Monday, May 31, 2004

Off to Quebec

Will be gone for another 4 odd days. Going to Quebec City :)

With steady hands and proper shutter speed, i'll get clearer pictures this time.

Sunday, May 30, 2004


Yup yup, there was a plate making demonstration too. Posted by Hello

Paperweight in Corning Museum of Glass. This one was my favourite. Posted by Hello

Paperweight in Corning Museum of Glass Posted by Hello

Remember the glass factory i was tlaking about in my trip, here are a few paper weights there...not for sale of course :P Posted by Hello

Saturday, May 29, 2004


The Horseshoe side of Niagra Falls Posted by Hello

The night view...yes really blur cos of my shakey hands!  Posted by Hello

Test Test Posted by Hello

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Trip To Niagra Falls

Quote of the Trip: Toilet only for emergency or bus very smelly!

Paid like US$170 for a 3 day 2 night coach tour thing from a Chinatown tour agency, Paradise Tours. Main reason, to get out of the US and come back so as to renew my 90 Day Visa Waiver thing. This is to allow my to hang out here even longer than i already have. From speaking to my friends prior to the trip, i was told that these trips are normally 90% filled with retirees! *shudder*...bad breath, slow moving, boring, inaudible..........ok ok...that's being extreme.

Glad to say, there were heaps of young people along for the trip, though they were all either with parents of bf/gf...sheesh....tuff!

Have to say the trip kicked off rather inauspiciously, there were 6 coaches there and no one clearly telling people which coach they were meant to go on. Lots of peeps milling around...by a minor miracle, we all got onto the right buses. Phew.

One of the "attributes" listed on the brochure for this tour was that the coach had ample space between seats (very true!) and a onboard toilet. However, the latter was tempered by our tour guide who, within 5 minutes of the tour starting, said, "Toilet only for emergency or bus very smelly!" Soon after lunch, the aircon for the coach broke down. Excellent.

First place of interest? The Corning Museum of Glass. Pretty darn nice stuff. Historical and contemporary stuff. Best exhibits were the stained glass ones. The souvenier shop's stuff looked pretty good too, until you turn them over and see that they are made in China! Glass souveniers in the museum of glass, made in China! By the time we got back to the coach, the driver was covered in grease, cos he had been trying to fix the air con. It didn't work and my poor chocies suffered the consequences. My rows of kit kat decided to go into segration mode, totally disregarding the notions of racial equality. Chocolate to one side and wafer to the other!

Crossed over to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls soon enough. Words can hardly describe the beauty of the falls at night! Message me for pics is all i can say! To top it all off, it was Victoria Day or something like that and we had a really great fireworks display!

Hotel was great apart from the fact that there wasn't anyplace to go near it. Walked out and looked around a bit then gave up. We also had a 6:30 morning call and were told that breakfast could be gotten from.....7 Eleven!!! Bloody hell, siao ah?! That was followed by the most dramatic thing to happen on the trip. A cop did a cursory examination of the coach and thought that it wasn't roadworthy so it had to go to a Department of Transport garage for a check up. Which it promptly FAILED!! So now we had lots of places to go but no coach!

Fortunately, we could still walk to the Niagra Falls observation areas and the boat ride. It is pretty nice but somehow, i felt a little disappointed...i expected this gigantic thunderous thing. As it turns out, Niagra Falls is the 3rd largest waterfall in the world.

We also went to the Canadian National Tower, which is currently the tallest building in the world. Not exactly exciting...

At this point, all that was on my mind was the discomfort of the new coach. The seats were freaking close together and it was packed! The fact that the two groups were staying in different hotels for the night didn't help matters. By the time i walked into my room, it was 11pm and we had a 5am wake up call...imagine that! It was going downhill, and pretty quickly too. Fortunately, our next attraction, 1000 Island, was pretty nice. Basically a boat ride around a river with 1800 islands on it. Some pretty interesting buildings including 2 islands that were linked by what is the shortest border bridge. 10m in all! So you could effectively sneak over to the US in and back to Canada in the middle of the night!

The real kicker was to come...it turned out that the immigration people on the US side would not renew my 90 Day Visa Waiver thing! So the object of the trip was left unfulfilled! Looks like another trip, double quick time, in the next few days, this time by plane!

However, that said, the experience hasn't been all bad... saw some pretty cool stuff and got to meet nice people too. Made a good friend in this chick from California, Ellen. Cute and friendly. She plays baddie too. Too bad she's flying back west on Monday.

Anyway, that's it for now. Leave me a message on icq or wherever if u want pics of my trip. They are a littl big and besides, i don't quite know how to put them here and also, no site to host them then link them.


Monday, May 24, 2004

BBQ

Quote of the Day: Add more lighter fluid for more fire!

Was invited to a BBQ yesterday and boy was it fun!

Went like friggin early cos my friend asked me too and turned out there wasn't any of the guests there yet. Bloody hell...haha, but not too bad, got to watch this totally riveting japanese drama about japanese in china during Puyi's time. Didn't hurt that a chick explained the damn subtitles to me most of the way (they were in the traditional Chinese characters).

We finally got to starting the barbie fire at about 5ish and how they did it was a shock to me. Basically heat bits (like mini concentrated charcoal) but instead of newspapers and fire starters, they doused the whole darn thing with light fluid! lol, think one of them lost all his arm hair when he lit it and the flames leapt up!

Anyway...one of the people that came owned a liquor shop so there was heaps of booze around! hahaha...felt like an AA meeting gone wrong. One chick had like 4 bottles of beer and at least 6 or 7 plastic cups of wine all in 3 hours. She blabbered all kinds of rubbish after that! Which was quite funny. Shall not be repeated cos she might well read this.

(anti climatic ending coming up!) hahahaha

This was held some distance from home and i didn't drive there (not that i drive anywhere) so thankfully, i managed to get a ride from a cute chick to a train station where i could catch a train back.

And no, the trains are not full of shady people late at night. There also aren't 10 muggers waiting at every corner to jump you! And yes, the trains and stations still smell like piss!

Short Break....

