Vodka Ribena & Pepsi

It was 3am and I was in a cab with Marcus and V. We went over to South Yarra, supposed to look for a place where we could chill out. Ended up in a greek cafe instead. We had cookies and cream cake and baileys cake. It was nice, 3 of s couldn't finish it. We bunked over at Marcus's home.

I came home, finished up the first part of my assignment. I'm now left with the second part, which is the tougher part. I've till Monday to finish it as I've to submit it by 10am. Took a 2 hour nap as I was rather tired and went to dinner thereafter.

Went over to the health science resource room in college, supposed to work on the assignment but only managed to complete one sentence. I just didn't have the mood to do anything. V's so lucky, out with friends clubbing and drinking. I wish I was out too. It's been a long while that I've actually been clubbing and/or drinking.

I ended up drinking vodka with ribena and pepsi instead. Now i'm a little high and am listening to fabulous 2008 and blasting the music away. Please don't stop the music~~~ I wanna take you away~~~

Oh well, won't be going to shake the planet tomorrow as I've to be home rushing my essay. Hoping that I can finish it by tomorrow evening as it's note printing night tomorrow and the poddies would be in my room printing notes for the week. It's something which I look forward to, people coming together to interact and have fellowship. I like seeing people getting along with each other. That's why I love seeing V smiling and being happy.

I cherish and treasure the moments we spend together as I do not know how long we'll be like this. Time flies. Everything will be gone in a blink of an eye. I'm trying as hard as I can not to blink. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. I don't want it to end. I want it to be the way it is now, but of course, with a better friendship and with sharing of more stuffs. I do.

You light up my life

I'm stuck with my assignments still. I really wonder how I can finish it and hand in the 2500 word essay on Monday at 10am. Sigh... I'm unmotivated. Or rather, my motivation's heading at a wrong direction. I'm slacking instead of doing my assignment. Oh well, I AM doing, but I just don't know what to write. I keep typing and backspacing. I just can't get my brain to work properly.

I signed up for a VIP membership for Big Brother. Now i get to watch exclusive videos of BB as well as the live feed of BB. It's kinda interesting to see 15 people of different occupations and background staying in a house for 3 months without contact of the outside world. No internet, no television or radio. Housemates are filmed 24 hours a day and they are to wear their mics at all times. They must also sleep with their mics on. Imagine if they snore real loud.. hehe...

I was listening to 883Jia fm on the netradio when this song was played. You light up my life. And I thought of V. Indeed V has lighted up my life. Always seeing V's happy face always smiling and laughing, never have I once seen a sad face. I've decided to go to V's house tomorrow to do my assignment and perhaps do reading on my text. Hopefully with the change of environment, I'll be more productive. Had a short chat with V today. We'll just take whatever goes our way, be it good or bad. Ultimately someone has to get hurt, either V or me. Nothing much we can do about it. Let's just see where lady luck or fate takes us.

Have a nice night everyone. God Bless!

It's Flying!

How time flies. It's 3 more days before I'll be here officially for 3 months. So far, what's been achieved? I've got my permission to work pass (well, only half of it as I've not went down to the office to collect it), started Film Five Management in Australia, went on Australia radio and my grades thus far has been rather good. I really wonder what will happen to me in another 3 months time. My exams would end on the 25th of June and that's less than 2 months from now. Thereafter, I shall be rotting in Australia. Hopefully V would be able to accompany me though...

I was watching the video on the announcement of the host city for the first ever Youth Olympics which will be held in 2010 last night and I got homesick. And during the part of the Uniquely Singapore clip, I got more homesick. When the results was announced that Singapore was the winner, I felt so happy - even though I've already known that Singapore won.

My assignment's due on Monday and I'm still not even half-way through it. I guess I'm someone who works a little better under stress. V came for a little while to my room this afternoon after my lessons. As I was rather tired, I just went straight to bed while V used the computer. After a while V left - I was still rather drowsy then, so I just said bye. V didn't have an umbrella and got drenched. My heart sank. What if V fell sick? I would feel so bad then. I've not been missing V these days. I'm just happy and contented to have V as my friend, a close friend. If we do get together, then it'll just be a plus for me.

Time for bed. I only have 2 hours of lecture tomorrow as the last 2 lectures for the day was carried forward to last week. Yay!

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."

Copyright © 1984 Mary Stevenson, from original 1936 text, All rights reserved.

My thigh muscles are aching. Went jogging last evening and again this morning. I forgot that I'm no longer as fit as I was during NS. Now, I intend to jog on Monday and Friday mornings, yoga on Tuesday evenings and swim on Sunday mornings.

I bought 3 posters today. 2 large ones and a small one. All thanks to Martin for asking me to accompany him to the poster sale. One big poster was an art painting of the last supper (the one with Jesus and His 12 disciples) and the other was the footprints poem (which has been reproduced as above). The small poster was the cover picture from the movie Brokeback Mountain. It's now taped on the wall of my room. I'm hoping that it won't fall off anytime soon. The disadvantages of not haivng blu-tac.

I spent most of my night (well, not really long but I found it rather long though) with V. We watched Big Brother on TV in my room together. It was so nice having V around. I love V's presence and all the things that we did together. I hope that we'll just stay like that or progress to something better. I'm not sure if I'm putting myself in danger by trusting in V so much and treating V so much like my partner. I'm just hoping that no one betrays me and such. And after reading the footprints poem, I wish I could be the one carrying V and being with V through all the thick and thins, the most trying, low periods of life and sufferings.

It's time to turn in. Have a goodnight everyone. Remember that Jesus will never forsake anyone. Jesus doesn't care what you've done before, now or forever as long as you have Him in your life.

It's left.

V's not feeling right, both physically and emotionally. I'm affected by it, emotionally. I'm worried for V. I've no mood for anything now.

Gosh! How can this possibly be? How can I be so easily affected by someone? Sighs...

I hope V will be fine soon.. I'm praying to God for strength and that His hand will be on V and V will just be much better soon.

=|

Pastor Russell Evans @ Northside Church

I went to Northside Christian Church this morning. Pastor Russell Evans from Planetshakers City Church was the guest speaker today. He spoke about our church's theme for this year, Devoted To Make A Change. During the first service, he spoke about bringing Heaven to Earth and in the second, he preached about us as missionaries of God. The context was the same as what he spoke in Planetshakers City Church, only difference is that he had no powerpoint slides to highlight the key points and that there were lots of examples in everyday life and stories. After listening to the sermons, it really impacted me, seeing the grace of God, how He blesses people using people like us and everyday circumstances.

Decided not to go to Planetshakers City Church today so that I could come home to concentrate on my studies and start my assignments. I had Subway for lunch. It's always the same thing that I have from Subway. A wrap (the only thing which I have to choose is the type of wrap I want, as in the filling), all vegetables, salt & pepper, honey mustard with a drink and 2 cookies. It's been about an hour since I've reached home but yet to start on my assignment. Will be going jogging with Faezah at 4.30pm. Downloaded the latest version of OpenOffice, OpenOffice.org 2.4. I dislike my wireless broadband. Not only is it slow, I'm unable to have VOIP calls as it lags badly, Trevvy takes ages to load and fails to load properly, I can't play MapleStory on it and go googleing on earth with it. Even listening to YES 933 is a problem as it buffers every 5 seconds or so. I can only listen to Power 98 or Jia 883 or use mIRC with it.

I miss SportsmenAsia and New Urban Male (although I don't frequently patronise NUM, only for their Havaianas). I'm looking for shops which are as good as NUM for clothes and such, but I just can't seem to find them. I might go over to South Yarra (Commercial Road/Chapel Street) to look for shops which sells clothes from Ajax63, Priape, Toot, N2N, neo:geo, Unico, xXx, Intense, 10%, 2(x)ist and such. My current pair of Havaianas are giving way. Thankfully Derrick's coming over on the 15th so I can ask him to help me get a pair and bring them to me when he comes.

I like people to be direct with me. I take hints very badly (real, real bad) and like those who are close to me to share their feelings and thoughts with me, be it positive or negative. I like them to help me what they like and dislike and such. I love to hear them saying things from what they are really feeling, what they wish and like and not what I would like to hear. I like people being sincere.

