sooba!

2007-04-19T02:52:00.000+08:00

All good things must come to an end.

I have really enjoyed blogging for the past 3-4 years. It engaged me creatively, got me interested in Photoshop, photography, marketing etc... But I think I've gotten as far as I could with this blog and it has started to become pretty stale. (my bad!)

The novelty of new focuses attention.

Perhaps a new environment will open the creative floodgates a little.

Thanks for reading, whoever you are.

2007-03-24T14:28:00.000+08:00

Sports Marketing

I started the first few Sports Marketing classes with a lot of apprehension. It was the first time that I was in a class that had so many people who were passionate and serious about marketing. The first team assignment was a wake-up call for me when a couple of groups probably outshone us. It was only like a 5% assignment but they took the effort to be really detailed, having props & even went on to calculate discount rate (although I thought that group was just being 'extra') .

But I guess that really spurred us to put in more effort in our final project & coupled with our 'hatred' for another group (B.E. guys are quite bitchy I realized! haha) , I thought we really really kicked major ass during presentation last week. Obviously there's still a written report to be graded, but based solely on the presentations that every group did, I'm quite confident that we were definitely up there.

Based on ideas, creativity & execution, this project is probably one-up over the Tiger Beer & URA projects that I did last semester. Which is a good thing I guess. =)

***
Internship: XM Asia Pacific

I guess I've gotten what I wanted. Of all the internship openings that SMU offered, this was the only "Account Executive" opening they had (until the DraftFCB opening came up on the day I got accepted for XM-Asia Pacific. damn...)

And for the last time, "account executive" isn't a finance internship. In a marketing agency, a client such as SIA is an account. The account manager is in charge of SIA's branding strategies etc. Geddit?

Anyway, I'm quite excited to finally work at a marketing agency. Advertising probably isn't as glamorous & uber-fun as I have envisioned it to be but I hope that I will learn tons of stuff & that should help me to decide on my career path in a year's time.

Sigh... One more year and I will join the 2 million plus gormless & souless worker-bees jostling for space on the 8am train. =(

***
Queensss...

Lin has gotten her first choice exchange university, which is in Ontario Canada (yeah, Canada again)

She's really really excited & delirious about it but as much as I am happy for her, I can't help but feel abit sad.

I didn't think that I would feel this way until I was talking to Kelda a few weeks ago. Somehow I told her that Lin was going on an exchange & that I wasn't going, her first response was "Oh no." , which kinda surprised me.

But I guess I got what Kelda meant now. Five months suddenly seems like a terribly long time. And it's abit depressing to sense that Lin doesn't seem the least bit sad about not seeing me for 5 months.

Ha... bugger.

2007-03-10T21:57:00.000+08:00

Should I get D80???

Oh man, this has been the question that has been bugging me for the past 3 days.

Ever since fiddling with Eng Teck's D70 before he left for Korea, I have been yearning to get one for myself. The sensation of clicking the DSLR was pure orgasmic. Shutter speed was like zero seconds! Oh my goodness, where's the shutter lag?!!

But the IT fair at Suntec this week for Nikon was so disappointing. The Nikon cameras and lenses were actually more expensive than Courts and Harvey Norman. They justify the slightly higher prices by bundling useless stuff like 8R prints, multi card readers and umbrellas. I can't believe this marketing gimmick works so well for Nikon because there were hordes of people waiting to purchase the cameras.

Maybe I should sell my Panasonic camera on eBay and bundle it with a free AIA umbrella and a story book or something to boost bids.

Anyway, back to the D80, after looking through all the forums and articles, I'm thinking of getting it from external vendors like Alan Photo. They sell the D80 body at $1420. Plus the lens that I want (Nikkor 18-200mm VR) is selling for $1388, which brings to a grand total of $2808. Which really made me think twice (actually, more like 50 and counting) times about getting it.

It is really damn expensive leh. At a time when some of my friends are investing in penny stocks, mutual funds and warrants, swiping $3K out of my bank is actually quite embarrassing and heartbreaking.

And most importantly, I don't know if I can justify the costs. I love photography but I'm not the kind that take photos of sunflowers, or an empty beer bottle on the floor, or arrange 5 stones one after another to contrast the lightings... If anything, it's probably for travelling and landscape shots. (And if you do the math, I kinda need to take 6000 nice shots to make it 50-cents per picture.)

Hmm.. hmmm. hmmm... And it doesn't help that Lilin bought a pretty good camera (Lumix FX30) at $540. The shots below are the first few that we took with her camera. I think the quality is really good (of course, I recommended it!) and it is very portable... Maybe i should just screw everything and get a slim and sexy camera... Arghhh, haha, I'm so fickle-minded!

But I thought the wide-angled feature heavily marketed on consumer cameras are pretty over-hyped. I can't really see the difference leh.

And I just realize that the photo that I posted last month was salah. It should have been this one
instead.

2007-02-03T22:50:00.000+08:00

The weekend getaway was really much needed.

This term's modules are so sucky and depressing. =(

2006-12-25T10:00:00.000+08:00

2006-11-28T20:24:00.000+08:00

REGIT (opposite of Tiger, geddit?) Consultants

Probably the best team dynamics that I have experienced in my 3 years in SMU. Fun. Laughter. Efficiency. Synergy. And it helps that each of us has an unique expertise that made the end product really spectacular.

From left: (haha, I'm going to wash dirty linen in public because they ostracize me!)

Eng Teck (Powerpoint Choreographer)
I never knew powerpoints can be an art form & can be choreographed but this guy is damn pro at what he does. When he said he was going to be the "powerpoint clicker", I honestly thought that he wanted to "eat snake" & take the easy way out of our presentation & I wanted to vie for for that job.

But he really puts in effort into the presentation details. He knows when and what each speaker will say or do & right on cue, the powerpoint will start displaying bubble headings, really professional animations & stuff, sort of like a fireworks display. During my free time, I tried to decipher his ppt & learn those bubbles animations but it's damn complicated. Tamade.

AND this guy is damn anal about the paper that he uses to print the report. He's the first person that I know that differentiates paper into different weights, textures & quite possibly scents as well. I'm very curious to see what his room looks like because I vision it to be filled with innumerable shelves of papers categorized into different grades, color, texture, size, gradient, scent, thickness and countries of origin. Whenever he wants to print an assignment, I can imagine him walking to his shelves, pondering for a good few minutes, caressing different papers before finally making his decision.

Tell me it is not normal right? Aha. Because Kenny categorizes his paper into only 2 kinds: Plain(2 blank sides) and rough(1 blank side).

Jaclyn (SPSS Goddess)
She is THE ONE that we go to when we want to analyze & decipher our survey results & find causations with SPSS program. Every meeting, we will tell her what we want to find out and thereafter we will worship her. By the next morning, she will then bless us mere mortals with the analysis via our emails.

I'm not sure if anyone validated her work because I didn't. Each time I open her files, I will get a splitting headache from seeing the figures, tables, charts and confidence intervals. To rid myself of these migraines, I will typically close the file immediately and email her "GOOD JOB JAC!!" & dump her file into a "never-to-be-opened-again" folder which I had specially created for her. (& is now in the recycle bin)

Caroline (Report Compiler & Editor)
My roomie from UBC!!! Haha. The one that I ponned class with in Vancouver to travel 18 hours by bus to Rocky Mountains!

Very proficient at compiling data & she got the coverted ExxonMobil internship! Rich intern who pang-seh me for my modules next term. =(

Ker Choon (FGI Analyst & Editor)
My 'supervisor' from Convocation 2006, the one that I went to to beg for complimentary parking tickets at Suntec City. Never did expect we will be in the same project group just 2 weeks later.

Kenny (Free-rider)
I basically play the "devil's advocate" in the group, disagreeing and questioning everything that they say, (only to be shot down by SPSS Goddess and her fellow rest of the world.)

I would like to believe that I play a pivotal role in the team's success by eliminating any faults or flaws in our approach but they obviously don't see it that way. haha.

Julie (Minute Lady)
She does other stuff like tabulating survey results but I will always remember her as the minute lady, the one that notes down all the stuff & email it to all of us.

A role which I didn't think was important till the day she was absent. Halfway through the meeting, I started panicking when I realized that nobody might be taking notes.

The minute lady is very important.

***
Essentailly, our diagnosis of Tiger Beer's problem was that it lacked variety & the current Tiger Classic is too "ah-pek" ish & common to attract the tertiary student crowd & executives. And Tiger lacks variety to appeal to people with different taste.

We likened our proposed strategy to that of Toyota. Corolla is a common, cheap & good car. A car that appeals to commoners but not to that of its other target segments. To appeal to the niche crowds without reducing the appeal to the core consumers, Toyota introduced the hip & trendy Yaris & the more executive Camry.

Likewise, we suggested a Tiger Light to appeal to the younger crowd & Tiger Gold to appeal to the executives.

The idea for the Tiger Lite advert is for it to be in a comic-book Batman style to herald its arrival in the market & image-wise, it's funky enough for youngsters to be seen with it.

Tiger Gold, on the other hand, is well, a cut above the rest of the beers, & the advert tries to be special & extraordinary.

***

I actually like the URA project better than the Tiger Beer one, just that it wasn't executed as well. Our topic idea was probably better than other groups that I saw on that day, which were focused mainly on more mundane products & customer beheviors at shops.

I was the one who pitched the idea of doing on URA pretty insistently & I felt so bad during the observation study period when the girls & I had to stand in the hot sun recording motorists' parking habits at URA carparks. It was much harder & tedious than I thought it would be & some of the girls didn't quite know how coupons work & stuff like that.

On hindsight, I realized that carparks & women can be like men & Forever21, maybe I shouldnt have been so pro-URA in the initial topic generation. But our observation study results was quite interesting, only 44% of motorists return to their vehicles on time. The rest either overstayed the time stipulated on the coupon or didn't even put coupons. And there was carpark attendant bias as well. They only check certain portion of the URA Somerset carpark while leaving the other half unchecked.

So after the usual FGI & surveys, we conclude that the system is ineffective & unpopular. We suggested it adopts an electronic system & to leverage on its many carparks around Singapore, URA should consider adopting a membership discount system which works like SMU's preferential parking.

Part of the makeover was to introduce a new logo, which is a heart shape made up of cars.

URA carparks are not attractions on their own, & nobody goes to Orchard just to park at the carparks... So for the print ads, we suggested creating associations with key activities around the carparks. Such that when they think of going to Borders, subconsciously URA Wheelock will be a top-of-mind choice in the driver's consideration set.

I'm quite (shamelessly) proud of this print ad because I did it in 3 minutes, while waiting for the printer to finish printing the 46 pg report. Quite a stupid ad actually, but it incorporates what the prof taught; introducing the product as a bundle of benefits, being explicit in the consequences of using the product yada yada...

2006-11-26T14:36:00.000+08:00

Freedom!

Thursday night was crazy. In a quest to do up a good report for CB (Consumer Behavior) project, I sat at my desk and worked from 9pm till 5am, wanted to save my word document but it HANGED!!! I started cursing & shaking my head in disbelief, started talking to the laptop, asking it why it was doing this to me on my day of freedom, I shook it hard, hoping it would revive.

As usual, it kept silent and still.

I pulled the plug on him at 5.15am. Started red0ing my work, saving the file every 120 seconds, saving it into my external hardisk every 30minutes. I slept from 7.30am to 10am, continued working on it from 10am till 4.15pm, drove to school, binded the 46page mother-troublesome report, dumped it into prof's pigeonhole at 4.45pm, and went home to sleep for 15 hours straight.

Pure unadulterated bliss.

And the December holidays finally beckons for me. Which isn't much to begin with since I will be starting my marketing internship at Lexus on the first week of December, meaning that I won't be able to go to Hong Kong and Shanghai with my mum. But hopefully, the internship will be a good experience for me; make some friends, suck up to the boss & ultimately get staff discount for cars. haha.