Taking a trip to Niagra Falls tomorrow so there won't be some posts for a few days :)

Save you guys the torture

Laters!

Saturday, May 22, 2004

My Cycling Experiences

Quote of the Day: Pothole!! Oh well, too late.

WARNING: LONG AND WORDY, READ ONLY IF REALLY BORED



Don't you just love cycling? Feeling the rush of wind over your face while holding on for dear life? I know I did, despite the many accidents i had.

I got my first bicycle when i was four or five (not counting the kiddie, plastic ones). It was one of those with trainer wheels meaning 4 wheels all up, 1 in front and 3 behind (sounds like a spaceship now i know). I still remember having refused to take off the trainer wheels until i realized i was cycling without them touching the ground anyway. Those things were a little unbalanced, so if i really needed balancing help left or right, only the training wheel on one side was on the ground and the other was in the air. Soon i could cycle with both training wheels not touching the ground.

Let me skip a few years to Secondary 1and my first mountain bike. It was a blue coloured Mongoose brand machine. I still remember the material, Chromoly! Cool or what?! (No idea wtf that is really). Anyway, I had lots of fun with that, cycling around my estate endlessly in the afternoons. My estate is pretty darn hilly (that's where i get my legs from) and just to give you an idea, i could get up to the speed of 63km/h going downhill on one of the roads there! Not bad at all on a mountain bike. Also did a fair bit of trail riding and had just as many accidents, none fatal or serious thankfully. Though i did manage to split my helmet on a fall once. Thank god for helmets. Also had a bad accident on the roads when 5 of us were cycling in single file really close together. It's call drafting to cut wind resistance, but what DUH!! To get maybe 2km/h more speed we put ourselves in mortal danger?! Young and Foolish. Anyway, some bugger in a car decided to cut into a bus stop to pick someone up suddenly and we all piled up. After the dust cleared, i discovered a bicycle tyre mark running down the front of my shirt! Turns out i flipped over my handlebars and landed on the next person's real wheel! No major injuries fortunately, though i scraped my helmet up pretty bad, peeled off some of the hard plastic covering on the road. (WEAR YOUR HELMETS!!) People in that horrible crash, Joshue, Jeremy, Conrad, LeiHin and me. You might think that sudden breaking normally results in skids but honestly, the front brake provides about 80% of your stopping power, so if you jam both brakes, you'll find yourself launched through the air.

Soon we moved to Japan, brought my bike along of course. It was a paradise! Crowded roads with perpetual traffic jams which meant non moving cars with a straight line through between them :)) Between getting driven to school and cycling there, cycling would be faster, a distance of about 13km. And it helped that i stayed near the entertainment district Shibuya, just hop on and paddle there :) Also cycled along a few rivers in the area. Howveer, the greatest thing of note is my speed record, 89 km/h, which i attained on one of our trips to the mountain resorts. Just put the bicycle on a rack and my dad drove me up this stretch of more than 10km of road. Imagine, 10 km of downhill on road that is one direction traffic flow :) I reckon i could have gone faster but for my wind breaker which was causing drag! Too bad it all had to come to an end when i returned for NS (National Service).

NS was bad...until i got posted to Maju camp!! YES!!! LOTS AND LOTS of cycling! The camp is next to Ngee Ann poly and i stayed with an uncle and auntie near National Junior College. Those of you familiar with those places will know it's pretty close, about 8km or thereabouts. Anyway, I would cycle in to camp every day on my new bike (a red Mongoose one). However, the real fun begun after we came out of camp at night. There were some 5 or 6 of us who were avid cyclists (influenced by me mostly). We would end up cycling the into the wee hours of the morning...often covering about 120km all up. We were a pretty fit bunch afterall, being Physical Training Instructors :) (brag brag brag though i really shouldn't). Along the way, we sometimes had durians, but always had prata, teh peng (iced tea with heaps of condensed milk), Milo peng etc.

We've had countless accidents during these trips unfortunately. Haha, like when we were hurtling downhill at Fort Canning Hill and my friend (Bernard Lim, yes you!) lost control at a bend and smacked his head into a curb! He managed to split his ear in the process and required like 6 stitches. He was saved by the Japanese couple who ran the Japanese restaurant up on Fort Canning Hill, they drove him to Gleneagles where they charge an arm and a leg for medical services. Don't think he really cared, he was in so much pain and we were terrifed cos he was holding the side of his head and moaning "oh my head".

Another bad incident happened in some ulu place we decided to explore. Singapore may be urbanized and give outsiders the impression that it is all city but it ain't. There are some places that have good roads no doubt but only big warehouses are there and what these areas ALWAYS have are packs of dogs! You may ask so what, but these things zip around pretty quick and always chase people on bicycles for some reason! Anyway, we were on one of those said roads and there was a pretty big pack of dogs up ahead, so we turned around, yeah right! We built up some speed and zoomed right by them, thus emerging on the other side unscathed. Unfortunately, before we could slow back down to normal pace, we ran into the range of another pack...and another pack! Holy crap, it was an endless stream! Think LOTR: Twin Towers where that Arrogant rode out of the castle with the king and scattered the orcs!. We finally made it past all of them and stopped to get a rest. The road didn't look too promising anymore and we didn't want to run into more dogs, so we naturally had to turn around! Bloody hell, right back into the packs of hellhounds! Along for the ride that night, was a Muslim, don't know if you heard before, but dogs are considered unholy or dirty by Muslims, to be touched by one condemns you to hell (not quite). Anyway, as we were on our way out, disaster struck, one bloackading dogs managed to make him shy away a little and fall, in a skidding, heap. And he was the second last rider in our group. The moment he came to a stop, he began yelling, "Guys don't leave me, help me!" It's pretty funny now that i think of it but he was absolutely petrified. Fortunately, so were the dogs, they were nowhere in sight. They must have reckoned quite correctly that if we were willing to do that to ourselves, we would prolly skin them alive if it came to blows! this tmie we were saved by a pick up of Bangala workers and the contractor in charge, who piled all our bicycles and us on and drove us to a clinic. All this at 5am. Count your lucky stars Rasul, that you weren't eaten alive.

