My Humble Blog

1 X Dumbfounded....

2009-02-26T23:02:00.004+08:00

Went to Intermarine to witness a tensile test with my procurement executive, Francis, on Tuesday and was hoping to get off work early. Well, usually that's the case...but not this time. The whole Tuas area was pretty jammed up and by the time Bro Francis drove me back to Boon Lay MRT Station...its already pretty late liao...

Nevermind, decided to drop by PS jalan jalan...long time never take a walk alone...to get my mind off work for a bit. No matter how hard I tried, work related issues kept flooding my mind...and very soon, I become a wondering soul, walking aimlessly around...

That was when a small tap on my shoulder startled me a little. Turned around and saw a young lady behind me.

"Excuse me...are you local?" she asked politely.

What is it now...I thought to myself...insurance agent? Financial Consultant? Or some misguided christian trying to preach and give me a very-much-unwanted lesson on Jesus? The list of possibilities goes on and on in my mind...Finally, I only managed a "Um...yeah..."

Then the lady introduced herself and said she is from CreateTalents and asked me for my contact details. Didn't really pay any attention to her but got to understand that CreateTalents is a modelling agency that supply models to act in various TV commercials and also advertisments for companies like Singtel, Starhub, M1, Pizza Hut, SMU and even MOE... That makes her pretty much a...what you call...a talent scout?

That was when she really caught my attention...MODELLING AGENCY??? Whay the HELL will a modelling agency look for ME for??? As much as I was dumbfounded, I was pretty amused. Maybe she saw that I'm FAT and hence found me suitable to shoot a slimming center commercial? Hahaha...

Nevertheless, thought that since the opportunity presents itself, I shall not shut myself off from it...so gave her my contact details...Hmm...modelling...though I can't find a single quality in me that is suitable for the job....but still...what the heck..give it a shot man...haha..who knows what this might brings...

Yesterday, received a call asking me to go down for an interview...what the hell...I'm working la...so kindly rejected them. Oh well, I still love my job as an engineer...

What Got Me Started Blogging Again....

2009-01-11T22:44:00.005+08:00

Been almost 8 mths since my last entry...

So many things that I wanted to write about but too lazy to do so...haha...these includes..

1. My FYP presentation...the nervousness and the relief that it marks the end of my university life...

2. My first job interview at DSTA....the initial excitement and the eventual panic during the interview

3. Grad trip...one of the best experiences in my life. Lazing on the beautiful beach of Redang Lang Tenah...the delicious bak kut teh of KL and the fantastic Nyonya food at Malacca.

4. Convocation. The turning point of my life...and still owe many people photos...haha

5. Campus Interview...and my first day of work at ST Kinetics. The uncertainty and struggles to prove my worth...the mistakes made...the dreadful feeling that I'm not up to the job....

6. Graduation Dinner...the beautiful girls that night...the not-too-bad food...and yah...owe even more photos...

7. More work related woes...the exponentially increasing work load and stress...the fun I had at Sungei Gedong doing vehicle trials...workshop experiences...suppliers experiences...

8. Christmas celebration with my closest friends at Rasa Sentosa.

9. Some of the nice movies that I watched...IP MAN, Yesman...

10. Some other silly things that worth spoofing and commenting...like the dickhead called Dickson Tan, who kena extra canning, got compensated and carry on to break the law again...like the new non-smoking areas and how the govt should have the hands of smokers chopped off.

Yah...so many things I wanted to write about but did not. But what make me want to write again now? Partly is due to the constant complaining by Val and Sharon that I never update my blog...thanks for your support...haha

But the main reason for writting again is due to a single word...Amway.

Not too long ago, Lao Chen invited me to go play this game called Smart Money. Curious, I agreed. At the back of my mind, I knew that this is not going to be just a simple gaming session. And how right I was. The game ended with me being the second person to retire and have the second highest networth of 5 million. Not bad for a first timer...keke... but then I was eventually shown a business proposal...and opportunity to earn myself a passive income should I be out of job. I was subsequently invited to a home meeting, which I went with Lao Chen..where I met some of the very successful people who are in this business...a Dyslexic Ang Moh and the Head of Legal Affairs of NUS among them. And also a group of people about my age, who are already making a very decent living out of this business. "Come join us"..."This business is a great vehicle that will get you to your dreams"..."Let us show you how this business works"...they kept going on and on...

Though all these are within my predictions...I still can't help but swear at Lao Chen..."WTF are you thinking??? Trying to get me into some Pyramid/MLM scam???"

But then, for the next couple of days, I was thinking...for all the years I know Lao Chen, he is always someone who thinks carefully before he acts. Furthermore, its not likely that he will jeopardise his security clearance and his job by getting into some scams. So is there something that I missed here? I decide to adopt an open minded approach and find out more. So for the next couple of months, I read, I surf, I researched, I attended product demos...and here are my conclusions:

Amway...I never heard of this name before I got to know this business. Surprisingly, many people did. Even my mother did. "Ohhh...Amway ar...their products damn good one...but also damn expensive" was her reply when I mentioned the word Amway to her. So what the hell is it anyway? Amway is a large American company that sells almost anything under the sun...as far as personal care is concern. From shampoo, to facial care, to shower, to cosmetics, to toothpastes, to supplements and health products....everything also got...basically there is a range of products to take care you every part of your body from head to toe. The only thing that they dun sell is condom... lol... Apart from personal care products, they also specialise in home care products like floor cleaners, window cleaners, laundry detergents and so on...

Since they are so damn big and sell so many things, why is it that we dun see and advertisments on TV or in print? The answer is that Anway "advertises" their products not through the mainstream media, but through a large distributor force, which spans across the entire glode. Distributors not only sell products but also recruit more distributors and spread the word of Amway. Sounds like MLM? Yes. Is it MLM then? No. On the surface, this sounds like an MLM marketing stratgy because of the "recruit new distributors" part. Once an average person hears of these 3 words, a direct link to MLM is made...and all doors are closed. Too many negativities of MLM has been spread around over the years and people are fearful and wary of anything that has the slightest similarity to MLM. I was one of them. But my research concludes a few points here:

There two characteristics that defines Pyramid/MLM. First, is "inventory loading", whereby a new recruit must purchase a large number of non-returnable products to get invloved in the business and the upline (or sponsor) gets rewarded for the new recruit's purchase. The second is "headhunting fee" whereby the new recruit is to pay a large sum of money as entry fee and the upline earns a portion of the fee. Having either one or both of these characteristics is illegal. In the Amway business, a new recruit is not expected to buy a large volume of products when he enters the business. He only has to buy one product so as to start an account with Amway and this product can be as small as a bottle of mouthwash or a tube of toothpaste. Of course, he can buy a million tubes of toothpaste....but that is his own decision altogether, right? Also, in the Amway business, the upline earns nothing from his downline. Meaning, a new recruit gets to keep every single cent of profits he made through the sales he closed...his sponsor gets nothing. What the sponsor earns does not come from his downline, rather, Amway pays him a bonus directly for expanding the distributorship. One more point to take note is, a new recruit does not need to pay a large some of money when he entered the business...the only thing he need to pay, on top of the one product to open an account, is $69 for a stack of catalogues, some booklets to explain the business, and a CD, all of these placed inside a big nice bag (which looks like those laptop bgs).

Hence, based on these two points, one can conclude that there is no ethical issues invloved and that the Amway business is a business whereby one has to work hard to reap in the profits. In short, Amway does not promises money falling down from the sky, although if a great deal of time and effort are put into the business, overtime, one can see his passive income grow steadily.

Based on the above, I am pretty convinced that this business Lao Chen showed me is an honest one.

Hence, on the 1st January 2009, I became an Amway distributor...

士兵突击

2008-05-14T14:56:00.016+08:00

士兵突击 is a 30 episode made in China series that a PhD student from my lab introduced to me. Apparently this is a highly popular series in China right now. After watching the first episode, I was totally hooked and spent the time which I was supposed to do my FYP presentation watching it...haha...

The story is being told from the point of view of a young chap called 许三多. In the first few episodes, this young boy seems like someone with a pretty low IQ and and stupid...even autistic.

So much so that his whole village and even his dad look down on him. In a bid to turn him into a better person, his dad decides to send him to the People's Liberation Army and after much begging, a PLA 班长 decides to take him in and promise to train him into a respectable soldier.

The rest of the series dictate how this misfit in the army slowly overcome his own fears and insecurities to finally become an elite in the commando unit...how he changed from the most hated and despiced recruit into the most favoured soldier who is respected by both men and commanders...and how, in the most adverse and helpless situation, he managed to do the impossible, all because he believes in these six words 不抛弃不放弃. There are plenty of scenes that are so touching that tears welled up in my eyes. And there are also plenty comic moments too.

Below is one scene that is really close to heart...something I myself experienced during my NS. Its about the 班长 tries to build some confidence in 许三多 by teaching him how to service a tank and letting him help out, much to the protest of the 副班长. The task is pretty simple, the 班长 will hold a rod punch and 许三多 is to use a sledge hammer to hit it punch so as to remove the track pin inside the metal track. However, the clumsy 许三多 hit the 班长's hand with the sledge hammer instead. This scene really put a smile on my face as the exact same thing happened to me before. Unfortunately, I'm the one whose hand is being hit by the sledge hammer (Bi Jia Hao...I still remember wor...你给我记住!)...haha...

Reality...

2008-04-24T00:33:00.003+08:00

What my FYP is supposed to be

What my FYP actually is....

DO NOT BUY FUR FROM CHINA!

2008-01-24T10:59:00.000+08:00

Saw this video from PETA website http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=fur_farm and found it really disgusting...This is really human nature at one of its worst...in fact, I don't think this is even human...its totally beyond what a civilised mind can imagine. Only bastards that sprung from the filthy wombs of demons are able to carry out such sick acts without the faintest hint of guilt.

史上最欠扁的十大鬼故事

2008-01-13T15:40:00.001+08:00

Saw this on the website http://www.xuehaiblog.com/viewthread.php?tid=23724, courtesy of Chien Ying. Really funny. Enjoy.

1。吃苹果　　

话说在一个夜黑风高的夜晚，就在那条最长……最可怕的路上……　
　
计程车司机开过那里……　　

有个妇人在路旁招手要上车…… 嗯……一路上……蛮安静的……　
　
直到那妇人说话了……　　

她说：“苹果给你吃……很好吃的哦……”司机觉得很棒……就拿了……　　

接着吃了一口…… 那妇人问：“好吃吗？”　　

司机说：“好吃呀！” 妇人又回了一句：“我生前也很喜欢吃苹果啊……”　
　
哇……&*$#@……司机一听到，吓得紧急刹车，面色翻白……　　

只见那妇人慢慢把头倾到前面，……对司机说………………　　

想知道她说什么吗？……………………………………………………　　

“但我在生完小孩后就不喜欢吃了！　　

2，洋娃娃　　

有一个计程车司机在计程车行工作。有一天的深夜，他正开车经过一片很荒凉的地方，四周一片漆黑；忽然看见前面荒地里有一座大厦，亮着昏暗的灯。他正在奇怪这里什么时候起了这样一座楼，就看到路边有一个小姐招手要坐他的车回家，那个小姐坐上车後，他就把车门关起来，开始开车，过了一会儿，他觉得很奇怪，为什么那个小姐都没说话，结果他往後照镜一看，哪有什么小姐，只有一个洋娃娃坐在那里，他吓个半死，抓起洋娃娃往窗外丢出去，回家後就大病了三个月。　　

等他病好了以後，他回去计程车行工作，结果他的同事对他说：你真不够意思，有一个漂亮的小姐过来投诉说她上次要坐你的车，结果她才刚把洋娃娃丢进去，你就把车门关起来开走了。　　

3，鬼火　　

在一个漆黑的夜里，一个人赶夜路，途经一片坟地。微风吹过，周围声音簌簌，直叫人汗毛倒竖，头皮发乍。就在这时，他忽然发现远处有一点红色的火光时隐时现。他首先想到的就是“鬼火”。于是，他战战兢兢地拣起一块石头，朝亮光扔去。只见那火光飘飘悠悠地飞到了另一个坟头的后面。他更害怕了，又拣起一块石头朝火光扔了过去，只见那亮光又向另一个坟头飞去。此时，他已经接近崩溃了。于是，又拣起了一块石头朝亮光扔去。这时，只听坟头后面传来了声音：“妈的，谁呀？拉泡屎都不让人拉痛快喽。一袋烟功夫砍了我三次。”　　

4，见鬼　　

二位男子在万圣节化妆舞会后走路回家.. 当他们经过一个墓园时, 一时兴起要穿过此墓园. 当他们走到一半时便被一声声叩-叩-叩的声音给吓住了. 这声音是从某个阴暗处传出他们被吓得浑身发抖, 接着他们发现有位老年人手执凿子正在凿一块墓碑.　　

其中一位男子便说:"我的天啊.先生,我们以为你是鬼耶, 这么晚了,你在这做什么啊?" 老人骂道:‘‘***,他们把我的名字拼错了.!!!!"　　

5，厕所遇鬼　　

楚阳向去农村串门儿，在和亲戚们聊天时，亲戚告诉他，这里的厕所有鬼，不过，你不接受鬼的东西，鬼就不会伤害你。可能是水土不服的原因，到了晚上，楚阳向的肚子痛得要命。实在没办法，楚阳向只好怀着恐惧的心理，硬着头皮去了厕所。　　

楚阳向刚蹲下，便听到鬼的声音： “要红色的手纸还是白色的手纸？”　　

楚阳向知道不能接受鬼的东西，便答道：“我一直用报纸。”看样子，楚阳向是得了痢疾，过了不一会儿，楚阳向又跑到了厕所，不过，这次，他不再害怕了。鬼看到楚阳向后，又伸出手说道：“要《文汇报》还是《参考消息》？” “我一直用体育类报纸。” 夜里，楚阳向第三次上厕所。 “要《体育周报》还是《足球日报》？”鬼问。　　“......我......我只想撒尿。”　　

6. 三个鬼的投诉　

有一天他们在逛街的时候遇到了上帝！他们对上帝说，他们都死得很惨，希望让他们上天堂！上帝很无奈地说，现在天堂的住户太多，已经爆满。但现在还有一个名额！你们说吧，看谁死得最惨，就让谁上天堂！　　

于是，第一个鬼开始说了……我生前是一个清洁工。工作很辛苦的！从早忙到晚！有一天，我正在一栋大厦外面擦玻璃！是那种吊在外面的高空危险工作！在第30多楼！突然，我脚一滑，失足掉下去了！我想，完了！要死了！但求生本能让我在无意识地乱抓！很幸运地，我抓住了一个阳台的栏杆，在13楼。我想，有救了！于是想等缓过劲后爬上去！哪知，突然有人把我的手一揎，我又掉下去了！我想，这下我真的完了！但是，我命不该决，底下有一个帐篷接住了我，我庆幸前世肯定积了德！想等缓过劲就下去。谁知，上面掉下来一个冰箱，把我砸死了！　　

第二个鬼说……我生前是一个文员。什么都还好，我有一个老婆，很漂亮。身材很棒！但就是有点水性扬花。我有轻微的心脏病。有一天上班忘了带药，我回家去拿。一进门，看见老婆头发散乱、衣衫不整。肯定有奸夫。于是我满屋找，厨房也找，厕所也找，都没找到。到了阳台，我发现有两只手扒在栏杆上，我想：奸夫！于是把他的手一揎。心想，13楼！看摔不死你！结果等我一看，居然没死！被帐篷接住了！我着急，于是满屋找，进了厨房，发现冰箱够大，于是把冰箱扔下去。终于把他砸死了！我当时太高兴了！大笑不止。谁知笑得心肌埂塞，笑死了！　　

第三个鬼说……我生前是个小混混，但我没做过什么坏事！有一天我到一个女性朋友家里晃！刚刚办完事，她老公突然回了！我得找地方藏起来。于是厨房也找，厕所也找，最后发现他们家冰箱挺大的，于是我就躲进冰箱里去了！我就不明白，她老公怎么知道我在冰箱里，他居然把冰箱从13楼给扔下去了！我就这样连人带冰箱摔死了！　　

7，有两个人　　

在一个偏僻的村庄，一条羊肠小道上有一根笔直的电线杆，说也奇怪，常常有人在那出事。不久一对年轻男女不小心骑车撞倒，当场毙命。一天晚上，5岁的小志和他妈妈在回家路上经过那儿，小志突然:“妈妈，电线杆上有两个人。”妈妈牵着他的手快速走开说： “小孩子不要乱说！”但是这件事很快就传开了，有一天，一个记者来采访小志让他带他去看发生车祸的地方，小志大大方方的领他走到那，记者问：“在哪？”小志指指上面。　　

记者抬头一看，电线杆上挂着个牌子，上写：交通安全，人人有责　　

8，鬼魂索命　　

从前有一个人，他有一个女朋友。他比世界上任何一个人都爱她。可是有一天，他女朋友无情的离开了他，甚至连一个理由都没给他。看着自己的女朋友被别人挽着手逛街，他痛不欲生，失去了理智。终于有一天他把女朋友杀了。本来他打算杀了她以后自杀的。可是将死之时才感到生命的可贵。从此以后他天天被噩梦困扰，梦境中他女朋友赤身露体，披头散发，红舌垂地，十指如钩来向他索命。噩梦把他折磨的形如销骨，一天他找来一个道士已求摆脱。　　

道士要他做三件事　　

第一，把他女朋友的尸体好好安葬　　
第二，把他女朋友生前穿的睡衣烧掉　　
第三，把藏起来的血衣洗干净　　

所有的事情必须在三更之前完成，要不就会有杀身之祸！　
　
他遵照道士的嘱咐把所有的事情都做的很仔细，可是那件血衣却怎么也找不到了。马上就要三更了，豆大的汗珠从他脸上滴下来把地毯都打湿了。在将要三更的时候他找到了那件血衣，可是不管怎么怎么搓就是洗不掉。这时候忽然狂风大作，电闪雷鸣。窗户被狂风拍打的左右摇曳，玻璃的碎裂声让人更加心惊肉跳，突然所有的灯全灭了，整个屋子一片漆黑。　　

闪电中，只见他女朋友穿着染满鲜血的睡衣，眼睛里滴着血，满脸狰狞的指着他厉声道： “ 你知道为什么洗不掉血迹吗？？”他被吓呆了一句话说不出。　　

女朋友继续道：“因为你没有用雕牌洗衣粉，笨蛋。”

9.夜遇女鬼　　

夜已经很深了，一位出租车司机决定再拉一位乘客就回家，可是路上已经没多少人了。　　

司机没有目的的开着，发现前面一个白影晃动，在向他招手，本来宁静的夜一下子有了人反倒不自然了，而且，这样的情况不得不让人想起了一种，人不想想起的东西，那就是鬼！　　

可最后司机还是决定要拉她了，那人上了车，用凄惨而沙哑的声音说：“请到火葬厂。”司机激灵打了一个冷颤。难道她真是……他不能再往下想，也不敢再往下想了。他很后悔，但现在只有竟快地把她送到。那女人面目清秀，一脸惨白，一路无话，让人毛骨悚然。司机真无法继续开下去，距离她要去的地方很近的时候，他找了个借口，结结巴巴地说：“小姐，真不好意思，前面不好调头，你自己走过去吧，已经很近了。”那女人点点头，问：“那多少钱？”司机赶紧说： “算了，算了，你一个女人，这么晚可，来这里也不容易，算了！”“那怎么好意思。”“就这样吧！”司机坚持着。　　

那女人拗不过，“那，谢谢了！”说完，打开了车门……　　

司机转过身要发动车，可是没听到车门关上的声音，于是回过了头……　　

那女人怎么那么快就没了？他看了看后坐，没有！车的前边、左边、右边、后面都没有！难道她就这样消失了？　　司机的好奇心使他就想弄个明白，他下了车，来到了没有关上的车门旁，“那个女人难道就这么快的走掉了，还是她就是……”他要崩溃了，刚要离开这里，一只血淋淋的手拍了他的肩膀，他回过头，那女人满脸是血的站在他的面前开口说话了。　　

“师傅！请你下次停车的时候不要停在沟的旁边……”

10.猛鬼　　

电话以前打电话，号码不像现在用按的，是用手指插进一个有洞的圆盘用拨的。话说从前从前……　　小明家的电话号码是444─4444，常常有奇怪的电话打进来……　　

某天午夜12点的时候，电话响了，小明拿起话筒。　　

电话那头用凄惨的声音说：“请问这里是444─4444吗？可不可以帮我打119报警？我好惨啊！……”　　

小明：“你去找别人帮你，不要来找我！”　　

那人：“我只能打电话到444─4444，没办法打给别人。”　　

小明吓死了，赶快挂上电话，只能打到444─4444？难道是鬼？！！　　

过了一会儿电话又响了，小明不敢接，但是电话一直响……小明只好把电话接起来。　　

那人：“请问这里是444─4444吗？可不可以帮我打119报警？我好惨啊！……我的手指卡在电话拨孔里！

Christmas Tree @ Vivocity

2007-12-26T20:52:00.000+08:00

Yeah! Finally managed to add the Vivocity Christmas tree into my collection.

Deck The Malls With Christmas Trees 2007

2007-12-25T16:06:00.000+08:00

Its the time of the year where all the shopping malls in Singapore were decorated lavishly to celebrate Christmas. Call it a maketing ploy to attract shoopers or a waste of electricity and money. But no one can deny that these decorations do made the shopping malls look more lively and for shutter bugs, these are the perfect places to capture some nice photos.

Since a few years back, I have always wanted to make a compilation of all the Christmas trees in every shopping mall in Singapore. But somehow, that plan never materialize due to various reasons...ok..actually just one. Laziness. This year, however, I thought that I should start doing something. Furthermore, there is one extra reason to do so...haha... Let's just say that someone from KL has never got the chance to see the Christmas decorations in Singapore even after studying here for almost four years.

Anyway, the weather hasn't been kind to me and so it took a lot of delay to get those outdoors shots. Its kind of sad that I didn't managed to shoot the 30 m tall Christmas tree at Vivocity and the 61 m tall one at Sentosa. But nevertheless, here are some that I managed to get, using my digital camera and handphone camera.

This is the pink Christmas tree at Cathay. The very same one used last year.

The 2 pictures below are taken at Causeway Point. It actually looks nicer if you go down and take a look yourself. I blame it on both my skill and my handphone camera. Haha

Next is the Christmas trees from Plaza Singapura. Personally, this is the most ugly tree I've seen this year. Not only is it plain looking, it also has no lights on it so at night, people can only see one towering black shadow and nothing else. Yucks.

On the contrary, the Christmas tree at Takashimaya shown below is pretty ok except that it has too many lights. The whole tree is so covered with lights that you cannot see any green. Kind of felt that it look like a huge ice-kachang.

The best Christmas tree this year, I feel, is the one outside Paragon. The lights are arranged in a very classy manner, unlike the one at Takashimaya, which felt like the designer got fed up and simply dump the lights on the tree. Also, the well balanced use of lighting on the Paragon tree is very comfortable to look at, unlike the Takashimaya tree, which is too glaring.

Okay, this is all I have taken this year. Hope to be able to go to more shopping malls and take more photos next year.

Bio-Weapon released on Bus 156

2007-12-23T15:28:00.000+08:00

Supposed to go swimming with Roy today and ended up swimming alone coz someone decides to 放飞机. No prize for guessing who that someone is.

Anyway, today, I conclude that it takes exactly the same amount of time to travel from Seng Kang to Bishan Swimming Complex as from Seng Kang to NTU, that is 1.5 hrs. Left home at 9:00 am and reached the pool at 10:30 am. Bloody hell...waited for like 20 min for tat stupid 156 and after it came, it travelled like a snail. That little traffic jam near Bishan did not help much either.

So after completing my 2 km swim, I decided to go back. This time, the 156 came the moment I reached the bus stop. That is good. But I never expect to become a victim of a terrorist attack.

As the bus entered Buangkok, a family of terrorists boarded the bus. Daddy Terrorist was carrying the baby (aka the bomb) and Mommy Terrorist was carrying all the barang barang. The moment Daddy Terrorist sat down, Baby Terrorist decided that its time to release his payload. With the relaxation of his little rectum, what is left of last night's dinner flowed out, releasing an incredible amount of toxic fumes in its wake. In a split second, the other 30 over passengers' faces turned green with sickness and a few began coughing and coking. For a moment, I began to suspect that Mayuri Taicho has come to life and released his Bankai. Oh no! Is an Espada somewhere among us too? No...that kind of poison and the speed at which it disperse...even Mayuri Taicho would have been ashamed that his Bankai is not even half as powerful.

