez, or Paul!...thank you sooo much for the joys you guys have brought into my life, and i pray God will always keep us close, as brothers for the rest of our lives!!..haha...it would be so cool if when i'm 80 years old, and you guys are like 66, 67, 68 years old, and we go cycling!!..hahaha!!..

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly!

2008-03-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

hmm...sometimes i feel like blogging about stuff, but then sometimes i feel it's better keeping them to myself...and now's one of the "i rather keep it to myself moments"...I thank God once again for putting the 3 boys in my life. They've been the best and greatest God has blessed me with (i feel)..and it's especially during times when i'm down, that i treasure them in my life all the more. Thanks guys!..especially Paul..

Some songs i like now:
Words (Bee Gees)
Rainbow Connection (Kris Aquino)
You'll never find another Love like this (Laura Pausini & Michael Buble)

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly=)
*friendship never ends*

2008-03-09T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hello...

hmm, i'm a little bit grouchy now...as my msn nick shows..some people might know why i'm upset. Like MQ said, it's better the less people know, the better. Some people are good at keeping things to themselves, some are not. Some just accidentally tell things which they're not supposed to say...and when they try to cover it up, it just makes it a hell lot worse. PLEASE...i beg u, just make a constant effort to not say anything can?...think before u say anything..i really really regret letting u know. it can really really make it very difficult to talk to the person after that you know? it makes it very very hard for me to talk to the person...makes it feel weird.

Anyway, today i watched the show "water horse" with the church friends, Xuening, Binglun, Yingyu, Aaron, Samuel, Josiah, Joseph, Timothy. it was a nice show i feel..kinda the type of shows which i love to watch. But it made me miss my "baby" a lot..(my "baby" refers to my turtle which died last year. Well, anyway, i still feel grouchy now. guess i'll go take a rest first..hopefully tmr i feel better.

For information, i'm not a very confident guy in these kinda matters, and i get very nervous when things like these happen. I don't want things to screw up before anything even takes off..so my friends, pls help me, dun tease me k?..

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-03-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

Oh my Goodness!...this is so cool!..I emailed Kansei Matsuno to ask about the possibility of placing another order for a folder with a "Tapered" Tang, (for non-knife collectors, a tapered tang blade is one of the most desired things, and having this in a folder is SICK!!!..it's crazy!!...but Kansei Matsuno has done it, and he told me he will do it for the folder i have on order. Thanks Matsuno San!

a picture of the knife in progress:

2008-03-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

Hello!.. Haha..sadly, the break-week's drawing to a close..=(..oh well, but this week should be quite fun!..here's a little bit of what transpired over the weekend. Last friday, we met up for lunch..It all started when i went to meet Paul & Xuening outside Fairfield Secondary, then after that we headed to meet binglun, aaron, and samuel at Clementi KFC for lunch..initially it was supposed to just be lunch because Xuening's mum didn't agree to her playing badminton, which was our initial plan.

Later, her mum agreed to basketball, so off we went to Samuel's house to play basketball..which btw, was a longggggg walk away!.. Well, nearing the end of the basketball match, we were all like trying to throw in a 6-pointer, and when it was xuening's turn, i said "if you can get it in, i'll treat u to bubble teh"...and she said quite hard...but it got in..haha..so now i owe her a bubble teh. Wednesday ya?..=)

After Basketball, we left, and i took the bus with xuening & Paul, and i went to the boys' house, and it was quite fun...haha...okay, i've got to go to school already!..Ciao!

p.s: to the lunch group, i think we should take more photographs, then we can add them into facebook too!..
Cheerios!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-02-28T03:32:00.001-08:00

*troubled!*

2008-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Hello!..

I had a fun day today..=) firstly, in the morning i had a tutorial discussion in Eusoff Hall with my group mates from my International Security module. That was pretty okay, and after which i stayed in school to finish my essay which was actually way overdue!..as i was walking to submit the essay, i bumped into another Political Science tutor / lecturer, and we had a chat about blades!!...talked about kris's, about japanese swords, etc. Glad that i know of 2 excellent Lecturers who are blade-afficandos as well!.

After i submitted my essay, i rushed off to meet xuening and her friends for lunch at Dover Market. It was a pretty fun event. Thanks for the "Honeydew Milk Tea" treat!!..haha..it was the first time i tried this flavour..to tell the tRUTH, it was quite nice..haha...well, Paul joined us later..and Jaime went like bonkers..haha..i even smsed Xuening saying "Jaymie keeps staring at paul..haha"..well, i just hope Jaime didn't scare Paul..haha..but well, i thoroughly enjoyed the lunch session today. Xuening's friends seem friendlier now too, i guess it's because i've met them a couple of times, so not so much of strangers now..well, see you guys at lunch on Friday again!..

And finally, I just bought another knife..haha...ain't that cool?..Here's what's coming in from a Japanese knifemaker whose artist name is Kansei Matsuno. Here's 2 pictures of the knife..I can't wait till it arrives!!

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2008-02-25T02:02:00.000-08:00

Hello!...

A short update on the weekend that just passed by!..Went for the Singapore Airshow yesterday with Elisha, Jabez & Paul, and it was a cool show!..haha..i really enjoyed it, and we managed to catch a little bit of the flying display..heading inside, we saw some cool planes..like the JSF, the B1B, the F15SE, the AH-64D, the Global Hawk, etc...here are some pictures of the stuff we saw there..

First up, here's a funky picture of the 3 of them...Paul was caught by the camera just as he was trying to "bump" Jabez..haha..I love this picture!

Here's the JSF The AH-64D

The Global Hawk

Guess what this is:

For those who know what this is, and what it represents, please keep it to yourself.

The Triad Leader

The Other Triad Leader

The PSP'er

2008-02-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hello!...

Well, here's a little blog-update on my life..or rather, just yesterday. Well, after school, a group of us went out to celebrate Xuening's birthday. There was Lynn, Yingyu, Binglun, Aaron, Weizhen, Xuening, and me. We went to quite a few places, had lunch at Meridien foodcourt (KOREAN!!), then we went over to Plaza Singapura Arcade, where Weizhen displayed her amazing talent for "Kung1 Fu1 Guan4 Lan2"!...gosh...i never knew she was so damn zai at basketball...*faints*...haha...after that, Weizhen left for her singing classes, and the rest of us adjourned to walk towards The Cathay, with the intention of going to the Band & Jelly's for a chillout session...and on the way, we had this "tour" up this humoungous and never-ending flight of stairs up Mount Sophia!...*edited to add: EXCEPT LYNN*...haha...

*Here's a pic of yesterday's lunch group..I'm behind the Camera..duh!

After the "tour de la 'stairs'", we then went to cathay, where we bumped into Joyce (p.s: this was the second consecutive time binglun & lynn had bumped into her at the same place, with the same company...played card games, and then we left...and now i have 2 of xuening's phones with me, because she played with the security code on her phone, and it got locked. I managed to hack both the passwords using a skeleton passkey, ain't tt cool?..haha...

*Collection of Nokias*...2 are Xuening's...the rest are some of mine...

*these are Xn's..

Oh, and here's some pictures of the present i made for Xn's birthday. Not pictured here is the sheath though.

Cheers and Regards,
Nick

2008-02-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!!...my J.W. Smith folder came already, and i'm impressed, to say the least!..it's larger than i thought it would be, and that's awesome, because i was worried initially that it would be too small. Feels hefty in the hand, and the fit and finish is excellent!. Blade is perfectly centred too!.

I think this trade was a good one!. Initially i was still wondering if i got the lesser end of the trade, but now i think i got the better end of it! Here are some pictures of the knife i'm talking about, and i like it very much!..Thanks Ossian!

here's a pic of the knife opened. check out the polished damascus!!

a pic of the folder closed!

a pic of the internal filework, together with jeweled liners
a picture of the spine of the knife

and finally, check out the hand-filed Gold backspacer!!!

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2008-02-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

Hello!..

I'm excited!...i saw some filings done to an S.R. Johnson folder, and i asked Steve if he would do those for my knife, and how much it would cost, and Steve was so nice, he said he would do it for me, with no increase in the price!.. WOW!..

Secondly, here's another knife i'm bringing in..(i know i've been getting tons of knives...but still...) Haha..this is a TMX folder direct from Custom Knife maker Tom Mayo. Can't wait till i see it when it comes!!..Here's a pic to show you what i'm talking about:

Oh wells, that somewhat sums up what i have to say for now..haha..going over to jam with the 3 brothers!..

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2008-02-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

Hello!!

Got 2 of my new knives today!..Check these out.. First up, here's my C. J. Smith folder:

Steel + Carbon Fibre + Titanium = AWESOME knife
The CJS knife when Open
CJS = C. J. Smith, the knifemaker
Clipside Picture

Frontside Picture Closed

Next up..here's my Emerson Collectors Associan (ECA) Persian!! Serial Numbered at 079. Just got it today! Thanks!

Half Deployed

A close up of the Logo

So sharp it would cut your Computer Screen!

My new friend from Persia

My Persian Friend at Rest

Cheers and Regards,
Dragonfly!

2008-02-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Oh,

I JUST! bought another new knife. Here it is: a J.W. Smith one-off piece, with Damascus, Stag, Gold backspacer that has been fileworked!! Can't wait for it to come from Russia!

WOW!..here's a picture:

Cheers and Regards,
Nick

2008-02-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hello!...

A very happy Chinese New Year to all my friends...hmm..this year was pretty good, recieved something like half a grand in Ang Pows, and this money shall go towards funding my upcoming knife purchases. I have almost US$20,ooo+ worth of blades coming in this first half of the year alone, and thus i have to save up to pay for them. Putting some of my own pieces from my collection for sale too!...Here's some pictures of the few knives which are coming the soonest:

First up, here's a custom Folding Hunter by Custom Knifemaker Bob Dozier in A2 steel, and Ivory handles.

