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.