Eye of the tygrr

4 years between posts

2010-04-20T16:27:00.002+08:00

My god... it's been 4 years since I last posted here...
Is there anyone out there? Does anyone even remember me? =)

Anonymity is good.... Now I can go back to writing anything I feel like without having to to tread on eggshells, worried that I might end up hurting someone's feelings.

This is.... good. Writing should always be like this - cathartic.

Will be back to write more soon... hopefully nobody ever discovers that I'm back to this blog again.

Read a bit of Linda Chia's blog and it brought back lovely memories about how I used to follow her blog religiously, thinking that she was just too cool for words. Without realizing it, it's been 4 years and I havn't read her blog until today. And it feels good - like a guilty pleasure you've forgotten about because you've secluded yourself up till this point.

I'm back..... and hopefully won't stay away for too long this time.

All's good

2006-05-29T13:21:00.000+08:00

Life's been pretty good thus far. Not good in that 'strike TOTO and win a million dollars' kinda way. More like the kind of good where a stretch of time goes by and suddenly, you realise that you don't have much to whine about. That kind of good.

Business has been pretty acceptable - nothing spectacular but nothing worth pulling out my hair over (WHICH i'm thankful is still a headful. You know you're getting old when you look at your friends and realise that some of them are showing premature signs of male pattern baldness. Fuck.)

Watched TV that day and to my absolute horror, a local football analysis company had managed to get Steve McClaren to be their in-house tipster. Fucking hell. (A bit of background first - Before I even started LG, I had a football analysis company which told people what to bet on via email. I still maintain that the company was my most profitable of all time.) I personally won't be using their services, but it irritates the hell out of me. Because on Saturday I was talking to my friend and wondering if I should get back into this line just for the World Cup in spite of the ridiculous market saturation and she was like, "You need to have 'experts' working with you. Why would people pay money for tips from you?"

Trust me, they did. A lot of money, no less.
I mean, I remembered replying that its almost impossible to get a so-called 'expert' in because its impossible to swing it. How the hell am I supposed to get a football celebrity on board? Then THAT VERY NIGHT ITSELF, I was watching tv and steve fucking mcclaren's ugly face popped up on screen, telling me that he would be providing tips directly from germany.

cheebye.
How the hell did the company manage to get him on board? bloody brilliant.
I still stubbornly maintain that Stevie boy isn't the best man to go to when you need tips. I mean, when you need advice on the best housing loan in town, you go to a banker. Not a carpenter. And if you think about it, that's a pretty analogy of what Steve is, considering that he's the next England manager. And so what if he's in the thick of the action? What 'inside' information can he provide me with that I wouldn't already know? Injuries? Team news? I've got the internet my dear. I would rather get the 'inside' information of the syndicates to find out which matches are rigged (if any). And so what if he's the England manager? That's probably the only team which he has any direct knowledge of which we wouldn't, and let's face it - he's probably going to be biased towards the English. I'm a Newcastle fan and if you ask me, I think we can beat any team. Would you then trust my judgement when it comes to Newcastle matches? Thought not.

So my friends, in case you were tempted to sign up for that service to get Steve McClaren's tips, don't bother. Ask me instead. I charge merely a pint of beer for my services - a heck of a lot cheaper ain't it?

Service Issues again

2006-05-17T19:53:00.000+08:00

Note to self - just because a restaurant looks ultra hip, complete with its nice pristine white plate settings doesn't necessarily mean that a) the food is good and b) the service is good.

Just got my membership over at the Chinese Swimming Club so the missus and I decided to dine there at the ManZhu Restaurant. Apparantly, the owner wanted the whole glass window, zen-feel to the whole place, so you had the prerequisites like the nice sleek lines, zen-looking plate settings and minimal clutter. He should have spent more time on the menu, the food and the service. The waiters all looked as if they had dicks up their arses, walking around with the gloomy black faces that I only get when I suffer from constipation. ManZhu is also probably the only place in the world which sells "Olio Olio" (sic) pasta - its Aglio Olio Pasta my dears. For the price you're charging, at least get the names right. Oh and if you intend to charge that kind of prices, at least make sure the food is up to scratch.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not cheap. In fact, I'm quite the spendthrift. Jan and I go this nice little restaurant at least once a week. I think our record was going there 3 times a week for dinner. Not only does this place serve the second best pasta I've ever tasted (nothing beats Janice's cooking.), the service is easily amongst the best that I've had the honour of encountering in my life. I love that place so much, by our 5th visit, I had applied for VIP cards for Jan, Keith, his girlfriend and myself. See, usually, Jan and I like to move outside for a smoke and to finish up our drink after the food is done while waiting for the bill to arrive. The friendly waiter noticed that we were done with our cokes, so he proceeded to give us two more on the house. AFTER the bill had already been settled. We're on a first name basis with the staff and manager there and it feels like home everytime we go there. (But I'm not going to reveal the name of the place unfortunately - I like the fact that its quiet and few people even know about it)

2nd note to self - the fact that I personally enjoy a place doesn't necessarily mean that it would be a good place to hold an event.

Russell Peters

2006-05-09T15:36:00.000+08:00

Ok, call me slow if you like, but I'm so in love with Russell Peters.
He's this incredibly funny stand up comedian who left me in stitches.

Check him out -

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Long absence

2006-04-24T13:48:00.000+08:00

Once again, I'm so sorry about the long absence from blogging.
Been busy with work, which is immensely exciting. Anyone feel like sharing costs for the Starhub World Cup subscription? That way, if you share, you're more than welcome to hang out at my office for an entire MONTH. we can watch all the matches together.
*roar*
which is cool.

Speaking of work, the initial layout for the company website is out. Check it out - www.lookingglass.com.sg

Remember to turn on the speakers when you check out the site.

But seriously, do feel free to drop in. It's pretty sad when this company has been up for almost an entire month and only 6 friends have dropped in unannounced. Next time, just feel free to pop in. Its at 60A Duxton Road for those who can't remember. Gifts of drinks or food will be very much welcome actually.

Especially for friends who have not been in touch for ages - don't be a stranger. My birthday is coming right up - its time to appear!! chortle.

Who says that football fans aren't passionate?

2006-04-20T13:26:00.000+08:00

Check out this German kid playing Football Manager (or Championship Manager).

Poor guy. He shouldn't have picked Sunderland, should he? Let's all laugh at Sunderland.

ROFL

2006-03-24T01:06:00.000+08:00

Read this:
http://xialanxue.blogspot.com/2006/03/stupid-is-as-stupid-does.html#links

before reading this:
http://kimfucksdogs.blogspot.com/

wendy, there's a hokkien saying - "tao jiak ai eh hyao chek chui, pang sai ai eh hyao chek kar chng"

obviously you havn't learned.

you've been pwned big time.

New surroundings

2006-03-24T00:20:00.000+08:00

So sorry about the extremely long hiatus from blogging.

Been extremely extremely busy with the expansion of business. The new office is now located at 60A Duxton Road. So remember, if you guys need any thing designed or an event planned, let me know. Or if you're in the area and just wanna say hi, feel free to drop in. OR best of all, if any of you wanna play mahjong in the nice office, let me know too. heh.

anyways, a quick update on the O2 status. after much smoking and cursing and swearing at the O2 HQ people (thanks jan), i finally got my phone back after repairs tonight. didn't get the repairs done for free, but managed a substantial discount.

scanned in my letter (heavily edited) from monday's New Paper. plan to send it to O2 to carry on making a bit more noise.

in any case, am super glad to get my phone back safe and sound after reading all the horror stories.

thanks to all who emailed me, advising me on what to do. so what if i now need to waste 2 hours to put in my contacts again?

I'm straight.

2006-03-15T06:31:00.000+08:00

After that last post, I was mightily amused to receive an email from 'Derrick' who asked me (very politely), "Are you gay? ;p"

No Derrick, I'm not. I'm straight. I have to clarify though - I'm not homophobic in anyway. In my experience, homosexuals actually make extremely loyal friends and they provide perhaps the best fashion advice around. In my opinion, every girl should have a best gay friend. They make life a little bit more colourful.

I am in love with Takuya Kimura though. I can't really explain it. I mean, hell, I'm like a 16 year old girl. In my room, there are 3 Kimura posters on the wall and there's a huge Kimutaku banner behind my bed. I most certainly don't wanna sleep with him - but I'm certainly in love with him.

It was Nov 1999 and I was an impressionable 17 year boy. I had taken on a 6 week long internship with a local law firm and had gotten very close to the two secretaries there, Violet and Sharon. Everyone else was caught up in the whole J-craze back then so I wasn't surprised to see that a magazine cutout of Kimura in a Kanebo ad taking centrestage at Vio's cubicle. (I wasn't into the J-craze back then. I thought that baggy socks were bloody ugly and that everyone was just blindly following the craze back, so I had little patience for people who were remotely into anything Jap.) I remember going, "Why are you even interested in a guy who advertises for lipstick?"

Remember this photo, Vio?

To which, she replied, "Shut up. I'll lend you a drama of his, you watch it and then talk to me again."

True to her word, she lent me her special edition copy of Love Generation which she had gotten direct from Japan. I watched it over that weekend and I was hooked. For life.

The next year, I returned to school crazy over Kimura. I remember huddling in the study corner with Maryanne and Kaini watching SMAP VCDs (I was trying to convert them. They were both into Gackt. Losers.) I walked around school carrying a file with a picture of Kimura on the cover. This picture -

If it wasn't for the fact that I was involved in a pretty high-profile relationship, I'm sure people would have thought that I was gay. (During my orientation, there were a couple of rumours that I was gay. chuckle. Ask Siva.)

Actually now, looking back, I realise that Kimura is the only celebrity idol that I have. Together with Newcastle United, these two constants have also been around in my life.

Now I can't wait to settle down and have a daughter. I solemnly swear that if she brings home a boyfriend that looks like Kimutaku, not only wouldn't I disapprove (even if he was a bum), I'd even pay for their wedding if need be. Can you imagine how gorgeous their offspring will be? I'd be the coolest grandfather with the most gorgeous grandkids.

Suddenly, life seems good again.

Can't smile without him

2006-03-14T22:59:00.000+08:00

Heart Palpitations. I'm still in love.

Oh. My. God. I might be bi after all.

Update on the O2 situation

2006-03-02T21:28:00.000+08:00

Apparantly I'm not the only one pissed off with the service over at the O2 service centre at Parco Bugis Junction.

I hopped over to hardwarezone forums to see if I could get some advice on what to do next and under the O2 Users sub section, I find these two threads, aptly titled -

1) O2 Service Centre sucks (with angry smiley attached)

and

2) Bad customer service at O2 bugis service counter *shake head*

Here are some choice comments -

"was told the set will be ready on 3 - 5 days & they'll call when ready. waited for 12 days no reply, no response & worst of all, try calling in to check on status, it is only a ANSWERING MACHINE ATTENDING TO YOU & no one will reply your msg left.

made a trip down & was informed the set is still not ready & instead she asked you "we already told you will call when ready, why you come down?? you should have called to check!"

anyway, it is really a nightmare if you have to send in your O2 to service!"

and

"I sent in my Xphone more than a week ago and they told me I must pay $47.25 regardless of whether they ultimately repair my phone or not. They call that the evaluation fee. I am fine with that becos what to do ??? no choice..

But the frustrating thing is : it is more than a week now and I did not get any update from any human from that center. I tried calling the phone number printed on my acknowledgement form, but seems everyone there is deaf or something... no one actually answer that phone... and in the form, it says approx 3 to 5 working days ! and it is now more than that ! and i dun even know the fate of my phone ! I have been without a phone for more than a week... and if they dun call me and I can't get in touch with them ... does that mean my balls are tied up ! and be at their mercy ??? really ridiculous ! and I also faxed in to ask the person to call me... guess they probably not just deaf but blind too !!!"

and my personal favourite

"just to share with you a "joke".. on that day when I was at O2, one customer was v unhappy & was shouting & insisted to see the Manager. When the Manager finally 'show face' at the counter, so many customers rushed towards him & he quickly settle that man's problem & ran back into the office! the rest of the people asked to see him but he never appear again!"

Check out the thread here. I intend to make a huge stink about this. Surely they can't keep getting away with this kind of attitude.

2006-03-02T20:52:00.000+08:00

Today's supposed to be our Good Service Day or something like that. But why do we even bother celebrating Good Service Day when we're so far off the mark?

Before I begin ranting and raving, a disclaimer first. I MIGHT be overreacting simply cause I'm having one of those days where everything is going wrong. I mean, I woke up today in a pool sweat after only 4 hours of sleep. Why? Because the electricity supply to my flat had been cut because we didn't pay the bills. Yes, my family is that dysfunctional. No electricity supply = no fans, no lights, no hot showers. Even as I'm typing this in school, Keith is considering buying a couple of candles to use as a temporary light source in the flat. So to my friends reading this, congratulations. Your friend here has become like one of those sad people we read about in The New Paper who don't have lights at night. Which is also why I'm in school this late. I've got a midterm due tomorrow at 10. In addition to that, my eye infection flared up again so I'm walking around with a painful, red right eye. I mean, how many clues do you need before you realise that its going to be one of those days?

13 days ago, I received a gift from a friend. Not Jan, before you guys start accusing me of being a kept man. Another friend. It was an O2 XDA IIs. Needless to say, I was thrilled with the gift. On the very first day, I went out and bought it a screen protector as well as a lens cleaning kit which is normally used for digital cameras. I was in love with that pda/phone. I spent an hour transferring all my contacts over to it and 2 hours painstakingly transferring all my data from my previous PDA over to this new, swanky one.

Remember I mentioned earlier that the PUB had cut off the electricity supply to my flat? Keith and his girlfriend decided to sit downstairs in a bid to escape from the sweltering oven that is my house. After waking up in a pool of sweat and possibly the worst mood I've been in all year, I decided to join them downstairs. So while walking down, I called him to find out exactly where he was sitting. It was a short conversation, lasting no more than 30 seconds. Imagine my absolute horror when I disconnected the call and saw this -

THE SCREEN OF MY BRAND NEW O2 PHONE HAD CRACKED. Now, if i'm not mistaken, this kind of thing only happens if I drop the damn thing or if I had smashed it against something else. So I was stunned to say the least. ALL I DID WAS MAKE A PHONE CALL!!! AND THE SCREEN WAS FINE 30 SECS AGO!

Naturally, my mood got worse. Jan was nice enough to rush down to Dover immediately after work to send me to the O2 service centre at Parco Bugis Junction.

Thats when my day became an all time stinker.

When we got there, we were served by this sweet young girl who was dressed in an official O2 polo tee who listened to what I had to say before going, "Erm.. the LCD screen is cracked. That's not covered under our warranty."

I explained to her (patiently, I might add) that I understood that but the phone was brand new so was there anything we could do about it.

Thats when she added condescendingly - "The screen is very fragile. You cannot press on it too hard."

That's when I lost my cool internally. I glared at her before going, "Yeah, I know. I've used a Palm PDA for over 3 years and I've never ever had any problems with it. All I did was make a phone call. What do you think I was doing with it? Hammering in nails is it?"

She proceeded to tell me that they could repair it, but it would cost me $180.

$180!! For a phone that was bought at $900 just 13 days ago!

I was furious and remember exactly what I said next. "I know you're just doing your job and I don't wanna blow up at you. Could we speak to your manager or superior?"

