sometimes....

I can't believe what i say, but it makes me laugh out loud to think about it. A big ups to the wifely person (WP) for putting up with me nonsense. Thanks dear. *mwah*

[shopping for diapers in the supermarket]
wp: Do you see any "L"?
z: it must be Christmas....
wp: eh?
z: because there is Noel.
wp: . . .

[chatting online about driving in Italy]
j: do i need IDP to drive in Italy?
z: they won't check for IDP when you're renting a car. Only the cops will ask for it when they stop you, but dunno what happens if no IDP....maybe they make you eat pasta with no sauce or something.
j: no they make me eat the sauce without pasta
z: LOL, yah special Italian white sauce! *facepalm*

lunchtime loonies

Had lunch with my alleged twin recently, and conversation over the meal was a riot!

[on learning that a mutual friend has a girlfriend]
m: yeah, he met her while teaching her how to play tennis.
z: Wow. That's cool. Wait.......does that mean that the score now is love-all?
m: i have no return to that.
z: no backhanded remark?
m: just plenty of spin.

m: you wanna try the pizza here?
z: maybe not, even though i knead the dough.
m: i'm not even going to dignify that with a response.
z: why? because you're all artichoked up?

[referring to she-who-must-not-be-named who walked into the same restaurant]
m: Come come, we're all adults here. [pause]....well, most of us anyways..... [pause] at least bodily appearance-wise.

Aladdin's folly

We have watched Disney's Aladdin so many times, thanks to my daughter that playback of teh movie stutters sometimes. Worse still, the wifely person and I can now sing the songs from it on cue, and often have them stuck in our heads as earworms.

An interesting observation though, is that obviously none of the characters in the movie have an interest or background in legal work. They were presented with the dilemma of Ali wanting to marry Princess Jasmine but can't because Princess J can only marry a prince. She is also obligated under law to marry before her 18th or 19th birthday.

Now this is towards the end of the show now, and Ali only has 1 more wish from the lamp. As stated earlier, he can't wish for more wishes (amongst other provisos like not being able to kill, make someone fall in love, or raise anyone from the dead). Being the good person that he is, Ali wanted to wish Genie free.

What happened in the show was that he did set Genie free with his last wish, and the Sultan (Jasmine's father) promptly changed the law so that the Princess could marry whoever she wished. This is just silly, since he could have changed the law that requires her to marry before her birthday, then the happy couple will not be under any pressure to get together. LOL

This convinient changing of the law is actually quite inconvinient legally since it sets a dangerous precedent and hence, people in the legal profession are usually loath (unless it is flawed) to changes in the law. Instead, the simple workaround is for Ali to wish he was a Prince, marry Jasmine, hand the lamp to her (as a wedding present?) and get her to wish Genie free (after 2 free wishes, might as well not waste it afterall Birkin bags are hard to come by). Problem solved!

music and more...

Having played with quite a few musicians to date, I find that playing regularly in a band can give you insights into how your fellow band members think in real life. Bands that play good music tend to have people who think in synch with each other. Now this does not mean that they all think alike, as much like music, there is always room for discussion. It means there is healthy respect for each other to begin with and like a good conversation, you see past any petty differences to look at the overall shape, colour and content of things.

I think there is a distinct generation gap and of all the various types, i find Gen Z the most self-conceited me-first people, so playing in a band with them presents its challenges. An insight into this can be found by asking the question: "So whose responsibility is it to keep time in a band?"

Their answers tend to gravitate along the not-me line of answer and i'm pretty sure the usual answer would be "the drummer", which is flawed, because it is in fact everyone's responsibility (not my words but that of bassist extrodinaire Victor Wooten), and everyone brings a bit to the song in various ways, not just the tradition beats, bass, rhythm and melody. I had a chance to listen to one of the songs one of my bands once, the same band where we are pretty good friends (even travelling overseas together), and hearing us play, i can hear/feel us taking turns to share the limelight. The changes in melody (and sometimes rhythm) can be heard being played by various instruments throughout the song.

Another example is when a guitarist of this generation asked me: "Can you teach me to play the keyboards/piano? I can know the chords" and while i watched, he showed me what he knew. So by noticing that he only played chords in the root position, i suggested that he practice arpeggios. He asked how many chords and how many octaves? When i replied that all of the chords and about 3-4 octaves should be sufficient, he made a face and looked like he wasn't going to carry on with his quest to learn keyboards. He persisted that I could just "teach him what he needs to play, just the basics, pointers really" but i told him it is not possible. He should learn that just like knowing all the notes and chords on the guitar's fretboard (doubt he knows), this also applies to keyboards. Which is the main reason why i haven't learned guitar because as much as i enjoy music, i know i cannot devote the time required to learning the guitar properly and i respect all my fellow guitar friends too much to want to embarrass them with bad guitar playing. There is no instant solution or "pointers only" quick fix, learning a music instrument takes commitment, time and hard work.