So, here's a million dollar question. When a baby shitted on the bus, what would a typical Singaporean parent do?

A. Get off the bus quickly at the next stop, change the baby's diaper at the bus stop and board the next bus, sparing the rest of the passengers of the stench.

B. Carry on with the journey pretending nothing happened and become a terrorist carrying a bio-weapon, slowing killing off the rest of the passengers on board.

Correct. Daddy and Mommy Terrorists decide to choose option B. I was kind of worried that the driver would die of poisoning and crashes the bus. The fact that I'm still alive to tell the tale now is because I reached my stop 3 bus stops later.

Fresh air has never taste so good in my life...

Tales of My Own Unluckiness...Part II

2007-12-10T20:55:00.000+08:00

Just when I thought my unlucky streak has ended, bad luck struck again.

Bad Luck Case 1:

Right after my HRM paper, which is my last paper, I thought I can finally bring my faulty thumbdrive to Imation Center to try to recover my lost data. Before I head down to Imation, I went back to my lab to check up Imation's address. But once I reached my table, I was immediatedly filled wth dread. On my table was a note, written by my FYP supervisor, Prof Choi, telling me to send him all the powerpoint slides I have done so far by 3 pm. He even wrote the word URGENT on the note. What the hell, maybe I just pretend that I never went to the lab and, if I managed to recover the files, I'll send him the next day. So after finding out how to get to Imation, I left quickly, in case Prof Choi decides to come back.

The trip to Imation went pretty smoothly, and tech support there said there is a high chance to recovering my lost data, though some of the files my be corrupted. The service at Imation is really good and I'm really impressed by them. As the recovery process will take a long time, I decided to leave my number with then and go home.

But once I reached home and log into my email, more bad news. Prof Choi also sent me an email explaining why it is important to send him the files. Apparently, the MAE Chair is trying to secure a collaboration with the Chief Defence Scientist, which will bring in fundings from MINDEF and US couterparts. And the area of research is...erm..well, designing of Blast Resistant Panel for military tanks, which is actually what I am doing for my FYP. Worse thing is, the deadline for them to submit the proposal is two days later. So I'm under intense pressure to puke up something.

The next day, the second bad news came. Imation can only recover half of what I have lost. And the half that could not be recovered are my powerpoint slides...*cry* Luckily they are able to recover all the journals that I've downloaded. So in the end, I can only send Prof Choi all the journals and he just have to read all of them himself and pluck out watever information he needs.

Yah, so a few years time if you read from newspapers that DSO collaborated with NUS instead of NTU to develop a new kind of armour plate, its my fault...hahahaha

Bad Luck Case 2:

Well, this is nothig compared to the earlier case can the next one. Basically, my 4 yr old monitor just failed suddenly. So in the end, I went down to Sim Lim Square to buy a second hand 17" CRT monitor. So far the monitor works beautifully. Hope it can last until I saved up enough to buy a LCD monitor.

Bad Luck Case 3:

This happened yesterday. While mopping the kitchen floor after dinner, I slipped and fell backwards, hitting the back of my head againt the floor. So painful *cry*

For a moment, I saw stars and I thought my skull is gonna crack. How much joules of impact energy did my brain absorbed? According to wikipedia, an average adult human head is 3.6kg. Assuming no energy losses, which is valid because the floor is almost frictionless, total energy transferred to my brain is equal to the Potential Energy before I fell.

Potential Energy = mgh=3.6 X 9.81X 1.86=65.7J

Taking Impact Factor = 3,

Impact Energy = 3 X 65.7 = 197.1 J

Oh my goodness...! So people who are tall, please try not to fall...

But that is not all. This morning I woke up with a excruciating pain in my neck...think there is a chance that I sprained my neck during that fall. But the doctor say it is not very possible as I did not feel any pain when I turn my head from side to side or when swallowing. The pain only comes when I speak...

Haiz...hope the pain will go away soon... =(

Unlucky? Or Just Plain Blur?

2007-11-13T00:21:00.000+08:00

Well, this month is really a month full of bad luck. The first sign comes when I left my bag in LT19A after lecture. Heck, how is it that I can forget to bring my bag along when I left the LT? And the worse thing is, I only realised it ONE HOUR later!!!

Next, is my thumbdrive. Just when I was about to make a back-up of my FYP stuff, guess what, the whole thumbdrive got corrupted. And of all things, it just have to corrupt the folder titled "FYP". Thankfully the folder that contains my MP4011 files are generally unharmed. If not my group membes are going to strangle me...15 pages of report on Finite Element Method and 10 pages of Cost Estimation...GONE!!!

The finale comes today...when I dropped my wallet on the "ninja bus". The "ninja bus" is an illegal shuttle service operated by a husband-wife team that ferry students from NTU to Boon Lay Interchange (but the auntie likes to call it Jurong Point MRT...what the hell), because the 179 service after 9 pm is super screwed up. Was taking the "ninja bus" with Roy and Jonathan after a hard day of revision for exams. After alighting the bus and walked about 10 m, I noticed that my jeans felt a bit lighter than usual...that is when I realised that my wallet is missing. I turned around just in time to see the bus moved off. We waited at the drop off point, hoping the bus will make another trip to NTU and come back. But after one hour, there is no sign of the "ninja bus". Haiz...such things just have to happen...two days before MP4011 exam...what a bad omen...

Well, maybe Chien Ying was right...I'm just too damn blur....

Industrial Design Assignment.

2007-10-09T23:16:00.000+08:00

As part of the MP4E01 Industrial Design assignment, every student is supposed to design two logos that will best represent:

- who you are

- what you believe in, and
- how you want to be recognised as.

After pondering for more than one week, I still have no inspiration...and the deadline is closing fast...So out of desperation, I decided to steal some ideas from two of my favourite Animes and come out with this two designs.

Compare this with...

Apart from designing the logos, we need to choose one that we like best and write a short paragraph to explain. Here's what I wrote...

I select Design 2 because:

Firstly, in the center of design 2 is the traditional chinese character which means something along the line of courage and honour. This character is part of this designer's name and the meaning attach to it is what he aspires to be.

Secondly, the use of the traditional character rather than the simplified version protray the image of someone who still remain true to his roots and traditions.

Lastly, the relative simple design and the lack of vibrant colours show that this designer is a no-nonsense person who lead a very dull life, which revolves around nothing but FYP and projects...kekekeke...

Think I'm getting too tired of living...to write such nonsense in my assignment...lol

If U Hate MP4005 Fluids Dynamics....

2007-09-16T01:09:00.000+08:00

Was wondering around Art Friend at Takashimaya today with my secondary school friends when Jieming and I spotted the one thing that will save us from the horrors of fluids dynamics - The Secret Spot Remover!

We believe that this will make our fluids dynamics lecturer, Professor Sutthiphong "Spot" Srigrarom, disappear and hence spare us from his exam questions. But given his size, we estimated that we might need a bucket of this product.

樱桃帮校园演唱会

2007-09-15T00:46:00.000+08:00

It all began sometime a couple of weeks ago, when we lamented that our Cultural Activities Club (CAC) people never organise any 校园演唱会, unlike previous semesters where are at least two per semester. Strangely enough, the very next day, everyone received an email saying that a certain Taiwanese all female rock band, 樱桃帮 aka Cherry Boom, is coming to stage a concert here. Hence, on Monday, Chi Wai and gang went to get the tickets at Canteen A.

Initially, I'm a little skeptical about how well this little known band can perform live on stage. I've heard some of their songs from their first and the recently released second album over the YES 933 and I kind of like their music. But still, live performances can be totally different. However, I must say that I'm not disappointed after attending the concert today. Their singing is great and they are also very good entertainers. The ballads were touching and their rock music were electrifying. I especially like their guitarist, a very quiet and reserved girl by the stage name of 瓜. She is not the prettiest of the group. In fact, their lead singer jokingly described her as ugly. But she does has an aura around her that made her stood out in the group. Maybe Roy would disagree with me as he likes the base guitarist...haha...

I enjoyed every second of the concert thoroughly...so much so that I did the unthinkable. I bought their album and got all four members to sign on it and shook hands with them. WOW! I finally owned my first ORIGINAL album! WOW! I had physical contact with Taiwanese girls!!! Think I'm not going to wash my hands for the next few days...haha...However, this move kind of made me felt a bit guilty...for failing to buy Fish Leong's album when I attended her 校园演唱会 during my first year in NTU.

I'm really glad that I attended this concert. I'm totally moved by their music and the tremendous amount of hardwork and passion they put in their album. I'm sure Chi Wai and Roy did not regret skipping the Endnote Workshop to attend the concert. The best is Jian Cheng, who even got his 1 min of fame by being interviewed by Channel U. Maybe the only thing that can make this concert a bit better is the campanionship...if she had agreed to go with me, I wouldn't be stuck with 3 guys...haha..

The Search For CPL Dave...What Really Happened...PART I

2007-09-07T23:53:00.000+08:00

In the news that shook the country, an NSF, Cpl Dave Teo, was arrested for going AWOL, along with his SAR21 assault rifle and live rounds. His disappearance sparked an almost 20 hour manhunt islandwide. While the weapon is now safely back in the possession of the SAF, many questions still lingers. Why did no one spot Cpl Dave leaving the camp? Why did it took 200 men nearly 20 hours to catch a man whose identity is known? Will the situation be worse if the gunman is some unknown terrorist? How will our highly paid and "highly trained" defenders of the nation protect us? Below is this writer's "model" (special thanks to his HRM lecturer, Dr Foo C.T) of what really had happened, given his 2.5 years of experience in the most efficient fighting force in the region.

_______________________________________________________

The time was 2200 hrs at the 1st Singapre Infantry Regiment. Cpl Dave and his prowling partner, Cpl Lam Nua Ping, had just signed out their weapons and ammo, preparing to begin their guard duty. As they dragged their lathargic feet out of the guardroom, Cpl Dave absent-mindedly scratched his butt and farted.

"Nah beh...wanna fart go somewhere and fart la...knn...," complained Cpl Lam as he yawned for the second time.

"Shut up," muttered Cpl Dave, his eyes stared into the darkness, deep in thought.

"Oei, brudder, that fucking Liverfool damn crazy man...win 6-0...bloody hell, make me loose money to Singapore Pools...who in the right mind will buy Liverfool win? Only loosers never walk alone..." Cpl Lam carried on with his ranting.

"I said shut up...," Cpl Dave turned around and glared at his partner.

"Hey man, relak sia...what's troubling you?"

"Nothing"

"Must be char bor."

Silence.

"Told you to forget about her liao"

Silence.

"Aiyah...u horny tomorrow book out I take you to Geylang and shag some China kway la. Recently there got a lot of tua neh bu"

They carried on walking and 5 mins later, Cpl Lam whinned again.

"Oei...leg pain liao la...nah beh...we just nua at this corner until our shift is over bah. Today's DO and BOS super slack wan...so confirm wun turn out or anything."

"Up to you lah. I go toilet." Cpl Dave carried on walking.

"Oei, put your gun here lah, go toilet carry gun for what." Cpl Lam called out after Cpl Dave. But when Cpl Dave did not reply, Cpl Lam put his weapon down on the floor and sat down. Very soon, he fell asleep.

The buzzing of mosquitoes woke Cpl Lam up almost two hours later. Letting out a string of curses, he struggled to get up and scratched all over. It was only then he realised that he was all alone and Cpl Dave was nowhere to be found.

"Nah beh, bloody sabo king. Go back never jio me. Wait I got fucked by guardcom," Cpl lam cursed again and quickly hurried back.

Back in the guardroom, Cpl Lam discovered that everyone, including the guard commander and 2IC were snoring away. But Cpl Dave was still nowhere to be found. Thinking that he might be hiding somewhere wanking, Cpl Lam quietly returned his weapon and grabbed some "delicious" looking night snacks provided by the "world class" Singapore Food Industry (SFI). Before long, Cpl Lam was sprawled over his bed, snoring and drooling.

As the whole camp sleeps, no one noticed that the main gate has been left ajar, with the keys still dangling from the padlock. Not far away, inside the sentry post, the sentry on duty was sitting on the floor, cuddling his rifle, with saliva trickling down the barrel of his SAR21...

AJC 05/00 Class Gathering

2007-07-12T23:44:00.000+08:00

After 3 long years, we finally had our class gathering last Saturday at Fish & Co.

Ubin Trip With My 한국 친구들 (Korean Friends)

2007-07-10T22:00:00.000+08:00

Went to Pulau Ubin again last weekend, this time with my two Korean friends, Kim Do Yoon(김도윤) and Kang Su Ryung(캉수령) aka Nick. Decided to take them to Ubin as they have never set foot onto any tropical forest before and they have never seen a granite quarry in their lives. So I guess Ubin is a good place for them to visit and get a glimpse of the last few surviving Kampongs in Singapore.

Nick wearing blue and Do Yoon wearing brown.

Nick staring out from the bumboat...probably thinking of his girlfriend...lol

Once we reached Ubin, we rented two bicycles, one of which had to be a two seater coz I can't cycle...yes yes..go ahead and laugh.

Here am I, getting some cycling training from Nick. Come to think of it...this pic looks kind of obscene...hahahaha...

Give up...back to the rear and let Nick take the front.

After a while, Nick got sick of me...for being so heavy...hahaha...so Do Yoon took over.

Without me adding on to the weight, Nick enjoys his freedom. Look mom, no hands!

After lunch, we took another route towards Ubin quarry. We reached the foot of the quarry pretty fast and began our ascend to the quarry.

After climbing for so long, we finally reach the top. Wah..shagged out!

Nick prepares to jump down...

Wah....scary sia!!!

On our way down, I showed them what lianas are and they decided to imitate Tarzan

Tarzan Kim and...

Tarzan Nick

Soon, the sky began to darken and we decided to head back. Of coz, we had a round of refreshing coconut juice before taking a bumboat back.

Sunset @ Seng Kang

2007-07-04T22:09:00.000+08:00

Happen to see some nice sunsets from my living room for the past few days, so took out my camera and capture them.

Of Tattoos And Robots

2007-06-28T21:52:00.000+08:00

Caught two movies this week which were totally worlds apart in terms of..well...every aspect of a film. The first movie was Spider Lillies, which was a lesbian movie about tattoos and two girls screwing each other. The second movie was Transformers, which was about...well...a group of robots screwing each other and humans kinda get caught in between.

Let's talk about Spider Lillies first. Caught the movie with Chi Wai and Jun Jie. Now, before you start thinking that we were three horny guys with nothing better to do, let me explain a little bit. We ended up watching Spider Lillies coz we couldn't decide what to watch and Chi Wai tossed a coin to decide for us. So yah, fate decided that we watch a R21 show.

Spider Lillies is a lesbian themed show but in every aspect, this is nothing but a plastic ploy to lure in the easily seduced and gullible...and the bored...like us. The story revolves around two ladies, Jade (played by Rainie Yang) and the oddly named butch, Takeko (played by Isabelle Leong). Jade is a Web Gal who does strip shows in front of her webcam for a living while Takeko is a tattoo artist who wishes to keep her father's legacy alive with a unique tattoo of a spider lilly emblazoned on her arm. Both women shared a weakly illustrated past and when Jade wanted same Spider Lillies tattoo, Takeko began to explore her inner feelings and struggles to decide whether or not to let Jade be part of her life once again.

Despite having a *yawn* boring story coupled with lousy acting, there are some issues that are worth reflecting about. One of which is how weak we humans are that we often need to do silly things to boost our egos and lie to ourselves (and others) that we possesed strength that we never had. In the movie, there is this Ah Beng who is gay and in order to hide his weakness and insecurities, he had lots of tattoos all over his body - a skull on his abdomen and flaming katana on each of his arm to make himself look tough and fierce. He even gave himself a nickname "刀王鬼头东". He was delusioned that those tattoos can give him strength and add more power in his punches and so he go around the neighbourhood terrorising schoolboys and extorting money from them. One day, he punched a schoolboy and in the end the schoolboy rally his own gang and broke Mr Ah Beng's flaming katanas....by chopping off both his arms.

The second issue that was discussed in the movie is the professionalism of the poilce. In the movie, there is a team of police officers keeping watch on the website that hosts all the Web Gals shows with the intention of arresting all the girls and putting a stop to this illegal trade. What the police did was to posed as customers, log in to the website, bid high points so as to win a chance into a private chatroom with a girl so that she will perform a striptease. Once the striptease began, they will record it down as evidence and raid the girl's house. There is one particular officer in the team who is strongly against such a method. He felt that it is not ethical to lure the girls to strip so that they can make arrests. He felt that by posing as the demand and placing high bids, they are encouraging the supply rather than stopping this illegal trade. Its like opening your front door and putting lots of cash on the table to attract burglars and when the burglars strike, you catch them. It is a good method to catch lots of thieves and get a promotion but at the end of the day, it does not solve anything.

Overall, Spider Lillies is a movie that one can watch...but not in a cinema...just download, watch, delete. Oh yah...almost forgot to mention the sex scenes. Well, not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, but Rainie's best performance in the movie is actually all the sex scenes. My goodness, her acting skills in those scences are just superb...like she has been doing it for the zillionth times. Hmm...who knows, maybe she and Isabelle Leong weren't acting at all... =P But then, before all you horny guys start frantically searching through China torrent sites, there is absolutely no nudity...yah no 点s were 露ed. Just lots of carefully choreographed actions and moaning.

Okay, having said so much about a low grade movie, its time to talked about the highly anticipated Transformers. Watched it with Ying Hwey at Cineleisure today and whao...the movie is simply awesome. This is one hell of an action packed movie that all must watch...whether or not you are a Transformers fan.

Before I begin, I assume that everyone knows what Transformers are and that they are not some soft iron cores with two or more coupled windings to concentrate magnetic flux, whose primary purpose is to step up or step down voltage based on the formula Ns/Np=Vs/Vp=Ip/Is.

All Transformers fans should be warned that this movie is independent of all the cartoons that we had watched many years ago. And that the robots are not exactly like what is in the cartoons due to certain limitations of current CGI technology. I mean, its really kinda impossible to turn Megatron into a gun to be held and fired by fellow Decepticons. In fact, the original cartoons had several flaws with proportionality in the first place...like how can something so big transform into something so small? So I kinda welcome the fact that certain necessary changes were made. The only downside is that the Decepticons looked more like aliens rather than robots. And why does Megatron has teeth...?

The movie is really captivating and for more than 2hrs, my butt is glued to the seat and my eyes to the screen. The movie is able to fully capture my attention and there is not a single second that I felt bored...unlike Pirates 3 where I nearly dozed off even during the fighting sequences. The actions were great, with the right amount of humour evenly scattered througout the movie. The special effects are totally awesome and that alone is worth the seven bucks. One thing that pleasantly surprised me is that Optimus Prime wield a mean looking sword and for a moment, I thought I'm watching Gundam. I was like...wow...cool... And the great old Optimus Prime look a lot more spunky and muscular with all those flame designs painted on him. Kinda looks like he got tattoos..haha..

Well done, Micheal Bay and Steven Spielberg, and all those geeks behind the CGIs and special effects.

Matilda House Part II

2007-06-04T23:18:00.000+08:00

After my batteries died on me, I borrowed Zhiguang's camera and went over to the ruins to take some pictures. Apparently from the Singapore Paranormal Investigators website, the ruins were supposedly the servants' quarters. The picture below showed two rows of pillars that were originally a sheltered walkway to the servants' quarters. As can be seen, the roof had already collasped, leaving only the pillars.

As I entered the ruins, I can't help but think that this used to be a prison...or some torture chamber. Who knows how servants were being treated back then...almost a century ago...

After loitering around for a bit more, we decided to leave. As we were climbing over the fence, we noticed a pack of wild dogs started gathering a distant away. Suddenly, I'm filled with dread and prayed that they will leave us alone. The last thing I want is to be attacked by a pack of wild dogs. We decided to go around them as much as we could, hoping that we dint intrude their territory or something. I found a long metal rod lying on the ground and picked it up just in case. Luckily I dun have to use it and in no time, we reached the main road. But it was then a dog standing guard on a mould near the main road spotted us and begin barking. Soon two other dogs gathered at the mould. What the heck, I showed them the looser sign and a middle finger and we crossed the road.

After we left Matilda House, we made our way to Punggol Beach. Too bad I dint pass by any shops to buy batteries...that place is still under developed. Hence I dint managed to take any pictures. But Punggol Beach is a beautiful place and I'm sure I'll go back pretty soon....hopefully can shoot some nice pictures.

Matilda House

2007-06-03T22:16:00.000+08:00

Went for a photography trip with Zhiguang today at a place called Matilda House. The house is situated a distance beside Punggol MRT station. It was only after I reach home that I found out from the internet that this is one of the most famous haunted house in Singapore. Damn you Zhiguang...of all places ask me to go to haunted house....

Anyway, at first glance, the place is pretty dilapidated and run down. As we approached the house, we caught a glimpse of a dark figure disappearing behind a wall....still we proceed towards the house and suddenly the dark figure appeared and disappeared again...A ghost in broad daylight? Cannot be, we thought and carry on forward. Turn out that the "ghostly" figure is an ang moh tourist who somehow gain curiosity about the place and came to take pictures too.

As can be seen from the two photos above, the house is fenced out and had not been occupied for god knows how many years.

As can be seen in the background of the picture above, the house is built such that it is elevated from the ground and supported by short pillars. As we scout out the perimeter of the place, we realised that there is no way to get in other than climbing over the 2m high fence.

Lucky for us, someone had actually place a wooden board against the fence, as shown above and all we need to do is to use it as a ladder. However, climbing over this way lead us directly to balcony on the upper deck of the house and in order to get to the ground floor, we need to jump off the balcony....which is well...about 2m high too. But I'll talk about that later.

The picture above show the balcony that we climbed up to via the wooden board.

Once we entered the house from the balcony, what greeted us is a dark, spacious room with vandalised walls. The above picture was photoshoped a little to make it look brighter. The whole interior was kinda eerie and it doesn't help that there are gigantic bumble bees zapping around us and squeaking of rats can be heard coming from the ceiling. As we explore around the place, we came across more graffitti and other signs that there are people coming to this place. There are even puddles of wax on the floor that don't seem to be very old. Most probably this place is a hide out for drug addicts to take drugs. God knows what other activities took place here...

As we explore further, we came across another balcony, which overlook the ruins as shown in the two pictures below. I supposed those ruins were originally rooms that had roofs over them. Why were they so badly destroyed compared to the main house, I had no idea.

Wanting to go over to the ruins and take more pictures, I went back to the first balcony and tried to figure out a way to get down. There were two stairs that lead to the ground floor(last two pictures) but both the doors were locked. So the only way is to jump from the balcony...and jump I did after much hesitation. The picture below show the short pillars that elevate and support the whole house. Such architecture dated back all the way back to the colonial days. When i reached home and search the internet, I discovered the reasons for building the house at an elevated height. The reason is that site where Matilda House was built was used to be a beach back then and those short pillars were supposed to protect the house from high tide. Suddenly, I amazed at how much land our government had reclaimed over the years. No wonder our neighbour up north are making so much noise and the neighbour down south refuse to sell us anymore sand.

After shooting this flight of stairs, my camera suddenly died on me...low batt...damn...it was still full batt when I left home. Since Zhiguang was too afraid to jump the balcony (maybe he is not as insane as I was), he handed his camera to me and I ran over to the ruins to take pictures. So more pictures about our little adventure coming up once I got those pictures from him.
In the meantime, check out the website of the Singapore Paranormal Investigators to find out more about Matilda House:

http://www.spi.com.sg/spi_files/punggol_kampong_house/main.htm

Navy Open House 2007

2007-05-27T22:13:00.000+08:00

Genting Photos

2007-05-27T21:45:00.001+08:00

Finally able to fond some time to post the photos taken from Genting. Enjoy.

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-05-22T23:30:00.000+08:00

Caught Bridge to Terabithia with Chi Wai today after our Korean lesson. We were kinda looking forward to this movie coz it was based on a novel(by Katherine Paterson) of the same title that was used for our literature class in Sec 2. Boy, I remembered how much I loved the book then (and still do now)...and how I always ended up crying every time I read it.