She hurriedly went into this back room while Jan and I waited there.

For 12 minutes.

After which, she came out with an ah beng looking moron (red t shirt, jeans and gold necklace) and a bespectacled guy in the O2 polo. They huddled behind us discussing the situation for a good 7 minutes before retreating into the back room again.

3 minutes later, the ah beng guy came out and sat down in front of us. He told us that the best he could do was to take the phone in for repairs and offer us a discount by waiving off the labour charge. "How much?", we asked.

His reply was classic.

"$200".

Wait a minute. Earlier, your colleague said that the repair fee was $180. Now you come out and tell me that AFTER waiving off your labour charge, you're now going to charge me $200? Either Jan and I failed english in school or there was another meaning of the word 'discount' that only this guy knew about.

The 2 of us were incensed by then so we started being curt as well.

"How much exactly is this labour cost?"
"Not too sure."
"... Don't you guys have like an exchange policy or something that gives us a period of like 14 days where if there are any faults, we can exchange it for another set?"
"Where got such thing? *snigger* We don't have this kind of policy. $200 is the best that we can do. If you're not happy, then I suggest you contact O2 directly. We're just the service centre."

You bet your life I'm not happy, bugger. (His name is Seng Long by the way. I asked for it so that I have a name to attach to the letters that I've sent out via email.) I've already drafted out a letter which at last count, I've sent to more than 12 agencies and authorities - and I fully expect to send out more.

Am I overreacting here or am I justified in asking for some proper action to be taken by the relevant parties? What other methods can I take in order for me to either get a replacement set or at the very least, a waiver of the repair fee? I repeat - all I did was to make a phone call. I'm more than happy to take a polygraph test if need be. (Pardon me. I've had a damn bad day and I've watched too many episodes of 'Meet My Folks' in the past). Not only wasn't the manager at the O2 Service Centre helpful, he

Let me highlight two other cases -

1) Ipod nano users suing Apple over the fact that the screens get scratched too easily.
2) Today's copy of The New Paper, page 10. If you have a copy of the paper, read it. If not, you guys gotta wait till tomorrow to read it on the electric new paper. Here's a shot of the article anyway

What are my options here? Any anyone out there help with some advice on what I should do next? I'm frankly stunned at how they've handled the entire thing. Is this the premium or importance that O2, an international brand, places on customer care and customer service?

I should have known better than to use a phone from a brand that once sponsored Arsenal.

恶梦

2006-02-25T04:58:00.000+08:00

昨天晚上，我做了个奇妙的梦。

在那场梦里，我跟你都出现在电视里，就像游戏里的人物一般。

我们两个看来很高兴的牵着手，笑得很自由。

然后，大概是在玩那游戏的小孩困了吧，变的很想睡觉。结果他按了按钮一下，就把游戏机给关掉了。

变成游戏人物的你跟我明明还想在一起的，却不得不消失了。

我突然变得很慌张，很害怕。

一直有很重要的事想对你说，不过虽然嘴巴有在动，而你也有含着泪的对我说话，但是画面却突然一黑，我就无法听到你想说的话了。

Entrepreneurial spirit

2006-02-23T02:34:00.000+08:00

I promise, this is the last time I'm going to talk about the NYP Tammy case. It's like what my friend said tonight - "Bway sian meh?"

But its one thing to have an entrepreneurial spirit, its another making a profit out of someone else's misery.

Check out this site.

They're now selling Tammy merchandise.

*sigh*

There are much better ways to make money, dudes.

On a much more solemn note:

Tygrreyez.blogspot.com would like to observe a minute's silence and pay solemn respects to a much respected man.

Fuck. Wrong picture.

This was a man who once famously said, "Singapore run only by PhD's would be my vision of a purgatory. Equally, a government run by road sweepers can be no less a terrifying place to live in."

We pay our respects. In fact, as a mark of respect, when Jan and I were listening to the radio in the car earlier tonight, every single Mediacorp radio station had cut their transmission and was playing instrumental music. Which came as quite a surprise at first, cause lets face it - Perfect 10 doesn't play instrumental. Sidenote - I know Power 98 isn't under the Mediacorp umbrella, but they're run by SAFRA right? Isn't SAFRA like an outreach of the government as well? *puzzled* How come THEY didn't cease normal broadcast as a mark of respect? Hmmm....

Been reading quite a few blogs of late and I know I'm slow, but I quite like www.sixthseal.com
Its written by a Malaysian (who bears quite a resemblance to my cousin) blogger called Huai Bin and in his blog (actually, its amongst his archives), you can read and download video clips of him doing the most stupid things like firing a pop gun at his own hand and setting off firecrackers indoors, nearly setting his house on fire. Oh, and there are the not-so-irreverant ones of him taking drugs and cutting himself while high. In fact, Huai Bin got into quite a bit of trouble with the Malaysian authorities because of the drug thingie and he makes the solemn claim that sixthseal.com does not condone or encourage drug abuse. Having said that, neither do I. But I enjoy reading his blog very much. There's a certain disdain for safety and approach to life in his actions that make his blog such a compelling read indeed. Do check it out.

PS Wonder if I'll ever get a grand funeral.

Get. A. Fucking. Life. Assholes.

2006-02-18T04:14:00.000+08:00

Some people out there are real motherfuckers. Seriously.

I'm sure you guys know about that poor girl from NYP by now. The poor girl got her handphone stolen and then had its contents mass-emailed throughout the entire school, which then quickly led to almost everyone else in singapore receiving it too. Ala Paris Hilton.

Unfortunately for her, there was a very long and explicit sex video stored inside the handphone. Ala Paris Hilton.

So the poor girl now finds herself an unwilling porn star to whom I'm sure many assholes have gotten pleasure out of. Ala Paris Hilton. (actually not really. Paris is such a publicity whore that she probably planned the leak herself. Difference is, this poor girl didn't)

Suddenly, it became the talk of the town. Practically every single male had watched it at least once. I personally watched it twice - not because I was turned on and wanted to get my rocks off, but because I was shocked. Shocked that the cheebye who stole the phone would actually circulate it and shocked that the girl in question was stupid enough to actually allow him to film it. (yes, she does know about the video. She looks directly at the camera more than once.)

It wasn't long before people were trying to find out exactly who this poor girl was, posting her name, email address, school, faculty, cca, hp number, msn contact, bra size, family size and no. of pets online. They even went to the extent of digging up old photos of her - fully clothed of course.

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

seriously, why the fuck do you need to do that for? what did the poor girl ever do to you guys? Did she have plastic surgery, become a celebrity of sorts and then deny having any work at all? All she did was to stupidly agree to having sex on video and before you know, she's butt naked for the world to see and comment on. And the irony of it? Her school is now even thinking of expelling her.

What the fuck???!!

I remember in RJ (yes, i know i don't seem like the smart type. i've heard it many times before. Once tonight as a matter of fact. This other ah beng choked on the smoke of his fag when i told him i was from RJ), the principal once called me into his office and he said, "We don't care what you do outside of school as long as it isn't illegal." Even the top JC in singapore doesn't care about my out of school activities (which WERE legal btw) - why the fuck is this poly now considering expelling her? On what grounds may I ask? For being stupid enough to take part in a filmed sexual experience? (Some people make a damn good living that way. Just ask Paris or Abi Tittmuss.) For being shamed, now that men walk by her in the streets and mentally undress her? (Not that they wouldn't before. Men are bastards that way - only this time, they really have seen her naked.) How is this poor girl going to live the rest of her life? She'll always be remembered as 'that girl giving a blowjob in that home video'. (Just ask Annabelle Chong. I don't think people care about the fact that she once got an A in econs during her 'A' levels. They remember that she was the star in the world's greatest orgy, getting banged more times than a bumper car at a funfair.)

One fucker even went as far as to post on the hardwarezone forum - "Last time when I saw her in school, I thought she was really cute. Wanted to ask her for her number. Luckily I didn't. Now if I ever see her in school, I'm going to ask her how much she charges for a night." Seriously dude, you're a grade A cheebyekia. Fact check - she didn't do anything other than engage in consensual sex with her boyfriend. Only difference between her and your mother/sister is that you got to see it. (Actually I'm not too sure about this one. I might be wrong here. You might be the kind of cheebyekia who actually enjoys peeping at your mother/sister doing it.) Trust me buddy - if your mother/sister one day becomes a 'star' like the NYP girl, I promise you I'll ask her the exact same question you wanted to ask.

Simply because you deserve it.

I feel super bad for her. I'm no saint - far from it in fact. I'll be the first to hold my hand up and say that I'm like the furthest thing you can think of when you're thinking of role models. You name every vice and I've probably done it. Seriously. I DO watch porn. But I was still stunned to see that video and the general reaction to that video. Its bad enough that you bastards wanked off to it. Its even worse if you had a crush on her previously and now enjoy the free show more than most. But if you actually enjoyed it and dug out her old photos and posted her details online for the whole world to see, you're a motherfucking sonofabitch. You deserve every little bit of abuse you get. What did that girl ever do to you? 人家也是妈生的。

This reminds me of another incident. Not too long ago, I was at Orchard picking up Jan's Vday present. Standing in front of me in the taxi queue (I'm super atas. I don't take the bus.), were these 2 good looking guys. I assume they're models. Anyway, model A was talking loudly about how his ex girlfriend was in this month's FHM and what a great lay she was. He went into great detail I might add. Normally, I wouldn't have bothered listening to begin with cause I'm anti social that way. But this time around, I was halfway through unravelling my iPod earphones which had managed to roll itself into a ball when I heard model A mention his girlfriend's name.

It was my ex girlfriend's name too.

So I listened and burned internally. I got home, I bought the FHM hoping that she wasn't in it.

She was.

Its disgusting when you hear someone you know to being described that way by a total stranger. Its even more disgusting when you actually are friends with that person. (I'm still on pretty good terms with most of my ex-es, there being only one exception to the rule.) Unfortunately, I'm still good friends with this particular ex so it rankles. So you fucked an FHM babe. Big. Fucking. Deal. FYI, you're not the only one. Only difference is, I'm too much of a gentleman to go around kissing and telling about something that should remain private.

Coupled with the FHM was the FHM top 100 girl next door supplement. A quick look through reveals that I have 5 models from my company taking part. 3 personal friends. 1 ex girlfriend. Which now brings to mind the next puzzling question. Why would any girl want to join something like this? To prove that she's hot? To see many guys out there would want to fantasize about her? For the attention from the general public?

Trust me - that poor girl from NYP is probably praying that none of this had ever happened and that she wasn't in the public eye for something like this, wishing it would probably all just go away like a really fucking bad dream. Something like this just pisses me off so bloody bad. If you were one of those who took part in the digging up of her past, you're a real fucker and should be ashamed of yourself.

Cheebye.

GBuy

2006-02-16T00:39:00.000+08:00

Google to launch online payments service: Gbuy

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt says Google's pending online payments service GBuy won't compete directly with eBay's PayPal, but eBay doesn't believe him, according to this WSJ story.

...The Mountain View, Calif., Web-search giant, which has terrified Silicon Valley with its ability to quickly create new consumer products and services, is developing a rival service called GBuy. For the last nine months, Google has recruited online retailers to test GBuy, according to one person briefed on the service. GBuy will feature an icon posted alongside the paid-search ads of merchants, which Google hopes will tempt consumers to click on the ads, says this person. GBuy will also let consumers store their credit-card information on Google.

Story taken from here

wow. Now I can buy things online using my Gbuy.

Wonder if my kuku bird will ever become this powerful?

The letter - a local short film

2006-02-16T00:20:00.000+08:00

The above is a local short film, written and directed by Justin Kan.
Its supposed to be a true story about a gay JC student who falls in love with his best friend - with a supposedly sad ending.

But honestly, it was crap.
While I admire the dedication and effort it took for them to come up with a short film, I found the writing to be poor and the final result boring.

A lot more effort could have gone into the script, casting and a heck of a lot more attention should have been paid to the tiny details here and there. It was just... blah.

One comment on this video posted by another viewer went "I want my one hour back."

I couldn't agree more.

Pepper's birthday

2006-02-14T01:50:00.000+08:00

Damn.
Did you know that there's like a huge array of treats you can pamper your dogs with?
I'm getting Pepper's birthday cake from www.usdb.com.sg

Check it out.

Whats my major?

2006-02-14T01:47:00.000+08:00

You scored as Philosophy. You should be a Philosophy major! Like the Philosopher, you are contemplative and you enjoy thinking about the purpose for humanity's existence.

Anthropology

92%

Psychology

92%

English

92%

Philosophy

92%

Journalism

83%

Sociology

75%

Linguistics

75%

Theater

67%

Mathematics

58%

Biology

58%

Engineering

50%

Dance

50%

Art

33%

Chemistry

25%

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)
created with QuizFarm.com

No shit?

Filler post

2006-02-08T09:16:00.000+08:00

On a silly note, i just noticed that my potential brother-in-law has linked me on his blog as 'Kenn Wayne'.

ROFLMAO

I can only think of 3 possibilities for this -
1)He knows about my gf's ang moh preference (I'm her only cheena boyfriend. All her others have been 'gwai lo's.)and its an inside joke.
2)I bear a passing resemblance to Bruce Wayne (which also means that at night, I start donning my superhero suit. If Bruce is Batman, I gotta be Fatman.)
3)He really doesn't know my surname.I kinda prefer option 2.

Don't know why but I was tickled pink and actually laughed loudly when I saw it.

On a totally unrelated note, I made 2 new friends during yesterday's lecture. Which makes both UK and Lynne the first 2 philo major friends i've made in NUS.

Another bloody meme

2006-02-05T04:26:00.000+08:00

(actually i'm super sick of them. should have never started doing one. but i kenna tagged by my potential brother in law, so die die must do. rofl)

QUALITIES I WANT IN A POTENTIAL BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND :
1.Trust
2. Honesty
3. Thoughtful
4. Sweet
5. Know when to 'deh' and when to leave me alone
6. Sense of humour
7. The ability to wake up in the middle of night whilst lying next to me and still look at me adoringly

SEVEN THINGS THAT SCARE ME:
1. Ghosts (you laugh now, but the next time you kena already, i see how you laugh. I kena 3 times before. Now bloody scared)
2. Being broke
3. Losing my friends
4. disappointing my friends
5. hangovers. they scare me like hell, especially when you drink to the point where the room freaking spins super fast
6. being trapped in a plane for too long. i hate the fact that you can't move about freely.
7. growing old alone.

SEVEN RANDOM SONGS:
1. Kiss Goodbye - Lee Hom
2. 天才与白痴 - Leo Ku
3. 发如雪 - Jay Chou
4. 珊瑚海 - Jay Chou/Lena
5. 吴克群 - Wu Ke Qun
6. Goodbye my lover - James Blunt
7. 不想长大 - S.H.E

SEVEN THINGS I LIKE MOST:
1.Waking up after a nice long sleep
2.Having a nice dream that made me smile
3.Good and cheap seafood
4 Loads of money
5. Getting my way
6. Hanging out with my loved ones.
7. mahjong

SEVEN IMPORTANT THINGS IN MY BEDROOM:
1.Bed
2.laptop
3.pepper
4.TV
5.Clothes
6.X Box
7.Multiple fans. freaking air con down

SEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:
1.i love my seafood.
2.i like the feeling of opening my wallet and its chock full with notes instead of bills.
3.i like singing at the top of my voice along with the radio
4.i used to be a pretty good dancer. rofl
5.i want to be able to treat my loved ones (that includes friends) to a HUGE feast. and i can pay for it without feeling the twinge
6.i want my own house... and this will come true pretty soon if all goes to plan
7.i'm ready to settle down for good.