Next up, here's a Bolstered CQC-9 folder by Custom Knifemaker Ernest Emerson(Ernie)

Next up, we have a picture of something similar to a folder I ordered from one of the top Knifemakers in the World, S.R. Johnson(Steve)And here's a "Work-In-Progress" picture of how the knife pictured above looks like now. Thanks Steve!

Here, I also have a picture of a special folder which i have coming in, on order something similar to this, made by reknowned Knifemaker Michael Walker, and engraved by his wife Patricia Walker.Last but not least, I also have incoming an Emerson Collectors' Association Limited Edition ECA Persian folder. It features a hand-ground Zero-Edged Blade, with a Production body.

I also have a C.R. Smith folder incoming, but I don't have any pictures of that piece, so i'll leave that till another time.

Well, moving on..today was a fun day!. in the morning, i woke up when Paul called me at 5:59am, and got washed up, and went to pick the kids up at 8:30++. My mum was very nice, and she gladly became our transport-provider!. =) (Thanks!). Well, we went over to East Coast park, where we cycled for about 2 hours, inclusive of our pitstops at the Hawker Centre, and it was quite fun. After which, my mum fetched the kids and I back to their house, where the kids got off as they had some programme on after that.

After dropping the kids, i headed home for lunch, and from post-lunch till now, i've been slacking, playing with my PSP, and waiting for some confirmation on whether tonight some of my church frens are onz for a movie (preferably Rambo 4)...haha...i think i'm gonna rest. Blogged quite a lot today!

Cheers and Regards,
Dragonfly

2008-01-21T02:10:00.000-08:00

*Wind Of Change* Scorpion

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I follow the Moskva

Down to Gorky Park

Listening to the wind of change

An August summer night

Soldiers passing by

Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in

Did you ever think

That we could be so close, like brothers

The future's in the air

I can feel it everywhere

Blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment

On a glory night

Where the children of tomorrow dream away

in the wind of change

Walking down the street

Distant memories

Are buried in the past forever

I follow the Moskva

Down to Gorky Park

Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment

On a glory night

Where the children of tomorrow dream away

in the wind of change

The wind of change

Blows straight into the face of time

Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell

For peace of mind

Let your balalaika sing

What my guitar wants to say

Take me to the magic of the moment

On a glory night

Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams

With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment

On a glory night

Where the children of tomorrow dream away

in the wind of change

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my favourite songs from the past...never really knew who sang it, nor what the title was...but now i finally know..thanks to Jabez, Paul and Elisha!!

2008-01-20T18:58:00.001-08:00

hello..

Amazingly, 2008 has come, and i feel so old. I'm going to be 25 this year. That's a quarter of a century old. Sometimes i feel i am wasting my life away. I need more excitement, i need more fulfilling things in my life. Tings which i can actually excel in. I feel so constricted sometimes, like a caged animal who sees the world go by. I used to wish I was a skylark, free to fly wherever i wished to go. At the present, what animal am I? Honestly, I don't know. I guess I'd like to be a horse, an animal of power, with not an ounce of fat on me. An animal that swallows the miles of grass up with its hoofs. I feel meaningless now. What's my purpose in life? Dear God, tell me. I want to start contributing to society. I need a field job.

Regards,
dragonfly.

On the lighter side, I watched the boys play tennis yesterday, and they're good!..and especially Paul, the last time i watched him play tennis was quite sometime ago, and now he's damn good at the game!...way to go manz!..and also, jammed with the boys...that was awesome!..haha...i don't usually like to sing, but i think with you guys, i love it!..I really enjoyed yesterday's jamming! let's do that more often ya Paul? Hope you enjoy the book on espionage i passed to you. i've got more books on that, when you're done with that book let me know, will pass it to you. And i also have a book for Jabez, it's on ciphers..i think you'll like that.=)See you guys soon!!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2008-01-03T03:15:00.000-08:00

*Some Thoughts*

Yesterday was the first day of school for the secondary schools, as well as primary schools. Paul's in ACS(I) this year, and i just want to say that of all things that happened in 2007, of all my achievements, if there is one thing i'm most proud of, is that Paul did well for his PSLE exams, and made it to ACS(I). Also, very proud of Jabez too! cos he did well for exams too!, and he's now in the top class of his level!..very proud of Elisha too, becos he's consistently doing well..

Well, this post was mainly to say what i mentioned in the paragraph above..haha..okay, well, i think this quote from Philippians is very apt here when i think about the kids..

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1: 3 to 6)....and this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1: 9 to 11)"

below are some pictures taken on dec 31st 2007..haha..

Cheers and Regards,

junpei

Paul and i on the "Chu Chu Train"
The Whole group that went to Escape Theme Park, Thanks Huimin!
Paul and i, on this rock, in the sea, with the Horizon behind us!

2008-01-01T05:34:00.000-08:00

Here's Zeb!..
Jabez looks so bored here in this picture taken in the viking ship..haha
Here's Joel..he's quite a sweet chap!
An attempt to take a pic of Joe, but i missed cos the Viking was moving too fast!
The Viking's going down, and i'm super nervous...think Jabez's laughing at my expression..haha

2008-01-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

Paul and I on the "Chu Chu Train"
Another Pic of Paul and I on the "Chu Chu Train"..this one's taken on a turn..AHHHH!!
On the Viking, Elisha, Joe and I were seated on 1 end, and these are the 3 guys on the other end..haha..the older boys
All the 3 youngest boys!...
another pics of the 3 youngest boys...haha

2008-01-01T04:39:00.000-08:00

Joel, Jabez, Zeb & Elisha in the "Chu Chu Train" before it starts
Another picture of the 4 in the "Chu Chu Train" before it starts
Yay!...it's moving!
Wheeeeee!
Wooohoo!!!!

2007-12-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Hello!...i realized I haven't blogged for quite a long time...have been too busy with my own stuff, church stuff, my performance stuff, and camps..haven't really had time to sit down to blog..Well, Merry Christmas to everyone!...in the midst of all the celebration, let's remember too what the even is all about...Essentially, Christmas is a celebration to remember this quote from John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life"...yup...

Well, had church service yesterday, and it was quite nice, though there were 3 people who broke their candlelight cups!..2 of them were at the end of service, so wasn't that bad. but the first was during service, and had to clean that up. Well, here are some pictures i took yesterday..

The Choir singing...=) My 3rd picture with Weizhen=)
Weizhen's=) Present..made from a slice of Walnut Oak wood, with a Christmas tree cut out from the middle, and some other decorations...
Jabez's Present from Fender..(his guitar's a Fender)
Elisha's Present from Gibson...(his guitar's a Gibson)
Paul's Present reads "The best reason to play drums"...(Paul's an awesome drummer!)
Titaium Guitar Picks for Josiah (darned FedEx says it hasn't even left U.S shores!)

Well, I guess that's about all..haha...Merry Christmas!!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2007-12-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

I'm so tired!...been busy with Exams, followed immediatedly with the Synod Camp, followed immediatedly with building this ship for the Childrens' Camp!...how does it look!?..=)

Many thanks to all who camp to help..and a few deserve special mention:

Weizhen=) & Weiling for coming down to help me yesterday at midnight!

Michelle Quak, for helping me almost everyday!

Josiah, and Jiangfeng, who were my most important helpers!

and others too!...

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2007-11-18T00:40:00.001-08:00

Hello again...

Here's what i was busy with yesterday..was busy building this wooden figurine for my church to use as some publicity prop for the upcoming Christmas play...heh..made using wood. I didn't do the painting though...was responsible for building the structure and cutting the sheet wood to shape..issit nice?

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2007-11-18T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hello!...haha...went up to the bell again today, with Paul and Daniel Gan, after percussion lessons in church...Paul wanted to take a photo, so here it is..haha..i look so tired here!..but this is cool...heh

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2007-11-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Hello!...hahaha...today i went shopping a little...and bought these 4 pens..the one on the left-most is for Weizhen=), and the other 3 are for my 3 brothers..haven't really decided exactly which is for whom though, i think i'll just let them choose...ain't these pens cute?..heh...oh well, nothing much to blog for today actually...so cheerios!

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2007-11-13T00:33:00.000-08:00

*emo*

grunt out.
dragonfly

2007-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hello!...

Today's a good day!...the "family day" event went smoothly, and i'm so glad it did!...food ran out pretty fast too!..which was a good response!!...also, Thank You God, for helping me through this event. Yesterday was a very hectic day, and things went smoothly, thanks! and thanks for the weather too!...a rain might have ruined the banner, but You gave us good weather.As for today, thanks for just keeping me composed on the congas, during the small item we put up. And earlier on, when i had problems mounting up the "signboard", you led me to the 6th floor, and led me to find the spray mount there..which i used to great effect. I was worried abt it falling, but U assured me it wouldn't...and thanks too, for letting the Ramly Burgers come nicely packaged, and not letting it disappoint me. Thanks God!

Well, next up, today Paul and i climbed up to the roof of our church..haha...i know we're not supposed to, but it's somewhere i used to go as a kid when i was waiting for my grandparents to be done with their service. I brought Paul up to the top of the Bell tower too, where the big bell was...here's something you don't often see...and i doubt any of our church members have seen this before till today...

Here it states the name of the company that cast the bell, and the year it was casted.

And over on this side, it states who the bell belongs to. Cool eh?

