was flipping through a copy of AsianDiver Annual - Top Destinations of Asia (Collector's Edition) just now and realised how much I want to dive!! :O I can't be above ground that much of a year!! I'm 30% fish and I need to be in water!!

was in a bit of a daze today - partially due to jet-lag (an easy excuse :p) but mostly because i was up till 1am playing around with Photoshop 6.0.. so fun!! there are a million and one things you can do to a photograph.. but read that a real digital photographer must have a pretty good digital camera.. umm...so sad as i eye my antique 1.3 megapixel olympus.. must save up for sexy and featherlite (relatively) Nikon Coolpix 5000.. really cool with nice deep grip, "flip out and twist" LCD and (wow!) 5.0 megapix!.. sigh.. how to save when times are so bad...

btw, this is really funny...

what a great, inspiring and real-time story of God's leading in one's life..we're following closely Karen :) Inspired, i'm picking up my copy of The Road Best Traveled to read again :)

Back in blisteringly hot Singapore and now it’s thundering mammoths and t-rexs a mere 2 hours later! Most unpredictable and bewildering! The sudden contrast in climate (from 10°C to 33°C) plus the inevitable “jet-lag” and the heaviness of the downpour adds to my confusion… I am in a daze…



So I check my loot…a couple of things to give away and many other things for myself :p.. I’ve got photography books (Drive By Shootings and Tibor Kalman's Colors).. a Photoshop 6.0 for Photographers.. a Square swatch edition that apparently cannot be found in Singapore.. two rather antique Charles Darwin books (from a quaint Charing Cross bookstore), a Paper Palm (hahaha..), a furry bear hand puppet from Covent Garden, 2 limited edition Star Wars action figurines (alb says they are valuable cos they can’t be found in Singapore), an Amelie DVD-Soundtrack double set (uncensored unlike the one in HMV), the original magnetic Fridge poetry (watch out for some poetic inspirations on my blog :p), some tea from Whittards and a couple of other stuff I still have to sort out.. umm.. not bad huh? :)

A quick run-down on what we manage to accomplish in the one week...

-eating places – belgos (1kg of mussels in olive oil, cream and white wine sauce), wagamama (kare lomen), mandarin kitchen (for the yummy lobster noodles and scallops), royal china (very popular - very crowded dimsum place), some Italian, some Indian, and loads of my favourite full english breakfasts (sausage, bacon, egg, beans, mushroom and toast).. yum yum…

-museums – brit museum, v&a, tate modern, natural history, national gallery, national portrait gallery

-sights– st pancras, big ben & westminister abbey, houses of parliament, st james’s park, green park, leicester sq, trafalgar sq, st paul’s cathedral, tower bridge

-markets & shopping – camden, petticoat, regent st, harrods, tottenham court rd and oxford st with their wonderful lifestyle and paper and craft and electronic shops, charring cross for the wonderful bookstores

-exhibitions – koeperwelten (bodyworlds).. mindblowingly amazing.…

-nostalgic places – my hall of residence in London (where I stayed in my first and third year), the apartment I shared with a couple of great friends in my second year, the safeway supermarket I always shopped at, uol union (where I did all my dive training), lse, the giant corner bookstore off gower st, all souls church..

quite a bit for a week huh? :)

some of the most bizarre things happen in london... was joking with alb in the afternoon two days ago about getting a phone call from mrs tang of springfield sec school asking for canvas. i was imitating how she would usually go on and on telling me what she wants to order even if i tell her i am driving or off or whatever. i acted out the scene and made alb act as me and me as mrs tang. we laughed and laughed and alb thought i was kidding about her insisting on ordering even though i tell her i am in london. that night at 12.54am (london time) she really called and asked for canvas and was really embarrassed when i told her i was in london and quickly hung up. haha... so i was wrong but how bizarre the coincidence.. :p

anyway, more pix to entertain till i return...
glum londoners in tube

busking in the underground stations.. the harp player was really good.. think we should really allow people to busk in boring Singapore

found an art shop that reminds me of creative hands in london!! very surreal...:)

the german ww2 bombs left a couple of holes in the side of the v&a museum..

duckies in the trafalgar square fountain

we also visited the amazing Bodyworld exhibition in East London.... very out-of-the-world...

more updates... weather still as unpredictable but we're seeing days of great sunshine amidst the scary thunderstorms (yes, these are really heavy showers and strong freezing winds... brr... :> don't really remember ever having seen such storms when i was last here... umm...)

some pixs to give you a feel of what i've been seeing..see alb's site for more pix (especially of stunning st paul's cathedral and tower bridge)..

the brit museum with its egyptian mummies, stolen artifacts from greece, ivory chessmen, etc.. they have renovated the interiors.. its really stunning now..

.. gloomy big ben - bad weather day.. but this is really more like the london i remember.. :p

st pancras station - fantastic gothic (?) architecture.. one of many in architecturally-rich london... stunning...

the new tate modern gallery... so much fun seeing works of art that challenged our senses (and definitely tickle us silly)... see me admiring this grey canvas.. in another room was an entirely blue one and yet another had a canvas with slash across the surface and a perforated one... :D

alb enjoying an episode of teletubbies... the brits seem obsessed with reality tv... we enjoyed seeing episodes of edwardian country house..

where we're staying...a beautiful place in a peaceful crescent off russell square..

hello from london! :)

had trouble finding internet access till now (at dearest friend lynn's place... say hi to the world lynn..Lynn: Hello! Boo hoo I've got exams so I can't go out to play with Huiling! so that was Lynn... :p) so that explains the long delay in updates.. the gloomy weather, the unpredictable rain, the brisk-walking glum-faced londoners, the wonderful second-hand bookstores along charing cross and the ever-crowded and musky smell of the underground tube stations and trains... the feel of london hasn't changed a bit since i was here five years ago... the grubby little alleys are still as grubby, st pancras station still amazes me with its grandeur.. and the london air is still as piercingly freezing when it hits your face as you walk out of your house in the morning....still, i see new buildings..the new british library and the shopping mall along tottenham court road.. and i see that starbucks and muji have sprouted up everywhere around london.. when i walk into LSE, i see they have built a new library, bought over and refurbished a couple of new blocks around the area and cleaned up some of the older lecture theatres and the cafeterias..

the feeling of nostalgia wasn't as strong as i expected... i didn't remember the streets as well as i thought i would.. and when i went to the apartment i stayed in in my second year of university, i realised how grubby the place is.. something i don't remember ever noticing when i was here then...but i still love full english breakfasts.. i still love walking through the quiet streets bordered by identical edwardian apartment houses.. and i still find the craft stalls and buskers in covent garden interesting and the books in Waterstones irresistable... and find camden market the most amazing street market in the world..

i'm glad i still love london as much as i did before....

hello world!! from changi terminal 2 free internet access station A4 :D didn't sleep a wink last night - ended up catching the delayed episode of "The Amazing Race 2", then showering, then eating and then packing and before i knew it, it was already almost 3.30am! Decided to be a bit kiasu and get here early to beat the crowd so here i am now... almost an hour early :)

checking out london food places first..definitely must check out my old food haunts.. ok.. i've got..

