29th of december

this day is the the day Ariel becomes 3 years old. She;s been a great pet and a great family member all these while. Guess she did not have the slightest idea it;s her birthday today.. she;s behaving like any other day... Typical cats' behavior i guess. Well did not have much time with her today cos i have been busy with other stuffs.

this day is also the birthday of our beloved great friend, Jackson, who regrettably left us about 6 months ago. Seems like a long time ago though. However, we still celebrated his birthday with a steamboat dinner and of course, a cake for him. Guess it;s time we do our part and start buying cakes for him, cos his always the one who buys the cakes for the gangs' birthdays. Day started early with us visiting him at his "condo unit" at the church. There;s quite a number of us there who went to pay our respect and wishes him Happy Birthday. Guess he must be happy to see that we still misses and remembered him fondly for being such a great friend in the circle. It was great to have his girlfriend joining us for the dinner too. Life is short and full of unexpected ordeals, i am just glad our memories of him are such pleasant ones.

Off to Chiangmai

Goin off to chiangmai early in the morning tomorrow. .... first time there, and i need the fresh air... After conquering tokyo and shanghai, i think i need a slow down the pace slightly.. Anyway, will be paying Bangkok a visit in this trip too.. So back to another big city.. Stay tuned for updates!

Ah-do-gen!!!!

Yay, just read that the the new installment of the street fighters series is goin to be released soon.. arhhh, this arcade game brings back so much memories.. I dunno how much i thrown into the stupid box with 6 buttons and a joystick during those times. I skipped classes to play it, i hang out in the wee hours just to play it, i go illegal billiard saloons to play it. heh... I think this is the game that really starts my interest in arcades.

Now the new one is comin out soon.. shall i go get the game console? so tempting. Although i have to admit my interest in games are weaning. No game can grab my attention for like 30 mins. I'll be so bored with it and stop playing. I believed i have short attention span. But check out the glorious colours and graphics of the new street fighter? Looks so yummy...

star wars toys....

Haha, new toys from Star Wars. From the left, the fried remains of Aunt Beru after she is being killed, The force (which is a packet of nothingness) on the middle, and on the right, dead ewoks. because the only good ewok is a dead ewok. haha..

Planet Alderaan boxedset. A pile of rocks, after begin destroyed by the death star...

Of course these are not sold in stores, u stoopid! It's done all for fun by this guy called McMoran.

Archifest Tour

Attended a day tour organised by some architectural students in-conjunction with the Archifest/Singapore Design Week thingy. This tour is supposed to show us those unique post-war buildings in our sunny little island state. We had a boring tour guide/student who tried to slang in any way he thinks is possible.. Maybe that is why he kept repeating himself, maybe he find himself sounding sexy with his half-fucked English. Anyway, thanks to *** and *** (names are censored to protect the persons involved) for the free tour (worth $40 in the market, worth $10 to me). haha..

First stop was the Singapore Conference Hall, and i decided that place was not picture-worthy to even take out my camera to snap.. However, place brought back some fond memories. I had my first performance/competition of my primary school military band there.

Second stop is the Golden Mile complex. Above pic is taken inside the commercial side of the complex, which most of us will not have the chance of seeing the building in this perspective.

View of the residential block

Hmmmm, The ventilation hole is pretty elaborate eh?

Another view from the residential block. Quite unique in design for a post-war building

Next is Tiong Bahru area. Great area to have a house!!!

3rd stop is the PearlBank condo. Super anti-climax cos the security does not allow us to enter the building, cos it's a bloody private condo. So, well, this is the best shot i could get. I think the interior facet of the condo should look more impressive.

