Taipei Again

Been back from Taipei for almost a week. Yeh, I know... Went there last year. This trip is some short of a make-up trip for all the things that I did not visit the last time, namely 九份. Although I did visit the place as well as the Lover's Bridge in 淡水 this time round, I still failed to visit other places like Miramir Ferris Wheel, Taipei 小巨蛋, 庙口老街 @ 基窿 and the Toilet(马桶) Restaurant (more like can't find the place for this one). Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable trip, a break away from the depressing Singapore life. We even met up with my ex-colleague and friend, Alan, who is working in Taipei, giving us a very good insight of the life and culture in Taipei.

It could have ended badly. Weather reports shows that it will be raining during the days while we were there. On the day of departure, both my father and father-in-law came to send us off. We chatted and overlook the time, almost missing our flight. We have to dash to the departure gate when I realise that the gate is closing. :p And when we arrived, the journey from the airport to the hotel is jam all the way. The traffic jam is bad that Angie started to have a very bad headache. And if it wasn't bad enough, when we reach the hotel, the receptionist told us that we are at the wrong hotel. Can you believe that, same name but different location. Both are named 万事达旅店 but one is call Wonstar while the other is Onestar. -_-" Luckily the hotel is not too far away. So the both of us have to drag our luggage in the drizzle, searching our way to the hotel. When we finally arrive at our hotel and got into our room, we realise that it does not have a bathtub. Just a shower room. :( All in all, it was a turbulance day one for us. However, we are not angry or even flare up. We did not let any of these incidents affect us. And the entire ended up on a happy note. All in all, it was a wonderful trip. This is the 3rd year in a row I visited Taipei. Angie says this will be the last time we will not come here for some time. I am planning Macau next. ^_^

Real Life Bat-Man

Unbelievable. Although he lost his sight since young, this boy still can do things as per normal. What's amazing is that he uses echoes to help him find his way around n identify things around him. He is really a human bat. A proof of the triumph of the human spirit. By the way, there is a documentary on him on Arts Central this coming Monday (24 Sept).

A Near Death Experience

I was almost killed in an accident just now. I was on my way home, crossing a zebra crossing. The street is clear before I made my way across. As I was halfway across, a speeding motorcycle came out of nowhere and heading right towards me. I can see the surprise on the face on the rider. At that moment, I was totally stunned and tried to step back to avoid the oncoming vehicle. It got so close that at that point, I thought to myself, "This is it..." Before I knew it, the rider sped past me and sped away. I tried to take down his vehicle number but it was speeding so fast that I was only able to take down the first few numbers, FT 96XX. I was totally left stunned standing there. What really piss me off is that the rider don’t even bother to stop or look back to see if I am ok. Bastard m$*&%f#&ker.

I have a number of similar experiences where I saw drivers do not slow down as they approach a turn where there is a zebra crossing, assuming no one will be there. Most of the time, they will emergency brake when they see the pedestrians at the last minute. But this is the closest I experienced. If it was any closer, I won't be here posting this. This is really a very reckless and inconsiderate behavior from the drivers. They knew there is a zebra crossing there but they just dun bother to slow down. Damn all these reckless drivers.

Apple New iPods

So much for the iPhone. I guess many people who bought the Apple iPhone, not so much for its phone function, but rather its multimedia and WIFI capabilities, will feel cheated after Steve Jobs announce the new iPod yesterday. The new iPod have a striking resemblance to the iPhone. Other than lacking a phone function, all the other functions on the iPhone can be found on the new iPod Touch (seems like starting to run out of i-Names). Other than adding in WIFI and video playback on a larger screen, it still does not have FM radio or voice recording. Furthermore, a check on the local Apple website shows that the new iPod Touch cost a whopping $498 for 8GB! The biggest memory size they got is 16GB. How much stuff you can put it there? And for that price, I rather get the Meizu M6 which by the way is much cheaper, have better sound quality and at least have a FM radio or something that has a bigger memory size. Some may argue that if you want a bigger memory size, you should get the iPod Classic instead. Then why come out with the iPod Touch then? Why made 3 products that lack of something the other two have? Apple sure knows how to con the dough out of people. Anyway, as Apple fans will say, it is a lifestyle as they are paying for.

Oh, Apple also reveals a new iPod Nano and it looks horrible. The Apple design team fails big time for this one. Already people are nicknaming it as FatPod or iFat, according to Mr Brown. Bring back the old slim and slick iPod Nano please.

Real Life Dumb Blonde

Recorded from a Miss Teen USA contest. After listening to her answer to the judge question, i go "HUH???" A true blue dumb blonde. Oh by the way, she is named the 2nd runner-up. Proof that you dun need brains to be a beauty queen. World peace anyone?

Paper Munching Dog.

I bet most of us have read about the news of the “cardboard buns” story. Luckily the news turns out to be made up by the relevant news agency reporter to generate sales and ratings. Well even if the story turns out to be true, I think nobody will be hurt. Best proof is my mischievous dog, Mickey. Every time when he is left alone at home, he will go round biting newspapers, magazines and anything made of paper. We still unable to explain why he likes to chew cardboard so much (maybe it’s the taste?). The most amazing thing is after swallowing so much paper and cardboards, the little bugger show no signs of pain. All the undigested papers end up in his poo. So there you have it, if you happen to eat some cardboard, don’t worry. My dog has proven that you will be fine. Ok, maybe a bit of indigestion. ^_^

Stop Calling Me!

Getting real piss off by all those telemarketing calls these days. Everyday I will receive at least 1 - 2 such calls, promoting credit transfers and credit cards. I usually will stop them halfway and tell them straight that I am not interested. I wonder whose the one who gave them my number. Not as if I dun have to pay for whatever bills I charge to it. From now on, I will reject any unidentifiable calls with a landline caller ID. Why do I need so many credit cards in the first place?

Heck, I am even canceling my UOB credit card because of their stupid billing system. They are so fucking retarded that they create 2 separate account numbers your main and supplementary card? It makes it so troublesome when you need to pay the bills to the correct account number. The most ridiculous thing is that any outstanding payments you made on one account will only deduct from the next one AFTER they charge you with late payment charges on it. Yes, they are such dumb ass. Can't they follow other banks, whereby you only have one account number? Two cards is more than enough liao. Owning more cards will only result in incurring more debts.

Don't you hate it when you wanted to resolve something but resulted in causing more problems instead? My sis laptop started to run very slowly lately. Worrying that it may crash, I tried to create a clone of her hard disk as backup. Ended up killing the lappy and almost my sis :p Literally gave her a heart attack as she has a report to submit on Thurs. So it is a mad dash to the service center plus a lot of begging and pleading for them to repair it ASAP. Luckily, it is just a hard disk failure. A change of hard disk and the lappy is alive again. Unfortunately, the old hard disk is gone together with all the data in it. Feel very bad about the whole episode. If I do a data backup rather than a hard disk cloning, we won't have so much trouble and my sis data will still be there.