Anyway, I think this has been a pretty good semester for me. Managed my work better, grew stronger relationship-wise, and I was really blessed with good project mates for all my modules this semester.

These have been some of the stuff that have kept me busy for the past 10 weeks.

***
CAT Project: Pawnstar

Not quite the "jumbo-jet" that we set out to do, but at least got "yacht" lah. We developed an Excel program that pegs "live" gold & currency prices, manages pawn accounts securely and set optimum interest rates.

A project that we slogged it out till 6am in the morning, doing up macros, reports & powerpoint... We probably over-did the project, but in a really good way. Our project captured most of the class' attention, got people interested and ask questions, all of which we had an answer to.

To see us repelling all the arrows shot at us brought lots of satisfaction to my heart.

All the nitty gritties... They were worth it.

***
FIM (Financial Institutional Markets..Correct?)

Again, had really good project mates for this one. Made up of all accoutants except me. haha. Very disciplined bunch, we finished our project with 2 weeks to spare, which freed me up to do the marketing projects. And it was interesting how I wanted a formal serious presentation and the accoutants wanted a video and a more "rah-rah" presentation format

I ended making quite a sad video but it evinces my mood at that time; confused about continuing with Finance as a second major or to drop it. I like marketing too much & finance seems like a burden to me. It doesn't help that Finance modules have all the dean-listers and the poly grads that speak Finance as their mother tongue

In comparison, I speak Finance like sputtering Japaneses learnt from playing Winning Eleven.

And I can't see myself working in the Finance industry in future. Those jobs are just not for me. I don't want to wake up every morning doing the same old routine; brushing the same old set of teeth, going to work in the same old car, doing the same old work, different numbers but the same old formulas...

I want a job that challenges my creativity, not my efficiency.

So during the course bidding, I told God that I will leave it to Him. I bidded much higher for my Arts & Science mods and much lower than my friends for the Finance mods. And lo and behold, I got outbidded for my Arts mods and I got all my Finance mods. So I guess God has spoken. =)

And oh, I made an interesting observation at TCC when we celebrated the end of our presentation with expensive food. I footed the bill first & ALL the accoutants paid me back in EXACT change. Not $10 or $10.30, but like $10.32...

I believe they are trained to do that and I think they can compound interest rates without financial calculators but I'm just saying it's a far cry from what my other business friends will do.

My business friends will either round the sum to pay me or more often than not, they will talk their way out of paying.

***

2006-10-06T02:12:00.000+08:00

(Oops. Of all months, I forgot our 20th month.. hurhur)

ProjectFest 2006

It's the time of the semester again when I get completely swamped with projects. I started the semester with only 4 icons on my desktop. Now, half of my lappie screen is tatooed with powerpoints, folders, excel sheets, pdf files, post-its... I forsee my laptop crashing on me in the forseeable future.

Either that or Mr. Lappie will have a relapse of "Alzeimers' Disease" and all my important files will mysteriously go missing again.

On the bright side, I'm enjoying my projects (so far). My project for Consumer Behavior is on the parking behaviors of motorists at coupon-based carparks. It's based on my "profound" theory that any system based on integrity will be taken advantage of. So during my free time, I hide in the bushes opposite Cineleisure to observe people cheating on their coupon parking and prove my hypothesis true.

Marketing Research project is going to be pretty ambitious. For one, we found a real client (Tiger Brewery) and they want us to do an extra presentation for their marketing team. So what should have been a really simple & small-scale project that can be "smoked" will have to spiral into a full-blown pile of free research work for Tiger Beer.

Hopefully, we will do well and they will repay us with a lifetime supply of free beer and a trip to Hollywood to meet Jessica Alba.

CAT (Excel) project worries me the most. It drives me crazy with all the formulas and weird combinations of characters that when keyed in together, will create magnificent charts, simulations and financial statements. But to be fair, I have to say CAT amazes me the most. It does to numbers what Photoshop can do to pictures. Simply awesome.

And past students have come up with the most outrageous projects with Excel. Poker simulation games, a digital piano that can teach you how to play the piano, Wedding Planner guide blah blah... All these on a simple Excel sheet. When our professor showed us those projects, we were looking at them in awe as if we were watching David Blaine levitating in front of us. ("Oh my God","How did you do that????")

CAT is a classic example of how SMU students like to "spoil market" for one another. If you teach a SMU student how to make a motorbike, he's going to build you a car for his project. The next batch of students will build you a boat. And by the time it's my turn to do the project, I will probably build you a jumbo jet.

2006-09-28T00:00:00.002+08:00

2006-09-16T19:41:00.000+08:00

The beaches at Hawaii are really too gorgeous to be real.. I love the waves, the beautiful people that are strutting around with their surfboards, children laughing gleefully as the mini waves sweep them to shore... Hawaii is the place I wanna go back the most.. There's still so many islands of beautiful beaches to be explored...

A rainbow! But unfortunately, the light drizzle resulted in my face being blurred. =(

We were at the beach for 3 of the 4 days that we were in Honolulu and these 4 days were the happiest I have ever seen Lin be. =)

***
Pearl Harbor

Me and my battalion of 2 kids who were ignoring me...

Pearl Harbor was incredibly quiet and peaceful. So serene that it was hard to imagine that half a century ago, drones and drones of kamikaze planes dove down into the ships that were dorked here.

The USS Arizona, which was sunk in just 9 minutes. The bodies were never recovered and they constructed a memorial diagonally across the sunken ship, which became the eternal tomb for some 1000+ sailors and marines that died on 7 December, 1941.

That's one of the turrets of the USS Arizona.

( I like that "goofy" guy. haha)

It was a pretty moving experience onboard the USS Arizona Memorial. You don't have to be an American to feel their grief over what happened.

The battleship had just topped up its fuel on that fateful day and even till this day, petrol still leaks out from this fallen ship.

The USS Missouri, where World War II came to an end. The Japanese signed their surrender on the deck of this battleship on September 2, 1945.

***
There's Never a Good Time to Say Goodbye

The last American sunset finally set on us on the 15th of July. It was a sad feeling knowing that it was time for us to head back home to Singapore. It's not that we didn't miss our families and friends, but these 2 months were really really awesome.

We saw something new every day. It certainly wasn't easy travelling to so many states with our heavy luggages. Altogether, we boarded 12 planes in that 2 months alone, but the adrenaline of discovering new things with each other drove us on every single day.

There's never a good time to say goodbye, but I'm sure I will be back one day. =)

( I love the Hawaiin car plate!)

2006-09-09T01:25:00.000+08:00

Honolulu

Paradise really does exist somewhere in this world.

Lovely beaches, huge waves, united nation of bikini babes, dormant volcanos, waterfalls, jungle trails, Pearl Harbour, Oahu has it all. 4 days was simply too short a time to fully explore Hawaii... It aint Sentosa! But nonetheless, we really had a memorable experience on Oahu, no doubt won over by its strong aloha spirit of love and friendship.

The most distinctive thing about Oahu is probably the demographics- majority of its population are Asians and Japanese are EVERYWHERE on Oahu. So large is their tourist base that most shops have assistants that speak Japanese, restaurants have separate Japanese menus, Honolulu Airport has a terminal fully devoted to Japan Airlines while the rest of the int airlines crammed into another one.

Pretty ironic considering this is where Pearl Harbour is and it seems like the States didn't quite get back Hawaii did it? Or is this some peace treaty where Japan pledges gazillion of yen to Honolulu's tourist market? haha.

Anyway, practically throughout our stay in Oahu, we were mistook as Japanese, were greeted in Japanese in shops, were given Japanese menus which I could not apprehend, and there were times when I actually felt apologetic that I couldn't speak Japanese for nuts.

Diamond Head Crater

On the second day, we hiked and conquered the 750 foot tall volcano.

(Trying to cheer Lin up after I made her cry.. haha.. Can't remember why but I think it was because I was impatient and walked too fast for her to catch up.. )

All smiles before we started our hour plus hike...

Pretty interesting hike, quite different from those in the Rockies, Yosemite and Grand Canyon in the sense that there were many man made elements such as dungeon walkways, 99 steps and the spiral staircase from hell.

The 360 degree view from atop Diamond Head Crater was definitely well worth the hike. It was very beautiful. Really.

The world famous Waikiki Beach

Lin and Hanauma Bay, the place to go snorkelling in Oahu.

That's Waimea Valley where Kualoa Ranch is. A pretty famous spot where many Hollywood blockbusters such as Jurassic Park, Godzilla (the footprint is still there), Windtalkers and more recently, Lost were filmed.

(Rewarding myself after the hike)

2006-09-02T14:45:00.000+08:00

It's been 576 days. =)

2006-08-28T21:18:00.000+08:00

Besides Vancouver, no other city got under our skin quite like San Francisco. There's so much to love about this city. The cooling weather, heart-stopping views of the many majestic bridges, dainty Victorian houses, little cable cars ascending impossibly steep hills, its unhesitant embrace of all things eccentric, astounding array of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and of course the shopping!

Every major brand has a megastore here and it took a full day to kinda explore and splurge on the summer sale.

(You definitely need a map to plan your shopping route!)

(The uber-big Niketown)

One of the most prominent features of San Francisco is it's incredibly symmetrical road systems.

(Did they use Sim City to build SF?)

It seemed like such an efficient road system to us but it wasn't until the 5th day when we rented a car that we realised that it was quite the contrary. SF is pretty much made up of single-lane, no left turns, no right turns and as such, it practically made many parts of SF virtually impenetrable as one would have to make a ridiculous big loop just to get to the adjacent street.

(The Bay Cruise)

Can the world be any smaller? First, we met Leonard, our dearest orientation group buddy in the streets of Las Vegas and now on the bay cruise, we bumped into the pioneer batch of NTU students that were doing their summer studies in SF.

Clouds seem to hover pretty low in San Francisco. We couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge till we were just about underneath it. I was thinking how dangerous and impossible it would be for the cars on the bridge to drive through the clouds on an expressway.

The most infamous prison in the United States, supposedly escape-proof and home to such notorious convicts as Al Capone and Robert Stroud. It was definitely quite an experience on Alcatraz island. The audio tour was really good, with first hand narrations from past inmates and wardens that really brought the old walls and bars back to life.

But I thought it was a tad too packed with tourists, the many people shuffling around and snapping photos made the experience alot less realistic and eerie. But nonetheless, the 10 dollars was pretty well spent as it made a compelling deterence for those who like myself, are considering a life of crime to support our everyday lives.

***

North Beach, or Little Italy, was a great place to hang out, with some of the most impressive churches that I have ever seen.

Apparently, the Pope was here too!

Americans really appreciate the summer weather. People lie on grass just about everywhere. Notwithstanding the Indians at Little India and the Filipinos at Orchard MRT, it's such a pity Singapore doesn't have such a culture here despite its all-year sunny weather

(Lin likes summer for other obvious reasons.)

North Beach was also the place to be on 11 July, as it burst into a party frenzy after the infamous World Cup Final, and traffic came to a standstill.

***

Car Rental No.3! Luck was with us when we went really early to collect our rental car- We got a brand new Daimler Chrysler PT Cruiser, which was really retro and fun to drive. And we only paid for a compact car!

It was certainly liberating to go 130km/h for 2 hrs on the highway to Gilroy, where the factory outlets were. It kinda recreated the exhilarating feeling when I first drove 90km/h after passing my driving test. And when Paris Hilton's Stars are Blind (Sadly but true, this is our UBC gang's anthem!haha) played on the radio, it really stuck me how wonderful and carefree summer can be.

Gilroy has a really good selection of factory outlets stores-- Levis, Nike, Birkenstock, Quiksilver, Guess, Polo Ralph etc.... Got a really nice $20 Levis Jeans, a $15 Guess sunglasses, a $30 Guess wallet for mum and some Banana Republic officewear for dad and myself. =) I say money well spent!

