i for ICT and IPPT

Just took a peek at my In-Camp-Training schedule next week. Just like what Ed said, it is almost like a chalet camp! Minus the fun of course. Ha.

It's not that bad lah, from the looks of it, it seems that there will be plenty of lectures and that means some quality time at the air-conditioned auditorium. Ha.

Unfortunately, there will be a 2.5 days outfield exercise in week 2 and of course, every NS man favorite nightmare. The IPPT. Ha.

I think they are trying to reward those who have been keeping themselves fit all this while because those people who clear their IPPT on Thursday will not need to book in to camp on Saturday and at the same time can end their ICT one day earlier!

Darn! If only I knew... I would have stayed clear of those late night chicken chop and cheese baked rice at Xing Wang! Ha. Ed and me are almost certain that we will be joining the extra-training club. :P

Looking on the bright side, I think it's still quite okay; I think Uncle Siu can still make it back alive after the 10 days ICT. Ha.

Moving on, a few days back, someone asked me whether I believed in destiny. If that person has asked me the question a few years back, I would have readily said yes. I would have told her that, "Yup, I think I was born to lead the greatest loser club of all time, Losers.com to greater heights." Ha. (See Losers Era - siukai 3:16)

Ask me that question now and I will tell you, "No. I don't believe in destiny. I don't believe that all of us already have a path that the Almighty has set up for us. I believe that we create our own destiny. Simply put, we are the master of our ships, we are our own god and we create our own destiny.

There's this particular quote which I would like to share with you guys:

"Each day, life will send you little windows of opportunity. Your destiny will ultimately be defined by how you respond to these windows of opportunity. Shrink from them and your life will be small, feel the fear and run to them anyway, and you life will be big. Life's just too short to play little."

I believe that where we are now is based on the decisions we have made in the past and where we are heading will depend on the decisions we make in the future.

Like if you don't stop reading siukai's crap now and get your ass off the chair, you may not be in time to complete that last minute assignment. Ha. It is not your destiny that you will not finish the assignment on time, it is because of your choice to continue reading.

That's a wise decision of course. siukai's crap comes first. Assignments can wait. Ha.

The other time, I was talking about this method of taking one small step at a time in order to fulfill big goals. I mentioned that I would elaborate on that in another post and well, since I've got some spare time now, let me just give a mini siukai lecture. Ha.

This book which I read, "One Small Step Can Change Your Life - The Kaizen Way" mentioned that a long time ago when we were still cavemen, our minds were built in a simple way. Since we were not really at the top of our foodchain in those days, (There were the T-Rex and other dinosaurs that could devour us effortlessly, our mind was built for one thing only - and that was to survive.

Our mind was very sensitive to danger, that was why when we explored unfamiliar territories, our mind will warn us not to proceed further for the fact that there could be one hungry T-Rex just round the corner. Wandering from our comfort zone would trigger off a warning from our brain. That was how we made sure we survived longer than the dinosaurs.

A few million years later, things of course have changed dramatically. We are now at the top of our food chain and we won't hesitate to slay innocent sharks so that we can boil their fins to show off at wedding dinners (That is a topic for another day.) However, our danger warning part of our brain has not changed much over the years.

That is why when we want to try something unfamiliar or something that looks intimidating like public speaking, our warning system kicks in and gives us all those anxiety signs like profuse sweating, cold palms, rising temperature etc. Of course, no T-Rex is waiting to eat us alive but our brain do not know, it has been like this since millions of years ago. It just wants to warn us.

That is why most of us put off doing big tasks like maybe file our taxes, clearing the almost full cabinet of documents or even less intimidating one like going for a jog. The moment we think of such "big" tasks, our warning system kick in and it will try its best to prevent us from taking the "risk."

The brain thinks that it is helping us to survive but of course we know that filing our taxes or clearing our cabinet won't kill us unless you have a mountain of documents, then you run the risk of being buried alive.

So, based on the book, there is actually a way to avoid triggering the natural "defence" of the brain - that is to take one small step at a time. Because when the task seems small enough, the brain will not sense any "danger" and it will allow you to do it.

