For the past three weeks, I have been in Rockhampton, Australia, on a military exercise. The weather there has been cold at night and scorching in the day; and the level of humidity is extremely low.

These are some highlights and low downs of my experiences there: (1) Outfield exercise involved breathtaking scenery by the lake and atop the knoll, (2) The canteen staff was friendly, especially Eilish, (3) I had a flirty conversation with a travelling stripper at the strip club, (4) My money was stolen by some fucker in the military camp, (5) I could not tolerate the utter disrespect of some of my platoon-mates and (6) The garlic chicken balls in the canteen was awesome.

Because I hadn’t brought entertainment devices to Australia, I spent my lull time reading or writing when in outfield. Here are some of the notes and haikus I wrote in boredom, melancholy, rage and tranquility (each piece depended on my mood).

I was feeling melancholic and pissed off when I wrote this.

Loneliness and solitude,

They follow from birth

And cease within thy coffin.

And this was written when calm but bored.

The Rockhampton spring saunters,

Dark skies creeping in…

Brings forth cold shivering winds.

This was written when I felt rage towards a group of people in my platoon.

I am offended by your words and presumptions.

But I do not speak.

Hate and loathing overcome relations.

My silence; your bewilderment.

Do not take my presence, our friendship and my ego for granted.

– Logen

On my numerous trips overseas, I have always felt terrible to return to Singapore (the place I ought to call home). I am suffering from traveler blues.

When you meet someone special at an unfamiliar and frightening setting, the place transforms and becomes less threatening. Emotional connection and gestures make words unnecessary.

I miss Patong and the meaning it holds to me. I miss what I have left there. Maybe I am just being me, and am thinking excessively about what happened. It has only been 4 nights there (including the extra night from missing the flight). I don’t know. I am a fool.

Tirak tohar phom dai mai? Phom kid tung khun.

“I think we are going to miss our flight back to Singapore.” said I to Mandy, though still holding on to hope that somehow the heavy traffic and bad weather would ease.

Fifty minutes later, we were still nowhere near Phuket International Airport and the airplane was scheduled to depart in 45 minutes. We reached the airport too late and missed our flight back to Singapore.

“Logen, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.” Mandy remarked at our situation in disbelief.

I responded by laughing, “No point crying, just laugh and think about our next course of action.”

After numerous failed attempts to book new flights with our mobile internet, Mandy’s parents managed to book us a morning flight back. We left our bulky baggage with the airport concierge for 160 Baht and went out for a long smoking session.

We were debating between spending the night at the airport or at a room of a nearby hotel, when Mandy suggested we hitchhike with fellow tourists back to Patong. Might as well enjoy the extra night than sulk at the airport about our fuck up.

We approached Natasha and Sean who had trouble locating their taxi and were hassled by taxi touts. Aiding them to make calls to their hotel and driver, we were on our way back to Patong with them.

Cheers to the numerous fuck ups:

1. forgetting to bring an underwater camera,
2. forgetting to bring 6000 Baht that I converted in Singapore ( I realised this only 5 minutes ago)
3. missing our flight
4. going overbudget
5. spending at least $6 each time to draw cash from the ATM (I used the ATM at least 5 times)
6. getting a terrible rate when converting currency through the ATMs
7. forgetting motion sickness pills when I was feeling nausea on the boat to Phi Phi

Louder cheers to overcoming the fuck ups with our spontaneity, recklessness and pure awesomeness.

The loudest cheers to meeting awesome people and having this trip with my closest friend of 8 years, Mandy!

(I will attach some pictures soon)

Logen L.

[pro-player width=’560′ height=’349′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGdzgcDllYE[/pro-player]

Within Temptation is awesome. Playing on the dark myths and legends to create a gothic short film.

Enough said. Watch it if you haven’t already.

Logen L.

Last year, I missed clubbing on Christmas day. This year, I missed clubbing on New Year’s Eve. But! the partying at Zouk this Chinese New Year more than makes up for whatever I missed.

After an uneventful visit to my grandmother’s place (where my family traditionally gathered on Lunar New Year), I contacted some of my clubbing buddies. With many dismal responses, I was almost sure that my night would be quiet. Yet, at the last few hours, I managed to gather with Mandy and the twins (with their family and friends) at Zouk.

If you do not already know, I do not usually go to Zouk and Phuture as I dislike the place. Too crowded and average music. However, this time was different. Mandy and I broke off from the group at Phuture for a while and headed to Zouk. The trance music was awesome. And since it was Chinese New Year, the dance floor (ironically) was not that packed. We watched the crowd for some time, danced wildly when Stereo Love was on and headed outside for a smoke.

Who would have thought that we’d run into Florence, whom which I caught up with before parting ways.

Upon returning to Phuture to rejoin the group, we moved into the crowded dance floor dancing to many remixed hits. At one point, Rowena couldn’t stand the pain from dancing in heels that she took them off. One by one, we began to take off our shoes to dance.

Thereafter, Mandy and I decided we needed more drinks. We both had Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at Zouk’s bar. We were toasting our shots. The first was to eternal happiness, the second to great awesome sex, and I don’t remember the rest. At the height of our high, we returned to the dance floor at Phuture. Ten minutes later, the bloody lights came on. The partying was over at 3am!

In the end, Guan Kai, Mandy and I moved on to the Thai Disco, Nana, near Chinatown. Guan Yu and Nicholas didn’t join us probably because they got lucky. Haha. Here’s a little commentary about Nana. The place is reminiscent of the disco I went to back in Thailand. The live band performance was pure awesomeness. And they had Thai girls in skimpy outfits strutting about. I kept telling Mandy, ‘Imagine if we headed out of the backdoor and ended up in Thailand’.

The total damage in expenses for Mandy and me (at Zouk, Phuture and Nana) is summed up as follows: Taxi fare (around $38 total), Donation to Make A Wish Foundation in lieu of free entry to Zouk and Phuture ($12), 1 Jug of Vodka Cranberry ($52), Super Flaming Lambo ($28), beers (with some Chivas dripped in, complements of Mr Tan Guan Kai $28), Snow White and the Seven Dwarves ($52) and a jug of Whiskey Soda ($38).

That’s at least $100 from each of us. When’s the next partying session?

Happy Lunar New Year my friends.

Logen

I don’t have much to say.

I feel lethargic for five reasons:

(1) I had field camp, which involved bashing through thick vegetation and running up and down slope.

(2) I slept for less than 3 hours during which because of some silly fucker playing hokkien music loud enough to be heard from the vegetation at midnight

(3) I attended Zhi Wei’s birthday gathering overnight after booking out from camp after the field camp

(4) During the gathering, we were playing a drinking game and I downed many shots (I hadn’t touched alcohol for some time).

(5) I took a 3 hour nap and woke up with a splitting headache.

I want to sleep. I need to buy clothes for the Lunar New Year. I feel like clubbing. I want a holiday. And I need to pay my library fines.

And I’m just rambling on and on… Stop reading.

Logen