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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

finished reading totto-chan

Just finished reading the book Totto-chan that I had borrowed from Stephanie. (actually I was there when she bought the book at Kinokuniya)

Written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, the story is about a little girl Totto-chan's school days at an intersting school called Tomoe Gakuen. The school itself was made up of old train cars, and the headmaster was not a conventional educator. They held farming lessons, weird sports days, camping, ghost hunt, etc. On the other hand, Totto-chan herself was somewhat a problematic kid by today's standard. Guess I could have caned her till she beg for mercy...

Anyway, it was until the end that I realised it was the author talking about herself... hmm... and interestingly, the chapters got longer than the previous one as you read on. Oh, by the way, I actually have the Chinese version on my parents' bookshelf, the book itself is 20 yrs old. -_-" And if you were the generation that used PETS textbook in primary school, one chapter was taken from Totto-chan. The "something from the hill and something from the sea", 山珍海味?



Tuesday, May 30, 2006

銀の龍の背に乘って + 最初的梦想

Can music heal me?

銀の龍の背に乘って (riding the silver dragon) by 中島みゆき (Nakajima Miyuki) is the original version of the Chinese song 最初的梦想 by 范玮琪. The original song was for the famous Japanese drama about a doctor on a small island.


The one by 范玮琪 is nice too. Whenever I feel down I just want to listen to its lyrics.


Sob.
(I'll put the lyrics at the comments)



quote of the day

being good at one thing is better than good at nothing
Angel Teo
MediaCorp Gold 90.5FM DJ



Monday, May 29, 2006

six strong guys

Watch the movie Six Strong Guys on TV last night. It's quite a meaningful Hong Kong movie about 6 guys who wanted to commit suicide, feeling that living is worse than dead.

1) Hacken Lee (李克勤) feels that his girlfriend Candy Lo (卢巧音) treats him better than his mother.
2) Chapman To (杜汶泽) 's wife only cares about her job, while he is jobless and misses his old crush.
3) Andy Hui (许志安) is a playboy who becomes impotence when he knew someone got his offspring.
4) Shaun Tam (谭俊彦) 's item in his online game got stolen.
5) Ekin Cheng (郑伊健) find his work stressful.
6) George Lam (林子祥) who is Ekin Cheng's boss, is not favoured by his father-in-law (who is his boss)

Quite a bit of humour here and there, for example the guys assembled on the roof top to jump together, Andy Hui's offspring is an angmoh, Ekin Cheng was held back by his boss minutes before his planned suicide, Chapman To was mistaken as a beggar by his wife...

The ending was semi-sad-happy, although some of the problem is unresolved. (the angmoh offspring, the online game...) If only Hacken Lee didn't have to be knocked down by car...



Sunday, May 28, 2006

flight of the fumble b

(I'll say 99% of undergrads with a blog are talking about their results)
Result was out yesterday 5pm. What I'm going to say is, except for my Military History of Singapore, all my modules have a B in them. (just like last semester, all bees)

Was a bit unhappy about the grades, but what the heaven, am I backside itchy or something? Before result was out I was worrying about failing or having to retake some modules, now that result is out I'm complaining about passing all my modules.. ermm I mean not getting better grades.

But then, one good thing is now the waiting is over. I've been so worried that I didn't dare clear my old notes, fearing that I may have to retake the modules. Pretty stupid right? One month of holiday in constant fear.

My CAP did improve a teeny weeny bit. Oh, I got S for Superb for my Military History of Singapore. =P



Saturday, May 27, 2006

anchors aweigh

Alex really hasn't climbed for a long long time, so he was complaining his harness felt weird. C'mon, if you haven't wore your underwear for ages, surely it doesn't feel comfy.

Went climbing with Alex and Meder. Bernard's gang was there, the 2 Wendys were there as well~ ("Long time no see!") We thought today is Pumpfest, so SAFRA Yishun should be empty... ended up a group booked all 6 lanes of the 15m wall. We decided to climb the 18m/25m wall while Bernard &Co opted to bouldering.