I woke up this morning feeling tired. Now, I'm still tired. I'm a real lazy pig. I've wasted my whole afternoon away. I should start doing my work tonight. After waking up this morning, it dawned to me that I wasn't missing V anymore. It has been for the past 2 days that I woke up wishing that V would be by my side. And while showering, I suddenly had the feeling of loss, that I had lost V. It struck me hard. Losing someone is not a good feeling at all. Reality came back at me. V's still with me. Like I've said earlier, if things don't work out well, we'll just be friends. But for now, I no longer miss V, but just long to see V again in time to come. I really wonder what's the pull that V has on me. I would think that it's the heart, attributes and personality. Physical attributes are secondary - they aren't important in the recognition of humanity I recon.

Oh well, I shall let God and time decide. I walk by faith, each step, I take, I put my trust in You.

Cheers and Blessed Sabbath!

Mixed Feelings

It's a Friday! I'm waiting for my lecturer to finish marking my very first assignment written for university. It was supposed to be ready for collection by Thursday but the last time I went to check its status as of 4.30pm, it wasn't ready.

There's the Glenn College International's Dinner later. We're going to Mosskito Cafe Bar & Lounge in the city. It's then the PlanetUni Urban Life after the dinner if it isn't too late.

Assignments and essays are driving me nuts. There's so many times which I felt like giving up, withdrawing from uni and the head back to Singapore to work or apply for a business visa and concentrate on film 5 in Australia. I'm so thankful to my friends here for all the support given to me and such.

I got to know V. V's a very nice person with a cute sweet smile. I told lulu about V and he says that V's good-looking. We have been rather close to each other for the past week. Will what people say come true - that I'll come back with an Auzzie? I'm not sure as yet. It can't be denied that feelings for V is slowly growing. It all started when I was bored during lecture and I started smsing people asking them how their day was and I happened to see V on my contact list. Not remembering who V was, I sent it over and V replied. We met and got along quite well with each other. As for now, it's just time to get to know more about the both of us. I'm not sure where this would be heading, but it's progressing very fast. Although I feel that we should give more time, it's easier said than done. Lulu was encouraging me, better chase and pursue my dreams, after such a long time. I felt quite relieved after hearing what he said, but then again, it's all up to V. Right now, I just miss V.

Ta!

PRESS RELEASE: Film Five Management to bring Australia operations from June 2008.

--- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ---


Film Five Management to bring Australia operations from June 2008.


Film Five Management has reached another milestone today. It received its Certificate of Registration of Business Name on 28 April 2008, pursuant to and subject to the Business Names Act 1962, in Melbourne, Australia from the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Film Five Management in Australia will provide web-media, photography and event planning cum management services. Videography and talent management services would still be managed by the head office in Singapore. All existing clients would still be served by respective account executives in Singapore or UK and will not be affected.

Job openings for the Australia office would be available in a fortnight's time or so. Check back on our website at www.film5.com.au in time to come.


About Film Five Management

Established and based in Singapore as Film Five Productions in year 2000, the company has expanded and is now known as Film Five Management, registered and having an office in the United Kingdom as Film Five Management Limited in 2006. In 2008, the company reached a new milestone by expanding the operations to Melbourne, Australia.


Contact Information

Singapore - Head office
Film Five Management
VBox 888494
Singapore
Telephone: +65 6447 8577
Email: info(at)film5.org

Australia Operations
Film Five Management
c/o. Edgar Mirantz Tan
Glenn College, La Trobe University
Bundoora
VIC 3086
Australia
Telephone: +61 (03)9479 5287
Email: info(at)film5.com.au

New URL's

My blog can now be assessed via 3 URL's.

edgarmirantz.com
edgarmirantz.net
edgarmirantz.info

Whee!

Time to blog.

There is a right time for everything. There is a time to be born and a time to cry. There is a time to plant and a time to pull out plants. There is a time to sing, laugh, cry. I wrote this song and put the music to it when I was 11 when I was a student with Agape Center with the help of my mentor with the words from the bible. Till date, i still have the score with me on my table back home. Memories come flooding by when it was performed by my friends for the opening ceremony of the Agape Center.

Then there are the memories of the times while I was serving in church, whereby I would be in church almost everyday when I was 16. More recently, it's the memories of me and the kingdom. I would consider them my family. The fun times that we had and also the not-so-good times that we had. I still remember the night when everyone gathered at the airport to see me off. If not for the rush and hecticness, I guess I would have just cried. In the plane as I looked at the card that they gave me, my eyes swelled and tears rolled down my cheeks.

Now there are memories of Australia. All the wonderful people both asians and the locals and those who accepts me for who I am. God lead me to a wonderful church, Planetshakers City Church.

I got to know this local - A. He's a rather nice guy and stays just 10 minutes away from the university. I just found out that he has a pool in his house. That's so cool. Nicolaas's parents are in town for the fornight. Fazeah and me would be preparing some asian dishes for them on Monday night for dinner. I'm still not sure if I should just ask A to come though.

Till then,

Happy ANZAC Day (which was yesterday actually)!

Debut on Australia's National Community Radio

I got lost on my way to church today. My internal GPS didn't work. It might be due to the bus making so many turns. I alighted at the wrong stop. 30 minutes later, I landed myself in a train to the city. Went to South Yarra instead to walk around the shopping district.

I made my debut appearance on Australia's national community radio station, JOY 94.9fm. I kinda co-hosted with 2 others in the studio for the Probation program from 6 to 7pm. If everything turns out well, I might continue co-hosting every Sunday.

Oh well, it's end of week 6 and the start of week 7. How time flies.

Hurrah!

Floor Crawling | Pancakes

Every Thursday night's Bar night over at the Eagle Bar. Most of the time, I wouldn't be joining the rest of the people in college for the bar night. However, this week, they had a floor crawl (going from room to room on the floor). And since there was a slip of paper under my door after I arrived home on Tuesday telling me which group I was assigned to, I just agreed on participating. Our theme was on Pacific Islands. Photos of the 3rd North Floor Crawl are on Facebook. Thanks to Charlie for taking all the lovely pictures.

It was great fun seeing people do all sorts of stuffs and playing games and drinking. Of course the good me didn't drink much. Went to Eagle's Bar thereafter for a while. Heard some clubbing songs and how I wish I was back in Singapore over at Taboo. I miss Taboo and clubbing. Once again, I felt so much like dragging. Whahha...

It's Saturday and I went over to Preston Market as usual. Didn't buy much this time. Nick Chew came over to Preston Market for the first time. He bought himself a grater, a bar of chocolate, drinking cocoa powder and a can of whipped cream - to make for himself hot chocolate with whipped cream and some chocolate flakes on top. That's real nice - really enjoying life to the fullest. I can imagine holding up that cuppa of hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate flakes during winter and sipping it slowly. How lovely.

In the afternoon, we went over to Faezah's place as usual for lunch/tea/dinner. Made pancakes from scratch using plain flour, eggs, sugar and such. As we were using the electric heating pan, it took us so long to get it done. After we finally finished, it was almost dinner time. And now, I'm really sick of pancakes and I doubt I'll eat it for the next one month at least.

It's swimming with Martin tomorrow morning and then to shake the planet in the afternoon. I might be going over to JOY FM's studio in the evening as I have a friend who's volunteering there. He says that as the studio's old, everything is done manually. I'm really curious as to how it's done manually and I would really love to have a look and learn. He's actually also looking for someone to co-host with him, and perhaps I'll see if we can work something out.

Cheers to all!

Almost 2 months...

It's 2 more days before it's my 2 months in Melbourne. Life here's not as bad. In fact, it's rather good other than the loss of food in Singapore, not-so-good public transport system and the high cost of living. In fact, almost everything here is so expensive.

I've since submitted my first essay on Monday. A 1500 word essay on Plagiarism. I intend to edit it based on the comments of my lecturer and thereafter submit it to the Singapore Nursing Journal for publication thereafter.

I bought a Logitech 2.1 sound system, a portable heater, a lamp from ikea, 14" color television
as well as the antennae. All these cost me a bomb. And at the 1st week of the semester, I bought a Littmann stethoscope for A$120. It comes with a 3 year warranty and hopefully i'll be able to use it till I retire from the profession.