Ain't this cool?...hahaha...alright..i shall logg off for now...hope the week ahead is a good one.
Nite!!
dragonfly

2007-11-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty good day!!..i managed to accomplish a whole lot of things!...here's the iternary for my day:

1: Go to Tiong Bahru Market to purchase Bamboo Poles
2: Go to church to leave the items needed for the "Family-Day" preparations there
3: Go to Jurong Town Corporation to pass Tommy the blueprints for my proposed trolley design
4: Go to church to settle the "Family-Day" preparations
5: Go to People's Park to purchase cloth for the "Family-Day" decorations, and lunch for the ppl helping to do deco.
6: Go back to church to continue preparations
7: Go to JTC to finalize the construction of the trolley frame, and collect the finalized product
8: Go to NUS Arts Club Room to meet friends
9: Go to Naga's house with the rest of the 28th, and affiliate.
10: *Crashed* in Home Sweet Home

It felt good managing to finish so much today!...really want to thank some people:
James and Jonathan, for the lunch, and rides to collect supplies, and helping; Jiajun for helping with the cutting and helping out in many ways, and same goes for faith; jiawen; grace; grace's friend; jiang feng; peisong, thanks!!

super tired now...will let the pics speak for themselves..

Cheers and Regards,
Nick

Our humongous banner!...note the person on the bottom left of the banner...check out the size of the banner!
How i tied 1 side of the banner up
how the other side is attached
our family day signboard
The worker at Tommy's factory helping me to weld the various metal pipes together to fabricate the trolley for my EG2604 project.

2007-11-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

Here are 2 pictures of my latest knife purchase!..a Custom made knife by Tom Mayo!. this is his Medium TNT model, in S90V steel!!...woohoo!...it's incoming in 2 weeks' time...i can't wait!

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2007-11-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

Some updates for today!...well, i ordered 3 more new knives today. The first being a S.R. Johnson Drop Point Folding Knife!..this one will have mother of pearl handles, like that pictured below, but with a slight twist...something special, which of course i won't divulge what it is. Not too sure when it would be ready, but the wait for this will be in years, and not months...so i got a long time to prepare the cash. haha here's a pic of something similar to mine:

S.R. Johnson Folder

Next, i also ordered a knife from Jens Anso, being his "Bastid" folder, and i ordered mine a little special too..hahah...which of course i won't divulge details...here's a picture of the pattern i ordered, but the configuration is different. I love the curves on this baby!

Jens Anso "Bastid"

Also, i just put my name down for another Tom Mayo TNT folding knife!!...yippee!!...haha...don't have pics yet, but yea, u get the idea..

hmm...next..today was a fun day spent at sentosa with some members of the 28th Management Committee from the Arts Club...played captains' ball, plus some sea activities...haha...something not so nice happened too, but i shan't talk abt it here....anyway, after tt we went to vivocity for dinner, had pretty nice chicken rice there too!..haha...and yingling and joyce left after tt, while samuel, may, xiaoyan, another affiliate and i left for the North East Line...at Outram, Samuel, May n Xiaoyan got off the train to change to the East West Line, and i was just 2 stations away when xiaoyan called to ask us back to go sing karaoke!..haha...so we went back, and went to ktv from 7+pm till 11pm..haha...it was fun, and i've got a teeny weeny bit of a sore throat now!..haha..was so cold in there though!...luckily May lent me her sweater. Thanks May!..haha...here's some pictures!:

The whole KTV-Gang

May & I

That's all for today!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2007-10-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

Some toys that are coming my way!:

I've been busy too!...hahaha...ordered a folder from this Polish knifemaker, and the cool thing is that he builds his knives with just basic hand-tools!!..Something you don't see often in this world where the CNC (Computer-Numerically-Controlled) machines basically cut everything out for the knifemakers...Can't wait for this fella to come in!! this should be in by december 07 i think..

Size in the Hand
Hand Filed Blade Spine Texturing
Hand Filed backspacer
FRAMELOCK!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, i just ordered another knife from a knifemaker in Missouri. I think it would look good as a tactical companion to my Custom Koji Hara Takezo bamboo folder!..and this beauty has a drop-dead-gorgeous HAMON!!!...wow!!...a folding knife with a HAMON!!...that's rare!..can't wait for this to come too!...this would take a few months to materialize too! Check out the pictures!!

A pic of the "Bamboo Folder" in hand..a handful of titanium and 1095 goodness!

FRAMELOCK!!!!

Finally, the backview!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also...hahaha...i know i've already ordered 2 knives, but i ordered another 2 more...but these are slated for delivery in DEC 2013. These are 2 full dress Fraley Torrents, and i don't have pictures of the 2 i ordered, in the *Special* configuration i ordered them in, (mine's a pair, 1 with Mother Of Pearl Handles; and one with Stag Scales) well, here's a pic of how they should look similar to:

That's all for today..hahah
Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2007-10-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

Haven't blogged much recently...been a little busy actually...with school term essays, with projects, and some arts club activities which i was helping out with. But i got some new stuff!..hahaha...some posts back i posted pics of my latest blade score, well, i tuned my Obie a little. the action's glass-smooth now, and i polished the bolsters a little, and i think they look better now..the Carbon fibre handles were polished a little too, and i quite like the looks of it now..here's some pics of it.

Also bought 2 new torx-head drivers for disassembling / assembling my Obie(seen in the picture accompaning my Obie)..pretty expensive though, they cost S$10 each..but i guess it's a worthwhile investment. At least i won't bugger up the screws.

Got a book too!...my aunt's a saint...she often brings me to kinokuniya, and basically will pay for my purchases there. So i got this book on the 9-11 event, and it also talks about the build-up to the event. She also got me this cd "Grandes De La Musica Cubana - Guantanamera" from Spain, and a shirt from Spain too..pretty cool!..the shirt's in the wash, so i can't post a pic of it..haha

and finally!...my first Havaianas...hahaha...love them...they look funky...hahaha...and all my friends give me a funny look becos its "not me"...hahah

Hahaha...that's all for now!..

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

p.s: Welcome back Bulus!, and stay safe, Angeline!

2007-10-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just bought this bag yesterday...a medium sized bag which would be pretty good for my travelling overseas next time...actually also bought it cos i've been thinking of getting a backpack, and since a friend of mine needed one, i thought i might as well buy it and lend to her first..it's pretty comfortable...yeap..=)

(i'm feeling a little queer now...sigh..i still kinda have feelings for someone i liked last time...the first girl i liked actually...and i think she's just a very nice person. And she's someone who doesn't put herself first. She's someone who will refuse help if she feels she's inconveniencing others.that's something which is a huge draw factor, and it doesn't help that she's pretty..(pretty = nice looking)..but with a nice character, it makes her a beautiful person..(beautiful = nice looking + a good character)..and she's a very caring sister...especially to her 2 brothers...sigh...i miss the times in the past where i used to chat with her so much over the phone...sigh...(deep in thought)

Cheers and Regards,
Junpei

2007-10-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

Just Folders...
Some of the more traditional fixed blades...
a medley of modern and traditional fixed blades...
the whole lot...haha
last pic...

Some pictures...had a knife collectors' gathering overseas this weekend, and look what we shared!...pity we don't have a gathering like this in singapore!!

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2007-10-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

yesterday was an awesome day for me at Cuba Libre!..haha...to the folks there, i'm known as "Nik-O-Las from Sentosa"..well, that's how Faiser introduced me, and the name's stuck..haha..yesterday was awesome as it was when they let me play much more, and even let me play on the Timbales(an instrument i've never played before!)...well, here are some pictures..=)..p.s: do i look very under-dressed?..my mum thinks i should wear something nicer when i perform..

This is how Cuba Libre looks like...love the place!

from the left: the Keyboardist from Bolivia; the guitarist from Chile; the conguero from Sentosa; the guerilla percussionist from Columbia, and the bassist from Spain

and this is me when i'm trying to go faster, and trying to keep the Montuno beats consistent in pace and uniform in sound!

here's the band again...=)

and finally, this is me on the Timbales, and Jhon(our guerilla conguero / trumpeter from Columbia) on the Congas!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly_conguero

2007-10-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

Yay!!!...Got this lovely knife today!...much thanks to "Ziggy" and "Spyken" from the CK&G forums!...haha...it's much bigger than i thought it would be, but that doesn't matter because i love big knives!!..

Well, the blade's well centred, and doesn't seem to have any observable play in all 4 axes. I also like how Mike Obenauf has contoured the carbon fibre scales, so they're nice to hold. weight-wise this is a rather hefty knife, and its presence in the pocket is definitely noticeable. Kinda like the fact that it is tip down too because this means i can safely clip it to either pocket, thus making it more ambidextrous. Well, I'll post a better review on my other blog after i've gotten to edc'ing it for a while...but for now here it is:

Artist: Mike Obenauf (USA)

Model: M2 (Large)

Blade Steel: S-30V

Handle Materials: Titanium bolsters on Carbon Fibre Scales

Locking System: Liner Lock

And here are the pics:

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

2007-10-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

haha...another picture to add to the post i made yesterday..this pic was in my cellphone..took it when all of us climbed up to the top of this structure...not really supposed to climb up, but it's the highest point of East Coast Park...haha..we're all in our socks because we had to remove our rollerblades and leave them downstairs...Cheerios!

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2007-10-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hello!!...haha...haven't really had the free time to blog much recently!!..well, here's a BRIEF update on my life!..

