arctic wind-

2011-05-02T01:30:00.001+08:00

I've moved to inaffinity.tumblr.com. It's much easier to share music and photos as well as thoughts on tumblr :)

2011-02-27T00:39:00.002+08:00

Up bright and early to go to school, picked up my thumbdrive (thank goodness!), checked email, went for dental, had high tea at regent hotel, went to have specs made, camwhored at the optician's shop with my sis, then went home. This is what a day should be like. Knocked me entirely out of my bad mood haha. Midterms, do your worst!

2011-02-26T08:27:00.001+08:00

Why complain? This is the life you've chosen for yourself. To always be there for others in their times of need, accepting no help of your own. If you keep everything close, never sharing anything of yourself, don't expect anyone to come to you when you're in need.

2011-02-20T00:53:00.002+08:00

One of the defining differences between uni and JC is that uni is very flexible. It's freeform - you can usually choose what modules you'll like to take, schedule them yourself, and even after everything's fixed, you can not go for lectures and tutorials or go for other slots if you so choose. Similarly, you have to arrange to go for tutorials and lectures together and look for study buddies. There's no such thing as a fixed class anymore. Which is a good thing.

It was so easy to be socially lazy. Knowing that, whatever you do or don't do, you'll still be seeing the same people and hanging out during/after class. You want to have common experiences? Heck, you want to even have friends now? You gotta work for it.

On the bright side, it does make you more sneaky in the way you arrange things and jio people out :) heh.

2011-02-14T21:06:00.002+08:00

There's so many things I should be thankful for in my life. Sometimes I look at others' lives and count my blessings that I've been born into this family, had this upbringing, and am living this life. So many others have it worse.

2011-02-14T02:28:00.000+08:00

The night's lonely without you.

2011-02-07T02:35:00.002+08:00

New Year in Kuala Lumpur this year was a lot more painless than I expected. Arrived on Wednesday evening, had dinner and general slacking around, then went out on Thursday to KLCC. We hit all the right places - Kinokuniya, CD store, coffee at Starbucks and dinner at Mdm Kuan's... their Nasi Lemak deserves its reputation :) Best shopping trip ever haha.

Friday was a day out with aunt, uncle and cousins, ending with daidi in cousins' hotel room. It seems the older we get, the more easily we talk. Then came Saturday, with a surprise visit from said aunt and family while the parents were out (meeting the father's friends), followed by a trip with the parents to another (of the father's) friend's house. Renewed (or started?) a friendship, had a good dinner and a good rest. Morning on Sunday brought a nice porridge breakfast (my grandma rocks!) and the trip home. Which took 7 bloody hours, but nothing unexpected, and so it was bearable.

Which brings me to now, with me updating my blog and with tons of homework undone. Did I mention I have a lab report and stuff to prepare for a meeting tomorrow? I'll better hop to it.

Right after this nap.

2011-01-30T15:48:00.001+08:00

Live life. Love. and other L-words.

2011-01-28T00:03:00.000+08:00

Something that was on my blog but mysteriously disappeared. Am including it here for completeness.

I've never seen you dance before.

You're beautiful.

2011-01-27T23:45:00.003+08:00

It's strange. After so long, I seem to have found people that I genuinely dislike. And people I genuinely like. But she plays games.

2011-01-22T23:07:00.001+08:00

Alcohol looses the tongue. The heart wants what the heart wants. Working under pressure produces results.

2011-01-20T09:13:00.001+08:00

Working after a refreshing sleep is best. I think I'll stop trying to stay up late to work - it's not productive.

And it seems I've become a jacket renting service hahaha.

2011-01-18T10:15:00.002+08:00

More random thoughts:

Conversation isn't difficult. You just have to be genuinely interested in that person, as a person. That's why it's so hard to fake when you know you aren't, not really. And it isn't true that you have to be close to someone to confide in him/her - sometimes it's precisely because that person is a complete stranger that you can say anything you want, with it not having any consequences. There's just some things about yourself, or about what you feel, that would cause anguish if the people you care about knew.

2011-01-06T11:37:00.002+08:00

Never mistake obligation for friendship.

Also, it feels like I'm going to have to choose, and soon. Why must we choose a side? Why can't we all just get along? I don't agree with Dante's idea of punishment for Neutrals. Sometimes both sides are equally wrong (or right), and then what do you do?

2011-01-02T23:31:00.002+08:00

Sometimes I wish I wasn't so perceptive. It's infinitely sad when you see things happening around you that you're powerless to change. I'm finally starting to understand why they say ignorance is bliss - to be specific, ignorance of human nature. To be more specific, ignorance of the nature of the people around me.

Is that why I hold myself apart from everyone?

So lonely.

2010-12-31T09:40:00.002+08:00

What a difference a day makes.

When you mix up your sleep schedule, you realise that time is really very fluid. It's a collection of hours put together. Just think, when you stay awake through the night, you suddenly have another 5 or 6 hours to play with. Now it's a matter of figuring out which hours suit you better - those 5 or 6 cold and quiet hours or the same amount during the bright and most likely sweltering afternoon.

I prefer the night :)

2010-11-24T11:55:00.002+08:00

My dad told me some time ago that, when hiring new employees, he could really tell the difference between uni grads and JC grads. After a semester in NUS, I get what he means. Uni teaches you to choose you own way and to take control of your life. In many ways it gives you a first taste of adulthood, where you make your own decisions and live with the consequences. Which is, basically, what being an adult is all about.

I feel like I've grown in many ways, though being as old as I am, I'm very much the way I've always been in others. Still, uni life is quite an eye-opener. A good friend says life is experience. I say life is learning. Who's to say it can't be both? (In fact, it often is.)

Here's to a life filled with meaningful experiences. May we never stop learning and growing with them :)

- 21st birthday reflections, 1 day late.

2010-10-24T18:34:00.001+08:00

The art of conversation is not answering the question (Lock, 2010).

2010-10-10T14:26:00.002+08:00

Failure is not an option. Not anymore. Find a way to make it work.

2010-10-10T14:08:00.002+08:00

Dear Jian Wei,

the problem with you is that you don't know what you want. And you don't know what you don't want, and even though you know that you don't know what you want, and sometimes you know that you're doing something that you don't want, you don't do anything about it.

Basically, that's a convoluted way of saying: please wake up your idea or you'll get nowhere in life.

Sincerely,
your blog. (and since your blog is written by you, I guess you're talking to yourself...)

2010-09-25T15:57:00.002+08:00

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. It's just that it's fallen off my list of priorities. Right now I have outstanding work for all 5 mods (o.O) and 2 mid-terms next week, so I'm focusing on those. Maths is fun. Programming is @!#$)(*%#wtfbbq.

I'll return to this, probably, in a couple of weeks' time. Yeah, Vietnam notes part 2, I know, I know.

2010-08-24T20:09:00.002+08:00

A long delayed transcript of the notes I took on my phone while in Vietnam, Part 1. Enjoy, you :)

n1. Joy hostel has a narrow staircase. There's an interesting light switch system as you go up. We were given the room at the top, where the lock didn't work. Ran up and down to change keys and finally changed rooms. This one is first floor :) and bigger. Let's hope they don't take this opportunity to charge us higher rates... Also, no kettle. I had the idea of using the heater instead (though Zhu says no. haha.)

--

D2. Traffic is insane here. There are no rules, the horn is used as a warning instead of signal lights when overtaking and to clear the way. As a result you hear a LOT of noise, especially in the morning. (addenum: Weekends are pretty quiet, though. Go figure.) Surprisingly, though, most drivers go slowly (our taxi driver from the airport drove at about 80-90) and are gracious enough to give way when necessary. Things work differently here.

--

D2. Learnt the art of strolling across busy streets - a necessity in Hanoi. The car and bus horns here don't toot once, they do it continuously in bursts, creating strange harmonies on the road as different horns interact. We had pho bo for breakfast (nice!) and Com Minh Dan for lunch. Low stools, small tables makes for an interesting meal. Both times we had a drink that tasted somewhat like tea, but with a bitter aftertaste like beer. A rather common drink, from the looks of it. (addenum: It was green tea. Zhu said afterwards, and I concur, that it can't be beer because there wasn't foam. Besides, we tried the bia hoi that night and it tasted nothing like that.)

(side note: I mispelled Com Minh Dan earlier. Here's the correction note: Oh right, it's com minh dan. As in gong ming fan, or peoples' meals. Vietnamese (or North Vietnamese anyway) sounds somewhat like an offshoot of Cantonese.)

--

D2 still. Wandered into a random desert/smoothie shop. Zhu got a mango, I ordered a mixed. This should be interesting. Okay, tried it. This is good :) Thick and smooth. Still tastes like mango, though, with a bit of kiwi and papaya. (addenum: Zhu said later that mine was better, because his was a little too thick. It made him rather thirsty. We don't have easy access to drinking water here.)

--

D2 afternoon. After a bit more walking, another stopover at a cafe north of Hoan Kiem Lake. Slightly more high class this time, indoor with proper seats and a bit of warm brown deco. We are slackers, and it's really hot.