Lastly, we drove back to SF to catch sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge, which was bee-you-tee-full!

(And late-night supper at IHOP!)

2006-08-15T23:39:00.000+08:00

San Francisco 6/7 - 12/7

San Francisco's USA Hostel (Sutter St) was the place that we arranged to meet with some of our friends from UBC. Beforehand, Cornelius & Caroline went to Washington, New York then to SF while Kenneth, Clara, Weiyi & Jolene went to the Rockies, the other Washington, Reno & finally SF.

Embarrassingly, we almost didn't make it to San Francisco because we quite spectacularly missed our flight from San Diego. It was one of those Amazing Race-sque disaster segments where the cab driver that we called stood us up, waited 40mins & no cab in sight.. I tried calling again & got the "Thank you for calling, all our operators are busy, so please hold while we play you some irritating music"... When we finally found a cab we went to the wrong terminal because of the stupid confirmation letter. It said in font size 30 with colour, "Alaska Airlines", so we went to Terminal One and the porter kindly pointed out the font size 10 "operated by American Eagle" & said we were in the wrong terminal. We grabbed our bags and ran like crazy, caught the shuttle and arrived at T2 and even more unbelievably, were told that we were STILL in the wrong terminal.

It turns out that besides having 2 terminals, San Diego also has a COMMUTER terminal. (At this time, cue for some dramatic music, camera to zoom on me looking haplessly at my watch, turning to Lin & utter "We are not going to make it"..)

But the lady at the counter was really nice about it. She got us free-of-charge onto the next flight which was just half an hour later and it was kinda of a blessing in disguise as it was a practically empty flight with just 7 people (including us) on it.

And so we finally made it to the SF. The next day, we squeezed into Cornie's rental car & made our 4hr drive to Yosemite, the "incomparable valley". Initially, I thought that was quite a bold claim since I have been to the Canadian Rockies & the Grand Canyon, but Yosemite's lush meadows, waterfalls & tumbling rivers were really a sight to behold.

Yosemite National Park is home to 3 of the world's 10 tallest waterfalls.

This is a very sly squirrel! When it realised that people were approaching it, rather than running away, it stood up and struck a pose, probably realising that it would capture our attention to it. What a tourist trap!

(Its antics earned it some food)

(And even a spouse?)

(Lin thinks she looks like a squirrel)

***

Chinatown!

San Francisco probably has the largest and most authentic Chinatown in the States. Lots of Hong Kong eateries and the dim sums here are the best that I have ever eaten.

( Is that SM Lee in the picture?? haha)

Chinatown in SF is such a wonderful place to hang out. Tradition runs deep here, you can hear women mixing mahjong tiles in their houses & men gambling openly in the heart of the neighbourhood.

2006-08-10T01:17:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure what Lin thinks, but I thought Seaworld, together with Honolulu, were the favorite moments of our vacation.

Seaworld was super-duper fun. Great rides, gorgeous sea creatures and these animals really reminded me of Madagascar. Not in terms of resemblance, but in terms of their actions. They must have known that they were the celebrities of the park, and they really hammed it up for the cameras and crowds at their enclosures.

Either that or their park keepers have been injecting caffeine into them.

We paid alittle bit more to get the behind-the-scenes tour which we got to see the labs for these animals, baby sharks and incubated shark eggs and manatees suntanning...

More importantly, we got priority seatings for the Shamu shows, which were the killer whales performances. The dolphin and seals shows were great, but the Shamu shows are THE shows to catch at Seaworld.

I'm still clueless about how they teach the whales to perform backflips and somersaults to U2's Vertigo but that was the last thing on my mind as me and Lin were cheering and clapping with everyone in the crowd, doing the Shamu hand signals to urge the whales to splash gallons of icy salt water into our faces.

We sat in the soak zones which were so so much fun. And its amazing because its actually 15 rows of seats... THAT'S the force of water that a whale can splash at you.

I'm having some problems loading my videos onto YouTube so I'm just going to leach one and post it here.. =)

Lin loved Shamu so much that she wanted to buy the soft toy home. I told her to think about it since we were only halfway through our US trip and it would be quite troublesome to bring it with us. And you know women, emotions come before logic, and she went to buy the soft toy. And it was yours truly who carried it for her from San Diego to San Francisco to Hawaii and back to Singapore. Grrrr.

***

During our stay in San Diego, we also did a day trip to Tijuana Mexico, which was a mere 40min train ride from Downtown. Getting into Mexico is really freakin easy. Neither passports or any IDs are required. You just need to have enough strength to push the gate.

I didnt really like Tijuana. Pretty run-down and there were lots of child beggars around, which made it hard for me to take pictures. There's nothing much to do there since the shops are mainly taco restaurants and pharmacies that sells Viagra at 4 for $16.

2006-08-05T15:10:00.000+08:00

It has always been a childhood dream of mine to visit the San Diego Zoo. Ever since my Primary School days when you buy an IPC or Acer computer and they bundled it with 30 free games...

One of these free games was an interactive "San Diego Zoo" disc, which fascinated me with 5x5cm short clips of animals roaming in the zoo. I remembered myself wanting so so much to go there and 10 years later, i really did!

San Diego Zoo was a great day for us. A huge zoo well run by animal-loving employees made this place extra awesome. =)

Lin & our panda cup!

Grizzly bear going for a swim

Like Lin, black bears love to sleep

Mini king kong

I couldn't resist striking this pose.. haha

The panda's called Hua-Mei... which I believe means "American-borned Chinese" in English? haha

I think I know why the pandas are close to extinction. They eat and sleep all day!

***

Balboa Park, which is just beside the zoo, is a a wonderful place to spend a day in. The density of museums (about 13 of them) in the park is really quite amazing and I wished I had more time there.

***
The evening of 4th of July was spent at the pier, where there was a 3-bay simultaneous fireworks display.

The Star of India, the oldest active ship in the world!

***
Did anyone watch Wednesday's Rockstar Supernova?

Ryan Star's performance was totally awesome!

And it was really funny watching the rest of the contestants give the "Why you spoil market" look.

2006-08-02T20:03:00.000+08:00

Happy 18 months sweetie!

2006-07-29T12:14:00.000+08:00

San Diego is surprisingly arty-farty, with an interesting mix of Mexican and Spanish architecture, lots of pubs with a village-like atmosphere.

Our accomodation (Hostel International Metropolitan) was atrociously bad, dismal service and there's a weird musky paint smell in the whole place. First day was especially bad since we couldn't secure a private room and had to move to a 10-man mixed dorm which was occupied by strange puerto ricans, an indian and 2 pretty liberated european girls who were quite nonchalent about just wearing their bras and jeans.

The only good thing about the hostel is its location. We were right smacked in Gaslamp Quarter (sort of their Boat Quay) with lines of pubs filled with a vibrant college crowd.

The police here is equally happening. It was around 1am when a police car came to a halt just outside a pub opposite our hostel. Rather than spoiling the party, a cop boomed into his loudspeaker,"THIS IS THE SAN DIEGO POLICE... STRIKE ME A POSE!"

Naturally, the crowd got even rowdier and started posing in front of the patrol car and that was quite a funny moment.

***
There's lots of stuff to see in San Diego. On the first day, we went to Old Town and Balboa Park. Interesting to know, Old Town is actually the 'birthplace' of California and they managed to restore and reconstructed buildings and furnishings to illustrate the ambience of the 1800s San Diego. I think they might have used this place to film "The Mexican"

Whaley House, an officially designated haunted house.

Alright, im really out of time now, flying off to Bangkok in a couple of hours. =)

2006-07-21T07:54:00.000+08:00

Flagstaff, Arizona (29Jun - 2July)

The 3rd stop of our US trip was at Flagstaff, a tiny little old town that we felt was an ideal base to explore Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

It was a short 2 hours flight but it was sure scary as hell. It was probably a mistake to fly via American West Airlines (suggested slogan: We provide death-defying flights).

Just about everything about the plane (including the sole air stewardess) looked like they were from the Wright brothers era. And there were no drinks/snacks or inflight movies to help take your mind off the extremely terrible air turbulence that we experienced.

Throughout the flight, the tiny plane was dipping up and down, right and left and I was crinching in pain as Lin was digging her nails into my skin. The only good thing about the flight was that we saw the huge forest fires that had been raging in Arizona. I wanted to take a quick snap of it (for bragging rights, haha) but Lin was adamant that I kept my camera off as she staunchly believed that my switching on of the camera would result in the wings of the plane breaking off instantaneously and us plummeling to our ridiculous deaths in the burning forests.

(As usual, I looked glad to be alive)

Pulliam Airport (FLG) is damn cute.. haha.. its so small (about the size of 3 petrol kiosks.) & our plane was the only one around on the runway. For this leg of the trip, we stayed at Du Beau International Hostel, a really well-run independent hostel.

The next day, we went on the hostel-organized tour to the Grand Canyon, which was an unforgettable experience. Our guide made us close our eyes as he led us to a viewing point of the canyon and when he told us to open our eyes, the Grand Canyon stood before us. Stark, quiet, a maze of cathedrals and castles sculpted by mother nature.

It was so huge and amazing, positively overwhelming in its grandeur, truly one of great wonders of the world.

(Our guide giving us a geography lesson on the formation of the canyon)

Near the end of the day, it started to rain and we saw fan-freakin-tabulous rainclouds in the sky. It was so gorgeous and I was the last one back to the van as I simply refused to return as I was trying to savour everything. Damn nice!

***
But the most memorable part of the Grand Canyon trip was when Lin suffered from mild heat exhaustion. She couldn't see nor walk and I had to carry her back to the van. Come to think of it, it was pretty hilarious because I was weaving through the tourist crowds with her in my arms and the rest of the group was tagging along behind us. And as I was doing that, one of the German chaps said "That's a good man!" and I replied "I have no choice!"

2006-07-18T05:49:00.000+08:00

A Summer to Remember

This has been the best 2 months of my life!

Blessed with wonderful roomates that I clicked so well with in UBC, blessed with wonderful weather in the States, & even when it drizzled, I saw gorgeous rainclouds in the Grand Canyon and rainbows on Waikiki beach.

And of course there's Lin. I think we complement each other really well. Being the chao accounting mugger that she is, she does the financing and budgeting of the trip, while I stay the hell out of her way. Of course, occasionally, I do try to make myself useful by washing her underwear & very smelly Hello Kitty socks.

Haha. But seriously, Lin has been a wonderful wonderful companion. Tolerant of my occasional grumpiness, she gives in alot to me and do the stuff that i like. (eg. Nudie show in Vegas. haha..) And she's surprisingly fit as well. Mostly game to go hiking with me at places such as Grand Canyon, climb up huge rocks to see the majestic waterfalls at Yosemite and to hike up a dormant volcano in Honolulu to get a stunning view of the Waikiki beaches.

For all of that, I do quite like you more. =)

***
Anyway, back to where I left off at Seattle. We flew in to Las Vegas where we stayed for 4D3N at the VERY NICE Luxor Hotel, which is the 3rd largest hotel in the world by the way.

Pretty obvious from the pictures, Luxor is an Egyptian-themed hotel with cleopatra's sphinxs, King Tut's tomb, and other Egytian drawings on the wall.

And that's the 30+ storey high pyramid. It has like the most unique elevator ever. It goes 45degrees upwards like the shape of the pyramid! And Lin fell back and hit the wall of the lift the first time we took it. hahahaha.

The most impressive part about the hotel is probably THE beam. It shoots way up high into sky (something like Batman's beam) and you can see it from anywhere in downtown Vegas.

And Luxor is just one of the less extravangant hotels on the strip. The skyline of Vegas is hypereality- a melange of the statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, MGM's lion statue, Eiffel Tower, Roman colloseum etc... Unlike most other places, the hotels ARE the attractions and they are just surreal.