Was preparing to go to work this morning when I happen to see the 2 finalist of the Campus Superstar2 on TV. Just as I predicted a few weeks ago, one of them is Shawn Tok and I believe (you heard it here first) he WILL be the overall winner. Not that I heard him sing before nor do I follow this silly show, but right from the start, I knew he is already earmark by the Mediacorp's producer to be the winner. Why? One thing about these types of competition is that they all follow the same pattern. The eventual winner usually is someone who has a huge following, been kicked out of the competition and came back through the 翻身赛 or revival round. It has all gone too familiar. If this chap commands such a strong followings, how he managed to be kicked out in the first place? This is after all a popularity competition and the judges’ scores dun really matter. My guess is this is a ploy by the TV station to boost up the call numbers. I really pity the parents whose children frantically watch such competitions and waste so much money calling in the votes. It is plain silly and a waste of money. It is Mediacorp’s money making machine. Who is gonna remember these so-called superstars one year later?

P.S. Here’s another prediction from me. The eventual overall winner will definitely be the guy. Reason being most of the youngsters watching such shows are the girls and they normally support for the guy rather than the girl. How many boys even bother to watch these shows? It is a waste of time for them.

Updated: 27 Aug 2007: See I told you right. Shawn Tok won. The whole bloody competition is fixed.

Which Transformer Are You?

I AM
57%
STARSCREAMTake the Transformers Quiz

My colleague sent me a the above link. As much as I want to be Optimus Prime, I end up becoming Starscream, the despicable Decepticons. Damn.... Well luckily it is only 57% nia...

Starscream
Starscream has delusions of grandeur. He chose to resemble an F-22 jet because it’s the pinnacle of human technical achievement. He serves Megatron but longs to fill his shoes.

Like Starscream, you are not compassionate and harbor evil thoughts. Your leadership skills are weak at best. You will never be the commander of the Decepticons. In addition, you enjoy technology and are aware of the latest trends, but you stick with what works for you.

The 8 Lies of A Mother

This post titled "The 8 Lies of A Mother" is a touching story someone posted in the forums. After reading it, it really touches my heart and reminds me of my mother. My mother is a thoroughly great person, often sacrificing herself for her children and family. Although she has little or no education at all, her thinking and views are way more advanced and open than an educated person. It is a pity that fate has to take her away before she can enjoy her life in her latter years. Maybe this is her greatest sacrifice for the family for after she left, my family relationship has become even closer. My father is no longer the stern looking father figure, who often distances himself from his children. Nowadays, he will talk to us about his daily routine or ask about how we are doing, something which he seldom does when mum's around. We also show more affection to him and not left him out of the loop of anything we do. I guess mum from the heavens will be very happy to see the progress we made. Her only regret must be that she can't be here to share our happiness. Thank you mum for all that you done and all that you gave....

P.S. This has been a very emotional week for me. A lot of things have happen around me and made me did a lot of thinking. I am actually quite a pessimistic person. I do hope that everything will turn out well for everyone. The sky might be dark now but the sun will shine again one day. After all, it don't rain all the time, the sky won't fall forever ;)

A bleak week it is...

Only half-way into the week and yet news from our media is already full of gloom. If you read carefully into the news, public transport fare set to increase again. "Meanwhile, ahead of the August 1 deadline for annual fare increase submissions to PTC, SMRT has confirmed that it will be asking for a small increase" it says. If you ask me, that is a clear indication that the next time you tap your Ezlink card, it will deduct a few cents more. As usual our government agency and media is trying to play down this fact by claiming that they will implement stricter regulations on our transport services to justify the increment. But how many times this has been said while we still got the same crappy services? Car owners are also not spared with renewed ERP rates. As a matter of fact, ever since the New Year, we have been bombarded by news of increment from GST to the price of sugar cane. It's no wonder that the rainy weather looks gloomier than it seems these days. I always tell myself and people that it won't rain all the time, the sky won't fall forever. But now, even I am beginning to doubt that myself. My family and friends are curious why I want to learn market trading and be stressed when things does not goes well. My answer is this is THE only way to a better life. I am tired of scrapping through each day to make ends meet. It is not like we have a choice. Our pay will not increase overnight. What can we do? Pray to the gods? Truth is I have lost my faith in religion, especially when people starts to abuse believer's trust. So where does that leave us? We are still standing here; the bills are still stacking up. My wife and I are in the process of starting a family. Sometimes I wonder should we go through it. Why bring a life here to this world and be a prisoner to the system?

Queen No More

Pregnant Zoe dropped by MediaCorp! Imagine my surprise when I saw this news heading. On further reading, it is found that her contract is suspended during this period of time. The reason for doing so...? She is pregnant!!! Actually I have no interest in what happen to this over the hill actress. Her time has passed. It is just another piece of news to get attention. What's more concerning is the reason for her suspension. What kind of ridiculous excuse is this? This is pure discrimination against pregnant women. Just because she is pregnant and she is unable to perform her duties (even though she does not have any these days :p ), the company has no rights to suspend her contract and cut costs. To think that this is from one of the more prominent media company in this region. What kind of example does this set for other companies? And how can our government allow such things to happen? On one hand, they are encouraging the population to have more babies while on the other hand they are letting this to happen.

As for Zoe, her worries that she will have no income is total bull. Cut down on your high life, Zoe! Welcome to the middle income family life.

My 1st Movie

Reinstall my PC the other day and came across the Windows Movie Maker app in Windows. Always wanted to do something for Angie,recording down the journey we walk together so far. So here is it... ^_^

Mid Life Crisis

Lately I have been wondering whether if this is the work I want to do for the rest of my life. I have been slowly losing interest. I start to understand how Seck Tien feels when he told me he change line. I feel like I am stuck in the limbo, somewhere where I know something but not enough to go anywhere. When people say something, a lot of question marks hover over my head. Worse still am I seem to have forgotten the things I have done or learn last time. Feel very demoralize. 6 years in the workforce and I seems to be going nowhere. Started entertaining such thoughts ever since I left Motorola. 1 year there really zombified a person. How wish I can get out of this now. But on second thought, if I dun do this, what can I do? Could this be some stage in life that everyone will go through? Is this the so called mid life crisis people are having?

Transformers, More Than Meets the Eye!

One of my favourite cartoons from my childhood finally hits the big screen. I still remember I had the autobot, Hound, the one which transform from a military jeep, mimicking the transforming sound as I transform it into a robot. Although the movie brings back a lot of memories, there are also some disappointments namely the look of computer animated transformers in the movie. Other Optimus Prime, the other simply looks too mechanical. And what happen to Bumblebee? He got a face lift? The name implies that it should be a small and cute vehicle; they should stick back of it to be a Volkswagen Beetle and not a stylish sports car. The producers explain that this is to keep up with times and make the robots more realistic. Maybe they are right, guess we old school prefer the way they are in the old days.

Check out this video of a transforming phone. As some say, it is literially an "iPhone Killer"

The Croc-eats-Dog promotion.