--

D2, in the hotel room. More random walking and a Chinese Chess set (addenum on evening of D4: which has served us well so far!) Got back to the hotel at about 4.30pm. Really early. My camera's dead, it died at 9am and I've been spending the whole day borrowing Zhu's phone. -.- (addenum: It's okay, though. We walked around to many of the same places on D4 and re-took some photos XD)

--

D3. Beef pho bo, discovering the balcony in our room, power outage after breakfast wtf? (It was okay, we were checking out anyway. There was a more manly power outage in the evening, at Ninh Binh.) We then had a Navex to the bus stop in order to take bus 32 to Giap Bat bus station.

--

D3. Just had lunch on the back lanes near Ninh Binh market. It was spring rolls, beef and starfruit and leaves wrapped in rice paper and dipped in peanut sauce. Ordering was a lot of pointing and gesturing by us and showing around the kitchen by them. Friendly uncle :) Also, I met a Vietnamese girl Mai on the bus to Ninh Binh and we had a short chat. She's a uni grad and has been working for HP for a year, and she's only a year older than us -.- Army sucks.

--

D3 evening. Mega long note. Cycled in a tropical storm today. Fun. We got bikes from the hotel, started out easily on the roads, then somehow wandered into the rural villages and got totally lost -.- concrete gave way to gravel, sand and eventually mud, and the directions suggested by a kindly family (they even offered us a beer! O.O) brought us on a mud path through the rice paddies. Great weather (intermittent drizzle, a bit heavier rain, still nice to travel in), amazing scenery, the wind at our backs (most of the time), except that the mud eventually got so thick our bike wheels got jammed and we had to drag and carry the bikes the rest of the way to the next village. Decidedly NOT fun. Poor Zhu got mud all over his jeans and shoes; mine didn't fare much better (shoes, I mean. I didn't wear jeans.) The view and the experience more than made up for it, though, so I'm glad we went that way. Vietnamese people are really friendly. One woman in the village used a sickle to help me get the mud off the inside of the mudguards, and people everywhere (okay, kids, but still) were eager to say hello and help with directions (this, more the adults do). Who would do that at home?

After a tiring time we eventually hit the highway again. It was a short ride to Tam Coc, the landlocked Ha Long Bay. The view was again amazing but the rowboats weren't operating because of the weather :( We still managed to cycle part of the river, though, so it wasn't a total loss. (addenum on D4: and we booked a tour to Ha Long Bay today for the next 3 days, so we're golden!) Zhu is a reluctant photographer. Rather a lousy one, too :P Return trip was via highway (yes, we cycled on the highway. It was fun. No, we didn't get horned by every driver that passed us because we were lousy. Everyone horns in Vietnam.) Our bikes win the most cui award today! (Nobody else's even came close, I believe. See pictures for verification.) Composed this while waiting for Zhu to bathe (addenum: and transcribing it to email now it seems MOTHER LONG O.O) and after dinner when he was using the com and wth the power just went out! They set up these candles on the stairs and now zhu and I are playing Chinese Chess at the lobby. More later.

--

N3. No power, no Internet, no aircon, no fan, possibly no breakfast tomorrow. Murphy sucks.

--

D4. Power restored just before 11pm. Joy! (addenum: We checked mail in the morning and Zhu said they cut the power to some transformer stations as a precaution. That must have been what happened.) Woke at 5am, as usual. Can never sleep in strange conditions. Sunrise came at 6am, much earlier than expected. Storm has passed Ninh Binh. Weather reports state Hanoi has a 90% chance of precipitation today though (addennum as of 6.40pm: which we haven't seen yet, thankfully!)

--

N4. Coming to you from the Joy Hotel lobby :) Okay, there's still some stuff in my phone to be transcribed, but my phone's charging and it's getting kinda late, so I'm typing this out here first.

--

D4 evening. After dinner we went to catch the water puppet show at Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. A short performance, scarcely an hour long, it was rather interesting to see. My camera conked out early (and it couldn't really capture well in the dark theatre anyway), which means that I had more opportunity to enjoy the show :) It will simply have to live in my memories now.

All in all the performance was a rather light performance. It started out with a display of traditional music (mostly Chinese instruments like the dizi, erhu and drums, but there was an interesting single-string instrument that had a vibrato handle. Refer to pictures), a solo by said single-string instrument, and then the performance proper. The water puppets were manipulated by people from behind a screen, and performance segments ranged from light-hearted renditions of everyday life to more serious depictions of stories and legends. We have puppets planting rice, fishing, trying to fish from a boat but falling into the water, catching another fisherman's head instead of a fish while fishing with a basket, and so on. We have puppets playing instruments (drums and cymbals) and lions jumping/splashing around in a depiction of lion dance, though the music was rather Western-sounding with its beat, and so this part was a bit off. Then they performed the legend of King () returning the holy/sacred sword to the Turtle of Hoan Kiem Lake, in Vietnam's own King Arthur story. The performance ended with a flourish of 4 sacred animals, namely the Pheonix(es), Turtle, Dragon and Lion. This was really, really short, like Zhu said "just an ending flourish", but it was interesting in that it showed the different movements of the puppets. The lion was really active, splashing and jumping around. The Turtle and Dragon, on the other hand, were serenely swimming, with the Dragon making many long, languid turns while the Turtle swam slowly and gracefully. The Pheonix's movement was forgettable, but ok la, how do you mimic flying in the water? =/

We watched the 8-9pm show, which in retrospect was a good idea (I think) because we were kinda tired while watching it. I can totally imagine the farmers watching this performance after a long day or season's work, enjoying the caricatures of daily life (which perhaps were even exaggerations of epic fail moments that happened this season, like Zhu suggested!), falling silent when the more serious legends come up, prompting contemplation and reflection.

That's if the water puppetry stays true to tradition. Which is a very big if.

Anyways, that's all for tonight. I have to wake up early tomorrow. :)

--

2010-07-29T18:11:00.003+08:00

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks, that I've had no time to post and explain it all. Suffice to say between the Vietnam trip with Zhu, various outings with friends and family and uni headaches, my schedule's been very full. And it's only going to get fuller as school starts.

Coming soon: notes from the Viet trip. Look for it.

2010-07-15T10:26:00.002+08:00

Woo. Flying off to Vietnam later today with Zhu. I've really been doing a lot lately. This is the lull between two storms and it's quiet, so I thought I'll get in some blogging before I go :)

The last weekend was another really full one. Taiji showcase, cycling/dinner at Changi Village/prawning/supper at Lagoon with 6F classmates (which is always fun, but always delayed by a few hours...), breakfast at Old Town with family, Teo Heng, Toy Story 3... And then there was just a OG outing 2 days ago. Whew. Lunch at The Pasta Shop and then Kbox (singing again!). I have a new favourite song - 如烟. I guess 五月天 can't be all bad if they can produce songs like this :) Oh and Toy Story 3 was good! Genuinely funny in most places and touching in others, it can really bring out the kid in you. Highly recommended.

On a side note, it really helps to have friends/a sister who are avid travellers, especially when you're a total noob like myself. Case in point: this trip was planned entirely by Zhu, I'm just tagging along. Likewise, most of the packing list and actual packed items came from my sis. Ah, the life of a slacker :P (just kidding; I'm treating this as a learning experience :) Who knows, maybe this will be the trip that converts me. Haha.)

2010-07-04T21:17:00.002+08:00

Whew. It's been a busy, busy weekend. Good things come in bundles... I suspect sometimes it's so that we can't enjoy it all, but this one was an exception. :)

2010-07-02T23:50:00.002+08:00

So I remade my blog and facebook page, room and self to follow. here's to a clean slate, fresh start, and hopefully consistent progress from here :)

2010-05-07T22:58:00.003+08:00

Oh wow. I totally forgot about the man we saw while waiting for the Nightrider at Somerset. In a moment of quiet (the street was empty), he passed by on the far side of the road in the passenger seat of a trishaw, pumping his arms in the air while cheesy "native" music played on.

Hilarious.

2010-05-02T20:36:00.000+08:00

A full weekend. Celebrated Pa's birthday on Saturday morning with a strawberry shortcake (pics taken turned out pretty good), then went to participate in Free Comic Book Day at G&B at Rochor. Lunch, happy hour Wii playing at the Hangout on Prinsep Street (Raymond Rabbits is lame but fun!), and it was meal time again, this time at Oscar's at the Conrad Centennial. The buffet was really good, if a little dessert-heavy. My sisters seemed to like that, though. =) After the heavy meal we popped over to Marina Square for a late movie... not sure what we were thinking there, scheduling 2 hours in a dark theatre after a heavy meal. But it all turned out for the best, seeing that Qi was the only one who fell asleep, and she didn't really miss much anyway. The movie was horrible.

To clarify: If you like CGI robot-on-robot battles and bad jokes, go ahead and watch Iron Man 2. If you are a Marvel fan or simply like your movies to make sense and have a plot, avoid this like the plague.

