malik's blog.

Auld Lang Syne

2009-01-01T13:35:00.003+08:00

Sooo.. 2008 is over.

and admittedly, i am quite happy.

its been a long year, and i've learnt much about myself.

Had a great birthday with great friends. I cannot understate my thankfulness any further.
Many presents. A beautiful way to the end the year indeed.

I think i've discovered my philosophy - "Life goes on."
Whatever happens, never forget who are, and what your morals and principles are.

Enough of emotional melodrama, I shall commence my time-honored tradition of looking at the bests of the previous year.

Movie of the year - It has to be Dark Knight, no joke there. Speed Racer and Wall-E come joint second best, with Tropic Thunder and Iron Man coming close.

Album of the Year - I think there are too many contenders for this title. I'll just name the ones that I loved this year.
1) Waiting for my Rocket to Come Home (Jason Mraz)
2) CoCo (Colbie Calliat)
3) Graduation (Kanye West)
4) Dreaming Out Loud (OneRepublic)
5) Good Girl Gone Bad (Rihanna)
6) Exclusive (Chris Brown)
7) I am... Sasha Fierce (Beyonce)
8) Riot! (Paramore) - ok, this one really rocked.
9) A Twist in my Story (Secondhand Serenade)
10) Hard Candy (Madonna) - Second-best.

Hmm, how about picture of the year.

Down & Dirty.

Happy New Year to all.

Rainy Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T19:25:00.002+08:00

I spent the whole of last night watching Gossip Girls, and in one episode, Dan wishes for nothing more than a white Christmas, and get his wish granted.
New York looked wondrous in white, so it made me wonder how our own city metropolis would look if it snowed.

And, interestingly, its been a very wet Christmas Eve today.

With chills floating through and the constant rain blotting out the sky, slumber-land welcomes with open arms.
Actually, it forcefully drags you in, keeping you unaware of the ticking-clock.
Even friendly thumps meant to wake you up fails.

I should know best. I overslept on Christmas Eve.

In camp.

Life is unfair.

2008-12-12T00:44:00.002+08:00

Who is Abhisit’s true love?

December 11th, 2008 by Andrew Walker ·

(from http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/)

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a coup against my arch enemy.

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me a farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent me to Samak Sundaravej. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me one in three MPs and Samak Sundaravej. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me PAD attacking, one in three MPs and Samak Sundaravej. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me some right royal backing, PAD attacking, one in three MPs and Samak Sundaravej. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me a cook-show PM sacking, right royal backing, PAD attacking, one in three MPs and Somchai Wongsawat. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me an airport occupation, a cook-show PM sacking, right royal backing, PAD attacking, one in three MPs and Somchai Wongsawat. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me PPP’s destruction, an airport occupation, a cook-show PM sacking, right royal backing, PAD attacking, one in three MPs and my new best friend Newin. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me 80 MP’s seduction, PPP’s destruction, an airport occupation, a cook-show PM sacking, right royal backing, PAD attacking, 243 MPs and my new best friend Newin. A farcical referendum, a brand new constitution, a party dissolution and a coup against my arch enemy.

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

"With the assistance of a militray coup, two party dissoulutions, royal-backing, an ultra-nationalist crisis, six months of escalating street provocation, military insubordination, and an economically disastrous airport shutdown, the Democrat Party now seems to be within striking distance of forming Thailand's next government."

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

I believe that the current political situation in Thailand will be a significant moment in contemporary South-east Asian history.

An all-out, barely disguised, class war has emerged.

If you take away all the nationalist/royalist, pro-Thaksin/anti-Thaksin, democratic/representative-democracy hullaboo from the ongoing civil unrest, one can see clearly that it is simply the rich versus the poor.
Thailand is in a unique situation where democracy has taken power away from the elites. In Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and to a certain extent, the Philippines, democracy has not taken power away from the elites of the society. And the elites are obviously loath to let go the reins of power.

Despite the PAD's aggressive and provocative actions (like sitting in the airport), their leaders have escaped any legal or judicial backlash. And they seem to be very well-funded, with armed thugs, excellent organisation of the service-support of the protestors, etc. Obviously, they have powerful backing. The insubordination of the Army and the cowardice and cautiousness of the police only serves to give weight to this theory. Furthermore, the Thai King's silence and the Queen's appearance at PAD supporter's funeral appear to give tacit approval to the PAD.

Thaksin, however corrupt or evil or anti-royalist he might be, has become the chosen (if not accidental hero) of the poor peoples of the rural North-East Thailand. And being a rags-to-riches business man, he is obviously an outsider to the high and snooty of the Thai upper-class. He must stepped on many toes, and tipped the scales of power to the poor.

To put it simply, he broke the status quo.

And as can be seen from the above poem, the anti-Thaksin forces will do nothing to keep him and his supporters out of power. However, I feel that it will all be futile, because things will never be the same again. The status quo has been broken. If Abhisit Vejjajiva, the current blue-eyed boy of the elite, returns back to the old-school style of Thai politics where the poor are side-lined, there will be another simmering confrontation. I would not rule out a civil war.

However, on more sombre and cynical note, the victory of the Democrat Party reminds of a sad truth - the rich always win.

Life is unfair.

However fascinating this situation might be, my highly-anticipated Bangkok trip is now cancelled. My friends have backed out due to parental concerns.

Life is unfair.

Indeed.

2008-11-30T22:06:00.001+08:00

Sometimes the best things are the simple ironies.

Oh, and I think I am a lousy emcee.

Really sorry Kai Ling, Ken, Amy and who-ever-else.

2008-11-24T20:20:00.003+08:00

Fifteen days.

Its been fifteen days since i last blogged, and time (hey, no surprise here) indeed flies.

What have i been doing? Other than the usual eating (plenty of that), sleeping and spending (now that's my number one vice), i guess i did experience some significant moments.
Significant moments like when you first shake hands with your best buddy, pin on that badge and put on that tie, receive a good morning message on a special saturday morning or the moment when the nice lady behind the counter tells you, "Ok, you're in."

I am quite certain, that in time to come, I will look back at that particular moment, and feel a twinge of regret.

Sometimes, I totally regret going to St Andrew's Junior College. Other times, I regret it only to a small extent.
I could (or should rather) done better, joined a different CCA, had a clean break from all the messy crushes, and hopefully (or probably rather) be a better person.
I am thankful for good memories i had and the great friends that I made, but it wasn't a bed of roses.

So, back to the future, with university life just seemingly around the corner, the challenge for me would be not to repeat the same slip-ups and snafus.

But I simply do not know whether the LKC School of Business is the place for me. I've asked around, but different people always have disparate opinions.

However, after much after-thought, regardless of their opinions, I have made up my mind that I will study business at SMU.
And its simply, because it just seems destined, that maybe it was meant to be.
Yet, I see thousands of similarities between myself now and myself four years ago after the release of the O Level results.

Ah, what the fuck.

VOTE OR DIE

2008-11-09T23:56:00.002+08:00

Some of my faithful readers have questioned the political apathy of blogposts for the past few months.

And so tonight, i shall blog about the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America (POTUS).

This is going to be boring and repetitive, i promise.

Anyways,
we do not know yet how the Obama presidency will be remembered, but he surely will be THE black candidate.
Interestingly, he is only half-black. His Kenyan father was not even an American, and his mother was white. But his skin is black, and that amazingly makes him an "African-American".
Hopefully, in time to come, we will see more blacks, more Asians, and more rojaks in the Oval Office, but Obama will always be remembered as the first black dude in the White House.
The symbolism of his victory cannot be understated.
His unprecedented victory may not earn him a carving on Mount Rushmore (yet), but his name will be written into history books.

This symbolism gives much hope to minorities all over the world. Many commentators and Obama himself have proclaimed his election as an reinforcement of the power, and the beauty, of democracy.
I disagree.

It has always been institutionally possible for a black man, or a white man for that matter, to be elected as the POTUS.
Article Two of the United States Constitution states that "A Presidential candidate must:

be a natural-born citizen of the United States;
be at least thirty-five years old;
have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years."

There is no mention of skin colour or race.

I see Obama's election as another gleeful triumph in the battle against racism. The Americans have shown that they are, to some extent, colour blind.
According to the exit polls, many whites have voted for a black man. That itself is a reason to celebrate.

Talking about symbolism, I actually believed that it would work against Obama.

Senator John McCain is a war hero who suffered unspeakable torture as a prisoner-of-war in the Vietnam War. After recovering from his tribulations, he returned to serve his country as a senator, and developed a reputation for crossing party lines for the sake of the nation. His love and dedication for the country cannot be questioned. He is the ultimate American symbol - the selfless war hero.
Governor Sarah Palin, as bimbo-tic as she may be, represented another American ideal - the hockey mum. She has five kids, one with Down's Syndrome and another one awaiting to serve in Iraq, and active parent volunteer, a beauty queen and a ferocious basketball player.
Many Americans see themselves as being able to connect to her through vicarious experiences and thus, in other words, she was one of them.

These two powerful symbols, i believed, would appeal to voters in a time of post-American supremacy. They would want someone familiar, someone who would bring them back to the glory days, i reasoned.
Furthermore, assuming that voting patterns remained similar to 2004, the high proportion of white conservative voters would most certainly eschew Obama, and hand Republicans victory once more.

However, as the campaign went along, it seemed to me that this would be an election Obama was destined to win.
As the election grew closer, co-incidentally a financial crisis struck, and John McCain's not good at economics, as he himself admitted. This gave the lead to Obama. He was deemed to be more apt at financial matters, and McCain handled the finance package issue very poorly. He suspended his campaign and asked for a postponement of the Presidential Debate so that he could concentrate of the Hank Paulson's bill. Obama replied somewhat spectacularly saying that presidents should know how to multi-task. To me, that was the turning point in the campaign.

Another factor in McCain's failure would be his poor campaigning. He frequently changed advisers, and there is obviously plenty of infighting in his camp. There were many leaks over Sarah Palin's shopping expenditure and lack of foreign experience, indicating little unity and much cattiness in the McCain camp. There was little frugality in his camp as well.

There will be much analysis and thorough dissections over the role of Palin in McCain's failure, but i believe she was a positive in the campaign. Her folksy demeanor and repeated use of the word "God" in her speeches from the stump surely attracted many rednecks to vote.

So, with a looming financial crisis, a bumbling Republican candidate with a shoddy campaign and a very unpopular incumbent party, this was the presidential election Obama could not lose. Credit to Obama, he ran an excellent presidential campaign ("The best campaign this nation has ever had." he says in his acceptance speech)

So now the big question is, will Obama be a competent president?

I believe he will.

Obama has some key characteristics of a good leader.

Firstly, he is certainly pragmatic. He chose not to use public funding for his presidential campaign and he immediately withdrew from his old church when there was controversy over his former pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

He is also thrifty and disciplined.
His campaign may have raised a record number of donations, but yet commentators are gushing about how Spartan it was.

He is also an excellent orator, as we all surely know by now. ("Yes, we can!" & "Change we believe in")

And finally, he is not funny.
I watched the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner videos on YouTube, where both McCain and Obama poked fun at each other and themselves, and then downed wine and toasted democracy.
Obama did have his some knee-slapping and rib-tickling moments, but he looked very stiff when he was saying them, giving the impression that the jokes were scripted.
McCain, on the other hand, was a real riot. Not only did he say zany jokes, he was able to convey the jokes through his body actions as well. A real comedian.

Now, lets try and think of another leader whose an excellent orator, very pragmatic, very disciplined, and not the funniest guy in the class.
The first name that hits my mind is dear old Harry, and a such a comparison itself is indeed a sign of the great things we can expect from President Barack Hussein Obama.

I Survived A Japanese Game Show

2008-10-28T21:40:00.003+08:00

Japanese Game shows are cool.

This is hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwswVgR55T0

This is challenging

I need ideas for an Amazing Race style games! which season of amazing race is the best huh.

Les Grossman.

2008-10-20T14:15:00.003+08:00

With all this talk of recession, all this mutter of doom and gloom and the dark heavy clouds of recession that seem to gathering speed as I type, I thought i should post something as sombre as the prevailing mood.

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge,
she studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College,
that's where I,
caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded,
I said "In that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola."
She said "Fine."
and in thirty seconds time she said,

"I want to live like common people,
I want to do whatever common people do,
I want to sleep with common people,
I want to sleep with common people,
like you."

Well what else could I do -
I said "I'll see what I can do."
I took her to a supermarket,
I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere,
so it started there.
I said pretend you've got no money,
she just laughed and said,
"Oh you're so funny."
I said "yeah?
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here.
Are you sure you want to live like common people,
you want to see whatever common people see,
you want to sleep with common people,
you want to sleep with common people,
like me."
But she didn't understand,
she just smiled and held my hand.
Rent a flat above a shop,
cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool,
pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right,
cos when you're laid in bed at night,
watching roaches climb the wall,
if you call your Dad he could stop it all.

You'll never live like common people,
you'll never do what common people do,
you'll never fail like common people,
you'll never watch your life slide out of view,
and dance and drink and screw,
because there's nothing else to do.

Sing along with the common people,
sing along and it might just get you through,
laugh along with the common people,
laugh along even though they're laughing at you,
and the stupid things that you do.
Because you think that poor is cool.

-Jarvis Crocker (Pulp)

Booms and busts come and go, but the rich can just easily ask their Daddies to stop it all, can they.

One positive (or negative, depending on your point-of-view) aspect of this impending economic disaster, is that I will finally get to see the true performance of the nation's tertiary business institutes.

Reading the glowing reports about the success of business graduates, that I was almost fooled into thinking that a unemployed business graduate had gone the way of the dodo.

Does SMU really produce such quality graduates that are eagerly snapped up by the working world? Then how about NUS, with its recently improved rankings that resulted in another round of "world-class university" hoopla released by the university's PR department.

As for NTU, read on.

The Straits Times Youthink section had a poll on their blog -

[The Unabashedly Shallow Poll] Beauty is only faculty-deep!

The poll was to find out which faculty students had the prettiest faces.

(I would like to salute the Straits Times here for finally reading the pulse of the youth, atleast they managed to figure out what our nation's future leaders nowadays look out for when they ponder over which university to enroll at.)

And poll results showed that.............

(drum roll please)

Only 2.6% of pollsters thought that NTU had "the most physically attractive individuals" (notice how they carefully managed to evade using the word "beauty" here)

Never mind the fact that the majority of students voted for an institution other than their own, but 2.6% is just plain pathetic.

35.9% thought that SMU had the best-lookers and apparently business faculty has the best looking guys as well.

Hmm...

Gotta start hitting the gyms and cutting down on food, or they might just call me Les Grossman
when I step foot into the SMU BIZ!

Zhang Peng

2008-10-14T22:11:00.004+08:00

I like this one too.

And the best part is that these are photos of dolls.

Zhang Peng is one talented sicko, but his macabre style is beautiful.

Transition.

2008-10-09T21:03:00.002+08:00

Hmm.. after days of silence, i shall step back into the blogo-sphere. (Is that how you even spell it?)

I think my English has deteriorated beyond repair, and i so terribly fear 2009.

It was always next year, next year, next year; and gasp! its now October.

But i think the hardest part of the year is the last lap, simply because I have somebody under my tutelage.

How do you teach and nurture somebody, such that they will equal your capabilities, or maybe even surpass you? I don't mean that I have extraordinary skills but rather, how do you ensure a proper transition? Harry once said that the mark of a leader is his transition to the next generation.

You have to give him the necessary skills and the ability to manage the workflow. And once that basic knowledge is set in stone, we can move on to higher value thinking.
You must impart a skill of street-smartness in him, so that he faces his own set of challenges he will be able to face them and walk away victorious.

But the hard part is nurturing, maintaining the delicate approach of smiles and stares. How do you rein in sloppiness and disobedience without crossing the line, how do you reward a job well done without appearing to be over-generous. These are the tough questions..

I find that nobody fears me, so how do ensure that no bullshit will happen after i leave?

"Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up" - Harry

The greatest temptation rather, is to just shout ORD and go home.
But I will not, I will become the Treatment IC everyone remembers.

Yay.

2008-09-17T23:05:00.002+08:00

I'm not exactly on a self-imposed exile from blogging, but been pretty busy these past month. Fasting month makes you tired...
I guess its all in the mind, and in the faith as well.

But i couldn't resist not blogging about this.

US launches AIG rescue loan to avoid market catastrophe.
NEW YORK: The US Federal Reserve announced Tuesday it would make an unprecedented US$85-billion rescue loan to save insurance giant American International Group (AIG) from bankruptcy amid fears of a catastrophic meltdown on financial markets.

(read further at Channel News Asia here)

I think this an overdue market correction, following the burst of the US Housing Bubble. Too much risk was taken over these loans, and the financial system has only itself to blame for aggregating the sub-prime loans to other securities and hedge funds.
This is a domino crisis of confidence, and I'm sure that they won't be much banks out there to employ wannabe biz graduates like me in the future. Sigh.

anyway, the silver lining is....

(if you can't infer this, you're a noob)

I'm sure there's a conspiracy by the press to not mention Man Yoo as one of its subsidiaries or assets.
I hope Berbatov gets forced back to Spurs, then Man Yoo might just remember how to beat us again. ha!

Dirk Kuyt is my unsung hero (but he really needs to work at the shooting ground.)
Masch is the man-of-game.

And the forward of the game award goes to....... Wes Brown!

Together We Cry

2008-08-30T21:20:00.005+08:00

I find that Irish bands have a knack for coming up with solid contemporary soulful music, with matching sombre lyrics as well. And The Script just joins the list of bands that include U2 and Boomtown Rats. And don't forget the Corrs as well, traditional Irish tunes repackaged into modern pop-fare.

I'm addicted to We Cry right now.
Very sombre lyrics, full of pessimism (just my cup of tea). And there's this verse which i particularly like - "I'm sick of looking for those heroes in the sky to teach us how to fly" Hahaha. I find it very amusing, yet very thought-provoking as well.

Together we cry...
Together we cry...

Jenny was a poor girl
Living in a rich world
Named her baby Hope when she was just fourteen
She was hoping for a better world
For this little girl
But the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree

Well she gets that call
Hope's too far gone
Her baby's on the way
But nothing left inside
Together we cry!

What about the junk head
Could have gone the whole way
Lighting up the stage trying to get a deal
Now he's lighting up the wrong way
"Something for the pain!"
Man you wanna see this kid he was so fuckin' unreal
When he gets that call
He's too far gone
To get it together to sing one song
They won't hear tonight
The words of a lullaby

Together we cry...
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Together we cry...
Whoa oh whoa oh whoa
Together we cry...
Oh we cry we cry we cry
Together we cry...
Oh we cry we cry
Whoa oh whoa oh whoa

Oh... Mary's ambitious
She wanna to be a politician
She been dreaming about it since she was a girl
She thought that she'd be the one who could change the world
Always trying to pave the way for women in a... man's world
But life happened, house, kids, 2 cars, husband hits the jar, checks that don't go very far now
Now she in it can't change it, she keeps her mind on her wages
The only rattling cages!

Together we cry
Together we cry

There's so much sad gonna flood the ocean
We're all in tears for the world is broken
Together we cry!

There comes a time when every bird has to fly
At some point every rose has to die
It's hard to let your children go
Leave home
Where they go?
Who knows!
Getting drunk
Getting stoned
All alone
Teach a man to fish
You'll feed him never lie
You show your kids the truth
Hope they never lie
Instead of reading in a letter that they've gone to something better
"Bet your sorry now! I won't be coming home tonight"

I'm sick of looking for those heroes in the sky
To teach us how to fly
Together we cry!

