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Monday, September 01, 2008 10:41 PM

11 years ago

The moon hides itself behind the clouds
The stars are veiled with night
Its been almost 11 years
Since he went into the light

Some people said he shouldn’t go
But he could not understand
Why he shouldn’t come and see
Where he took his final stand

The night is still and quiet
No breeze to ruffle his hair
Then he looked up on the hill
And saw it standing there

The building from dreams come and gone
In the shadow of street lights
Its presence soft and haunting
As it sat there in the night

Its all too nostalgic now
He’s been in there before
It was such a pain to visit
His bloodline was a chore

His young mind was restless
As was the youthful trend
All while the others new
His journey was at an end

Then it happened suddenly
Twas just another day
The angel came to stop the pain
To take it all away

Earthly loved ones shed a tear
But all were cried in vain
For they all knew deep down inside
They would not meet again

He should have been there by his side
He should have gone to sit
If only he knew how much he loved him
Every single bit


Time heals all wounds they say
Well some just never close
What would have transpired had he gone
Only heaven knows

But he knows this one for sure
He remembers every floor
Up the three flights of stairs
To room twenty four

There’s no one in it now
Its empty and its bare
But only he can see
His father lying there

His mother right beside his side
Clutching his withered hand
His eyes pouring his soul to her
She nods and understands

She knows he cannot win this fight
His time with us was done
It’s just up to her now
To raise their only son

A blessing she will bear with joy
A promise she holds true
The same she swore on her wedding day
“I will always love you”

I tear rolls down his cheek
He dries it with his sleeve
Its too much to bear to watch
He turns his back to leave

Before he goes into the night
he takes just one more glance
If only for a moment
If he had the chance

He has so many questions
So many things to say
“Sorry I wasn’t there” to start
“I thought it’d be okay”


Life is fragile, live it well
You only get one chance
You either sit out on the side
Or you get in and dance

The past is gone and buried
The future is bright and new
But whenever I think of it
It leads me back to you

How proud you’d be of me dad
Of what I will become
Of all I will accomplish
When all is said and done

But what you’d say I’ll never know
Until we meet someday
In heaven on a cloud up there
It seems so far away

The last chance I had for a chat
Was back that very night
But how was I supposed to know
You’d be taken to the light?

As he leaves he glances back
His heart still wants to know
What exactly would He have said
11 years ago


Always missing you Dad. In my mind and in my heart always

Spread the lovin’

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel

Saturday, August 30, 2008 8:27 AM

hahaha!

back blogging baby! phelps is a multi million dollar plank ;) tee hee hee, print that CNN!

so whats been up lately? wait I'm having a conversation with myself again. fuck

in sociology class now, talking bout bush and his anus acts. hahahehe. this week make many money i am very very happy. soon my $250 losing night at JJ's will be a distant memory. *fingers crossed*

putra cup this week went our way. noice. but choo lost the indiv on countback. wtf. why in blazes is the fucking putra indiv title decided on countback. thats the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard. thats so not a way to win a tourney...

oh wait...

i beat joshua for the DBS on countback...erm...well...lets move on.

somehow i need to find a way to stream my barrage of incoherent thoughts into a legible and understandable scroll of knowledge to facilitate the easy reading of my blog...again

fine, i'll organise things and blog again later...

spread the lovin'

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel

Tuesday, April 08, 2008 11:08 PM

I’m severely annoyed this week and I really have no clue why. I’m bored, lethargic, edgy, cranky, almost always in a foul mood and in a constant state of maniacal homicidal contemplation. The past few weeks have been totally brilliant and there’s no logical explanation for my about-turn change in emotional state. Well actually there might…

I’m burned out from golf, I know I’ve been on a rush lately and things have been really sliding into place but I think I just pushed a little too hard. I mean on one hand results are streaming in and I’m getting the feedback I’ve been searching for for so long so I try and work even harder to get them out faster. At the same time I’m trying to compete and validate my work with results, a mixed bag here but overall it’s on the right track. But an 83 on Sunday, not a great result by anyone’s standards, good God Stevie Wonder could have managed better around that track with nothing but a soup ladle and a crowbar, that was embarrassing. I’m not one to blame the uncontrollables in such a volatile sport like some of my salad tossing colleagues so I took it upon myself to take a few practice swings with my putter on my way home when I lamppost got in my way, go figure. But truth be told I was probably not in great shape to play, I was there technically and physically but mentally I was spent, the proposition of looming presentations, assessments and assignments the following week surely drained me even before I ventured out of bed.

Poker the night before also probably wasn’t the brightest of ideas, swamped and tired from the week I wasn’t really ready to break the game and really should have stayed at home doing the responsible thing for once and contributing to my management project. But no, I went anyway. I mean I had a wonderful time as always but sitting at a table with a cunt who thinks he plays like Hellmuth and looks like the bad end of a hemorrhoid ridden donkey really brightened my day. Dropped $10 to boot, card dead, dead tired.