Sunday was a lazy day. We missed taiji because of fatigue (late movies result in late returns home. go figure), I ended up sleeping til 1030, went out to town for a while and returned to play board games with parents for the rest of the afternoon. After I post this, we're scheduled to return to that. Good times. =)

The problem with having a good weekend (and to a lesser extent, a boring job) is that the thought of going back to work really sucks.

2010-04-29T01:38:00.002+08:00

What's worse than a fake American accent?

A fake American accent produced by someone with poor grammar.

Ugh.

2010-03-19T01:41:00.004+08:00

I have a new respect for quiet people. It's mildly scary what depths some people hide beneath a quiet, reserved exterior. In case anyone wants to know, I'm referring to z, hw and yz.

2010-03-17T00:00:00.002+08:00

9 months later...

Yes, it's been a long time. I'm working on not putting off things I prefer not to do, but it's a work in progress. Bear with me. =)

So, an update: As usual I've learned a lot. The value of money. The wisdom of consulting those who have been around longer (eg. your parents). The importance of the first impression. The difference between being quiet and being dao. The human need for friendship and companionship. The way to do more things in a day (hint: wake up earlier). WHAT to actually do in a day that's worthwhile.

A little bit of wisdom today: " What's worth doing is worth doing well." Again there are 2 concepts here - 1. being the best at what you do 2. only doing what's worth doing. Nice to say, very difficult to do. The temptation to sleep in, to slack off, to do anything other than what's worth doing (which invariably takes a bit of work) is great. But it's worth fighting. Which reminds me, if I want to follow my own advice I better get to sleep soon.

2009-06-27T22:10:00.002+08:00

on time, late blooming, and other random thoughts.

Been a long time since i blogged... haven't really got the time since i got hooked on diablo 2 again =) anyways. had some random thoughts recently. bear with me.

i'm a late bloomer. only recently have i found a direction in life, developed serious interests and started actively working towards them - and i'm already 19! (20?) a ripe old age in singapore. by this age many of my peers have already done remarkable things, like published books, won various international competitions, participated in regional competitions, attended important conferences and the like. i haven't done any of these. and because of that, sometimes i feel really behind my batch in general.

of course, on an intellectual level, i know that i'm still really young and there will be plenty of opportunities more to achieve in my lifetime, but i just can't help feeling sorta inadequate at the moment. I know, and can trace, the origin of this... insecurity? ... to things like my being brought up in Singapore (kiasuland), and having studied in highly competitive RI and RJ to boot. but you know, there's that irritating thing that people always talk about, which is the separation between the logical mind and the emotions. Oh well. handicaps are only handicaps if you let them get you down right? I'm going to use this as the driving point to improve myself and propel myself faster towards my goals. so far so good, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

something else about time - it's really very relative. Guess Einstein got it right. taken in its entirety, time is as relevant to us as the universe is relevant to Earth - it's there, it affects us, but we're just blips in its entire long history of forever.

So where does that leave us? it leaves us to make the most of the short time we have here on Earth, and more so, to treasure the quality rather than the quantity of time alloted us. People speak of "make-or-break" moments, the points in your life where you make the decisions that will shape the rest of your life - the life-changing moments. To me, making these decisions decisively and subsequently living the life you chose without regrets, is more important than living a long life wishing you could have done something else with it. There are 2 concepts here - that of being prepared for the pivotal points in your life, and that of enjoying life in general. i'm working towards both, maybe with a bit too much slant to the latter (><) but definitely making progress. this is my... damn how do you say ren sheng guan? this is my view on life.

speaking of being prepared, there are plenty of opportunities around for those who are prepared to take them. recently i had the opportunity to participate in NDP marching (one of the guys selected didn't want it and actually came to me asking to be replaced), but i chickened out and didn't go. Wasted, but there'll be no more of that. There's an ROC trip coming up, and i agonised over it for some time (didn't want to step out of my comfort zone, telling myself i would miss driving and other lessons), but now i know i want to go. other things can wait; an opportunity like this will never come again.

i guess that's about all that i have to talk about right now. funny thing , i keep trying to define myself, but that definition keeps changing. that's life, after all - life is change, only death is eternal. so why do i bother? i like to think of it as a process of refinement; only by starting with a broad definition and endlessly revising and refining it will i finally reach the point where i'll be exactly what i want to be. that's impossible to reach of course, but who says i can't reach for the asymptote? heh.

til next time...

2009-05-23T11:15:00.002+08:00

Hmm haven't been here for some time. I guess nothing much is happening in real life. Or maybe I'm too busy to update here?

Have just started driving lessons not long ago... they're going well, though not as frequent as I would like them to be. Still have problems with my half-clutch, but everything takes time. I must be patient.

Have recently developed an interest in lossless music and good speakers/sound cards... so far I've invested in a good 2.1 sound system and with lossless music, the difference is quite amazing, even without a dedicated sound card. When I get some more money I'll be getting one. Quite broke right now, what with all the going out and driving lessons and all ><

In other news, someone's flying off next weekend. Rrr. Enjoy your trip man.

2009-05-01T03:05:00.002+08:00

A few thoughts.

Moore's Law states that computing power will double every 18 months, and this has held true for a long while now. That led me to think, how are computers really different from people? The difference lies in the ability to accept contradictions. When faced with a contradicting command, the computer will loop and crash; in contrast, the human will simply shrug it off and continue on as though nothing happened. Thus, ironically, what makes us human is the ability to be hypocrites.

Got a lift from my sergeant to Bedok today. Went by way of Kranji, through Kranji industrial area and eventually passed the Singapore Turf Club. What struck me was the size of the place (never been there before), and by extension, the size of the gambling industry in Singapore. What with the IRs opening soon and all. Why has gambling been institutionalised in Singapore? The reason to take it out in the open, rather than keep it personal (ie. among friends) or worse, in illegal gambling dens, is so that these activities can be taxed. Okay, beyond the frankly juvenile ravings about how governments are greedy and just want money (I'm guilty of that too), I am greatly disturbed by the implications of taxing, not eradicating, an activity (from my viewpoint) purely detrimental to society. How can you put a price on human suffering? Because that's precisely what the government is doing, by taxing gambling, in the thin logic that such additional cost will make up for what we call the negative externality (the damage to society) in economics terms.

I shudder to think how I will ever sleep at night if I venture into politics. Valuing the cost of a person (or group's) happiness, weighing it against another, judging and determining the more valuable one. Making policy decisions knowing that your every move can have a very real impact on tens of thousands of people. That's a scale beyond most human minds.

It scares me.

2009-04-17T23:31:00.002+08:00

I didn't know that Dilbert debuted in 1989. That's another remarkable thing that happened in the year i was born.

Have been listening to lots of 60's songs on last.fm but this one really stood out.

George Harrison - Any Road (excerpt)

I've been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face - in the ice
and the snow
.
.
.
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

2009-04-13T20:59:00.002+08:00

My family are readers, one and all. The difference lies in our literature of choice. My dad reads newspapers and the occasional random fiction he picks up at book sales; my mum exclusively reads romance novels (in both English and Chinese). My younger sis prefers high fantasy, my older sis romance and dragons. Me, I lean towards modern fantasy. That, and non-fiction.

A small victory today: I have finally done what I resolved to do long ago, that is, look a stranger in the eye when thanking him for his small kindness. The lift, an indication to go ahead and press your floor button first. Sometimes it's the little things that count.

I read somewhere that happiness comes from setting small goals, and achieving them every day. Seems like I've taken a first step. Let's see if I can continue to do so, and work my way up to the big time. Volunteering, driving, lessons and courses... wish me ~~luck~~ perseverance.

2009-04-07T22:33:00.003+08:00

I think I finally found my niche. Ahh music of the '60s. Thanks to nar and zhu for the amazing CDs, and yi liang for introducing me to last.fm! I think I'm addicted. Haha.

[edit] Well, it seems symphonic renditions of game soundtracks aren't bad either. Haha. [/edit]

2009-04-06T02:09:00.003+08:00

I thought to revisit something on Saturday, but realised (belatedly) that that chapter of my life is now closed. For better or worse, that part of my life - a most happy one - is now over. Gotta learn to respect that and move on.

Speaking of that, there's still something else that's gaping open like an open wound. Gotta resolve that soon. I refuse to have that hanging over my head for very much longer.

2009-04-02T23:44:00.002+08:00

I think the reason I like oldies so much is because no matter how sad or tragic the subject matter, there's always an inherent optimism present in the songs. The Wonders' That Thing You Do (though this doesn't really count), Petula Clark's Don't Sleep In The Subway, Dionne Warwick's Anyone Who Had A Heart... Songs of the '60s, when everything was so bright and innocent. The time of jazz and hippies, sit-ins and protest marches, when there was still naive optimism and hope in the world.

Sometimes I think I was born 40 years too late.

2009-04-01T23:19:00.001+08:00

For slightly more than a year, my life had been in stasis. Now it feels like it's starting to move on.

I'm rather nervous.

2009-03-19T23:56:00.003+08:00

It's a conspiracy.

