Potatoes & Tomatoes

To Remember

2011-10-23T11:24:00.004+08:00

Heard these quotes on House and though they meant quite a bit.

On altruism and helping someone,
"I think that little of you and that much of me."

On being right,
"It means nothing if you can't defend it."

Taking Root

2010-11-01T18:06:00.003+08:00

There is something about eating and drinking from proper ceramic or porcelain crockery that makes you feel settled and grounded. And doing it in a country far away from home made me realise that I have finally settled into life here in Nice.

I meant to post something here sooner. At least a simple post if only just to mark on the totem of time that at some point in my life I was living in France. But for some reason, probably my non-habit of blogging more than anything, I never got round to doing it. Up till now.

As I stood at the sink drinking milk from my newly bought mug this morning, I felt grounded and at home. It was a different experience from the pre-mug days when I drank from plastic cups and ate from paper plates. Today, I could take a deep breath, look around my little apartment, see familiarity and feel belonging. Of course, it doesn't really compare to being back home in Singapore but relative to the two months before it certainly is a leap forward in a certain sense.

I guess what differs is that eating and drinking from disposable containers conveyed a sense of dislocation and mobility to me. Like being at a party where the feeling of being lasts only as long as the event before it is time to move on to the next.

The past two months have been long. Difficult in the first few days for various reasons one of which was the distance apart from S but I'm digressing. It got better progressively as I fell into a weekly routine yet I never really felt like I was here. In the back of my mind, I knew this arrangement is only temporary. That I will be leaving this place in shorter than a year's time. In fact, the thought continues to linger. It is a truth after all. Even if the duration of my stay might turn out longer, at some point I will leave this place and that makes everything right now only temporary.

Still, it is only today that I feel like I can say I have really settled down in Nice and it is a good feeling. Much thanks to a little mug.

Self-Indulgence

2010-07-13T15:03:00.006+08:00

Something interesting happened to me yesterday that I feel is worth putting down here just so I can look back at it in future and chuckle with some amount of narcissistic self-indulgence.

A talent scout came up to me and asked if I would be interested in becoming a model.

Predictably, my first reaction was bemusement. Recounting that incident to Baby that night, my first thought at the time was that the scout's bak chew tak stamp (translated: eyes covered with stamps). But that quickly gave way to a feeling of amusement. I thought it quite funny how of all the people streaming in and out of Bugis MRT Station, the scout chose me. Maybe it was because I had just left the gym and the effects of my exercise had yet to fade.

Looks like all the sessions at the gym paid off though I will state that becoming a model was never the intent of my trips to the gym and being approached like this is more of an ego boost bonus than anything else. Still, it is nice to receive some form of flattery every now and then. Not that I need it. I know I look good in a suit already which the scout thought I would and which I felt was needless to say. I mean, tell me something I don't already know. :p

Like maybe how good I might look in ~~leopard prints~~ leh-perd preeen-sss. That's bound to attract alot of attention.

Self-indulgence. Really!

Cold Feet

2010-02-09T09:38:00.004+08:00

So I got accepted into EDHEC's MSc in Finance course. The email came in yesterday. And with all honesty, I can't say I'm thrilled or very enthusiastic about the now very real prospect of going over to Nice to study.

Yes, this is me having cold feet.

My dad related to me how my Sis turned down an offer to study in Carnegie Mellon several years back when she was about to enter university. For what reason, none of us know. I never asked her about it and I don't think I will but I gather the sense of uncertainty I feel now is similar to what she felt then.

I was making my way to the doctor's about a cold last evening after reading my acceptance letter. And walking along the street, I realised how I could be missing out on quite a lot of things during the year away.

I guess in that way, my Sis' situation with Carnegie Mellon was largely more different than mine now - she would have been gone for a far longer period of time. Hence a lot more scary.

It will probably take me some time before the idea of studying overseas warms up to me again and also before I get another bout or two of cold feet. There's still roughly six months to go before the school semester starts and I still have three more applications out there yet to come back to me out of which two are schools I would really like to attend. Even then, I doubt that acceptance into either one would make the feeling of uncertainty easier to overcome.

Financial Aid

2010-02-07T18:23:00.003+08:00

I was having breakfast with my family this morning and had this exchange with my Sis.

Sis: I have some Kenyan Shillings you can use.
Me: How come you have them? You went to Nairobi before?
Sis: No. I just have a few cents because some guys at INSEAD came up with a fund raising idea to raise money for poor people by collecting spare change in all currencies and distributing the money.
Me: So you were one of those who helped?
Sis: No.
Me: Then you were one of the poor people?
Sis: ..... No.
Me: Then how come you have the money?
Sis: I was given the money. The idea sounded smart but turned out to be quite dumb. It doesn't quite work out because the poor people would still need to change the money.
Me: So you are one of the poor people!

Ba Kwa

2010-02-05T14:45:00.002+08:00

Sometimes in life, there are situations that develop that can make you chuckle to yourself.

My dad had come home from his trip to KL yesterday with some really good Ba Kwa. Now, I'm not a big fan of Ba Kwa but these caught the attention of my taste buds. And because I'm now planted right next to the kitchen studying for my CFA Level I exams, resisting the temptation to stuff my face with Ba Kwa is proving to be a daunting task. An exercise in futility. A perilous voyage through the Garden of Eden and throwing the whole of my being into tumult.

Anyhow....

As always, I couldn't resist telling the whole world about my new found means of self-torture via my Facebook status:

"Not good. This is not good."

Funnily enough, the first response to this came from the most apt of people, the Indian, who is trying very hard to lose weight.

The Indian: What is not good?

Finding this coincidence very amusing I informed my rounded friend of my predicament. To which he quite expectedly replied,

The Indian: Keep some for me.

Sometimes life can be quite amusing if you can read between the lines.

A Different Time

2010-01-17T19:21:00.002+08:00

Funny conversation with my mum today....

Mum: *sees a banner advertising archery lessons* Did you do archery during your national service in the army?
Me: We use guns.

Nitty Gritty

2010-01-05T10:19:00.003+08:00

Here's a joke for the day - me.

I sent out a job application yesterday. Spent much longer on drafting the resume correctly and the cover letter than other applications because it was for a position I would really like to secure. And after going through both pieces umpteen times and feeling satisfied with them, I sent them out.

And today, I realised I made a typo in the cover letter. On the name of the company I'm applying to. Right on the first sentence of my cover letter.

Jumping off the roof sounds much less painful right now.

2009

2010-01-03T19:10:00.002+08:00

Typically at end of every year and the beginning of a new one, I get retrospective like most people. It is the same this time around. Only difference is that, unlike past years, this time around I don't really have much idea of what direction I'm headed in the next year.

Frankly, that isn't comfortable.

Naturally, I am wondering how in the world I got to this point in the first place. And the retrospection these past few months including this annual year end exercise has left me feeling a little more lost than I would like to be. And a little less bright than I would like to be.

It takes a lot to continue believing that what I am trying so hard for is worth it. And that I just need to keep trying and working towards it. Being jobless since June and having my hopes dashed was very trying. These next months are probably going to be no less different. I find myself wondering how others who have been through similar situations actually managed it. Perhaps that's what New Year resolutions are really for - to keep believing for the sake of believing. At least until something else comes along with new hope for a brighter tomorrow.

I am very grateful, however, for having someone to stand beside me during this time. Likewise, for having family and friends around.

In certain sense, the year hasn't been bad actually. There were really deep downs but at the same time really high ups. Like previous years, 2009 has been eventful. It stands out though as a year of definition which I will not forget - it or its lessons - likely for the rest of my life.

I hope 2010 will be better. Fingers crossed.

How Now Brown Cow?

2009-12-15T15:33:00.003+08:00

I really feel like I've been too stuck in my own head for this early part of my life such that I'm only now finding a direction to head into. The consequence is that now things are kind of an upward struggle.

I guess when a person is young, he/she can afford to make mistakes and switch directions during his/her studies. It is less easy when it is time to start work. So ideally, if a person can manage to find a direction and stick to it at least from the point of tertiary education, he/she should do quite fine right up till retirement assuming all goes well.

The funny thing is that I don't think many people actually manage to find that direction and stick to it. Or rather, not many people find a field of interest they like early on and stick to it. Some don't find it but aren't too bothered and just continue with the natural progression of things.

There are many times I think I should just do the same.

Right now, I have absolutely no idea where I'm headed. And every route seems quite jammed up.

Dinged 3/3

2009-11-12T10:06:00.002+08:00

Looks like my luck ran out. Now... I need to look for a job.

Looking back, I wonder if I had written my essays differently, I would have gotten different replies. But anyhow, in a way I'm glad this whole process is over. Relieved too. At least now I know which direction I'm headed to both in terms of what I want to do with my life, bleak a goal as it may appear right now, and in terms of what my next steps will be.

I'm also quite glad that I've found my footing again. As a person. I lost my marbles sometime back and this whole application process has been helpful in finding them back for me.

"Will work for money"

Dinged 2/3

2009-11-06T09:36:00.000+08:00

By LBS this time. Looks like it is back to the drawing board.

Dinged 1/3

2009-11-05T16:11:00.003+08:00

INSEAD replied. I got dinged.

I can't say I'm not disappointed but I'm not surprised either.

My INSEAD application wasn't strong. I wasn't entirely sure of it when I sent it out and I guess that's where I slipped up. Especially after having written better ones for LBS and Chicago and sending the application in early without rethinking it over. I think I ought to kick myself really hard for doing that. So I guess I deserve getting dinged.

I am disappointed still. Because what are the chances that LBS and Chicago evaluate their applicants the same way? Quite high I believe.

So despite having stronger applications for LBS and Chicago, will I still make the cut? Admittedly, I still feel a certain element of uncertainty in each of them. Largely because I don't know how the other applicants are like and partly because I don't feel like I stand out enough or have anything concrete to crow about.

In other words, I'm wondering whether I am ready or even suited for these b-schools.

LBS and Chicago have yet to reply so I have 2 more chances. I always sucked at one point scissor, paper, stone games and fared better at the "best of three" ones. Let's hope it'll be the same this time.

Fingers and toes crossed crossed crossed.

Conversations

2009-11-01T10:55:00.002+08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted one of these. I guess that's partly because my Sis hadn't been in sg for quite awhile. Now that she's back on a permanent albeit choppy basis, we've begun to have such conversations again. It's good fun. I'm quite happy we are doing this again. Much better than staying in my own head for msot of the time.

We were reading the papers in my dad's car on the way to breakfast this morning. Our usual Sunday breakfast routine. I saw a comic strip about one of those training seminars that can turn you into a millionaire through trading or entrepreneurship and it had the word "sceptic" in it. Wondering how "sceptic" or "skeptic" should be spelt led to my trying to find the correct spelling on the net.

Me: Oh look. There's a skeptics' society.
Sis: Really? Can I join? What benefits do they offer?
Me: It'll be quite pointless for them to have any benefits right?
Sis: Why?
Me: They'll all be skeptical about it.

And on the way home from breakfast, while my dad was expounding on the advantages of having a SLR camera and the care for one.....

Dad: And you have to clean it ....
Sis: That's the troublesome thing if I'm going to get one.
Me: Don't you need a dry box (i.e. a cabinet with dehumidifier) to store your camera?
Dad: Ya. You need one. I have one.
Me: *To sis* It's a tupperware box.
Sis: ....
Dad: Ya. And I collect those little packets of silica gel from food packets to put into the box and keep it dry.

A true Singaporean family, aren't we?

Being Happy

2009-10-30T10:39:00.004+08:00

A meaningful quote I found on the net.

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirement of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about."

~ Charles Kingsley ~

Right. Now bring on the food, the cars and the money! I'm enthusiastic about comfort and luxury!

Honestly, although I do find the quote very true and I realise many would agree with me in its widespread acceptance, I seriously wonder how many people actually realise the real depth of its meaning.

Put it this way, as I always like to view things, how many people will actually believe in it when they are in an uncomfortable situation (i.e. no income and an uncertain future)?

How many people will realise that comfort and luxury are the by products of having an enthusiasm for something instead of seeking comfort and luxury and thus having the enthusiasm for something?

It is probably a very idealistic thought because do such things really exist? I kind of doubt that they do. At least not on this little island I live on. Perhaps in the countryside where people realise self-sustainability and stability through means other than monetary.

Still, it is a nice quote to have and believe in as we move along our daily lives.

Trash

2009-10-23T18:32:00.002+08:00

From beauty queen to trash. God. She should have just disappeared quietly into the night. If she's thinking that since she's already viewed negatively and she might as well just go all the way, then that's really sad. does she even have any self-dignity left?!

MJ was a Penguin!

2009-10-22T16:38:00.000+08:00

I knew it!!!!

The 5 Most Powerful People in the World

2009-10-21T11:38:00.004+08:00

Apparently this is one of the topics that a certain business school asks applicants to present on during interviews. I came across it while surfing for info on business schools and it stuck with me through most of yesterday as I thought of an answer to it.

So here are who I think are the five most powerful people in the world without going too in depth as to why I think they are so.

1. Lee Kuan Yew
Has anyone seen a company built and run as well as Singapore?

2. Ban Ki Moon
Most powerful man on this planet without an army.

3. Barack Obama
Duh. Leader of the free world. But I think what makes him powerful is his ability to inspire.

4. My father
Lim Pei can solve all arguments and conflicts. He can possibly even bring world peace if he were given the chance.

5. My girlfriend
I'm sure none of the other four will deny that their other halves are probably their only true equals on this planet. Even their fathers and the other halves' fathers will admit the same. Likewise for me.