Then I return home with the honest intention to work the night through until my share of work for the management project is complete only to find a nasty e-mail from my partner telling me to “quit the excuses” smoke billowed from my ears and I then proceeded to take out my rage on a passing noisy biker by stretching a piece of cheese wire across the road. After I dumped the body I resumed operation good intention then fell asleep at 3.

I wake up in the morning only to discover that I have a presentation due in 3 hours, so I scurry about like a beheaded chicken and work on it while packing for school. I manage to clumsily smoke and mirror my way through as always but the lack of effort and the absence of perfection annoys me greatly. I bang about some weights in the gym but its no use, my biceps don’t seem any bigger, my boobs any manlier and my legs still look like tree branches.

Night class did little to liven my mood; in fact it grossed me out so much I took a full 1 hour extra just to fall asleep. I mean try closing your eyes trying not to picture a female athlete who was so bent on getting stronger she injected herself with male hormones only to discover a few years later she couldn’t’ identify her sexuality anymore and decided to become a man named Harold. Or the woman who wanted to be a man, injected herself with manly hormones but accidentally forgot to alter the slight details of her genital group, a few years and an uncomfortable marriage later her, his…erm its partner inseminates it with sperm and this she-male becomes pregnant. I’ll spare you the details about the man who wanted masculinity so bad he injected fluids from animal and human testicles into himself, it made him buffer but personally I’ll just stick to the gym thanks. I’d rather have sore muscles than rat seamen coursing through my veins.

Who knew drugs had such drastically detrimental side effects, I mean seriously, on one hand they give you all these wonderful things, euphoria, increased focus, slower heart rate but conversely they also cause women to grow facial hair, men to grow boobs (don’t judge me), the ever popular death and even worse still, a shrinkage in the size of your gentleman vegetables. Steroids have therefore been struck off my birthday wish list.

Today I had more management project grinding with the odd uninterrupted intrusion from an uneducated, loud and rather odious soccer mutt every fucking 5 minutes. This is why I hate studying in the library.

I’ve also been roped into being an emcee for some stupid principal conference held in the school next week on the same day as my management test. Here’s the best part, its only going to be 15 minutes long and it’s basically a workout session to keep them entertained on break. Surely there’s some uber-enthusiastic crack high teacher with shrunken privates to do this. I’m un-flattered by the offer and am desperately trying to get out of it; I might even have to resort to staging my death in a horrible plumbing accident.

My day was so boring I actually slapped myself when I snapped out of my cyborg like suspended reality and found myself horizontally positioned on the couch watching darts. Embarrassed I went out in the pouring rain without an umbrella to punish myself by eating KFC, oh heaven forbid…saturated fat. My only meal of the day and it had to be that, God damn it.

Presentation tonight was more smoke and mirrors and I’ve still got a heap of things I’d rather not have to do this week. We’ll start with having to coach 22 secondary 1 neighborhood school girls for my coaching practical tomorrow, my assessor the ever boring Ms Mae. She’s so boring she could talk the paint off the wall and often I’d wish I was a goldfish in her class so I could fall asleep with my eyes open. For 30 minutes I’ll have to be enthused about spending time that I’d much rather be unconscious with 22 children. Happy birthday to me indeed

Let’s end with an appropriately themed sour note. One of the school’s adopted kittens Amber was found mutilated at the bottom of a staircase this morning, her precious little head smashed into mush, her fragile body broken and blood streaming out her bottom. Her brutal murder sent shockwaves through the school, all of us having grown accustomed to her were in shock and some tears were shed, most notably by the English teachers who had cared for them for the better part of the last couple of months.

That was just sick, cruel and un called for. Nothing should ever be treated like that and heaven help the S.O.B who did it when we find him. I personally would like to gorge his eyeballs out with barbeque skewers, stuff his nostrils with iron wool, stick his tongue to a cold lamppost, fry his nipples with jump leads, snip off his rod with garden shears then stuff an air hose up his jacksie where we’ll pump him full of air and watch him rise into the sky before gunning him down with a machine pistol before he wasted anymore of my precious oxygen with his pestilent existence.

Sure it’s extreme but it’ll be therapeutic. And God help me if my dorm mates don’t can it soon I’ll make a pipe bomb and shut their dirty loud mouths for good. I can’t stand Chinese but I hate it when it comes over the wall at a volume that will make my ear drums bleed, the fact that every sentence is punctuated by an expletive doesn’t make my life any easier.

So I can only pray that life as an 18 year old will be a little easier, a little brighter and a little quieter.