We took the Gondola ride where the boatman will serenade his customers with italian love songs

The pussycat dolls-inspired topless show that we went to.

The view from the Eiffel Tower...

Even the shops are over-the-top hustle & flash...

Making a fortune out of the 5cent jackpot machine...

Only for Lin to lose it all..... haha

My absolute favorite was the Bellagio fountains. I think i dragged Lin to watch it at least 5 times during our stay here. It was so nice! Best free show on earth! My favorite song sequence was Bocelli's Time to Say Goodbye.

Especially poignant since it was our last night in Vegas and i was really overwhelmed by it, so immersed in it that i stood still with my mouth wide open...

2006-06-26T15:09:00.000+08:00

Seattle Gone Wild!!!

We couldn't have chosen to come to Seattle on a better weekend. It's Pride Week, a yearly event celebrating pride in being what you are.

There were huge celebrations going on everywhere in downtown, with a parade at Pike Street and a water dance party at Seattle Centre.

Topless motorbike chick

Lin's cute (gay) guy

This is like Chingay gone wild =)

(Wardrobe malfunction: Unfortunately, i think (s)hes a tran. ewww)

(Super-poodles)

(Happy Lin with her Mardi Gras pearls.)

(Hmmmm.. Anything goes in this country)

(MOS+NYE Sentosa+Fountain of Wealth) x 10,000

GTG dirty dancing.. yeah! haha

(G2G + B2B) ... Out & Proud!

The 1st Starbucks ever in the world... 1971

2006-06-25T14:19:00.000+08:00

Sleepless Seattle

Hey guys, we have reached safely to our Seattle HI Hostel. A long day with 4 hours of car ride, mad-rush shopping at the Seattle factory outlet ( I bought a Guess sunglass for $15!) and hunting for a petrok kiosk and checking in to our hostel.

Seattle seems like a nice place thus far. Cool, jazzy and arty farty, we spent the late afternoon and evening walking the Pike Market street.

Pike Market from the "Fish Tales" book.

Happiest workplace on Earth?

Aspiring fish-monger.

A nice boat outside the restuarant that we ate for dinner... We ate seafood! =)

Gentleman's club. ooooo.

(at our very nice hostel... Free pool!)

(Lin lazing in bed... as usual... )

(Criminal Minds!!!!! haha... we are hardcore addicts of this show... )

Okay, time to watch the last bits of Criminal Minds and wash up.... More photos and videos if I have the time...

=)

2006-06-23T09:39:00.000+08:00

Time of my life.

Like all good things, my summer exchange at UBC is coming to an end. Probably the most fun experience of my life, living in this gorgeous city, experiencing a whole new culture with the one I love and with friends that I have clicked unbelievably well with.

It is these people that have made this trip the time of my life. Waking up together, watching World Cup for breakfast, NBA finals for dinner, having potlucks, watching Criminal Minds on Corn's iMac, going on our little adventures to explore the new places, freezing together at the bus stop at 1am trying to catch the last bus back, playing Cranium games with all our stupid actions and sounds...

The best place on earth isn't jaw-dropping landscape or skycrapers. It's actually where all your friends are.

***
Meeting the President

We were really out of place at the gathering. Just about everyone else looked like tycoons and mature in their blazers.

It was then that my friend filled me in that our invitation to the Nathan gathering at Pan Pacific actually originated from a mistake! Some of our fellow students didn't get their passports chopped at the customs and they called the Consulate, which then realised our existence and hence invited us to the gathering.... Oh well, haha...

Lifestyle of the rich & famous wannabes

We left the place in style! Booking a stretch limounsine for $45 an hour, which adds up to about $12 per person. Didn't bring my chunky camera, so these are some of the shots from my friends.

(International House of Pancakes)

The Holy Grail of pancakes.... To die for really.... =)

I love Stanley Park! I just can't figure why the rest of them don't feel the same way. haha.

(Chinese food just tastes sooo good... )

2006-06-12T00:48:00.000+08:00

Shot of the Day

(Taken between Gastown and Hornby Street)

One of the things which I haven't quite got used to in Vancouver is the large presence of homeless and drug addicts in a modern state like Vancouver. Singaporeans are probably too used to the continuous and insistent nannying by the government, such that when we come to places like North America, we get pretty apalled at the state of the homeless and how the situation is not being dealt with.

There are clear border dividers in the city. East Hasting, the notorious gang-filled street of Vancouver where needles are all over the floor and addicts inject themselves with heroin, is a mere street away from the main shopping district, where stores such as Gucci preside.

Our first bubble tea here in Vancouver. Not that such shops are hard to find but they are very very expensive. Most cost about CAD$5 but the one which we found in West Vancouver cost $3.

Fried Rice! Very authentic Hong Kong restaurant which we found near Robson Street. The turnover is very high and the place is always full.

No time to do post anything else now... Rushing to Burnaby for shopping. President Nathan is coming to Vancouver next week and the embassy invited us for dinner with him at Pan Pacific, so we all need to get a set of formal wear. =)

2006-06-07T08:53:00.000+08:00

The Canadian Rockies

There's a saying in Canada which goes something like this: Many people who come to Canada planning to stay for a short while end up staying for a lifetime.

And it's not too difficult to see why. Canada is really blessed with many of God's beautiful creations and I was delighted to see some of them over the past weekend.

Lin and I went on a 4D3N Canadian Rockies tour with another couple and it was really a fun trip, took tons of photos (1.256 GB to be exact) and stared wide-eyed at the turqoise lakes, towering mountains and of course the splendid glacier icefield, which was definitely the highlight of our trip.

(our snowcoach)

(The very beautiful Lake Moraine)

(Actually, this was my favourite shot.. Caught this squirrel at Canmore, a retro old town that we stayed at for 2 nights. It was standing stationary outside its squirrel hole, looking hopelessly lost.. )

Here's the Photobucket link to all of the Rockies photos:
ROCKIES PHOTOS

***
Missing a really dear friend at the moment now. She passed away because of cancer a few days ago and I'm feeling pretty guilty about having a blast of a time here in Canada while her funeral was underway.

We have a habit of exchanging christmas cards and I do remember a few years back, she mentioned that I was her best guy friend. Not sure if that's still the case today but she was my best friend from secondary school as well. She was such a sweet and lovely person that you would want to dote on her all the time.

Funnily enough, she was the only person whom I sms-ed the day before I flew off to Vancouver. I asked if she wanted anything from the States but she didn't reply. And silly enough, I didn't think too much about it.

Obviously, I was wrong and I'm really sad that I wasn't around there her last few moments. She was the first to know about my blog and I'm sad knowing that she wouldn't be reading it anymore. I'm sad that she wouldn't be able to see the photos that I had taken on my Vancouver trip. I'm sad that she didn't ever get the chance to meet my girlfriend. I'm sad that we didn't get to meet up after my exams.

Maybe death was a better option for her, since it freed her from her sufferings and illness. But on a personal selfish note, I wish she was still around, because it hurts the most knowing that I will never ever get to see or talk to her again...

I miss you pat...

2006-05-31T23:50:00.000+08:00

Day 4: Canada

The weather in Vancouver is getting better as the day goes on. Daylight comes at 5.30am and only sets at 10am, so theres really lots of time to spend outdoors. Right up on my agenda is to go to the beach! Apparently there's a pretty (in)famous nudist beach (Wreckers' Beach) just down the slope and Jericho Beach is afew bus stops down. So we should be able to do some kayaking or canoeing in the near future. =)

We went to the UBC Anthropology Museum today. Wasn't exactly our cup of tea (unless you are a huge history or Red Indians buff) but there's great scenery here (actually, there's great scenery everywhere). Kinda regretted not bringing postcards from Singapore to UBC. Afterall, I was thinking why would I wanna give postcards of Singapore to strangers here? But once again, I just have to say that the people here are amazingly friendly.

Was walking in the park today, when a scruffy furniture-mover guy who was working approached us. Initially, I had thought that we must have had trespassed some properties or that he had caught us plucking some flowers but it turned out that he was just telling us that there was greater photo-taking opportunities down the lane & that we should go there.

Not that I will be giving postcards to him. haha. But I think it will be nice to write notes of thanks and appreciation to people like Viet, our sweet UBC coordinator and hostels owners along the way who have made our stay in Canada and the States a pleasant one.

(Lin sulking after not finding anything to buy at Robson Street)

2006-05-30T12:31:00.000+08:00

Greetings from Canada!

Yay. Finally my internet connection is up and running.

Its been 3 days here in UBC and our stay here has been fantastic.

Canadians in general are really amazingly friendly people. Everyone from bus drivers, shop assistants, and especially our UBC coordinator Viet, chat with us as if we had known each other for ages, accomodating us as if the one thing that had kept them from total happiness was the presence of us in their lives.

Accomodation-wise, we are really lucky to be staying at the top floor suite of Gage View Towers. Great hostel, with 24hrs concierge, room service and an awesome view to die for.

(the sunset view from my bedroom. Seriously, the picture doesn't do the scenery any justice.)

(View from our balcony.)

(Lin at the Ailse of the Obese, aka Deserts and Snacks section. The packagings of groceries here are like freakin' ginormous. She's actually just holding on to a MEDIUM sized cornflakes.)

(Lin with our gigantic ice cream.. Its so value-for-money that its a sin not to buy it!)

(My bunk mates. Really nice and funny people to hang out with.)

There are still a million fotos of our trips to Granville Islands, downtown Vancouver in our 2 days here. Will try to post soon.

Hope everyone is doing fine back in Singapore!

Cheerios,
Kenny

2006-05-18T00:58:00.000+08:00

Happy 21st Birthday Khoo Li Lin!

I am going to ~~serenade~~ torment you with 21 slow, cheesy & greatest love songs of all time throughout the day!!! hahahaha

***
Been super super busy and stressed these few days finalising travel plans, booking flights, hostels, hotels, car rentals, shuttles and blah blah.

On paper, it sounds like one hell of a journey... Conquering the south-western part of the States, running our own customised Amazing Race, visiting places that we had always wanted to go...

All's fun EXCEPT that it is also using up alot of my money!

My POSB bank account book used to be my pride and joy. My lifetime of fulfillment. Every month, when the bank statement is delivered to my house, I will clutch the little paper slip to my chest and feel the warmth flow through my clothes and rest against my body, the digits circling my heart and tickling me with the knowledge that somewhere in a metal POSB vault, there is a nice bundle of notes cuddling tightly together, yearning for my touch.

Now, I dread this month's bank statement like my academic results.

But on a brighter note, Lin! You still owe me $750 for your birthday party, $71 for our grocery shopping, and $15 for your vitamin supplements!! =)

***
Qn: How many Mindef admin personnel does it take to process a deferment application?

Ans: One. But it takes forever.

2006-05-08T02:05:00.000+08:00

Goodness Gracious!

It was my first time voting in an election and I almost wasn't allowed to vote.

Maybe the name-ticking guy was over zealous in doing his job or what, but he rejected my IC because I "don't look like the boy on the card."

I'm like what-the-hell. But doesn't everyone from the 1983 batch has an IC with a primary six photo?

Thankfully i had my ISIC card with me.

But anyway, out of curiosity, are we supposed to update our IC photo on our own initiatives? Or is this Pri6 photo stuck with me for life?

***
Lin's Party

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that she procrastinated and couldn't book her first choice venue of Tanah Merah Safra chalet.

Prickly Bush Bistro was a really unique and memorable place to hold a party. Nice outdoor area and cosy indoors with bean bags all over the place. It wasn't too big a venue and it was easy to manage the crowd and coordinate games.

I flunked her "Who-knows-Lin-the-best" game badly though. Hahahaha.

But why will your boyfriend (or anyone for that matter) bother to remember that you wear Size 2 guides shoes in AHS right???!! Unfair question what.

