I am back from Christchurch!!

Just came back from Christchurch...man, the 10hrs flight is going to kill people man! Damn tiring.... Huimin was nice to pick mi up from the airport, and along with 1 X kg of Lim Chee Yuan Bak Kwa...like that how like to keep fit? Like that how to run the KL marathon? Nvm, I give myself after the new year to stay keeping fit!

The CHC chruch is the centre of attraction for the CHC city. If you reach here, you are in the heart of CHC











Left : I was waiting for the public bus after I came down from the Christchurch Gondola. I was given time to do some self reflection. As I was waiting for the bus, I was thinking abt the food I ate, abt the things to improve for my next flight, abt meeting Kwan Tzee later in the day. It is harder to meet a fellow coursemate in Singapore, it is even harder o meet a fellow coursemate in ChristChurch (CHC).

All in all, nice place to be there. Will be going there for a second time in the following week...Will attempt to vist the Authur pass and Akaroa. Next destination : Mon, 16th, Beijing

Aliying

I came across this minutes ago from Mr Brown. Thought of sharing with you all....

Rejection lines and what the girl really means
Found this list of rejection lines from Charlotte's web. The "brother" and the "friends" lines sure bring back many a bad memory from teenagehood. Excuse me while I go to one corner and weep...sob:
Not familiar with rejection lines? Here's what we really mean. So get a hint, ok, guys? Seesh.

10. I think of you as a brother. (You remind me of that irritating pest. And I'm not into incest either.)
9. There's a slight difference in our ages. (You are one jurassic geezer.)
8. I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way. (You are the ugliest freak I've ever laid eyes upon.)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (I don't want you spending the whole night or else you may hear phone calls from all the other guys I'm seeing.)
6. I've got a boyfriend (He's my male cat and a half gallon of Ben and Jerry's).
5. I don't date men where I work. (Actually, I wouldn't even date you if you were in the same 'solar system', much less the same building.)
4. It's not you, it's me. (It's not me, it's you.)
3. I'm concentrating on my career. (Even something as boring and unfulfilling as my job is better than dating you.)
2. I'm celibate. (I've sworn off only the men like you.)
1. Let's be friends. (I want you to stay around so I can tell you in excruciating detail about all the other men I meet and have fun with. It's that male perspective thing)


My views abt this.
There seems to be upright battle abt lousy Singaporean men from other blogs that I had viewed recently. Mi need some time to think abt it....so no comments from mi yet. Will continue to assess the situation b4 I comment...
http://raynerlim.blogspot.com/2006/01/docile-singleporean-men.html
http://millionraindrops.blogspot.com/2006/01/rude-local-guys.html
Thought that I might simmer the situation. Here is what I get when I was abt to be go steady with Huimin then, on the lighter note

I like a guy in our class. You guess who?? (Dumb boy, it is you lah!)
Aliying :)

Greetings from Christchurch!

I am here in Christchurch! From the Crown Plaza Hotel, I am now at the lounge typing this entry. Time now 0902hrs. Singapore Time 0402hrs.

Had wanted to go for a sightseeing cruise today, but the weather today does not permit mi to do so. Min 13 max 18, continuous showers till the late evening. Not to worry, as I always know that there will be a better time to view the place again. Oops, the place that I would like to visit is called Akaroa, based on the southeast of ChristChurch (CHC).

Taking this opportunity to do a small write up on Mark Chong’s wedding. Mark’s wedding was held on the 9th Jan 2006 at the Sheration Towers, Singapore. A decent bunch of our main core classmates came along – Chin Chew and Jingyi, Jamson, Thomas, Cherlene, Weimin, Elsen, Efung and Huiyim, myself and Huimin. Though we are seated at the far corner, we truly enjoyed ourselves to the max as we self entertained ourselves with our fun and laughter b4 Mark and Julie came to our table for the phototaking session. The server was Shahrun. A very decent chap who really walked the extra mile for all of us. We got so much freebies from him – the neverending free flow pink juice, beer, two tables of flavours and requests from us instanteously made true(10 glasses of beer, 5 straws and 2 raw eggs). We were so satisfied with his service that all of us consolidated a significantly amount of tip to him. Can sense that he was very happy serving us too. There is still hope for good quality Singaporean service!