Photos

2009-10-20T10:26:00.000+08:00

Something funny to start the midday with.

Suspense

2009-10-19T16:13:00.004+08:00

All this suspense is killing me.

I submitted the last of my applications to my first three choice business schools last week - INSEAD, LBS and Chicago GSB. After a couple of months of much self-reflection and much essay writing/editing, the applications finally went out. How strong they were I do not really know. I do know that the later applications - LBS and GSB - were probably better written than the INSEAD one. Fortunately, I would much prefer getting a favourable reply from LBS than INSEAD.

Still, if INSEAD doesn't like my application, I'm not too sure how LBS or GSB will view it. I'm inclined to believe that they think along more or less the same grain.

So now, I'm just waiting for some form of reply. If they like my application, then I'll get invited to interview. If not, I'll get dinged. It is uncertain times like these that I dread somewhat. If I get dinged, then what?

I'll probably apply for other schools. Except, I'll probably be applying into their second round admissions which is not ideal.

Or I could apply to do a Masters in Finance instead. That's my contingency.

Or I'll end up going back to work. Which isn't that bad an idea. Only thing is then what am I going to do with myself? For some reason, I don't really want to do that - go back to work. Not because I'm feeling lazy. On the contrary I want to work and I'm trying to keep myself occupied. It's mostly because I want a job that I want to work in and unfortunately that kind of job doesn't show up easily or is gotten easily. Not with my background and experience so far.

I could just do something, anything, and apply again later. That's not off the table yet.

Ah well.......if only I had an idea of what's going on with the admissions committee right now.

Waiting

2009-10-14T14:20:00.003+08:00

I submitted the last of my first three B-school applications yesterday. I've applied to INSEAD, LBS and Chicago GSB.

Now it's a matter of waiting for an invitation to interview. INSEAD's latest notification date is 6 Nov, LBS and GSB will notify me by 11 Nov.

I just hope I get one. Any one. Fingers and toes crossed crossed crossed.

The Marshmallow Test

2009-10-07T09:45:00.002+08:00

I'm back from Europe. Reluctantly. It's depressing to be back honestly. But anyhow, here's something funny called "The Marshmallow Test".

English

2009-09-13T09:52:00.005+08:00

Has anyone seen an online version of today's article on our less than eloquent Miss Singapore World? It is in the LifeStyle section of the Sunday Times.

If you have, please send it to me. This is one that should be kept for posterity.

Splashed all over the article and on the front page of LifeStyle were large prints of Ris Low's mispronunciations but the article was seemingly made out to be one in her defence instead.

The irony of it. I never knew SPH could be this creative. It definitely got more than just a chuckle from me.

Seriously though, I think the article is a good read because there are a few points in there on the fundamentals of good english that I fully agree with. The most important one being speaking grammatically correct, proper English.

Also the bit about accents. I don't think speaking with an accent equates to speaking good English. That's a giant fallacy based on the very skewed perception of the western culture's dominance in Asian society.

But I did find something alarming in the article, the people of the Speak Good English Movement actually felt Ris Low is forgiveable and should not be drawing any flak. Their view, in short, is that most Singaporeans actually speak this way and because she is part of the norm it is fine for her to be speaking this way.

That's saddening really. No wonder we churn out beauty queens like Ris Low.

Apprehension

2009-09-08T10:50:00.002+08:00

On Facebook,

"A is trying to stay positive despite the circumstances."
Me: What's up bud? Mulling over the elections?
A: I feel like I'm at the finale of a chapter in my life. I'm scared of what comes next, while I used to be excited about it.
Me: You sound like a suicide bomber.

Lecturing and Being Lectured

2009-08-31T11:19:00.005+08:00

I'm not too sure how it is with other cultures but in Asian and Chinese cultures, people like to lecture. Especially when they believe they are more experienced.

Over the weekend, I had a few experiences of being lectured at and being lecturish myself. Neither states of mind which I am particularly pleased with. What is it that causes us to behave this way? Our society, our environment, our upbringing? Genes?

One such lecturish incident over the weekend began as a discussion with my sis about setting up a F&B venture during breakfast. It quickly went from a discussion of how to start the venture and its costs to how I should think in starting the venture.

Another incident happened only last night on the phone with S. I found myself dispensing my advice more than sharing an experience when she was told me about something that's been bugging her.

I have never found this lecturing quite productive. Nobody likes to be lectured. I will admit, me even more so than others. The only time when I have seen people receptive of being 'taught' is in a classroom or a formal educational setting. In any other setting, the information being transferred is coupled with the emotion and perception that the transmitter is just being high and mighty.

Or perhaps it is just me.

I've never believed that a person with experience, and often the leader, should be lecturish. If something is not done right, it should be "I need this info." or "We need a better picture. Can we do this instead?" Rather than "That is how you should start thinking about this. In the big picture, ......" or "I'm sure it will be the same because this is human nature. People do ....." where the lecture continues for the next 5 or 10 mins.

I believe there are two parts to the cause for such behaviour: something I call pedestalism and awareness of a time and place for everything.

Quite often during NS, I found myself feeling like I had to teach my men. I felt I was more knowledgeable and more worldly-wise which led me to believe I was above them all and felt the need to educate them. Now I see it in others around me. Like it is their mission to educate and guide.

Such is Asian culture where leadership equates to wisdom, guidance and pedestalism - followers placing leaders on a pedestal and leaders placing themselves on a pedestal. I'm not sure if it is the same in other cultures but I do not think it is the best of practices even if it is the same.

And I believe it is in part due to how people select leaders.

People who talk more are generally listened to more. And people who speak with authority about a topic are generally viewed as a leader regardless of the substance of their speech and veracity of their claims, arguments and opinions.

I refer to authority in two senses - assertion and knowledge. It is easy to fake assertion but not knowledge. I'm of the belief that the latter leads to the former and the former often manifests itself as bossy, high and mighty, combative emotional behaviour which I think should not be the case. I will say that I might be wrong considering I am still young and have not experienced much of the world yet. This view is from my own twenty odd years of existence.

I am digressing slightly here.

With authority, and as mentioned, I remember feeling like I needed to educate my men on the proper ways of conduct during NS. And I felt the impulse to do so at every incident or instance. Which leads me to the second point of having a time and place for everything including lectures.

I do not think that lectures are destructive and have no place in communication. I just think there is a time and place for them. For example, during an aftermath review session when people are sitting down ready to receive and give feedback. The unfortunate thing, as I notice often happening, is that most people do not bother about aftermath reviews. Peer reviews and appraisal processes happen but not aftermath reviews.

But what about the times when aftermath reviews are not possible and there isn't a structured process like cultivating a relationship? My own belief is that either we be straight up with someone, choose a good time to express ourselves or just plain too bad and respect the fact that others act and think a certain way.

Looking at it from another point of view, this whole thing about being lecturish could very well just be a matter of choosing the right words.

I guess in a way this whole post has been mostly a rant. Still, lecturing and being lectured at are some things I've been grappling with for a very long time and do not believe to be healthy practices. It is not a habit I am proud of or like being at the receiving end of but unfortunately it happens despite my best efforts to curb it. Most frustrating of all, it appears to be a norm.

Ridiculous

2009-08-28T13:13:00.003+08:00

Now, this is ridiculous. Ridiculous because the guy actually let his girlfriend do that to him. Has he got no balls? Maybe he didn't have them in the first place so he doesn't mind it. But regardless, where is his dignity?

Then again, if he doesn't have the dignity and balls then this had better be a wake up call.

Ohyes, it is ridiculous also because his girlfriend acted this way.

http://multimedia.asiaone.com/Multimedia/Vodcast/Story/A1Multimedia20090827-7722.html

Hmmmm.....

2009-08-26T12:41:00.004+08:00

This is a screenshot from a blog maintained by a chain of restaurants in Beijing selling, IMO, very good grilled fish.

It looks great especially with that nice looking dish in the middle there. One thing I don't understand is what the picture of a female's posterior is doing on the top left corner. The blog indicates that the picture is meant as the profile picture of the blog's author.

I have an inkling of why it is there but I shan't go into details. :)

That aside, here's the chain's website in case anyone is looking for good eats in Beijing. They do serve some good shit.

Pi(e)

2009-08-25T14:57:00.002+08:00

Here's an interesting site.

The Pi World Ranking List

Kai-ism

2009-08-18T13:16:00.002+08:00

The return of Kai-isms! Maybe. For those who have never read my old blogs, Kai-isms are little snippets of philosophies about the going-ons in life which I come up with every now and then. One of the most famous being "If A sees, then B sees. If B sees, then C sees. So, If A sees, C sees." That referred to how a group of guys behave when an attractive girl walks by.

Lately, my brain has dried up on its supply of Kai-isms but last night it miraculously squeezed one out.

"Don't use a butter knife to kill a cow. At least use a steak knife."

This refers to using the right tools to do things. S and I were chatting on the phone about buying a new frying pan when this came up.

It makes no sense to me to use a butter knife to kill a cow. The animal will even laugh at you. Maybe squirt some milk too and you'll get La Vache Qui Rit cheese after that.

Happy National Day

2009-08-13T13:44:00.003+08:00

I realise I have not put up my singapore flag. and ya, national day is over. nevermind, now I put up video about being a singaporean. no need flag. show video more kut lat. i heart singapore ok.

Hahaa....

2009-08-12T09:59:00.003+08:00

Some funny or ironic bits I picked up while reading the papers over the past few days.

Disclaimer: One particular bit has a racist connotation but I'll like to say that I'm not racist nor am I trying to spread racism. I just found it funny.

Recently a case of bullying in prison had come up. A prison inmate accused a group of fellow inmates of assaulting him and sexually abusing him including sodomising him. One of his attackers/sodomisers was a best friend. While testifying, the victim said that he had learnt not to trust anyone after the incident and that what his former best friend did hurt him, "it was like being stabbed in the back."
A maid who was raped by a Bangladeshi at 11pm in her employer's house could not positively identify the man because she claimed that it was too dark during the night of the crime.
One of Singapore's richest man and founder of Metro, Ong Tjoe Kim, has passed away. The obituaries were filled with condolences from various organisations. Some were full page spreads. Oddly enough, not one was a coloured obit. Two other people, one 39 year old male and a little boy, had theirs in full colour.

I want nobody nobody but you! - Part III

2009-08-04T18:29:00.002+08:00

And another by a group of korean girls. I think they do it better. Then again, maybe it's bcos of their dresses. Black so they appear slimmer. :p

I so need to stop this.

I want nobody nobody but you! - Part II

2009-08-04T18:26:00.001+08:00

I realise this is getting slightly out of hand but I can't help it. Here's a video of robots dancing to "Nobody".

I want nobody nobody but you!

2009-07-31T17:46:00.002+08:00

I'm not a big fan of Korean music or non-english music for that matter. Mainly because I'm weak in any other language I know except English. But every now and then, a tune comes along that catches my fancy. This time it is "Nobody" by Wondergirls, a quintet of girls (duh!) from Korea.

I don't understand a single word of Korean and honestly, the song does sound alittle too bubblegum pop in some parts for my liking. But I like this video. Maybe bcos of the dancing or the girls' dresses or the comedy or a combination of everything. Heck, I just like it. :)

730

2009-07-28T10:40:00.003+08:00

That's my score on the GMAT. After much preparation and leaving my job, this has come as a much needed relief. I am glad it is over although it does mark the beginning of lengthy and tedious applications for the b-schools of my choice. It is also, in a way, a vindication of my leaving my job. Looking back I do not think I could have gotten this score without having left my job. There was too much to handle for me to be able to balance preparing for the GMAT and work at the same time.

Now that that's one more step forward, time for the final two steps - application essays and interviews. Unlike the GMAT, they are not as easily controlled though. I can't study for interviews nor can I effectively determine how the admissions committee of each school will view me. Fingers crossed.

But for now, a sigh of relief is in order. :)

Sit Down!

2009-07-20T11:55:00.002+08:00

I had spent the previous weekend in Phnom Penh with S and it was just fantastic - the company and the country. Yea, undeveloped relative to SG but we discovered enough dining gems that boosted its ratings in my book.

funny incident occurred while on the flight back. it has more or less cemented the impression i have of budget airlines in my head. the short of it is, service was bad. atrocious not because it they did not serve well, but atrocious because of one single incident where the flight attendant actually shouted and forced a passenger to sit down while the "seat belts on" sign was illuminated. here is how it went.

The plane had hit some turbulence...

Man: *Gets up from front of plane to head to the lavatory at the back*
Flight Attendant: *Shouts from the back of the plane* Sir, please sit down! The seat belt sign is on!
M: But I need to go to the toilet...
FA: No, sir! The seat belt sign is on! Sit down!
M: But ....
FA: Sir, please sit down!
M: *Drops into an empty seat beside him looking bewildered*

When the turbulence passed....

Man: *Raises his hand meekly and asks the flight attendant still at the back of the plane* Can I go to the toilet now?

A Conversation with a Hairstylist

2009-07-17T16:19:00.002+08:00

It is amazing the kind of insights your regular neighbourhood hairstylist can have on world events.

This conversation was conducted mostly in Mandarin. Here it is translated into Singlish.

Hairstylist: *while washing my hair* Today Jakarta kena bombing leh. Bomb two hotels leh.
Me: Ya. I read about it just now.
Hairstylist: That place so messed up already. Still keep bombing.
Me: Ya.
Hairstylist: Siao eh. (Hokkien: "Crazy")
Me: Hehehee....
Hairstylist: Bo nao. (Hokkien: "No brain")
Me: Hahahahaaa.......

