2008 is over in 2 days' time.

My 2008

I can't remember much of 2008 actually. NJ feels like a really really long time ago, I wonder why? Alright, I'll try to recall by the months.

Uh. January was spent orientating freshmen. Orientation was really fun and the whole experience makes all the weeks of preparation worthwhile. I was OGL for 08S18 and they're a whole bunch of really fun people! :D :D It was one crazy week of orientation where we played stupid games and did stupid forfeits, haha.

I'm glad I signed up to be an OGL because I like the red OGL shirt. Uh, that's beside the point. (Beside the point!) I mean, making orientation fun for the J1s and having them to thank us afterward is really heartwarming. (I'm not making any sense I know, I'm still running a fever.)

And, orientation is fun because of mass dances! Lol. And alot of other nitty gritty stuff like station games, walk-ins, quest, campfire cum dance night! :D And the Solaris ecstasy cheer! Ecstasy ah wa bo jia, CID ah wo buay gia... MAI YO MAI YO MAI YO!

Anwayyy, what else happened in January? Oh, after orientation, we came back to class to meet our new teachers. MR TEO is the guailanest teacher that rocks! Aha, he's right when he says our class enjoys his lessons the most. He's so funny because he's always so auntie. (Aha, he reads blogs so, MR TEO IS SUPER NICE!) :D

And, do you remember how back in January, when Nigel always sit with our class during lectures? And Mdm Khoo will start counting how many people there are in her class and she'll go, why are there 25 people in your class? LOL.

Ogay, I never really noticed anything funny about Mr Wee until like half a year later when we tried to find out why his class is always so quiet (stone), and it turns out it's because he always tell jokes that nobody other than himself will think is funny.

Oh, I got a superb GP teacher called Ms Champagne and she's uber uber nice! :D I never thought I'll meet nice teachers again after I left Anderson but no! She's really nice! (NO VOCAB ohno.)

What happened in February?

Uhhhhhh. I don't know! What happened in February? Okay, I'll go check my archives. Oh, on February 29, I went Tea Party with Yixin, Mel and Hongjie. And we ate roasted duck pizza which I felt was nice. I can't even remember I ate something like that now. Oh, that's a leap year date! Let's have a Tea Party date every leap year okay? Then maybe 30 years later we can shoot a movie called Leap Year 2 and it's about a group of us that swore to visit Tea Party every leap year! Okay okay? :D

I gave out marshmellows in cute bowls on Valentine's.

I'm hooked onto reading my own archives. So I'll end this post abruptly like.

10:15:00 AM because I say so

I can blog about how I spent my Christmas, which was five days ago, or I can blog about how I spent my days working, or I can blog about my eventful weekend where I went Decoders' with Andbadminton people, following which I went to my colleague's housewarming party on Saturday night, and then on Sunday I had my grandmother's two years death anniversary ceremonial practice to attend and in the afternoon I went Marcus's house to play Mahjong and then we went to eat Ba Kut Teh.

You see, I've been pretty busy. Or I can blog about how sick I am now.

._.

Zzz.

On Xmas eve, I had work till 6pm. But it didn't feel like work because all I did the whole day was wrap presents (lol funny stories) in the morning, had lunch, and carried out a lucky draw for Starhub workers in the afternoon. Heh. Then I went for a BBQ with Minghan's clique at Cherylnn's house. It was drizzling the whole day so we bbqed at a weird place.



Like, here.



Yea, at the staircase landing between floors of HDB flat. Lol there was so much smoke it looks like we're trying to start a fire.



That's Minghan on the left and Shuhan on the right. They were fanning the charcoal so the fire will start.



While people like Weiming stand around assisting with mighty eye power. Haha.



The girls (minus me) did the cooking mainly. Shuhan's potato is Awesome, I like.



That's the Xmas presents the girls (minus me) got for the guys. Weiming's cap says MR BOTAK while Minghan's is MR NO-HAIR.



Mr No-Hair.