Let's take one example of going jogging, an activity that most people dread or put off even though they know that it is actually good for them. When you think about jogging what is the first thing you will think of?

You might imagine running under the hot sun, sweat trickling down from your face to your neck. Breathless, muscle cramps and aches all over your body. Wow, that seems like a torture! Ha.

So guess what your brain tries to do? It tries to prevent you from going jogging of course! But all is not lost! Help is at hand! Ha.

The Kaizen method is simple, you just take one small step at a time and repeat it until you feel comfortable to proceed to the next. So let's return to our jogging example. Let's say our first step is to wake up at 8.00am in the morning for a jog, but you normally wake up at 11am. You lazy pig! Ha.

So our first step can be to wake up five minutes earlier every day. That's not too hard isn't it? No objection from the brain.

Day one 10.55am. Day two 10.55am. Day three 10.50am. Day four 10.50am. You keep on doing this until you feel ready to move on to the next stage. Of course maybe instead of 5 minutes you can shave off 15 or 30 minutes at one time, as long as it is still within your comfort zone.

So, what happens next? Soon, you will find that you have no problem waking up at 8am every morning! Just take my case as an example, I used to sleep until like the late morning every day but for the past 1 month, I have been able to wake up at 8.30am almost every day, except on Sundays when I reward myself with an hour of additional sleep. :)

Now that you can wake up at 8am, what's the next step? Put on your jogging shoes! Putting on the jogging shoes is not that hard right? It's another small step. Then after that maybe you can just go for a 1 minute jog.

1 minute? siukai, are you kidding me? Ha. Nope, I'm not. Compare 1 minute to a 20 minutes jog, which one looks more appealing? If one minute still seems too long for you, try 30 seconds.

The science behind this method is that whenever you do something new, your brain starts to create new neurological paths. When you keep repeating the action/activity more paths are created and eventually they become very strong. Now you know why it is difficult to kick a bad habit?

So when you start to jog for 30 seconds for a few consecutive days, you do not raise any alarms in the brain defence system, therefore new paths are created. By the time these paths become stronger, 30 seconds will no longer be any kick to you. That's when you will feel comfortable enough to proceed to 45 seconds, a minute or longer. Jogging for 30 seconds become part of your comfort zone.

It may be a slow method but it will work. Taking 6 months to conditioned yourself to like to jog for 30 minutes everyday is definitely better than forcing yourself to jog for 2 consecutive weeks before succumbing to the old habit. Remember that a journey of a thousand miles always begin with a single step. It is a small step but it still has to be taken before there is a next.

Anyone interested to know more can pick up the book "One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way" by Robert Maurer at the nearest library or bookstore. Ha. Like book review like that.

I was doing this quiz I found on someone else's blog and the result is quite accurate, at least for my case. I seldom do or recommend quizzes here but since this particular one is rather short (9 questions), maybe you should give it a try too. :)


Here are my selected results:

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

siukai comments: Yup, I think this is quite true for me since I always believe there are two sides to a story.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

siukai comments: Ha. This one is rather true too. I like independent and smart people, just like my patapon dar dar. :)

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

siukai comments: This one is a no-brainer. I have to make sure that my dar dar was neither a Liverpool nor Chelsea fan. My dar dar don't watch soccer. Ha.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

siukai comments: This one though I'm not too sure because before dar dar the number of dates I had... well is too embarrassing to be printed here. Ha.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

siukai comments: siukai is a born problem solver. Need I say more? Ha.

Just an update on my exam results which was revealed last week. I think I did still okay lah though there were two modules that did not meet my expectations. I thought I could at least get an A-. Ha.

But it was a fair result because I only started to work hard towards the end. Gys's sudden departure was difficult to handle and that period was really a tough one. But I've told myself to stop making excuses for myself because you reap what you sow. You can't possibly expect to grow roses by planting soya bean seeds. Unless they are genetically engineered of course. Ha.

That one module I got C, I kinda expected it cos I have to admit I did not put in enough effort. I swear that it will be the last C I will ever get in my remaining 2 years of study. (Notice that I never say I will not get C+ or D? Ha. )

I have not always been good with maths or numbers and so that's why I have decided to set a challenge to myself. Next sem, I will be taking 3 modules that involves maths and I'm going to score 3 As. Yup, it might be a tall order but I just want to prove to anyone who is reading this now that the mind can achieve whatever you set it to do.