I started with the slab wall and they thought it was a joke. Hey slab wall isn't that easy, although the wall slopes in, the holds are tiny and you need lotsa balancing and footwork. But nevertheless, reaching the top boosted my confidence quite a bit, especially for someone who hasn't seen the top anchor for ages. Then did the 25m lane 1, the one with the super obvous rest point. With the help of my sling, reached the top too. So was the 18m wall, without the sling that is. Pretty happy with some moves, but still can be better. Oh well, so weird to lose confidence with the 15m wall but to regain some on the 25m.

There were these 2 freaks, kinda weird. Seeing that the 3 of us had our own equipment on, still asked whether we were first time climbing, then when we said no, he said we could join them. What the... need we join them? Then asked us to belay his friend while he went to buy food. I felt like we were being used lor, but of course I didn't bother about them.

It was raining on my way back.



Friday, May 26, 2006

over the hedge

(Let's talk about something cheerful, if not the mood will be as dark as the factory's background on top.)

On Tuesday Stepmother brought me to watch Over the Hedge at Junction 8! (Yes it is G rated..)

The movie itself... at first I thought it would be similar to Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko (平成狸合戦), but actually it wasn't quite the same. In Over the Hedge, there are small packets of excitement and funny scenes, but the overall message isn't that strong. Whereas for Pom Poko, although it's an anime, the meaning behind is quite deep. Ok fine, cartoon is not supposed to be deep... Anyway the baby porcupines are cute! This movie would be a good chance for you to relax and cheer up, but don't expect too much.

Oh, not sure if that cinema is specifically for cartoons, there were those cute little red blocks stacked near the entrance.. I was wondering what were those, until I saw a father put one onto his kid's seat. Oh, for kids.



am i a job agent

Ok guys this is the job agency that I got so pissed off with. They got the cheek to call me so many times to ask me to ask for friends who might be interested in the job offers. Hello? Did I say I'm a job agent on my resume? How much commission are they going to pay me per referral? Not only do I not have commission, I got to waste my handphone bill for such nonsense.

Why am I complaining? So many people are willing to be exploited by them...



Thursday, May 25, 2006

debate vs quarrel

What is the difference between a debate and a quarrel?

A debate has no hostility. A debate is peaceful. A debate is fair (usually). A debate is gentlemanly.

A quarrel... hmm... when you have odd number of people, usually it is a quarrel, cos one side surely has more supporter/s than the other. (fence-sitting hurts thy butt). Voices are raised in a quarrel. Sensibility is a new vocab in a quarrel. Personal attacks are common in a quarrel. Saving face is one of the motives in a quarrel.

I just quarrelled with my mother and brother. Damn.



hidden beauty

Usually it's the gun behind the beauty, but for this one it's the other way round.
Try pressing Ctrl + A or drag your mouse cursor over the picture...



Wednesday, May 24, 2006

камрад

So touched... (holding a bottle of eye drops)

click HERE to Meder's livejournal.



Tuesday, May 23, 2006

blog down

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, this blog will be down temporarily until further notice.

Any inconvenience caused is not regretted. What's the use of regretting anyway?


(to be exact, my computer at home is spoilt)

EDIT: *cough cough*, ok I'm back.



Sunday, May 21, 2006

put your head on my shoulder

Put your head on my shoulder...

Ouch bony shoulder!
Ouch headache!

(song by Michael Bubl)



Saturday, May 20, 2006

long time no see

Bernard: Long time no see!
Kai Sing: Long time no see!
Wall: Long time no see!
Chow: (no strength)...

It has been a while since I last saw Bernard and KS, and Meder too~. This morning went climbing with Meder, who was about to deflower his sets of new runners today. Too bad I had no strength to lead climb, if not... But anyway got my fingers on Meder's new Petzl William carabiner. Looks sweet, but like my old Faders HMS it moves too much in the harness loop, so still prefer my Black Diamond Mini Pearabiner.