The Brain

2009-07-06T16:40:00.002+08:00

After 28 years of existence on this planet, I have come to the conclusion that the human brain turns from sponge to plasticine to petrified prune during the course of a person's life.

my brain is feeling like plasticine right now. i believe if i were to take it and drop it on the ground now, it'll just land with a dull thud.

S thinks i'm still a sponge. like spongebob. while i do not share the same sentiment, it is not because of the most obvious reason in this moment. rather, incidentally i do have a friend named patrick.

Michael~~~~~

2009-06-26T15:01:00.003+08:00

Today, the world has lost an icon. Michael Jackson has passed away at the age of 50.

He was my idol up till the time he started touching little boys. Even then, I still enjoyed listening to his music.

It doesn't feel like much if you don't think about it. But when the name actually echoes in your mind, you suddenly realise, "He's dead?". Then you feel the loss, however minute it is, it is felt. For someone, who a large majority of us have probably never had personal contact with (thank god) or even seen in person, to be able to induce that ounce of feeling of loss or realization is just remarkable.

I am fairly distraught. Michael~~~~~~ *wail*

Disappointment Stings

2009-06-25T14:07:00.002+08:00

It really does. Especially when there's nothing to blame the cause of it on.

I took my GMAT today. And while I did as expected for the quantitative portion, I totally screwed up my verbal section. I just did not focus enough. My mind was wandering to every little thing here and there. I wasn't reading the questions right and had to re-read them more than once on several occasions. I was too unsure of my answers half the time and spent too much time dwelling on each question. I wasn't practicing what I had practiced during those practice tests.

I think what stings just as bad is the self-doubt. Perhaps I am only that good?

Makes a person want to give up and throw in the towel and forget it all when that kind of self-doubt comes bubbling up. Why not get a desk job and stop pushing yourself so hard? That sounds very tempting right about now.

I am getting myself into B-school one way or another. I'll take one more shot at the GMAT. One more shot.

The Morning

2009-06-24T10:40:00.005+08:00

The morning began rather oddly. It started with a weird dream of being bottom half naked standing in the lift lobby at S's block. No clue if that meant anything but my guess is that if it did, it would probably symbolise some insecurity I have. For now, I'm quite happy to leave it as something funny.

The beauty of being on a long break is that I get to wake up on a cool morning with less care in the world and catch that little window of serenity that occurs just before the rest of the world stirs. Sometime 6-ish, before 7. And, that cool little breeze that passes by each morning is quite literally a breath of fresh air, refreshing while it wafts up my nostrils as I take it in and all of my surroundings with it.

sorry, obviously my vocab is not very good. :p

Anyhow, I digress. Back to the odd morning.

Was at the doctor's for a medical screening first thing after I had washed up. And after giving some blood, urine and stool sample, talking to the doc about health and cholesterol levels, i head to the coffee shop next door. and yes, proceeded to fill myself with a bowl of fat laden, sodium infused noodles. the irony.

and ohyes, i washed the noodles down with a cup of teh-si. this after hearing the doc's advice on the unhealthy aspects of coffee shop drinks. im my defense, he was talking about condensed milk and about coffee. teh-si is tea. with evaporated milk and sugar.

i am incorrigible i know. :p

and i had dessert, a puff thingy with chocolate filling. for breakfast.

~ . ~

just saw michelle chia on the telly. she was hosting a foodie show on location in geylang, singapore's red light district. she has a lively and bubbly style of hosting. like most sgporean/hk/taiwanese tv show hosts. i find it alittle pretentious but i have nothing against it.

only thing was, she was wearing a tight, form fitting t-shirt that had the words "Année Erotique" printed across the front.

how do the producers expect people to concentrate on the food with that bouncing all over the screen?!?!

anyhow, "Année Erotique" translates to "Erotic Year" in case some of you are not aware. and it is the title of a song too. the lyrics.....go search. im not about to post them here. it is in french by the way.

Revelations

2009-06-20T10:43:00.003+08:00

Following my previous post on finding a hobby and in comparing the main theme, or lack thereof, of my blog, I realise that unlike some others, I currently do not have a certain....interest in my life. Some enjoy fishing and devote much time on it finding out about where are the good fishing spots, what is good bait, fishing techniques, etc. Others make blogging their main interest e.g. xiaxue, mrbrown.

im quite sure with the mention of those names, if someone were to google either names, this blog would pop up somewhere now. back to the main point....

but looking back, i find that i do have interests and hobbies. just that i've given up or stopped on most of them. largely due to either a short attention span or the choice to devote my time on so called "personal development". in doing so, i've forgotten that hobbies and interests make for development too and that i've emphasized too much on building a career and furthering my studies.

most of all, while studying for my GMAT the other day at S's place, I came to the realisation that I had forgotten the most important thing about living and developing myself - to have fun in the process.

i've set goals in my life in the hope of attaining them. but whilst i've told myself time and again, and even said it to my sister during one of our arguments, the process counts as much as the end point, i've forgotten to actively make sure i enjoy this ride regardless of its destination. bcos ultimately the journey dictates the destination just as the desire of the destination dictates the beginning of that journey.

i need to stop reflecting so much too. im doing too much of it now for my own liking. problem with all this reflection is that it goes round in circles and a person can get caught up doing just that, going round in circles, and end up not doing anything at all.

8 Days

2009-06-17T13:29:00.003+08:00

I need a hobby. I realise I do not have any right now to the extent that I'm getting too focused on certain things. It's not healthy. I need something new.

In 8 days I will get me one. For now, focus.

A Matter of Weight?

2009-06-16T16:18:00.003+08:00

i realise there's a whole bunch of draft posts in this blog that i've become too lazy to finish up on. partly because they were started in states of high emotional activity that fizzled out in a few days leaving behind not much motivation to finish. so in this post, i am going to attempt to finish it in 10 mins. starting 5 mins ago.....crap.

i was on the train with S and two french classmates the other day heading back home after french lessons. the two classmates are younger in age compared to S and I. they are full time students too while S and I are not so proud members of the singapore workforce.

what occurred to S and I, while chatting with them, was how much energy and how little care they seemed to have. one is a bubbly 21 yr old girl, easily excitable and full of awe and bursting exuberance and openess about her behaviour and life. the other is a 25 yr old fresh grad male looking to further his studies. and likewise had the energy to chat with our bubbly friend and a certain lack of worry or care in the world.

I would give anything to be in their shoes honestly. to be in that carefree, unrestrained state of mind. not having to wonder what others think of me or how my actions have to be considered because so many factors, perhaps self imposed ones, weigh in on the decisions i make in my life.

is this due to emotional baggage? age? a lack of emotional strength and fibre? or perhaps all this is just a feeling of enviousness. that the grass is always greener on the other side?

alright so i took 15 mins. at least im posting. :)

A Matter of Preference

2009-06-05T09:35:00.001+08:00

This is hilarious.

Life in General

2009-06-01T09:10:00.005+08:00

I think this is how life is in general. In many aspects. Comes from having an engineering background.

bloody blogger picture upload tool. took me 15 mins to put this pic up bcos the thing refused to align correctly on the blog. and in the end i had to code the html myself.

that last bit came from being an engineer too.

Edit:
Just in case, that waveform up there is call a sine wave. regardless of its inherent scientific properties, the main idea to take back is its shape and how it swings from one end to another.

i would say tho, that the amplitude doesn't stay the same all the time. sometimes it swings wider. generally, i think it tapers and reduces over time though i don't think it ever flattens.

Inconvenience

2009-05-21T07:41:00.003+08:00

The door to my office had some gremlins in its security access system this morning. So two female employees on the same work floor as I had to make a detour via a much longer route to get to our cubicles.

One of the ladies in true typical Singaporean fashion, had felt the urge to complain about this little inconvenience. This prompted an exchange between her and the office manager when they met just after she back to her cubicle. The exchange was actually in mandarin.

Lady: XX, it is very inconvenient to have the door like this.
Office Manager: Yes. It is very inconvenient.
Lady: It is very inconvenient.
Office Manager: Yes. It is very inconvenient.
Lady: You mean it was already spoilt when you came in?
Office Manager: It was already spoilt yesterday evening.

The Singapore Thrust and Parry. :)

In Short

2009-05-20T12:12:00.006+08:00

these past two months have been seemingly endless a rollercoaster ride. to the extent that im surprised im still in one piece. actually, scratch that. if i were to consider the months since the beginning of this year, then i would be able to say i crashed and burned at least once.

that one time probably made the time during these past two months look like a walk in the park.

i think it is time to throw it all out. i broke up with J. Now I am together with S.

S: Sorry, M's taken by a certain very crazy, very boisterous and very 38 friend.

J played a very large part in my life. i recognize that. and in certain ways, i do consider it to have been a pity that we had to part ways. not because she wanted to but bcos i did for reasons i do not want to elaborate here bcos they are reasons that have no definite standing in what is right and wrong. the only thing i did was to make a choice and choose a path. i can only hope from here on, J finds her way and finds someone suitable who would be able to stand by her. and i, on the other hand, find my own way as well.

with S, this past half a week has been.......i can't seem to find the word for it. obviously, enough's been happening to prompt me to write this post. it is an accummulation of different events that have elapsed over the past month i guess. finding out more about S as we get closer. learning about things that turn out to be very hard pills to swallow.

yes, this is me being emo. can? im not used to it either. think im turning wimpy.

die lah. got new gf and im turning into a char bor. liddat how?! role reversal. cham cham cham.

looking back at my old posts, i noticed how ive gradually changed in the way i think, lost my humour, lost my sense of well being, lost my self expression and lost my flair in language. that last one probably caused me to find less joy in blogging and also the loss in self expression.

now losing my sexual identity also. cham. if only estrogen was non-existent in men.

a combination of factors, not just one, has contributed to this gradual decline i believe. my job, which although ive managed to do fairly well in, has had a certain effect of taking away my self expression as well.

i have neglected my friends for a large part of these past few years due in part to my constant chasing of the neverending list of goals i have but also how i've tried to shape my daily activities to cater to having J in my life.

that is past now. and whilst i would like to say there is a bright future ahead, i cannot say it without knowing that many things need to change and there are many uncertainties. there are bright spots in the horizon and a few dark ones as well.

ohwell, enuff of the mushy stuff. that's depressing. i am a guy for goodness sake. i cant be mushing all the time. it is un-manly-like.

i need to brog more often. and brog more often i shall. i suspect most of it will be after im done with my GMAT tho. and that's coming along good. i think. i need to be putting in more practice tho. the test is a month away. i just hope the next month will not see as many surprises as this month has seen. power to me!

till the next!

Choices

2009-04-16T08:36:00.005+08:00

Interesting situation I was in the other day. I had to choose between talking to three women, one on msn, one over the phone and one directly in front of me. Now, that would seem like the best thing to ever happen to a guy but as proven, that's not always the case.

In the end I had to choose the oldest and least attractive one. Not because I saw the opportunity to snag a sugar-mama or because I prefer experience overall. But because she's my boss.

If only decisions in life are as easily made.

Filial Peity

2009-04-08T10:37:00.002+08:00

Had an exchange with my sis over msn. She's usually based in Shanghai but has been returning back to SG quite abit for work. Without the knowledge of my parents. I get the occasional heads-up that she'll be back. as in this situation.

Me: u still gonna be in SG this sat? we are going out for dinner, lao-pa will be sms-ing K [my bro-in-law].
Sis: ya. where are we going to eat?
Me: dunno yet. still thinking. right now Gordon Grill.
Sis: jialat. what if they start thinking why i'm always in SG?
Me: dunno. jus tell them why u r back lor.
Sis: i guess so.
Me: u can always tell them u miss them. hahahahahahaaa....
Sis: :-O. courting death.......
Me: die filial

Gallow Humour

2009-04-01T13:27:00.002+08:00

They were supposed to do some pest control thingy in the office today. Probably some fumigation or something during the lunch hour. Led to a some funny exchanges with and comments from my boss.

R (a colleague): I feel weak.
C (my boss): Then you better get started on that report then.
R: So that's how it is now.
C: Yea. You probably have two weeks left to live.
R: *Stands up to look around the area* I feel dizzy.
C: You know if you are dying you shouldn't be standing up.
Me (to C): You know you shouldn't be giving a dying man such advice.
C (thinks, then turns to R): Good luck.

C: I should get on the phone with A (his boss) and tell her that I'm working on this report while I'm getting fumigated and suffocating. This is considered billable time. Yea, that's what they'll put on my tombstone, "100% utilised till the last hour".

The Rugby 7s

2009-03-27T10:13:00.004+08:00

Just had this conversation over MSN with, M, an obviously depressed fren. I'm too lazy to format it nicely so here's the cut and past. but before that, i would like to first declare that i am not gay, nor do i have gay tendencies or fetishes for muscular men and/or rippling muscles.

A says: rugby 7s in HK today
A says: sigh
Ic3nCok3 says: ?
Ic3nCok3 says: u wan to catch man's raw primal nature in action plus the rippling muscles?
M says: that
M says: plus the drinking and great fun at the stadium
Ic3nCok3 says: yea, makes the raw primal manliness and rippling muscles all the more attractive
Ic3nCok3 says: hahahahhahaaa....
M says: hehehe YUP!
Ic3nCok3 says: i know a good substitute for that
M says: the muscles
M says: or the drinking
Ic3nCok3 says: both
Ic3nCok3 says: red bull, a six pack and a dvd of "300"
M says: ahahahahahahahahaha
M says: "300" nice meh
Ic3nCok3 says: muscles leh
Ic3nCok3 says: rippling

I am Live

2009-01-27T11:39:00.001+08:00

Test test. I am proud to announce that this post is being composed and uploaded via my iPhone.