- belgos - for those yummy belgian mussels and great atmosphere..
- wagamama - for funky jap food (not such an unusual concept anymore but nostalgic lah...)
- chinese dim sum - not sure which of those restaurants are still around.. i remember really liking China City's dim sum..
- and how can we forget notorious Wong Kei - reputed to have the rudest service among all the chinese restaurants - albeit cheap food..but it's loads of fun.. :p
- there was also one random Lebanese restaurant (along Edgware Road) i went to where we had raw lamb's brain.. umm...
- for that authentic English experience... must also try Fish & Chips in a london pub, along with a pint of beer... :) i guess any one of these would do.. but the Argyll Arms bears some nostalgia due to my having sighted it repeatedly in the past..
- must try out indian food too... supposedly comparable to india itself!

so many choices, so little time!! :O

so i went out shopping for stuff to bring over and ended up spending more than $200! trying to finish up some work now in the office.. another one of those last minute things we always end up doing whenever we are about to leave on a trip.. sigh... :| this is going to be my final blog before i leave for london.. unless i get to blog again later at Terminal 2 while waiting for the plane.. i hear they have free internet access there! :D

wah!!!! :D

FINITO!! i'm done!! :D I'm done I'm done I'm done!! :D

quite a straightforward paper and I finished in 1 and a half hours!! :O started staring at the walls and then finally decided to walk out an hour before the end of the paper, starting an avalache of people leaving the classroom. Spoke to lecturer afterwards and he said it is the easiest paper he has set since he started teaching this course.. oh well, what the heck.. :)

going out shopping now for necessities for the trip.. umm... slide film, lithium batteries, travel size toiletries, some medication, umm... nothing much else.. eh? :|

this is really disturbing...

hey! look at these lovely Sunbeam Lomo photos... :) bright and cheery to start your day right... :)

It's the last exam!! Yay!! :D

com'on.. don't be grouchy.... :p

terribly bored.. wished the last exam was tonight so i can just get it over and done with.. sigh... :O yawn... i don't want to study anymore..

what am i going to do...?

had a really enjoyable chit-chat session with my young fresh-faced staff after work today, over relaxing cups of blended drinks at Cafe Cartel (which still smells terrible what with their poor ventilation and bad food..)..all of whom are 18 and going into university come June, July or August - depending where to.. realised I had so many stories of wisdom, travel, folklore, revelations and horror (err...:p) to share with them... and they all seemed so fascinated... I remember I was like them too.. fresh out of JC, wondering what the next couple of years would be like.. excited to face the challenges ahead and eager to embrace all the grand opportunities that I knew would appear before me in new and exciting ways.. those were the most eye-opening years for me (and maybe the most "life-changing" ones too...along the way, i also discovered in my grand search for the "Deeper Meaning of Life and Truth" that there was definitely much more than just "looking within myself" or at the material world out there... i discovered and was blessed with the knowledge of and a personal connection with the greatest source of strength, meaning and wisdom there would ever be - a personal God who has been guiding, leading and sustaining me in my life..even though i know at times there were the inevitable doubts and struggles..)... i guess i've done largely ok so far.. :) It's been 9 years since then... gulp..!

the japanese qbhouse 10-min $10 haircut concept has invaded our shores!! am going to check it out with enthusiastic friend (this 75-year-old spunky lady-customer from our shop) when i come back from london! :D how exciting!

just got a call from a friend whom i thought had died (really!!) cos we basically lost contact and did not call me as he last promised.... turned out he was infected with the e-coli virus and was hospitalised.. hence the "disappearance"... i am so relieved i want to share it with you all.. even if you don't know who he is...

2 down and 1 more to go!! :D then it's London!!

exam went quite ok today - quite predictable questions since lecturer gave loads of tips so basically just totally trusted him and only studied what he "suggested we focus on".. hee hee... but rather silly.. didn't notice each question was worth 20 marks and not 25. There were 4 questions and the last 20 marks was supposed to be from our project which we already managed to score a "B" (70-79) grade. So I wrote and wrote like each question was worth 50 marks or whatever and used almost one booklet and a half.. :p or maybe it was just that my handwriting was huge... anyway, took too much time for the first question (which consists of part 1(a) and 1(b)) and had a little less time for the last question. When I looked back at the first question 1(a), I realised that I had actually written almost 8 pages for a 10 mark question!!! :O I bet the lecturer will be so amused when he marks the verbose answer... hope he won't mark me down for being "cheong hei"...

so silly... so one more paper on Friday (Financial Management) then I'm done!!

got this from Daniel's site.. The Dead Man's Switch... really handy and solves one of these perplexing questions that has been running around in my head for a while.. namely, how do you tell your pure blog friends (i.e. those people who know about your existence only through your blog - not those friends who read your blog but whom you can actually meet up with for coffee also). What happens if one day (umm...) I was really gone, away to the big furry Heaven. never to blog another entry again. How would I be able to inform all these people.. they will wait and wait for another entry..for days, for weeks and then for years.. never knowing the truth..

so this auto switch thingey seems really handy - it can be scheduled to automatically carry out a series of tasks, such as posting messages to websites, sending e-mails to loved ones (or hated ones), and encrypting or destroying sensitive files if it is not reset by a certain pre-set date... like a good friend who knows your deathbed wishes... eeks...

i want to be a non-photographer too!

just saw an episode of early 80s SBC (now TCS) drama serial Kopi-O on cafeteria tv... very surreal...

for those who really love (mostly American) statistics...Harper's Index: Number of years a sheep can remember another sheep's face : 2

See: The Greatest Collection of Classic Sci-Fi & Horror Poster Art on the Net - for those who like this sort of things.. cos I do... I remember really liking "The Omega Man"!! :)

and this is ab-fab..

spent an hour today talking to a friend on the phone and (not being unkind but) was really surprised she was still finding it hard to get over a relationship that soured almost a year ago. The reason why I found it so surprising was because the guy had long started becoming really unkind to her (not the kind that will just walk out, cut contact and "disappear" - which might actually have been easier) and was often abusive to her on the phone, saying really nasty things to her, saying he probably never actually loved her and the whole thing was a mistake and he was sorry on his part he had mislead her and all that kind of stuff that really tore her apart... nonetheless, she still could not stop herself from trying to keep in touch with him, feeling more despairing as the weeks and then months floated by. Of late, the guy actually started cutting off contact and then left overseas for an assignment without informing her (which she felt was a "betrayal").

what startled me when i spoke to her on the phone was how she had started to feel an increasing sense of betrayal from this relationship even as nothing obvious had changed externally. Between the two of them, things had already soured to a point of what she felt as "non-reconciliation". Yet, the hatred, anger and distrust had grown and grown, even when he was no longer communicating with her, and in that sense, no longer "feeding" and "fueling" the negative feelings. She had also started to bemoan herself as weak and "stupid" and "irrational". It suddenly occured to me as we spoke that (i'm not much of a psychologist myself but..) the negative feelings and thoughts had most probably grown organically within her. It was the result of a powerful, imaginative mind gone haywire, creating and feeding the active mind with negative and despairing thoughts.

It brought to mind Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" - about the power of the human mind and how it can at once either lead a man (in a time of difficulty - such as in his case of a Nazi concentration camp) to emerge either completely mad or staying sane - by focusing on the future, discovering personal meaning in the present context of what he was going through...

spotted the right questions! :D should be able to pass this paper unless something really weird happens.. :O hope not... phew.. this is the most worrying paper so glad it went ok. but the questions were really phrased in such an abstract way - the terms that were used were not even in the lecture notes.. they were some of the terms the lecturer appeared to only randomly and casually mention in his lectures.. grr...

Now i am less stressed about the exams... gonna give myself a rest today and touch on the other paper only tomorrow.. :)

woke up at 6.45am today cos Today is finally EXAM day!! :O

you won't believe what time i slept yesterday... 9.50pm!! got so tired of looking at rows and rows of text (even if they were in my own swiggly, ugly (er.. not really lah..) handwriting) and bright and freshly highlighted keywords that i went out to join mummy and sis to watch this hk serial (not sure what it is but the characters were really animated) and ended up reading a dive story from Michael Crichton's Travel.

finally decided that my resistance to the boredom bug was futile and slumped into bed and started the Zzs... :p

all the best to me!! and i'll blog after my exam to tell you all how it went..

there are students studying everywhere!! mcdonalds, airport, kfc, olio dome, void decks, nus, community centres... moved from kfc to void deck to mcdonalds and then finally back to void deck and found my space usurped by a bunch of nus/poly-like students so am forced to migrate (with all my barang barang) back home... not a good idea cos am constantly tempted by computer/internet/blogging..

nonetheless, observed something really annoying when i was eating my singaporridge at mcdonalds. mcdonalds ginza plaza has this little art and craft corner for kids to dabble in some activities and this little 5 to 6-year-old girl did this "shrink plastic" keychain thing and showed it to her mother. i think she had to pay something like $10 (and she gets a happpy meal along with the package).

anyway, the mother was not happy with what she did (cos it apparently wasn't "perfect") and started going on and on about how she had wasted her money and how the girl should not have written her name on it cos "it spoils the thing" and dunno what else... the mother sat down at the table right beside mine and went on for at least 15 minutes in this monologue (cos the filipino maid was clearly ignoring her and the girl had meanwhile nonchalently skipped away), picking up the completed artwork repeatedly and staring at it in a dissatisfied way, grumbling and grumbling. When the little girl finally told the mother that the "uncle" at the art and craft corner was the one who told her to autograph her work, the mother actually got up and went to "scold" him and told him he shouldn't have made her daughter do that 'cos it "spoilt" the work. the guy could only nod his head apologetically..