The turnout for her party was excellent too. I was seating on the beanbag observing her guests when I started to wonder that if Lin does indeed turn out to be "the one" for me, she is going to totally out-table me for the wedding dinner.

Possibly pretty much like how the PAP dominated its opposition parties today: 82 to 2.

2006-05-06T14:08:00.000+08:00

Party Time!

Description: Young human female, in early 20s. Small build, big eyes, big boobs, messy hair. Has a disposable tattoo of a cute giraffe "Geoffery" on right ankle.

Warning: Suspect may be armed with smelly armpits and bad breath. Citizens are advised to strictly adhere to the dresscode and bring lavish gifts.

2006-04-28T01:05:00.000+08:00

Try it!

I was walking the Orchard underpass with Lin when I got bored and 'challenged' her to do a tongue twister.

I whipped out my handphone and typed the tongue twister into it, afterwhich she naively and pretty enthusiastically chanted it with as much gusto as a gifted big blond in the crowded underpass.

Sofa King Good. Sofa King Good. Sofa King Good.
Sofa King Good. Sofa King Good. Sofa King Good.

Haha. Ben4 Dan4.

2006-04-20T20:05:00.000+08:00

Post-exams Fun...

Oh dear, the election sweetener which the government has given me for my unwithering loyalty is ALMOST all gone... Splurged $745 on a Panasonic Lumix FZ 5 yesterday at Sim Lim Square.

Been wanting to expand my interest in photography for the longest time ever. I was choosing between Canon's Powershot S2 IS and the Panasonic one, both pretty good non-SLR long-range 12x zoom cameras. SLR cameras are out because firstly, they are too expensive and secondly, I am still afterall an amateur photographer.

So no point getting a SLR camera anyway. It will be like having a Ferrari when I only know how to drive around in first gear. Guess it's probably better to get an intermediate model to play about and advance slowly to the professional levels.

But I am still quite confused over all the ISO, lens filter and aperture settings. What on earth are those things?? haha. But it's okay...Give me a couple of months more and I will be a kick-ass semi-pro photographer!

(Taken while onboard the Luge ride at)

(An evening shot of Sentosa beach)

(Trying to look like contestants from the Amazing Race.. haha..)

Sentosa is really becoming hip and cool! The coffee bean area at the the Beach Carpark there is developing into a really nice place to hang out and I think they are constructing a musical fountain along the beach line as well... Way awesome!

2006-04-12T12:25:00.000+08:00

Tentative Travel Plans

(uh-oh.. spelling error.. "Bankruptcy..."

Probably quite ambitious but I think it will be an interesting experience to see how well (bad) we handle our finances. =)

2006-04-07T23:55:00.000+08:00

Chapter 14: Reproduction in Animals

For some strange reason, my primary 5 tuition girl is very open and curious about male and female reproductive parts. I have no idea why the MOE shifted the Reproduction in Animals chapter from Sec2 to Primary5, but whatever the reason is, I think it is too early to teach them about such stuff.

I'm not sure about the rest of the pri5 kids, but my tuition girl is obsessed with this chapter. For the first time ever, she does readings and voluntarily pose me questions from the textbook. For instance, once, she pointed to a picture of a male toad on top of a female toad and asked me what they were doing.

"They are humping each other", I had wanted to say, but didn't.

"They are fusing their reproductive parts together to combine the male sperm with the female egg to produce offsprings." I replied, marvelling at my ability to get out of a sticky (pun, hur hur) situation.

"That's it?", she said, raising her eyebrow quizzically. "I mean how do they do it exactly?"

"You don't have to know how they do it exactly. Just know that they can do it can already."

Now, one and a half month later, it seems that she has passed on her rich knowledge to her younger sisters. I was having tuition with her last week when the youngest sister, who's in Primary 2, was jumping around in the same room. Somehow, my tuition kid went to show her something from her encyclopedia and they started giggling.

Out of the blue, the youngest sister exclaimed pretty loudly," Aiyah, daddy also have pen-nis what!"

My jaws dropped till dislocation point.

Oh dear. Their mum is going to lay the smack-down on me when she finds out about this. Worse still, what will their father do to me? From what I had gathered, their dad is a pretty big-shot lawyer, whom I assume probably loves the death penalty.

What will he demand for such blatant moral corruption of his young, innocent and dearest daughters?

"Castration, your honour, is the only solution."

2006-03-29T01:15:00.000+08:00

Nailed it.

Finally a good presentation this semester! Although the group had some serious conflicts in the past few weeks, we managed to work things out in the end and everything just turned out fantabulous.

Hallelujah!

Its originally a japanese green tea ad which we edited, subtitle-d and infringed countless copyrights along the way to create for our presentation. =)

2006-03-21T23:02:00.000+08:00

Kings of Convenience and the stupid Garlic Restaurant

Thursday was Kings of Convenience day. The Norwegian duo was really great, although Li Lin did doze off barely into the 2nd song… haha… But I like their geek-dance routine. Totally awesome.

The night was slightly marred by an unpleasant dining experience at one of the bayside restaurants at the Esplanade- The Garlic Restaurant.

Everything from the start was bad. The waitress taking our order could barely speak English. And they had to use a PDA to take our orders. Quite a stupid idea really, especially from where I was sitting, the counter was just 3 metres away and I could even see the chefs. Anyway, back to the waitress, she obviously did not know how to use the PDA as she really struggled for the love of God, to key in our measly order of 2 dishes.

Never mind.

Midway through our meal, I signaled to a waiter and said ‘tar-tar sauce’. He gave me a knowing nod and smile and 20s later, he emerged with no tar-tar sauce but chocolate pudding…

Never mind.

And before I could finish my meal, the waiter came up to give me the bill, at 10.30pm, citing closing the register as the reason for early billing. They didn’t even ask us if we wanted to make any last orders in the first place.

Never mind.

Then came the mother of all fuck-ups. The waiter returned to our table with the little Visa file. The price was correct. But the card wasn’t.

It turned out that the waiter mixed up the bills. My bill was $30 odd dollars. But he charged another bill (which was $163) into my card.

Huge elephantine screw-up.

Instead of telling us what was going on, they disappeared behind the counter for half an hour, leaving us bewildered and nothing to do.

After their long conference behind the counter, their “best solution for everyone” was for the guy at the other table to pay me the price differential since the counter was closed (ie. Account was closed as well.)

Was that the best they could come up with?

You have 2 table of disgruntled diners here, who will probably never ever step foot into your restaurant again. Shouldn’t you do something to appease us? Even a lousy dining voucher would have helped a little.

Anyway, it did make me realize something… If I ever do set up a restaurant, rather than finding the best chefs, I will look for the best service staff instead.

Especially in a more high-classed restaurant where better service standards are expected, the front-line staff is the restaurant’s representation of its image and brand.

Good food has no bloody use when the staff pisses everybody off.

***
On a footnote, this incident also highlighted the frailties of credit cards. I’m constantly disturbed by the fact that the loss of your credit cards or the mere knowledge by other people of the numbers on your card can lead to fraudulent activities.

It makes no sense that ATM cards are more secured than credit cards.

For online transactions, rather than having numbers at the back of the credit card, wouldn’t it be better to key in pin numbers as extra security? The current system of keying the number on the back of the credit card is really as dumb as having your ATM card’s pin numbers imprinted on the back right?

As for face-to-face transactions, perhaps you can have photos printed on the card. The Sunday Times’ coverage on signature authorization a few months back really showed the ineffectiveness of signature verifications. It is considerably difficult and taxing on the cashiers. Photo verification, on the other hand, would be much easier wouldn’t it? Especially since credit cards are usually valid for 3 years, your physical appearance shouldn’t deviate too much.

This idea isn’t foolproof. But I think it’s a much better deterrence.

2006-03-16T18:51:00.000+08:00

Fallacy: Slippery Slope

2006-03-12T03:43:00.000+08:00

Week in Review

Sat 4 March: Mobilisation!!!

Gosh. It sure felt strange donning the green army uniform, SBO and field pack after 2 years of university.

It felt like... Cos-play! haha... When Lilin called in e morning, I was teasing her with lines like "ooh, are u calling to mobilise me??"

Realised that she's into sailors. hahahaha

Anyway, it was great meeting up with old army buddies... And I am always fascinated by my men. They lead really fascinating lives. One has a girlfriend who is 16 years older than him and has 2 kids (apparently, hes not really into her but 'owes' her too much), one is a lion-tamer at Night Safari, one catches snakes in houses, one is a DHL delivery man who just got married and the list goes on and on.

In comparison, we the uni-grads, are so boring.

Sunday 5 March: Dota-whacked!

Just when you thought that my Dota skills couldn't possibly get any worse, it did.

I was killed like 20 times in 30 minutes. Even Alex's girlfriend killed me thrice.

Think I should just stick to Football Manager.

Monday 6 March: $100 + Certificate = Happy

The showcase and prize presentation for the Dual-TWC Competition was today. Forced to mingle with some professors and guests for an hour before we can receive our certificates and cash rewards.

Was particularly impressed with this guy called Sam, who owns the NYDC restaurant chain. He made many insightful comments about our project and got us to see it from a much different perspective.

Guess that's what makes entrepreneurs special. Even their comments have the 'wow' factor.

Thursday 9 March: Im getting old...

Marketing Presentation! We were promoting this Colgate Precision toothbrush which was launched in 1992.

I like this print advertisement which we did. Some friends thought that i was 'smoking' my way through when I said it but Star Wars was really the biggest thing in 1992. As they had just launched its trilogy video tapes, using Yoda to endorse the toothbrush will enhance the image of the product and attract consumers' attention to it right?

Sigh. I just realise I will be in my late 20s in about 2 years time... =(

That's 4/5 of my marketing group. As usual, I am the only guy in the group.

Me with my presents.

She spent 3 nights making a pillow with cotton wool and stuff... Awwwwwwwwww

So sweet you.

2006-02-26T21:39:00.000+08:00

The most underrated discount card

Does anyone know that the cheapo Popular card that many students and parents have actually entitle them to a wide range of discount besides its usual stationary and CD-Rama items?

10-20% off at MonsterCue, Aussino, HomeFix, Cafe Gailelee, Amore, Jean Yip, dental care, Angie cakes, citychain, flowers, car rental, KTV, OCC chalets etc etc... They even have discounts for lasik surgeries can...

Haha.. And all this for just $5 a year.

Isn't this much more attractive than a typcial entry-level credit card?

2006-02-25T00:30:00.000+08:00

On February 24th, I had the pleasure of seeing Oasis at the Indoor Stadium and this is what I have to say: Oasis can rock.

Though just about everyone of us couldnt understand what the hell Liam was saying half the time (due to his really thick Brit. accent), it didn't matter. From the opening hooks of "Layla" to the awesome communal renditions of "Wonderwall" and "Champange Supernova", Oasis displayed the cocksure arrogance, talent and rock sensibilities that first drew me when I was just a kid in Primary Six.

The only downside was that they limited themselves to just playing the set, without making any effort to work the crowd. Liam was like literally rooted to the same spot throughout the evening, occasionally shaking the tambourine, drinking water and when it wasn't his turn to do anything, he would be standing trancelike like a Madame Tussaud figurine.

But nonetheless, it was a truly great experience and I can now offically add Oasis to my "Been there done that" concert list. =)

2006-02-22T22:58:00.000+08:00

Smart Shopping System

Our group project made it to the finals of the Dual-SMU Technology and World Change Competition!

It's an innovation business plan and we came up with this smart shopping system whereby we incorporated the ERP system to retail checkout counters so that queues can be eliminated.

I am really happy about it since it was a project which I put in alot of effort and it was with a not-very-committed-so-I-bobian-have-to-end-up-doing-everything group. I mean seriously, the project was really done by only two people if I am being totally honest here.