Here is a nice and clever promotion idea. Taken from directdaily

The brief was to draw attention to the Zoo and achieve an increase in attendance. According to the motto “Come to the Zoo before the Zoo comes to you” a promotion-team walked a dog that obviously became a crocodile’s lunch. Because half of its body was put into the mouth of an almost life-sized crocodile costume. Additionally, the promotion team handed out discount coupons for the Zoo. The dog was walked through the most popular pedestrian zone in the city of Neunkirchen on four successive Saturdays. As the promotion team walked the dog, the passers-by came up to the team all by themselves wondering what was going on – which made the promotion very effective. It resulted in an increase in attendance of about 15% compared to an average month. Besides, croco-dog became a very popular picture motif.

Day After Tomorrow

A forum reader is contemplating that what happen in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” will become real one day and questioning what can we do to stop global warming. Well global warming is very real. Dun you guys find that the weather outside is getting hotter these days? The earth temperature is getting higher n higher each day and organizing concerts like Live Earth only cause more damage than putting the message across. I always feel that we are just slowly down the process with our recycling efforts because the pollution and wastage is far too much. Nevertheless, my family and I are still doing our part in saving our earth. After all, where can we go if this place goes? You may not feel the full effect now, but that day will come n when it does, it is sad that our children will be the one who will bare the consequences of our misdeeds.

Here are some of my efforts.

1. Recycle every paper-based material. This includes cereal boxes, all the unwanted bills n letters from the mail box and even the cardboard cover from the energizer battery pack is not spared.

2. Switch off electrical appliances if they are not used.

3. Give unwanted clothing to Salvation Army or sell them to cash converters.

4. Recycle all plastic bottles and materials. I won't throw the plastic soft drink bottles I bought outside. I bring them home to recycle.

5. Don't on air-con unless it is really very hot. Use fan

6. Print on both side of paper or use recycle paper. Better still, if document is not important, print multiple pages on a single page.

7. Switch off your PC when I leave my office.

8. Take public transport (taxi not included) if possible. If distance is short (~15 mins), walk. Treat it as a form of exercise.

9. Use rechargeable batteries. Recycle all alkaline batteries.

10. Use recycle bags when shopping at supermarkets, not only on 1st Wed of every month. Try not to take plastic bag from seller if item is small n not heavy.

As you can see, all the above are little actions that can go a long way. It does not cost much or take a lot of effort.

Here's some useful info
Recycling Bins / Collection Centres in Singapore

"Man always realize his mistakes only when the punishment is being handle out"

Optimizing Windows

I like to tweak my PC a lot to improve its performance. Recently found this website that gives a very comprehensive detail in optimizing your Windows operating system. It is so detail that there are features in Windows that I did not even know that exist. Gonna try them out when I have the time.

Oh... if you are bored with the way your windows look with that boring theme, you can change the color theme. Simply right-click on desktop and select properties. Select the Appearance tab, and select the color scheme you like. No money to upgrade to Windows Vista? No problem. If you are more adventurous like me, you can even change your Windows to look like the latest Windows OS or even Apple OS! Simply go to this CrystalXP.net and download the installation pack. Install and you are done! Happy tuning :p

P.S. Try these only on your home PC. Your office PC have settings required for office networks and environment. And... company IT administrators complain alot. ^_^

Live Earth or "Waste of Electricity" Concert?

I did not watch a single minute of the Live Earth concerts, the so-called event to raise environmental awareness, shown on TV. I find that it is a total joke. How the concerts can be environmental friendly when so much electricity is used to held the concert and broadcast it live. Even more electricity is wasted when you consider the millions watching the event on their television or through the internet. I feel that some of the acts who perform during the concert are basically making use of the event to raise their profile. As for the audience, the youngsters attending the concerts, how much of the message will gets through to them? They are there to just enjoy the music and show. Evidence? Look at the amount of trash left behind after the event as reported in the news. Out of all the venues, only the Japanese audiences clean up their mess when the concert ends. Some may argue that this is acceptable given the message will drive home and the benefits will start to return in years to come. My take: the amount of effort put back it will not even cover half of the damage done in organizing the concert itself. By the time the recycling effort breakeven with the damage created from the event, damages from other areas (like the recent Princess Diana remembrance concert, Cmon! She's dead for so long) are already on another level. Our Gaia is dying, stop doing bo liao stuff like these. Do something more meaningful. As long as we dun buckle up, all that we are doing now merely slows down the path to extinction.

Days for Men?

My colleague mentions that this coming Monday is Youth day or something like that. It then hit me that there are no special days or weeks for the men. For the women, there are Mother's Day, Secretaries' Week, 三八妇女节 and Valentine's Day (yeah, yeah, I heard the women complaining that Valentine is not just for you all, but do you really believe the men will buy jack up prices roses if it isn't for you?) What about the men? We have Father's Day only and you NEED to be a father to qualify for it. -_-" Compare to Mother's Day, Father's Day is so much more low profile. A quick Google check found that there is an International Men's Day, but it is only recognized in ulu places and the actual date of the day itself is inconsistent between different places. Thus, shouldn't it be time for some guy to set a day for us men only? Something like, "Couch Potato Week" or "I Dun Wan to Go Shopping Day". Hmmm....


P.S. Did I hear someone says NS Men day? Comeon, ask any Singapore men, who is not a sign-on. National service is just a wayang affair and an excuse for us to break away from our daily stress.

The Brutal Truth About Being A Sports Personality in Singapore

Poor Fandi Ahmad, Singapore’s favourite and most celebrated football son. After retiring from a decorated career, his business venture fails and got himself heavily in debts. Since, he has left his beloved country to be a coach in Indonesia to earn more money to repay his debts (More on Fandi's story here). Today, Fandi is hit with another piece of bad news. Seems like our Football Association of Singapore (FAS) made a mistake in counting the number of appearance (aka caps) Fandi made for the Lions. The correction resulted in Fandi missing the prestigious century mark by just 6 games! it is such a disappointment. And Fandi is not the only one as other Singapore soccer greats like David Lee, Malek Awab and Nazri Nasir also suffer similar fate. For all the contributions to our country's football scene, they are rewarded with such treatments. Among them, only Nazri may have a slight chance of changing this since he is still playing. For others, there is no chance of changing the facts.

On a side track, other than Fandi, how many Singaporeans still remember the other players? Singaporeans today cares more about the players at Liverpool or Manchester United. That's the problem of being a sport professional in our country. It is not consider to be a good career prospect, not in a country where results meant so much. For us, the results do not justify the means. Unless you achieved something great, you never get any recognition. And even if you do, very few will still remember you years after you retired? Tan Howe Liang anyone? Other than being mentioned during the Olympic year, nobody cares what happen to him. How bout Dr Ben Tan, our Sailing legend? I once enter a crowded lift with him and my wife is the only one who recognizes him. That is why it is so difficult to find a decent Singaporean to represent our country. It is so sad that we have to resort to getting foreigners not born here to do that. Such is the state of our sporting scene...

