Christmas time

I hope everyone reading this had a great Christmas! I know i did!

It started off well on Friday with my employer giving us half of the day off, so it was a bit of not-so-last-minute shopping on my part. The Christmas spirit was evident in the office with multiple gift exchanges and well wishes going around, all we needed were some carollers (spello?) visiting (too old for Santa) and it would have been perfect. LOL

Saturday was the quiet day of the weekend, all of us given the chance to catch our breath before the big day arrived proper. We went out with my parents and test drove some cars (Suzuki Swift Sport or SX4? (this article does not help (note: local swift sports get bridgestone potenza tires, not dunlop))), seriously tempted given the upcoming GST hike and our future need of a car as a new family, the service at Champion motors is the best and I would definitely buy a car there, given the high build quality and drivability of their cars. We headed over to Vivocity and had dinner at Tung Lok Signatures (great food, highly recommended) before watching "Curse of the Golden Flower" (colourfully and violently depressing drama-mama). Kinda a long day by any standards but compared to the other days, it was downright relaxing!

Had to attend and play for mass on Sunday before heading over to wibblewamble's place for a feast! Her mum's ham was simply gorgeous and we stuffed ourselves silly. It was preparation for the gorging to come. LOL Managed to head home in the pouring rain to change and prepare for Christmas eve mass.

What can i say about the mass......we ROCKED! Extremely amazing stuff from our band and despite the pressure and nervousness of playing for such a big mass, we still managed to find time and space to improvise! Musicians in the crowd would have appreciated the music that a little more and it feels like we were playing so far beyond ourselves that we were playing out of our skin (i always wondered about that phrase, now i know how that feels). The hallmark of a good growing band is that they listen to each other actively, and if you have ever heard us, you'd be able to hear various question and answer phrases hidden within. We were backed up by a gloriously sounding combined choir who managed to make everything so much more majestic. Kudos to our choir mistress who spent alot of time and effort coordinating, teaching and conducting the choir, patience is definitely her virtue. After the rush of playing for such a big occasion in the most happening way possible (mindblowing even!), i felt so tired and spent. What a mass!

Best bit was that we had to do it again (but with a different choir) the next day for Christmas day mass itself. We sounded good by the standards of any other day except the day after Christmas eve (confused yet?). Christmas day itself was also abit of a rush, had to head over to pick up wibblewamble (last Christmas that this is happening? =)(because getting married next year)) before going for the family photo at my aunt's place. Alot of yelling and shouting happens when you're trying to get 40+ people excluding kids, toddlers and jokingly childish grownups to stand together and man it gets hot! Still we managed it somehow. =))
Then we went over to wibblewamble's aunt's place for dinner. WW's mum really outdid herself this year with her Turkey (yes, it deserves the capitalisation, it was that good) and Ham (another one, different from the day before). These flew of the plate so quickly that if you blinked, you could have sworn that the bird and pig were alot bigger than before and if you blinked again, no more bird, no more pig. They did not die in vain though. *zeenie pats tummy*

After some singing and entertainment and presents, we had to rush off back to my aunt's place for more presents and it was looooong. Santa really outdid himself this year and it was entertaining to see my ns-allergic cousin dress up in an army number 4. Durians followed (weird right?) and we were truly stuffed at this point. *zeenie pats tummy again*

Many thanks to all for the presents received, and a special thank you to wibblewamble for the Liverpool jersey. =)

Christmas time

You know it's Christmas time here when shops constantly blare out carols and songs about white Christmas, when all we have is rain rain and more rain! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, just does not have the same feeling of warmth, although cuddling under the sheets on a rainy day is one of life's little pleasures.

Bought James Taylor Christmas album lately, and i highly recommend it. I actually bought quite a few Christmas albums but his was the only one that impressed. It was only after listening to it once that i found out the sweet melodies on the piano were played by Dave Grusin, he rocks! Absolutely loved his arrangment of Jingle Bells.

Been busy lately with many practices for Christmas mass, i'll be playing for Christmas mass for the first time since coming home so it's kinda special. The band is just rockin' and the choir is sounding sweet so we are all set to have a blast. Interesting thing is that Christmas eve is on a Sunday, so we'll be playing for Sunday mass as usual, then Christmas eve mass, and then Christmas mass the next morning. Phew! I'd bet that the congregation doesn't know we play so often since they'd only attend one Christmas mass. My poor bassist is covering for another, so he has five masses to play for in total over two days. Siong ah!

Christmas day itself promises to be a day of feasting, and if last year was any gauge to go by, we are going to be stuffed! That's because we actually have two Christmas dinners to attend so it is going to be tricky! Thankfully wibblewamble's mother is have her Christmas do on Christmas eve, so that makes it easier.

Just to type the word 'Christmas' a few more times, we would like to wish all readers happy holidays, season's greetings and of course, to have yourself a merry little christmas. =)

Interesting Road test comparison

zeenie has been contemplating getting a car, which is something that seems to contradict all financial logical thinking, but this is a car we are talking about damnit! LOL Seriously, we would require transportation for our future plans, thus we shall commence the shopping sometime next year. In the meantime, zeenie will research like hell (and then proceed to throw that research out of the window the moment he tests drives 'the' car for him).

Given his cheapskate thrifty budget, he is only looking at the smaller cars, something around a million hundred thousand dollars that would enjoy a 50% discount. (zeenie damn long winded hah?)

So with the recent flurry of hatchbacks that arrived on our sunny shores, he is given quite a choice, with the colt turbo, swift sport, honda jazz and citroen all contenders. Road tests for some of these can be found quite easily but direct comparisons are a lot rarer, so it was a joy to find this article which drove the Colt and the Swift. zeenie has yet to test drive the Colt but already agrees with the test results, having driven the Swift. =)

Myers-Briggs test

Props to Crufty for this test. =)

zeenie is:

E=7 Extraversion
I=4 Introversion
S=8 Sensing
N=12 iNtuition
T=16 Thinking
F=3 Feeling
J=8 Judging
P=11 Perceiving
You are an ENTP

ENTP - Entrepeneurs, lawyers, psychologists, photographers, consultants, sales represenatives, actors, engineers, scientists, inventors, marketers, computer programmers, comedians, computer analysts, credit investigators, journalists, psychiatrists, public relations, designers, writers, artists, musicians, politicians. Very freedom-oriented, they need a career which allows them to act independent and express their creativity and insight.

Further insights on ENTP from wiki.

I guess i'm in the right field then. LOL

movie reviews

We managed to catch two movies lately, both of them at GV vivo city though on different days and with different experiences. =)

If you read from recent comments, vivo is like when taka and later suntec first opened, everyone thought it was huge! lol

The first movie we caught was Casino Royale. I must say that Daniel Craig is quite a good Bond and portrayed the newly promoted 007 rather well. We had originally planned to watch an earlier show but the tickets were sold out pretty fast (about an hour before we got there, on a monday night), but no matter, we had abit of time to walk around the shops and spend a leisurely Japanese dinner at Aji (very good).

The second movie we caught this morning was Happy Feet. We tried to book for tickets for the 1040 show via the phone at around 0930 but was told (after two attempts (i.e. 60 cents, 30 cents per call)) that the tickets were sold out. So we tried to log in via the internet and booked two tickets, gave our name, i.c. number, credit card number, pet's blood group, etc and when we finally clicked 'submit' we ended up back where we started, at the homepage of GV. So thinking that it timed out, we went through the hoops again, this time, typing a little faster. No luck, still dumped us back at the homepage. By this time it was past 10 so we gave up and decided to head down to the place itself to either a) find that we had 2 pairs of tickets or b) find that we had no tickets.
Unfortunately it was the latter case and by the time they got round to telling us that they could not locate our names, it was 1050 and we could not catch the show.
On the way there we had called the feedback line to clarify only to be put to a mailbox and when we tried to leave a name and contact to call back, we found that the mail box was full!
So no choice lor, the next show was 1pm, unless we forked out 30 bucks each and watch the Gold Class version, which we ended up doing since we had ww's birthday lunch to attend. I must say that Gold Class is quite fancy and the seats quite plush, i did feel quite pampered in it. Although i had reservations about watching a family type movie in such fancy surroundings, the sound system did do the show justice and i loved the songs they sang in it. It is still ringing in my head as i type this!

The movie itself was entertaining to say the least and although the ending was a little far fetched, i must say the message did come across quite clear and nicely and i will be checking those cans of tuna to see where they come from before i buy them. I was pleasantly surprised to see some stellar cast providing the voices including Nicole Kidman (oh that voice), Hugh Jackman and Elijah Wood.