Looking at what lies ahead of me, I'm a little afraid of my future. I'm not sure how I'll fare for all my subjects and such. Will I even be able to pass the first semester? If I don't do well, my student visa would be terminated and I'll have to go back to Singapore. The money which my parents and I have spent would all go to waste and lotsa people would be disappointed.

I'm just trusting and putting my faith in God. Whatever the outcome be, I trust that it's His plan. If I were to stay on with CGH after my NS, I wouldn't be here in the first place. I would have learnt so much about doing business (and expending my company), hypnotherapy and working over at ESH.

It's the 2nd week that I've tried Hatha Yoga and Pilates (combo). It's rather fun and I've been stretching my whole body from head to toe. 2 months to go before I can say that I'm proficient with Yoga and Pilates.

I'm still deciding if I should attend the PlanetUni camp organized by Planetshakers from the 25th to 27th of this month, Friday to Sunday at Philip Island (the place where there're lotsa penguins). Friday's ANZAC day therefore, it's a public holiday. It costs A$155, inclusive of all meals, accommodation and transportation. Oh well, I'll just pray about it.

I'm going rock climbing tomorrow. It's a floor activity (meaning for all those staying on the same floor as me, 3rd North). Wish me luck that my pants won't tear or I won't be able to reach the top or get stuck on top and can't get down. Whahaha...

Till my next post, which I don't know when it'll be,

Cheers!


Love from the land of the Roos,

Edgar MiRaNtZ

Home Phone & New Photos

I've finally a LAN line. Below are the ways to communicate with me (or even send me surprises).

Home Telephone: +613 94795287
Handphone: +61 433353646
Postal: Glenn College, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086
Email: mirantz(at)gmail.com or ch6tan(at)students.latrobe.edu.au

Went to Williamstown and Boxhill during the week long Easter holidays.

Photos are on Facebook.

I'm not enjoying the cold here. It's been cold the whole week with a low of 9 degrees.

Still chiong-ing my 1500 word essay on Plagiarism.

Ta!

World Pillow Fight Day & Easter

It's World Pillow Fight Day today. In Melbourne, they had it over at Federation Square and I took part in it. Click on the image to see what's it like. It was fun!

Happy Easter everyone! Was Good Friday yesterday. Easter Sunday/Monday's just tomorrow/day-after and followed by a week of holidays. The university's closed till Tuesday. It's rather quiet over at college as most locals has went back leaving the internationals behind.

Still have lotsa assignments to work on and study.

Time to snooze and thereafter, get ready to shake the planet (PlanetShakers City Church) in the afternoon.

Send off @ Changi Airport T3

I just received the pictures which Joe helped to take at my send off over at Changi Airport. Joe's my other partner for Film Five. I counted and there were 18 people (2 not in picture) who came from the Kingdom aka 88 thread and in total, inclusive of my parents, relatives, friends and church mates, I had 42 people (again, the 2 weren't in the picture - Dominic Teng and Hazmi) who came to send me off. That's a real big group. To think of it, I feel so lucky and fortunate.

I've decided to signup for Vodaphone's wireless broadband special offer which will give me 5gb of data for A$39, which of course comes with a 2 year contract.

Should you want the send-off pictures, do email me and I'll send them to you.

Cheers!

Net @ home!

Yay! Finally I've internet connection at home. Home = a small room in college, in a university. It's expensive to use it though, the bandwidth costs 3 auzzie cents per megabyte of data transfer. That equals to A$30 per gigabyte (gb).

I'm rather tired today. Just finished printing all my notes for tomorrow's lecture. I'm going to sleep early tonight, most prob about 15 mins after I blog.

Take care people and Happy Birthday to me. I'm officially 23 years of age in less than 2 hours time (Australian time, on day-light saving). It's rather saddening that no one's going to celebrate it with me. The only thing that's going to comfort me is that lulu's (Marcus) going to cook dinner for me. I actually asked him out for dinner so we could dine out but he says that he's tired of outside food so he'll cook instead. That's so sweet of him.

Goodnight people!

I'm in the library using the net again. Brought my lappy to the library but it couldn't get connected to the internet. Connected with limited connectivity. Therefore, I resorted to using the pc terminal. It's late at night therefore there aren't many people here and I can use it as long as I like. hehe...

Assignments are coming in and I don't like it. Imagine writing 1000+ words on the topic of plagiarism. Gosh!

Since I'm unable to upload photos into facebook using the pc terminal, I shall do it here.

Enjoy the pictures...

No net @ home but outside the library

I still have no internet connection at home. I resorted to bringing my laptop to the outside of the library late at night at about 8.30pm when it's all dark and use the free wireless. At home, I've to pay 3 auzzie cents per megabyte of data transfer. That's expensive. Therefore, it would be good to go out to the library to use things like skype and such. And unlike in Singapore, there're no power plugs to be found therefore, I've to rely on my battery, which can only last me for about an hour or so.

It's the third week that I'm in Melbourne now and life has been quite good thus far. It's getting colder day by day. It's now 15 deg outside. I took quite a few pictures, but won't be uploading them so soon, perhaps till tomorrow or so. I'll be posting them into my facebook album so check it there.

My lecture will be at noon, so i'm practically free till then.

=)

No Net Still

I'm back in the library again.

I enrolled for my course yesterday and I'll only be getting my Statement of Account in about 3 days time. Until then, I've to live without net at home. I'm hoping that once I get my SoA, I'm able to tap into the wireless networks which I detected back home.

To get a connection back home, I'll still have to apply for it and pay $90. :(

I went over to University Mews to check out the apartments. It looks nice and I wouldn't mind shifting there. However, single bedroom units aren't available and only double units are so I'll have to make do with it and be put on the waiting list.

It's Pub-crawling tonight and I'll be going out with my neighbors (over at my building) to various pubs. They have a drinking culture here but I don't really drink - so yea...

Cheers!

Night @ campus

It's real boring at night without any internet connection. No MSN, no Trevvy, no Facebook and such. The coin-phone at my college is faulty - the coin keeps dropping out after inserting it and to use the mobile phone to call the calling card number is expensive. The only way I can chat to people back in Singapore is to walk all the way out to the "central" of the uni, about 4 minutes walk, to use the phone booths. It's under shelter but it's cold and it gets dark after 8pm. It's unsafe to travel alone in the streets of Melbourne, even it school, it gives me the creeps.

No gay life here. There's a GLB society here and I went to take a look at their unit - the Rainbow Room but it was closed. Guess perhaps it's not the start of the semester yet. I'll go join them as it'll make me feel more with my kind - the queers, i suppose.

I wanna go watch Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert but it's just too expensive.

Sigh...

For a better tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day people...

Cheers!~

MiRaNtZ in Melbourne

I'm now in my university's library using the computer terminal as thenet connection in my room's not available yet. I hope that it'll be up in about 2 weeks time or less.

My phone number is: +61 0433353646

My address is:

Edgar Mirantz Tan
Glenn College, Room 319N
La Trobe University
Bundoora
VIC 3086
Australia

Presents, parcels, letters, books, love notes, condoms, dildos, cock-rings and other items can be sent to me using the above-mentioned address. I'll be very much delighted to receive items to my mailbox/door.

Cheers!

No more work!

I regret for not updating my blog for such a long time. just feeling plain lazy to do so.

It's a Monday and I woke up only at 1pm. Slept close to 5am, that's why. I was busy uploading photos from the chalet and Taboo to facebook.

It has been a hectic week and I foresee that this coming week would be another busy week with me flying off to Melbourne this Saturday night.

I had my farewell chalet last Thursday with a BBQ dinner on Friday, checking out of the bunglow on Saturday morning. It was clubbing at Taboo at night and Dinner with Yong Sen, Daniel, Bastian, Marcus and Dan over at Chomp Chomp hawker center last night.

Please visit my facebook photo album for all the pictures which i've taken.


Cheers!

MiRaNtZ's Farewell Dinner (BBQ & Potluck)

-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-

MiRaNtZ's Farewell Chalet cum BBQ/Potluck Dinner

Date: 31st January to 2nd February 2008, Dinner on 1st February 2008 (Friday)
Dinner Time: 1900 hrs onwards
Venue: Aloha Changi, Biggin Hill Bunglow A

Diners are welcomed to contribute any food of any amount. 30+ diners would be expected. Contributions in cash are also welcomed.

