Today I went out shopping with my adult cousin, his mother and my mommy. I'm quite tired now and I have to get to school early tomorrow, thus I shall just jot down the main points of my once-in-a-blue-moon non-window-shopping shopping, erm, spree?
Kicked off the, erm, spree at Wheelock's Crumplers (Yes! Crumplers!) I looked around and only found 2 to my fancy, the Western Lawn and another that was a modified version of the Western Lawn. The Western Lawn was 90 bucks while the modified one was 149 thus I decided to go cheapskate (although Crumplers aren't cheapskate at all) and when I decided to pay, the cashier had the sign that said Apple Centre @ Orchard Flagship store card members had 10% off! Immediatly I thought of Muyao and decided to sms him for it =) Of course he agreed! So for that I shall give him publicity! 2emancipation.blogspot.com is an entertaining blog and everyone should visit it!
Then we had lunch at this new Crystal Jade express place in Wisma which had quite nice food since I was always a fan of the Cantonese cusine (FYI I am Cantonese) and ordered the (in English) Chicken and Sausage Rice/ (in Cantonese) lap chiong kai fan. It was pretty good, just a little pricey, about 8+ bucks. Good if you like Hong Konger fare and feel rich.
We then went to Kinokuniya because I had a 10 dollars voucher that was expiring by the end of this year. Then someone else had gave me 15 bucks worth of Kino for Christmas. Plus the I-Weekly 20% off, I saved quite a lot. Was actually looking for the Chronicles of Narnia- the entire unbox series. There was only one copy left and it was tattered and torn so was very disappointed. Thus looked around and guess what I found? You guess larh! Ask you to guess what! I found the COMIC BOOK FOR MY 大长今! Actually there was also the novel version but it was super thick, came in the older chinese word (fan ti zi) and had three volumes. I looked into it and it immediatly reminded me of Xue shan fei hu which ultimately sucks to me because of my quite-illiteracy in Chinese. So I bought the 大长今 comic which came in 3 volumes which originally cost 56+ bucks.
But after 20% off from the I-Weekly voucher it became...
56 times 0.8 = 44.8 bucks
And after the 25 dollars vouchers it became...
44.8 - 25 = 19.8 bucks
Which is relevantly cheap because each book only cost 6.60 SGD which is in FULL COLOUR and better quality paper than the COMICS CONNECTION manga which cost about 6 bucks. So yay! I can read 大长今 forever and ever and 长今 will stay with me in my bookshelf for the rest of my life! Yay me!
Then we shopped in Suntec. Didn't get anything there. And while returning to the City Hall MRT Station we passed by MPH which was having 20% storewide discount *fever* And I went in to check, my Narnia was there! And there was a cheaper version too! It cost me orginally 29 bucks but because of the 20% it became 23 bucks *cheek swells* Yay me!
So yes now I have 4 new books to read. And I actually wanted to just jot down the main points of my once-in-a-blue-moon non-window-shopping shopping, erm, spree but it turned out I wrote 500 over words. Oh well, better sleep early need to get to VS tomorrow at 730hrs and my dad's not driving me.
Three cheers for Muyao (and his apple card)! Three cheers for I-Weekly voucker! Three cheers for cash vouchers! Three cheers for MPH and their christmas specials! Three cheers for everyone!
Kicked off the, erm, spree at Wheelock's Crumplers (Yes! Crumplers!) I looked around and only found 2 to my fancy, the Western Lawn and another that was a modified version of the Western Lawn. The Western Lawn was 90 bucks while the modified one was 149 thus I decided to go cheapskate (although Crumplers aren't cheapskate at all) and when I decided to pay, the cashier had the sign that said Apple Centre @ Orchard Flagship store card members had 10% off! Immediatly I thought of Muyao and decided to sms him for it =) Of course he agreed! So for that I shall give him publicity! 2emancipation.blogspot.com is an entertaining blog and everyone should visit it!
Then we had lunch at this new Crystal Jade express place in Wisma which had quite nice food since I was always a fan of the Cantonese cusine (FYI I am Cantonese) and ordered the (in English) Chicken and Sausage Rice/ (in Cantonese) lap chiong kai fan. It was pretty good, just a little pricey, about 8+ bucks. Good if you like Hong Konger fare and feel rich.
We then went to Kinokuniya because I had a 10 dollars voucher that was expiring by the end of this year. Then someone else had gave me 15 bucks worth of Kino for Christmas. Plus the I-Weekly 20% off, I saved quite a lot. Was actually looking for the Chronicles of Narnia- the entire unbox series. There was only one copy left and it was tattered and torn so was very disappointed. Thus looked around and guess what I found? You guess larh! Ask you to guess what! I found the COMIC BOOK FOR MY 大长今! Actually there was also the novel version but it was super thick, came in the older chinese word (fan ti zi) and had three volumes. I looked into it and it immediatly reminded me of Xue shan fei hu which ultimately sucks to me because of my quite-illiteracy in Chinese. So I bought the 大长今 comic which came in 3 volumes which originally cost 56+ bucks.
But after 20% off from the I-Weekly voucher it became...
56 times 0.8 = 44.8 bucks
And after the 25 dollars vouchers it became...