I think the whole incident (or rather the mother) was rather silly - the little girl was clearly delighted with what she had done and was proud to autograph it.. why should it matter if it wasn't "perfect".. was that really the point of doing the craft? wasn't it so the girl could enjoy herself and be a little creative? I blame the dearth of creativity in Singapore largely on how many parents still bring up their children to believe that everything has to be perfect and how a little imperfection means "the whole thing was pointless"...

hey alb! the nice auntie at the pasir panjang shell station gave me a furry pink dolphin magnet! :)

cultural clash - i'm obsessed with soft and furry toys...grrr... :)

read my sis' blog about poor, abused nurses.. hey, treat them with respect ya? As a good friend of mine once told me.. "Nurses are the most courageous people in the world. Everyday, they face two of the worse things that can happen to mankind - Death & Disease..

no other job is like that..

took a well-deserved break this evening from studying and went to watch Showtime! starring Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro. Quite a silly show but light-hearted and mindless enough not to intrude with my fact and concept-saturated mind... two days more to the exams so got to make sure i don't overtax myself now in case i fall ill (touch wood!)...

Really thank God for some wonderful people around me who have been incredibly patient and supportive these couple of days and weeks as I struggled to get myself ready (especially mentally) for the exams.. i surprised myself with how frantic I became at a couple of points in time, especially when I thought I wouldn't be able to finish covering even the basic few topics (I have finally managed to cover them at least once through, so I know I should be able to go into the exams to "bullshit" even if the exact facts or concepts don't come to me :p)... guess it really isn't that easy to get back into the exam-study mode so many years after leaving University... I even became, as very frank but nonetheless wonderful Karen says - "boring" :O.... eeks.. :p but really glad for the nice emails and phonecalls i got from kind, understanding and supportive friends... must treat everyone to coffee after exams...

ROBODEX 2002 - a "large-scale exhibition in the world to gather human symbiotic robots" is to "provide people with "love" and "dream" through robots and to realize a society where humans and robots cohabit with each other."

would you want to marry a robot one day?

Matwix - Matrix a-la Looney Tunes

The Sony Clie PEG-NR70V is extremely tempting.. i sometimes actually wish my IBM Wordpad C3 will die on me so i have an excuse to get this... :p

Center for Online and Internet Addiction.. I think I really do have Cyber Mental Illness! - "Problematic Internet use associated with significant social, psychological, and occupational impairment... Symptoms include a preoccupation with the Internet, increased anxiety when off-line, hiding or lying about the extent of on-line use, and impairment to real-life functioning. :O

this is so.. so... random...

I'm happy sitting here in my sarong
And I don't care
If you think that it's right or wrong
I hear them whispering
Saying he's queer, he's a fool
But I don't care as long as I think that it's cool
It's my sarong

it's from this page on how to wear a sarong...

two very different stories about being different but being accepted:

- TV Beans
- Land Of The Dots

nice... :)

the clouds this morning are really dramatic...

had a nice chat with famous local watercolourist Ong Kim Seng when he dropped by at shop today. Very nice and amiable guy (even laughed when i reminded him to update his website often! :D) Gave me a whole bunch of suggestions on how to travel around Nepal and Tibet and which Himalayan treks i should take when i go there...

only managed to go around Kathmandu for photography when i was there in Dec of 99.. he apparently has done almost all the treks except for two with really obscure names.. he even did one trek that was for 29 days - the annapurna circuit i think! Very inspiring.. he travels around alone too... quite cool... but can't go there this year cos of all the Maoist activities. Quite thought-provoking how Maoism could be so big there in a little mountainous country..

Nepal for trekking next year...? umm.... :)

< P L A Y >

seems like housewife in houston is getting a cultural shock... eeky MTVs... :p

here's a list of things that seem to be "in" for people of my generation at this moment...you may disagree but this is my personal observation:

1. studying for exams (cos they decided at some moment of insanity to study some more, even though they already have a good degree, in a good job, happily acquiring the 5 Cs..)
2. diving (or thinking of learning how to dive, or buying dive equipment, or planning a dive trip, or something dive-related..)
3. digital cameras (cos everyone else has one so i must have one too..and besides.. i am..)
4. blogging (so i need a digicam so i can put my picture on the blog so that.. err...so that..i can become famous? err.. lame...:p)
5. getting married (cos the biological clock is ticking and HDB flat has come sooner than expected and whatever)
6. trying to get rich by acquiring assets and being in the "correct quadrants".. (all thanks to mr kiyosaki..)

here's a short list of stuff that seems to be going "out", at least for the moment:

1. starting own internet business
2. travelling around the world (throwing all cares to the wind, refusing to join the rat race)

oh well.. something like that...i'm too tired to think anymore.. back to the books!

spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:
The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:
* We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.
* The Lord is a shoving leopard ["loving shepherd"].
* It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.
* Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?
* When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!
* Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].
_____________________________________________________

Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

what's this my sis is doing??

rise and shine and ..... study.... :(

..

Allegations that the Sept 11 crash into the Pentagon never happened.. huh?

had the good fortune of being acquainted with amazing Canadian sidewalk artist Chalkmaster Dave at last year's Busker's Festival at Clark Quay.. highly talented and funny guy..

just got another email from him... with nice cool new batman etc. pics.. see...>>

have been trying to submit my Income Tax Return for the past 30 mins!!! grrr.... must be jammed with all the submissions from the rest of us last minute type people.. sigh... lalalalala....

deadline has been extended to 18th April leh.. no rush lah... aiyoh.. just like all these people queuing up for the ezlink card... so kiasu...



Snaking lines of commuters formed at Orchard MRT station, but a TransitLink spokesman said many queued up for the "wrong reasons".

just wondering if drinking Brand's Essence of Chicken with Cordyceps will worsen ringworm infection.. here's why i think it will.... Ringworm is actually a fungus that looks like a worm... and Cordyceps? Fungus that looks like a worm too!! :O

:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

C C O O C C eeks! :O Ringworm, It’s not a worm, It’s a fungus!

did a goods delivery to a secondary school this morning and struck up a conversation with the lady at the reception desk. she was just in the midst of downing this massive dose of tablets and i found out that she has Lupus. Have heard about it before but never bothered finding out about it. she told me about how precious good health is and how we should be thankful for good health..

What a great piece of advice...

i really amaze myself with how determined i am to study... :p Read this..

I spent most of today studying in the SIM library until they chased us out when the library closed at 5.30pm. I wandered around haplessly for a place in the main SIM building to try to continue studying (determined to finish the topic I was working on) but all the benches and stone tables were taken by other equally hardworking SIMlets. In the end, I decided to drive over to Ngee Ann Poly to try my luck. Finally found a relatively quiet and (in retrospect) spooky place near the Engineering block, thinking I will study till about 7 or so and then go home.. The place was really deserted, except for a bunch of students playing soccer in a nearby field...Little did I know that my studying pace would be so incredibly slow and by 8 plus or so, I was still at it (although i was almost done). By now, mosquitos had started to hover around me.. annoying me..

Suddenly, i heard loud banging noises on the floor immediately above me (I was on the ground floor) as if someone was opening and closing the wooden doors. This was followed by some voices and then nothing. I ignored it thinking it was some students still hanging around on a Saturday evening. About fifteen minutes or so later, this happened again. Then a little while later, again. While I was a little spooked, I decided that I really wanted to finish the topic before going home... besides, I knew I was protected against this sort of supernatural beings (if they were such) and continued studying until I was really done. Then I came home.

Thinking about it now, i realised it really was pretty spooky huh? :p

this is how tired i really am...



took a break from studying this evening and ate a nice Turkish meal at SOFRA Turkish Café & Restaurant at Shaw Towers. Great Turkish food (had Shish Kebap, Sultan Kebap and Eggplant salad) at affordable prices (mostly below $10) per main course. Service was pretty slow though... maybe because restaurant was so packed. Seems like a nice place to bring a bunch of people.. food is halal btw.

then went for film fest French movie Martha...Martha - an almost 2 hour long dark & disturbing movie which mostly felt like it wasn't going anywhere and had a fairly anticlimactic ending... heard someone as i was walking out of the theatre saying it is a bad show.. don't think it is so.. suspect that there is a deeper meaning behind all that imagery (not trying to sound too arty farty here but surely there was something in it that made it worthy of a Cannes award, eh?).. anyway, don't want to spend any more time thinking about it..

going back to my books.. very scary.. only 9 days left... which means 3 days per subject.. not enough not enough...