In an effort to maintain a healthy blogging habit, I have installed a blogging app on my iPhone. Hopefully, it will serve its purpose and not become another one of the already many apps that just collect digital dust on my iPhone screen.

2009

2009-01-02T13:13:00.003+08:00

I've always been very amazed at how life seems to go round in circles. As the saying goes, "What goes around, comes around." It does seem to apply to things/events other than kindness, consideration and their opposites. For me at least, it applies to nearly all the things I take interest in. I find something I like/enjoy doing and keep at it till a point I get absolutely bored of it, dump it aside telling myself that's the last time I'll probably do it only to pick it up sometime later on. At which time I'll wonder to myself how come I never kept at it in the first place.

Take blogging for example. My last post to this blog is dated 22 March 2008. Since then, I've spent many blog-less months. Blogging became pretty difficult because of my time at work and also the lack of writing material. My life revolved a lot around my work and J. Lots has happened but that's better left for other posts on self-reflection.

Although blogging kind of faded away on its on, I feel slightly guilty in admitting that there was a point in time when I actually did not make an effort to keep what I now believe is actually a good pastime/habit. The thought of blogging had occurred to me before today but it was rather quickly swept far back into the dark cobwebbed corners of my mind.

Thankfully, it has not disappeared into the dark abyss. There is a resurgence~!!! I think. Hope. Fingers crossed.

I would put "Blogging more" as a resolution for 2009 but knowing how resolutions are never kept, I think this is something best kept away from the easy reaches of procrastination, laziness and forgetfulness that claim nearly all resolutions I've made in my 27 years of existence.

I swear I made a resolution when I took my first breath of air. Just that I've forgotten it. But if I were to try and remember it, I'll say it would have something to do with not causing contractions ever again.

That's one resolution I'm thankful I forgot if I did.

There are a few reasons why I've decide to pick up blogging again. The main one being I realise how much of my sense of humour it helped preserved. Ohyes, the writing practice helps too. Not that I don't get enough of writing practice already at work. I just have more leeway to exercise my vocab and creativity in my blog.

So, there. My first post of 2009 and the first in nine months. Thankfully without contractions.

Need vs Want

2008-03-22T11:00:00.000+08:00

met v for breakfast yesterday and over carrot cake + kaya toast we lapsed into the age old debate on needs versus wants. and we left it at this. or rather, he put it this way.

"Sometimes we need to pamper ourselves."

The past few months - Part 1.5 (an Interlude)

2008-02-26T13:45:00.003+08:00

lunch time often turns to a real drag for me. mainly bcos of the blood that is drawn away from the brain to other parts of the body and thus, as in most cases, disabling the brain and causing it to function in a capacity other than its peak.

which brings me to an observation ive made in the past days/months.

it's not anything new actually. in fact it's my application of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. observe below pyramid. click for a better view.

for those unfamiliar, a simplified explanation of maslow's states that human needs are arranged in the following hierarchy beginning from the most basic at the bottom. as the needs at each level are fulfilled, focus moves up towards the next level.

while i think it is notable that food and sex are at the bottom of the pyramid, my earlier bit on blood congregating in nooks and and crannies of the body other than the brain is not a direct correlation to the concept behind maslow's. it jus helped jog my memory alittle. incidentally, this proves that i am still capable of rational thought processes despite a lack of blood in the right area. albeit barely.

back to the subject.

crap. i forgot what i wanted to blog abt.

The past few months - Part 1

2008-02-25T11:45:00.002+08:00

i do realise the length of time that has passed since my last post. yet, i do not really understand why it is so. not that i have nothing to blog abt these days, in fact i have often found myself starting a post but only to abandon it after getting through the first para. an indication of writing fatigue? maybe, considering im writing tons at work. report after report which leaves me pretty fatigued from writing at each day's end.

then again, report writing is not like blogging. i have to be less expressive in reports. needless to say, it is less fun writing reports. so technically, i shld be blogging more to add some colour into my everyday life.

which is reason for this post and the time at which im typing this. at work. to get some colour in my life.

~ . ~

considering the length of time in between, i guess it's only right that i ruminate on events that have occurred these few months in my life and well, less importantly, in the world around me. inflation or the increased number of something seems to be the central theme in them all. ive decided to split things up so i get some writing time in as well as to make sure i get into some routine of writing again. like i said, i need some colour.

first off, in general view of my life, things have been swell. swelling too. 2008 started on a less than ideal note unfortunately. my ride got knocked by a cabby sometime last wk. wasn't severe. the front left corner of my bumper got dented when the blind fool reversed into me. i do remember a minor brush with another blind cabby last year as well. hopefully this is not going to become a yearly affair.

an interesting observation i made in the incident with the cabby though was the involvement of a mainland chinese man. or at least his own attempted involvement in my dispute with the cabby before i shot him down while he was jus about to jump off his diving board. i know chinese divers are good, but they shldn't be sticking their noses in any pool they see fit other than their own.

which brings me to the point of their increasing numbers in singapore. the mainland chinese i mean. not their divers. their divers are most welcome too. in fact where they shld be sticking their noses into if they want is our olympic medal dream.

my point behind all this is the effect of the increased number of mainland chinese coming onto our shores. don't get me wrong, i support their migrating efforts. i for one believe pple shld be moving ard more. globalisation is without doubt an eventuality. it has to happen. my concerns lie in the effects on society that this movement has.

singapore has been striving for years to cultivate a more gracious society. we want friendlier, more open, better socially adept, polite, courteous and considerate people. and things have been moving on the up and up. we have progressed. i do see a difference in the service provided by stores. a difference in the way people act on the street. i have even observed the considerate nature of the bus drivers towards elderly passengers. perhaps it is due to the passing of the generations that have caused this. each younger generation is noticeably better educated and more world-wise than the previous. i see it in my younger cousins and younger peers in uni. without a doubt, things are moving in a good direction somehow. at least in my opinion.

yet, with the influx of mainland chinese, there are times i get the sense that they might be diluting our efforts. the loud talking, the pushing and shoving in public places. to me, these are reflections of the calibre of social grace their society cultivates as a whole. but importantly, is that the kind of calibre we want

granted, those who have braved the obstacles to come to our little red dot are not the creme de la creme from chinese society but i do think they are by far not the bottom feeders. so the question here is, are our above bottom feeders the same in nature?

to view their actions positively would be to say they have the "get ahead" spirit. the "hunger to succeed". without hesitation i would applaud such tenacity but i do not condone uncouth demeanour. there is a balance to be struck. something which i do not doubt the mainland chinese would eventually obtain but when they do and how this affects our efforts to move forward in social graces is my concern.

still, to put things in another context. dilution of our social etiquette standards may not necessarily bring us below the average mark of the world in general. looking at things from a broader perspective, how many countries in the world are actually able to claim a high level of graciousness in their societies? so why shld we be so worried abt being hampered by the influx of behaviour that might possibly tarnish the work we have done to portray the right image?

in that light then i guess there is some consolation for taking a step backwards to gather the troops once more and move everyone forward together. which is what it shld be regardless come rain, sleet or snow isn't it?

till the next post. hopefully tonite?

Bittergourds Part II

2007-11-22T11:51:00.001+08:00

one of the little upsides about working in this job is the stuff i get to read. sometimes they are fairly interesting. for example, this comes hot on the heels of the bittergourd saga from my previous post:

"1 April 2007
The News of the World

A WOMAN whose husband gave up sex 18 years ago in a bid to live forever has been granted a
divorce.

Chinese man Chen Dong, 50, changed his life after he heard that he would live for 1,000 years if he
was a celibate vegetarian.

Since 1989 he has eaten only vegetables and fruit and abstained from sex with his wife Yu Hui.
The divorce was granted last week. Dong now has to pay love-starved Yu 7,500 in compensation.

(C) News of the World, 2007"

i guess the wife must have left the whole thing with a bitter taste in her mouth. *ahem*

Men and their Bittergourds

2007-11-19T16:02:00.001+08:00

due to my recent lack of exercise, ive taken to having fish soup for lunch evryday. nearly. i still have my regular serving of fat laden, artery clogging roast pork + roast duck rice once a week. or twice depending on my mood and thrice if im feeling like it. but that's not the point here.

the point here is, or close to it, is that i find it great the fish soup sellers are including bitter gourd in the fish soup nowadays. i like bitter gourd. and im sure although it can be an acquired taste for some, it does go well as an ingredient in the soup. bitter gourd yes, bitter cock no.

was in the line for my serving at the fish soup stall when i heard this exchange between the seller and a fairly attractive chinese looking but evidently non-mandarin speaking young lady in the line behind me.

Young Lady: 2 sliced fish soup. with rice. packet.
Stall Seller: You want bitter cock?

i had to hurry myself away before i burst out laughing in front of the both of them.

Perplexed

2007-11-13T21:19:00.000+08:00

somethings i do not and i guess will never understand.

1. if a barcode scanner doesnt read a barcode the first time, how does furiously waving the barcode in front of the scanner help?

was at 7-11 buying myself a morning yoghurt drink when i saw the cashier doing the above with the phone bill of the customer in front of me. made me wonder how in the world does that (the frantic waving) help?!

2. why do giant IT companies like to make complex applications for lousy equipment that are both ridiculous to use?

being the only IT savvy enough person in office, i have to help my colleagues with some of their computer problems. today it was installing the printer/scanner and a name card scanner. i spent half a day installing the printer/scanner bcos the software that came with it was too dumb to report an error when it needed to and threw a fatal error when it did not need to. the name card scanner jus kept quiet.

3. why do some pple have to park their car at the entrance of a small road and still refuse to see they are making a nuisance of themselves?

that's pretty self-explanatory. although i will add that the guy gestured to us that he had done no wrong even when we horned the dumbass.

A New Wave

2007-11-06T19:49:00.001+08:00

for the techies, i believe, this latest development possibly is the most crucial in the computing world. there is now no need to boot to windows to use an application (e.g. browsers, email client, etc)

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2007/11/phoenix#

take this, plus a server side client and wat do you get? mega savings for businesses bcos they no longer need to install windows or use windows server software.

there might even come a time when a home might not need to have windows at all. now that home networking is becoming more prevalent, all that is needed is one central server running a server-side OS and clients having nothing more than a barebones system connecting to it.

this is what ive been waiting for all along for years.

Speechless

2007-11-04T12:21:00.000+08:00

yesterday was eventful. eventful might even seem insufficient to describe the day. a particular piece of news was shocking enuff to have left me speechless until today.

the Cuban, that i've mentioned in a post every now and then on this blog, has passed away.

that felt alittle surreal to type out.

i would love to write something like an eulogy here but to be honest we were not the closest of frens. we had fun during lessons together, met at the clubs once in awhile, hung out between lessons as well. frens we were, not close pals, not buddies but frens enuff to know his passing is a great loss to evry1 who knew him.

life is too short pple. way too short.

Fatigue

2007-10-21T15:26:00.000+08:00

i shld be studying right now. but i guess it's not often nowadays that i feel that sudden urge to write, and since being in a reflective mood has helped unearth one such urge, i thought i might as well drop a post seeing how dated the last post is.

ironically, one of the things that ive been pondering abt those past few minutes is the same reason why i decided to drop a post here. not entirely a sense of "awww, why not. after all it's been awhile." im talking more abt procrastination. in a bid to put off having to study somemore, ive found an excuse a rational reason for me to do so. which is rubbish actually. i shld be thrown off a cliff for doing this and considering how often i do it - procrastinate i mean, not post on my blog.

rubbish - a word that ive started to use more often nowadays. probably due to my time with J. she rubbishes me alot for the nonsensical things i say and do. then again, in my books, she does a fair share of nonsense as well.

there is however a real reason behind the procrastinating. something that runs pretty deep and its been bugging me these past few days. particularly because of the workload the past week. work was pretty intense over the week. left me with very little time to do any kind of studying for my impending exam. and looking at it, i am starting to wonder if all of this is worth it.

i guess that's one of the drawbacks of being shortsighted and benefits driven. the end product is a person who is driven by short term rewards. i do however tend to believe that the converse (being long sighted and benefits driven) is not exactly the better mould of a person's character either. neither ways of life are exactly beneficial or detrimental in their own sense. yet it is really really difficult to split it down the middle. at least i find it so.

if i had to bring an analogy into the picture, i would say life is like learning to walk in the middle of the road with all the traffic of rush hour.

staying on the sides is easy. getting into the thick of it and getting smashed over and over again is immensely difficult. makes staying on the sides seem so much better just purely because it is safer. which now begs the question that's been digging at me quite recently, is it all worth it?

hard to equate the worth of being run over again and again. and unfortunately i don't think anyone has super-powers that will allow him/her to get smashed and say, "that tickles." it's a nice thought still.

again, this might just be fatigue on my part. it brings about alot of uncertainty and apprehension. fatigue would be just part of the process, everything else is still the same. i just need to bite on it and keep going. too much pondering does turn a person to mush. so does too much procrastination. literally. i shld be continuing with my studying. perhaps ill do it brainlessly for a while. keeps all the questions at bay at least for now, until the tide passes. before that tho, here are some figures i came up with a few minutes ago. not new actually.

the life of a man in sinapore - in percentages (assuming he lives to 75 and retires at 65)
24% - Education (from primary school to university)
53.33% - Work
22.66% - Being a toddler (includes second child hood)

Blue Monday

2007-10-08T18:35:00.000+08:00

today did not start out too good. not a good way to start the week for that matter. kinda made a few careless but costly mistakes at work last wk that blew up in my face today. left my boss with a frown on her face. i didnt get a lashing from her nor did i get a lecture. but she did ask me to think how to improve on the way i process the work.

back at my old company, i would have gotten hell already by now.

perhaps it's bcos im lucky to have such a patient boss or im still relatively new and inexperienced in this new line so she's sparing me for now. dunno, think ill just have to wait and see.

things are starting to settle down alittle. work's good. though i do have doubts on whether i would stay here for long. not bcos the place is not good. but bcos i somehow don't know if i wanna do this stuff for the long run. then again, it's early days still. think ill run through the next yr and see.

side-note, i know i waxed lyrical abt my phone (Samsung U600) the last time round. but, after nearly 6mths of usage, im not waxing as much as i was initially. the form is great. the features are cool. but the battery is rubbish and the basic functionality is just garbage.

there have been countless occasions where ive found myself without battery power and without means of communication since i got this phone. there are 3 bars on the battery indicator but effectively just one. once the first bar disappears, the last 2 are pretty negligible.

basic functionality sucks. i cant seem to put in as many characters as i want to in calendar entries or the names of contacts and i cant seem to select an alternative number in a contact to send a message unless i type out the number itself in the recipients list.

im tempted to just go back to a nokia right now. perhaps the new 6500 classic. call me a nokia fan i guess. im just not used to any other interface.