I won't say more here lest my blog entry suddenly disappears too.

http://blog.dk.sg/2009/03/17/news-articles-on-north-west-cdc-8-months-bonus-disappeared-from-mainstream-media/

here's the cached file:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:Y0duZ5YhZnQJ:www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/specialreport/news/415302_73/1/

2009-03-13T19:00:00.002+08:00

Ok after that cathartic entry, it's time for some more random musings.

Just read the article "Asia needs to rebalance" in Today, March 13 2009. It talks about Asia needing to boost local and regional demand at the fundamental level (ie. take real steps and do real work, instead of simply tweaking interest rates or exchange rates), improving regional cooperation and taking the lead in leading the world out of recession.

This is a recurring theme in my ideas about economics, but it strikes me as somewhat missing the point. Why should it be that you must boost demand to achieve growth rather than suit the supply to the demand? The simple answer would be that it creates jobs. World population is increasing. More people need more goods and money to buy these goods. Money comes from jobs (or stealing, I suppose, but that's beyond the scope of this argument). Thus, growth is good, and by extension increasing demand is good too.

I don't agree with this line of thinking. There are a lot of things to consider just below the surface. One, that this would likely result in an increasingly materialistic society and world, ever consuming, ever taking. (USA, anyone? Consumerism gone crazy.) Two, that resources are not infinite. In the craze to produce more, grow more, governments around the world are ignoring the importance of sustainability. What matter that this country or that "grows" (ie. becomes bigger in population size and consumes more) more than another in this short time frame when we're actually depleting the Earth for future generations? At this rate, we won't last another millenium. I know, growth is supposed to fuel innovation and more efficient processes as well, but somehow the innovation is slow to come and doesn't even come close to fighting the depletion of natural resources around the world. In the long run, we're all dead, is that it? Do as much as we can now because it won't be here tomorrow? I don't buy that.

I feel that for the economic model to work, sustainability must factor significantly in the equation. The way that my country is run, our leaders seem to view economic growth as an end in itself, constantly pushing for ever higher growth and cautioning that any deviation from this path would lead to Singapore becoming "irrelevant" in the global market. Which is true, I suppose. But it smacks of oneupmanship to me. Does it really matter that Singapore lags behind economically? We are a country, not a business. There are other things to consider: happiness, family, quality of life (which stress and pollution degrade). Case in point: Bhutan. Similar size, radically different lifestyle. I leave it to you to decide which is better.

There's more I want to say but time is getting short. I have somewhere else to be. So i guess the rest will have to come later =) ciao.

2009-03-13T18:44:00.002+08:00

I hate it that i'm unable to articulate my thoughts clearly when I speak. It's so clear in my head, the words i want to use, the meaning I want to convey to whoever I am speaking to. But somehow in the interim, between my head and my tongue, the words are swallowed, garbled, and come out incomprehensible; or worse, become entirely contrary to what I was trying to say in tone or in choice of words. I have inherited my father's curse.

It doesn't take a psychologist to figure out where this ailment came from: my insecurity when I was young, which I still feel now and try to compensate for. That, in turn, came from my being overweight all through primary and most of secondary school, and the bullying that arose from that. My reaction to such bullying was belligerence and a certain amount of antisocialism (heh), and as a result I have few friends now. My parents used to tell me how I mumbled and kept my eyes on the floor when I walked, but what I remember more clearly was that I used to flare up often in irrational anger and accuse people of picking on me even when they weren't. Probably I did all of those things. So childish, I was.

So because of that, I am a late bloomer. That much is obvious to me now, in retrospect. Emotionally and practically, I have been slow to mature, though I feel like I'm finally starting to come into my own now. Years late compared to my peers, but better late than never.

If you're wondering what brought on this sudden outburst, I'm sorta going through a midlife crisis (yes, at 20). I'm seeing how far behind I am compared to my peers, and it was a wakeup call. I'm already 20 this year. It's time to step up and take control of my life. I've wasted so much time alienating people at school, hiding at home, and playing computer games singlemindedly. I'm not going to waste any more.

2009-02-27T20:40:00.002+08:00

sigh. i think being in the army, or specifically in the dumb part of army where you follow instructions blindly, for too long is very bad for your brain. This is what happened today.

(NSF officer from a reputable JC walks into office. He looks around, sees only 2 or 3 people.)
Officer: Wah, everyone so busy ah? no, they just don't like your face, so they're hiding.
Clerk: Err... yeah. Sir, there's a fire drill later at 1.15.
Officer: Fire drill ah? Hm. Am i involved? no, officers are fireproof.

Zzz.

2009-02-25T19:07:00.002+08:00

Of rainbows, pots of gold and $1 coins

Today, just before 5pm, it rained heavily. The sky was entirely white and so filled with moisture that you couldn't see the rain fall - it came down in a whole, solid sheet. Thankfully the rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time I reached the bus stop, and we (all of us on the bus) enjoyed bright sunlight and a very beautiful rainbow on the way back home.

What is it about a rainbow that just seems to buoy the spirit? Just today I was frustrated with all the screwups and incompetence in my company (mine included, I admit) and then, a companionable half hour wait and bus ride later, I'm all smiles and warm fuzzy feeling again. Somehow seeing a rainbow, especially one as large and clear and beautiful as this one, and having it follow me all the way home from Lim Chu Kang, had a profoundly calming effect on me. Part of it is the sheer beauty of that vista; a huge rainbow arcing through the sky on one side, warm sunlight shining through grey clouds at eye level on the other. But the part of it is less easy to define. Rainbows evoke a sense of wonder; of innocence and childhood, and those times long ago when the appearance of a rainbow after rain was sheer magic to you, like the flamboyant triumph of light over rainy darkness. But I digress.

Was chatting to a friend on the way home. Most of it was nonsense, but somewhere in the interim the conversation shifted to that rainbow up in the sky and the pot of gold at its end. He said (and i paraphrase), we'll be lucky to find a one dollar coin there, let alone a whole pot of gold. It occurred to me that if you could really somehow find the end, the true end of the rainbow before it faded, you would deserve more than just a dollar. You would find and regain your lost innocence.

Reminds me of something else I saw in the sky recently. Last Thursday evening, I believe? We were reporting to the parade square for guard mounting (that's a sort of flag lowering parade that the night guards have to take part in before reporting for duty, for those not in the know), when a certain Mr Siew pointed out another beautiful sight in the sky and lamented that he didn't have his DSLR with him. The sun was shining through a break (a hole, really) in the clouds, and the effect was spectacular. You could practically imagine Jesus descending from Heaven on those rays of sunlight, as Mr Siew helpfully remarked. I recall that the sky was often beautiful at dawn and dusk on Tekong too. Sad that we only see such beauty in Singapore in such godforsaken places. Taking the good with the bad?

2009-02-13T22:24:00.002+08:00

Leopards are scary. Returning home from Ayer Rajah camp after CO parade i heard booming sounds that i thought was some kind of artillery firing. Only later when i reached camp (in Lim Chu Kang!) did i realise that what i heard was leopard live firing outfield. That's freaking loud o_O In camp it was even better. Incessant booms (and shockwaves) caused door and window frames to shake, and set off at least one car alarm.

It's 10.30 pm now and they're still firing. I'm listening to them fire while I type o_O

2009-01-30T21:34:00.001+08:00

Long overdue, but there's a new link at the top of my contacts list =) check it out for some random musings.

2009-01-18T12:31:00.003+08:00

Hmm is it just me or was the Israeli attack on UN headquarters last Thursday (the 15th) not reported in the papers? Or not in Today, anyway. You can read about it at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5521925.ece.

I set out today to comment on another thing i read in Today newspaper, about the Ministry of Home Affair's proposal to amend current public order laws. The idea is, apparently, to separate political,"cause-related" and "ideologically related" activities from recreational and social activities, which are both governed under the Miscellaneous Offences Act and the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act currently. In doing so, the Ministry hopes to empower the police to be able to break up protests or acts of civil disobedience without resorting to arrests, via the introduction of the power to order people to move on or face arrest on the spot.

This kind of makes sense to me, what with the recent PAD blockade of the airports (can't remember their names) in Thailand. Still unsure about whether i agree with it, but I can see where they're coming from. What I don't understand is why the Ministry refers to "suicide bombers and anarchistic fanatics" in explaining the state of today's world and why such a power is necessary. Isn't this act targeted at activists and protesters who, in the eyes of the government, promote social disorder? What's the relevance in bringing up suicide bombers and fanatics? Their proposed changes do not address these security concerns at all.

Anyways, for those who still read my blog, yes, I'm finally coming out of my shell. I don't know whether I'll be back for the long term, but I sincerely hope so. Have learned a lot of things this past year, one of which is that truly, no man (person?) is an island.

2009-01-14T21:53:00.003+08:00

I read with interest the article "Flexibility means freedom" in Today, Jan 14th. Have yet to read the Straits Times article (assuming there is one) about the same topic, will update when i do.

Did a bit of research on the Index of Economic Freedom quoted in said article; the rhetoric and general spirit of the study is that economic freedom benefits a country and its people in every way, and therefore should be something that countries should aspire to. However, to me, some of the yardsticks used are vague and disturbing, and I question the premise of the argument as well.