Again, didn't complete ANY route at all, a bit disheartening, started to think whether this sport is for me or not. But today I did try hard, feel good about the high step sit in I executed, but too bad finger strength failed me. While I was stuck at lane 1, Meder was telling me it was his first wall when I brought him to SAFRA Yishun the first time. Yeah, it was me who led him astray, now he's doing better than anyone else. -_-"

Oh something funny happened. The First Toa Payoh kids mistakenly took my shoes cos they use the same model as mine, thought I could find an excuse to buy a new pair of climbing shoes. =P



taiwan bus uncle + hokkien frodo

there are so many versions of the bus uncle, too nice to miss, too many to list.
This one is Taiwan President Ah Bian, the 阿扁错了吗 version.

shucks HJ is addicted to the original version, and Meder used it to show to his colleagues in office what pressure can cause.

now time for Hokkien Lord of the Rings



Friday, May 19, 2006

elevator action

Have you played this classic game before? In the game you play a thief who has to move up and down a building via the elevator, shooting or get shot at by policemen. Sometimes you have to transfer lift... which is what I see quite often at my place...

I live on the corridor level, which means the corridor in front of my unit leads to 3 elevators. I dunno how to explain how facinating it is, but I see people coming down from 12th floor to 6th floor via Lift A, walk past your door, then take the Lift B from 6th floor to ground floor....

Like that fun meh?



Thursday, May 18, 2006

man of runaway buses

Went to watch the musical Man of Letters at University Cultural Centre last night with Stephanie.

The story is set in the turbulent year of 1955, about a poetic nerd Ming (not the orangutan from zoo) from medical fac having a crush on a girl Roseanne from arts fac, amidst the unrest on the streets (thanks to my alma mater). Click HERE to hear that man (nerd)'s letter, written by Dick Lee.

That's my first time stepping into the main hall of UCC. Our seats were at the CAT D of the Grand Circle, kind of special cos we could see the underground activities of NUS Symphony Orchestra. BUT, we had to lean out to see the blind spot on the right side of the stage, sometimes Stephanie had to lean so far out I scare she would fall off... -_-" Anyway happens at Esplanade too, so not complaining. (I mean the blindspot thingy, not the falling off!)

As for the Man of Runaway Buses, that's the guy who missed a 96 before the show, missed a 151 after the show, and missed the last bus after the 151. This is more sad huh? =P



Tuesday, May 16, 2006

chicken rice (soup) war

Not sure if this has happened on you.

Ok you go to hawker centre with someone, you order 2 plates of chicken rice. Then they deliver the stuff: 2 plates of chicken rice, 2 sets of fork and spoon, 2 plates of chilli sauce, and ONE big bowl of soup.

Now, you ain't THAT close with that someone you are eating with to share each other's saliva, so how to share the soup? Or what if either one of you is having flu?

Chicken rice stalls like to assume. At least they didn't give you one chicken for 2 people.



Monday, May 15, 2006

bus uncle

WARNING: Contains Cantonese vulgarities



cough cough... First watch this with Chi/Eng subtitles.


Bonus track, by famous Hong Kong soccer commentator 林尚义.


If you don't understand what's going on, ask me in the comments section.



Saturday, May 13, 2006

temple tempo

Yesterday was Vesak Day, which is Buddha's birthday. (vesak sounds like an Indian word) Weird that in other parts of the world, ie China, Buddha's birthday was exactly one week earlier than Singapore's. Different time zone?

Went to Singapore Buddhist Lodge in the morning, which was super crowded. One thing that striked me was the people's attire. I always thought that when one goes to religious places, he/she should dress smartly to show respect. I remember many years ago my parents and I went to a temple, I was in shorts and sandals and I saw a sign at the entrance that said no shorts and slippers, so I obediently waited outside. Then there was this temple ah pek who was in shorts and slippers (-_-") who saw that I was waiting outside, he waved me in... (oh I was in long pants and proper shoes yesterday)

Anyway back to yesterday. The place was very crowded, and the people were generally quite rowdy. Push here, push there, (old people were usually "stronger"), not mentioning some could be holding lighted joss sticks in their hands. What is the use of believing in Buddha when they themselves ain't peaceful in their hearts?