Been playing a little bit of percussions here and there for some cash, and hopefully will have classes starting soon (as in i'm giving classes)...played at Cuba Libre too, but the lead-guitarist who just rejoined is too fast for me...so i take a backseat role...Also pretty busy getting some stuff done for the Church Annual Family Day thingy..just finished a banner yesterday!...see this:

So what next?...haha...i bought a new knife!...it should be coming in anytime now!...probably tomorrow?...now that would so rock!...here's some pictures of it..made by custom knife maker Mike Obenauf, this is his signature Model 2!...in Carbon Fibre!..haha..=)...can't wait for it to come..here's how it looks like:

Oh, finally, the most fun thing!...today i brought 4 boys out!...haha...Elisha, Jabez, Paul, Daniel Gan..we went blading at east coast park, followed by sitting the Viking Ship!..hahaha...and i told them my puking story too...haha...here's some pix!: (so glad that they enjoyed themselves!!)

First: Some pictures of Elisha and Daniel Gan

more pictures of the 2 of them smiling away...

And here's Paul and Jabez!

Glad you boys had fun!!..and Thank YOU God!...for granting us such an awesome weather...

Cheers and Regards,
Nick

2007-09-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

I'm at macs now...waiting for time to pass, cos i have a short gig later at Cuba Libre at 9:30 till 10:15. So though i might as well blog a bit now...well, i bought some new knives recently!..check out the pics...aint the knife lovely?..this is the USN D*gger, which was made in a pretty limited run...very glad i managed to get it!..haha...pretty awesome knife, quick in the hand..etc..haha...shall post more later tonight when i get home...my lappy's batt is getting flat!

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2007-09-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

haha...today was pretty cool...went over to the kid's house cos they had a small celebration for Elisha's Birthday, together with their grandma's birthday..both celebrated together..it was pretty fun...we had a bbq..and the whole family was there, together with 3 of their cousins..then we went to the field to play frisbee!!...and also played with the boomerang from AEROBIE...and the boomerang's super fun to play with!!...then we also played "blind man's catch"..haha...basically we'd climb around this particular structure in the playground, and the person who is "IT" would have to close his eyes and try to find us..haha..it's pretty fun actually..=)...then the kids taught me a new skill...hahaha...KNITTING!!...hahahahaha...i'm not able to knit complex stuff like a sweater, but i can knit a plain rectangular piece...hahah...can be a scarf ya?

well, today was fun!...hahaha...and tomorrow should be an exciting day too!..yay!..=)..haha..alright...i shall go take a nap liao..haha....tata!!

Cheers and Regards,
dragonfly

*p.s: Happy birthday Elisha!!*

2007-09-04T02:29:00.000-07:00

Hello!..

Hmm...an update on what i've been busy with recently..heh..

Well, for starters, tutorials started this week..and i'm kinda glad they did...i think i learn more in tutorials then in lectures...Oh well, but first tutorial's usually kinda boring...the focus generally revolves around settling administrative issues. so ya...Well, last sunday was pretty cool though...brought the kids out, and we ended up watching "Evan Almighty"..haha...why "ended up"? you might ask...well, here's what happened..

I'd arranged to bring the kids out to go cycling actually..Haven't gone cycling with them for a year plus?..yeap...so after church, we took a cab down to east coast park..and as we arrived there, it started to rain...so Mr Jabez used my cellphone to check the weather radar pictures, which didn't seem very positive..but we decided to wait a little at Mac'Donalds, and grabbed some food there...BUT the rain didn't stop, and seemed to be getting worse...so well, we thought we'd either go bowling or watch a movie...took a vote, and Paul who wanted to watch a movie was outvoted 2 -> 1 by Elisha & Jabez who wanted bowling...so we went to the bowling alley...that was at 2:40++...BUT!!..the bowling alley was closed for some national bowling tournament!..=(...so we decided we'd go to Marina Square to go either bowling or to watch a movie..

Well, when we reached Marina Square, the bowling alley lanes were all booked, and there was a pretty long waiting list...so in the end we settled on watching "Evan Almighty" at 4pm..so between buying the tickets and the movie, we went shopping...haha...or rather, more like them accompanying me to go shopping...din buy anything though...was looking for a pouch, but didn't find a nice one...=p...well, so the show was pretty nice...the kids laughed a lot at some parts..and that was nice!...=)...after which i sent them home, and played a little of bridge at their house..=)..Ohya, and this week i'm bringing them Ice-Skating!!...(Because Paul keeps wanting to go Ice Skating..and this week it's their holidays!!)..*cheerios*..

Oh well, yesterday was pretty cool too!...i organised this "family-movie-outing", in which i brought my entire family (Grandma + Grandpa + Aunt + Mum + Dad + me) to watch a local show 881...and it was really a very nice show...kinda touching and saddening at parts because of some reasons which a few frens know why...but anyway, it was pretty nice..=)..

Oh well, nothing else much to update, except oh ya, my term in Arts Club is coming to an end..All the best for those who're running / re-running for the 28th Management Committee..yeap...i'm kinda glad that after this, i'd be free-er!, and will have more time to spend on my music, my church cell-group, and also on the kids!!..yay!!..=)..Cheerios!

Haha...on a side note...just posted this pic on the USN...a picture of what's with me now..haha...check it out!...does this look like a lot?..

Cheers and Regards,

Nick

2007-08-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hmm...

Just blogging from the Central Library now...had lunch just now with Micqsy, Zheng Kuang and Joseph..hmm...i really dun kinda like organising meet ups..always there'd be some hiccups nearing the time itself...oh well, but nice to meet up with them lahz..haha...oh well, haven't blogged in quite some time ya?...so maybe here's a little update..

Well, I really want to thank Ernie Emerson for refurbishing my knives!...I'd sent in a Custom CQC 8, a Super Commander, a Commander, a Mach-1, and a Specwar Tanto. I'd been expecting a pretty quick turnover on the production pieces, but had expected a pretty long wait on the customs, as what is usually the case...so imagine my pleasant surprise when last saturday i opened the parcel in the taxi (after collecting from the UPS guy at Lucky Chinatown)..and i saw my Custom CQC 8 inside!!...Yippeee!..well, today it's my EDC, along with a Custom Mayo TNT in Damascus..haha..yeap!..that's more than 3 thousand dollars worth of investment in blades!!..haha..here's a picture of what i recieved from Ernie..my knives, and an Emerson Knives Polo Tee-Shirt...

oh wells, after collecting my knives, i proceeded down to the Chowies' house...brought them down to Swensens at Crown Prince Hotel to have lunch...kinda a birthday lunch actually..haha..cos Paul and Jabez had their birthdays during that week. It was pretty cool, having lunch with just the 3 of them...haha...i really enjoy having them around...thank you God once again, for bringing Elisha, Jabez and Paul into my life...they're really a blessing to me..as i hope i am to them..after that i had to bring them home cos i had to go for an audition at NUS at 3:30pm...the audition didn't work out too well actually..but oh well..nvm..

well, that's about all that happened during the past few days..Life's pretty much unexciting nowadays...but well, i'm living pretty happily..haha..not much to worry about, not much to trouble my little mind about, not much to get upset over..=)...

Right now, i've grown to be pretty happy in the solitary sphere of mine...sure i do sometimes wish it wasn't so lonely...especially since i'm the only child...but well, i've also grown to appreciate that this means i don't have to get upset over trying to please people, and i pretty much can do whatever i like, wear whatever i like too!..haha...(so what if i look "uncle-ish")..actually I believe that as long as one places his faith in God, everything seems much simpler..cos i don't have to worry about things...some phrases which i feel are very meaningful, and which i feel have spoken loads to me:

"If God puts you to it, He will pull you through it"
"When All that you have left is God, then you'll realize that all you need is God"
"God will provide"

right now i do have some dreams...some questions in my head, some things i wonder if it's possible..but now i've also grown to learn to not cast my all in, not to put my whole heart, whole soul into things which i'm not sure of..is that the right approach?..i don't know..all i know is that if God meant it to be, somehow it would be..it just would..I don't know if "u" are reading this blog..haha..but you probably won't know who i mean anyway....*i guess*...haha...and it's not who u think it is...so ya..=p..haha...whatever...

Oh well, there are some other thoughts in my head now, but i don't really feel like typing them out here..haha...so ya..i shall start reading my notes now..

Adios Amigo!

Cheers and Regards,

dragonfly

2007-08-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

Yay!...

Hahaha...finally got my laptop back after it was sent for servicing at Hewlett Packard's Customer Service, and which the service there leaves much to be desired..long story, but the gist of it is that the lady who served me that day asked if i wanted the laptop to be delivered to my house f.o.c as it was still under warranty. I agreed, but apparently she didn't record it down, and for days my laptop has been sitting unclaimed at the service centre, repaired, and with no instructions..till today when a friend prompted me to give the service centre a call. That's when i found out it was ready for collection!...oh well...what a muddle-up!

Well, that aside, life rocks!...haha...gonna go for an audition for the NUS Jazz Band this saturday at CFA at 3:30pm, and just before that i'll be bringing the 3 kids for a Birthday-Celebratory lunch at Orchard Swensens..still thinking of what presents to get for them!..Wilson suggested a few board games, which i'll probably check out sometime tomorrow (my off day!)..any ideas?..besides DICTIONARIES(someone suggested..hahaha....u know who u are...) heh...oh well, i got to get back to my readings!...got to read up on the definitions of International Relations before my next lecture at 4!...till then...adios!

adiós y toma el cuidado
dragonfly

2007-08-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

hmm...i'm laptop-less now...sent my lappy in for servicing as the "U"key had fallen off. I'd thought that it would only take a short whileto fix, and i was actually hoping to get it back this very day...but apparently i have to wait for 3 to 5 working days!..gosh!..perhaps the only positive thing is that it'd be delivered free to my house, and i don't have to collect it myself..

Well, went to buy some of my texts at clementi today, and managed to help ah-mik get her text too..i seriously think the bookstore's very cool..they have this slide, whereby the person on the first floor would call up for a certain book, and then in a short while's time, the book would be slid down!...ain't that cool?!..oh well, after that i went to queensway shopping centre, hoping to get my coursepack, and hers, but apparently i can't get it there...gotta check with my lecturers..=(..