Reluctantly Getting a New Concubine

KNNBCCB! As if I am not down enough, my PC comes over and gave a big kick to my groin. A kick at the bucket that is. The stupid machine decided that after serving me for 3 years, it is time to retire. Argh..... I suspecting it is the new PSU I bought a couple of months ago. I have been dreading this day. As I have said almost a year ago here, an upgrade is as good as buying a new PC. Dun tell me to get a game console k. Does the game console allow you to read your emails, surf the net or write your blog? Anyway, the new setup will set me back by at least $1k (Ouch!) since all the current parts are outdated and cannot reuse. What? Someone says this is a sign to buy and save before the GST increment next month? SIGN MY ASS! You save more by not spending a single cent, ok. >:(

My family always says my PC is my concubine. Well, my dear concubine thanks for the times you have given all these years, all the fun, tantrums and frustrations. I hope your replacement will be better than you which I believe it will.

Ok so the durian got his desserts. Justice is served or is it? The only thing I admire about Durai is at least he is brave enough to go through the ordeal and face his punishments. Not like some cheating bastard who cash in on his assets and skip town. Look at that bloody asshole face, it has a big conman written all over it. And they installed him as the Director then? Haa. How can the relavent authroities be so slow to react? The signs are all there. I suspect there must be something fishy here. Someone must have let him go on purpose. Maybe our dear Richard threatens to spit the beans on dark secrets. After all, how can the NKF cheat the public so much and got away from it so far? And all the government authorities especially the health ministry suddenly stays clear of it when the whole incident blew out of proporions. Where is Mrs Goh Chok Tong and her peanuts now?

Singapore's Gollum Has EscapedHow did Richard Yong slip through the net?

Japanese Game Shows

The Japanese are not only brilliant in their technological breakthroughs; they are hilarious in their game shows. No subtitles, the actions speak for themselves. Why can't Mediacorp show these rather than those silly and vague local variety shows?

Japanese Tetris


Japanese Trendmill

Amazing Video

Observe the guy on the top left hand corner. He is damn lucky that he did not become part of the road that day.

Moving Towards a Cash-full Society

Seems like every organization is rushing is raise their price before the GST to be raised on 1st July. As if they are afraid of being accused of taking advantage of consumers when the 7% GST kicks in. The latest to jump into the fiasco is NETS. Yesterday, they just announce that they are going to raise the transactions fees by 3 to 4 times the current charges, bringing them close to credit and debit cards transaction fees. Those sneaky bastards! Who will bare the extra cost at the end of the day? Us, you assh*les! You think the shops will be so nice to absorb the additional charges?

I tell you lah, for all the noise made by CASE, the plan will go through in the end. If they are so capable, a convicted bankrupted criminal won't fled the country so easily. Screw the so-called rebates too. Like the GST packages, how far can $200 per year get you to?

So what we will have now? An ATM card that looks like an ATM card, behaves like one but charges like a credit card when using NETS. Ridiculous. I will be carrying more cash in my wallet when that happens. So much for pushing towards a cashless society. NETS, make life great? PUI!

Life is so unfair. You work so hard and put in some much effort into what you do, sometimes even sacrifacing your health and family, and what do you get? You only to get to see it turning against you. It is so frustrating and unfair. Why some people can achieve their goals so easily without much effort while others slog like hell and yet does not get their just rewards? What is the theory in that? Where is the you are rewarded for your efforts? Life is so full of lies and bullshits and I really hate it.

Been working a lot lately so much so that I feel I have neglected Angie. I feel sad and guilty that we hardly spend much time together nowadays. Everyday, it's the same routine. I wake up, get dress and go to work, only to be back home around evening. Come back home, rest a while then go to bed. The next day, it's another cycle. We only see each other for a few hours everyday. And weekends comes, I just dun feel like going out. I feel it is quite unfair to her. Everyday she stay at home, taking care of the house. It is so lonely for her. Sometimes I wonder is it worth it to work so hard to earn a living but in the end your family is sacrificed? I can't imagine there are really people who work day and nights non-stop. What will happen to their family? I am sure the song "Where'd You Go?" by Fort Minor really brings out the feelings of these family and Angie.

"Where'd You Go?"

Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.

She said "Some days I feel like shit,
Some days I wanna quit, and just be normal for a bit,"
I don't understand why you have to always be gone,
I get along but the trips always feel so long,
And, I find myself trying to stay by the phone,
'Cause your voice always helps me to not feel so alone,
But I feel like an idiot, workin' my day around the call,
But when I pick up I don't have much to say,
So, I want you to know it's a little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"

(Chorus)
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...

You know the place where you used to live,
Used to barbecue up burgers and ribs,
Used to have a little party every Halloween with candy by the pile,
But now, you only stop by every once and a while,
Shit, I find myself just fillin' my time,
With anything to keep the thought of you from my mind,
I'm doin' fine, I plan to keep it that way,
You can call me if you find that you have something to say,
And I'll tell you, I want you to know it's a little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"

(Chorus)

I want you to know it's a little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', no longer debatin',
Tired of sittin' and hatin' and makin' these excuses,
For why you're not around, and feeling so useless,
It seems one thing has been true all along,
You don't really know what you've got 'til it's gone,
I guess I've had it with you and your career,
When you come back I won't be here and you can sing it...

(Chorus)

Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...

Life is so fragile

A woman is killed by a fallen tree this morning. One day she is happily taking a morning stroll and the next moment she is killed. Life is so fragile. The news shows one of her sons came looking for her and ended up having to identify her body. The boy must be devastated. To think that he still have to call up his family to inform them the news. All these remind me of the accident that took my mum away. Every time I pass by the place where she met her accident, I will wonder where and how is she now. Did she suffer at that point of time when she fell off the scooter? It must have hurt her as much as it did to us that she has to leave us like this. That's why I always keep quiet whenever Angie mention that she miss mum. It's already been more than a year but the thought still hurts every time I think about it.

Happy Mother's Day, Mum....

Singapore F1 Grid Prix

So Singapore finally get to host a Formula 1 race here. However, it's been there done that for our neighbours, Malaysia. In fact, we are WOLS liao... The in-thing in Malaysia now is drift... Maybe Singapore should organise a drift race in our streets instead. Our roads are definitely more suited for such races.

Malaysia's Initial D. lolz

Disneyland in China?

Thanks to Mr Brown to posting this video. It proves China is really becoming the land of the pirates. IP pirates that is. TO think that they can actually make an imitation Disney theme park in their country. That's the advantage of having a population of more than 1.25 billion people. You dun have to depend on tourist. As long as you can make 1% of that population to visit the park, you are going be rich man. Who cares if they are cheap imitation? Only in China, man...

Christopher Kenna Jail.