Before I entered the theater, I was kinda worried that the director, Gabor Csupo, might try too hard to please the general audience by making everything too magical like The Chronicles of Narnia. But in the end, Chi Wai and I were both very relieved that he followed the book closely and was able to strike a balance between bringing out magical elements of the story and keeping the core of the story intact. It would be a great pity if the director decides to make the movie too "Narnia". That would really be an insult to the author of the novel.

I think most people would find this movie a waste of money for various reasons. The most obvious one will be that many people are being fooled by the trailer and the posters, both of which made those who have not read the book to expect something like Narnia, which is not the case. Bridge is totally different in every aspect. Those who complained about the movie are either deluded or just plain lazy to use their brain and think. This movie requires a fair bit of thinking as there are many profound hidden meanings and lessons that we can draw from what looks simple, plain and even childish. Those who are too lazy to ponder deeper into what they are seeing should just stay at home and watch porn or Spongebob Square Pants instead.

Hence, there are only two types of people who will enjoy the movie-those who had read the novel and had enjoyed it and those who bothered to use their brain when watching a movie. In my opinion, Bridge is a touching and meaningful movie that has a lot of substance and is definitely worth watching. Thank you, Director Csupo and the cast and crew of Bridge to Terabithia, for bringing to live one of my favourite novels in such a beautiful way.

Now, for those who caught the movie, here's a 10 mark literature question: What does the bridge symbolise? Write a one page essay.

Go figure.

Huh? Did I Just Went To Genting?

2007-05-14T23:56:00.000+08:00

Just came back from Genting and I must say that the trip is not exactly a good one. Nevermind the fact that it bloody rain the whole day and by the time the rain stops, I'm about to check out. So didn't get the chance to even stepped into the theme park...yah, the theme park, at least that's what they all call it.

Think I shall classify my trip to Genting into a few catagories and talk about them individually.

Weather
Well, if not for the downpour, the weather is fantastic. Love the cold air that is so fresh compared to here in Singapore. And this is the ONLY reason why I might want to go back to Genting again.

Facilities
Well, it's not too bad given that I don't really have the chance to go to the outdoor them park. But then, the toilet kinda sucks. I mean, this place is supposed to be a tourist attraction, and supposedly a relatively high class one. But the toilets are not even half as clean as the rubbish collection point at the ground floor of my flat. Somemore they have wierd looking toilet bowls that are completely dry inside. Don't know what its gonna be like to shit into the toilet bowl.

Then there is the hotel, specifically First World Hotel, where I stayed in. Heard that First World is supposed to be a budget hotel, so I was kinda impressed when I entered the lobby to check in. The layout of the lobby is pretty high class and I felt like I've stepped into a 5 star hotel. But when I went into the room, I realised that they dun even provide basic toiletries other than toilet paper and shower cap. And the shower gel is so diluted that I'm sure I can drink it without killing myself.

As it was raining heavily outside, I tried to find some entertainment indoors....and that's where the problem is. If a tourist need to TRY to find entertainment in a resort, something must be really wrong with the resort. In fact, after trying so hard to entertain myself, I ended up in a LAN shop playing DOTA and Starcraft with my sister....at 12RM per hour per person...Ouch! Walking around the whole place is as boring as walking around Compasspoint...even though I ventured into the other hotel, which is supposedly more high class than First World.

Service
This is one major turn off and this will be the main reason why I'll never step onto Genting again. Seriously, any 16 year old part-time sales assistant at a Giodarno shop here can provide a better service than any managers or supervisors in Genting. Let me give u an account of one such bad encounter.

On the last day in Genting, I was considering to try a few rides in the morning before I check out later in the afternoon given that it rained whole day the day before. But getting the 51RM package isn't a good idea coz I only have 3 hours left. So I went to the ticketing counter and ask this Malay lady on duty how much does it cost to just enter the outdoor theme park. I was kinda taken aback when she snapped back sharply, saying its 23RM. I continued to ask if this 23RM ticket covers everything in the theme park or are there certain rides where I need to pay again. Looking very impatient, she just grumbled something that I could not quite understand and I ask her to repeat what she said again. This is when she began screaming at me and then said something in Malay in a tone that I would have used to tell someone to fuck off. Bloody hell, its not like there are a lot of people in the queue. In fact, the whole place was empty as the theme park had not open yet. Pissed off by her attitude, I just walked away cursing her silently that the roller coaster beside her would just skid off the track and smash into her babi face.

Not that I want to be racist, but the Malay staffs in Genting are just plain incompetent and rude compared to their Chinese and Indian colleagues. I have no issues with language barrier as almost every Malaysian I spoke to over there has very limited command of english. But when it comes to rudeness, its just appalling and intolerable.

But then, when you are in a country where the majority race gets pampered like babies and enjoy so much privileges, such things are bound to happen, coz these people are so sure that they will never loose their job. No wonder some countries can have so much natural resources and yet they cannot progress. That is why I did not bother to make any complaint as most probably the complaint will fall on deaf ears. On the contrary, if I were to complain about a Chinese or Indian staff, he or she will definitely be fired the very next day.

Food

The food is another major turn off. I thought the quality of the food should not differ too much from here as our cultures are almost similar. In fact, I was hoping the food will be better. But end up I felt like I'm eating rubbish. And the food are freaking expensive too! One bloody prata that tastes like the sole of my army boots cost me bloody 4RM! And a cup of Lipton lemon tea cost 6.50RM!!! All the pricing doesn't make sense at all. I mean, why the hell is a small cup of lemon tea cost so much more than a piece of prata with egg? Maybe they use chalk powder as flour to make the prata and their tea plantation is owned by Tea Tea Durai.

Apparently, there are two hotels in Genting. One is First World (more like Third World), the budget type, and the other is supposedly a high class which I don't even bother to find out its name. On Saturday, my relative to us up to the so-called higher class hotel for lunch. What was supposed to be an international buffet turned out to be an international sewage display. Wow...I'm so impressed that sewage from different countries comes in different colours but all taste the same...like shit. The baked fish smells like it was caught two months ago from Nanyang Lake. Their so-called dessert is actually gelatine plus Ribena and nothing else. The mash potato is even more classic. It seems that the ratio between salt and potato is 1 kg of salt per potato. Think they should change the name to salt ball with potato starch instead. As for the rest, I don't even want to think about it.

Breakfast at First World is even worse. The bee hoon taste like barb wire. The scramble egg looked like hardened pieces of sulphur. And I suspect they use evaporated milk to cook the nasi lemak instead of coconut milk coz it taste very wierd. The only thing that taste normal are the sausages which most probably come in cans and they just simply microwave them. Oh yeah, they have those cereals like Coco Crunch and Honey Stars too, which are the second thing that taste normal. Take my advice, the next time anyone wants to make a trip to Genting, bring along your combat ration.

Casino

This is the main attraction of Genting. At least for me as I've never been to a casino before. Nothing much to say here except I lost almost 40RM to the jackpot machine and that some of the female staffs are damn cute. Service in the casino is much more better. At least most of the staffs are polite. Maybe that's because most of the staffs are Chinese. To be fair, the Malay security guards are polite too.

After this trip to the casino, I had a deeper understanding of the peril of gambling and why people should never gamble. At one point of time, I found myself straying dangerously close to the dark side, only to be pulled back by sheer will power. The temptation to keep playing to win back what you have lost is just too great and this is precisely what dragged many people down the bottomless sea of debts. Having ATM machines inside the casino itself is an even more despicable way for the casino owners to make money. While I was inside a toilet, a middle age man actually begged me to give him 10RM, claiming that he had lost all his money and need 10RM to take a bus home. I dint give him a single cent as I dun buy his story. I'm very sure that he will use that 10RM to gamble instead. Gamblers are really hopeless people. Not only do they ruin themselves, very often, it is their families who will suffer the most and pay the full price.

In conclusion, the trip to Genting isn't really worth the money. Everything is over priced and the amount of enjoyment you get is so little. It is merely a good place to enjoy the cold temperature and the nice mountain landscape. Other than that, everything else is not impressive and some are really lousy. That makes me wonder the government's wisdom in letting the Genting people build and manage the Sentosa IR. But the difference between this little red dot and that mass of land up north is that we can turn what ever shit they throw over into gold whereas whatever gold we throw northward will turn into shit instead. So let's just sit back and see what happens.

OMG! Kira is ALIVE!!!

2007-05-05T14:49:00.000+08:00

Believe it or not, there is a BBC report that criminals in Japan are dying in large numbers for unknown reasons....check out the URL below:

http://204.157.1.121/~n/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6483897.stm.htm

Of Blindman and Disgusting Barbaric Singaporeans

2007-05-04T16:00:00.000+08:00

Went down to ICA Building today to renew my passport as I'll be going to Genting with my family next week. On my way back home, while at City Hall MRT station to change to the North South Line, I saw a blindman making his way to the glass door, only being assisted by his walking stick. As he reached the glass door, three doors away from where I am, he reached out his other hand to feel around the door, as if looking for something. A moment later, I realised what he is searching for. He is searching for the side of the door so that he can move over to stand at the side. Needless to say, as soon as he stepped aside, a crowd of people moved in to the center of the door. I can't help but wondered, even a blind man knows some basic courtesy and made sure that he would not be blocking the way of alighting passengers, why can't healthy Singaporeans do the same?

A while later, the train arrived. When the door opened, as expected, the group of people standing at the middle of the door, pushed their way in, without giving those inside the train a chance to alight, and totally oblivious to the fact that there is a blind man beside them. Sure enough, the blind man got pushed around. Not a single soul help him to board the train and he was practically being pushed on board by those people behind him. Obviously, the thought of the blind man falling and hurting himself never crossed the minds of those people.

After I board the train, I looked around for the blind man again and spotted him easily. Why? Coz he was standing as nobody offered him any seat. Exactly what is expected of Singaporeans...and I wondered why am I not surprised. There is nothing much I could do other than feeling disgusted that I'm born a Singaporean.

Once again, I'm being reminded that I'm living in a FIRST WORLD country infested with disgusting and barbaric THIRD WORLD citizens....

Reflections...

2007-05-03T20:58:00.000+08:00

Finally, one semester has passed. Haven't been blogging much recently due to exams, so today finally have some free time to do some recollection of everything that has happened for this semester.

This semester began with hope and quite a bit of enthusiasm. Probably due to the fact that I just finished my Industrial Attachment and had not touch any books for one semester. So, I was kinda excited and looking forward to be back in school again, wondering what the new semester had in stall for me.

One thing I was really excited about is the MP3011 Engineering Design module. Finally, there is a module that is relevant to engineering and I can put everything I had learned into use. As it turned out, the project is something I really like, that is, to design a mobile bridge (something like the SLB and AVLB used by SAF) that can be deployed to disadter areas. I teamed up with Junjie and Chi Wai for this project. Yup, after almost 10 years, I team up with Chi Wai once again. The last time I worked with Chi Wai was during Sec 2 when we "invented" a shoe polisher for our science project. Hmm...wonder is Jeff still had that shoe polisher. Anyway, its really good to work with JJ and CW. Both of them are very disciplined people who are very focused in everything they do. Looking back, really felt kinda bad that I kept making them stay back in school till late at night to do the project. Really, its a blessing to know these two very remarkable people and I'm so thankful. Again, I enjoyed working with the two of them, and I look forward to work with them one more time in MP4011.

One thing I really hate about MP3011 are the lecturers. Seriously, these two professors really do not have the qualities to teach. One is always talking rubbish and smiling at god-knows-what and the other is even worse. He kept mumbling to himself and his lecture notes are crap. During his lecture (singular coz I only attended one of his lecture), technical terms just drop from the sky without any explanation. In the end, I have to Google all those terms or look them up in Wikipedia to understand what he is talking about. Bloody hell...why am I paying nearly 6K of school fees per year when I can learn more from Wikipedia then from the professors? And why are these professors earning so much when their ability to teach is so bad that students had to rely on Google instead?

Thankfully, for the rest of the modules, I had good lecturers and tutors -- professors who had the patience to teach and do not assume that the students know everything. These are the professors who made me look forward to attending their tutorials coz I know that at the end of the tutorial lesson, I'll learn something from them. Really, the school should employ more of such professors and not some people who can only do research but do not have the ability and skills to impart their knowledge to the next generation. Ironically, NIE is just nearby and why don't the school send those lousy professors over for training?

Another major incident that happen this semester is my lab project...and my encounter with the most screwed up professor in the whole of MAE, Murali the fucking asshole bastard. Read my previous entry to find out more about him. Let's just say that this asshole professor has a huge ego problem and he enjoys putting down his students so that he can show off how well-learned he is. He is nothing but a piece of trash, enough said.

On a lighter note, I'm once again involved in the up coming PVS FOC, not as a GL but as a programmer this time. I think this FOC will be a even better one the the last one coz we have more manpower as we are combining with Visual Arts Society. Through this FOC, I get to meet many fantastic people like Sheng and Raja, who are the chairman and vice chairman respectively and also fellow programmers like Agnes, Janice and Chin Leong. Somehow, I kind of pity the incoming freshmen whenever I think about the tekan they will be going through...hahahaha

Looking back, this semester is one of the most challenging 4 months in my life, and also the period when I had the least amount of sleep (an average of 3 to 4 hours daily). Obstacles were encountered at every single turn but these are obstacles that I welcomed as I believed that "what does not break me, makes me stronger". Furtherore, I had capable and encouraging friends with me so things don't really turned out to be so bad after all.

This vacation is really a much needed one as I think I really have much recharging to do..hahahaha. But turn out I wouldn't be having much of a vacation either. My Korean elective begin next week and from June to end of July, I'll be stuck in the lab everyday again doing UROP. Oh well, for a no-life person like me, that's the way things are....

When Engineers Are Stressed....

2007-03-08T00:14:00.000+08:00

And I mean....REALLY REALLY STRESSED....

Thanks ar...Roy...

Nuisance At Lee Wee Nam Library

2007-03-03T22:36:00.000+08:00

Seen in the above picture are 3 students from China. I was in school today trying to do some self study and these 3 nuisances just have to ruin my studying plan. That fat guy on the left is the biggest nuisance of all. He arrived before the other 2 and once he settled down, dunno for what shit reason, he took out his calculator cover and began whacking it against the table, showing zero respect for the rest of the library users. That's not all. This bastard just refuse to switch his handphone to silent mode and his handphone SMS alert kept going off!!!! After which he started playing his handphne games with the speakers at FULL BLAST!!! I simply don't understand what he's thinking. Does he think this is his grandfather's library?

Things got worst when his two comrades joined him. Like typical Ah Tiongs, they speak like they have Hi Fi sets in-build into their mouths. Did their mothers got screwed by Hi-Fi sets back in China which result in the birth of some half human half Hi-Fi mutant freaks? Or maybe the Japanese raped their grandmothers with loudhailers during WWII which resulted in a generation of walking loudspeaker bastards. THEY ARE SO GODDAMNED IRRITATING!!!! For a moment, I almost got up and throw a chair at them. This is not the first time I encountered such nuicances in any library around NTU. And yes, they just have to be chinese communist....those bloody 共产野种....

There should be a sign outside the library that says "Communist Dogs From China Not Allowed". Maybe that's what you get from a country that progresses faster than its people can mature...a bunch of selfish, incorsiderate, individualistic and barbaric leechers who do not know simple manners.

To say a few words of fairness, local children these days are not any better....just less barbaric...

Innocence for Sale

2007-02-20T23:45:00.000+08:00

Just finished watching a short film airing in Arts Central. The film is entitled Innocence for Sale, a Final Year Project done by Peiling and her group from School of Communication and Information. Basically the film is about children being forced into prostitution in Batam....to provide sexual services to...ahem...Singaporeans. Apparently the situation there is quite bad and not surprisingly, the prostitution business flourished because, as Eunice Oslen (one of the people interviewed) puts it, "we (Singaporeans) provided the demand".

After watching the film...I was like...WOW! Is that the standard for FYP? For a moment, I thought I was watching a BBC documentary or something. From a technical point of view, having done some filming and video editing myself, the whole film is very professionally made and editing is very smooth (maybe becos Peiling is the Editor, thats why...haha). To view it base on the narration, I think its a very cool thing that they not only told the sob story of the girls, but they also showed the pimp's side of the story, something I felt most people would want to avoid for various reasons. Furthermore, the film also showcased the rampant corruption among the Indonesian police. Lastly, it's really very courageous of them to wander around what looks like the shady areas of Batam. If I were to wander around the shady areas of our local Geylang, most prolly I would get into my full battle order and barge in with a combat loaded M113.

I think the problem with child prostitution is something that is almost impossible to root out. Even if you rescue out one girl, chances are she'll go back into prostitution sooner than you can rescue the next girl. Either her family will forced them back into the brothels so as to support the family, or she might even go back herself as poverty has driven her into desperation. Legislation is an option but given the corruption over at Indonesia...well...they can't even enforce a simple law to stop forest fires...what else can they do?

Perhaps the next best thing is to look at the demand. But there is already a law in place and its not really effective as its difficult to trace the activities of every man going to Batam. Maybe we can have a law to castrate all ah peks going to Batam? Hahaha...like that they all will really become 公公. Seriously, after watching the film, I really dunno why people still want to go Batam and screw around. I mean, look at the prostitudes...I'm not trying to be mean...but they kinda look ugly. No matter how horny I get, I wun spend money on ugly girls lor. Even those China aunties at those massage parlours look a whole lot sexier. But then again...I'm not 60 yr old yet...maybe by that time if I'm lonely and desperate and maybe a bit blind, I might think differently...

By the way, the FYP videos by SCI graduates can be found at the following address:

http://cedmedia.ntu.edu.sg/gallery2/v/videos/SCI_FYP/

Cold War In CNY

2007-02-18T21:47:00.000+08:00

Spent the first day of CNY alone in my house. Why? Basically I'm not someone who will put on a smiling face and say "Happy New Year" to everyone when I'm actually not happy. So in order not to spoil the festive mood, I decided to give this year's visiting a miss. Anyway, there is no point going out with the source of my unhappiness...my mum.

Yesterday was supposed to do some last minute spring cleaning. I kinda woke up late (around 9am) coz this week has been pretty tough...having presentation and lab report and assignment submission. So by the time I woke up, the rest of the family had already started spring cleaning. Naturaly, my mum was kinda pissed off by that...as usual. As I was having my breakfast when a loud crashing sound was heard from my parents' room. As we all feared, my dad, who was removing the lamp cover, somehow slipped and the whole lamp cover came crashing down on the floor. Luckily no one was hurt. Immediatedly, I know what's gonna happen. As usual, the blame fell on my shoulders....just like any other day when something went wrong in the house. Why dint you help ur dad? Why did you woke up so late? And so on and so on...Excuse me? How the hell did I know he's removing the lamp cover? Am I expected to stand in front of everyone in the house every single second and stare until my help is needed? If anyone of you needed help, why dun you guys sound out? You all have mouths right? Do I look like I dun have my own chores to attend to? And what's wrong with waking up late? No one specified a time to wake up so I'm free to wake up as I like. Needless to say, voices were raised and no one is willing to back down from their stand. Thus began the Cold War...again...

What irates me is that my mum knew perfectly well that this incident is solely due to my dad's carelessness and she vented her frustrations on me simply becoz she dun have to guts to tell my dad off. So I become the convenient scapegoat instead. And I'm not one who will take this kind of nonsense face down. I mean, accidents do happen. And its no one's fault as no one wishes it to happen. So why throw blames around and point fingers when those effort can be better utilised to, say, look for a replacement? And what pissed me even more is that I'm always taken for granted in the house. Always expected to drop everything I'm doing and be ordered around by her. If you guys take a look at the chores I'm doing everyday, you would have thought that I'm a part time student and and full time maid. Not everyone fully understands why I hate to go home and why do I reach school at 0800 everyday even if my first lesson is at 1230. Or why do I go to school to study even during weekends.

So this new year, when the rest of my family went out, I'm so glad that I finally can have some peace at home. So peaceful is my day today that I'm actually happy to be at home. At least I get to finish up my tutorials for this week and start on next week's tutorials. But I know good times doesn't last....

Someone's Gonna Be So Dead....

2007-02-13T22:31:00.000+08:00

Got this email from someone and if the story is true, someone from Carrefour is really going to be in deep shit. Not exactly sure how to summarise the events but the following email exchanged is arranged in chronological order, so read on, enjoy and have a good laugh!

==============================================
Hi Friends

Please read the emails exchanged between myself and Carrefour. It is very disappointing to know that they give their usual msg to their customers' feedbacks. What is worse they even forwarded their internal emails for me to read. This is an excellent example of what not to do. Please forward this email to your friends for their reading.

Thomas

----Forwarded by Suntec Customer Service/SING/Carrefour on 10/25/2006 01:35 PM ----

Please respond to Thomas

To: suntec_customer_service@carrefour.com
cc:
Subject: Poor customer service at Carrefour

Dear Sir/Mdm

I was at Carrefour-Suntec City - on the night of 15/10/2006 to buy the following items, a laptop, a fax machine, a DVD recorder and a roadbike. I left with only the laptop and the DVD recorder. I did not buy the roadbike because the staff serving me could not tell me the difference between a $900 bike and a $300 bike except that they were both had aluminium frame. I did not buy the fax machine because no one bother to serve me despite standing at the fax machine section for 15 mins. I approached a staff at the adjacent section selling telephone but all he told me was the staff selling fax machine is not around and did not offer any assistance.

On the 21/10/06 I returned to Carrefour - Suntec City - to get a refund for the laptop as I had discovered that the laptop only supported Windows XP and could not be used to run my DOS programme. The salesman who sold me the laptop 6 days earlier was very unhappy and refuses a refund of the laptop citing various lame excuses. He finally agree to a refund after I went through Carrefour's refund policy with him. At this point he make a photocopy of my identity card claiming the company's need to track my refund history. I was outrage and disappointed at being treated like a criminal and asked for the duty manager. The duty manager arrived and agreed that it was not Carrefour's policy to make photocopy of customer's IC but he was no better than the salesman for he wanted to take down my particular's instead.

I am very disappointed with the Carrefour's staff, from the lack of product knowledge to the lack of service and finally to their staff's attitude of negating on the company's promise of a refund if goods were returned intact. They should not bother to track my refund history as I will not be shopping there anymore.

Dr. Lee Boon Kok

---- Forwarded by Linda Tjendekia/SING/Carrefour on 10/25/2006 05:54 PM ----

Sent by: Suntec Customer Service
To: Linda Tjendekia/SING/Carrefour@Carrefour-SG
cc:
Subject: Poor customer service at Carrefour

Hi Linda

Reply to customer the usual msg but lupa cc it to you....sorry lupa (festive mood) :-) Kindly reply to customer ya.... once again Sorry.
Many Tks

Hamidah

---- Original Message ----

From: Linda Tjendekia
To: tvcr123@singnet.com.sg
Cc: Suntec Customer Service ; Juliana Yong
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:25 PM
Subject: Poor customer service at Carrefour

Dear Dr. Lee,

Firstly, let us take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage at Carrefour Suntec City. We would also like to thank you for your valuable feedback on our service. Please accept our sincerest apology for the unpleasant ordeal and the inconvenience that we have put you through with this inexcusable lapse of service. We have highlighted this issue to dept management and a serious briefing has been given to assure that we will continue to strive to strengthen our customer services to minimize inconveniences for all our customers.

At Carrefour, it is our goal to render service excellence in the retail scene and we will continue to strive to deliver the best services to benefit all our valued customers including your goodself. Thank you.

Yours truly,
Linda

Management Support Officer
Appliance & Textile Divisions
Carrefour Suntec City

---- Original Message ----

From: Thomas Lee
To: Linda Tjendekia
Cc: Suntec Customer Service ; Juliana Yong
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:43 PM
Subject: Re: Poor customer service at Carrefour
Hi Linda

Thank you for replying to me with the usual message as suggested by Hamidah in her email to you. Now I know how much Carrefour value their customers. I shall forward your email and Hamidah's email to all my contacts so they will know too.Thank you

From 'Your valued customer'
Dr Lee

=========================================

Of Wise Men And Bastards

2007-02-06T00:16:00.000+08:00

A few days ago, while studying at Lee Wee Nam Library, Roy, who was with me said this,"After knowing you as a friend, I felt myself getting wiser." Not exactly sure what that means...haha... perhaps I have been a living definition of all that is unwise that prompt him to say that...hahahaha. However, that statement got me thinking for a few days....what makes a wise man? What exactly is wisdom?

