Facebook Madness

Yep, that's right. I started a facebook account. Loads of people had been asking me whether i had a facebook account or not, so i suppose the time was right to hop onto yet another "social bandwagon". First it was the simple Email, then ICQ, then Friendster, then MSN Messenger, then Blogs, then it was the whole slew of online games, and now this.

As to be expected when one jumps onto a social bandwagon, the time spent in the first few days when one just gets started is quite a lot. I remember writing multiple posts a day for my blog so long ago, and way before that i remember subscribing to every little thing and reading it up on my new email account as well.

The facebook experience was kinda like the Friendster one, where i spent quite a lot of time doing my profile and adding friends. And boy has it been totally crazy. I've added 120 friends in two days and there's still some more to go. I've spent hours searching up pals, playing around with the vampire and race-car minigames and replying to people's wall-posts. Not much time spent on photos though, since i don't really like getting my picture taken so i don't have much to work with anyway. :x

The biggest thing that happened, however, was that, using facebook, i finally got back in contact with my American friends!

For those who don't know, i lived in Lake Zurich, IL, for a year when i was in like Primary 5 (i did fourth/fifth grade over there). Very fun moments, and probably one of the more enjoyable times of my life. I made quite a few friends there, but, as always when it comes to my introverted self, i was too lazy to keep in touch with them via snail-mail when i got back to Singapore. I didn't even bother to get their email addresses!

And so, using facebook, i finally caught up and had a little chat with some of them after like 8 years! Only added the people i was more familiar with though, like PJ Celaya, Tom Moore, Kyle Sustich, Martin Konsor, Samantha Grivalds, Anand Trivedi, Michael Messenger, Christopher Jakobi...i couldn't really remember the rest all that well. And there're some that still don't use Facebook yet.

But, boy do they all look so different! (although i'm kinda the one who's changed the most in appearance..heheh..) Especially the guys..it's as if Americans were supposed to grow stronger noses and chins only when they reach puberty. Most of the guys are like super muscular too..maybe lifting's quite popular in the US these days...

Ahwell, anyway i'm done with all the initial Facebook stuff. No more 5 hours a day...just 5 minutes a day will do!

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The "fitness-amateur" draws manga...

Mwahaha...did some manga drawing earlier on and now, i think i kinda just found my favourite drawing style! I managed to sketch out this girl holding a gun in like under ten minutes, which was a new record! (since i'm always so slow at it :x)

And the girl was completely proportional too! (well..at least the face was) Which means that if you flip the paper and hold it up to the sky (and thus see the drawing from behind) it wouldn't look odd at all!

I can tell that i've been improving by leaps and bounds since i joined the class (oh...my head hurts...the ego inside is exploding...^_^"), but i think i've just hit JACKPOT a few hours ago! Heheheh...

Whew! Anyway just completed my monthly (yes...monthly) at-home-full-body-workout. It's a rather important set of exercises where the main purpose of it is muscle building! VERY important lol, since i'm, deep down inside, an egotistical exhibitionist (well..not THAT bad - and for people who don't know me, "egotistical exhibitionist" does NOT mean homosexual!! :|) and all i do in camp is nearly always running anyway.

Changed a few things though, since this's my first time doing this at my new home. And yes, if you've done your math, it means that i've been skipping this training for more than two months already. -.- Getting flabby...erps.

So, instead of pushups (reason: sian), i lifted 5kg weights elbow-on-thigh style, 80 times for each arm!

Instead of squats (reason: my knee feels creaky), i did 400 tiptoes!

Instead of crunches (reason: well..i dunno), i did 50 sit-ups!

Well...erm...to the "fitness-experts" out there, you can probably tell that my "exercise-substitutions" are very bad! :x The muscle groups that are being trained are like totally different...i'm missing out on my triceps, lower abs, gluteous muscles (the butt), etc, etc, and ermm..my thigh muscles..? (What ARE those muscles named, anyway??)

Plus i've yet to train my heart muscles too! Although all we do in camp was SUPPOSED to be running, i haven't run much at all, since i've been clearing my leave all this while! The last time i did any running was like last week: a measly 1.6km 0_o. And before that was the 21km run waaaay back in August. I shall run..erm..2.4km tomorrow! Well..provided those tiptoes didn't just kill my muscles for the rest of the week.. (Ouch...the ache...)

And, of course, there's really no substitution for my PULL-UP BAR, the one i had all to myself at my old home. I'm thinking of making a trip down to Parkway soon to get one, and who cares if anyone in the family tries to kick up a fuss.

To be safe, i'll just fix the pull-up bar at my toilet door, where it's painted concrete, and not on the other door frames, which are made of wood...so that if one day, for some odd reason, i have to remove the pull-up bar and the bar leaves an ugly little mark/scratch on our oh-so-beautiful home...well, we can just paint it over! >.<

In the meantime, though...any "fitness-experts" out there who know of ways to train those back and shoulder muscles while my pull-up bar is not fixed up yet? And hopefully without any equipment required?

And yes, like all "fitness-amateurs" out there, i want to see immediate results too!! Heheheh. :x

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Platelet Donation.

I had quite an interesting morning today...well, yesterday, rather. I was called up by SGH to donate platelets for my camp friend, who's currently suffering from leukemia (a type of cancer, btw). Horrible disease.