Moral of the story: watch both movies, but dun book via internet (but book early hor)

rainy day capers

Had an exam in the morning (it was terrible, dun ask me about it) so i headed to the gym after and met wibblewamble for lunch. Ate at our fav jap restaurant Haru, which provided comfort food, but not very comforing service. Is it us or is "good service" a thing of the past? People don't seem to care, courtesy has been thrown out the window and the lack of pride is quite apparent. Maybe i should start a blog where we can all whine about a bad service experience, like http://www.parkingidiots.blogspot.com/. But seriously, do provide some feedback, it helps everyone. =)

It was raining cats and dogs when we left, but ww's colleague offered to walk over with a few umbrellas (bless her!).

So there we were picking our way through the puddles when she asked "hey, you don't have to skip and hop like me, you're not wearing nice heels!" Which was true, since i was wearing my running shoes, but i pointed out that it was the adidas climacool one with vents in the underside, so my socks were getting wet.

She laughed, "Who ask you buy such a holey shoe lah!"

zeenie's retort "but it's good for my sole (soul)! bwahahahahaha!"

Sausages in the news

This is a funny story that reminds of the NUTS (no u-turn syndrom) effect that some people attain after becoming an official of sorts.

Jon Carthew said: "I don't think any of our customers actually believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages. "We use the word because the dragon is synonymous with Wales and I think everyone who buys from us knows that."

I suppose with Chinese culture being spread far and wide, they believe that consumers eat anything these days. Ha!

stop motion video

Just caught this video of a musician doing stop motion video on the net, it's brilliant!! Check it out, 'cos words fail me!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/300969/stop_motion_musician/

Policeman tasers himself and teenager

This story sounded like a scene from a Jackass/Ben Stiller/Stephen Chow movie:
"The constable was attending the incident at a central Auckland home when he shocked himself, the 16-year-old and then later pepper-sprayed the 21-year-old woman"

bloody amazing stuff if you ask me. Will upload pictures of the bullrun as soon as i find my thumb drive! Argh!

In the wet!

Yesterday's Bullrun was wet! At the same time it was also a blast, and it was great to see Jeanie so happy, that brave little dog of mine. Memories to warm the heart! Pictures coming soon!

Aside from getting ourselves thuroughly soaked, we managed to spot Kingsley and Kaiser in the crowd and Kingsley even grinned at Jeanie. :).

update: the official bullrun pictures have been posted up! =)Spot the Jeanie!

a night out

Brought my visitor from the land of the long white cloud out to a few clubs tonight, and it was a blast and a riot. Hilarity and pandemonium were always a laugh away, and he did find our clubs very interesting to say the least. I did feel like a chaperone at times though 'cos i felt strangely detached from the proceedings at hand, even though the music was good (retro night). I guess i subscribe to the ah-lim school of thought. =)

We started off the night well, dining at Sun with Moon and we had an absolute feast (read what another blogger said about this place). It has always been our favourite restaurant (see previous post on food) and having more people around made ita meal to remember, especially since we can order more varieties. Eating is definitely more fun with more people present.

Off we went to our favourite pool joint afterwards and found Kumar in full swing there (not literally of course, he hasn't joined Cirque de Soleil...yet(?)). I guess having a club where 'everybody knows your name' is kinda cool and we had a few games of pool there and plenty of laughs. Brought him over to MOS and Zouk after. MOS was having a quiet night and so we could move around freely. He was really impressed by the sheer size of the place and the music they were playing, although the crowd was missing that certain vibe. We did spot some weird dancing like these two girls whose idea of dancing was to jump up and down and wave their arms rather half-heartedly. I have seen the Queen of England give a better wave than that! I did explain to him that depending on the DJ or artistes, like Koshee (*worship* Kosheen is teh rox0r!), the vibe can be quite narcotic. Zouk's mambo night or retro night was ok, but it just wasn't the same when i actively went there (like omg 10 years ago lor!). It was really really really weird in a way! Don't get me wrong, the music was still quite cool and funky, but to have people dancing together, waving their arms in time as if they were playing DDR is just uncanny. Since when did retro night be a euphemism for synchronised dancing? I'm really getting too old for this shit.

B, James B

Man, the weird thoughts were just flying when i saw this news article on Diddy wanting to be the next Bond.

First off, just like Q, he will be known as "B, James B y'all got a problem with that?".

Q will have an assortment of gadgets hidden in gold chains that would put Mr T to shame. Most it involves flashing the bling at the enemy until they cannot tahan and must run to the nearest jewellery to get some for themselves, leaving B to complete the mission and get the girl (who gets one of dem chains as a gift).

Next, Q will have to outsource the car jobs to "Pimp my ride" and the outcome with be a tricked-out, bling-to-the-max, 100-puh-cent-certified, gold-loving, honey-attracting mobile that will have 25' rims that can have secret messages flashing from the LEDs embedded in it, suspension that bunny-hops the car over tough obstacles like chewing gum and puddles on the road, and a sound system that will blow you off your feet with a subwoofer that pounds the daylights out of you while you lay immobilized by the sound of "Get your freak on".

B will then forgo his usual Walter PPK, and use a couple of 9mms.....ok, twelve of them 9mm......with inlaid diamonds on a gold frame......

bleah.

Trip to Malacca

Since my visitor had quite a few days in Singapore, we brought them up to Malacca for the weekend. Overall we had a great time and it was a gasteonomical treat, to say the least. Took a 40 seater home, and no traffic jam, just human jam at the causeway, and the bus is quite comfortable. Perhaps the tummies were all sated so most of us are sleeping off all the great food that we had been eating here. I shall leave the food recommendations to a later time as it is not the subject of this rant post.

We started off from our journey early enough, although it wasn't early enough for wibblewamble to get some work done (at 5 in the morning?!?). We caught our Grassland pre-booked super vip 26-seater bus at 8 and the journey via the second link was quite smooth as traffic was quite light. What was startling once we hit the highways in malaysia was the driver's constant use of the cellphone, without a hands-free kit. His longest call was around an hour and he alternated the hand holding the phone when he got tired, driving with his other hand. There were times when he even took both hands off the wheel! Now if he were driving conservatively, it might have made us feel safer but no, he was driving like a maniac! Weaving in and out of traffice, cutting other cars off in a queue for the turn-off and braking very suddenly and startlingly at irregular intervals, especially off the highways. To top it all off, he drops us off in the middle of nowhere, saying that he was sending the others remaining in the bus to their hotels, 'cos they paid 3 dollars more. This despite assurances from the rather unfeeling (almost rude) lady at Grasslands telling us that the bus would drop us off at near hotel equitorial (dunno how to spell so fancy one). We actually received better service from the 40 seater on our way home, so you dun always get what you pay for.

I think it shows a shocking lack of basic responsibility to drive so carelessly when you have 26 lives behind dependent on you to drive them to their destination. I personally would not use this company again.

Visitor from Aoteroa

A good friend  is here on a visit from windy welli so it was good to meet up again.  Caught up with a blog-pal (as opposed to a penpal) as well and it was good to put a face to the name. Turned out that out of that group of 7 of us, 5 of us had blogs. Welcome to the new media.  :)

Welfare

In the light of recent discussions online regarding the state of Welfare in sunny-land, it kinda got me thinking.  Each time I take the train, I see people who sell tissue paper.  It appears that hard times have fallen upon them and that are reduced to selling packets of tissue.  I do wonder how they are going to break out of this cycle since a) they spend their time trying to get enough money to get by, b) they may not know how to move forward from tissue paper salesmanship, c) even if they knew how to would they have the resources to do so?  And invariably I  wonder whether the government is doing anything to help them. Which is kinda warped in a way, 'cos my logic would be "but what can I do? Buy tissue paper everyday?" (Which remains a valid solution in a way, although I would end up with 3 packets of tissue everyday) "why should it come down to me? Why don't gah-men do something?" Then the train of thought chugs on, "maybe this tissue paper seller is raking it in ah, and purposely dowan to do anything about this" which are bitter judgemental thoughts, afterall, how much money can one make from tissue paper? But the basic point remains, I know about teaching a person to fish yadda yadda, and by buying a tissue (at whatever insignificant sum) would i be 'giving fish' and be providing a disincentive to wanting to break out of the cycle?

We can kid ourselves that we are doing our good deed for the day by buying a tissue, but does it help in the long run?
Who are we to judge?

Kind of an interesting "damned if I do and damned if I don't" conundrum.

However we sometimes feel they can go too far, and charge, nay demand, a premium price for the tissues, which is also strange since the point about helping the person can get lost in the price difference.