44.8 - 25 = 19.8 bucks
Which is relevantly cheap because each book only cost 6.60 SGD which is in FULL COLOUR and better quality paper than the COMICS CONNECTION manga which cost about 6 bucks. So yay! I can read 大长今 forever and ever and 长今 will stay with me in my bookshelf for the rest of my life! Yay me!
Then we shopped in Suntec. Didn't get anything there. And while returning to the City Hall MRT Station we passed by MPH which was having 20% storewide discount *fever* And I went in to check, my Narnia was there! And there was a cheaper version too! It cost me orginally 29 bucks but because of the 20% it became 23 bucks *cheek swells* Yay me!
So yes now I have 4 new books to read. And I actually wanted to just jot down the main points of my once-in-a-blue-moon non-window-shopping shopping, erm, spree but it turned out I wrote 500 over words. Oh well, better sleep early need to get to VS tomorrow at 730hrs and my dad's not driving me.
Three cheers for Muyao (and his apple card)! Three cheers for I-Weekly voucker! Three cheers for cash vouchers! Three cheers for MPH and their christmas specials! Three cheers for everyone!
Viva La Timor Loro Sae , Second Issue
0 Comments Published by wengkeong on Thursday, December 29, 2005 at 1:00 PM.
Hello People! Slept quite a lot today- woke up around 11 and took quite along nap. Thank goodness the flu thing is quite gone if not I'll have Malaria for the rest of my life. So anyway- the magazine based on the place which almost brought be malaria- Viva La Timor Loro Sae!
Editor's Note
This is the third publication and second issue of Viva La Timor Loro Sae and writing thispathetic wonderful magazine has been a great joy. Remembering the terrific times that happened just a mere 8 days ago. Jotting it down on my low-profilic blog and making sure that I can still remember the skeleton of the trip years and years later.
So once again I have workedhard on the magazine cover and this time I used a vertical effect with the REAL colors of the Timor Leste flag. The previous' issue colors were not the flag colors at all because the red was behind the transparent yellow and it turned orangey. Didn't know until the last minute and was too lazy to change. I also neglected the fact that there was no picture behind the title part like the first publication did so the white-coloured font looked a little insignificant against the yellow background. But hey, this issue is not a critics review on my previous publications! So anyway. Sit back relax and once again enjoy this pathetic wonderful publication brought to you by BigFatSmiles.BlogSpot.Com.
Signing off,
The Only Member of this Publication
P/s The 3rd day of the trip was pretty uneventful, thus is not recorded in this magazine.
Being Santa Claus
Santa Claus has to go through a chimney before giving gifts. Apparently going through a chimney isn't an easy task- likewise getting to the place we were assigned to wasn't an easy task as well. We were assigned to the district of Ermera which is south of Dili and to the sub-district of Letefoho. Letefoho is the coldest place in East Timor and also has the tallest mountain in the nation. The roads were (extremely) bumpy and it was full of sharp turns. Some parts of the roads had also fell off (check the Flickr for more detailed photos). We drove there on a 4 by 4 Pajero which was rented for about 50 USD a day. Thus the Pajero is regarded as the Mercedes Benz in Timor Leste. And should there be a Mercedes Benz in Timor Leste it would probably be disregarded because of the uselessness in the nation (the roads are REALLY bumpy).
Thus after a tiring 2.5 hour journey up the mountain, we finally reached the sub-district of Letefoho (I thought it was Leletoho at first because of the unclarity of the printing). Firstly we proceeded to the junior school and received quite anoverwhelming welcome. The children there were pretty shy and did not dare approach us. Thus, having quite a mean personality, I started to snap shy and scared shots of these little kids. Finally the teacher came out and decided to pick me to be interviewed- asking me the name of the school I came from in Singapore, my name, my age blah blah blah. The hardest question to answer was "What are the differences between your school in Singapore and the school here?" Obviously there were many differences! So I racked my then in panic brains as I did not wish to offend them and came out with a pretty good one, "For one, the schools in Singapore do not have such great scenery =)" and everyone laughed in unison while I heaved a sigh of relief.
We then started giving out the toothbrushes and bags we had brought over and at this fateful moment my dear Konica Minolta ran out of battery. Feeling horrible and cheated and now hereby proclaim that I do not have anymore photos to post for the rest of that day =(
The children were very shy when receiving their gift and upon receiving started jabbering in their tongues to each other. The girls were even more freaky, upon shaking my hand they laughed like super loud. I was, erm, embarassed. Seeing the gratitude on their faces really gave me that heartfelt and heartmelt feeling. I then realised the priviledge I have been experienced in sunny Singapore and decided that there was a lot more to be done in this nation and hoped that I could come back and become part of the building of this wonderful state.
We then proceeded to the senior school.
Editor's NoteThis is the third publication and second issue of Viva La Timor Loro Sae and writing this
So once again I have worked
Signing off,
The Only Member of this Publication
P/s The 3rd day of the trip was pretty uneventful, thus is not recorded in this magazine.