No pork/lard would be served for the BBQ as we would be having muslim friends. For potluck items, please label the dishes if it contains pork or lard.

If you wish to contribute any dishes, do inform us in advance so we would be able to avoid any repeatition of food items.

Please RSVP your attendance; stayover, dinner, or both by 27th January 2008.


About Edgar Mirantz Tan

Mr. Edgar Mirantz Tan is a Nurse registered with the Singapore Nursing Board, Certified Hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists (USA) and a Gospel Magician being a member of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians. He owns the companies Film Five Management (based in Singapore and UK) and E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY. He has also partnered and worked with Changi General Hospital, Ann Siang Media, BRAVE, Trevvy.com, JM2u, Inkque and East Shore - A ParkwayHealth Hospital.

He holds a NITEC in Nursing from the Institute of Technical Education, a Diploma in Mass Communications from Oklahoma City University (USA) and will be pursuing his Bachelor of Nursing from La Trobe University (Australia) in February 2008.

Contact Information

Mirantz

Email: mirantz(at)film5.org
Phone/Text: 9MiRaNtZ (96472689)

From 27th to 29th January, please contact the under-mentioned:-

Undisclosed

Email: undisclosed(at)film5.org
Text: 94375130

-END-

Farewell chalet confirmed

I've been planning to have a chalet for my farewell for a long time now, but it hasn't been a reality until now.

27th to 29th Jan - Genting trip.
31st Jan to 2nd Feb - Farewell chalet @ Aloha Loyang.

I really have to thank Edwin, the Royal Slut for the 88 kingdom to help me with this. All my friends are invited to come. Please let me know if you're interested in coming so that I can give you more details.

Accompanied Brian to shopping today and he bought trunks, tshirt and a polo tee from SportsmenAsia.com. Cost him $105 in total. Whoa!

Anyway, time for bed. It's the One Life Experience tomorrow again and I'll be there conducting the free anonymous HIV testing for people.

Goodnight!

Happy New Year 2008

It's the time of the year again to greet and wish everyone a Blessed New Year 2008!

2008 thus far has been good and it would be an exciting year for me, I hope.

I'm staring to clear my Annual Leaves. I have 4 days more of AL's left and I'm breaking it into 8 half-days. That means that I'll only be working about 3 to 4 half days in a week.

Yawns.... It's another boring Sunday afternoon~~~~

Edgar Mirantz Tan - Technical Director

This young fellow is so busy, we're fortunate to have been able to catch up with him!

Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm a full time anesthetic nurse in the operating theatre of East Shore – A Parkway Health hospital and also a part time director of two companies - Film Five Management and E.M.Tan Hypnotherapy.

Have you had past experiences in a musical or drama production?

I was involved in the arts scene since kindergarten and I've been doing theatre, musicals and plays ever since. I also took part in The Necessary Stage's :In the Lenses of Youth" (1999) as well as ITE's “A Mid-Summer Night's Dream” (2003). I used to be in the church choir as well.

How did you get involved in this production?

Auntie Jingle approached me and I decided to make this my last production before I leave for Australia in February next year. I'll be pursuing a Bachelor in Nursing and Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy in Melbourne, Australia.

What does your role require of you?

I coordinate with the director and script writers to brainstorm on the various audio, video and lighting effects and equipment needed.

If you had the choice of playing the role of a character, who would it be and why?

The audience. The audience is always a character and I would really love to take a backseat at times. But of course when you're taking a backseat, you'll feel like being involved.

How do you prepare yourself before you go on stage?

Talk, laugh, power nap, drink lots of apple juice (it's good for the throat) and not eat. Eating before a show makes my stomach go BIG and I'll look rounder (which I already am).

*The interview ends abruptly as Edgar flags a cab to rush off for his next appointment. Come catch this flitting fellow as he handles the lighting effects for the musical!

AWS is here~~~

I've finally got my AWS aka 13th month bonus.

Now I'm longing for a short overseas trip to Malaysia, either KL, Malacca or Genting Highlands. Brian told me that there's a buy 1 night, get 1 night free for just $89. Now I'm considering who I should go with and when. Thinking of going in the second week of January and then have chalet on the last week of January.

Brian's having his band concert on the 5th of January and I'm watching Beauty World on the 4th.

As for now, it's the Christmas musical on the 23rd and 25th of December. That's enough to keep me busy. I need more time and more money to meet up with all my friends whom I've not met for a long time and really have to catch up with them before I fly off.

Merry Christmas and have a Blessed New Year ahead!

Gadgets and more...

MiRaNtZ's single again as he was dumped. His ex was liking someone so he couldn't go after someone with an attached status.

Although I'm hurt, I'll pick myself up and I'll run and soar like eagles again. Brian has really been a big big help rendering me all the support that I needed. I'll really need to thank him lots - without him, I wouldn't know how I would have coped.

Last Friday, I went over to SITEX 2007 at Singapore Expo to scout around for a new laptop after my Dell gave up on me and a digital camera. And at Singapore Expo itself, there was the John Little sale, so I went in as well. There I bought 11 sets of branded underwear which my mum was nagging the whole evening as it was rather expensive compared to other brands which I could have gotten it for almost half the price and why I needed such nice undergarments - not as if I would be going to Australia to show them off. Bought 6 pairs of socks as well.

On Saturday, I bought a new laptop for S$2798..00. It's the Asus V2S. Intel Centrino 2.2ghz, 2gb of RAM, 160gb of HD space, DVD RW with Lightscribe. The sales person was rather handsome - oh wait, he was the one I approached after looking through a few salesperson (Hmmm... Am I shopping for a lappy or a guy???)

On Sunday, I went back to SITEX and got myself a Digital Camera for $649. It's a Fujifilm S8000fd, semi-professional 8mpx camera with 18x optical zoom. However, that's from Harvey Normal, so nothing much to choose from (in terms of the salesperson as it's just touch and go). Read the review of my camera here.

Went for the AIDS Walk and I was informed by my dad (who was queuing for the camera) that it's out of stock and that I would have to collect it from the Funan Center either on Wednesday or Thursday.

I'm going to Changi Airport Terminal 3 tomorrow with Derrick. Hope I wouldn't have to stay back like I did yesterday, till 10pm. Will upload pictures of it here if we happen to take any.

Cheers and once again, Thank you Brian (if you're reading this).

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is just round the corner - 1st December 2007.

This year, there are quite a few events lined up WAD, in fact not only for 1 day but 2 days this year.

On Saturday, 1st December 2007, there'll be the AfA Charity Line Dance in the evening and various events in the clubs at night.

On Sunday, 2nd December 2007, there's the AIDS Walk from Skate Park to Tangs in the evening and the Fabulous Flirt party at night.



Do take part in them to show your support for HIV/AIDS. I'll be there so see you there!

No updates

It's been a long time since I last updated the blog. No, I've still been blogging, but in another blog - More Than Just A Story.

Something eventful happened on Wednesday, 21st of November. My patient, a foreigner, collapsed on the table in the midst of the operation. We started performing chest compressions from about 4.15pm all the way to about 7.20pm. We didn't have to give ventilations as he was already intubated and with the ETT tube connected to the anaesthesia machine. He didn't make it though. I was rather affected by it initially as I couldn't really sleep that night and went over to my parents' room to sleep with them but the following day, it's back to normal. The following day, the surgeon treated us to lunch.

Nothing much exciting has been happening in my life. Me0w's having his exams starting tomorrow and he has 2 papers right on the first day. I really hopes he does well. Thinking of me going to university's just scary. I wonder if they are being spoon fed in Singapore. I know that in Australia, you've to do lotsa research and studying on your own.

Anyway, hope that things get much better day by day. I'm also hoping that life for BT will be very much better and not so complicated.

Oh well, life's just like that. Ciao!

More Than Just A Story

I've been rather busy these few weeks. Preparing for the Christmas musical, hypnosis and JCI.

JCI's next Monday till Wednesday and the stress's building up. I spent most of my time at work today cleaning the theatre. I've to go back to work this Sunday morning as well as we've to continue cleaning and such.