On a side track, the consumer (or singaporean, hard to differentiate sometimes) in me was thinking the other day when I saw some people giving away not one but TWO packets of tissue free as a promotion of some health awareness program, "wah the tissue paper seller today got tough competition, how come the relevant authorities nair think about the poor tissue paper seller when they give out tissue paper?" Plain cynical thoughts.

That's us, we want it on a silver platter and we want it now. Painful thoughts for a morning journey. Sigh

Headlines.......

and no, I'm not talking about corduroy pillows either! Just thinking out loud of headlines that I might or might not want to see...... actually, I was trying to think of a good title for this post and wondering what to write about. Lol

Anyways, here they are, in no particular order:
Wee are Singapore
Leathal Wee-pon
Apocolypse Now, Wee!
Wee are Unforgettable (recall other famous father daughter pair)
Wee are family (recall famous song)
A wee bug's life (a pichar (lobang) production)
Incredulous (another pichar production starring a family with elite powers)
I know what Wee did last summer
Wee are the champions
Wee not-so-free Men (see Terry Pratchett)

alternative titles

Ok, i know it might not be appropriate given the gravity of the situation, but i just cannot help it after reading this article on bbc, i just had to come up with alternative headlines and bylines:

"Japan welcomes Rice"
"China unsure about Rice"
"Special offer: Rice"
"Rice is nice"
"Rice on the side"


and then of course there's my favourite joke:

Soon after the announcement that the Communist Party had chosen Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao as its new general secretary, playwright James Sherman wrote the following skit based on the Abbott and Costello's Who's on First classic. (We take you now to the Oval Office where George W. is meeting with Condoleezza Rice)
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yasser? Yasser Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yasser is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yasser?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the secretary-general of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yasser! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N.?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone)
Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we should send some to the guy in China. And the Middle East. Can you get Chinese food in the Middle East?

haze

Man the haze has been really bad these days, with people falling ill all over the place, including yours truly. One thing i've noticed though, is that the National Environmental Agency (NEA) website (nea.gov.sg) seems to be down. Is there any other way to get an update on the haze online?

Out with sedition (in NZ)

Interesting.

I just read this article and it says that
"Maori mystic Rua Kenana and colourful MPs Peter Fraser and Bob Semple were the best-known New Zealanders snared by sedition laws the Law Commission now wants wiped out.
In a consultation document released today the commission recommended seditious offences in the Crimes Act be repealed and not replaced.
A sedition charge was last used against Timothy Selwyn, 32, who in July was jailed for two months, after mounting an axe attack on the Auckland office of Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Ironically, sedition was used to jail Labour Party founding fathers Mr Fraser and Mr Semple in 1916, when they were seen as dangerous trade unionists undermining the state.
.
.
"

My 10 seconds of fame came once for this post i wrote when Mr Miyagi referred to it in his article in Today (when he was with Today of course), so is the charge of sedition a throw-back from the past? What if, and i say loudly again for all those with a hard-of-hearing problem, hypothetically, the founding fathers of our land were charged with this by our then colonial masters? I daresay that we would have the same level of respect for them now, if not more. Ironic that Mr Selwyn and the two bloggers were charged with this then, since the whole incident will never remembered in a positive light. Perhaps it is time for us to re-examine this law or least review how we use it?

ps i know some of the links in my previous post have died, unfortunately i am not trained in internet cpr so no article. (but if you ask nicely wibblewamble might have a scanned copy of the today article somewhere)

Law-Media debate results

It has been a great debate and the the judges are currently discussing. All the speakers had us in stiches, trading barbs, snide comments and hilarious insults at various parties, and when they got bored, they would turn on their opponents. LOL

The results? Hardly a contest with Law being proclaimed the winner. :) "because we dun want to see lawyers in the media. 
Best speaker: Adrian Tan
Motion: Lawyers-Better off in the media

Great time tonight!

Quote of the night

As part of the proceedings, the last minute of every speaker was subject to conditions set out by the chairman mr brown, and Adrian Tan had to give his segment in falsetto. During his last minute, he lapsed into normal voice, and the media made squeezing motions to remind him, he exclaimed "FAR BETTER MEN HAVE SQUEEZED THESE BALLS!"

Brilliant

Law-media debate 'live'

Am here at the above event and just found out that the chairman for the debate is none other than mr brown (note lower case)!!

He is just giving his welcome speech now and it's damn hilarious.
"Eh the lobby is like a scene from Matrix" says the wife, and whatdayaknow, she triggered the metal detector.

More later!

Rules and rulers

Saw yet another person eating on the mrt the other day, which made me wonder about our society.  We have many rules but these are only as good as actual enforcement, for it seems society is always one step away from anarchy (absence of rules causes this? Debatable) and maybe in our case, that step is more like a leap but it is still there.

I must admit my initial instinct was to want to chastise the person for flouting the "no eating on trains" rule, since he/she might dirty the train. But what if everybody did it? Then the rule wouldn't be worth the paper it is written on. And if we extend this line of thought to other aspects of life, the potential chaos is just astounding! Maybe that is why so many people speed on the expressways, 'cos everyone is doing it!

Bus

Took a bus to get around town today for a meeting and managed to catch up with a schoolmate for lunch (rare chance).  Coincidentally, after lunch, the bus that I caught in the opposite direction was the same one that brought me there! Hard to forget the number plate of 2800 (must buy 4-D ah!)(Incidentally, I found a Mac widget that displays our 4-D results. Mac addicts also like to buy some hope, lol)

The interesting about the bus rides were the drivers, or bus captains, who were different in every aspect. One was considerate enough to stop right in front of the passenger who flagged him down, and he would wait for an elderly person to find a seat first before moving off, in a very smooth ride. While the other one drove like a taxi driver, with two left feet, mismatched hands and missing a wheel (or two). Complete opposite, and it was the same bus!
Well, that's me rant for the day.

Working life

I think it is kinda funny how work conditions here make people band together in wonderful and funny ways that people deal with the stress.  I found a bunch of people at my present place who use the same medium I use to de-stress: humour.

Conversation between two guys while a girl types in the background.......
"I wonder if our esteemed colleague has anything to contribute?"
"I doubt it but I could be wrong"
"She's giving you death looks dude"
"Really?"
"Yeah and she's turning around to us and she says....."
At this point, I kinda thought she was going to have a blonde moment, but she said something even better:
"I'm not listening to what you guys are talking about!!"

Which left us in stiches. LOL

Teenage Textbook the Movie

Saw this notice on tomorrow.sg so ww and i headed down to the national museum to watch it. I had read the book some time ago when it first came out and i was a teenager and am happy to report that of all the advice that the book preached, i didn't follow any of them. LOL Maybe that's why i didn't have many many girlfriends (not that i wanted many many girlfriends), but then again i attribute this to being in a mono-gendered secondary school (was going to use the term 'single-sex' but always found that term highly amusing for some strange reason), but i digress.

Like i said, i read the book (or books, if you include the teenage workbook) before while ww hadn't, so it was going to be interesting to see how our perceptions have been moulded, afterall, there are supporters of the written word (which includes the both of us) that say that a movie (whether or not made by George Lucas, Steven Spielberg or Phillip Lim) can never match up to the boo, especially if you read the book first.

First off, i must say that the movie was quite good and we enjoyed it alot. The title was abit of a misnomer since the movie took bits from both the Teenage Textbook (aka the melting of the ice cream girl) and the Teenage Workbook (aka the passing of an april shower). It did document Singapore at that time pretty well and showcased some interesting bits of Singapore, and i had a fun time trying to recognise the places in the film, including that bus stop in the middle of nowhere near Marina South MRT. This was especially evident since Phillip had chosen "American Graffiti" as his inspiration (according to the forum held after the movie) and included several driving shots in the movie. I did feel that Tom De'Cruz could have been developed further as a character but recognise that the time (and budget) was limited in trying to adapt the book for the screen.

The Q&A session held afterwards was fun and lighthearted and at times resembled a 'live' stand-up comedy session, with both director Phillip Lim and author Adrian Tan (i didn't know he's a lawyer)(hence the lawyer jokes from him). Phillip explained that the movie was shot over 21 days and its low budget included many volunteers and sponsors, including Burger King, Starbucks and Club 21. Talk about clever product placement!

For those interested, there is going to be a Lawyers v Media debate on 13 Oct 2006 with Adrian Tan on the side of the lawyers. This was last year's intro sheet and for the record, the media won that debate. I read this year's intro sheet and it cracked me up (i dun have a copy of it on me right now)! I think you can write to the Singapore Law Academy for more information.

Orchard road capers

So there we were heading towards Sun and Moon for our dinner when we came across an old lady selling tissues.  Knowing ww's soft spot for "people who try to help themselves" (bless her kind soul), I already had a hand in my pocket reaching for some change before the "dear, do you have some change" left her lips.