Being Santa Claus
Santa Claus has to go through a chimney before giving gifts. Apparently going through a chimney isn't an easy task- likewise getting to the place we were assigned to wasn't an easy task as well. We were assigned to the district of Ermera which is south of Dili and to the sub-district of Letefoho. Letefoho is the coldest place in East Timor and also has the tallest mountain in the nation. The roads were (extremely) bumpy and it was full of sharp turns. Some parts of the roads had also fell off (check the Flickr for more detailed photos). We drove there on a 4 by 4 Pajero which was rented for about 50 USD a day. Thus the Pajero is regarded as the Mercedes Benz in Timor Leste. And should there be a Mercedes Benz in Timor Leste it would probably be disregarded because of the uselessness in the nation (the roads are REALLY bumpy).Thus after a tiring 2.5 hour journey up the mountain, we finally reached the sub-district of Letefoho (I thought it was Leletoho at first because of the unclarity of the printing). Firstly we proceeded to the junior school and received quite an
We then started giving out the toothbrushes and bags we had brought over and at this fateful moment my dear Konica Minolta ran out of battery. Feeling horrible and cheated and now hereby proclaim that I do not have anymore photos to post for the rest of that day =(
The children were very shy when receiving their gift and upon receiving started jabbering in their tongues to each other. The girls were even more freaky, upon shaking my hand they laughed like super loud. I was, erm, embarassed. Seeing the gratitude on their faces really gave me that heartfelt and heartmelt feeling. I then realised the priviledge I have been experienced in sunny Singapore and decided that there was a lot more to be done in this nation and hoped that I could come back and become part of the building of this wonderful state.
We then proceeded to the senior school.
TO BE CONTINUED...
hope it's not malaria. Shall blog later.
My one-day disappearance was due to the short getaway to this small town in Malaysia called Senai. I stayed at this quite posh hotel and it was quite a fulfilling stay. But due to the "normality" of visiting the Malaysian Peninsular, I have neglected to take those colored images otherwise known as photographs. (What a load of crap!) But anyway, I have far more important messages to bring forth on this post (which when I'm typing now is still Untitled) on the 27th of December.
It was just 366 days ago where the tsunami had struck the terror stricken shores of Aceh, Sri Lanka, Phuket and so forth. Base on my knowledge of watching the flashback segment on News 5 Tonight last night on the hotel room television, I began to recall things that happened a year ago. (366 days is still a year- 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 are all/will be 366 day years) My mind visualized what happened in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie where Hermione and Harry was tied within a timeturner and their surroundings blurred and time passed.
I remember going to receive my merit bursary at some community centre and dropping in 50 bucks (some from my mom) into the fish tank like donation box. I remember dropping my remainding allowance into Victoria's own collection stand. I remember watching the video online. I remember the crying women. I remember the dead bodies. And just right when I jumped out of my built-in-the-air castle, I saw the registered images on the television once again. And my mind began to race again.
A certain person had made a comment that the geographer who predicted the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami crisis was jeered at before the tsunami actually arrived. He/she told me that he/she had once again made a conclusion and this time Singapore (my homeland) was involved in it. I have no idea how true it is but it strikes fear into my heart (even worst that Victoria is situated near the East Coast). Life is vulnerable. But God is beside me.
Then I visited the Victoria School Website (vs.moe.edu.sg) and read the latest Principal's note written on the 25th of December and I read this:
It was just 366 days ago where the tsunami had struck the terror stricken shores of Aceh, Sri Lanka, Phuket and so forth. Base on my knowledge of watching the flashback segment on News 5 Tonight last night on the hotel room television, I began to recall things that happened a year ago. (366 days is still a year- 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 are all/will be 366 day years) My mind visualized what happened in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie where Hermione and Harry was tied within a timeturner and their surroundings blurred and time passed.
I remember going to receive my merit bursary at some community centre and dropping in 50 bucks (some from my mom) into the fish tank like donation box. I remember dropping my remainding allowance into Victoria's own collection stand. I remember watching the video online. I remember the crying women. I remember the dead bodies. And just right when I jumped out of my built-in-the-air castle, I saw the registered images on the television once again. And my mind began to race again.
A certain person had made a comment that the geographer who predicted the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami crisis was jeered at before the tsunami actually arrived. He/she told me that he/she had once again made a conclusion and this time Singapore (my homeland) was involved in it. I have no idea how true it is but it strikes fear into my heart (even worst that Victoria is situated near the East Coast). Life is vulnerable. But God is beside me.
Then I visited the Victoria School Website (vs.moe.edu.sg) and read the latest Principal's note written on the 25th of December and I read this:
We look forward to meeting you and all Sec 1 Victorians.
Why look forward to only the Sec 1 Victorians? And why are my parents going to school? I thought orientation was over a year ago? I thought that I had already orientated myself to Victoria School? What is the need for ANOTHER orientation?
This is when I realise I am no longer a Secondary One student but a Secondary Two one (although I haven't started on my year). This is when I realise my first promotion performa will be submitted soon- fulfilling the fact that I may be promoted to a Lance Coporal and no longer JUST A PRIVATE. This is when I realise I actually have juniors. This is when I realise I am no longer the baby of the Victorian family. I am thought to be having a higher order of thinking than the new 13 year olds (though technically next year till March I'm still 13). This is when I think I can no longer fulfill the post of being more senior than someone in school though I haven't even tried. This is when I'm scared. Really.
Take my hand.