Hmm...the other thing which amazed me today was the service at Hewlett Packard's Customer Service Centre..wow!..they had not only a few desktop workstations for people to surf the net on, but even had a telephone there, a coffee-maker, some bread, chairs, tables and wifi!..i mean, wow!..i've never been to any customer service centre which was so awesome...and Omega's is the worst i think...somehow i can't remember why exactly, but i just know that i didn't like it..

Hmm...it's surprising how much i actually type whilst on the go..haha..well, i'm blogging from my Nokia E90 cellphone outside takashimaya now, and listening to this group of street buskers who're playing using peruvian wind instruments, as well as a keyboard, and they're not too bad...oooh...and they're finally playing true peruvian world music now!...they were playing pieces from "Pocahontas" just now...hmm...this suddenly makes me wonder..what makes music great?...as in there're no doubt many musicians around who are good, but what truly makes that one individual or group stand out as being great??..is it about the feeling that one from the audience gets when listening?...well, to be honest, i don't know the answer to this question either...but it's certainly something worth thinking about...actually this doesn't just apply to music...the same question goes for art, for knives, etc...

Oh well, the day i see God, i shall ask him this question too...makes sense right?...asking the Greatest Being...He should know...well, pray for me..i'm not exactly in the pink of health now..firstly i'm currently undergoing physiotheraphy for some injured right shoulder tendons..then this morning, i woke up at the wee hours having horrible diarohea, and whereby there was some blood in my waste..kinda scary...doctor said that it may be a viral attack..=(.. and on top of that, my feet are still recovering from ezcema..and just when i thought that was all, i got out of bed realizing i had this horrible pain in my right sole..it's damn weird..it's as if the bones in my right foot had expanded overnight..for now each step i take is painful, and feels like i'm bruising the bone..sigh..oh well, but i'm a strong person, and i'll overcome these ills and pains!...God give me strength..=)..oh well, it's time for me to head home for dinner...gotta log off Wireless@SG for now...seeya..

Smiles Always..
dragonfly

2007-08-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

ahah!..here i am once again, in the bus, on my way back to school for my 2nd lecture of the day. Had one this morning from 12 till 1:20++, which was "Great Ideas in Contemporary Physics"...sounds a handful ehz?...i sure hope it's okay..=P...kinda pissed with myself because i didn't really pay too much attention during the lecture..was msn'ing with some friends, and that kinda distracted me a little...well, in subsequent lectures i shall just leave my msn off!..oh well, but anyway today the lecture ended early, and i thought i could have my percussion lessons earlier, at 2:30 instead of 3, cos i needed time to head back to sch for the lecture i'm so gonna be late for..haha..turns out faiser can't make it today, so it's been postponed till friday..i really really miss percussions!..it's one of THE GREAT motivators in my life..haha...the other one being the Chowies..

Well, no percussion lesson today, so what did i do?..haha..i headed down to heeren to get my friend "Soh" to fabricate a custom neck pouch for my current EDC, a Tom Mayo Reptilian Damascus TNT folding knife. I must say the entire set-up looks kinda neat, and the knife's pretty light too, so i can carry it around easily without it being too much of a strain on my neck..heh..here are some pictures of the knife and set-up...

Oh yes...it's a really cold day today!...i was freezing to bits inside LT25, when i had my Science Lecture just now, and when i came out, the wind at the bus-stop was not only pretty strong, but it penetrated my clothes too!..haha..now this is gonna sound pretty random, but earlier on, i was bored, and decided to do an appraisal of how many hundreds of dollars worth of goods i had on me. And here's the breakdown:

Timberland Boat Shoes: $279
Timberland Kakki Pants: $100
GAP V-Neck Tee Shirt: $40
Blackhawk 3-Day Assault Backpack:
$180
Tommy Hilfiger Wallet: $80
Compaq Laptop: $2200
Canon iXUS 850IS: $799
Samsung Portable Hard Disk:
$150
Nokia E61 Cellphone: $399
Nokia E90 Cellphone: $1399
Nokia 7710 Cellphone: $1300
Tom Mayo TNT in Reptilian Damascus:
$1380
Spyderco Spydercard: $180
Parker Sonnet Pen: $50
Otter Waterproof Case: $60
Leather Pouch for knife: $50

That makes the total up to be: $8646!!..haha..i was kinda surprised too, because i thought i'd only about $3000+ worth on me...haha...if i had just one more knife, my custom emerson cqc8 on me, i'd have 10k+ worth of stuff on me!...oh well...anyway i just reached school...so gotta go..seeya!!

Cheers,
dragonfly

2007-08-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

hmm..it's good to have a diary, and to blog on the go actually...kinda cool, plus it's often during these long bus rides that i start to ponder, start to brood. Oh well, much has happened within the past few months, and there were times when i was on cloud nine, and there were also times when i felt down in the dumps..but nontheless, i've made it through..stronger? Weaker?...only God knows. Somehow i've managed to leave more of my pains, my worries to God. And that has made life somewhat much simpler, and less stressful. "God Will Provide"...these 3 words have been echoing in my head constantly for months...and to a large extent, they provide me some comfort, knowing that there's a being out there looking out for me.

Well, RAG's over, and the submarine i created didn't win anything..and i guess i'm kinda sad it didn't...to be honest, i broke down and cried a couple of times at rag day itself. But till this day i'm still uncertain why i cried..maybe because i was disappointed?..maybe because i was relieved that it was over?..maybe because i had wanted to dedicate the award(if we had won any) to Jay who died a year ago? Maybe i cried cos of fatigue?...i don't know...well, want to really thank Mathias, Eric, Weiling for coming down to support, and of course, Weizhen=) too...after spending such long months with my rag friends, i really missed the company of church people, especially my closer church friends..thanks "hao xiong di=)"...

During Rag, i had a friend i got quite close to, and i'd kinda hoped that things would work out in the sense that i'd hoped i had found someone to share my life with, but as always, it was not to be so...oh well, it's okay, like i told "pal" last night, i've decided that i've tried enough...and i've accepted the fact that somethings just ain't meant to be mine. I guess i could say that i've given enough of myself, i've waited long enough, and it all didn't work out. I guess God has better plans for me single for life..honestly, i'm tired too..i don't think i'll ever be sweet and caring to any girl now even if she stepped into my life..well, maybe?..but even if so, it'd probably only be for that one girl, the one star in my life...but i guess that's slipping back to the one way road again?...whatever...

Right now, the one thing i know i'm sure of is that the 3 kids bring me the greatest joy in my life. Last Thursday at Rag, i was so tired, not just physically, but emotionally too..and then the kids came...and they really brought the smile to my face, and the hop to my feet...well, they just made me very happy...right now they're still so young...and there's both pros and cons to that..i just wonder how they'd be like when they grow up..Paul's entering his teens soon, and that would mean that i can soon bring him out more to go trekking maybe?..and other stuff...he's started asking me funny questions like who's my gf..etc..haha...funny guy...oh well, i'm just super thankful to God for putting the 3 kids in my life..sometime years down the road, there'll be a day when i'm old, nearing my end, and i'll ask the 3 kids out, then with their own families, and we'll go cycling, and we'd reminisce about the times i used to bring the 3 of them out cycling..that'd be nice..

Oh well, i'm reaching school soon..meeting ben for lunch later at 2pm after my class...so for now, that's all...

Life, What is it but a Dream?
Cheers,
dragonfly

2007-07-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.truefriendtest.com/friendtest/764112

2007-07-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

hello...

hmm...nothing much has happened in my life recently...but well, ya, i managed to get tix to ndp!!...hahaha...so pretty excited...should be going with a school mate from rag..haha...first time i watch an ndp which is on the sea...heard from joann that the navy's performance is pretty cool too...so ya...kinda looking forward to it..will have to then rush all my stuff so that i can go down guilt-free that day...heh...well, this saturday JK Rowling's next Hairy Potter book comes out!...and i'm getting it!..haha...a welcome gift to a friend...hope Sam likes it!...oh well, nothing much to blog about lahz...hmm..okay, today my percussion teacher complimented me saying that the sounds of the tone; slap; palm..etc, that i make sound almost like his...and that was really nice...bought a new phone some time ago too, and the functions are astonishing..well, i got the Nokia e90..so ya...=)..i'm actually quite stone now...came online primarily to check the weather for a friend...Sam's abroad...so i'm just here to check the weather, and be the weatherman via sms...haha...oh well well, think i gtg do my stuff already...seeya!!..

Cheers,
dragonfly...

2007-07-08T19:32:00.001-07:00

hello!.. some updates...haven't had the time and/or the energy to update much recently...pretty much bogged down by rag, and also, i was busy with planning and executing this mission-trip with micqsy...furthermore, i've had other church stuff too.. well, first of all, let me talk about my mission trip!...it was pretty good, though it was just a short one..but the planning took quite a bit..planning for the games, the sequence of events, calling people up, and trying to persuade them to come...but it was pretty meaningful..i find more meaning doing this kinda stuff then i find in other projects..well, really want to say a big thanks to michelle for helping me..especially the logistics stuff, and also in planning...well, back to the events that transpired that day itself.. early in the morning, the whole lot of us met at church at 7:45am!!..there were 15 of us in total: xueningjoycelynnjosiahjarodmathiasbinglunaaronsamuelweizhengzheng kuangUncle Ling YingTsun He Lao Shimichelleme All in all, i think the turnout was pretty fantastic!..well, after loading up, we headed on towards woodlands, and johore, which thankfully we did not have to unload the musical instruments which were cumbersone to carry, and heavy!..we had with us: 1 cajon1 set of congas (1 tumba + 1 conga)2 conga stands1 keyboard1 guitar1 amplifier well, things went smoothly, and we cleared the customs with not much hassle..after which we went directly to the school, which is located about 30 mins drive from the malaysian checkpoint..it was pretty nice, but the accoustics were horrible...haha...when i played the congas there, they sounded so empty, and so hollow!..well, but it was good to see the level of enthusiasm in the youths..really appreciated their participation..=)..oh well, we had a short worship consisting of just 2 songs, and then we proceeded to station games. the games went pretty well i must say, and everyone enjoyed it..for mathias' game: "The Longest line", it ended pretty fast, and that's where the arts camp games came in handy to fill in the empty-times..=)..well, after games, it was our rest time, plus time to practice for our skit. we had a pretty nice lunch at a restaurant some 15 mins away, and then headed back to rest, as well as to prepare for our skit...managed to integrate the worship into our skit, which i feel binglun and samuel really acted well..think they pulled off their segments really well!..