Seven Celebrity Crushes
1. Nadya Hutagulung (once she held my hand and i didn't wash it for a week)
2. Sarah Tan
3. Anne Hathaway
4. Claire Danes
5. Vivien Tan
6. No more. honest
7.

Seven people I want to see do this:
(Let this curse die with me except the following two people)
1. Angel
2. Damien

I'm super gwai

2006-02-03T07:44:00.000+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen,
drumroll please.

I had a sleepless night once again, but instead of wasting it online doing fuck all, I did my tutorial. The first tutorial I've done in almost 3 full years in NUS.

PWAH!!

It was for real estate finance, which means i now have 8 full pages of mathematical calculations, thanks to irritating formulas such as PVA=ANN[((1-(1/(1+i)to the power of n)/i) x FVA(1-i(to the power of n)). its not the formula which is hard, per se, but WHEN to use the right formula.

I probably got most of it wrong, but i'm fucking proud can? I'm going to class later and sit like right in front, just to show off the fact that i did every single question.

come to think of it, this is the first piece of maths related homework that i've done since sec 4. in jc, i just copied off jan or kim.

i can't stop beaming. i would feel like the model student of the year if it wasn't for the 2 emails i received from 2 different tutors asking how come i skipped all their tutorials thus far this sem. oops.

fuck all of that. I DID MY TUTORIAL. beat that, bitches.

actually, there's another reason why i'm beaming today - NEWCASTLE HAS FINALLY SACKED SOUNESS. finally. apparantly the 3-0 defeat to Man city was the final scraw. So what if I lost a hundred bucks on that match? looking back, i now realise that was the best $100 i've ever spent in my life. This will almost certainly mark the end of the 2nd darkest era in recent NUFC history (with the worst being that period under Gullit. Really, back then, i couldn't even smile)

Goodbye you Scottish motherfucker. Good luck finding another job - if you can.

Meme time

2006-02-03T07:21:00.000+08:00

kenna tagged, but since he's a pretty big shot, i'll do it like the good boy that i am.

4 Jobs You’ve Had in Your Life
Waiter
Bartender
Legal intern
Moving staff (I was a fucking coolie who had to carry heavy, brand new furniture into this new building. not bad. got paid like 100 bucks for a couple of hours.)

4 Movies You Could Watch Over And Over Again
Annie Hall (thank you very much, NUS)
It happened one night (Frank Capra has the coolest moustache ever.)
Army Daze (eh shiok can? brings back good memories of toilet washing)
Any one of the Gu Wat Zai movies.

4 TV Shows You Love(d) To Watch
FRIENDS
Nip/Tuck
Desperate Housewives (yes, i'm a pussy)
That 70s show

4 Places You’ve Lived
Dover
That old condo i rented for 2 months at Selegie... can't remember what its called
Tekong Delta Coy. lived there for 3 mths
Sungei Gedong. Had some of the best times during my NS life there.

4 Places You’ve Been On Vacation To
China
Hong Kong
Thailand
Malaysia (every other week. the JB thugs leave me alone. I'm scarier than them. mwahahaha)

4 Places You Would Rather Be At Now
Going out to claim my 1st prize for winning ToTo
On a nice, long holiday.... anywhere would do as long as i had loads of cash
Going on an all expenses paid tour around the World
Anywhere else but in front of the computer doing this stupid meme which reminds me of friendster all over again

4 Of Your Favourite Foods
Prawns (try the adam road big prawn noodles... champion sia)
Crabs (No signboard - their white pepper crabs are super solid)
Fishball noodles (Cannot is it?)
Instant Mee. I like.

4 Websites You Visit Daily
http://tygrreyez.blogspot.com
www.nufcsingapore.com
www.gmail.com
~~www.iloveporn.com~~ www.understandthebible.com

4 Tagged
Denise
Chloe (purpleskies)
Nicole
Pepper

Happy CNY my cheebye.

2006-02-01T18:50:00.000+08:00

sigh
actually CNY isn't that bad - we got to gamble quite a bit this year.
Took no pictures at all, because when you're busy playing blackjack with a fag hanging from your mouth, the last thing you wanna do is to whip out a camera and take photos like a swaku.

Shout outs first -

Heyi, thanks so much for coming down just to 'say hi'. Appreciate it. So sorry you lost money bro. Don't worry - you'll make it back.

Irwin, after all these years, you're still my man. I truly appreciate it bitch. We form quite the powerful team, no?

Violet and Chris, you two played me out. Your loss, chuckle

Jess, great to see you again girl. Nice playing mahjong with you once again. Say hi to your boyfriend for me. Oh and the next time you 'quit smoking', spare me the long lectures k? Was it my imagination or did you enter the gambling den holding THREE packets of viceroy menthol lights? rofl.

The reunion dinner wasn't anything special. Headed over to Toa Payoh, had steamboat before heading down to a KTV with my aunt, uncle, Keith and cousins. Basket - first day of CNY got hangover already.

The highlight of this year's CNY has to be the gambling den we opened at Arena country club. Keith and I booked a room before setting up several stations - the mahjong station and the poker station. What started out as a simple gathering for friends soon escalated into a serious gambling session. Keith's ah beng friends invited even more ah bengs down and before we knew it, we had like bookies and runners at the poker cards station. Seriously, they're like full time bookies and runners outside, so needless to say, the bets were rather big. Keith lost $170 in an hour so I decided to help him out. Irwin and I joined funds (scary leh, each hand had like $30, $40 bets can?) to play - 姜还是老的辣。The old beng (irwin) and the educated beng (yours truly) showed them how bun luck should be played.

But I guess the gambling den day really took a lot out of me. Probably due to the large amount of smoke in the air, I ended up with an eye infection and had to go see the doctor. My right eye was swollen shut, blood red and hurt like mad everytime i tried to open it. According to the doctor, the tear in my retina did not re open and it was nothing more than an irritating eye infection which should go away in a couple of days.

Happy new year my arse. I'm now looking like a pirate again and young kids cry once they see my red right eye

Swaku King

2006-01-27T06:16:00.000+08:00

Remember this pic?

I took it back then on my way back from JB and was raving about how swaku I was cause I had never before seen the '8888' license plate and how funny it was that I finally saw one. In JB.

Guess what?
On my way back from JB this time, I saw this:

I saw '4444' for the first time!!!
Told you i was swaku like fuck.

New digicam.

2006-01-27T05:34:00.000+08:00

I love Standard Chartered Bank. Apparantly, to reward their staff, apart from their basic pay and commission plans, they also give out lovely Taka vouchers just to raise branch morale. (How come we didn't have that in the army? "Sir, I just cleaned the toilet swee swee because you asked me to." "Good boy, here's $100 in Taka vouchers to keep you NS boys happy.")

Anyway to cut the long story short, Jan managed to get like a shitload of Taka vouchers from Standard Chartered so we decided to treat ourselves to something nice. Hence, we made our way down to the Best Denki over at Taka to check out the digital cameras. (We were sick of having to borrow cameras whenever we went overseas or ~~felt like being a cam whore~~ wanted to take artistic shots of the beautiful skyline.)

Anyway, we were originally eyeing the very nice Canon A95 because the screen could be twisted and turned in such a way that you get to ~~check yourself out and make sure your cam whore shots come out nice~~ see very clearly that beautiful skyline you intended to take.

However, the nice man at Best Denki persuaded us to go for the Panasonic Lumix FX9 instead. At about the same price, we now had a sleek machine with 6 freaking megapixels and Mega OIS (so I can take photos while ~~wanking~~ shaking my bag of Shaker Fries from Macs and the photo won't be blurry). Great choice - we now love the cam to bits. And guess how much it cost us in actual cash? $9. (Jan wanted to use the remaining vouchers on her shoes. *roll eyes*) Having used this camera for a couple of days by now, I highly recommend it.

Here's a photo sample -

Took a picture of the movie poster at City Square's cinema (JB). I so wanted to catch that movie, but Jan was freakish about it, so we ended up catching Memoirs. Pussy. Heyi, I know this movie will intrigue you - wanna drive me in to watch it? Its called 'Art of the Devil II' by the way. We can makan there and you can get cheap petrol. rofl. I don't think they're gonna bring this movie in to Singapore. Apparantly, its totally disgusting. Check it out. (The thai name of this Long Khong. Check out the trailer with English subtitles here.)

Don't say I didn't warn you - the trailer is fucking gory. I was cringing like mad. If you can't take this kind of horror, don't bother clicking. Don't come and sue me later and ask me to pay for your therapy - I'm fucking broke.

I love you, Standard Chartered.

PS Chris - I don't bump into you in Singapore but I can bump into you at City Square. Can buy 4D already.

PPS In case you can't see the words on the poster, its 'Thai black magic: If you start it, it will stay with you till the day you die.' Chilling.

又忙又累

2006-01-26T01:01:00.000+08:00

很抱歉，最近没有时间来这里blog - 都怪我那些伙伴。（其实，我知道他们偶尔也会到这里看一看我有没有写他们的坏话，但我懒得去理。我要骂的那个人的华文程度不是很好,so用华文来blog的话，她就看不懂了。）

最近一直在为搬公司的事情在烦恼。明明搞定好的事情呢，过了几天后，又变成了新的问题。而令我最DULAN的是明明几天前口口声声说“没问题”，几天后就变成“问题多多”。只不过是想搬公司而已嘛。。。有这样难吗？“要”也是你讲的，“不要”也是你讲的 - 你到底是想要怎样？不如干脆一点，把你真正想说的话一次过都说出来。至少这样，我还会尊敬你一点。

就是因为这样，我才会这么讨厌和1）我不喜欢的人或2）我不信任的人一起工作。想说出心里话都得先考虑清楚才能开口。即麻烦又虚伪。做人真的需要做到这样辛苦吗？

很久没有喝个痛快了。最后一次真正的喝酒好像是2004年的圣诞节。好想叫那些和我一起开这间公司的人出来一起喝酒，然后和他们一起分担这些无畏的烦恼，但我也知道他们都有着自己的烦恼没和我分担。更何况，就如沈永所说的，这间公司是我创办的- 嗨。。。我不入地狱谁入地狱?

Kiss Goodbye

2006-01-19T08:31:00.000+08:00

Just when I thought that 王力宏 could never hope to do better than Forever Love, he goes ahead and outdoes himself on 'Kiss Goodbye'. I've been playing this song on the iPod almost non stop and I'm itching for a KTV session. Any takers for KTV? Am hoping to go on either Mon or Tues of the CNY hols. Quick quick let me know. I book the room and then we split the cost.

Baby不要再哭泣　这一幕多么熟悉　
紧握着你的手彼此都舍不得分离
每一次想开口　但不如保持安静　
给我一分钟专心好好欣赏你的美

幸福搭配悲伤　同时在我心交叉　
挫折的眼泪不能测试爱的重量
付出的爱收不回　还欠你的我不能给　
别把我心也带走去跟随

每一次和你分开　深深地被你打败
每一次放弃你的温柔　痛苦难以释怀
每一次和你分开　每一次Kiss You Goodbye
爱情的滋味此刻我终于最明白

幸福搭配悲芊同时在我心交叉　
挫折的眼泪不能测试爱的重量
付出的爱收不回　但欠你的我不能给　
我才明白爱最真实的滋味

Really damn nice. If he keeps coming up with classics like this, it'll be no time before he can take over 张学友 as the resident 情歌天王.
SOLID!

PS Linda 姐姐，你的办法真的行。我终于可以用华语blog了！Angel, paiseh but 你的办法行不通

Geisha spoof

2006-01-14T19:37:00.000+08:00

This is the Memoirs of a Geisha trailer

This is the spoof from Mad TV

This is the funniest spoof I've seen in a very very long time.
Check this out and then you'll understand why I would rather watch Bobby Lee's version than Zhang Ziyi's version

Miracle

2006-01-06T00:44:00.000+08:00

How could I throw away a miracle?
How could I face another day?
It's all of my doing
I made a choice
And, today, I pay
My heart is full of pain

How could you understand the way I feel?
How could you relate to so much pain?
Seems as though nothing
Can comfort me
So, today, I pray
That someone should listen

(Chorus 1:)
For nothing should matter
Not when love grows inside you
The choice is yours
There's a miracle in store
Nothing should matter
Not when love grows inside you
A voice of love is crying out
"Don't throw love away"
There's a miracle in store

How could I let go of a miracle?
Nothing could ever take its place
Thought I was looking
Out for myself
Now, it seems the pain
Is all that I have gained

I wonder if I could be your miracle
I wonder if I could spare you pain
Seems as though nothing
Will comfort me
Lord, 'less, today, I pray
That you should come listen

(Repeat chorus 1)

(Bridge:)
Don't ever throw away your miracle
Don't let it slip away
So nothing should matter

(Chorus 2:)
No, nothing should matter
Not when love grows inside you
The choice is yours
There's a miracle in store
No, nothing should matter
Not when love grows inside you
A voice of love is crying out
"Don't throw love away"
There's a miracle in store...for you
                                 - Whitney Housten

Mahjong

2006-01-03T18:02:00.000+08:00

Doesn't anyone in here play mahjong????!!!

My hands are super itchy...

If there's any game out there and you need a player, call me! 98333814.
Hands are super itchy....

P.S

2005-12-30T15:19:00.000+08:00

Oh yeah, forgot to do a couple of shout outs

Nic - what happened? *wail* How come we forgot to arrange a drinking session this hols? Seeing as how YOU were responsible for calling the others like Deniz and Phil out and all I was responsible for was turning up, I would say that its all your fault. nyah nyah nyah.

Lets do it during term time. I'm hardly a model student anyway.

Linda Chia - omfg. Advice from the blogging goddess. I'm not worthy, i'm not worthy.

Siva - Miss XX is NOT a blogging goddess. See above.

SuPhing - have a happy new year with *gallant. chuckle. btw can i have a new code name for 2006? I mean, i read your blog and you have cool code names for everyone. (i.e *gallant, *cheeky, *sheercrazyme and *Dilettante.) Me? I get the lame *kenn. Please do something about it. *incrediblycharmingandohsosuavekenn would do fine. And no, sweetie. I would never think of you as boring. How many magazines are you the editor for again?

Jess - tsk tsk. Got boyfriend also must come out to play mj, you know? can't just leave us in the lurch. btw saw you and your guy at Dover market. you were draped all over him and giggling away. you wily minx.

That's all people! See you all in 2006. unless i come in on NYE.

xoxo
me

Buh Bye 2005

2005-12-30T14:19:00.000+08:00

So Santa Claus DID give me a thunderstorm, but frankly, it came a bit too early. Was kinda hoping that the rain would seriously dampen everyone's ardour that night. However it didn't.