This is when I realise I am no longer a Secondary One student but a Secondary Two one (although I haven't started on my year). This is when I realise my first promotion performa will be submitted soon- fulfilling the fact that I may be promoted to a Lance Coporal and no longer JUST A PRIVATE. This is when I realise I actually have juniors. This is when I realise I am no longer the baby of the Victorian family. I am thought to be having a higher order of thinking than the new 13 year olds (though technically next year till March I'm still 13). This is when I think I can no longer fulfill the post of being more senior than someone in school though I haven't even tried. This is when I'm scared. Really.
Take my hand.
Hello People, just realised I don't have nice pen so I shall buy one today and write in my diary from Oswin later =) Still wondering what to write about- after all, the first entry should be one of humour, power and prestige (What nonsense) and should never be like that:
Dear Diary,
This is my first entry. I'm a no life person so I shall tell you about my no-life, erm, life. The first thing I did when I woke up today was, erm, oh yarh, I opened my eyes. Haha. Then I slept again. Haha. Then I opened my eyes again and went to brush my teeth. I then went to school. I read books and the teacher said I was an intellectual. I am proud of myself. I'm tired now. I need to sleep.
Your new friend.
Anne Frank has said in HER diary that paper has more patience than people, but judging in this context- I doubt his paper will have any patience at all.
So yes, I must brainstorm of something that will allow me to laugh in the future when I read my diary written when I was thirteen and three quarter years old.
I have bloghopped yesterday and today and realised how much good blogs from my friends I have been missing out on and not reading.Officer Calvin's blog (eeeyeer.blogspot.com) is extremely entertaining. With his weird sign offs (like ME ME or me or whatever shit) and creative description of stuff eeeyeer.blogspot.com qualifies the title of an entertaining blog. Perhaps its time to pay him a visit and boost his hits =)
Jeremy has stopped blogging, like I mentioned in one of my previous entries. It's very sad because his blog is also immensely entertaining. Oh well, at least I have his archives.
I still have not found out Kifo's blog.
Oswin is in bloody Indonesia- the place muchly responsible for the number of cemeteries there are in Timor Leste now. Thus us blog is unupdated and I'm pissed. Because Wildborg.blogspot.com has been listed in my "Blogs of Interest" Favourites section and I have nothing dug out from it. Hmpf.
For some reason, Mozilla does not allow me to suscribe to some blogs- which is tremendously irratating. I shall sue very soon (which is a very rude and hurtful thing to do since wonderful Mozilla is providing me with such a celebrated freeware).
FYI I have changed my spectacles to something very loud. Zhihui has said it looks very arty farty and Bryan has commented it looks very ugly. See Han thinks it looks artsy fartsy and Nigel stated "nice specs". Officer Philip had hinted on the extravagant price and Josiah and Jie Han agreed that it resembled someone who said "Never underestimate the power of education". The rest of the population merely didn't say anything.
I shall clear my table because it is extremely messy.
Any gramatical/spelling error is purely unintentional and due to carelessness and the spirit of bochup. Look forward to the next entry!
Dear Diary,
This is my first entry. I'm a no life person so I shall tell you about my no-life, erm, life. The first thing I did when I woke up today was, erm, oh yarh, I opened my eyes. Haha. Then I slept again. Haha. Then I opened my eyes again and went to brush my teeth. I then went to school. I read books and the teacher said I was an intellectual. I am proud of myself. I'm tired now. I need to sleep.
Your new friend.
Anne Frank has said in HER diary that paper has more patience than people, but judging in this context- I doubt his paper will have any patience at all.
So yes, I must brainstorm of something that will allow me to laugh in the future when I read my diary written when I was thirteen and three quarter years old.
I have bloghopped yesterday and today and realised how much good blogs from my friends I have been missing out on and not reading.
Jeremy has stopped blogging, like I mentioned in one of my previous entries. It's very sad because his blog is also immensely entertaining. Oh well, at least I have his archives.
I still have not found out Kifo's blog.
Oswin is in bloody Indonesia- the place muchly responsible for the number of cemeteries there are in Timor Leste now. Thus us blog is unupdated and I'm pissed. Because Wildborg.blogspot.com has been listed in my "Blogs of Interest" Favourites section and I have nothing dug out from it. Hmpf.
For some reason, Mozilla does not allow me to suscribe to some blogs- which is tremendously irratating. I shall sue very soon (which is a very rude and hurtful thing to do since wonderful Mozilla is providing me with such a celebrated freeware).
FYI I have changed my spectacles to something very loud. Zhihui has said it looks very arty farty and Bryan has commented it looks very ugly. See Han thinks it looks artsy fartsy and Nigel stated "nice specs". Officer Philip had hinted on the extravagant price and Josiah and Jie Han agreed that it resembled someone who said "Never underestimate the power of education". The rest of the population merely didn't say anything.
I shall clear my table because it is extremely messy.
Any gramatical/spelling error is purely unintentional and due to carelessness and the spirit of bochup. Look forward to the next entry!
Some notes before I start the 2nd part of the first issue of the Viva La Timor Loro Sae Big Fat Smiling publication.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Today is Christmas Eve. Yesterday was the eve of Christmas Eve. Thus it is the Christmas Season. I have thus started a shoutout blog (BigFatSmilingShoutouts.BlogSpot.Com) for all the people whom I wish to shoutout out there. A year has passed and I have prepared a new template for the blog to start 2006 and to reflect the wonderful 2005. Be prepared on the 31st for the new metamorphosis.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day (you might think I'm crazy because I'm repeating something I just said a paragraph ago but PLEASE, just READ ON) making me not just a plain old 13 year old but 13 and three quarters which is also the age of Adrian Mole when he became a diaryist. I will begin my diary (presented from Oswin) tomorrow and that MIGHT lead to lesser time Big Fat Smiling. Jeremy has left the blogosphere and I tell myself that I really should follow in those footsteps.