First off, The Heritage Foundation's measure of economic freedom is vaguely unsettling. There's such a thing as too much freedom, I feel, and the thinktank's unwavering faith that total economic freedom results in total benefits is flawed at best. An overquoted example: the current financial crisis was precipitated, at least in part, by the liberalisation of trade rules for finance firms in America and blind faith in the power of the free market to regulate itself without so-called government "interference".

Some of the yardsticks by which The Heritage Foundation measures economic freedom include government size (measuring government expenditures), freedom from corruption and labour freedom. As far as I can gather, the calculation for government size seems to reward lower expenditure with a higher score. How is this even relevant? Expenditures cover an entire spectrum of spendings, and what makes hoarding the money better than say, spending it on infrastructure or improvements to living environments?

Next, the freedom from corruption yardstick is taken from the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) as measured by Transparency International. My concern is that the CPI utilises perceptions and surveys to obtain values for each country, and these aren't necessarily accurate. I'm worried that this may draw more from the reputation of a country rather than the actual situation there. Moreover, acts of corruption may only surface years later or not at all. Though I acknowedge that freedom from corruption is highly difficult to measure in itself (Transparency International admitted as much), I feel the CPI and by extension the freedom from corruption yardstick in the Index should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Finally, the yardstick of labour freedom. From the methodology, some of the factors weighed in this yardstick include the "difficulty of firing redundant employees", the legally mandated notice period and the mandatory severance pay. I take this to mean that The Heritage Foundation's ideal situation is one where firms may hire or fire employees at any time, with no prior warning and no consequences.

While it's easy to see how this benefits firms, it's difficult to see how this benefits the economy as a whole. The economy is not made up purely of firms; there is the worker/consumer as well. The concept of total labour freedom has the potential of creating a climate of uncertainty in the workplace. When no one knows if s/he'll still have his/her job tomorrow, demoralisation and a certain paranoia would set in, possibly leading the worker to distrust or even actively sabotage the efforts of his colleagues. This would create a negative work culture. Moreover, this arrangement puts the onus on the firms to hire and fire responsibly, something which I very much doubt would happen in a large firm. And lastly, a system has to be in place to help the retrenched find jobs quickly, or they risk becoming a significant stumbling block to the concept of complete labour freedom. So simply put: It's too risky.

That's all about the Index. There's something to be said about Ms Halimah Yaacob's comments as well. The tripartite (NTUC, employer, PAP) guidelines for managing excess manpower... "is [sic] a good way to ensure companies do not resort to retrenchment at the first sign of trouble"? Hello, DBS.

The 2009 Index of Economic Freedom data can be found at http://www.heritage.org/index/. More information about Transparency International and the CPI can be found at http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi.

2008-11-23T09:51:00.003+08:00

Be thankful.

That's our dear mr teo ho pin's message to the residents of his town council whose money he has lost. Through investment in Lehman- linked structured debt obligations, the holland-bukit panjang town council has lost up to $12 million, greatly diminishing the $24 million it earned in the last six years. That's half of investment returns that the town council has lost.

You would think that losing such a staggering amount would humble the town council. You would expect them to come forth and explain to their residents why so much was invested in these purported high-risk financial products. Instead, we are chastised by teo ho pin about how we should "be grateful" that this has happened, missing the point altogether.

mr teo claims that the town council's "diversified portfolio" has enabled it to earn that $24 million instead of the $5 million that an entirely low-risk portfolio would have earned. From this, he says that we (the residents) should instead be thankful that the town council takes the effort to take greater risks for greater returns.

Whose money are you investing, ho pin? Where is that accountability that you are supposed to show to your residents? Our initial unhappiness at the losing of up to 50% of returns from investment has been compounded by your arrogant and irrelevant answers to our questions. Those of us who did not know that the town council was investing our money call for transparency; you respond that you are within the rules. We ask for more information; you respond that you will inform us at a "timely time" (which is not an answer at all). Your "couple of percentage" of funds turned out to be 6.7% of your own town council's investment funds. That amounts to $8 million dollars (peanuts to you, maybe, but not to us).

So I ask: to a government that is so concerned with percentages and figures, why is a loss of up to 50% of the total investment returns reaped in the last 6 years not a concern to our town council?

And what gives you the right to be so arrogant to the very people you should now be accountable to?

2008-08-08T20:09:00.004+08:00

this post deleted. my mistake ><

2008-07-30T20:58:00.002+08:00

Was just reading this article on the Sunday Times last weekend (July 27th 2008, Lifestyle page 9, "Cleaning Out Medical Myths"), and it struck me how the idea of having medical writers, ie. journalists who have no medical training and who write purely based on what they read, may not be the best idea for communicating medical/health knowledge to the masses. I had the thought that perhaps medical writers are under too much time constraint to think through and consider what they are writing.

Take for example this: "(On drinking eight glasses of water a day) I had long believed that eight glasses of plain water or caffeine-free beverages a day were important to keep the body hydrated and to prevent constipation... Researchers have been unable to find scientific support for it."

I thought it was a given that this so-called medical myth was an approximation and a guideline for hydration throughout the day. The amount of water a person needs a day varies, depending on the weight of the person, the activities he/she takes part in that day, and so on. It is foolish to expect 8 glasses of water to fulfill anyone's hydration needs on any given day, in any given condition. Thus the writer's statement is rather absurd.

Furthermore, i find that her statements border on irresponsibility. Picture a naggy mother and her stubborn child. Upon reading this article, the child may take it as evidence to rebut his mother and refuse the suggestion to drink more water - which is of course bad for the child.

Another example: "(on swimming after eating) My parents repeatedly warned us to wait an hour after a meal... But experts find no harm in a gentle plunge or casual play in the water soon after eating."

Besides the fact that "gentle plunge" and "casual play" are subjective, many people tend to skim through papers (especially the Straits Times) nowadays. Saying that swimming soon after eating is alright, and that the hour's wait is unnecessary, is rather irresponsible in my opinion. Certainly the waiting does no harm and helps your stomach to settle down before you go and play in the water, especially after a heavy meal.

So i wonder... do medical writers actually consider what they are writing? or are they only focused on reporting the "truth", as reported by medical experts? As we all know, science is an inaccurate art (yes that was deliberate), and truth today can be revoked tomorrow. Just take for example the (pretty) recent discovery of trans fat. Years ago saturated fat was the bugbear of the f&b sector, and now no one even mentions it anymore. What happened? it's actually not as bad for you as they thought? Or did they find something worse? That's science for you.

So... i sincerely hope that journalists do actually think through their articles, and that my musings over this issue were wholly inaccurate. It's all about taking pride in your work, imo.

2008-06-04T19:37:00.001+08:00

i wish i had answers to my questions.

hm.

2008-05-09T23:37:00.002+08:00

hard work in the day, physical exercise and soccer in the evening, followed by abit of relaxing R&R at night. this is the way life should be =)

now if only it wasn't so hot.

2008-04-27T00:33:00.002+08:00

on discipline, effort and happiness.

a disclaimer: i use "he" only to avoid long repetitions of "he/she" and "his/her". it gets irritating.

some people appear to have it so easy. you know, the kind who doesn't seem to be doing anything, but is somehow fitter, smarter, more charismatic and just better than you are. how does he do it? is he some kind of imba pro kia? or was he just lucky to be born with that "x-factor"? faced with such a person (or people, even!), it is easy to simply hang one's head, sigh, and bemoan the fates that blessed him instead of you.

but under that veneer of effortlessness lies a culture of discipline and commitment. it is more than likely that this person is very clear on what he wants, and works hard behind the scenes to achieve the goals that he has set for himself. he sees no need to display his life to anyone else; and indeed, the fruits of his labour speak for themselves. it is this type of person, hardworking, confident and possessing of vision, who will go far in life.

what does that have to do with happiness? simple: i believe that doing all these things, and living this sort of life, would naturally lead to a person's individual happiness and sense of fulfillment. Logically, living like this would reduce the amount of comparison that a person does daily; instead of surpassing others, his goal is now to surpass himself and bring himself even further along the road to his dreams, than ever before. the tangible results of his hard work, which by this definition will be directly related to the person's interests and ambitions, will likely give the person a sense of satisfaction at making steps towards achieving what he wants to achieve, and becoming the person he wants to be, in life. this, i reason, is the path to happiness.

so stop comparing yourself to others and start working. you can do it too!

2008-04-20T01:32:00.000+08:00

Exquisite torture in a fancy hotel.

Well that's what it felt like to me anyway. having to sit through 1.5 hours straight of boring talk was irritating. not even army makes you go through that lor. (lectures cut at abt 45 min for a 1-5 min toilet break. depending on your sergeant's mood.) some more i was hungry and there was so little food. grrr.what's a tea session without a huge buffet spread. this is Singapore man. ><

ok joking aside, i really had (and still have) some misgivings about the way tourism is going in Singapore. it seems to me like a very single-minded and high-handed approach. from what i heard today, STB's methods and activities seem to centre around bringing high-profile events to Singapore, and developing/redeveloping various places to better cater for an expected boom in tourism arrivals in the coming years.