Hmmmm.......

2007-10-05T13:16:00.000+08:00

now here's something interesting:
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/071004/1/4bn1f.html

im wondering if singaporeans use the same international standards mentioned in the article. then again, i would think we need less stringent measures to ensure our economy does not fall due to our lack of.........drive.

Stories

2007-09-10T08:23:00.001+08:00

morning train rides to work are sometimes very interesting......

The Spider, Miss Muffet and Her Tuffet
a young girl stood silently by the train doors as the morning crowd started to stream in and fill the carriage. decked out in a yellow blouse, white cardigan and skirt she looked like she was around sixteen and might be heading off for music lessons as the music book clasped in her arms might suggest. on her head was an interesting looking hair piece. small, golden and seemingly pointless considering the amount of hair it held together.

and then it moved.

the spider whirled around looking for an adversary. fangs bared and body drawn together ready for a fight. or a meal. yet it saw nothing. draughts were common on trains as they moved along sending commuters to their daily work. after much wariness, the golden explorer continued making his way around this vast black mound of what might have seemed like very rough and thick versions of his own spider's silk. his presence drew the attention of a young man who watched him mouth agape with pure astonishment (note: i couldn't think of another word to describe it. the guy looked like one half of dumb and dumber). the spider, oblivious to the world, continued to quicken his pace. he grew weary of this stringy black world and longed for a better place to explore. then he found it, new land. plains of white rolling on and on before disappearing into a dark canyon.

nobody noticed a little brown spot make its leap of faith from the young girl's head and onto the walls of the train carriage. just as the girl and spider were oblivious to each other, the world was oblivious to them except for the young man from dumb and dumber.

Muhamad and his Mountain
the train doors were closing. a lady in her late-twenties saw her last chance to board the train and ran to get on before the doors could bar her from entry and perhaps her so far clean record of punctuality at work. unfortunately there seemed little space on the train. push as she might, the red big wall of red in front of her refused to budge. she glanced up the wall with a mix of frustration and resignation before continuing to try and get herself onto the little spot between where the doors would close and the wall.

oblivious to the little lady nudging at him, the well-built caucasian man continued to fiddle away at his ipod. he was a good head taller than most of the other commuters on the train. coupled with his bright red t-shirt, he stuck out pretty much and perhaps to the lady having such a hard time find a spot next to him, he stuck out like a big red sore thumb. the man finally found the track he wanted to listen to and started to bop his head to it. before long, the rest of those around him had also begun to bop to the beat of his ipod not because they could hear it too, but because the ground beneath them shook with every bop the mountain of a man made. all but the little lady, who somehow managed to stand un-disturbed and unaffected by the bop bop bopping the mountain beside her.

Mixed

2007-09-01T01:22:00.001+08:00

so i left office today without my company issued notebook. all the stuff i usually carry with it were dumped in a paper bag i found lying ard in one of the shelves. it might have been the last time i walked through those doors as an employee of the company. and with that, i leave behind my first job.

my feelings are mixed abt it really. partly bcos the pple very have been pretty good to me and to a certain extent, i find it a pity to leave a good bunch of pple. at the same time, i also know that staying longer would not do me any good career-wise and as a person. moving to my new job also marks a new chapter for me. im taking quite a gamble in the new position. it's different from the stuff im used to and good at in the past few years of education and work. the positions are worlds apart. i can only hope it takes me closer towards the career i really want to build.

oh well. fingers crossed. doing this is not new to me, taking mad plunges into a dark abyss is something im quite familiar with. hopefully this time round it pays off.

Brainy Boobs/Bobby Brains

2007-08-29T22:12:00.000+08:00

we all know how guys have 2 brains. one big one small. here's a revelation. my revelation actually.

brains are like boobs.

young boobs are flexible or malleable which ever you may. jus like a young brain. flexible and able to learn things at a snap of the fingers. as age progresses, the brain grows to a certain point. jus like boobs. brains have growth spurts. jus like boobs. and as time goes by, boobs either shrivel up or get augmented or both. either way, they get less flexible. so do brains.

not to forget, boobs are in evry1's brains. women's and both of men's brains. we are all fixated with boobs in some way or another.

thus brains are like boobs.

Kiddie TeeVee

2007-08-27T16:35:00.000+08:00

im thinking of growing a goatee and moustache (or mustache as Firefox likes it better). i think i might look good with one. contemplated on leaving this morning's stubble while i was shaving before i decided it might be better if i left the idea till after i start on my new job. incidentally that would be the beginning of next wk.

i did notice a small bald patch in on my chin that did not seem to have any hair growing out of it. dunno how that will turn out if i do eventually decide to leave a goatee.

on to more important things, has any1 watched kids central recently? im amazed at how the channel has evolved. the variety of programmes they have for kids is really mind boggling. all i ever remember watching as a kid were the cartoons that run from 6pm to 7pm everyday on channel 5 equating to just 2 each day. and those 2 ran in serials which meant you watched Silverhawks and Mask everyday for maybe a few weeks before it changes to perhaps Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the next few weeks. kids really have got it lucky now. they have a whole bloody channel for them. of course i do wonder abt the need for an off-colour talking dino and a gay sponge as kiddie teevee fodder.

the topic of appropriate content brings me to the whole point of my post. i do think that some stuff shld not be shown on kiddie channels in order not to cultivate the wrong values and ideas in the minds of our country's young. an example would be the airing of kids doing the mambo, cha cha and other very suggestive dance routines.

was doing some channel surfing the other weekend morning when i happened to chance upon a particular segment on kids central that showcased the talents of children in the age range of 5-12. this would seem like a pretty harmless and seemingly innocent programme. after all, wat can a 5-12 yr old do?

not so as i learned. the pair of kids, roughly 9-10yrs of age, were in full (or rather, lacking) ballroom latin dance costume doing a one of their very well-rehearsed dance routines.

kids shldn't be able to move their hips that way~! ok, so they obviously can, but they shldn't be allowed to do it until they turn 80~! dun forget the costumes. my god, if i had a daughter or younger sister wearing that little clothing, ill probably force her into a nunnery and make her resign to a fate of celibacy.

buddhist nunnery. not christian or catholic cos being bald will ward off potential suitors as well.

unfortunately, not all share the same view as i do. J thought that the kids were cute in their outfits when i was ranting to her over the phone during the kids' routine. a colleague of mine thought it was alright and thought they were cute too when i told her abt it.

call me an old fashioned fart, but i dun think it is appropriate. dancing is fine. but not dances that involve the need to swivel and gyrate hips in a manner whose meaning is totally incomprehensible to beings that have not been taught abt the birds and the bees. they could learn the waltz or foxtrot or hop-scotch if they wanted to. that would be so much better.

give them their off-colour talking dino, gay sponge and supposedly satanic followers with tvs in their bellies. ill much rather they have that.

Little Balls of Colour

2007-08-22T16:52:00.000+08:00

today i will propose something of great importance that i believe truly will be a great contribution towards the "Save the Earth" movement.

i propose that those little green/yellow/blue balls of disinfectants be put in every urinal of all male toilets/restrooms.

by doing so, they achieve a few things:
1. keeping the toilets urine odour free
2. they save water
3. they save electricity

first, keeping the toilets urine odour free is pretty straight forward. it's good for every1.

next, there are variations of those little balls. some are actually balls of microbes that clean the urinal thus eliminating the need to flush. and therefore, saves water.

now, this is where things get interesting. what i suggest next will, i believe, be one of the greatest ideas ever conceived in the move towards a greener planet and explains how those little balls can save both water and electricity at the same time. it is based on the premise that all men need to be occupied with something to be effective and efficient.

the same goes when they pee.

thus, if a ball of disinfectant is used in every urinal, all men would have something to aim at. and when placed in the correct area of the urinal i.e. the drainage area, things would flow the right way instead of being directed the wrong way due to some bloke with ADHD or bad eyesight.

at the same time, there will be a decreased usage of electricity in pubs/clubs bcos there would be no need for small little tv screens above the urinals that show nothing but flashing colours or gyrating women. guys would be concentrating on their balls and aiming the right direction instead of on the screens.

i know it seems like a ridiculous idea right now, but im sure in time to come, there will be others who agree with me and we will make the world a much cleaner and greater place to live in.

M&A - The Story of How M Met A

2007-08-15T11:13:00.000+08:00

time for a celebratory post. a pair of my close frens, M and A, are tying the knot soon. so here's a shoutout of congrats to the both of them~!

how time flies really. M&A have been together for 6yrs already and these 6yrs have seen them go thru much as a couple. so now that they are going to exchange vows, it's great to see all the effort they have put in come to a much deserved official union.

of course im most happy abt the impending dinner. kidding.

incidentally, M&A = Mergers & Acquisitions in business/finance speak.

altho i believe this has been recounted several times. i remember the first time M laid his eyes on A. it was during one of the regular night outs with the guys. at the time, we were all serving our national service and often hung out at Wong San's during the weekends. so naturally, being young and virile specimens of the Singaporean male species, many girls caught our eyes. but when M saw A, he was more excited than usual. *ahem*

turns out A was a regular at Wong San's too. so obviously M would be more excited than his usual self each time we hung out there and often pointed her out to the rest of us. we did not know A's name then. to the rest of us she was known as "The Slash Girl" cos she was always wearing a toga-like top. thankfully she's moved on from that fashion phase. so M had become fixated with "The Slash Girl" so much so that each time she glanced or did not glance our way, M would exclaim excitedly,"She just looked at me" + "again" + "again". ahhhhh........the sweet smell of young love.

so one day, M finally plucked up the courage to talk to her. finally, after spending so much time talking to us ABOUT her, he finally talked TO her. wat relief. subsequently, she came over to talk to him as well. it was not long before he managed to get her number and then jio-ed her out. and from there led to a relationship which has seen its fair share of ups and downs. and that has in turn led them to where they are today, a fitting union with a new chapter in life together as an officially married couple.

that's the story of how M met A, so to the both of them, i say once again "Congrats~!" and ohyes, "Finally".

Ramblings

2007-08-13T17:51:00.001+08:00

i know im supposed to post on day 3 in shanghai. but im really jus too lazy to do it. discipline has been thrown out the window lately and the other consequences of that include a seemingly growing hole in my wallet and what seems like the start of a pot-belly.

been thinking of signing up for a gym membership. so has J. we both agree we need to exercise more. now it is a matter of finding the willpower in keeping with a weekly regime and also the heart to part with hard-earned cash that would otherwise be put to other more gratifying uses e.g. buying myself a 27" monitor or going on a mad shopping spree to enhance my very small wardrobe.

and national day has passed. singapore is now 42 years of age. time sure flies. jus as a colleague had commented the other day, "funny how time flies when u r occupied with something. otherwise it just crawls." he used "occupied" cos he was referring to the work we had to do. otherwise im quite sure he would have used "fun" instead.

national day passed in a jiff. not very eventful tho. thankfully in a way. my stomach was in bad shape through most of the earlier wk, the holiday and the wkend just past. i believe the alcohol consumption over the past few days have upset it somewhat in addition to the fact i had mussels on national day for lunch. been chugging down bottles of yoghurt daily to try and mitigate the effects of the mussels, but being a little lactose intolerant means there is a "3 steps forward 2 steps back" effect.

and whaddaya know. yoghurt is spelt yogurt in firefox. i know one is american english the other is british english, but i dunno which is which.

national day also marks the birthday of my little doggy niece, twinkle. which we had celebrated the wkend earlier. my sis had flown back specially for the little tyke. a bbq was held at which my new doggy nephew, knut, decided to do some base jumping out of my dad's arms and onto his head. scared him shitless for all of 5mins before the birthday cake came out for twinkle.

i do detect a fair amount of resemblance btwn myself and the little devil. kindred spirits we must be. J refuses to believe me though despite my constant efforts to get her to see how similarly furry, cuddly and adorable i am. tho small i am not, i do not believe size is a factor here.

im sure evry1 else would believe me.