So yarh... the anticipated (at least I hoped you guys did) Viva La Timor Loro Sae First Issue Second Edition.
Editor's Note
The Magazine cover is this time totally designed by me without the use of FD Flickr Toys using the celebrated program- Adobe Photoshop *ahem* 6 *ahem*.I think it looks much nicer than the previous cover *remembers that someone told him that self-praise is no praise* and I hope you will enjoy this edition even more than you did in the previous one. Sorry for the inconsistency and continue to enjoy Viva La Timor Loro Sae.
Yours
The only member of thispathetic publication.
*ponders where he stopped the previous issue, reads students sketchpad and procastinating*
Arte Morris
Arte Morris is the growing art scene in Timor Leste (otherwise known as Timor Loro Sae, East Timor, Timor Timor blah blah blah) It was started by a Swiss couple who saw many teenagers doing nothing on the streets. Thus he decided that Timor Leste had a potential art scene and decided that he was the one who should start it.
Thus he started Arte Morris a few years ago and now it is a gallery and an art school. I was there personally (duh!) and I too like him saw a lot of potential in many of the students. Being an art student myself in my Singaporean school, I thought some of the works were really aweing blah blah blah. Although so, I did not take any pictures of them honouring their intellectual property (do I hear protests from pirated vcd buying people?). I did however, take photos of the institution.What you see above the the type of music STOMP! from USA played. I forgot what it's called, maybe a 
reader can tell me? Unfortunately very little students were there when we were there thus we didn't get to here the *unknown* music. We were, fortunately the audience of a complimenting drum performance by four of the students. It was highly entertaining- I videoed part of the performance down but because of my inexperience as a netizen and the lack of interest to learn and google, the poor readers of this pathetic magazine has no chance to view the video making the magazine even more pathetic. But wait- magazines don't have videos do they? Even the Daily Prophet photos are only animated and not videoed.
The Santa Cruz Cemetery
Didnt' take much photos here except one from outside the gate. I don't know how some people can find this cool but I think it's horribly freaky to take a photo and see a weird unidentified object/person/ethereal in your photo, thus I decided to respect the dead. The Santa Cruz Cemetery was not exactlly a tourist attraction but it is quite an important milestone in Timor Lete's history because once upon a time some teenagers came to protest about the goverment or whatever outside the cemetery and the Indonesian police or whoever shitty people decided to throw fire at them. Thus the UN decided to take notice and that the world started to take note of this suffering state.
singingEVERWHERE!
was the last activity of the 2nd of 8 days. We visited a nearby village in Dili and there was wet mud on the ground. Being a not-so-rich person, I treasured my painstakingly saved up for Nike shoes a lot. Thus every step on the village ground was an arrow pierced into my weak and feeble heart. That carried on until my heart broke- the cute little Timorese child in front of me had no shoes on- he's feet was sinking into the wet mud and he was smiling at me. Instinctively, I reached our my hand to this little boy and he lovingly smiled at me. That was the first touched-in-my-heart feeling I had and there were more to come.
Through the course of singing various carols in Bahasa Indonesia and English, the sun soon set and it was dark. As instructed, I took out my cheap China bought and made lightstick. Soon I gave it away and urged dear lame pal Wendy to give hers away too. She then reached out to a small boy in front of her and whilst the boy was stretching out his hand to take his gift, a girl snatched it away. Wendy then looked embarassed at the boys' dear parents and proceeded to scold me for urging her. Then my heart sank. I didn't think it was the girl's fault- I mean you have to fight for your own happiness don't you? And it wasn't the boy's fault for not taking the lightstick fast enough either. After all, he was just a little kid (littler than the girl) and was shy. Thus I was determined to the fact that I would bring enough gifts for all the children and adults the next time I visit any under priviledged village.
Which brings me to the end of Viva La Timor Loro Sae Issue One, Second Edition. Any gramitical/spelling error is purely unintentional and due to carelessness and the spirit of bochup. Look forward to Viva La Timor Loro Sae Issue Two Coming your way! And Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Today is Christmas Eve. Yesterday was the eve of Christmas Eve. Thus it is the Christmas Season. I have thus started a shoutout blog (BigFatSmilingShoutouts.BlogSpot.Com) for all the people whom I wish to shoutout out there. A year has passed and I have prepared a new template for the blog to start 2006 and to reflect the wonderful 2005. Be prepared on the 31st for the new metamorphosis.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day (you might think I'm crazy because I'm repeating something I just said a paragraph ago but PLEASE, just READ ON) making me not just a plain old 13 year old but 13 and three quarters which is also the age of Adrian Mole when he became a diaryist. I will begin my diary (presented from Oswin) tomorrow and that MIGHT lead to lesser time Big Fat Smiling. Jeremy has left the blogosphere and I tell myself that I really should follow in those footsteps.
So yarh... the anticipated (at least I hoped you guys did) Viva La Timor Loro Sae First Issue Second Edition.