Mark finally came to us after seeing to most of his admin work. With Julie on his lap, he is supposed to drink from a beer + egg glass with 3 straws. Seems easy, right? Two reasons, he had given us a damn good bachelor nite, and secondly, he is flying off the Tasmania tomo. Better give him a heads up and the dosage of protein. J

After the dinner, we proceeded on the Japanese sake restaurant to drink jiu zhen zong. Chilled out till half past one. It was a great night for all of us. Like to take this opportunity to thank Mark for gracefully inviting all of us to his wedding. This feels like a class outing too. Next class outing – Feb for lao yu sheng!

Aliying

photos from Melbourne

Dear all,

photos from my recent visit to Melbourne - Next Station, ChristChurch, departing 100106, arriving 130106.



















Yesterday nite was the final episode of a date with the vampire -you know lah, the Ma Xiaoling, Kuang Tianyou, the human god, the hell god, etc...kind of recall the first series were broadcasted when I was in JC, I think. It had a good kickstart with the notorious miniskirt. However, I must comment that the show was kind of draggy in the middle. Something like clocking extra episodes for the sake of getting more ratings. The last hour of the show was even more funny as all the casts "met" up to drink after the final cut, not realising that something is missing. Kind of cool actually!

Well, the story of good and evil, love and hatred, jealousy and self sacrifice...that is what all we aunties liked to watch! Wicked!

Aliying

Rainy rainy day...

Had been a rainy day today from morning till now. Wanted to run but to no avail.

Talking abt running, abit of the dreamy side, but I hope that I can make it for the below mentioned marathon, should time permits on my training..

http://www.klmarathon.gov.my/index.php

Need to get myself fit again and shed the extra weights off. But not to worry, think this is transient due to the festive dec, but the upcoming Chinese New Year will be even more challanging....*while I am typing this, I am enjoying a piece of Lim Chee Yuen Bak Kwa*

Aliying

More had come inbound from Melbourne

It had been 2 years since I last visited Melbourne with Huimin. This time really, it was mi working - fly there, stay there for one night and come back the following day. And here I am typing the blog. I urge myself that I must attempt to type this blog on a more regular basis. One of my new year resolution.

With limited time on my side, I only managed to visit the city centre of Melbourne. Did missed the philip islands to view those stupid tossing penguins and the Great Ocean Road - which is of course one apostle lesser than the previous time. The city seemed very hyped up for the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2006. Can feel a bit of the post Christmas mood here - the decorations, people still doing shopping and the "Nobody needs to work in Melbourne" mentality.

After catching 2hrs nap after the exhausting overnight flight from Singapore to Melbourne, I revisited the memorable places that I had once visited with Huimin - Chinatown (down to the exact food court that we had shared a plate of veg rice), Mountain Design, Hard Rock Cafe (the T shirt as usual as way marked up price), etc. The formula of Melbourne city centre works like this - Buorke St and Collins St, with intersecting Swanston and Elizebath st. This are the only four street names that you need to know abt Melbourne.

Was nearly knocked down by a bike when I first stepped out of the street. Guess my sleepiness still carried mi over. But for those who are reading this right now, I normally do not fell asleep when I am working on a flight. :) Definitely need to be professional on my job. And that means no alcohol 12 hrs prior to flight, sufficient rest so that I can perform to my very best capability.

Wx wise had been kind to me in melbourne. Cooling at 20deg celcius. Cool winds with lots of sunshine is definitely preferred to gloomy rainy day.

While I am sitting down at the end of Collins st, I am fully excited abt coming back to Singapore tomo. It seemed as though I had been away from my fried carrot cake and beef noodles for so long. Alamak, must be the post effect of staying overseas for training for too long alreadi.