Together we cry
Together we cry

There's so much sad gonna flood the ocean
We're all in tears for the world is broken
Together we cry!

On a side note, i have been following the ping-pong fiasco and I am quite disappointed by the lack of any intelligent and mature discussion by the general public (online or in the print media). Both online and offline feedback appear to be nothing more than mere rants against foreign talent and other xenophobic banalities that Singaporeans have grown fond of.

I will wait for the dust to settle before blogging my own views on the subject, since Vivian Balakrishnan has so un-subtly told the nation to drop the matter and stop debating about this.

Lost & Hopefuly Will Be Found.

2008-08-24T23:55:00.003+08:00

In other news, if anyone finds a pink Olympus camera (last seen at Changi Airport Terminal 3) please return it to Xinyi!

Photos of Shirrin's birthday dinner at Fresh Bulgogi have disappeared with the camera. So now all the fun, all the snapshots are in the repository of the brain.

Korean food is something different, something unique. But when i got past all that novelty, all that excited me were the rice cakes. Simply fantastic.

Of Faith & Luck

2008-08-24T22:47:00.004+08:00

I find myself being drawn to frivolous competitions these days.
Like "email your suggestions to this email address and win free tickets to Singfest" or "SMS the correct answer and win daily cash prizes of $50".

Being a logical person, I have never bothered with these feather-brained competitions. I never saw the odds of me winning it. The probability of winning is small (if not impossible), and I've never been a particularly lucky person.
And somehow the cynic in me eschewed all these get-rich-quick schemes. How can you become rich overnight just because you sent an sms?? It violates my very Singaporean belief of "work hard to succeed".
But of late, i see myself being drawn to these competitions, mainly for the prizes. The $50 dollar prize money has become more attractive.
And this greatly troubles me as its a slippery slope. Whats next, 4D and other forms of gambling? Its a step to a sin.

But, i am starting to empathize with those people who brave long queues to buy 4D and TOTO. I watched Money No Enough (the first one back in 1998) and found it to be a very heart-warming and honest movie.
Henry Thia's character in the movie would regularly buy 4D and TOTO as he sees it as his ticket out of the middle-class vortex. And I find that extremely dis-heartening. Is there really no way out other than chance and luck?

(That reminds me of another quote
"You thought we could be decent men at an indecent time. But you were wrong; the world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced and fair")

I guess it all boils down to faith.
The moment we lose faith, is the moment where we fail.

Pull a Frog's Leg.

2008-08-19T22:44:00.002+08:00

For some unbeknown reason, I'm going to blog about frog-funnies.

Q : Why did the frog wear a mask to the bank?
A : He wanted to rob-bit.

Q : Why are frogs so happy?
A : They eat everything that bugs them.

Q : What kind of shoes do frogs wear?
A : Open toad!

Q : How does a frog feel when he has a broken leg?
A : Unhoppy.

Q : What did the frog dress up as on Halloween?
A : A prince.

Q : Where do frogs borrow money?
A : From the river bank

"Haha hoho hee hee.
And I thought my jokes were funny"

Something to Ponder about.

2008-08-17T11:44:00.002+08:00

Interesting little post below.

http://www.musings.per.sg/2008/08/768

It is disconcerting that the harshest critiques of strollers are fellow ladies themselves.

I suppose its a case of hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?

There appears to be a startling disconnect in society, when we cannot even decide on what constitutes as basic courtesy..
Singaporeans should be ashamed of themselves.

080808

2008-08-11T22:56:00.003+08:00

I think the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic's was just pure beauty.
A work of poetry, told with lights and sounds.
I love the way the drummers did the count-down.
And the part where the tiles popped up and down, so beautifully co-ordinated that i had to rub my eyes in disbelief when the Chinese dudes popped out from behind.

Oh, and the fireworks are simply magnificent. Really awesome.

I've never been a fan of the Olympics, but i'm following this one because the scale, the beauty and the graciousness of this whole event is simply unprecedented.

Its a coming-out-of-age party alright.

Happy National Day.

2008-08-09T11:45:00.002+08:00

I just watched Sepet.

"
Modern is stupid,
olden is better.

How did Peranakan's appear?

About thousand years ago, the emperor of China decided to give his daughter to the Sultan of Melaka for trade, lah.
The Sultan's name was emperor Mansu-Shah, and the emperor's daughter's name was Hang Li Poh.
So Hang Li Poh arrived in a ship, escorted by about 500 young chinese men.
okay, so when Hang Li Poh got married, the rest of the 500 men just roamed around Melaka with nothing to do, no girlfriend no wife.
Somemore, that time i read that time got hundreds of hot Malay chicks bathing by the river, wearing wet Malay sarongs.
..
So thats how the Peranakan people came about lah.

...

How come last time so easy ah?
"

Searingly Lame

2008-08-03T14:44:00.004+08:00

Its boiling. At the start of August.

Anyway, here's something interesting.

World's ten oldest jokes

The Dave Historical Humour study spent two months trawling the annals of history to produce the first report of its kind into the world's oldest recorded jokes. We reveal the results:

1. Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap (1900 BC – 1600 BC Sumerian Proverb Collection 1.12-1.13)

2. How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish (An abridged version first found in 1600 BC on the Westcar Papryus)

3. Three ox drivers from Adab were thirsty: one owned the ox, the other owned the cow and the other owned the wagon's load. The owner of the ox refused to get water because he feared his ox would be eaten by a lion; the owner of the cow refused because he thought his cow might wander off into the desert; the owner of the wagon refused because he feared his load would be stolen. So they all went. In their absence the ox made love to the cow which gave birth to a calf which ate the wagon's load. Problem: Who owns the calf?! (1200 BC)

4. A woman who was blind in one eye has been married to a man for 20 years. When he found another woman he said to her, "I shall divorce you because you are said to be blind in one eye." And she answered him: "Have you just discovered that after 20 years of marriage!?" (Egyptian circa 1100 BC)

5. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his real name is nobody. When Odysseus instructs his men to attack the Cyclops, the Cyclops shouts: "Help, nobody is attacking me!" No one comes to help. (Homer. The Odyssey 800 BC)

6. Question: What animal walks on four feet in the morning, two at noon and three at evening? Answer: Man. He goes on all fours as a baby, on two feet as a man and uses a cane in old age (Appears in Oedipus Tyrannus and first performed in 429 BC)

7. Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey - his purse is what restrains him (Egyptian, Ptolemaic Period 304 BC – 30 BC)

8. Augustus was touring his Empire and noticed a man in the crowd who bore a striking resemblance to himself. Intrigued he asked: "Was your mother at one time in service at the Palace?" "No your Highness," he replied, "but my father was." (Credited to the Emporer Augustus 63 BC – 29 AD)

9. Wishing to teach his donkey not to eat, a pedant did not offer him any food. When the donkey died of hunger, he said "I've had a great loss. Just when he had learned not to eat, he died." (Dated to the Philogelos 4th /5th Century AD)

10. Asked by the court barber how he wanted his hair cut, the king replied: "In silence." (Collected in the Philogelos or "Laughter-Lover" the oldest extant jest book and compiled in the 4th/5th Century AD)

-----

So i guess thats why i am such a fan of lame jokes and witty one-liners. Its must have been the genes passed down from great-great-great-great grand daddy.

Thank you, great-great-great-great grand daddy!

Another One

2008-07-27T18:25:00.005+08:00

The font on the spidey blogskin, was minuscule and therefore rather annoying, no matter how cool the skin looked.

Practicality wins over style, i suppose i'm celebrating the Singapore spirit.

I've cleared my blog-links too. Its hard to believe i have so many dead links. Everyone's either moved to a new blog-add, stopped blogging or turned to blogging privately.
All those who've moved to a new address, considered moving blog addresses as a turning point in their life. So changing your blog skin means that you've hit a turning point in your life? interesting..

I guess one can see blogging as stage of life - an age where you would like to proclaim your feelings to the world. As you grow older, i suppose the novelty disappears and it becomes a chore, rather something you enjoy. You no longer care about proclaiming your thoughts to the world, or the world to you. I guess its no co-incidence that the majority of bloggers are youths then. The sordid affairs of a lusty teenager is surely more blog-worthy than inflation or other "old people" worries.

Hmm, i wonder how long my blog will last. haha..

Oh and with everyone gushing over the Dark Knight, I think i'd better give my review too.

It was.... fantastic really.

Full of brawn, and brain.
Well-thought and well-executed screenplay and plot, all plaudits to the Nolan brothers.
The way Batman stopped the trailer with his Batpod, it goes way up there with Mr Spidey and the speeding train.
Of course, the star of the show isn't Batman, its the crazed joker himself. Whether Heath Ledger died or not, i think he deserves an Oscar. "You want to know how i got this scars?"

Though, i thought there was some injustice towards the screenplay and storyline towards the end. It seemed to me that, with movie threatening to extend beyond 2 hour 30 minutes, Nolan must snipped some parts of the show. Two-face seemed to be reduced to a trigger-happy coin-flipper, and the last scene where Gordon story-tells was kinda rushed

Well despite all these kinks, Dark Knight gets my five dark stars.

"Now lets put a smile on that face"
Ledger's laugh is indeed fearsome.

Venom.

2008-07-13T20:42:00.002+08:00

Time is such a superfluous and mysterious being.
How does one define a "perfect day"?

Weekends fly, weekdays drag by and damn its July. I am rather thankful that I've managed to keep my life busy. Go here, do that.

Life i realize, is all about a sense of purpose.
Once you find something to do, life rolls by. But of course, what happens if you have this pocket of time with absolutely nothing to do?

You daydream about the days, wonder about the weather, ruminate over rights and wrongs, then you blog it.

And if you got really nothing better to do.

You find new blogskin, that showcases your twisted self pretty well.

The greatest battle lies within..

I Believe in Harvey Dent

2008-07-06T23:09:00.002+08:00

I think i need to change my blogskin, i have advertisments popping out again!!

July 19 - PROJECT CAN with NUS CSC.

August 5 - Ashraff ORD, and my Handing-Over Taking Over.

August 15 - Driving Test

September 6 - F1 Night walk.
September 13/14 - project endurance!
September 13 - Liverpool vs Manchester United.

haha. its all part of the plan.. (can't wait for Dark Night to come out!)

"Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere." (2:153)

The Temptation

2008-06-29T08:55:00.003+08:00

It seems to me that nowadays, i have every incentive to backstab, backbite, betray etc.

and i have fallen to that temptation once a few times already.
Its all indeed, part of simple office politics.

Rule Number One of Life : Everybody is a bastard. Its a dog-eat-dog world out there.

But harsh realities and high-minded pragmatism aside, what troubles me would be the religious legalities and moral consequences of such discourses of action.

I shall put morals and ethics aside for a moment, and take a look at religion, primarily Islam. Upon first glance, back-stabbing is seen as an immediate sin. It involves cheating, betrayal and hypocrisy.

"O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, in deeds some suspicions are sins. And spy not neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear God, verily, God is the one who accepts repentance, Most Merciful. (49: 12)"
So, back-biting is surely sinful.

Now comes the grey area.

If my colleague refuses to do his work and dumps his workload on another, would complaining to my superior about it tantamount to back-biting?
It involves betrayal (a colleague is presumed to be as close as your neighbour) and sowing seeds of discord among friends. A first-rate sin indeed.
But what if my purpose would be to relieve my other over-burdened colleague of his unfair and unjust workload?

Alas, i have no answer to this question.

But i am not foolish enough to believe that all tell-tales (including me) have hearts of gold. When i complain to my superior, the intentions behind my action would surely involve wicked thoughts.

I can almost feel the horns growing out of my head, and the tail coming out of my behind. (oops!)

How about morality then?
Well, i have trawled the net and been unable to find a simple yes or no to this cinch-like question.

bah, morality is for.......... people who read old and dusty books written by wise old-men who died aeons ago.

Nevertheless, i think the best way to proceed in this knotty imbroglio would be to look at it from the big picture. Think of it as a chess-game. Move your pieces with an eye on the king. Try not to commit too many misdemeanors.

Then, in seven and a half months time, ord oh!

Back to Basics.

2008-06-21T22:29:00.003+08:00

No more bloody ads, but this skin is definitely such a bore.

I have to find a new one soon.. before this skin puts my already-annoyed readers to sleep.

I find myself mentally tired these days, but i read this in my email recently -

"Happiness is not a destination to arrive at, but a manner of travelling"

I hope this skin doesn't have any annoying pop-up adverts.

2008-06-17T23:25:00.002+08:00

Let the Flames Begin - by Paramore

What a shame we all became such fragile, broken things
A memory remains just a tiny spark
I give it all my oxygen,
So let the flames begin
So let the flames begin

Oh, glory
Oh, glory
This is how we'll dance when
When they try to take us down
This is what will be, oh glory

Somewhere weakness is our strength,
And I'll die searching for it
I can't let myself regret such selfishness
My pain and all the trouble caused,
No matter how long
I believe that there's hope
Buried beneath it all and
Hiding beneath it all, and
Growing beneath it all, and...

This is how we'll dance when
When they try to take us down
This is how we'll sing out loud
This is how we'll stand when
When they burn our houses down
This is what will be, oh glory

Reaching as I sink down into light.
Reaching as I sink down into light.

This is how we dance when
When they try to take us down
This is how we'll sing out loud
This is how we'll stand when,
When they burn our houses down
This is what will be, oh glory

Office Politics makes.... life.... fun.

Watching the World Go By

2008-06-08T10:16:00.002+08:00

Everyday, as i rush from my treatment room to the document counter, my eyes wander past the television. And i see bits of the off-beat B-grade shows that the gogglebox spews out every afternoon on Channel 5. But even then, its just a glance at the teevee as i walk off with some sheets of paper in my hand, reminding me of the work that must be done. I probably catch 5 minutes of Fall Guy, McGuyver and the rest every single day.

Its parallel to life is clear.
I often rush past my life, never bothering to watch the world go. Which is rather sad. There are friends to chill with, important dates to remember, cool places to go and the list is endless.

I get this feeling that I've forgotten too many people and things to do these days..

Its all about looking at the scenery, talking on the phone and worrying about fuel, while you keep on the foot jammed on the accelerator.

What's this annoying advertisment that keeps on popping up? Must be a sign from the Internet Kings that my skin is going stale.

2008-06-04T01:01:00.004+08:00

all please join!
Guys or girls, friends or foe, Worker's Party or PAP, all are welcome.

Camp Splash at Lower Seletar Reservoir. Watersports orientation camp - participants will learn kayaking and dragonboating followed by a fun race event. Lunch & dinner, transport and free t-shirt provided!

Email me at poolswift@hotmail.com now!!!!

Two Cents Worth.

2008-05-28T18:30:00.002+08:00

Wow, its gonna be june!

Time flies.. once again.
I feel that i've become jaded and tired over the past year. Jaded with life, and the whole rat race.

Anyway, i got rejected by NUS again, for chemical engineering this year.
so, maybe my future does lie with smu..

I was reading up on the forums on the portal FunkyGrad, and came across this interesting post by spirit-sapphire.

"
smu offers, in my view, a diversified selection of courses. few of the core modules every student goes through are courses that deal with improving creativity and analytical skills, and many other soft skills rather than theory-based. probably ntu and nus offer similar courses, too, but by virture of the nature of smu's education pedagogy, these skill sets are more frequently practiced. the focus on participation and constant projects, as reflected by the strong weightage in grading, sets you in an enviroment whereby you have to innovate in order to impress.

but one major flaw in this system, as I have observed, is that when the management shifts their emphasis towards these soft skills (e.g. participation), students demonised the intentions of it. very soon, you will find yourself "fluffing" up presentations, talk for the sake of talking, and exhibiting many other superficial behaviours in order to impress the professor for a good grade. this is where you practice the creativity you have enlightened yourself to.

sometimes I find that being in an examination-centric system easier to cope. afterall, you only need to do well in the final papers to score moderately well. this is why there were some criticisms of smu graduates being only "empty vessels"; we have been geared, in a way, to do so.

but hey, the working world can sometimes be this cut-throat, to the point that you have to lick boots to climb the ladder. the founders of smu had initially structured the whole education system to produce graduates who will thrive in the working world, therefore they tried to mimick the enviroment in the workplace as close as possible. you have to decide whether this is to your liking.
"

An aptly worded summary of university and schooling life in Singapore. How many of us have done CIP because we really wanted to do so, or took part in a certain co-curricular activity just because we liked it.
But then again, university is a micro-osm of the working world, as the writer has mentioned.

The unresolved question to me is whether I am more suited to an exam-centric environment or a soft-skills-centric environment. I've spent the twelve years mugging, studying and preparing for exams.

And my twelve-year slog has lead me to this forked path.

But I've never been happy with my exam results before, so therefore I wonder if maybe, my true success lies in slugging it out in a soft-skill environment. Yet, I find myself hesitant to take this step into the unknown, with all my insecurities.

Sian ah.

So much introspection has given me brain-freeze. Going to play with my Facebook account instead. lol.

A Whole New World

2008-05-20T20:19:00.003+08:00

I admit, i am not very fond of meeting new people nowadays.

Case-in-point : I signed up for this particular course a few days ago, and i was thrown right into the ring.
We were arranged into groups, and I had no friends in this group. Most of the others in the group knew each other; they all came from a certain institution. And they were all in the same age group, from 17 to 20. Then there were two "older" best friends, who were about 40 years old.

So i was a stranger among friends. Thankfully, another lonely soul joined the group. So i found a buddy, and lonely souls met. But the other lonely soul was actually a 50 year old New Zealander. haha.

Anyway, the whole day felt pretty weird. I felt old, really old. And I've never felt this old before.

I mixed around with everybody, trying to be friendly. But its really hard to fit into a group thats younger than you. They were blabbering about projects, homework and GPA yadda yadda.
I found that I clicked better with the old guys, despite the fact that they were all pot-bellied and due for their Botox jabs. The New Zealander was the nicest of them all, and i did hang out with most of the time. But he's a fifty year old angmoh for god's sake, and sometimes you just can't click.

So in the end, the usual high school rules applied. The kids from one school went to one corner for lunch. The JC kids went another way for lunch. And i went with the old guys, who were great-fully excellent lunch buddies.

Sometimes i wonder if i ever did have the innocence of youth. All I worry about these days is never-ending inflation, massive weight gain, IPPT, getting paper work done so as to prepare for the audits, what kinda job to get, etc.
Yea, I watch soccer, play DOTA, and watch TV shows (albeit on the computer). But I find myself at sync with the other youths of this time and age. Which i find really.. troubling.

But i will admit, I've always had trouble getting along when put into a big group of complete unknowns. Its like a mine-field out there. You can't say the wrong things, and make the occasional un-funny joke and everyone's going to think you're a nutcase. You evaluate everyone to see who would turn out to be your buddy-in-crime. But then, everyone's doing the same thing as well, and you just have to hope that your chosen one chooses you as well. But even then, its still a roulette, cos your chosen one could turn out to be the idiot that everyone hates, then its just turns out to be too fucking messy. lol.

2008-05-13T23:32:00.003+08:00

I am as fucking annoyed, as irked as one can be.

Stresssss.

I want to ORD.

Anyway, i discovered something. Fear leads to shame, shame leads to guilt, guilt leads to suffering and suffering leads to anger. I disagree with FDR ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself").
Its not the fear that we fear, rather its all the compounding emotions that follow. So in a sense, if you stop the emotional cycle at fear, without proceeding to shame or guilt, then fear itself can be conquered. There would be no more negative emotions connected to fear, like anger or shame.

