May The 4th Be With You

The opening score still gives me goosebumps

So, yesterday was the unofficial, fan-created Star Wars Day. I admit, I only found out about it in the past week or so, via the Star Wars Facebook page here. In true geek style, this post will be dedicated to my (past) obsession with everything Star Wars. Non-fans, you might want to stay away from this.

I discovered Star Wars way back when I was in Primary school, around the impressionable ages of 10-12. If you back-calculate, that was around the time The Phantom Menace was released (1998-1999). Caught up in the hype, my mum came back from work one day brandishing 3 VCDs (of dubious origins) and passed them to me. Mind you, those was the times when such discs were everywhere, and you had these awesome shops selling PC games with the goods displayed openly hanging by hooks on the walls. /ifyouknowwhatImean

As you might have guessed, those 3 VCDs were titled - Star Wars Episode IV, V and VI (Special Editions). My parents had probably watched them way back in the 70s, so it was a form of catching up to them before Phantom Menace was screened.

That was my first brush with the science fiction genre, and before I knew it I became a Star Wars fanboy - all at the tender age of 12. Maybe it was the Light vs Dark theme, maybe it was the cool star ships shooting funky lights at each other, maybe it was the awesome lightsaber battles, maybe it was the mystical Force, or even the hair buns of Princess Leia that sucked me into the Star Wars universe. I watched and re-watched those 3 movies, and when Phantom Menace came out on VCD, I bought it and re-watched that too.

My favourite lightsaber duel of all time - do you agree?

Not satisfied with just movies, the book-loving me discovered that the library held a treasure trove of Star Wars novels - the X-Wing series, the Thrawn trilogy, the New Jedi order and so many others - these accompanied me throughout my teens. When I had finished what the library had to offer, I turned to rental bookstores, always looking forward to the latest releases. I followed Han and Leia through their courtship, saw their children Jacen and Jaina grow into young Jedi Knights, survived the hellish Yuuzhan Vong invasion, watched Luke rebuild the Jedi Academy, and felt their anguish when Jacen turned into Darth Caedus.

First book of the Thrawn Trilogy

Books weren't enough to satisfy my cravings for more Star Wars though - I began to dive into Star Wars video games like Racer, Jedi Knight II (one of the best!), Rebellion, Force Commander, Empire At War, Republic Commando etc. Needless to say, they took up a huge chunk of my time in Secondary school, decapitating Stormtroopers, piloting podracers and entangling AT-ATs. I also started playing and collecting the Star Wars Trading Card Game with a good friend in class who also happened to stay above me.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

When I was young I loved to play with LEGO, building fantasy worlds out of bright coloured bricks and yellow-faced people. Naturally, I was the happiest kid alive when they decided to release LEGO Star Wars sets. During that fanatical period of childhood, every Christmas present, every birthday present, heck, every gift for every possible occasion was LEGO Star Wars. The pride of my collection still sits high above a display cabinet full of LEGO - the Millennium Falcon.

My humble collection. I've always wanted an AT-AT

Today is already the 5th of May. Star Wars Day may be over, but there's always time and space for Revenge of the 5ith XD

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

Star Wars fans, how did you spend 4/5/2012? Well, I decided to join in the fun and did this: 

"You have failed me for the last time"

Resolutions

Whats your new year's resolution?

I think I can live with my 22-inch, 1680 x 1024 resolution LG monitor screen, thanks.

Oh alright, that joke's already gone stale.

Looking back on last year's resolutions, I wonder how many did I achieve?

1) I will not upgrade my PC any further unless something breaks down.
2) Learn Japanese!
3) Fly to Germany during the summer! (I flew to Japan and Hong Kong instead, so I guess it cancels out too?)
4) Catch Muse live in Singapore!
5) Play more gigs than in 2009!

Anyway, here's mine, for the year 2011

1) Study in Japan during summer! Global Summer Studies!

2) Recover swiftly from ACL reconstruction surgery so that I can go back to playing soccer (don't worry mum, I'll be extra careful!)

3) Win her heart and never lose it again

4) Play more gigs than 2010! (which is kinda impossible, really)

5) Take JLPT 5 (or 4, if I'm ambitious?) and pass it


I realised my resolutions are actually all quite achievable. Not like those vague "I will be more cheerful this year" or remotely possible "I will win Toto $1 million ang pow draw this year".

Although it would be nice if I could win $1 million....

Top 3 lists of top 10 things of 2010!

Its that time of the year again! That time when people are penning down their resolutions for the new year (mine is 1680 x 1024), when the music in departmental stores start to change from "Jingle Bells" to "Ying Chun Jie Fu", and when school children start dreading the start of school once again...

Yes, its the last few days of 2010. And its time for the annual reflective "Top 3 lists of Top 10 things"!

What have you done for these past 12 months?

