Quality Time

A special moment spent with my family

Having lived in this world for almost fourteen years, I have abundant fond memories in my head. And this one is very special as my family and I were high up in the sky, having a bird’s eye view of Singapore’s city line. I bet you can already guess where we were. For those who are still cracking your head, we were on the Singapore Flyer, the mighty ‘Ferris wheel’ located near the Marina floating platform.
That day, we had no intentions of going to the Singapore Flyer but our initial idea was to go to Marina Square and Suntec City to shop for New Year clothing and my elder sister’s birthday present. But after a couple hours of walking aimlessly, my father suggested to go somewhere which will excite us, so he said we go for a ride to take a look at the Marina Barrage before going for the hotel buffet to celebrate my sister’s birthday, but when we pass the Singapore Flyer, my younger sister suggested we go take a ride on the Singapore Flyer because she thinks it is cool and exciting. But I thought it was a waste of time and gave her a sceptical look.
Then my father asked my elder sister and I whether we had any objections, so I just did kept quiet as I did not want to be a bad sport. Then my dad dropped us of at the entrance and went to get his ‘second wife’ (the car) parked. So we went in and saw the eco-garden and decided to snap a few mementos, so I forced a smile and took a picture with my younger sister who was more than excited for the outing.
After my father bought the tickets, we went in and the first thing that greeted me was a conveyer belt to check our belongings, like the ones in the airport and above it, it wrote in a giant font ‘Boarding Area’. I admit I was very fascinated by what they wrote and at the same time, I also think that it is kind of over. But when we went up the capsule (we were given a capsule all for ourselves), I just sat down and look around not being amazed by the so-called view, but when it went about a quarter of the ride, I suddenly took a hundred-eighty degrees turn about the outing and went around the capsule taking pictures.
As our capsule reached the highest point, we sang the birthday song for my sister and soon the ride ended and we went to get some souvenirs and we were almost late for the buffet dinner as we were busy choosing the items. What a special and great time we had on the Singapore Flyer.

Failure?

Something that took placed in school

There are always moments in life where you think that you are an ultimate failure. You can try as hard as you want to put up a strong front in front of your peers and family so as to not disgrace yourself and make them worried. Well people say that you just cannot coop everything inside yourself, and that your face is your biggest betrayer. So I am not going to keep it inside me and pull a long face every day.
It was on Tuesday, the busiest day of the week for me as I have RSP (Regional Study Programme) till 3.25 in the afternoon. After that, I have Maths tuition from 5 until 8 in the night. And so happen, the secondary one is coming into RSP so we as their seniors are to help them deepen their basic knowledge of Indonesian culture by organising an orientation for them. And the group leaders did not meet up to discuss the management of time and how the orientation will function; so we did everything at the last minute. And when I say last minute, I mean the last fifteen minutes! So after some brief discussion, it was decided that my group will be in-charge of the traditional games like sepak bola (something like soccer just that the ball must be in the air), kasing (spinning top) and five stones.
As it was like amazing race, the groups have to go station by station and get the clues for the next station. As we have to let them try the games and explain to them the rules, we were the slowest station. At first, there were two groups stuck together in our station and we had to split into two groups and take them through the course. And after we finished the challenge, we found out that we did not have the clue for the next station! So we had to hog the groups at our station for the time being as we call the overall in-charge but for some reasons, we just could not reach him. As we were flustered and trying hard to think of an idea, the secondary ones created more problems for us, they took the sepak bola and played them as if they were soccer! We just could not handle them as they were so many of them, so we just did not care about them.
Then we finally got the clue to send them to their next station. But there were already four groups at our station when the other group left. And where are their individual group buddies? Play soccer with the sepak bola at the other end of the parade square. I am not here to point fingers so I shall not disclose who the buddies were. Then Miss Shymira went past the parade square to snap some photos of the groups doing the activities. But what did she see? The secondary ones and their buddies playing soccer together. She asked us to explain to her and we were totally speechless.
After an hour of chaotic, hustle and bustle, we went back to the RSP room just to get scolded and blurted at by our teacher in-charged. I attended my tuition flustered and listless. What a bad thing that happened in school.