But I guess it there's any consolation, it was that the report flowed more smoothly. *chuckles*

But as to winning the competition, I think we stand next to zero chance since firstly, my friend and I only had one day to alter the project to change it from our original technology innovation paper to a financially detailed business plan proposal. (which explains the many typo errors)

Secondly and most importanly, we didn't even turn up for the presentation to the deans and professors last week as I had two mid-term papers. =)

There goes my only chance to win any prizes in SMU i guess.

But oh well, here's the link to the lu4 wei2 ming2 dan1 for this year.

Dual-SMU TWC Competition 2006

(Anyway, just a funny story to share: The diagram which you see in the website is quite amateurish and last-minute because I initially had great plans for my art-elective friends from JC to help me draw an artist impression of the shopping system. I couldn't reach Maxine so I asked Sujuan.Two days later, instead of a professional art piece, she drew me a manga-rish drawing which looked like some Hello Kitty counter which I was too embarrassed to even show to any of my group mates.

Wish I still have it to post it online though. haha...

2006-02-10T00:26:00.000+08:00

Hey Sexy!

Hooray. Our places for UBC exchange this summer have been confirmed. 2 months of getting stoned with marijuana, supersized fast-food and Starbucks!

Hmm, anyway, in other interesting news, according to my Year One junior who is cock-sure about this, SMU students enjoy a 10% discount at Hotel Rendervous.

Is it really true? Or is it a myth?

Darn, I'm damn curious to find out.

2006-02-02T09:21:00.000+08:00

For Khoo Ni Nin, Happy One Year sweetie!

For Neltje Foo, Happy 23rd birthday Nellie Boooo!

My spidey sense tells me that you will be getting blissfully attached this year. =)

And sorry for not wishing u happy birthday yesterday, was really busy with my exchange application...But I will turn up on the 12th alrighty?

And to the table tennis team, Magnificent achievement! We got 4th in the end. But its a great accomplishment nonetheless. Its like not studying for your exams and still ending up with a B+. =P

And to the rest, Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

Have a great Dog year people.

2006-01-25T12:30:00.000+08:00

2006-01-19T02:00:00.000+08:00

I knew it!

2006-01-14T23:09:00.000+08:00

Impulse

This is so crazy.

Out of impulse, I decided to join the SMU table tennis team on their last training session and 3 days later, Im playing in the IVP inter-varsity competition.

And the crazier thing is that we actually have a very realistic chance of advancing into the semi finals.

Reason why I say this is because the whole team looks like a bunch of misfits. The kind of team you see in Dodgeball or D12-Mighty Ducks. Of the 12-member squad, only 4 of us, including me, have had experience in school competitions. The rest of the team comprises of Blangadeshi, Indian, HK, and China students, all of whom are really amateurs in the game. And the problem with so many foreign students is that team talks have to be done twice. Once in chinese and the other in english.

And whereas our opponents train 2-3 times a week, I have only played twice in 4 yrs.

And I have won my matches so far. =)

2006-01-02T22:33:00.000+08:00

Eleven

Thanks for being my pillar of strength darling. HUTT!!

2005-12-30T10:57:00.000+08:00

Rejoice!

Finally, for the first time ever, all the guys in the JC gang are attached!

Even Melvin, whom I previously thought was allergic to girls, has fallen into the ~~crutches~~ clutches of the female species. =)

2005-12-26T09:25:00.000+08:00

Sigh...

The closer I feel to God, the more vulnerable I become.

2005-12-24T18:13:00.000+08:00

Ms. Khoo Li Lin
1XX Elias Terrace
Singapore 519XXX

23 December 2005

Merry Christmas to you and your family! May you all have the holiest, happiest and the most glorious Christmas ever.

My name is Santa Binni and I am a fully qualified Santa Claus. Recently, I have nominated myself to be the Santa Claus of the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC region and I am deeply honored and proud to be serving the friendly folks of this region.

However, I am obliged to inform you that I will be making several changes to the characterization of Father Christmas. Rather than greeting you guys with the usual shouts of “Ho, ho, ho!”, I would now prefer to sing the phrase “Mai-ya-hee, Mai-ya-hoo, Mai-ya-ha, Mai-ya-HO-HO!” while gyrating shamelessly with the appropriate dance moves.

Atlas, that is just an unimportant detail.

To the crux of the matter in hand, I am writing to inform you that you Khoo Li Lin, NRIC-I-can’t-remember, is in Santa Binni’s I’m-Naughty-And-Deserve-To-Be-Spanked List this year. Although you have done your fair share of community work this past 12 months, you have been found guilty of neglecting your poor boyfriend during this festive season. As you know, the first year of a couple’s relationship is usually the honeymoon period where it is perfectly understandable that the boyfriend wants to spend every minute every day staring into her ~~boobs~~ eyes and utter sweet nothings.

However, a check with the Airline authorities has shown that you have rendervou-ed out of the country from 13/12/05 to 16/12/05 and 18/12/05 to 24/12/05, leaving your boyfriend to fend off the harsh winter season of Singapore all by himself.

As such, I am unable to accede to your request for “cute sandals for school and non-shiny black heels for presentations” this year.

However, may I suggest that, since Christmas is still not yet over, that you do something to get back into my good books?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,
Santa Binni
Chief Santa, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC

2005-12-13T18:36:00.000+08:00

Have fun in Hong Kong girlfriend!!!

haha, alright, I always put unglam photos of you online, but the picture looks funny right? =)

Alrighty, come back safely ya? Kenny misses you.

2005-12-09T00:15:00.000+08:00

Q: Why are hurricanes named after women?

Ans: Because like women, hurricanes are wild, crazy and wet when they come and when they leave, man's life is usually ruined.

***
Haha. Jokes and hurricanes aside, I think I will be visiting the States during the summer holidays. Probably doing a month of exchange either at Arizona University or in Vancouver. It sounds like a good bargain, costing about $8K with free accomodation, food, and visits to places like the Grand Canyon, after which you are free to travel around the States till school starts.

Anybody else wanna go? More people means cheaper school fees and can pool money to buy a car there to travel ya?

(Think NTU and NUS students can apply too!)

2005-12-06T14:39:00.000+08:00

Hellooooo!!

To whoever is still reading my blog, sorry for the long long hiatus.

Been extremely busy for the past few months. Projects, tutorials, dining etiquette classes, ~~shopping~~, ~~sleeping~~, ~~playing computer games~~, and studying etc.

But all is good now. Holidays are here and I think this semester's results should be okay.

Had a housewarming gathering at Kel's new condo at Bishan yesterday. Nice place really and it was great meeting up with long-neglected pals like Nel, Kel and Mel.

Anyway, speaking of condos, I have been condo-shopping with my parents recently. Visited close to 10 condos in the past one month and the only two which stood out was The Maylea and The SeaView.

Both are freehold properties and each has their advantages. But in the end, we decided on Maylea though. Although SeaView is just opposite Parkway and most of my buddies stay around there, SeaView was abit steep at one million and Parkway Parade is a bit too crowded for my liking.

Maylea is slightly cheaper and more exclusive with just 88 units.

It's supposed to be of a Hawaiian theme with all the coconut trees and waterfalls and my mom likes it alot. And its pretty near to HarbourFront and Vivocity. So yeah, just hoping the condo will turn out nice. =)

2005-12-01T22:45:00.000+08:00

34 more hours... Life awaits me.

2005-11-03T08:02:00.000+08:00

The greatest thing men did is to love women.

Happy nine months! =)

2005-10-30T09:05:00.000+08:00

What the hell

Let's face it. A fucking lettuce can defend better than Ferdinand.

2005-10-29T14:32:00.000+08:00

What goes around comes around!

2005-10-27T22:18:00.000+08:00

Confession

For the first time since Zoe Tay and Li Nanxing's God of Gamblers III, Kenny is addicted to a chinese serial.

For the past two weeks, Kenny has staunchly refused to stay back in school after 6.30pm, refused to meet his friends for dinner and has even refused to go shopping just so that he can trotter back home to watch Channel U's "The prince who turns into a frog." at 7.30pm.

Guys do watch nice thrashy chinese shows once in a while. =)

2005-10-11T23:24:00.000+08:00

Just go Home Buble...

Oh my goodness. This is how disgusting.

How can anyone be this talented?? Great vocals, silky grooves, lotsa charm, AND he is also really funny.

I mean C'mmon, give me a break! Something has to give! In the world of A-maths, he is like Union everything can.... Can sing, can dance, etc..... while yours truly here is like the Null-set... zero attributes. Nil. Zilch.

And I can't tell you how uncomfortable it felt to sit in an arena filled with feminine hormones raging in the air. And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Buble decided to throw in a Michael Jackson item for good measure, and oh God forbids, I could literally hear the women (and some men) in the crowd screaming for Buble to father their children.

But that wasn't the worst part of it all.

The worst part was that I enjoyed the concert too. Darn you Mr. Buble. You are such a bloody wanker!

2005-10-05T20:42:00.000+08:00

I am Dumb!

Or I must have been really sleep-deprived.

This morning, upon hearing my handphone ring, I reached out for the clamp-phone, flipped it open and mumbled "Hello" in a slightly irritated tone.

It was only after a few pissed/agitated "hellos" later before it dawned on me that it was actually my phone alarm that went off, and NOT an incoming call.

***
Can't say my lack of sleep can be attributed to studying though. Haha. Bought Fifa 2006 yesterday and I pratically spent 4 hrs straight playing it. It's really good! A beautiful game of the beautiful game.

Sort of an escapism for me I guess. Probably the only place where Manchester United can win the Premiership and whip Chelsea's ass 4-0 with Rooney getting a hat-trick and Giggs scoring as well.

2005-10-02T04:05:00.000+08:00

Happy 8 months darling! Muack!

2005-09-13T10:48:00.000+08:00

Only in Singapore

(Chew On It.)

Haha. The comic couldn't have been more apt could it?

And does that mean victims are now partly to blamed for being hit by killer-litter as well?

2005-09-11T21:35:00.000+08:00

LOST: The Quantitative Methods module. (Episode Summary)

"After bidding for a course which Kenny falsely believed was a relaxing data-entry module, his delusioned dream of breezing through this course was torn apart in the first lesson, crashing into the mysterious and unchartered jungles of Excel spreadsheets.

Stripped of any E-dollars or acquaintances, he is forced to fend for himself in this seminar room unusually packed with Indian/Myanmar/Burmese computer freakos.

Among the principal survivors is Li Lin, Kenny's girlfriend of 7 months, who conveniantly knows quite abit about excel spreadsheets herself.

Conspiracy theories ensue.

Kenny trusts nobody, not even his professor, whose lectures he finds so boring that he feel he might have to be drip-fed espresso to stay awake.

He has a test this coming Saturday.

And he is currently considering buying "Excel for Dummies".

2005-09-06T02:03:00.000+08:00

Ooooh La La!

This is so cool!

I was net-surfing for cool technologies to do for my Technology and World Changes module when I came across this concept car from Mazda.

Designed for "net-savvy youngsters", the new concept hatchback, Mazda Sassou, ditches the traditional cylinder lock key system in favor of USB flash drives. In addition to starting the engine, the flash drives can be used to transfer driving directions for long trips along with the latest songs for the day to the Sassou's internal hard drive.

My oh my!

This is like such a brilliant innovation can. Especially for those who share the cars with their family members, different USB flash drives will thus allow each person to personalise the same car, saving data such as the side mirrors' positions and seat position.

Imagine ~~illegally~~ downloading songs while literally on the move? Checking your email at the traffic lights? The premise holds boundless promises.

But I guess one big negativity would be that your car might one day kana virus... haha

***

Anyway, speaking of cars, there seems to be ample parking in the new SMU school compounds afterall. Pretty good news for me I guess, except that I kinda prefer taking the train nowadays. It is actually faster during peak-hour traffic and of course, I don't have to pay for all the stupid ERP gantries placed so strategically around the city campus.

And petrol prices are such a bitch nowadays. I think it might just go past the $2 mark pretty soon. And newspapers these days seem to be telling us how to save on petrol consumption.