I had my own accident too, cycling full speed down Bukit Timah Rd in a rush to get home on a Stormy Saturday afternoon. The Singapore Turf Club used to be along Bukit Timah Rd so it was always packed with traffic on Saturday afternoons. Anyway, I loved that cos i could just zoom between cars....that is until someone decided to come out from the turf club's car park and cut me off...totally my fault cos there was no way she could have seen me coming from between cars. Suffice to say i skidded and ended up wedged under her car for what felt like an eternity but was only 10 seconds. Of course she'd stopped the moment she saw me if not i would have been run over! Surprisingly, not a cut at all and just torn shorts! Thanks to the ultra slick road no doubt. I was more embarassed than hurt so i quickly hopped back on and vamoosed, must have been pretty exciting for the 100 people at the bus stop who witnessed it. Anyway, i was wearing a PTI t-shirt, so i just reinforced how garang we were!

Not all my cycling experiences were with army guys; had a really great cycling kaki in Helena Tan. We had great fun cycling down Boat Quay, between all the people walking or milling around and startling them. Also remember your close call with a doubledecker bus, No. 157, near NJC's bus stop.

All this finally came to an end when i went to Australia to study...Ok, don't know about you, but i'm feeling a bit bored of this already...think i'll stop now before you fall asleep.

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Gym Rats

Quote of the Day: Pump anymore and you'll explode.

Ok, let me be clear from the start; i'm not talking about those that go to the gym once or twice a week and spend less than 1/5 of their day in there each time.

I am talking about those people who have pumped so much iron that their biceps are friggin bigger than their thighs! You know, the kind that looks like a brick wall balanced on toothpicks? Credit to my friend CL for calling them hens! Puffed body with chicken legs. I just saw one of them today. Scary! He was trying to hail a cab and every time he stuck his arm out, i thought he would topple over!

Some of these people should be put to work at construction sites. Imagine how much work would get done as they carried load after load of bricks back and forth.

As for the true purpose of having such monstrous arms, what's the point? In case they get trapped after an earthquake and need to move 10 tons of steel girders out of the way? Maybe they should just do handstands and walk around on their hands; giving their poor undersized legs a break!

Part of it, i reckon is the poseur value. Not all of them, but at least some of them do it for that. Which brings me to my next point. Singaporeans will know where Orchard Cineplex is. Next to that is a California Gym. Complete with big glass windows and heaps of treadmills facing out. Now, why on earth do people want to use the treadmills there?! Everytime i walk by, all i can think of are hamsters on their wheels! Hamsters have no choice but to use those wheels but humans have a choice. Yet they appear equally happy to be viewed running endlessly and getting nowhere. Actually, the hamsters might have better sense and not like the idea, but we'll never know, will we?

If looking like a caged animal running for dear life and getting nowhere floats your boat, then so be it. Just be sure to keep it up so i can get a good laugh :)

Van Helsing

Quote of the Day: I vill cut someting!

That was from Kate Beckie when Van Helsing threatened dracula's assistant that he would cut off his fingers one by one with a pair of shears. The kind used for clipping cigars off. Noticed that drac's lackey happens to be played by the same guy who played Imotep's lackey in The Mummy.

SPOILER COMMENTS COMING UP. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

A thrill a minute including a machine gun crossbow! Talk about gas operated, who needs a BB gun when u can have one of those! Add to that the claymore mine of silver stakes! Excellent!

But the crowning glory has to be the 3 brides! Hot Hot Hot!!! Dracula was one lucky guy! Immortality with 3 immortal babes! Why didn't he just go out and hunt all werewolves to extinction?! Or if there was only one werewolf, he could have just sent the syringe into it and rid himself of the only mortal enemy!

Too bad the Vatican didn't send a whole mother lode of those crossbows to that village...imagine everyone drawing those things on the Brides! They'll just hightail it out of there in a hurry!

Ok ok, enough about that show. Next one to watch Troy! Hope it'll be as good as the trailers on tv suggest.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

CSI

Quote of the Day: The evidence speaks for itself.

Just watched CSI Miami last night, the episode that introduces CSI New York. Looks like CSI NY is going to be hell of a good. A bit dark...with the cool surroundings one of the murder scenes and even their morg is gothic'ish. Gary Sinise looks to be a real cool lead CSI.
If it measures up with the original CSI, I would love it.

Think they should rework CSI Miami, or at least the lead guy. He is like a block of wood with a speaker phone strapped on! Help....monotone mania! His remarks are nowhere near as witty as Grisham's. Also, what's it with all the chase scenes? Are CSIs really supposed to be chasing people around and brandishing their guns? Somehow that takes away from the invetigative spirit that attracted me at first. It'll just become another LAPD/NYPD.

Hopefully CSI NY won't have too many coppers chasing people around street corners.

And darn it, CSI finale for the season is coming up this thursday. With Survivor All Stars done with and CSI coming to an end, thursday nights will never be the same :(

Guess i'll have to resort to History Channel as i normally do.

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

You Calling Me a Potato?

Quote of the Day: You jiak gan dan one lah!

What on earth does that mean anyway?! Gan Dan in Hokkien is potato. Why call someone that? Because he sits in front of the tele all day, or eats a lot? Nope, you're called that if you're kinda westernized in thinking. Being the gastronomiacs that Singaporeans are, they measure people by their food. Thus to always eat potatoes (or be accused of that) means to say you're westernized (slightly derogatory too). Well, this colloquial (take that you ignorant xenophobic pigs) label has been thrown at me a few times.

Normally, i would deny it but nowadays, i can't be stuffed. So what if i prefer speaking English instead of Mandarin and other Chinese dialects? Yup, i love steaks and spaggies too. That doesn't mean i dislike "local" food like roast duck rice, wanton mee, ice kachang, cheng tng etc. And neither does it mean i don't believe in other "Asian Values".

If being a "potato" means that i'm more open in my thinking and prefer English as a medium for communication then so be it. Those that want to hide under an overturned rice bowl can carry on doing so.