They were looking into another camera. I took this photo secretly because I'm secretly Weiming's Indian stalker. Yes, muneru valiba, I read your blog.



Cherylnn and Andrea made their caps.



More BBQ.

Ogay, dammit. I thought I slept long enough. Head's spinning.

Byebye.

11:12:00 PM because I say so

Work

8.20am: Man I'm early. Zzz. -reads My Paper
8.25am: Laggy com. Laggy commmmm.
8.30am: Oh. It's 8.30am. What should I do first.
8.35am: Oh? I stopped thinking? ._.
8.38am: Oh. I've to finish the filing.

Filing. Filing.

9.50am: Zzz. Excel time.
10.00am: Water.
10.02am: Excel. EXCEL.
11.30am: Filing. FILING.
12.40pm: CHI FAN.

Lunchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

2.00pm: Excel. Excel. Excel. Excel.
2.40pm: More Excel.
3.00pm: Sort logins. Sort logins.
3.20pm: Pass out logins.
3.40pm: Pack table.
4.00pm: I got my own email!! :D
4.20pm: Excel. Excel.
5.00pm: Sort. Post its!

What happened from 5 to 6?

6.00pm: WHEE.

6.05pm: What cheesecake?! Today's only MONDAY?!?!?!?!

I got my very own starhub email, how cool is that! Anyway that was my blue Monday. What's not so blue is Minghan returned from Hongkong today. And we met and he was wearing super cool shoes. It's white with gold streaks, imba cool. He got me an expensive jacket (you do realise you told me it cost more than the tent don't you?). So thank you Minny. (:

I'm going to slack tomorrow, I don't care. :D

9:47:00 PM because I say so

My mother said, to get a house like that there, you need a third of the money you use to buy a three-room flat here. If not because of the obscene number of houseflies and the really dirty toilets, I may actually consider. That's Muar, Malaysia by the way. I never knew I had a relative there.

Ohwell, I never knew a lot of things about my relatives. Not that I'm interested anyway anyhow, haha.

Anyway, I packed my things, as in the non-school stuff again today, because my letters, postcards and cards were overflowing the box that I used to keep them. Yes, I keep everything you people give me, I treat them like gawdlike stuff that drop from the skies can.



From June 2007 till December 2008, I've watched a total of 67 movies. Secret alone takes up 5. Heh. Kungfu Dunk only twice!

This morning, my mum came home really excited and told me about how my father drove past this banana tree along Mandai and they alighted to get banana leaves. So I ask her, whatever for? And she said they will use to banana leaves to bbq sotong and prawns tomorrow. So I ask her, why cannot buy? And she said because only one stall sells banana leaves in the market and the uncle is really really rude. So I ask her, how did you all get the leaves? And she said oh, they used a pair of scissors and cut down some banana leaves. So I ask her, why are you so excited? And she said because she hasn't done anything sneaky in a long time.

LOL.

I was pretty freaked out because I kept suspecting the big pieces of banana leaves may have some caterpillars or any worm like URGH on them. So I stayed away from the kitchen.

While I was online this morning, my mother came shouting to me really excitedly like she's seen Jay. I was about to ask her where's Jay when she told me she found a really really small baby snail on the kitchen floor. I guess it came with the leaves.



Here's what she was so excited over. Man, that's so not Jay.



That's my mother's finger to show how small the snail is. It doesn't even have a shell yet.

._.

That was my exciting morning.

Oh, by the way, if you're wondering what happened to the snail, my mother initially wanted to throw it away but I was adamant SHE CAN'T JUST TAKE IT HOME AND THROW IT AWAY. So I freed it on the grass downstairs. I doubt it can survive anyway. Ohmans, it may already be eaten while I'm talking about it now. Meh, I feel so sad now. D:

Gary without a shell, please rest in peace.

I hope Gary's mother get over the grief soon. Ohmans, what a sad story. Let's all blame the rude uncle that sells banana leaves at the market. All his fault. He killed Gary without a shell.