Editor's Note
The Magazine cover is this time totally designed by me without the use of FD Flickr Toys using the celebrated program- Adobe Photoshop *ahem* 6 *ahem*.
Yours
The only member of this
*ponders where he stopped the previous issue, reads students sketchpad and procastinating*
Arte Morris
Arte Morris is the growing art scene in Timor Leste (otherwise known as Timor Loro Sae, East Timor, Timor Timor blah blah blah) It was started by a Swiss couple who saw many teenagers doing nothing on the streets. Thus he decided that Timor Leste had a potential art scene and decided that he was the one who should start it.
Thus he started Arte Morris a few years ago and now it is a gallery and an art school. I was there personally (duh!) and I too like him saw a lot of potential in many of the students. Being an art student myself in my Singaporean school, I thought some of the works were really aweing blah blah blah. Although so, I did not take any pictures of them honouring their intellectual property (do I hear protests from pirated vcd buying people?). I did however, take photos of the institution.What you see above the the type of music STOMP! from USA played. I forgot what it's called, maybe a reader can tell me? Unfortunately very little students were there when we were there thus we didn't get to here the *unknown* music. We were, fortunately the audience of a complimenting drum performance by four of the students. It was highly entertaining- I videoed part of the performance down but because of my inexperience as a netizen and the lack of interest to learn and google, the poor readers of this pathetic magazine has no chance to view the video making the magazine even more pathetic. But wait- magazines don't have videos do they? Even the Daily Prophet photos are only animated and not videoed.
The Santa Cruz Cemetery
Didnt' take much photos here except one from outside the gate. I don't know how some people can find this cool but I think it's horribly freaky to take a photo and see a weird unidentified object/person/ethereal in your photo, thus I decided to respect the dead. The Santa Cruz Cemetery was not exactlly a tourist attraction but it is quite an important milestone in Timor Lete's history because once upon a time some teenagers came to protest about the goverment or whatever outside the cemetery and the Indonesian police or whoever shitty people decided to throw fire at them. Thus the UN decided to take notice and that the world started to take note of this suffering state.
singingEVERWHERE!
was the last activity of the 2nd of 8 days. We visited a nearby village in Dili and there was wet mud on the ground. Being a not-so-rich person, I treasured my painstakingly saved up for Nike shoes a lot. Thus every step on the village ground was an arrow pierced into my weak and feeble heart. That carried on until my heart broke- the cute little Timorese child in front of me had no shoes on- he's feet was sinking into the wet mud and he was smiling at me. Instinctively, I reached our my hand to this little boy and he lovingly smiled at me. That was the first touched-in-my-heart feeling I had and there were more to come.
Through the course of singing various carols in Bahasa Indonesia and English, the sun soon set and it was dark. As instructed, I took out my cheap China bought and made lightstick. Soon I gave it away and urged dear lame pal Wendy to give hers away too. She then reached out to a small boy in front of her and whilst the boy was stretching out his hand to take his gift, a girl snatched it away. Wendy then looked embarassed at the boys' dear parents and proceeded to scold me for urging her. Then my heart sank. I didn't think it was the girl's fault- I mean you have to fight for your own happiness don't you? And it wasn't the boy's fault for not taking the lightstick fast enough either. After all, he was just a little kid (littler than the girl) and was shy. Thus I was determined to the fact that I would bring enough gifts for all the children and adults the next time I visit any under priviledged village.
Which brings me to the end of Viva La Timor Loro Sae Issue One, Second Edition. Any gramitical/spelling error is purely unintentional and due to carelessness and the spirit of bochup. Look forward to Viva La Timor Loro Sae Issue Two Coming your way! And Merry Christmas!
Viva La Timor Loro Sae - 1
2 Comments Published by wengkeong on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 8:41 PM.
Yay! The first issue of my East Timor trip! It shall be an online magazine! Right in the heart of BigFatSmiles.BlogSpot.Com! And I even have a magazine cover for it (courtesy of FlagrantDisregard.com which I took a super long time to do because of the stupid customisations) so please, can I hear the drum roll? *pretends to hear drumroll*
Editor's Note
It is my pleasure to start BFS's first ever online magazine- although it won't be circulating for very long- I hope it shall bring you joy and the very same feelings I have felt when I left for this amazing nation. The other queued up events in these 4 days which the magazine is circulating on will be pushed back to the next 4 days so you won't miss anything out from my no-life life. Please remeber to check out the Flickr cuz not all the photos are here. Meanwhile I hope you would enjoy this wonderful magazine.
Signing out,
The Only Member of this Publication
-The Magazine Shall here Officially Start-
Arriving in Dili
The Flight we took from Singapore- is the first ever flight from Singapore to Dili. In order to go to Dili- you have to take a plane from Bali which flies to East Timor 7 times a week or from Darwin which has a higher frequency of flying. Our flight was chartered from Australian budget Airline Jetstar Asia and it proved to be not so budget except for the meals and boarding passes (did I say boarding passes?). It turns out that the day we flew from Singapore (13th December 2005) was Jetstar Asia's first birthday- so it was quite a fun thing.