Just back from the briefing for tomorrow's event by AfA. They're having a getai at Chinatown to create the awareness of HIV/AIDS. Was asked to take photos, but I couldn't as I no longer have a digital camera. Learnt from Singapore Expo's website 2 days back that SITEX 2007 would be held from 29th November to 2nd December in Halls 5 & 6. It's time for me to get my laptop and my digital camera! Have decided to go on 2 days, one to get the pricelists and such and on the last day to purchase the items (and to get more freebies).

I'm cracking my head on creating a new blogskin by my own, without copying from others and it's not as simple as html. There's more to it and an IT idiot like me wouldn't know much. It's back to reading and more reading (which puts me to sleep, of course). Do check out the blog for more details of the event.

Meow's having exams in less than 2 weeks time. I'm hoping that meow would do well. I'm planning to spend more time with meow thereafter and treasuring every moment of it before I leave.

Am tired. Going to sleep le. Goodnight and God Bless!

93 Days more to Down Under

It's 93 days more to go before I get to get the SQ Experience. I hope I won't be disappointed by it though. I'm so looking forward to Australia. The international office will be closed on Sunday when I arrive, so I'll have to report there on Monday. However, Monday's already the start of the Welcome festival. I have a feeling that everything would be very rushed.

Changi Airport Terminal 3 will be open to the public for their open house from Monday. I shall be going to see how nice it is next Sunday, as it seems from the website that it's a very big thing. My flight on the 9th of February (Saturday, the 3rd day of Chinese New Year) will be departing from T3 as well.

Depending on the number of cases tomorrow morning, I may go over to police station tomorrow to apply for my Certificate of No Criminal Record which I'll need for my studies.

I still do not know what I should pack for my trip. I only have a rough idea. Well, I hope that as time draws nearer, I can complete my shopping and packing list. I'm in need of a school bag (it's back to school) and I do not know if I should get a sling bag or a backpack. I need a pencil box. What's nice and class (read "atas") and not too expensive? What else? Winter clothing? Laptop, External HDD? Pencils and Pens?

Time to meet my friend for dinner. He wanna bring me to the coffeeshop opp PLAY as he says there are nice butter prawns there... Yum yum...

Goodbye peeps!

MiRaNtZ - Attached!

In a surprising twist of fate, MiRaNtZ is now happily attached, not to kenneth though.

But Kenneth's still close in his heart.

Busy week

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa to all my Muslim friends out there. 1 month of fasting, to some might be easy but it might to be to some, especially when you've to be fasted when the sun is shining. (The sun shines all the time, but depending on which part of the continent you're at.) I went to Siti Nurita's house (my colleague) to celebrate the occasion with them. I thought that it would only last for perhaps 1 or 2 hours and didn't expect to have dinner with them. Luckily no plans for dinner with friends were made. And whoa, I was fed really well, all thanks to the home cooked food by Siti herself. I didn't know that she could cook that well though. Ayam masak merah (a spicy chicken dish), lontong (stuffed rice with curry & vegetables), tahu tempei, sambal prawn, tomato rice and chicken. Watched TV, helped to wash the dishes and more TV before leaving her place at about 11.40pm. And by that time, there were no more buses to Bedok as the last 168 leaves Woodlands at 11.30pm. She stays at Woodlands drive 60 (near Admiralty MRT). Was dead tired when I arrived home.

Was the porter at work on Monday and Tuesday. I wanted to cut my hair on Tuesday as it was long but couldn't make it as I worked 5 hours of overtime on Tuesday and 4.5 hours of overtime on Wednesday. Luckily I'm on half day today and went to get my hair cut, highlighted and dyed. Spent $80 on it but it seems to me that the highlight can't be seen as i did reverse process (that is highlighting and dyeing instead of otherwise).

It's the visit to the Wyeth factory tour tomorrow. If I'm not wrong, we're going to see how milk powder is being made, or something to that extent. Leaving East Short at 2.30pm and the bus will bring us to their factory at Tuas. It'll be my first time there at such a far off location, further than Boon Lay.

Dinner on Saturday night at Hua Yue Yu (at Upper East Coast Road) with my relatives as it's my aunt's birthday. Will be going to Malaysia for the Pineapple and Mushroom farm tour on the 27th, Saturday. Thereafter it'll be November already, 3 months more to Australia. Whoo~~~ I can't wait for it.

By the way, have you heard of the Blog Competition 2007?

Only 20 blogs will make it to the final round. Every week, 7 blogs will be listed and each week only 5 blogs will make it to the final round. There will be 4 weeks of intense voting till all 20 blogs are determined. When all 20 blogs are determined, that's when the fiery competition starts. Before the final round, the person with the most votes by the end of the week for each round will receive $50. As for now, the prize remains as a $300 worth of hamper or $300 worth of cash and a $540 worth of hypnotherapy voucher. It is a hypnotherapy voucher for 3 sessions worth. I am still looking around for sponsors. The stakes may increase, the prizes could multiply. No joke :)

So imagine this, if you're the overall winner in the final round and a winner for the individual round, you get $300 + $540 and $50.

But who will be the winner?

E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY is proud to be a sponsor for Blog Competition 2007. Should you need sponsors for any of your events, do contact either Film Five Management (admin[at]film5.org) or E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY (info[at]emtanhypnotherapy.com) and we'll be glad to work something out.

Still tired, yawning away le. Goodnight everyone.

Letter to ST Forums not published

Starhub contacted me this afternoon. The salesman identified himself. After chatting for a while, he put me on hold to check on something. While he was at that, I used my other phone to call my dad, asking him to call me back so that we could have a conference call. And of course, I kinda regretted doing that. When the both of them were talking (my dad was practically complaining about the Sunday experience), I almost went deaf on my right ear.

About 15 minutes later, I was told that I would be able to get my new phone, a Nokia E65 for the same price as advertised last week at $88, plus a delivery charge of $12.84, this coming Friday evening. That's good news for me that I can get my new phone just in time for the weekend. Oh ya, and I'll be going to the Singapore Zoo with the 88 thread guys this Saturday. It's Hari Raya Puasa.

Here's the email from ST:-

Thank you for writing to us. We do appreciate your making the effort.

We receive up to 70 letters each day. Limited space means we can publish only about a dozen every weekday.
This means having to make often-difficult editorial judgments on which letters to publish.

We regret we are unable to publish your letter.

You may want to contact Ms Jeannie Ong, Head, Corp Comms & Investor Relations, StarHub at corpcomms@starhub.com.


Yours sincerely


Ms Noor Aiza
for Forum Editor
The Straits Times

So yea... The zoo will be my first place to test my phone's WiFi capability. =)

Starhub service not a star afterall - letter to ST Forum

I have been a very loyal Starhub customer since it started operations 7 years ago. Last Thursday, I visited Starhub's Online shop to re-contract my current plan as well as to get a new phone. The price of the phone, the Nokia E65, was $88 with contract. The next day, the sales consultant contacted me with regards to the transaction. I asked if I could collect the phone personally at the Plaza Singapura outlet on Monday as it was near to my office and so that I would not need to pay the delivery charge. He confirmed that I would be able to obtain the Nokia E65 from the above-mentioned outlet.

On Sunday, I went to the Tampines Mall outlet as I was nearby. After queueing for almost 45 minutes and speaking to the staff, I was told that the Starhub shop online and the retail shop wasn't linked as it was 2 different departments. I was also told that the promotion was over and i had to pay $268 for the phone - a $180 difference! I went over to the Plaza Singapura Level 1 outlet, with my wife and son in tow, thinking that I would be able to collect my phone from there as the sales consultant would have contacted the branch with regards to my order. After queueing again for another hour, to my surprise, nothing was known. As I didn't know the name of the caller, I was told to go to the B2 Customer Service center to see if the caller could be traced. After waiting for another 45 minutes to be attended, I was told that nothing could be done and that it was most probably a miscommunication that I wasn't told that I had to do a purchase in the retail outlet and that the promotion would have ended by the time I visited the shop on Monday. My whole Sunday afternoon was spoilt, wasted and I didn't get my phone.

Starhub should seriously consider improving and consolidating their retail and online shops as well as inform customers over the phone if there would be changes in the pricing if the collection is from the retail outlet after the promotional period. Starhub should also specify that online purchases are only to be delieverd to the home only and cannot be collected at the retail outlet. It is also absurb to know that delieveries cannot be sent to the office expect to residential addresses. Waiting time should also be very much reduced, else I forsee myself or other customers jumping over to SingTel or M1. What's the use of having online orders when it cannot be fulfilled at the end of the day?