Day 2 in Shanghai

2007-07-29T23:06:00.000+08:00

Shanghai Day 2:

but before that.....

can i say that Oosh at dempsey road is uber-great. and they have Schnapps! i had only read abt schnapps online the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see it on the menu at Oosh. the snacks looked very interesting as well. too bad we had arrived alittle late last night and the kitchen had already closed. i am definitely gonna make another trip down there. probably for a late dinner or something.

and........i have decided on which job to go for. i jus hope that this would put me in the right direction. have my fingers crossed.

and on to Shanghai........

so day 2 was mainly spent at Cheng Huang Miao, Yu Yuan, Huai Hai Lu, shopping for knock-offs at the Science and Tech Park train station, dinner with my sis again and then a foot massage to end things off for the night.

Cheng Huang Miao translated is actually "City God Temple". we didnt really set foot into the temple itself, choosing to walk ard the area instead and also sample the famous xiao long bao they had. it turned out to be disappointing tho. the area is very touristy and the xiao long baos sub-standard. they have more than one type tho. perhaps the other types were better.

picture time.

the xiao long bao at cheng huang miao,

picture's alittel small but one line reads: "dumpling stuffed with the ovary and digestive glands of crab"

one of the highlights of the day had to be the visit to Yu Yuan. some background info here
Travel China Guide's article on Yu Yuan

the place is fantastic. it is quite hard to believe that in the midst of the bustling concrete jungle of shanghai, there is this little bit of green paradise of tranquility. walking along the corridors in the various areas of yu yuan, i could actually picture myself in some old kung fu flick chasing bad guys.

the trip to yu yuan was followed by a walk down huai hai lu. a shopping street with all the shopping malls. prices there are pretty much the same as in sg. so nothing much there. the science and tech park train station however was a different story. i picked up a few dri-fit nike and adidas knock-offs there while J started to break open her piggy bank.

im still amazed at her ability to spend. tho i was also to learn her ability to bargain.

dinner was spent with my sis. and we had lobster~! baby lobsters to be exact. tons of them~! the place is called Fu Mao. it's actually a chain of stores selling nothing but baby lobsters cooked in a multitude of ways and they are cheap as hell.

i believe this would be my pot of gold at the end of a rainbow

to tell the truth, one little lobster yields very little meat. so a large amount is required to actually fill a stomach.

dinner was followed by foot reflexology at Tai Pan which was great after all the walking. the ambience was great too. a 90mins package gets you a neck, back and shoulder massage, foot and leg massage, the tv or dvd movie of your choice and free flow snacks and drinks. and the price, S$28.

day 3 is next

Ye Shanghai (Longest Night in Shanghai)

2007-07-24T11:57:00.000+08:00

and so im back from Shanghai. yes, i used a capital "S" which means i enjoyed the holiday. at the same time i am once again amazed by the consumer potential of my girlfriend.

jus an idea of how great the shopping is, this is wat we departed for Shanghai with.

and this is wat we came back with.

that might not be alot of stuff to carry for 2 pple actually. but......this:

meant that there was only one person lugging the bags from my sis' apartment to the airport.

anywayz, on to the trip proper. im gonna split it into separate posts.

NOTE: please keep in mind that everything i am about to post on is cheap relative to my standards. i believe there are more and better bargains to be found in Shanghai tho.

Day 1:
the first day was relatively uneventful.

at 3pm-ish we arrived at PuDong airport greeted by 38deg C weather and polluted air. so intially it kinda put me off alittle. i was expecting hot weather but wasnt expecting a smelly one. perhaps im too used to the clean singapore air. J and I headed on to the MagLev train station which took us to LongYang Lu station at a mad 430km/h. then it was another train ride to Jing An Shi station where we hailed a cab to my sis' place.

dinner was with my sis at this great place called "Die Yuan". that's Butterfly Garden in english. jus a quick shot of their "zhao pai cai" (specialty dish).

that's pork with eggs in some kinda sweet sauce. we don't know the name for it. it was point and order.

drinks followed at an ice-cream place in Xin Tian Di to seek repreive from the sweltering heat. Xin Tian Di is a chill out area where many expats hang out mostly. check out this sundae. there was supposed to be vodka in it, but i couldnt detect any.

prior to serving us the drink, the waitress, i believe with all good intent, kindly informed us of the 600RMB price tag of the glass. such great service. jus makes you appreciate your meal so much "more" duncha think?

the next post shortly........

Shanghai

2007-07-17T23:39:00.001+08:00

off to shanghai for the rest of the wk~!!!! xiao long bao heaven here i come~!!!

Musings and Smackings

2007-07-16T13:44:00.000+08:00

the wkend had passed pretty good. tho it has left me wondering where did all the time go. when i looked back at the past wk, i realised how short a wk can be.

yesterday was spent at the zoo with J. yep. the zoo. im not sure if this is a norm for guys in sg, but it seems that one of the things that a guy has to do for his gf is to bring her to the zoo. so far, ive pretty much heard the same request being fulfilled by all my guy frens for their ladies. so here's the big question, wat do u girls like abt the zoo?

is it the animals? or jus the whole idea of going to the zoo?

i did ask J this question once. she only jus said she wanted to go to the zoo. i then went on to describe my bad experience at the zoo during my early years in primary sch to her. abt how i was filled with the anticipation of seeing a great big lion with a great golden mane and loud roar but only to be finally greeted by a balding, lembeh lembeh (lethargic), scrawny, dirty and squeaking cat. i would like to state that that perhaps, was the day i grew up.

however, we still ended up going to visit the animals. and well, i guess things have improved much over the years. the animals are still lembeh lembeh tho. much to the dismay of J. at one point i couldnt resist an "i told you so". only to be answered with a slap on the arm. my bad.

the zoo's pretty ok i guess. not all the animals were lembeh lembeh. like for example the ones in an enclosure i believe was J's favourite, called "kids playland". it's for little creatures of many ages to run around amok amongst the water fountains screaming their heads off in various states of undress. these same creatures were also free ranging and ran around the whole zoo interacting with the visitors. of course these free ranging ones were fully clothed tho still wild.

i had to hold J back or else she would have decided to grab one and run home with it.

on the topic of kids, there was one particular incident that happened on saturday that i was pretty amused by. it happened while i was having lunch at olio cafe in the alliance francaise.

a boy, quite young, abt 3-5 maybe? was suddenly bawling his head off in the middle of the cafe. his mum was present as well. and judging by the way he was bawling, it seemed pretty obvious he was faking it to get his way with his mum. the kid was able to form his words and sentences pretty well despite all the crying and furthermore his bawling was like an on-off switch. no sniffling before and after. jus alot of pretended crying, no tears, no blubbering.

if i had a son like that, i would probably have smacked the living daylights out of him. and ill keep smacking him till he has either lost his grammar or vocab and gotten them back.

thanks ma, it seems ive learnt a thing or two from you.

by now it should be pretty common knowledge for most pple, this is pretty much how some of us asians were disciplined. if u did something like that, u got smacked till u really cried. then if u cried, u got smacked further till u stopped.

i would be such a great father next time.

Cucumber

2007-07-12T14:15:00.001+08:00

here's something to munch on if any1 is bored. read it in another blog. too funny to pass up.

here's the link to the other blog.
An Englishman in Osaka

Cucumber trivia!
Did you know that.......

if cucumbers were made into robots, they might try to take over the world and control us.

on live TV in 1978, British television personality Esther Rantzen manhandled a penis-shaped cucumber for a full three minutes. The BBC received no complaints.

if you lined up all the cucumbers in the world, it would make a very long line.

if you boil the juice of five cucumbers and add a litre of whisky to the mix before drinking all of it, it will make you extremely drunk and liable to vomit.

in a recent telephone survey of 1,000 Japanese housewives who handle Japanese cucumbers on a regular basis and also have experience with Western ones, 78% said that while Japanese ones may be smaller, they are also firmer to the touch.

until the 17th century, cucumbers were used exclusively as jewellery.

before The Beatles were called The Beatles, they called themselves The Silver Cucumbers.

the Royal Society for the Protection of Cucumbers (RSPC) has over 3,000 members.

the delightful and charming British chef Delia Smith once held up a bag of cucumbers on her popular cookery show and said, "Look! It's like a load of cocks!"

Pipl

2007-07-11T10:30:00.000+08:00

on the topic of social networking/networks......

but before that, i don't know whether to love or hate the spell checker in FireFox. for one, as in my prev post, i have peeve for language misuse so this spell-checker shld be one of my best frens. but on the other hand, i would like to use the occasional short-form to ease my typing without my whole post looking like one of my result slips that my teachers used to hand to me in school - full of red marks.

the thing doesn't even have the word FireFox in its dictionary. but spelling Mozilla instead of mozilla is correct. duh.

anywayz, back to the topic of social networking/networks. reason for my posting on this only now is perhaps due to the fact that i have a near zero social life. another reason could be due to a recent revelation. my sis has a friendster account~! i find that unbelievable actually. tho i dun think that it would be an impossible feat on her part. my sis doesnt warm up to these social networking things easily. also cos when friendster came about, she was pretty much too busy with work to explore it. but evidently now she's taken the time to do so.

which leads me to think that maybe i should do the same. my friendster account was created eons ago but ive never bothered to log on to it until now. in fact, J is not even in my list of friends. maybe cos she's not jus a friend.

i would believe someone to be smiling to herself right about.......now.

not all my closest frens are on the list either. which means my list is very small. in fact, jus to give an idea of how small, i have only jus breached the 2 digit mark. compared to the 2 girls in a recent newspaper article who have thousands of "frens" between them in friendster-like sites, i must be a bloody hermit. forget them, compared to some of those on my list, im the one sperm in an elephant's used condom which is their list of frens.

well........all that said and done, i do believe that at the end of it, networking sites aside, there are only that many pple one can hang out with often enough.

perhaps i will build up my list jus for the sake of some soul-searching. if i have the time to do that too.

so here comes the big question, shld i or shld i not add the FireFox spell-checker to my list of frens?

P.S. here's a people search engine for those who might wanna search for others.
www.pipl.com

Feeling Donkey-ish

2007-07-06T10:31:00.001+08:00

things are feeling alittle surreal at the moment.

here's the situation. i have a job offer at hand. it's a great job opportunity. something that i had been studying towards during my education. now it is finally abt to become a reality. my original dream job is abt to be handed to me. all i have to do is say yes.

and here comes the but.....

but on the other hand, i have found that to pursue my ultimate career goal, it would be wise for me to switch to a different profession as early as possible. and frankly, im not sure that my original dream job is that great after all to make me stay in my current line of work.

to make matters alittle less clean cut, fate has gone ahead and dangled 2 other job possibilities in front of me.
Job 1: not the ideal direction to head to my target profession of choice but not too bad a start point. i have gone for the second round interview. there's a 50-50 chance of getting it.
Job 2: good start point to the other profession. it's not an interview yet, i have submitted my reply to a questionnaire they emailed me and they have agreed to give me the first interview slot tomorrow if they do find my answers to the questionnaire suitable.

and here's the reason why those 2 jobs are dangling: Time.

the timing of the occurrences of these events are putting me in a fix. i have to give the job offer an answer soon. i think i can only delay the decision for max a wk. but job 1 cant give me an answer until 2 wks and job 2 is the bloody worst. i applied for it mths ago and only now they get back to me. i feel like im being toyed with the proverbial carrot on a stick.

in a sense, the decision is pretty clear cut. i shld be taking the job offer. cos it's the only concrete one right now. the experience will give me good skills and exposure to aid me in any new endeavour i choose later. a bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush.

but.......

i could throw the fish back and hope for a bigger one..........or i could end up without anything in my hand.

All Knutty

2007-07-03T16:06:00.001+08:00

presenting my new nephew~!!!! Knut the Westie~!

Feeling Challenged

2007-06-28T14:08:00.000+08:00

jus a quick gripe...........

i dun believe ive mentioned that one of my biggest peeves is the incorrect use or jus plain bad english. mostly in the spelling and vocab areas. it's obvious i dun care much for punctuation and grammar. ironically tho, ive probably committed 3 mistakes in spelling for this post thus far.

life is challenging isn't it? i find it so because of the challenges encountered in the course of my work. i find myself constantly challenged by the numerous inappropriate uses of the word 'challenge'. the challenge for me is not only in suppressing the feeling of annoyance but also the challenge of curbing the urge to correct the person - my boss.

ah the dilemma. oops, i mean challenge.

i wont say im the perfect practitioner of the english language. but for a person who eats more potatoes than rice (figuratively), i cant help but feel alittle perturbed each time i read or hear bad pronunciation or wrong use of words. then again, the origins of this peeve probably stems more from upbringing than anything else.

i recognise the need for pple at work to portray a positive image especially in the presence of clients. but i really do think there is also a need to polish up our command of the language or risk having clients think we are linguistically challenged.

dun get me wrong. im perfectly fine with singlish. like i said, im not too big on grammar. in fact, im fine with singlish spelt correctly. spelling in singlish is a tough thing to put a finger on tho.

and anyhow, is it 'spitting image' or 'splitting image'?

all my life ive used 'spitting image'. however, one day princess VV used 'splitting image' which she has her english teacher to back her up. all i have are books ive read and memory to rely on. our little debate ended without a conclusion back then until recently, when i chanced upon the term again while surfing the net. so which is it?

something to shed light on my little mystery.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-spi1.htm

All Things Hot Under The Collar

2007-06-15T09:05:00.000+08:00

so the whole "save the earth" thingy is all the rage nowadays. with multi-national corporations and individuals alike all chipping in to reduce the effects of global warming, it's hard not to be affected by the fever that's enveloping the planet. geddit? global WARMING, FEVER? hahahahahahaaa......

reason for my musing is the whole slew of "save the earth" messages flying around lately. jus caught Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer yesterday. and i couldnt help noticing the *ahem* coincidence *ahem* of how the destruction of the planet is heralded by changes to the climate of the planet.

we know how pple can be affected by the delivery of a message through one channel but not another, i guess that movie would be the thing that finally got me opening my doors to the idea of global warming. not to say that it wasnt there knocking in the first place.

just as birds migrate to warmer regions during winter, lately i have sought to find a cooler region of the house to sleep through the nights. courtesy of the thermostat in my air-conditioner remote, temperatures have been shown regularly hitting 31deg C in my room - at night. the lowest it has ever gotten was 30deg C. so i do not get much reprieve from the heat of the day. fortunately my sis' room is vacant and a nice constant 29deg C through the nite. and that's where ive been spending most of my sleeping hours.

unfortunately all his heat does not make me hanker much for a nice warm body to hold during the night. cos even if i did, it might seem i would spend most of the night monitoring the thermostat for temperature changes.

in other news......linkin park has released a new song titled "what i've done". or was it "what have i done". think it was called "oh shit, now ive gone and done it. the whole world is falling apart and ive spent the time making and selling multi-platinum albums of wailing noises instead of making one song wailing about the world falling apart."

and to the main point of this post, "Rise of the Silver Surfer" is pretty good. tho i wonder if it is really necessary to keep exploiting the idea of possibly seeing invisible girl's naked behind (i.e. jessica alba's bare bottom) to make the movie more interesting. they did it the first time, now they've gone and done it again.

one point to note, whoever did alba's hair obviously didn't do a good dye job. at one point i could see the dark roots of her natural hair colour.

i meant the hair on her head.

till the next post.