Apart from feeling that my national identity has been somehow compromised, the underlying culture in Singapore that has allowed such terms to flourish or even exist is of much greater concern. I've come across so many Singaporeans who can't write properly that it is scary. I don't mean mispellings (fix it with spellcheck, big deal) but just general grammar and expressiveness. I'm not asking for literary giants but basic decent English in report writing!

Sure, our government has been pushing the message of proper English rigourouly with the censuring of a character like Phua Chu Kang for using/promoting Singlish. But I reckon it is not his fault, in fact, we keep looking for national identity and uniqueness, we should allow him to act and speak as he pleases on tele, we ALL know that his accent is exaggerated.

What really needs to be done to help our English is a broader approach in schools. From my secondary school experience, good written English is only required for the English and English Literature subjects. This requirement should extend to Geography, History, Chemistry, Biology....everything thing except other language subjects! Just because the points, quotes, dates etc for scoring purposes are in a student's answer should not be rewarded with the full mark! There should be a proper English component inherent in all these assignments and tests. If not all we're encouraging is memorized points with no meaningful structure.

I tutored a Singaporean high school student in Perth and he was having tremendous difficulties across all the subjects that required essay writing. No doubt he had most of the points but the written English he had was so poor that he was just struggling to pass. His papers would come back full of red "X"s here and there to point out grammar mistakes. It was discouraging for everyone.

If we want our people to go out into the world and get a good education, we need to provide the skills needed. And we can do so without compromising on local flavour like PCK! :P

Credit CL for reporting the following exchange.

oh yah..speaking of bad english, forgot to tell u
the salesgirl pronounced 'bag' as 'bat''..i almost wanted to lauugh.

conversation:
SG: "we will allow u to claim the BAT"
me: "you mean BAG"
SG (gives me this look as if i'm hard of hearing): "Yes, BAT"

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Dog-Gone Excitement in New York City

Quote of the Day: Watch out for that!

This is in tribute to all the dogs that people keep in NYC. That 99.99% of housing in NYC are apartment blocks does not deter people from keeping them. Be they tiny chihuahuas or gigantic St Bernards. I've seen them all with those professional dog walkers (PDWs) around Central Park. The PDWs with tiny dogs would struggle to keep the 5 or 6 doggies in check as they step over one another's leash and get all tangled up. But at least they aren't as fearsome a sight as PDWs walking 3 St Bernards and a couple of other huge-dog-breeds. These just hog the traffic junctions and who's gonna dare bump into them??! With people, worst you'll get is a stare, with dogs, who knows?

However, it does seem that big breed dogs serve a purpose. Just a few days ago, a woman walking her dog in Central Park at 9am was sexually assaulted! Thankfully her 60lb gorilla-of-a-dog bit the assailant and stopped the attack! That's prolly not that big a dog but somehow, a dog that weighs like six 5kg sacks of rice is big enough for me. Yup, dogs are great fun for their owners.

However, what about me?! I don't keep a dog and i need some protection from them. Killer dogs on the loose? Nah, irresponsible owners more like! Walking around in midtown requires a constant exercise in vigilance, one false step and you'll get a chunk of poop stuck to your shoes, or just as bad, you might step into a huge puddle of pee and splash it all over your pant legs or others around.

It's the worst in winter when temperatures remain below freezing. Imagine randomly placed ice spots on the pavements from frozen pee. Friggin slick! To slip and then fall onto it just adds insult to injury! Thankfully, the poop gets frozen so hard, none of it sticks.

So if you happen to find yourself in midtown NY, forget about the muggers, just watch out for that shiny frozen surface.

Saturday, May 15, 2004

Subtle Pickup Emails (Part 2)

Quote of the Day: The Internet is impersonal.

We don't get to know each other as well anymore. We don't REALLY interact when we talk online, even in real time. The list goes on. Whatever.

I reckon the internet has given us all the potential to interact with another human being without being tainted by how he/she looks in real life. Kinda like "pen pals" on steroids since we can send messages back and forth so quickly to people on the other side of the world.

The anonymity available to us online is an even greater tool for closer and personal interaction. We CAN talk about all kinds of issues that we would never be caught dead talking about with people we know. What greater closeness than when discussing such?

Bahhh....what am i going on about anyway...on to more funny stuff, no doubt impossible without emails. I can't imagine the guy saying all this to the girl!

Comments from the chick in bold, what evil lurks in writer guy in italics, names have been changed so as not to embarass anyone too badly.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Justin Henin-Hardenen

So let me summarise our similarities till now: both originated from LalaLand I didn't see your Made In LalaLand sticker, studied undergrad + masters at CIA,May as well say we're the same species...*rolls eyes* likes Timbuktu, likes badminton, likes 'Friends', equally skinny Skinny?! You're the scrawny one! I'm slender, thank you! both thinking about the future. 55th person i tried this on, cross my fingers.

But one of our major difference reminds me of 'Beauty & the Beast', You're too skinny to be the beast! obviously you are the beauty and i'm the beast! .....what do you think? Not spending any more time on this, *forward*

:)
The Beast!
-----------------------------------------------------------

Pretty darn weak post i reckon. Hope this will be the worst it ever comes to. *tired* *tired*

Friday, May 14, 2004

Free Stuff

Quote of the Day: I got so many free gifts!

Almost every girl who walks into a departmental store's cosmetics section will inevitably fall into the trap of buying stuff just cos they come with free gifts. Be they free bags, lipstick, make up kits...whatever. That most of these items will disappear into a bottom drawer to be forgotten is besides the point. Of paramount importance is that it's free! Often, this extends to bragging rights.

Yup yup, i can see all the nodding heads from guys and the vociferous denials from the girls.

Well, i reckon it isn't quite that bad. What's the whole point of shopping anyway? To get stuff you need or feel good? You want stuff you need, you go to the supermarket; you want therapy/happiness, you go to Isetan/Macy's/Myers!

That it makes you happy is great! I mean it's prolly better than going for a good meal that disappears and ends up as crap right? A free make up kit will always be there, except maybe all cracked up and unuseable (so you have an excuse to buy another and get more free gifts with it! Yes!)