D:

4:22:00 PM because I say so

Meigui is a girl. There was a girl named Meigui. (You're probably sick of flower jokes so this will try to not involve any roses. Shit. We just did.) What many people did not know about Meigui is that she is actually 235 years old. Yes, she was alive during the era of barney, who happened to be her best friend. So 208 years ago, Meigui's name was actually not Meigui. It was Ah Hock. And she had many other friends like Ah Boon,, Ah Lee (Ali, haha, he was Malay) and Ah Kok. One day, Ah Hock (you) and Ah Boon were walking (aliteration) and they found 2 pieces of Guohao (wood) on the floor. So they each picked up one...

Ah Boon: What shall we do with this?
Ah Kok: I know! Why not I run between both of you and hit my head on the planks! You can pretend I'm flying like a space shuttle, my new name will then be shuttlecock (shuttleKOK).

andbadminton was invented. In1955, Ah Hock changed her name to Meigui.

*

That was on the first page of the scrapbook NJBT juniors gave me, when I went for the BBQ, and stayed overnight subsequently at the NJBT chalet. Yes, it makes no sense at all. There are alot other funnier ones that they wrote for the other leaving seniors. Pretty sweet don't you think. :)

Something really dumb happened just now. I was trying to get myself a cup of milk tea. So I tore open a packet of the instant milk tea thinger. And then when I was pouring out the contents, I wondered why this packet has SO much of the powdered milk tea. I kept pouring and pouring and it didn't end.

Then I realised I tore two packets instead of one.

So because I already opened both packets, I decided I shouldn't waste it. With a spoon, I divided the contents in one cup to two cups. But then when I was adding the hot water, I forgot about one of the cups and proceeded to make myself only one cup of milk tea. Then I came to the computer, and took about 2.5 hours to eat my breakfast and drink the milk tea and surfed Jaychou sites and :O over wu guan feng yue and yadah yadah. At 11.15am, I took my utensils and cup to the kitchen to wash. That's when I saw the other cup of milk tea powder I left alone in the cold, shivering and wondering when he's going to get the hot water.

What's dumber is, after I left all the utensils (including my cup) at the sink, I came over to the cup of milk tea powder and thought, oh, I feel like drinking milk tea. So I made myself another cup, all the while wondering where did MY cup go (PS, it's at the sink, I already finished one cup).

It was only after I took like 2 sips then I realised I already had a cup just now.

._.

Okay, such dumb things don't happen often to the smart me. Spongebob in an hour! :D :D

Byebye.

11:18:00 AM because I say so

OMG Jiahao! Wu guan feng yue of LAN TING XU! You know those spastic words! They are real! They aren't computer generated. OMG.











LOL LOL LOL! OMG they are real! :O



杰伦把台北101变不见! Heh.

Why is 龙战骑士 MV not out yet. D: Read more about it here.

I think Jay will become a legend. He's the best thing that occurred in the last ten years, I heard that somewhere.

:D

10:44:00 AM because I say so

I'm still. Sleepy.

TGIF! (Hongjie do you know what this is?) Thank God It's Friday!

You know, I used to really hate Fridays because my Fridays are always freakish. Yea, like Freakish Fridays. But ever since I got into NJ, Fridays are like yayness because there's no school on Saturdays and Sundays, which means I get catch up on Sleep.

I'll run faster and catch up on Sleep.

That's beside the point. The point is, now that I'm working, 8.30am to 6pm every weekday, I'm heehigh over Fridays because TGIF! No work on weekends!

Actually, my work is pretty enjoyable. I really like my new work environment. Oh, in case you're wondering, I'm working at Starhub, Haw Par Centre, which is opposite Park Mall which is opposite Plaza Sing, which is at Dhoby, which is about one hour away from home. That's alot of which ises. Anyway, I got into the department I most wanted to get in -- it's a long story, ask me to tell you if you really want to know. And my colleagues are imba nice and funny people! Yay. :D

Plus, the attire is casual. Unlike working at BGC, I don't have to fret over formal outfits. I feel really old wearing formal clothes. Teeshirts ftw. :D

I think it's the lack of sleep on Tuesday/Wednesday (NJBT chalet) that's making me so so tired. Do you know that when I don't sleep enough, my hair becomes less straight? I never knew that. Ogay I always suspected it and I confirmed it a few days ago by experimenting a couple of times. I think I'm damn weird.