Naughty naughty naughty, shame on you Christopher. Stop acting pitiful and remorseful, we know you are an actor. You should have know when you decided to drive after drinking so much. For all the 5 charges brought on you for your drink driving crime, 4 weeks in jail sentence in my opinion is considered light. One month one month lah, why must put it as 4 weeks? As if to convince people that it is a very long jail term. For all the judge claims that he is going to make Christopher an example for drink driving offence, I feel some leverage is still given. To think that he is considering appealing. How dare he! I hope he is "well-treated" in there. I heard there is a sudden surge in requests for butter. ;)

Updated: 05/12/2007
Some people feel I am harsh to Christopher Lee. But when you think of it, a hit & run leh. The other party might be seriously injured n you ran away without helping? To think that he still wants to appeal after getting away with such a lenient punishment. I hope his appeal fails and kenna a heavy sentence. Anyway, I am not the only one who feels this way as can be seen in the forums. Some funny comments:

DiGdUb:
"he can act in the new series - changi prison break."

yaoyao:
"actually like that hor... next time if u drunk driving n hit n run then kanna caught, u know u at most 4.5k fine + 4 wks jail nia"

My fav
yaoyao:
"He can be yellow ribbon ambassador"

Requiem For a Dream

It has been coming for the past few weeks. The signs are there all these time. What I haven been worrying has finally happened. It's all over now, the dream is crush, all hopes are dashed. I knew this would happen. Sigh...






Man U lost to AC Milan this morning in the Champions League semi-final. No more treble dream :(

Things I Learnt Today Part II

Lesson learn today: Always check the toilet rolls are sufficient in the toilet cubicle before you start doing your "thing" ^_^

It was raining this morning, so I took an alternate route to work by taking the train to Hougang and changing to Bus 72. While waiting the bus at Hougang, I saw an old lady trying to catch the bus at the bus stop. She is staggering forward step by steps, shouting for the bus to wait for her. All these while, everyone at the bus stop just stood there and watches. The most sickening part is all are youngsters. In the end, I rush up to stop the bus from driving off and the elderly lady managed to get up the bus. Before she got onto the bus, she turns around and gave me a smile, saying thank you in Chinese. Is this how Singapore will be in the future? All our surpassingly future nation builders are no more than a bunch of complaining and selfish people who only think for themselves? Gosh... is this the so called first class society we are trying to achieve?

Another Birthday, Another Year Older

Well my birthday is ending soon in a couple of minutes’ time. *Sigh* Cross the double 3. Still seems to be going nowhere. I did not get any presents because I ask my wife not to buy me anything. There's nothing I want and nothing I need. Yes, I have my desires but those are things I planned to get through my own means. My wife treated me to a nice Korean dinner at Togi, then we walk around Chinatown and ended up at Coffee Bean at Chinatown Point and chatted till they closed. I actually had an enjoyable time cause I get to spend some quality time with my wife. Everyday we woke up, go to work, and get to see each other only at the end of the day. By then, we have so little time together and even lesser time to talk to each other. Hence we really cherish these quiet and precious moments together, even though sometimes it is a short after dinner stroll. Well, the clock just strikes 12. Happy Birthday to Myself. ^_^

Have a difficult time dragging myself out of bed today. The cool morning air blown by the fan while I cuddle under the bedsheets, feeling like a baby in the mother's womb. I hate Mondays. The weekend past so fast. So fast that I can't feel it at all. We slog for 5 days just for the weekends and when it came, before we get to enjoy and take a rest, it is over.

A Depressing Weekend

Finally it is the weekend and you thought you can finally break away from all the stress at work. You grab the Straits Times (ST) and its all propaganda news of the the minister's pay raise. At the single moment, everything goes back to depression. Not a single report of opposition to the pay raise. In my opinion, other than the sports page, our national newspaper is no difference to the government newsletter. All craps! Dun you find it funny that our government can debate over the monthly amount to give to our poor and elderly but able to pass the motion for the pay raise easily?

Thankfully, there is the internet, where we see all netizens raise their voice about this issue. I find it is a good way to vent our frustrations. There no point to raising our voice to the government. As Insane Polygons points out rightfully, there's is nothing we can do cause nobody is gonna listen. So the so called "middle-class" family like mine have to stick it in. I sometimes wonder maybe I made a mistake in not taking up our previous company offer of relocation to Vancouver. At least, I can get away from all these bullshits.

Here's a Parliament Transcript by Slyvia Lim on the Minister's Pay which I doubt you will see it in the papers or news.

Read on the comments on MrBrown post on Insane Polygons' views.

New Things I Learnt This Week

1. My colleague taught me that a good way to get handphone numbers of the ladies in your office is to delete all your contacts in your phone.

2. I found out that peanuts are cheaper than a token sum of money.

3. I learn that the raise of the GST and the minister's pay is just a coincidence. It is important for Singaporeans to understand the difference and the reason for the pay increment

4. It is better to donate your pay increment to charity than keeping it in government funds to support the poor and low income group. Why din they donate half of their pay? Should be better right? Hmm...

5. A S$50 increase in monthly rank allowance is alot.

6. I learn that by withdrawing its fee guidelines for doctors by the Singapore Medical Association, we will be better charge for our medical consultations.

Sorry... You are...?

It is the third week at my new job and I am starting to get used to the environment. However I am still trying to get to know everyone here. I think this is a familiar scene among us. It is your first day on the job and being introduced around the office. Problem is by the third person, you have already forgotten the first person name and face. This is especially so if most of your colleagues do not have English name and it is a big office. Then you will have the embarrassing situation where you are taking the office lift to work and suddenly the person beside you greets you. At that instance, you have no idea who he is or his name other than the fact that he is one of your colleague. Do you go through the awkward situation of asking him his name? Or just pretend you know him while scanning for his employee badge in order to get a glimpse of his name? What if he is not wearing his employee badge? Aiyo, so paiseh...

No More Football...

After much complains regarding the inconsiderate littering and illegal parking by the football players from the residents in our area, the town council finally decided to close down the football field at our place. In fact, I am one of the disgruntled residents and might be the one who caused the closure. I never like the idea of having a football field in front of my place for the above reasons. However, the sight of the workers tearing down the fences around the football field saddens me.

The whole episode started when one night my wife and I pass by the common function hall and saw the mess created by the footballers there. We are so angry with what we see that we took pictures of the mess and send an email complain to our town council. To truly show our anger, we even cc the email to our Minister In Parliament (MP), Ms Penny Low. And of course when complains reach the MP, things will move very fast. So I was surprise to receive a reply from the National Environment Agency (NEA) a few days later that they decided to stop leasing the field to Sengkang-Pasir Ris Football Club and close down the area. Action is swift and ruthless as workers started to tear down the fences a few hours after I got the email reply.

I thought to myself, is this really necessary? My point of sending in the complaint is to hope that the town council and the football club would do something to stop the players from littering our surrounding and be more considerate to the residents. By taking down the field, the punishment is way too harsh for me. Now, not only the players but children attending Sunday soccer class will lose a place to have a kick about. Every Sunday morning, the field is full of kids attending football classes. I find that this is a healthy activity for the kids. Without the field, the classes either have to relocate or be cancelled. And the worse of all is now the government may build some buildings on the empty field creating much more inconvenient for us than the footballers...