I believe nothing is impossible, it's either because you did not try hard enough or you run out of time.

Winners make sacrifices, losers make excuses.

One of my new found friend has been asking me for tips on how to maintain a relationship, seeing how siukai and his patapon dar dar is almost into their 35 months, reaching 36 in July. :) Of course it takes two hands to clap but the role the guy has to undertake is crucial nonetheless.

So, do look out for siukai's upcoming book, "Women are from Bukit Panjang. Men are from Queenstown." Ha.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Girls like surprises. Who wouldn't? Actually guys like surprises too. So, give your partner a surprise. If you are a guy, buy your gf a bouquet of flower and treat her to dinner. If you are a girl, cooking him a sumptuous dinner and topping it up with the latest psp game can do wonders too.

And when they ask, "How come you give me present today? What's the occasion?"

You reply, "Give present to laopo/laogong/darling/honey need reason meh?"

I tell you, that smile on her/his face would be the widest you have ever seen. Ha.

I have been typing this for almost two hours now. Ha. Yah, I'm full of crap. :)

Yesterday, I thought about my previous post on Kingston. Initially, I wanted to post a heavily censored M16 version taking into account those people who do not know siukai well and who happened to read the entry might think that siukai is actually a nasty guy trying to badmouth someone.

Well, I thought about it for a while and realised that there will always be two camps to a story, like how there will be people who think that terrorism is a good thing while the rest of the world opposes it. Of course, I'm not saying I'm comparable to a terrorist lah.

I was searching for this quote which I read a long time back but wasn't able to find it, so I came up with my own version but with similar meaning.

When we were young, we were always conscious of how people think of us, we put on our best makeup, dress up so that we will look our best when we walk on the streets. When we were adults, we try our best to climb the corporate ladder, to gain success and money because we were afraid how people would judged us if we were not successful. And finally when we are old and frail, we finally realised that all these while, no one has been judging us because most people are too busy minding their own business.

At the end of the day, the opinions of others do not count because as long as you know you are doing the right things, you have spoken the truth and your conscience is clear.

It does not matter if everybody else think that siukai is the nastiest man alive because as long as my patapon dar dar, my family, friends and fans know that in fact siukai is the nicest man ever, that is good enough for me.

Therefore I stand by my judgement.

Corsair is still better than Kingston. Ha :P

So siukai, how does it feels like to be 26?

Hi, I'm back.

It has been a long week. I'm battered, my legs are like dao hui(soya bean curd) after 5 consecutive days of standing at the world book fair trying my best to promote some educational products. Hey boss, if you are reading this, I really tried my best liao lei. Really. Ha.

It sure doesn't help when you have an extra weight in the form of a tummy who as I mentioned in my previous post seems to have a life on its own despite me trying to shhh... get rid of it. And of course, my age has been dutifully running along side me and soon I will reach the grand number of 26.

When age catches up with you, let's just say that your body just ain't the same anymore. Yup, previously you needed one bowl of rice to fill that stomach, then 2 and now it just keeps getting hungry, like a baby. Ha.

Jokes aside, my once muscular legs which was at one time estimated to be worth 1 million dollars at the Commonwealth league, (one side mind you, so that's 2 million for a pair) is now so weak that even the garang kuni man will have to think thrice if i were to trade them for some old newspapers.

5 consecutive days of standing for up to 10 hours a day is really taking a toll on Uncle Siu's poor legs. Ha. :)

So much for the intro, now let me tell you about what happened during my five days at the bookfair.

I met some nice people :) and one rather interesting guy. No, I did not meet Xavier again (see previous post) or his minions, Cyclopes or Wolverine. Ha. Rather, it was this guy who seemed to have something against me which I will explain shortly.

This guy, let's just call him Kingston. Of course you guys know that siukai is a nice person and he never reveals actual names in his blog posts. So let me just reiterate that all the names in this entry are fictional unless otherwise stated. :)

There's another girl who plays an important role in this story and let's call her Chelsea. And of course you have yours truly, siukai who is obviously the protagonist of the story. Ha.