Lets make Hello Kitty a UK thing!!... errr... ok....

Oh, my gosh! They really killed Kenny (this time)!!!

This site allows you to "Build A Cow".. ya.. pretty straightforward...

This is apparently the "Most Annoying Page on the Web"

lovely flying piggies but i was asked today what they meant... ya, actually i put them up yesterday 'cos someone said something that i didn't fully agree with (and was in fact a little annoyed by) but (in my usual non-confrontational manner) did not go on arguing about it.. but then it started to grind on me after that.... and i started to feel even more peeved by it moment by moment.. .. and in my head, i kept repeating to myself what I would have wanted to say during our altercation, had i a chance - I really would have wanted to say something like.. "Ya.. as if pigs might fly..." in the sacarstic manner I used to..

but guess i am not so argumentative anymore ..... must be something to do with age...

An In-Depth Anaylsis of the Cultural Ramifications Evidenced in the Powerpuff Girls - wow... can't believe someone went to such a great length to analyse these characters.. i mean.. .isn't this just a cartoon???

...and about Buttercup:

She is the ultimate in action, saying as she pleases because in her mind, it has already gotten as bad as it must. Hair as black as her heart has become, Buttercup's wounds have grown too deep to heal, and the nerve's have been severed from all feeling. She is what we fear the female to become if we continue on our path.

:O... no! i don't believe Buttercup is evil!! i don't!!

i have 24 hours in a day.
i spend 8 hours sleeping.
i work 7 hours.

that leaves 9 hours!

what happened to those 9 hours??

"What doesn't destroy you makes you stronger."

- Nietzsche

feeling really tired and irritable now... started the day really early, waking up at an unearthly 6.30am (catching a stunning sunrise) to rush for an appointment at Tampines at 7.30am and then another appointment at Bedok to do a demo at 8.05am...all the way from Clementi..

then, came back to office to find that my boss refuses to approve my 17-day leave (1 week to study exam, 1 week for the actual exams, and another week for my trip to london).. says that no boss will approve such a long leave.. i started to stress out 'cos london tickets and (i think) accommodation have already been booked. In the end, I decided to cut short my study week (taking 2 days instead of 6 day leave), come back to work on 2 days in the week of my exam (i.e. in-between my exams) and managed to cut it down to 11 days leave instead....

was planning to work butt off this week so i can have whole of next week to study really hard for exams.. now have lost motivation to do so... feel like rushing off during lunch and straight after work to study cos now really panicking and not sure whether got enough time.. :( ... besides, no need to make sure work is completed since will be coming back most of next week anyway.. grrr... :(

i just wish life isn't so difficult now.......

this guy is really cool... he drove all the way from New York to San Francisco in 6 days, mounting an SLR camera to his side window (triggered automatically by his speedometer) and took one picture at every mile - for all 3304 miles of it! He stops at night and drives to the nearest motel and then comes back to the very same point the next day to carry on... wow...

i want to come up with a truely original travel-photography project too.. something no one else (or at least very very few others) has ever done before... walk the length of something.. (i've thought of the River Thames or Hadrian's Wall), motorbiking and cirum-navigating the world on one of the latitudes or the equator...travel North to South of one of the longitudes (like Michael Palin's "From Pole to Pole")....something... (alb says I sound like John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.. :p)

went to this really odd kopitiam-style French food stall yesterday.. The French Stall off Little India - very odd.. you get gourmet stuff like Escargot for $8, Duck A L'orange at $14.80 and I had this Steak something for only $12.80.. but the food turned out to be only so-so (in fact, a little on the overly rare side).. could be because the main Chef was apparently not around and his assistant was in charge for that day..

there are really a lot of strange and interesting food places in Singapore (and I'm sure around the world too.).. so i can't understand this guy's obsession with McDonald's... he went to 45 McDonald's outlets in a single day! :O

there i was in cubicle no. 104, mugging away, starting on yet another one of the really complicated capital bugeting questions from the really thick and very heavy finance management textbook.. it was my 50th or maybe 102nd.. or maybe..224th question.. i have been in the library since 10am.. and have been sustained thus far by only half a glass of milk in the morning and 2 miserable slices of toasted bread coated thinly with egg mayo at noon... suddenly... my brain juices started to leak out from the tiny cracks at my temple... i had begun to explode.. but i didn't notice.. cos i was still mugging away at my finance questions....

BOOM!!! there was a loud explosion suddenly coming from cubicle no. 104! pieces of me landed everywhere.. in cubicles as far away as no. 23 and 227.. with cubicles no. 103 and 105 worst hit... the other hardworking SIM-lets stirred.. suddenly interrupted in their studying.. the SIM-let in cubicle no. 79 muttered annoyingly at the noise and brushed away the loose pieces of flesh, bone and hair that had landed on him, and resumed studying.. as if nothing had happened... some of the others had already started showing signs of explosion themselves.. their escaped brain juices causing the floors beneath them to turn soggy...

: D

i'm going mad with studying.. blogging now at SIM library.. i think i'm done for the day...

funny how everything else seems to be insignificant and taking a backseat when you worry about exams... like I don't care that my favourite film fest is just about to happen... or about my london trip that is coming up... or that i seem totally unenthusiastic when you ask me if i am interested in this dive trip or that course or having dinner or whatever.. .. and worse of all, i start to be a bit impatient with everyone and everything that is slow and repetitive... even friends who are recovering from breakups and so on....

there's just something about the big E that tends to get me a little.. err... cranky......

hey.. gimme a break and be patient with me till i'm done, ya?.. promise i'll be back to life then...

:(

thanks for all the concern about my exams.. think i'll be fine but ya, surely i have to start dividing up my time properly... have just been told i am getting overly obsessive about it.. sorry lah.. nothing much else happening.. besides.. THIS IS MY BLOG! go write your own blog if you want other stuff to be discussed... hmph!.. sorry.. so rude.. :p

found a couple of great blogs.. they write a great deal better than me in terms of prose and style.. and content too! especially now when i can't seem to get away from the big "E"!! go entertain yourself with them till i finish my exams lah..

1. http://asecretsmile.blogspot.com/
2. http://textism.com/

btw, you may want to try placing the swirling clock and date cursor thingey over the animated Buttercup pic - it gives you a fresh new perspective of her.. quite cool.. :)

suddenly realised i may not be able to finish studying my exams.... i'm panicking.... :( ... maybe i should stop blogging... maybe i should stop checking my email.. maybe i should stop meeting people altogether! I should go straight home after work on the dot and lock myself in my room .... disconnect the phone and modem... study and study and study!!! :O

DANIEL LIBESKIND

Farrell Eaves' camera was a perfectly ordinary Nikon CoolPix 990 until he accidentally knocked it into a pond last summer. Now it's a magic camera.

just had yummy cze cha dinner at 29 Tyrwhitt Road (off jalan besar) - 2 1/2 pairs of Makansutra chopsticks - famous for their belachan pomfret and black pepper crayfish.

busy day but have almost no recollection of what happened throughout the day - gee.. i'm tired... :|

Cheese Moving On Their Own

Met up with a friend struggling with some changes in her life yesterday and started thinking about change. About this annoying cliché – “The only constant is change”. Started thinking through the day and while going home. Beginning to see how true it is. Change is happening around us all the time. Sometimes, we create the change, because we acknowledge something is going awry (e.g. getting fat for me: p) and set our minds to stemming it. These changes are (relatively) easy to handle. Just need a bit of self-discipline and so on. Then there are changes that happen to us. Like for my friend. Or suddenly getting sacked because of office politics and so on. These changes are usually accompanied by feelings of betrayal and injustice and can take a long time to get over and accept.

In the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr Spencer Johnson, Hem says “Why should we change? We’re special. This sort of things should not happen to us. Or if it does, we should at least get some benefits.” Haw asks “Why should we get benefits?”. Haw claims, “Because we’re entitled.” “Entitled to what?” Haw wanted to know. “We’re entitled to our Cheese.” “Why?” Haw asked. “Because we didn’t cause this problem. Somebody else did this and we should get something out of it.” Haw suggested,” Maybe we should stop analyzing the situation so much and just get going and find some New Cheese.”