I stood a little ways off observing my dearest do her good deed, but noticed that the conversation was taking longer than the expected "here's the money, thank you for the tissues". 

It turns out that instead of the "market rate" of dollar for three packets of tissues, she was charging two dollars for a packet!  When questioned about this startling (ie daylight robbery) price difference, she replied that it was hard work standing around and she (ww) should try it sometime to understand the high price.

Yikes! Market forces at work? Or is location that crucial a factor?

Photos from the MacBook

Settler's Cafe 1
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

Went to Settler's Cafe the other day with a fellow Mac Addict (and blogger) and took some photos as he was teaching me how to utilize the various functions on this cool white machine. Had been meaning to upload them but due to work and ICT committments, could only do so now. =)

Also played around with the photo settings and this is what we got. =) Coolness


Settler's Cafe 2
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

Quip of the ICT

A: eh, how come our range for this ICT no night shoot ah?
B: aiyah, if enemy want to attack at night we tell them to come back tomorrow morning lah!

The great equalizer

Am in camp now and the great equalizer has been in play again, with guys coming together all over from different backgrounds being forced to do things together. This can stretch from the mundane things like trying not to fall asleep during yet another lecturen to being forced to eat the sometimes weird looking and testing food that is given to us (on guy claims he loses at least 2 kilos when he comes for ICT).  Somethings never change though, with cooments like "eh, the muslim food looks better ah" being made when I was a recruit and when I was lunching today.  Funny how the grass is always greener eh?

In other news, I managed to pass my IPPT with a 2.4 timing of just under 12 mins.  Not my best of times, cos I used to do it in 11 mins flat, but I feel quite satisfied, considering that age is catching up and I seem to be carrying around some extra weight. I had to stop twice due to pain in the side (stiches (howdoyouspellit)) and some difficulty breathing, which is strange cos I've been running 2.4 quite consistently on the treadmill with no problems, as opposed to today's massive struggle against time, the environment and myself.  I blame the haze, lol.  I did note rather interestingly that I found running 2.4 quite a chore due to the lack of a tv to watch while I run, thanks to my training at the gym. And throughout the run, aside from thinking these kinds of "I wish I had" thoughts, little voices were saying "give up lah, you're too old for this shit", and I gave in to it and the pain and stopped running for a bit.  Luckily, good ole self-motivation kicked in and I managed to get running again, and even overtook a few familiar faces in the final sprint.  I'm amazed I still had something left in the tank, although I did pay for it after with a painful abdomen for more than an houe afterwards (which is kinda useful, in a perverse way, for staying awake at night class).  Moral of the story (if any): going to the gym and other preparations can only go so far, the final result depends on the conditions of the actual event, and having a positive mindset is really important. 

Oh yes, and my other station results (sorry, must brag abit for ww's sake as she's overseas and I haven't spoke to her yet) are: standing broad jump - 230 (first and only jump, cos I tot 4 points was enough), pull up - 9 (another 4 points), sit up - 40 (39 and above for 5 points so I stopped there lol), shuttle run - 9.7 seconds (another 5 points, never really had trouble in this, ever).  So overall good for a silver I think, yet to check.

That's enough rambling from me for today, over and out!

Dinner conversations

W: so what do you want to eat for dinner?
Z: anything lor.
W: how about Mos Burger?
Z: sounds good........ Btw, did you hear what happened to Mick Jagger in Japan?
W: what happened?
Z: he was on tour there and he was hungry, so he headed out to various food outlets to buy food, but when he came to Mos Burger, they refused to serve him.
W: why?
Z: as the counter staff explained, "because a rolling stone gathers no mos!" Bwahahahahahahahahaha
W: *speechless stunned silence* ....... That was a really bad one dear.

Travelling

Going abroad is always fun, so many things to see and do as well as experience. The one heart wrenching sight is of little kids trying to sell you postcards and trinkets and the like. Their education from the streets can make them tough salespeople to reject as they use every tactic possible to get you to buy something.
From the usual "but you bought something from her! Why didn't you buy from me" to the unusual "come you buy my water, very good, better than her (neighbouring stall) water" zeenie:"but it's the same brand! "Mine different type of evian, better type!" to the plain ludicrous "you buy book?! (zeenie holds up the same book) ahn nevermind, you buy another? This one good book, can read twice!"

It was a little tiring having to run the gauntlet of this barrage of sales pitches everytime we boarded or alighted the bus.

Overheard over lunch

Had to share a table over lunch today and I couldn't help but overhear the conversation next to me, partially because they were just next to me and partially because the guy was talking so loudly. He was bragging about how well he has been doing as a lawyer, and firms have been courting him and that he has a girlfriend whom he is with "because she'll make a good wife, but for no other reason". What struck me was that he couldn't string two sentences together coherently, and claimed to be a lawyer. With an attitude like that I'm surprised he has a girlfriend!

God's gift to women? Pah! More like the booby prize.

Taxi capers

Tried to get a cab this evening and arrived at the side road to find one other person waiting for a cab, but thankfully on the wrong side of the road from the direction that I was heading. So I crossed the road to wait and by chance, two cabs pulled up along side me, the first had to let a passenger alight, while the second was on call. I was tempted to let the other person have the cab 'cos she looked to be in a hurry and looked quite put out about me getting a cab first but I figured that the cab wasn't heading her way so I jumped in. Turns out that the cab on call was hers so it all kinda worked out in the end, since the alternative scenario would be that she gets the first cab, calls to cancel her booking (saving money), leaving me with a cab that's on call to someone else and some time to wait. :)
Remember, the early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Forum

It has been an interesting day, 'cos I attended a Forum relating to my work, and the fact that it's a Global Forum just makes that much better 'cos there are quite a few famous people inthe industry that are here to talk shop. People I've only read about in books, hell, in books that they have written, it is a great conference, on paper. Unfortunately, it is only a two day Forum so speakers were only given a limited time to speak, which was a pity considering the amount of travelling time some of the delegates took to get here. There was even one guy from Holland who flew in this morning and he's flying out tomorrow night after theast speaker. The world is getting smaller!!

Irony of the day

Buying stuff at Kinokuniya and finding that you have to sign for your purchases (credit card) with a pen that has a "Popular bookshop" price tag still affixed to it. Lol

Quote of the day

After a meeting, a colleague asked me, since she say me taking down the salient points of our discussion, "how are your minutes?"
My reply, "sixty of them this hour and all of them ticking along just fine." :)

Surreal sight of the day? Hearing a polyphonic version of the Smurfs theme song coming from the chest of a girl..... Upon closer (but not too close) inspection, it turned out that she was clutching a handphone to her ...... erm ..... chest and it was the culprit of the irritating tone.  Strange person. I would try to come up with an explanation but I'll probably end up involving a Gargamel, some blue creatures and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Ok, I'm even more strange.....

Traffic jams, the equaliser

Am in a traffic jam now (bukit timah road for readers reading this 'live' (now how likely is that?)) and couldn't help but notice that all cars around, from the rich and powerful ones to the speedy and sporty ones, all equally stuck in this jam. Couldn't help but laugh out loud at the this....

the food!

food
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

After checking in and having explored the tranquil settings of our hotel, it was time for lunch! Until a few days before our trip, I had never had Pad Thai before, so it was interesting to compare how the Singaporean and the real-deal versions matched up. Of course the real version is better, by virtue of the freshness of the ingredients and the variety of spices, and it made paradise seem complete. For completeness, I had Pad Thai at various places and I liked them all, although the one by the resort pool was the very best. Wash it down with cold beer on a hot day is my idea of bliss. =)

Check out the funky drinks!


drinks
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

welcome drinks

welcome
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

This is a continuation of "stories from phuket" series... (actually, i just made that title up).

We woke up quite early to make the 7am flight and it did feel odd to be waking up earlier than usual on a public holiday, especially since we slept at like 4am, but the excitement of going on a holiday was just enough to keep us going. Didn't feel sleepy on the plane either and didn't eat much on the plane, since airplane food is....well....airplane food, and i was saving my stomach for Thai food! (later i found out that i put on weight in the 4 days i was there. yikes!). After enduring long queues at the airport, we whizzed through everything else, since we were only carrying a carry-on (harvestsack) each and the van took us to our hotel.

What you see in the photo was the sight that greeted us, which generated even more expectations about the place. I must say that our stay was wonderful in almost every aspect and memorable, to say the least. =)

The drink was nice and cold and refreshing while the cold towel really woke us up! The tranquil settings were really very peaceful and i could feel myself relaxing already. Paradise......

zeenie the thinker

Just attended a team building meeting and we did a test by Carl Jung (pronounced Yong), a famous Swiss psychologist. According to him, our communication styles can be shaped into one of the following: Intuitor, Feeler, Senser (odd spelling, i know)and Thinker. The battery of questions were divided into 'normal situations' and 'stressful situations'.