Many years ago, perhaps having a university education would qualified one as being wise. But as the world progresses and matures (or is it the other way round?), the meaning of wisdom has changed too. I mean, look around you today, would you classify everyone single soul in NTU as wise? Look at the whiner Gary Goh (if you remember who he is)...or that peeping tom Sport Club President (Ah...that sure rings a bell)...or that birdbrain NTU graduate that was recently sentenced for some cyber crime...are they people who you will call wise?

Personally, I think a wise man is one who is not only a high achiever. Rather, he is one who can inspire others to be high achievers. Equally important, he has to be someone with all the right values and lastly, he has to be humble. A wise man is someone who not only can show you where you have erred, but also how to prevent future mistakes. So really...I don't really see how I can fit in the above criteria...hahahaha...more like crappy than wise...

Was at the clinic on Saturday due to some stubborn cough that refuse to go away after a week or so. While waiting, I grab a copy of Newsweek(coz there is no FHM or Maxim there...hahahaha...) and read this article about how science and technology has progressed at such amazing speed that it far surpasses the rate at which the human race matures. In that article, one sentence caught my attention and that is "Nation that learn fast will prosper, but it will take something else-wisdom-to endure". I think this statement holds true at an individual level. A person who can learn fast will do well both academically and even in his career perhaps. But it is his wisdom, that ultimately decides whether he can endure through times of difficulties or if his success can last beyond his death.

On a closely related issue, despite the fact that wise men are few these days, there are an increasing number of bastards lately. Went to Canteen 3 with my usual group of friends a few days ago and the whole place was freaking crowded with lots of students trying to get a seat. And what do we see? A group of WORKING ADULTS either from NTU or NIE or some rotten external shithole companies happily hogging the table chatting away even after the cleaner had cleared away their plates...totally (or pretending to be) oblivious that we were staring at them and waiting for them to get their fat ugly asses off the chairs. Then today, there is this stinking communist bastard from China who blatantly cut my queue right in front of me. So much for having university education....those highly educated bastards. If that DeathNote replica I bought from Comic Connection is real, I would make them eat their own shit and choke to death.

I think maybe I should take the pictures of these leechers of the society and start a blog called SGBastards.blogspot.com to showcase some of their "good deeds". Well, if I collected enough pictures, maybe I'll do just that.

Money Gone Down The Drain Of Canteen 14

2007-01-17T23:25:00.000+08:00

After more than half a year away from NTU, I must admit I really miss the food there. Upon returning to school, I'm greeted by a very welcoming news that quite a lot of our canteens had undergone a revamp and new stalls are being brought in. Well, that's a pretty cool way to start a new school term, so I thought. While I'm glad that some of the old stalls are still around (my favourite former Canteen 3 zi char and mango ice cream blend, The Quad's bake fish and NIE Canteen's pork rib noodle just to name a few), I'm especially heartened to know that my all time favourite western food stall, The Burnz (formerly at Canteen 13) has made a come back to Canteen 11 (must go there eat when I have time to walk over).

The first revamped canteen I went to is Canteen 13. Apparently, it was taken over by the management of Canteen 2. In the past, this canteen serves one of the most disgusting food in NTU(poor residents of Hall 12 and 13) except for the western food which have since moved to Canteen 11. But now, it boasts korean and vietnamese crusines...and my favourite WAFFLES! Tried the Korean Ramen (dunno the spelling in korean) last week and found it to be pretty up to mark with just the right spiciness. The noodles is pretty well cooked also, not those nua nua type that will stick to your teeth when you chew. The only down side is that there is too little vegetable...only a few pathetic strands. The stall is manned by a Korean uncle who doesn't look Chinese at all...and yet some cockanaden (notice that there is a C and a K in this word so you know who I'm refering to rite?) kept speaking to the poor uncle in mandrian. Apparently someone never pay attention when watching 大长今 or his huge collection of korean porn...oops... But then again, he might be too busy oogling at the actresses so there is a chance that he can tell the difference between Korean and Chinese ladies but not the difference between Korean and Chinese men. But this leads to another question. How come he can tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese men given the fact that he has an equally large collection of Japanese porn? Well...let's not dwell into it...*1 X puking*. Anyway, one thing I really really HATE is the change of the drinks stall in Canteen 13, which used to serve the best teh peng in NTU. But the new drink stall's teh peng taste like tap water with mud added to it *99 X combo puking*. I tell you, the teh peng is fucked up beyong the description of any word you can find in any dictionary in any language. Even the word 'fucked up' sounds like a compliment. If you want anything worse than that, you can go drink the urine of a tekong recruit after his 10-day field camp.

Yesterday, I went to the next revamped canteen, Canteen 14, hoping that I can get something more value for money. Unfortunately, I was being let down again. Ordered a plate of fish n chips and what did I get? I got a BIG plate with one ikan bilis, a handful of twigs, some grass and a few drops of mayonnaise. Ok..maybe I'm exaggerating...but you guys get what I mean, rite? I mean, would anyone pay $3.50 for fish n chips where the fish is only as big as your palm? And what about those filmsy whimpsy twigs that they try to pass off as fries? But this is still not the worst. Yilong is the only one adventurous enough to try the desserts stall's tau suan. One mouthful and he looked like he kena polonium poisioning like the Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko. Maybe not so bad, but the disgust is written all over his face. I dared not even try the teh peng, fearing that I might really be ending up drinking the pee of a tekong recruit after his 10-day field camp.

Moral of the story is, Canteen 14 SUCKS big time. Step into it at your own risks.

Destined

2007-01-10T21:48:00.000+08:00

Is it just me, or does everyone experienced some unknown "forces" in this world (some people prefer to call it "God") playing tricks on them? Or am I the only person who have this strange feeling that our destinys have been fixed the moment we came into this world? Its kind of wierd that the instant you started doing something, you realised that you kept bumping into the same thing every corner you turn.

Recently, I couldn't help but kept having this feeling that my life is somewhat fixed and that I'm destined to be an engineer specialised in hydraulic systems. During the EID program last year, I chose an elective module dealing with pneumatics...something very similar to hydraulics. Then during my IA, one of my projects is on hydraulic systems. If that is not enough, this week, when I look at my two lab projects, both involve hydraulics. And if that is still not enough, today, when I look at my MP3011 Engineering Design module project topic, it is about designing a mobile bridge system...something which will most likely involve *gasp*...no prize of guessing it right...HYDRAULICS. Haiz...perhaps in my previous life, I died tragically, drowning in hydraulic oil or something. That's why in this current life, I'm destined to design hydraulic systems safe for use.

Anyway, this might not be a bad thing as I kinda like fluid mechanics. At least I prefer tracing the flow of fluid than trying in vain to figure out the flow of electrons..haha...

Looking Back At 2006...Looking Forward To 2007...

2007-01-01T10:59:00.000+08:00

2007 has finally arrived, faster than I thought...faster than I wish...

Looking back, 2006 has really been a dramatic year...a hectic year...and a fruitful year.

2006 began with the creation of this blog. An outlet for me to pen my inner most thoughts and to document things that are happening in my live. When I first create this blog, never did I expect that it will have such a wide readership. Though there isn't much comments posted here (maybe that's because I forgotten to change the setting to allow non-member to drop a comment), every now and then, when someone told me through MSN that he/she had read my blog and enjoyed it, it kinda put a smile on my face. Even fellow Kingdomates from online game, Utopia, frequent my blog. A big thanks to all those who bothered to visit this humble blog...the settings have been changed, so feel free to add in whatever comments you wish.

The first half of the year is pretty normal, shuttling between lectures, tutorials and lab. But the main difference is that the modules gets thougher, espcially MP2011. I struggled desperately to catch up with the lectures, and things are made more difficult because I had two tuition students to handle. Juggling studies and tuition assignments is not exactly an easy task and I ended up loosing lots of sleep..having to work past 12 midnight everyday. Thankfully, I managed to pull through, scoring the most number of As in one semester so far.

Right after the exams, comes the EID technoprenuership project, whereby I headed a 12-member team. EID is something that is very new to me and in the beginning, I'm blur and helpless, not knowing what to do and not knowing what is going to happen. Again, I had sleepless nights, trying to plan and ensure that each and every group member has a responsibility and is not left out. Lots of difficulities arised during the 6-week period and I'm glad that all of us were able to put our heads together to make it through. Grading my group members is another task that had given me a lot of headache. This because the two mentors refuse to let me award all my group members the A that they so deserve. They wanted me to give some Bs and Cs. So in the end, I just heck care, only giving a couple of Bs and ace the rest. Thank you guys, for putting up with me and my indecisiveness and making my job so much easier.

Right after the EID, without having much time to rest, my Industrial Attachment with DSTA, HQMES began. These 25 weeks had been a great learning experiece and I'm thankful for all the opportunities given to me. These learning opportunities include being attached to Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to learn how professional engineers carry out failure analysis and how to compile a profesional technical report, a training seminar on sealing technology conducted by GreeneTweed Company and the workshop on piping by ST kinetics. And not forget all the food...hahaha...damn...gained a good 9 kg in 25 weeks. For the full list of people who I would like to thank, who made a difference in my IA, please click here.

Relationship wise, well, there's nothing exciting to talk about. 2006 has been a damn busy year so there isn't much time to think about other things. Did went on a couple of dates here and there but no progress or developements. Anyway, I'm not actively looking for a girlfriend at the moment as I believe that if the right person comes along, fate will bring us together somehow.

Haiz...anyway, 2007 will still be a busy year...after looking at my subjects next semester, this much I can confirm. Furthermore, FYP will be knocking on my door when my final year in NTU begin. And not forgetting PVS freshmen orientation camp, which will be back again this year....hopefully.

Well, I guess I'm pretty much prepared to face the challenges of 2007 and I hope these are challenges that are able to let me push my limits to the next higher level. Bring it on!

Leopard 2A4 VS PT-91M

2006-12-28T20:44:00.000+08:00

For those military buffs out there, the most talked about issue these days is the SAF's procurement of 96 Germany's KMW's Leopard 2A4 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs).

Not exactly an unexpected move though, but many forums came alive with discussions, mainly about the SAF's rationale to purchase MBTs and whether they are suitable for Singapore's terrain or even jungle warfare. Was having a lot of free time today(my second last day at HQMES), so did a little research on the different types of MBTs.

Anyway, personally, I felt that the rationale behind this purchase is equally (if not more) political as it is tactical. There has been talk that Mindef's statement about replacing the current AMX13-SM1 light tanks with the new Leopards is bullshit. Those who believed Jane's Defence Journal's report that SAF owns 60 British Centurion MBTs (something that our gahmen denied) will tell you that the Leopards will in fact be used to replace the now obsolete Centurions.

However, conspiracy theory aside, this lastest acquisition of the Leopard is actually long overdue. I felt that the SAF should long have purchased MBTs. Nevermind the fact that MBTs are not suitable for urban and jungle warfare, nevermind our soil is too soft for the weight of a 55 ton MBT. In fact, if you look closely at the technical specifications, the Leopard exerts a far lower ground pressure than the SM1, primarily due to its broader base and tracks. Anyway, having MBTs in our arsenal is very much a blessing rather than a curse. Please do not be fooled by what you see in the Gulf War and Operation Enduring Freedom. The SAF's fighting doctorine is far different from that of the United States. The US armour units fight as an independent force with very little support whereas the SAF fights under the Combine Arms Concept, that is, all elements of the SAF fighting as one, with the armour as the driving force. Hence, the role of the MBTs here will be very different, not just simply roll over to the enemy's ground and bomb the daylights out of them.

Then there is a second issue. In 2002, our northern neighbour purchase 48 Polish PT-91M MBTs.

These are the upgraded version of the Russian T-72 MBTs and boast a 125mm canon compared to the Leopard's 120mm canon. Even their secondary weapons are of bigger calibre. So can our new Leopards punch through the PT-91M? In terms of weapons, the Leopards are far more inferior but if you take a closer look at the technical specifications, the Leopards have the engine power and mobility that are very much similar to the US Abrams and Isreal Merkavas. However, I would say, in mordern warfare, it is a stupid idea to use tanks to one-on-one with enemy tanks. Although firepower and numbers are important, lets not forget that the Isreali's AMX13 light tanks are able crush the Egyptian's and Jordan's MBTs during the Six Days War. At that time, the Egyptians armour units were one of the most advanced and sophisticated in the world, and yet they were defeated by the Isreali's post WWII AMX13 tanks. Therefore, we cannot judge a country's armed forces by the size of their barrel. Anyway, we can always rely on our Apache choppers and 84-gunners to do all the tank killings. Hopefully, our 3G transformation will allow our soldiers to have better situational awareness than our northern neighbours.

In conclusion, although I personally prefer the Isreal Merkava Mk4 (below), having the Leopard is actually good enough for a small country.

In any case, the SAF already has the best weapon here and that is Leong Chee Kei (below) aka 炮神 - his excellent ability to 开大炮 (1000mm calibre) is second to none in this world.

Specifications of
Leopard 2: http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product149.html
PT-91M: http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product3431.html
Merkava Mk 4: http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product1602.html

Some clips that all tankees will hate and infantry men will love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2goq_pr25E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy1HPfESKJ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmGHS6ZGZg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExKeOvhZJSs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnGE2r4LUaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbcZCD05fO0

Eragon

2006-12-19T21:22:00.000+08:00

Suddenly feels so quite here. Almost can't get used to not having to post something about Chee Kei. Kinda miss his emails too....really need a good laugh after a hard day at work. Yes, staring at the computer the whole day trying to decipher formulas (WLF equation? Arhhenius Equation? WTF are they???) that have never been taught in school, and reading tonnes of articles, papers and books is really tiring. So I kinda need some jokes to keep me humoured. And who can joke better than Chee Kei? I mean, with all his weak, lame threats...imagining his state of mind while typing those emails can be really hilarious. But today? Nothing. Maybe he noticed all his company's name have been "censored" from my blog and he thinks I'm really afraid of being "charged" and that he won so there's no need to issue anymore threats. That's good too...that's exactly what I wanted him to think(if he can think at all). The more he thinks in this direction, the better.

Anyway, guess its really time to stop polluting my blog with his dreaded name. Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about this new movie call Eragon. Watched it with Jianhong yesterday after work and found it to be an entertaining movie. But somehow felt a sense of Deja Vu when watching the movie. Let me summaries the story and you'll see. For those who had not watched the movie and are intending to catch it, DO NOT carry on reading.

Okay, the story goes like this. Once upon a time, in a fantasy world far far away....there lives a farmboy who lives with his uncle. The farmboy longs for adventure and one day, he chanced upon something that the evil emporer wish to possess. So the evil emporer send his men to pay farmboy a visit.
Knock knock.
Farmboy not in.
Too bad. Kill the uncle.
So farmboy returns and found his uncle dead as a log. "NOOOO!!!!" he cried and kenna 1X anger. Mentor comes along and trained him to be a fighter and farmboy also learnt some witchcraft. Along the way, he kicked some baddie asses and rescued a princess and fell in love. Halfway through, Mentor kenna killed in a battle. "NOOO!!!" farmboy cried again and kenna 2X anger. Then he joined the rebellion and saved a planet...ermm...oops..in this case its a small city from total annihilation. So farmboy is hailed a hero and everyone waits for part 2.

As the movie ends, I half expect the Star Wars soundtrack to be played. Well, I wouldn't be suprised if in the next sequel, farmboy went looking for a second Mentor, lost his hand in battle, discovered the princess is his twin sister and that the evil emporer is his biological father....LOL... "Eragon...wah si lim lao peh...."Hahahahahaha!!!

Despite the striking resemblance to Stars Wars...oh yah, even the starting is the same....the princess running away from the evil emporer's men and kenna caught and before she's captured, she send the driods...erm...I mean the dragon egg to some unknown place. So despite the striking resemblance, the whole movie is quite entertaining. True, you don't have epic battle scenes like LOTR, but this is compensated with a dazzling display of magic which LOTR lacks. In conclusion, this show is worth watching...every single cent is well spent.

Haiz...more email from Chee Kei

2006-12-18T23:48:00.000+08:00

Today, received more emails from Chee Kei...

From : Chee Kei Leong
Sent : Monday, December 18, 2006 12:09 PM
To : c_zewei@hotmail.com
Subject : This is not a joke!!!

I am serious about wat i said in my mail. Its is not a threat, its a time bomb which could ruin both our future... Do you think that you insult XXXX, you can get away? I tell you, NO.
If I deny, the colleague deny, the worst I will be charged is for exagerration, what do you think you will get? Destroying the image of a very important gahmen agency. I know this unwritten law. The gahmen want to be viewed as flawless and insult to them will land the person in trouble. I believe you should know this better than I do...

and this...

From : Chee Kei Leong
Sent : Monday, December 18, 2006 12:13 PM
To : c_zewei@hotmail.com

I charged you, its XXXX that charged you not me ok. What right i have to charge you like you say??? If XXXX charge you the govt will be on their side. DUn be so naive

Really dunno whats eating him...first he told a BIG lie and insulted his own company's image. Then he accused me for the same charge when I merely blog about what he said. Did I ever, in my blog say "XXXX is breeding rapists and liars"? Nope. All I said is that certain individual from certian reputable organisation LIE about doing some sickening acts OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS, WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE AND APPROVAL OF HIS ORGANISATION. Is this insulting the organisation?

And in his first email, he mentioned that he can deny those words. Now my friends, just take a look at what kind of coward he is. Dare to brag about something "just to boost his own ego" and when things gets too hot for him, he intends to deny and shield away from all responsiblities. And all those yadayada about "I know this unwritten law"...F*** you understand...this is a WRITTEN LAW. I'm working at an equally important organisation dealing directly with national defence and security, would I know any less?

Pulau Ubin Trip

2006-12-17T22:20:00.000+08:00

One week after my Pulau Ubin Trip with Jeff, Roy, Zhiguang and Zhao Hong, I finally have some free time to upload those photos taken. Sorry to keep you waiting guys. You can view the photos at the following address http://sg.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/c_zewei/my_photos.

Email From Chee Kei

2006-12-17T10:06:00.000+08:00

Got this little mail from Chee Kei when I woke up this morning...

From : Chee Kei Leong
Sent : Saturday, December 16, 2006 3:52 PM
To : c_zewei@hotmail.com
Subject : Impt!!! PLs review your blog

I had read your blog...I dun mind if you insult me or say whatever you like... BUT I want to remind you that w/o any proof of this incident, you beter remove all the XXXX term there cos it is a very important govt agency and if anyone should read this and tell XXXX, I can guarantee you that you will be CHARGED... I am dead serious about this. You can leave your blog there but pls remove the XXXX...just say from some anonymus company. I dun noe how long you gonna ignore me, pls put away any personal feeeling and deal wif this asap...

Hmm...looks like some kind of threat. I'm not sure about the "without any proof" part, but this guy has indeed told three people about his "good deed" ( Ee Qiang, Yilong and me). Ha...seems to me that someone really got scared. I'm not sure what is he scared of, is it because he told a HUGE lie and afraid that his organisation found out? Or is he afraid that his organisation will conduct its own investigation and revealed that he and his gang are truly rapists? He should be thankful that I did not report him to his organisation first...yet he still got the cheek to issue such a lame threat...as lame as being "CHARGED". How stupid does he think I am? Charge me? I dare him to try. In fact, I've been waiting for him to send this email for a long time so that I can begin my next plan, which is going to ruin his whole future.

*This entry was written at about 10am, immediatedly after recieving the above email.
==================================

After reading the above email, I began my next plan and take down all my previous entries about Chee Kei. Actually, instead of deleting them, I only save those entries as "drafts" so that they only appear in my account and not online. Shortly after, I saw Chee Kei coming online and moments later, I got another email from him.

From : Chee Kei Leong
Sent : Sunday, December 17, 2006 3:59 AM
To : c_zewei@hotmail.com

and btw to be very honest wif you... on that day in marina when i relate the incident to you long and ee qiang, I was exaggerating to boost my ego so some of the events were not true wat is true is tat I was dead drunk wif another fren and did not noe what happen until the ppl wake me up at 4 am. By rights they will tekan the bday boy so how can i not be dead drunk isnt it? what had happened in between i do not noe...all i know the stewardess blew me a bday kiss b4 i left. This is the absolute truth I was trying ot boost my ego then. I browse through your blog I think u removed the blog. Its a relieve cos any personal feeling we had among ourselves dun implicate to any govt agency or the matter will be blown up and we will get into trouble esp when wat u written is not true...

After reading this, I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Looks like someone just walked into the trap I laid two months ago earlier than I expected. Bingo.

To be honest, I have never, even for a second, believed a word of those rubbish that spewed out from that cursed mouth of his. There are simply too many loopholes in his story and he had the words "I'M LYING" written all over his face. You see, Chee Kei has never been a good lair coz when he lied, he tend to put in a little too much effort to make himself sound natural...to the extent that he looked unnatural.

Well, its not really easy to pull this trick off, given that for two months, I had to put up an act to make it seem like I totally believed every word Chee Kei said and that I am very affected by the "rape incident". I'm amazed I managed to convinced everyone, given that I'm never a good actor. The only person who saw through my act was Emmanuel, who at time time, was in New Zealand. Good O'Emman is really one those few people who are observant enough and can see things beyond the surface. Guess I owe the rest an apology for playing with their emotions. But then, this is how you catch a lair - assume what they say is true and slowly make them eat their own words in the worst possible (and humiliating) way.

Well, now the lie has been exposed and the truth is out. Not that I totally believe his second email...but at least there is slightly more truth than those crap he told Eeqiang, Yilong and I. Honestly, I'm quite dissappointed that he sent me the second email so soon...I was so looking forward to start my next plan and see how he'll react. But then, since he made a confession of being a lair instead of a rapist, I think this whole issue has come to an end and there's no need to persue the matter anymore. I have decided not to repost those entries about him...wun delete them, just leave them in my account and collect dust.

So, what kind of a person is Chee Kei? I'll just leave that for everyone to decide.

*This entry is written immediatedly after reading his second email.

Clubbing Anyone?

2006-12-15T23:52:00.000+08:00

Hahaha...not very often you will hear me suggesting clubbing...but then, just doing a junior of mine a little favor. Those from Anderson NPCC, you guys remember Rouyi? She's from Gillian's batch...not to be confused with that creep Ruoyu from our batch...LOL. Well, one fine day she suddenly drop me a MSN asking if I have the habit of going clubbing. Anway, she and her frens are organising a clubbing session, or rather a Xmas Bash at Club Momo on the 23rd this mth. Tickets will be priced at $15 for gals and $18 for guys (Y the discrimination?).
If anyone of you guys are intersted, we can have a little gathering there.

Hot Topic

2006-12-05T22:40:00.000+08:00

Think one of the hottest topic here, apart from the dreaded GST increase, for the past few days is Chew Sin Hwey. This plain jane from the first season of Project Superstar has just released her first album and along with it, a huge controversy about her sexy MV of her prancing around the streets of Ximending while unbuttoning her blouse and revealing her black bra. While some expressed shock at her sudden change of image, others complained about her resorting to selling sex to boost her album's sales.

Personally, I think those people who make such a big fuss over her MV seriously have too much time, especially those wrote long long grandma stories about how she look like a porn star and this and that. Although I do feel that she kind of overstepped some boundaries and would prefer her belting out ballads rather than some mid-tempo songs, I think its very unfair for her to be subjected to all the flaking. I mean, she's just earning a living and following what her record company wants her to do. As a new-comer, I don't think she has much of a choice especially she is the last of the four Superstar finalists to release an album. What is going to happen if she were to protest? Most probably she'll be dropped by her recording company. No negotiation. No album. Nothing. Just a shattering dream of a singing career.

A recording company has the right to package its artistes anyway they deem fit. If you like what you are seeing, by all means, carry on. If not, just shut up and turn off ur TV or computer. Stop wasting precious spaces in the newspaper for all these meaningless crap. If you really must give some opinion, GO START A BLOG OR SOMETHING!

Photos Taken On Siling's Bday.

2006-12-04T22:24:00.000+08:00

To everyone from SekuadPisang, sorry for taking so long to post these pics. Was kinda lazy to reduce the file size of the photos...heehee. Anway, decided to post the photos here instead of our SekuadPisang blog because the latter is currently bustling with discussion regarding our X'mas gathering and I dun wanna disrupt the discussion. Anyway, here are the photos that turn out ok. The rest are all very blurry due to the poor lighting...yah..think I need to change my camera...heehee...

