The Punkyboy Story

I love friendster..!!!

2005-06-06T00:56:00.000-07:00

Jus moments ago, checked out my friendster a/c and was informed that some chio-bu had wanted to add me as into her friendster list..well, i was "peculiarised" as I can't recognise the person on the main photo and my initial deductions is that this person is a bot. Luckily there were a few photos of this gal and from those photos, i saw some familiar features and yeah..i do know her!! haha..she was my primary classmate!! And from her list of friends, I found some other primary schoolmates that I had lost contact for some 12-17yrs!! Dun you just love friendster? Thru friendster, I managed to find back many friends,old school-mates, most of which I had lost contact with.. and I was many a times surprised to have found back lost friends through my current friends list..small world ain't it..hmmm..perhaps a small isle plays the part.. can't wait to do some catching up one of these days.. =)

Tuscani 2.0

2005-06-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just reached home after trying out my uncle's Tuscani 2.0 coupe..my uncle had drop by my granny's house (where am currently residing) about a couple of hours ago and we had a chat about life, his latest business venture and of the Tuscani coupe he drove here.. think my uncle's going through the mid-life crisis where one would look back on his life and see how successful he had been..Well, after he took a stout and a short nap, he asked if I would to go for a drive and so I went..anyway, a few of my colleagues bought a car for themselves recently and yeah, am also contemplating if I should sell my kewl bike for a car after realising that I can use my CPF money for housing instalments should I get a house in the near future..BUT a car's expensive to maintain compared to my bike.. i calculated I would lose at least $3k++ p.a. to insurance,road tax and monthly parking charges, compared to a mere $1k at most for my motorbike..and I dun wanna get to the stage where I have difficulties in churning out $$$ for recreation activities after I get a car..imagine wad I can do with the $2k+++ difference..i could go for a holiday, make some investments for my money to grow,etc..hmmm...perhaps I might consider a week-end car.. but it got to be coupe man..

The beginning of a temporary new lifestyle

2005-06-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Today's the beginning of a bike-less month cos while pillioning my kindergarten frnd Wenlong after accompanying him to look-out for suitable Class 2 motorbikes at Bt Merah, I suddenly got sick of riding and getting my hair messed up due to the "helmet-effect"..hence, I suggested lending the bike for a month to him for a fee and well, a deal was made. A great idea I thought since I most probably wouldn't be hanging out till late-nights this month without that special someone and I wish to save more money after over-spending in May. But gee..my day began bad for a new public-transport-lifestlye cos I was down with flu when I woke up at 5am++ but was unable to throw MC for work due to lack of manpower..so slogged through the day miserably.. now still feeling abit feverish though.. =/

A day on the 27th of May 2005

2005-05-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

After some hip-hop practices at Jitterbugs@Millenia Walk in the afternoon in preparation for an upcoming performance, met up with biker buddies Wilman (who rides a Honda Shadow 400)and Alfred (who rides a Virago 400)at Expo Hall 4 as there's a food fest there..they told me that there are alot of free food over there and so i went..To my horror, the free food they were talking about are mere food samples.. =/but nonetheless, joined in the fun since they earlier mentioned that those samples had made them full..hahaha..After the food samples, they accompanied me home for a change of clothes before they accompanied me to Ubi NTUC Income branch where I had my motorbike's road tax paid. After which, we headed off to Plaza Singapura to wait for Alfred's gf to knock-off from work..so while waiting, we pose abit with our bikes at the taxi stand..ahahaa..When alfred's girl finally came, we headed off to Kg Arang Food Centre for a quick meal before heading to Singapore Indoor Stadium to catch the Break! the spectacular hip-hop performance (alfred's girl got us some free tix)..!! and indeed, it's a cool 2 1/2hr+ performance..After the show's over, we went off on our separate ways and I head to Kallang MRT to pick-up my kindergarten bugger Wenlong as he wanted to borrow my bike..again.. =/

How can you mend a broken heart?

2005-05-17T02:17:00.000-07:00

Many minutes ago..I was thinking of someone..and that someone leads me to think of another someone..yesh..that someone, or rather both "someone"s are some kewl girls...let's put it as someone-1999 and someone-2005..So someone-2005 leads me to think of someone-1999..which made me ponder whether I really know how to love someone..cos that someone-1999 broke up with me for no apparent reason until 2 1/2 yrs later when we patched back, that she informed that she felt I didn't really like her so she broke off with me..cheeseballs..Now someone-2005 behaves abit like someone-1999 and I dun know if history's gonna repeat itself... cheeseballs x 2.... now sometimes, I hope to have a friendly chat with someone-1999 but well, been 4yrs since we broke up (after we patched back) and I hadn't seen her since..perhaps she really hated me to the core when I irritated her so much after we broke up the 2nd time.. cheeseballs x 3.. think am quite a failure.. =/

More photos from Hatyai bike trip 11Apr-15Apr 2005!!!

