Life Without the Net

It's been a terrible day for us for the past few days. All net access experiences a sudden slowdown after the Taiwan earthquake damage the submarine cables in the vicinity. No more YouTube, Soccernet or any forms of web surfing. Suddenly everything like goes back to the Stone Age and everyone is suffering from net withdrawal. Luckily, the relevant authorities are quick to restore the connections but speeds are still slower than before the earthquake. News here points out that the critical submarine cables are all located at the most active volcanic region, which brings me to my point. WHICH SMART ALECK PLANS TO LAY THE CABLES THERE?!!! ARE THEY FREAKING R-TARD??!! Of all the places, they choose there, as if asking for troubles.

Farewell To Kallang Theatre

Saw the news that Kallang Theatre will be closed down by March next year. This is a place of sentimental value for me. That's where I had my Singapore Polytechnic Convocation. That was like i duno how many years ago. Still got the graduation photos taken with my family in my photo album. What a sad ending to a place that was once a popular venue for various events. With newer and bigger event halls like Suntec and Expo, it is not surprising that the theatre slowly gets phased out.

My poly graduation at Kallang Theatre. Look at me then! Look how nerdy I am then. I look like an super ultra nerd!

Free Hugs In Singapore.

Well... finally someone decided to spread the Free Hugs Champiagn here. Kudos to the ones doing it. :)

Merry Chirstmas

Merry Christmas to my family and friends. I've been out with my wife over the feative weekend celebrating Christmas ;). So today, we took a break ad laze around in the house. Even my newly shaven dog agrees with our action. :)

Medallist Failed Sex Test At Asian Games

This is a funny and weird news. Apparently this Indian running silver mediallist failed a sex test and will be stripped of her (or should it be his?) medal. Some funny comments were post on VR-Zone forums on this news. Here's just a few...

Jinnoi: how the hell does one fail a gender test? check inbetween the legs!

XProfessionalX: "He" joined the wrong race lah ..

Candid Camera

Secretly took a photo of this Indian waiting at a traffice junction. His motto is, "I can get drench, but the hair must stay dry..." :p

A Drive Down Upper Pierce Resevoir Park

The last 3 posts have been KIV for a few days. Took the opportunity to complete it and post it out at one go. :p

Back to the main topic, found out about this park thru Erica. The sincerity and scenery provide a relaxing environment and let you break away from the hectic working life. Now I know how Erica can manage her stress so well. ;)

Anyway, it was planned to be a beautiful day having a nice picnic with my wife at the park, enjoying the beautiful and relaxing environment. But the weather have to be a spoilt sport, raining the entire day. But we still go ahead without the picnic session though. One thing good is we managed to see a lot of monkeys along the path to the park, begging for food. Even though there are countless roadsigns asking the public not to feed the monkeys, we still see people doing it. *Sigh* In all, even though the rain spoilt our plan, we still had an enjoyable trip.

The differnce between a sunny and rainy day...

Cycling @ East Coast

My buddies at Motorola organise a cycling cum roller blading gathering at East Coast Park (ECP) today. It's been more than 10 years since the last time I cycle there. But it was a nice trip down memory lane. With most of the ex-Flex people not around and Serene have to leave halfway thru, I feel like the odd one out among the remaining non-Flex ones. Sorry lah, I am a shy one, need time to warm up with people I am not familiar with. But it turns out we can click well. Feel just like my U days with my gang of 损友, talking rot, joking around and making fun of each other. Come to think of it, we hardly talk to each other when we work under the same roof. Only after I have left then we have so much to talk about. Hmmm...

Mad Jack Cafe

Got a treat by my wife at Mad Jack Cafe along Jalan Kayu. The place is quite crowded, maybe it is a new place plus it's a Friday night. The fish and chip seems to be quite popular here from the number of times we saw it appearing on other diner's table. :p Overall, it is quite a nice cosy place for gatherings. They even have a foosball table for added entertainment. The price there are quite reasonable. The set dinner with a choice of 3 main dish comes with drinks, dessert and a soup of the day cost only $14.90. If you dun feel like having a filling dinner, there are also a large variety of cakes, mostly sinful chocolates ones, to choose from. Menu can be seen here.

Tired of your girlfriend or husband? Trade them off at the MAD Market. :)

Our Dialect, Our Culture

This post has been in my draft bin for a long time. Finally, about to get my thoughts right and put it down. It started when a few months ago, my wife asks me when we have a child, and will we talk to the kid in Chinese or English. Will we let the child learn our dialects? My reply is that we must teach our child our dialect. To me, our dialects are part of our culture, a part of our heritage. Just because the rest of the world is speaking in English and of lately Chinese (due to China's economic boom), but lets not forgot our roots. Learning our dialect not only retain our culture, our children will also be able to talk to our elders who some have little education. I still remember my mother have difficulty communicating with my English speaking (aka Jiak Gang Dang) nephews. A bit of Chinese mixed with Cantonese coupled with all kinds of sign languages are used. Btw, My mum did not received any education while my dad only gone through primary school education and both are Cantonese. It is only until they attend primary school then they can have a decent conversation with my parents but in Chinese. The closeness and sense of belonging when talking to someone in English/Chinese does not feel the same as compared to talking in your own dialect. And it's a shame that we have people learning Korean or Japanese to watch their respective dramas while they have yet to master their own mother's tongue. For me, being raised from a pure Cantonese family, Canto is the only dialect I knew of. I only get to expand my dialect vocabulary during my National Service, no thanks to my sergeants whose dialect vocab mostly consists of the female and male genital parts. :p

Lastly, some dialect words and phrases do not have the same ring when spoken in other languages. For example, "Ai Kian Tio Ho, Mai Gei Kian", which translate as "Be smart but dun act smart". Somehow the English equivalent does not have the same witty feeling. All the humorous essence are lost in the translation. Just ask any guy, swearing in Chinese won't be as effective and provide that UMPPHH! feeling as in Hokkien when inquiring about the genital part of ones mother. :p Hence, yes... we must move with the times, but we must also not forget our background, our culture and especially our dialects.