Good day, mate!
Aliying

First entry of 2006

Happy new 2006!

Being the first journal of 2006, I wish that this blog of mine will continue to update my friends abt what I am doing now, how I am, why I do this, who I am with and where in the little earth of ours I am now and lastly when I am getting married...hahahaha!

More will come, I promise

cheers
Aliying

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

Festive season is around the corner. Better log in this journal b4 I start to drink again...ahahah!
Just want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Hope that all in all, everyone had a good 2005.

I conveniently sum up my 2005
1. first overseas CNY with my family
2. got my pilot licence in June
3. 9 months overseas, 3 months in Singapore
4. Flew the Cessna 172, Baron BE58, Learjet 45, Boeing 777
5. Blk 478, Segar Rd, #XX-XXX, S670478 (keeping my add info confidential first)
6. Bed, Sofa, dining table.....to come

What is exciting in 2006?
1. Mark's wedding
1. Project Home 2006
2. Project Wedding 2006

Care!
Aliying

Wala wala and Balaclava

Round 1
where : Wala
when : wed
who : Eizac, Kapor, Jeffrey, Huimin and self
what happened : proceeded to there after a good meal at Sushi tei. Refer to the earlier entry abt Eizac. In a nutshell, he just came back from Sydney for a short holiday. Singaporean, 27 years of age, mickey blue eyes, funky, fun to be with, beach boy... Initially thought that we just going to chill out cos we would be working tomo. Jeffrey is on his way separately after clearing arms from ICT. First attempt at Wala Wala. Nice place with ample seating. Beer slightly on the higher side, but managable. Servers not so nice except one wearing a cap. We insisted that we wanted him.

So we started with just a jar of beer. Tasted even nicer with the warm night! But madness arises when Jeffrey arrives. Decided not to let Eizac come and go, we combined to order another 6 more jugs of beer, 2 jugs of long island tea and 1 waterfall to sum up everything. This is total nuts! NOt advisable for the faint hearted. Even I kanna 2 X jia lat jia lat.... Luckily, my reputation as the Ta IC sailed mi through.

Woke up the next day with a bit of the nasty hangover. Told myself, must not drink like this again.

Round 2 where : Balaclava
when : Thu (what!!! the next day! I thought I say I am not drinking again) who : My NUS classmates and myself
what happened : went to Efung first photo exhibit at the National Library. You can refer to his website for my details. Being an Everest Summitter, he is coveted as a mountaineering photographers in extreme environment. www.stefenchow.com

My warmest congrats to his success for this first solo photo exhibit launch. After that, we proceeded on to meet the rest of the guys and gals at Balaclava. The whole place, as usual, is jam packed like nobody's business. Luckily, I got dual ambush into the place to secure a place. Two things - to celebrate the success of Efung's photo shoot and to celebrate Mark's Bachelor nite. Jugs after jugs of Hoegarden, the alcohol refused to shoot up to the higher percentage in our blood. Drink after drink, Mark is still standing strong on both feet. Yingwei was thinking ahead - plan B must be activated to achieve the hard objective - to make Mark drunk for the very first time. A bottle of Jim Beam and 2 waterfall...hahaahhaah!After that, Mark became shaky, but still steady. Nvm, my final blow - a flaming lambogini to bring today's class outing to the new maximum. No need for mi to say more cos the photos below says a thousand words.

Mark, Jeffrey, April, Minchao, Efung, Mingyun, Huimin and self

Ta the waterfall - No refusal is accepted - There is no stopping!!


Nothing can bring E fung down!


All in all, really enjoyed the class outing! For those who missed it, there is always the next one to look forward to.

btw : Aliying better start storing karma or else people are going to whack mi big time for my bachelor nite!

Aliying

The wait begins

Dear all,

Had not been getting in entrys, apologies abt that. Had been busy seeking out the furniture and meeting contractors. Man, this is tough!

Will have to repeat one of my simulator session due poor performance. Had nobody to blame but oneself. Got to admit the mistake, learn from it and never do it again. Buck up, Eng Wei!