2005-04-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

Met up my frnd Kok Boon just now and collected the CD-ROM (containing more photos from the bike trip)he burned for me..the following are the photos he took using his handphone..better resolution than those I took using my spy cam!!
Me in my full battle suit with my Suzuki SV650S..taken at the last petrol kiosk(Gurun) before entering the Thai border..
Mr Kareem troubleshooting my bike at Gurun petrol station. Behind him is the great angel who towed me using his Honda African Twin 750.
Me posing with a Thai Police Officer, who wasnt spared from the water/wet-powder war..
Me having survived the water war with my bike..(did u notice the white powder smeared on my bike?)Taken at the basement carpark of Lee Garden Plaza Hotel in Hatyai
My frnd/room-mate Kok Boon seen here with his VTEC II
The Suzuki SV650S and the Honda CB400 Super4 VTEC II (my frnd/room-mate's bike)
Foam party in the streets of Hatyai!!
Me posing beside a teenage elephant whom I fed with sugar cane..the keeper walks around the streets at night with their teenage/baby elephants, asking passerby to buy food like sugarcane for the elephant..quite a fun experience to feed them and costs me 20 baht only(less than S$1)..Never been so close to an elephant!!keke..

Bike trip to Hatyai,Thailand 11/4/05-15/4/05 updates!!

2005-04-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

Well..finally found the mood to update my journal after I came back from my motorbike trip to Hatyai,Thailand. Was so tired and lethargic that I dun feel like doing anything and having the need to settle back to S'pore lifestyle(and preparing myself for work). It was definitly a refereshing and adventurous experince for me. The bikers set off at about 10pm on 11/04/05(Mon) at the M'sia petrol station(Esso, Gelang Patah)) nearest to the Tuas 2nd Link(S'pore). Think there's total of about 40 bikes, broken up into two groups- The Honda CBRXX1100 Blackbirds and the other group of mixed bikes( I belong to the latter, riding my Suzuki SV650S). Had been anticipating for this trip and nearly didnt go due to the recent bombings in South Thailand.
The trip was smooth for my group till my bike broke down when I was about 20++km away from the 2nd last petrol station(Gunung Semmangul) before reaching the Thai borders. Boy was it scary to have ur bike failing you along the North-South Highway where there were no street lamps.. I was lucky the last marker for the 2nd group spotted me and stopped by to assist me.. After a short trouble-shooting session, the fella, who was on a Honda African Twin 750 decided to tow me using his bike and his heavy-duty rope..malu sia~ but no choice..to wait for a towing vehicle would take a longer time and we decided to catch up about 100km more to the last petrol station at Gurun. When we reached Gurun station, it was about 8am or so if I'm not wrong..about 2-3hrs behind schedule..all the other bikers from the 2nd group were waiting for us and it was a huge relief man..after breakfast and abit more troubleshooting, decided that it was insufficient engine oil, hence topped it up and off my bike my went all the way to Hatyai Thailand Lee Garden Plaza hotel with no problems at all!! By the time we reached the hotel, it was already about 11am. My bunk-mate Heng and I went to check into our room almost immediately..our bodies were so aching from the ride that it hurts even when we are pushing the doors..wad an experience!! I was lucky though..the blackbird group arrived only at about 6-7hrs later than us as 1 rider skidded and the other had a punctured tyre..
The water festival was fun, we bought super-soakers and went about shooting ppl with water..very happening to see ppl of all age playing with water..those more cunning ones uses pail with iced water!! You'll see Thais on pick-ups with a big bin of water waiting to pour to whoever they see on the road, not sparing motorbikers..there were also those standing by on the roadside..and my frnd and I thought we could ride around on a hit-and-run basis of shooting ppl but alas, got ourselves totally wet at the first traffic junction..hahaa..
Their water party starts on 12/04/05,eve of Songkran Festival where they had a countdown in the streets with a procession similar to Chingay. On 13/04/05 night, they have variety show, singing performances and Muay Thai boxing; all in held in the streets. During the day, they also had watergames.