Lol. Yoda would be proud.

Brilliance of the Idiots.

2008-05-07T20:49:00.002+08:00

At times, i confounded by the sheer stupidity of my fellow homo-sapiens.

For example, when i tell them "Any drug allergies or G6PD-deficiency write in red." And I invariably get people telling me "No".

Then they ask, where is the dental centre, when there are clear signboards pointing.

And the automatic question, "Is my BP ok?"

Its alright if you hear such nuisance once, or twice, but to hear it every day every time, now thats downright annoying.

Eight more months baby, and you're out.

2008-05-02T15:53:00.002+08:00

I'm sick and tired of all these BMI shit. Why am I doing other people's work?

Why can i not just tell them, in the face, to fuck off?

My own indecision and meekness humiliates me.

Thats Life

2008-04-24T21:12:00.003+08:00

The debate for Mas Selamat rages on, two months (and counting) after his miraculous Toilet Break from the high-security ISD Detention Centre at Whitley Road.

I met a friend of mine from a certain unit a few weeks ago. His unit was one of the first units to be activated at 8pm 27 February to aid the Gurkha contingent and the police in their manhunt. His unit combed entires swathes of jungle all over our tiny island, and found illegal immigrants, brothels and gambling dens, but no Mas Selamat.

Apparently, his unit CO is very eager to capture Singapore's most wanted man. The ambitious young CO would like to have a star to rest his on shoulder.
(For a full definition of all acronyms, refer below)
So my friend shared this with me.

"If i catch Mas Selamat, my sergeant will take credit for it, saying he was the one who lead us in the field.
Then my PC will stake his claim on the bounty by pointing out he was the one who planned out the operation.
Then the OC will surely claim credit too, since he organized the operation for the company.
And at last, the CO will tell all the reporters, that is was his men that caught Mas Selamat, and he will get all the rewards and adulation for it.
So in the end, what do i get? Nothing, of course".

(PC = Platoon commander
OC = Officer-in-charge of the company
CO = Commanding officer of the entire unit)

Hahaha. Thats how life goes, i tell him.

But its interesting to draw parallels to current situation.
The Committee of Inquiry has released its report on Mas Selamat's escape, and there is talk on who should get the sack.

Wong Kang Seng has been given a vote of full confidence by Lee Hsien Loong and he will not resign.
So when's there gold, everyone's greedy. When there's shit, you have scapegoats.
The two gurkha guards who were guarding Mas Selamat have been "replaced", which is such a vague word, i wonder why nobody has asked for what its supposed to mean.

The poor gurkhas will probably get lose their pensions cos they thought it was alright for somebody to throw his pants over the door while peeing. You can't defend their stupidity, but for everyone to pin all the blame on the two guys appears to be pretty short-sighted.

The real culprit, in my opinion, is the ISD superintendent. He decided that the un-grilled window should have just have its knob sawed off, which turned out to be the most critical factor. So even if Mas Selamat needs to remove his pants while peeing, a grilled window would have prevented my friend from spending his weekends traversing the forests.

And of course, Wong Kan Seng is responsible as well. It was his men that screwed up, and a commander must accept responsibility for his men.

But the public desire to see the Deputy Prime Minister step down is more complicated than a lust for rolling heads. I think people see the government as getting complacent and incompetent, and that they do not deserve their fat salaries. It appears to be the tipping point of all the previous pent-up greviances.

PAP risks the ire and cynicism of the electorate. But to tell the truth, i doubt its going to matter come by election time. People will forget this whole debacle and we will all move on.

Thats life.

The Dangerous Experiment

2008-04-17T22:08:00.004+08:00

My Nokia 7210 self-destructed around a month ago, when i careless dropped it into a pail of water while i was washing my face in a toilet in the seclusive and secret of island of Pulau Tekong.
I panicked and ripped the phone to its parts, and dried in front of a fan.

After twenty minutes of thorough drying, i put the parts together, and viola! It worked, somewhat miraculously.

But alas, my joy was short lived. The phone deceased on the next day itself. Resuscitation by even more severe drying was sadly unsuccessful.

Now i need a replacement. And I don't have one.

I was thinking of trying to spend a day without a phone.
Gasp! I can hear the sounds of disbelief within me already. Its a dangerous experiment, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Life must always be strictly business".

Its "supposed" to be a win-win situation.

2008-04-12T22:17:00.004+08:00

As the truth would have sunk in by now, the simple joy of watching "live" soccer on our television sets is going to turn out to be an expensive proposition from next year onwards.

Singtel has bought the sole rights to broadcast live Champion League action from next year onwards. Starhub will continue to broadcast the Barclay's English Premier League matches, and the FA Cup and what-ever-else.
Apparently there will be no decrease in Starhub's prices, becuase the Champions League was shown for "free" on its ESPN-Starsports channels.

In simpler terms, we now have to subscribe to both Singtel and Starhub's pay-tv networks in order to enjoy the full buffet of live European soccer available.

Sometimes, i wonder if those idiots perched in their comfy chairs at MDA have any background in common sense, let alone some rudimentary knowledge of simple economic theories of demand and supply.

The entire situation can be traced back to one pivotal ruling - before opening up the pay-tv market, MDA ruled that content resale between operators would be banned. (I read this in the Straits Times Review article, but i am unable to find the exact article for a quotation). Apparently Singtel appealed for content resale to be allowed, but MDA decided against it, in order to promote further competition and diversification of channels available to the consumers. It all sounds fine and dandy, but in reality, the only content that can rake in the moolah is "live" soccer. Since rights are exclusive, the pay-tv market has now turned into a death-match. And thats why Starhub and Singtel engaged in a bidding war for the BPL broadcast rights.

Now thats where it starts to get complicated, because live football comes from all over the world, from different copyright holders and different distributors. Singtel has obviously taken the "divide-and-conquer" strategy, and it is definitely has it eyes on the BPL broadcast rights.

But this actually raises a whole Pandora's box for the consumer. Whats next?
What if Singtel gets the BPL broadcast rights next year, but loses the Champions League rights to Starhub? Or what if Euro 2008 goes to Starhub, then World Cup 2010 goes to Singtel?

It appears that we miserable consumers are now facing an inevitable doomsday scenario where our TV rack is cluttered with various pay-tv boxes as we pay sky-high fees. If Starhub and Singtel engage in an excessive bidding war every time, the sky's the limit for how high the prices can go.
And, it might be wise to note, that we have a 3rd Pay-TV operator called M2B in Singapore as well.

Here, it might be interesting to analyze about why "live" soccer is so inherently popular. "Live" matches provide the excitement and emotion of being in the actual stadium and watching the game. Humans have this affinity to watch historical events unfold before their eyes. And not to forget, football is the most watched game in the planet - attendance and TV viewership eclipses any other sport, including the Olympic Games.
But most important of all, live soccer has no substitute. You cannot record a game and watch it later, because in this era of instant communication, there is no thrill in watching a delayed match. Thats what makes the broadcast rights so precious, they are only one of a kind, and people are willing to cough up plenty of cash for it. Also, there are only so many games that are played in the top leagues, so supply is limited. Despite the rising prices, you don't see the number of games going up do you?

MDA has clearly failed to realize this. The simplest economic concept of price-inelastic demand and low supply equals to high prices appears to be beyond the highly educated civil servants of the MDA.

Anyway, back to the consumers - what does the future hold for us?
In the short-term, it is likely that both players will fight for the football broadcast rights. Starhub is unlikely to give up its crown jewel without a fight, and Singtel is surely going to fight tooth-and-nail for it. The cost of "live" football is also going up considerably - the money for rising salaries players and greater transfer budgets cannot always come from the pockets of rich sugar-daddies. Clubs are always demanding more TV revenues anyway.

To be fair to Starhub, it has tried to make its costlier football package more attractive to consumers by including mobile phone streaming and instant soccer match analysis. Singtel's mio tv has the convenient option of recording and watching programmes anytime you want, though i doubt it will of much use, when most people want to watch soccer "live".

But still, we can all forget the good old days when Channel 5 would broadcast football matches. Nowadays, we don't even get to watch the highlights show on Channel 5 anymore.

MDA has proposed an interesting solution to consumers - use your purchasing power and "boycott" Singtel if you feel so strongly against the competition. But what if Singtel gets the World Cup or Euro rights? Are you still going to boycott?
And i'm not even talking about "live" F1, golf or tennis and what-so-ever.

I find it extremely ridiculous that the MDA has proposed this. If the boycott idea works and Singtel goes bankrupt, will we not return to a monopoly in the pay-tv market? So the idea of competition in the pay-tv market is just another expensive "experiment" for the MDA?

In conclusion, it seems that the clear winners in this situation are Singtel and Starub. And this raises the fear of a cartel. What if the both of them collude and decide to artificially compete for the rights, so that they can justify raising prices? They could probably take turns in getting the broadcast rights. Consumers would be forced to get both sets then, and it would be a win-win situation. To make it sound even more like a conspiracy, this whole nightmare would not have occured if not for the MDA ruling.

So everyone is in cahoots?? You decide.

Bubble Brain

2008-04-06T20:06:00.002+08:00

"I hate the bubble brain effect. It's an awful feeling. A confused feeling. And when something finally does puncture the bubble, your brain tries like mad to patch it over. Tries to keep the truth out. Eventually, though, the bubble cracks and the truth floods in, and when that happens, you're left feeling completely destroyed. "

- Wendelin Van Draanen, from Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things.

It Ain't No April Fool's Joke

2008-04-01T18:24:00.003+08:00

Back to camp tomorrow.

I've to come love those sleepy afternoons. Just endless playing DOTA. Or watching a show.

Pure escapism from all the madcap madness of life.

The Day After.

2008-03-26T15:25:00.003+08:00

The first thought that appeared on my mind was "Where the hell am I?"

The first words that came out were "ah. numb." when i tried to speak.

And the last memory i can recall is the anesthetist telling me its normal to feel pain as the glucose solution dripped into me.

One day after I had my wisdom tooth extrication surgery, things have certainly improved.. The bleeding has slowed down to a trickle, I don't cough out blood anymore. I don't feel so lethargic. The anesthesia has worn off, I can feel my mouth now. Yet, the pain is still there. I can't open my mouth wide without the excruciation. I try to feel the back of my mouth using my tongue, and i cant taste the stitches, where the teeth used to reside.

It was an interesting experience going for a surgery.
Putting on that the surgery gown, have the BP cuff, 3-lead ECG and the pulse oximeter.
Then in an instant, I just slipped away into darkness.

I woke up around an hour later, in some other part of the theater. I can only remember giving the doctor a thumbs up as they wheeled out into the ward.

I got some presents from the dentist, the remnants of my teeth. Which are certainly very huge. The bottom two teeth was drilled into 3 pieces. So its hard for me to imagine how it must have looked like, before it was viciously ripped away from my gums.

The greatest downside is that i cant eat much. Only soft foods.
The bloody pain better go away soon, cos i am really starving for some real food.

Like this cake.

Happy birthday bro!

I can't believe we were noob enough to go the wrong block. *smacks forehead*
It was even more noob to carry a chocolate cake with twenty candles across the void deck, while trying to avoid all those raised eyebrows from the neighbours.

Then your mum almost gave us a heart attack when she said you might have left for camp.
Well all was well in the end, as we staked out in front of your toilet.

Thats surprisingly pretty grainy picture quality from the K800i!

Happy 20th Birthday Faris!

Its a question of faith.

2008-03-21T15:04:00.002+08:00

"And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny."

-Barack Obama's speech on 18th of March at the Philadelphia's National Constitution Center.

In the past few years, i have become more sinister, more cynical and more pessimistic. Obama 's speech is a vital reminder to me, that I can never lose hope in the system. The system operates only when we believe in it - the moment i lose hope is the pivotal instant where it fails.

I do not believe Barack Obama will be a good president. He is anti-trade, a protectionist and is anti-war. His constant rhetoric over time lines for the troops to return home from Iraq, the hate-mongering over free-trade agreements and the populist economist policies he seemingly advocates bode poorly for the rest of the world.

Yet, I find myself drawn to the charisma of this man. His message of "hope and unity" appears to be irresistible in this age of fractured politics.

But my vote counts for nothing after all. We shall see how America decides.
And i will try to convince myself, that I can write my own destiny.

The Dark Passenger

2008-03-15T11:54:00.002+08:00

"I just know there's something dark in me. I hide it, certainly don't talk about it. Its there always - this dark passenger. But when he's driving, i feel.. alive, half sick with the thrill, complete wrongness. I don't fight him, I don't want to. He's all i've got."

Its just so.... easy to be the bad guy, the evil one.

I have poor patience. I want to every idiot who doesn't do his work down. And that makes plenty of idiots. Why should i suffer for the complete lack of ability and responsibility of a significant few assholes?
When the shit hits the fan, the blame game starts. Note to self - bastards always win in real life.

Have i just become more cynical and selfish?
Age is a poor antidote for pessimism.

Random Funny Videos

2008-03-06T21:58:00.002+08:00

RACISM vs SEXISM.

Doesn't exactly tell the whole truth (like how females are the harshest critics of their gender. haha) but its funnily truthful.

Matrix - Sivaji Style.

A hilarious remix.

and the original comedy.

March.

2008-02-29T21:59:00.002+08:00

March is here.

Eleven months to ORD. Somehow it all seems so surreal. All the pressure and the power. Its ironic, that i find myself in the same love-hate situation almost two years later. The minority within a majority, seeking that quantum of solace in isolation.. almost.

Mas Selamat escapes from ISD!??!
I could scarcely believe it.
It seems that a Prison Break from our highest-security prison has occurred, supposedly while he was going to the toilet. Well, either the toilet has "Escape Here" sign or there's something fishy going on. How can one person escape from a walled compound with high survelliance? Even if the toilet has a door to freedom, were there no security guards watching him? Unless of course, he morphed into a fish and swam for freedom.

What disappoints me however, is the whole racism issue that has reared its head.. Pledging to build a multiracial society just stinks of hypocrisy when I hear many Cheena-men stating that Mas Selamat escaped because the Security guard "was malay".
I've read many forum posts asking for the police to raid and cordon of all the mosques, since the Melayus are almost certain to help somebody of same race and religion. Speculation is rife in the coffeeshops that he has been welcomed with open arms by all the songkoks.

Even Malays themselves tell me, that Mas Selamat is probably hiding among Muslims, if he is still in the country.
If you can't even trust your own countryman, then nation-building probably still remains a pipe-dream.

It is an obligation of sorts, to help a fellow Muslim brother in need. But what if that brother turns out to be a vicious murderer? Do you still help him?
I have no idea what is the correct path to follow, so may Allah guide me. Allah is the best judge.

But i think i'll surely hand him over to the police. I've seen much too much teevee to know that dangerous people should be locked up forever.

Either way, i hope Mas Selamat would publish his Prison-break account. Then maybe we could serialize it and make it to a quality teevee program, unlike the crummy ones we have now like "Lifeline".

Another Year in debt.

2008-02-17T22:59:00.003+08:00

"TUITION fees at the three local universities will go up by between 4 per cent and 20 per cent for the new batch of undergraduates entering in August.

But to cushion their effect, all the varsities will introduce more financial help schemes, as well as a 'lock-in' fee structure first pioneered by the Singapore Management University (SMU), where students pay a set fee and will not be affected by future increases.

The fee hikes, announced yesterday, will see students who are taking most of the courses paying $250 more.

However, those reading law and business at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and SMU will see increases of up to $1,200.

The hikes - the first since 2006 - are necessary because of a rise in manpower and operating costs, and will not affect current students, the universities said yesterday. They had planned to raise charges last year, but held back because of the increase in the goods and services tax (GST) from 5 per cent to 7 per cent.

The new fee structure will see SMU leading the pack, with students at its law school paying $10,050 a year, a 12 per cent rise from last year.

But business course fees will go up by 7 per cent, to $6,540, and fees for the law course will rise by 20 per cent to $7,340.

In announcing the fee rises, the universities also drew a sharper distinction between what Singaporeans will pay and what their foreign counterparts will have to fork out."

WAH.
I think the increase in fees for business costs itself will lead to an extra of loan-paying.
Would it be worth it to sacrifice a business or law degree for a cheaper education? haha. just kidding.
Middle class are getting squeezed like the pulp of orange juice.

Now the $$$ issue leads to further dilemma - what course should i do?

I suppose i should just follow Mike Huckabee - ""I know people say that the math doesn't work out. Folks, I didn't major in math. I majored in miracles, and I still believe in those too.."

Lets Give Our Lions a Pat On The Back.

2008-02-07T07:43:00.001+08:00

KSA 2 SIN 0

3 time ASEAN cup winners Singapore lost 2-0 to 3 time Asian Cup winners Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Singapore played really well, had a couple of chances. But the Saudis just kept up the pressure until they managed to kelong and score two.
Well done Lions.

i think its an absolute shame there was a media blackout on the game by local television and radio. There was no live telecast (or even a delayed one) on free-to-air Mediacorp channels or Starhub cable tv. Despite there being overwhelming coverage on the international friendlies like England's first win under Capello ( but lets not venture in to that shall we)..
Even worse, there wasn't no news report on it in local radio in the morning. I smell a conspiracy here.. haha.
(Again all the headlines were about how Wright-Phillips slotted home the winner for our former colonial masters )

Interestingly, the Saudi sports channel was the most-watched P2P channel on TVANTS last night. Atleast there are some true fans out there, and thank god for the wonders of piracy and modern technology. I don't know the actual figures, but the channel was lagging through out the match by about 7 minutes, so i suppose there was overwhelming demand.

I'm lazy to type out how the match went, but match summary as follows.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Singapore

Substitute(s)

Coaches

PINTO Helio (BRA)

(SIN) Radojko Avramovic

Officials

Referee: BASMA Muhsen (SYR)
Assistant Referee 1: HAMDOUN Tammam (SYR)
Assistant Referee 2: AL HMIDI Chaker (SYR)
Fourth official: AL ENEZI Atallah (KUW)

Cards
4 Walid JAHDALI (69') 9 Malek AL HAWSAWI (80')	(63') Mustafic Fahrudin 15 (78') M. Mohammed 2 (79') Muhammad Ridhuan 5 (87') Indra BIN DAUD 10 (93') Precious Emuejeraye 6

Substitutions
(67') 11 Saad AL HARTHI 9 Malek AL HAWSAWI (80') 15 Abdoh AUTEF 17 Manaf Abushgeer (87') 10 Mohammad AL SHLHOUB 6 Omar AL GHAMDI	(46'+) Khairul Amri 13 M. Mohammed 2 (85') Aleksandar DURIC 9

The Ratty Dragon.

2008-02-06T11:33:00.000+08:00

happy chinese year.

from http://pinoybusiness.org

Born in the Year of the Dragon (1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988)
Because the Earth element of 2008 has preference to conservative actions of risky investors, your finances will be at uniform level with of last year’s. Your health will be in very good condition but be cautious with your savings. 2008 is also the right time if you consider carrying out a major purchase for your home.

also,
Forecast for Dragon in 2008
The Dragons would enjoy excellent interpersonal relationship and stable love relationship. Yet, there are signs of ‘torturing’ in your Palace of Spousal Relationship to bring problems to your love relationship...

hahaha. yeap yeap.
lets just enjoy the long holidays.

Hellogoodbye

2008-01-28T01:04:00.000+08:00

Goodbye Bapak Suharto.