“Oh no,” Hem argued. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

Aren’t we all like that sometimes… Maybe they are right.. “The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Find New Cheese.” (pg 60)

For all animal lovers out there - especially all those pet lovers.. this is really worth reading.. "How Could You?"

finished the last project for Financial Management and can finally get down to studying for exams... phew... fortunately have been able to really focus when I study and not get distracted by noise, the lure of food or sleep... I think people do get better at studying as they grow older. must be because of the lack of time... or maybe because i'm studying something i enjoy.. love Marketing Mgmt... :)

suddenly find myself swamped with a hundred and one things that need my attention - @ work, @ study and time for sorting out personal stuff - haven't paid my credit card, phone etc bills..and there are all these bits here and there that i need to get around to sorting out.. a bit disorganised... and all the time i feel i need to get down to my books and study... need to manage my time..... think i should really try to be super-efficient and finish up my work-stuff at work (and not think about bringing it home) and make it a habit to sleep on time and then wake up a bit earlier to study... and make sure i get all these annoying administrative stuff out of the way..

haha.. thanks for reading about my time management thoughts...you really do have a lot of time on your hands, eh?

btw, forgot to blog about my watching of The Thing yesterday on vcd.. 80s alien movie starring Kurt Russell.. really cool.. the alien in the movie (which could manifest itself in myriad forms) was really scary, full of tentacles, scaly and all that..they don't make them like that anymore.. just checked it out online.. turns out 2002 is exactly the 20th anniversary of the movie.. wow!

back from an inspiring evening with "best-selling author" robert kiyosaki and am now mulling over his radical ideas on "you don't need money to make money", the concept of wealth, the simple definitions of assets and liabilities, and importance of financial literacy, how schools actually teach you how to be an employee (E) or to be a Self-Employed Person (S) so you will never actually be "financially free" as the government actually discriminates against people in these quadrants...etc etc.. quite a charismatic and yet humble and real (describes himself as "terrible with spelliing - can't write - flunk his exams") guy.. you can almost imagine yourself sitting down to have tea with him... definitely an eye-opener for an "investment virgin" like myself, especially when he goes into talking about stuff like options, real estates etc.. . and especially when he makes us all fill up this worksheet to let us examine how much these so called "assets" (stuff that puts money in your wallet whether or not you are working) we have at the moment... quite thought provoking.... it's definitely a good start..

his definition of what sort of skills we should have in order to become real "Business Owners" would also be a good lesson for many of us arrrogant young punks who think the world of ourselves.. he believes in listening and paying good money to real experts to provide solid advice (and warns against getting "free advice" from third auntie, fourth uncle etc and hanging around with "stupid people"... i.e. people who speak a lot but don't know nuts about investments). He also believes good selling skills are essential, because everything is related to selling (ideas to investors, schemes to employees, products to customers..)..

makes me feel good about being in the sales line.. :)

going for robert kiyosaki's seminar later!! have been waiting for it since jan! will blog about this later...

just went for the amazing MPH booksale off Yio Chu Kang Rd (Tagore Dr - until tomorrow) and bought 7 new Lonely Planet Guidebooks for only $10 each!! When will I have the time to go West Africa, Southern Africa, South America, SW China, Mexico, Maldives (maybe end of the year? :)) and India?? : p maybe i will find out how and when after I attend the seminar?? :D haha... better not expect this to create miracles...

bought a new Oral-B toothbrush yesterday called the Cross Action - quite cool.. it comes with three types of bristles and was apparently developed by Oral-B after some couple of million US$ of R&D. heard about it from my Marketing Class after one of the groups did a project presentation on Oral-B as a company and how they come up with new products and pricing. According to my Marketing lecturer, consumers can be divided into different categories depending on how quickly they rush out to check out a new product in the market - the quickest are these people called "innovators" (like my friend Daniel who is always the first to get novel and innovative products - like the NetMD and Xbox) once it hits the market and on the other end of the scale are these "laggards" who only buy the products when they are tried and tested to death by the majority of the people...

i think i fall somewhere in between..err... ya?

Good Friday is the day that Christians around the world remember the crucifixion of Jesus. (Matthew 27:32-56; Mark 14:25-41; Luke 23:26-56; John 19:16-42) Good Friday is probably a corruption of the name, "God's Friday", although paradoxically His death was for our ultimate good.
Peter preached to the crowd on the day of Pentecost to explain what had happened when Jesus was crucified. He explained that Jesus was accredited by God by miracles, wonders and signs to show that He was the Messiah, who was promised to the Jewish nation through the prophets. Peter added that Jesus was handed over to them by God's set purpose and foreknowledge (Isaiah 53:10).

Why would God sacrifice His only begotton Son? Jesus did nothing to deserve death. He was sinless. He died for our sins. Scripture tells us in John 3:16 that God loved the world so much that He gave His Son (as a sin offering) so that whoever believes in Jesus (believes that His death and resurrection paid our debt of sin to God) will have everlasting life. God raised Jesus to life and declared to Him the title of Christ, the Anointed One, which is to say the Messiah.

Peter went on to say that everyone in the crowd should repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."

That means the promise is for you also, if you want peace with God. Jesus is our Peace.

At His Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, "This is My Body. This is My Blood." We recognize His Body and Blood in the sacrament of The Lord's Supper. We also remember the price at which our salvation was bought.

Bad Dive Practices in Singapore

A friend of mine almost died on a dive trip last week. A sweet young girl in her twenties, at the prime of her life, excitedly going on the second dive trip of her life … a trip that almost became the last one she will ever take. As I write this, I find myself quivering… not with fear, not with restraint sadness and relief.. but with anger. With anger at the people who made her think she was ready to go diving, but who didn’t make sure she was mentally, physically, theoretically and technically trained for it… and who didn’t make sure she would be safe... the stupid, incompetent and ill-trained people who make diving, this great love of mine appear dangerous to the rest of the world...this was what happened... (and i will write about what the correct practice should have been in italics..)

an inexperienced diver (probably on her third or fourth actual open water dive), she was nonetheless made on the first dive of her trip to dive with someone who was obviously not very experienced as well (judging from his wrong/non-reactions and almost zero help rendered to her throughout her whole ordeal) - durrh??? and to dive to a ridiculously deep level of 28metres (when she was by right only allowed to dive, based on her qualification and experience, and since this was the first dive of the trip - what we would normally term a "check-out dive" - to dive to no more than 18metres). As she was descending, she apparently felt herself descending too quickly to the bottom. She then rose to the surface again and then descended again. For some reason, she felt herself descending too fast again and came up again and went down again. (I don't know how quickly she descended (cos quick descends are not really a problem - the maximum allowed is 30m a minutes - which i doubt she exceeded - though what she did was really really stupid - almost amounting to suicide. In diving, one of the biggest dangers to divers is this condition known as "Decompression Sickness" (or DCS) which is caused by sudden ascents giving little time for nitrogen that is dissolved into body tissues (due to increased pressure at descend) to leave the tissues and to reenter the blood stream safely. What happens hence are that these nitrogen bubbles form in the tissues and can cause disorders - the worst of which are paralysis and death. Going up and down repeatedly is like an insane practice in pumping nitrogen in and out of the body tissues..

anyhow, more was to come. when she reached the bottom, she suddenly found her regulator (which is the mouthpiece bit) filled with water. this is actually not a serious thing and we are all taught during training how to purposely take it out (after which it fills with water), purge the water out and then put it back in. Even now, I do intentionally occasionally take out my mouthpiece during a dive to rinse my dry throat. Nonetheless, the poor girl panicked and thought her equipment faulty. She signaled a panic "No air" signal to her buddy who then came over and handed her his alternative air source ("octopus"). The octopus was of course also filled with water (since it was hanging in the water all this time) and the poor girl now thought both pieces were faulty (I don't know why her buddy didn't reassure her all this while.. I blame him... I really do..)

With her air supply now cut off from her (and mentally and actually running out of air..), she then started to do a rapid ascent to the surface in a state of panic. (Remember what I said about rapid ascents? The correct speed is a slow 15m per minute, followed by a 3min wait at 5m, and finally another 1 full minute to reach the surface) .. but the poor girl didn’t realize how deep 28metres is (it is about 7 to 8 storeys of an HDB flat) and she felt herself taking forever.. which didn’t help with her state of panic and feeling of doom. She then started to swallow water and by the time she reached the surface, they found her pale, her lips purplish, unconscious and foaming at the mouth.