After a short nap, reading, looking at boring clouds and talking to lame-pal Wendy, I was desperately hungry. Looking at the Starcafe menu I exclaimed at the exhorbitant prices the budget airline was selling. A nasi goreng "Oriental Meal" had costs 8 Singapore Dollars without any drink, alchohol, water, desert and soup. Still, to satisfy my hunger I purchased it together with a can of Pepsi (there was no Coke) that costs 2 singapore dollars. I quickly devoured the wonderful meal and shared some of my chicken and fish with lame pal Wendy. None of us touched the acah however you spell it because it looked (and probably tasted) absolutely revolting.
Upon arrival after the 4 hour long journey, I was greeted by a flight of steps down the plane. This was a first for me- I had never walked on the runway before- there was always a connection chamber from the plane into the airport. Oh well, life always has it's first times doesn't it? Better to do it whenn 13 and 3/4 rather than 89 and 11/12. (Yes it's another 4 days before I'm 13 and three quarters- if that age seems to remind you of something please drop the thought and continue reading)
Then came the duty free shop. I had no idea such a desolate airport of would have a duty free shop (which is a very bad thing to think). It turns out that...
iPods!
Yes! East Timorese are iPodders too! It really came as a suprise, and the price was suprising too. Owing to my poor photography skills, I shook when I took the photo, thus the unclarity. However, owing to my good guessing skills, if I am not wrong, the price shown is 529 US Dollars! After some checking of the current Forex rates blah blah blah- you would realise that it is about 1.7 times more expensive than the Singaporean iPods! Oh well, I guess I should just blame the stupid DHL/UPS/Fedex for for charging so much.
The rest of the day was spent pespiring loading the boxes of gifts for the wonderful Timorese from the Airport to the Hotel. Oh well, it's a mission EXPOSURE trip ain't it?
Editor's Note
It is my pleasure to start BFS's first ever online magazine- although it won't be circulating for very long- I hope it shall bring you joy and the very same feelings I have felt when I left for this amazing nation. The other queued up events in these 4 days which the magazine is circulating on will be pushed back to the next 4 days so you won't miss anything out from my no-life life. Please remeber to check out the Flickr cuz not all the photos are here. Meanwhile I hope you would enjoy this wonderful magazine.
Signing out,
The Only Member of this Publication
-The Magazine Shall here Officially Start-
Arriving in Dili
The Flight we took from Singapore- is the first ever flight from Singapore to Dili. In order to go to Dili- you have to take a plane from Bali which flies to East Timor 7 times a week or from Darwin which has a higher frequency of flying. Our flight was chartered from Australian budget Airline Jetstar Asia and it proved to be not so budget except for the meals and boarding passes (did I say boarding passes?). It turns out that the day we flew from Singapore (13th December 2005) was Jetstar Asia's first birthday- so it was quite a fun thing.
After a short nap, reading, looking at boring clouds and talking to lame-pal Wendy, I was desperately hungry. Looking at the Starcafe menu I exclaimed at the exhorbitant prices the budget airline was selling. A nasi goreng "Oriental Meal" had costs 8 Singapore Dollars without any drink, alchohol, water, desert and soup. Still, to satisfy my hunger I purchased it together with a can of Pepsi (there was no Coke) that costs 2 singapore dollars. I quickly devoured the wonderful meal and shared some of my chicken and fish with lame pal Wendy. None of us touched the acah however you spell it because it looked (and probably tasted) absolutely revolting.Upon arrival after the 4 hour long journey, I was greeted by a flight of steps down the plane. This was a first for me- I had never walked on the runway before- there was always a connection chamber from the plane into the airport. Oh well, life always has it's first times doesn't it? Better to do it whenn 13 and 3/4 rather than 89 and 11/12. (Yes it's another 4 days before I'm 13 and three quarters- if that age seems to remind you of something please drop the thought and continue reading)
Then came the duty free shop. I had no idea such a desolate airport of would have a duty free shop (which is a very bad thing to think). It turns out that...
iPods!Yes! East Timorese are iPodders too! It really came as a suprise, and the price was suprising too. Owing to my poor photography skills, I shook when I took the photo, thus the unclarity. However, owing to my good guessing skills, if I am not wrong, the price shown is 529 US Dollars! After some checking of the current Forex rates blah blah blah- you would realise that it is about 1.7 times more expensive than the Singaporean iPods! Oh well, I guess I should just blame the stupid DHL/UPS/Fedex for for charging so much.
The rest of the day was spent pespiring loading the boxes of gifts for the wonderful Timorese from the Airport to the Hotel. Oh well, it's a mission EXPOSURE trip ain't it?
Touring the Capital
The second day was breathtaking. Waking up early in the morning and climbing up more than 500 steps is seriously no joke. There was a session of worship on the tourist-attraction Jesus Statue- one of the highest statues in East Timor (there are a lot of Jesus Statues in East Timor). Along the climb was many bronze panels telling the story of how Jesus was crucified. It was in Bahasa Indonesia and English. So it was quite funny to see the story of Jesus in Malay.
The second day was breathtaking. Waking up early in the morning and climbing up more than 500 steps is seriously no joke. There was a session of worship on the tourist-attraction Jesus Statue- one of the highest statues in East Timor (there are a lot of Jesus Statues in East Timor). Along the climb was many bronze panels telling the story of how Jesus was crucified. It was in Bahasa Indonesia and English. So it was quite funny to see the story of Jesus in Malay.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Hey, just touched down and am very touched at the hits I'm getting. Right now I'm loading the huge bunch of pictures into my computer- I took over 500megabytes worth of photos and videos okay. Haha, I'll probably need Terence's help to convert it into Flash or something but I'll just post the rest on my Flickr! which will hopefully be out today.