Things of the lighter note, is highly exciting.
Wed - Meet up with Eizac.
Eizac is a special friend of mine who just came back from Sydney. Heard of this great guy when I first entered JJC in 1995. They were saying abt this hunk - nice, cheerful, cool, etc. Though we never get to know one another, we sort of are able to engage in conversation very easily. Think of it as friends who had known each others for years. The breakthrough came when I made the move to visit him in Sydney with Huimin. In layman term, to bunk in with him so as to cut cost in accomodation in the very expensive city of Sydney. The holiday in Sydney provided mi much more surprise than expected - a real friend called Eizac. Sleeping on his sofa bed with Huimin really brought back fond memories. He is, indeed, a really nice guy. ANd you know what, he is available. :)

Thu - Efung's first solo photo exhibit cum class gathering
Efung will be having his first photo exhibit abt Mt Everest on that day. Huimin and I will be attending. That is closely followed by the class outing at Balaclava. Know what, Mark is getting married and it infers that he will have to drink big time...roped in Jeffrey to help mi complete the task. I should be able to make Mark drunk, but Jeffrey and I combined will definitely make Mark drunk! :)

gtg now.
Aliying

no good

kaana whacked at work, in the positive sense...buck up!
..not much mood to write...standby...

Aliying

lalallaalala....feels good after a base check

So what is a base check? A base check, in layman term, is defined as a test to certify that the webmaster, that is me, is able to fly the aircraft. And I am here to inform that I had passed the base check alreadi. Yipee!!! The feeling of passing the base check definitely feels good. Not the most amazing pass, but a pass is a pass. 70 is a pass - 100 is a pass. The most important thing is that I had learned something from every simulator session. It will be stored in my long term memory. :)

Base check will be conducted every half a year. So for my rest of my life, if I want to continue to fly, base check will always be part and parcel of my life. As for the details of the base check, better not reveal it too much, cos you may not know if you are infringing on personal information of the airline.... you must know your rights, k?

Talking on the more general sense, taking the base check reminds myself of the numerous checks(aka test, exam, proficiency test, etc). Competency check, tech exam, ATPL exam, solo check, Progress check 1 2 3 4, flight test, L45 ground school exam, L45 base check, L45 mid phase check, L45 final check, B777 ground school exams, B777 base check and many many more. .....

Even though after going through so many trials, I anticipate that there will be more challanges to come in the future. No matter how experienced a person is in his particular field, I would still feel a bit of the nervous when I am about to do the base check. However, all in all, I felt a sense of maturity in doing the things that I believe in - not the best, but will continue to prove that with hard work, determination and self belief, we can achieve the things that we want. The same logic works for mi - be cool, relax, chill, do your best and learn something out of it.

Base check expiry date : 04/06/2006
Good nite,ladies and gentleman
Aliying

critical week

Going to start a not so usual week...base check week. This is a check to certify that I can fly the Boeing 777. Hopefully I can pass. Pressure will be there, but I hope that I will be able to chill myself down. Relax, take a deep breath. Everything will be just fine.

For the rest of the people running the upcoming marathon, I wish you all the very best. Though I am not competing, I can at least 80% understand how tough it will be. Take this moment to wish Jeffrey, Mingyun, Dave, Chin Chew, Yong sheng and Zhiyang all the very best!!! :)

Going to sleep now cos got graveyard shift again!
Aliying

SITEX computer fair

Was at the SITEX fair today,....not bad, the response was huge, but as usual, I am "armed" with the usual singaporean mentality of look see look see....nah...actually, I am consolidating my targeted things to buy. The fair not bad, portable hard disk drive drops price compared to a month ago....also, saw the launch of samsung digital camera, cheaper notebook (i recommend twinhead, cos the prices are really attractive for the up the edge stats). Min got herself a portable 4Gb harddisk from prestigo for $149. Size is nice and small,.... As for mi, for the same amount of price, I would prefer a 60Gb harddisk from Iomega.

