New Year's in!

Its an hour till 12am and the start of something new................NOT.

Cause you see , i firmly believe, something new is in every nanosecond that i go on, grinding out, enjoying , eating , laughing , blogging , etc etc etc , my life away.

Yes , i do enjoy life. Its an adventure to me (this is cliched, but really it is!). I have done so many things since leaving home for uni that i have never done EVER before in my life.

I have :

1) Rode downhill at breakneck speed , jumping over rocks and taking tumbles along very haunted mountain bike trails.

2) Made a quantum leap forward from Windows 98 to XP to Vista Business within a year.

3) Smuggled Bought 15 litres of alcohol from Langkawi through Malaysian Customs into Kuala Lumpur.

4) Grown an additonal 10cm within 18 months

5) Covered nearly 200 clicks on a bicycle (including on a Polygon during the Bike Rally and on my Jamis)

6) Eaten 3 jars of Nutella within 2 weeks.

7) Packed more muscle into my 65 kilo body , though its mostly concentrated in the lower body and abdomen. My arms and shoulder still look like Maud Adam's

8) Sat in the cockpit of an A-64H Apache attack helicopter.

I have no regrets for anything i have ever done so far.

No regrets for:

1) The 0.09 dip in my CGPA from 4.19 to 4.10 last semester. Its minor , i have done my best and i know i gave my best for the whole semester and i can jack it up next sem. Besides , i had the opportuinity to work on a truly interesting project which has taught me a lot :P

2) Splurging on lovely black dress shoes , Adidas Predators , a new bicycle , an external hard drive (which saved my files) and just lots of chocolate and desserts and boxes of Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

3) Wasting 3 Academic Units in taking Voice Studies last semester. I still got an A- out of it even with minimal effort.

4) Throwing away a week of lectures after being involved in making this:

its creatively called "The Machine" hehe. A 30 step plus Rube Goldberg machine designed to insert a piece of laminated paper into an envelope and seal it.

the very technical and super fast grand finale , the brainchild of Boon Chong an You Quan, modified to perfection within an hour before judging. Kudos to em!

meet the team

A lot has happened in 2008 , Man Utd won the UEFA Champions League , I beat an IVP (inter varsity player) for NTU on the tennis courts , i screwed up a few things , i had great vacations with my family and close pals from A Lvl college days :

we make excellent shampoo ad models no?

I have seen things of great beauty :

*cough*

What? I find her quite attractive in Iron Man. Smart, confident , carries herself well , matured in thought, perfect actually.

So, i shall end 2008 with yet another random post :P



Cheers and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! from the,


Matrix

HOME!!!!!

I took a Five Stars bus from Boon lay market. SGD35 , much much more than the RM31 i fork out for a Mara Liner from Larkin in Johor , but it was totally worth it. Bus came on time, and left on the dot at 8.00am, dropped me off at Pudu Raya at 1.30pm , where Dad picked me up.

My father turned 54 today. Now , I must admit, i don't give presents to my folks on their birthdays , nor am i accustomed to receiving any on mine either. In fact , i cannot recall a time in my life where i have actually received any present on my birthday from my folks , except cash to get my own stuff on that day ( i usually don't ask for anything cause i get what i want most of the time anyway when i ask for it......except lately mom has been asking me to keep buying nice clothes on my birthday.....maybe cos mine are all worn out and i normally live in free t-shirts or the sports shirts i get from NTU ).

I dunno. Its probably strange to a lot of ppl i know, who are accustomed to the whole gift exchanging thingy on birthdays.......i must admit, my family's a whole lot different...

And so , we did the normal usual thing we do, Get out for a kick ass dinner =P. Cause if there is anything my family does to commemorate an occasion....its ALWAYS a damn good meal. And so we headed for our favourite western place.......


Okay , this place is damn value for money. A meal will set you back about RM50++ (including tax for a main course only) , but u get :

1) excellent service
2) good ambience with all the ship like interior and lighting
3) good food.

other western places in KL i would recommend would be Chili's and TGIF.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND TONY ROMA'S. Food is slightly pricier than Chili's , but not as good.

I guess the closest comparison to The Ship would be this one:



......which is worth it only for steaks.

my folks

I have a list of places i must hit for food before i go back to S'pore:



1) Fotch Avenue for hokkien mee

2) Petaling Street for dim sum

3) Teluk Panglima Garang for seafood

4) Peel Road for satay

Random: Mom made her damn good cheesecake and i was gorging on chocolate all day long.