By the way I'm freethinker.



Friday, May 12, 2006

engineers' boss

Last night I had dinner with Alex. There is one thing he brought up that is quite... ermm.... true.

Enginnering student:
study long hours, after graduating also work long hours

Business student:
study short hours (hello, I know accountancy undergrad can have 2 days week!), after graduating also work short hours, earn big money, and what's more, they become engineers' boss!

But we have pride.



Wednesday, May 10, 2006

school rumble

I'm not talking about the Japanese Anime School Rumble Semester 2 that I'm watching, but... really school rumble!

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7

Now I feel like my class room was a greenhouse.
Anyone watched the movie Election 2?



old my god

I realise I can't live with old people.
I realise my parents are getting old.
(oh my goodness....)

It is like, they want to go out everyday, something that home-lovers like me don't do (and must drag u along)... then like to break law, ie smoke at no-smoking area... then I go out also want to follow, I bring bag also ask why I bring bag... handphone know how to take photo dunno how to pick up call...

lots of grumbling...



Tuesday, May 09, 2006

who let the dog shout, who who who


Somehow there are a few dogs in my neighbourhood which keep barking in the day time. A few leh, and most probably they are pet dogs, since at night their owners seem to be able to shut them up.

I tell you barking dogs are more annoying than crows, (but nothing beats my next door neighbour's karaoke) but too bad crow culling team doesn't entertain noisy dogs. (I wish they can enter the house and shoot those noisy creatures with their shotguns) Can't really complain since I don't know where those doggies live, so.... hmm.. maybe I should call town council to do an intensive thermal fogging in the area. (I'm getting evil...)

Can't they just mask their dogs up before leaving for work? Obviously they don't know their dogs can make noise. I don't mean gas mask... if they put on gas mask, they sure pant like mad.



Monday, May 08, 2006

supply and/or demand

I was at Bukit Panjang area when a job agent called me today. He wanted me to go down to his office at Tampines in one hour's time, I was like... err... and it was 3pm when he called. So I asked him, is there a job assignment for me, he said yes. SO, he agreed to push back the timing by one hour and I rushed down to the other end of the island.

Same ritual, fill form, let him zap your identity card, interview. When the interview had ended, I asked what's the pay, THEN he quoted me a price below my expectation. Hello, did he read my resume? I stated clearly there my expected salary. If you don't have a job that suits me, why call me down? Hello, transport isn't free. I know he got paid to be at his office, but I don't get paid to be at his office.

Feeling kinda pissed at that job agency, cos I've had around 3 interviews with them and all 3 ended up like that. When I asked them on the phone, they either say must wait till I go down for interview to see what job suits me, OR, say already got job for me. (today's is more freaky, I told him I didn't have my certs with me, he said nevermind, can send him the resume after I got home. Erm didn't he receive my resume in order to be able to call me?)

I'm looking for jobs, not begging. Maybe cos they earn less when people like me ask for more.
Sickening.



ice and headache

At first I didn't quite understand why would Japanese get headache when eating ice dessert, then today after drinking a cup of Ah Mei Ice Milk Tea, I thought I could understand why.....
-_-" (*don't blame it on sunshine, don't blame it on moonlight...*)

Anyway, think the best local coffee I've tried so far is still Ya Kun's, and the kaya toast there is simply irresistable. Very tempted to stick one leg up onto the stool...



quote of polling day's eve

engin undergrad: Is there a political reason behind the PROGRESS package?
Mr PMO: Are you asking stupid question?


p/s : PMO = Prime Minister Office



Sunday, May 07, 2006

lame statement

I was at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza yesterday to look at the Vesak Day fair there. I saw a performer with sandwich board that says:
Science without religion is lame.

Not sure how atheists and freethinkers would feel...
But for me I've never seen such lame things for a long time.