So, it all begun on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the world book fair at suntec city convention hall. Oh yah, Chelsea and Kingston are both my colleagues at the world book fair, we are part-timers. So, it happened that Chelsea and me were in the morning shift and after some "Hi, I'm Kaichong and Hi, I'm Chelsea, we begun our search for our first customer.

Soon after, Kingston who was in the afternoon shift came along and he went around the booth introducing himself. Quite a friendly guy, I thought to myself.

When it was my turn, Kingston asked me whether I had any English name. You can call me KC for short, I told him nicely. "Oh KC", he replied, smiling. "How old are you?" he asked. "I'm twenty six this year." I replied. "Oh 26, he smirked and nodded his head. (For the record, Kingston is 23)

I wanted to ask him why he had that look on his face but then decided not to. I was not there to chat but rather to help my boss make some sales for his education products. (You hear that boss?!) Ha. :p

Anyway, after a while Kingston left me alone and he proceeded to talk to Chelsea. For the next few hours, Kingston was chatting with Chelsea and did not give a hoot about the customers who walked past. That of course made him a bad salesperson since he did not attempt to get any customers but unbelievably, he did made one deal while poor siukai, the hero got none even though he was like working his ass off.

That brings me to the next point: Life is not fair. Don't worry, I know that like eons ago but I just wanted to warn the readers who still do not know this important fact of life; Life is never fair except in the movies where the underdog wins. Most of the time, the underdog will always remain where he is. Under and a dog. Ha.

So, the sooner you get over this fact, the faster you can move on in life. Repeat after me, Life is not fair and an underdog will always be an underdog. He can never become an abovedog and God forbids, an abovecat. Ha. Right, that's a bit lame.

Okay, so where was I? Oh yah, Kingston talking to Chelsea. Chelsea on the other hand, I think she wanted to be a decent saleswoman so she was trying to get some sales while Kingston was not chatting with her. Occasionally, she would come over and we would talk A BIT. Not a lot ah boss, my eyes are constantly scanning for customers even when I'm chatting. :)

Why am I telling you so much crap? It's all part of the story, be patient! The best part is yet to come.

Anyway, for my dear friends who are smart and experienced, you may already sense what I'm getting at. Kingston seemed to be interested in Chelsea and I can almost confirm on that suspicion when I kept seeing him look at my direction while Chelsea was talking to me.

If looks could kill, I would already be dead.

So, let me summarise up till this point, for those who are lost. Kingston likes Chelsea. Kingston sees siukai talking to Cheslea. Kingston thinks siukai is a threat. So, Kingston decided to deal with this "threat"

siukai of course is not a threat because we all know that siukai has his patapon dar dar and they are happily "married" for almost three years now. But Kingston do not know it, at least not yet.

Just to add, siukai CAN be a threat if he wanted to but not in this case because siukai LOVES his patapon dar and no other girls interest him. :D Hear that dar dar?! Don't be jealous k! :P

So, what the heck did Kingston try to do to "intimidate" this threat into backing off? Firstly, when siukai was talking to Cheslea while at the same time on the lookout for customers, Kingston circled us, like a lion stalking his prey in a National Geographic special. His eyes were constantly observing us, ready to pounce should we make any sudden move.

I think he was like sizing me up and at the same time trying to warn me that I had put one foot too many into his territory and he wanted me to back off immediately.

Wah siukai, you are a really good mind reader lei, just one look and you can know what he is thinking already ah? Yah, don't you know, I learnt my trade from Xavier and didn't you hear that the eyes are the window to your soul? Ha.

I chose to ignore Kingston of course. But I did not really enjoy the constant stares he was giving me.

Then while I was alone, he walked over to me and asked me, "Hey KC, so how does it feels like to be 26?"

When I heard that question, I was like shocked because hey, no one has ever asked me such a question before! As we all know, age is a sensitive topic, especially to ladies but hey, no one said that age is not taboo to guys! Ha.

Actually, it was not the question but rather the tone of his voice when he said it. I'm certain the hidden meaning in his question was, "Hey old man, you are over the hill already, leave the young girls to me. So back off!"