Guys, we shouldn't complain quite so much, we do this kinda stuff in different ways. Remember that 3 zillion gig HDD you bought just so you can keep your 20 gigs of mp3s? Or how about that 5 million part tool set when all you needed was an adjustable wrench?

So why do we do these kinds of things? Well, quite simply, it gives us that warm fuzzy feeling. Everyone, shop at will!

PLEASE NOTE: I will not be responsible for overspending or eventual bankruptcy. However, i will be glad to recieve your messages of euphoria after having bought $500 of lipsticks in order to get a free canvas bag worth $10 in Chinatown.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

The Past is Just That

Quote of the Day: Don't let it be a crying shame

Crushes make us do many seemingly silly things. Like keep the empty ciggie packs of the crushee, leave from badminton then come back when the crushee comes in to play. You know who you are :) Write some very thinly veiled emails (see ealier entry). Myself, I've jumped tut assignment groups, cycled round and round the same place hoping to catch a glimpse. Thankfully, most crushes run their course and die off, be it a week or 3 years. (Anything more than that is an obsession; Get some help or go ask!) Most crushes don't eventuate into relationships, because they aren't normally mutual,and a good thing too.

What's a crying shame is when compatible people who like each other heaps don't end up together. One reason is the past. This is normally a friggin battleaxe for relationships.

It is just plain frustrating when i see it happen. I'm not talking about convicted serial killers or bank robbers. I'm talking about people who have been divorced. It is unfortunate but there is still a big stigma to this whole issue. No doubt helped along by the ample warnings from parents and society as a whole. I mean, ask yourself this, "What's the difference between a divorce and a long long relationship that has ended?" Ans. The former is just a more expensive experience and now there will be a wedding dress to put up on ebay! I am all for family values and i do think they are a cornerstone of society but when you have to go, you have to go, especially when there are no children involved. I mean what's happened in the past has happened right? Does it mean the person has an arm less or is in some way a lesser person? It is friggin unfair if the person has to be tainted for life? If anything, i reckon a person who has been divorced once before and gone through the emotional hardship would really know what a relationship means and requires.

The next difficult part is when to tell the other person in the relationship of a divorce in their past? Haha, right at the start so straightaway everyone gets scared off for no good reasons? Or later, when a relationship is stable already? This is an impossible dilemma i reckon. Say it early and doors are just slammed shut, say it late and somehow, the other will feel that it has been hidden. Tough Tough.

Hopefully, it will come down to how the people invovled feel about each other. I mean they are still the same people they met from day one and fell in love with.

Can't believe you're reading this from me of all people huh? Yup, this is for a friend. It will be a crying shame if he has to pay a second time for something he has suffered enough for already. Hang in there, give the other time too :) Here's wishing you two the best. (failing which, we can play baddie 7 nights a week I guess)

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Job Trial and Tribulation

Quote of the Day: My company sells Pallets.

My wonderful friend CL works in an org that ships pallets among other products. What she had to do today is get a freight company to ship some of her org's pallets to another country as samples. While her discussion took place over email, i couldn't help but imagine it happening over the phone.


CL: There will be pallets
Freight Co: I know lah, what are you shipping
CL: pallets lor
Freight Co: HAI!! But what is going to be on the pallets
CL: PALLETS!!
Freight Co: Knn...xiang lai eh? mai ji siao ah? siao!

*busy tone*

Subtle Pickup Emails (Part 1)

Quote of the Day: Hear from you. :)

Ok...own up everyone who has used a weak pick up line! Prolly almost everyone. If you haven't you're prolly too shy to do it. Nothing wrong with having done either, it's all in growing up.

Thanks to the Internet, it is now a little easier to send someone we like a "subtle" message. Some do it well but others, like the one below, would have been better off downloading a standard love letter and planting their name on it. This one i got from the net (yes i was looking for a standard love letter *right*).

Comments from the chick in bold, what evil lurks in letter guy in italics, names have been changed so as not to embarass anyone too badly.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Justine Henin-Hardenne,

It was really nice being able to catch up with you last night. At least it made all the waiting worth while and my genie was quite happy with me too! Genie? What Genie? Mojo? Hope it didn't get stolen by Dr Evil!

Yeah, when we have a partner, we do have to consider both sides, however I see it more as building the same dream together. In your dreams you mean! Therefore, it is very important to find a partner with the same dream! (not an easy task) Indeed! Or at least design and set the dream together at the beginning! Righto, this is where pen and paper comes in handy. There may be some compromises (but not major ones) along the way Good, how about you compromise by finding someone else to bother?! but it should be worthwhile in the longer term for both sides. I give up, anything so you'll stop emailing me! Relationships is mostly about give & take, caring & sharing and leveraging on each other's strengths Since my letter is a little lame, you should write me a nice one so i can send it back to you. so that 1+1 = 3! Right, here are two $50 bills, I expect 3 back, and i hope you weren't refering to us having a miniyou to get the 3rd Hope this is not too much, I can just go on and on and on....... :P Please Don't!

So........I noticed Paris is quite interested in you! (sorry if I'm too direct). Tell me it isn't so, Arghhh! If saying "Yes" means you'll stop hassling me, then YES! If there is something "happening" between you guys, I hope I didn't interrupt much, did I? I hope i just messed it all up for you two Don't worry about it mate, you couldn't have.

Hmm....the after exams feeling (especially after finishing the whole course) is great! I sure hope you didn't do marketing! Feel like I'm free at last! I quickly grab one of the Korean serial theme songs (Winter Sonata) and turn up the volume! Goodness, please lose yourself in it!

Hear from you. :) Soon i hope Not anytime soon mate

Jiken

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ok, now that was pretty mean, but you have to admit, it is mails like these that would bring tears of joy/frustration/laughter on a boring work day. Personally, I have to hand it to this guy, i neither have the guts nor the originality to come up with such a piece and/or send it. If you don't try you'll never know, but then again, he'll prolly never know anyway.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Army Daze (Part 1)

Quote of the Day: Camo Stick

To those who don't know what that is, it's a camouflage stick. Basically a giant crayon with which you use to colour your face and hands a dull green colour so as to look like a frog.