Hey, here's a bit of trivia for you - didja know that the largest percentage of girls lose their virginity on Christmas Day? (To be precise, its the wee hours of Christmas Day, after the Christmas Eve Countdown parties.) Did you guys know that? I most certainly didn't. I would have thought that it would be Valentine's Day or something, but nope - its Christmas. I don't think Catholics have the energy to procreate AFTER midnight mass (that thing is PAINFUL! all that kneeling and standing and kneeling and standing.... a word of advice to those who intend to go for midnight mass next year - THERE IS NO DRESS CODE. there is no official rule that states that you have to go there in a nicely pressed shirt tucked into a nice pair of pants with your hair neatly combed. Just go in a comfy t shirt and berms. Why? Because after all that kneeling and standing, your shirt comes out anyway and your pants start to get dirty and crumpled. As for the hair, after all that, you just wanna tear it all out, strand by strand. So why waste the effort combing in the first place?) Anyway, back to the sex. Since the Catholics are too tired and their knees too weak after midnight mass to fuck, then I can only assume that its the drunken girls who get stuffed in their moment of weakness. Which brings me back to Xmas Eve 2005. We drove by M.S on our way to supper (where Keith swears he saw a lesbian couple making out in the back alley. kinky) and I saw loads of girls passed out along the road, lying in their vomits and looking utterly.... sexy i guess. Wonder how many of them got stuffed that night?

I didn't go for midnight mass this year anyway. I went for Christmas Day Service at OLPS over at Siglap. Not because I was suddenly devout, but because I prayed to God just before a particularly difficult paper and promised Him that if i passed it, i would go back to church. Nice church, nice people who drive nice cars go there. I sat in the lap of luxury all day as the Chans gave me the chance to see how the rich celebrate Christmas. Travelled to and fro all day in a MINI COOPER CABRIOLET - with the top down no less. Went to church in it, went out for dinner in it and went for drinks in it. Amazing. Its funny how when you're sitting in a nice car, even the music that comes from the radio seems so much cooler. Or that could just be due to the speakers on the doors.

I still remember what Jan's mum said to me over dinner (at Laguna country club).
"You like the Mini Cabrio?"
"uh huh. very nice."
"Then you must study hard so that you can get a good job and afford one."

orgh.

So. Its gonna be 2006 in a couple of days. This is the period when people come up with their list of new year resolutions and i look forward to reading yours. So hey, to all my friends, you guys better make a list no matter how silly and then put it up so that I can be impressed with your lives and how organized you guys really are.

Here's mine:

My very proud 2006 resolutions!
1) For fuck's sake, GRADUATE.
2) For fuck's sake, FINISH LEARNING BLOODY JAP. its embarrassing when your relatives can speak jap and you can't.
3) For fuck's sake, FINISH THE BLOODY DRIVING LESSONS. (I just realised that my last lesson was waaaaay back in March last year. I somehow stopped.)
4) Be proudly debt free by Dec.
5) Move out by next year and stop living with my parents.
6) Earn my first $10000. I know i've earned more than that over the years of working. But i've never actually SEEN 5 digits in my savings account before. Would be a major thrill. Then I can go down to the bank, withdraw all my money in 5 cent coins and then go home, swim in a pool of 200000 5 cent coins. What a thrill.

Have a happy new year people.

xoxo
kenn

Lonely Christmas

2005-12-24T18:09:00.000+08:00


誰又騎著那鹿車飛過　忘掉投下那禮物給我
凝視那燈飾　只有今晚最光最亮　卻照亮我的寂寞
誰又能善心親一親我　由唇上來驗證我幸福過
頭上那飄雪　想要棲息我肩膊上　到最後也別去麼

Merry, Merry Christmas
Lonely, Lonely Christmas
人浪中想真心告白　但妳只想聽聽笑話
Lonely, Lonely Christmas
Merry, Merry Christmas
明日燈飾必須拆下　換到歡呼聲不過一剎

明晨遇到　亦記不到和誰在醉酒中偷偷擁抱
仍然在傻笑　但妳哪知道我想哭
和誰撞到　亦怕’生保’　寧願在醉酒中辛苦嘔吐
                                 - Eason Chan
仍然在頭痛　合唱的詩歌聽不到

Dear Santa

2005-12-24T17:00:00.000+08:00

"Dear Mr Claus,
wow! Has it really been another year already? Where did 2005 go?

Well, its Christmas again and everyone's happy. Almost everyone at least - you should be pretty pissed cause while everyone is out there tonight partying, you're out working like mad. And to add insult to injury, they even set a deadline for you and countdown happily to it while you try to deliver just that one more present before time runs out. Oh well, at least the traffic up won't be too bad. I don't think many people will be flying tonight, so you have a pretty free reign of the skies.

I'm from Singapore, Mr Claus. You may not have heard of us, but we celebrate Christmas here too. About 5% of the citizens here tonight will be at their respective churches for midnight mass. These are the people who try to practise the 'real meaning of Christmas' - in other words, you can forget about bringing them any gifts at all cause they don't buy into the entire commercialisation of Christmas. The other 90% of the citizens will be out partying at their respective Christmas Countdown parties and generally enjoying their long weekend. The remaining 5% will be like you - working. These people include the crew for the parties that the ther 90% go for. Oh - and me.

Santa, I've been a really good boy this year. I havn't made fun of people as much this year and I didn't even come up with my customary Christmas list this year. (Actually, I havn't come up with it because even though I've done the list for several years, I've never gotten anything from them. So I've decided to hold off coming up with a list until I befriend a couple more rich kids.) So instead of asking for Christmas gifts this year, could I ask for a Christmas miracle instead please?

To reward me for being a good boy, could you please make sure that there is a HUGE thunderstorm tonight? You see, if there is a huge thunderstorm, all those people at the outdoor parties like the one at Sentosa would be stuck in the downpour. These parties are generally crowded too, so they won't be able to leave the area without much difficulty, so they're gonna be cold, wet and miserable. AND if the thunderstorm is big enough, then there is a chance that there might be an island wide blackout when the power lines are hit by lightning. Then, those people who are enjoying their parties indoor at the clubs and pubs won't be able to enjoy their parties too.

Mr Claus, I guess you must have figured already that having to work and being unable to celebrate, I want the whole of Singapore to suffer together with me. If I can't be happy, then everyone else must be miserable too.

Thank you so much Mr Claus. Send my love to Mrs Claus.
Lotsa Love,
Kenn

PS I realise that the request of mine is really mean and therefore qualifies me to be a bad boy - but if you think about it carefully, I've actually been a good boy for an entire year. You can place this on my tab for next year. I don't really care if I get coal in my stockings for next year.

Help

2005-12-08T15:29:00.000+08:00

Can someone please teach me how to blog in mandarin on blogspot?
I know half the world is doing it, so somebody has to know. Nic?
I could ask the cowboy barflies, but there's no reason why I should let them think I'm an idiot.
That's something they should find out by themselves

Well rested

2005-12-07T07:26:00.000+08:00

I've been trying to regulate my body clock back to that of a normal person's (i.e sleeping when the rest of singapore is asleep and waking up when CNA is showing on Channel 5 instead of the other way round), so I've been falling asleep pretty early these days. The fact that most of my friends are working and schooling, leaving me with pretty much no life, help too.

Slept early again last night and woke up at 7 am, pleasantly well-rested. Had a really vivid dream which brought a smile to my lips. In my dream, I was walking by this small little 2nd hand car show room near Commonwealth after lunch with Jan. Came across this pretty old 2 seater car which was surprisingly roomy. The bigger surprise was the price tag attached to it - only $360 a month. What brought a smile to my face was how much I wanted that car in my dream. I remember kneeling down, scrutinising the car from every single angle, asking Heyi down to check out the engine and other parts for me, making plans to paint the old streptonic sports coupe a fiery red in JB. I remember in the dream, I ran home immediately to make a bargain with my mum - that if I managed to graduate, she should put a downpayment on that particular car as a graduation gift in return for me never once receiving a reward of any sort for doing well in school. I remember clearly how my friends' parents promised them rewards like "I'll give you $200 for each A you score in the O Levels" (ST), "I'll reward you with $100 with each A you score" (JT) and "If you do well in your O levels, I'll take you to Europe for a holiday" (JC) [I've included their initials behind their respective rewards to prove that I wasn't kidding]. Me? After I came home with my results (Hey mum, 6 points. I've been awarded a scholarship to RJC) and told her that I was going out with my friends to celebrate by having dinner before hitting the clubs, she went "Ok. Here's some money for you to spend". And passed me $50.

But that dream brought such a smile to my face because it felt so real. I can still smell the leather of the seats, remember thinking that I needed to change the stereo set in the car, even smell the air freshener that the previous owner had left in it.

Speaking of enjoying the little pleasures in life, I've started listening to the radio again. I'm now pleasantly surprised to realise that songs I once loved have now been relegated to Gold 90.5 FM and that they're being played non stop come late nights. The songs being played certainly brough a smile to my lips ("When I was young, I listened to the radio, waiting for my favourite songs. When they played, I'd sing along - they made me smile") as I recalled with great fondness where I was the first time I'd ever heard the song being played. There is something awfully comfortable about sitting in Jan's car late at night, going down the AYE with little traffic, with the cool air conditioning blowing in your face and listening to these old favourites play softly in the background. To my friends, I honestly want the best for you too and hope that someday, you too can experience the pure tranquility of listening to a song that just speaks out to you while the the passing lights cast soft shadows on your face as you inhale that sweet, sweet taste of cigarette smoke, all mixed up with the cool wind on your face. Sometimes, the best things in life are truly free.

Love can't you see i'm alone
Can't you give this fool a chance
A little love is all i ask - a little kindness
In the night
Please don't leave me behind
No - don't tell me love is blind
A little love is all i ask and that is all

Oh love i've been searching so long
I've been searching high'n'low
A little love is all i ask - a little sadness
When you're gone
Maybe you need a friend
Only please don't let's pretend
A little love is all i ask and that is all

I wanna spread my wings - but i just can't fly
As a string of pearls and pretty girls go sailing by

Ocean deep - i'm so afraid to show my feelings
I have sailed a million ceilings - in my -
Solitary room
Ocean deep - will i ever find a lover
Maybe she has found another
And as i cry myself to sleep
I know this love of mine i'll keep - ocean deep

Love can't you hear when i call
Can't you hear a word i say
A little love is all i ask
A little feeling when we touch
Why am i still alone?
I've got a heart without a home
A little love is all i ask - and that is all

I wanna spread my wings - but i just can't fly
As a string of pearls and pretty girls go sailing by

Ocean deep - i'm so afraid to show my feelings
I have sailed a million ceilings - in my -
Solitary room
Ocean deep - will i ever find a lover
Maybe she has found another
And as i cry myself to sleep
I know this love of mine i'll keep - ocean deep

I'm so lonely lonely lonely...
Maybe..
- Ocean Deep, Cliff Richard

Meme

2005-12-04T00:18:00.000+08:00

Actually, I hate receiving meme batons. As a rule of thumb, its almost irritating because people tend to either (a) try to sound extremely witty and fail or (b) try to act all blase about it. And fail.

However, its been ages since I've done one of these, so I'll do one now and pass it on. So please don't let it boomerang back to me k

Ever been so drunk you blacked out?
x Yeah once. Christmas party 2001. The hangover the next day was bloody brilliant.

Put a body part on fire for amusement?
x Only the hands during the lighter trick. ALTHOUGH recently, during my logic paper, the girl in front of me had the longest hair ever and i remember thinking that i wanted to burn it coz it kept falling on my table.

Kept a secret from everyone?
x Oh all the time. I was actually born a girl.

Wanted to hook up with a friend?
x erm... pass. My girlfriend reads my blog.

Been on stage?
x Too many times to count, including public canings when I was younger.
---------------Favourites------------------

Shampoo?
x Head and Shoulders.

Soap?
x erm Lux I think.

Colour?
x Black

Day/Night?
x Night

Fave Food?
x Janice's cooking. Better than most restaurants, easily.

----------RIGHT NOW----------

Wearing?
x NUS t shirt and adidas shorts. (Bet you wanted to me to say my birthday suit right, you naughty people)

Eating?
x Nothing

Drinking?
x Nothing

Thinking about?
x How gambling sucks. When money isn't involved, you can easily pick winner after winner after winner.

Listening to?
x BBC radio Newcastle

----------THE LAST 24 Hrs-----------

Last night?
x Hung out at Heyi's place till 1 before going back to play Romance of Three Kingdoms 3. classic.

Cleaned your room?
x Not for the last couple of months. The ENV people are gonna have a field day

Ok
now that I've done it, I'm supposed to pass the baton on to 5 people. I'm sorry guys, but since I've done it, misery loves company.

So after much thought, I've decided to pull NICOLE, DENISE, CHRIS SIM, NICHOLAS CHAN and TURION down to hell with me. Do the meme and then blog it.

xx
kenn

ps entries may be a little irregular. I've got quite a few things on my plate at the moment.

Take your punishment.

2005-11-28T02:09:00.000+08:00

Singapore told to spare Aussie's life or face a trade ban

November 28, 2005

THE ACTU has threatened a trade embargo against Singapore if attempts to spare doomed drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van do not succeed over the next 24 hours.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said if there was community support for a boycott or similar action against the Singaporean Government the union movement would swing into action.

"We'd certainly be prepared, with the community, to take whatever action is necessary," she told The Daily Telegraph.

"Enough members have indicated they are more than willing. Anything they could do would be more than welcome, including trade sanctions."

Ms Burrow, who is also the president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, has been in talks with her Singaporean counterparts and says that despite its close ties with the Government there are pockets of support within the union movement there.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union will today seek talks with its Singaporean counterpart and international bodies.

While nothing has been decided yet, there has been union talk of a boycott or work ban on any projects funded with Singaporean money.

Unions NSW has already passed a resolution urging all affiliates to support the campaign to save Nguyen.

The ACTU move came as Nguyen's best friends flew in from Melbourne yesterday for painful farewells to the condemned man.

Bronwyn Lew and Kelly Ng arrived at Changi Airport, the same facility where Nguyen was arrested in late 2002 carrying almost 400g of heroin.

Neither made any comment, but they wore yellow ribbons on their shirts and luggage, symbolising their hopes for a last-minute reprieve for the 25-year old former salesman.

They carried letters of support from well-wishers.

The trio will today pray and sing hymns. They will be separated by glass, but bonded by friendships which reach back to their school days.

Ms Ng, a strong Christian, told The Daily Telegraph that on their last visit she and Nguyen prayed and sang the hymn Strong and Constant.

"We both got strength out of that," she said.

"He's such a special person. We'll be saying some prayers and singing.

"His faith has definitely helped him a lot.

"Seeing him at peace and knowing he has such faith has made it easier for me."

Meanwhile, South East Asian nations began monitoring Australia's attitude to the hanging at a key regional summit.

Australia is set to join next month's inaugural East Asia Summit in Malaysia, thanks in part to strong lobbying by Singapore despite reservations in other participating countries.

Rodolfo Severino, the former secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said Australian reactions to the hanging "could cast some shadows on the Australian participation" in the summit.

But he said other summit participants "are aware of

the position of the Australian Prime Minister".

A veteran Singaporean diplomat, who was asked to comment on the hammering his country was getting in Australia, said: g "I do not, at this stage, see any serious damage to bilateral relations at all."

"That is partly because Singapore leaders have chosen to be extremely level-headed about the issue and have taken pains, at the very highest levels, to explain the Singapore position and the constraints Singapore faces."

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17382837-5001021,00.html

As you guys probably know, I'm perhaps the most apathetic Singaporean around when it comes to politics - but this isn't really politics is it?