It was an interesting test and I was not surprised (as were my colleagues) to find that in times of normalcy, i'm a Thinker, and under stress, i become even more of a Thinker. =)

Funny quote of the day came from my boss sitting beside me, when he was asked what was his secondary mode of communication, he said "I'm not sure, the rest are almost the same but i have a strong S."
I nearly blurted my tea into his lap when he said that, if i had been drinking tea that is.

discrimination on our flight home

flight home
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

I was going to start a series on some stories that happen to us on our travels and i've decided to start from the back, since it is the most disappointing one.

Not sure if you can see from the picture, but this shot was taken from the last row of the aircraft where we were seated. Interesting thing about this picture for us was that the heads closest to us were black while the heads nearer to the front of the aircraft was not black and the skin white.

We flew home on this Silk Air flight and found that people in front of us in the check-in queue and people behind of us in the check-in queue were seated to the front, and it so happened that these couples were both caucasian. I do not blame Silk Air directly since this is obviously the work of a biased ground staff, but one cannot help but feel that their training has been somewhat lacking and thus they would have some accept some responsibility in this. Now i'm not saying that all Singaporeans should be accorded special treatment on Silk Air or SIA flights, but at the least, everyone should be treated equally. To borrow an Aussie phrase (ironic, i know), all we're asking is for a fair go.

The funny thing is that for some of these ang mos, they take it as their right to be treated better than people of asian descent. One particular couple insisted on getting an extra seat on this FULL flight, just because they were held up and did not arrive to the airport on time, although they did manage to check-in with about an hour and a half to spare. IMO, some people cannot accept that the East India Company has gone the way of the dodo a long time ago and persist in maintaining a 'colonist' mentality and inflicting these slanted attitudes upone anyone they deem fit (or unfit), and worse still, some people are encouraging them!

In the wake of our National Day, i feel that we should put a stop this and know that we are just as, if not more, capable as they are in every thing in life and there are more than enough examples around us to inspire and motivate us.

Learning is a lifelong process with many teachers, and we should learn from them just as they from us, but we should not kowtow to them, and should not be expected to do so.

macbook

macbook
Originally uploaded by zeenz.

i needed a laptop that's reliable, portable (have you seen some of the 20" lappies these days? you need a lap like Shaq in order to have them in your lap) and easy to use, as i was going on a 1 year course with the uni and needed something to take down notes. A friend who's a mac addict came laptop shopping with me and basically that was that. Didn't really need much convincing, although i was a little hesitant 'cos this is my first mac.

I'll try to list any experiences i have on this, since i have been a lifetime pc user. Oh wait, my first input, there's no 'delete' key!! Actually, there is, but it's the 'backspace' key on the pc. Interesting....

Specs-wise, i only upgraded the ram to 1Gb and bought a protective cover for the case and plastic cover for the wrist-rest-portion, aside from that the specs are stock and are as follows:
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor
60GB 5400-rpm hard drive
13.3-inch TFT widescreen display; 1280 by 800 pixels
Intel GMA950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory
Built-in iSight video camera
Front Row and Apple Remote (what's this?)
Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
One FireWre 400 port; two USB 2.0 ports
Optical digital audio input/audio line in, optical digital audio output / headphone out, built-in stereo speakers
Mini-DVI port for DVI, VGA, composite, and S-video (huh?)
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking(802.11g) and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (huh??)
Preinstalled Mac OS X and other bundled software (basically iLife)
Size and weight: 12.78 by 8.92 by 1.08 inches (32.5 by 22.7 by 2.75 cm); 5.2 pounds (2.4 kg)
Meets ENERGY STAR requirements

Holidays

I really meant to blog during our holiday, unfortunately there was just so much to do,  or rather, so much of not doing anything at all, that now when I finally have the time, we are checking out of out hotel and leaving for home.

It has been a great holiday and I learned a lot about the country and its wonderful people, but I also learned about me.  More on that some other time, for now, we have a plane to catch!

technology and us

I read an article on the internet about couple surfing being a trend and couldn't but think of me and wibblewamble.

Back in the early days of our relationship, we were in different countries, so technology played a huge part in reaching out to each other. I remember that we would explore various cheap options to communicate, ranging from IRC (brief) and ICQ (main mode of communication for awhile, aside from the phone) to various voice options from low-cost phonecards to VOIP systems. We tried them all, and the funny thing is, we never got tired or frustrated about the technology. It was all about being able to communicate for me, and it didn't matter that all i saw was letters appearing on my screen, or that a delay of 3 seconds each time one of us spoke meant that information was sometimes lost. Instead, what mattered was that it was her fingers typing those letters with her thoughts behind them, and it was her voice over the line (albeit a little delayed) with her feelings following them. Each mode of communication had its pros and cons, and we savoured each type for its little quirks and features, enabling us to write a bodice-ripping type novel in the future should we ever decide to embark on a career in writing. =)

As for now, one of our little ways of communicating to each other (learning how freaky life can be when you both get the same result for a 30-Q quiz) is this blog, and thankfully it has not degenerated into a cutesy fluffy pinky page of mushy lovewords. And i think it is nice to share this with you, so to all our readers out there, frequent, occcasional, regular or large, i thank you for your company and hope to keep on writing.

In other kind-of-related news, wibblewamble and i are heading out of the country for the next few days so updates might be a little rare. We'll try to put up some posts about our trip when we get back!

The day before going on leave

Why is it that every time I try to go on leave everyone decides to come back with new instructions or new questions, on the day before I actually go on leave? I don't think there's ever been a single instance where there was a peaceful day before and I didn't come really really really close to missing my flight. It's got to be a conspiracy... *grimace*... or a cosmic joke "you'll get your leave approved, but let's see you try to actually relax during your leave"...

Ah well, fingers crossed, maybe I'll get lucky this time...

The day after gym

Signed up for a gym membership and had my first session yesterday, surprisingly, I don't ache that much today so I'll probably be able to go today as well. I must say that gyms these days are quite well serviced and clean smelling. Don't think I can ever sign up my uncoordinated self for classes though, I might knock out the person standing next to me or something.

Update

i actually went for another gym session today, this time with a personal trainer. i think my arms are going to drop off and i have lost all feeling below my waist while my abs feel like they have been put through the wringer and then twisted into dreadlocks. The only other time i recall feeling like this was after a particularly torrid session with the PTI in BMT, one where a fellow recruit even had trouble taking off his singlet afterwards. LOL

What's even more interesting is probably the fact that i've scheduled to see him again. I must be mad. LOL

Busy weekend

Had a busy weekend with Jeanie. =)

Saturday, we attended an SPCA fund raising event at the Heeren and got to meet a few other doggies and a cat there. It was quite interesting walking a dog down orchard road, and kind of an experience to savour. Jeanie attracted quite abit of attention and she loved it, soaking it up and prancing about with a sparkle in her eye. Great to see her happy.

Sunday, we attended the national dog walk thingie as advertised here on this blog and it was fun! It looked like over 200 dogs attended and at times it felt like pandemonium, with dogs running around, chasing each other and having so much fun. Unfortunately, Jeanie wasn't feeling too friendly that day and snapped at a few dogs, otherwise, it was a fun-filled day for all involved.

Sight of the day: A chihuahua getting frisky with his owner's legs while eyeing a Husky that was walking by. Lust, there are no limits!

Quote of the day (by jeanie): "Oi! A miniature schnauzer won a huge bag (20kg?) of Solid Gold dog food at the lucky draw?? It's not going to be miniature after that! *snigger*"

mrt antics

I always find it amusing whenever trains from opposing platforms arrive at the same time, especially during peak hours. There would be that pause, a brief moment of incredulity as we wait for the platform doors to open. You can almost hear their thoughts: "dun let those northerners get to the escalator before us!" "Those eastsiders think they are so great, I'll get there before them and have the last laugh yet!" and so on....

The funny thing is that these ordinary men and women, dressed for the office, are transformed into someone whom they themselves might not recognise. The quickness of feet, waving of arms (and elbows), bowed head (for lower drag I guess) and that glint in the eye of "hah! I got here before you did and now you have to face my posterior end as we head up the escalator, and you will be forced to look away from the greatness of my butt". I shall not even begin to describe the looks and thoughts given to those who take the stairs, they range from "nyah nyah, you have to take the stairs" to "healthfreak!".

Funny thing is, people transform back to their docile, office-type demeanour the moment the ride on the escalator ends.

Thoughts for the day

Seems like my previous mobile post on my taxi splurge did not get published, no matter, I'll retrieve it on my pc.