It took a while before they could revive her and by then, she was hysterical, crying, vomiting and all that…

I don’t know if she will ever dive again.. but I detest how badly some divers are trained in Singapore… especially those dive schools that promise a certification after only a weekend of training. I took almost six months to complete my own dive training – did more than 12 sessions in the pool, attended 20 lectures, did many theory and diving competency tests before I actually entered the sea for the first time.. and even then I was accompanied by a qualified trainer until I was competent enough to rescue even my dive buddy…

I hate the bad dive schools in Singapore. I hate those people who make diving look so dangerous and risky when they are actually just stupid and arrogant and badly trained..

another great reason and way to travel!!

Check out "Degree Confluence Project" - the goal of the project is "to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location" and then post them and the stories on the website.. :D - sorry... did i just lose you? :p ok ok... "integer degree intersections are points such as 35°S 60°W or 106°N 6°E, basically intersection points made up of whole numbers (just in case you forgot what integers are... ). There are literally thousands of such locations in the world (12,776 to be exact - excluding those in the ocean and near the poles & many of them probably inaccessible - i.e. in the middle of the dense amazon or mountain top!) but one such chap has obviously thought this a good idea and reckons crazed GPS device folks like himself (and us too! :D) would be mad enough to go for it... HE'S PROBABLY RIGHT!!! He seems to be quite successful - there are tons of stories and pictures online..

singapore isn't on it.. unfortunately.. i just realised we are something like 1° 18' N 103° 50' E ...ya, seems like the whole of this "Little Red Dot" has in fact got just one intersection point for all to share.. might check out the Malaysian ones after the exams.. :)

The Problem With Asian Parents

The relationship of an Asian mother with her daughter is, in my opinion, one of the most volatile and complicated relationships between any two people. Recall the story of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club - a well-known story revolving around the different mother-daughter relationships between the characters. In the book, the problem of communication and lack of understanding between mothers and daughters is emphasized. The stories are rife with mother-daughter conflicts, often tearful, often unresolved even till deathbed. While trying not to be a little overdramatic here, I see this constant conflict of opinions, ideas, beliefs and frequent (and often violent)disagreements on what is considered right and wrong behaviour and overprotectionistic behaviour a pretty common source of disharmony and stress even among my peer - girlfriends around me and their mothers.

My relationship with my mother is itself a classic example of one such relationship. In every way, my mother is the typical Chinese mother, caring, protective and ever ready with every meal, doing the washing and cleaning, and making sure the house is spick and span. A very house-proud mother, if you could say. You will ask: So what are your complaints, you ingrate!? I have only one: the fact that almost three decades from the day I was born, my mother still does not ever seem to notice that I have grown up, I have my own experiences now, and I have my own way of interpreting and experiencing the world. The world that I am experiencing now is alien to my mother, just as hers will be alien to me should I ever travel back in a time machine. Yet, my mother (and she is not the only mother to think this way, from a random survey of girlfriends' mothers around) believes that as long as her daughter (i.e. me) is not married (no matter whether I am 15,25,35 or 45 or :O...), I will always have to abide by the rules for which she has imposed on me from the day I started walking. These rules include curfews, living habits, opinions and sometimes even things like hobbies (which for me fortunately I have been able to get away with, having started diving and skiing since the UK and am now beyond her reach).

I don't think she and the others will ever know how little difference that will make to whether we do end up experiencing what we really want to in this vast and exciting world - guided no longer by their protective arms but by our own beliefs, intuitions and principles. Instead, what they will end up with are merely rebellious children who will choose to share less and less with them as time goes by...

just read this at Motley Fool:

Invest Your Passing Windfall

What a joyous day it is when money you didn't expect shows up on your doorstep. Such luck comes in many forms: a rebate, refund, birthday check, victorious lawsuit against an automobile manufacturer that didn't properly warn you that cars don't float, and so on.

Many a Fool makes it a rule to always invest found money. Smart move. After all, the money wasn't expected, and -- as long as you're living below your means -- you don't need it. Let's say you get a tax refund check of $300 this year. If you add that to a regular investment account now, and the investment you choose averages a return of 10% a year, you'll have more than $2,000 in 2022. Your retired self will thank you.

Unfortunately, windfalls are unreliable and difficult to plan for. ("If Great Uncle Thurston dies in three years, and leaves us $100,000, then we can retire.") The good news is you can create your own bonanza. No, we're not encouraging you to line your uncle's walkway with banana peels. Try these boon-makers:

1. Any time you get a raise, stick to your current budget and invest the extra.

2. Once a debt is paid off -- a school loan or car payment, for example -- keep writing that check, but send it to your retirement or brokerage account.

3. Search every cabinet, closet, and crawlspace for stuff you don't need. Perhaps you could sell some of your "collectibles" to Mary Anne's Cheeky Antiques down the street. And let's not forget hawking your wares on eBay or Half.com -- a great way to decrease your clutter and increase your wealth.

4. The old standby: When you get home, put all your loose change and maybe some bills in a jar. Every few months, roll the coins and make a bank deposit.

5. Forgo a regular expense -- cable TV, magazine subscriptions, that extra cell phone -- and sign up for a dividend reinvestment plan.

Building wealth through windfalls is a two-fold commitment: 1) Resolve to invest all unexpected money, and 2) seek out ways to find "hidden" money. A little effort will get the windfalls blowing your way.

someone, please tell me what this is all about...

hahahhahaha.. :,D



see earlier pic

so what do you fret about if you are a "Housewife in Houston"?... cockroaches and lemons?? :p



back from watching remarkably beautiful show.. err.. "A Beautiful Mind" - starring Russell Crowe as mathematical genius - cum - Nobel prize winner John Nash. Another multi-Academy award nominated movie, Russell Crowe put up a simply superb and stirring performance in a movie that was gripping with the start, well-paced, thrilling at times and at the end of it, touching, meaningful and very human in dimension. Loved it. *sniff* Never been much of a mathematical person myself but have to admit I am pretty impressed by all these Nobel prize winners and their genius.. after all, I am just a "gifted borderline genius" myself.. :p

Read up a little more about the real John Nash - truely remarkable character... see this also..

blogger has been so incredibly unstable tonight... was about to give up except that am stuck anyway at computer trying to sort out Finance project.. panic panic...

very interesting discussion with three friends yesterday - one a newly-born Christian, one an agnostic (who is nonetheless keen on the powers of crystals and yoga) and the last a "true atheist" - at least that's the way she describes herself (but who believes in karma). And what better topic to discuss than "What is the meaning of life?" (which was a great way to share the gospel with our two unbelieving friends - two people who can be considered fairly successful in life but nonetheless have wondered if there is more to this life).

I like the way how this page clearly summarises what a Christian believes in when it comes to the question of "Meaning & Purpose of Life" - A tree does not have to "try" to fulfill its purpose in life. It does what God meant it to do (i.e. provide shade and shelter and fruits) and it has fulfilled what it was destined for in this life. In the same way, only by knowing what the will of our Creator is for us - the blueprint He has planned for us in our earthly existence - can we truely find our meaning in life and the peace that we so desire. And in every step of the way, God will be with us, guiding, empowering and blessing us as we fulfill the purpose of why we were brought into this world.

Of course along the way came the question of: "If God really does exist, why doesn't he just make everyone believe in him?"

Can God force upon us this decision or this gift? Not if He is a loving and just God. As with all gifts, there are only three ways you can deal with it: You receive it, you deny it, or you ignore it. If you believe in Him and pray with a genuine heart to receive His gift and allow Him to change your life, He will embrace you and forgive you. If you reject Him outright, or pretend you don't need Him, He will let you have your way. Neither can He deny it to any, as a loving God would not create beings destined to go to Hell without hope. By accepting Christ's gift into your life you acknowledge that you are imperfect and need God in your life to help you. You submit to Him and are no longer rebellious. However, a soul that never acknowledges need for God remains in rebellion against Him. Hell is where the rebellious souls go when they die, and heaven is for those who have repented of their sin. Hell is eternal separation from God in a place where there will be great pain and suffering. Those in heaven enjoying God's presence will rejoice eternally having full knowledge of what they deserve, and basking in what joy they experience in God's awesome presence. They will be so overwhelmed with joy, love, peace, and happiness that they will have no other desire than to praise God for eternity- which they will of course choose to do.