What on earth am i on about? Well, i'm singaporean so i had to do the mandatory 2.5 years of military service. What some people really hope for is the job of a clerk at which the closest they come to mr camo stick are the white board markers in the office. What's gonna follow is a LONG LONG relation of what i did and how i went through the various stages of my National Service (NS).

Once you're certified fit to run around, you have to get a physical fitness test done. Needless to say, i failed the chin ups part of that (i was a portly 97kg at 1.68m tall). Anyway, they had a special phase for us "fatties" where all we would do is get run to our deaths by torture agents clad in all white, Physical Training Instructors (PTIs). MOST people passed the test after 3 or 4 weeks of that punishment. The regulations stated that reps per set was restricted to a maximum of 20 push ups at a time ...but there would always be that mysterious person at the back of the lot who skipped one count and we would ALL start from ZERO!! Bloody hell! Lots and lots of tears were spilt, some from frustration, some from the futility of it all, some from anger, some from the great sense of the injustice we felt. (Cue breasting the tape of a marathon music) However, almost all of us dragged, squirmed or in some cases, weaseled our way through. With that, we were qualified to start what is called Basic Military Training

to be continued...

Post writing this: It all sounds pretty nostalgic and exciting to me but for someone reading it, i can only guess at your pain and suffering, prolly commensurate with what i felt while actually in the army. Will leave this topic be for a while.

Heady Days of Uni (Part 2)

Quote of the Day: Special r/s b/n KH, CH and RN? only in KH's dreams!

Haha, you would be so lucky!! My goodness, our bickering has taken off from real life settings in my car into the cyber world! Woe to those who come across this!

Let me introduce my two close friends Christina (CH) and Rachel (RN)(surnames/contact numbers, emails can be supplied on request). To say that they are close friends would be an understatement. They were more like my left and right arm during my first couple few years in Uni.

Looking back now, it seems like all our time spent together was endless re runs of a 4 episode mini series.

1. We all skip class and go out for lunch in the city.
2. We end up at the beach.
3. we sit around in the cafe gossiping (I only listen, honest to god)
4. We go to Hampden Road for teriyaki chicken.

All throughout these, CH and I would be fighting and bickering. If you can't imagine a physically abusive and violent girl, spend some time with CH and you will be able to. Apart from trying to grab the steering wheel while i'm driving along mounts bay road, she would be pinching me or boxing me like a rag doll. Poor RN would white knuckle it through the ride. Alternatively closing her eyes and our screaming to watch out for that car/the cyclist/the curb/the granny. HAHA...little did she know that CH and i had a secret pact to do all that to panic her :) Muahahahahahaha

I would be remiss to forget the others who often came along on these screamsome trips, especially Alice and Meina. Alice once thought it was a good idea to drop a piece of gum down the back of my shirt while i was driving. At which i *calmly* took both my hands off the steering wheel to try and fish for it...these same hands quickly rocketed to my ears as the combined screams of the girls reverberated inside the car!! Rachel, who was in the front seat, immediately learnt how to steer! (Christina was pinching and boxing me to try and get me to grab the wheel) All this along the narrow strip of Hampden Road.

Gee, i miss those times...and yes, including the time CH rear ended a stationary vehicle! Even when there were 4 of us in the car to tell her to watch out for it 10 seconds before we hit! Luckily we didn't kill anyone and damage was minimal; a scratched bumper and a smashed indicator light. HAha...CH thought that we could somehow get it repaired before she had to go home that same afternoon...Yeah right! This is perth we're talking about, 1 week if you're lucky, mate.

Poseidon
Poseidon


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Do this test people, it is quite interesting and easy to do. The only part i find in it that truly applies to me is the last line..."...and you don't stick around to pick up the pieces". That is so so me i reckon. Slowly but surely i'm changing for the better in that, but to everyone who knows me well or wants to know me well, be warned...I'll dissipate like a fart in a crowded room. A stink at first but quickly forgotten, or so i hope.

Monday, May 10, 2004

Queenie

Quote of the Day: Who is Queen of Hearts?

Haha, icequeen, this is the second person who has asked me who you are! haha....seeing as how you appear on my board so much :) But "WHO IS SHE?!"

First, let's talk about "anti-fate", "anti-destiny", "not-to-be" etc. You have to know that i first spoke to QoH some 3 or even 4 years ago on irc...Then i finally weaned myself off that silly thing. I mean i wasn't in Singapore anymore and most the people i spoke too had grown away from that too.

Fast forward to one year ago. I decide to go to irc to have a look around cos i was bored and lo and behold, i bump into her there. This is when i learnt that she had been in perth for the last year and i was there too! We've spoken to one another online for like numerous times but never met cos i wasn't in singapore. Then she was actually studying in UWA while i was there too and we never knew! Until i came to NY! DOhhhhhhhhh

Anyway, she has now become one of my main sources of company online. Constantly behaving like a teenager with a major crush on this guy in Perth :P hehe...hope i didn't betray any confidences there! haha...Also have her to thank for setting up this blog thing for me.

Thank you Iq for brightening my day and helping with all those funny brackets, commas, appostrophe's etc in the template of this thing! :)

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Ugly Singaporeans

Quote of the Day: "Ugly Singaporeans"

We were on our way back from the normal saturday drive out of Manhattan and saw some really ugly driving; People using breakdown lanes to overtake in a traffic jam, changing lanes suddenly without any indication and blocking junctions up by moving into cross junctions knowing there is no space ahead to get out of the way. Ok, who cares, I'm not going to be living here. But all this has reminded me about how bad Singapore is too.

My pet peeve is people changing lanes with indicating. Tthese *#%$ are not just inconsiderate but a menace to society. What can we do about them? nothing.