Saturday, May 06, 2006

vicious cycle

Let's look at this situation:

1) A thinks a lot cos A thinks that B doesn't like A;
2) B dares not like A cos A thinks too much.


How to solve?

Because of family, B cannot like A. On the other hand, A always feels that B is cheating A's feelings. At the same time, B feels that A is not being truthful some of the time, but those were mostly white lies. B knows that B cannot commit, so B requests to be normal friends with A, but A just cannot treat B as normal friends, and continue to expect B to treat A as more-than-normal-friends. A said something hurting and insulting to B on MSN, B tried not to flare up by deciding to go offline, then A is unhappy. A still doesn't know that B feels hurt.

How to solve?



heaven revisited

Had a nice sampling cup of Lavazza with caramel at Takashimaya basement today.

Couldn't sleep last night cos I had 2 cups of coffee yesterday.
Maybe I can't sleep tonight because of other things.



giam crab

Had quite an interesting Manpower Branch gathering last night. (somehow I'm always the organiser...)

We were at Bugis, since a while ago I saw Zhonghua in school he suggested Tian Tian Steamboat, ended up Zhonghua was meeting his friends to eat THERE last night, so he didn't join us for meal. Let me see, we had Samson, Doreen, Jason Chung, Pee, Kenneth, Hon and Seong Per. Tong SMSed me in the morning he had a fever, Jeffrey asked me who's going, then later said he not free -_-", Alex not free, Michael caught in traffic from Malaysia, Alvin was too busy to answer my phone and later replied my SMS said he's busy with work (while we were already eating). 8 people were still quite a group.

Kenneth didn't like Tian Tian cos its advertisement on TV Mobile pissed him off every morning (then he recited the advertisement), so we went to Billy Bomber's at Bugis Junction. No table, had to wait half an hour, so we conveniently went to the restaurant opposite Billy Bomber's, ermm.. called Barnsburry.

The food there wasn't cheap, and the service.. hmm... have you read my entry on Pizza Hut? We waited for more than half an hour before the food came. But at least we crapped a lot, so wasn't that annoyed by the waiting. We said things like water need to distill, reverse osmosis, go through NEWater plant, then what need to go Cold Storage buy veggie, need to plant coffee beans, need to pluck cola beans, cow hasn't grown up... and you know what Pee did? He did hand signals to people at the entrance waiting to be served, making a cross with his index fingers and tapping his watch hinting to them "don't eat here, long waiting time!" and those people really listened to our advice and went away~! Since then I didn't see new customer coming in...

I ordered the set meal with seafood platter, dessert, soup, coffee... I must say for the seafood platter I could see the plate clearly, but where's the food? (reminds me of the cute spaghetti at Arts canteen) I believe that was softshell crab, but tasted like salty fish~ (oh we joked about the soup was diluted Campbell soup) Then the coffee tasted like grease. eek. I was trying to drown the foul smell by adding more sugar, then Pee and Kenneth dumped 2 more packets of sugar into my cup of coffee... when I finished the last drip of my coffee, I could see a mountain of brown sugar at the bottom...

After that we went to McDonald's, thanks to the 2 smokers. We chatted mostly on the election (not gonna elaborate here) and it's interesting that 3 of them are civil servants! Ok hush hush.

Again, I realise I was the youngest in the group.



Thursday, May 04, 2006

mister tchai's love story

I was reading 吴淡如's book and she mentions something about Tchaikovsky's love story.

Not really a love story, in fact it seems quite sad. When Tchaikovsky was 37, he received his former student Antonina's love letters. She was very persistent and threatened to commit suicide if Tchaikovsky refused to marry her. So, Tchaikovsky was faced with a dilemma. In his letter to his good friend Mdm von Meck, he said "it's either I sacrifice her to protect myself, or to marry her and sacrifice myself..." He married Antonina in the end.

"Love is blind, marriage opens your eyes." 2 weeks after the wedding Tchaikovsky attempted suicide several times by jumping into the river. 6 weeks after wedding he fled, never to see his legal wife again.