I hope that Starhub would seriously look into this matter.

Repeal s377A - An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister
Mr. Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister's Office
Orchard Road
Istana
Singapore 238823

Subject: Abolition OF Section 377A, Penal Code

Dear Prime Minister,

As a citizen of Singapore, I write to appeal to your sense of fairness and equality, to take the lead to move Parliament and your party on issues related to s377A, Penal Code. I strongly believe that it should be repealed, not just for the benefit of the gay community, but also for the good of all Singaporeans. I also firmly believe that the time to repeal s377A, Penal Code is now, not later.

The reasons why this repeal is so important are manifold.

1. Singapore’s Founding Principles.
2. Constitutional and Legal Rights.
3. International Social Mores and Trends.
4. Domestic Social Mores and Trends.
5. Damage to the Gay Community.
6. Pragmatism, Leadership and the Future.

1. Singapore’s Founding Principles

Singapore was founded on the basis of justice and equality. This is reflected in our pledge. From the start, Singapore as a nation has staunchly upheld multiculturalism, with diverse groups living together in harmony by respecting each other's differences. This has been the cornerstone of our country’s success. Since then, these principles have been further strengthened. For example:

- In 1966, a Constitutional Commission was formed to study how the rights of minorities can be safeguarded.
- The implementation of the GRC in our electoral system ensures that racial minorities are adequately represented.
- The Women’s Charter was amended to safeguard women’s rights.

Legislating that certain sexual acts are legal for heterosexuals but illegal for gay men is tantamount to our country taking an active step (for the first time) to discriminate against a minority group. That goes against everything we, as Singaporeans, have been taught to believe in and hold dear.

2. Constitutional and Legal Rights

Section 377A contravenes Singapore’s Constitution which grants equal rights to treatment and protection for everyone. This law is unequivocally discriminatory. We believe a gay man should have exactly the same rights as a straight man or woman.

We understand that there are elements of our society that do not see being gay in a positive light. They are entitled to their opinion. But their opinion should not infringe upon the rights of this – or any – group of Singaporeans. This holds true even if those who disapprove of gay people outnumber those who support them. In fact, it is the responsibility of any democratically elected government to protect minorities from the “tyranny of the majority”.

Section 377A violates an individuals's right to privacy. Especially since what we are talking about is a choice between consenting adults and hurts no one.

Furthermore, the government's self-avowed compromise of having s377A on the books but not enforcing it will bring Singapore’s justice system into disrepute. The Council of the Law Society states in its report to the Ministry Of Home Affairs dated March 30, 2007, that the law as it stands “cannot be justified”. The Council goes further to argue that the proper function of criminal law “is to protect others from harm by punishing harmful conduct. Private consensual homosexual conduct between adults does not cause harm recognisable by the criminal law. Thus, regardless of one's personal view of the morality or otherwise of such conduct, it should not be made a criminal offence”.

Singapore has always taken pride in being a country where the rule of law is transparent, fair and clear cut. This reputation has served us well and contributed in no small way to our country’s success and should not be eroded by this aberration.

3. International Trends

The courts of many major countries have held the equivalent of s377A to be discriminatory, an invasion of privacy and unconstitutional. This is not only in Europe and America. It includes the UN Human Rights Committee, S, Africa and most recently Hong Kong. The legislatures in UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and even China have also passed laws decriminalising such acts.

Singapore will be woefully out-of-step with the rest of the world should it move to retain this Victorian legislation only weeks after Newsweek magazine’s cover story proclaimed that “the battle for gay rights is gaining ground across the globe” and hailed the repeal of laws similar to s377A across the globe as “a global civil-rights revolution”.


4. Domestic Trends

The attitude of Singaporeans have become much more accepting of alternative sexuality. Between 2000 and 2005, the level of acceptance has changed from 10% to more than 30%. The latest figure is taken from Mark Cenite and B. Detenber's article in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Furthermore, the Straits Times online census in July 2007 indicated a tolerance level of 55%.

Admittedly, different public polls can often illustrate contrasting views and the sum of all these statistics makes it difficult to get a clear view of popular sentiment. However we believe that the law of our land does not exist to be popular, but to be fair and just for all people. This is a belief we know is shared by many.

5. Damage to the Gay Community

If the current amendment bill succeeds, the resulting law will become a bitter symbol to many gay Singaporean men, young and old. It will hinder greater understanding and integration of these people, who are often responsible, invaluable and highly respected contributing members of society. The only thing that makes these people different from the majority of Singaporeans is that they are biologically-pre-disposed to love differently. It will be a slap in the face to their significant contributions and encourage many more to leave our shores for more open-minded societies. Singapore’s most valuable resource is its citizens. We cannot afford to lose them.

S377A will also affect the status and moral citizenship of gay men in society. The government has openly welcomed gays and lesbians into the civil service. But this law will only discourage equal-treatment for gay employees everywhere and diminish the moral standing these men and have rightfully earned. We fear it will be a seed for further acts of discrimination.

Criminalising gay sex also impedes effective safer-sex messages being disseminated effectively to gay men and other men at risk of contracting HIV. There are numerous studies which have concluded that HIV prevention programs in environments where gay sex is criminalised are resoundingly ineffective. The fight against HIV/AIDS is an important issue which affects all Singaporeans. There should be no impediment to getting this life saving information out.

Branding gays as outlaws will be destructive to the self-worth of those individuals and could lead to an increased incidence of self-harm. Thought should also be given to gay youth who struggle deeply with this issue. This law would only add more trauma to what is already a very difficult period in their lives.

6. Pragmatism, Leadership and the Future

You and our government have always shown a willingness to make tough pragmatic decisions for the best interests of our country. Decisions made with conviction, despite opposition from various interest groups, religious organisations and minorities.

In a recent address at NUS, you talked about this issue and said that “we will not reach consensus however much we discuss it. The views are passionately held on both sides. The more you discuss it, the angrier they become. The subject will not go away.” Having admitted that we are at an impasse, it seems only logical that the way to move forward is for the government to take a lead with the same conviction and leadership it has always shown.

We keep hearing that Singapore society is ‘too conservative’ for this law to be repealed. This is not a strong enough reason to deny a group of Singaporeans equal rights. Far more conservative countries have done away with laws like these and are none the worse for it. We are a modern, democratic and secular state. While there will always be a place for conservative mores, we also need to protect and nurture space for tolerance and open-mindedness to flourish.

You have often said that your goal is to create a tolerant and progressive society for all Singaporeans. We urge you to now demonstrate your commitment to achieve this goal. Repealing this biased law will be a symbolic milestone to signal to fellow Singaporeans and the world that this is the vision of Singapore that we all share.


Yours faithfully,

Edgar Mirantz Tan

If you wish to sign the open letter, please do so at http://www.repeal377a.com/letter/sign/. If you believe in making Singapore a country of fairness and equality, please sign the open letter online before October 19, 2007. This letter will be sent, with all your online signatories to the Prime Minister in the following week. I've signed the open letter. Have you?

Debunk the Myth

Mooncake making was fun and at the same time, tiring. Started making at about 4.45pm until 5.30pm. I had a rest as I had to let the snow skin "settle". After an hour, I started filling the skin with the red bean filling and I completed making 40 mooncakes in total by about 9.45pm.

Here are some pictures of me making the snowskin mooncakes.

I've backslided. I got to know someone. He's a cell mentor. To think that I was once was so strong and grounded. I'm thinking of when was the last time i prayed. I can't remember. Oh well, yes, i did a fortnight ago as I was in church for the christmas musical production meeting. I do remember that I just prayed a very short prayer when i have my meals. But that was quite some time ago too.

This is what's from his blog:

MYTH 1: christians are supposedly "holy" people, those goodie-two-shoes that recite the bible and love the entire world.

DEBUNK: christians are no less human and any other human. true they're called to be holy, but they holiness does not aptly equate to "doing good".

MYTH 2: christians must pray, go church, and sing songs
DEBUNK: well would a baby grow if he had no food? like babies, we need to go to church to receive what we need to growth in christ-likeness. but i'm sore about the word "must". i would say that these things are great, but they dun make a christian. they only make psychics, concert-goer and music-lovers. a relationship with God is most important.