But the ones that we can do something about are the ugly behaviours on public transport. How often is it that we see people sitting on the outer side of double seaters on buses and refusing to move in? And when you walk up to them, they pretend not to notice, hoping that you won't ask them to move in or want to take the seat. Well, too bad for these people, what we should all do (i do whenever i see that) is try to squeeze our way in. While doing that, be sure to rub your ass as close to their faces as possible. What better way to discourage such behaviour than wiping your ass in their faces.

Then there are those that put their bags on seats and pretend not to see you standing right next to them. Bloody hell. Even worse are those that pretend to give you space by moving their bags ever so slightly towards them, leaving you a space no bigger than one butt cheek. And i don't mean J Lo's butt, more like one of those stick thin Ah Lian's scrawny little things.

The key to all this is embarassment and loss of face. Something that EVERYONE in Singapore understands (apart from fines). Wish we had a hidden camera program where people committing these sins will have their faces flashed to everyone. This will probably be really popular too, given our propensity for laughing at others.

Too bad we don't have such a proggie. Next time you're on the bus, look for those hard to reach seats and go for them, and while doing so, make as much fuss as possible so everyone knows the consequences of being selfish.

Post Script: Talk about ugly, this entry is just that...yawnnnnnnn

Thursday, May 06, 2004

Today at Baddie

Quote of the Day: I felt this intense pain!

Finally, badminton sessions on Wenesday resumed! Pretty usual session just that my racquet finally gave way! But what a way to go out. Despite their apparent toughness, racquets are really fragile items. With strings pulling on each side to the strength of 23lbs....a slight knock on the edge can cave the frame in. Of course, i did better than that!

I managed to swing a really hard backhand stroke straight into my partner's leg! Don't ask how come we were that close and did not see each other. Anyway, my racquet broke in 2 places on the head! (By some miracle, the shuttle still made it over, I think he hit it).

What's really funny was what he said. "I felt this intense pain but i carried on playing. Then I noticed I was playing by myself. Then it hurt so bad, i felt like sitting down." All that in his Russian accent. I would have laughed out if not for the 2 dark red welts on his leg.

My poor racquet...sighhh....then again, it's served me well and despite all the abuse it has been subjected to, continued to hold up.

Note to future partners (watch out for my backhand!) Here's to you MP-77, *gulp a drink of coke*

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Brad Pitt *Eye Roll*

Quote of the Day: Brad Pitt is in it!

"...but i talked 2 my friend last night, and we're going to watch troy..even b4 i said anything, she started talking about brad pitt too..hahahaha"

Sheesh, what is it with these crazy chicks anyway?! He is a married man for crying out loud! No wonder women feel so insecure in relationships, THEY are the chief cause of their own insecurities! Not the unfaithful guy, but each other! (Okay i'm exaggerating).

Anyway, who cares about the arm Pitt *dripping with jealousy*. He only gets to sleep with Jennifer Aniston every night and do love scenes with Angelina Jolie. Dear Jenny shouldn't worry about Pouty Lips taking the Pitt away from her, rather given the collection of knives Pouty has, Jenny should worry about what might be taken off him!

Forget him, think more pleasant thoughts. Rememeber those Nivea body moisturizer ads that ran during the Sydney Olympics? I only just saw one of those ads here in NY last night. Same pattern of golden brown skin (not talking about hashbrowns or french fries here), toned bodies and just gorgeous, vibrant looks! Hands up every guy who's dreamt of going out with a Nivea moisturizer girl, and female who yearns for a body like theirs. Looks like the last tut of a course with participation marks involved...*pick me* *pick me*. Please put your hands down now, before everyone dies.

Ok, back to the tele searching for advert breaks!

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Heady Days of Uni (Part 1)

Quote of the Day: Have you done your tut?

I'm in what is supposed to be the most exciting city in the world with a million things to do. Broadway, Timesquare, 5th Avenue, Central Park....ok you get the idea. But somehow I'm just plain bored and feel no compulsion to go to these places even though they are no more than 20 minutes by foot! Instead, i rather be in Perth, Western Australia. Now where the hell is that?! I may as well have said Timbuktoo! At least that would have been recognizable. Was talking to Modern Millie earlier and she said she hated Perth! *gasp*

What follows will hardly be of any interest if you're looking for something funny to laugh at but if you want to reminisce about uni life, read on.

My mood during lectures takes one of two; sleepiness or restlessness. Don't quite know which is worse but restlessness is certainly less embarassing. You annoy the lecturer but you don't piss them off. Yawning can be cleverly disguised or covered, but not closing your eyes for the briefest of moments. What felt like an extended eyeblink would result in a sight to behold. Your lecturer will be staring dead ahead at you and the class of 300 people will be quieter than if the lecturer had called for order himself. Cue *Violin Strains*

So most of the time, i settled for restlessness. A favourite is leg shaking. If each leg shake was an ab press, my legs would have the muscle definition equivalent to a 6 pack. As it is, it annoyed the hell out of the people next to me who were desperately taking notes or trying to concentrate on which entry had to go into the credit column or why the aggregate demand curve was the way it was. Normally I got a "Please stop shaking", the subtle head turn (repeated several times until they can't take it and tell me) and once i had someone try to stop my shaking by putting her hand on my leg to stop it coming up!

Now, on the rare occasions that both strike together, my legs get into motion and i "sleepwalk" my way out of the lecture and draw the stares of everyone again. Thankfully, this was never done by me alone but with a fellow interloper, CH. Nachos and Hampden Road were always more attractive anyway.

Bloopers were never confined to the lectures. My worst and best was my first International Finance tut bright and early at 8am on a monday morning. I was first in and 15 minutes early, cos naturally i was trying to do it in time to speak should i be asked to. Luckily, or so it seemed, this studious looking chick walked in.

Me (Brashly): God only knows why we have tuts on a Monday morning at 8am, who on earth would want to come?! By the way, have you done your tut, I haven't touched it."

Chick (Hesitantly): Yah.

Me: Could I have a look at it?

Chick (confused): errr, not really.

Ok, this is where I make like a deer caught in headlights. Flee or stay...flee or stay....stay...only cos i was too shocked to do anything else. It turned out that the chick was my tutor, and the moment of realization, when she took out her white board markers.