It's quite simple. Think about it. And if you find that you can't accept this (or are getting annoyed reading this), for a moment just consider if this is something to do with your own selfish-pride.. if it is, then perhaps you are denying yourself the chance to know the truth and to know peace.. is it really worth it?

took the IQtest and found that i am a "Gifted Borderline Genius"... whatever...

my ticket to london has been booked and confirmed!! :D

didn't tell you guys about this really yummy Fishhead Steamboat place at Whampoa Drive that alb & I discovered about a month back. Has been there twice in the last two weeks in my quest to complete the (almost) impossible task/lifetime mission of trying out all the food stalls that are listed in the Makansutra book. :p

Xin Heng Feng Guo Tia Tan located at #01-599, Block 90 Whampoa Drive - open 4.30 to 9.30 pm (don't go to the wrong one at the opposite block (not really wrong lah, just that it has a lower rating - this one called Chye Lee Fishhead Steamboat 91 Whampoa Drive #01-773 - also not bad but compare the ratings!! >> :p)

You can even go there when you are with just one other person and they give you a smaller charcoal steamboat pot filled with fresh stingray fish slices, vegetables, hot steaming soup (with the most amazing flavour of well-made broth).. my mouth waters just thinking about it... :) don't go too late... they sell out really quickly...

people loved the kitty!! :)

this is quite fun... check this out to see what's wrong with this picture (click) you may need some time before you find it.. but persevere!!

Turn on the volume! :p

click for buttercup a-la "The Ring" starring my dearest sister

am in a mood for the macabre..

actually maybe just feeling moody and contemplative and at the same time highly suffocated...

sorry.. hope this cheers you up..

just watched the much hyped about movie Ice Age and have to admit that I am a tad bit disappointed.

True to the hype, the graphics were awesome and realistic, especially for the scenes where they had flowing lava, falling avalanches and blizzards. The movements of the well-drawn characters were pretty darn good too. But for some reason, I found the movie lacking in plot, somewhat slow-moving, and with way too much slapstick humour for my liking. There was hardly any other type of humour in the show (i.e. witty, unexpected ones that I like) and I concluded that the show was probably targeted at kids (successfully as I can tell, judging from the excitement from the kid sitting two seats away from me, repeating every other line spoken by the characters - which looked anyway like they were looted from any typical Disney cartoon - especially the wicked Diego and silly loser Sid)... but I guess it's still worth watching, just for the graphics I suppose...

btw..just found this on the web, apparently someone important enough said it..

"As you pass through the portals of RGS, our vision is that you will not be content to be mere passive inheritors of this fine tradition but will aspire, strive and dare to be active creators of a better age for all. In this way, each generation will truly be Daughters Of A Better Age. Filiae Melioris Aevi."

.. wow....inspiring..

We shall henceforth remember this weekend as either a “gourmet” weekend or a “stuff-face” weekend or worse still, an indigestion weekend :p.. I have just ingested two tabs of Rennie (medication for indigestion) and I still don’t feel much better. Burp!

After the afternoon lunch session, all of us were sure we didn’t need food again until, err… probably Monday or something :p. But guess we had underestimated our appetites. By the time we got to Brewerkz in the evening and found lay before us chips of a thousand different flavours (tortilla, tapioca, keropok, etc etc) as well as nicely grilled bbq wings, onion rings, pizzas and what-nots, we found ourselves eating again. I am convinced we are indeed gluttons.….

Solemnisation and celebrations went like a breeze, except for a short (and amusing) moment when the lovely Justice of Peace’s feathers were ruffled when she was (in her own words) “for the very first time” called the "JOP" (instead of the usual JP). Hahaha..

On our part, I think we made the night memorable for our dear friend (and maybe for ourselves as well), breaking into a rendition of our much loved RGS song & motto “Filiae Melioris Aevi” (Daughters of A Better Age) - sung opera-style (with the appropriate accompanying handhold), followed by an impromptu acapella “Stand By Me” with swinging, swagging and finger clicking…it was fun and at the same time sentimentally nostalgic... of course we would all have loved to sing the actual RGS school song, except that none of us could really remember past the first line - "From High Olympus flows to us the glory... err...err...".. :p found it online anyway..

:)

back for a rest after stuffing face at friend's wedding lunch at Peranakan Restaurant Blue Ginger. Just couldn't stop eating cos the food was so tasty, the company was great and we were just so hungry after a morning of activity - including the bargaining process at the door where the groom was made to eat a series of "food items" consisting of the four dominant tastes - sweet (sugar syrup poured over kueh lapis). sour (pure lemon with vinegar concoction), bitter (cross-sectional slices of bittergourd) and spicy/hot (chilli sambal sandwiches). We also came up with a "yucky" - raw egg with mayonnaise and soya sauce. He was also made to do a series of embarrassing actions (including sing - which turned out to be his weakness). Quite fun. Groom was quite impressive and took everything in his stride.. looks like he is really eager to marry our dearest friend.. :) glad for her...

recovering now (with the help of Eno and Earl Grey Tea) from the stuff-face session. The free flow of pong tauhu, kueh pai tee, ayam panggan blue ginger, otak otak, steamed tiger prawns, ayam buah keluak, assam fish, oyster vegetable, babi pong tay, durian chendol and gula melaka, , coupled with our being hungry and greedy made us just eat and eat and eat (like there is no tomorrow - as the wise ones always say..:))..

think i will go for a walk/run before showering and going down to Brewerz to continue the celebrations!

read something good today.. it says:

"The value of any week is not limited to what we do in it; it's also in what we learn from it."

how true. sometimes, we just pack our days, weeks and years with as many activities as we can, thinking we are making the best use of our time. in actual fact, if we go through it all without learning anything from it, or without influencing anyone else's life in a positive way, it is actually all quite meaningless..

don't you think so?



btw, I think this is really nicely done and meaningful....Check out "The Miniature Earth"

things seem to be looking up again :)

a couple of close friends (unfortunately not all yet) around me who have been depressed, uncertain or feeling "stuck" in this current phase of their lives (what I termed at that time as "age of emotional turmoil", a symptom of the much talked-about "quarter-life crisis") have since adopted various and all positive steps and outlooks to move along with their lives.

Maybe it is to do with this being March, the point in the year when you realise that three full months have passed and you take stock of what you have done with your life this year until now. Suddenly, fear grips you and you realise that if you don't start to make some changes in your life from this moment on, think positive and enjoy and maximise your time with the people around you who are close to you - this whole year could just pass you by... Worse still, your whole life could pass you by without notice! :O The good thing is, there are still nine more months to go (for 2002), so you decide that enough is enough and it is time to make the most of the rest of the year (and you think this could be the start of something if you really could put your mind to it). One friend has decided to stop procrastinating and to do all the unpleasant (but have to do) tasks that he has been putting off for a while and to really live every moment in the best way possible. Actually felt really glad to hear that.

Whatever is the reason, i'm glad the gloomy mood has lifted on a whole... :)

I've finally gotten my Lomo Kompact Automat (LCA) camera (in short "lomo")!!! Welcome to lomo land :) It's so genuinely Russian Original that it even has the word "LOMO" in front of it in Cyrillic (not like the one in the picture above - see mine)!! bought it at a great bargain at this shop in Orchard Plaza (grubby-smelling building right next to where I work) and it has apparently been sitting in the window for quite a while since "a Russian" sold it to the shop owner "quite some time ago". the guy obviously doesn't know how much it is worth in the market (i.e. $330 - if you buy it from the Lomographic Society of Singapore) and I got it for a fabulous $150!!! It's in perfect working condition!! :D he was a bit surprised when i finally told him how much the Vienna-made one sells for! now i have two lomo cameras - this and the one i bought in Sept last year! i think i am obsessed with cameras - i have one slr, two compacts, two polariods, one digital and now two lomos!! :O

think i will probably be bringing just my new lomo and my slr to london.. yes!! i'll finally be going back to london after 5 years! (if all things turn out as planned)... i'm actually feeling a lump in my throat as i'm saying this...