Here are some things that I target to buy
1. A 160~250Gb portable hard disk, hopefully >5400rpm, for my digital stroage solutions
2. Up my Fujitsu E8010 RAM to 1Gb
3. A Fuji S9500 Digital SLR... my friend is currently using a Fuji S9000. So I hope that the S9500 is also good to go.

But, the reality of life bites in ...where got the money? Though it is not going to be instant, but at least there is something else in my small little life that I want to convet for....That is life, I reckon, to keep on going and pursue the smaller and not so materialistic things in life....

Good nite, ladies and gentlemen.
Aliying

Finally a breather

Finally a breather from my intense work. Had been so worked out that I fell asleep while waiting for my notebook to boot up....

Am I glad that I am having my off day tomo. But tomo awaits mi as Min and I would be meeting up with a contractor. Five choose one is out strategy to go. When I thought there is alot of contractors around, there are even more furniture shops, even more electronic stores - Harvey Norman, Courts, Best Denki, Best Connection, safe superstore. There are even more thousands and one items in IKEA, Molecule, Lorzeno, etc.....Oh my god!!! Who can help mi in that??

Errr...from the above mentioned talking, it can be conveniently summarised that ....yeah, Min and myself got a new house. Felt quite good to own a property for the first time. But the upcoming tasks ahead are piled uphill to the max. Contractor, budget, design, furniture, electrical appliances, which wall to knock down, lighting, etc.....

Here are something that I want to get out of my house
1. I need a dining table - This is impt to mi as I, a family man, would like to have regular dinner with our families
2. Wireless solution - No more LAN connection for mi. I must have wireless connection throughout the whole house
3. No bar counter - Yes, this comes from mi. I believe that I need to be a good boy in front of my parents. No hard liquor, no wine, no beer...all hide inside the fridge alreadi...hahaahah!
4. A space to put up memories - photos, gundam mecha, jigsaw, ROM mega card, etc....
5. A nice sofa for mi to sleep upon. I love sleeping on the sofa.

Good nite, ladies and gentlemen
Aliying

Yet another graveyard shift completed

Man, I just came back from the graveyard shift. Felt quite wasted and definitely to catch up on my sleep deficit. (Even though I know the for human performance, there is no such thing called I owe 3 hrs of sleep, I repay 6 hr of sleep to have a surplus of 3hrs) 3 graveyard shifts down, 2 more to go. :(

Things on the lighter note, Min and I managed to catch the sneak of Harry Potter on Wed. My comments to it was not too bad! The only dislike that I have is that the director shortened the quiditch world cup in the opening scene. When the world cup final was just abt to start, the audience were thrown in the death eater scene. No good, no good! Thought that the introduction of the other 2 magical schools were good, giving us the mystic and magical feeling. Strongly reminded mi of the first instalement. For the rest of the movie, you got to view it yourself.

Update on the tHings to look out for this week
Harry Potter and the globet of fire (Done!)
Project Home 2006 scrap book (doing it tonite)
Makan with my family (postphoned to next week)
Catch up with Jeffrey and Jaslin

Good day, ladies and gentlemen!
Aliying

Just came back from work Time now 0610hr LMT

Ended my work earlier today, now putting my last bust of energy to type something b4 I sleep. I was flipping today's Straits Times when I came across the movie session. Ok what, there is mulitple sneak previews for Harry Potter and the globet of fire. Trying my luck to see if I can purchase two tickets so that I can surprise Min (Min is quite a Harry Potter fan like mi too). Just trying my luck on internet purchase, I discovered that most of the good seats are taken up. Guess I am not like the the young Eng Wei who would very on the ball try to get 2 tickets, by hook or by crook. hahaha!

But like what I tell myself - there is a better day to watch the movie :)

I would be looking forward to see how the director squeezes 743 pages of Harry potter into 157 min of the movie. That is an equivalent of 4.73page/min. That is speed reading! Madness!