Oh, one more thing...

BATA WAS HAVING ITS USUAL YEAR END SALE AND I FOUND THESE TO REPLACE MY OLD PINK SNEAKERS! :

100% suede leather Weinbrenners

And the best part? They only cost me RM50! Awfully comfy. Fugly no doubt, but i don't really care much about fashion these days....nor have i ever...... (so sue me....)

I used to wear these pink sneakers i bought from Dr Cardin for like RM20 (70% warehouse clearance sale) and they were wonderful , now they shall be tortured on my new bike's pedals.....hehehe.

I popped into Bata after helping mom choose a leather attache case for Dad's 54th , and the Weinbrenner line caught my eyes with their large 50% off sign.


I shall be off for a day trip to Genting , and then to Teluk Panglima garang for seafood later at night tomorrow! The clams are sooo fresh that they do thing to it but steam in chinese rice wine and chilis. Lovely stuff.


I love home........


PS: Streamyx (local broadband service provider) sucks and i hope they burn in broadband hell.





Cheers from a very full,

matrix

Bukit Timah Thrills,Spills, Anguish and Pain

If you do ever get the chance get your bike out and hit the Bukit Timah trail.

Warning : DO NOT GO DURING THE RAINY SEASON AND ALWAYS GO WITH A PARTNER!

Ok, it was an emotional ride for me (woah, i actually said that!)

No joke. The scenery was beautiful. The trail was not technical but was well rounded. What i mean is, instead of being narrow and steep all the time (like Kent Ridge) it had a delightful combination of steep uphills , downhills, scenic paths and lots of intermediate sections with manageable slopes.

It was not an easy ride, but it was bearable and fun. The trail was heavily covered by jungles most of the time, but there were sections where the trail popped out clearings which were simply beautiful.

lovely green plains with a hill in the background

Start of the clearing. This sections was very nice to ride on. Rocky and bumpy, giving you the chance to test your suspension. Mine were ok only. Need to upgrade to RockShox later.

There were a few of these small bridges along the trail. Nice view of small streams meandering off into the thick jungle from them.


Trail disappears back into the jungle from the clearing. Lovely tunnel like structure by the foliage.


It was getting a bit dark by the time i was halfway through the trail. This section is where you max your speed before hitting the steep slope in the jungle ahead.


I used the Old Jurong Road from Boon Lay to get to the Bukit Timah area. It runs along the PIE. Quite scenic and nice to ride along fast.

Anguish and Pain

I took to major tumble on a slippery sloping part of the trail. The ground was clay, pretty nice to ride on when dry, but horribly slippery after the rains. And it had rained the day before i went.

TRY TO AVOID BKT TIMAH AFTER THE RAIN!

What happened was, i whissed along a downhill section in the thick jungle and then suddenly burst into a clearing with an even steeper section i was totally unprepared for.

Foolishly i braked hard and the bike slipped sideways, lost grip and tumbled twice with me on it down the slope until i landed hard with it between by legs, all tangle up in the frame.

THANK GOD I WAS WEARING A HELMET!

Cause at the final tumble my head slammed into a rock and i almost blacked out for a few seconds. Then i gingerly slipped my right leg from the frame and my hand from between the spokes. Badly bruised, but at least i didn't break any limbs.

And then the horror....

My gear lever had been bent upwards into the frame and the rear wheel was bent out of shape. Not badly, it was still ridable, but enough to know it can;t be knocked back into shape.

So I half limped , half rode the bike back to the carpark (3 clicks away) and i met these bikers who fixed up the Jamis so i could hobble it to a nearby RodaLink.

Not too bad news though :)

The gear lever could be bent back and its still pretty strong , but the wheel needs replacing.


Interesting Info Here


When i appeared out of the trail, the biker who helped me asked me if had gone ALONE along a section of the trail called the "Belukar Trail". I had in fact.

Then their jaws dropped.

Biker 1: Eh, do not go there alone after 4pm man. Haunted.

Me : *raised eyebrows*

Biker 2: No joke. I did not believe when my friends told me, but i have ridden that section at 6pm once. Saw something in the trees following me through the thickly jungled section. Don't ever go along Bukit Timah trail alone. Can get dangerous.


Okay , i am a major sceptic. So i'll just let this pass. It won't stop me from giving the trail a second try though. Was major fun.