We set off at about 10am on 15/04/05, with most of them heading to KL for another 2days stop-over while myself and 6 other bikers(one CB400Super4 VerII, one CB400 Project Big1, one R1, two Blackbird, one Fazer600) decided to head straight back to Singapore. It was an uneventful one though, we went through 3 areas of heavy rain but the rain before Machap petrol kiosk was the worst, traffic came to a standstill as the rain was so heavy, it fogs our view and there were even lightning and thunder..we swear we felt the wind blowing us from side to side and saw the blinding flash from time to time..scary man..like National Geographic programme on thunderstorms.. @@
When we reached, Machap, we stopped by for dinner and finally reached Singapore safely a few minutes to mid-night..wad an adventure!! Me posing beside my bike with the other bikes lining up behind me;location: Gelang Patah petrol station,last pump b4 heading back to S'pore.

Hip-hip hip-hop hoppity-hop!

2005-03-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

Just came back from my first hip-hop class since yr2000..!! this time round took lessons from another place, another instructor..cool one she was..looks abit like Ann Kok and a bit like elva xiao..tall, hip, ang-mor-pai..chio sia!! another 7 more lessons to go.. anyone interested? perhaps can join me next time round!! =)

My New Rock Band

2005-03-04T22:37:00.000-08:00

Well..just finished jamming with my new-found rock band members..courtesy of my good friend Ah-Huat that I got to know Andrew (the drummer) and Amos (the keyboardist cum vocalist), making my "band" complete. You see, I initially had only a lead guitarist(Mr Cabbage),a bassist (Mark Shannon) and myself as the rhythm guitarist cum vocalist. Then suppose to jam with either one of my drummer frnds Emmanual or Justin but due to work commitments on both sides, was unable to jam together yet. One day, my frnd Ah-huat informed that he has a frnd(Amos) who needs some band members for an upcoming performance and we were lucky enuff to be able to find some time suitable to jam together so that's where I got my band completed today..
Not bad a jamming session for a start but I realise something that might be the doom of me(like wad happened to my ex-band Emanon)- all of them listens to ang-mor songs more than Chee-na songs and there are two vocalists in the band(same scenario with my previous band).. not that I do not like English songs but I excel better in Chee-na songs ye see? And not that my band members ain't accomodating enough to allow me to sing chee-na songs but well, i think the click aint that strong if the situation is at that. Whenever I wanna sing a Chee-na song, most probably they dunno the song and would need time to digest it before we can start practicing on it and vice versa. Get wad i mean? if all band members listen to the same type of music, they would know roughly how to play that song since most probably they would have heard it before..
But good thing is, the only difference is that Amos can play at least an instrument (and well at that)other than being a vocalist(for my previous band, Mark Shannon and me were fighting to be lead vocalist for every performing song but back then, Mark can't play any instruments and can only sing). So perhaps, it might not flop like previously eh? haha.. but alas, the upcoming performance will be all in English..no chance for me to sing what i wanted to..sigh..when will my Hokkien metal rock band dream be realised.. =/

Back from Desaru bike trip!!

2005-02-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

Phew!! Came home drenched in rain water..been a fun relaxing weekend i had. My company's motorcycle club had organised a bike trip to desaru and I merely paid S$75 for it and it includes 2D/1N at Pulai Desaru resort, including Breakfast,Lunch and Dinner;+ free bike servicing! We set off on Sat 26/02/05 at about 8:30am via Woodlands checkpoint towards our holiday destination. Didn't do much for the first day except explore the beach (they have hammocks to laze around!)and resort facilities.

NO sea-sports available for it's the monsoon season..In the evening, got so bored that i decided to explore the vicinity of the resort and realised it's quite a small area..nearly fell down on my bike when i ventured to a broken down road with sand and debris lying all around. Discovered there are go-karts/buggy rides and a pet zoo near my resort but alas, they had closed for the day.. So on the second day, decided to check out the buggy rides after breakfast..this time round however..decided to ride around without my helmet and gloves(and broke a personal record of riding without helmet above 100km/hr on my Suzuki SV650S!!ahaha) since the road around the vicinity is quite empty. At the buggy ride area, my colleagues and I tried both the ATV(All-terrain-vehicle;four-wheel vehicle with motorcycle handlebar)and the buggy(both two-strokers) around the off-road circuit. Initially thought the ATV is easy to handle but how wrong i was..crashed a few times when i treated it like a motorbike due to it's handlebars.. you see, in motorbikes, you dun really turn your handlebars much when you corner (as your body weight causes to bike to turn easily)but this ATV is different, you really gotta turn the handlebars to move left and right as it has four wheels..real scary, so i switched to the buggy..at least i can steer it like a normal car..
After twenty minutes of fun(seemes forever stuck when I was on the ATV; costs RM$25/20min), my colleagues went back to resort while i decided to give the pet zoo a visit. Didn't know if it would be interesting since they advertises mainly rabbits and birds but decided to enter when I saw an arm-size porcupine outside the admission office,munching happily on a honey-dew. The tix costs me RM$8 so I gave the fella RM$10 and she asked me if i would like to buy some rabbit food for RM$1/packet. Oh wad the heck, bought two packets of it to save her the trouble of returning the balance.
The rabbit farm is about basketball court size with perhaps fourty rabbits living in it? They were roaming all around but when i shook the small plastic bag of rabbit food at the fences, most of them started running towards me!! what a site!!haha..how fun..was even allowed to enter the farm area to feed them.