Well, I was glad i stayed, that class was good both for quality of teaching and tut mates. Although i wasn't surprised when she "accidentally" made a summing error while marking the mid term exam. No doubt she will read this soon; give me your hollow defense in the comments section if you dare! :P Anyway, we are great friends now and I've made her pay me back for the grievious error many times over :P

Time check 7:22am....better rush to get that IF tut sheet!

Foot in Mouth Disease

Quote of the Day: I refuse to bite myself in the foot!

I just live for things like these. And I am thankful that i have friends who are susceptible to saying stuff like that, in fact i prolly do once a while too.

But really, we have to bow before the master who is President George Bush...

No wonder the UN inspectors can't agree with PGB about whether Iraq has WMDs. He has been insisting on "New Cue Ler" weapons and "Ai Ruck" Now, neither of those exist as far as i know.

But of course they have an excuse and Donald Rumsfeld has more less explained it with his Unknown Unknowns speech. For those who don't know how it went, let me help you out.
--------
"As we know
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
--------

Ok, I hope you know what i am talking about now.

And on the topic of the War in Ai Ruck, the long list of bloopers has just gotten longer with the release of pictorial evidence of what numerous Ai Ruckee people have been complaining about: The abuse of prisoners by American Military Personnel. Now that it has come out, you no longer have to wonder why those 4 Halliburton employee's bodies were mutilated. Let me make it clear, I am not saying that what was done by the mob was right, but if something like that were done to your own people by foreign soldiers, how would you feel?

On the other hand, was there really any way to interrogate prisoners? I mean com'on, these prisoners were soldiers who might well have committed humongous instances of abuse or at least seen it so they would prolly be numb to it already. How else to persuade than to trade in a currency that is already understood by them? The sad thing is, EVERYONE is this sordid mess is wrong as far as I'm concerned.

As for how those pictures came into the hands of CBS, how do such sensational news/pictures normally find their way to the big news networks? God knows how much CBS paid for them. (If they were sent in by someone for no monetary consideration at all, I will correct this entry). And the fact that they have published them will further fuel the flames that had been flickering all along.

Be prepared for a roaring blaze of violence. All brought to your living room by your favourite news networks, at prime time.

Monday, May 03, 2004

Neanderthals at Baddie

Quote of the day: "That was my shot"
Reponse: "That's too bad, I've hit it"

ahhhh....I can feel interest in blogging quickly waning...after just a single day too! But thankfully, I had an eventful badminton session!

Now to say i enjoy badminton would be an understatement, in an ideal world, i would be playing it everyday and leaping 10 feet in the air to smash the shuttle at 500 mph....*Bucket of water* *Bite of Lemon* *reality*, but only cos the shuttles are so so slowwww *rolls eyes* and my knees aren't what they used to be (i'm an aged 27 now!!)

Today's lead up to badminton was no different from usual. Wake up at 1pm, have a quick shower and run off... This is where the good stuff comes in :) grab a ginormous slice of pizza along the way so i can walk into the hall chomping on it in front of 30 other people who mostly haven't had lunch! I just love the jokes about "Where's mine?" "Can i have some?" If i were in their shoes, i wouldn't be joking, some of them prolly aren't.

Now in social badminton, in fact any badminton, most people are agreeable and don't really insist they are right on scores, or start giving unsolicited instruction on where to go and what shot to hit. What is worse is when the person doing that doesn't normally know a fig about what he is supposed to do in the first place! There must be some link cos these people display ALL the above, not just isolated traits. And to top it all off, they normally have that attitude that says "If i lose, we will have a rematch! If i lose again it is your (partner) fault!" Of course it was my fault, cos i wanted to lose! Winning the game, sure feels good, BUT seeing your black face, PRICELESS!

In Perth, we had someone called I--Y that drove Andrew up the wall! Over here, there are others. Since i play with them 3 times i week, i will leave names out for fear of flying racquets, from behind me.

Ok, enough whining. Today i joined the league of flashy-badminton-shoes snobs. hehe...And i'm glad i did! Never knew badminton shoes could be this comfortable and provide so much traction! Must have been because of my primary school experience with our trusty Air Bata's. I still remember the premium model of my time, BM 2000....or Badminton Master 2000. That it was a legitimate school shoe (canvas and white) should have clued me in to the fact that it was anything but premium. Add to that it's amazing ability to make smoke screens from stamping on monday mornings (this was from the shoe polish which was white goo that became a powdery white substance once dried)

This is flying everywhere, think i'll leave it at that.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

Here We Go!

Quote of the Day: What's that smell?

Yes, after having thought of writing for years, I've finally gotten down to hitting out a few lines! Just goes to show how bored i really am. Also, I've been thinking back to interesting times i've had before and boy, do i miss those and i'll hate to forget them. How many times have i said "i" now? 7 times in 5 lines...talk about being egocentric...but wait a sec, that's fine, this is supposed to be about me me me and ME!
Feel free to say anything you want, not that i'm not easily affected by opinions but I'll prolly be desperate for attention and replies since i'm going through all the trouble of writing in here!

To open it up, where do i start.....how about my trip to the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn, NY? For a change, my dad decided that today we wouldn't drive to our destination but take the train instead...here i digress...anyone who has been on the trains here will tell you it friggin STINKS! I don't know what it is but i reckon it's a mix of dead rodents, rat/cat/dog droppings and piss, oil....it just smells like nothing you'll ever want to smell again! To think that the mayor of NYC, Micheal Bloomberg no less, takes the train every morning and doesn't find the smell repulsive doesn't give anyone else the right to complain i guess. Afterall, there are more important things to worry about here, like the terrorist threat, rising taxi fares and increasing prices of dairy products.

For those of us that complain about crowded MRT trains, be thankful! Though i won't envy your having to watch out for collapsing stations and buildings! Jokes aside, the responsible contractors will surely be quaking in their boots now, not from civil legal issues but BIG BROTHER! shhhhhh

Bahh...enough for now...and to the English Essay Structure Purists, you can complain all you want about me not talking about the botanical gardens.