Now i need to beg mom for cash to fix my bike. Am broke after spending nearly 500 bucks on everything bike related. A new wheelset costs nearly 100 bucks it seems. I think its cheaper, so i'll get a quotation first or something.




Cheers and Merry Xmas from the,

matrix

Lovely Saturday

Woke up at 9am , had a huge mug of Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate (i tell you, its the perfect way to start a day) , an apple and then jumped on the Jamis and headed for Kent Ridge Park.

Navigated using a Street Directory i had bought last night. The ride i must say was pretty smooth and i only had to ride through 3 main roads to reach NUS. Was surprisingly easy. Left my room at 10.30am , reached NUS at 12.15pm.

I did stop by a RodaLink shop i saw as I was whizzing along Clementi Avenue West , and i bought this for storing my keys , wallet , handphone and LED lamps:

A Topeak saddle pouch. It even comes with a waterproof cover to protect it when it rains....will save my handphone and leather wallet.

Rodalink chap then asked where i was headed....

Me: Kent Ridge Trail.

Rodalink Mat: Eh, susah tu......

His ride was a Jamis road bike , and so , him being a roadie i gave little thought to that comment.....

And then hell started......

Kent Ridge Trail entrance.....i swear this is the widest section of the trail...

some technical riding track for pros...looked easy to ride on.....trust me its not.....

The trail was awful. I pushed my bike and carried it about 80% of the time. Actual riding was minimal , and when i tried riding up the muddy uphill sections on the lowest gear i could use, the bike always tried to pull wheelies.

Downhill was better though the track was super twisty and narrow and unless you're pro, you can't go down fast. Tree roots everywhere , rocks come at you from nowhere....

I came out surprisingly clean and unscatched. Probably cause i hardly rode anyway. And then on the way back , i stopped at RodaLink again , and this is what the chap told me...

RodaLink Mat: If you want to thrash your bike and enjoy it, go to Bukit Timah or Tampines or Pulau Ubin. Kent Ridge is one of the shortest and yet , the most technical trails in Singapore. Only pros can enjoy it.



soo.....Bukit Timah next week!


Cheers from the,

Matrix

Kent Ridge here I come!

Cycled over to Jurong Point's Popular at 9pm to buy a Street Directory. Just mapped a route to Kent Ridge through Pioneer Road North.

Will be hitting the trail at Kent Ridge Park later in the day. Woohoo!

This has got to be the shortest post ever..

Cheers from,

Matrix

Just a thought

I was curious to know the real value of my bike in KL,

2009 Jamis Trail X2

Retailing at RM1500

WOAH!

And this gives me an idea. Why not i sell my new bike in KL, take the extra cash and buy another one here in Singapore and upgrade the gearset and fit in disc brakes instead of the current rim ones?

I'd probably get RM1600 for mine cause i upgrade the rear derailleur to Shimano Alivio from the lower end Acera. More moolah for upgrading.

Bikes are seriously over priced back home. I saw a Polygon Astroz retailing at RM950. Its only RM 800 here (after conversion from SGD). 

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

Got back to my room at 12am. Dumped my backpack and jumped on the Jamis and took it for a spin around NTU. Got bored and then took it out and tried to max its speed all the way to the Boon Lay MRT.

Made it there in 10 minutes from leaving campus...hehe. Faster than 179?

Boon Lay is creepy after 12. Saw "akuaks" jiggling their wares on the way back. Traumatising.

Realised bike chain was dry and lubed it with PTFE laced lubricant. 

Wonder if i will have this much free time for biking come next semester?

Cheers from the,

matrix

An Epic Tennis Match and I got new wheels!

Jamis Trail X 2

Technical Details for the curious:

Frame : Enduro II frame design, 7005 aluminum main tubes, replaceable derailleur hanger (this is important in cases where the bike take a major fall and the derailuer hanger gets bent or broken off , it being aluminium, welding is quite difficult , and you have no other choice other than getting a new frame or bike).