I was rather offended by that question.

But that's not all, a while later, he returned and guess what he said next?

He came over and he asked, "Hey KC, don't you feel OLD?!"

I was like what the -?! If this was the old (pun not intended) siukai he was talking to, I'm sure he would immediately pounce on Kingston and give him the best stonecold stunner he could muster. But this is the new siukai, the siukai who has mellowed and attained enlightenment. The same siukai who believes that we should make love, not war. Ha.

At this point of time, I was darn pissed off with him but I calmly replied, "Why do you keep asking me that?" making sure to add a tone of annoyance in my voice.

"Well, because everyone else is like 19 or 20 and you are like well, 26."

Wow. If Xavier was there, he would immediately stop listening to my mind cos the explicit language might be too much for him to take. Ha.

I smiled and walked away.

Not wanting to get embroiled in a meaningless territorial battle, I backed off. For the record, dar dar who saw Kingston on Sunday remarked that I would kick his ass, hands down if I were really to have a faceoff with him. Just look at the size of my tummy. Ha.

However, i guess I did not back off far enough because he seemed to want to drive the final nail in my coffin. He came back to me after a while, looked at me and mumbled, "Wow, 26", shaking his head in mock pity. (Maybe it's real, I'm not sure. Ha.)

Ouch. That was really like too much for me to take. If those words were arrows, they would have struck through my chest, deep into my heart and exited through my back. I ran to the toilet and cried my eyes dry. Ha.

No lah, I just took it like a man. No point wasting my breath with this kind of immature people.

He did not attack me after that and when he knew that I was already "married" to patapon dar dar I thought I detected a breath of relief from him. Ha. :P

Nothing else happened that evening and for the next few days, Kingston continued his chasing game and having realised that siukai was no longer a threat, he did not bother me much.

Some of you reading this now might think that I'm bias and in fact it is me who has something against Kingston. Well, I tell u I've seen my fair share of people and Kingston is definitely one master player, although Kok might have something to add to that. Ha.

The tactics he employs to chase Chelsea is so old school. We guys call it Cocky Humor. You first start by teasing the girl of interest so that you get her attention. So instead of praising her you say things like, "Oh, you look so ah-lian or oh, you are such a bad salesperson. You get the point? More details in siukai's upcoming book on The Black Art of Chasing Girls. Ha.

Cocky humor works based on the fact that girls are naturally attracted to "bad" guys; guys who can make their heart pound faster. I mean who will make a more lasting impression? A nice guy who talks to you about boring and politically correct stuff OR someone who keeps insulting you and teasing you?

Now you know why nice guys never wins?

Anyway, I guess it's okay to use Cocky Humor once in a while but not to the extent that you actually offend a girl. That's what Kingston did as he said something nasty to Chelsea which made her so upset that she cried.

That's plain stupid really. Yup, he should count himself lucky that the new no-temper siukai was in the house and not the old (once again no pun intended) one.

The amazing thing? Chelsea apparently forgave him after a while because he bought her a good luck charm and attached a "I'm Sorry" Note. (Actually, Kingston bought the good luck charm before the incident - another old school tactic.)

And you know what Chelsea said to me? She said, "I didn't know that he's such a nice guy."

I was really speechless, loss for words, cat got my tongue, stunned. Nice guy? Then what would that make me? A saint? Ha.

You call someone who says offending things to a lady to the extent of sexual harassment a nice guy? Wow. The world has really changed.

But I guess girls are strange beings. Like when my patapon dar dar told me she thought I was the handsome-est creature she set her eyes on when we first met. I immediately advised her to get her eyes checked at the nearest clinic.

Just like in sales where some customers are easily closed by the salesperson persuasive sales talk, some girls are more prone to sweet-talk and actions. Now you know why most nice girls go for the bad dudes.

But of course siukai, who are you to judge someone when you barely know him? Just because he said rude things and offended you on the first day, you condemned him to hell? Maybe he is actually a volunteer at the old folks home?

I hope not because I really don't know what the heck would happen when he goes around and start asking everybody there, "Hey, don't you feel OLD?" Ha.