But people, I have a better solution.

Go apply for an OCBC Mastercard.

Because one of its many priveleges which the card offers is the 11% discount at all SPC petrol stations. Considering that the "market rate" for discount given at any petrol station is currently around 5%, you will thus make 6% savings when you pump petrol each time using the OCBC credit card. Smart right?

Anyway, sorry for not blogging for the past few ~~days~~ weeks. My apologies ya?

And of course, happy 7th month to you Khoo Li Lin!

Sorry that I am late in posting ya?

Wanted to post this initally wor. haha. Was supposed to resemble "The Maid" poster (b/c both also 7th month) but as you all can see, I failed miserably.Very hard to make la. And moreover, upon some reflection, I did realise that such a poster would have been pretty inappropriate and absolutely juvenile and hence, just a simple heartfelt "I think you are the One".

Love you. =)

2005-08-21T21:40:00.000+08:00

"Save tonight
and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
tomorrow I'll be gone"

Yup. My 3 month vacation break is coming to an end and school starts tomorrow. Yikes! =(

2005-08-20T11:11:00.000+08:00

2005-08-17T10:36:00.000+08:00

Back from my community service camp at Pulau Ubin.

Pretty fun, pretty enjoyable. Grossly over-packed for the camp though. Haha. Brought food which I never got to eat. Brought too many shirts which I never got to wear, and many other barang-barang which I never got to use...

The main reason for this is because the school came very prepared as well. Boxes of mosquito repellant, potato chips, packet drinks, instant noodles.. Couldn't help but think that Primary school teachers sure know how to pamper themselves nowadays!

The only minus point of this whole camp was that I felt a majority of the freshman faciliators were here solely for the community service hours. Unlike the other 2 universities in Singapore, SMU has a compulsory 80 hours comms service which every student has to clock.

Not sure if this is a correct policy though. Afterall, whilst welcoming the community service challenge, it is important that the Government or the MOE understands the dangers that any compulsory call to service could bring.

For if it gets the policy framework wrong, it will risk not just a decline in youth volunteering but a more damaging schism with the youth generation as a whole. If it wants to properly tackle youth disengagement, it must understand how and why young people are disengaged; appreciate its own role in that process; and develop the national community service framework in a way that addresses this.

But at least the campfire committee which me and Lilin headed was pretty spontaneous. And with 10 girls and 1 guy in the group, there's not much to complain about is there?

2005-08-09T23:00:00.000+08:00

Move over Paris!

It's official.

I am freakin' LOADED.

Global Rich List

Truth to be told, I am among the top 14.19% richest people in the world.

And that is only counting my monthly allowance!

I guess we Singaporeans are very fortunate after all. We don't have to worry about poverty, natural disasters, droughts etc... After all, Singapore is well positioned strategically to grow with the rest of Asia. Despite being a tiny country with hardly any natural resources or manpower, we are able to match the big guns like China with our vibrant and open economy. Our multi-cultural society makes it easy for us to immerse ourselves and cross connect in the canvass of a changing Asia.

Its probably fair to say that most Singaporean families are financially stable. Maybe not filthy rich like those Hollywood celebrities you see in Cribs. But we are definitely able to live comfortably.

And despite all our incessant complaints and yakking, things like CPFs and insurance policies do ensure that we are well taken of right through old age.

Thus, maybe it is only right afterall that we should give more to charities isn't it?

Or would you rather watch our beloved Mediacorp artistes performing senseless stunts before donating?

2005-08-02T00:25:00.000+08:00

I'm still loving you!!!

Honestly hope that you are feeling better dear. And happy 6 months to us!!.

May there be many more wonderful chapters of our lives together in the years to come ya!

Je t'aime!!!

2005-07-31T12:01:00.000+08:00

March of the Penguins

So the movie will waddle its way to our sunny Singapore shores after all!

According to yesterday's edition of Life, March of the Penguins will open in Singapore on the 25 August.

I have actually heard of the movie quite some time back, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be shown here as it was an independant movie and it only had a limited release in the States.

Judging from the trailer and the reviews, March of the Penguins promises to be a really wonderful documentary not to be missed.

Just about everyone thinks penguins are silly and cute, but what most people don't know is the hardships they endure just to survive. A few years ago, I read a really heart-warming tale of the life of a penguin.

Every year before winter, packs of penguins set forth to march some 70 miles inland where they all meet at the same mating grounds SDU-style. Males and females pair off and mate.

Once the egg is laid, the female will pass the single egg onto the male to shelter from the cold by making a pouch between their claws and belly. If the egg is exposed even for a minute to the cold, it will not survive.

She then waddles 70 miles back to the ocean to feed, while the males pack in tight clusters to share body warmth and protect the eggs as they go food-less for 3 months.

Just as the egg hatches, the females return with full tummies and food for their offspring. Now it's the males, who have by then lost up to 1/2 of its body mass, who march back to feed. And the cycle continues for 4 years.

It is a miracle of life. So many things can go wrong. And so many things do.

Some females won't make it back, killed by leopard seals. Some males won't make it through the harsh -30deg conditions. And some eggs fall and touch the ice, causing it to freeze.

If one thing goes wrong, all the work is for nothing. There's no consolation prize, just a long wait for another year.

Thenceforth, after reading the article, I had a newfound respect for the penguins' determination and endurance.

Afterall, arguably no other species on Earth endures so much just to produce a single offspring.

2005-07-26T23:51:00.000+08:00

Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson

On a trip to the moors, Holmes and Watson were lying in a field looking at the stars.

"Let us test your observational powers, Watson," said Holmes. "What do you see?"

"I see the stars in the beautiful summer sky," said Watson. "What do your observational powers tell you, Sherlock?"

"My observational powers tell me, Watson," said Holmes, "that someone has stolen our tent."

2005-07-25T01:21:00.000+08:00

Got Hack?

People blog for a myriad of reasons.

For myself, blogging is a hobby. Managing an infinitesimal space on the web where I could doll up and publish my own works. A community where I could keep in touch with friends, find out what they have been up to, and of course, to bitch.

I'm sure most bloggers fall into the same category as me. However in recent months, many Singaporeans seem to be using their blogs to gain cyber-fame and/or notoriety. But that shouldn't come as a surprise.

After all, Blogger has been to publishing what Napster was to music.

Online diaries are flooded with quips and arguments that only months ago were the near-monopoly of established news outlets like the Straits Times. One only has to look at the NKF saga to see the colossal amount of influence that blogging possess.

Thenceforth, it is no wonder many people see blogging as a lucrative pursuit. A consummate example would be Xiaxue. She leveraged her popular blog to get T-shirt endorsements and a weekly newspaper column.

I have no issues with that. I respect and admire her achievements as a blogger.

But what irks me is the things popular bloggers like Xiaxue would do to see their hit counters jump exponentially. SarongPartyGirl bared more than her feelings to pretty much the whole world. Sandralicious advertised online for a blind-date.

That's cheap marketing really.

But the final straw came when I visited Xiaxue's blog a couple of days after reading that her blog has been hacked.

Initially, I was pretty sympathetic, but I got pretty amused and amazed when I saw her posting pictures of herself posing happily at the police station where she filed the hacking crime.

WHY ON EARTH WOULD SOMEONE BRING A CAMERA TO TAKE PICTURES AT A POLICE STATION WHILE REPORTING A CRIME??!!!

You may say that that's her way of showing the hacker and readers that she is back stronger than ever. BUT the impression which I get is that bloggers like her lead a pretty sad life.

They are secretly happy that something unfortunate has happened because this actually gives them something juicy to write about. They go out so that there's something "bloggable" to blog about. They take pictures so that they can post them on their blogs...

That is quite sad isn't it?

Blogging is supposed to allow you to let out your exhibitionist tendencies without fear of embarrassment. You should be more honest because you are one step removed from from the face to face interaction process of everyday life.

Yet, these bloggers seem to be pressured to live the lives fitting of their blog personas.

Well, here's my 2-cents worth: Blogging is actually alot like going to school.

There are two reasons why people go to school. Some people go to school because they want to get an education and do well in exams.

But others go to school for the sake of going to school.

Do you blog for the sake of blogging?

2005-07-24T18:36:00.000+08:00

"WOMEN, or so it seems to me, have a great deal in common with racehorses. Both breeds are expensive, excitable, fun to watch, and there isn't a man alive, regardless of experience, who can tell which ones will disappoint and which ones will come through for you."
-- Kinky Friedman

2005-07-19T22:53:00.000+08:00

Research Reinvented

Everyday, across 5 continents and 24 time zones, 4000 smart people driven by endless curiosity, go to work at Synovate, the world's most dynamic global market intelligence company.

I am one of them!

Haha, okay. Not quite, I am just a temp. staff there la.

But it seems like a very good job thus far. Very flexible hours (girlfriend strolled into office after 1.30pm yesterday), and the pay is quite good.

If my maths doesn't fail me, I think I earned $450 last week in wages and commission.

Money oh money! The root of all purchases!

2005-07-18T00:29:00.000+08:00

Dogs and us

Ever wonder why dogs are such obedient pets to humans?

I think I may have the answer.

This morning, I was sitting in the car outside Ang Mo Kio's NTUC, waiting for my mum to buy some groceries. There was a young lady waiting with her dog outside the supermarket as well.

Five minutes later, a man (presumely the lady's dad) exits NTUC with 3 bags of poultry. The dog sniffs at the bag, looks up at its owner, and follow him dutifully.

Do you get what I am trying to say/imply?

I mean, here we come back from a supermarket with the most amazing haul; packed chicken, sliced meat, fish, and even half a pig...

They must think we are the greatest hunters on earth!

***
The National Kid-Me Foundation

The news of the week isn't it?

Shocking relevations of the CEO's pay, overexaggeration of its need for more donations, its misuse of public donations...

Personally, I don't think it is such a big deal that the CEO is earning $600000 anually. Afterall, aren't our ministers among the highest paid people in the country? And aren't they paid from the hard earned money of Singaporeans as well? And since both the government and the NKF serve the public, what's wrong with its CEO earning high wages?

NKF isn't SPCA. NKF is not a simple non-profit organization. Rather, it is more of a corporate charity business. Making use of media celebrities to capture the public's attention, using condo units and cars as baits for more 'donations', you got to accept that NKF isn't run by a group of salary-less volunteers who are passionate for their cause.

They are employees who get paid more as they garner more donations. Love it or hate it, although a portion of your money goes into their pockets and golden taps, a portion of it still goes to the kidney patients.

Who still needs your donations.

2005-07-09T16:07:00.000+08:00

How like a Woman

There’s this pretty enthralling Taiwanese program shown on Channel U on Saturdays 1.30pm where the hosts would be private investigators (PI) for the week and help callers who request them to spy on their friends/spouses etc. because of their abnormal behaviors.

Previous episodes have shown the typical problems such as infidelity and bad social influences.

This week’s episode was on spousal abuse, which was pretty tragic.

The aunt, who called the TV station, had noticed bruise marks on her niece’s body. On the outside, friends and family members have known them to be a loving couple. But this affectionate appearance hides the ugly secret of spousal abuse.

How like a woman, to be pathetically loyal to the author of her misery.

It has always puzzled me as to how a wife/girlfriend could tolerate an abusive partner. A man, who could be bad-tempered and abusive one moment, and lovey-dovey the next.

Is it because women are drawn to such men because of their need to be responsible for and nurture someone who has problems? And time after time the man promises to change and she clings to such hopes?

Or is it because they see themselves as dutiful wives, who should be nurturing, submissive to the man, (who’s the head of the household)?

But whatever the reason is, spousal abuse is certainly heart-rending and deplorable.

(at Sentosa Asian Village)

Probably the easiest money-making job which I have gotten this holidays. Helped out an events management company for $50 in conducting an amazing race competition on Sentosa and all I had to do was to station myself at Asian Village for 4 hours and wait for teams to come to me!