After the feeding session, started roaming off to some forest track near the main zoo area (where they kept the animals/reptiles in cages)when I chanced upon sheeps!! What a surprise!! these sheeps are free to roam about with no restrictions man..the keepers merely built a shelter for them and they dun seem to wander far! I meh-meh with them and they meh-meh back..how cute..
Spent about 1/2 hr at the pet zoo before heading back to my resort to pack up and get ready to check-out at 12pm. This time round, we went by the Tuas linkway, stopping by at Gelang Patah for lunch and petrol top-up.
Been a fun trip man..if i were to visit Desaru again, I would wanna try mountain biking(they provide rental of bicycles) on those off-road tracks..should be able to find more mammals roaming around than at Pulau Ubin..

Enter the frenchman

2005-02-08T00:38:00.000-08:00

Just came back home...was suppose to have my Martial Art training (Wing-Chun Kung-Fu) at Serangoon Swimming Complex area at 8pm (7 Feb 2005 Monday)but it was cancelled at the last minute. Great..bored stiff at home so decided to do some catching up with frnds who happen to be free..How lucky I was..managed to got hold of Carene who happened to be at Bugis Junction with Jieling so I decided to pop by and hang out with them.I arrived at Bugis Junction at about 9:20pm..Jieling wanted to show us a nearby wonderful place- Parkview Square(http://www.parkviewsquare.com). And there we were eventually at this grand marvelous building (which I had always admired ever since it was built but never bothered enough to know the name of the building;the most solid-looking and beautiful structure in Singapore) which has wonderful statues and arty decos/murals. Jieling informed that the offices here were only leased out to those top companies(Fortune 500 or something like that?)and this building has this wonderful lobby-bar that serves a variety of wine with a hi-balcony-stage holding a jazzy singer who performs live with live cello and piano accompaniment. Very grand indeed and they have these pixie-looking waitresses(complete with wings) that will "fly" up this 2-3 storey-high wine storage cupboard(i suppose there's a term to it?) to pick out the wine selected by the customers..very very interesting!! @@ haha..Sharon subsequently popped by after her work, exhausted, after failed attempts to locate this particular building..by the time she arrived, it's about 11pm..Carene then informed that she's expecting one male friend to pop by as he just finished work near Bugis area. She informed that he will most probably turn up in slacks and flip-flops..expecting this fella to be a skinny Chinese young punk/beng, I reminded Carene to finish up or drinks fast so his friend would not be need to enter this place and save much embarrassment as the dress code here is smart casual. Haha..never did I expect her friend to be a Frenchman..tall,well-build and smart-looking even in slacks and slippers..We left the place very soon after his arrival and went for some supper opposite Bugis Junction. Carene was busy chatting with Jieling and Sharon in a language foreign to her french friend(who had moved here just a few months ago) so I decided to chat up with this fella..Interesting fella he was..he came from the France Alps and currently working here as a nutritionist. We talked about bikes, compared bike prices/taxes, traffic law and abit of our countries before all of us left for home.Hmmm..now I'm counting the number of foreign friends(excluding Malaysians whom I had quite a number) I had..Primary School- 2 Taiwanese, 1 Indonesian ChinesePolytechnic- 1 Korean, 1 Myanmar Chinese, 1 Sri Lankan, 1 PRCAfter studies- 1 Danish (the one who sold me my current motorbike)Hmm..makes me wanna go for one of my company's foreign exchange programmes one of these days..

A bike to roam the world at last!!