I have no problems with the events thing. Over the years we have had various artistes, bands, and musicals coming to perform in Singapore, including Eric Clapton, Tokyo Kosei, the Phantom of the Opera and the Nutcracker. we have the Mosaic Music Festival, we have Biennale, we’re going to have F1 racing and soon we’ll have an upcoming Youth Olympics to host. We're even hosting a segment of the 6-party talks over the North Korean issue. All this is well and good, and will likely lead to a more vibrant exciting life in Singapore. What i dislike is the concept of redevelopment, or as i view it, commercialisation.

is commercialising everything really the best way to increase tourism in Singapore? I mean, sure, it ups the tourism "receipts" and generates revenue for Singapore, but i feel it is slowly but surely eroding what is truly unique about Singapore. First the National Stadium goes, replaced by a Sports "Hub" (overused term), then we have the Singapore Flyer (it ISN'T unique please!) which just smacks of plagarism, and then we have the Lake District (:O!) that's going to turn the Chinese Gardens and Lakeside area into some mega shopping mall - beside amazing waterfront condos.

Ok. i know it's progress. and i'm probably an old stick-in-the-mud who refuses to embrace change. but still. is this the place, the country we're really expecting the tourists to visit and remember? a place where everything is engineered, commercialised, and built specially to appeal to them? where's the uniqueness in that? The landscape, i've always believed, is a reflection of a nation's culture. Sydney has its Opera House, we have our Esplanade. Miami has its Palm Beach, we have our Chek Jawa. Cambodia has its Angkor Wat, we have our Sri Mariamman Temple (ok not really but you get the idea). Why are we deliberately modifying the Singaporean landscape to resemble others'? Why are we even starting to name our new towns (districts?) like other countries'?

Does Singapore still have a cultural identity, or have we already thrown our heritage away modifying our unique aspects to court foreigners and to make them spend more money?

Worse, is the Uniquely Singapore programme alienating locals in their own land?

2008-04-13T22:41:00.003+08:00

a few reasons why i hate economics.

humans? what humans?
there's no such thing as a human being in econs. there's only "labour" and "human resource". why is this so? it makes it easier for economists and policymakers to play around with the numbers when it doesn't seem as if the numbers are affecting real people. adjusting tax rates, interest rates, modifying salary structures, CPF rates etc... all this has a direct impact on the lives of human beings, affecting their livelihood, their quality of life, and in a very real way, their happiness. in the even that "unpleasant measures" have to be taken for the sake of "growth" or "the greater good", it's just somehow easier to "reduce labour costs" and implement measures that "affect the labour market" than it is to fire people and cut their wages.

the numbers game
under the current system of economics, the success of a economy and an individual is measured in very numerical terms, the former in the form of percentage points of GDP growth, and the latter in the form of personal worth (eg. material wealth). i wonder if we've actually lost sight of the entire point of pursuing economics in the first place. it's not about the charts, the calculations or the numbers or whatever. it's not about oneupmanship, "my country is better than yours". it's about allocating resources in the best way to maximise human satisfaction and welfare. which i take to mean making as many people reasonably well-off and happy as possible. somehow that goal is lost amid the rush to achieve greater growth, and to achieve the so-called 4 macroeconomic aims.

yes i know those aims, once fulfilled, are supposed to lead towards the proper allocation of resources. but does it, really? it seems to me like societal welfare is becoming more of a by-the-way kind of thing, something to consider afterwards and to implement only when possible. what i see is econs for econ's sake, especially here in singapore.

greed is good... not
when it's not econs for econ's sake, it's econs for greed. in this respect, i have to admit that most of the fault comes us and not from the system itself. no matter how perfect the system, someone will find some way to manipulate it for personal gain. the 1997 (1998?) Asian financial crisis was a direct result of human greed, not a failing in the system itself.

but what about the type of trading commonly practiced now? why does the system allow for things such as short-selling and hedge funds? are they ethical? don't they, more than anything, encourage greed at the expense of the nobler ideals of economics? how does that work, then?

sustainability
and lastly: the system of economics practised today just does not take into account the long-term viability of the economy. what matters is only today's growth, this year's GDP. it matters not that i'm belligerently industrialising, polluting the environment and destroying resources that could be utilised in the future, abandoning agriculture even though there will be repercussions later on in the form of food shortages and high inflation, so long as today, my GDP growth is good. the measure of success is just too narrow and too shortsighted. Economists themselves acknowledge this, but have never actually bothered to find a better yardstick, let alone to push for economies to work towards one.

it's no longer about the people in today's economy: it's about the numbers. they don't care about you, they care only about revenue and profits and growth. so either you fend for yourself, or you drown. depressing.

2008-03-13T23:46:00.002+08:00

after weeks and weeks of having no life, i suddenly find my next 1.5 weeks packed with activities. i wonder why. haha

2008-02-12T23:29:00.000+08:00

learnt a few things over the past few days.

1. rust comes in many colours. there's the boring reddish-brown (Fe2O3?), green and blue too. there are a few types to choose from, including furry and sometimes lumpy varieties.

2. prickly heat powder is a really good deodorant. at least for 2 days anyway.

3. when you can't see, the time needed to do anything is at least doubled.

4. wild boars are big, black and ugly. only people from P2 will understand this =D

and 5. rain is bad. well i haven't learnt this yet actually. and i hope i never have to ><

hm. upside is that i got a nice break after that irritating event. downside is that there's an even longer one coming up. oh well. suck thumb.

PS. dun worry about not understanding a word. it's probably not meant to be.

2008-01-03T22:43:00.000+08:00

zzz. why is it so difficult to find a nice new template. that isn't girly.

2007-11-28T00:42:00.000+08:00

hmm i've become a statistic. at about this time:

- there are more than 55 million active users of facebook
- 54% of bloggers are under 30
- 54% of Gmail users are between 18 and 34
- 18% have an average annual household income between $100,000 and $149,999 (zomg)
- singapore has 4.48 million people (as of 2006), 2.22 million of which are male.

and i'm one of them! well except for the household income part. but getting there lah.

in case you're wondering about my sources.
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
http://mashable.com/2007/05/10/gmail-users-are-younger-richer-good-in-bed/
http://singstat.gov.sg/
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

and did you know that asians comprise 37% of the world's internet users? yeah, i'm that bored.

2007-11-22T01:37:00.000+08:00

yes A's are over! i shall sneakily post here and see who notices =)

hmm i barely know what to do now that everything's done. like 6 months of work over le. time to pack table, throw stuff, and go out like crazy. and just nice my birthday's coming in 2 days time =) ahh suddenly life seems good.

well. for a month more anyway.

2007-07-03T22:51:00.000+08:00

a few random musings.

on birthdays.
we celebrate our birthdays every year. but what really is the significance of this day? someone said to me once, that remembering your birthday should really be a thanksgiving. to your parents, and especially to your mother, who endured so much pain bringing you into this world. yeah it's our special day and all, but we shouldn't forget who takes the credit for us being born in the first place.

wage laws.
doesn't anyone find it scary? all the talk about make wages "flexible downwards", adding variable factors into wages, accepting and even condoning the weakening of trade unions and the abolishment of minimum wage laws... is it just me or is the individual worker becoming more and more vulnerable? seems like middle - low class workers are at risk of getting crushed under the merciless wheels of the corporate engine, that runs the world today. and "job creation/retention" nowadays seems to be synonymous with "wage depression". or so it seems to me. i don't know...

of the importance of thinking before you speak.
funny coming from me, i know. thinking back, i finally realise i've been a bastard to a lot of people, and most of the time my "jokes" were made in very bad taste. apologies won't solve anything, i know. i have to change myself. and that's what i'm going to work on.

2007-06-30T22:34:00.000+08:00

koped from pj's blog. even gongs have their days haha.

- I love you not because of who you are, but who I am when I am with you.

- A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

- Never frown even when you are sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile.

- Make yourself a better person and know who you are before u try and know someone else and expect them to come to know you.

nice and meaningful. it's very feel-good haha.

2007-06-21T23:42:00.000+08:00

wow. it's been almost a month le. maybe i should delay this post by 4 days so i can remark on how amazing it is that it's exactly one month. o_O

i like samsung phones. they're damn durable. =) on a side note, anybody heard of Samsung Serene? seems quite funky. http://www.mobile-review.com/review/samsung-e910-serene-en.shtml

2007-05-25T21:34:00.000+08:00

too many things happening finally prompted me to blog. i'll talk about stuff in chronological order.

syf: well. we got gold. i'm a bit uncomfortable to blog about this any further. suffice to say that we could have done much better on this, our last syf =(

went for guitar concert the friday after syf... it was really quite lousy, but hey, seeing that they had only 2 weeks of practice, it was okay lar. storyline was damn cheesy though. the way they fit the songs into the story was just -___-" but slacking around on the parade square after the concert made up for it. heh.