I'm pretty tired now so I'll start a series- hopefully starting from tomorrow. So watch out for my Flickr and tomorrow's entry!
Meanwhile... Bonoite!
I'm pretty tired now so I'll start a series- hopefully starting from tomorrow. So watch out for my Flickr and tomorrow's entry!
Meanwhile... Bonoite!
I'm integrated and back,
0 Comments Published by wengkeong on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 1:00 PM.
not sure if this is a sucky writer's kinda thing but hey, I somehow get jitters when I don't write. I have pulled myself from the colourful and vibrant internet society- excluding myself from all the wonderful blogs out there from renowned to not so renowned. In case you didn't notice, I sent myself to this camp (quite) lamely called gunGbound@temasekIV (shit my @ key isn't wroking again). Factors leading to my thoughts and conclusions are that I don't play gunbound because I'm probably to lazy to download the stupid and space consuming program and we all know that Gunbound is supposed to be spelled as Gunbound and not gunGbound because if that's a attempt to originalise the camp it's not working.
BUT of course after exclusing myself from civilisation for 5 days (120 hours, 7200 minutes, 432000 seconds) I have come to find that it's not lame (duh). Actually I only found out that the G in the middle was not to originalise it today. The G stands for the focus in every Christian's life. And why gunbound was chosen- I suppose somehow te fact that it would appeal to this generation got into their BB Heads (which is obviously untrue for my and many people's cases). Because the fact is that Gunbound is considered quite an old game to free games enthusiasts and many of my fre game enthusiasts friends don't play Gunbound anymore. But heck anyway, this camp has brought me many new experiences.
In this camp I had the chance to play golf- a game which I am extremely disgusting at and will probably never touch it again. In this camp I actually participated in a VS Spelling Cheer =) In this camp I actually SAW birds at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve and spotted 3 monitor lizards. In this camp I did Archery. In this camp I played a tennis and badminton integrated game called AZ Ball which I am not good at like any other racquet games. In this camp I experienced my first BB Birthday Bash which was awesomely terrific. In this camp I experienced the Sec 1 Orientation all over game just that it was easier because I had people I already knew there already (I know there's a gramatical mistake somewhere!)
It will be another week before I depart for my second most major activity in December- my trip to Timor Leste (aka East Timor) and yes I will take a lot of photos and stick them on my Flickr. I still owe my Flickr the AEP photos which I'm too tired to edit.
I will be visiting the district of Ermera which is Southwest of capital Dili. The sub-district which I will be situated in has quite an interesting name- Leletoho. I googled it (yes! it has been 4 days since I even GOOGLED!) and no results came. What a sad sad thing. I tried the image search to and zippo. And I'm supposed to sing Christmas Carols in a National Language called Tetum. What the heck. So yup- await my brethren- for my photos- I shall stick them on Flickr as soon as my integration process to the Singaporean lifestyle (which means no longer looking out for the weather of East Timor every time the weather person comes on tv) is over=)
So yup, look out for Camp Temasek 5 in 2010 whatever it's called!
BUT of course after exclusing myself from civilisation for 5 days (120 hours, 7200 minutes, 432000 seconds) I have come to find that it's not lame (duh). Actually I only found out that the G in the middle was not to originalise it today. The G stands for the focus in every Christian's life. And why gunbound was chosen- I suppose somehow te fact that it would appeal to this generation got into their BB Heads (which is obviously untrue for my and many people's cases). Because the fact is that Gunbound is considered quite an old game to free games enthusiasts and many of my fre game enthusiasts friends don't play Gunbound anymore. But heck anyway, this camp has brought me many new experiences.
In this camp I had the chance to play golf- a game which I am extremely disgusting at and will probably never touch it again. In this camp I actually participated in a VS Spelling Cheer =) In this camp I actually SAW birds at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve and spotted 3 monitor lizards. In this camp I did Archery. In this camp I played a tennis and badminton integrated game called AZ Ball which I am not good at like any other racquet games. In this camp I experienced my first BB Birthday Bash which was awesomely terrific. In this camp I experienced the Sec 1 Orientation all over game just that it was easier because I had people I already knew there already (I know there's a gramatical mistake somewhere!)
It will be another week before I depart for my second most major activity in December- my trip to Timor Leste (aka East Timor) and yes I will take a lot of photos and stick them on my Flickr. I still owe my Flickr the AEP photos which I'm too tired to edit.
I will be visiting the district of Ermera which is Southwest of capital Dili. The sub-district which I will be situated in has quite an interesting name- Leletoho. I googled it (yes! it has been 4 days since I even GOOGLED!) and no results came. What a sad sad thing. I tried the image search to and zippo. And I'm supposed to sing Christmas Carols in a National Language called Tetum. What the heck. So yup- await my brethren- for my photos- I shall stick them on Flickr as soon as my integration process to the Singaporean lifestyle (which means no longer looking out for the weather of East Timor every time the weather person comes on tv) is over=)
So yup, look out for Camp Temasek 5 in 2010 whatever it's called!