Last stop was People's park. Who could have forgotten this place? Many childhood memories. Mum used to bring me there when i am young. She and her entourage of my other aunties would chiong for the cosmetics and toiletries, cloths, and dunno what else... I would have to tag along and waited patiently for hours.. Cos i know my reward will come at the last stop, which is that she will bring me to the toys section of the old OG where every single toy they have would be opened up and displayed in huge glass showcase. Yah she will buy me something as a reward for being nice and quiet and patient. :)

I wonder how many illegal workers are housed inside this unit. heh..

my mental state

running low on energy reserves mentally...... Dun you hate it when there's something that u wanted so badly but not being able to have it? The thought of it being within my grasp (i thought) but yet not being able to grasp it, the feeling is unimaginably irritatingly Teh Lum Pah!!! I am known to exhibit a certain degree of patience to things, but this is getting on my nerves and it;s kinda difficult to keep my frustration in check. I admit i am lousy at playing mind games.. Breathe in, Breathe out........

Another issue is, my work.. Yah i have to admit it;s not getting really interesting in recent months.. I am not getting my brain challenged, unless doin paperwork is considered challenging for my vastly superior grey matter. My drive and interest is weaning too... i can see the pattern that makes me quit my other jobs starting to resurface... I think i'll just hang around for the time being, see how things change with the new acquisition. Oh, my company is officially known as Continental instead of Siemens VDO 2 days ago... Let's see if the new management decides to retrench (please retrench me me me) or do anything to my small little pathetic department. Guess it's just not very healthy to work in a department, with the current strength of 2! Me and my manager. The other designer is on maternity leave and we are also searching high and low for 2-3 more designers without avail..

Arrrhhhh... Lisa Ono's sweet voice playing on the background manage to sooth some frustration now.

Christmas is comin...

The shanghai that i know

Well time to write something about shanghai now that i am back. Quite a nice place, maybe the weather being cool and nice makes it better. Having the luxury of some free time, i did some exploring myself to a few tourisy places. The Bund was nice to at nite.. The view was quite simply amazing i would say. The old buildings juxtaposing against the new mega high-rise ones. Imagine sitting on the coffee tables in the open sipping a cup of warm latte (yah starbucks ones), weather around 15 degrees, facing the full view of the buildings opposite..


I had the best crab ever tasted (my me) during one of the dinner with the vendors.. Yah Hair crab!!!!! First time tasted it and i would say, our monster sri lankan crabs, be it cooked in chilli sauce or black pepper, still cannot hold a candle to the taste of a simply steamed fresh-water hairy crab. The roe is simply heavenly... It's been a long time since any food left a lasting impression on me.:) see pic below..

Went to the Yuyuan garden also. The whole place outside was full of ppl and tourist.. Luckily, once inside, it;s slightly more peaceful, but there;s still groups of noisy japanese and korean aunties around too. Good thing i could find quiet spots in the garden to just sit down and relax. the garden exudes this calm and peaceful feeling that makes me feel really relax.. But dammit, cannot smoke inside there, if not, will be perfect. All in all, i actually spent 2 hours by myself inside there.. haha...

Went to their shopping streets like Nanjing road and well, it was a mess. Lots of ppl, lots of buildings, well, just like another big city. Hang around there for 1 hour and couldn't take it anymore. Crap...

One thing with chinese ppl, they can quarrell everywhere, buy things also quareel, even Queueing up at the airport for checking in also can quarrell. Amazing. My experiences with the taxis there are really great. Most are friendly enough to make small talks, eager to get your business and does not go around the long way to try to earn a little more from you.

Hmmmm, nothing much to say anymore, cos my time spent there is more for work then doin the tourist things.. enjoy the photos.......... Sorry today no mood to write properly, anyhow tamba...

Spot what is wrong with this pic???

Yup, Why is that thingy doin in the middle of the hotel roof top? I have no idea

The view of the Bund in the day is not as spectacular as compared to at night

Yuyuan garden

Shanghai Lao3 Jie1

Goin to Shanghai

bye boys and girls... will be off to shanghai(working trip) for a few days.. stay tuned... Hoped i can take nice pictures, hoped i will not get drunk and puke everynite, hoped i will not be conned by shanghainese girls, hoped i will not be pick-pocketed, hoped the weather will go easy on me, hoped i'll have a nice time there.. I is shanghai virgin..:)

Whao Lan eh!!! si bey funny ah!!!