Today I decided to sort out some issues regarding my upcoming ICT. Aside from the dreaded IPPT, I also have to contend with returning to the army after so long. Yep, this will be my first ICT, so does that make me a virgoin ns-man? I have no idea where my full pack is and will probably have to spend an e-fortune at the e-mart to equip my unequipped person. I doubt I'll meet anyone I know since my contemporaries have already completed their 5th or 6th ICT so it's going to be an interesting time. Was telling my office roomie (OR, lol) that one of the long timers in my company reminded me of my chief clerk, or any chief clerk for that matter. She didn't get it, but another colleague (a guy) did, which made me wonder, is there some "school of chief clerks" that all chief clerks went to? I ask this 'cos the minute you say "chief clerk", most guys will have an impression of someone, and that person will be mostly identical with minor variances. Strange thoughts for a thursday.....

Which sports car are you?

Thanks to crufty and -Ben, got this quiz. I was actually looking forward to being an RX-8 but i got its younger brother instead. LOL

I'm a Mazda Miata!

You like to soak up the sun, but your tastes are down to earth. Everyone thinks you're cute. Life is a winding road, and you like to take the curves in stride. Let other people compete in the rat race - you're just here to enjoy the ride.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Can't say that it's very accurate but it is fun for a lark.

Open Invite

Jeanie will most probably be attending this event on Sunday 6 August 2006 and invites you to do so too! You can bring your human friends too (dogs have lotsa friends!), since they'll be useful in fetchin you there, carrying your treats, filling your water bowl etc......

Hope to see you there!

Details
Date: Sunday, 6 August
Time: 4-7 pm
Dress code: National colours (Red & White) (j: but my coat is black/white!)
Flag off: West Coast Park Car Park 2
End Point: West Coast Park Dog Run (near Car Park 1)

blogging on the go

I just realised that I can blog on the go! This requires more research since I'm still using blogger to post this when I should be using moblog or something. Also, typing with two thumbs is hard!

You know you're getting old when you see some teen with earrings (two on the same ear) that are obviously fake diamonds and you think "dude! What's up with that?" In my time, guys dun wear earrings unless cos of some special reason, like the need to match the need of having a parrot on the shoulder and an inexplicable need to begin each sentence with Arrrrrrr. I'm getting old. Sigh

Great Video

Watched a great music documentary recently called Calle 54 and the one performance which stood out, nay not just stood out, but came out swinging with an electro-cattle prod aiming for your spine is the performance by Michel Camilo. I found a Youtube version of it and here's the link.

With:
Michel Camilo on piano;
Anthony Jackson on bass;
Horacio Hernandez (El Negro) on drums.

Watch and prepare to be amazed. Enjoy!

Superman

Saw this post on Boing Boing and followed the link, it's damn funny (dun say i didn't warn you!).

Watched the movie recently and my two cents on it:


***************
*spoiler alert*
***************

Was late for the movie, so only caught the show when the jumbo jet was already in trouble after a failed launch of the space shuttle from its back. This technology is quite mature and have been proposed since the 1980s, but does this mean that they have to fill the stupid jumbo jet with people? Not too smart right?

Unless, this is where the airline industry is heading: a new way to fly, casino IR Risque class! (pronounced Rees-key) Why pay top dollar for first/business class? Economy class just sounds cheap! Fly Risque class! For a nominal sum, you get to fly to your destination for a low low price! Of course there is the possibility of the shuttle failing to launch and its jets toasting your plane, but the thrill of living through a sucessful launch is something you will talk about for the rest of your life. If the launch is unsuccessful, you will still be talking about it for the rest of your life, just a little quicker, that's all.

Afterall, do you want to live forever? And to cap of the deal, in the event of a catastrophic failure to launch, you might even have in-flight entertainment of some guy in red underpants tearing your wings off to let you fall faster (i assume) to the group, so that he can look even better by saving you at the last possible moment.

So ask about the new Risque class the next time you fly and you could fly for free!


And then there is the concept of offspring (see the link!!). The little tike is so sickly, does this mean that when he has an asthma attack, a typhoon is comming? And if he sneezes, a hurricane is imminent? I dun even want to know what happens when he has 'lau sai' (diahorrea).


Anyone wonders what in the frigging blazes is Lex Luthor (who incidentally has the same initial as Lois Lane!) doing with his cronies, sitting around on the newly created island/continent that he created? Where are the resorts and houses that he was talking about? This is a guy who was brilliant enough to pull off complex excercises of stealing kryptonite, finding Superman's secret polar hideout (really should have some guards on the place, maybe some polar bears, or even a penguin watchbird), combining alien crystals with human technology to sprout an island, and even defeat Superman in battle and all he can do after completing all these is sit around smoking his cigar? What is he waiting for? Monica Lewinsky?


By the way, does anyone know what did happen to his home planet? Apparently a new planet was found and it could have been Krypton, so our hero went to check it out (took him awhile!), but never said the outcome of his search. IMO, obviously he didn't find anyone, 'cos he came back to look for LL (the girl, not the villian).


*spoiler/rant end*

King and the Clown

We were in serious need of some comedy last night so we went to watch King and the Clown after i saw some good reviews about it and it looked to be funny.

Basically it was about a group of jesters who made fun of the king and the court and what happened after the king found out about it.

I didn't really find it a comedy and thought the plot moved rather quickly with no subtlety at all (and rather brutal at times), maybe that's how korean shows are. Anyyways, personally i thought the funniest bit was when the jester's lives were spared even after they performed their mocking performance in front of the king and they were asked to stay in the palace and were given food. I immediately thought (and i think i said it out loud) "Da Chang Jin" prepared that food!! Was still waiting for her to come out at the end of the show to save everyone, but no suck luck. Of course, WW pointed out that the period in which DCJ was set in came immediately after the death of the king (so his death wasn't in vain?).

What a tragedy, so much for comedy. Am in serious need of some cheering up now.

Singapore least courteous

*rant*

I read this bit of news from the net and couldn't help thinking "so the courtesy campaign didn't work eh?". Honestly, i'm not surprised at this, and having lived abroad for some time, i can safely say that S'poreans in general are one of the most dour people who border on being boorish while trying appear sophisticated. Everyone seems to have the mindset of "Courtesy begins with him".

I have lost count of the number of times i've seen pregnant women become invisible women when they get the train 'cos people just don't seem to see them or just don't care. Have even seen women jostling pregnant and old people aside just to get a seat, and then proceed to yak away on their phone. While some might pinpoint those with seats, i prefer to say that all passengers have a moral duty to give way to others more in need of a seat, and those standing could perhaps remind those seated in a courteous manner that there is someone else in greater need. But then again, we rank even behind Hong Kong, land of the people who walk very fast with their elbows out, so i dun expect us to do anything courteous at all.

Then there are times when i have to drive around, everyone here with a car thinks that because they spent a whole heap of their money on their cars, they are free to drive like they own the road. No indication of signals, random lane changes, incessant tailgating, high-beamed headlights, just to name a few of our faults, and these are not restricted to taxi drivers either.

Walking along a street in the morning, you meet people and see a few familiar faces along the way, but seldom do i get anything more than a blank stare when i smile and want to say "good morning" (even though i don't know them). I used to say it anyway but gave up after a few months of trying.

Hey, let's look on the bright side, at least we're more courteous than the land of the "Jewel in the palace"; our neighbours up north; some random former communist capital city; and home of IT outsourcement.

*end rant*

Busy Weekend

Man, what a weekend!

Started off on Friday with my buddy's stag night. Dinner at Brewerks was great and we were highly entertained by the devastating display of football by Argentina in their 6-0 thrashing of Serbia-Montenego (lost me money as well, i had put the score at 3-0 or 4-0 damn!)

Saturday morning saw us attending WW's friend's wedding. Strange to be back at the church where i recieved my first communion and it was enjoyable. Both bride and groom looked awesome and it was a such a happy union with families on both sides looking delighted.

Rushed off to the rehearsal of my buddy (who got registered last year, see this post) in town. Actually managed to go home and rest for a bit before going to WW's friend's wedding dinner. Quite a cosy do that was sprinkled with jokes, quotes and laughter all over.