Surprise~!

2007-05-22T23:58:00.000+08:00

so im alittle late on the followup post from the last time. my apologies.

anywayz, the surprise that i mentioned the last time, here it is:

my new phone - the Samsung U600. tres beau non?

i cant believe the beauty and functionality of this phone. it's hardly half the thickness of my old nokia 7360 and does so much more. it looks a whole lot different too. the 7360 was nice. the U600 is more masculine. and did i mention my new toy is bloody thin?

damage to my pocket - $539

BUT.........let me state that my final investment in this phone is a projected figure of $59 which will be spread over the phone's projected lifespan of 12mths which equates to a nice round number of only $5/mth. here's the breakdown:
$200 - GST Credits (for the non-sg pple, this equates to money falling from the sky)
$200 - Phone's projected trade-in value after 12mths
$80 - Trade in value of my 7360
= $480

which leaves $59 as a loss. which i consider very cheap for such a phone. not to mention, my 7360 was practically free. i paid $78 when i bought it and traded it in for $80.

im a genius i say.

Timer Filler

2007-05-15T20:37:00.000+08:00

i have 2mins to blog.

not much time. so i guess i will have to be brief.

- i have decided on the top 3 things i wanna do in life:
1. learn how to make la mian
2. learn how to make roti prata
3. learn how to make you tiao

- has anyone noticed how small items/things/events have alot of potential to cause big effects? more 2mrw. hopefully ill have a nice surprise to blog abt 2mrw. if not then the next post will most probably be this wkend.

Predictably Yours..........

2007-04-22T21:39:00.001+08:00

and Jessica Tan is the new Miss Singapore Universe. too bad there is no prize for predicting the winner. and it still proves my theory that wat is needed to win is a great face, great bod and some brains. and by "some" i mean, some.

ill give her more credit tho. it takes a fair amount of guts to parade in front of a scrutinising nation. and she would probably have a clearer train of thought if not for the jitters.

why did christabel campbell or joey feng not win? very simple. joey lost bcos, like jade, she did not have the right cup size despite her composure. her intelligence i cant comment on cos her questions where not 'deep' enough. y did christabel campbell not win. hahahahaaa......i have my thoughts on that. but ill jus say that if u wanna make it big in Mediacorp, you need to be palatable to the channel with the greatest viewership, most productions and stable of artistes.

Bringing Up Father

2007-04-22T20:23:00.000+08:00

feeling a little......scattered and edgy.

i haven been able to settle myself down mentally for the whole day. perhaps due to my getting up from the wrong side of the bed this morning. maybe the weather's causing all this. and the series of events yesterday and today, have not helped. actually, a series of events caused by one person - my dad.

J's gone to China for the wk so im left with some spare time on my hands. my dad seems to think that equates to time spent with him. alittle about my parents first. they are not sociable animals. well, neither are their 2 offspring for that matter but my sis and i fare better than them in having a social life. i guess mum and dad come from the bloodline that is heavy on the family ties and less onexternal relationships. so much so that their lives revolve around namely 2 things, work and family. so other than the members of our little party of four (now three, minus my sis), my parents have not much else to focus their attention on.

my mum's pretty ok actually. now that both her children have grown up and are independent enough, she goes out with frens for dinner, visits grandma, does social work, joins karaoke lessons while still holding a post retirement job.

my dad on the other hand. isnt retired yet, which i think he should and get himself a life. and he doesnt do anything else except go to work and then whiling the rest of the day away. and for that matter, he is allowed to work from home which he is exercising the policy to the fullest. so if u notice. he is pretty much jus spending his time at home doing pretty much nothing. trying to find something to take up his time. which leads to how it is bothering me.

my dad doesnt like to talk much to my mum. they talk. but not on a very conversation-ish level. usually it will be my mum complaining about something and he will be.......hearing. not listening. and his lack of a social circle leaves my dad with no one else to talk to or hang out with. except me. which i try my best to accomodate. but it stretches my nerves sometimes.

generally, my parents do not get it that their kids like their personal space and time. i believe that's a generally true statement for most parents. so it gets on my nerves that my dad comes into my room and plonks himself on my bed. it also gets on my nerves the way he tries to call out to me or my sis. he doesnt call our names. he has to whistle. a long, shrill and annoying whistle. sometimes early in the morning too.

imagine waking up in the morning, feeling all crabby bcos u did not have enough sleep, your mouth feels like sandpaper, looking frumpy and then someone starts to whistle to call out to you. it's a tune u have never heard. it has jus 2 notes, one short and then one really long one that is drawn out long and shrill.

incidentally, that is a perfect example of one of the reasons why my dad lacks a social life. he does these kinda things. he has zero sense of timing. heck, the whole whistling thing is jus stupid.

there are times i feel like a teenager all over again, ranting abt all of this. but i dont think ill ever stop anyhow. or anyone in this world would no matter wat age they are at.

anywayz, im off to judge the T&As of this year's miss sg universe. my bets are on Jessica Tan. she seems to have the right set of Ts and a great A to complement them with.

J: you have the best T&As dear.

Rants and Ravings........ P.S. sorry joel

2007-04-15T21:04:00.001+08:00

i do realise one thing since i started work. and that is i have pretty much lost all resemblence of a social life. and being in the IT line does not help much. conversations with my notebook is not exactly stirring. neither izit good for my sanity. as it stands now, you could count, using one hand, the number of pple i hang out with on a regular basis. of which the amount of time i spend with 1 of the five has wat many might qualify as the proper meaning and context of "regular".

this observation has been made several times btwn myself and a fellow course-mate from NTU who now happens to be working in the company which is a client of mine. we have lunch every now and then. incidentally our gfs were course-mates themselves too.

but before i carry on, here's another exchange i had wif J today while shopping ard suntec/marina square. i consider it a stroke of bf survival master class. it might turn out to be helpful for some of the guys out there.

*after my answering one of those questions which require my agreement with her on a certain observation she made*

J: You are lying. You are jus trying to patronise me.
Me: No. I'm not.
J: Yes you are. You are not telling the truth.
Me: No. I'm not lying. I'm just agreeing with your point of view.

I do believe there is a certain amount of dissection of the conversation to be done here. agreeing with her point of view does not mean i agree with her. it can mean that. but it can mean that i agree with the position that she's coming from but not the opinion that she actually holds. there is a difference.

and to end off my rant........

looking at how im posting consecutive entries based on my exchange with J has made me remember the observation i made with my on-off lunch buddy. thus i realise how much i need to get my social life back in order. all work and no play makes jack a dull boy y'know.

Steaks and High Stakes

2007-04-15T01:59:00.000+08:00

alittle light-hearted material first.............

went for dinner at Morton's today. 7 yrs ago i was there, and today i finally got to go back. it was good. very very good. one of the best dinner/food ive had. im definitely going back next year. oooo.......the hot chocolate cake is jus simply to die for. the porterhouse steak.......c'est parfait.

had this exchange with J over dinner
J: I feel neglected.
Me: *btwn mouthfuls* huh? y?
J: You are neglecting me.
Me: I am? How?
J: Yah. You are neglecting me for that piece of meat.
Me: You are jealous? Of a piece of meat? This piece of meat?
J: Yes. I feel neglected.
Me: This thing between me and this piece of meat is just a one-off thing, it's purely physical. You are the one I truly love. OK?

thankfully the appetizer wasnt the shrimp alexander. else i fear the worst for our relationship. i mean the one btwn me and the porterhouse steak.

~ . ~

there's been alot of controversy lately on the ministers' pay hike.........i guess i shld chip in my bit too.........

with all the comparison to ministers of other countries and stuff, i kinda believe that we might be missing the point of why we are paying our ministers so much. or rather, what is our money getting us in a buy/sell sense.

first of all, to put things into context. i think we shld be looking at our situation and wat it warrants. i believe each country requires different things. that i think is agreeable by all. i also believe that in a country, the people living in a country are rewarded or punished based on the capacity of the country to reward or punish. if the country has the capacity to reward more, then good for the people. it's kinda like having 2 kids score 100 marks in a test and going home to their separate families and getting rewarded differently maybe bcos both families hold different values or are different in financial stature. one gets a car, the other a pat on the back. apples and oranges.

im jus saying, each country has different needs, different situations, systems. so the comparison between how the ministers of other countries are rewarded compared to us might not have a good foundation.

so given our context. i would like to think that the commodity that our precious tax dollars are buying (in the form of ministers) is not jus skill, but also precision. we are not buying skills to manage large countries, we don't need that. wat we do need is a certain level of precision in the skill our ministers shld possess.

like wat PM Lee, SM Goh and MM Lee have been repeating all this while, we cannot afford to slip. whether we can stay at the top, i for one do not believe we can. but that is another topic altogether. we need the precision to stay competitive. we do not have the luxury of a big economy with multiple forms of resources to help sustain setbacks or diminishing competitive advantages. thus we need pple who can get to targets quickly and effectively.

i would like to believe that our pple can do that. but unfortunately i don't seem to be seeing many of the leaders doing that. perhaps the sensation of media has skewed this perspective of mine by focusing on the negative stuff.

as to whether the price for such precious commodity is justified. i would say, if we can afford it, y not? singaporeans are among the highest paid in this region. y? cos we are better skilled? our education system is stronger fundamentally? our people have a certain value to work hard instilled in us? i would like to think so. and so far, i have seen examples that have strengthened my belief. so if our system can afford to reward our people better, y not? if the other countries aren't paying their people more, that's them to sort things out.

the idea here is, we have the resources to get ourselves the right stuff. in this case, we have the money and we need the right people. so y not? political reasons aside, everything else being equal, if there is capable foreign talent that can help take this country ahead and we have the resource and means to get him/her, y not?

corruption and stuff. like joel posted in his blog, no matter how much u pay someone, he/she can still be corrupt. corruption is also hard to trace in a government where there' s a very strong ruling party. i think the whole corruption argument is really weak and is jus a tactic used to cash in on the whole NKF saga, make an example of it and try to garner some support.

hey, if u had to convince a tough crowd, wouldn't u try all ways and means?

i would agree that the pay hike and the gst increase coming together is really bad timing. whether or not they are correlated, i don't know. perhaps they are. and the whole issue of how the poor shld be helped instead of the money going to a minister pay hike, i dunno. it's hard to say. there are measures in place to help them. i believe the question im repeating for most people is whether it is enough.

so wat is enough? where do we draw the line in helping the lower income? the elderly and less fortunate, i guess they need the aid. no doubt abt that. but the party that benefits most from the aid is the lower income group bcos they have more stuff to carry on their backs. how much aid shld be doled out to them? i think too little, the aid is pretty much useless, too much and we run a danger of breeding people dependent on external help regardless of it coming from the government or the other income groups. this is the kind of mentality that might slow the whole party down.

ah well.......c'est la vie.

Segmentation fault (core dump)

2007-03-22T23:20:00.000+08:00

a lesson ive learnt this wk is to never go to bed right after a supper of oyster omelette...........that's a precursor to nearly 3 days of horrendous gastro torture...........

in a nutshell, ive never realised how full of shit i was until yesterday.......and im glad to say im no longer full of shit anymore.......i lost count on the number of times i had to visit the office loo........but i do know it is one less than the total number, cos there was once i went to check if i had flushed.

through all the madness, i do have an idea tho..........wouldn't it be great if i could gather enough pple to make a link to this post so that the next time someone googles for a certain subject, they would be directed to my blog and this post in particular.

im thinking that the subject would be 'C++ core dump'

sorry non-tech pple, im jus too weak to explain........