I've always believed in one thing - if you've screwed up, then be man enough to take the punishment. (Of course, try to weasel your way outta it first. But when faced with a brick wall, take it like a man.) This is getting almost ridiculous.

But it does make you wonder - what about the Singaporean students over in Australia? What kind of backlash are they going to suffer?

Still keen on emigrating to Adelaide, Pearl? *grin*

This is spooky

2005-11-27T15:28:00.000+08:00

Forget Copperfield and Blaine -

this guy is the best ever!

Floating (NEW)
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Yokohama_4018.html

Chinatown (NEW)
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Chinatown_3864.html

Kiss (NEW)
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Chocolate_4377.html

Card Through Class (NEW)
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Card_...Glass_4378.html

Card Through Class (in the sub)
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/stunningillusion2.wmv

When Cyril meet the star (NEW)
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Korean_3899.html

Vanish
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/stunningillusion3.wmv

Coin thru glass
http://www.stupidcollege.com/subVideo/na.wmv

Tea House
http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Tea_House_4016.html

Chopsticks trick
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/chopsticks.wmv

Grandpa magic
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/grandpajapan.wmv

Burger trick
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/burgertrick.wmv

Matchsticks
http://media.putfile.com/Cyril-Takayama---Matchstick

We all need some laughs

2005-11-25T08:09:00.000+08:00

Bob goes to a bar after a particularly gruelling day at the office, wanting nothing more than to down a couple of quick vodkas. Arriving at the bar, he puts in an order for a vodka on the rocks.
The guy sitting next to him turns to him and goes, "I would order the house cocktail if I were you. The alcohol in it is so amazing, it will make you float as light as a feather."
Bob bursts out laughing.
The guy looks insulted - "You think I'm kidding aren't you? Tell you what - this bar is on the 74th floor. Let's have a $1000 bet. I'll have the house cocktail and then jump out of the window - I bet you I'll be perfectly fine."
Bob does some quick thinking before going, "Fine. But if you're dead, there's no way I can claim my win so we hand over our money to the bartender for safekeeping. Deal?"

The two agree on it and hand over the cash. The guy proceeds to order the house cocktail, downs it in one gulp, walks over calmly to the nearest window and jumps out of it.
Five minutes later, he walks back into the bar - and there isn't even a scratch on him.

"Holy crap! That's bloody miraculous!" exclaims Bob. "Bartender, make me a house cocktail now! I wanna try it myself!"
The bartender makes him a house cocktail which Bob downs in a gulp, after which, proceeds to run to the same window and hurl himself out of it.

Turning to the other guy, the bartender hands over the $2000 before adding, "You know, you're a real asshole when you're drunk, Superman."

In school now

2005-11-24T01:29:00.000+08:00

Its quite nice being in school early in the mornings (I'm talking about the 1 am, the 2 am and the 3 am time slots. NOT the 7, 8 and 9 am time slots. That's obscene. Everybody should only sleep when the sun is up - we're undergrads for fuck's sake). There's nobody but you and your friends and you can blast all the hokkien songs you want at the Arts canteen without anyone looking at you like a freak.

Heyi and I are studying in the school now coz I've got a 9 am paper tomorrow morning. If I go to sleep, chances are, I'll wake up late and that's a risk I cannot afford to take. So I'll rather camp out in school with loads of fags, cokes and friends. Study till 9, go for the paper and then go back home to die.

See, Keith wanted to borrow my bag ages ago and being the wonderful older brother that I am, I said ok. What I forgot was that my pencil case was in that bag too. I've had one pencil case since I was in secondary school (I know. I rarely go to school, so my pencil case ends up being untouched. I even have the scientific calculator and the liquid paper drawings on it that Maryanne used to draw on them in RJ when we weren't paying attention) - and he lost it. The night before an exam and I can't find my pencil case. So I do the next best thing - I borrow Keith's.

I didn't bother going through the contents of the pencil case until now (I'm already in school) and this is what I find inside:

1)1 x GREEN pen (wtf?)
2)Dried up liquid paper (wtf?)
3)1 x naked baby figurine (wtf?)
4)1 x powerpuff blossom figurine (wtf?)
5)1 x la bi xiao xing (crayon shinchan) figurine (wtf?)
6)1 x protractor
7)3 x erasers
8)1 x thermometer (wtf?)
9)1 x stapler
10)2 x sweet wrappers

wonderful. No pens. I guess I can enter the exam hall tomorrow and proceed to place cute little figurines all over my desk and then play with them throughout the exam.

I hate you Keith

xx
kenn

Quote of the day

2005-11-22T07:34:00.000+08:00

"If I want to hear from an asshole, I'll fart."

I suddenly realise how crass I am. My previous quote of the day was -

"Are you an asshole? You're hairy and you stink"

Boobies, buttcracks, farts.

I'm just a dumbass at heart.

xx
kenn

OMFG

2005-11-21T17:45:00.000+08:00

*rolls on floor laughing*

i used to be so slim!!!

saw this on the spurs singapore fan club (please don't ask me why the article is there. groan)

I remember this photo was taken at Sportzballz (well, they still recognise me there, so i guess i'm not unrecognisable as yet) and I was in my first semester at NUS. Now, i'm almost at the end (assuming I can graduate).

time really does fly, doesn't it?

xx
kenn

MIA

2005-11-21T01:52:00.000+08:00

sorry for the appalling lack of updates.
a pretty serious bout of food poisoning has left me weak at the knees with little energy left for blogging. Heck, i havn't even studied for the last 2 days, thanks to the fact that I've been laid up in bed pretty bad.

Question time - if I have MCs for all my papers and I still show up for them, will the profs be more lenient when it comes to grading?

xx
kenn

Sight

2005-11-16T06:24:00.000+08:00

“Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us
To see ourselves as others see us! - Robert Burns

It was poet Robert Burns who wished for humankind the power to see ourselves as others see us. Can you imagine the insights into our lives and existence that would bring? But there is still another perspective on human affairs that is greater still.

What if we could see as God sees? From the study of life, human nature, and Scripture, I’m convinced his perspective would set us free to really live our lives the way it was truly meant to be lived.

If we could see as God sees, we would know that most human fears never materialize. Most of the things most of us spend most of our time worrying over are never going to happen anyway. So we waste energy and weaken ourselves for the day’s task. Maybe this is why Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

If we could see as God sees, we would realize that no problem that does come is insurmountable. In our gloomier moments of financial stress, illness, or family problems, we brood over questions without answers. However, as someone very wise once said, "Someday, this too shall pass". Remember the times when we think back and realise that what once seemed earth shaking and unsolvable is now nothing more than a memory?

If we could see as God sees, we would understand that no trial comes without a blessing attached. It cannot be seen in advance. In our perplexity, we doubt that anything good can come from a heartache. However, in retrospect, I now realise that there have been no problems of mine that didn't come with an advantageous aspect to it, enabling me to grow and learn from it. After all, sometimes, the best thing you can make is a mistake.

No matter what dark cloud you find yourself under, just remember these dark clouds have a tendency to come with a silver lining. Being happy is a choice - therefore I choose to be happy.

Life doesn't suck that bad after all.

"I'd like to be fifteen years old again,knowing what I know now."

2005-11-14T07:23:00.000+08:00

Just spent yet another sleepless night reading an amazing story written by the very talented Al Steiner. Now this is what I call a true writer.

While it will never be hailed as a classic, considering the fact that it comes from the pen (or rather, the keyboard) of an untrained writer (he's a bloody paramedic. he doesn't even write for a living), I have to say that this is one of the most wonderful stories that I have ever read that hasn't been published.

Long time readers of my old blog might remember that I once locked myself in my room for 2 days just to see if I could deliver a screenplay in that time, yet failed when I couldn't come up with a plausible enough ending. It has become a thorn of sorts in my side - an obsession if you like. After months of searching and scouring the internet for similar stories regarding the chaos theory or as its more commonly known -the butterfly effect, I've finally found one which I'm actually excited about. (The Butterfly Effect theorem states that the flutter of a butterfly's wings in China could affect weather patterns in New York.)

Now I'm terribly excited and simply dying to convert it into a screenplay, just for the heck of it. Would make my holidays a lot more interesting. Have already emailed the abovementioned writer to seek his permission to create a screenplay for a short film out of his story. Will see how it goes. I've also emailed the 400 odd page Word document of the entire story to several close friends (Ok - only two. Ling and Kel. Ling's one of the brightest individuals I know, the best friend I've made in NUS as well as a sworn sis to me, so I value her intellectual opinion very highly indeed. Kel, on the other hand, happens to heavily involved in the local media and film industry - would love to hear his views on the plausibility of creating a screenplay out of this)

Goddamn it... I so badly wanna start now.. I can already see the freakin short film in my mind's eye...If only there weren't the fucking irritating exams at the back of my mind...

In my honour

2005-11-13T04:29:00.000+08:00

Just saw this on eguide, asia's best business directory (or so they claim)

Company Name :		KENN ENTREPRISE
Address :		UG PUDU PLAZA JLN DAVIS 55100 KUALA LUMPUR Kuala Lumpur Wilayah Persekutuan 55100 Malaysia
Tel :		03 21423867

wonder what they sell there?

Enough is enough

2005-11-13T02:16:00.000+08:00

Woah. Submitted my FINAL essay of the semester on Thurs (and not a moment too soon, seeing as how my exams start the week after next) - decided to celebrate a little by relaxing a little.

Spent thurs night at Heyi's birthday party at Party World over at the Hello! Singtel building. It was insane, I tell you. That's what happens when you don't drink for 3 years and 8 months, only to start drinking like a fish, simply because your friends FORCE you to. (Not me. I last drank 3 days, 8 hours ago. Was referring to Heyi.) He drank and drank, taking his 'tekan session' like a man. RESPECT! So what if he ended up puking at the carpark opposite Hello! Singtel, out of his car window and at Mr. Bean over at Selegie? You still have my respect bro - cause you took it on the chin like a man. Met 3 new friends of Heyi's that night as well, which was fantastic because I didn't know that there were so many educated bengs over in NUS. How beng were they? Lets put it this way - one of them owns a garage for zhnging cars and another is a part time debt collector (he has loads of lobangs for pig heads, in case anyone needs.) Birds of a feather really do flock together. *grin* But this party was memorable, not only because I got to see Heyi drunk for the first time in the 8 years that I've known him, but for 3 other reasons -
1) I got to meet other educated bengs from NUS and I got along well with them, ah hong in particular. I rike!
2) This is the first time EVER that I found myself being the OLDEST one at a party. Granted, I'm just months older than both Heyi and Ling - but STILL??!!
3) I got to drive Heyi's Toyota - the one which he doesn't allow ANYONE to touch. *chuckle* That's what happens when you drink too much and can't drive yourself home - your friend gets to play around with your car.

Friday night was spent with the NUFCSG lads cause it was Keegan's birthday. Started the evening at Marina South where we all had the steamboat buffet before taking a short walk down to Breeze Bar. It wasn't till later that the madness REALLY started. Apparantly, there were bikini dancers over at Dennis' work place and to celebrate his birthday, they got the very drunk Keegan to strip off his top before enjoying a lap dance from the bikini girls. I'm not even gonna mention the third round of celebrations where Keegan and some lads headed over to Geylang to... aiyah you know lah. Apparantly after the deed, he couldn't even remember if he managed to do anything - he was THAT drunk. I say apparantly because I DIDN'T GO. *rolls on floor laughing* Told you guys I was guai, didn't I? Videos to follow soon once they upload it. (HELL YES! VIDEOS!! *guffaw*)

Something seems to be wrong with me these days. I used to club. A lot. Most of my working life thus far has also been spent working at clubs (Zouk, Venom, Amoeba, Tajie and Sole Luna - been there, done that.) But after spending two contrastingly different nights out with two sets of friends (Thurs with the slightly more cheena crowd at a KTV and Fri with a more ang moh pai crowd at a club), I feel... ... bored? I mean, the company was great and I had fun - but looking back now, it feels kinda funny deep down inside. Its almost as if everyone has a certain amount of clubbing related fun allocated to them, a quota if you like - and I've exceeded mine. After working at so many clubs, you do get kinda sick of the incessant clubbing, the drunken nights spent to hone your drinking capabilities, the vomitting, the sweaty restless sleep... ... I've been there and I've done it - and I'm not interested in heading back. I still wanna open my own pub/club someday, but I don't wanna club myself. Am I making sense??

I feel old.
cheebye

Dawn is a miracle worker

2005-11-11T17:06:00.000+08:00

This is the price of celebrity and fame, my dear. People WILL dig up your photos, especially when you explicitly deny ever having plastic surgery.

Let me repeat myself again - I AM NOT A DAWN YANG DETRACTOR.

DISCLAIMER - i did not dig up these photos. They're being plastered in other forums. So if they're wrong, just let me know and they'll be taken down

This is how she looks like now:

The following are pictures of Dawn back in SCGS and RJC
here's her SCGS pic

This is her in RJC

Her prom in 2002

Random photo, dated 29th Nov 2003

And just a quick reminder of what she looks like now:

Honestly - if it wasn't plastic surgery, all I can say is that it must have been a blooming miracle.
I know it might seem as if I'm picking on the dear girl, but I am not. If anything, I respect her more now.

The best is yet to be

2005-11-10T18:35:00.000+08:00

I put this down to stress
oh well, i guess i havn't forgiven you guys for showing up at K.A.P (King Albert's Park macs). I mean, what were you guys thinking? The lines were drawn clearly - ACS boys go to Holland V, Chinese High boys go to KAP (for the cute MGS girls, the scholarly Nanyang girls and the pweety SCGS girls) while RI boys go... I think they went home to study.

Speaking of KAP.. such fond memories. I just realised that I've dated girls from all three above-mentioned schools..

Life is good.

xx
kenn

Indian girl's one-rupee suicide

2005-11-10T08:47:00.000+08:00

A 12-year-old Indian girl committed suicide after her mother told her she could not afford one rupee - two US cents - for a school meal.

Sania Khatun lived with her mother in a village north of Calcutta under a tarpaulin sheet provided by the state.

Sania normally ate nothing at school but on Friday saw classmates eating rice and asked for one rupee.

Her mother scolded her and when she returned from work found her daughter hanged from the ceiling with a sari.

"She wanted just one rupee... but her mother could not give her the money due to poverty," government official Nakul Chandran Mahato told the Reuters agency.

'Snapped'

The mother, Jainab Bewar, is a widow who works as a maid in the village of Paraspur, 200km (125 miles) north of Calcutta.

She normally fed her daughter with food she could get from the houses she worked in.

India's Telegraph newspaper said Sania was tempted by the sight of classmates eating puffed rice and oil cakes.

Ms Bewar told the newspaper: "I did not give her the money as I did not have it. I snapped at her when she insisted on it."

She and her sons never earn more than $13 a month combined, she says.

India has seen unprecedented economic growth in recent years but many remain untouched by the improvements.

A recent UN report said half of India's children were still malnourished.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and to think that last night, I was bitching about the malfunctioning aircon in my room.
I feel ashamed.

Hoo Ha!

2005-11-10T01:07:00.000+08:00

"You know the best reason for hating everyone? By hating everyone I automatically become cooler than everyone else. The rules of despising people is that by doing it, you automatically put yourself in the position of coolness. This is awesome. Since I’m implicitly scared that they’ll think I’m not cool enough for them, I can pre-empt this by telling myself how much they suck. Which they do. Now, if you excuse me, I have to get back to my instant noodles and drama serials. Seriously, I must be like the coolest person on the earth."