Spent the night at my buddy's place 'cos of the 4.30am start the next day, and at that hour, i'm am anything but the best man, more like extremely-cranky-and-sleepy-zombie man, but oh well, too late for him to regret that, so he was stuck with me. LOL

The door-opening ceremony hosted by the sisters was quite imaginative and we had fun doing it, although i was kind of worried about doing the impromptu lion dance (with pots and pans for accompaniment) at 5.30 in the morning. Negotiations to open the main door were lengthy and both sides threatened to walk away. At one point, the door was closed on us brothers and we were contemplating bak ku teh for breakfast, while the sisters accidentally offered the 'head' of the sisters which we accepted, if anything just to open the darn door LOL. A deal was finally struck and the groom got his bride. =)

We were pretty much ahead of schedule for the whole day as even the weather cooperated and was sunny most of the day except for a brief shower (of blessing) late morning while we were travelling between places. Tea ceremony went off without a hitch and the end of the morning sessions saw the bride and groom in a trishaw heading off. Got into the car and went to the hotel early to prepare and saw this car accident along the way. The hotel environment was really good with top-notch service. Everyone including the bride and groom managed to get some shut-eye, except for me, too busy writing my speech. I did appreciate the peace and quiet environment though.

Dinner itself went amazingly smoothly (60 tables!) and the brothers were awesome at working together as a team to ensure everything went well, especially the photo taking session. At times it was close to pandemonium with a group of people standing by, waiting for the happy couple to come take photo; people supposed to be in the photo wanting to congratulate the happy couple; people wanting to make the happy couple drink (brothers had to step in a few times to 'save' the groom); and the brothers ushering everyone about. By the time i crawled into bed at the end of the day, i was so tired i only saw one goal by Brazil (while i was getting out of my clothes) and promptly slept until the next morning. Phew!

Congratulations J&J, may you know nothing but happiness from this day onwards. =)

Conversation of the day:
bridesmaid (to photographer): eh, let me play with your monopod
groom: see if you can extend his monopod lah! careful hor, dun anyhow twist twist otherwise can break one ah!
photographer: dun worry, mine is an unbreakable rod.
zeenie: *speechless rolling on the floor laughing*

Quips of the week

Been a busy week for zeenie, he wanted to do the 24 meme that has been circulating the net, but hasn't found the time to do so. What he can write about are some quips of the week:

At the movie X-men the last stand:
"Say, Beast fights like an Orangutan. Maybe it's Ah Meng on steriods with its hair dyed blue. No, wait a min, Ah Meng's a girl, maybe Ah Meng's Boyfriend?"

"Wah lau! X-men 4 ah?" (for those who stayed past the ending credits to see abit more... =) )


At a soccer game, after the ball went out of bounds when two opposing players were contesting it:
"Our ball! CCTV confirm one!"


At music practice:
"Yes, our organist will play his organ in front of everyone"

zeenie update

Been too busy these days to blog, so many apologies for the lack of updates......you know what, i'm just going to stop apologising from this point, i'll blog when i can yah? =)

Caught Paul Ponnudorai at Harry's again last Sat and managed to get my paws on his CD. =) His album "Right on time" sounds just like him doing his acoustic set, which blew me away. I still like listening to him in a band but hearing him do everything solo and seeing it right before your eyes is simply amazing. The man is AWESOME! Anyone for Harry's? =)

latest porche

New Zealand's source for motoring news on Stuff.co.nz: Porsche's latest power broker

I've always been more partial to Porches, something about trying to build a car differently and engineering your way there (no turning back! no giving up!). What can i say, about this car, classic shape, lots of torque, it's a Porche, what more do i want? LOL (actually, i do want more, i want an Enzo hahahahaha)

zeenie's contribution

Saw this post and can't help but want to contribute! I love eating! I'm sure Wibblewamble would contribute if she could but she's on hiatus right now (how's the ramen there dear?).

zeenie's 2 cents:

1. Nominate what i beleive are the best 2 restaurants in Singapore
This is a tough one, it's hard to compare restaurants that serve different kinds of food. For example, if i were feeling like Jap food, Haru and Sun With Moon immediately spring to mind. For Chinese food, i'm quite fond of Jade and Red Star, two restaurants seemingly on opposite ends of the same sentence lol. Something in me also feels like messing with the list a little and start throwing in some food stalls, but i guess they dun qualify as 'restaurants' =). At the end of the day, if you twist my arm, i'd pick Haru and Sun With Moon, just because i'm partial to jap food thanks to growing up on the jap food at Yaohan (anyone remember that?) on B1 of Plaza Singapura. Btw, there are other good Jap restaurants out there, but too many to list!

2. Nominate what i feel is my favourite restaurant in Singapore
The Cliff for its fine dining, great service, excellent ambience, wonderful overall feeling. I can't think of any restaurant that can beat it, would have to go overseas to find another that can come close!

3. Nominate what i believe are the 3 best restaurants form outside Singapore
Here's where it gets tough, so many restaurants come to mind, all of them from New Zealand.
First up, we have the Old Post Office in Hamner Springs, about an hour's drive from Christchurch. When we were there, we saw several awards from 'NZ beef and lamb' for its fine dining and it was easy to see why! The food (like lamb medallions) was heavenly, the service good and cosy environment. Just the thing after a days of lounging around in the hot Hamner Springs. =)
Next, we have White restaurant at the Hilton Auckland (have to stay there for at least a night! it's amazing!). We have eaten there for breakfast and dinner and it has never let us down. The service is excellent (as you would expect) and food was interesting, innovative and imaginative (i ran out of 'i' words lol) with a spectacular view of the auckland harbour. Must try!
Last but not least, we head back to Christchurch (i feel bad for Wellington, great restaurants there too but no space here!) for Pescatore at the George Hotel. We had the degustation menu and it was gastronomic heaven!!! The food!! The wine!! The deserts!! The service was good and they didn't mind the four of us ordering just two portions of the menu and sharing (we were stuffed!). The waiter was good although he assumed we knew nothing (which can be a good thing) and his style reminded me of Jeeves from PG Wodehouse, familiar but not overly friendly. =)
It can be quite pricey, but for us it was a once a lifetime kind of treat (i had just graduated that day =)). Truly memorable.

4. Nominiate my 2 favourite restaurants outside Singapore
Pescatore (no contest) and Pescatore......ok kidding, Pescatore and Janus Bakery (in Lower Hutt, just 15 mins from Wellington, NZ). The food there is good (try the bacon banana pancakes!) with matching service. Excellent place for brunch, which was a regular for me and jeanie after our Saturday market mornings. They are pet friendly and i recall sitting there, watching the world go by while i had brunch with my four legged friend/buddy/companion. Those were the days...


In the garden behind our fav brunch place in Lower Hutt
Originally uploaded by zeenie.

zeenie update

You may be aware of the lack of updates, well i've been busy....... nothing really interesting happened to me, so not much to blog about, though i did get a chance to vote, so that kept my attention for about 5 mins.

Wibblewamble is away in Japan so one would think that i'd spend less money, but no, i actually have been spending more. Bought stuff like a belt (i forgot to wear one to work, so had to buy), mother's day gift, shirts (Raoul had sale), new keyboard & mouse set, sunglasses and contacts (disposables). Ok, the sunglasses were abit of an impulse buy on the first day i wore my contacts to work, just because i thought the sun was too bright. Strange how i never noticed how bright the sun was when i was wearing glasses, and now just because i can wear them, i buy a new pair of sunnies. Oh well. =)

It has been interesting trying not to poke my eye out when wearing or taking off my contacts, since i'm a squimish person and never fancied the idea of my finger being that close to my eye (somehow the scene from Under Siege 2: Dark Territory comes to mind, you know, the one where the villan forces the officers to talk by threatening to stick a hot solder into their partner's eyeball). But somehow i survived and am gradually getting used to it. I dun feel much, although it does get rather dry in the aircon environment of my office.