If Tchaikovsky lives in our time, what will happen? First, if the girl commits suicide, her family will definitely blame the guy. Second, if he commit suicide, everyone will blame the guy. Third, if he flees and never look back, he won't know if anyone blames him, and he won't care anyway. In the first place he shouldn't have taken such emotionally unstable student. He shouldn't teach music. He shouldn't......

This century sucks.



Wednesday, May 03, 2006

unscratchable watch

that day I saw Alex was wearing a very cool TAG Heuer watch. Dunno what sapphire-crystal-unscratchable-atomic-blah-blah-blah.... but he ended up scratching it while on escalator. Unscratchable =_=

Look at my trusty Victorinox watch~ Swiss made, light, simple, durable, PLASTIC and UNSCRATCHABLE (tried and tested) and at S$50, comes with a cute mini Victorinox Swiss Army knife.

I observe something, when you take extra care of something, it usually ends up being damaged/scratched/etc accidentally, and the pain you feel is super deep. Whereas if you don't really care much, nothing seems to happen, or even if it gets damaged, you can't be quite bothered.

I can understand how Alex feels about his unscratchable watch being scratched. Suddenly this blog feels so acidic.



quote of the day

me: (reading a newspaper article on campus superstar's blog) Wah, this pig also has blog.
bro: who writes for him?
me: himself. Why ask like that?
bro: the pig so clever, can write blog.



Tuesday, May 02, 2006

heaven and earth

Since my interview in the afternoon was at Raffles' Place and the timing was nice, I asked Alex out for lunch. (that should stop him from saying "haven't seen you for a while" for a while) It's always nice to meet good friends =)

Went to this cosy cafe called His Grace Cafe at Change Alley (if I'm not wrong) When I took a sip of the mocha I thought I was in heaven for a split second (coincidentally it's a Christian cafe).. then I looked at the cashier counter and saw packets of Lavazza coffee stacking behind... oh my goodness! No.1 coffee in Italy, need I say more? We had yogurt waffles too, which were suprisingly nice~ Didn't know yogurt can be a substitution for ice cream.

So over sips of coffee and mouthful of food, we chatted quite a bit. I told him about how I felt when he didn't turn up for climbing last Saturday, etc etc Suprisingly speaking out one's feeling helps to get it off from the chest. (oh yeah I did complain about Nicholl bullying me)

...

Afte my second interview, went to Bugis to meet Stephanie. She was looking for new wallet and she already had one in mind. I suggested walking around to see more varieties, no harm right? (we ended up discovering it harmed our legs) Seemed like I had made matter worse cos she couldn't decide which to buy. In the end she settled for one at the Wallet Shop. I won't blame her, since I myself could have been equally indecisive under the same situation, maybe not wallet.

Coincidentally today is Tuesday, the weekday which Stephanie and I usually have lunch together in school.



reject

I can't help feeling a bit like backside itchy, not literally. I'm looking for temp job assignment for my school vacation, but so far I've rejected all offers. -_-"

Went to Alexandra this morning for the first interview (of the day). It felt weird to go back to your old workplace, and your former employer! Cos everything seemed so familar to you, every gantry, every glass panel, every tile... They wanted me to start work tomorrow, which I can't, so regrettably I had to reject the offer, though I was quite keen on that assignment.

Afternoon I had another interview at Raffles' Place. Shift basis, weekends inclusive. Reject.

I have my reason for being picky, cos of family commitment. (not to the extent of "yeah you love your family so much you can sit at home till August") So, to people out there still hunting for jobs, there ARE jobs out there, just whether you want to take them up or not.

I'm just curious, what kind of attire do you think is acceptable/suitable for job interview? I thought it was bad enough when I saw a guy with office attire + sports shoes the other time. Today, umm... saw gangster look, piercing.... Maybe my brother is right, depends on what kind of job those guys were looking for. Full time gangster/prankster?




 
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