Satisfaction

A moment spent alone doing something I enjoyed

This is a very special entry. Never before in my life had I felt so proud of myself (in terms of IT that is). I, Brandon Ho actually fixed and boot up my very own new laptop! Amazing right? Well at least it is amazing enough for my liking. And this entry will be my first time typing something that is longer than ten words on this computer. Sit back and I will tell you more about my new found love and how I made it ‘submit’ to me.
I remembered that in the previous entry, I wrote that I wanted to go and scout for a new laptop. And this time I finally got my desired laptop. Being an eager beaver and adventurous person, the next day (Monday) I decided to embark on a computer set-up quest. As there was no one around, I thought that even if I screwed it up, no one will ever know that it is me that spoil it and that I can make my sisters the scapegoats when I ask them to help me with it(since they always make me their scapegoat), so I mustered up all my courage and opened the cardboard box with my sweat drenched hand. I took out the ‘start here’ handbook and read the steps briefly. And guess what? It told me to put in the battery, connect the plug into the power jack, switch on the main power and follow the prompts on the screen. Wow, what a ‘useful handbook! I dumped the ‘mighty’ handbook on the table and went on to switch on the computer all by myself.
The next moment, the screen said ‘starting windows’ but after a while, the screen lagged, I was momentarily frozen, and I stared at the screen blankly. But hopefully, it was just a moment that it hanged and everything went smoothly. Then I connected to my home’s wireless internet connection and set the wallpaper and theme.
After going through all the hassle and irritating windows set-up and installing the Microsoft Office, I let and out a great sigh of relief and satisfaction. I stood up and shouted ‘Yes! The first chapter of IT in my life has unfolded! Having that kind of satisfaction and content in my heart, I was all smiles for the rest of the evening. This is really one of the moments I had in my life doing something I love (New and fresh adventures) all alone.

The mysterious flying cuttlefish

Something unusual that happened that day


Have you ever seen a black cuttlefish with orange dots (like those who always star in cartoon network) twice as tall as me flying in the vast and blue sky? No response? Calling once, twice, losers! Well I am just joking. But I really saw one of those flying in the sky last weekend (Although I posted it online late, but being late is better than never!). Fascinating right? At least I felt that way after seeing the cuttlefish flying around and over watching Seng Kang. Oh no, am I revealing too much? Looks like I will have no choice but to unveil my million dollar discovery to the vast plains of the internet.
That memorable day, I had totally no intention of going all the way to Seng Kang. My heart was only occupied by one thing, that is buying myself a new laptop. As there was sale at the Audio House, my family and I made our way down to the new shop located near Bendemeer . After a scrutinising through the ‘wide’ range of laptops which they claim to have on the newspaper advertisement, we went out of the shop having as much things as when we went into the shop.
Looking at my disappointed look, my mother suggested going for a spin and also going in search of a new shopping mall called ‘Kang Kar’ mall which was rumoured to be at Seng Kang, that got my spirits lifted again as we went for our hunt for a new shopping location.
As soon as we reached Seng Kang, we saw nothing but newly build flats with fancy names resembling condominiums, joggers and most distinctively uncountable kites like make-up for the sky. And so we went round and round the place still searching for the mall. We almost gave up our high hopes until something caught my eye, no not the shopping mall but a black cuttlefish flying in the air! It was a gigantic kite stretching over three metres in height. So my father stopped the car by the road (Although I am not sure if that stopping was legal) and I got down to get a good look at the great cuttlefish. After being bizarre at the kite wondering why its tail never gets entangled, I whipped out my cell phone to capture my ‘million dollar discovery’ (I will upload the pictures on the blog soon, although they might not be at the highest quality since I maxed out the zoom of my camera).
As all long journeys end, we went off to Hougang mall to have a toilet break and some shopping so that we would not go home empty handed, and guess what? The legend of the mysterious ‘Kang Kar’ mall was unveiled; it was just right in front of Hougang mall! And to our surprise, it was no more than a hawker centre with a few pathetic small shops. So in the end the search was in vain as we did not even set foot into the ‘great’ ‘Kang Kar’ mall.

Take It Easy!

A problem I encountered and how I solve it

Life is just like flying a kite. There are times where you need to let go and sometimes you must pull it back and hold it tight. For example, sometimes when we are so stressed up and frustrated, we ought to let it all out, may your medium of relieving stress be crying, shouting, screaming or even playing some sports as long as it works for you, it is a good idea. But after some relaxing, we must put ourselves together and continue our work.
So if everyone is stress-free does that mean there is no need for stress ball, unhappiness and sulky faces? If that is the case, why do people like giving themselves an extra ‘weight’ of stress to carry? Everyone in this world has stress, pressure, be it students, parents, teachers, whatever. But why is it that some people always have a smile on their face but others have their chins touching the grounds (pulling a long face, in case you lack inferring skills)? All of this can be summed up in a few words, relieve your stress and keep a stress-free lifestyle.
Well people always say if you coop everything inside yourself, you are bound to get unwell. When most people get ill, they would get nervous, when you get nervous, you will start panicking, when you panic, you get more stress. So why carry a heavier burden when you can actually take everything off your back if you regularly perform stress-relieving activities? So what are you all waiting for? Get off your seat now and do some stress-relieving exercises!