2004-12-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Finally bought my new bike from a Danish fella. Was looking around for a suitable bike ever since I went to Malacca with a bike group and horribly disappointed by the measly power the Yamaha Dragstar Classic 400 has.. The 400cc Dragstar Classic is nice to run around in Singapore but difficult to keep up with the touring bike groups. Had wanted to get the Yamaha Roadstar Warrior XV1700 but was deterred by the high road tax and insurance it gets charged for (3rd party w/o fire&theft and road tax: ~S$1.4k/annum) compared with my current SV650S (S$613) and Dragstar Classic 400 (S$400). The cost of S$17k for the 2nd hand Warrior also deterred me much..

My Dragstar Classic 400

Me on MY Suzuki SV650S

While in the taxi to the bike shop whom the Danish fella sent to for inspection and touching-up, had a chat with the fella and came to know that Denmark is a fairly costly place to live in too(ref to Singapore)..

Snake Familiariasation Course at the Zoo!!

2004-12-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

The tram I took to the Snakes section..

Well, went to the Singapore Zoological Gardens this morning to attend a Snake Familiariasation Course conducted by an Assistant Zoology Curator where I learnt a great deal about the different types of snakes, their food and even how to capture them!! And that includes learning how to catch a 2 metre long big Python and a venomous Spitting Cobra that spits venom!! If such venom enters the eyes, it can cause blindness man!! And a bite from the Cobra can kill an adult human in 15minuteS( if it bites with it's venomous fangs that is) !!

After all the action, participants were allowed to take picture with an 11-yr old big python but I shun away..ahaha..I merely touch the skin..(feels like the polished snake/crocodile skin wallets available in the market)..

Male participant holding the 11-yr old python

Female participant holding the 11-yr old python

The snake exhibiton area also showcase snakes like the King Cobras, Anancondas and Rattle snakes.

After all the action, we were free to wander around the zoo compound and phew was it an interesting one..gotta close view of the big animals like the rhinos(the baby rhinos are real cute and farny man..), meh-meh goats, elephants and the 3 white tigers. Of course there are the smaller ones like tortoises, giant Iguanas, Kangaroos and Orang Utans..kinda refreshing after a decade or so since I last visited the Zoo..

The iguana

Dog stuck in between grilles of a gate..

2004-11-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

While passing by Changi Road today at about 2am or so, spotted two Police cars at the Shell station located along Changi Road..being the kay-poh my friend was, we went to take a look and saw this big cross-breed dog stuck in between the grilles of a gate leading to the Shell station's junkyard..apparently the silly dog tried to squeeze through the gates but got stuck..and so the Police officers tried means to bring the dog out but to no avail..hahaa..the silly dog kept barking and yelping thinking the Police officers wishes to kidnap it..Subsequently, an SCDF(Singapore Civil Defence Force) Rhino vehicle came and widen the part of the grilles the dog was stuck in. By doing so, only did the dog manage to get out and ran to seek cover(from the human beings who saved it)..

JB expedition part II

2004-10-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well..the day started with me following my uncle and his friend for a few business-related meetings that lasts till early evening..phew was I exhausted from hearing them talk..interesting products though..from International calling service to Banyan Resort membership (very good deal!!) and cars..drove thru Pasir Gudang and amongst other parts of JB(read: places tourists wouldn't go). My uncle gave me a map of JB and by the end of the day, I wish I have my own apartment in JB where I can ride around and immense in the JB environment(the food's cheap & good and petrol's 50% cheaper than Singapore!!).. After all the business meetings ended in the evening..I decided had enough and went back Singapore by myself (with the help of the JB map of course) as my uncle still have other business matters to tend to( which had by then bored me to the core)..

Johor Bahru expedition

2004-10-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

At about 3pm today, I went to Johor Bahru (JB)from Singapore with my uncle (who's on a Honda Nighthawk750 and me on my trusty Dragstar Classic cruiser). My uncle brought had wanted to show me around JB and his Fairlady Z350 sports car. Yeah..my uncle showed me his Fairlady but the repair works ain't completed..darn...so can only see and cannot drive around..shitty..should have told me earlier..so instead of driving around in a sports car, the workshop provided a Proton Saga as a temporary transport tool.. =/Nonetheless, the day was well-spent as the friend whom my uncle intro to was a successful entrepreneur but who still have the spirit and plans to rise up again..his property all went to his divorced wife ye see..very ineresting indeed to hear him talk (like how important it is to have a big room/house so you can think proper and have space for creativity/ideas)and the three of us spent our night drinking 10% alcohol beers(where each of us drank two cans) at the basement of Eden hotel..After the drinks and supper, my uncle and I spent the night at this entrepreneur's rented apartment; which has orange walls and a tank of fishes + an energetic soft-shelled turtle(who seemed to be swimming and bouncing around the mirrored side of the tank whole day long).