Earth Revisited

Arts Central is going to show Planet Earth. From the advertisment, it looks like one magnificant documentary. Definitely a must see, it is a re-introduction of our planet, of the beautiful animals and sights we have ignored all these times.

Mayday! Mayday! PC Down!

Just when you thought it was safe to start saving some money for the things you wanted, something will happen to screw your plans. Got home last Friday around 12am turn the switch to my PC and POP! Nothing happens. No BIOS bootup screen, no windows startup screen, nothing! No power at all... Turns on my power supply unit (PSU) suddenly decided to commit suicide and blown itself up. So off I go to Sim Lim the next morning and grab a new PSU; cost me a freaking $160 :'( Dun you just hate it.

P.S. Since I am changing the PSU, I decided to grab one that is 80 PLUS certified. Just doing my part to save the earth and my electrical bill ^_^

Another First Day To Work

First day of work. Been out of action for more than a month. Naturally, takes some time to get the rust off this morning. And of all the days, it rained today. Not a good sign -_-" The office environment makes me feel like working in GES again with the high cubicle walls and the managers' cubicles all lined up against a side of the room. Hit the ground running, no honeymoon period for me. A lot of things to study and my office PC is not delivered here yet. Have to make do with a laptop that is thicker than my phone. It's gonna be a busy month ahead.

我家有一只河东狮

The promise my wife wants me to fulfill these days.

从现在开始你只许疼我一个，宠我，爱我、不欺骗我。答应我的每一件事都做到，对我说的每一句话都真心，不欺负我，不骂我，相信我。我被欺负时，你会第一时间出来帮我。我开心时，你会陪着我开心，我不开心时，你会哄得我开心。永远觉得我最漂亮，做梦都会梦见我，在你心里只有我!

Taken from the movie 《我家有一只河东狮》which she watch in the hotel room during our trip in KL.

My reply? 我已经把你宠坏... ^_^

The Number 444

Jim Carrey has an upcoming film called "Number 23" about a man obsession with the number 23 after reading a book that seems to be based on his life. I somehow find a bit of connection on this as people who knows me know that I am obsessed with the number 444, so much so that the number 4 is by favorite number. It is no joke. I find that everywhere I go the number will appear through various forms. E.g. My first home in Redhill, the unit number is #04-44. My parent’s Jurong flat block number is 444. I always see car license plate X444 or 444X when I travel on the road. Is there someone or some higher power trying to tell me something? Dun ask me to buy 4D, done that and doesn't work.

My KL Trip

Went to KL for a short holiday with my wife over the weekends. It is a relaxing trip as we shop till we drop. Err... correction, it’s my wife shop while I drop :p. Anyway, at the end of the first day, we went for some foot reflexology session to ease our aching leg. It is my first time trying such "pleasure" as my wife claims. Well, on the contrary, I felt I was being tortured. The Thai masseuse introduces me to pains on different areas of my feet I never flet before while enjoying my facial responses lol. But I slept very well that night as I seldom sleep well on my first night away from my bed. So the massage really works. :)

The next morning, I get to try the enigmatic Singapore fried beehoon, a dish that can only be found outside Singapore. If you ask me, it does not taste any different from the economy fried beehoon. Other than this, I find food in KL are quite cheap. Angie managed to eat Hong Kong curry fishball there. It is something she always wanted to try after watching countless Hong Kong artists ate it in their drama serials. There's also a lorry that sells Malacca Lok-Lok park at the roadside next to Sungei Wan. However, we decided to give it a miss because of hygiene concerns. :S

We stay at Berjaya Times Square and gosh the shopping mall there is HUGE!!! More than 10 floors of shopping madness! Actually there are only 8 floors, the top 3 floors are vacant, but still enough to make any woman excited and any boyfriends/husband crazy. Hehe. We also went to Sungei Wang, Plaza Low Yat and Mid-Valley shopping mall. Luckily, Malaysians have a lot of toy shops in their malls to attract my attention. Sungei Wang is like our Chinatown shopping centre while Plaza Low Yat is the KL’s Sim Lim Square. Perfect for IT geeks like me. However, we only discover the place on the second last day, so not much time to explore it. One thing Sim Lim should learn from Plaza Low Yat is Low Yat’s second floor is catered for woman shopping. So you can leave your female companion there while you go shop for your hardware. Haha… Now your girl-girl won’t get bored and hustle you to finish your shopping. ;)

As the Malaysia Formula 1 grand prix is coming next month, there is a lot of excitement in KL anticipating the event. I even was fortunate enough to take a photo with my favorite F1 team car, Ferrari. Hehe… Too bad I can’t take a photo of me sitting in it. Talking about something with speed, I did not manage to sit the famous indoor roller coaster ride inside Berjaya Times Square. My wife did not like the idea of me sitting in those rides. In the end, I managed to convince her to let me sit in the DNA mixer. Better than no rides at all. ^_^

Went down to Chinatown this evening with my wife. We decide to walk down to Clarke Quay to check out the latest addition to the long list of shopping malls in Singapore - @Central. We are surprise that there is walkway behind the mall next to the Singapore river facing directly to the newly revamp Clarke quay. Sitting there brings back a lot of memories for the both of us. Watching the boats shuttling tourists up n down the river remind us of the time when we walk down here from the hotel on the second night after we held our wedding banquet. We took the boat ride along the river, went down to boat quay to have supper at the famous big bowl porridge restaurant. The waves from the passing boats hitting the jetty reminded us of our first date sitting under the shears bridge chatting watching the tides hit the shores. It is definitely a nice trip down memory lane

Clarke Quay

The Quick and The Dead

I recently downloaded and installed the demo version of Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, aka CnC3. After playing it for 5 mins, I realised that I suck at Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. Too many units and can't react in time. The only strategy I know is defend like hell then tank rush your enemies. Talk about being strategic. Guess I have to stick to playing turn-based games and first-person shooters (FTS). I will still buy CnC3 to play, but only at the easy settings. :p

TANK RUSH!

P.S. Seck Tien: Guess I have one less reason to upgrade my PC for Supreme Commander. Hehehe.

Earthquake Tremors

WOA!!! Just felt the tremors from the earthquake from Indonesia at my Punggol home. At first I thought I was feeling giddy. But I notice the wind chimes swaying even though there is no wind blowing. Still I treeat it as my imagination until I heard the report from the news on the radio. My sister-in-law have to evacuate her office building in CBD area. Who say there is no earthquake in Singapore?

Lately, a couple of my friends relationships with their partner is on the rocks. My wife starts to worry that we might end up like this. No relationships is plain sailing all the way. The path is definitely littered with obstacles. The couple have to work together to overcome it. I believe this is a test on the couple's trust, believe and love in each other. There can be only this much that people around them can do to help. I just hope they are about to get over their problems and become happy again.