Maybe all of us are the same. Maybe if you sleep more, you'll get straighter hair.

THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT AGAIN.

. I'm here (beside the point).

...

Ogay. Byebye. ._.

10:03:00 PM because I say so

Wo hen mang lei.

I need people to remind me I'm working for the money, because I'm so tired.

I guess it's because I chose to stayover at the NJBT chalet. Slept for like, 3 hours? THANKS WEIYUAN FOR WAKING ME UP. And I'm awfully sorry to Sufen for breaking her contacts, though she said they're expiring soon. SORRY AWESOME.

I really want to tell you about my exciting days but I'm SO tired I guess I'll have to do it another day.

AND YOU'RE ALL WELCOME FOR THE CARDS. YES I CAN HEAR YOU SCREAMING THANK YOU FOR THE SUPER ARTISTIC CARD!

Okay I want to sleep. Byebye.

8:44:00 PM because I say so

These days, I've been busy with:



I sent out 26 cards this year. I didn't want to send it so early, it's only 13th today. But I left them on the table and my mother just took them out to send. So, don't open your cards until like, the 24th or something. Omg the suspense!

Now that I'm done with them, I don't know what to do at home already. ._.

Don't open the cards until Christmas ogay! :)

5:51:00 PM because I say so

Before anything untoward happens to me because I ignored Sokmui's question on her blog, hello Sokmui, I don't really know how to answer your question because an avatar is just a normal image. ._.

It can come in any sizes, but most of them are squarish? ._.


It can be 88X88 pixels.


It can be 96X96 pixels. That's 3 avatars here.



It can be 150X150 pixels. That's another 4 avatars.

But actually, you can make it to any size. Like 1000X1000 also can, cause can resize when you publishing the code one.

And that makes what I just said really redundant. But I don't know what else to say when you want me to tell you how to make an avatar.

Uh. So, to begin, you find an image that you want. Like for me, I found this.



Because it's obviously too big to be an avatar, and it's not perfectly squarish, I decided to crop is abit. The size here is 390X445. The width is 390pixels and the height is 445pixels. So I first crop it to 390 by 390. I decided to cut away some redundant parts at the bottom. Alternatively, you can make it to 445 by 445 by adding redundant things at the sides. You get my point. It's best to get just the face for the avatar because the real size will be small and the face is what you want to see. But it's still up to you lah.

To crop it, you first open the picture in Paint, which is a software you find in your computer. Go Start, then All Programs, Accessories, then Paint. (Omg, this is really some idiots' guide.) To open up Paint faster, there's actually a shortcut. You can scream PAINT and it'll appear. Or you can click what I said to click really fast.

HAHA.



I then load the avatar, and cut off the bottom black areas until I get 390 height. If you're wondering what the ____ how the hell will I know when's the 390 height (Sokmui's offensive language), here's how!



Yes! Look at the bottom right hand corner which will tell you the size of the image! Omg ingenious!



When I'm done, I get this. Which is a perfect 390X390 square. But that's obviously too big for an avatar still. But I should work on it while it's this size, then resize it, rather than to resize it first and then having to zoom in while working on it.

If you've got Photoshop, which is great, you can then edit your picture on your own slowly. If you're an idiot at Photoshop, you can just toy with the brightness and contrast, hues, and add brushes because adding brushes to your pictures makes them look pro although you're not.

Some sites where you can get brushes are: brusheezy and getbrushes.

But because I don't have Photoshop since about 700 years ago when my com reformatted and I lost the installation CD, I've to make do with Paint and Nero Photosnap which is something my com has and I don't know why. Does your com have it too?

