Trachemys scripta elegans

I have just finished another round of MacRitchie today with Din in the morning and was quite pleased with the trail. I expected to finish it within 1hr15mins for 11km but completed it within 1hr20mins. So not that bad afterall. Wondering why so slow? It's because I fast-WALKed.

Light at the end of the path

Anyway, while cooling down, we were stretching beside a shallow pond with loads of fishes. I asked Din if I could release my Trachemys scripta elegans or red-eared slider terrapins there one day. He was shocked at me having terrapins.

Yes I do have them, 3 of them for now. But not all are mine.

Initially, there were 2, both were my nephews. He named them Pingu and Pinga. But Pinga died awhile back and left Pingu all alone in a small tank.

So I bought this tank for better roaming but seems quite lonely. My mum agreed and bought another 2. There's no official names for them but I named the one on top Bruce and the other Toytl3.

The name Bruce is not because of Bruce Wayne Batman but because it has a bruise on it's shell alas Bruce or Bruise. Toytl3(pronounce toy-tule) is just a continuation of all my other terrapins before, alas the 3 derived as my third. From Toydle(based on how Bebop and Rocksteady called the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle), 2dle(pronounced Two-del) to Toytl3.
And since I'm not working at the moment, they are one of my daily things to do.

And why terrapins and not cats or dogs? As Hakimbo puts it, I'm afraid of anything that moves. Well not everything. I had a pet cat named Chewy (pronounce Chee-Wee) before at Parkway. Thanked Hakim pendek for the pronounciation. But cats fur will trigger my sister's sinus. As for dogs, are you insane! I'm from a Muslim family. My parent will kill me. And of course I'm afraid of them. So no dogs and cats. Thought of hamsters but I'm afraid I will spend like crazy on their cage maze and all the adorable things that goes along with it.

So why terrapins again? Because they are quiet. And no fur to clean and their food are dirt cheap. $5 to last a month for now. Though I have to regularly clean the water because it will cloud and stink after 2 days, depending what food I give them.

So yeah, I have 3 terrapins named Pingu, Bruce and Toytl3.

Ja Matta!!!

Marina Bay Sands Sky Park

It has been a fascination to go up and see Singapore in a higher view. But like many attractions, you have to pay $20 for a 1/4 part of the Sky Park. The remaining 3/4 are for the hotel guest, where you'll find the Infinity Pool. Not really worth the $20 but the company you're with may make it worthwhile.

 

The 1/4 you will be accessing

SGD 20 per ticket

   View from the top:

Once we're done with the SkyPark, we wandered around the humongous and luxurious beauty of Marina Bay Sands and the Double Helix Bridge.

Dee Boyz

One fine day, I was happily singing something until Hakimbo pointed out, "Hey, what was the name of your boyband back in secondary school?"

SHIT!!!

Bring back memories of the time. During my conversation with Lan at Starbucks Latte Art competition, I accidentally muttered out the group name again.

SHIT!!! Part 2!!!

Damn, for my own pleasure and some who stumbled upon this post. An official Wikipedia of the group, Dee Boyz

DEE BOYZ

Dee Boyz were a group formed by Fatt, Taj, Azhari, Nizam and Hairi. The group first got together by an idea by their malay teacher, Mr Hamdani to perform for a Hari Raya concert back in 1997. Dee Boyz was formed. The name Dee Boyz was a collaborated idea with another girl group, Sapphires(Sarah, Diana, Farhana and Yati).For the groups first performance for the Hari Raya concert, they performed 4U2C's Syawal.


From Left: Azhari, Nizam, Taj, Hairi
Bottom: Fatt
In white: Roslan(Kaypo)

Popularity struck the group with an instant. They were well-known in school by the girls and scandals arises. Founding members were not pleased with Nizam's poor contributions and behaviour that they released him from the group.

The remaining 4 members were left and wanted to test their new found passion and popularity and joined the schools 1997 Talentime. By this time, the group had a major influence by Boyzone(idea by Fatt) and performed 'Love Me For A Reason'. With luck and hardwork, the group came in first.

Winning the Talentime, the group was invited to perform for Teacher's Day Celebration. Azhari and Hairi were also invited to be the host of the show together with 2 other from the prefecture community. The group performed 'Key To My Life' by Boyzone.

A year passed and Dee Boyz decided to take in another group member. They took in Fawzi due to his contributions and ideas for the groups dance routine. That year, the group had an influence by KRU(Thanks to Hairi). They had another invitation to perform for 1998 Hari Raya Concert, and the group had a duet with Sapphires singing 'Di Pintu Syurga' by KRU and Elite. Fatt had an argument with Azhari and did not perform for the concert.

With influences by KRU, the group also took on acting and join the Malay Drama Club. Taj was still committed to his other co-curricular activity, he decided not to join the group. Dee Boyz and the drama team joined the Sayembara Drama competition but only made it to finals.

Another Talentime approaches and the whole group of 5 came back and performed N'Sync 'Tearing Up My Heart'. The group came in second.

Frustrated with the groups conflicts of interest, Azhari and Fatt decided to go their seperate ways. Azhari completely stopped performing and concentrated on something else. Fatt however joined another group for another performance but true to his friendship with the other Dee Boyz, he still joined the group in their Drama acts.

1999 came and Mr Hamdani invited the group for another Hari Raya Concert, this time over 2 sessions. Only left with Taj, Fawzi and Hairi, they decided to continue the KRU influence and performed 'Apa Saja'. A close friend, Ali recommended himself to join the group and performed. Dee Boyz relunctantly accepted their friend to perform.

Not happy with the performance, Hairi  decided to leave and concentrate his role as Club President of Drama Club and also the O Levels. Soon after the group disbanded. Taj decided to join the drama club and to go on solo for 1999 Talentime but had no placing.