Our poor birthday girl "planting" the candles onto the cake herself.

After "planting" the candles into the frozen cake, its time to light up the candles.

Our Bday girl trying to cut the frozen cake....

And the knife kena stucked....

ARGH!!! GIVE UP!!! JUST EAT THE WHOLE DAMN CAKE!!!

Alvin to the rescue!

"Wardrobes malfunction". Jeff, I think we'll have to discuss what to wear in future gatherings...to prevent this from happening again...buahahahaha....

Laksa MAI HUM!!!

2006-11-29T21:59:00.000+08:00

Every morning, without fail, I will have my breakfast with my colleagues at the canteen. There is only one Chinese fod stall and that's where I will usually buy my breakfast. The stall is managed by an Auntie and her mother, an old old lady. The old lady is a little poor in her hearing and alos a bit slow. So usually it is the Auntie who serves the customers while the old lady helped out behind. But today, duno for what reason, they switch roles and that spells trouble...

Me: Err...I want laksa...mai hum hor...
Old lady: Orh...orh....
(A few minutes later...the bowl of laksa is ready...with hum inside)

Me: Err....wah mai hum leh...
Old lady: Orh..orh..paiseh..paiseh....(proceed to remove the hum)

Me: Can I add the fried wanton also?
Old Lady: HAR?!?! U also want Bee Hoon with fried wanton?!?!?!
(With lightning speed, she took out a plate and dumped a heap of bee hoon on it.)

Me: No No..I only want to add the fried wanton to my laska...
Old Lady: YAH YAH! I KNOW! I KNOW! BEE HOON WITH FRIED WANTON!!!
(Carry on dumping more bee hoon on the plate....)

Me:.....................................................*helpless*...................................................

The IA Experience

2006-11-27T21:58:00.000+08:00

With the submission of the IA report, my 22 weeks of IA is finally coming to an end. Well, these 22 weeks had been very well spent and I must say that I totally enjoyed myself. Such a meaningful and enjoyable IA experience would not have been possible if not for a few groups of people. Hence, I would really like to thank the following:

1. The management of DSTA, for giving me the opportunity to do my IA in the organisation, and also for the nice, cool-looking jacket that was given to every IA student.

2. My supervisor, Captain Lim, for giving me two very very difficult projects to handle. Throughout these 22 weeks, he has given me lots of learning opportunities and placed a great deal of trust in me. I'm greatful that he allowed me to slowly explore and make mistakes. Because of that, I've learnt so much about myself-both my weaknesses and strengths. By throwing me into the deep end of the pool and let me struggle for air, he forced me to push my limits and I emerged knowing that as long as there is determination, there is actually no limits to what I can achieve. I'm also thankful that he gave me the chance to interact and learn from seasoned engineers from the private sectors. There is no need for him to go through all the trouble, but he did.

3. Colleagues from Support Equipment Branch, namely Capt Robin, 1WO Ho, 2WO Chin and Mr Loh. These are all the lao cheows and listening to their stories during breakfast has been entertaining, despite the huge age gap. Without this group of people, my IA would have been quite boring. Oh yah, special thanks have to go to the two warrant officers, for providing me with so much useful data regarding my two projects. If not for them, I'll have to painstakingly dig out those data myself.

4. SAF servicemen from Nee Soon Camp namely 1WO Ong, SSG Thomas and their men. These people really helped me out a lot, from getting me properly orientated to the two vehicles I'm working on to helping me gather lots of relevant datas. Not forgetting the poor technicians under 1SG Tay, who got themselves drenched with sweat and covered with dirt just to help me remove the folding strut supports, which is a physically and mentally exhausting task.

5. SAF servicemen from Jurong Camp, especially SSG Gaynor for being so helpful. Its hard to find a staff sergeant these days who is so responsible and enthusiatic about his job. Very very special thanks has to go to 1SG Taufik, for crawling under the VLB to get oil sample for me..and got himself drenched in hydraulic oil in the process.

6. Engineers from Det Norske Veritas Pte. Ltd., especially Mr Chow Ngai Mun and Mr Ivan Lim, for giving me the opportunity to work with the engineers in their laboratories, which have proven to be a great learning experience. And also for patiently explaining to me all the engineering concepts, terminologies and rationale behind the metallurgical analysis that was done at their laboratories. Most importantly, I'm greatful that they took time to explain to me the different career options available to an engineer and gave me a clear insight into the engineering world. Their valuable advices and opinions are somethings that I'll definitely keep in mind.

7. Engineers from GreeneTweed Company for the informative seminar and also for their reading materials, which have proven to be very useful and relevant to my second project. Its really very nice of them to hold the seminar at Orchard Hotel and for treating us to the international buffet for lunch...all free of charge. You guys ROCKS!

8. Mr Thanaraj, the engineer from Singapore Technologies (Logistics), for his kind assistance and also for going the extra mile to provide me with reading materials relevant to the hydraulic seal project. I'm very greatful for the hospitality he extended to me during my visit to his office at Army Logistic Base.

9. My sister and the researchers from NUS microbiology lab for giving me a helping hand by letting me use their lab and equipments when my own tutor simply boh chap me. Without them, I would not have been able to finish my experiments on time.

10. Last but not least, engineers from Singapore Technologies (Kinetics) for showing me the unscrupulous, cunning and irresponsible side of human nature. Through my interaction with them, I've learnt to fortifide myself mentally whenever I attend business dealings. I also learned to stand firmly by my views and fight fiercely for what I belief is right. I will definitely guard myself against people like them when I stepped into the working world.

In general, I really had an extraordinary IA. Unlike some wolf in pig skin (aka Leong Chee Kei) who only learn how to commit rape and get away with it, I have learnt and experienced things that are relevant to my course of study. Also, communication and diplomatic skills that I managed to pick up along the way will be useful in near future. I'm lucky that I've met the right people at the right time, people who have the patience to guide me and gave me rare opportunities to learn. Finally, I'm glad that I made it through these gruelling but rewarding 22 weeks.

How Meritocracy Can Breed Intellectual Elitism

2006-11-11T20:24:00.000+08:00

Came across this article while browsing through through the Straits Times yesterday...yes yes...I'm reading newspapers during office hours...hahaha...but there is no one in the office at that time...so who cares?

Anyway, I find this article quite meaningful and well written. Yah...its quite a long piece of article but I do urge everyone to spend some time to read it and think about it. I especially like the last sentence: Rather than asume the elitist position that Singapore's meritocratic system is so well-oiled that those who don't succeed deserve to fail, we should be taking a more rigorous look at how our much-vaunted meritocratic system may be failing those who derserve to succeed.

In my opinion, I believe in meritocracy. But I feel that at the time when Singaporeans were first introduced to meritocracy, they are still an immature lot and this result in them interpreting the system in the wrong way. And this wrong mentality is being passed down to the next generation. Its not the fault of our parents though, given the economic and political situation at that time, coupled with the lack of education, it is pretty natural for them to misinterprete the system. But what is far more worrying is that after 41 years of nation building, our society as a whole is still as immature as 41 years ago. It is surprising that young parents these days, with all the education they had, are still trying ways and means to "elitify" their children and teaching them elitist values rather than some simple manners and moral values.

To me, the equation is simple: Elitism = f(Meritocracy, Immaturity, Lousy family upbringing). And very sadly, until our society matures (I have a feeling that this will take forever), elitism is something that will continue to exist.

What Has This World Come To...?

2006-11-08T22:23:00.000+08:00

Went down to Army Logistic Base (ALB) yesterday morning for a meeting with a ST Logistic engineer. Arrived at ALB on time at 0900 Hrs and proceed to the meeting venue. The meeting went on pretty smoothly and ended at about 1000 Hrs. So I took bus 172 back to Boon Lay.

At Boon Lay interchange, I thought it was still quite early and dun feel like going back to office. So switch to chao keng mode and slack around at Jurong Point. As it was still early, most of the shops were not open and the only place I can sit down will be the fast food restaurants. But I don't exactly feel hungry...so how? I stared at Long John Silvers and kept telling myself that I am hungry. Strange thing is, within 10 second, I actually felt hungry! LOL! Goodness...my self hypnotising skill has reached level 25! I'm GOD-LIKE!!! HAHAHAHA!!!

Anyway, as I was munching on my breakfast set and reading newspapers, a group of 4 teenagers set down at the next table. They looked like lower secondary students. Didn't know that school vacation starts so soon. Kinda lost touch with secondary school calender. But the main point is, as two the them went to buy food, one of the remaining guys took out a deck of poker cards and slammed it on the table and tell his friend,“来！跟你赌！一百块！”Although his friend ignored him, but what the friend did kinda shocked me. He reached into his pocket and took out a HUGE stack of $50 notes! WTF!?!? That is almost $600 he has there! What is he doing carrying all these money? I couldn't help but think, where the hell do they get so much money? From their parents? If so, are their parents mad?

Scenes like this always make me wonder, what has happened to our youngsters these days? I'm worried...worried about the future of these 4 kids. To me, they are another Sze Keat in the making. Look at what gambling has done to Sze Keat and how the addiction to gambling has ruined him. Kids these days really took money for granted, as if they have trees in their homes that grow money. They have no idea how hard it is to earn a decent living and worse, their parents shower them with so much cash that they have no sense of financial discipline. Picking up gambling is bad enough...and having so much money to gamble with just makes the whole situation more dire and worrying.

I believe parents nowadays really have no idea how to educate their children. Children are not born bad. It is the family environment they live in that mould them into who they are...at least up till 16 years old. If parents inculcate proper values to their children, they would not have kids like those 4 young gamblers. The problem is, many parents today are too caught up with their own careers and very often neglect the character growth of their children. That's why everytime I look at teenagers in public places, I feel that our younger generation is degenerating.

Once the two IRs have been built, I'm very sure we will see the whole society rot and degrade. By that time, I seriously hope I will have enough money to migrate. Not that I want to be a "quitter" as termed by SM Goh. But I don't see a point trying to actively fix something which the government does not see as broken.

A Peek Into An Elite's (Screwed Up) Mind

2006-10-27T00:19:00.000+08:00

This RJC girl, named Ms Wee Shu Min, daughter of Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Wee Siew Kim, was forced to shut down her blog after her nasty response to a blog posting by Mr Derek Wee which was put up as a result of his frustration of not being able to have his views aired on the Straits Times Forum Page.

From Ms Wee - Thursday, October 19, 2006

mom’s friend sent her some blog post by some bleeding stupid 40-year old singaporean called derek wee (WHY do all the idiots have my surname why?!) whining about how singapore is such an insecure place, how old ppl (ie, 40 and above) fear for their jobs, how the pool of foreign “talent” (dismissively chucked between inverted commas) is really a tsunami that will consume us all (no actually he didn’t say that, he probably said Fouren Talern Bery Bad.), how the reason why no one wants kids is that they’re a liability in this world of fragile ricebowls, how the government really needs to save us from inevitable doom but they aren’t because they are stick-shoved-up-ass elites who have no idea how the world works, yadayadayadayada.

i am inclined - too much, perhaps - to dismiss such people as crackpots. stupid crackpots. the sadder class. too often singaporeans - both the neighborhood poor and the red-taloned socialites - kid themselves into believing that our society, like most others, is compartmentalized by breeding. ridiculous. we are a tyranny of the capable and the clever, and the only other class is the complement.

sad derek attracted more than 50 comments praising him for his poignant views, joining him in a chorus of complaints that climax at the accusation of lack of press freedom because his all-too-true views had been rejected by the straits times forum. while i tend to gripe about how we only have one functioning newspaper too, i think the main reason for its lack of publication was that his incensed diatribe was written in pathetic little scraps that passed off as sentences, with poor spelling and no grammar.

derek, derek, derek darling, how can you expect to have an iron ricebowl or a solid future if you cannot spell?

if you’re not good enough, life will kick you in the balls. that’s just how things go. there’s no point in lambasting the government for making our society one that is, i quote, “far too survival of fittest”. it’s the same everywhere. yes discrimination exists, and it is sad, but most of the time if people would prefer hiring other people over you, it’s because they’re better. it’s so sad when people like old derek lament the kind of world that singapore will be if we make it so uncertain. go be friggin communist, if uncertainty of success offends you so much - you will certainly be poor and miserable. unless you are an arm-twisting commie bully, which, given your whiny middle-class undereducated penchant, i doubt.

then again, it’s easy for me to say. my future isn’t certain but i guess right now it’s a lot brighter than most people’s. derek will read this and brand me as an 18-year old elite, one of the sinners who will inherit the country and run his stock to the gutter. go ahead. the world is about winners and losers. it’s only sad when people who could be winners are marginalised and oppressed. is dear derek starving? has dear derek been denied an education? has dear derek been forced into child prostitution? has dear derek had his clan massacred by the government?

i should think not. dear derek is one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country, and in this world. one of those who would prefer to be unemployed and wax lyrical about how his myriad talents are being abandoned for the foreigner’s, instead of earning a decent, stable living as a sales assistant. it’s not even about being a road sweeper. these ****bags don’t want anything without “manager” and a name card.

please, get out of my elite uncaring face.

posted at 12:08 PM

And here was her very insincere public apology on one of the blogs that were discussing her entry :

i apologise if i have distressed you with my tendency to rant. while i will not dispute some of the points you make in response to what i have written, i would like to bring to your attention the fact that the post in question was never meant to be a cogent response to the specific points raised in derek wee’s article. it is, quite obviously, a rant in the heat of the moment. in addition, i don’t believe that my blog has the wide readership of derek wee’s, or even your own, and my intention was more to vent my own frustrations than public denouncement. i’d also like to clarify my use of the word “elite”. while i understand how misinterpretation may have arose, i intended to use it in irony, as a label that people assume i enjoy, and not one that i take particular pleasure in. finally, i admit that i was harsher than i should have been, although the the crux of my belief in self-improvement and self-determination has not changed. once again, i apologise if my words have unintentionally offended you - i was under the rather naive impression that nobody reads my blog. ==================================================

Well, its really kinda sad to see what kind of people our education system is producing - Immature, arrogant, rude, disrespectful...and the list goes on. Even before she set foot into the working world, she already deem herself an elite. I really wonder what kind of upbringing she went through, and what kind of parents she has. And knowing that one of her parents is an MP, I really fear for the future of Singapore. I don't believe that this little girl is born with such a stuck up mentality. It has to be her growing up environment that resulted in her being so arrogant and immature. I'm inclined to believe that her parents brought her up like a princess, showered her with all forms of luxuries (but not values and the meaning of being humble) and shielded her from mixing with the less privileged. Most probably she has a few maids at home to do her bidding, wipe her ass for her, flush the toilet after her and even change her sanitary pads for her. Hence, she grew up spoilt, taking things for granted, and view middle and low income people the same way she would view rats. Does it ever cross her puny mind that if all those old, "middle-class undereducated" people had not slog it out and build this nation with their sweat and blood, will she still be able to enjoy all the luxuries she's taking for granted now? Will her Papa still be warming the seat in Parliament House? Very obviously, this little brat has never been in touch with the poor or did any form of community service. Neither has she been very well read, as she doesn't even know the ideology behind communism. Very typical of an elite, I would say. People like her are the real LEECHES of our society.

In her very insincere apology, she refers to her blog entry as "a rant in the heat of the moment". But to be able to think of such rubbish in the first place speaks volume about her mentality as well as her character. In the heat of the moment? What lousy excuse and a pathetic way of pushing away responsibilities. Exactly like how Leong Chee Kei committed rape and then claimed that he was drunk. I thought students from RJC are supposed to be creative enough to come out with something more original?

Children like this little girl are not uncommon these days. Open up your eyes next time you board a MRT train and you can see elitism at its "best". Seconday school children, talking like they are little emporers and more often than not, making a nuisance of themsleves. When told off by an adult, that arrogant stuck up expression appeared across their equally stuck up faces, usually followed by rude arguments and vulgarities. And not surprisingly, these students are usually from, you guessed it, the so-called top schools...RJC, RI, Chinese High...just to name a few. Its the sad truth in Singapore, meritocracy has degenerated into elitism, all thanks to our government.

Oh yah, little girl, since you boast so much about your spelling and grammar, don't you know that you are supposed to start every sentence with a capital letter?

Have A Blissful Marriage, Keith!

2006-10-05T23:17:00.000+08:00

It has been almost one week after the wedding dinner, I finally have the time to blog about it and upload some photos. 30th Oct is a very special day for my dear friend, Keith. He finally upgrade his status from attached to engaged to married. Not sure how long he took to upgrade to such a level (I'm not such a kaypoh) but I'm sure he is so looking forward to this day. Hmm...maybe not...hahaha...given the fact that he was tekan from morning to night, and ended up puking in the toilet.

Anyway, the dinner was held at the Chevron. Not exactly a posh place like a five star hotel, but still, it was pleasant. I think it is a wise choice to hold the wedding at the Chevron, where you would not end up completely broke the next morning. I mean, how rich can people our age be these days? Especially if you are financing the wedding all by yourself? If you come from a filthy rich family and your parents can sponsor you, by all means, hold the wedding at the Istana. If not, its better to learn to tighten your budget. Somemore as a SAF regular, I think he can get some discounts at the Chevron, hehe.

Apart from some very minor and barely noticeable technical glitches here and there, the whole ceremony proceed rather smoothly. And the food....well, I wouldn't say that its the best, but at least I enjoyed it. Maybe if Zhiguang was there he'll complain and complain throughout the dinner(maybe he'll even deduct some hongbao money)...but nah...I'm not a complain king(or a miser), especially when it comes to food. As long as I'm well fed, I'm happy. Somemore, its the friendship that counts, rite?

When the newly-weds started to make their rounds from table to table, dark clouds began to loom overhead and a sinister evil awaits them...waiting to unleash whatever dark power there is upon the groom. No lah...hahaha...not that serious, but there were a handful of people who can't wait to tekan our poor Keith. And evil strikes when the two love-birds reached our table.

Yah, so these are all the GSMBians, both current and former, together with Keith and his bride.

The unsuspecting couple, still lovingly engrossed in each other.

And the tekan began...poor Keith ended up drinking too much and was reduced to a puking machine in the toilet. Come to think of it, we were really evil. Made him so drunk...how is he going to perform the ultimate national service of populating the country after the dinner?

Roy, Martin and Leong. Roy was grim faced because Leong ate up every bit of food on the table and he had nothing to eat. While Martin was easily satisfied with just a drink, our still-hungry Leong was thinking whether or not to eat his K800i handphone.

Me, William and Hong Tat. This photo was taken by Yilong. No one is sure who is the real subject of this photo. But my instinct tells me that Yilong was trying to steal a shot at the waitress since it is known to everyone that Yilong is attracted to mature looking ladies with short hair.

A few lessons can be learnt from this wedding dinner:

1. Marry early so that you can get the maximum number of hongbao. Imagine that you are the last person in your circle of friends to get married. On the day of your wedding dinner, all your friends will definitely bring along their spouse and children. And if one family consists of 3 people, do you think you will get 3 hongbaos? Nooo...you'll get only one. But three seats will still be filled.

2. Make sure you make it clear to your friends that you will not play any games, esp games that will require you to drink. I think its kinda bad to get drunk and become a puking machine on the most important day of your life. So, it is important to learn to politely turn down all requests to do embaressing things.

3. If all else fails, ensure that you have super diluted beer on stand by.

Finally, I wish Keith a blissful marriage and a happy family. Brudder, its time for you to upgrade to the next higher level. That is, from husband to father! Haha!

Cheers, brudder!

Pondering on "Pondering"

2006-09-27T23:52:00.000+08:00

Read an entry from Roy's blog, titled Pondering, and I suddenly recall some things that happened yesterday and today in camp. Not that they are related, but it sort of just triggered something in my mind. Before I carry on any further, here's an excrept from Roy's blog:

==========================================
In the National Sevice sector, it irks me to find out that more and more NS personnel are finding it easier to avoid doing NS. A bit of pain here, a headache there, and they can avoid doing exercises for a week. When asked to do guard duty to cover for someone else, they'd complain: " Why me leh? Sergeant, cannot lah!" During my time in NS, such things were unheard of. Basket.

Well, anyway, I think the NS regulars aren't that great either. The worst backstabbers comes from the higher-ups. Everyone wants to claim credit for something good, but nobody wants to claim responsiblity for something that goes wrong, instead they push it to the men, who get punished for something that is not entirely their fault. That, in my own opinion, is more immature than anything else.
===========================================

Yesterday, while having breakfast with Cpt Robin, he told me a story from his junior officer days. Apparently, there was this General in SAF who only had an O level certificate. I think those older warrant officers will know about him as he was known as the "O level General", the one and only in SAF's history. Well, this General apparently wasn't very well-liked due to his old school thinking. Imagine, he gave a NSF clerk 21 extra for not saluting him! WTF?!?! I mean, as a senior officer, shouldn't you be tired of returning salute? Anyway, when he was about to retire, a younger General took over his appointment and one fine day when he went to the cookhouse for lunch, he found that the table he usually sat at was taken by this young General. For the benefit of those who did not serve NS, in every cookhouse, there will a few tables specially set aside for senior officers. Yah, so this old General saw that his usual table is being taken. And to make the matter worst, those Majors and Colonels who used to suck up to him were all sucking up to the young General. And even worst, none of them seem to have (or did not bother to) noticed him, treating him like an invisible man. So, old General was very angry and went to queue up for his food together with the men. After which, he sat with the men to have his lunch, slamming his plate on the table as he sat down. According to Cpt Robin, the whole cookhouse suddenly went dead quiet and nobody dared to speak a word.

Today, while having breakfast with Cpt Robin and 1WO Ho, Major Ong joined us and we talked briefly about my attachment to HQMES. When I finished, he laughed and asked,"Why har? Of all places, you want to come back to SAF?" Before I can answer, he laughed again and lamented,"Actually, SAF also quite funny. When we regulars were studying, they forced us to come back to camp for our IA. But when we graduated and started working for SAF, they made us go STK and DSTA for attachment to get industrial experience."

For the first story, its a pity that old General did not get to retire happily. But I think he has only himself to blame. If he was kind towards his subordinates when he was in office, he would have been treated with respect and not given cold shoulder treatment during retirement. To me, respect has to be earned and not some kind of entitlement. Gone were the days where senior rank and demand junior rank to "respect my rank". So if you want respect from your men, respect your men first. Also, this story truly reflect something that is on-going in the SAF. That is, our soldiers are better trained at carrying balls than carrying guns.

The second story? Hahaha...I can only say,"Welcome to the real SAF!" A place where policy makers make stupid policies. Where our supposedly "thinking soldiers" are not thinking at all. Where the people at the top make decisions that will only benefit themsleves and not the organisation as a whole. Do you think I believe, even for one second, all the rubbish in those Army advertisements? The only thing SAF did to their soldiers is as what their lastest advertisements claimed, L.I.V.E. Leadership? Learning? Image and Identity? Values? Experience? KA-PTUI! L.I.V.E stands for Lowering IQ Very Effectively, enough said!

As for Roy's entry, well, this is just the result of parents pampering their sons too much and also MOs being so bloody scared of a specialist's letter. Its really kind of sad to board the bus everyday and look at what kind of soldiers our SAF is breeding. Weak(not so much of physically but mentally), pale, sickly, fat, immature and yes...girlie. So much for being the 3G army. Actually quite true also, our army is made up of 3 Gs...Geeks, Gays and Guniangs.

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

2006-09-18T21:11:00.000+08:00

Got this photo off TalkingCock.com. Apparently, someone just had too much free time and decided to go down to Suntec City(Or maybe its Changi Airport?) and took this photo. Hahahaha...its very creative and funny, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

So, what does this photo represents? I think there are many ways to interpret this photo. So here's my take:

1.Singaporeans Are Still Smiling Even Though They Are Bloody Caged Up And REPRESSED!

2.Welcome all foreign delegates! Welcome to prison! (If you riot..that is...)

3.Welcome all foreign delegates! Lets discuss FREE trade in a SO-NOT-FREE country.

So what's your interpretation?

Disappointed

2006-09-16T17:38:00.000+08:00

The truth is out, our government is a WEAKLING! The very government that hold their ground and spanked American bastard cum vandal, Micheal Fay. The very same government that stood so firmly and sent that Aussie Vietnamese drug pusher to the gallows. And now, this government gave in to international pressure and allowed 22 out of the 27 protestors originally barring from entering our country, to...well...enter our country. Mind you, 22 out of 27! Go figure out yourselves what percentage is that. This sudden U-turn suprised many, including myself.

Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with the news. I mean, what the hell is the government trying to achieve here? Are they trying to salvage a tarnished image? What kind of image are you protraying when you bow down to people who have no respect for our law and our values? Just because some big shot ang moh issued a harsh criticism means we have to do their bidding?

Instead of salvaging Singapore's image, our government only succeed in causing more damage. Allow me to offer 3 reasons. Disagree if you want, you have that freedom. But these are just my personal opinions.

Firstly, what will the top officials think of us? They will be damned proud of themselves for giving their ego a huge boost. Why? Because they have done what Bill Clinton and John Howard cannot do, that is, to bring the Singapore Government to their knees. From now on, in the eyes of those ang mohs, we are just another inferior 东亚病夫, who succumb to the Western threats easily, who can be easily manipulated, who is just like a little kid among the big brothers. The caning and hanging issues have gain us much notoriety, but at the same time, they gained us respect. By refusing to budge, we showed the world that we are no pushovers and we stand firm on our laws. But what happen now? All these efforts all gone down the drain due to a moment of stupidity and fear.

Secondly, if this move is to appease the protestors, our government failed to do that too. Flights have already been cancelled, some already have been deported, alternative plans have already been made. And now you let us in?!?!? What kind of game are you playing? You think we are fools? Instead of appeasing the protestors, our government only succeeded in making them angrier.

Lastly, and most importantly, what will the average Singaprean think of the whole issue? Well, given the indifference and boh chap attitude of most Singaporeans, I think the answers should be "Dunno", "Not my business", "Lidat lor", "Huh? Got such a thing meh? I never read newspaper leh. What is IMF har?". So maybe I'll rephrase the question: What will Singaporeans who are concerned about national and global issues think of the govenment's move? Personally, I think by stooping so low and giving in to international pressure, the government has grown weak. The government has also failed to protect the interest of the citizens. What happen if those people cause havoc? I expect the government to be held fully accountable. And needless to say, why the double standards in the law? Are Sinagporeans second class compared to foreigners?

After reading the papers today, my respect for our government has drop to an all time low. Its already very low to begin with, by the way. Our leaders have proven themselves to be cowards. And what is even harder to stomach is the fact that our Prime Minister was a SAF general. And such cowardice? I really wonder what the two ang moh monkeys from IMF and World Bank said to him that caused his balls to shrink all the way up to his brain.

Foreign Troublemakers, FUCK OFF!

2006-09-10T15:07:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow will mark the first day of the IMF/WB Meeting here in Singapore. Looking at the papers today, there are quite a number of reports about how our Government is drawing flak from all over the world regarding their stand on outdoor protests. Top officials from the World Bank have also expressed disappointment at the Government's refusal to budge, accusing the Republic of restricting freedom of speech and expression. There is even a hint that Singapore will not be chosen to host any future meetings. I only have this to say to these idiots: Shut the FUCK up and if you are not happy, FUCK OFF!

I don't consider myself to be 100% pro-government but in this current issue, I gave our Government 100% support. I think the Government is right to be firm about outdoor protests. Let me paint a few scenarios of what is going to happen should our Government give in to stupid international pressure.

Scenario 1:
Outdoor protests are allowed. One particular group turned violent and clashed with the Police. More groups joined in and our dear Suntec City becomes an instant battleground. Our Police have no choice but to shoot at the protestors and innocent Singaporeans got caught in the crossfire. Our peaceful city turned bloody and our streets littered with bodies, either dead or seriously injured, and among those dead are foreign officials and delegates. At the end of the day, the same group of people who pressured our Government to allow outdoor protests turned around and accused our Government for allowing these protestors to turn violent and failed to ensure security. That is not the end, the Government will have to answer to every Singaporean, firstly for the double standards of the law with regards to outdoor protests and secondly, for the deaths of innocent Singaporeans. In the end, foreign investments will be withdrawn and our economy suffers. The already disgruntled Singaporeans will be jobless and vent their anger at the Government for allowing all these to happen. Economic downturn and social unrest will throw this country into disarray while those foreign troublemakers happily return to their countries and easily forget about the mess they caused here.

Scenario 2:
Any Tom, Dick and Harry are allowed into the Republic freely, and among them, terrorists who have been eyeing the Republic for a long time. This lapse in security is a good opportunity for them to infiltrate. So one fine day, when the foreign delegates are leaving Suntec City after meeting, a series bombs are set off, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. Again, the very group of people who berate our Government for barring protestors from entering the country turned around and accused our Government for failing to ensure security. Economic and social backlash will ensue, turning the Republic upside down, destroying everything that our fore fathers worked so hard for.

Are these what we want to see happening to our home? Are we prepared to sacrifice so much just because some bastard Ang Moh complained about the lack of freedom of speech? Or do we stand firm on those values that we hold so close to our hearts and oppose those who try to destroy our home? Those bastard Ang Moh hypocrites are complaining simply because this is not their home and they don't give a hoot to anything that happen here. Why should we even bow down to them? Here we are going through so much trouble to protect their asses and all they do is complain. Our Police and SAF have better things to do, like clearing their leaves and offs, than going through so many exercises and preparations and protecting hypocrites who are not appreciative.

Freedom of speech comes with responsibility. Until these protestors can learn to speak and act responsibly, sorry, you are NOT welcomed! No...forget the sorry part...just FUCK OFF!

4 million smiles? I will gladly put 4 million bullets in their puny heads anytime.

Twohill Goes Downhill

2006-09-09T13:46:00.000+08:00

The recent ousting of Idol contestant Paul Twohill has brought much relieve to me. Finally, I don't have to see a disgusting looking face staring at me each time I switch on my TV. I'm not a huge fan of Singapore Idol, in fact, I'm not a fan at all. But I occasionally tune in to Idol just to be kaypoh. But each time I switch on the TV, I need to double check the TV schedule in The Straits Times to make sure I tuned in at the right time. Why? Because I always thought I tuned in to some horror movie everytime Paul's face appeared. Right from the start of the Idol, I really find him irritating, disgusting, distasteful and GAY. He looks like a science experiment trying to resurrect a zombie gone horribly wrong. Looks aside, his vocal talent is equally unimpressive, in fact, his voice is insulting to the ears. YUCKS! He sounds like someone whose voice doesn't break properly during puberty and that his adam apple only grow halfway. Its a wonder that he can stay in the show longer than Joakim Gomez. Joakim can stay in the show longer than expected due to his looks, but Paul? This bugger got none! I'm kinda surprised that Joakim had to endure the worst of all criticism but this living undead got away with almost everything. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with having a huge fanbase when you have good looks. I think this is pretty normal. But having a fanbase when you are nothing but trash and your mere existance is a vulgarity itself? I think those voted for him must really go and see doctor. Something must have gone terribly wrong with their eyes and ears.

I believe that the reasons the judges allowed him to go through the audition is not because he can sing, but because he's a wierdo and can attract viewers. I mean, if the zoo has a deformed monkey, they would displayed it to attract curious tourists, right? Its the same for Idol. By showcasing the best, you won't create as much hype as showing the nation the strangest species. What really disgust me is that Paul seems to enjoy the publicity and thinks that he is a media darling when in fact he is just an expandable pawn of Mediacorp to boost its own viewership. He is making a fool and a shame of himself on national TV even without knowing it. So his being voted of not only brought justice to my TV but also to those Idol contestants who are much more talented and look more human but were voted off earlier. Actually I have a feeling that the whole show is rigged by Mediacorp. The naive voters are simply money making tools, having no idea that their idols' fate has long been decided. The ousting of good singers who don't have the good looks is just so that Mediacorp can stir up more controversy and get those little gals to vote more. By kicking out Joakim and Paul simply means that Mediacorp feels that their values have expired. Whatever the case, I think Paul will have a better career being a jester at Joker's hideout in some shithole in Goddamned City rather than contesting in something meant for humans.

Now that the disgusting fella is out, Singapore Idol is finally more like a singing contest and not some bloody freak show. May the best singer win...I do hope so...

What I Did For My IA Today...

2006-09-08T22:11:00.000+08:00

Hmm...think I really have the best IA in the world...wahahaha...honestly, which oganization would close down the office for one day and everyone went prawn fishing(or should I say prawning?) in the morning and then proceed to Serangoon for durian buffet(yes, you heard right...BUFFET!!!) in the afternoon?

Yah, today is our so called cohesion day...so in the morning, I made my way to this prawning venue just beside Jurong Bird Park. Reached Boon Lay just after 8am, and goodness...the whole bus interchange is swarming with NTU people. Cannot believe how long the queue is. Maybe for the past two years, I always make it a point to reach the 179 busstop before 7:50am, so I never get to see the loooong queue that will usually form after 8am.

Looking at the long queue of NTU students, I could not help but take glance down the line of people...hoping that by some sheer luck, she is in the queue. Nope...not one familiar face...guess we are just not fated even to be within visible range, much less meet. Perhaps our hearts are really a pair of parallel lines...never meant to cross path...never meant to intersect...just moving straight ahead, equal distance apart. Then suddenly, the queue moved, and turning out from a corner was the very person I was hoping so much to see. She looked so much fairer and radiant than the last time I saw her...sporting a newly dyed hair...and a different style of dressing. Just simply beautiful....not those striking supermodel kind, but a simple and natural beauty that radiates from both outside and inside, like a beautifully written piece of poetry. Didn't think she noticed me, but I'm just glad that I can see her today. Maybe, if we are meant to be together, fate will arrange for us to meet one day. Until then, I'll be contented if I get to see her every once in a while.

Anyway, back to the main topic, the little prawn farm is actually quite a cool place to go. And I've never expect prawning can be so fun. The sense of joy when you got a big catch is quite satisfying. Here are some photos that I managed to capture.

Yah, this is the prawn farm, just beside Jurong Bird Park, the prawning rods and cages to hold our catch. Sea hum were given to us to be used as baits. No, they dun serve mee siam there. But you can BBQ your catch after that as the place provide all the neccessary equipments.

Managed to steal a shot at LTA Lai...hehehe...not that I have the hots for her, but in the absence of Emily, she's the next best for my lens...haha...She was kinda funny, end up feeding the prawns instead of catching them, coz the prawns are pretty smart wor. They know how to take the bait out from the hook and swim away, leaving you waiting and waiting without knowing that the hook is actually baitless. Haiz...gals nowadays ar...dun even know how to open their Hum...er...I mean, open the shells of the bait, which is a Hum...hahaha!!! OEI! You people dun think dirty hor! So at one point of time, she asked with her innocent squeaky voice,"Aye, can help me open my hum?" Erm...well...can I say "No"?

Me and my catch. Not much lah...only got five, but for a first timer not bad ok...at least I got a big one, weighing exactly 50g, that make it to the top three until some bugger caught a damn huge one that weighs 101g. Haha...first time prawning kinda noob. When I caught my first prawn, I dunno how to remove the hook form the mouth. So end up pulling out the hook by force and the prawn start foaming in the mouth...Oops...poor prawn...

Finally, the group photo of the Support Equipment Branch. Er...guys, dun have to look too closely, dun have any chio bu.

So after spending the whole morning prawning, we bbq the prawns that we caught and that's lunch. Then after that we made our way down to Serangoon for DURIANS! Seriously, I've never had durians this good. The best thing is, we get to eat as many as we want...that's why I called it a durian buffet. But dun dare to eat too much coz later I gotta give tuition. Dun wanna stink my student to death...hahahaha...

Yah, so this is basically how I spend my IA. Fun right? For those who need to work overtime and on weekends...esp the one working at Vivocity, dun be jealous hor...hahahaha. Heard that the next outing will be to o and eat crabs...hahahaha...hopefully we dun have to catch ur own crabs...

NDP 2007

2006-09-06T23:16:00.000+08:00

Barely one month after our nation's 41st birthday, our NDP Committee unveiled their plans for NDP2007, once again showing off its efficiency and far sightedness. According to the committee, next year's NDP is going to be a whole lot of a difference, compared to those very predictable displays in the previous years. One main attraction worth looking forward to is that next year's NDP will be held at a suspended stage built over the waters instead of the National Stadium, which is going to be used for target practice by the Air Force and Armour Unit.

Like all the previous NDPs, the question that bugs everyone is: Who will be singing the next NDP song? After the excellent performance by the little known Kaira Gong this year, everyone is guessing who will be the next singer to take the center stage.

Head of the NDP Planning Committee, Colonel Teoh Sai Kang, announced,"We are very honoured to have this great singer to sing our NDP song next year. After careful consideration, all of us agreed that no one is more suited to sing the next NDP song other than Miss Guo Mei Mei."
"Before I carry on, let us have a little preview of what the song will be like,"said Col Teoh as he signalled his man to play the song. A group of NSF clerks, who called themselves the Pai Kah Pai Chiu Pikachus, also entered the conference room with clutches and bandages and did a para-para-like-dance specially choreographed for the song. The lyrics of the new NDP song goes something like this

"...看见 Mee Siam
我不要不要Hum
Mee Siam 不要Hum
不要不要不要Hum...

Mai-a-Hum Mai-a-Hum
Mai-a-Hum Mai-a-Hum Hum..."

After the 10 second preview, someone asked for the reason behind the choice of the singer. Col Teoh explained proudly,"Well, this song is inspired by last week's National Day rally and Miss Guo is a natural choice as she is a very accomplished singer and her songs are all hits."

Another reporter reminded Col Teoh that according to the charts from all the radio stations here, Miss Guo's songs are all at the bottom. But Col Teoh offers a different opinion. "Ayio...hit bottom also a HIT what...see, must be creative...now is 3G Army orleady...we are thinking soldiers...so must be creative..."Col Teoh replied, with a hint of disgust at the reporter for his apparent lack to creativity,"Coming up with good ideas for NDP not easy you know anot? That's why the SAF pays S C H O L A R S like me so much money...to sit inside office and dream up good ideas. Ok, I think this press conference has come to an end, I need to go for my AHM off."

As the crowd slowly moved out of the conference room, Col Teoh was heard calling out for his clerk, only to get an answer from a junior officer.
"Sir, Pte Seah has gone for his MA."
"Nao Hiah....!!!"

As the rest of the nation eagerly await the next National Day, and look forward to the peformances planned by our sophisticated 3G SAF, one can only hope for the best....

ERA = Extremely Rotten Assholes

2006-08-28T23:35:00.000+08:00

As most of you would have known by now, my family and I had just moved to a new HDB flat in Seng Kang and we are now in the process of selling the old flat. Selling a flat is never an easy thing to do, as I've since figured out. Simply because, second to gamblers who are in debt, the next group of people in the Never-to-Trust list is property agents. After running into a few rogue agents, we thought we have become wiser. But we were dead wrong, we simply met a even more cunning one. This current agent goes by the name of Frank Lim, from the oh-so-reputable (reputable my ASS!!!) ERA.
When my family met Mr Lim for the first time, we found him to be a very friendly and trustworthy man. My whole family treated him like a friend and on many occasions, after bringing potential buyers to view our flat, he would stay behind for some casual conversations for at least a couple of hours. He is also a capable and hardworking man, as he did bring many potential buyers to view our flat. He claimed to be a devoted buddhist and very often, he preached about buddhist teachings and how everyone should uphold good moral values and such. In the end, he has just proven himself to be a disgusting hypocrite whose actions are totally against all that he preached. When my family and I completely settled down in our new flat, Mr Lim asked for the keys to our old one. His reasons were that it will be more convenient for him to bring buyers to view our flat and that it will also be convenient for us as we will not need to travel between two places just to open the door for him. Initially, my family was quite apprehensive about this idea because we did not have any official contract with him and if anything bad were to happen to our old flat, who is going to shoulder the responsibility? Hence, we requested to sign a contract with him so as to protect ourselves as well as our flat. However, he lamented that we do not trust him and after much coaxing, my parents finally gave in and handed the keys to him. This turns out to be one of the greatest mistakes we have made. Recently, my parents went back to our old flat and found that one of the window panes was broken. When questioned, Mr Lim said that one of the buyers accidentally broke it while he was opening the window. My mother asked Mr Lim to trace back the buyer and get him to pay for the repair as it would not be nice to sell a flat with broken window to another buyer. I mean, if you go buy a car and found out that one of the windows is cracked, would you still buy it? Our stand is that we should be fair to our buyer by selling him the flat in its best condition, regardless whether he decides to install a brand new window or not. Mr Lim was very reluctant to do so as it would be very troublesome. But our instruction to Mr Lim is clear: Get the person who is responsible for the broken window and ask him to foot the repair cost. One main reason why we stood our ground firmly is that we believe that the one who broke the window is Mr Lim himself. This is because whenever he is bringing people to view our old flat, he would usually arrive before the appointed time. There, my guess is that he would switch on the fan and open the windows so as to ventilate the whole flat a little. So one day, due to his carelessness, he broke one of the window panes. And instead of admitting his mistake, he chooses to be a coward and push the blame to someone that may not even exist. If he had come clean with us then, we would have been forgiving and will still consider him a friend. In fact, we would have been greatful that he is honest with us. But nooooo....he decided to be a turtle and covered up his mistakes with a pack of lies and hence, we will not hesitate to take action. Today, 28th August, my mother called Mr Lim again about how to settle the broken window. Mr Lim suddenly turned hostile and raised his voice at my mother. He claimed that there is a rule among agents that no one should be responsible for any furniture damaged by buyers. I find this totally ridiculous and outrageous as this would give anyone the right to go into other people's flat and damage their furniture. Furthermore, this Mr Lim was outright rude and unreasonable and vicious towards my mother. This is certainly not the kind of service we would expect from an employee from such a reputable company(more like rePUKEable to me). Especially so for someone who claimed to be a devoted buddhist. He used to say, 念经不如行经. Apparently, he 念 a lot of 经, but 行 none of it. Somehow, I began to believe that he is the reincarnation of Gollum(the creature who looks a little like Ruoyu) from LOTR, whose personality is split between good and evil in the ratio 1:3. Initially, we thought he is an angel, but now, he has shown his stinking devil's tail.

Through this incident, I must say that my opinion of him is as low as zero Kelvin. I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding the broken window. But his sudden hostility towards my mother has further proven his guilt. That rudeness alone is enough to tempt me to write a letter of compliant to his company and to the press. In fact, I've already prepared an letter to be sent to the press, publicly asking ERA to answer for Mr Lim's actions and to clarify if the rule Mr Lim stated above does exist. Whether I will send out that letter would depend on whether Mr Lim would try anything funny again. I've also sent a letter of compliant to CASE to seek legal advise so that I can plan the next course of action, should he try to play punk with me.
Part of me really wish that he does, coz I really couldn't wait to punch the crap out of him....this bloody satanic bastard hiding behind a buddha statue. I'll wait though, I'll patiently wait till he make one wrong move, and I'll make sure I turn he from a property agent into an oxidizing agent, and reduce him to a piece of shit.

A Mother's Pain

2006-08-07T23:15:00.000+08:00

Well, this is not a story about a mother struggling against all odds to raise a handicap son, but it still shows how painful a mother feels when her son doesn't seem to have a promising future.

Every mother is alike. They work real hard to raise their children, with only one wish in mind. That their children will have a decent future. Well, not necessary a very bright one, but at least, they will be able to provide a decent living for themsleves when their parents passed on.

Through my tuition agent, I get to know Mdm Kim and her son LW. Thought that this will be another normal tuition assignment but I was wrong. At first, I thought, how bad can this student be? I've practically seen quite a few types of student, from diligent to mischievious. From slow but hardworking to slow and yet lazy. And of course, the smart but cocky and rude and disrespectful and arrogant all rolled into one spoilt princess(and an ugly one, for the record). So how bad can this one be? Well, the answer is, this one is autistic. Not a serious case, but enough to break his mother's heart.

The family is pretty well to do. Lives in a private estate with a damn good security that can match the one at Mindef HQ. And the families(there are 2 families living together) own a few cars. Not sure how many but I saw a heap of car keys on the table. When one adult wanna go out, he'll ask the rest which car can he drive and he'll pick the relevant key and left. The house has four rooms, a HUGE living room and a HUGE dinning room but a small kitchen. They also own quite a number of condos which they rent out to foreign expats. This, I guess, is their main source of income as the adults are either semi-retired or fully-retired(they are 50 and younger).

My first day to that place was last Friday. Reached their house at 7pm but LW refused to come out. That was when Mdm Kim told me of his condition. Half an hour later, Mdm Kim finally managed to coax him out of his room and he sat down reluctantly. Though he is autistic, I still managed to break ice with him easily, knowing that he is an avid gamer. So managed to get his attention by talking about the latest games around. The first lesson is still not too bad. Once I got his attention, he is very respondsive and can answer my questions. When he has questions, he'll also ask. So I thought, hey...that's easy...no sweat. But I think such situation is rare, from the tired look from Mdm Kim's eyes.

Today is the second day I went over. This time, he refused to come out no matter how his parents coax him. So after one hour of coaxing, they finally gave up and Mdm Kim drove me to Farrer Park MRT. She really embaressed that I have to waste time going over and kept apologising. I can almost feel the frustration and anguish that she felt. Not with her son, but with herself, for not spending enough time with her son when he was younger. Somehow, I have a feeling that their wealth today is not inherited, but the result of hours of hardwork and little sleep over many years. There was a moment that I almost expect Mdm Kim to burst into tears, but she held back, once again demonstration her strength and resolve. I guess she must have suffered a lot to keep her business alive just so that her son do not have to suffer in future. But now, she is seeing her efforts gone to waste. Its very clear that it is very difficult for LW to make it academically, and in a place like Singapore, its almost like a death sentence, as much as I hate to admit it.

Today, on the surface, it seems like my time is wasted. But I don't think I've wasted a single second. What happened today opened my eyes to something that has always been there but I choose to ignore - the pains of being a parent. I've always known that being a parent is not easy, but nothing has struck me so close to my heart as what I've seen today. Every mother hold high hopes for their child, but for Mdm Kim, she's clinging on to whatever little hope that she can find. Its clear that I'm one of that few strands of hope, but regrettably there's really nothing much I can do. I'll still be waiting for her to call to arrange for the next lesson. I truly hope she does, not for the money, but I just want to put a little shine in her family and help LW as best as I can.

IA Experience...So Far...

2006-08-03T22:57:00.000+08:00

It's almost four gruelling weeks into my Industrial Attachment, and boy, I have never been so busy and stressed in my life before. And I thought EID was stressful. For those whom I didn't really update, I'm now doing my IA with DSTA and I'm based at Ayer Rajah Camp, HQMES, Support Equipment Branch. So what am I doing in my former NS camp? Well, right now, I'm handling two of the three projects I was given. Can you believe it? THREE bloody projects!!! Think I'm the only person in NTU to do three projects in the 22 weeks of IA. And they are not small ones ok..each one is at least 5 times "bigger" than EID. Well, don't think I want to elaborate the details of my projects here firstly because it will take forever to explain those military terms and secondly, I don't wanna get charged for revealing confidential infomation on the web. So I can only say that all my projects are mainly investigations to certain material faults in some of SAF's equipments. And my boss wants me to carry out all 3 projects as independently as possible. Yah..so now I'm actually pretty stressed out coz I kept hitting deadends.

But despite the stress, I must say that I'm having one of my most fruitful life as an undergrad. I'm learning things that I've never dreamt of learning and I've met people that I've never thought I would meet. No, Leong and Yilong, I'm not refering to Emily...though she really look more and more beautiful each time I see her(Goodness...she's really one of a kind). Anyway, finally, after so many years of education, I can now put all my knowledge into practical use. I can now finally understand what all those formulas meant and see first hand how laws of physics interact with each other. I can finally appreciate the daily life of an engineer. Some people might say...wah...like that most probably you wun wanna be engineer liao. But on the contrary, everything that I've seen, heard and learnt somehow strengthen my resolve to be an engineer, especially in the defense line.

I've really enjoyed my first 4 weeks at HQMES. Busy, yes. Stressful, yes. Brain wrecking, definitely. So what is there to enjoy? Ironically, it is the busy, stressful and brain wrecking experience that I find most enjoyable. Furthermore, I enjoyed running from camp to camp and to training grounds to observe military ops and conduct interviews. I enjoyed the friendliness and helpfulness of my colleagues. Most importantly, I enjoyed meeting and learning from all the senior engineers from STK and STL that I encountered. They really have so much knowledge to tap into. And the best thing is, they are so willing to share their knowledge and experiences with a noob like me.