Well well, after we finished acting the skit at night, and having had worship, it was time for us to leave...we left with having had a good trip, and having had fulfilled the objectives set out..returned to singapore around 11+, and that was all..=)

well, really glad that the mission trip was good...it also provided me some form of relief from the tiring process of rag...i'm really so sick of people telling me that i'm not committed enough...and asking me to around 24/6...that's insanity...i have other commitments too, and of them all, church, and being around for the 3 kids will always remain my top priority...and for my close friends, you know how much percussions mean to me...so ya, playing percussions for church will always be one of my top-most priority, oh ya, and church is something which is very important to me, i will never skip church for other reasons...so there...and also, anything related to the kids will be of the top-priority too..like if they tell me they have a tennis match coming up, i will definitely make that my most important priority..i can't wait for rag to be over...it would really be a catharsis for me..to me, i'm really missing out on so many things i want to do...once this august comes, i'd be done with rag, and also with arts club stuff...i'm probably the most certain within the arts club mc members, that i will definitely not run again for arts club..haha...when these 2 commitments end, i will finally have time to devote to God, to percussions, to the kids!!..yay!!..=)..i feel stifled...and moody...the whole june hols i din even bring the kids out once can?!...nvm...once rag is over, during the september holidays, i'll bring them cycling again!!..

p.s: thanks to those who have been a listening ear to me...jiajun, micq, etc..thanks loads...
well, i've said a lot this morning...

cheers,
dragonfly

2007-06-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

hello...

hmm..i haven't really had any time to sit down and blog for ages!..finally now i've some time to myself prior to sleep, so i figured i might as well drop a post...well, in a blink, the June holidays are over for the kids. This holidays i hardly had time to bring them out, and the only time i hung out with them is when i went over to their new house to play..that was sometime last week..didn't have time to start teaching paul percussions too!...but will do so after he finishes his Primary School Leaving Examinations(PSLE)!..kinda sad cos i wanted to bring them cycling..but i guess that would have to wait.

well, also want to pray for Weizhen=), Xy, David, and the other church elder. All of them are now in Thailand doing missionary work, laying the bricks for God's Kingdom..May He bless them as they carry out His work...

a few more of us would be heading over to Johore next saturday too to do a short mission stint. do pray for us too, that The Lord would provide his guidance and support, and that we would be able to accomplish what we set out to do.

Well, i guess that's more or less the key parts of today's post..i still have a few other points, like being at camp(now), as an OGL, which is pretty stressful considering the fact that i'm not a very "rah-rah" person..well, God will carry me through.

Alright, i shall go off to sleep...nite.
=)
dragonfly

2007-05-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hello!!...

Hmmm...haven't blogged much recently cos i was too busy with stuff...church, and all...well, here's 2 awesome things that i'm happy about! over this weekend, Elisha and Paul had their tennis tournaments!...Elisha's always pretty good, and for both the Singles-Match and the Doubles-Match, he won the opponent 9-1 for both the Singles and the Doubles matches!!...hahaha...and he was as usual very happy...haha...Paul played his Singles-Match this morning, and it was absolutely awesome that he won 9-0!!!...Yippee!!!...It'd serve as an awesome morale booster!...Hope things go well for the subsequent matches for all 3 of them..

Well, I'm really very tired, so gonna go sleep now. Just wanted to blog some stuff...hahaha...goodnight!!

Cheers,
dragonfly

2007-05-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

hmm...just a sharing on the day that went by..

had a stayover last night in school, as we went around the industrial estates to collect materials we could use for RAG, as well as to collect some small stuff we bought. Well, all in all i feel it was a very fruitful trip/s...check this picture out manz!!..that's all the FREE stuff we managed to procure!

Oh well, hopefully we'll be able to properly maximize the use of all these materials!..=)

Fast forward till today...I finally had the chance to meet up with "Miss Same-Birkies"..heh...haven't seen her for ages!!...and she still looks the same..and i just think that that time when we had this event we were in together, and the night before, when we were talking on the phone, her voice really was so sweet, it could just melt my heart!...and now it still does..=p..heh...well, we ate nearby her workplace, and had a good time chatting, and catching up.."Miss Same-Birkies", see you next week again for japanese food ya?..

Brought Jabez & Paul out to Plaza Singapura for dinner tonight as they wanted to eat that, and twas fun today, we played a bit of computer games, as well as tried out the Cajon i brought over to their house. Their dad wants Paul to learn the Cajon, and I hope he does too..In church i play the percussions, which now consist of just Congas, but i'm gonna slowly introduce more equipment in...next would be to bring in some Maracas...well, Paul's the person whom i hope will take over my position in future...so i have to introduce him to more instruments, and to slowly gear him towards replacing me!..=)

Well, it's 2:05am, and i've got to go tuck myself into bed!..Goodnight everyone!

Cheers,
Junpei..=)

2007-05-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

yay!

Finally i can blog, and attach photos!!...been having some problems with blogger the past few days!!..well, anyway, some updates on my life..

Last saturday i brought the kids to Science Centre. That was pretty fun..heh..we went to watch "Dinosaurs", and i quite enjoyed the show..Paul & Elisha pretty much liked it, but Jabez found it boring though..=(..oh well, after that, we toured the science centre, played at the "Water-World", and also watched the electrifying displays!..then the kids insisted that i sit on this chair that's supposed to electrocute you, and to see how much electricity your body can take. Well, they had 2 switches, one for "LOW POWER", and one stating "HIGH POWER"...buttt....i think it is intentionally swapped!..haha..after i tried it, Paul wanted to try too, but he pressed the "LOW POWER" switch..and in the end, his was much stronger...hahahahaha..anyway, after that, we had some fun playing around, before we left for KFC, and then to church..here's some photos i took of Elisha that day...

Well, fast forward to the past 2 days. I've bought a new knife, and have been playing with it, as well as having ordered another knife, which i will take delivery of in July..Yay!...the knife coming in July is a custom Tom Mayo TNT in Damascus!!...here's a picture of it..hee..

I also bought a new percussion instrument. It's called the Cajon, and is a Peruvian instrument. Sounds pretty nice, and i can't wait to introduce it in Worship!!..Yay!..Here it is!:)

finally, (i'm a bit tired, and really need to catch some sleep)...This Friday I'll finally get to meet up with "Miss-Same-Birkies"..hee..=)...really miss her...haven't seen her for decades!!...and really miss her voice too...Can i tell you, i simply love her voice...it's just so soft, and sweet..and so gentle!!..and yet, i've seen her "enthu" or "onz" side too, and i really like both sides..=)..."Miss-Same-Birkies"!!...

heh...well, gotta go catch some sleep!!...till then...Night!

Cheers!

Nick

2007-04-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

sub-post 2: (my take on life)

Well, I must say that the way i percieve life has changed a lot recently, and i'd say it's for the better. I used to be trapped in my own sphere of self-pity, in which i'd always feel inferior, insecure, and unsure. To say that i've been "delivered" is perhaps fair..I've cast my shadow/s of the past behind me, and right now, i feel i'm like a dragonfly, having undergone the transition from a nymph, and having just emerged from the molted skin i leave behind. The wind's in my face, the joy in my heart, the beauty of the world in my mind, and I on the palm of God. I feel refreshed, and I feel "able"...this line from a christian song echoes in my mind constantly: "All things are possible"...been kinda listening to music quite a lot too, and these lines from "Mamma Mia - Chiquitita" are lovely:

Chiquitita, you and I know
How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving
You'll be dancing once again
and the pain will end
You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry
But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita
Try once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita

No reference to anything with the heartache part...it's just that i feel this song gives me the idea of hope...the thought of shaking off problems which have plagued me, and to cherish new opportunities, and to embrace the world with Joy!..yeap...I thank God for all the friends He's placed in my life, and for working on me through them..I thank God too for my sorrows, my miseries ( I really do!!)...One thing I've learnt is to throw my own concerns aside, and learn to appreciate the beauty in everything God has placed in my path..I don't want a life that is smooth sailing...I don't learn from that. What I want is for God to place hurdles in my life, but for him to always be with me, for him to guide me as i walk through this bumpy road. For Him to show me the "Why" behind every hurdle he places in my path, and for Him to keep the faith in me when He decides not to tell me "Why". I thank you God for bringing me through everything..Life's good, and it's only going to get better!...It may not be easier, and if God decides to make it harder, I'll accept it!...But just bring me through it Lord. Thanks to all my friends who have helped see me through these tough times.

Your humble Servant always,
Nick

2007-04-30T01:07:00.000-07:00

sub-post 1: (about the kids)

Hmm...well, most people know that i'm pretty close to Elisha, Jabez & Paul..the 3 kids I always hang out with..well..they've taught me a lot in life, and i must say i really thank God for putting me in their lives, and for putting them in my life..well, here's my analysis of the 3 kids..