Hopefully I only have to wait 50 minutes to find out.

Spread the lovin’

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel

Wednesday, March 05, 2008 11:01 PM

Oh my God its been ages since i blogged.

so so so sorry

i know its cliche but i've been busy.

hmmm whats been my life in a nutshell since the last time..

-6th at sentosa ranking (73-78)
-10th at raffles ranking (69-80) argh
-series with justin 8-7 in my favour
-golfs been good, getting there and its exciting :) workin hard
-jonny leong and i have established that i'm turning into him...haha, honestly i wouldnt mind :D
-i know what my first cars gonna be and when ill get it
-i'm not blonde no more :( curse you peggy tng
-i'm not head of the editorial team...hmmmm...responsibility (attempted to write spiteful first article but peggy loved it instead and praised wildly..oh well :))
-possible radio job for me? haha

yeah thats about it.

will TRY and update more frequently now. anyway im off to bed.

nicks twisted his knee and i gotta look after him now...haha, like a good roommate

spread the lovin'

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel

Sunday, January 13, 2008 12:32 AM

Match Report:

LowHan vs CheokKoh = LowHan wins 1up!
timmy vs leftie = timmy wins 2up!
timmy vs leftie birdie differential = timmy has +2 birdies

total record for team LowHan : 6-13 (won 5 of the last 6 matches)
2008 series record vs leftie : 2-1 (in favour of yours truly)

so after flattering myself with them impressive numbers its back to the business of blogging.

but to be perfectly honest it was a rather impressive exhibition of golf out there today. hit off at 845 am. nice and early, well not quite compared to mom's start time of 7.43 but what the hell i had a late night.

had my individual series match with jus and valliantly attempted to partner him against gab and natalie giving nat 3-3 off the whites while we braved the gold tee's.

armed with my trademark rubber duckie and a gradually rising tank of confidence i flew out of the gate with a birdie on the 10th (we started on the back-side) before slamming my ball into the piss on 11, a bogey ensued and i quickly rebounded with birdies on 13 and 15 to turn -2 (33)

on a side note farizah (God i hope i spelt that right) made a hole in one today so ROCK ON GAL! :) you owe me drinks now

back to the action, a birdie at 2 had me to -3 and in unchartered territory off the gold tees. a short series of choke holes insued with 2 pretty good but nonetheless costly bogey saves on 3 & 4 then a horribly sloppy bogey on 5 to drop all the way back down to square 1 at EVEN par.

bugger.

then a birdie at 6 had things back in the red digits before a ridiculous shot landed me in the Godforsaken banyan tree on 7, me misadventure led to another bogey before birdieing the 8th to get back to -1 on the day (and -4 on the par 5s today! yahoo! Angel Cabrerra indeed)

then came the 9th, smoking it down to just a flick 9 iron it i duly hit the gas pedal and chopped out a hosel draw left of the green, behind the traps, short sided with no room to work and increasingly building pressure.

from there i exercised superior tactical expertise and played it to the fat of the green before draining a 25 foot bomb with 6 feet of slide across the hill to sign off for a brillian -1 (70) and the match. talk about riveting that was edge-of-your-seat caliber golf.

and not just from me, jus played solidly too and we were -6 (65) as a team in better ball.

then it was on to more domination for the lowhan academy in the pool room. our complimentary lunch followed after the small issue about our prize money was settled. all in all a good day. how can you have 6 birdies and not have a good day :)

well at least up to the part where i take mommys car key to put the stuff in the car then accidentally leave the club with it, take the train all the way to jurong east before realising my costly blunder. then, like a fool, having to return to choa chu kang then take a cab to warren to drop the keys off before taking the same cab home

the cab driver was an absolute motherfucking fruitloop. i mean he was off the chats on the weird scale, even if somehow a dyslexic anal retentive chimpanzee with a catarac and a hernea the size of a dinner plate were driving me home i'd still feel twice as safe as sitting in the cab with his most disturbing realisation of the potential horror mankind face when siblings produce offspring.

sorry for being mean or presumptious but if you went through what i went through in that 20 mins of diesel powered hell you'd understand.

but thats another story all together and if i have the time i will gladly recall all 20 minitues of that ordeal for the amusement of you sadistic sods.

well thats my life aint it. and like i always say, wouldnt have it any other way

spread the lovin'

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel

Friday, January 11, 2008 10:32 PM

ah yes, finally returning to the hallowed institution of learning and sporting excellence after a 2 month absence sure seems like an exhillirating concept. i mean really, how cool does that sound

well cooler than you think.

here's why

back in boarding, new roommate, the incomprable mr. nicholas paul de cruz, former byte world champ and close confidant. not to mention the fact he bears an astounding resemblence to "the boy who lived". to which he's always quick to rebut "that makes you the boy who lived...next door" yes things are going to be interesting this year.