No real purpose to this post, aside from ranting about the younger generation and their attitude towards music.

ps as an epilogue to my post, at mass i saw a score with the words "slightly slower than 4/4 rock" scribbled on by someone and I started chuckling immediately. While it may mean something to the person, the only thing it tells me is that the person is seriously confused, mixing up the style of the beat with the tempo. Afterall, there is such a thing as slow rock, and rock 'n roll, which are two different versions of rock with vastly different tempo. And how slightly slow are we talking about anyways? LOL

Book review: Snuff

Chanced upon this latest Terry Pratchett novel while shopping at Kino, and the wifely-person kindly bought it for me for Christmas. =) I know its not Christmas yet and i've finished reading my present, one of the benefits of being an adult i suppose. Hahahaha.

As usual, it is an enjoyable read, although I thought the title was a bit disingenuous and contrived, since only Vimes appears to regularly take snuff, which is an old-fashioned stimulant to be kept in elegant boxes and snorted gracefully in society, and does not add to the main plot. The downtrodden masses in this book (and main plot) concerns the goblins, who start off in the book classified as non-sentient beings until Vimes comes across them on his holidays, and is convinced to take up their cause after hearing them communicate via the universal language . With enough villians thrown in (at some points, it felt like the entire countryside was filled with them), Vimes managed to bluster through aristocrats and workmen alike using, tact and guile (not necessarily at the same time) that is characteristic of him.

The book also expounds on two characters merely touched upon in the past: Wilikins (Vime's butler) and AE Pessimal (sent by the Patrician and co-opted into the Watch), and fills them with such colour, that I wished such people existed in real life, just so you could shake their hand. Such is the detail and interest that Pratchett weaves and invokes.

Pratchett also introduces a new series of children's books (remember Where's my Cow?), which deals alot with poo. It somehow points to young Sam growing up an alchemist or researcher as the book goes on, although honestly, i'd rather just focus on Mr Vimes himself. LOL

Under table(-tennis) Corruption

I think there is something seriously wrong. When we were young, we were always told, "don't do illegal things, otherwise you get caught, sent to jail and will have to work as a road sweeper or toilet cleaner for the rest of your life". I always felt that we had a rather unforgiving society that did not give second chances, and that we should take and cherish all the opportunities presented to us.

Then I read today about a former Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president who was charged with corruption. What stunned me was the final sentence, that this former president was a former MP for Jalan Besar GRC who served a two-week sentence in 1999 for issuing false invoices to help a family friend cheat a finance company. If they had known about this, why did they still hire him?

By Hannah TeohAsiaOneThursday, Dec 08, 2011
Two former employees of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA), including the former president, have been charged for corruption and criminal breach of trust.
The first man, Mr Choo Wee Khiang, 57, was the president of STTA at the time of the alleged offences. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement that it received several anonymous complaints against Choo, alleging
that he had charged his personal airfares, expenses, and phone bills to the Association. Choo had also received gifts from Chinese coaches and players. In 2005, Choo received $1,500 from a former assistant coach of STTA, Mr Luo Jie, on behalf of Mr Liu Zhongze, who was a national team player at that time. The money was given to Choo in exchange for giving Liu more opportunities to represent STTA in table tennis tournaments.
Between 2003 and 2004, Choo also received US$600 (S$768.95) on two occasions from Mr Shi Mei Sheng, a former STTA coach, as a reward for approving the use of training facilities in China.
The second accused, Ms Koh Li Ping, 43, was the High Performance Manager of STTA at the time of the alleged offence. Between 2002 and 2003, Mr Luo Jie provided table tennis training to students for a local secondary school although his work pass only permitted him to work for STTA. Choo and Koh then allegedly arranged with the principal of the school to engage STTA in a new training arrangement with the intention to use the proceeds received to pay Luo
Jie. Subsequently, after STTA received the payment from the school, Koh
obtained approval from Choo to authorise a payment of $8,400 to Luo Jie,
even though the latter did not provide any training services under the
new arrangement.
Choo resigned from the STTA in July 2008. He had been with the Association for 20 years. Choo will be charged for three counts of corruptly accepting gratification and one count of criminal breach of trust. Koh will be charged for one count of engaging with Choo Wee Khiang in a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust.The maximum punishment for corruption is a $100,000 fine and five years' jail on each charge.
In 1999, Choo, a former MP for Jalan Besar GRC served a two-week sentence for issuing false invoices to help a family friend cheat a finance company.

Quick link (politics)

Came across an interesting article on politics in Singapore, particularly after the 2011 General Elections. I think this curious desynch gap between what is written online and what actually happens on the ground is closing. The online rhetoric is toning down with more intelligent comments and suggestions being put forth, while voters are more willing to exercise their choice of what they want in their leader. As the voter population evolves: more people being able to vote, past achievements will not be forgotten, but will have less emphasis than what the promised future will be. It is not that they are ungrateful or pro-opposition?

In an ideal world, we would also do away with the GRC system and have all single seat constiuencies. This would remove a chunk of the resentment that this rather cumbersome system has generated, and allow voters to feel represented. The only issue with this system is the level of uncertainty, and aside from causing sleepless nights for all involved (less so for voters, but still) this might cause some foreigners to lose business confidence.