Transition Period

I dun like changes especially when it comes to my working environment. Why can't everything be the same? Nowadays, I have been attending interviews and looking for jobs. The thought of having to adapt to new environment and meet new people is bringing me down, to the extent that sometimes I dun feel like doing anything these days. I know I should not be like this but I just can't help it. The past 2 years have been start-stop behavior for my career. Just when I have started to settle down on my job, I have to move on. I hate repeating the entire cycle of going for interviews, knowing people, getting familiar with the workplace and journeys to work. Really starting to get tiring with all these...

Why Guys Like to Play Computer Games?

I believe this is a common questions for every woman. The problem with men is we have our pride to uphold and we need to proof that we ARE THE alpha male. We like to be in charge and in control. However, the real world often proof to us men otherwise. Hence, the computer game is a way for us to satisfy the large egos within us. In the gaming virtual world, we are the hero, the chosen one, the top dog. In this world, we always win and be always at the top. The pleasure of smacking your enemies’ ass, blasting them to smithereens does a lot to ease our male chauvinist mindset and release the frustration we have in our real lives. So ladies, now you know why we like to play games so much?

Cards and Such

Was doing some spring cleaning on my wallet the other day. Got a lot of rubbish in there (Read: receipts). Realise that I have so many cards in my wallet. Err.... excuse me NOT credit cards hor, but all types of membership cards for restaurants, shops and whatever. Most of it are hardly used at all. Together with my IC, ezlink, ATM and credit cards, my wallet is so thick that it looks like it is full of cas, which in actual fact, it only has a $10 note in it. Maybe this is the result of a cashless society. Everybody pretends to be rich by the size n thickness of their wallet.

Life Been Slow Lately

*Sigh*... Just as expected, Chinese New Year comes and goes. Everything goes back to normal now. Well… sort of… Still looking for a job ever since my company decided to relocate and close the office here.

Think the whole episode is affecting me lately too. Getting a bit restless with frustration settling in… Maybe from the stress and responsibilities of being the man of the house. That's the problem with typical Singaporean males. Came across a blog quite some time ago that question if youngsters too pampered and could matured fast enough. Here we are, happily idling around, dating your girlfriends and living off your parents. Once you got married, the whole world turns upside down. Now you have to take care of the family and make all the important decisions. I think many young Singaporeans are not prepared for the change (me included :P). The sudden weight of responsibilities may be too much for some. It is no surprise that many are not married and those who do often ends up divorce. It is because people are not prepared for marriage life. Why is this so? Are we not given enough time to stand up or we still live in a distorted reality?

DHL Delivers Everything. :)

A Blue Chinese New Year

Sian ah, Chinese New Year (CNY) is here again. I used to like this holiday period when I was a kid. There are hongbao to take, goodies to munch on plus 2 consecutive holiday break (the only one in Singapore :( ). However, as I grow up, things start to feel differently. I have to give out hongbao rather than receive and I dun fancy the New Year goodies anymore. The only thing to look forward to is the long break. But that is going to change too. It dun feels much like a break anymore. With all the visit of relatives and friends, before you knew it, the holiday period is over.

Things You Should Buy Used/New

Some good advices on saving money. I actually practice a few of the advices way before this appears. Like buying used games or DVDs. Why spent so much on a new one when you can get one at half the price. Works just as good as new, plus.. you dun have to violate piracy laws. :)
10 things you should never buy used - MSN Money
10 things you shouldn't buy new - MSN Money

A Lost Cause?

Our Dying Earth.

An article on carbon neutrality is featured on the New Paper. I find this is just an excuse to allow people to continue to pollute our environment. Money dun solve everything. Our earth is dying... The damage has been done and is beyond repaired. No matter how much recycling we are doing, we are merely slowing down the earth dying process. The amount of pollution everyday far exceeds the amount of recycling efforts. Just look at Singapore... When we go to NTUC, look at the number of plastic bags being given and look at the untouched recycling bags sold there. Yes, you need to pay to recycle. Don’t you find it ridiculous? The number of disposable utensils we are throwing away everyday. Do you think just by recycling a few stack of newspaper will change everything? By killing our planet, we are in the process of killing ourselves too. Hun.... I just worried for those who are going to inherit the mess that we left for them. Maybe this is the punishment for eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Army of Two

If Gears of War isn't convincing you to get an Xbox360, this game will. Damn, this re-enforce my determinations to save up and get an Xbox360.

The weather in the morning and night is getting unusually cold lately. This is very unlike Singapore. The temperature is so cold that it feels like summer in Taiwan. Not that I dun like it compare to the usual hot weather, but it's kinda harder to get up in the morning to go to work nowadays. :p

Other than the weather, another thing is I notice my memory is failing me. You know those experiences where you walk into a room and forgot why you went in there in the first place. Well... I’m experiencing that quite often these days. I am unable to recall if I have switch off the iron, lock of car doors or lock up of office before I go off. No matter, how hard I tried, I dun seems to remember if I have did it. It's like it did not happen at all and you start to doubt about yourself. So I end up going back to check it out and found out that the car is locked anyway. It is like I have done it subconsciously. Shit, must getting old liao...

The Internet Is For Porn

A truthful confession by a satisfied Dell customer. LOL

A Distasteful Prank

Recently, I received a audio recording of 2 guys making fun of a Muslim prata seller by repeatively ordering pork in their orders. Whether the recordings is real or not, I still find the entire "joke", if you still want to call it that way, distasteful. A more worrying problem is that people are laughing over it. Have the racial harmony build up by our fathers starting to crumble away?

Attended the Microsoft Windows Embedded Seminar yesterday. After the seminar, I realised that I have not done any actual programming for over one year. It's been THAT long... All those testing in Motorola really have zombified the developer in me. Even though, occasionally there's a need to study and review codes, the entire process have slowly drain my drive for programming... Do I still have the ability to write a decent piece of code out. Is this the beginning of the end of my developer life? I need to find the drive back or have the damage been done?

What's on TV

Found some time to watch some tele last night and saw Channel 5 is showing CSI:Miami. I never like that show for only one reason, Horatio Caine. Ok, he may have serious experience of his family and live with criminals. That doesn't give him the rights to go around baring his teeth and behaving like an a$$hole with a capital A. Of all the 3 CSI series, I still prefer the original, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It is still the best and does not involve so much plot twist as the other two spin-offs. The crew are more natural and I can link better with them, especially my favorite, team supervisor Gil Grissom. Anyway, the series is getting a bit ridiculous with all the scientific equipments used. Sometimes, it's like "Are you sure that really exist or you made it up just to solve the crime? How come that is not used in the other crimes?" Other than this, there is one thing I learnt from watching all the CSI dramas; I will never want to work as a Crime Scene Investigator. Look at the amount of OT they have to put in to test and analyze every single piece of evidence. Checking every tool in the world to find the correct murder weapon to match the stab wounds? No thanks, I got a life by the way. The most amazing thing is the CSI team can do this in record time. Hah...

Oh, I heard US is showing the third season of Lost. That started to be a good and intriguing show but all the questions, mysteries and twists have really made me "lost". :p I hope the producers just tied up all the loose ends in season 3 and let the people be "found". ;p Else it will be another confusing X-Files series.