You may have been an iron-fisted corrupt leader, but you put money in the pockets of Indonesians and kept the country together. The West will forever portray as a cruel, evil and corrupt, and we, the gullible Asians who depend solely on Western news agencies for our news, will probably be brain-washed to remember that perspective as well.
Although, it was surely your unscrupulous monetary policies that lead to Indonesia's economic meltdown, the people on the street still long for the good and rich times under your rule. And thats probably the most important thing of all ain't it? (Its the economy, stupid)

Lets remember him for who he truly was - the man who shaped Indonesia to what it is today.
RIP SUHARTO.

Hello Tekong.
Rover coming at 5.30am.

Goldilocks.

2008-01-27T11:16:00.000+08:00

You know, i really do like my estate. Its a Goldilocks town. Not too hot, not too cold. Just perfect.

Ever since i came to SAFTI and experienced the nightmarish daily human exodus at Boon Lay, i've come to appreciate peace and tranquility much more. I hate to push and shove just to take the damn-ed escalator. Crowds bring out the monsters in people. Sure, my place is crowded too. The feeder bus queues at the interchange do snake as well,
But its tolerable enough for me. Atleast we are civil out here.

Not too hot, not too cold.

Anyway, the central area recently got busy with pasar-malams springing up in-lieu of the resident's fair next week (which by the way, is in conjuction with a whole publicity sham known as the MCV).
But the streets got crowded, and for once, i had to squeeze through the walkways while walking home. But it wasn't too bad, with the smell of Ramly burger and other delicacies wafting through the air as I elbowed my way home.
With the Resident's Day Fest coming up next week, i would expect greater crowds the following weekend. But I will admit, it is refreshing to see some buzz.

Holiday.

2008-01-22T00:23:00.000+08:00

Thanks for all the positive comments about my new blogskin. I too would very much like to take a holiday, but i doubt i could.

The closest i probably could get to that holiday is field camp next week at Tekong. Five days. Woohoo. (z z z z)

But I've lost track of time nowadays. Weekends don't seem so precious anymore, considering I've spent all my weekends since the start of the year in camp. Rather its the quality time that matters. You have to devote some time of the day to do something you really care about, instead of just slacking away.

Laziness is the mother of catastrophe.

Pain or Money?

2008-01-15T20:17:00.000+08:00

The wisdom tooth popped out.

The bottom left tooth is coming out, causing my gum to swell on the left side when i munch on food. To make matters worse, food is continually getting stuck in the gap between the wisdom tooth and the molar. When I fail to remove that annoying piece of mutton or what-so-over the gum starts to get infected and it swells. So it hurts badly when i chomp down on food. Its freaking annoying when you can only chew on one side.

SO I booked an appointment at Alexandra Hospital Dental. After an hour of waiting, I went for an X-ray. I had four wisdom teeth, but my bottom left wisdom tooth was precariously situated near the jaw nerve. So the dentist told me matter-of-factly, there was a 0.5 to 2 percent chance that while drilling away that tooth, there was a chance that the tooth might brush past my nerve. That would cause temporal lack of feeling in the mouth and lower jaw for three to six months. Now that really sober-ed me up.
But I decided to just go ahead and book the surgery. After all it would be free, since the Army would be paying the price for plucking out my teeth. But I made her assure me that the any loss of feeling would definitely be short-lived.

The greatest shock was yet-to-come.

I went ahead and booked the surgery and was then presented with the (ta-da!) bill. The nice Filipino nurse probably noticed my startled expression and assured me that I did not have to fork out a single cent.

Now, startled would be an understatement to describe my shock.
The bill was for 1000 dollars. I counted the number of zeroes twice. Thank God for the army!

Working in a medical centre has numbed me to the cost of healthcare.

Soon-to-expire melolin? Just throw.
Recently opened bottle of centrimide? Just throw.
Oxygen tank has less than 1000cc? Just release all the gas into the air. (1000cc of air can last you for about 20 minutes at the normal breathing rate of one breath every four seconds)
When we run out of stores, we can just indent it free of charge.

It can be argued that, cost must never be a factor in healthcare. Patient welfare is paramount. If the bottle of centrimide has been open for more than a week, its probably best to throw. The solution may not be as effective anymore; it may have degenerated. Or worse, it might have
gotten dirty or infected.

We have to ensure the patient is well-taken care off. So, waste is, surely, inevitable.
Being a medic has shielded me from the ever-spiraling cost of healthcare. I must be living in another planet. I could use my Medisave to cover up to $800 of the surgery. But i have no Medisave, which means that if I were to fall dangerously ill the moment I ORD.... Well, I don't want to even think about it.

And this new policy of means testing worries me further.

Its mollified balder-dash.

Khaw Boon Wan, the man who conquered SARS, states "“But I’m doing all this for the future because I want to improve the standards in class C and B2″, which can be paid for using MediShield. If service standards in those two most subsidised wards go up and there is no means testing, then people including the well-off will probably flock to those wards to save money, he said." - Todayonline.com

Now, we can interprete his words as such - C and B2 class wards are being filled up by all the super-rich. There is a chance this might crowd out the poor and is an unneccessary toll on the government's coffers, since these affluent folk doesn't deserve the subsidies.
The whole idea sounds great; it panders to the populist sentiment - kick out all those rich bastards and give the money to those who really deserve it!

Fair enough, but are C-class wards really filled with Rolex-adorning, martini-sipping and cigar smoking folk who park their Lamboghirnis and Ferraris in the SGH carpark just so they can occupy the lower class wards and deprive us of our beds?
It would be better if he had defined his idea of "well-off", but going by recent reports, its likely like they refer to the top 20% of households by income.
Well, seriously, how many of the truly- rich stay in a C class ward? I think any rich fella who goes into a C-class ward would be the butt of jokes and subject of scrunity and sympathy at his country club.
Even then, is it wrong for a rich man to demand the same level of healthcare as his poor compatriot? After all he does pay GST.
Assuming that healthcare, security and education are the basic provisions that society must provide, the rich man does have a fair case. We don't see condo-dwellers paying more school fees do we.

It is note-worthy to take into account that private hospitals and clinics like Raffles Group are reporting healthy profits each year despite them raising their prices all the time.
Face it, you have as much chance of meeting Wee Cho Yow, Kwek Leng Beng and Oei Hong Leong or Lee Kuan Yew at a C class ward as meeting Stamford Raffles.

So in the end, its the middle class who suffer once more.
And that is precisely why I am against means-testing.
Mark my words, we middle class are becoming endangered.

Holiday Dreams.

2008-01-13T19:07:00.001+08:00

Its refreshing to have everything in the same old page again.

I want to go on a holiday and explore the ends of the earth.

Cha Cha Cha

2008-01-13T18:06:00.000+08:00

If there was another way,
I would not be here today.
I'd be back somewhere I belong,
somewhere in my past.
I should be the first to know
Where the road i'm taking goes.
If I fail then i suppose,
every road must be wrong.

Now i'm here,
Now that i've made it this far.
I must try to find out
what I'm all about
cos I lost all the answers long ago.
Felt I didn't need to know,
I didn't care.
Now I do.

I love great stories. It was exciting to witness a tale being spun right infront of your eyes, complete with high octaves and orchestra music.

I found it so ironic that I couldn't stay to get them signed, since i had to go catch the last bus.

And i missed the damn bus, so had to undergo multiple heart attacks taking the taxi.

Money just disappears so fast. I signed up for my driving lessons and the three digit account balance turns to a one-digit balance in a matter of a few clicks. Fucking expensive. I wonder if I'm doing the smart thing by learning via the school. But what the hell, I've already signed up. If i don't pass in my first trial, i'll surely be saddled with loans even before I start university.

Money is stressful. Financial independence is not turning out to be a good thing after all.

Manual to Life

2008-01-05T10:21:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, its frustrating.

I know my objective, i know what i want - but the hard part is just getting there. How do i appear friendly and helpful to others, yet not taking too many arrows at the same time?
You have to know how to react in a split second. In the end, it all depends on luck.

People and feelings are so troublesome. Whatever happened to the good old iron fist? Now i understand why Harry came up with the whole pseudo-democracy idea.
Talking about feelings, i find some of the things i do these days completely fake. The face is just a mask. I wonder if pragmatism is moral. Emotions are irrationally irritating.

I think the root of all this angst is the lack of purpose.
Thank god for DOTA.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T22:26:00.000+08:00

I hate New Year's Day.

Once all the partying ends, its time to be dragged back to the harsh face of reality. Its time to go back to work, to school and.. life. How depressing.

I think cleaners hate New Year's Day too, with all the streets strewn with beer bottles, drink cans and that foamy stuff. Countdown is just an excuse to keep the streets dirty.

But i think the whole point of the countdown is the whole shared emotional experience - an emotion shared by the masses. The feeling of being there with a hundreds of other people. It must appeal to our need for society. And of course (probably unique only to Singapore), countdown is about the spraying of foam. It seems to have become some of tourist attraction. Everytime a bunch of crazy teenagers start going wild with foam, i notice the surrounding crowd whipping out their camera handphones. Some tourists were taping it down on their video-cameras. Now thats Uniquely Singapore.

Happy new year everyone. May it better than the last.

Another Year Goes By.

2007-12-30T20:01:00.001+08:00

2007 draws to end... at last. haha.

Frankly, 2007 has been a bad year for me.

Full contradictions - Some good things, some bad things. Some laughter, some anger. Some disappointment, some apology. Full of vex, little hope. Plenty of goodbyes and a few hellos. And, of course, dashes of irony.

I'd like to sum up my life in my achievements, and there weren't many milestones to celebrate either. Other than the fact that the my expenditure costs have gone up exponentially. haha.

Talking about costs, one reason why i've spent so much this year is that I've probably watched more movies this year than any other year. During BMT, each bookout constituted of one movie.

And my movie of the year is ....

Lion for Lambs - I've never watched a more intellectual show. I loved the whole verbal war idea. Excellent stuff.
Transformers comes second, followed by 300. Both films proved to be irresistible to my inner fanboy. Woo hoo. Both times, i walked out the cinema thinking "Cool!"

2007 has also introduced to me the concept of true friendship. I've met plenty of new people, in the army espescially. But its always the same old mates, and some good friends to catch up with once in awhile. But what i've realised is that some chemistry will always be there.

Only one more of teen-hood left! I can feel my hair turning white already. Must maximize the rebellion, angst and emo!

Xmas.

2007-12-25T09:38:00.000+08:00

I'm going to update my blog. soon.

Jingle bells.
Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg.
Batmobile lost its wheel,
and the Joker got away hey!

Actually my favourite Christmas carol is

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la la, la la la la.
Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la la, la la la la.
Don we now our gay apparel,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la.
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol,
Fa la la la la la, la la la la."

Lovely song.
but what the heck does "boughs of holly" mean?

Merry Christmas everyone.

Drow Ranger

2007-12-19T12:33:00.000+08:00

I've become addicted to DOTA! hahaha.
my weekends will be ruined, my measly bank balance will probably get even more miserly. But i want to become a hero-killer. There seems to some sort of trouble with the Frozen Throne on my computer, i can't seem to be able to play the DOTA map on it. damn. the whole dota concept is similar to the Aeon of Strife map from Starcraft, where Heroes slug it out. Aeon of Strife was a great map, but DOTA brings the whole Hero-slug out to a whole new experience.

I once told myself i would never get addicted to DOTA - DOTA was an abomination. It was a discomforting mix of traditional real time strategy (rts) with the boring game form of role-playing games (rpg).
I was once an RTS purist, after years of playing games like Starcraft, Warcraft and AOE and eschewing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer. I found the latter particularly boring. Why would anybody want to spend hours infront of the computer just to increase a particular Heroes "level"? There is theoretically no end to how powerful your hero can get. Firms would just release expansion pack after expansion pack and foolish young gamers would just pay their subscription fees as corporate fat cats laugh their way to the bank.

I found greater, more satisfying pleasure in the art of war. To raise an army and use intelligent strategies to annihilate your enemy - now that was the pure fun. Once i managed to get past the beloved campaigns i would visit LAN shops with friends and test out my skills in the real world. I suspect i wasn't very good, but it was fun, and it vexed my brains a bit.
I stopped playing games frequently once i was in JC, but i still played occasionally.

Then i heard about DOTA, the supposed marriage between RTS and RPG. So, RPG has finally invaded the sacred of realm of RTS, i told myself.

But when i played DOTA for the first time, i found it immensly enjoyable. It was a good marriage, it combined the fun aspects of both game genres.

So thats why i think, i'm going to end up alot more poorer these days.

Oh and I'm on leave for eight days! hahaha.

I'm Back.

2007-12-11T20:20:00.000+08:00

Heroes Volume Three starts off with Sylar using his recently restored telekinesis abilities to grab an empty soup can. Then he proclaims, trying to sound as evil as possible "I'm baaaack".

I don't wanna say something as campy as that, but what the hell, - "I'm back".

Brunei was... boring at best.
Brunei is what Singapore would be if not for the perils of urbanization. The whole country is just swathes of jungles with pockets of rice farms and big bungalow houses dotted all over the place. The main town of Bandar Sri Bengawan is similar to a small Malaysian city like Penang.

In Singapore, nature is a guest in our concrete jungles. But there, it the other way round. So you get the whole buffet of insects - the smaller ones, small ones, big ones and bigger ones.
Every bite has its scar and sandfly bites are the worst.

The most memorable part of the whole trip would be this trek up and down a checkpoint up a hill. The terrain was fucked up. It was quite fun carrying the alice pack up. The jungle is never silent, espescially at night, when the probscious monkey (or however you spell it) makes a racket. Its almost a symphony, hearing all the animals make all the noise and deafen you.
There's also absolute darkness at night. There's no light at all. You can even see a fire start when you strike a match. But its pretty miserable when it rains at night.

I spent another five days at a checkpoint, and i was dying of boredom. It was mental torture.

I'm glad to be home.

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

Watched a few great movies recently after i came back - Babel, The Kingdom and Crash. And i kinda respect HINDRAF - for telling the world how pitiful the Indians in Malaysia are. Too bad he played the religious card though.

Gotta book in already. I want to go overseas again! For a holiday this time though. haha.

Exciting Days.

2007-11-22T20:04:00.000+08:00

I experienced my first emergency case yesterday, and suffice to say, it was one to remember.

It was actually a simple case of heat exhaustion. And yet, i think i screwed up. My hands started shaking and i panicked big time. CB. A warning sign to the dangers i would pose myself.

I didn't know how to attach the nasal prongs to the patient, needed help from Mdm. Worse was to come - ZZ had gvien a 20G to the fella, but doc wasn't happy - he wanted 18G. I was conveniently standing by the patient's right arm, so i was asked to shoot.
Damn! My hands were shaking like i had Parkinson's. Besides my skills were rusty, i hadn't pushed a needle up anybody's arms in some time.

And yet, thank god, I managed to victoriously hit the bugger. His vein was as straight as a runway, and viola! Vein hit, backflow visible, and catether successfuly inserted without any kinks. Woohoo. I couldn't believe my luck. Still got fucked by the Doc anyway.
I didnt glove my left hand, didn't throw the sharp away properly and i didn't
clamp down on his vein so blood spilled all over the treatment bed.
Well , all i could say was "yes sir".

Casualty's vital signs stabilised, and we all silently declared "one life saved". Patient was transferred to sickbay, and i could feel it coming.
Nursing Officer approached me, "Malik, i noticed your hands were shaking huh."

I blabbered about how my hands always shake and stuff, but i think the vital lesson learned is that my skills suck and i panick-ed.
i really gotta do something about that right away. fuck lar.
Nothing more than a dose of reality to inject some grittiness into you.
Spare arms anyone?

More excitement was to arrive later, in the form of a pale-faced major. He eerily knocked on the door and when i opened it, he declare dead-panned - "I need to see the doctor".
"for what purpose do you need to see the doctor sir?"
"I need to see the doctor."
"why do you need to see the doctor sir?"
"I felt severe heart discomfort thirty minutes ago."

OK!
so we took his ECG, and interestingly his ECG showed no irregularities. Hur Hur. We sent him the doctor and he was sent to A&E. Well, I hope he isn't a hypochondriac, and pray that he gets well.

I had a cover later that night with Golf Wing for their 16km route march. Halfway through, the skies turned bright with lightning and route march was cancelled. haha. how shiok.

Anyway, its thursday already (how does time fly) and i'm flying off to Brunei in about 3 hours. I wonder if i have packed enough. But enough of that.

PSP - check
Two storybooks - check
chargers - check
Camera - still need to take it later.
Underwear and socks - check.
Money - damn! not sure if bank account can accommodate further withdrawals.

To tell the truth, i am more worried about what will happen after the trip. Will i get to stay in treatment? Will i go to to Thailand? Will i panic again when some bugger lies on the treatment table? And most vital of all - can i ever improve my skills, and more importantly, remain calm?

Questions, questions, questions.

But i realised something rather obvious today - I am full of bluster.
All talk, little action. Fucked up. I need to change.
The answers are really quite obvious.

My field pack remains unpacked as it lies on my bed.

So i guess its time for me to say good bye.

Goodnight all my faithful readers. Take care!

After Some Time.

2007-11-18T20:47:00.000+08:00

I just got myself a new phone, a sleek black k800i.
The very first time i played with the joystick, i knew it would be a matter of time before it would spoil. (reminiscent of the K750i). Then a few days later, the screen protecter peeled itself off. I've begun to fear about the longevity of the phone. It didn't sooth my nerves when the phone started lagging. Then i realized the warranty card was unstamped. Damn. Pray it lasts till ORD oh.

I celebrate my 7th month of NS, but there's still long way to go..

My sister flew off for a school trip to Hydrebad, India. Kids these days are so lucky. She's a worrier, a complete contrast to the happy go lucky me. But i hope she has fun there. School trips at her age is definitely a life-changing experience. My trip to Beijing, back in innocent sec 2 with all the tamil-ians was fun.

Watching her fly off, i got this desire to go travelling again. And my wish is to be granted as i fly off to Brunei this Thursday 0000 hours. Army protocol apparently requires us to fly under the cover of night. I guess i cant say anymore, or it might just a be a threat to our national security.
But, to tell the truth, i am quite excited about the idea of jungle survival. haha.

I'm clearing my leave once i return, but i think i'll just spend that time at home.

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

Lions For Lambs get my vote for the picture of the year. Call me deprived, but its been ages since i read or heard some intellectual debate. Words flying across with razor sharp wit, I found it enthralling.
I loved the witty lines, particularly the ones about the Iraq war - especially this one "World War II took 5 years, and we're six years into Iraq." I've had enough of American arrogance, its good to see some humility.

I've been taken into the concept of promise vs potential.

Lets say you had a potential to change the world by doing something risky. But you decided to stick with your promise to earn the big bucks. Does that make you selfish person.
Then lets look the other way. If you had the potential to earn the moolah, but you promised to change the world. Are you a fool?
Everyone fears they are not living up to their potential, or they're making foolish promises.
I fear that i have might have just some potential, but in my haste to prove something to myself, or in my laziness, i might just lose that potential. And there's no turning back the clock.

I am not turned on by cash. Ya, money is important, but life is probably more than that. I want satisfaction more. But money buys happiness doesn't it?

The current bout of inflation just proves that. Its wierd how people think that everything will be alright and return to normal in the "near future". Do you really think that supply will return to "normal" in the near future? Demand is ever growing as the population grows. And if we are to save the planet by practicing sustainable or even "scientific" development, its pretty hard increase production of resources without stripping the planet to its barest of bones.
The rate of price of increase might slow down in the not-so-far run, when demand finally adjusts and supply "normalizes". But high prices are surely always here to stay.