But the most interesting part was after reaching home, I found out from a friend that the abandoned Asian Village was supposedly haunted.

According to the Singapore Paranormal Investigators website, the story has it that when the Asian Village was still operating, the staff had heard eerie noises and the security guards complained about the Viking and the carosel moving by themselves at night. Other strange things happened as well but were kept hush because of it being a tourist attraction.

The management then engaged a few monks from Thailand who commented that there were many spirits in the bamboo forest beside the village. Hence, there is a statue of the heavenly kings holding a white rope to prevent the spirits from entering.

Hmmm. To think me and lilin were sitting inside the abandoned Asian village by ourselves playing bingo and entertaining ourselves with some song-and-dance routines the entire afternoon... haha.

2005-07-02T01:27:00.000+08:00

A lot like Love

(inspired by a Heineken Elevation'05 poster)

Happy 5 months Lilin. =)

2005-06-30T19:41:00.000+08:00

Haha. Thought this was a pretty funny comic regarding the US Grand Prix.

Anyway, I havent been up to much lately, except giving tuition to a sec3 boy for E and A maths. The pay isn't very good ($150/month) but that's a start I guess.

He's quite bad in maths though, got F9 for both subjects and his papers had red zeros all over.

I don't think he is stupid la, but for some strange reason he just doesn't seem to be able to understand decimal places and significant numbers.

I asked him what 3462 to one significant number was, and he said it was 3.

2005-06-29T16:35:00.000+08:00

Stupid dingbat

You know those little printed, folded over, ten-to-two-hundred page, written in Spanish, Japanese, Norwegian, Sweidish, Chinese and bad English booklets with letters, numbers, figures and drawings?

You know, the booklets that are sealed in the plastic bag, buried under a gazillion pound of styrofoam peanuts inside those massive, corrugated, reinforced, double-thick cardboard, glued, lashed and stapled, impossible-to-open containers that contain things like steros, tv sets and electronic appliances etc?

Well, do not throw them away.

My dad bought a Harmon/Kardon stereo set afew months ago and he happily threw away the manual together with the cardboard pieces. Now, neither of us can figure out how to keep the Analog option permanent without having to switch it from Coaxial 1/2 each time we switch it on.

Moral of the story?

The instruction booklet is there for a reason. To instruct.

Read AND follow.

2005-06-26T04:07:00.000+08:00

Money is the root of all evil?

Contrary to the old cliche, money isn't the root of all evil.

In fact, money is the root of all purchases.

You even need it to bid for your university courses.

.

2005-06-20T02:06:00.000+08:00

2005-06-17T13:39:00.000+08:00

Backstreet's back!

Seriously, is there anything funnier than watching five overaged Backstreet Boys trying to be all puppy-lovey and out-of-love in their Incomplete video?

The overdramatic fist pumping, angst facial expressions and outstretched arms... It’s classic man.

So bad that it's actually enjoyable to watch...

.

2005-06-15T01:24:00.000+08:00

Ambushed by the Channel U news team

If any of you guys see a vacuous-looking couple on TV talking nonsensically in broken, indecipherable chinese about how great the Suntec Midnight Sale was, that would be me and Lilin.

*cringes*

Oh boy, that was a Kodak moment if ever there was one.

.

2005-06-08T02:14:00.000+08:00

Relax, we are on the same team now.

Not quite sure if he is the top class goalkeeper whom Man Utd is looking for, but I guess it epitomises the financial state of the Red Devils-- Dismal.

How sad. To be the "richest" team in the world, and yet unable to wrestle financially with the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea.

And let's face it. The club badly needs a major overhaul. Manchester United aren't the invincible red crushing machine of a few years ago.

Thanks to years of ridiculous buys like Veron and Bellion, they look like a disjointed assembly of a few great talents and many mediocre players, huffing and puffing but getting nowhere.

How many bad buys have Sir Alex made in recent years? Countles. The likes of Kleberson, Djembab-Djemba, Liam Miller, Roy Carroll...They are all so bad that they re-define that very term. But the worst of the lot has to be David Bellion

When Bellion was signed, we were told he was the new Thierry Henry.

RIGHT.

Bellion should have been sold by now - or given away, anything so long as he fucks off - but for the broken leg he suffered in the final reserve game of the season. Unbelievably bad luck - for the club!

But it isn't just the bad buys, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs are getting too old to compete at the highest levels. Like old prize fighters, they dragged themselves up for the big fights with Arsenal, but wither unexpectedly against the likes of Norwich, seemingly sapped of their energy.

Perhaps the more worrying thing is that it will take way more money than is available to correct these problems. A creative midfielder, holding midfielder, left winger and at least one top-class striker to buy, how can that be funded?

There are cheap and talented young players all over the world. Arsene Wenger has shown this by making some shrewd buys. The likes of Van Persie and Fabregas are out there. The annoying bit is that Sir Alex doesn't seem to be able to find them.

However, if there's any consolation, Man Utd does have some promising youngsters in the Reserves squad.(They won the Reserves League by the way.)

The likes of David Fox, Pique, Jonathan Spector are definitely players for the future.

And I think we might just have an Arjen Robben in the reserves as well.

His name? Giuseppe Rossi.

Watch this Video of him. Sublime skills and an eye for special goals. ( video 10mb, courtesy of MUSC France)

.

2005-06-05T03:48:00.000+08:00

The breast enlarging ringtone.

I was listening to Morning Madness on Perfect 10 when the DJs started mentioning about Japan having this craze about magic ringtones.

Ringtones that:

Improve your memory.
Make you look more attractive to the opposite sex.
Cure baldness
Help you lose weight.
Make your breasts larger (!!)

I know that the Japanese are crazy over cell phones, but this really reaches new heights man.

So simply by listening to these ringtones each time, you become more endowed?

Apparently so. According to one 19 year old customer, "I listened to the tune for a week (...) incredibly, my 87-centimeter bust grew to 89 centimeters! It was awesome!"

I don't believe. But nonetheless, here's the ringtone.

~~Show~~ Tell me if it works?

.

2005-06-02T00:21:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the month again...

Happy 4 months baby!

.

2005-06-01T01:41:00.000+08:00

Don't judge a CD by its cover?

As much as I love Coldplay, they sure have this long-standing tradition of coming out with the ugliest album covers known to man.

Apparently this weird design is a puzzle though.

Anyway, speaking of Coldplay, one of my life's many regrets was missing out on their gig when they stopped over in Singapore.

I still remember the date-- It was 29 July 2001.

Because incidentally, that was also the week when Manchester United stopped over and played an exhibition match at the National Stadium.

And you know men. How pathetically loyal they remain to the football club that they worship.

I chose Man Utd over Coldplay.

I was such a stupid dingbat.

.

2005-05-30T02:20:00.000+08:00

Something to brighten up your day

Here's hopefully something to brighten up your day.

My friend narrated a real life story to me:

He knows of an insurance agent who isn't doing too well. In fact, she's doing terribly.

He speculates it could be her name...

Annie How

.

2005-05-28T03:55:00.000+08:00

Damn disappointing lah.

The comic premise of this animated movie held so much promise-- A group of pampered and overcivilized mammals finding themselves stranded in the tangled wilderness.

But sadly, Madasgascar is remarkably average and humor superficial. The story is seriously as thin as the flesh on a supermodel's backside.

It's basically a series of pop culture spoofs. The theme to Hawaii Five-O is followed by Born Free and Saturday Night Fever, and then references to both Castaway and, of all things, American Beauty.

Only the penguins are worth watching. They are an organized mayhem incarnate, a quartet that schemes and prance around with hilarious, deadpan gusto.

"We don't belong here,"they whisper. "It's just not natural."

Well, the next time I'm at the zoo, I will keep an eye on the penguins. They are probably up to something.

.

2005-05-26T06:05:00.000+08:00

Against all odds

This has to be one of the greatest football stories ever told.

A match of unrelenting drama, full of wonderful goals, fine artistry, a Liverpool comeback which ranks as one of the most remarkable in the history of football, the drama of extra-time and a magical, oh so magical, penalty shoot-out.

Jerzy Dudek and his wobbly-legged dance which confused the Milan penalty-takers?! -- Unbelievable.

And as much as I hate to admit it, Liverpool are the European Champions. Deservedly. Gloriously.

.

2005-05-25T01:05:00.000+08:00

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping."

This should be quite exciting.

Wisma Atria is having a Great Midnight Meltdown Sale on the 26 May 2005 from 9pm to 1am.

Topshop and Fox will be having a storewide 20% discount, Charles and Keith up to 20% off, FCUK up to 70% off, Tannlines, Miss Sixty, Nike, PrettyFit and Warehouse will be having similar discounts too.

.

2005-05-24T01:27:00.000+08:00

Marriages

Son: Is it true, Dad, that in some places of China a man doesn't know his wife until he marries her?
Dad: That happens in every country son.

2005-05-23T18:13:00.000+08:00

Your SAT Score of 1400 Means:

You Scored Higher Than Howard Stern

You Scored Higher Than George W. Bush

You Scored Higher Than Al Gore

You Scored Higher Than David Duchovny

You Scored the Same as Natalie Portman

You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the 130-140 range

Equivalent ACT score: 31

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score:

Amherst College

Dartmouth College

Williams College

University of Pennsylvania

Columbia University

What Does Your SAT Score Mean?

You could have been the President of the United States of America too

Maybe this goes to show the (lack of) importance of SATs.

But George W.Bush would have been rejected by the Singapore Management University should he had applied here.

( He got 1206 by the way.)

2005-05-19T00:50:00.000+08:00

When you piss upon A Star

"Maybe I should give more scholarships to non-Singaporeans who are bright, eager and hungry, and then help them get Singapore passports. The rest, I give to the A-Level girls at 19 years old."
-- A-Star Chairman Philip Yeo

Some poeple seek controversy, some attract it, some are oblivious to it, and the normal majority maintain a healthy distance from it.

I think Mr. Yeo falls into all of the first 3 categories.

.

2005-05-19T00:42:00.000+08:00

Happy 20th Birthday Ms. Khoo Li Lin! Consider upgrading your surname next time? *grinz*

The best gift my life has ever got was YOU my dear. You have given me so many happy days and the very least which I could do for you is to give you a very wonderful birthday.

I love you baby.

XOXO

2005-05-12T18:39:00.000+08:00

Her favorite sexual position...

Back to back.

.

2005-05-09T01:33:00.000+08:00

Epiphany

After watching Ice Age and Shrek 2 in recent weeks, I finally realise what it is that made the Singapore Zoo such a boring place to visit.

Animals just aren't the same without a voiceover.

.

2005-05-08T03:46:00.000+08:00

Happy Mother's Day Mommy!

Keep up the good work!

.

2005-05-02T22:35:00.000+08:00

2005-04-30T00:47:00.000+08:00

Slyvester Sim, the jay walker.

I found this amusing really.

On Saturday, Slyvester Sim was at Tampines Mall being mobbed by hundreds of screaming fans, with security personnels forming human walls to protect the popstar. Fans who have to BUY his CD to have a 5-second opportunity for an autograph and a quick snapshot.

Less than 24 hours later, I was driving into the small lane at Victoria Concert hall and who do I see standing at the roadside waiting to jaywalk?

Yup, that's right. Mr. Slyvester Sim!

No bodyguards, no personal assistant, no limounsine, no paparazzi.

Just him and his cigarette.

And people actually queued for hours to see him yesterday?

( Anyway, Girlfriend wanted me to offer him a lift since "he looked pitiful walking along the Padang in the hot sun." I thought that was nice and imagine having a Singapore Idol finalist in your car? BUT then i remembered that the Girlfriend's family spent $200 supporting him. So ya, no way was I going to let my girlfriend fall for a rockstar in my car. No bloody way. haha. )

.