But the most important lesson I've learnt through my IA is actually one that happened way before my IA began. That is, to believe and have faith in yourself, no matter how much obstacles stand in your way, no matter what other people think. I remember that very first time I make known my intention to join DSTA for my IA, there are some people around me who are far from encouraging. "Please lor...look at your results...DSTA only want stright As people lor...you are average B. Sure no chance wan lah...dun waste your choices." is the common reaction I got. But I have never, for an single heartbeat, been affected by these comments. My thinking is, no matter what happens, there is no way I'll loose anything. If I'm accepted, fine. If not, I still gained the experience of going through an interview. Looking back, if I had lost confidence then and succumbed to negative comments, I will not be where I am today. So, my friends, one word of advice from me, never be afraid to take the first step, you'll never know how far you can walk unless you take that first step forward. Even if you later found out that one step is all you can go, hey, you moved forward, right? That itself is progress. Many of us today are gripped with fear. Fear of failure, fear of things not going the way we want, fear of wasting time and effort and not getting results, fear of making mistakes and end up being a laughing stock.... But if we see failure as a process rather than an end point, there actually nothing to be afraid of. Our education system has done a fantastic job training us to produce results, but regrettably, it did not teach us that sometimes, failure itself is also a result. Anyone who did O level maths will know that zero is also considered as a solution, right?

Many people who are religious always claim that God can create miracles. But to me, miracles are created by humans who can hold on tightly to their dreams and aspirations. Who are able to face challenges with courage and not shy away from them. Who can seek opportunites from the most hostile crisis. These are the people who can live the most fulfilling life and achieve what most people can only see as a miracle.

Interview With Superman

2006-07-15T09:35:00.000+08:00

It was an interview full of shock and awe. How else can one react when you are the first person in Singapore to interview Superman? That was exactly the opportunity presented to me one not-so-fine day. Well, I was crossing a road on my way home when a grey Toyota Camry made a right turn at high speed, heading towards me. I thought that was going to the end of me when all of a sudden, I was swept off my feet and the very next moment, I found myself at the opposite side of the road. Looking up, still trying to register what had happen, I saw the famous red and blue suit and cape. The familiar fair skin, blue eyes and squarish jaws confirmed the fact that I am standing in front of SUPERMAN! I was so awestruck that I could not speak for a moment. But I knew perfectly well that this was an opportunity not to be missed. So after I found back my voice, I thanked him profusely for saving my life and asked if I can give him a short interview. To my surprise, he agreed without hesitation. So a short while later, we were both sitted in my living room, each with a cup of coffee.

Weige: Ok, let's start with the big question. Where have you been?
Superman: I went back to Krypton. When astromers said that they found Krypton, I went back immediatedly.

Weige: And did you find it?
Superman: There was no Krypton there. Only a graveyard.

Weige: And you decided to come back.
Superman: Yup.

Weige: You took five whole years to go there and back. What took you so long?
Superman: Well, on my way there, I ran into a fleet of alien invasion force heading towards Earth. I spent a huge part of my life on Earth and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to it. So I destroyed the alien fleet before continuing with my journey. Anyway, I was kinda hungry then...(smiles) Never expect bbq alien to taste so good. As they always said...taste like chicken..(laughs)

Weige: Ewww....anyway, what made you decide to come back?
Superman: As I said, I grew up on Earth, so naturally, I miss the life and people here.

Weige: The people? Or is it a person? Everyone knows that you and Lois Lane share a special relationship.
Superman: (blushes) Well...that is just your speculation...erm..by the way, you heard anything about Lois?

Weige: She's now a mother of a boy. And she just won the Pulitzer Prize...for an article....
Superman: WHAT!?!?!?! Which bastard son of a b**** dares to F*** my Lois!?!?!?! Who's the father!?!?!?!

Weige: (speechless at the sudden outburst)
Superman: Ok...I'm sorry...who did Lois marry?

Weige: She's engaged to the nephew of the editor of Daily Planet.
Superman: So I assume he is the father of the boy?

Weige: Erm...actually everyone believes that you are the father...
Superman: How so?

Weige: Well...a few days ago, that kid just saved his mother from a kidnapper by throwing a grand piano at him, killing him instantly.
Superman: My god...that's my son...no kid can possibly do that unless his my son...which means...I'M A FATHER!!!! YESSS!!!! (did a Tom Cruise by jumping up and down on my sofa, breaking it into pieces in the process) Oops...I'm terribly sorry...got a bit over excited here. I'll get you a new set of sofa.

Weige: Nah...its alright...I'm shifting soon. Anyway, just curious, what did Lois called you when you both are making out?
Superman: (blushes) Erm...do I really have to answer that question?

Weige: Well, I think everyone is interested to know...
Superman: (sign) Ok..you win...she likes to call me Superman....(his voice trails off)

(slience)

Weige: That's it...just Superman?
Superman: Yup...sort of...just Superman...without the letter 'u', that is....

Weige: (trying extremely hard to control his laughter) So did you wear your superman suit while you two are making out?
Superman: (looking very uncomfortable)Well...she insists that I wear it with her red thong instead...but you know...her thongs are a little too small for my...ermm..."package"...so after a while she gave up.

Weige: Ok, lets talk about some serious issues now, shall we? What do you think of Singapore? I'm sure this little red dot isn't too small for your superhuman eyesight?
Superman: (looking very relieved) As a matter of fact, I did flew past a number of times...when I have a craving for your bak kut teh and roti prata. I flew Lois in a couple of times during the Great Singapore Sale too. She loves the cheap lingerie here. I think Singapore is a pretty nice place with relatively low crime rates. Despite that, you guys seems to be fighting a different kind of evil...

Weige: How so?
Superman: Well, take America for example. Over there, you have evil doers with a twisted mind, like Lex Luther, bent on taking over the world. Here, you have rude drivers with a selfish mind bent on overtaking the car in front. In other words, you guys are fighting something more invisible, called a selfishness. And what make this fight more difficult is that your education and political systems seem to advocate this kind of thinking. In your education system, kids are taught to only think for themselves and ignore the feelings and well-being of others. On the political front, your politicians kept encouraging the people to be gracious and considerate and be less self-centered. But instead of leading by example, the policies they pushed through the Paliament are clearly meant to benefit only themselves and also to ensure the survival of the ruling party.

Weige: Hmm...how true...you really have ears that can hear everything...
Superman: To tell you the truth, everyday, I hear people from Singapore crying out for a savior...someone to help them break free from oppression. Not those kind of oppression you see in North Korea or some communist countries, but a psychological oppression whereby your minds are forced to only move in one direction, and any time someone decides to stretch his creativity a little and take a different path, he is punished with law suits and fines and character assasination.

Weige: So, are you going to be that savior?
Superman: Unfortunately, I can't. I'm more specialised in handling physical threat.

Weige: But I'm sure you'll have some suggestions...
Superman: Well, I can only advise Singaporeans to acknowledge the flaws in your systems now. And to educate the younger generation with the right values. So, when the elderlees passed on, the next generation can take over and right all the wrongs. It will take a long time, consider how long an elderlee can live...but with determination, you can win this fight, without the need of Superman. I guess that's all the time I have for you. Just heard that war has broke out between Isreal and Lebannon.

Weige: Thanks for your time and your words of wisdom, Superman. And for saving me earlier on.
Superman: (smiles) You are most welcomed. By the way, the Camry that almost knock you down...the plate number is SFN4580X. Go make a police report, I'll be your witness. Take care.

And then, as fast as he had appeared, he was gone. I think, through this short interview with our Superhero, I can really see the world through the eyes of Superman. Actually, I do wonder, what makes Superman Superman? Is it his ability to fly? His ability to stop a bullet with his eyeball? Or his superhuman strength? I think the answer is, simply, his ability to make a difference in another individual's life. Yes, he has his superhuman powers, but everything he has done, is only to teach us to be more human. One might need super powers to lift a person 10 feet above ground, but with a little bit of love and effort, one can lift a person's spirit a thousand feet high and this is all that matters. Hence, everyone of us can be a Superman in another person's life. The only problem is with ourselves...whether we want to or not.

So, does the world need a Superman? Nope, not if everyone of us is already one.

Renovation Blues

2006-07-03T16:06:00.000+08:00

Quite a number of people had asked me, "Hey, when are you moving?" But seriously, I don't know the answer. The plan was to start moving on the second last week of June and to finish by the first week of July. However, renovation dragged way too long and until now, I'm still very much an AngMoKian.

When I first got the word that the new house in Seng Kang is ready, I immediatedly ask Yilong for his relative's namecard. You see, Yilong's relative, Mr Lim, is a very well known figure in the renovation industry. He is an Honorary Advisor of the Renovation And Decoration Advisory Centre who appear on TV every now and then when certain issues regarding renovation are raised. He runs his own renovation comapny, Sin Lee Hong Pte Ltd, too. So I thought having him to do the renovation of my new house would be a good idea. Firstly, being an Honorary Advisor should mean that the safety and legal aspects of renovation work will be very well taken care of. Secondly, being in an Honorary Advisor for so long should mean that quality of work should be of a relatively high standard. However, I was so wrong. After more than three months(yes, can u believe it? It took three months to renovate a 4-room flat) and countless of complaints, things are still not up to standard even as I'm writting this blog.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Mr Lim as a person. In fact, he is a real friendly and honest man. During the first phase of the renovation, which is to come out with the blueprint, he really gave us very good advices. When there is a cheaper alternative in doing something, he will share it with us. When my mum wanted to so something with is not practical or uneccessary, he will voice out too. Hence, we actually placed a lot of trust in him.

Less than one month into the renovation went on pretty smoothly. We told them to take their time as we have no plans to move in so soon because I'm having my exams. So things moved at a slow but steady pace. Well, there are minor glitches here and there, but mostly they are no big deal. The guy doing the cementing and tiling is very proficient in his work too. But after that, nightmare began. Things are not done according to the blueprint. In fact, they are sloppy. The nightmare took a turn for the worse when the carpenter appeared. He is a complete idiot who don't look at the blueprint when doing his work. Somemore, he likes to change the design as and when he likes, without asking us. What is going on in his mind? He's renovating someone esle's home, not his own. How can he make those decisions for us? Somemore, some of the mistakes he made are permanent mistakes. As a result, there are unwanted holes drilled into our tiles. The wardrobes and kitchen cabinets are poorly done too. Just one glance at the cabinets is enough to reveal his lousy workmanship and lack of professionalism. How can one tolerate a new cabinet with cracks and parts that are not properly glued? Worse still, that idiot carpenter even sawed off our water pipes for no apparent reasons! WTF!!! Every evening, after the workers left at 1730hrs, my mum and I will go down to inspect their work. Each time, we came back with a long list of things that are grossly unsatisfactory.

The second person that is causing us a lot of unhappiness is Mrs Lim(Yes, the wife). As Mr Lim is very busy and has no time to check on the workers, Mrs Lim is in charge instead. Please don't label me as a sexist or MCP but this hell of a woman really suck at doing business. She is such a calculative miser( or is it miseress?) that every single little thing she also want to save, even those cardboards that the workers are supposed to spread on the floor so as not to damage our flooring when they carry in equipments and cement. I mean, how much can a few pieces of cardboards cost? If our floorings got damaged, who is going to bear the responsibility? The workers? Or her? All that goes on in her tiny mind is how to save cost. Furthermore, whenever we pointed out something that her workers did wrong, she will take ages to rectify the problem. And more often than not, things gets more wrong after numerous corrections. When you do business at such a scale, is it not important to keep your customers satisfied so that they will introduce more businesses to you in future? How can she do business like that without knowing such simple logic? Thankfully, Mr Lim did come down to our new house occasionally. He is someone with a keen eye and hence, he can spot all the mistakes himself, without having us telling him. Sometimes, he can even spot mistakes that we overlooked. Whenever he came down, most of the mistakes will be correctly corrected the very next day.

What made me more angry is the fact that we were being charged a very high price for all the lousy work. My mum and I met with some of our new neighbours there and they invited us to their house. Their renovation is so beautifully and lavishly done, yet the amount they paid is so much less than ours, $17000 compared to our over $22000. After visiting a few houses, we realised that we actually did the least renovating but paid the highest price.

These few days, we have no time to go down and check, because my grandfather just passed away and there are a lot of things at the wake to handle...including some ugly family politics. But I do hope that by Thursday, everything will be done as promised by them. If not, I will surely step in and report the matter to CASE. I wanted to do so long ago but my mum does not like to blow up matters, so I kept quiet all this while. But come Thursday, if I'm still not seeing things I want to see, letters will fly. This is the first time I'm moving house and I intend to make my new house as perfect as I can. Anyone who tries to ruin that will definitely get it from me. I cannot be sure what drastic action I will take, but one thing is confirmed. That is, I will never never introduce this renovation company to any of my relatives and friends in future.

Scored A B3 And Still Have Not Wake Up Their Idea...

2006-06-16T21:37:00.000+08:00

Well, looks after receiving their supposedly "strong" mandate, the PAP has yet to learn their lesson. Barely two months after getting a B3 in their report card, our ever so "far-sighted" government has started the rubbish about giving upgrading priority to PAP controlled wards again. Haven't they realised that this is one issue that lost them quite a number of votes? How many elites and scholars do they need in their Cabinet to understand that voters are getting frustrated with their vote-to-upgrade policy?

Apparently, our first class honors in Mathematics has difficulty doing one of the simpliest arithmatic in the world. That is, to win a ward, you first have to win the hearts of the people living there! You don't just launch a character assasination or a smear campaign at the person or group leading the ward and expect to win! One does not need to read the Sun Zi Art of War to understand this simple logic. Heck, its not even a simple logic, its plain common sense! I mean, by upgrading opposition wards, the PAP is doing themselves a great service in the next election. They will be seen as being fair and embracing the people of opposition wards. This is enough to earn them some votes. Pushing ahead with their vote-to-upgrade policy will only make them look like sore loosers and will cause them to loose votes in their own wards as well. Mr Mah Bow Tan said that he had to give priority to PAP wards because if he doesn't, he cannot look at the PAP MPs in their eyes. But don't opposition wards' residents pay taxes too? Don't they contribute to nation building and the success of the country? Don't the guys in opposition wards serve NS? So can Mr Mah look at these people in their eyes? No one ask him to upgrade opposition wards first. The simple fact is, the criteria for upgrading an estate should solely be dependent on need, not which party controls it.

I wonder if the PAP has ever asked themselves where the funds for upgrading come from? From their own pockets? Fom T.T Durai? It comes from every single Singaporean, irregardless where they live, who worked hard and made sacrifices for a better future! And the PAP dared to use this money and oppress the people in opposition wards? What blatant arrogance! Voters nowadays are from the younger generation and are better educated. They will think before biting any bait cast at them. For goodness sake, no one in their right frame of mind, no matter how little education they received, like to be oppressed by their own money! Think of a parent who invested so much time and money on their child, and when the child grew up and has a successful career, he turns around and threaten his own parents and said things like, "Pa, if you don't upgrade my car, I'll not give you a single cent when u grow old!" The success of a government is not dependent on one person...not one Lee Kuan Yew..and definitely not one Lee Hsien Loong. It is the cummulative result of the people's action. To use public funds to hold the public hostage is as good as painting a bulls eye on top of your own foot.

Maybe our elites and scholars in Cabinet are very slow learners. So it might take them a few elections to learn and listen. Until then, PAP will always be a Pathetically Arrogant Party.

EID After Action Review

2006-06-12T21:28:00.000+08:00

Today marks the end of the 5 gruelling weeks of the EID project. Our team, Denivele, did not get to win anything. Guess everyone was a little bit disappointed. Especially when so much effort has been poured in. Apparently, we lost out in the business aspect of the project as we did not do a detailed market research. Or rather, we thought the business aspect of this project is not important. Anyway, right from the very first day, things had already began to go wrong. Today is just a confirmation of my worst fear...and everything that I prayed would not happen happened.

Right from the beginning, we were already having problems coming up with a project topic. Creativity was running very low as none of us have any bright ideas. Maybe it was still during curriculum time and no one really had the mood to think. Even after approaching my mentor, Prof Herlander, nothing contructive came out. In other words, the team has no vision and direction. Or rather, I, as the group leader, failed to set a clear direction for the team. Finally, after rounds and rounds of discussion, we settled for an idea given by Leong. That is, to build a supermarket trolley with a movable base. There's nothing wrong with the idea at first glance. In fact, it looks like a pretty good suggestion. But there is still an uneasy feeling at the back of my mind. I could not figured out what is bothering me, and hence did not object to the idea, and with the agreement of the rest of the group, we go ahead to submit the proposal on the first week of the EID project.

On the second week, as everyone has to attend lessons both in the morning and afternoon, there isn't any chance for us to meet up. We only get to discuss briefly on which mechanism we should use. The second week past without any solid work being done.

The third week is not any better. We were having great difficulties with the design of the sicssors lift. A rough sketch was drawn, but none of us could decide on the details. A lack of konwledge to do a proper force analysis and dynamic analysis proved to be a huge setback for us. I wanted to use Solidworks, a program that we just learnt, to work out the dimensions and to make sure that the mechanism work. But there are some who opposed it, fearing that it might cost us more time as we are not proficient in it. So we end up going in circles without achieving anything. Later on, it was proven that Solidworks is much more easy to use and that it was a great help in letting us know the feasibility of our mechanism. More than that, it gave the group some confidence too. If we could use Solidworks sooner, we could save a lot more time. Well, looking back now, I guess it was the indecisiveness and lack of confidence on my part that led to all these. If I could be more firm and less hesitant, maybe we would have fared better and the morale of the group could be increased significantly.

The fourth week is even worse. Chi Wai, Junjie, Yong Han and I had to endure the afternoon heat to look for a vendor to manufacture the prototype for us. Especially CW, JJ and YH, who travelled from Pioneer North to Jalan Besar. Finally at Jln Besar, we managed to find 2 workshops who are willing to help, Dali Engineering and ATSIM. By the time ATSIM agreed to fabricate our prototype, three days already passed. And the boss of ATSIM need one week to get the prototype ready. So there's nothing much we can do but to wait and work on other things like the booth designs.

On the second day of week five, we got our prototype back to the lab. But more problems awaits us. End up we have to re-fabricate certain parts ourselves. Managed to get everything together by Friday, which is really a relieve. But there are many things that we could have done to make it better..if time has not been wasted. Granted...the fact that we have two boh chap mentors and a less than helpful technician did really put us at a disadvantage, I think the main problem is that the whole group could not function efficiently(except for the last few days...when everyone is truly fantastic), or rather, I could not organise the group well enough and the management of the different sub groups is horrendous.

Despite everything mentioned above, I'm really glad and thankful that I have this group of people with me. They are a wonderful lot of people who are highly cooperative and positively motivated, despite various setbacks. I guessed they must be having a hard time putting up with my indecisiveness and poor planning...hahaha...I must admit that I learnt a great deal from each and everyone of them. And I'm sure that they learnt a great deal too, not from me, but from the mistakes that I've made, and from all the difficulties we faced. Without the help from our mentors and technician, we have to take the longer route and figure things out ourselves and in the process, learned from our mistakes. This, I think, is the biggest prize that we had. Because of all these obstacles, we gained much in knowledge and experience, as compared to the prize winning groups, who had the 'lobangs' to get everything done for them nicely, even up to the extent of setting up their booths. We may not get the $1400 price money, but what we gained is knowledge that is beyond anything $1400 can buy. We may not get that torch light thingy, but from today onwards, we see things so much clearer without the need of any light. So, do we have the best product? Nope. But are we winners? We definitely are.

COURTS Taken To Court.

2006-04-15T00:11:00.000+08:00

Furniture giant COURTS finds themselves in court recently over an apparent scam after a disgrunted customer lodged a complaint to CASE( Consumers Are Suckered Easily).

The customer, a mechatronics undergraduate from a local university, Mr Chen Chip Poh, said that he has been intentionally misled by a COURTS advertisment. The advertisment claimed that COURTS sells the cheapest MP3 Players in Singapore and if a cheaper player can be found here, COURTS promised a 110% refund. However, a closer scrutiny at the advertisment revealed the tiny words "of the difference" just below the words "110% refund" which are printed in huge bold capital letters.

Chen apparently bought an MP3 player from a COURTS outlet last weekend after looking at the advertisment that was mailed to him. "Only two things about the advertisment caught my eyes. First is the 110% refund thingy and the second is the picture of Jamie Yeo...wah...she damn chio and sexy sia..."Chen recalled while wiping away some drool from his mouth. Thinking that he can make some quick bucks, Chen bought the $99 MP3 player and set out on a quest to look for a cheaper player. True enough, he spotted the same player at Sim Lim Square, which has a price tag of $98 on it. "I was so happy you know, I thought can earn a bit of lunch money liao. So I quickly buy that MP3 player and get a receipt from the store,"Chen continued. When he went back to COURTS to get his refund, he was shocked that the staff only refunded him $1.10 and so he confronted the staff. It was only then he was showed the advertisment again and the manager pointed out to him that the advertisment read "110% refund of the difference" "I was so angry ok,"Chen said, shivering with anger,"Its very clear that they are trying to deceive cock eyes like me. And its so paiseh you know, with everyone looking at me. Now everyone thinks I'm a cheapo. Eh...oh yah hor...Chip Poh is my name..."

Chen's ordeal, unfortunately, did not end here. The MP3 player he bought from SimLim Square turned out to be faulty. When he went back to the store, he discovered that the shop had been raided by the Police for selling imitation players and the store owner arrested. "Damn suay man...initially I thought I can earn some extra lunch money...now I end up paying even more for one lousy player..."said Chen, looking close to tears.

COURTS decline to comment on this incident and the hearing continues.

One lesson can be learnt from this incident though. And that is, cheapskatism does not gain you anything.

As Requested By Zhiguang

2006-03-31T23:49:00.000+08:00

Went to the Animal Resort with Zhiguang for photoshoot last Sunday. For those who don't know, Animal Resort is a ulu place somewhere in Jalan Kayu. Don't bother looking at the street directory as the place is not marked out, for whatever reason, I don't know. Nevertheless, the place is like a mini zoo where u can get up close to some of the animals, like pony, goats, rabbits, dogs, and some exotic birds. I said some of the animals because there are a couple of birds that I not exactly friendly. Nearly lost my head to one grumpy old Woodstock. As requested by Zhiguang, these are the photos that I took with my digicam.

This is one shy pony...just like the one I knew in AJC..haha... keep turning away from my lens as I was trying to get a shot of it.

Another shot of the shy pony....

Unlike his pony friend, this goat loves the camera. Kept posing for me. I name it Xiao Yang, after my maths lecturer...wahahaha

Another shot of Xiao Yang. Dunno why, but he seems to like to chew on the fence.

This is one ferce looking Cassowary. Dun dare to get too close.

There are lots of this Crown Cranes all over the place. No doubt the most beautiful bird there.

These are some of the other photos

This is the Woodstock that nearly took my head off.

Thanks to Zhiguang's keen eyes..hahaha...didn't expect him to be so observant...I managed to shoot this unusual lizard. Not everyday we get to see this kind of lizard.

To see more photos that I took at the Animal Resort, feel free to go to http://evilbert.myphotoalbum.com/

Peeping Toms Running Loose In NTU

2006-03-28T22:16:00.000+08:00

Recent incidents involving peeping toms sneaking into women's toilets have sparked concerns among the students and staffs in Nanyang Technological University. In the most recent case, a student leader, Tom Chow Chee Hong, was arrested by the police after a female occupant from a hostel spotted him in the ladies. Earlier this month, another student was also caught peeping in the ladies. Both are assisting the police in investigation and were released on bail.

The victim in last week's incident is an exchange student from Holland. As she was stepping out from the cubicle after taking her shower, she spotted Chow in the next cubicle and raised the alarm. The CCTV installed just outside the toilet caught him fleeing the scene, with a woman's underwear pulled over his head. However, as he was wearing his club's T-shirt with the word 'President' printed at the back, it is not difficult for the school's security and police to track him down. It is not sure how he obtained the underwear, but police is looking into the possibility of theft along with potential outrage of modesty. The maximum sentence of outrage of modesty is one year jail or $10000 fine or both.