Aliying

BALANCE

SO glad that yesterday is my off day. While everybody is on his way to work, I am so glad that I am able to sleep till half past nine on a monday morning...Guess I am finally reaping off the hard work of working on Sunday nite. Ha!

What I did today wasn't anything spectacular. Breakfast :coffee and biscuit. Lunch :porridge and fried eggs with cai pok. Watched a few episodes of animation (Neon Genesis)back to back...Had never been so shiok for a while alreadi... went for a swim in the hot afternoon. Had dinner with my parents b4 making my way to meet min.

Balance - not too much, not too little.
Throughout my life, I was always thinking abt the word balance and how it applies to my character, my work, my life, etc. For eg, I used balance when I am meeting up with different groups of friends. With my SIA guys, I would be talking abt how our flight goes and things to share abt. With my sec school friends, I would be talking abt the good old days, etc. With Min, I would be talking abt (*^&(*^%&^$^ NOTE : This is up to me to know, and up to you to find out. :) I also use the word balance when I am with Min. When we just started out together as a couple, I was just abt to enter NS. Poor Min can only get see mi during the weekend. Naturally, like any other girl around, she would want to maximise the time spent with mi from Sat late afternoon to Sun late afternoon. Hence I did not have time to catch up with my friends. The theory of balance took a long while to commmunicate - Min and I had our space, she had her own space, I had my own space. Now I can meet Min for the first few hour, then drink kopitiam beer with Fuhan and Keng Fei.

Balance is needed in my character too. In general, people feel that I am too formal at times. For people who do not know mi initially, they may feel that I am very "false", very "fake". This sorts of make mi unapproachable. For people who know mi, this is the way I had been talking since I was brought up from young. I am lik that one - courteous "ke4 qi4". THis problem was
brought to my attention again when I attended the 21 day OBS course in P.Ubin. I never know that being myself can impose so much hastle to my friends around mi. On the contrary, I also believe that I am who I am - Yingwei, Engwei, Aliying, Chong. I came up with the solution that I felt most desired - still be courteous (eg, greeting the elders, saying thank you to the cleaning Auntie) but also be one who can be approached and be chilled out with.. The balanced Yingwei, Engwei, Aliying, CHong, I seek to be.

But I do understand that Balance = fn (temperature, perf, temper, location, feeling, emotions, x to the power of infinity) - where x is an unknown that Aliying is still finding out what it is....
I do understand that I cannot be balanced all the time. That is why it is still balancing. Got it? There is no such thing called the ultimate balance!


THings to look out for this week
Harry Potter and the globet of fire
Project Home 2006 - scrap book
Makan with my family

Aliying

Oh no!!!

The thing I do not wish to come true had come true alreadi. I will be working on the day I am attempting the Std Chartered Marathon! Murphy's Law always work for anybody. Noooo!!

Even though the odds are against mi, I will continue to train for the full marathon. I may or may not be running the half marathon. Once again, it all depends. I guess started lah...the nature of my job does not permit mi to fixate schedules ahead of mi. My work nature is very dynamic and the operating pattern is not fixated. Lots of standby next time. Will not be
getting the usual sat and sun off. However, I am definitely not complaining abt it. :)

It is always good to make sure one enjoys doing his works. Sort of getting into the routines of the Simulator session alreadi. Looking forward to meet Jaslin and Jeffrey and coy for the upcoming Fri drink session. Also to get a chance to look at their photo taken during their recent trip to Nepal.

Just ran with Huimin yesterday. Feeling good once again. :)

Good nite, ladies and gentlemen
ALiying

Post Deevapura..now siong siong coming up

Had been a great week cos we got two holidays. Though it is not back to back, I am definitely not complaining...

The going is getting tough as I will be commencing my first graveyard shift. Do wish mi luck cos I will be having a very hard time fighting the ZZzz monster during my work in the wee morning. Everybody is still tuck nicely in their sleep then.

Will be writing more coming early next week where I will be a bit more free,,,,stay tuned

Aliying