MYTH 3: church and school are two separate entities, and should not mix.
DEBUNK: nonsense! for the christians who think so, jesus instruction was to go into the world, not to be a church rat. which is why i dun spend too much time in church. lets not build daisy chains and ignore the great commission.

MYTH 4: church is a boring place.
DEBUNK: well it depends which church you go to. :) firstly boring could mean a lot of things. standing still, listening to sleepy sermons? there are a lot of churches that have fantastic concert-like worship sessions, and those that have amazingly hilarious pastors! i believe that teens ought to go to churches that speak to them. just as chinese services speak to chinese speaking people, hokkien to hokkien speaking people. as for christians, this could mean absence or the lack of the tangible presence of God. I believe that the presence of God will and does indeed vary across churches. miracles, healing, personal encounters are important to me. so i therefore am in a church they has all of that. its personal, really.

Perhaps I should wake up early to go to church, sometime soon. But then again, I wish I could have someone to accompany me to another church. When I go back to my home church, I'm not in a worship mood as I've responsibilities. People come looking for me asking me to help in this and that. The next thing i know that is that i would be sitting in front of the audio console mixing and giving technical directions.

My church's AV ministry is in need of more people. Steven (owner of Vaxicom) hasn't been feeling well, so that makes it only 2 main persons in charge. I still remember when i was there, we would each take 1 week each to be in charge. Now it's twice a week for them.

I feel so much at home in Free Community Church even though I'm just a visitor there. It's where I can be me. Whenever I go for their services, my heart just pours out and everything just flows.

Sigh...

Oh ya, I forgot to add. Happy Childrens' Day!

MiRaNtZ @ Work!

It's Friday! This signals the weekends for most, but not for me as I've to work from 9am to 5.30pm tomorrow. Yes, I've to work as the hospital doesn't close on weekends and is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and 366 days once in a few years. Mid-Autumn festival's next Tuesday, 25 September 2007. According to the lunar calendar, it's the fifteenth day of the lunar eighth month. Some call it the mooncake or the lantern festival and No, it's different from dumpling festival. And as usual, I'll be making mooncakes, this time, Snowskin Mooncake with Red Bean Paste, or it's known as "dou sa yue ping" (豆沙月餅) in pinyin (Chinese), this coming Sunday afternoon. Wish me luck!

Wonder how I look like at work, when I'm in the OT wearing the scrub suit, or even the uniform? Here's a few pictures of me, taken either by my or with the help of my colleagues. The uniform that I'm wearing is the new Parkway Health uniform which all 3 hospitals would be having, instead of 1 design for each hospital. I took it during the size fitting session in July.

And of course, to end of this blog entry, is the one and only photo which i took using my mobile phone during the SP thread chalet. Someone obviously had nothing better to do and made it using the mahjong tiles.

Cheerios!

Bored & Confirmed & September 11

I'm @ home, with nothing to do. Ended work at 3.30pm but accompanied Willy. Reached home close to 5pm and ate my dinner. I've wasted my time all the way till now and there's nothing much which i can do.

Met my "di" this morning when i left for work under his block. He was on his way to camp. While at work today, my sister aka manager called me to her office, after a chat of about 30 mins, i was told that i'm now confirmed. Yay! That means that I can now take MC and that i can seek treatment from Parkway Shenton without paying as well as getting free accommodation should i need to stay in any of the Parkway hospitals. But touch wood, i hope that will never happen.

I realised that I've not told much people about my departure date. It's confirmed on the 9th of February 2008 from Changi International Airport Terminal 3 (if i'm not wrong) at 11.15pm by SQ237 and I'll arrive in Melbourne @ 9.40am (7.40am Singapore time). Traveling time of 7 hours and 25 minutes non stop. It's the first time i'll be travelling on SQ, so yea... I've requested for the first 2-seater window seat. hehe...

Anyway, I might go sleep early. I'm on half day tomorrow, from 8am to 12.30pm and it'll be weekend for me thereafter as I'm on leave from Thursday till Saturday. Will be in chalet then...

Finally, a time for me to rest!

Oh, by the way, I managed to get a pair of tickets to V Conference. It's a stand-up comedy by Irene Ang on the 30th of September. Anyone wanna come with me???

Cheerio!

Added on @ 2030hrs: I just realised that it's Sepetmber 11th today. It's been 6 years since the 911 incident happened. I remembered that I was still in choir (we were preparing for the christmas musical, if i'm not wrong) when it happened and when i got home, my friend/choirmate asked me to look at the TV and there it was - pictures of the planes crashing into the twin towers. 6 years ago, i was still in Secondary school and very actively involved in Church. And what happened now? My friend, Lennel's getting baptised end of this month and I am not surprised that he's closer to God and knows more than me now. Bed time soon!

Good Morning Baltimore MV

It's the beginning of the week and it started slowly. Claimed 30 mins of time yesterday and 1 hour of time today. I'm not sure of the schedule for tomorrow, but i hope that it'll be fine, not too much or too little cases.


Here's the Video and the Soundtrack of the song, Good Morning Baltimore from the movie, Hairspray.

Enjoy~~~~

Ratatouille & Hairspray

Went to watch Ratatouille (prounounced Rat-A-2-E) with the gang on Saturday night. It started only on Sunday morning though. Reached home at about 3am. Slept for 2 hours and went to Batam.

Shopping, shopping and more shopping. I ate A&W twice and in both times, i had to gobble the food as there wasn't enough time. Had a waffle, curley fries and 2 root beer floats in total. Bought lotsa crackers and instant noodles.

I wanna watch the movie Hairspray. The song Good Morning Baltimore's so nice~~~ Will post the YouTube video here soon. I'm tired, need to sleep. Goodnight!

Dates

Last day of work @ Parkway: 31 January 2007
Chinese New Year: 7 February 2008
Depart Singapore: 9 February 2008
Arrive in Melbourne, Australia: 10 February 2008

These are the tentative dates which I'm looking at. It's been a big headache as to when i should fly off and such.

And I might be taking Singapore Airlines, departing at about 11pm on Saturday, the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year. :)

Bed time!

Photo Updates

It's been a long time since I last updated my blog - aside from yesterday's post. I've been feeling lazy. It's another boring Sunday. Rotted at home the whole day and watched MOBTV (MediaCorp Online Broadband TV. Woke up only at 10.45am and hence I didn't go to church. Brian had his concert today at the Esplanade. I wanted to go but couldn't find any company, so didn't go after all.

Long awaited pictures. I've been growing rounder and rounder. One excuse - I need to put on more weight so that i can keep myself warm when i get to auzzie. haha... But well, i don't think that's the way to go.

National Day's over and the next public holiday's in November - Deepavali (8th November). I can't wait for February to come so that I can get to Auzzie.

Think it's time for me to go to bed. Oh, it just started raining suddenly. No wonder my friends are all falling ill.

All those who are sick, please take good care of your health and like what I'll always say, do take Vitamin C.

Goodnight!

Tired.

I'm tired. It's been a tiring week, even though it's a public holiday yesterday. I spent my National Day at Bedok's Long John Silver coaching my "boy" maths and we only covered 2 topics.

Went over to St John's HQ this afternoon as I was on half day today. Spent S$145 on all the accessories for my uniform, pants and shoes, making it complete as I've to wear it for the upcoming Annual Brigade Inspection in September. I just realised that I've missed out buying a red bar for my shoulder stripe as that distinguishes a nursing officer.

I signed up for a 3 month MOBTV plan and it comes with 1 month free making it 4 months in total. That means I've until December to watch shows when I'm bored. I intend to watch PCK, Sassy Neighbour and such.. haha....

Off to bed now!

Nights!

www.emtanhypnotherapy.com

It's been a long and tiring week for me.

I've finally managed to get my new company's website up and running.

Visit it now @ http://www.emtanhypnotherapy.com/

It's time for bed for me now. Cheers!

To resign or not to resign

I'm wondering if i should resign. If i want to, i would just have to give them a 3 day notice.

If i do, i can go into full time agency nursing and at the very least, i would be able to earn $2k after working for at least 15 days.

However, if i don't get any jobs, I'll be starving.