lecturers are awesome, well half of them are national sporting heroes/icons. mr. C.Kunalan and ms Prema Govinan. they're not only brilliant athletes but well prepared lecturers and all round great people. who could ask for more? well maybe the test answers and A+'s at the end of the semester but hey, you can't have everything...

i'm actually back in the gym, yes...working out. and mighty effectively and intensively too i might add. well its hard to slack off when georgie's there barking up your arse to keep going. but hey its good and i've worked like a dog this week, i'm stoked

golfs been great, greg got back down to some solid training at the range and the new additions to the training room sure are swell. I HAVE A MIRROR IN MY BAY AGAIN! yesh! hard work here i come...all i need's a functioning iPod now.

so yes, i'm settling back in fine. and my room's actually still rather neat and tidy after the first week. thats gotta be a good sign. but honestly i'm getting good vibes about this semester, just gotta keep going and make 'em proud.

so fyi here's a typical night in boarding.

2130ish: lectures end
2200: supper (prata and such) at Al-Hameen's
2300: shower
2315: Poker or Mahjong on computer while nick and the others go on DOTA
0100: order in mcdonalds for post-supper-pre-breakfast meal
0200: sleep while the boys continue their DOTAing

*side note - throughout the night there's music coupled with chinky china chit chat from the room next door, nothing offensive or intrusive, just slightly annoying as you all should know I HATE CHINESE. but what the hell, its fun and wouldnt wanna be anywhere else

it's late and i so have to defend the honour of conniewhackers around the world tomorrow so ta ta and i'll cya soon

spread the lovin'

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel

Sunday, January 06, 2008 12:57 AM

it just felt right.

church with the grandparents, giggling like high school girls with grandma at fr.josephs constant slips in the pronunciation of words in his sermon, belting out hymns with zeal and gusto with the awesome choir and just being in the presence of God for a good hour on a cold, dank and depressing saturday evening.

but its never depressing in church these days

then on to warren for dinner with mommy. she'd been there all day, at the club playing golf then parking herself in a little chair at a mahjong table in a cloud of whirring smoke in the dimly lit card room. its her escape, no complains from me, what the hell, everyone needs something to do to unwind.

it also helps when one's up about $150 for an afternoons work. its not exactly get-up-and-quit-your-job money but its money nonetheless. a depleting resource these days, its nice to know theres a little extra coming our way.

so after dinner we left her where we found her, washing away her cares and sorrows in that little musty but cozy nook in warren they call a mahjong room. i watched a couple of hands then left deciding i was gonna figure out and beat this game eventually, could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be next chinese new year, could be hand in hand with my first WSOP bracelet.

lets face it, gambling runs in my blood. and when i figure out how to beat the game i'm gonna run with it.

but an unscheduled stop at the png home for a last minute invitation to join them for their choir party would prove to be the highlight of my day...

wait a minute...i'm not in the choir! oh well, they must like me :)

sat there watching cartoons on the disney channel then walked out with some of the kids and their hyperactive canine gavin for some daily scoop ice cream. fyi, if you're considering trying the "buttery avacado" just because it looks potentially revolting yet devilishly interesting save your money and your tastebuds and don't.

just ask nicky

after that it was some rum, burbon on the rocks and caviar. nothing like it. and what choir party would be complete without singing. afterall the pngs are a family band and it aint that hard to whip out some songs and jam out with musical geniuses like them. so off we went into an era of afro's and bell-bottoms, where you could dress like a homo and fit in with everyone else...ah yes the disco 70s and the retro 80s.

twas a blast to say the least. and for a moment there it felt like i belonged. i felt what being with family should feel like. i've known most of these people for just a couple of months, some only a year, yet there was a warmth that radiated from within that made me feel like one of the guys...one of the kids...one of the family.

to put it mildly it was nice, special and very soothing. i felt loved

after shrugging off a couple of requests to sing solo and re-perform my loved (but personally loathed) solo number from Ashira --- the perfect way. "Who Are You Looking For?" i decided it was best that i gulp down my burbon and head outside for some fresh midnight air.

chipping with jon and nicky in the front garden. peaceful, quiet and totally relaxing. its like my family i tell you and i mean that with every fibre in my body. if i had siblings i wish they'd be just like that. but i dont, life's a bitch sometimes...

but God's always gotta plan and for now i'm just gonna stick by and trust the big guy

a perfect evening with wonderful company. nothing more i could ask for really. except maybe mom. i wish she'd grow with me and my new church friends familia but i can only pray and hope she finds her way back to God again.

its late and i've got the gold medal to win tomorrow.

God Bless

spread the lovin'

Rob Valentine

any lower and you'd need a shovel