Damn. I hope Brunei is a cheap place.

I'm going to stop rambling. Goodnight.

Clearing the Cowebs.

2007-11-12T21:13:00.000+08:00

I find it amazing that its been one year since my a levels ended.

What have i accomplished so far? Unsurprisingly nothing. haha.
I realize that each time i attempt to do some introspection at the end of the year, it just strikes much i'm frittering my youth away. But life goes on. Each year i just become more cynical, more sacarstic and the waistband starts to get tighter and tighter.

I need some intellectual stimulation to distract myself and that shall come in the form of my pet topic, doomsday and global warming.

I've been a (very moderate) tree-hugger global warming way before it was trendy to carry some ridiculous bag that had "I'm not a plastic bag" emblazoned across it. I find that bag extremely hypocritical of the whole green movement. Its just bimobotic to be eco-friendly just because its cool.

Anyway, i've always thought that global warming would lead to doomsday. Earthquakes and tsunamis were becoming so common and worse each time. And the Quran states that doomsday will come "When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion (99:1)". And with temperatures rising it would only be a matter of time the ice caps melted i could enjoy waterfront living from my 16th story flat. And when Singapore turns sweltering, i bet it would literally hard to survive without air-conditioning.

I believed in the Gaia theory, that the Earth is one big organism that will take revenge on humans that ravage it. I see it as how perfect God's creation is - He has created a self-sustainable planet that regenerate and survive on its own.

But hopefully all this doesn't happen in my lifetime. I believe my fellow Generation Y will suffer through a period of adjustment. And that will certainly be painful, as the earth is slowly stripped barren.

Its all a question of economics really. Demand vs Supply. Supply goes down. Demand continues to goes up with the ever burgeoning world population as old folks live longer and people can't stop reproducing. Inflation soars and the world ends. hahaha.

Its comforting to see the eco-movement move into the mainstream public consciousness nevertheless. Although i think its a case of too little, too late, well atleast they're trying.

But i have this sadistic desire for the world suffer with a shortage of oil or some other commodity. Humans can then learn their lesson and stop ravaging the world. haha.

Another Weekend.

2007-10-31T23:29:00.000+08:00

The cog-wheels in my overly suspicious mind are spinning with alarm as i see yet another precious weekend of mine burnt by the beloved detailer.
Bravo Wing consumes my beloved weekend with their ridiculous FIBUA. No soccer yet once again. Fucked up.
Anger swims in my mind. I fear for my weekends to come till Feb 09. ORD has never seemed so far away..

I can almost hear Yoda preaching "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you."

This sudden surge of philosophical thought must be the after-effects of the Hobbo. I need to read up soon one day, or i might just fall over into the Dark Side of Ignorance.

Flying of to Brunei on the 23th November, returning on the 9th December.

Ah. Life sucks. Fuck. Cant wait to ORD.

Just Think About It

2007-10-27T21:06:00.000+08:00

Hobbo has inspired me.

Aristotle states that a heavy object will fall faster than a light object. So drop a heavy and a light object from a decent height (Galileo was aware that there was air resistance to be taken in to account) and watch the increasing gap as the heavier one leaves the lighter one behind.

Now imagine the two objects joined by a light thread. The heavier one will start to pull on the lighter, accelerating it, and the lighter one will pull on the heavier, retarding it. So you end up with a picture of the two objects, lightly joined, falling at a speed in-between their individual speeds. Is that a contradiction? Galileo apparently thought so. However, you can continue the argument, by imagining the light thread to become thicker and thicker until it becomes a metal rod, or the thread becoming shorter until the two objects are joined - at what point do you argue that the two objects are now one? Whichever way you imagine it, you end up with one object, falling at an intermediate speed. This then becomes a contradiction, since the joined single object, with a mass the sum of the two initial objects, should fall, according to Aristotle, faster than either of the single objects..

Thought experiments are fascinating. With something as simple as a thought, you can disprove an entire theory! Where does that spark of inspiration come from? How do you suddenly get that spark of imagination? Its really amazing.
I hope i'm lucky enough to be given the grace of imagination by God one day.

Anyway it sucks when you have to book in on a saturday night. Urban Ops Live Firing tomorrow, and yet another weekend is burnt. Its been ages since i hung out.

I guess i'll just have to make do with thought experiments about it.

oh yea, i've finally replied to tags. haha.

Green is For... Many Things.

2007-10-21T07:47:00.000+08:00

I might be about 8 days late, but i would like to wish all my readers Eid Mubarak Greetings. May you forgive me for any sins i may have done.

My Hari Raya this year wasn't too bad, it was the first time i could actually celebrate it without any pessure of exams and what-so-ever. But unfortunately for me, my sisters were having exams this time. (Primary school maths has never seemed so complicated before)

But my family did spend the first day touring around the island visiting various elderlies and their families. Managed to catch up with a few relatives (and of course, my pockets did turn green - obviously the economy is buoyant). I realized that i have many relatives working in multi-national firms, that have unpronounceable names.
Anyway, i just ate alot, and the pants started to get tight around the waist. darn.

Although i do like socializing and making friends, its starting to get pretty annoying when people reply "Oh medic ah! wah shiok. slack job right, you down PES is it?"
please, i'm a combat medic who get his weekends burnt for ridiculous covers.

Anyway, i think the coolest Eid celebrations ever would be the one by Dr Sheik Mustapha, the first angkawasan.

Sending a Malaysian off into space is nothing more than a blatant propaganda exercise. The US$200 million could be easily well spent on many things, like building that proposed "crooked bridge" and other more meaningful projects. Mustapha might be doing some valuable experiments out there, but the stuff he is doing is hardly ground breaking - other nations have done it before.

I quote from mymalaysianastronaut.blogspot.com

"In his fourth experiment Dr Sheikh Muszaphar showed the audience on earth how a yoyo would swing in microgravity condition.

In a normal situation, a yoyo goes up and down when in play but in a microgravity condition, the yoyo goes up, down and to the front as well.

In his last experiment, he showed the difference in the speed of three balls of different sizes, travelling in microgravity condition.

The movement of the balls was like in a slow-motion movement.

The live video conference about microgravity with Malaysian astronaut was telecast live by Astro and also watched by students brought specially to the National Science Centre here which was also attended by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar and Deputy Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha"

That must have been the most expensive science lesson ever.

"During the 10-minute experiment, Sheikh Muszaphar wore a short-sleeved batik shirt. The Jalur Gemilang was hanging on the background. Kong also asked Dr Sheikh Muszaphar what was his biggest challenge at the ISS"

Batik shirts must be the latest fashion to hit the outer space and i guess the walls of the International Space Station are probably decked with the Malaysian flag. and i haven't even gotten into the jokes of him making teh-tahrik in space.

But sacarsm and jokes aside, there is no denial that he is a hero for the Malaysians.
It evokes a special sense of pride and unity to see a fellow countryman blast off into space.

I followed the media hype surrounding his blast-off and it was quite exciting. Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong were way before i was born.
Also, i would like to know how did he perform his prayers while in space. Space-age islam is an unexplored concept after all.

The concept of space exploration has been on the back burner for the past few decade, after the Apollo 13 incidents. But as Malaysia sends up its first astronaut, people from around the world will be listening in to what the ninth Muslim in space will have to say. Like medieval Muslim explorers who tackled new frontiers, Mustapha will have a chance to put Muslim nations back on the cutting edge of discovery. Perhaps it won't be long before space travel catches the imagination of other Muslim nations as well, and a new age of exploration would be born in this part of the world.

Fancy a trip to the moon anybody?

Monikers.

2007-10-05T22:38:00.000+08:00

"Wei Jin, you don't remember weijin meh? Our classmate."

"err, no. but maybe if i see the face i'll recognise him".

"aiyah, he's the shauna one."

"ooorrhh"

on the exact same day.

"yea, got some of of our class go commando also"

"really? like who?"

"got viknesh, you remember"

"viknesh? who's that? oh you mean kala? viki-kala?"

"yeaaa. thats right"

Some nicknames and memories are more endearing than the others eh. Its ironic that it takes a girl's name to remember a guy. And i don't think any of the guys had anything going on with the girls in the first-place.

luckily i have such a scandal-free past. hahaha.

Not for the first time in the past month i've been at SAFTI MI, my friday nights are being spent in camp. For some reason or so, i seem to have gotten many weekend duties. sian. But i've taken a liking to this life, despite the schedule unpredicatability. Life in leaf-green somehow isn't too bad now i guess.

How Well Do You Know Your Nation?

2007-09-30T22:05:00.000+08:00

I've got three field camps after Hari Raya! Despite my self-proclaimed love for all things green, i'd definitely rather admire the alluring green of the green packets. Arrghh.

But the meagre compensation i get is a relatively slack fourteen days till Eid-Ul-Fitr. I should really stop procrastinating and start signing up for driving and whatever-else lessons one day.

The world may be in a constant state of flux, but my life is just amazingly dormant.

Anyway, here's an interesting quiz that should rack the brains of those who actually bother to click on the crosses at the bottom of this page.

How well do you know your country?

1) Tanglin CC is situated at STEVEN road or STEVENS road or STEVEN'S road?

2) Is the Stamford Hotel on Stamford Road and is Raffles Hotel in Raffles Road?

3) What was the first expressway to be built?

4) How long is our national anthem?

5) How much does our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earn?

haha. answers in next post!

No More Lunches For Me.

2007-09-25T22:41:00.000+08:00

Ramadan has always collided with the exams and school for the past few years. But now, thankfully it comes at an opportune moment - i am enjoying 8 to 5 and i have no field camps in September either. So i will admit it is relatively easy for me to fast at this period of time, thank god.

Anyway, once again i find many people expressing their wonder at how difficult fasting is. The doctor at my Med Centre (whom you can tell loves his food with just one look) summed it up by saying "I don't eat breakfast i feel like fainting already."

Fasting is not that hard really.
Most Muslims (including me) don't follow the islamically-encouraged lifestyle during the fasting month, where you have to read the quran, pray and do good deeds through out the day. Rather, most of us just sleep during the day, as falling glucose levels in our blood invite your brain to shut down.
But saying that, fasting is certainly not easy on everybody. It does involve a certain amount of sacrifice and hunger pangs. But what i'm saying is that we muslims shouldn't exaggerate. It would only serve to further deteriorate the name of Islam.

While i sit in my air-conditioned medical centre, I have utmost respect and admiration for all those guys out there who are fasting and still participate in the physical activities. Hats off to you guys.

On the first day of Ramadan, i decided to take my clinical parameters for fun out of sheer boredom. It yielded very interesting results. Fasting reduces your blood pressure to almost "red-alert" levels. My systolic BP reached around 50. Your pulse rate drops as well, even when you are exercising. And the glucose level in your blood remains constantly low at 3.8 throughout the day. (any lower than that is dangerous).

But i learned something about myself - my normal pulse rate is very low. It averages at about 54 when i'm sitting down in a chair. (A pulse rate of below 60 is actually considered to be an "urgent case") haha.

Here's two excellent links about Ramadan.
Haqi Islam
A Hadith for the Day

Right Back After These Messages.

2007-09-16T07:50:00.000+08:00

Hmmm, its been sometime since i've blogged isn't it?

I have been reading up on environmental destruction in the past few days and i thought i should do my part and enlighten others to help to save the world! Thus, i got a new skin.

So to continue from where i left off - the day after my POP at Old Ford Factory, i got my posting.
We were all told to assemble at 7.20am at SMTI. But in the end, we only got our posting at 11am. Enough said.

To tell the truth, i was partially disappointed i did not get into Guards. Despite it being "shiong", i was certain being a guardsmen would instill some pride in me.

But in the end, i got posted to SAFTI MI, which is probably one of the best units to get posted to. haha. SAFTI MI is a training institute for all the officers, which means it is really the most posh camp in the whole of the SAF, and it has the best facilities. And even better, we medics are perm staff there, which mean we get to use all the sports and recreational facilities. Haha. Its a slack life, and i thank god for it.
I'm currently on my 3 weeks long understudy training, so its quite challenging to learn the ropes. Especially when you found out whatever you learn previously was bullshit.

Enough of my boring life, its probably as fun as watching the trees grow.

I found some interesting advertisments from our compatriots across the Causeway. For all their faults, i think Malaysian TV certainly has quality advertisments.

Take a look at these few.

And what advertisements can we boast of?

I think i will watch grass grow each time i hear "We'll be back right after these messages" on Channel Five.

POP loh ! (Once Again)

2007-08-29T23:35:00.001+08:00

POP once again!
Got presented with the medic armband at last after a short 9 weeks (my, how time flies).

SMTI wanted to do something different, so my batch has the dubious honour of being the first and only batch to graduate upon the historical grounds of the old Ford Factory.
I bet half of my non-existent readers don't even know where old Ford Factory is. Go ask your grand-daddies - its the sacred grounds where Lt-Gen Percival meekly gave up the impregnable fortress of Singapore to the Japanese on 15 Feb 1942. Oh, and it was a also Ford factory (yes, Singapore did actually manufacture cars back then).

We were all given a tour of the place before the ceremony itself.
The Museum has excellent exhibits. Lot of effort has been put into the exhibits, and it shows. Even the tiniest details have been mentioned. And the crown jewel of the whole place must be the oral history exhibit, where there are video-ed interviews of witnesses. They even have an interactive quiz to make sure you remember all the facts and figures. Neat stuff. Everything you should and want to know about the Japanese occupation is condensed within its walls.

Its worth a visit at only $3 per adult.

Some of my friends were debating about how Percival was the reason we were all serving two-year sentences. Had he not surrendered, the Union Jack might just be still be flying and the armed forces wouldn't have to be conscripted. haha. its interesting food for thought.

Now here comes the exciting part - the actual parade itself. I thought the parade itself was pretty unglam to start with - in front of an old factory and surrounded by private condominiums and a jungle with monkeys sitting in the trees.
And the parade was held on the very turf where Percival once walked as he sent Singapore to its humiliation.

But it was a very anti-climax affair in the end - the usual dour speeches and the instructors adorned our armbands for us. But still, we actually have passed out as level one medics!

The many red crosses.

Bunk Six - Horny Kynan, Officer Gordon, Malik Me, Corpral Commando Toh, Medic Sex Minghui and, our pride, the Best Service Medic Nelson.

getting my posting tomorrow!

Another Weekend Flies By

2007-08-27T09:34:00.000+08:00

I am going to make a fruitless promise - i promise not to rush my weekends anymore.

gotta spend more time with the people whom you grew up with.

I've suddenly developed an interest in muscials. Music and Lyrics is such a feel-good show. I want to watch Hairspray. But High School Muscial Two is a ridiculous movie. The ending is ludricous.

I like these lyrics though.

When you dream, there's a chance you'll find
A little laughter, or happy ever after

In the Gas Chamber

2007-08-16T22:32:00.000+08:00

I actually cried today. Which was a pretty interesting experience.

I went through this Chemical Defence course for the past two days, of which the highlight was to experience how teargas feels like.
The first day of the course was all the usual yadda-yadda - talks and videos, all SAF style with crappy techno music and countless acronyms (actually, i realise that almost everything in the SAF is an acronym). The yadda-yadda surprisingly managed to impress the deadly potency of the chemical and biological warfare on me. Its scary to imagine what would happen if some Aum Shinrikyo wannabe group released some Sarin gas.

All of us were issued the thick protective suits known as the IPE (Individual Protective Equipment - another acronym!) complete with gloves and overboots made out of chemical resistant butile rubber and with the uber cool looking gas mask.
The gas mask looks like the ones bank robbers wear in movies. haha.

The suit is not comfortable at all, but the mask is more unsettling. As you're breathing through the cannister, breathing becomes very mechanical, and you have to control your breathing all the time, unless you don't want to suddenly hyper-ventilate.

So suited up, we all had to go to the Smoke Training Facility for the confidence excercise.

Before i entered the chamber, I had this image of a bleak-ly painted room with no windows and taps on the ceiling that would continually pump deadly toxic gas.
One even expected that there would be it would just be a toilet and we would have to mutter parseltongue.

But the room was just a normal room and smoke pellets were burnt to produce the gas. We were all asked to do some excercises in the room, but i couldn't breathe in any gas - the mask was apparently doing its job.

But the fun part was the finale, when we all to remove our masks and feel the teargas.

I cannot exactly describe how it feels like, but it certainly is exhilariting.
When you first take your hood out, the skin around the neck starts to burn, but its not that irritating yet. Then you remove your mask, and your face starts to burn and tingle. But thats only the icing on the cake.
When you take in a deep breath of smoke, it prickles your respiratory tract and you just start to cry. Simply amazing. haha.

Eight weeks ago when i recived my posting for the Medic course, i was very much surprised and quite hesitant. But now, i don't regret coming here to Nee Soon camp at all. I've learnt alot, made new friends and done some new things as well.
Previously, i had no inkling of why anyone would want to do medicine (other than for the money). I am beginning to understand the importance of life-saving and how noble the profession is.
Well, i pray i will turn out to be a decent medic, worthy of the profession.

Short Post for a Long Weekend

2007-08-12T21:11:00.001+08:00

Wah. The four day holiday was excellent!

My life has been really insipid recently, i have become totally un-inspired to blog, let alone write anything. My ability to do solve mathematical problems has also been slowly decreasing, much to the chargin of my tuition student. I had trouble reading the Money section yesterday as well, my fragile grasp of economic principles has broken.

The signs are omni-present - i must be suffering from dementia.

Anyway, back to the main topic of a long weekend (finally). It would have been ridiculous to book in just for a few hours, and thank god the SMTI commander realised that. And lucky for us, someone failed to take that privillege away.

I spent so much time at home. shiok. The bed feels good, although my bed back at camp isnt half bad (it was just replaced). The air-con felt even better. haha.

and at long last, the EPL is back! haha.
YOU"LL NEVER WALK ALONE!

back to camp now.

Hallows Is Spiffy

2007-07-22T19:14:00.000+08:00

Oh, the torment bred in race,
the grinding scream of death
and the stroke that hits the vein,
the haemorrhage none can staunch, the grief,
the curse no man can bear.

But there is no cure in the house
and not outside it no,
not from the others but from them,
their bloody strife. We sing to you,
dark gods beneath the earth.

Now hear, you blissful powers underground -
answer the call, send help.
Bless the children, give them triumph now.

Aeschylus, The Liberation Bearers.

It took me nearly nine hours to complete the 607 page tome, to relish each word and to fully comprehend the plot. I liked the storyline of Hallows, all the pieces fall into place in an intriguing manner. I think it was very clever of Rowling to connect all the loose ends and supporting characters to the design of the plot. But she does rush through some parts of the narration, leaving some question marks. Oh, and the ending was cheesy. haha.., but i won't spoil it any further.

I think Rowling most notable contribution to English literature would be how she has introduced to the concept of death into children's books. Her view of death - as a journey rather than an end - is a more "good" version. And that appeals to me.
By creating a villain who seeks to conquer death, she has also painted it as "evil" to fear and resist death. But death cannot be conquered as Rowling herself writes, "the last enemy That shall be destroyed is death." And the climatic Harry-Voldermort battle only seeks to illustrate this point.

Oh, and she also has turned unusual names usual. Who would have heard of names like Hermione, Hagrid, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Weasly, Malfoy, Lupin, Pettigrew, and of course Voldermert one decade ago?