Fork: XC Suspension, alloy crown, coil spring, 60mm travel

Headset: VP threadless, 1 1/8”

Wheels: Weinmann ZAC19 double-wall rims, 32H, alloy disc hubs with QR, 14g nickel-plated spokes

Tires: CST XC knobbie, 26” x 1.95”

Derailleurs: Shimano Alivio M340 rear, Shimano TZ30 31.8mm top pull  front, Shiftlevers Shimano Acera ST-EF50 EZ-Fire Plus,24-speed Chain KMC Z51

Cassette: Indexed 7-speed freewheel, 13-28

Crankset: Forged alloy crank arms, 42/34/24 rings, 170mm

BB Set Sealed cartridge, 68 x 122.5mm

Pedals: ATB platform, hi-impact resin cage & body

Brakeset:  V Brakes and Shimano levers

Handlebar : Jamis XC riser, 6˚ sweep x 13mm rise x 620mm wide

Stem Jamis XC alloy threadless, 10˚ rise, 120mm (19-21”)

Grips Kraton for trigger-shift

Seat Post : Jamis alloy micro-adjust, 27.2 x 300mm, with alloy QR clamp

Saddle : Jamis ATB , SL cover, protective front and rear guards

Size:  19”

Color : Blue

Weight: 13kilos

Right, boring part over =)

Ok, you might have heard of Scwinn , Scott, Trek and Cannondale. Major bike makers, and they market their products heavily.

Jamis on the other hand?  No idea about it until my online research a few months ago. To make this easy on the non biking crowd:

Cannondale and Trek are like the BMW and Mercedes of bikes. Expensive , high performance.

Jamis is like the Subaru Impreza. Waay cheaper and realy value for money.....plus decent performance.

But that's as far as it goes....for the moment. Cause like a Subaru, i can pimp it up to become as good as a Cannondale by changing a lot of stuff on it.

For example, i can upgrade the entire gearset to Shimano Duore XT. Its like taking a Ferarri Scuderia engine and popping it into a Toyota.

I bought the bike along with a front LED headlamp plus rear LED blinkers , a bell , a Giro bike helmet , PTFE laced lubricant for the chain , bottle holder, and a bike chain.....and i got a damn good deal for em all.

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

THE EPIC MATCH!

I play tennis for my hall of residence. Am talking about Inter-Hall Games..held annually and its quite a big deal on campus (though i don't really care about hall rankings....i just like a good game).

And so i was called up to play mised doubles with a Thai girl in hall and before i go on I must say this....

THE 5 FOOT THAI NERD WAS DAMN GOOD!

Honestly my heart sank when i was introduced to her, what with the small size and shy stance, she looked afraid of me when i rode fast and roughly across the muddy grass to the courts on my new bike :P

And then my jaw dropped when i sent serve after serve at her as hard as i could......and she returned A LOT OF THEM!

Then the match started.

Rules:

Best out of 6 games. If drawn at 6-6, tie breaker. Winner determined by whom could reach 7 points first.

I played lousily for the first 20 minutes and we were quickly down 5-2. All looked lost when my thai partner (her name's Boon) returned serve after serve and we were up to 5-3. Then I kicked into gear finally both of us forced the game until 5-5. 

And the i screwed up again and we were down to 6-5.

And then Boon kicked into gear and the score was 6-6. We were now about 70 minutes into the game.

So the tie breaker came in. Boon drank water and that somehow messed her up and once again we found ourselves 5-2 down on points.

And so we called time out and we planned this:

Me: I'll play the base line, you control the drop shots.

Boon: *nods*

I must say, she was awesome at the net, and i hardly did any work and we were up 6-6.

Then i messed up again and the score was 7-6. And right at the moment, BOTH OF US woke up and we thrashed them 10-8.

WOOOOOOO!!!!! I love winning.

Cheers from the,

Matrix

My sis the businesswoman

My sis is onher way to becoming a "towkay".

She knows how to earn moolahs and currently holds a healthy RM700 plus plus in her bank account  (I have no idea how it got to that amount), but its cash i never had in my personal account when i was 14.

But i think i do have a slight idea.....

Now, my sis is scary in the predatory manner she goes about her...ermm....business.. *cough*

I jointly own the entire Harry Potter series with my siblings. To me, those books are a symbol of a long lost era when i was fascinated with the exploits of Voldemort and Harry Potter and Dumbledore.........

.

.

.

.

...that is until i met Sauron, The One Ring and Aragorn.

.

.

.

now though, i'm on thrillers by Jeffrey Archer and Frederick Forsyth..........but that's beside the point.

The point is, my sis saw opportunity.....and she took our Potter books and started renting em out for 3 bucks a day.......and here's this thing....

.

.

.....PPL ACTUALLY PAID HER FOR IT!!!!!!!