When contacted, Chow, like any other criminals, tried to defend himself and claim innocence. "I slept late the night before and was very tired the next day. So accidentally went into the wrong toilet lor...I am a club breasident...I mean...president leh...how can do such a thing?" But he could not explain why was there a woman's underwear pulled over his head at that time.

Even before investigation is completed, Chow is already facing the wrath of the school as well as student population. It is understood that Chow had held the position of a president in the Sports Club as well as a place in the Students' Useless Union(SUU). The school has since asked him to give up both positions as "In such circumstances, its better for him not to chair any positions". In addition, he was also booted out from his hostel and barred from applying for any hostel in future. A spokesman commenting on the incident said the school has spoken to Chow and strongly urged him to seek counselling from the school's counsellors. "We also encouraged him to register for the elective, Are You OK? Mental Health In Singapore during the coming intersem period," he added.

Hall 8 president, biological science student, Boh Teng Chu, said that security has since been stepped up to protect the privacy of its female occupants. For example, more CCTV are being installed inside each cubicle in the female toilets. "If one were to be watched, its better to be by the security right?" he beamed, obviously proud of this new implementation.

Despite the fact that the university has taken action against Chow, the majority of the students are unhappy as they feel that Chow should be dealt with more severely. "I think harsher punishment should be implemented, to serve as a stronger deterent," said first year common engineering student, Ho Li See. Final year communications student, Joan Peh, shared the same view. "Going easy on him is as good as taking no action at all. Perverts should be punished severely so as to protect the female population. The best way is to shame them in public" A short survey done on the students regarding the definition of a severe punishment showed that most students are in favour of the following:
1. Making the culprit pose nude for art majors in the School Of Art, Design and Media(SADM).
2. Erect a glass container outside Canteen A and make the culprit shower inside three times a day.
3. Tie the culprit up and make him kneel under the sun at the open area outside the School of Biological Sciences(SBS) so that female students can throw stones at him as they walked past.
4. Since he likes female toilets so much, make the culprit clean all the female toilets in campus using only a toothbrush.
5. Put the culprit's head in the tensile machine so that his crooked mind can be straightened.
6. Public whipping, using a SPZ V-belt or a triple chain belt.

Apart from security issues, students are equally concerned about the fact that NTU has gained much notority in the past few weeks as some students are making headlines for all the wrong reasons. This include the spamming incident whereby a Malaysian scholar, Girlie Goh, sent a total of 8000 emails, whining about some lecturers speaking bad English and that foreign lecturers should change their accents to cater to him. When approached to comment on the peeping incident, Girlie replied,"Aiyooo...some people wanna be famous like me and make headlines lor...but at least hor, also must be clever mah...instead of complaining others, like what I did, he kena complained...so stoopid. He scholar or not? No ar...chey...no wonder la..."

On a separate issue, a few local filmmakers have expressed interest in Chow, saying that he fits the roles of their new production perfectly. Sources revealed that the titles of two such films are Memoirs Of A Voyuer and Eternal Sunset Of The Perverse Mind.

NTU Student Whines About Poor English Standards Among Teaching Staffs

2006-03-23T22:02:00.000+08:00

A Nanyang Technological University(NTU) undergraduate is causing a stir in campus by sending a mass email message to fellow students, urging them to get together and address the problem of lecturers and tutors who speak broken or heavily accented english.

Second year student from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Girlie Goh Wai Ning(pronounced as whining), 22, sent out an email to 8000 students on Monday, whining about having to decode the speech of some lecturers and lab instructors who are from India and China.

He complained that he skipped one particular lecturer's lecture for the whole year after a few lectures as her heavy Indian accent is very difficult to decipher and hence he did not understand a single word she said.

"Aiyaaa....I know my Engrish also not powderful....but then hor, lecturers are different mah. They have to ensure that they are understooded by everyone mah,"Girlie whines in his heavy lian bang accent, flipping his wrists in a gu-niang manner as he speaks. "And those lecturers from China and India are the worst leh...they all speak with farny farny accent...lidat how to understand? They should modify their accent mah..."Girlie added, visibly closed to tears.

A check with the university indeed revealed that indeed there is a significant number of China and Indian nationals doing their masters or PhDs in the NTU.

The ASEAN scholar from Penang also said that the issue has been raised before by other students through a forum board set up by the student union and then Nanyang Cornicles. However, no actions have been taken so far.

"This is beri saddening leh...seeing students paying tuition fees and yet they cannot understand the lectures. Then they end up doing their own self-study in the library. I beri heng wor...I scholar...so tuition fees covered. Aye..you know, I scholar leh...SCHOLAR you know...heeheehee"Girlie giggled girlishly and showed a victory sign at the cameraman.

A look at his email inbox showed at not many people replied to his email. Only 6 did and a closer look revealed that those replies are not related to this issue at all. They are merely students asking him to fill up some survey forms so that they can complete their Techincal Communication projects. One male student who replied is obviously gay and wants to have an intimate discussion wth Girlie.

A check with the student community showed that the majority of the students think that Girlie is making a mountain out of a molehill. Second year mechanical engineering student, Boh Ka Lan, voiced out one such views,"Bad engrish bad engrish lor...no big deal wat. Why make so much noise? Not enough tutorials to do is it? Kan ni nah, too much time go do some past year papers lah! Nah beh, flood lim peh eh email..."

Third year civil engineering student Du Shi Shu also have a similar opinion,"Aiya, as long as the lecturer has knowledge, you can always find a way around their accent wat...its all in the mind. Some people are just weak up there, cannot tahan a little bit of difficulties, that's why they are scholars wat..."

Second year electrical engineering student Algorithmratnam thinks Girlie is "over reacting". "Just because lecturers speaks with an accent doesn't mean that their English is bad. Usually after two or three lectures, one should be able to get used to the accent. If NTU wants to be a global hub, it should learn to accept foreign accents. Anyway, knowing more about the different accents also helps when we go overseas to work next time."

Apparently, the problem of lecturers speaking bad English is not only confined in engineering faculties, as speculated. Student's Union communication officer, Goh Sip Quin, who is a business student, offered to share her experiences. "I think all these problems arised because many students lack exposure to foreign lecturers. So we all should expose ourselves more...teeheehee.."she said, while fiddling with her ultra mini skirt and adjusting her tube top. "When I was in year one, I also have this problem with the lecturer's accent. But over time, the problem become less and less, just like my clothes...heehee...so very soon, they will be non existent...teeheehee..."

Meanwhile, an NTU spokesman confirmed that the university is looking into this matter and will contact Girlie Goh soon. Apart from a defamation suit, the university also intends to demand repair costs from Girlie as the sending of 8000 emails jammed up a few servers and also caused one to burst into flames.

On the other hand, Internal Security Department(ISD) is also investigating the comments made by Girlie Goh for any racist intention. ASP Jiang Niao Hua said sternly,"We will not tolerate any racist remarks made by anyone, even if he is a scholar. As election is drawing near, we have a duty to make sure that our minority community is happy so that they will vote wisely for the white...I mean, right party."

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ENGLISH STANDARD NOT A PROBLEM, SAYS STAFFS

An NTU spokesman and lectures contacted have all maintained that they are unfazed by comments made by Girlie and that majority of the teaching staffs do speak well.

The NTU spokesman said that all teaching staff are required to undergo a training session by Technical Communication instructors every year to improve their communication skills and presentation skills. If this is not enough, they can also walk across the street and sign up for a few NIE courses.

Said machine components lecturer, Professor Loh,"NTU is a wolrdclass university with worldclass lecturers. So the standard of english is of course worldclass. Somemore, we have a worldclass programme to trian lecturers. But sadly, some of our scholars are not worldclass enough, but these are just a few black sheeps, so really, nothing to worry about."

Mathematics lecturer, Professor Huang Xiao Niu, who is from China, did not mince his words as he lambasted Girlie. "It is appalling so see a scholar making such an irresponsible remark. Totally disgusted by this highly educated idiot. I have requested to personally supervise his FYP and if I find his English not up to standard, I'll make him write his whole FYP report and presentation in Chinese."

To find out how foreign lectures speak, this reporter approached a French lecturer, Professor Frank Chocolette, who teaches electrical circuits. When asked to comment of the issue of foreign lectures speaking poor english, he replied,"Vee Vee Voo Voo Vaa Vaa...Goo Goo Gaa Gaa..BLAH BLAH BLAH...*"

*This is exactly the sound this reporter heard coming out for Professor Chocolette's mouth.

给自己的约定

2006-03-21T22:24:00.000+08:00

Saw her today at the bus interchange this morning. Walked past her as I was making my way to the 179 bus stop. Somehow didn't sense her presence anymore, like I used to before. Last time can see her even if she's 100m away. Now? Didn't even noticed that she was only 2 inches away. Actually I did caught a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye, and was pretty sure that it was her, but was too tired to turn around to confirm. Anyway, the bus interchange was too crowded and everyone was moving so fast that it was difficult to stop. But of course, this is just an excuse. My head simply refused to turn, even though my heart was screaming out, telling me to turn around.

When I reached the 179 stop, the bus had just arrived. So, without turning back, I board the bus and went straight to the upper deck. If she's close behind, she'll go up to the upper deck too as she loves to sit at the upper deck. And I was not wrong. True enough, she appeared up the stairs a minute later. With a smile and a mere "Hello", she proceeded further back to sit with her friend.

I held my breath and waited. Waited for the saddness to set in and braced myself for pain that would usually follow behind. But nothing. Seconds ticked past. Still nothing. What happened? I asked myself. Have I really let go of her? Have I really forgotten about her? Or have I already lost all feelings for her? I don't know. I really don't know. People always say, time will heal all wounds. So, have time healed me? It had been many months since I last saw her. Think it was around October last year. Every single day since our last meeting, I still think of her without fail. Wondering how she is doing, is she coping well, is she happy, when will I get to see her again...... As the workload of the semester began to overwhelm me, fatique sets in and I found myself thinking of her less and less. So today when I finally saw her again, I'm actually looking at a friend...and not at someone whom I once felt so strongly for and cared so much about. To be honest, seeing her still made my heart skipped a beat or two and she's still as attractive as before, and most importantly, I'm very happy to see her again. But then, the feelings that I once had for her is gone, just like a gemstone that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, buried under the sea bed, never to be found again.

So here am I, writting this blog, still thinking about this morning, still having one question unanswered. What happened? Well, maybe all these time I've spent away from her, I've grown and is able to see things much more clearly. Maybe time has not only healed me, but also allowed me to learn to put things in perspective. Whichever the case is, I'm just glad that I was spared the pain today. Someone once said, when love comes, let it go. and if it comes back, then you are meant to be. I have since learnt to let go of this gemstone and I have no intention of searching for it and retrieving it. But if ever it, by the twist of fate, surfaces again, I swear that I'll hold it so close to me that it will never get lost again.

Why Did This Feeling Come Back Again?

2006-03-14T22:40:00.000+08:00

Sitting alone in the library, staring blindly at the notes, and felt the cold air piercing through my jacket. Noticed the air felt a bit colder than usual. Or is it just a lack of warmth in me? Looked around the library, and for a brief moment, I half expect her to walk up the stairs. But nothing. No one. Suddenly, I actually hoped that she decides to come up to the library to study today. Just for a little while perhaps, and I'll be happy. What wishful thinking, I chided myself, stop daydreaming and get back to study. So, with a sigh, turned to my notes again, telling myself that chances of her coming up is almost zero.

An hour or so passed slowly and the library is still its usual silence, disrupted by the occasional footsteps and whispering. Still, no sight of her. Closed my eyes for a while, trying to focus and pushed the weariness away. Then suddenly, felt hint of her presence. Felt her walking up the stairs and by the time I opened my eyes, I'm just in time to catch a glimpse of her walking past...with another guy. A slight sourness welled up at the back of my throat as I turned a little to take a closer look. She's still as stunning as the first time I saw her. The fact that they weren't holding hands brought some relieve to me.

But why? Why did I start feeling so strongly for her all of a sudden? Its not like we know each other very well. If fact, we hardly know each other at all. And that sour taste? What is there to be so upset about? Who is she with is of no concern to me at all. This is not right at all and it shouldn't be happening. Made a promise to myself at the beginning of this year that I'm not going to get invloved in any of this nonsense any more and I'm not about to break this promise. Maybe it'll blow over soon, I told myself.

Noticed that she had gotten up from her seat to head to the ladies, so decided to take a gamble and look directly at her, expecting her to look back and smile, just like she usually does. But she only looked straight ahead and passed me by. Ouch...that hurts...

Tribute To My Actor and Actresses.

2006-03-13T20:42:00.000+08:00

After weeks of hinting and cajoling, finally managed to psycho Jeff to be my actor for my film. And God must have been by my side, as the night before the shoot, I got a sms from...surprise surprise, Jeff's sister, Jasmine, who wanted to volunteer to be my actress. I was overjoyed...hahahaha...her unexpected sms really rid me of one big problem, as I really need a young girl to act as Jeff's daughter. Finally! I got my cast! Yes, Jeff, if you are reading this and is wondering whats going on, well, erm...some conspiracy did happen between your sis and I...hahahaha...felt bad about keeping it in the dark from you so decide to blog it down. Dun scold Jasmine ok...I believe she really put in a lot thought before she sms me...though I have no idea how she got my number. Anyway, a little outside classroom exposure is good for her also. You yourself learned a great deal on Sunday also right? And to Jas, sorry for exposing our little conspiracy, but I think your kor should know about this. Somemore I know your kor for more than 10 years liao, so its very hard for me to keep things like this from him.

Anyway, met Jeff and Jas at Boon Lay mrt station on Sunday morning, 7am. Can't say how greatful I am that they sacrifice their Sunday sleep to come down and be in my film. We reached school at 7:15am and head down to Charles' hall to get some of our props before heading down to SCI and meet Scotts and the rest. Hopped on the bus at about 8am and very soon, we found ourselves dragging our gear into the oor filming location, an old mansion at Nassim Road. At about 9am, we finally met our beautiful lead actress, Min Jia. She's an attractive and gentle looking girl with really fair skin. Quite a good contrast with my lead actor's tan skin. Guess she is really suitable for the role, no doubt. So after clearing up the set and briefing our cast, the camera started rolling. Lights, Camera, Action!

Although we do have many NGs and retakes, I must say the whole thing went on pretty smoothly. Despite the fact that our cast have zero acting experience before, they played their role very seriously. Well...maybe a little too seriously for Jeff...hahahahaha...thought he was very stiff and unnatural at first. So we need to have a few more retakes to et him to relax. However, after a while, chemistry between our lead actor and actress had improved so much that they began to get a little bit too comfortable with each other....hahahaha...hug until we say cut liao still dun wanna let go. For a moment, I thought they have progressed from on-screen couple to real-life couple...wah...so fast sia...even Leong put on weight also not so fast...hahaha. By 4:30pm, we were already packing up and ready to leave. Whew! Finally, a huge load off our shoulders. The ever garang Song Teck wanted to stay behind and help out. So the rest of us left and went to Coffee Bean and chill out.

At The Coffee Bean, we talk cock sing song for quite a long time. That was when Jas revealed to that there is a pheadophile on the loose in NTU. Jeff told me about it some time ago liao, but not in detail. Well, as far as I know, there's this guy from NTU, year 2 engineering. Somehow, he is able to get Jas' email and added her to friendster and msn. So far, this is ok. But the thing is, according to Jas, he kept pestering her on msn and kept talking to her about sex. I mean, Jas is only 16 year old and that asshole is 23. As far as I am concerned, he is a desperate, disgusting looking, perverted, sickening, sex maniac paedophile who deserves to be raped by a battalion gays and dogs and then castrated. Who in his right mind will do this kind of thing to a 16 year old? And he even send the infamous NYP video to her. Has he no repect for Jas? This is no difference to molestation. And if he ever contact her again, I'll make sure he face the full force of the law and the full wrath my fists. Jeff is like a brother to me, so Jas is like a sister. I'll never allow anyone to insult her dignity. Somehow, I do have a deep hatred for lechers. Not sure when or how it started but I just hate them to the core. Maybe because there can only be one lecher in this world...ME! Hahaha!!! If I ever see that son of a bitch in NTU, he'll get it from me and I'll turn him into a daughter.

Anway, back to the main topic. Really want to thank Jeff, Min Jia and Jasmine for your time and effort, for waking up so early on a Sunday morning, and for bearing with the heat and dirt and mosquitoes. You guys are really great. Also, a big thanks to Jasmine for looking after our stuff while we went filming on another loaction. Sorry that you only have one scene and ended up having nothing to do for the the rest of the day except to feed mosquitoes. Next time if I have a bigger role, I'll let you know, ok? Hahaha...
By the way, Jeff, its a pity that you didn't get Min Jia's contacts..hahaha...she's a nice girl..really...hahaha

Soccer Vs Suckers

2006-03-07T22:40:00.000+08:00

Guess the big thing today, as far as soccer fans are concerned, is the match between Chelsea and Barcelona. I believe that most people, especially Chelsea fans and Barca fans, will be staying up late today to watch the match. So most probably, they will skip most of the lessons tomorrow, just like what Yilong and Leong intend to do. If not for the lab session, Yilong would have self declare one day off tomorrow.

Seriously, I think that loosing sleep and sacrificing work for a soccer match is one of the stupidest thing to do. I mean, given that soccer has almost completely lost its meaning as a sport, its has become a pretty meaningless game to watch. Maybe watching it during your free time is fine, but skipping lessons for it and being so obsessed with it is plain stupidity. Just look Yilong and Leong. Talking about soccer throughout a lecture almost every single day, skipping lessons for one silly match. I only have one thing to say. They are digging their own graves. I really wonder, if they tapao a few more modules, will that Moronrino pay for their one extra semester of tuition fees? If they cannot find a job after they graduate, will Moronrino offer them a job at one of his companies? Noooooooooo..........Moronrino doesn't give a shit about who they are. So why are the likes of them wasting so much time on his team? Passion? I don't think so. More like an inability of prioritising their own lives. Someone with a true passion in soccer would have been totally disgusted at the way soccer has been commercialised today and how low clubs and players alike have stoop for fame and wealth. Furthermore, someone with a true passion in soccer would have been out there in the field playing the game instead of sitting at home in front of the TV and getting fat. In any case, soccer these days are so predictable. The biggest and richest clubs will always be the one holding the trophy in the end. Chelsea is where they are today is largely because of Moronrino's wealth. If Moronrino decides to buy over some lowly club then, Chelsea will still be the struggling, pathetic club its was before. So, what's the big deal that its at the top of the table now? Is it really something worth bragging about? Lets say if one day Bill Gates decides to buy over Seng Kang United, HA! I'm sure you'll have those Zs and Rs donning on Seng Kang United's jersey in no time. And Singapore's World Cup dream will be fulfilled so much sooner and we wouldn't have to depend on some yellow haired African who has proven to be a much better magician than a soccer player, looking at the way he disappear and reappear out of thin air recently.

If u ask me, being obsessed with soccer these days brings about more harm than good. More often than not, it messes up a person's life, especially if one gets hooked on soccer betting, apart from skipping lessons, not paying attention during lectures and loosing sleep. Haiz...its really saddening to see 23 year olds who still cannot get their priorities right and decide on what is important, who still immaturely chose to blindly follow some silly clubs, whose minds are so clouded that they failed to realise the dire consequences of their actions. False loyalty equates to stupidity, and stupidity is the first step into a shallow grave. So, what will be the score tonight? I say, Soccer 1: Suckers 0.

Chronicles of Lard-nia: The Boy, His Fats, and The Pig (Part I)

2006-03-03T22:34:00.000+08:00

Tuesday. Some time after 1030HRS
Somewhere in North Spine, NTU

After maths tutorial, we parted ways with Porky. His going for his electrical quiz, while Long and I went to LWN library. Little did we know that that will be the last time we see our dear friend Porky.

Long and I were using the computer at the library, managing our utopia provinces. None of us said a word and about one hour later, Long got up.
"Oei, I go lecture le,"Long mumbled in his usual monotone way and left. Having nothing much to to, I carried on playing my 20th round of Freecell, while keeping my eyes open for any chiobus that might happen to walk past.

Time slowly dragged past and suddenly, my handphone vibrate. It was Long.
"Chick say Canteen 13 western food closing today." was the sms.
"So dun wanna go maths lecture ar?" I replied.
"Chick say idiot proof wan" came the reply almost instantly.
Nah beh, that Chick ar...bloody损友. Always psycho Long to ponteng lecture. This kind of friend also have. But I also a bit hungry leh. So I replied,"Ok lor"

Tuesday 1230
Overhead bridge at Canteen A bus stop

Met Long and Chick at the overhead bridge. "Nah beh, 损友...psycho me to pon lecture!" was my first reaction when I saw Chick. And we carried on suan-ing each other and bullshitting around all the way to Canteen 13. Wah kao! That western stall already close liao! That means lim peh pon lecture for nothing lor! Where the hell that Chick got his info from? Suck thumb lor, so we proceed to Canteen 3 for our lunch.

In the meantime, in Porky's hall....
"Wah...damn shack sia...that one flight of stairs is killing me" Porky lamented as his drag his weight into his room.
"Bloody hell...electrical quiz see beh difficult...cursed that curly hair ang moh...quiz set until so hard for what...yawnz...wah...very tired sia..."
Porky dumped his bag and stuff on the floor and switch on his computer, blasting his speakers to the tune of his favourite music, Zhu Chou Chou's Porka-Porka. The chair creeks loudly as his ass makes contact with it. Lousy chair, Porky muttered. Why can't the school buy better chairs for the halls? Raised the hall fees and dun wanna improve the facilties...and its not like I'm very fat or what.
"WHAT THE FUCK!!!" Porky shouted out in disbelief as the homepage of Soccernet appeared on his screen. LiverFool Out of LPPL(Looser Players Pathetic League) After 10-0 Trashing By LamNua United. Porky burst into tears as he read the review of last night's match. It did not help much knowing that 9 out of the 10 goals conceded were own goals scored by a single player and the last goal is a penalty.
"Why...why...." Porky sobbed, struggling to come into terms with the tragic demise of his favourite team. A few minutes later, he squeeze out from his chair and collasped onto his bed. And again, the whole bed frame creeked loudly as some of the springs in the mattress gave way, having gone beyond their ultimate compressive stress.
"Wah...never knew that crying is so energetically expensive...darn...so tired...wanna sleep...wanna sleeeeeppppp....."
And Porky dozed off.

Hours later, something strange starts to happen. Porky's heart beat began dropping slowly, and his brain activity slowed down, little by little. And he starts to drool, not a little bit, but by huge amount. Another hour passed and he is covered with his own drool. Both his heart beat and brain activity have reach a state that is comparable to a hibernating bear. And what is even stranger is that his skin reacted with the drool for form a layer of membrane. Slowly, the membrane starts to spread all over his body. Layer by layer, then membrane began forming on top of one another, sometimes interlocking each other. Porky shifted at the slight discomfort and thinking its a mosquito buzzing around him, he pulled a blanket over himself and carry on sleeping...

Wednesday. 0200HRS
Somewhere in Hall 13

A dark shadow walked down the quiet corridor. The whole place is more quiet than usual as normally at this time, the whole place is still bustling with activities. The dark shadow silently walked past the row of rooms and finally stopped in front of one particular room. After searching through every single pocket, he finally fished out a bunch of keys and clumsily open the door.
"Wah kao! What's that smell?" he cursed as a faint odour invaded his nostrils. And he cursed again as he tripped over a huge pair of shoes. He is Porky's roomie, TaPao, accounting student. TaPoa moved through the room carefully in the darkness. Part of him wanted very much to switch on the lights so he can see better. But he recalled the pain he experienced two days ago. Porky had sat on him for switching on the lights in the middle of the night while he was sleeping, nearly turning him into TauPok. He shuddered at the horrific incident and decides to bear with the darkness. Its so much better than having a gigantic piece of flesh sitting on me, he thought to himself. If they are a pair of woman's boobs, its ok, but those were his...his...arrrggghh....dammit...TaPao shook his head to clear the disgusting thoughts off his mind. Grabbing his showering stuff, he left the room to go for a nice cold shower. By the time he came back, Porky is still wrapped up in his blanket, snorring. Without giving him a second glance, TaPao climbed onto his own bed and fell asleep, totally oblivious of the sinister events unfolding right beside him...

*Disclaimer: The above story is fictionous, any resemblance to real life events or individuals is purely coincidental...but intentional...wahahahaha!!!