Stupid Man U lost to Arsenal make me unable to sleep the whole night. No matter how I try, the images and the scoreline kept appearing on my mind. I can't believe the way Man U players collapse and allow Arsenal to come back from 0-1 down to win 2-1. In the final 10 mins some more. The way they play after scoring is damn sloppy. They practically let Arsenal come at them. It is one thing to lose to a superior team, it is another to lose without a fight. Wasted a great opportunity to extend the lead over Chelsea by 9 points. And the stupid f*$king referee allow all the hacking and fouls by Arsenal to go unpunished, while everything Man U did is a foul. WTF! The whole match is joke. Got my adrenaline so high that kept me awake the whole night even after the match ended. I curse Theirry Henry to get his legs broken n never play again. Damn I shouldn't stay up to watch the match. !*@&#

The Truth About Korean Dramas

So Rain is finally here. What I mean is Rain, the Korean actor, not the weather, which is enjoying its fun on us for the past few weeks. Looking at the commotion at the airport when Rain arrived on the news, it shows Korean drama have reach a feverish heights. This brings me to the main topic. Do you know why Korean dramas become so popular suddenly? The reason being Korean drama follow a standard set of formula, based on our everyday life with a pinch of fairy tale. I called it the "Princess Formula". Basically all the Korean dramas follow this method. No matter how different is the settings, background and actors occupations, it is always the same things.

In the drama, the female lead, or the princess for this case, is a poor but pretty, kind-hearted and out-spoken girl (This is to let the female audience relate her to them). Then comes along not 1 but 2 capable, wickedly good-looking and rich guys, who fell in love the girl at the same time. The male lead is of course the prince (白马王子), while the other handsome dude should be the fairy-god mother? :p Anyway, how can a fairy tale do without a witch? So, in comes a woman (the witch), who likes the male lead too. She will scheme and harm the female lead in order to get the male lead. There you have it, one real-life modern version of the Cinderella/Snow White fairy tale. If you dun believe, run down to the nearest VCD shop and look at all the Korean drams. ;) Or go to this website to read on some of the popular korean dramas of recent years and see if I am right.

Since all women like princess fairy tales, they will fantasize that they are the female leads, get smitten and drool over the handsome actors with their gentlemen behaviour. That's not all, they will start to compare their spouse or boyfriend with the actors, complaining that we are not as gentleman or caring as them. So my advice to all my guy friends, dun let your other half watch too much Korean dramas. Yes, it may distract her and keep you from accompanying her, but the side-effects are much more than you can bare. ^_^

Oh.. for those looking for Rain, here is a blog on everyday happenings related to the singer. Rain Fever

Argh... got stop by the MRT security to check my haversack on my way to work. Guess I have that suspicious terrorist look :( or the secuirty officer noticed that I am shivering in fear. It's because I having a stomachache and need to go to the washroom :p

Thai TV Ads

The Thai never stop to amaze me with their creativity in making funny commercials ever since Smooth E. Compare to Singapore which have a higher educated population and workforce, all we can come out is silly ones featuring Zoe Tay telling people to swallow. No wonder we are criticized by Ian Livingstone for our lack of creativity in game development.

Quote:

"The tendency here [Singapore] is to make copies of previous games, rather than to think about what the world hasn't seen before or what new games haven't been done before."

A Rainy Sunday

It rain all day today where the weather is cold. It is one of those days where all you wanted to do is to lie on the bed cuddle under the bed sheets to sleep. Or just sit next to the window, listening to Duncan Shiek and watch the world outside goes by. A great way to relax and prepare for the start of another hectic work week tomorrow.

Woman like to ask the strangest questions. Questions like "What should I wear tonight?", "Do I look nice in this?" and the worse of them all, "Am I fat?" have tormented us men for years. And as if that wasn't enough, my adorable wife came up with a new one "Why do couples hold hands?". If you have the answer to this question, please let me know, so that I can give you the second part of the question, "Why do couples kiss?" :p

YES! IT'S ALIVE!!!

Update: 11th Jan 2007
Shit, ever since I got this working on my PC, it is in my mind every minute and every second. Which player to buy or sell, which tactics to use, who to mark and who to take freekicks and corners etc... Argh....

YES! YES! YES! Finally, after more than 3 long years, I have finally managed to get Championship Manager 00/01 to run on WinXP SP2. I have given up hope in getting it to work but too reluctant to remove it from my PC as I always have a feeling it can be fixed one day. And today is THE day. HAHAHA! Everything is working, my old save game data restored, able to run and play a match. What a way to start 2007. Whooohooo...

A Few Interesting Blog Posts

I was searching through Tomorrow for news of the bright light spotted across the Singapore sky, ended up finding a few blog posts worthly of note.

1. Maia Lee - A New Piece?
Metrosexual Me wrote a post on why we should ask for a new piece when buying clothing.

2. Do we really need tuition?
Read a parent's worries as she ponders whether to engage a tuition teacher for her daughter and whether tuition is the correct solution.
I very much agreed with Trisha Reloaded views. My sister-in-law, who is a part-time tuition teacher, has seen students who are good enough not to take tuitions. Have our society become too demanding for our own good? Are we setting too high a standard for our children?

3. Boycott Bee Cheng Hiang!
Sparklette is pissed by the underhand method use by Bee Cheng Hiang to pass off badly charred Bah Kwa as edibles ones.

4. My neighbourhood… after dark
theonlinecitizen took a walk round his neighbourhood at 3am in the morning and made a startling discovery.

09th Jan 2007:
5. Marriage for all the wrong reasons?
Diodati had a conversation with a member of her forum on the general attitude of Singaporeans today towards marriage and life, which I find quite true.

Update the fireworks video on my New Year post. Find the previous damn lame with those three guys. *puke* If you listen carefully to the new video, pass all the screamings and "woo"ing by the swah koo Singaporeans -_-", you actually can hear the music, which syncronized with the fireworks display.

The Ugly Side Of Singaporeans

For such a civilized and highly educated society, the behaviour and attitudes of the Singapore population at times is far worse than those in the less developed countries.

E.g. 1: Sign? What Sign?
The pictures says it all... A case of selective blindness by some Singaporeans.












E.g. 2: The Maid Will Do It
A topic posted by Naked Cow on our overly reliance on maids. So much so that even simple task is expected to be done by the maid.

E.g. 3: It's Not My Job
This sign spotted at Giant supermarket. A look into the bin - Empty. A look on the floor - litter with spoilt vegatables.

A New Year, A New Chapter.

*Sigh* It is the start of another year. Dun ask me for any new year resolutions. One, I dun make them cause I am too damn lazy and... Two, I always dun have the discpline to complete my resolutions. I will do one this year. Yes just one which is earn more money and KEEP IT! Always find myself broke. Must learn to control my spendings which means no more teabreak snacks or buying of computer stuffs. Well, wish everyone have a great year ahead. Keep smiling ^_^

P.S. The photo is this year's New Year fireworks display at Marina Bay, courtesy of etegration. Below is a funny video footage of the countdown.