Paul:
The oldest of the trio, very independent, very self-driven if he sees a goal in mind..(especially during tuition..he will start doing his homework first whilst Jabez & Elisha are eating, so that he can finish it faster, and get to play Halo/Mofunzone/Battlefield 2/etc..pretty much an independent child too, and doesn't really rely on others to draw his strength from. My hope for him is that as he grows up, he will grow up to be a person who will also be more sensitive to the feelings of others, and I hope he will always remain close to his siblings. Sometimes he's a little head-strong too, and a bit rash...hope i could be a good influence to him, and bring out the softer side of him too..Right now he's in primary 6, and there's a high chance that he might go to ACS(I)..that kinda worries me a little..because the trio are really nice kids, and i hope that they turn out to be fine gentlemen in the future as they grow up..just hope that his secondary school experience doesn't change him for the worse..

Jabez:
The 2nd-oldest/2nd-youngest(depending on how you percieve it)...more dependent, but very strong willed..from what i see through tennis. very creative...probably the most artistic of the trio. Somewhat shies away from the idea of having to take charge, and doesn't really like to be put into situations which he doesn't know well. The softest of the trio, sometimes i do sense the angst in him at times, and he has the tendency to keep his problems to himself..doesn't like to talk much to strangers, but when he opens up, he really can talk for hours!..the cutest among the trio too, he's got a smile that has the ability to lift peoples' spirits up. My hope for him is that as he grows up, he will build up his inner strength too, and that I hope i can really be his mentor in the sense that when he has troubles, i hope i would be able to support him, and that God would work through me to help him. of the trio, i really feel he will go the furthest.

Elisha:
My favourite, and it was him i knew the first, before getting to know the other 2. He's grown up, and no longer the baby i knew..long ago in children's camp, he was in my group "Kneecap", and he would run to me and say "Carry me..." in that sweet voice which would just melt my heart...no matter how tired i was, i'd still carry him..well, he's grown a lot, but he's growing along fine..he's the strong silent one of the trio. and the one who would follow rules, and do things the "correct" way. still too young to form much opinion on him though, and probably as he grows up, i'd be able to make a more accurate analysis on him...but i love him the most...my youngest brother..=)

A short prayer i have here..

Dear Lord, I pray that you'll keep the innocence in the kids, and that as they grow up in age, they too mature in thinking, and grow in the strength of their characters. I too pray that you will bring them through trials, but walk closely with them, and never let them go...I pray Lord, that as they undergo these trials, they will learn to lean not on their own secular understanding of the world, but to learn to lean on you for support, and to see all things in the beauty of your creation and purpose. Guide me Lord, as their friend, brother, mentor, and that You will always answer their questions to me through my lips. Guide me Lord, to impart to them the lessons i have learnt in life, and let them too see that I have my flaws, and that I too lean on you for guidance and support. Dear Heavenly Father, as the kids grow up, no doubt they will encounter questions and problems in life..which they might look to me for answers. Dear Lord Our Father, i pray that you'd teach me how to respond to their questions, and that each answer i give them originates not from my secular understanding of the world, but on the knowledge imparted to me through teachings of your disciples, through your direct teachings to me, and through the knowledge learnt from my experiencing of trials and tribulations with you as my maker, my guide, and my deliverer. All this i pray humbly in your presence and protectorate. Amen.

Cheers,
Junpei

p.s: edited to add: Elisha then, when he was in my children's camp group, and Elisha now...=)

Elisha Then:

Elisha Now:

2007-04-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

hmm...some things to share...Will be doing them in seperate blog entries..
1: about the kids
2: about my philosophy, and my take on life

Cheers,
dragonfly

2007-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

hello!...

I got a new knife pouch yesterday!..had this one custom made for my Emerson Specwar CQC-8..and i think the pouch looks awesome!...it's made of leather, a thicker, more durable skin on the outer-side(the brown one), and a thinner skin on the inside to protect my knife from getting fuzzed up(the beige one)!!..the metal "button" you see there is an actual 5cents coin from the USoA..modified to become a button..pretty pleased with this piece, as it gives the knife a nice "cowboy-ish" feel to it!..

Oh well, i've been busy as a bee!...busy with school, as well as some other activities of my own...I feel much happier recently though..haha...no clear definite reason why, but learnt a lot..=)..thanks YOU!...can't wait for exams to be over!..and to go for the 2 trips!!..yay!

hahaha...alright...gtg back to studies!..seeya!

Cheers!

Nicky

2007-04-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

so many things happened..i don't really know where to start...God, if u can read this, wouldn't u just kill me?...what's the rationale behind making me suffer so much?..WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!...i've changed into a person who really is just against everything in this world...i've just lost interest in everything too.. God, i hate myself for who i am..and i hate the fact that you allow all these to happen to me..God...I used to pray for u to aid me in some things..u never did...now all i have left to say when i pray to you is "HELP!"...I don't understand you Lord....why put a person into my life, let me fall in love with that person, let that person reject me, let me take it really badly, let me try killing myself, let me totaly become disillusioned...god, what's your problem?!..don't torture me anymore...i'm at the point where i totally don't see any possible hope..I don't feel christian at all!...christians are supposed to be much stronger, able to handle things properly..i'm NOT!!!...are u using me to show your miracles?..i wish it was the case...but tell me, how on earth, is anyone ever gonna be drawn to u thru me?!..God, u know what's my biggest wish now?..that i get amnesia!..yes, that is my biggest wish, cos only then can i forget all the hurt..God, my heart is DEAD!, but it's still in pain. Why me God?...why???????????????

God, if u could have given me brothers i grew up with, at least i could have had someone to talk to. God, you gave me parents who were too busy for me, and now, i can't talk to them abt my sadness..i dun feel close to them at all. God, i have nobody i feel close to!..god, you really have made my life a totally horrible one..God, i have nothing to live for anymore...i hate my life..end it.

I'm stressed...i've no real frens in this world. they've either left, or betrayed me. my house isn't a place of refuge either. I don't feel any joy there, i don't find any solace there. it's just empty too. school results are horrible for me too, and in arts club, i dun feel appreciated. i'm just always the sai-gang person, the banner monkey..have i made real frens in there?..no. in church, i'm a loner too..i'm always left out when there are things going on. when there's soccer, the whole church knows, except me...this sucks...i'm tired...God, take me...

this dragonfly's wings are broken. it flies no longer.

2007-03-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

this is where it ends.

life, what is it but a dream?

2007-03-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Is this another dead end i see?...should i turn back before i hit the wall again?...

cheers,
dragonfly

2007-03-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hello...

I'm sooo tired!!..Had a long day out today..twas kinda good though..If only I wasn't tired..Well, kinda dragged myself out of bed this morning because I couldn't wake up!..haha...had a light breakfast, then headed to school..

Had lunch together with Ms Balloons today. It was kinda cool, as we went to this place which I've always wanted to go to, but never had the time nor company. We cabbed down from NUS to Holland Village, and I brought her to eat at this restaurant called "The Original Sin - Michaelangelo". It's the first and only Mediterranean vegetarian restaurant in Singapore actually, though I didn't know that at first..heh..and they had a HUGE mirror in the restaurant actually!..I was kinda intrigued by that actually..heh..

Initially when we sat down for lunch, the restaurant was kinda empty, and the 2 of us were the only ones inside. But the crowd started packing in within the hour, and they were mostly made up of caucasians..

Oh well, sent her back to school in a cab after that..then headed down to the chowies' house for tuition..haha..after tuition, had dinner with them, and went home. Well, not really, because i only went home to take a quick shower, and within 10 mins, i was out of the house and on my way to Plaza Singapura in a cab to meet a friend for supper...got home around 11+, and i'm just about to turn in now...yawn....i'm so tired!!...

je t'aime...
vous faire m'aime comme je vous aime?
Nick=)

2007-03-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello!...

It's Monday again, and i'm kinda having the monday blues..haha..oh well, just upset over some stuff la...I know it's unfair, and It's not your fault that I'm upset, but just well, I feel sad when I see you...Like I mentioned some entries back, my greatest mistake in life was to fall for you. Your rejection really shattered all my self-confidence. I dare not love anybody anymore now, until I'm very sure that it's not going to be another case of unrequited love leading to the emotional death of the heart.

Oh well, but there were some nice things that did perk me up. Firstly, this morning i recieved a missed call when i was giving Jane tuition. When I called back, I was elated to find Elisha on the line!..talked to him a little, as well as to Paul. Whilst I didn't manage to talk to Jabez, but it was really good to hear their voices again!...

Secondly, yesterday saw a combined cell outing for Faith's cell-group, Angela's cell-group, as well as my Sec 3 + Sec 4 Boys cell to Sentosa. I was especially elated to see how my boys and the girls clicked so well!. That totally dispelled any initial fears of mine that there would be a gender-based seperation into 2 core groups during the outing. After the outing, the kids still wanted to go catch a movie!!..haha...but in the end that plan was shelved as some of them couldn't stay out too late. Well, instead, we went for dinner, followed by a short session at the Arcade. That was totally awesome!. Twas a pity that some of our cell members couldn't come along, like mozz, who was away in Jakarta, as well as others. Oh well, I will arrange another such outing in June, during the common school Mid-Year break!..

Alright, I got to go catch up on my sleep already. By golly, It's Tuesday already!...p.s: hope we can meet to study together on thursday..Ballet's cancelled cos my mum's former pianist, as well as close friend passed away from cancer. Rest In Peace Mrs Owen, and I thank you for teaching me piano when I was a kid. I have never forgotten the part about you telling me to lift my wrists when I was playing, and to imagine a train runnng below my wrists. May The Lord welcome you into His Heavenly Kingdom with Open arms.