The above was from Joel's blog and believe me, I happen to think that he IS cool. (if you've heard some of his erm stories, you would too)

If you read today's new paper, you would probably have noticed Dawn on the cover. Described as 'Singapore's hottest blogger', it was also reported that Dawn had been signed up by a talent agency which plans to have her undergo intensive 'singing, dancing, Mandarin and even Japanese' lessons.

waitaminute.

There are sooo many errors in that report that I was left with a sour taste in my mouth.

Disclaimer: I am neither a 'Dawn Yang' supporter or detractor. As a matter of fact, I honestly don't care that she's getting this deal. Power to her.

1)Singapore's hottest blogger?
This is going to be a personal point. I honestly don't think that Dawn is the prettiest blogger in Singapore, although this is of course extremely subjective. Even Daphne is prettier than she is, although since both are my RJ juniors, I shall be nice and say that they're both pleasant looking. But I am irritated when you go to public forums or to Miss 'I am the winner of the 'Asian best blog' award's blog and you see people blasting Dawn for SUPPOSEDLY having plastic surgery. You judge for yourself.

"Tell me what you don't like about yourself"

Like I said earlier, I still think Daphne is 'hotter' than Dawn, but maybe that's just me.

You see and be the judge for yourself. (Which reminds me - Dawn's blog is very much like Daphne's - loads of nice looking photos of their wonderful, beautiful lives. Enough to give anyone an inferiority complex. Remind me to link Dawn Yang too.)

Fuck la - lets just end this debate here and now. In any case, its irrelevant to my post. The hottest blogger is this one:End of story
However, it doesn't matter whom you think is hotter. It irks me to no end that people on public forums are slamming Dawn for SUPPOSEDLY having plastic surgery. (Ok, lets assume for argument's sake that she HAS.) So what if she has had plastic surgery? Is that any worse than doing photoshop to all your photos just to garner more hits? If she can afford it and is happy with the idea of plastic surgery, more power to her. In any case, loads of people over at Mediacock have had plastic surgery of some form. She would be in fine company. As a matter of fact, I want plastic surgery and I can't afford it - which is making me extremely depressed because i desperately want to look like this:

MWAHAHHAHHAA. Fuck it. I think I'd rather remain the way I look. Much less idiotic.

2)I do have a problem with the talent agency signing her up though. Not because of Dawn, whom I'm sure is a bright and nice young girl. But because not only are they trying to hop onto the blogging bandwagon, they're doing it in a ridiculous fashion. Look - you guys aren't a modelling agency. I run a modelling agency and I would sign her up because yes, she's a pretty girl. But then again, I don't run a talent agency that gives half arsed advice do I? To sign up a girl and then put her through all that intensive training - really speaks volumes about what you think she's capable of at the moment doesn't it? I was always under the silly impression that in order to showcase your talent, you should first BE talent spotted before being signed up by a talent agency. Not the other way around. These suckers are signing her up and then proceeding to train her in what she should already be good at. Bloody ridiculous. And to give her lame arsed advice like, "keep a 'single status' for the sake of your career' just as she proudly admitted to having a Singaporean boyfriend. *roll eyes*. Lets have something different for once - a wannabe star admitting to being normal and wanting the same things that we do, instead of going for that 'unattainable yet approachable' aura which is so passe. i'm sure dawn's fart is as smelly as yours and mine - ok, maybe not as bad as yours.

3)The part of the article that left me rolling on the floor in laughter was Miss Wendy Cheng's response to Dawn being called a blogger. They wrote, and I quote, "Local blogger Wendy Cheng aka Xiaxue told the New Paper huffily:"She's not a real blogger. She's just a pretty girl who happens to have a blog."

"I is a real blogger!"

So Miss Cheng, according to your definition, what IS a real blogger? Someone who shoots out an insensitive post about Malaysia and the using of handicapped toilets? Someone who puts up an endless stream of photoshopped photos of herself at parties with Eileen Wee (wah piang eh. Yours is a C list Eileen Wee, Dawn's is Fiona Xie. *guffaw*) to prove that she's happening? (Sorry babe, but to me, Jess will always be the queen of happeningness.) Look, I'm too lazy to launch into a tirade against Ms Cheng's sour attitude, but Wendy, shouldn't YOU of all people be more understanding about how blogging could lead to many other opportunities? *sigh* Go check out this guy. He does a better job of slamming Miss Cheng than I could ever care to do.

PS Sorry about that photo Miss Cheng, but I don't do photoshopping.
PPS Sorry for making you guys look at that photo. I feel bad.

Later guys,
Kenn

Bored stiff

2005-11-07T05:27:00.000+08:00

Well, I'm still bored stiff and wanted to fool around so I started surfing the internet

1)Did you know that you could get yourself a cool Japanese name?

Check this out

Just type in your name and they assign you with a cool Japanese name. Quick go try and then post it in the tag box. I wanna see what your Jap names are

I tried it out and apparantly, my parents should've named me KENSHIN DEGUCHI. wah.. not bad. but sounds a bit poseur - Kenshin.. sounds like one of those young punks with green hair and nipple rings.

2)Ambigram central

Tried to find an ambigram generator which could come up with a really cool ambigram for Kenn. That way, I could probably use it for my next tattoo or as the banner for this blog. Unfortunately, the only ambigram generator around comes up with a really wussy Kenn.

Try making ambigrams for yourselves.

Flip your name here

Does anyone here have a talented artist friend who happens to be good at making ambigrams? I'm willing to pay to get an ambigram design of my name. Help me out here yeah?

3)Cool toys.

This has to be heaven for the boys. and the best part? Its local - like Tiger Beer

They have almost any gadget which Dick Tracy would be proud to own. If you're looking for an original and creative gift for Christmas, this site is king.

Blow hard earned cash here

The funnies have left the room

2005-11-07T04:27:00.000+08:00

Its not like I was funny before, but I certainly feel painfully unfunny right now. Remember how I used to have that insomnia problem where I couldn't sleep until the sun came out, almost like a vampire? Well, I thought that the problem was licked after a couple of months of proper sleeping habits. Turns out, it ain't licked after all. Its 4.28 am right now and I officially feel like shit. Tried sleeping, only to end up lying on my back, worrying about financial problems.

I don't know man... I got up to read some blogs just to try and destress. Read a couple of funny ones (which makes you wonder - are they really that funny in real life? I mean, their blogs are side splittingly funny, so when you meet them in real life, are they really a laugh a minute and really witty to boot or do they just try to be clever and funny in their blogs? I havn't met many bloggebrities (blogging celebrities) in real life except for Rambotan (and I assure he is as funny in real life as he is in his blog. Funny how life turns out. I hated the sight of him in RJ. thought he was a pussy.) as well as a couple of photologs (Blogs with very little content but are filled with bee-yoo-ti-ful photos of their picture perfect lives. fuck. I hate you guys. I want your lives)

There are some people out there whom you can't help but admire, simply because they're so together y'know? They seem to know exactly where they're heading, exactly what they want and exactly what needs to be done next. They're confident, articulate and they seem so... what's the term here - organized? boring? predictable? Whatever the term is, the fact remains that they know what they want out of life. And at 4.28 am, that's what I want too. Maybe I'm getting a little tired of the whole unpredictability that was once my greatest attraction in the eyes of others.

Just the other day, Pearl called me out of the blue, telling me about this magazine which required writers on a contract basis. Suddenly, I'm a writer. If I get that freelance writing gig, I'd officially have been writing for three magazines - all in the space of a month. Which brings me to my next point - how unpredictable life is.

When I was a kid, I NEVER wanted to be a writer. An actor, yes. A businessman, yes. A lawyer, yes. A writer? No. There's no money in writing and believe me, writer's block has to be one of the most irritating things anyone can ever go through. Do I consider myself to be a good writer? Far from it. I can easily pick out many bloggers who are much better writers than me (and bloggers aren't even bona fide writers, no less). So is that who I am? A writer?

Just the other day, Ling told me over msn that I seem more together these days - more toned down. Which is funny, seeing as how if anything, I'm at the point in my life where I don't have a clue what it is that I want to do with my life. Maybe Dana was right when she said that every single time she meets me, I appear lost to her. Little lost boy. I like that. Almost has a Michael Jackson quality to it.

But you know what? Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way. Maybe knowing what I want out of life isn't important. Maybe knowing exactly what needs to be done next isn't that important. Maybe not knowing where I'm headed might turn out to be the best thing that's ever happened to me. Tonight, I read about your lives and I admire you for knowing what you plan to do next and for being so together. Maybe someday, you might look back at the path I've taken and admire me in return for having tried things that you would never attempt because "it just wasn't in the plan". Maybe.

We're not that different, you and I

2005-11-04T21:31:00.000+08:00

Did you catch our 'favourite comedian' (whose favourite is he? Certainly not mine) Gurmit Singh on channel 5, telling people to tune in to the upcoming local drama 'Lifeline' (don't these people ever learn??? After Masters of the Sea and VR Man, still want to try drama... stick to PCK starring... OOI. YOU GUYS NO MORE ACTORS ALREADY IS IT? TELL ME LAH! I ACT FOR YOU GUYS. CHEAP CHEAP SOME MORE.), in which, he gets his "First serious drama".

No what Mr Singh - you forgot about 'Gurmit's World' That was pretty serious to me. seriously bad, that is.

"Hey, where's my mole?"

Actually, this new character of his looks quite the same as his old one in PCK. The biggest similarity? They still wear the big, ugly, rubber boots.
DONCH PRAY PRAY AH

Bali

2005-11-02T02:45:00.000+08:00

Ok, i've been back from Bali for more than a week by now, so thoughts about Bali are gradually disappearing from my mind.
So I'll just post a couple of photos and talk a bit about it

Basically, being the neurotic and lifeless creep that I am, I decided to check in earlier (TWO FUCKING HOURS EARLIER) just to make sure that I wouldn't miss the flight. (I actually consider this trauma from an earlier childhood incident where my dad took his own sweet time and we ended up missing our flight to China. Its all your fault dad. Fuck you.)

Anyway, Jan sent me to Changi Airport and we decided to have dinner there. Normally, if I'm at Changi Airport, I would insist on having Popeye's for makan - because the fried chicken is good and the mashed potato excellent. Alternatively, it would be prawn noodle soup at the Terminal 2 food court (for the uninitiated, i once stayed at Changi Airport for a couple of days when I left home in a huff, so I'm bloody familiar with the airport. Trust me on this, having eaten loads of food there, the only thing worth having at the food court would be the prawn noodle soup.)

"Why you neber eat me?"

Anyway, we decided on eating Japanese because Marybrown had an outlet at Changi Airport too. I'm also a huge fan of Marybrown chicken and I make it a point to have it whenever I'm in Malaysia - you tell me, like that HOW TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE TWO? when you're torn between two loves and don't want to hurt either one, Walk away.
So we settled for painfully overpriced and disgustingly awful Japanese food. Jan - I'm sorry. We should just have had the fucking prawn noodles.

gross Jap udon

So anyhoo, had an uneventful flight there coz I slept like a baby the entire trip. For those who have never ever travelled with me on a plane before, here's a bit of trivia for you. I take sleeping pills upon boarding the plane. Not because I have a fear of flying, but because I feel trapped in that seat for so long. I even have a huge stack of 'Please do not disturb me' stickers given out by stewardesses. Was met at the airport by the local correspondent there who very nicely understood that I was still a bit out of it, thanks to the sleeping pills. So he decided to spare me the city tour and just take me directly to the hotel. Here's a pic of my room:

From another angle:

Altogether now: wow. The room was fucking huge. So guys, the next time you guys visit Bali, please remember to stay at the Keraton Jimbaran Resort. If for nothing else, for this:

PHWOAR! the toilet seat has a fucking BIDET can??!! basically how it works is this - you shit, you're too lazy to clean your arse, so all you need to do is reach out and press a button. VOILA! (that's french for "My arse is now clean") true, its not as swank as japan where you can wash AND blowdry your arse, but for bali, i thought it was the coolest of cool. i was in bloody heaven. alone in a foreign land, with my room service supper waiting for me on the bed, sitting on the throne reading a ~~porno mag~~ philosophy text and water was swirling around my arsehole. altogether again - PHWOAR!

anyway, had to wake up super early the next day so that my photog and I could meet up for an early breakfast near the volunteer effort base before getting to work. This was our breakfast:

simple breakfast of sambal fish, egg and a bowl of soup with something that looked like dog meat

The same table, merely 5 minutes later:

Guess we were really hungry.

Anyway, the next couple of hours passed in a haze as I holed myself up in the resort's business centre after doing the interview with the volunteers. I'll try to post a link to the article once its officially out.

Another cheesepie week, so I'm going to be bloody busy. Got 4 essays due by Friday, not to mention a project due by Wed. This royally sucks.

How true, how true

2005-11-02T01:55:00.000+08:00

The man knows his stuff.

Studying in school

2005-10-31T20:41:00.000+08:00

That's the problem with studying in school at night. Instead of buckling down to do some serious work, you end up smoking and talking cock with Heyi, covering topics ranging from Hazel Park Condo (we're leaving school at 9+ to head over to his place to check out the facilities there) to the Pajero Mini vs the Suzuki Jimny.

See, i LOVE the Suzuki Jimny. I thought it was the coolest of cool. Heyi, being a former Pajero Mini owner, has been trying to convert me to the Pajero gang with little success. However tonight, he has totally converted me. I now officially love the Pajero Mini. Why?
Simple
1)The Pajero has a smaller engine capacity when compared to the Jimny - but hey. I'm a safety driver. Plus - pumping full tank for the Pajero Mini is only $40+. WOOT.
2)The Pajero Mini has fewer drivers - so the chances of bumping into a car like mine would be rarer.
3)The Pajero Mini looks nicer than the Suzuki Jimny. plus you can get loads of nice extras like Helios side lights, mud flaps and other little accessories. The Jimny gets none of that.
4)Most importantly, the Pajero Mini is quite a lot cheaper than the Suzuki Jimny. WOOT!

Here are some pictures in case you had no idea what I was going on and on about:

My former love: bye bye, Jimny boy

My current love:

hello.... Pajero

Just for the heck of it, here's a pic of Heyi's old Pajero which he misses so much:

What's the moral of the story? Not much studying goes on at the Dungeon (or as I call it, the Philosophers' Corridor)

PS Yes I'm back from Bali. Once I get the cable for the stupid camera, will blog and post photos. ;p

Thank you angels

2005-10-19T17:12:00.000+08:00

This is going to be a very short post because I'm packing and getting ready for Bali.

Woke up in a major panic because I had overslept and had only an hour odd to start and complete an entire essay before the start of the lecture. If I didn't finish the essay, I would have gotten an outright zero for the entire portfolio project for art and philosophy.

Rushed to school, forgetting my fags and both my handphones in the process. So this is where I take the opportunity to thank several people:

1)To the cool guy smoking outside my lecture hall, thank you. Thanks for being so nice and GIVING me a stick when i was willing to pay for it - that was incredibly friendly of you. Word of advice though - please don't smoke marlboro lights anymore. It made me light-headed for a while. But thanks nonetheless.

2)To the gay guy who lent me your lighter - erm... thanks.