Is it Ready???

Was looking at the Singapore MRT map when I came upon the Chua Chu Kang LRT lines. Turns out there is a LRT station that is not ready yet. I wonder when it will be. Hmmm... :p

All In One Acupuncture?

Found these placed at an acupuncture clinic windows. Now you can have your acupuncture done together with your dog, cat, pig or even a horse! lol.

Bloopers on TV

Some bloopers seen today

1. Caught Zhao Geng on Channel 5 News.
Reported on Mr Brown, this blooper was caught by the eagle-eyes forumers at HardwareZone's Eat Drink Man Woman forum during Channel 5 news coverage of last nite ZoukOut party at Sentosa. As usual, the forumers are quick enough to capture the scene and soon it was the hottest topic on the forum. To cap it off, the caption at the "bottom" :p really hits the punchline.

2. HK Singer Caught with Pants Down
Reported in The New Paper. HK singer, Yumiko Cheng, got her pants pulled off during a charity stunt on national television. HK viewers are quick to upload the video of the blooper on YouTube, which has since removed all the videos from their database on request from the TV station. Luckily I am able to catch a glimpse of it. Hehehe. But people are still uploading the video to Youtube as we speak (You go find yourself). The reaction of the host after the incident is pricless. Pity the singer who has to endure the embarrassment for the rest of her life.

Are We Getting Mad?

Lately I notice there a trend in the movies where gruesome torture or mutilations are the theme. It all started with the movie Saw follow by Hostel, The Hill Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning etc. The weirdest thing is people are flocking to see them resulting in sequels to them. Are we getting sick? What kind of sick mind would want to go watch such movies? It is like back when Freddy Krueger or Jason of Nightmare on Elm's Street or Friday 13th fame terrorise the viewers during the 70s or 80s. And way before that, the gladiators games during the Roman era. Just that scenes are getting more and more real and the method/tools used are more sick than ever. I shutter to think of what's going on in the mind of the people who wrote this films.

"Ok. You will die by the dildo while he'll die by watching Titanic 100 times..."

Seen or Heard

Some thoughts on things seen and heard.

Who is the Owner Now?
Saw a maid bringing out 2 dogs for walks along my way to work this morning. The maid look bored tugging the two dogs along. This makes me wonder how come it is the maid who is walking the dogs and not the owners themselves. This is not the first time I encounter such scene. I believe this scene is repeated around the island in every neighbourhood estates. And I can bet my money that it is the maid who is feeding and washing the dogs. These so-called owners just want the enjoyment of having the pet without the responsibilities. Leave that to the maid... Who's the real owner, the maid or the owner themselves? Paying for the animal's food and expenses does not qualify you to be a dog owner k!

And for those without maids, the way they walk their dog is a disgrace. Dragging the dog along without letting the curious one have a sniff of the interesting scent along the way. More like strangling the dog if you ask me. I can't understand why these people are so damn lazy. Is this the so-called love they express to their pet? The saddest part is there are those who abandon the poor animal when the responsibilities start to become a burden. It saddens me to see people buy/adopt a dog and neglect it when the thrill dies down. To these people, I say, "^&@%&$#%@*! IF YOU CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE, DUN GET A PET!"

Between Time and "Space"
Everyday, we at least will have to take a long journey to work or back home be it in a car, bus or train. What do you do during the long ride? Some read a book or the newspaper while others watch the world goes by or take a nap. Lately, I saw a chinese drama serial where the scene shows a girl lament the guy for wasting his time staring into space on the bus. She points out that the time should be put to good use by learning something to upgrade yourself. This makes me wonder, what's wrong with watching the world goes by? I for one belongs to this type. I believe that doing this gives your mind a rest. Let yourself takes a breather from the stress. You work the whole day and during the ride home, you still want to stress your brain somemore. By staring into space, I get to think about the things I wanted to do and about my personal life. Even this post was thought up during my ride to work :p. It is a time when we get to break away from all our worries and stress, why should we tax ourselves more?

A Brand New Day

Time really passes very fast when you are idling. It seems like yesterday I just left Motorola. And here I am writing this blog entry at my new office desk. Dun seem to remember doing any meaning task during my one week break and whoosh... it's over. It's my 3rd job in 2 years. How things have change. And this time, it is a big change. Unlike the previous companies where they have their own buildings and large manpower, this time it is a small office with a handful of dedicated engineers, most are my former Flextronics colleagues. There is a beautiful view of the Central Business District (CBD) area to help you destress plus Muslim prayers from the nearby mosque twice a day to calm your mind. ^_^ Nevertheless it's another brand new day and a brand new chapter. Here we go again...