RJC-EDB challenge was a crazy 2 weeks of sleepless nights, endless arguing, and alot of brainpower usage. 3 days of piahing got us through the preliminaries, while our refinement and ironing out of our idea yielded dividends on an imba thursday as we clinched an unlikely 1st prize in the final presentation. rushing to the National Stadium we caught the first and only goal by bowen, and caught the 2nd half of a very exciting, heart-pumping soccer match. that day saw the soccer, hockey, girl's and guy's badminton, and girl's bowling teams clinch gold in their respective finals all around singapore. the concluding of this week also marked the finishing of a truly spectacular week of finals, one of the most RJ has had in the recent years (we had 10 finals altogether this week). imba. gj to all our sportsmen and women!

after the match we all walked from the stadium to Suntec to eat dinner. crazy -___-"

and then.... tmr will be band investiture. we're handing over le. 6 years of band went by in a flash. looking back, i'm actually quite saddened to say that i never really appreciated band, nor put in the effort i should have, till i came to JC. which means that for the first 4 years i was drifting, focusing on strokes, not caring about my place and role in the band. but the last 2 years have been really great, and unforgettable; i'll miss all the band pracs in the band room, our crazy section (both the 05/06 and 06/07 ones), and all the headaches and happiness that band brought me. the last time wearing band u tmr... though the uniform was never the point anyway.

sigh. all good things must come to an end. must treasure the memories =)

2007-05-06T20:33:00.000+08:00

"I love perc, we're a damn unique section. pokepoke-"
-quote from somewhere (i wonder where)

so act cute right? haha.

in other news, i beat my dad at chinese chess and packed 2 shelves. one of my most productive sundays ever i think. which er doesn't say much ><

(ps. it's not from jerald's blog. that's the guy who tagged btw. lol)

2007-04-30T01:31:00.000+08:00

i hate religion.

2007-04-26T21:38:00.000+08:00

my videos are gone for good. the fireworks one that i took when out with zhu and nar. the one of hanxin massaging venetia at pasta. the one showing woo han's imba juggling skills. the one that i took with yinrui walking out from RI. the one that shows woo han busy fighting with mervin and wei liang.

when i get my hands on the asshole who deleted my videos......

2007-04-21T22:59:00.000+08:00

happy =) our songs are finally coming together. today during band prac i could feel a subtle energy. how to say? it was like everyone was restless, stirring in their seats and eager to please with their playing. as a result we played with strength and could respond to mr oura's (commands? suggestions?) directions very quickly and well. i think he was happy with our performance today =) haven't seen him smile so much and say "so" for a long time le. let's hope we can keep this up. 20 days to go.

it's up to us.

2007-04-20T22:49:00.000+08:00

okay i shall sit down and go through everything that's been happening.

last friday: RR concert. was quite good, but super LONG. im sure 3 hours... eardrums were dying near the end ah. some more the last band was Triad which was the loudest...... hmm but i think the most memorable band was jia hua's band, comprising jabba himself, laolee, zihan, derrick and a drummer who was er. blocked by the decorations >< but they were really good, very professional. they had a theme, decorations and all ( the paper lanterns were funny. cos they called themselves Fire Escape Plan but the paper lanterns are a fire hazard waiting to happen). and jabba was really charismatic. jumping from behind the smoke was damn funny too. lol.

oh and the night sky was nice =) so many stars! amazing in singapore.

last sat: chorale concert. this was super good. most memorable were their sung public service announcements (damn cute!), PUNCH's skit and song which was short, sweet and very well done, RI's crazy sway here sway there syf (i think) song, and above all wei song's beatboxing. damn imba. how the hell do u emulate a crash with your throat?!

monday: RIMB syf gold. see previous entry.

tues: CIP with little kiddies in Ang Mo Kio. the scout got us lost. lousy scout =) lol jk. what really happened was that we were early, so went sightseeing around the neighbourhood for a while first. yup. as for the reading itself, it seems wen hao and i had vastly different experiences. my 2 kids were damn hyper and crazy, running all over the place and doing their puppet show, while his 1 kid (unfair! lol) was sitting quietly stoning. so er he read 10 books with no response, while i read 3-4 with..... erm... semi-response. cos they were too occupied multitasking ah. ><

on the way back wen hao was really sick. the next day ruth fell sick, and so did I. i think mervin's still sniffing too, and reshma was sick some day, and today cherie was sick. it's all cos some person (not bugger k. must be nice to sick people.) spread germs around on sat. 一传十，十传百，导致我们 all kena... so irritating.

wed: sb celebrated Euler's birthday. and some other person's too =) i think that person is almost as old as Euler. or is he older? happy 186th zhu! lol. yinrui and nar you owe me money

thurs: some exercise day. was abit late leaving school, so when i saw the 156 coming i ran for it... on boarding it i realised that i had left my wallet in class -.- and my classmates had been watching me run from out of the window. wah lau malu sia. then had to run back from the next bus stop, go up the stairs cos lift was so slow, then rush down again. in the end i was like 20 min late >< ouch. got intro-ed to miss wong's latest competition student, jamie. she's damn pro omg. 自卑 ah time to start working harder...

and today: nothing happened. so i stopped to blog a mother long entry. cheers =)

oh yeah. games day cancelled. wtf.

2007-04-16T23:56:00.000+08:00

RIMB: gold. the only gold awarded in the afternoon session today. gd job guys =) you've really worked hard over the past few months, and got past all the problems and lousy judges and all. want uall to know that we seniors are very proud. unbroken streak! haha alright.

there's more stuff to talk about, like RR concert and choir concert. but very long leh...

2007-04-15T00:21:00.000+08:00

this actually happened last thursday. but im lagging so i'll talk about it today.

today's blockbuster movie on Channel RJC:

starring wen hao, eugene, jian wei, nandita and pj in

Score One for the Guys!

an epic drama involving theft, betrayal, conflict, a missing wife, and lots of confusion, culminating in a sudden revelation and (finally) a happy ending for the good guys.

note: i said guys. hahaha

2007-04-11T21:14:00.000+08:00

oh yeah how could i forget. silver for NAPFA! alright hahaha.

today was medical checkup... was quite fun. got to try out new things with coolio names like ECG and ENT, did some x-rays, talked cock with the old guy who drew my blood. then after that i got to play com game some more. woohoo.

~~first~~ second step on my way to NS liao... dammit. why so fast.

2007-04-10T23:40:00.000+08:00

after a long, long hiatus... i'm back! haha.

a lot's been happening lately. RG had their SYF today. they got gold >< then RIMB's SYF is on monday. i bet they're feeling the pressure. jiayou guys, you can do it. RIMB ftw!

in the meantime, for me, there's NS checkup tmr, and then RR concert on friday and choir on sat. busy week.

next week there's art week, which promises to be interesting =) and i shall be reading to little kid(s) next tuesday. lol poor little kiddies.

2007-03-22T23:03:00.000+08:00

sian of mugging liao. so come here and blog.

was just thinking of the kind of place i would want for myself in the future, when i get a place of my own. i want a home; some place where i would want to be, where i can do everything i want to do (eg. mug sleep play music etc.) productively. as in, i don't want a situation where i can't mug at home and i have to go sch to do it. that kind of thing.

i think i dun want my home to be in a convenient place. convenient places are invariably noisy. was just struck by how nice silence could be when i was walking to electone lesson today. that would be what i want at my home, yup.

it's never silent around here, even at night. quite sad.

2007-03-18T22:38:00.000+08:00

pj's latest blog entry is amazingly insightful. for once :P go read!

poonikutty.blogspot.com

2007-03-18T22:33:00.000+08:00

what's this thing called school?

i dun want to go back ><

2007-03-17T11:05:00.000+08:00

logic: it's okay to switch on aircon for all the classrooms in the school during the holidays (whether there are people using them or not, sometimes at 7am in the morning). but it isn't okay to switch it on in the PAC for 3-4 hours when there are hot and bothered people rehearsing.

whatever.

2007-03-12T10:02:00.000+08:00

2 days after a tempo and i'm sitting in the com lab enjoying aircon =) i mean ^.- what am i doing here? some stuff's gone missing. as a result i'm going down to sweelee later once it opens -.- irritating.

a tempo was fine. not very spectacular, and the first day was a bust, but the saturday concert went well. a lot of glaring logistics screwups though. lessons learnt: be clear. never -expect- people to know what they're supposed to do. and check and recheck everything again after you're done.

no pics >< dammit.

2007-03-02T00:35:00.000+08:00

I'll Be There For You - Rembrants

So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your jobs a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.

It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month,
or even your year
but..

I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too...

You're still in bed at ten
And work began at eight
You've burned your breakfast
So far... things are goin' great

Your mother warned you there'd be days like these
Oh but she didn't tell you when the world has brought
You down to your knees that...

I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too...

No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Seems you're the only one who knows
What it's like to be me
Someone to face the day with
Make it through all the rest with
Someone I'll always laugh with
Even at my worst I'm best with you, yeah

It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month,
or even your year...

I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too...

I'll be there for you
I'll be there for you
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too...

nice song. though i dunno what's D.O.A.