Jeanie's been acting a little senile lately, she pooped all over the place today, twice! I blame the medication that she's on (for her tick fever) but really nothing much we can do as she needs those meds to fight the babesia. Sigh.

zeenie goes laser crazy

My latest purchase from funan: the Logitech MX3000 keyboard and mouse kit for the office. It's official, zeenie has gone laser mouse mad. Previously, he bought the MX610 for his laptop at IT fair at suntec, it's quite cool as it can work on all sorts of surfaces including the bed. Before that, he bought the MX1000, for the home desktop. Coolness.
So now zeenie has three mice in use, all laser mice, all different models, all logitech, and all good! =)

Interestingly enough, while looking through my previous posts for the entries on the various bits of hardware that i bought, came across a particularly active month (at least for me) of blogging. =)

2.4 timing in NZ

I just read this article about an ongoing debate in NZ to lower the standards of the police physical fitness test as the 2.4 timing was too hard. Police recruit run

I had to surpress a chuckle as our own gold standard for national servicemen (compulsory for all male Singaporeans) for the 2.4 run is 9.45 mins for category X (the young lads). For the not so young like me, the gold standard is 10.15. I guess in this modern day and age, policemen in NZ (aka Godzone) do not really have to run too fast, 'cos got transportation like car and bike (failing that, the public buses are quite punctual). I understand that when one gets older, cannot run so fast liao, so they should take a leaf out of our book and have different standards for different age groups. For the really really smart ones who die die must be policemen but cannot run one, better go doctor and get an 'excuse running' chit lor! Wah lau eh, so simple also dunno.

the red button

Gave me a chuckle this. =)

busy lately

A friend of mine from New Zealand was visiting the past couple of days, hence the lack of updates. Been meeting him in the morning and staying out til late at night, never realised Singapore could be so interesting to a visitor, not to mention hot and clammy. =)

Went to the zoo on friday and it was quite good, considering that i haven't been to the zoo in ages. We liked the fact that you could get up close and personal to certain animals like the kangaroos, lemurs, monkeys, orangs, bats, etc. The look on his face when he saw the sign "Polar bear enclosure" was priceless, 'cos he's still trying to adapt to our hot and humid climate and there are polar bears here?!? Lol. Saw a not-so-well-placed sign reading "Animal feeding times" and listed the various animals that were fed at a certain time in smaller print. It was placed on a path leading to the cafeteria! (sorry no pictures hor, i forgot to bring my camera that day)

We headed to the nearest mall to kill some time and ended up playing x-box for 3 bucks an hour, which we thought was rather good. Burnout revenge is fun!

Went to my fav joint Baize after and it has now become his fav place for pool as well. =) In fact, we ended up going there on Sat as well, after we visited Zouk. Pretty ok, and not too crowded. It was bordering on 'boring' when we got there are midnight, but it soon perked up after.

One phrase which he didn't get at various places (usually selling food or drinks) was 'One for one', and until he pointed it out, i had never noticed. "What does it mean?" he asked. "One for one dollar? Or one for the price of one? It makes no sense!" I suppose to be pedantic, it should read "two for the price of one" but that's just too much of a mouthful. =)

Had to let him try the wonderful food here and the list of the more memorable ones he had included: Hokkien prawn noodles, prata, KFC (we were hungry), chilli crab (of course), pepper crab (same place, Long beach), drunken prawns, stingray, satay, herbal chicken (homecooked, thanks to Wibblewamble's parents), handmade noodles, fishball noodles, mincemeat noodles...
drinks: grass jelly drink, green tea, soya bean, sugar cane juice, Tiger beer, Erdinger, Singapore sling, and lotsa lotsa mineral water. LOL

lessons in soccer

zeenie has been sick over the weekend, terribly sick, so sick that he did not play soccer on Sat. sigh

On the other hand, he came across this great vid of the Ronaldinho teaching some tricks. Now if only someone would translate the various pointers that are in Japanese!

Line of the Day

Mutterings heard last night as we were leaving the office:

"Oh no, my nuts are gonna get squashed and my yan yan broken..."

(Note: For the uninitiated, yan yan is a particular type of snack sold in pretty much every convenience store and supermarket in Singapore. It comes with stick-shaped biscuits and a chocolate dip for the biscuits. Sort of like the travel packs that Kraft does, with crackers, cheese dip and a little red spatula that you use to spread the cheese on the crackers.)

Back from the sevens

Man, was it a tiring day! Spent the whole afternoon and the better part of the evening at the IRB sevens tournament held at the National Stadium (for the last time). The party atmosphere was quite fun and the comments from various parties around us quite hilarious.

Oh yes, the rugby, the two teams we supported did not do well, with the kiwis getting knocked out in the quarterfinals and the Singaporeans only managing to score two tries (their only in the two days of tournament) in their final match against China, though it wasn't enough to get through. The cheers when Singapore finally scored a try made me feel as though we had won the Rugby and soccer world cups at the same time. LOL I have to say that the kiwis were disappointing and let down quite a few fans with their error-riddled performance. This is a young inexperienced team so they'll have a ways to go yet. A pity that none of the more experienced players made the tournament.

I found it amusing that the DJ (from NZ apparently) would play various songs when teams got knocked out. Example, when Argentina got knocked out, he played "Don't cry for me Argentina" the remixed version; when Scotland was sent packing, he played "500 miles" by the Proclaimers (anyone remember that song? pub favourite sing-a-long).

Fun day all round. =) pictures to follow!

Warning for Toa Payoh

Was on the way to meet a friend at Toa Payoh MRT station before heading off for soccer and i was waiting here (Toa Payoh Lorong 2 blk 175) for him. It is sort of an informal taxi stand as it has a covered walkway from the MRT station (Toa Payoh) to the main road. I found it quite amusing that people would automatically get in a queue for a cab even though there was no "queue here for cabs" sign, but then again, given the pechant for queuing in Singaporeans, i shouldn't have been surprised.

So there i was waiting by the road, away from the people queueing for cabs in the covered walkway so that i wouldn't be mistaken for waiting for a cab, when suddenly white glass fragments were showering all around me. I thought a street lamp had broken or something and didn't think much of it, although people in the queue caught on faster and were looking at me strangely. A caught a glimpse of the source of the white glass fragments when a second shower hit, i happened to be looking to my right when i saw something hit the ground. I ducked for cover (mentally yelling "arty! arty! arty!") and ran for the shelter. That was when i saw it, there was a flourscent light tube lying in the bushes, undamaged as the bushes cushioned its fall. Moments later, i witnessed another flourscent light tube explode in the canal beside the covered walkway. It had been thrown from one of the windows in Blk 175. I was shocked.

An nice Indian man approached me to see if i was alright and said that some nutcase was chucking things out of his/her window and sooner or later was going to hit somebody. It was no random act as each item thrown seemed to descend only when someone was walking by. Thank goodness the bugger's aim was quite bad. As the Indian man was walking away, he walked across the airwell of the block and no more than a second later, a flower pot hit the ground where he stood. Damn lucky man.

Those in Toa Payoh, whether living there or passing through, do beware of this block!! Use the covered walkway and if you have to walk in the open, use the army's 4-second rule, ie pick your next location (with cover) and take no more than 4 seconds to get there.

Btw, soccer was fun. Played at my alma mata alma matta alma metta old school and with some current students who really enjoyed their soccer, which was cool. None of that competitive crap. =)

IRB Sevens

Thanks to a friend, zeenie and wibblewamble will be going to watch the IRB Sevens this Sunday. =))

zeenie will of course be supporting the New Zealand sevens team, even though Fiji and England are so far ahead in the overall standings, it looks like fifth year unlucky for the kiwis. Pretty amazing that the kiwis have won the IRB sevens series every year since its inception in 2000. Even more amazing, considering that the NZ rugby board's main focus is on the 15-a-side version of the game and sevens is viewed more as a development tool, giving Gordon Tietjens (legend!) not much of a choice in choosing his players.

For those who have not watched it, the sevens version of rugby is an exciting game to watch, especially if you're not too keen on forward play as it basically involves only the backs and wingers. LOL

I will also support Singapore this Sunday, but something tells me they might not make it through the group stage (Saturday). Singapore has been drawn in the Group A, same as Japan, Fiji and Australia. Fiji and Australia are both very proficient at this game while Japan has always been a dark horse. The Fijians constantly exhibit raw power and pace while the Australians are tough nuts who are no slouches either. Should be interesting.

Maybe Singapore can get through, if every Singaporean prays for a miracle, like China beating Brazil in soccer or something (anyone remember the odds for that game? I do, it was something like $100 per dollar for China to win and $0.90 for Brazil to win (ie, lose money even if Brazil wins lol)

Update after the first day of play (group): Singapore lost to Australia, Fiji and Japan 33-0, 61-0 and 54-0 respectively. Bugger.

See this link for the official results of the group play

Check out this horny guy!

The French never cease to astound me, particularly this horny guy (video). =)

that's small!

Panda painted onto single hair

Wow, quite amazing stuff really. There are actually 'micro-artists' out there? So what do they do when they're not painting? Draft contracts? LOL

new uses for existing stuff

Came across this link:
Best Way to Clean a Shotgun

and found it pretty amusing. Does this mean that we're going to get tampons as part of our rifle cleaning kit? LOL

Car vid of the day

Saw this car video of the Ferrari doing the equivalent of the Mercedes F1 vs E55 vs A-class. Looks quite dated but still fun to watch.

Enjoy!

great headline

'Black Cocks' pound flaccid Jamaicans

Good gosh, it was hard to keep a straight face when i was reading this bit of news from the Commonwealth Games. I just love New Zealand humour, more examples from my previous posts here, here and (my fav) here.

Especially liked this bit:

Meanwhile, the Jamaicans had no problem with New Zealand supporters wearing polo shirts emblazoned with "Black Cocks - Expect Something Big".