:) i really love london...

went for yummy dinner at popular Old Airport Road hawker centre yesterday and could hardly find parking space - that place has the most amazing collection of stalls with newspaper-cuttings, banners and photos of City Beat's visit, Makansutra, Streats, Life etc etc recommendations and so on.. ended up eating Hua Kee Wanton Mee and Ngoh Hiang after sifting through the overwhelming variety available. yum! :)

i like this!! i really really like it!! hahahaha.... :D

discovered a copy of Sept 12 2001's Today last week. Front page had a huge picture of the twin towers of WTC on fire before they both collapsed. There were more pictures inside showing the two kamikaze planes actually flying into the twin towers and then the buildings catching fire after that. It still feels spooky looking at these pics even though it has been (almost) exactly half a year since the event that shook the world happened.. :( such an impact on the world that i'm sure its going to be spoken in the same breath as the Holocaust even many many generations from now..

- click on it to see this page by Reuters photographer Sean Adair

Karen, Is this the My Virtual Model you are talking about?

got my new "Illicit Green" Nokia handphone cover yesterday - check it out.. cool huh? :)started a new album to keep pics of stuff that are damaged.. come to think of it, it sounds quite spooky.. like I am trying to keep a photographic reminder of these "dead and gone" things ... eeks.. like my car key that broke today just when i was trying to drive to school. fortunately the nice key lady (err... sounds like the tea lady :p.. oh ya, they are called "locksmiths"!) managed to make a replacement nonetheless from the two separate parts.. umm.. wonder who else on the web puts up something like that.. ? quite morbid huh...

cracked my 8250 cover barely a week after getting the phone back from Nokia Care Centre! :O Now will have to incur extra expenses getting a replacement one (check out what you can find in other countries! They even have a Joystick cover for the 3310 so you can play the game Space Impact more efficiently! :D ).. anyway, think i will go and get the Buttercup green one i have been eyeing for a while.. :p

have been told that my changing of the colour of my links has made them virtually invisible.. what to do...? I think i am colour-challenged..

have gotten myself in a frenzy trying to get a grasp of acrylic painting! :p will be teaching it to a bunch of kids come mid-March (hopefully over the March holidays) and as usual I am trying to make sure I know enough to teach them so they get their money's worth! It is a lot more tricky than oil painting 'cos acrylic paints dry so quickly and it is hard to blend them after that.. as they say ""The major advantage of acrylics is that they dry really fast. The major disadvantage of acrylics is that they dry really fast!" durrh... maybe that's why they are so popular with the modern yuppie in their twenties - we get a lot of them coming into our shop buying acrylic paints to do abstract stuff - see this wonderful bunch of acrylic works by one of our customers.

still, managed to get talented artist-friend tonight to teach me about using guiding lines (short straight lines drawn at various points to divide up the picture) while doing sketches to ensure that proportions are kept right, painting from darker colours to lighter colours (instead of the other way round), being generous with paints, ensuring the placement of materials around you is correct while painting and what sort of brushes to use and all that. Very impressed considering he has never taught before..

Quite fun. Think I can paint acrylic painting now.. :p

Realised that I actually know a lot of people around me who are really talented in all sorts of different areas (from sports to computers to art, philosophy, photography and all that) and I can actually learn of lot of stuff from them as long as I take the trouble (and muster the guts) to sincerely ask them... :)

quite a fulfilling weekend.. actually got some studying done today as well (managed to really focus on my notes and books for a good hour and a half even though my progress is still amazingly slow - i only managed to cover one topic!!). On top of that, stole time out to relax over coffee and scone for part of the afternoon outside Borders, collected my 8250 finally (I'm walking on the blue side again! :)) and just managed to go East Coast to blade for about an hour or so..

that's how weekends should be.. a mix of books, entertainment, fitness and good company... :)

Went for very minimalist lomo exhibition at Atelier Frank and Lee Contemporary Art Gallery last Thursday – organized by Lomographic Society Singapore. Exhibited shots were taken over nine nights by a bunch of kompact lomo-wielding photographers “walking that labyrinthine night of Singapore” displayed in old Perankan shophouse with huge rainwater-airwell – quite interesting.. super-saturated “arty-looking” (i.e. blurry/distorted but in a pleasant sort of way) pics look even more amazing pieced together on the stark white wall in a kind of random jigsaw puzzle. Just might buy the Lomo Kompact after all if I ever manage to save up for it.. : p – don’t our material appetites ever get satisfied?

Finally started sort-of studying for exams yesterday, spending 3 hours at the freezing cold SIM library going through my notes– realised my built-in “kiasu Singaporean” state of mind had kicked in after I woke up every morning thinking about the exams and about not having past exam papers. Studying in a cold cubicle in a quiet library just reminds me of my University days, my JC days and all the other times I studied in the past. Realised I actually like studying. Don’t like exams. Just like studying. Why don’t they let people like us have exemptions and just do projects instead? :| … I wouldn’t mind…

Check out my new Oakleys!! And see how they cleverly reflects McDonald’s in their lenses! :) - yay! Managed to wait till I got this month’s paycheck before buying them.. not bad huh?

Watched “5 Academy-award nominee” (that’s what they are all described as now) The Shipping News yesterday starring Kevin Spacey and a bunch of other quite well-known names. Very pleasant evenly-paced movie with beautiful scenery (umm.. where’s Newfoundland?) and quite a gripping plot. Alb describes it as a movie for a relaxing Sunday afternoon after which people go home and cook a meal at home. Huh?

things turned out ok in the end yesterday... Thank God.... in retrospect, things were really not spiralling so out of control - but I really surprised myself with how easily i just "lost it" and started to fret and mope.. along the way, I got so irritable that I just basically "yelled" at everyone who came in contact with me.. so unpleasant.. :( .... pms? :p durh.. lame excuse.... i think this is quite a weakness of mine...

met up with a whole bunch of different people today - had lunch with friend from JC who has "settled down" (i.e. married and with stable job) and is now a bit restless in his job (too bad bright chap is "bonded" as a scholar - another 6 years to go! I don't even know what's going to happen in 6 days..:p) and dinner with friends (whom I meet once every 6 months) from Sec School band who are either married, in the transition being so, or doing nothing much (so it appears..).. Also said farewell to Mich, part of my close bunch of friends from Sec School, who will be beginning a sort of new life (even if it is only for a year or so) overseas in Houston with her hubby who is on overseas attachment.

Suddenly dawned on me this philosophical thought that the world probably does feel like it is going on even faster if you are standing still yourself…

frustrating and highly disorganised day... feeling really out-of-sorts and irritable now...

everything has been so hiccup-ish so far today - woke up a little late and didn't manage to go into shop earlier (as I had planned) to complete some of yesterday's work. And it didn't help that I took bus 106A instead of 106 and it terminated just five stops after I got on and the annoying driver grumbled and grumbled on and on about how it is my fault and I should have checked before I got on (grrr.....) then I had to go into shop and pass warning letter to the salesman and to give him a pep talk and some pointers on what to do next.. everything was so stressful.. rushed around and phone was ringing, customer was asking questions, discovered I didn't complete something really important I had set out to do earlier (and now it was coming back to me..)...

:( .......... :,O

very stressed out today. Boss burst into office in the morning in a really foul mood and demanded that we terminate our current outdoor salesman if he really was underperforming. I meekly showed him the latest sales to date of our newly employed ("one-month-old") salesman and that got my boss into an even foul-er mood.. sigh.. only slightly over $2000, which barely covers his salary.. anyway, I was made to type out a "Final Warning Letter" to the poor guy and cc. it to the boss and the letter said that unless the guy bucks up in like, 3 days (!), his appointment will be terminated...

I don't know. I struggle with the thought that while I agree with the boss that the chap has to start producing results quickly, I keep feeling that perhaps a period of one month was too short to decide if someone was up to the job... he did look like he was already ramping up sales... but perhaps he really was a little too slow for the boss's impatient nature... quite stressed.. not sure if we are just terrible at employing the right people, terrible at managing or what.. Took the opportunity to consult my HR managment lecturer just now and my lecturer did not hesitate in saying that giving a new employee only one month to perform was unfair - given that the guy has also got to get familiar with the organisation's culture, products, systems and other stuff... my biggest worry really is.. if we keep employing and terminating new people, we will just have to keep training them and these people will never have the opportunity to ramp up their sales in the second month, even if they were able to... sigh.... my HR lecturer says that having such an employer, one with no "conscience", must be difficult. Decided not to comment too much on his statement.