Gosh, siukai is such a nasty man. :p

Siu Kai's Tummy, Xavier and other stories

Hi. I'm back. My apologies for the lack of posting; my dar dar came back from her holiday and I was busy making up for 10 days of lost time! Ha.

Yup, 10 days of not seeing dar dar, it's like not bathing for 10 days. Oh, wait a second, that didn't seemed such an appropriate comparison. Ha. Let's give it another try. 10 days of not seeing dar dar is like... how about it's like having no heart for 10 days.

Since I gave my heart to dar dar and she took it to Taiwan with her, so in her absence I had no heart. Ha.

Wow siukai, that is unbelievably crappy and kinda gross too. Ha.

Anyway, today's posting will be somewhat random because I don't really have a main topic in mind, I will just blog whatever that comes to my mind. And also, this might well be my last post for a while because I'll be starting my part-time job on Friday lasting a period of 10 days.

After that, I will be heading for my reservist. So, don't miss me when I'm gone. I'll try my best to update too so you guys who are bored (read no life) can be entertained by siukai's crap. Ha.

Talking about reservist, it's my first in 4 years! Yup. Actually I really dread anything that has to do with the men in green. Holding arms and drills have never been part of my forte. Make love not wars. Ha.

That is of course not meant to be taken seriously because if a need arises, you can bet your ass that I'm be defending my country, my loves ones and my fellow people! (That was just meant to make me sound more patriotic so people won't think I'm a selfish slob and coward. Ha.)

But seriously, if we really need to go to war, I guess we must do our part. A man has got to do what a man's got to do.

Eat less that is. Ha. That is strictly for my case. You can throw in exercise more also. :) I was trying out my army pants in anticipation of the reservist in 2 weeks time. (Anticipation seems too positive, change it to in response. Ha) and I was kinda shocked when I had to stop breathing for a full 15 seconds before I could button the pants together.

Actually, that's a bit exaggerating. I was not shocked. Ha. I kinda expected it since I had been gorging myself silly for the past few weeks. But still, it was not a pretty truth to take.

Looking at the bulge from my tummy, I was tempted to ask it where the hell it came from. I resisted asking it because I was sure 1) My mum would think I was crazy talking to my tummy. 2) I'm sure my tummy would reply(if he could) that it was all my fault. You greedy man. Ha.

What could I do? I had to secretly get rid of it. (I made sure my tummy was not looking at this when I typed. Ha.)

The master plan is rather straightforward. I will continue to feed my tummy normally so that it won't raise alarm bells. Then I will go jogging while slowly and gently stroking it, like how a mum will stroke his baby's back to facilitate the baby to burp. This is to reassure my tummy that everything is okay.

Then when it starts to complain that it feels hot due to the burning of fats, I will assure him that it's because of the weather. Darn the hot weather. Nothing to worry about.

Slowly but steadily, my tummy will become smaller and weaker until one fine day, it will simply cease to exist. Ha. He wouldn't even knew what hit him. I'm such an evil genius ain't I? Ha.

Okay, got to stop this topic now. I think he's waking up. Ha.

Moving on, I had a close encounter with the third kind while I was at the library a few days back. There I was sitting on this black couch minding my own business when suddenly he came along.

This strange guy with a laptop slung over his right shoulder and holding a thick comic book in another. I say he's strange not because he looks like ET or something since I thought you might relate "third kind" with aliens or supernatural stuffs. Ha.

He is strange because of his not normal behaviour.

Ha. If you are sharp enough, you will realise that the statement obvious is flawed. It's like saying A is stupid because he is not smart. Ha. Get it?

Anyway, when this guy strolled past me, he happened to catch my attention. So my eyes followed him to see what he was up to.

The strange guy walked a few steps towards the tables then glanced around, looking for an empty seat. To his disappointment, he did not find any. But then he did something rather amazing. He walked towards this lady at the last table and proceeded to ask her whether she could give up her seat so that he could use his laptop.

I was shocked. He simply just went up and requested the lady to move away. Maybe he thought he was professor Xavier of the XMen who could control minds. The lady did not budge of course. She kindly pointed out that she was doing some work and could not give up her seat.

Seeing Xavier's disappointed look, another lady who was sitting on the floor using her laptop kindly invited him to join her since there was an additional power plug.