3)To Ling, thanks for the can of coke and for the numerous sweets to stop the panicking whilst in school. And for the lift home after school. Appreciate it all. Just remember - in life, in order to find the right answers, you must first ask the right questions. Sort it all out - its not that difficult.

Later y'all

ps i've gotten into the irritating habit of calling my friends 'cheesepies' instead of 'cheebyes'. Because its kee-uter.

Bali, here I come

2005-10-16T18:52:00.000+08:00

Well well Bali.. I've always wanted to go there as a tourist. I've heard lovely stories about moonlight walks on the beaches, lazy afternoons by the poolside and seafood dinners on the white sands..

But I never would have thought that my first trip ever to Bali wouldn't be as a tourist, but as a journalist (of sorts.) Disclaimer: I'm not a journalist by training. My writing is crap. Heck, a Brenda Starr I'm not) I'm supposed to travel to Bali next Friday to interview the volunteers there who are busy trying to dish out much needed aid and to try and rebuild the community, restoring a sense of identity amongst the confused and terrified Balinese.

I feel for them. I really do. Another time and I would be ~~terrified~~ thrilled at the chance to do some writing about a proper cause or issue (not counting philosophy essays that I'm forced to do in school). I mean, there are only sooo many lifestyle articles like "Chill out with the latest cocktails" and "Coolest watering holes - Where to go to see and be seen" that one can write before getting brain dead.

HOWEVER

(as shallow as this may sound) flying to Friday would mean missing perhaps the biggest match of the entire season on Saturday - Newcastle vs Sunderland. Unbelievable timing isn't it? My first trip to Bali to do something interesting and mildly worthwhile for once, and it coincides with a day that I've circled on my calendar since the fixture list was released. Oh well... I guess there's still the away match. Howay the lads!

Sunderland's latest lineup struck fear into opposition hearts

Unreal conversation

2005-10-11T16:55:00.000+08:00

had an msn conversation with my friend today which left me in stitches. the funniest part about it? he was dead serious.
(names have been changed to protect identity)

H:hey bro.. my frend lookin for tai tai.. any lobang..
me: HUH?
H: basket u in modeling industry wat.. got lobang..
me: i'm confused bro
me: your friend is a guy?
H: yar...
me: and he's looking for a sugar mummy?
H: yar.. u got it
me: hahahahhahhaahhahahha fuck off la. don't be farnie can?
H: fark lar.. got anot?
H: u sure hav..
me: of course not la!
me: basket
me: everyone also wants a sugar mummy
me: i also want - best is if can find a 90 year old one, no sex drive, about to die but fucking rich
H: i heard tat there are few pubs.. ard wif tis kinda pple rite? any idea?
me: you have any photo of your friend, out of curiosity?
H: yar..
me: lai lai. kan yi kan. send it over. i pass professional judgement.

(after looking at the picture)

me: bro, no offence, but you're fucking joking right?

talk about a surreal conversation

Some things never change

2005-10-07T13:44:00.000+08:00

Link to the article

Parents are up in arms over a tough PSLE maths paper and the students are in tears.
Talk about taking kiasuism to brand new heights.
groan

My favourite quote from the article -

"Maybe they were not 'routine' questions, so the children didn't know what to do."

Speaks volumes about the local education system doesn't it?

'nuff said.

What a fucking week

2005-10-07T13:09:00.000+08:00

What a fucking week this has been. In the past week, I've done no less than EIGHT fucking essays. yes, EIGHT. don't believe me? Count 'em for yourself.
1) Is it possible to conceive of a mind-independent particular, if Russell’s fundamental epistemological principle is true?
2) What is Quine’s strategy for avoiding commitment to universals?
3) Explain one of Kripke’s objections to strong descriptivism, and one of his objections to weak descriptivism
4) How does Putnam argue for semantic externalism?
5) Explain the Frege-Geach problem (pretend you’re explaining it to another philosophy student who isn’t taking this module).
6) Quasi-realism - does it exist?
7) McNaughton writes on page 27, “Non-cognitivism is not committed to the view that, since a moral utterance expresses an attitude, it cannot also express a belief. It can do both.” (Cf. the very last sentence on p. 13.) What do you understand McNaughton to be saying here? How does it square with you understanding of what it means to be a non-cognitivist? What is the significance of McNaughton’s claim? What are its implications?
8) Imagine someone tells you she is a noncognitivist who is an externalist about moral motivation. Describe this view. Is it plausible? Explain.

There you go. EIGHT - and not just that - i also had to do a logic midterm test that was worth 40% of my overall logic grade.Talk about the week from hell. Watched GOAL! twice but had to rush off after each screening immediately so that I could go home, do work, fall asleep at 7 am before waking up after a few hours to trudge over to the NUS library just to do work AGAIN.

oh and that's not all.Dear sweet Pearl, the editor of HOT! Magazine finds it necessary to call me twice a day and email me 4 times to bug me incessantly regarding the design work for the magazine.

oh and guess what?

My mum just quit her job. She wasn't happy about taking a 2K paycut (from 6K+ at her previous job to just 4K+). So she just quit. Like that. Without having a replacement job lined up.I now officially come from a family with two unemployed parents and one where I also officially earn the most.

Life bites sometimes.
Cheebye.

Because i need some brainless fun

2005-10-04T13:50:00.000+08:00

Simply because I needed some brainless fun.
The cool thing is I can get t-shirts printed with my cyborg on it. Fun, no?
Decided to do some for my friends and I think mine is still the coolest. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself

Here's Jan's:

Exploration only... mine is a killing machine can??
Here's Keith's:

Troubleshooting!!! LOL!!!!!! useless!

hmm... infiltration and sabotage.. a bit cooler than troubleshooting i suppose, but not as cool as killing machine!

Last one:

Nullification? is that the ominous nullification or the lame ass one which is more or less pet steralisation?

great fun. brainless, but fun.
go get your own cyborg here

GOAL! premiere(s)

2005-10-03T22:21:00.000+08:00

Its going to be a very very busy week for me, so I won’t be updating here until this weekend.

However, I AM thrilled because I’m going to not just one, but TWO GOAL! Premieres. The first with Jan on Tuesday and the 2nd with Chris and Keith on Wednesday. The first is organized by GV in conjunction with the NUFCSG fan club while the second is organized by ESPN and they gave us all free tickets!!!

So bearing in mind the fact that the movie opens on the 6th Oct, I would have caught it not ONCE, but TWICE by then.

Heh

Go watch, go watch.

Link to the trailer

"How could you?"

2005-09-29T14:19:00.000+08:00

Please don't ever wear fur. I know its Singapore and nobody in their right mind wears fur (unless they have a death wish).
But earlier today when i was at the NUS library, I saw a friend who was wearing a jacket with a fur collar and sleeves. So I asked if it was faux fur. Turns out, it was the real deal.
Not just that - she was proud that she could afford the real deal.
And she's a dog owner as well.
It just turns my stomach.

check out this video and tell me you can still find it in you to wear fur. heck, if i wasn't allergic to veges, i would turn vegetarian too.

Video (NC 16)

Shout out

2005-09-27T13:17:00.000+08:00

shouting out to angel: HELLO!!!

its always a nice feeling when a friend finds your blog. I've known Angel since my freshman year - but we've never met in spite of us being in the same school. In fact, there have been many opportunities for our paths to cross, but somehow, this has never happened. I believe she stays in hall - I stay at Dover which is opposite NUS. She KTVs, so do I. yet we've never physically met up before.

I believe i first 'met' Angel years ago in FOD where we had our first blogs. then when I migrated to bravenet, she followed my progress and continued to read my crappy writings. Ditto for moblog when I went there for that silly competition. And now that I'm anchored at blogspot, she's managed to find me again. SO SWEET!!!!

When i first started Looking Glass Models, she recommended a couple of friends to my agency, so i'm in her debt as well. And now, when I meet her on MSN, she lectures me for not being able to speak japanese (actually, she even goes as far as to correct my pathetic attempts. Show off) despite being 1/4 jap. Oh well. I've linked her in any case, cause she's just such a sweet nice thing. Oh - a word of warning - this insane engineer in training now wants to be a diplomat, so she's taking TWO foreign languages, jap and german. Hence the lengthy postings in japanese on her blog. If you don't read jap, chances are, you're gonna be skipping quite a few entries. heh

Eh Angel, must find some time, you can bring your Shane while I bring my Jan and we can all go talk cock sing song ah!

MSN messenger 7.5

2005-09-27T01:15:00.000+08:00

rediscovered the joy of msn messenging again. i tend to shy away from logging on unless i'm bored cause all of a sudden, there's that disco lights effect where your entire taskbar is full of flashing lights from people who are clamouring to talk to you. (not because i'm popular, but because i'm a such an anti social craphead, they don't get to see me in the flesh)

then today, i saw keith's version of msn messenger which was way cool. i was totally amused with nudging, winking and sending ultra cute emoticons. something i couldn't do cause i was using msn messenger 6.2. sad huh? basically i'm like a swaku turtle in a turtle food store now - playing around with the new fangled msn features. eh, go upgrade to msn messenger 7.5 leh. that way, we can all have fun together. nudge nudge wink wink

Now i'm actually checking out the price of web cams cause both jan and i are gonna be ridiculously busy. at least with web cams, we get to 'hang out' a bit. and since we can't afford ridiculously hip 3G phones, cheapo webcams will have to do.

Its confirmed

2005-09-22T11:13:00.000+08:00

It’s confirmed.
From the CNA website:

Link

What can I say? In the past, when people asked me if I’ve ever thought of immigration, my usual reply was to scoff immediately. Why move? I mean, I DO want to work overseas for a couple of years, as that would be give me the chance to broaden my horizons and build up a contact network like none other. But eventually, I always wanted to come back home and raise my kids here.

Where else in the world can you enjoy hot, steaming soft boiled eggs with a kopi-o at the kopitiam, watching Suzanne Jung on CNA?

Where else in the world would you feel perfectly safe on the streets late at night after a couple of drinks?

Where else in the world could you have all your friends and family, readily available for meet ups?

Where else in the world could you say “I’m home” without feeling that slight twinge deep inside?

The beautiful thing about Singapore is that no matter where you go, which corner you turn or whichever building you enter, from that moment on, there’s a memory (sweet or otherwise) attached to it. Whenever I go by Joo Seng road, I can’t help but smile at the place where the first office I’ve ever set up stands. Even though it was a bittersweet experience, I still feel that twinge of poignancy. Singapore is home and there are memories on almost every single spot all around me. The bus route where I had my first kiss, the hidden little Macs that my ex girlfriend and I used to go to... too many memories all around...

Maybe its time to create new memories somewhere else.

No more?

2005-09-22T01:54:00.000+08:00

That’s it. Enough is enough.
My friend called me up tonight all hysterical (by the way, if you guys reading this happen to know my private number, here’s a word of advice for you – DO NOT call me after midnight these days. I’m trying my hardest to regulate my body clock again so I’m normally in bed by then. Tolong lah – mai kajiao la.) Fortunately for him, his news was rather spectacular, so I didn’t fuck him outright.

Apparently, he had heard from CNA that the government had recently announced that they plan to ban the importing and sale of cigarettes by the year 2015. My initial reaction was that of skepticism – “Don’t talk cock can? The gahmen makes so much from nicotine taxes each year, they stop selling my ass lah.” However, he was adamant and insisted that the ever trusty CNA really and truly had reported that exact news – so I did what any self respecting netizen would do. I went to EDMW.

http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?p=15766259&posted=1#post15766259

Apparently, my friend wasn’t the only one who heard it on the news. Can somebody please confirm it? I’m suffering from heart palpitations as I type and my body clock is gradually winding down once again (however, if you didn’t get to hear of it as yet, then remember – you heard it here first)

For the strangest reason, the only thought running through my head now is, ‘Its time to leave. For a looooong time.”

I am...

2005-09-20T15:12:00.000+08:00

I am the baby who was brought up by his grandparents when his mother suffered from post-natal depression and had to, like her new born son, learn how to stand on her own two feet again.

I am the toddler who grew up in fear of his mother’s return home from work because that would signal the start of his lessons, the same lessons which would set the foundations for the rest of his life.

I am the kid who took the school bus to Primary 1 without his parents, because they simply couldn’t fork out the time, and wondering why the other kids were crying when their parents were there.

I am the boy who insisted on wanting to learn how to play the piano, which eventually turned into a chore.

I am the boy who stole Archie comics from the local mama shop because I couldn’t afford them.

I am the brother who fought with you all the time when we were kids.

I am the brother who tailed the bully who beat you up all the way to his house before proceeding to beat him up too.

I am the brother who got jealous and hurt because you told me your friend’s older brother was cooler.

I am the brother who is different from you, and yet the same as you in so many ways.

I am the son who cried beneath the living room table, when he saw you two fight and did not know why.

I am the son who cried when I saw you with another man because that meant my parents would become my mum and my dad.

I am the son who made you cry for not choosing the path you wanted for me.

I am the boyfriend who made you cry so many times simply because you did something I didn’t approve of, forgetting in the process that whenever I did something you didn’t approve of, you turned the other cheek.

I am the boyfriend who would intentionally pick a fight with you on my way to your office, just so you would be surprised and touched to see me there with flowers in my hand.

I am the boyfriend who would pretend to answer a call, hide in the toilet and smoke, simply because your mum doesn't approve of my smoking habit.

I am the boyfriend who followed you all the way down to Laguna Country Club, sitting there in silence while you tried to comfort your upset father.

I am the boyfriend who would rather go hungry than to see you starve.

I am the man who plunged into setting up my own business, simply because it felt right then.

I am the man who cuddled my kid to sleep on the first day he came home with us from the pet store, willing to give him all the love I could muster.

I am the man who is willing to do anything in the world to make sure that the both of you are well taken care of for the rest of your lives.

I am that man. I am that boy. I am that child – yet I am nothing without all of you.

Finally!

2005-09-12T23:33:00.000+08:00

After weeks of contract negotiations, its finally confirmed! My company, Looking Glass Imaging, will be solely in charge for all graphic design work for HOT magazine. Its going to be a free magazine, to be launched in December 05. Apart from that, I'll also be writing 2 articles for the mag. We havn't had our official creative team meeting as yet, but chances are, I'm going to be interviewing Kelvin Tan (He's a close personal friend and has been described as Singapore's DIY King of music. I believe he has something like 16 albums out by now and he also teaches part-time at La Salle. Who better to interview?) for one article. As for the other article, I'll most probably be doing something on unique cocktails from the different clubs or pubs (this article has my stamp all over it, so the other writers can go whistle for all I care. I'm the former bartender, so I get to do the appraisals.)

I'm so thrilled coz this is LGI's first major contract - hopefully, this will lead to better things...
Here's a mock-up of the cover for Hot magazine's relaunch issue (done by my wonderful designing team). Nice right! *beams*

Allan Wu is king.

2005-09-09T03:21:00.000+08:00

Am I the only person in Singapore to be thoroughly ~~irritated~~ impressed with Allan Wu’s versatility? Don’t believe me? Just catch the non-stop advertisements on channel 5, promoting Fear Factor. (Yup, the episode where the non-Singaporean represents Singapore in the Fear Factor)

The bloody irritating side
Sitting on the Reverse Bungee G-Max, (or is it G-max Force? Whatever.), Allan does his imitation of Professor Lupin in Harry Potter. After Lupin has transformed into a werewolf of course. As the bungee goes up, he starts yelling, “ONLY ON CHANNEL 5 CAN YOU GET SUCH AN ADRENALIN RUSH!! AAAAWWWWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”. When the thing comes back down, he yells, “CATCH FEAR FACTOR ONLY ON CHANNEL FFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEE”. Producers of Harry Potter, are you watching?