Ariel's cat calls

OK this is what i get for not waking up on time every morning (weekends included). My personal alarm clock will spring into action. Anyway, the sound clip is recorded over a period of 45 mins but i edited away those silent moments. So what you can hear in the end is ariel's crazy meows... Most ppl hardly ever hear her meows, so dun let that fool u into thinking she is a quiet cat!!!

being beautiful

let;s talk about all the perks of being pretty/sweet/beautiful today... They do have little perks in life compared to the others who are well-endowed on the physical aspects. Things like sweet little gifts (for girls) should be common. I have a friend, she practically receives something, be it small or big) from ppl around her everyday. Free donuts, free breakfasts, free tidbits, free drinks, free transport, free PSP!!!! free this and that!!! And if they are single, more perks!!!!!!!!!Sounds good rite? being in ppl's good books for being pretty and beautiful without doing anything much... Ppl also tends to shower care and concern, sayang and give in easily to these ppl. I remembered there;s this american documentary that did a real-life survey and test on how your looks affect your chances of getting jobs. . The results showed that beautiful interviewees (males and females inclusive) get jobs easier (with more pay) compared to those not-so-good-lookin ones. To those beautiful ppl, the world is fair to them. To those ugly ones, they just curse/swear/lament/bitch about how the world is so "fair" to the beautiful ones. I guess it all boils down to our primal instinct of natural selection. Beautiful ppl are deemed more healthy (i am talking about physical attributes here only) and more "able to produce". hahaha...

But somehow i think it's the uglier ppl that might survive better if things goes terribly wrong. For example, if the same calamity in life befalls on 1 beautiful person and 1 ugly person, i think the latter shall prevail from the situation better than the former, not talking into account any help from any outside sources in this case, but from the person;s own natural surviving abilities. Why is that so? Cos ugly ppl are so used to the idea that their chances of getting concessions or help from anyone is way below beautiful looking ppl, they tend to rely on their own strengths and abilities to overcome their problems. They might have built-up a better surviving attitude over the years not expecting any help from amorous ppl who are trying to get into their good books. Okok, my arguement can be flawed cos i did not take into account of many other factors....

Oh oh however i do find a similarity with the ugly and beautiful girls (not all though). They love to call themselves princesses!!! Is it a common girl's delusion that they want to be a princess? I mean it;s very fine if they harbours that delusion from little cute girls till adolescents MAX!!!.. But hey after that and it;s freakingly disturbing. dun they grow out of it? Must be those stupid disney fairy tales that had implanted them with such thoughts about princesses. i mean if they become a lau chai, are they goin to upgrade and call themselves queen or empress dowager? Want to become real princesses, go up north, where there;s many sultans and princes to marry and then live the life os a REAL princess.

poot poot!!!

Now some smart ass had invented and patented something to save us of embarrassment. See the pic, no need me to explain more to you.. Using some chemicals to deodorise or neutralise the flatulence.. I say Wilfred (friend famous for farting) will gonna need this when it;s out in the market. But then, he likes to wear tight pants, will this thingy stick out like a sore thumb on his back? Hahahah

collective thoughts

guess some of you have noticed that msn had changed to msn Live! and hotmail also changed to Hotmail Live!. And some of your also notice that now there is internet explorer 7. So well i upgraded my hotmail to Hotmail Live! but yet to upgrade my internet explorer from 6 to 7. I was thinking since it;s working fine, i should keep it. Wrong!!! Cos if u are using hotmail Live with explorer 6, it will not work. It will hang up my system and have lots of problems. i spent my thursday nite trying to solve this issue, not knowing that i need to upgrade to explorer 7, until like 3 am in the morning!!! Whao liao.. Until i hand itchy and decided to upgrade my explorer did i solve this issue on friday nite. I mean, microsoft is really making things difficult for ppl. Why need to force ppl to upgrade if they wanna use msn, hotmail or explorer? I know it;s better defense for hacking and virus, but i am sure the new versions got it;s fair share of those too. Well it;s like goin to a famous hawker to eat, sometimes u have to make do with the long Q and the attitudes of those ppl. They have the mentality of if-u-not-happy-with-my-attitude-u-can-jolly-well-eat-something-else-cos-i-have-enough-stupid-ppl-who-can-take-my-crap-so-that-they-can-eat-something-nice. U got my drift. Lan Lan situation.