Rowling has this brilliant knack of inserting humor in between lines. I think the funniest line in the entire series would be "If you are not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you, but no pressure." hahaha.

For the first time since..... enlistment (i think) i spent my Saturday evening at home. haha.. It was fun to get to get hooked on to a book again. To be obsessed about something. Gee, I need a life. hahaha.

I got this 25% off book voucher from Popular when i bought Hallows and I am going to use it to buy another book. I must upkeep this habit of reading, lest i forget how to recognize the alphabet come July 2009. haha. Anyone (if there is even anyone reading this) has any books to recommend?

Its 'Bout Time..

2007-07-15T01:54:00.000+08:00

Its about time i updated.... and its about time Book Seven came out as well.

The gold emerald-embedded locket in the picture is probably the fake Horcrux mentioned in Book Six. The description is similar to the one in Book Six. "R.A.B" is obviously going to play an important part in this Book. But alas, there is no reference to the "Deathly Hallows".

The cover for children's version of the book is the one that piques my interest.

It looks as if Harry, Ron and Hermione (all looking frightened) are falling into treasure of silver and gold with an ominous manhole or entrance at the back. The devil is in the details though. Closer inspection would reveal some creature (presumably a house-elf) hand gripping Harry's right shoulder, and wielding a silver sword with a ruby mounted on the hilt with its other hand (presumably the sword of Gordic Gryffindor).
If rumors are to be true, the character that JK Rowling asked not to be dropped from the fifth Harry Potter film is to be Kreacher. So it may be possible that Kreacher plays a part in the very end itself.

The US Cover by Scholastic is the most disappointing of the lot.

I can only guess that both Harry and Lord Voldermort decide to grab out to some thing at the same time is some Stonehenge-like arena, while the rest just sit and watch the show from far away. haha.

There are some plot holes which i hope will get filled up.
-Harry's visit to Gordic's Hollow.
-The secret behind his mother's life.
-His "green eyes"
-The life-debt Wormtail owes him.
- What actually lies behind the Curtain.
- Why does Harry sees a "gleam of triumph" in Dumbledore's eyes when he heard that Voldemort had used Harry's blood to resurrect himself.
- Snape's true loyalties.
- And of course, the secret behind "R.A.B".

I'm trying to speed read Books Four, Five and Six by the end of this week, before i can finally lay my hands on the Final Book. Hopefully i get to finish them. haha.

Some of my bunk-mates in camp are Potter-maniacs as well, and we spent some time discussing the new Harry Potter book. All of us had a similar tale to share - when we young, innocent and carefree in Primary Five, we were all hooked onto the magical tales of Harry Potter. Now ten years later, we still are. haha.
Book Four was my favourite book of the lot so far, but i'm secretly hoping that Deathly Hallows will out do the Goblet of Fire.

Enough of Potter-mania, life at Nee Soon camp goes on as usual. I've been poked three times already. My buddy appears to be a sharp-shooter at vein-finding. But alas, i pale in comparison. I cant seem to hit my the vein on my first poke. haha. Sorry buddy.
I volunteered to be "spare arms" for once to let others poke on me, and i quite regretted it. The fella hit straight at my nerve and then went to feel around for my vein.

Intravenous infusion aside, i am starting to realise i need to have an exceptional memory. I have plenty to memorise! Each fracture has its own seprate bandage, and its pretty hard to learn all of them. Argh! Lol.

July the First

2007-07-01T18:57:00.000+08:00

I got a rude shock today when the MRT station gates rejected my EZ-link card.
My beloved six year old blue ezlink card had expired. As i went to give the card to the Translink office to claim the remaining money back, i realized once again that my schooling days had sadly come to end. I'll miss looking at the innocent picture of me on my ezlink. Ah those days in blue-and-white....
They were much better than my current life in green. haha.

Actually life in Nee Soon Camp is pretty slack. Good food, little physial, plenty of studying. We have lectures everyday and we even have to take notes during lecture. Almost similar to school eh. haha. Its not all theory though, we get practical CPR, chemical warfare blah blah here and there as well. I think I am gonna get fat by the end of course. argh. haha.

Anyway, today seems to be particularly significant in Singapore history. There is a co-ordinated price increase everywhere. GST goes up and NETS goes up. And the ban on smoking starts today as well. Well, i guess that means that an election not gonna happen anytime soon eh. haha..

Medic Me

2007-06-24T22:59:00.000+08:00

Time flies.

Holiday is over. Back to camp.

Here we go again, same old shit again.

I've been posted to Nee Soon course for the Medic Course. My posting did startle me, because i have no knowledge nor background of any medical knowledge.
In fact the few things i know about medics is that they either carry stretchers and run all day and they have fun poking IV needles into their buddy's veins.
Oh boy, doesn't that sound fun.

Well, i guess i shouldn't judge until i reach the camp tomorrow.
I hope i get a great buddy there.

I had some wierd comments about my posting.
Someone asked me "So do you go around fighting people with your syringe? Like poke AIDS into the enemy so that they die or something?"
haha! how bimbotic.
Medics either work in the medical office or hang out with the battle units, for your info.

Anyw, T.T Durai has been sentenced to only 3 months in jail! How kelong is that.

He spent millions to finance his extravagant lifestyle, like building golden taps and taking first class. All those kidney patients out there could have had free medical treatment if not for him. And all he get is a 3 month jail term??
Is his judgement linked to his decision not to testify in court? Under the table dealings huh. Who knows what other sordid details might have been revealed. Maybe they had diamond studded toothbrush holders. And a certain Mrs Goh and god knows who else might have been humiliated. haha. Durai's silence speaks volumes.

Its time for me to pack my bag for tmr. Argh. Nights.

One Week Later..

2007-06-20T23:48:00.000+08:00

I think i've gained a few pounds in recent days, which means all the imaginary weight loss has turned to naught. haha.

I've spent the past few days eating, eating with old friends as we catch up, eating as watch so many movies, eating good food that i missed and eating good-old-home-food. haha. Army has certainly made me appreciate the value of good food..

Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Spidey 3, Oceans 3 - I've watched all the "Part Threes" this week and i've come out mostly disappointed. Talk about waste of allowance. Considering that i earn less than a cleaner or assistant in MacDonalds, watching all those crappy movies has almost made a poor man..

I spent some time reading up the blogs of others, and i find it heartening that my friends are leading happy and idiosyncratic lives as usual. But i find it eerie that some of my friends will be starting university in merely a few weeks.. Time flies eh..
I may not have spoken or sms-ed to all of you'll in recent times, but am i keeping on eye on your blogs so keep on updating! haha.

Although i do very much miss being a student in blue-and-white, the idea of going to university gives me the jitters. I've chosen to go to SMU business school, but i wonder if that is the course for me. I am starting to think that i should have gone to do economics instead, or even take political science.. but what the hell, i've already accepted it. haha.

Ok, i've got nothing more to say. So back to LOST!
Season 3 has been disappointing so far..

45 Days Later.

2007-06-13T12:18:00.001+08:00

And with these pictures, i resurrect my blog.

With my rifle and my buddy and me...
One of the reasons why i am still alive and kicking is thanks to this fella.

POP OH!

Haha. I won't deny i'm happy to leave the dreaded island.

Graduation parade was as nugatory as parades can be.
And the emcee's lines were ridiculous - espescially the his final one : "I present to you the trained soldiers!", we were making fun of it for days. haha.

I think i'll miss Leopard for the spirit it embodifies; the spirit of being a champion.
Leopard is the Games Day champion once more. haha. Scorpion can stop pretending to be the champion please. haha.
Being a champion company means that we can swagger around with cavalier in our company shirts. And that is something worth remembering.

What has BMT done for me?
Maybe I've shed a few pounds, i can run a little longer, and maybe somewhat mentally tougher.
But it has also unfortunately brain-washed me.
I now spend all my time talking about the army, the army and the army. argh!
I'm sure i'll start losing some friends if i keep jibber-jabbering about the life in greens. haha..

Some people say the best part about BMT is field camp.
We got to sleeping under the stars and watch lightning streak the skyline. We had to dig a hole in the hot sun. And we had to running around the jungle firing blanks. The coolest part was the urban ops training.
"Storm the room! Storm the room!".
I got to kick the door and jump into a window. Like some movie like that. haha.

There are other fun parts to BMT.

But to me the favourite part of BMT is what happens after that.
Got 10 days of block leave! woohoo.

Don't need to reveille at 515 anymore. Ah, pure bliss.

Book Out , Book In.

2007-05-01T22:32:00.000+08:00

Estimated Time Remaining for Book In - 8 hours.

Here i am, straining my tired eyes as i stare at my computer monitor, and it is only mere hours before it is time for me to step foot into Tekong once more.

The army experience cannot be surmized in a few words; no particular incident can be used to illustrate it. Rather, it is the whole concept of a regimental lifestyle, where the superiors control your life, and as a recruit, you expect them to do so as well, that defines the the Army Experience. This system is enforced by its carrots and sticks, which are both part and parcel of the life in green.

Thankfuly, so far i have tasted more carrots then being hit by sticks.

I am in Leopard Company, Platoon 3, Section 3, Bed 7 - the bed right beside the window, where no breeze can be felt. My 4D number as such is L3307.
My company is run by Warrant Officers and is reputed to be a welfare company. We have not been made to "Knock It Down" 100 times yet, and hopefuly never.

My neighbours, Ninja and Mohawk company employ sticks more often than carrots.

My superiors, being Warrant Officers or Enciks, have some interesting tales to tell. Due to their long service, they have a long list of tales to tell. So i get to hear some good stories.
Its been quite fun so far, and thats mainly because I have some interesting section mates.
One of them is the son of an MP, a few are star soccer players, there are two ironman and so on.
I'll say i have the best section and the best sergants.

Espescially Sergant Jihad.

He's a cool guy who utters vulgarities every 5 syllables. And he's nice at heart, but does not shirk from punishment. And of course, he has a scary name. haha.

Talking about scare, there is alleged to be an ang-moh female ghost residing on my floor. In the first section, long strands of brown hair - too long to be from any of us - are found every few days on the floor. I took a look at the strands of hair, and they are indeed creepy. I shall place my faith and trust in God, but i wonder if any of my friends will bring in their mystical objects - like amulets and stuff. haha.

But to me, the most interesting part is the concept of fate and co-incidence. By mere co-incidence or not, many of my platoon mates are somehow connected to me. Some are my friends' friends, others are my primary school classmates, some i have seen at some event etc.
There is one guy who sat beside me in the lecture room one day and told me i was a friend of his ex-girlfriend. The world is indeed amazingly small.

What were the odds that i would meet the same people again? Is it fate, i wonder.

Well whatever it is, i now have about 7 hours to my book in time. Time to sleep.
Goodnite.

Farewell, My Beloved Bolster.

2007-04-08T22:37:00.000+08:00

Getting enlisted at last tomorrow 8am, in approximately 333000 seconds.

Woo Hoo.

Strangely, I eager to enter this brave new world. And yet i am fearful of leaving my dearest bolster.

I have spent much of the many past weeks discussing about the army life with my friends. And interestingly i never seem to get bored of it. And the irony of it all, is that those who are already enlisted will do anything to steer a conversation away from that dreaded topic.

The kan-cheong Malik inside of me has been on its teetering edge for the past few days - which company will i be in? who will be my section mates? will i suffer?
And I got the answer from the unlikiest of sources - from the TV Show LOST. The character John Locke says "You've got to learn to stop looking."
It sounds kinda stupid, but somehow i felt less kan-cheong after hearing that. haha.

p.s. Zeno's theories have been mostly disproved due to advances in Mathematics and the discovery of the theories of Calculus and Summation. hahaha.

Reply to Tags.

Khan : Lol. Just something i read about, thanks.
Faddy : Eh if i ever meet u in the train, don't freak out if you see me botak ok!
Sarah : haha! that was as lame as it could get. Anyway Zeno was disproved! haha. no worries, just don't forget to meet me before you run off to Kangaroo-land.

I still have yet to finish packing but i feel damn lazy to do it. haha.

And here's something for my own memories.

I never knew i had curly hair until a few months ago. It seems i'm a chip of my daddy's block.

It'll be another two years till i can grow long hair again. I'm going to rebond my hair next time, grow a fringe and continue with the coloured lenses (maybe i'll wear red ones instead). hahaha.

lol. i should learn not to count my chicken's before the eggs hatch.

Goodbye Everybody.
Won't be updating that regularly from now on.

Thanks for reading my blog!

To readers like Aru, Eph, Khan, Noorjehan Aunt, Anis, Sarah, Sherin, Naseem, Janet, Ren, Faddy, Xinyi, Afreen and those whom i may have forgotten to mention,

Take care and all the best in your endeavors.

Au Revoir.

Another Petition.

2007-04-05T23:04:00.000+08:00

Say NO to Pay Hike for Singapore Ministers

hahaha.

this whole thing reminds me of the last petition i signed - the SAJC PW petition, which ended disastorously.
The previous petition morphed into a many-headed hydra spewing insults at the whole SAJC teaching family, which was eventually shut down at the behest of its creator, when he realized his brainchild had bypassed its original noble intentions.

This "Pay Hike" petition is certainly a waste of time, because it is certainly not going to affect the impending pay hike anyway. Once Harry has made up his mind, its surely going to happen, as any coffeeshop regular or taxi driver can tell you.

I quote one taxi driver "Give me one example where the government has changed its mind and reversed a decision just because we commoner don't like it?" hahaha.

It is heartening to see fellow Singaporeans actually being "political". But it is a reflection of our contemporary Singapore society. If we don't like something political, we just complain about it online. Since the newspapers rarely publish any "radical" views, nor can we take to the streets in protest, all that is left is for Singaporeans to rant online.

Anyway, i am in favour of the minsterial pay hike. And its not because we will become a "corrupted" society or because "my assests will become a fraction of what they are, and all our woman will be sent to other nations to work as foreign maids".
The economy has been doing well for the past year, so there should be some reward. And the ministerial salaries are way below that of private sector top management. Unless salaries are raised, it could discourage future ministerial candidates.
Also, Singapore is a business, albeit a family run one. So when profits are up (economy is growing), wages should rise. Simple economics.

But it seems that that the popular sentiment is as follows - if i, the commoner, am suffering from high costs and low pay, there is no reason why my leaders should get higher pay.
Such views are understandable, but i think PAP is creating further resentment with its crummy PR efforts.

The timing and manner in which PAP has raised this issue smacks downright of arrogance. The PAP appears to be greedy.
Its been barely months after the GST increase. And although the economy is booming, the wage gap continues to widen as the middle class start to disappear. Workfare bonuses were a great help to the poor, but left the middle income bitter. And the measly financial assistance given out to the poor has rankled many.

Harry's fierce views about why Singapore "needs that ministerial pay rise" is very blunt and conventional PAP. He threatens all gloom and doom, which is the standard PAP rebuttal.
The other ministers have also been painting various versions of Doomsday, with Singapore turning out to be a corrupted country if there's no pay hike blah blah.

Such comments are nothing new, but they are definitely not soothing tensions of the ground. The "disconnect" between the PAP and the ground is very much present. As you can see, PAP is not adressing the main issue of the people. It is not even attempting to counter claims of avarice.

It is inevitable that the ministerial pay will rise. But i doubt people will hold any grudge - Singaporeans have a short memory. PAP has never lost an election yet has it. haha.

Paradox.

2007-04-04T11:58:00.000+08:00

Here's some food for thought,

Zeno's Paradoxes.

The first one explains why when you are sitting on your chair in a room, you can never reach the door knob.
If the distance between two points, or a line, is composed of an inifinite number of points, then you can bisect that line. And you can keep bisecting the areas you previously bisected ad-infinitum. Hence, you potentially have an infinite amout of space in a finite distance between two points and can really never get anywhere.

Another paradox deals with motion.
When you move from one place to another, you reach the midway point before the final destination. And you before you get to the halfway mark, you reach the halfway mark of the midway point. Ergo, you habe to travel an infinite number of points in an finite number of time, which is essentially impossible.

The third one is the dichotomy paradox.

"You cannot even start."

"That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal." (Aristotle Physics VI:9, 239b10)

Suppose Homer wants to catch a stationary bus. Before he can get there, he must get halfway there. Before he can get halfway there, he must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a quarter, he must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on.

The resulting sequence can be represented as:

This description requires one to complete an infinite number of steps, which Zeno maintains is an impossibility.

This sequence also presents a second problem in that it contains no first distance to run, for any possible first distance could be divided in half, and hence would not be first after all. Hence, the trip cannot even begin.

The paradoxical conclusion then would be that travel over any finite distance can neither be completed nor begun, and so all motion must be an illusion.

If you understood that, hats off to you. haha.

Singapore is the only place where army doesn't mean war.

2007-03-30T22:59:00.000+08:00

So here it is, my final week before enlistment.

Looking back at the past 3 months, I'll say that i did have quite an enjoyable time. It wasn't spiffing, but it was dandy enough.

Anyways, I attended a short lecture by Senior Research Fellow Mark Hong of the Institute of South East Asian Studies recently. He talked about Singapore's foreign policy, and a keynote of his speech was that Singapore has now grown into a developed nation, and thus its foreign policy must evolve as well.

Many debate-inducing issues were brought up. But i shall focus on the military aspect, with my impending enlistment in mind.

All developed nations must have a formidable military, and developed nations are more likely to engage in armed warfare.

I have full confidence that the PAP government won't attack Malaysia or any other country in search of resources. Being a small country, Singapore cannot openly foray into battle. The repercussions would be too great if other bigger nations were to reciprocate the bloodlust, and we would be all too easily destroyed by weapons of mass destruction.

But what if our allies ask for aid in their own military conquests? Should we aid our friends in need, like a responsible "grown-up" country?
Singapore has developed close economic and politcal ties with the USA in a relatively short period of time. This friendship is likely to only get closer with the signing of the FTA. She is also growing ties with China and India.
There is a chance when these nations go to war, they might call us for help.

There is little chance of another world-wide war occuring in near future. Rather military conflicts are now likely to be between an alliance of nations against "rogue" states, as can be seen in the various wars.

Being a developed nation means, Singapore will now be mentioned in the same breath as the US, Europe and Japan. Which means that each time some problem in the world arises, the rest of the world will inadvertly look to us to solve it. Such a situation may seem impossible to comprehend now, but it may be the case in the next 50 years.

This creates the opportunity for Singapore to be actually involved in a military conflict.
If USA wants to attack invade another country for allegedly harbouring weapons of mass destruction, it might ask Singapore to send troops to join the battle.
If the friendship between Singapore and America grows at its current pace in the next century, it will be very hard for us to say no. Just look at US and Japan.
Singapore foreign policy will always involve cultivating close ties with the greatest power in the world, but this friendship cannot always remain economical and political. It may just have to transcend into the military level.

Singapore may not be able to say no if there are many repercussions involved.

All these means that there is actually a chance that whatever we learn in Tekong may not just be a waste of time.
But there will definitely be great discontent if troops get sent to battle, and even worse if someone dies out there. NS will not be a joke anymore.

9 days to enlistment.

The Nadir

2007-03-25T16:09:00.000+08:00

I think I've reached a nadir in my intellectual capability.

I was watching LOST (which i gleefuly smuggled across the Causeway) and i realised i could not understand some of the dialouges.
The words used were not baffling; but they were words that seemed vaguely familiar. Like I had checked up the word before, but i had forgotten its meaning.

I feel stupid. argh.