To think of it, it does make good business sense. Each Potter book costs 90 bucks to a 120 (the last 3 anyway) and i reckon the entire collection is valued at nearly 400 bucks. So yeah, paying 3 bucks to read a 120 buck novel for a week or so is actually quite worth it.

And then, she started expanding her business to fantasy novels she gets dad to buy her (stuff like A Series of Unfortunate Events and such)

I tell you, the woman will be wealthier than me one day. Perhaps i'd hire her as my financial manager or something.

Cheers from the,

Matrix

A very interesting day.....

I had a mixture of emotions today.

Weird....since i am generally feeling only one most of the time......

.

.

.

yes.....i am a happy scrawny chap......almost always. Except for today.....

I felt elated , annoyed , disgusted and challenged today.

I am currently working on a project here in NTU , and i am learning loads. Really. It involves a lot of improvisation, planning and fabrication and soft skills.

Soft skills needed to deal with lab and workshop technicians to get their help in fabricating parts and in obtaining materials and contacts for getting complex parts.

Fabricating skills needed when you come up against a disgruntled and moody lab technician who refuses to help.

And i was soo damn elated today because of one thing. My team took delivery of a crucial component in our project on Saturday. And it was not ideally manufactured to our needs. It took us (and i'm not kidding) only 2 days to plan and fabricate new parts to modify that component.

And the awesome thing is....

OUR MODIFICATION WORKED ON THE FIRST TRY!!!!!!!! The prof supervising us insisted he be called to witness if the component worked (he had been incredulous when we suggested the initial design)...and then he said:

"Its your baby now, i will only be holding you back. Its all in your hands now. You want to modify anything..go ahead and do it"

translation from a colleague:

"He's impressed"

*wide grin*

Nothing beats the elation from pulling off the technically challenging...........

On a different note:

I crossed over to Johor today to buy my bus ticket home. Bought a Mara Liner ticket to the Putra World Trade Centre for RM 31 (compared to SGD 30 for tickets from Singapore...hehe).

.

.

.

.

But i am so damn disgusted and pissed after doing so.......people can be such animals.....

I got on SBS no. 170 from Larkin in Johor, and as i was i line, i saw this little old lady. Now she caught my eye cos she was the typical little old malay lady you see in the Lat comics....


She was soo wrinkled and soo..........Malaysian...that i could not help staring.....

*yes yes, i have been in Singapore for too long*

And so , she being old, i naturally stepped aside to let her get on first. And then i got annoyed and pissed and disgusted all at once.

Cause just as little old malay lady was shuffling up towards me, this poor excuse for a man and a human (am of opinion roaches are more noble than this piece of work)......this chap...he moved forward fast with his bag, cut the old lady off, and tried to board the bus!

I moved fast (bear with the bragging a bit ppl......) and placed my arm firmly across the door and his path. Chap then stopped short and stared at me.

I stared down at him (i am tall, and i am now taller than BC ......NTU ppl, you know what i mean).

Then i gestured towards the old lady and held my arm until she got there. Then i calmly moved my body towards the man and made room for lil old malay lady to board. And then i boarded after giving him a dirty look.

BOOYAH!!!!!!!

On a serious note...i am very disgusted with society these days. More so with Malaysians. I remember the days of civl behaviour and decency and courtesy back in my school days. Its all gone now.......

I won't go too far and suggest Singaporeans are more courteous.......I SAY THEY ARE!!!!!

Here's why:

I arrived in Boon Lay at 9.30pm and as i was standing in the SBS no. 199 line, I saw people in the 179 line actually moving aside and giving way to an old chap with a walking stick when the bus came. It may seem a very natural thing to do, but after seeing the state of things back home, i must admit, it was astonishing....to me at least.

199 was late by the way......very very late (i was waiting for 25 mins)...and when it did arrive, a very flustered driver opened its doors and here's the cool bit.....

SHE APOLOGISED FOR THE DELAY AND SMILED WARMLY AT EVERYONE WHO ENTERED THE BUS!

Not only that.....she kept the warm smile even as i alighted at the Hall 8 bus stop.

I dunno, somehow now....Singapore feels soo much more civilised than home. It feels warmer even. I feel welcome whenever i return for a semester. I feel safer than i do at home.

Its not a perfect country, i will admit that.

But it has treated me much better in a year than my own country has in the past, and i take my hats off to that.


Cheers from the,

matrix