Eventhough the group disbanded, Dee Boyz still performed for their drama club till school ends and are still friends.

Remaining Dee Boyz with the Drama club members
Fawzi(Top second from left)

 Songs Performed:
Syawal (4U2C) - Hari Raya Concert 1997
Love Me For A Reason (Boyzone) - Talentime 1997
Key To My Life (Boyzone) - Teacher's Day Celebration 1997
Di Pintu Syurga with Sapphires (KRU and Elite) - Hari Raya Concert 1998
Tearing Up My Heart (N'Sync) - Talentime 1998
Apa Saja (KRU) - Hari Raya Concert 1999

Theater Perfomanced:
Unrecalled Performance - TKGS Drama Competition 1998
Unrecalled Performance - Sayembara Drama Competition 1998
Wak Cantuk - TKGS Drama Competition 1999

Blabbers for the week

It's the first week of me not going to work. Yup I'm still with Starbucks till 19 Oct but I'm clearing all my OILs. So fun!

Din mentioned that I'll get bored after few days but I kinda anticipated that. So I kept myself busy with things to do, hence I'm not horizontally challenged. This week has been quite strenuous. I've been going out doing some activities. I went swimming and a movie on Monday, MacRitchie trekking on Tuesday, researching for travel and home movies on Wednesday, another round of shows and then RT on Thursday, and meet up with a friend on Friday.

Ok I'm not too sure what I'll be doing on Saturday, but most probably I'll be playing my games since I neglected it for the week. And on Sunday, I'll be joing Starbucks Amazing Race and then another round of RT for the week.

See, so many strenuous activities but I've gained 2-3kg. Fine, my muscle mass is growing. Well, actually I'm kinda bored at the moment. Alas these post entry. Hahahahaha....

Ja Matta

MacRitchie Tree Top Trail

I've been dying to know how the HSBC Tree Top Trail is. I've been asked by customers so many times about it during work. And most of the time I directed them to MacRitchie's Main entrance. When I looked it up in the Internet, the nearest entrance was actually at Venus Drive, 2 roads up from Thomson Plaza. Hahahaha My Bad...

While researching, I grew fond of what the trail has to offer. So on 11 Oct 2010, I took the opportunity to explore since my friend, Din wanted to jog at MacRitchie.

A trusted map I took and store in my camera for references, just in case I got lost.

I started my trail from Venus Carpark. It was roughly 3.8km to the treetop trail. From the main entrance, it's 5km away. The whole track from Venus Drive to the entrance of the tree top trail took me about 45mins with a quick stopover at the Rangers station for water refill.


It's another 0.3km from the Rangers station to the entrance of the Tree Top trail. Don't believe the signage, it states only 0.2km from the Rangers station and it's an upslope climb. Once you reached the top, you are directed to go down a long stretch of stairs. WTH??

Entrance to the Tree Top Trail

The trail is only 0.25km long and it's quite rocky. But the view is quite magnificent. It's a one-way path so there is no turning back and no stopping. Since I was the only one on top, I took my time for some scenery viewing.

Once I had enough, it's another 4.7km trail back to the main entrance. It took me another 1:45 hours to reach the main entrance. It's took that long because of few stops for photos and a climb up Jelutong Towers for about 10mins. 

Jelutong Tower. A 7-storey climb to see the magnificent view

A quick photo shot taken by a monkey of a monkey

Poor Din waited for about an hour for me



For more photos, visit my facebook album MacRitchie Trail

Ja Matta

The Journey Till The Last Brew

The day have finally arrived, my last shift with Starbucks on 8 October 2010. It felt sad yet thrilling.

I've been with the company for a total of 8 years. I started as a part time barista at Parkway Parade from Jan 2000 to July 2003, till the day the store closed. I had a month stay in Jalan Jamal and was then posted to a new home at the new Changi Airport Terminal 2. I got promoted to a part time shift manager there but my journey ended due to National service. My last day in T2 was actually the first Starbucks Open House. It was truly a great day to remember by.

During NS, I was still true to the company.I still came back as a customer almost every weekend. And I also came back to help out during the open house.

After NS, I didn't really thought of coming back to Starbucks but to chase my dreams instead. My applications had been quiet for 3 months so I joined back Starbucks. It reignite the passion for service and became a role model for that passion. I returned to Temasek Towers as a full time shift manager. I became part of CSR Star Team for continuous involvement with community service opportunities and events. A year in TT, I went through Retail Management Training in Marina Square for a month before I returned back to TT. On my 25th birthday, I had the opportunity to open a new store at Centrepoint. I got promoted to Assistant Store Manager and my stay lasted for 6 months before I got transferred to Plaza Singapura. There I continued my journey as an ASM till my next birthday, I was promoted to Store Manager of Thomson Plaza.

In my new role, there were many challenges and obstacles but I managed to overcome it with support from my partners, peers and my District Managers.The 1 year 5 months journey as SM has been fruitful till it eat me up when my team started leaving 1 by 1 over a course of 5 months. Their departure is something beyond my control. To relieve the strength has been slow till the team came in to help relieve each other. And I have been running on 1+1 managerial  team for 5 months. It ate my health till I was hospitalized.

Recently, I had the opportunity to relive my dream. I took it but failed. I will try again to achieve it, with knowledge of my first attempt. And I decided to leave without any future employment. I would like to take a break before I venture on to the next career opportunity.

Thank you Starbucks for the most memorable stay. Thank you all partners and peers for all the support and guidance that you provided me. I'll see you guys during the Ambassador Cup, my official last day.

Like during NS, I'm will continue being your loyal customers.

Au Revoir.

For the last time
08 Oct 2010 16:30hrs

Hanging of the Green Apron
02 Feb 2007 - 08 Oct 2010