Ever since the A levels ended, i appear to have stopped learning. I don't read the newspapers regularly anymore. I don't check up the dictionary for words i don't know. And i haven't even completed a single story book since November.
i've not even bothered to learn a new skill, a new language or even read up something new. I've been too busy just wasting my time, that some part of my brain has gone into hibernation.

I wonder if this how life in army will be like. Intellectual redudancy.
I think by the time i enter university, i would even forgotten how to spell my name.

To tell the truth, i've lost all memory of my academic calender. I never realised that the March holidays came and went, until i realised that my sisters were not going to school on a Monday morning. I cant even recollect what my timetable was like, how did i study for all my tests, or how did tutorials and lectures occur. haha. I think i have a pathetic memory.

I vow to read at least one book before army. Damn, i've only 16 days.

Anyway, Genting-KL tour was great.
Its fun travelling with friends, very different from going with the family. Quite fun cos we all had the same interests and could just do what we wanted to do. No plan, no restriction on money or food.
I've eaten so much that my pants don't feel loose anymore.

Journey to Genting was exciting. We booked the 8am bus, which means meet at Woodlands mrt at 615am. Which means everyone must wake up early. Easier said than done.
We all somewhat reach on time, and we rushed to JB to take the bus. Then, as we were crossing the Causeway, it pours. So we get drenched as we dash to Merlin tower. When we reach the Tower, it turns out the bus hasn't arrived yet. Lol. So we all go for a breakfast of prata.

Genting Themepark was fun. I've been there a few times before many years ago, but this was my first time trying out all the rides.
We went for the Corkscrew ride thrice. Shiok. haha. And they have this new Flying Coaster ride thats superb, but 10RM for 2 rides. Ouch.
The Go-Kart ride was pathetic. The maximum speed is 10 km/h and the tagline for the GoKart ride is ironically "Feel the Speed".

There is a cheap express bus from KL to Genting, which offers "affordable and comfortable connectivity from KL to Genting"
But since the fare is so low, the bus company packs the bus to the brim, and some passengers have to stand while we go down the winding road. Low fare = lousy bus = lousy aircon. The "comfortable" word fails to live up to its promise, and i wonder how the those standing survived the whole ordeal.

KL was slack - shopped a bit, ate alot.

We ate at one roadside shop where despite the abhorrent hygenie conditions, the Naan served was excellent. I drank the famous Malaysian teh-tahrik, but seriously, i find nothing special about it. Indian chaya tastes
Another memorable makan place is the Victoria station steakhouse. Its this posh place designed to look like the Victoria train station in England, complete with trains parked in the restaurant itself. Diners can sit inside the train as well. I'm not sure how to explain it in words, but the restaurant just has this feel and ambience of a colonial train station.
I've never eaten at such a "high class" place before, so i was quite confounded when the waiter asked me "How would you like your steak sir?" haha. I took Medium Well after eyeball-consulting Faris, and the steak served was delectable.

Return journey was entertaining.
I booked the normal "Super VIP" bus - which is a 26 seater bus with decent cushioned chairs where you could lean back and all, which costs 35RM. But we instead got a "Super VIP Premium" bus - an 18-seater with a personalised entertainment system and relaxing chair.
The entertainment system had only lame games and pirated movies, but hey i'm not complaining. haha.

Happy birthday to Carson Goh on 20th March. He got free entrance to Genting themepark just because it was his birthday. Wtf. haha.

I'll post the rest the pictures on my Shutterfly soon.

2007-03-19T01:33:00.000+08:00

Going.. going.. gone.

Its time to get ready for army!

I've merely 3 weeks left. And my bulging tummy offers no redemption.

Ok, my bus leaves in approximately 6 hours, and i've to wake up in 3 hours!
Shit. Haven't packed finish either. And i'm surely going to get fatter now.

All evil-doers in KL beware!

300

2007-03-15T15:10:00.000+08:00

300 is one stylish flick.

I finally managed to step into a cinema in about 6 months and see my first post A levels movie.

There is this scene, where the 300 Spartans stand tall and act cool as they await the Persians, while heavy rock music blasts in the background. very cool, very Naruto. enough said.

but 300 is the only film that i've seen where violence is so de-sensitized.
The auburn visuals and unnatural lighting give a whole comic book feel to the movie. It makes the war scenes appear cool and cinematic.

But it also means that you are likely to go "wow" instead of "gross" when severed heads fly across the screen. And the whole slow-mo effect only enhances this feeling.

But i give the show my thumbs up because it makes war poetic, and the adrenaline is kept high with all the fighting. and thats enough to satisfy my inner fan-boy.

The film is actually historically in-accurate though. The 300 Spartans led an allied Greek army of around 7000, and 700 Thebans fought beside the hoplites at the final battle against the Persian Immortals. Click here to read more. But the heroics of the Spartans are indeed praise worthy.

An interesting note - The Ephors told Leonidas not to go to war, as it was the time of the Carneian Festival and the Olympic Festival which fell exactly at this same period.
I quote from Herodotus, VIII, 26 .

Xerxes I was curious as to why there was such a small Greek force guarding Thermopylae and interrogated some Arcadian prisoners. The answer was that all the other men were participating in the Olympic Games, forbidding them to participate in war. When Xerxes I asked what the prize for the winner was, "An olive-wreath" came the answer. Upon hearing this, Tritantaechmes, a Persian Empire general, spontaneously responded by saying to Mardonius: "Good heavens! Mardonius, what kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for money, but for honor".

Spartans were famous for their laconic wit, an attribute sadly not mentioned in the movie.
Here are some historical examples.

-A witticism attributed to Lycurgus, the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, is a response to a proposal to set up a democracy there: "Begin with your own family."

-One famous example comes from the time of the invasion of Phillip II. With key Greek city-states in submission, he turned his attention to Sparta and sent a message: "If I win this war, you will be slaves forever". The Spartans sent back a one word reply: "If". In another version, Philip proclaims: "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city". Subsequently, Philip and Alexander both would leave them alone.

-Demetrius I of Macedon was offended when the Spartans sent his court a single envoy, and exclaimed angrily," What! Have the Lacedaemonians sent no more than one ambassador?" The Spartan responded, "Aye, one ambassador to one king."

-A Spartan king wanted his hair prepared, so he turned to his barber and said, "Cut it." When he was asked how he wanted it done, he answered "Short."

-When the Persians sent envoys to the Spartans demanding the traditional symbol of surrender, an offering of soil and water, the Spartans threw them into a deep well, suggesting that upon their arrival at the bottom, they could "Dig it out for yourselves."

-Herodotus wrote that when before the Battle of Thermopylae, Dienekes the Spartan, was told the Persian arrows would be so numerous as to blot out the sun. He responded with "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade". Today Dienekes's phrase is the motto of the Greek 20th Armored Division.

-When the Spartan King Leonidas was in charge of guarding the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae with just 300 Spartan men in order to delay the invading Persian army, the Persian leader Xerxes offered to spare his men if they gave up their arms. King Leonidas replied "Molon Labe" (Greek "Μολών Λαβέ"), which translates to "Come and take them." This has been re-used by generals and politicians throughout history and repeated (in English) often in popular culture and is the emblem of the Greek 1st Army Corps.

On the morning of the third and final day of the battle, Leonidas, knowing they were being surrounded, exhorted his men, "Eat well, for tonight we dine in Hades."

When asked by a woman from Attica, "Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?," Gorgo (wife of Leonidas) replied: "Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men."

Spartans normally fought with a shortsword. When its size was mocked, the Spartan responded with, "It's long enough to reach the heart."

When a Spartan complained to his mother that his sword was too short, she replied, "It would be long enough if you took a step forward."

When asked what dowry she was giving her bridegroom, a poor Spartan girl said: "My father's common sense."

After an Athenian accused Spartans of being ignorant, a Spartan agreed: "What you say is true. We have learned none of your evil ways."

haha. I love this laconic wit.

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

Anyways, today is my last day of work.

I can scarcely believe how time has flown past. Results are out, university application deadline is nearing, i want to go KL, and enlistment is mere weeks away.

I am thankful that i've gotten a job which i like. There's a good corprate culture here, i have free internet and friendly fellow part-timers. And i've learnt many things about the working world.
And some unepxected interactions. Bad decisions cannot be remade.

The best part about work i guess is that sense of purpose. I go to sleep at night, knowing i have something to do next morning.
Issues like globalization, 24/7 workers and performance-based pay, stuff that i learnt in the classroom, work out in real life here.

And by working at a research firm, i have acquired some interesting bits of knowledge.
Like do you know there are gas retailers in America called Gasaway, Sunoco, Conoco, Citgo, Sheetz, Bj Wholesale, Racetrac, Quik Trip, Cumberland Farms and Wawa?? Dumb names i say. haha.
A company called JET is one of the biggest petrol and diesel companies in the world.
And that the most popular phone in Malaysia is the Nokia 3310 and Nokia 6610 in Indonesia? haha.

But more bout that on another day.

I want to enjoy my last day of work. I have to check some Shell tables for the Czech Republic. argh.

Rumination.

2007-03-12T01:51:00.000+08:00

I never thought choosing which course to go would be such a hassle.
Throughout my life, i just studied what was given to me, whether i liked it or not.

Whichever degree i take will chart the course of my life. How annoying.

After days of contemplation, i have decided to apply for business.

I'm not going to do engineering or science. The only science i am interested in is elemental chemistry, but there is no such major available.
My gp tutor encouraged to try for law, but i dont feel that is the career for me. I've never cared much about fighting for justice. And only graduates with a first or second-upper class honours degree in law will be actually to practise law.

My real interest lies in literature and the social sciences. I've mapped out my retirement plan to study literature or political science, and then maybe become a GP tutor somewhere. hahaha.

Business has economics and mathematics, and i think its the course for me. I've always wanted to start my own company one day, V Inc or The Malik Group. hahaha.

Now comes the next complexing question.
Which university to go to?

I spent the entire weekend running around through out Singapore going to the 3 open houses and here are my views about the universities.

NTU
-----
Everyone i speak to tells me that NTU is the perennial poorer cousin of NUS.

Firstly, the school doesn't even have Singapore in its name. To the unenlightened, NTU might appear to be from China. And another common complaint is of course, its location. The school is ceremoniously situated beside my grandma's graveyard.

The open house at NTU was disappointing to me as well.

For starters, it was messy. With booths all over the place, and people crowding around the main hall. No movement of traffic. And the student helpers were not exactly helping either. But the NTU campus is definitely huge, with the building sprawling all across. But its all-grey exterior facade is indeed depressing. The much vaunted scenery the school offers, however is marred by the fact that the nice places are simply too far away. But there are few quiet places full of study benches all around the school which are invite me to go study there.

The redeeming factor about NTU, i feel, is their credentials. The accountancy, business and engineering departments have all global recognition and industrial demand.
The business school is ranked third in Asia, and they have the best finance program.

But the devil is in details. Apparently all ranking is based on how good the MBA programmes are, not the Bachelor programmes. haha.
Nevertheless, the lecturers in NTU appear to be top-notch, despite their heavy accents. There is a sense of professionalism pervading through-out the teaching faculty.
And NTU business school gets my thumbs up. haha.

NUS
-----
ah this one disappointed me.

NUS is all about the brand and tradition. It has the longest history of all.
A younger friend of mine asked me "Your results can enter NUS or not?" The fact that NUS has the top of mind awareness among young children is proof of its reputation.

My first impression of NUS was how vibrant it was. There were posters, banners and flyers announcing some up coming activity all over the place. Very hip. I very much liked that.

But the talks at the open house were pathetic!
There were nothing less than overt propaganda, for the business talk atleast. The speaker spent thirty precious minutes muttering about how accomplished they have become in the various fields.
No mention of internships or attachments. And although they did talk about their overseas exchange programs, the success rate in the business school was conveniently not mentioned. But the cardinal sin was to fail to mention how the NUS business education is distinguishes itself from the rest.
I got this impression - "We suck, but we desperately want you here."

But i think NUS students are the best of the lot. They all appeared "cool".
One guy spent about twenty minutes shouting over the loud music just to explain what a political science degree is all about. And some students actually came over to me to promote their residential halls, which i found perplexing. Why the hell do you need to promote a hall? haha. Yet their bubbly enthusiasm and dynamism was pervasive.
Small gestures that lead to great perceptions.

SMU
-----

The fact that SMU is the brainchild of businessmen and entrepreneurs is edvident even before i step into the school. The school is the product of solid business acumen, slick marketing, consistent branding and effeciency, all hallmarks of private enterprise.

SMU brands it graduates to be different.
Their emphasis on soft skills is edvident. Every SMU student i spoke to was articulate, confident and forth-coming. And the lecturers and professors were charismatic as well. I am curious about their American style of pedagogy, whether it is effective or not. The arts and sports CCAs there appeared vibrant.
The SMU brand seduces me, its promise to be produce graduates distinguished from the rest.
I like its internship and overseas program as well, they sound exciting.

But SMU does have a couple of bugbears. Its campus is miniscule - no soccer field, running track or stadium. Small classrooms mean a small intake.
And a small student population can only create so much buzz.
As it is located in town, food and accomodation is expensive. Hostels cost twice as much as the ones in NTU, and foreign students are encouraged to live inp private condominiums. And the lack of scenic study areas is a cause for concern to me.

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

So where have i decided to apply to?
I think i'll choose between NTU and SMU, and will be applying in the next few days.

I hope its the right choice. I want to be somebody.

REPLY TO TAGS.
Yes, i know this skin magnificent. Thank you, thank you. hahaha.

Eph : You helped when i needed it, by lending me your badge - which is still with me by the way. will have to give it back to you before i go to Tekong. haha. no engineering for me!

Xin : hey, thanks. Yes, i am quite satisfied. haha.. sure thing, meet up before army. haha.

Janet : thanks janet!

Ren : I would gladly work here instead of going to army. hahaha. too bad i can't do that. and yes, i will create a world without evil!! i'll write in my Death Note to to drop by Old Chang Kee.haha.

Naseem : haha. i'm sure you can give a better speech than me lar. haha.

Sarah : yes yes, i know this is one is a work of art. hahaha. but i don't remember having any orange skin!

All Praises to God

2007-03-04T20:23:00.000+08:00

mwahaha this skin rocks!

I am still reeling from the shock.
All praises to God.

I've done fairly well for my A levels. Much better than i anticpated, much better than i feared.
Thank god for that.

Yet somehow, i am personally disappointed i didn't get an A for Maths. I studied the hardest for it. I will never forget the days before the Maths papers at Mr Lee's tuition centre. I did so many papers and crapped away with the other tuition mates when we bored. haha. Hope they all did well.

I guess i am never satisfied. haha.

Anyway, looking back now, coming to SAJC seems like a good decision after all.
Life in there was not perfect. Some gambles failed miserably, like trying to juggle 2 CCAs. Some did pay off, like dropping physics. Thank God. I'm sure i would have screwed up if i didn't drop. I am not suited to 3 day marathon exams. haha.

Life appears to be nothing more than a mere cycle. Not for the first time, i unexpectedly do well in chemistry and disappoint in mathematics. A whole lot of other stuff that happened during O levels, happened once more here. haha.

I have been pondering how life would have been if i didn't go to SAJC. and maybe went to AC instead. A good friend of mine believes i would have done much better, but i doubt i would been proud to call myself an ACS-ian. haha.

Some of my friends have done poorly, and i empathise with you. I am very bad at consoling. but all the best to you no matter which path you trod.

So what now?
I have no idea what to do with life now.
Again, with my grades, i cant get a scholarship, nor can i enter an elite school, like medicine or law. So not sure what to do yet. haha. will go for the open houses then decide.
i find it so discerning that i have to plot the course of my life in the next month. Where i go or choose not go, could result in me being jobless for the rest of my life. How sucky is that. haha.

There is one school i would like to go to though. The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy! I think its time i persue my passion in current affairs.

but horrors upon horrors, the school is for post-graduates. They do offer concurrent graduate degrees, but read their admission criteria below.

Admissions to the Concurrent degree programme is highly competitive and selective; applicants should have very good verbal skills, in order to mingle comfortably with generally more mature MPP students who articulate and write well. Please consult MPP Admissions, USP Admissions and BBA Admissions for general information. Shortlisted high-calibre candidates must undergo a rigorous admissions selection process, which includes the following requirements:
(a) Outstanding academic results

(b) Interview session

(c) Written placement test

(d) Profiling test

argh. maybe if i ever want to do a masters, i'll think bout it. haha.

-----

I want to say thanks to some people, even though they may never read it.
-Mr Lee.
I am very thankful for all your guidance in my maths. I would have lost all love for maths if not for your notes and teaching. haha.
-Ms Sab.
Any teacher who agrees to last minute consultations a day before the A levels at Bukit Batok MacDonalds is a great teacher. Thanks for all your help in my GP and stoking my passion in current affairs. I still suck at AQ though. haha.
-Ms Lee.
I thank you for challenging me to do well for my chemistry. You agreed to last minute consultation even though you were heavily pregnant. Thanks!
-Faris, Alvin, and maybe Lyndon Chua.
My economics grades are all thanks to you. We discussed the merits of Keynsian policies and the fallacies of the Classicals over Nasi Lemak and baked chicken! It honed my critical thinking skills. Thanks bro, espescially Faris.
Wouldn't have done so many chemistry prelim papers if not for you either.
-Karen, Janet, Chia, Carson, Dharwin and the rest of 05S75.
I had a great class, who helped me whenever i needed it.
-Imran, Hakim, Naseem and the rest of the indians.
-My Hockey mates, like Nelson, Johan, Hanis, Jerome, Harvinder and the Foone Weiliang.
-The 28th council.
-OG 29! (Kel Ley, Jake, Liane, Wennee, Nab, Daniel and the rest.) and of course OG7! (Windri, Caoyang, Raymond, Adi and the rest)
-Seniors like Aru (even though i took ur food chem notes, i still cant master them) and shrads. haha.
-and the rest of my friends like Sherin, Tungni, Shirrin, Sarah.
-And Viknesh, Aravinth, Navas and other SAS peeps.
- and of course my family, and the rest of those whom i might have forgotten.
all of you guys made my life in jc memorable and helped me in my studies at one point or another. thanks!

2007-03-01T23:28:00.001+08:00

Good Luck and the all the best to all those who will be collecting their a-level results with me.

Khuda Hafiz.

Shinigami

2007-02-27T12:25:00.000+08:00

Why doesn't anyone believe i am an emo-kid? hahahaha.
Believe me, plenty of angnst lies within me.

right, here's my next skin.

Inspired by Bleach. I think the picture of the soul reaper is pretty cool. haha.

and i have a feeling this soul-reaper will just pop by on friday. argh. i am so fucking petrified.

its been almost 3 months, and most (if not all) memory of the dreaded A Levels have been pushed to the back of my cerebrum.
Despite all the denial within me, i have this sinking feeling.
Like i screwed up badly. arrgh.

i'm still unsure of whether to take leave when collecting results.

once results come out, i have to decide on what the hell to do with my life - what course to take. I've put off any decision about degree courses until friday. No use counting your eggs before they hatch eh.

for many reasons, the upcoming week appears formidable. something that i wanted to do, has to be postponed, and i wonder if that is a good idea.

ah. all conversations about the future must not go beyond friday.

p.s. thanks to cleo for helping to edit this skin.haha.

Noise

2007-02-25T22:21:00.000+08:00

i want to rant. and try to angstful sytle of writing.

Here's a million dollar question - How do you block out stuff that you do not want to hear?

i realise now, that i am audiophile. and the slightest of sounds are provoke the harshest of emotions when i am seeking a zen of silence.