Now next, what if 1 day, scientist found that ppl who uses phone, will sooner or later develop cancer? Like for example, if u talk on your phone often, u will have brain cancer cos the phone is always right beside your ear? Then i die la, i always put my phone in my pocket, that means i will get cancer on my balls? Then those ppl who always hold onto their phone, cos it;s too big to put inside their pockets, they will develop hand cancer? What if it really will cause cancer, will u abandon your phone and not use it? Difficult rite? cos the phone has been integrated into the fundamentals of our lives that we cannot function properly as human beings if we do not have 1. so how? function like a human being and still use a phone and then get cancer and then malfunction? haha.. Maybe i should start to develop and design a cover/casing to prevent those harmful radio waves emitting from the phones, patent it and if some scientist could prove phones are cancer causing, i will be laughing all the way to the banks...:)

Last but not least, dun you hate flyers??? those ppl who gives flyers??? Waste of resources and paper i say! they can be everywhere, in your mail box, stuck on your door, while u are walking and so on. I have the habit not to accept any flyers from those ppl. maybe it;s my little crusade that such flyers does not work and most ppl hardly will care about what they are advertising. I hoped more ppl could join in my crusade so that we can abolish such practises. It;s not helping the environment at all... and causes littering, causes the rubbish collectors more problems. Oooo i sounded like some environmental conscious and ethical person hor? NOT...

Recovered my lost entry!!!

Oh!!!!!!!!! remembered a few entries ago, i was cursing that my blog entry was accidentally wiped off and i was too lazy to write again? The blogspot actually saved a draft copy of it and i just discovered this function today. Therefore, i managed to retrieve that lost entry.. Yay!!!!!!!!! $th blog entry for today.. I am setting a record!!!!!!!!!

Here it goes................

Finally have some time to show u guys some pics of my recent Tokyo pics... Well Tokyo as i will say, is another big city in Asia. Well maybe it's a better city compared to others. I think there;s more things to see, more buzz and vibe about this place. Another thing i liked about it is that i do not feel that stressed in it compared to other cities like those in china/bangkok/hong kong or even Singapore. The main reason for me is because the traffic is not as bad as those that i mentioned. Cars hardly horned at all, and almost all the cars are pretty quiet. Drivers are sooo courteous and always gives way to pedestrians. Try Hong Kong and u will know the hassle and bustle of the traffic. Try any city in china and u will hear car horns every second. try Bangkok and u will know the fumes of the vehicles..

Well, Tokyo is really an eye-opener for me. Tons of things to see and places to eat. I was in Akihabara and i actually had a headache after a while because it was a huge assault on my vision. The types of electronics they have there is simply amazing. I was like stuck in the head-phones section for quite a while because, i have never seen so many brands and models of headphones begin displayed for testing. Oh, not to mentioned my virgin foray into a porn dvd shop.. I tell u, it;s 7 stories of PORN DVDS!!! yah i was amazed and awed.. Feels like every girl in japan must had been a porn star. Heh. Ok i take that back. Anyway, there;s so much dvds with tantalising cover pictures that i felt so warm with blood rushing to both my heads. Hahah.. So i did not stayed long inside, if not i might have blood gushing out of my nose.