Well, perhaps i should just prepare my resignation letter. It may come in handy. However, my printer's down even though i've spent $40 on printer ink. :(

E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY

Introducing E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY, registered with the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) on 10 July 2007.

Should it be pronounced as Emtan or E-M-TAN?

I'm on the midst of getting the logo designed and then getting the website up. Thereafter, i will start working on the rate card. Then, it's time for me to get my clients - and charge them a minimal sum for therapy.

What's the difference between this new company and the rest? I do not have a clinic. I do out-calls and you can choose to have the sessions either in the comfort of your own home, or by coming over to my house (my room, that is) thus making it a more conducive and comfortable environment, somewhere you can feel at home. That's the main purpose right? To be more relaxed and comfortable.

In general, I perform hypnosis for my clients for almost all issues in life. However, I do specialize in dealing with issues with regards to Confidence, Sexual Problems, Childbirth & Fertility, Stress and Anxiety and Weight Loss/Gain.

Contact me should you wish to find out more.

Goodnight peeps!

La Trobe - Again.

On Sunday, I met up with my relatives and cousin for dinner. I told my cousin about me having to sit for the IELTS examiniation before being able to accept the offer given to me by La Trobe. I was then advised to call the person in charge to inform them that I was from Singapore, a nation which English was the primary language. I emailed the Chief Executive Director (International) after searching for his email address on La Trobe's website regarding my command of the English language as well as me having an "A" throughout my high school education.

Last night while I was surfing La Trobe's website and went into the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, my hopes were dashed as the English language requirements for admission into the it was a minimum overall band score of 6.5 with no individual band score less than 6.0 for IELTS. I wrote a check payable to the "British Council" and duly completed the IELTS Academic workshop application form and asked my dad to send it the following day as my AL on the 14th had already been approved.

I received an email from La Trobe University today. I was expecting the same reply that I would require the IELTS. However, to my delight, I was told that my condition for offer which is the English language had been waived!

I'm now waiting for my parents to give me the green light, so that I can go over to my agent, Hui and Kuah this Saturday to accept my offer and make the necessary payment, which comes to about $13500 Singapore Dollars. And that's only for the 1st half of the year and for the 3 years of health cover.

Well well, till then,

Have a nice day peeps and it's bedtime for me.

Flinders or La Trobe?

I just chatted with this friend of mine online. He works as a Registered Nurse in one of the restructured hospitals here. He graduated from Victoria University in Melbourne.

He says that Flinders Uni is good and that most lectures come from flinders. Should i go for flinders now? if i take flinders, i would just have to spend a few months in Singapore taking 1 module with econ healthcare and just 2 years in australia, adelaide.

Gosh, I'm not sure where to go now...

:(

Sunday & La Trobe & Hypnosis

It's Sunday, a day of rest. I finally managed to complete setting the Home Nursing Theory Examination test paper for the St John's home nursing course which i've conducted a couple of months back. Well, I think that the test is completely idiot-proof. If anyone where to funk it, i really do not know where to hide my face. Revision on the 8th of July, theory test on the 15th of July and practical test on the 22th of July.

The previous week, i received a letter from Hui & Kuah, my "agent" for my Australia education. It informed me that I've been offered a place in La Trobe University, on condition that i have a score of more than 6.0 in the IELTS test. The duration of the course is 3 years. Last Friday, i received another 2 more letters from them. I've also been offered a place in Flinders University and University of South Australia. For these 2, the duration of the course's only 2 years as i have advance credit standing. However, for the latter, i would have to complete a module in Singapore with Econ Healthcare.

I chose La Trobe University in the end as it's more recognized. No more Monash University for me. I would be studying in the Bundoora campus, which is in the city of Melbourne. Marcus arrived safely in Melbourne on Saturday morning and I saw him online just now. However, he didn't say much. I'm now pinning my hopes that i would be able to score good grades for my IELTS.

I've began offering Hypnosis to my friends and people who needs help. I think it's another new found interest of mine. Went for a short workshop on it, which cost me a bomb. I'm still not very confident, but so far 1 subject of mine said that it proved useful for him. I'm proud to say that I'm now a hypnotherapist! I'm now waiting for a few more subjects to try on to see if mastered at least the basics of hypnosis. I intend to use hypnosis for those who has been newly diagnosed with HIV, STI's or people with gender identity issues to give them a positive light and to re-discover themselves, without giving them any of my own personal views or opinions.

Anyone wants to be my subject? I will not be charging any fees for being my subject and I don't think I will do so in the near future, or at least I'm a clinical hypnotherapist. Should you wish to volunteer, do let me know. Don't worry, it doesn't have any side effects at all. Hypnotherapy can be used for a variety of purposes such as smoking cessation, weight management (which i've abandoned myself, after performing self-hypnosis to tell me that i should be contented with who and what i am and it proved useful), motivation for studies or work, alcohol control, bust and sexual development, exams, depression, pain control and even anger/temper management. Cool eh???

Time to sleep!

Is Harry Potter Gay?

OK, this is NOT meant to be a publicity stint for the upcoming Harry Potter movie, but if you guys didn't know, Harry Potter's GAY and he says that It's OK to be gay!

Just watch to find out:-


Also, the song on the clip's quite nice right? It's by Tomboy, entitled OK2BGAY. Here's the MV:-


Enjoy~~~~

Lessons, Hypnosis, Dinner & MONASH!

Woke up early today as i had to go over to St John's HQ to conduct Home Nursing practical lessons. Only 4 girls from St Nick's Secondary came. Ended at 12.55pm, 5 mins before time and took a long bus ride to Yew Tee, Nikki's house.

I had my very first hypnotherapy session. It's actually rather interesting, but it's very expensive. If you go to the clinic, the average cost would be S$200 for 45 minutes - 35 minutes of actual therapy and 10 minutes on discussion. I'm being charged half as I'm having it done in Nikki's house on a mattress on the floor. haha... Will tell you guys more on the experience next time when i blog, provided i remember.

Oh ya, my desktop crashed again. Something's wrong with the VGA card.

I brought my parents for dinner at Pearl River Palace @ Suntec. It's our monthly family dinner thingy. A-la-carte buffet dinner and i paid S$121.65 for the 3 of us. I'm lagi broke now.

I've been offered a place in Monash University for Bachelors in Nursing. The term starts in February 2008 and I've to accept the offer. In order to accept it, I've to pay an upfront deposit of AUD$10,600.00. I'm wondering now how I'm going to get all that money. My parents seems positive on me going over to study, but I've not let them know about the cost of the deposit as yet. I hope everything would be smooth sailing.

It's off to sleep now. I've to start work tomorrow at 7am.

Goodnight peeps!

A World Without AIDS Party & Singapore AIDS Candlelight Memorial

Saturday, 19 May 2007, 7pm @ Loft - A World Without AIDS Party
It's a fund raising event for AfA. MTV VJ Colby and local celebrities would be attending this event as well. There will also be a a short play on HIV testing. Admission of $20 includes a free drink as well as a goodie bag.

Sunday, 20 May 2007, 7pm @ SMU Conference Hall - Singapore AIDS Candlelight Memorial
It's the time of the year again to show your support for those people living with HIV as well as to remember those who has passed away because of AIDS. I was there last year and this year, it's no exception. Admission's free.

Do say "Hi" to me if you guys happen to see me there. Cya!

Orientation - Back to School!

It's been a little more than a week since I've updated my blog.

I'm currently attending an orientation coz of my new employment at Parkway Group Healthcare. 2 weeks in total, breakdown as follows:-

Orientation - 1 day (7 May)
Parkway Perfect 10 [Customer Service] - 3 days (8 to 10 May)
Basic Course for Newly Employed Nurses to PGH - 5 days (11, 14 to 17 May)
Basic Cardiac Life Support [BCLS] - 1 day (18 May)

And to think that I've already have my BCLS certification from SGH, which i spent $63 myself to attain the cert. And i don't mind the orientation - I'm getting paid during these 2 weeks as well. This is something good about private companies, especially like mine, when it's public listed.

Ok, it's time for me to sleep. I've to be up by 7.20am to get ready for lessons. It's back to School~~~ (Well, known as The Academy @ Parkway, located at Singapore Power Building, Somerset)

Nitez!