I have always been full of admiration for Roald Dahl's Mathilda. I could never figure out how she was able to spellbind herself into her readings, and mentally float away with her body still on the couch facing the television.
I once seeked to emulate her, but i failed miserably and never perservered on.

Full of empathy, I am, for Dale Spencer.
"A cockroach, crawling across my neighbour's floor, was like a marching band parading through my house."
Sound has that knack of annoyance.

But what irks me the most, is that i cannot seem to be able block out the noise just i dont want to hear. Like the gossip and babble that my flows so freely in my home and elsewhere.

And the plethora of poision that spurts so freely from the lips of the others.

But i fail to realise the greatest irony : such vermin ebbs most often from this sinful mouth of mine.

march is coming so soon. I am having a hard time restraining myself from visiting the MOE website each time i go online.

shit i'm scared.

Skin Fest.

2007-02-23T17:50:00.000+08:00

I feel its time for change...

I am going to run a series of various blogskins on my blog for the next week.
I will monitor the comments and tags, and at the end of the project, i will use the most popular skin.

Don't you agree that we all live in a world of nonsense? with so much poppycock and gobbledygook floating all around. haha..

au revoir.

Its Been Some Time

2007-02-21T22:31:00.000+08:00

I think its time i blog about my work.

Work is welcome, because it gives me that sense of purpose that i so inexplicably crave after. Instead of rotting at home, i now have a reason to wake up in the morning. It keeps me occupied, keeps my mind busy.

and the best part is that i get paid for it. I've never considered myself to be a money-minded person. But i now realise that i can get calculative when it comes to money and i hope to become less spendthrift.

I've learnt some useful skills by working. Excel, powerpoint, Word which were all once alien to me once upon time, have become familiar applications for everday usage.
and thanks to Cleo - my very hard-working co-worker - i've finally learnt how to play minesweeper! hahaha. (thanks cleo!) its a skill that will be useful as long as i have a windows operating system. haha.

Not only that, i've tried to pick up some soft skills, like networking. For all the A's you might get, there are practically worthless without networking, espescially if you a part-timer struggling to find a job. haha.
i've always believed its bad manners to ask friends for favours, and yet, such is common-place in the buisness world. strange how the world works. haha.

i dont have a cubicle, or table at work. cleo and i have to constantly shift to empty tables.
we have pathetic Dell laptops that operate at snail pace. I have a lunatic computer that has a ghost mouse attached to it. every once in awhile, the mouse would adopt a mind of its own and run all over the screen. Hantu Tikus i say.
And on top of that, my laptop suffers from bouts of lag, which can be annoying fustrating.

But on the upside, my firm offers a free flow of peanuts and kachang, which offer satisfactory respite to the empty stomach.

-----

I drafted the above quite some time ago, but could never be bothered to post it.

anyway, i can scarcely believe that Chinese New Year has come and gone. freaking results are going to be out. I have less than 60 days of freedom. I want to go overseas somewhere and literally see the world. haha

oh, and i'm addicted to Heroes again - Save the Cheerleader, save the world. haha.

p.s. Happy Birthday to Cleo! haha. next time try to bathe faster so that chocolate won't melt so fast. hahahaha. 19 years old already! take care.

Happy Veeday.

2007-02-14T23:43:00.000+08:00

Before it ends, Happy Valentine's Day to everybody.

Today was, by far, the most interesting day at work.
and an interesting valentine's day as well. haha..

i learnt some fascinating stuff about grown-ups, stuff that never had struck me before.

i have always assumed that maturity will come automatically with age; we will all abandon our "childish ways" once we enter the workforce, and become "responsible working adults". but, alas, i was proven wrong. hahaha.

that i learnt in office today.

lesson one - girls will be girls, no matter how old they are.
There is this lady who's my mother's age in the office, and it freaked me out when she started giggling after she got flowers. I've got nothing against giggling ladies, but giggling is supposed to be for teenage girls, not for someone old enough to be my mother! haha. its was quite disturbing but i guess i'm just not used to the sight.
The lady then went around posing for pictures around the flowers and acting cute as well.
i just didnt know what to say. haha.

lesson two - BGR will always remain rocket science.
there was this rumor floating around the office about how this guy liked his colleage or something, and had spents weeks trying to figure out something. in the end, the two of them went out, but not without the gossip from the surrounding workers.

the first thing that struck my mind was - "thats so JC!" haha.

and when another girl got flowers delivered to her, it did not escape the attention of the rest. "Ooooh"s and "Aaaah" reverberated throughout the office.

again, "SO JC!".

In retrospect, i guess i can't really think of any other manner in which "adults" would have behaved. It just struck me there, that no matter how old we get, some things will never change.

Like what is the best way to ask a girl out? There is no perfect answer i guess. haha.

and i realised there is no such thing as perfectly mature , we all kiddos in our own way.

so that leaves me with the third lesson of the day -
some things just never change.

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

REPLY TO TAGS.

anon : hey. thanks for dropping by! singapore girl huh? haha. that icon doesn't resonate with me, because the concept of impeccable beauty doesn't appear "singaporean" to me. hahaha. but i do hope she stays though. maybe get a revamp? haha. V for Vendetta is a great show!

aru : hahaha. thanks. i'll try to be more optimistic. haha.

karen : how bout curry puffs instead?? hahaha.

karan : lol. will be changing skin soon.

someperson : i just broke that trend. haha..

Blogger Beta.

2007-02-12T12:30:00.000+08:00

I've finally switched to blogger-beta.

and there seems to be no difference.

i finally succumbed to the persistent attempts by the blogger to switch over to beta version.
and when i finally did make that switch, instead of a radical new blogger, all i got was more of the same thing. hmmm.

maybe its just an insidious ploy by Google to turn everyone into Gmail subscribers, as part of their plan for global internet domination? hahaha..

anyway, i can't believe the O level results are out. The chariot of time is not slowing down, and the wrecker which hangs to its back threatens.

I'm petrified.

anyway (shit, thanks to Ze Hao my flow of thought has been interrupted)

oh ya, i have finally landed my first permanent job. woo hoo!! stable income! hahhah. at a research firm in city hall with karen - (thanks for introducing me to the job karen!).

I've been assigned to do checking, where i have to check if values from the computer-generated powerpoint slide and the excel tables match.
I would expect a computer generated programme to be perfect - machines are not programmed to make errors. yet, over the past few days, i have witnessed countless computer misjudgements, which is in fact due to human boo-boos. how ironic. haha.

but my first pay is yet to come and so i toil away, anticipating my first windfall with glee.

shit, i'm scared.

Iconoclastic

2007-02-08T19:09:00.000+08:00

FIRST OF ALL - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANET!!
so sorry for not wishing you earlier. i thought it was on a later day till karen reminded me. haha. sorry ah. (:

===============================

So yet another singapore icon dies.

But i'm not crying, cos PCK was no longer funny for me once it spoke "good english"

PCK's legacy lies in thrusting the concept into the Singaporean consicousness. This provoked a a government condemnation, and yet PCK survived. Not many people, or TV shows can claim fame to that.
I am a supporter of Mr Yellow Boot's original claim to fame - crass, in-your-face humor manufactured by Singaporeans and thus understood only for them. Although the crass-ness remained when PCK picked up good english, the jokes got stale and i soon switched off my tv on tuesday nights.

Icons have always fascinated me, because they are powerful than they look. V for Vendetta taught me that.

The Media-cock script writers said that PCK became popular because the contractor was everywhere in the 1990s, during the 1990s. So they just built a character everyone could connect to, add a bit of Singaporean humor coupled with some trade-mark media-cock jokes, and viola! a national icon is born. haha. but as they themselves admitted, it was an accidental success.

which made me wonder, who will our next icon be? Are we going to wait for another family comedy to accidentally capture our imagination?
then again, what happened to those static icons of the yesteryear? anyone remember sharity elephant, the environmental green frog, mr kiasu etc? these icons are barely a decade old, and they have disappeared already! what about icons that my father's or my maybe grandfather's generation remember?

On the topic of the Singapore icon, i was reading some other papers by some members of the press who speculated on a whole new theory : the only prevailing icons from independence are SIA, PSA, Changi airport. These places are true hallmarks of the Singaporean identity because they represent what singapore truly is - effeciency, cold-minded pragmatism and it is the "best". such "icons" have never lost these characteristcs over time and they are also part of the Singaporean "kiasu" psyche. Thus they are, in a sense, the true Singaporean icon.

i disagree with such views because i do not consider PSA, SIA, and other government owned corprate structures to be the embodiment of Singaporean spirit. Although such views do contain some truth and cannot be dismissed, i don't think such values are a complete picture of the Sin gaporean personna.

To me, the Singaporean icon should be represent humor, perserverance and of course kiasu-ism. I think these values may last for a long time to come, but i am not too sure. With the widening wage gap, it is possible that in the future, seprate icons and identities for the poor and the rich may emerge, which would be tragic.

So what is the next icon then?

I think we might have just have one coming up.

haha. he's a hero in the making.

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

REPLY TO TAGS.
janet : haha. i'm sure your dad will give u your freedom soon. yeap trying for job too.
windri : hey hey! not very busy actually. u busy with school isit?? haha.
xin : okay sure. i'll change ur link asap. !
afreen : haha. me too. thanks.

Focus.

2007-02-04T00:32:00.000+08:00

They built a ship Titanic
to sail the ocean blue.
They thought they build a ship
that no water can go through
But the Lord of mighty hands,
knew the ship would never land.
It was sad when
the big ship went down.

Oh it was sad,
Oh it was sad.

It was sad when the
big ship went down to the
bottom where the
Husbands and wives and
the children lost
thier lives.
It was sad when the
big ship went down.

i just completed my first camp as an attachee runner for a camping agency.
It was a "stress reliever" camp meant to instill study skills in the campers, P6 kids for Radin Mas Primary School, to prepare for the big P S L E.

i went there as an attachee, so all i did was to watch some instructors and carry logistics around. It was a tiring experience, since i slept little and had to lug much stuff around.
But i did get to work with some kids, and which was really cool.

The kids were a rowdy bunch, with many naughty kids, spoilt brats and ice-princesses.

"No, i cant sit on the grass! There are ants there."
"My mother told me to carry this torchlight around"
"I don't want to play, tired."
"I have a pouch full of medicines which my mother told me to carry around in case i get sick."

I have full admiration for some of the instructors who are able to effectively deal with children. I don't know how they do it.

But its really cool to work with kids because it feels great when you make a difference in their lives. Some instructors actually made the kids understand the meaning of teamwork, and that is fabulous if you ask me.
And also, children have this annoying thing about them that makes you want to play with them. haha.

kids always do the darnest things as well - like shit all over the toilet (and even their pants), smile and laugh while getting scolded, throw their underwear all over the campsite, etc. hahaha.

anyway, having been through one attachment, i really hope i get to work as a camp instructor in the agency. It would be a great experience. haha. it all depends on the head honchos.
i'm just awaiting for that phone-call..
------------------------------------

on the job front again, i got rejected by Cheers store today, which really pissed me off.
they didn't want someone who could only work for 2 months.

and then, i went to drink kopi. and it struck me - its february.
i have no job, no money, nothing.
all the permanent ones i wanted to go far rejected me.
The few jobs that i had over the month were all just for a few days with poor pay.

the same old feeling returned - life is bitter, coffee is sweet.

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

REPLY TO TAGS.

cheak : yea the elephant herself told me that. hahaha.
aru : hahaha. yes small world indeed.
eph : hmmmm. very interesting theory. what you say rings true. my previous theory was just based on assumptions, and that would it make it baseless ah. lol. thanks.
janet : lol. ok. at least you went to jb!
sarah : haha. not sacked, its "project over". hahaha. yeap thanks, i write a good testi right. haha

Dimension

2007-01-28T17:27:00.000+08:00

Flatland: Reflection

The above video is about this 2 dimensional "flattie" who is taken out of his "flat" world into a 3D dimensional one. When raised into the brave new 3D world, flattie is consumed by awe. He marvels at the circularity of the ball.

The video was enjoyable, but i wonder if its true. If a 2Dimensional figure was placed in a 3D environment, would be able to recognise the difference?

we live in a 3D world, with length, breath and width. i've read much about the so called 4th dimension - time. Theory suggests that since our bodies do not have any natural time-keeping device, if we were shifted back and forth in time, it would be go un-noticed.

when we travel to the future or the past, we are able to look at the surroundings for clues about time. it is the surroundings, that give us the clue of our time, we are unable to realise that on our own. ever heard of the story of Rip Van Winkle? when he woke up, he believed it was just a few hours after he fell asleep. it was only after he walked around, did he realise how long his slumber had lasted.

so all these means that the above video of the flattie is factually inaccurate. when lifted up into a 3D world, a flattie would not notice the difference. he is unable to apprehend the concept of the the third dimension of width.

similarly, it might just be possible that we humans are being transported back and forth into various dimensions that we cannot fathom. isn't that scary? haha.

p.s. that was just me rambling. haha.
its a summary of my life - boring.

p.s. hello cousin (you know who you are). hahahaha. its so wierd to know that we're related. spore ain't a small place, its minute. haha.

office jobs are boring.

2007-01-24T10:33:00.000+08:00

okay ! kena sack again already. haha.

just ended my "stint" for data entry.
it is mindless, tedious, insipid and tepid.

My job consisted of typing out the results of some stupid survey onto the computer database. My finger tendons and muscles have started ache. but never mind the job, what irks me the most about office jobs is the lack of physical movement.
After sitting at the same desk for the whole day, my whole body goes cold. And yet, i feel mentally exhausted from all that typing when i return home. Its bloody annoying.
My office area - or workspace - also has no windows. Which means that i'm supplied with artifical light and air, and there is no way i can tell the time.

Its like living in a fishtank while tediously typing out the same things again and again.

i conclude -

Office jobs are boring.

but sometimes its the people around there that help to break the rigor.

My data-entry-team (3 of us) was using a database software called CATI, which is rigged with flaws. So each time there was some error or something missing, we had to contact the resident computer programmer and ask him to correct it for us. The program is designed such that unless the data for one question in the survey is entered, you cannot progress to the next question. So unless he rectifies the situation, we can't progress.

but Mr Programmer is one slothful guy.

Once we informed about a missing piece, and the guy replied "Give me 5 or 10 minutes".
but almost an hour passed, we waited. problem still unsolved.
so in the meantime, i was playing Pinball, one was on the phone, and the other was sound asleep on his desk.

But some "higher-up" came in, at the stoke of the hour, and started scolding us, for "destroying the company's image "and "wasting company money". But we could not proceed on unless Mr Programmer did his job, and when we dutifuly explained that to Higher Being, we only got further scolding, before she left off fuming. haha.
But immediatly soon after, Mr Programmer came back and apologised for the delay. Then he said "there's problem with the software actually, it might take another five to ten minutes", and after-which he promptly left for his tea-break. hahaha.
but i didn't get to continue my game of Pinball, because we were given some other paperwork "to do something productive".
approximately one-hour later, Mr Programmer returned and proclaimed that he had finally managed to "solve the problem". I guess he's a caffeine addict who need his tea.
So we restared our mindless typing, almost two hours later.
talk about easy money. haha.

another interesting personality was Field Officer. there were some surveys that had missing questions, possibly due to the forgetfulness of the surveyors. We told to bundle them up and pass it to the Field Officer. i guessed the surveys would be sent back to the field, and would take a few days to come back to us.
but the Officer had a better idea - she just filled the blank ones herself. hahaha.

its quite sad to lose a job, the prospect of staying at home and not earning any money is depressing. but if there's one lesson i've learnt is that earning money is tough in Singapore, be it an office or manual labor job.

Spore Vs Indo

2007-01-19T01:27:00.000+08:00

Despite the semi-dilapitated Kallang being partially empty (or partially-filled, depending which side of the coin you believe in), the atmosphere on a thankfully dry wednesday was indeed feverish.
Dharwin and I sat in the section beside the away fans. the Indo-s were loud and shouted plent of funny Bahasa cheers. But the Singapore-fans idiots who were around me, could only reply with vulgarities. One "hardcore" fan from my section was pulled out of the crowd after he started to incite the Indos with gestures and Malay insults. (haha. i bet you didn't see that on StarSports) I think he got detained under ISA. hahaha.
Its disappointing that we dont have any "Made in Singapore" cheers. Its only in the 2nd half, that the Kallang wave and some form of co-ordinated cheers started to ring through the stadium.

but one quirk about the Indo fans - many of them were Indo Chinese. Despite all that marginalization shit they recieve at home, patriotism does appear to run deep.

nevertheless it was a great match. Singapore was actaully damn lucky to draw. Lionel Lewis was in fine form, but the 2nd indo goal was quite fantastic.
and i think the Indo keeper must have taken some bribes, he committed two fatal errors! haha. the referee as well, his decisions were confounding! "Referee Kelong" was a crowd favourite.

Indonesia actually played better as they managed to control the game for long periods. The winger Atep impressed me. Singapore should import these kinda dribblers instead of idiots like Agu Casmir or Itmi Dickson. haha. But kudos to the Lions for solid defending.

final score.

Steal My Sunshine

2007-01-14T23:19:00.000+08:00

It cannot be mere co-incidence that the days leading toward the television premiere of The Day After Tomorrow were rain-soaked.

i think its time we start tree-hugging. or singapore might just get hit by some tsunami-like wave that hits away the Merlion, when the ice caps melt, just like the movie.

but i shall blog about this battle to go green another day.
i want to blog about another green - the dull green of army fatigues.

farewell to all those who have left for Tekong. die not, till we meet again.
i had my sneak peek of Tekong on Saturday, as i accompanied my friend for his enlistment.
and Tekong does seem like a bleak place.

everybody sports the same look, wears the same clothes, there is restricted entry and the emphasis on regimental strictness does allure the Basic Military School to a prison camp.
of course it doesn't help when parents ask their sons "When your release?".

I and my friend's parents were given a tour of School One which looked gloomy with their paint-stripped walls and drab decor. Every single instruction in the army is bellowed out loud. sigh. i hope i never get to stand beside the shouting commander.
but the redeeming factor of the entire army experience has to be the food. its tasty and wholesome. haha.

anyway it was really strange going inside Tekong as a visitor, but i think its a good idea because i now know what to expect come april.
and admittedly, i have a better impression of the place now. i've always stereotyped the army to be a dismal place where brain-washed enlistees perform nugatory marching and running.
and although there might be some truth in that, army does seem like it will be an arresting experience now.
i've never slept in a tent or camped outdoors before, never fought before, never played with a gun before and most importantly i have never pushed myself to the limit before. i hope i get to push myself to breaking point in BMT. i would become a better person after that for sure.

so i've got less that 80 Days to enjoy life! time flies huh.

i have some photos of Tekong which i secretly took of the place. but i obviously cant post them.
haha.

p.s. i am still jobless. looking back at the past week i cant believe how i just wasted one week away. watch tv, watch computer, sleep. etc. sigh.
i am going to sell my phone. i need money to take bus.

REPLY TO TAGS
Sherin : LOL. i have no job! life is booring. haha. must meet up soon k. you dont even come online anymore lah. haha. will sms you.

Karen : haha! I want my photo with glasses! hahaha. class outing anytime soon? or will just meet u ok~. will contact you.

Khan : haha. YEA! HSM IS A TAMIL SHOW. except that they dont use foreign locales for songs. hahahaha.

Afreen : hahaha. i am soooo free what. my mind goes crazy.