Anyway, for those who've heard of blood donation but not platelet donation, platelet donation involves around seven cycles of blood extraction from your body...meaning, of course, that seven units of your blood is removed instead of just one... 0_o

Haha ok i'm making it sound much worse that it really is. Because your blood is centrifuged to extract the platelets, and the rest of your blood is returned to your body after each cycle, so...er...it's not like people are gonna die from donating or whatever. Lol.

You WILL lose about half a unit of blood and platelet fluid, however...it's like they take a small bag of your blood, a couple more test-tubes/vials of it (as if they needed to perform THAT many tests)...and then there's the platelet fluid and the blood that's left behind in the tubing when the whole thing is over...

But for me, the procedure simply involved two pretty mild shots of pain (anaesthetic injection and the REAL injection) and two freakin HOURS of rather heavy discomfort...which got worse towards the end when the effects of the anaesthetic somehow started to fade away. Whoever said that you could sleep during the whole procedure was obviously lying.

...Or to be fair, he/she was being optimistic. Really, really optimistic.

Interestingly, it was more painful when the blood was being pumped back into my body than when it was being extracted. And i had to squeeze this heart-shaped toy like a "stress-man" repeatedly as my blood was extracted, because my blood just wasn't being pumped out fast enough even with that tourniquet thing tied around my arm! Plus there was the suction from the machine too; until now, i'm still feeling the effects of it on my arm.

The worst part was probably at the end of it. I was so looking forward to getting the needle out when this male nurse came over and asked if i could continue for one more cycle. I was obviously quite hesitant about it, but in the end i was like "aiyah, anything lah".

Then he started messing with my arm-rest because he thought it might be a bit too high. And he really did lower it. In one huge jerk, which caused the needle to literally jerk in my vein.

It was very painful.

The mind-numbing, hand to forehead type. I couldn't continue for another cycle after that. Well, anyway, despite all this talk about pain...you should still donate platelets if you've got a friend who needs them! It's just based on blood type and there's not much chance of rejection, so they do it more or less on a patient-to-patient basis. In other words, it's FAR easier to find a platelet donor than, say, a bone-marrow donor.

But nevertheless, you should suffer a bit of pain to help someone in need! As i like to put it: The BEST deeds in life are the ones that you LEAST want to do! Because of the whole "thicker veins are better" issue, guys are PREFERRED! Being a wuss with needle-phobia is not an excuse!

Okay, i'm starting to blabber out complete nonsense. I'm just very tired now, alright?? Anyway, platelets are VERY important when it comes ot blood-clotting for both internal AND external bleeding. So i'm just going to have to avoid getting any cuts, bruises, injuries for the next couple of days.

Oh and to sidetrack a little bit: I was actually quite fascinated with that heart-shaped "stress-man" toy! Because even when my arm felt totally lifeless, the toy just stayed in my palm without falling out! I wonder if it was designed for that very purpose...

Lol. I'd better end this post here.

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Ink nibs suck.

I'm beginning to detest those manga inking nibs. Four reasons:

1. They've pierced my finger before.
2. They're freakin' troublesome to clean and maintain.
3. The ink dries so fast that the nibs are only good for a few strokes before i have to clean off and re-dip into the inkwell.
4. When i ink my penciled drawings with those nibs, they've never failed to completely ruin my drawings every single time.

Anyway, it's almost five o'clock in the morning. Finally finished my manga homework. :)

Well, actually, i made a few screw-ups while inking in the schoolgirl and was totally frustrated drawing the guy leaning against the wall that i've given up and decided against wasting further time on this patience-sapping endeavour.

So now it's finally time for the usual "Greg's Late, Late Night Shower and Sleep".

Phew.

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MSN reorganising

Hmm, today i decided to clear out my MSN/Windows Live Messenger lists...especially since i don't play DotA online anymore, which means that my "Warcraft" group has no meaning whatsoever (Although my "performances" against my army juniors a few days ago shows that i'm still a top dog :D).

So, i went through it, and moved a lot of contacts around. "Warcraft" people went into "Other Contacts" and some into "Buddies". "Friends" were comprised of people i used to (or still do) have regular chat with online. My "Ninja Company", "Delta Platoon 4" and "3SIB" groups all got shoved under one big "Army" umbrella.

VJC people in "Other Contacts", "Coworkers" and "Warcraft" all got placed into "VJC". I didn't delete people whom i don't stay in contact with anymore or the people whom i SUSPECT have blocked me...like, say, Clarence from my JC class (Sigh, will his view of people forever be so polarised? Will he forever group people into "friend and foe" or "ally and enemy"..?) ...My 156 contacts is therefore probably a huge exaggeration.

So actually, all i did was make things even more disorganised...just that it looks much neater when i log into MSN (hey i actually do go online sometimes, you know?!). It's kinda like how you'd stuff everything haphazardly into a drawer or under your bed to make it seem neater when guests visit your home.

Some groups remained unchanged, though. Like the "..." group. Which includes people that i've...well we'll leave it at that, alright?? :p

Anyway, i'm done talking crap...i've got an outfield army exercise/mission coming up on monday(boohoo...while the rest of the guys are clearing leave and staying at home) and i've yet to do my manga homework which has to be handed in by 1.30pm tomorrow! Better get to work now!

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