The linguist
As if to make up for the incessant yelling, he decides to impress us all with his extensive vocabulary. While describing the food challenge, he throws in a mightily impressive sentence that goes something like, “That was the most vile, indomitable entity that I’ve ever had to imbibe.” WOAH. Too cheem. Too cheem. As if it wasn’t bad enough that these foreign talent come to our sunny shores to earn our money and win over our women, now we have to take English language classes from them on TV. TV viewing will never be the same again.

The one liner
The only time I chuckled during the advert was when he jibbed, “After marrying my wife, fear is evidently not a factor for me”, possibly a nod to the well publicized reports that Ms Wong is quite the spitfire.

Talk about versatility. Ix Shen should be taking notes.

Philosophy HUH?

2005-09-05T23:59:00.000+08:00

Oh man…talk about stress. This semester, I’m taking 2 Level 3 Philosophy modules and 3 Level 2 ones. Now, Level 3 modules are insanely difficult – and by insanely, I mean insanely. This is the kind of reading that gives philosophy a bad name.

Let me give you an example from my Moral Philosophy forum:

This student asks, “Dear Sir,

Just stepped out of the tutorial, still having problems with the Embeddedness Problem. Doesn’t the problem apply to all expressive statements, and not just expressivist moral statements? If so, doesn’t the problem just show that modus ponens is incompatible with the use of expressive language in either its antecedent or its consequent, and therefore does not outline a problem with the fabric of expressivist moral beliefs, but rather questions its presentation? Consider the example below:

1)      If Brazil scores a goal, Italians will be upset.
2)      Brazil scores a goal.
3)      Italians will be upset.

The above, if put in an expressive form (for a Brazilian soccer fan):

1)      If ‘hurrah’ for Brazil, then ‘boo hoo’ for Italians.
2)      ‘Hurrah’ for Brazil.
3)      ‘Boo hoo’ for Italians.

The support one has of Brazilians is not grounded in morality of any sort, and yet this is also an instance of modus ponens working with a statement without a truth value (2). Therefore doesn’t the embeddedness problem just point to problems with the mechanisms of expressivist morality rather than its content?

Thank you for your attention.”

The nice lecturer replies, “Though addressed to me, of course, anyone can respond. But, very quickly, I'll just note that there isn't any reason to give a non-cognitivist reading to any of the statements in your argument. Why have you so translated them? According to non-cognitivists, a moral claim, like "truth-telling is right" just means (something like) "yea! for truth-telling"; but surely "Brazil scores a goal" doesn't mean "yea! for Brazil". It means that someone on the team got the ball to go into the net. It's an ordinary descriptive proposition about something in the world. There's no problem with ordinary descriptive propositions being embedded within complex statements or within some logical operator, only with moral claims, which, according to non-cognitivists, aren't assertions.
I'll review the problem again in the beginning of Friday's lecture. Bring questions!”

I say, “huh?”
If anyone out there understands either the question or the reply, PLEASE explain it to me, because I can envision a very difficult semester ahead indeed.

Squarebrain and the retard patrol

2005-09-02T11:36:00.000+08:00

The comic strip is shamelessly ripped off Squarebrain.net.
Spent a very enjoyable morning reading all their entries (written by the very bright Ray - of course he's bright lah. Law undergrad can??!) Ray is in charge of doing the actual writing while Zeng is the creatively talented one, doing up the comic strips. Actually, their entire site is extremely well designed - none of that macho "I'm cool so my site must be black and filled with pop art" crap.

And what is it with blogs that have two writers instead of one? I spent the previous night poring through the retard patrol's blog.

What can I say? Bloody brilliant. The two writers, vampire cat and sexx take turns to dig up ah lians and ah bengs (or what they call retards) from friendster and proceed to tear them to shreds, either mocking their photos or their writings (xx~LoLx tAoyAnS wHy tHey MaKe fUn oF mOi LyK dAt?~xx) *pengz* I was sniggering at first before I started laughing loudly at some of the most witty captions I've ever seen. Poor Pepper thought I was going crazy and came out from under the bed to peek at me.

So how does this co-writer thing work? One guy writes in one week and then the other guy takes over the next so that guy A has 2 weeks to plan his next entry? Whatever the case, its bloody working. RESPECT. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard while reading a blog.

Note to self: Got to call up Wendy and order another carton of fags. Am running short. errr.. LEGAL fags of course.

P.S Not ALL law undergrads are smart. I personally know of some who are ~~fucking dumbasses~~ not as bright but are extremely hardworking to make up for it. (wait they graduate I kenna sue. You think I stupid meh?)

The new IToon Tshirt

2005-09-02T03:54:00.000+08:00

*drool*
Talk about the latest Tyne fashions - this one has got to be right on top my wish list. I WOULD get it - if I had any spare change on me, which unfortunately, I do not. Christmas is too far away, CNY even further still... fuck. Forget it - I can probably ~~create my own lookalike at a fraction of the cost~~ work really hard and save up for it like the good boy that i am

Day 1

2005-09-01T03:01:00.000+08:00

Day 1 of diet, that is.

Had only one meal the whole day (dinner) - although strangly enough, I seem to smoke more when i eat less. Is there some weird cosmic inverse proportion at work here?

*ponders*

Guess not - i'm just looking for an excuse to kill myself faster.

Speaking of killing myself faster, after dinner, Keith smsed me, asking if i wanted to play football. so in my poor simple brain, i did the complex math equations - Football = Running like a fool = Lose weight. So I said yes. Now, I would like to clarify something - to those people who used to laugh at me for not being the most technically gifted player... ... well, you're right. No counter argument there. But I used to be a pretty good runner which was my greatest asset as a player. Take for eg, last time in the armour team, I could run 80 mins non stop, up and down the field, up and down the field. Tonight, I ran 80 secs non stop, up and down the court, up and.... that's about it. 80 secs up.

Last time I could score goals for fun, nipping in behind tired defenders. Tonight, I also managed to score 2 goals. Own goals.

Basket, you guys believed that didn't you? You idiots tend to believe everything bad about me. Nah. I scored two goals - the first, a scorching volley from 30 metres out and the second, a tap in from 3 cm out. and both were the result, not of determined running, but my tiredness. This is how it works, you're panting, don't wanna run no more, so you just shoot from all angles. If it goes in, all good and well. If it doesn't... well.

Almost got into a fight on the pitch. There was this speedy little gonzalez on the opposing team whose fave activity was to run straight at me before zipping by me with the ball, leaving me looking like a bloody fool. So there was this one time, he was zipping along, i was snoozing as usual and i did what any star player would do - i tripped him. He got straight up and came face to face with me. He's the typical kopitiam beng with the barb wire tattoo on his bicep, the barcode tattoo on his neck and a huge cheena dragon on his back. I couldn't let myself be outdone, so i rolled up my sleeve and showed him my thoroughly impressive tattoo on my flacid bicep. It worked and he backed off.

I wish I did. I apologised. sigh. Oh well, at least its a start to the diet.

Revelation

2005-08-31T02:54:00.000+08:00

I couldn't sleep well last night, my mind still reeling with shock at the fact that my friend had died at such a young age. At around 7 am, i gave up and decided to do the philosophical thing - I chain smoked.

Now, why do we philosophers like to chain smoke especially when we havn't slept well? No, its not because we have a death wish and nope, its not because I have a hidden agenda against the wellbeing of my lungs. Its because its times like this that this sense of surrealism creeps over you and you suddenly feel brilliant. Everything comes to you in a bright flash and you become so much more receptive to new ideas.

So there I was, sitting and quietly smoking in the dark, thinking about the meaning of our lives, death and more examples of existentialistic metaphysics. When finally, it all became so clear to me and I finally knew what I had to do with my life.

I have to go on a diet.

Before you protest at my lameness, let me explain. There IS a method to my madness.

1) In this age of equality where females have easily caught up with the males, finally achieving the long desired equality, its about time we males started fighting back for pole position. In my humble opinion, the females have already surpassed us males. This is more true in Singapore than perhaps any other country in the world. (You want proof? Go to any Irish pub at Boat Quay. See how popular ang mohs are compared to the chinese. The cool ang moh guy who sits at the bar counter (easier to check out the hot local specimens) and speaks with a nice slang is waaaay cooler than the poor chink schmuck who sits in a dark corner, nursing a bourbon coke and nudging his friend every few mins going, "ooi, chio bu. hurry up see - wah... chio hor?") In Singapore, we men are terribly undesirable and unwanted (which is probably why I respect Mah Bow Tan and Adrian Pang. They are the original SPBs. The Sarong Party Boys.) and are lagging far behind in terms of equality. Now, I'm in no position to set up an organisation like AWARE (hmm if i do, can i call it PENIS? Protection of the Endangered Not-so Intelligent Species?) - after all, i'm just one insignificant member of society.So by going on a diet (which previously was the domain of tai tais and socialites with too much time on their hands), I can strike my little score for the little man. (On further inspection, that sentence seems disgusting. Oh and a further disclaimer, it ain't little.)

2) Life in general is painfully transient. For all I know, an incurable tumour might be taking seed in the my already ruined body. If that were to happen, I would want people to remember me when i die as being a sweet and considerate person. Now being the considerate person that i am, i wouldn't want the poor coffin bearer to buckle under the weight of the cofin. See, if he buckles, the coffin might crash down on his foot, causing him to become a cripple for life. Being crippled certainly puts a crimp in being a coffin bearer, so indirectly, I've caused him to lose his job. Now, our poor jobless hero sits at home alone, night after night, getting more and more depressed because he goes down to his local pub every night, sits in a dark corner, nursing a bourbon coke and nudging his friend every few mins going, "ooi, chio bu. hurry up see - wah... chio hor?" - yet everytime he tries to pick a girl up at a pub, she laughes in his face. (For proof, see point 1 above) Depression eventually causes our hero to hit the beers excessively, leading him to eventually die of a coronary attack. Years of determined alcohol abuse leads to him being excessively overweight, and HIS coffin falls on a brand new coffin bearer and the cycle begins again. Now, I most definitely do not want to be remembered for all eternity as the one who started this cycle - hence, i must diet.

3) The final and most important point is because I've on more than one occasion caught my dear girlfriend looking at my old NS photos wistfully. Where did it all go? I mean, one moment, you are a lean mean 1.85 m tall 80kg dude in National Service, able to do the 2.4km run in 9-plus minutes. The next moment, your idea of an workout is playing overnight mahjong (arm exercises) or playing football games on the Xbox (I still believe in the old adage, mind over body. if my mind thinks that i'm playing football, my body might too and respond accordingly. If this works, I'll package the training secrets and make a bloody fortune). In addition, I've promised to help out my friend in coaching this secondary school rugby team at a rugby camp this Dec. I would be absolutely humiliated if a pimply 14 year old outruns me. I might die of shame. Seriously.

If you manage to catch a glimpse of my long lost abs, please inform me of their whereabouts. They were last seen wandering around aimlessly at Kranji Camp.

Remembrance

2005-08-30T02:46:00.000+08:00

Dear Fengji,

well, we were never the best of friends. I guess this could have been down to the fact that I was somewhat of a wild child while you were the typical good student who had a keen interest in computers.

Remember how our paths crossed? I was 16 then - young and wildly ambitious. I had set out to set up a fan club for NUFC in Singapore. I spotted Dave wearing a NUFC jersey at the Bt Merah library and he promptly became the 2nd member of the fan club. You however, found out about us on your own accord. You, my friend, became the 3rd member of the NUFC Singapore. How far we've come since then huh, mate? Today, we boast of having over 200 members in the fan club and your name stands proudly beside mine on the society and business registration license. Remember how in those days when we first started out, website creation was still a very new concept (well, to me at least) and you very kindly offered your personal NUFC shrine as our official website? In a way, you were my first graphic designer too.

You very quickly became an intergral part of NUFC Singapore. You were a permanent fixture at all our club gatherings and were a keen member of the NUFCSG football club. Remember how we would share a cab home after Sunday trainings? We would go out with the other lads for a quick bite before grabbing the first cab that came along, thus ensuring that you and I could get home before Keegan, just so we could tease him about living in a shithole. Whenever I needed help in a computer game, I would turn to you, because there wasn't a game that you didn't know a little bit about.

When I finally set up my modelling agency, it was also you that put me in touch with the right people over at NTU, enabling my ability to establish a small foothold there. For that, I thank you and I sincerely regret the fact that I won't be able to return the favour.

But more importantly, I respect you immensely. Without the shadow of a doubt, you were the biggest Newcastle fan in Singapore. Even more so than me. Your entire life revolved around NUFC. I have never seen a more dedicated fan than yourself, and for that, please take a bow. After every single match, you would be the one to download each and every impressive move carried out by a player in the black and white jersey. You would be the one at every single match gathering there was. If the fan club were one huge body, then my friend, you would certainly be the heart right in the centre of it all.

Tonight, during the match, the board members stood in front of the club at half time and I gave a speech in your honour. If you were listening in, I meant every single word of it all. Heck, we even observed the customary one minute silence for you. Keegan was inconsolable because your presence meant so much to us. We the pioneer batch - we were the first few. Remember how you, Dave, Keegan, Tiyok and myself would sit outside 7-11 at Peninsula Plaza, having some supper after the latest NUFC match? Now I'm sorry to say that we won't ever be together again.

However, I didn't cry. I didn't even shed a single tear over your death mate. Keegan did, as did John. But I couldn't bring myself to. In a way, I was more frustrated than anything else. Why is it that out of 200 ******* members in a fan club that YOU helped set up, nobody knew that you had passed away until today. Why did I have to be first to find out? Believe me, shocks like this, I do not enjoy. When you're 23, you do not expect to hear news of your friend passing away. If you're 64, yes. Not when you're 23. And even less so when the one who has has passed away is merely turning 24 in a few days.

More importantly, I was frustrated at you. What problems were you facing that you felt that you simply had to end it all? Was there really no alternative route? Couldn't you have come to any of us? We might not have been able to help, whatever it was, but we sure as hell would have tried. Instead, you chose to take the easy way by committing suicide. And for that, I couldn't help but feel irritated at you. For giving up. For viewing life so cheaply. And most of all, for hurting the people who cared by leaving them behind. You were the only son and merely one semester away from graduating with honours. What were you going through?

John messaged me tonight, telling me he broke down when he got home and realised that you were going to be offline forever. I still havn't shed a tear as yet and I probably won't But FJ, wherever you are, take care of yourself. And I really meant every single thing I said tonight. I honestly feel as if I've lost a fellow fan, a wonderful board member and most importantly, a great friend. So goodbye FJ. Wherever you may be.

"Ahm coming home Newcastle,
Ah might as well ay been in jail,
Ahd waalk the streets, Ahl be alreet,
For ay bottle ay ye own Brown Ale,
Ahm coming home Newcastle,
If ye never win the Cup again,
Ahl brave the dark at St. James's Park,
At the Gallowgate End in the rain,
Ahm coming home...

May you forever find your peace, at the gallowgate end, my dear friend..."

in memory, GFJ. 01/09/81 - 24/08/05