Ppl there are courteous and never was i once been treated in a rude manner by anyone. I see that almost all jobs, from the menial to the office ones are done by Japanese. I saw young male and female cleaners/sweepers.Ask any young Singaporean to do jobs like these and they'll ran as far as possible, leaving them to "foreign talents" to do it. In fact, the only foreign talents/workers i saw there are the Nigerians club bouncers. Well maybe some of the workers could be from other countries, but at least they blended in, not like in Singapore where it;s so obvious and easy to spot foreign talents among ourselves. Oh i actually have 2 groups of friends who are thee in Tokyo, So i have the time to meet them up for dinner over 2 separate occasions, which is nice. And i tell u, the world is so freaking small, i actually bumped into an ex colleague in a cafe, which is not easy, cos Tokyo is so big, add to that that the ex colleague also know my friend whom i had dinner with. How;s that for coincident!!!!

I would say Tokyo is worth 3 to 4 days of your tour time, and i believed it'll be more fun to get out of Tokyo to see other sights of japan. I would love to go back there again.

the 2nd coming........

i guess many of your may have notice and often groused/lamented/whined/complained about the influx of foreign workers/talents/expats into our shores. One thing i noticed(it;s been some time), that the number of mainlain chinese workers/talents/expats/students are swelling up, evident from the number of times u can spot them everywhere.
U can spot so many mainland chinese kids/students hanging out at orchard, doin the great Singapore past-time, same as that of Singapore young punks. It;s increasingly difficult to spot them cos their sense of dressing of those young ones are getting better by leaps and bounds, until they speak. Try ordering your food from anywhere, high-chance that the employees in that place is probably mainland Chinese too. well i do not know about your company, but they are everywhere in mine.

So thus, there had been a recent increase in the numbers of complains in local papers, internet forums and so on. Well, being a true-blue Singaporean, i would also like to whine and complain about this issue, not onli about the mainland chinese but also about the other foreign workers/talents/expats. Issues like the local Singaporeans are being marginalised, feelings of being the new minority, perks of a permanent resident being the same if not better than citizens, increase in crime rates and so on were discussed. Some issues could be agreed upon while others are just plain scepticism or just pure racism from the whiners' part.

But among all these, i also thought that all these influx of foreigners had already happened before, during our grandparents time. Take note that we are just the 2nd (or issit 3rd) generation of chinese immigrants from the great exodus of chinese from the mainland during our grandparents time. They flocked from their hometown to practically everywhere else in the world searching for a better life. And i believed Singapore welcomed them with open arms that time, same as now. So i say, this is the 2nd coming. I am not sure what the locals in Singapore thought about these hardworking immigrants at that time, but i am sure they felt more welcomed than what they feel now. But who are we to complain and whine when they are the ones who are willing to take up any jobs to make ends meet? They will be more grateful just by clearing our dirty utensils after us (as long as they have a job), while we just give our ass a pat when we got up from our meals. There's so much more "undesirable" jobs that these foreigners worked as, which are typically frowned upon to a "great and almighty" Singaporean. And since these jobs are needed to have a "perfectly functional" society and system, someone's got to do it, and since us Singaporeans do not want to do it ourselves, let's just say it's fair that if other people are willing to do it, they shall get the pass into Singapore and take up the jobs. So i say, we should embrace these ppl who works selflessly to create a working society for us. Look at how those early immigrants from the past who had helped to mould singapore to what she is today, of course we should not discredit the vast forsight of our great leaders lah........

Maybe this is another way for the government to make "better" use of the limited manpower resources in this small little island. What do u think? The government spent so much on us to study, of course it's for us to contribute "more" to the society rite? I doubt they will want to waste your "talents" on some mundane jobs. heh...

Well another reason that i deduced(my own point of view) from the influx of chinese are that we are trying to keep Chinese as the majority in Singapore. We all know that chinese singapore women cant really give birth to much babies nowadays.. maybe it;s something they eat? too much pork? Or the chinese singapore men and women are so busy with working for a better Singapore and contributing to the society that they hardly have the energy to devout themselves to the best enjoyment in life, which is to procreate (no actually, the orgasm is the best part, not the procreation, haha). So having more chinese immigrants is good, the immigrant women came, fall in love with easily conned singapore men and get married. So you got another chinese in the population for the price of 1. Add to that, the china 1 child policy, i am sure the women will love to breed excessively and have more little dragon ladies and boys if given the chance. Win Win situation lor. So you can get more chinese into the population for the price of 1!!! Furthermore, they are willing to take up any jobs that we have difficulty in finding the "great and almighty" Singaporeans to fill up. Very cheap investment for the Government i say. Anyway, these are just my own deductions, dun sue me ok?