Good Night!..=)
dragonfly..

P.S: Below are some pics I took of my cell-outing!..I'm not in any of the pictures becos I was the one behind the camera lens...duh!.

=)

2007-03-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hmm..today's a good day.a few things happened today which made it a good day. Firstly, many months ago i did something terribly wrong, and which i deeply regret to this day. I'd long thought the friendship was over, but i thank God that it doesn't appear to be so. Shan't elaborate, but for my friend, if you're reading this, just want to say sorry again, and i promise you this time i'll treasure the friendship and i'll be a good friend to you, and will never betray it again.

Secondly, i had 2 events today. One was some test which i managed to pass. Though i think it's still possible to cheat the system, i didn't dare to try. Next was an interview. A big thank you to my political-science coursemate li xiang for recommending me for the post. Will be starting to teach english lessons next week in a particular "Hua Language Centre", both in the 1 to 1 format, as well as in a small class setting. Well, i'm pretty excited..it seems so formal..i feel more like a "lecturer" than a tutor lah!...hahahaha...
finally, just went to play lan game with mozz..haha..i really stink at dota manz...and the anime-fight game..but i still own at c.s and bf2..haha..but so sad, i stink at strategy games..anyway, have a safe trip, and bon voyage mozz..sorry couldn't change the sentosa outing to tomorrow..next time i'll organize another outing kaez..have fun!..

oh ya..today i didn't have tuition for the kids cos they're away in taiwan till next thursday..i'm not sure if u guys read my blog..but, well, bon voyage to you too, and let's go cycling on friday!..haha..we'll have a (cycling-frisbee-tuition-psp/bf2 tournament) day next friday alright?..see you guys then...
well, nothing else much to blog about..haha..=)..

Cheers!
Dragonfly...=)

2007-03-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Hello!!..

I had a pretty good day today..=)..This morning, i met up with Ms Balloons at 10am. Together, we went to the National Library at Beach Road. She has an assignment due beginning of April, and thus we went to do some research..Actually more like she went to do research, and i just tried to help here and there...hahaha..Oh well, the cool thing was that we did our research in the "Lee Kong Chian Reference Library"..and that was my first time there.. Managed to find some interesting reads there, and Miss Balloons is now interested in Yoga because...."blah blah blah"....hahaha..=p..

Well, the place is pretty cool. Firstly, it's so quiet that one can really do some serious studying there, and the scenery is so beautiful!..Cos it's pretty high, one can really see quite a fair bit around!..=)..well, basically i loved the place.. Let's go there and study again kaez?..=)

After our research, we left for lunch, and i brought her to this place i've always wanted to go to for like dunno how many years!!..It's this nice fish and chips place called "Fishermans' Wharf"..haha..well, guess what we had there?...haha....Fish & Chips...Duh!!..I guess i was too eager for us to sample the food...between the 2 of us, we had a *something..something..Cod* fish and chips, + a Snow Fish fish and chips, + some prawn and chips thingy, a coleslaw, a bottle of mineral water, and a cup of capuccino..haha...actually i wanted to get Oysters too!...but they didn't have it then...=(..well, it was pretty good, and I really LOVED the prawns!...they were so fresh!...haha..the only bad thing was that Miss Balloons got a stomach ache after the meal. I'm so sorry!..I shan't order so much food the next time we go for lunch or dinner. (p.s: i think i really made myself look like a complete glutton these few times we went out to eat!)..heh...

After that, nothing much, we cabbed to school, as she had to rehearse for her presentation, and i went to the clubroom..=).

In the evening, i helped set up the banner and some other small stuff for the NUS Open House..haha...seems like i've become the "Banner I.C" for all events...hahaha..oh well, that about summed up my day...hmm..oh..i watched "Hannibal Rising" just now too...met up with a friend for supper, and suddenly this man walking by thrust us a pair of tickets for the show. So well, we just went to watch..haha...it wasn't too bad..but I'm not too sure whether i think i liked it or not..haha...Oh well, I've gotta sleep!...gotta wake up early to do work tomorrow!..

Nite!
Love lots,
dragonfly

p.s: To Elisha, Jabez & Paul, Bon Voyage to you guys and your family on your short trip to Taiwan..See you guys next thursday or friday..I'll bring you guys out then..

2007-03-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Hello!..

hmm...today was a pretty OK day...let's see..In the morning, i woke up, lazed around till it was like 9am before i woke up..which was BAD! because i had a Futsal Meeting at 10am, and i had wanted to leave home by 9, so that i could take a bus there..in the end, i had to take a cab there. taking cabs nowadays are so expensive, especially when u have to travel to school, and there's nobody to share cab with. But well, it's just life. Anyway, meeting was pretty short, and ended like around 11?..I had wanted to go down town to do some hunting for a new bag...but recieved an sms from Ms Balloons, saying that she could do lunch with me!..haha..so well, i stayed in school then, and waited..after that, the 2 of us went to Foong Seng's Taiwanese Porridge stall, and had quite a bit!..haha..Her favourite among the 4 dishes was the Fried Red Bean Cake thingy..which was pretty good!..haha..i think they had some lotus paste inside too! Well, the other dishes were prawn dumplings; xiaolongbao; and fried "mantou"..haha..i liked all of them!..well, it was good to have been able to grab lunch with u, Ms Balloons!..=)

haha...oh well, after lunch i slacked around a little more, then headed for church to grab some books from the library, and from my pastor Uncle Daniel. Thanks for lending me the books on "New Age Religions"..Hope these would be helpful on thursday when i meet up with Ms Balloons to study as she does her project on it.

Nothing much to blog for the day liaoz..except maybe that it quaked somewhere nearby today, and Singapore felt some tremors...haha...pity we weren't given the day off in NUS!..

Cheers,
dragonfly...

p.s: thanks for your comments Mr Anon...actually i know who you are..=)

2007-03-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

28th Febuary 2007.

Let's just see...from now on, i'm not gonna initiate any more communication. I'm tired. Let's just see how long it is before we become strangers again. 6 years ago the friendship started. 6 years ago my heart started to die. I'm tired. 6 years ago I was a happy boy. 6 years later, my heart no longer knows joy. Joy used to be like air, always around me, always flowing within me. Today, joy is something i experience once a week with the kids, something i occasionally feel when something nice happens. You broke my heart. Falling in love with you was the greatest mistake in my life. 6 years of friendship, and i feel less close to you as when i first started knowing you. Gave up 1 relationship because I still loved you more than anyone else. Was it worth it? Maybe not. Do you really know me? Do you even care for me? Do you know how upset I was when my turtle died? Did you console me? Do you even remember me telling you before how that was the one thing that will see me at my saddest and lowest point in life? I doubt it. 6 years as my "hao xiong di", how many birthdays have you even spent with me? I'm not a materialistic person, but sometimes it's the thought, or lack of thought that makes me sad. 6 years as my friend, how many birthday presents have i ever recieved from you?. One. In these 6 years, how many times have you rejected me when I asked you out? How many times have you even asked me out?. For the latter question, I think the fingers on my one palm would suffice for the purpose of counting. How much of me do you know? How much of what you know came from asking me about how i think? How much of it was volunteered to you? Do you even know me? In these 6 years, there's only been twice i recieved an sms from you asking me how I was. Do you know how hard I tried to get you to like me? Did it even matter? Did i even ever made you feel touched? I totally don't feel I did. What else can I do? I don't know. When was the last time we realy had a chance to really sit down to talk about life? If I'm not wrong, that was probably a year plus ago at Simply Bread. Do you even remember that?. I'm tired.

Regards,
your Hao Xiong Di.

2007-02-27T09:08:00.000-08:00

The view on the right from the river bank on the side of my "Dream Home"
My "Dream Home"..situated on the bank of a quiet and Serene river!
Peace and Tranquility fill the air along this walkway beside my "Dream Home"
The view on the left from the river bank on the side of my "Dream Home"

Hmmz...took some photos the other day..this was around this Private Apartment which is located along the river which i love, and which holds many beautiful memories..It's there along the river where i have spent time there with people who are special to me. In the near future, when I buy a house, this is where I would choose to live in.

Love lots,
dragonfly

2007-02-26T20:45:00.001-08:00

Ten things NEVER to do to me.
1: Never ever drop any of my knives.
They are very expensive, and in many cases irreplaceable. The worst thing you could do is to drop one of my knives.
2: Never view the images in my Cellphone without asking.
3: Never ever read the messages in my Cellphone Inbox
4: Ask and you shall recieve. Do not take any of my things without asking
5: Do not ever make scathing remarks about my friends if you do not know them.
6: Do not step on or scratch my leather shoes or boots.
7: Do not drop, or even scratch any of my gadgets.
8: If I don't want to say something, don't pester me for an answer.
9: Don't leave me hanging. If i smsed u a question, kindly have the courtesy to reply.
10: If you can't fulfill the appointment, tell me. Don't just "pangseh".

Cheers,

Nick. (P.s: I'm writing this because someone just did 1)

2007-02-26T06:52:00.000-08:00

hahaha...paul took this one...it has the "Skull/Ghost Rider" tee shirt visible!
My 3 brothers, standing in front of Kent Ridge's float...
3 brothers, standing in the middle of Orchard Road!!..haha...they insisted on taking this pic cos it's rare u get a chance to stand in the middle of the road!
The 4 musketeers! Me, Lao 2, Xiao 3, Lao 1!...hahaha...it's black and white cos the stupid traffic policewoman somehow made it blue tint!...grr...so i changed the pic using photoshop to black & white..haha..You kids Rock!!

Cheers,
dragonfly