2007-02-28T00:24:00.000+08:00

ah yes. it's concert time again!

A Tempo XVIII
Venue: PAC
Time: 7.30 pm
Date: 9th, 10th March
Price: $7

last day(s) of school! come watch and enjoy for the last time before chionging for CTs ><

2007-02-24T23:32:00.000+08:00

been really busy lately so no time to blog. band, h3 chem test, homework etc. not to mention sleep heh.

actually now is a bad time to update cos nothing interesting will appear here. except to say that my section is nuts =)

cheesy pic. haha

2007-02-16T22:48:00.000+08:00

today was take.5 at ccab... amazingly we didn't play much cards today. spent the time watching and listening to ppl breathe helium and talk (HAHA) and playing frisbee. mr gabriel tan joined us for both, and he was pretty damn good too. cool dude lol.

then at 10+ we ponned to go to the nearby prata shop... i think take.5 increased their income by dunno how much today =/ the prata was really good! damn worth it. and the ppl are nice too they didn't chase us, even though we were making a hell of a lot of noise and sat there for 2 hrs++

took a lot of scandalous photos and videos today. as in alot alot. but can't post them now, have to go pack to go m'sia. so another day.

oh then after that we went to wen hao's house. was fun, played chess and com and ddr there =) more scandalous stuff happened on the way and on site, but again, that will have to wait. left early to go CMPB though. sadded >< but nvm lar. my mistake, i pay for it. lessons in life i guess.

and i just came back from eating hong kong noodles =) all in all, a good end to a good day. time to go pack now

2007-02-15T01:00:00.000+08:00

love is everywhere =)

a follow-up to the v-day post.

2007-02-15T00:31:00.000+08:00

v-day.

lol technically vday has been over for 1/2 hr already but what to do... craftwork takes up alot of your time ><

happy happy =) my secret valentine made me a card with pics from various class outings =) brings back memories. thank you christina =) and the lock and key thing from nar... lame but very nice. haha ty! not to forget the chocs/roses from my class and venetia/sze min. clearing stock lar but still nice =) lol i think im high.

pink rose =)

[add.] that's the anonymous delivery that was not so anonymous. haha =) [/add]

2007-02-13T22:53:00.000+08:00

it's been a year.

having and maintaining a blog is actually quite fun =) but sometimes i look back on my old posts and cringe ><

v-day tmr =) haha. fun.

2007-02-13T18:39:00.000+08:00

有人说，过新年不能欠钱。

我说，过新年也不能欠扁。

so what are u waiting for? 扁 a classmate today!

as long as it isn't me haha

2007-02-12T23:43:00.000+08:00

i like the feeling of knowing where everything is. it means i have to pack every weekend lar but wth, it's worth it. haha

incidentally, brian's post on the percs blog is nice. rimbperculiars.blogspot.com for those not in the know. kinda echoes what every senior expects of the junior batch of rimb. just written in very good prose lol.

2007-02-11T01:55:00.000+08:00

love is something you can't describe,
like the look of a rose,
the smell of the rain,
or the feeling of forever

just thought i'll immortalise the poem here. it's really beautiful.

2007-02-09T22:56:00.000+08:00

today we had birthday celebrations for richard and eugene. it was some bomb.
[edit] specifically it was a water bomb. in case u were wondering haha [/edit]

then after that we had h3 chem lecture. which was also some bomb.

so now because the reactions too exothermic, i have negligible energy left. time to sleep zzz

2007-02-08T18:44:00.000+08:00

life taught me a few lessons today. it remains to be seen whether i learn them.

patience is a virtue.

happiness is meant to be shared.

and finally:
love makes the world go round

the antithesis to miki's angst. haha =)

2007-02-06T23:45:00.000+08:00

dammit i'm bored out of my wits. i guess that's why im blogging.

went home early today, got back at around 3+. and what did i do? spend 3 hrs sleeping -_- there's really nothing to do! except maths tut 11b which im not touching til after tut test. rrr boreddd

i guess im going to sleep again now. -_-

2007-02-01T23:48:00.000+08:00

lol new blogskin. finally u don't have to kill your eyes reading this blog. chose the skin mostly for the design, but i just realised that it fits the current weather quite well. haha

2007-01-28T21:44:00.000+08:00

[edit] fine. i'll save my comments for later. [/edit]

2007-01-26T00:39:00.000+08:00

just had a thought. if the plural of mouse is mice, isn't the plural of spouse spice? that would mean...

... ok nvm. at this time u start to think weird thoughts haha

[edit]

א rozaine א says:
to err is human
א rozaine א says:
to forgive, expected ^^

someone's being a joker lol.

[/edit]

2007-01-22T21:31:00.000+08:00

today i spent one hour being the dupree to wen hao and pj. they were playing a blissful game of chess while i watched and irritated them from the sidelines. the 2nd game they played was kind of sweet, with wen hao frequently flattering pj, saying that she was "so clever". pj, in turn, giggled, shyly telling wen hao to "stop it". later, as pj made several bad moves, wen hao gallantly allowed her to take back and try again.

after the game ended, i quietly excused myself as i sensed that pj and wen hao wanted some time alone together. true enough, as i left the classroom, i heard wen hao asking pj to stay, on the pretext of asking her to return some magnet or other that she supposedly took. haha =) the last i heard, pj stayed for as long as she could, til wen hao got concerned for her and her undone homework, and locked her out of the classroom so she could go home. so sweet right XD

okay so maybe it didn't exactly happen like that. but u have to admit my version is nicer =)

[edit] see pj's blog for more details hahaha [/edit]

2007-01-11T22:28:00.000+08:00

was bored. so i went koping.

TEN EMOTIONS:
1. are you missing someone right now? er no.
2. are you happy? yup. weather's nice =)
3. are you talking to anyone right now? technically no. msning yes
4. are you bored? not really. not yet anyway.
5. are you german? no
6. are you irish? no
7. are you french? no
8. are you italian? what does this have to do with emotions -.-
9. are your parents still married? duh
10. do you like someone right now? er. not sure

TEN FAVOURITES:
1. television: dun watch tv. movies maybe
2. flower: sunflowers are nice.
3. color: green black white. really!
4. sport: soccer! floorball.
5. ~~mall~~ shopping centre: i'll say far east plaza. it's a unique place. not like the generic CapitaLand places urgh.
6. band: tokyo kosei
9. animal: cats. they're so sleek =)
10. state: erm. solid? ya i know i'm 90% water but that's not the point.

TEN FACTS:
1. hair color: black
2. phone color: black
3. car color: n/a
4. hair style: short?
5. eye color: black. ask something else come on ><
6. shoe size: 8
7. ring size: there's a size?
8. skin color: yellow. ~~menjen~~ manjan =)
9. available: why do u want to know? -.-
0. lefty/righty: lefty.

TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LIFE:
1. have you ever been in love? doubt it. crushes maybe.
2. do you believe in love? hahaha
3. why did your past relationships fail? what past relationships?
4. have you ever been heartbroken? yeahla. who hasn't.
5. have you ever broken someone's heart? hahaha are u joking? shouldn't be lar.
6. Have you ever fallen for one of your best friends? hmm. nope
7. are you afraid of commitment? abit. must think first.
9. has someone ever kissed your hand? eh shit am i doing a zabor quiz
10. have you ever had a secret admirer? no -.-

TEN THINGS - THIS OR THAT:
1. love or lust: love.
. hard liquor or beer: beer lar i guess.
3. night or day: night.
4. one night stands or relationships: relationships.
5. television or internet: internet duh
6. pepsi or coke: water?
8. money or family: both haha. family first
9. phone or in person: in person.
10. msn or myspace: msn

TEN HAVE YOU EVERS:
1. have you ever been caught sneaking out? haha. no.
2. i dunno what this is cos it got deleted.
3. Have you ever done something you regret? of course. when i was young and foolish haha.
4. have you ever bungee jumped? nope
5. have you ever gone skydiving? nope
6. Have you ever finished an entire jaw breaker? erm. dun think so.
7. have you ever wanted someone so badly it hurt? yala
8. have you ever killed a man? omg how did you know? ><
9. have you ever danced in the rain? u say leh -.-
10. kissed someone in the rain? i think i chose the wrong quiz to do

yeah. im really bored.

2007-01-11T21:47:00.000+08:00

heh. i think i'll be blogging less now. maybe once a week or something. becoming really busy now that i've really found things to do.

i think j2 craze hasn't really started yet... somehow it feels like the calm before the storm. better start gearing up for the sprint. j2's going to be like some 100 m sprint lar ><

[edit]

Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
- John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, 1981-1987
US administrator (1942 - )

nothing much to say...... haha

[/edit]

2007-01-04T19:10:00.000+08:00

another sky post! couldn't resist, the sunset was super super nice. it rained lightly just when the sun set, at around 7.10. as a result bukit panjang was bathed in a sepia yellow glow which changed quickly into a soft dusky pink. following the lightshow, the sky faded to velvet before ending with a luminous midnight blue. beautiful =)