An ending note, are we a tolerant society with many races or are we a society that lives in racial harmony? There's a big difference in the above question. There could be many tolerant racists living in a tolerant society. In a society that have racial harmony, i think the number of racists are kept at the minimum. The former society will probably works like a ticking time-bomb, setting itself off somehow, sometime, somewhat, all you need is just a big issue that ignites the pent-up feelings of the people. But then, many years ago, i always thought we are a society that thrives in racial harmony (that's what the national pledge told us to do). Now maybe i am getting old and senile, sceptical and low self-confident, i started to think that we are digressing to the latter society.

Lines

It;s intriguing to see the pictures taken on a camera set at a slow exposure in a moving vehicle. The lateral lines created are unexpected and mysterious. :)

Big Fish? Small Fish

I was having my nasi lemak (as usual) and chanced about this extra-trestrial which is not supposed to be there... Hiding amongst the ikan bilis was this cute-lookin fish. Fishy got pattern on it;s body somemore!!!. Looks big in this pic?

Now compare the fishy to a normal ikan bilis. heh... I did not consume it (i dunno why), but i cant say so for the ikan bilis though.. heh... Hey fishy, fishy, fishyyyyyyyyyyyy.....

Lesbionic Woman.. OOooooohhhhh

A parody of the current new series called The Bionic Woman. Of course not shown in Singapore yet, Mediacock will wait until a whole season of a series has finished showing in the states before they decided to show in our own shores. Then they will have the cheek to put (First in Singapore) in the trailer. Shame shame..

Anyway, watch the movie clip. They managed to cramp drama, cheese, lesbionic smooching(keke), sci-fi and self-gratification into a 2 minute plus clips... Oh be sure to watch till the end.. The last few seconds is priceless.. haha..

watch the video clip here. http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=18921

Just some pics

i love taking shots of tall tall buildings with me standing at the foot of the place.. maybe i am so used to looking up at things, if u get what i mean.. hahahaha

some numbers that are displayed randomly at some TV station. Still have not figured out what those numbers meant.. But it;s nice...

My most favourite concept car in the Motor Show. It looks really impressive when seeing it in real person. Red and black, gull-winged doors somemore!

One of the pics of the girls from the show. They really look at u (or the camera) when they know u are taking pics of them... talk about being nice....

Nothing beats a cup of green tea at the hotel room to start the day...

The crazy toilet bowl with automated ass-cleaning mechanism... Until now, still dunno how to operate it. I was fiddling with the controls one time when i am doin my business. Suddenly, it shoot a jet of water up my hole la.. The aiming of the device is damn accurate!!!! I was shocked and jumped out of my seat, thus causing the water to spray out onto the toilet floor. Damn funny... Guys, leave this to the Japanese, dun attempt to use it, you will not like the sensation... haha

Just a building in Akihabara...

Crazy Gaijin(foreigner) in Akihabara..

My first meal in japan. Miso ramen with Char siew. This shop has great char siew!!!

One of the bestest sushi i have tested.. Yum yum...

They really have nice packaging for their ciggies, as u can see from this.

Tokyo is quite a pets friendly place.. This is a public area for dog owners to refill their drinks for their dogs.

Ferris wheels are so common in big cities. Singapore's Ferris wheel is still not even in operation. We are such slow copiers.

Some ppl planting seeds in a garden park.

After the seeds are planted, these KNN pigeons will come to pick them up from the soil.

One of the most useless jobs in the world. this guy will hold on the banner and place himself in the end of the queue so that other ppl who are joining the Q will know where is the last person of the Q.

Anyway, the rest of the pics can be found here http://community.webshots.com/user/boxedfish?vhost=community