Earth Shattering

2007-03-08T00:06:00.000+08:00

i guess i shld follow the papers when it comes to posting on this blog. i shld start with the most impactful, explosive and earth shattering news as my headliner followed by the less important gossipy stuff...........ok......

i bought 2 packets of potato chips the other nite.......for $12..........how's that for shocking news........shock was definitely written all over my face while i was at the payment counter that nite........the cashier lady saw my widened eyes and had only this to say, "Expensive potato chips huh."

in other less earth shattering news, i experienced my first earthquake yesterday. sadly i only felt one of the two that hit. interestingly tho, i missed the first one and was wishing for a second one when it did happen. the feeling was kinda surreal actually........the cubicle partitions were shaking and that was about it. not a full quake, but still my first.

believe me, im not trying to make light of the plight of those in indon where the quake actually happened. but im jus beside myself with joy at finally being able to strike one off my list of "things to do or try"

been feeling a little tina turner-ish lately. tempted to go fluff my hair up and start belting "What's love gotta do, gotta do with it" tho that would be totally aqua-ish.

The Pursuit of Happyness

2007-03-04T01:03:00.000+08:00

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

now, it's happyness with a "y" not "i" ladies and gentlemen.........that above line came from the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. think most would know by now, this next post is gonna be abt my views on the latest movie starring Will Smith.

well, first off, the show was really really........wet. my left sleeve was wet with tears. not my own. but from J. she practically weeped through the entire show. my gf is a sucker for sob stories. from where i stand, it seems that the wetter my sleeve gets, the better the show..........ohyes, the amount of snot on my sleeve does help in the ratings as well.........

what can i say, i am bowled over by the show. fantastic. and the ending, very very good. although it was an ending that evry1 knew was coming, it was powerful enough yet so simple and short. the whole show was jus fantastic. i think i need to go watch forest whitaker in the king of scotland first before i understand why will smith did not win the oscar for best actor.

i knew of the story of chris gardner before watching the show. not the full story, but i did catch an episode of oprah (or something) a few years back and he was in it telling his story. watching the movie, i was initially expecting a really glorified version of his tale. but that's not wat i got. it wasnt glorified at all. maybe cos there wasnt the big grand finale with fanfare kinda music and scenes of mad euphoria. the whole story felt real enough and very believeable. i felt like i could actually relate to him and would logically do exactly the same things he did if i were in his shoes. except i would probably jus laid down and died from all the mental strain and emotional battering.

but like i said, the ending sold me. best ending to a movie ive seen for quite a while now.

One

2007-02-25T12:03:00.000+08:00

architecture is the latest thing to pique my interest........well........im no connoisseur, but i do like shapes, long flowing lines, wavy lines, curvy lines, soft lines, perky bottoms *ahem*

anywayz, the property market's heating up recently........there are numerous developments coming up all over the place.......some with a lack of creativity in the naming department........take for example, down at the east coast area there's a place called "One Amber" and jus a few minutes drive down at fort road there's one called "One Fort".

quite an accurate reflection of our people's mentality eh? one this, one that.......one government party, one people, yadda, yadda, yadda........the only thing we dun seem to have is only one way that our pockets get screwed over year after year by the numerous policies made by our one goverment.

back to the perky bottoms.........here's a little tidbit of info......the top 3 most expensive houses in sg as published in this month's copy of "the executive"

1. Location: Cairnhill Circle
Type: Terrace, freehold
Size: 4,631 sq.metres
Price: S$88m

2. Location: 142 Grange Road
Type: Detached, freehold
Size: 1931 sq.metres
Price: S$46.9m

3. Location: 21 St Martin's Drive
Type: Apartment, freehold
Size: 1443 sq.metres
Price: S$17.4m

4.6k sq.m is roughly alittle less than half a football field.........for a bloody house in sg that's alot.........definitely considered miniscule compared to the houses in other parts of the world, but remember we are land scarce here in our tiny little island, then again, or so i thought..........

here's Forbes' 10 most expensive homes in the world..........
Forbe's 10 most expensive homes in the world

103-rooms on 58 acres of gardens and woodland is at the top of the list. my god, people have trouble locating dead rats in their house, a person could die, rot away and still not be discovered in such a place.........

CNY

2007-02-20T01:23:00.001+08:00

as promised, another post to celebrate the festive season........

my rash has disappeared, and although ive yet to determine the cause of it i have found that im not allergic to prawns......im quite sure cos if i were, the amount of prawns that i had during lunch today would have put me under quite easily.......

the year of the pig has been pretty..........ok........so far........2 days into it, so there isnt really much to tell.......the 1st day was spent the same as it has been spent year after year........visited my grandma's, then to my babysitter's and that was it.........the rest of the day was spent lazing ard at home........something that ive not done in ages........glad to have had the opportunity to kick off the year of the pig in typical pig fashion.........would this have set the tone for the rest of the year? i hope not.......speaking of the rest of the year, my dad did ask me to translate fortunes for some of the animals in the horoscope.......and the predictions for my sign do not bode well........basically, the fortunes for all my family members were good except for me.........not fair.....but wat the heck.......

the 2nd day, today, started bright and early at J's place........then it was down to my place where my cousins and relatives were gathering...........it seems that as each yeart passes, i grow less involved with the lives of my cousins.......not that i was very much involved in their lives in the first place but this year i hardly exchanged more than 3 sentences with each of them.......maybe the difference in lifestyle? they are all still in school btw.......two are jus abt to enter uni, another is gonne pursue postgraduate studies.....the rest, i forget.........

i dun even remember many of their ages or even that of my grandma's..........like my dad mentioned, men are hopeless at remembering details such as age and stuff...........

the day ended with dinner at my aunt's place with her frens and family..........it's the first time we were having cny dinner with her actually........it was good........

i do have some musings to put down in writing actually.......observations and stuff, but i guess i just lack that little bit more energy to organise my thoughts and put it all into words.........as much as i would like to write it all down, i would like to invest the same time in getting some sleep.........so i guess im gonna just have to leave it all to the next post........

Pre-CNY

2007-02-17T00:03:00.000+08:00

alright, this would be the pre lunar new year post............but first off.......the lead up to this day.

fell sick the previous wk........had a terrible cough and lost my voice at the same time........the cough's still loitering around today.......but i believe ive gotten myself an allergy..........to which i have this to say about,"bloody hell, 25 bloody years and only today do i get an allergy."

i cant believe it......never in my 25 yrs have i had an allergy.....and today ive finally gotten one.......and i believe it's for a food that i ate during dinner today........most probably either the prawns, squid or fish in the tom yam seafood soup i had with J....i have rashes on my upper torso and i distinctly remember my nose start to drip halfway through dinner.......and sneezing.......

or maybe im jus allergic to lousy cooked food.........i really hope so.........cos i love my seafood........

anyhow, cny is upon us...........im having mixed feelings abt things this time ard unfortunately...........main reason being this cny would mark my sis' leaving sg for shanghai.........she'll be leaving a few days after cny........she's going over for a job.......not a business assignment........a job i.e. she's moving there........according to her, she'll get 2 trips back to sg every year.........

as it is, i dun get to see her that much already.......now ill see her even less..........

nah, im not gonna start going drama all over this post.......i jus need to......*sniff sniff*

J's already strategising on how she's gonna leverage on her new found shopping command outpost. as far as she is concerned, by the month of july, she'll be extending her regional shopping coverage to china.........

i cant seem to stop scratching my rash......this is bad.......more during the in-cny post........promise.

You've gotta be kidding...

2007-01-28T23:12:00.001+08:00

those were the first words that came out of my mouth when i sighted the little white slip of paper tucked under my ride's windscreen wiper...........

today has been a rather.......interesting day..........well first off, i got a parking ticket in the morning for not using a coupon when i shld have........that happened under rather interesting circumstances........i did it under the 'advice' of my father whom i was gonna have breakfast with........our cars were parked side by side, and when we finally ended breakfast and walked back to our cars i saw the parking attendant standing in front of my dad's car ready to print out a slip for him as well.......

of course, she was already done with mine much to the embarassment of my dad. on hindsight, if i had put my coupon, my dad would have gotten the ticket instead.

caught the movie 'babel' after breakfast.........depressing show. much like 'crash' but i guess i prefer the latter bcos it was more believable and possibly easier to relate to despite 'babel' having more boob flashes. 'babel' is far more depressing a movie tho. i left the cinema feeling kinda low on the endorphins.

the spa that followed next kinda perked things up alittle fortunately. J had gotten a voucher from a colleague for a couples' spa at the Aspara in Goodwood Park Hotel. the massage was........good i guess in a way. how good? let's jus say ive never felt like i wanted to be groped the way ive been groped today. my favourite was the big head massage tho. no small head massage. they dun do small heads.

of course, i believe there are other massages with more groping in more places, but im jus gonna say those are not on my list of permissible massages.

after the spa, it was a little shopping with J and then at Ikea followed by dinner at her place where we found out her mum won the 4D lottery 2nd prize betting on my car number. tho it wasnt the normal 4D betting, it was an iBet, she still won a small amount. my share of the winnings was some "or-nee" (yam paste, a kinda chinese dessert) she promised to get me the next time i dropped by.

and the day ended with me staring in disbelief at a little white slip of paper i found tucked under my widescreen wiper. the time stating 8.51pm.........jus a minute over 12hrs from my first ticket in the morning at 8.50am.

Rats, Cows, and Pizzas

2007-01-27T17:22:00.000+08:00

i guess at some point of a person's transition from student to a rat in the, well, rat race, there comes a time when he/she starts to wonder what the hell is he/she is doing.

an analogy to illustrate my point better...........the rat might not be fancying his staple of cheddar anymore. he's wondering what other cheeses there are out there and he's currently fixated on having some blue cheese.

catch my drift?

been doing some thinking lately. and i wonder how in the world did i end up in my line. and i trace back to the day which i think started it all.

it was a day that seemed like any other for the then 7 or 8 year old me. if im not wrong, it was a weekend. my mum was starting to pull out the assessment books she had me doing daily since time in memoriam and the moment i saw them, something clicked in my head.

Me: "ma, i don't want to do."
Mum: "no. u will do."
Me: "can i do the computer thing instead?"

i think any parent would recognize that kind of exchange anywhere. the gist of it all, for those who are still lost, i was bargaining. believe me, it was not bcos i had an innate interest for the computer. it was bcos i was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and i chose the deep blue sea. incidentally, that computer was made by big blue. which led to my admiration for the company and all things tech. oh yes, the result of that bargain, my mum relented and taught me how to use DBase IV (which was the predecessor to the now defunct FoxPro for the tech pple reading).

sure, the interest in computers and all things IT grew gradually after many more bargaining sessions. but it reached a peak in my entry into junior college. i begun to look at other things. unfortunately/fortunately it wasn't sex, drugs and rock and roll. my interest in IT never grew further. sure, i made it through uni studying computer eng, but i never got interested in things IT the same way.

in my first few days with my current employer, my indon colleague asked me why im doing wat i do. and i told him it's bcos i can do it.

sure, the grass is always greener on the other side. but it doesn't mean i stick to the hay im eating now. which incidentally, if i were a cow, would have regurgitated it several times over to chew the same mouthful i had been passing around my 7 stomachs.

J would be shaking her head by now if she read this post. my often use of food analogies always has her hands up in the air in exasperation. so back to the cheese. im thinking blue cheese right now. actually, you could say that i ultimately want cheese. and i do have a golden cheese in my head that im looking at. the cheddar was jus a.....well.....one of the cheeses in pizza hut's cheesy lava three.

im not sure what cheeses they use in that pizza, but the idea's there.

im making my pizza now and it's gonna be good when i finally eat it. the whole thing.

Twinkle

2007-01-13T21:10:00.000+08:00

more pics of my delightful little niece.

on my lap, wearing the polo tee i got for her on xmas.

2007

2007-01-02T01:19:00.000+08:00

one worded titles are much easier to come up with..........numbered ones are even easier.

so it's the new year. 2007 is here. happy new year pple~!

nye was a quiet one this time round. jus a movie and then reaching J's place just in time to catch the last minute or so before the clock struck 12. no partying, no booze. still pretty good still. though it hasnt been the most relaxing new year so far. work over the wkend and more left undone with the deadline in the coming wk........oh well.......im determined to enjoy the 2 last days of this 4day break of which, at this point of writing, i have less than 24hrs left........

oh well.......ive got 2 bottles of hoegaarden in the fridge..........think i might jus decide to break them out............

Happy New Year pple. 2006 was a blast, 2007 shld be even better i hope.

2006-12-26T09:26:00.000+08:00

had actually typed a whole post on my xmas celebrations yesterday but somehow xanga's editor died on me, leaving me pretty miffed enough to abandon it and not bother abt the post until today.

but.

im at work now, so i guess ill jus leave some interesting photos of my doggy niece for u guyz to amuse yourselves with for the time being. i know i had a blast with her on xmas day.

ill put up the video clips i took later on. but for now,

here's my shot of her nodding off to sleep

and here's the link to the album my sis put up of her.
http://picasaweb.google.com/littlesweetbeanbun/Twinkle?authkey=QPtROSrV6Qs

Encounters with the Third Kind

2006-12-19T09:20:00.001+08:00

this jus in.......

i think we are a boring planet. bcos for each species of organism, we only have 2 types - male and female.

in fact, everything we do seems to be defined under either 1 of 2 things be it good/bad, male/female, 0/1, yes/no, true/false, fast/slow, etc, etc.

of course im not too sure wat the third kind would be like. i wouldnt have the foggiest either. it could be something in btwn 2 types or something that's totally different. which leads me to......

so what would a third sex be like? and in tech speak, how do we interface with them? or do we at all? bcos if we don't, how do they procreate? maybe that's y they aren't ard~! eureka~!

looks like we aren't that boring after all. =D