Alternatively, you can also use some online pictures editors like PHOTOBUCKET. Photobucket is great and user friendly. But to do so via Photobucket you need an account and you need to upload the picture first. But Photobucket is great because I always upload photos on Photobucket and although that's beside the point, Photobucket is still great.

Okay, so which one should I use now? I've got Paint, Nero Photosnap and Photobucket. I'll show you Photobucket then since it's so great.



Here's the Photobucket screen when you try to edit your photos. Actually everything is very self explanatory because like I said, it's user friendly. But to save myself from Sokmui's evil clutches, I shall be nice and show her how.

Ohmy, I forgot you can resize your photos at Photobucket. So you can ignore the parts about resizing at Paint. Did I just waste your time? :D



For a simple photography film like look, just adjust the contrast until it's high enough and lower the brightness. This can be done with almost any other image editing software excluding Paint. Actually you can even do this with Powerpoint, but that's beside the point (again).

What's good about Photobucket is there's tons of effects that you don't even have to mess with complicated things to achieve.



Like, something called Bronze.



Nightvision at full contrast and brightness.



Here's what I got in 5 minutes.

Then you resize it.



And that's an avatar.

If you want to stick to Paint, the only cool thing you can do with it, which you can also do with Photobucket, is the Invert thing. And you can draw perfect circles, ovals and straight lines. ._.

With Paint, you can make this.



Which after resizing, will become this.



With Nero Photosnap you can get these.





So, here are four 150X150 avatars.




If what you're asking is, how to make animated avatars, like this one.



The process is much more complicated, because you'll have to get the static image you want at every millisecond for it to be as smooth as that. Obviously, I didn't make that.

Besides, you'll need some program to link all the static images together. Read more here.

That's all I can say. ._. Will you not kill me now.

4:03:00 PM because I say so

By the way, BANG!

I got my bangs back, yesterday. Because I felt like it.

12:00:00 AM because I say so

Which is scarier, you having expectations so high it leads you to disappointments, or others having expectations of you so high you become THE disappointment? Or both?

*

Two days ago, I met up with some people (Mel says it's the Lau Pa Sat crew?) and we went Lau Pa Sat to eat satay.



At Raffles Place MRT on a holiday, the place is very empty at 6plus. If you go there often, there's some place where you can climb over and not tap your card? Lol. Mel pointed that out to me and I went, "Why will you want to climb through?" And she said, "Then don't need to tap card." So I went, "THEN? THEN YOU ALIGHT AT ANOTHER STATION THAT TIME HOW YOU COME OUT??"

So I concluded she'll climb in at Raffles Place station and climb out at Raffles Place station, which amounts to yet another redundant thing she loves doing. :D



Mel grew green beans. Do you remember back in Primary 3, we grew green beans on cotton wool? INTO BEANSPROUTS remember? Mel grew green beans into these. :O She showed these to everybody, one by one. (Cause the people appeared one by one.) So I seen her introduce her green beans 5 times. LOL.

Marcus came up with the Melissa and the Beanstalk joke. Omg please laugh.



Harkows omg omg omg omg omg omg. I'm feeling hungry. D:



OUR SATAYS. :D :D :D The duck satays are nice! :D



Hongjie posing (supposedly) with the youtiao rojak that we ordered. Can you imagine, the whole rojak had only youtiaos. It's like heaven yea. He didn't like it though. Oh, we took this picture because this is the FIRST time Hongjie tasted rojak. Can you believe it? He's Singaporean. And there's a whole lot of other things he has never eaten before. Like, can you imagine, he only start drinking bubble tea late this year. /OMG

After eating, we went to some random sheltered place and started playing cards. We played the Puff Puff game LOL, slapjack, and slamwich. It was 11pm (?) when we headed home.



Blur group photo. It's the only one we have because we got an angmoh to take this picture and I very bu hao yi si ask him help us take again. It's a pretty Christmas tree though. From left to right, it's Melissa, me, Yixin, Marcus, Sheralyn and Hongjie, in case you can't tell.

That's all, byebye.

10:39:00 PM because I say so