To which Xavier replied, "May the force be with you."

Oh wait, that's from the Star Wars series. What the hell does Xavier say anyway? "I can read your mind?" Duh! Ha.

Xavier's reply was, "No thanks. There's a lot of germs on the floor." Gosh. There are germs everywhere prof! Maybe he was afraid that additional contact with germs would hasten his mutation. Ha.

So, Xavier started to pace up and down looking for a seat but found nothing after like a few minutes. Then he went over to the other side to try his luck. I thought to myself, "What a strange man!" and continued to listen to my audio book on my mp3 player.

There was this auntie beside me who was reading a book too. The couch was a two seater. This is a very important fact as I will explain next.

I was engrossed in my audiobook, (I was listening to Duma Key by Stephen King, my favorite author) when suddenly a shadow hung over me. I looked up, it was Xavier. No rather it was Xavier's butt. He had his back to me. And you know what he did?

No, he did not tell me that he could read my mind. Ha. He did not even say a word but just sat down between the auntie and me, on a two seater couch!

I was like, what the?! The auntie was rather annoyed because Xavier's butt bumped into her leg while he sat down and proceeded to make himself comfortable. Despite the auntie's and my annoyance, Xavier felt nothing wrong and started to read his comic.

I was really in disbelief. Could he really read my mind? Ha. I guess not because if he could, he would have asked me about some of the profanities I directed at him. Ha.

I looked around, wanting to confirm that the couch was indeed a two seater and I did not wrongly accuse this man. Yup, it was a two seater because the couch was in fact two separate ones joined together. So, what the heck was this guy doing sitting in between of us?!

Anyway, since I was a magnanimous man and I suspect the auntie was not too picky herself, we decided to not make a big deal of it and let Xavier stay. Partly because I was afraid that he was indeed the REAL Xavier and he would call upon Cyclopes to shoot laser at me. Ha.

About an hour later, Xavier stood up and walked away to see whether the tables were now available. Immediately, the auntie and I kicked into action. The aunties shifted herself slightly to her left so that she occupied more of her seat while I crossed my leg to my right. Our combined efforts effectively blocked out any empty space in the middle. I started to wonder whether the auntie could read my mind. Ha.

Satisfied with our ingenuity, I continued with my audiobook. But guess what happened next?

Xavier came back a few minutes later and he approached our couch! I was thinking to myself, if he really comes here and asked to sit down, I will tell him, "Sorry prof. Can't you see that this couch is clearly meant for 2 person only? If you can read my mind, read it now and you will know what I'm telling ya. It's two words" Ha. :p

His distance from the couch shortened and his pace started to gather. Soon, we were face to face again. I braced myself.

"Excuse me, do you mind?" Xavier asked POLITELY.

This is it. I thought to myself.

I spoke.

"Sorry. You. This. Couch."

"Huh? Do you mind?" Xavier repeated glancing at the "middle space" of the couch.

"You. Couch."

"Err.. yah, I want to sit in this couch." Xavier smiled.

What could I do? I conceded and uncrossed my legs.

"Thank you." Xavier said.

I tell you, I'm sure he controlled my mind during our brief interaction. How else can you explain why I went down without a fight? Ha.

No lah, I did not talk to him but he really did ask me whether I mind. I stared at him but could not bring myself to say those nasty words. I was after all, a good guy. So I just reluctantly let him sit loh.

Anyway, the auntie left after a while and Xavier shifted to her seat. So, all was well. Until Cyclopes came along and demanded that everybody else gave up their seats to Xavier. Oops. I think that happened when I fell asleep. Ha.

Exam results will be released tomorrow. A bit nervous. Not too sure how I will do this sem. Will I aced it like back in the poly days? (Unlikely) or worse will I get relegated?! Ha. Most probably I think it will be another mid-table effort. The fight for the champions league spot continues. Ha.

Till then people, see you guys again! :)

Ha. I just saw this quote from our dear Kok's MSN. He's always full of crappy quotes. But I find them rather interesting. So this time round we have, "Why do human fall asleep, only to get up after that? Simple. Get your ass up after every fall in life!!" Ha. Nice. :)