Top 10 significant life-changing highlights (oh all right, a lil' exaggeration here)

1) Screwing up my left knee and tearing the ACL
2) Falling out of love and falling in love once again
3) Buying and learning bass
4) QUIS (and all those performances!)
5) Forming Natsukashii
6) Travelling to Kyushu (and doing a YUI stalker tour!)
7) Flipping credit card application forms in an ulu part of Jurong
8) Travelling to Hong Kong to catch SCANDAL live
9) Catching MUSE live in Singapore
10) Learning Japanese

Top 11 Music Discoveries (sorry, had to squeeze in 1 more!)

1) SCANDAL - Temptation Box
2) YUI - Holidays in the Sun
3) Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Magic Disk
4) Fukuhara Miho - Music is My Life
5) The Bawdies - There's No Turning Back
6) Ayumi Hamasaki - Rock 'n' Roll Circus
7) Utada Hikaru - Single Collection Vol. 2
8) Orange Pekoe - 10 Anniversary Best Album Sun & Moon
9) Marie Digby - Unfold, Second Home
10) chatmonchy - Awa Come
11) Olivia Ong - Olivia
Top 10 Gaming Experiences

1) Starcraft 2 (just got it 2 days ago!)
2) FIFA 11
3) Assassin's Creed 2
4) Left 4 Dead 2
5) Mass Effect 1 and 2
6) Street Fighter 4
7) Team Fortress 2 (you can't grow tired of this game!)
8) Resident Evil 5
9) Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (awesome expansion to the best RPG in 2009!)
10) Bioshock 2

In case you've been a loyal follower of this blog for the past 2 years, you'd have noticed the omission of 2 lists, namely "Top 10 Geeky exploits" and "Top 10 Green exploits", this year. Well, to be honest, I can't really recall anything geeky or green I did this year, other than fixing my keyboard space bar and keeping the air-conditioner off.

Maybe its about time I change the name of this blog once again. Which is highly unlikely, since the name kinda stuck with me already.

Oh well. Guess I'm about to become a not-so-green-and-not-so-geeky-normal-person.

Hope you had a meaningful 2010! Now, on to 2011!

終わった

EXAMS ARE OVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Which means...

Life.

Starts.

Now.



Note:

This is a meaningless post, and it marks my return to updating this blog more regularly, until the new term starts.

Watch this space.

ソラニン

And so I've finally watched the movie "ソラニン" (Solanin) starring Aoi Miyazaki.

Refer to: http://thebudgetgeekthebudgetgeek.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post.html

This was after 1 week of watching the sad but very inspiring Japanese drama "1リットルの涙" (1 Litre of Tears) starring Erika Sawajiri.

And so I'm currently filled with so many thoughts that I just had to type it all out.

Forgive me, but this post is really just a random, blabbering post. I might use this for writing song lyrics someday :>



We're no longer invincible. When we were kids the world seemed so big, that we could do anything we wanted. That's no longer the case now, but we gotta learn to accept it.

Reality may be harsh on yourself, but living in a world of dreams is even harsher on the people around you.

Strive to achieve goals, but always keep the feet firmly attached to the ground.

Failure is only one reason to keep moving forward.

Limping around is better than staying on the ground after falling. (lol)

Cherish the living beings around you. Friends, family, pets, colleagues, classmates.

Forgive and forget.

Having a choice beats having none at all. Follow your heart and instinct when it comes to making choices. Consider, but not follow blindly, the advice of other people.

Never regret your actions.

Pity and sympathize with others, because it shows you care.

Help out of the bottom of your heart, not for the sake of anything else.

Love hurts, and only because it shows that we're human.

/end random blabbering

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

Tomorrow is Halloween! Have a very frightening Halloween :D

5 ways to prevent flooding in sunny Singapore

Its been all over the news lately, and following a somewhat predictable pattern.

Rain -> Flood -> Damages -> Complaints -> Reassurances -> More complaints -> Repeat

Its amusing that for something as simple as a flood, the number of things you can point fingers at are aplenty - the PUB, the Barrage, inadequate drainage, debris, over-urbanisation, even the freakish weather.

I'm in no way trivialising the matter, I do know that many people have been affected by this whole flooding fiasco, businesses and homes alike.

But instead of complaining to the gah-men, why not do something about it, to protect your property, your money and your livelihood?

*Do note that the following are tongue-in-cheek and are meant to be a light-hearted joke, so please don't take them seriously*

5 DIY ways to prevent flooding and its effects

1) Learn from the Japanese! Hang Teru teru bozu dolls outside your windows.

Quote Wikipedia - "Teru teru bozu is a little traditional hand-made doll made of white paper or cloth that Japanese farmers began hanging outside of their window by a string. This amulet is supposed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent a rainy day."

Make sure to hang them upwards, as hanging them upside down prays for rain instead.



2) Sandbag your entrance. In many countries, when their rivers are in danger of flooding, sandbags are stacked along the banks to prevent water from spilling over. Cheap, proven and effective solution! Even Liat Towers have dumped sandbags outside the building.

Downside is, your house/shop will probably look like a military entrenchment. Should sandbags be unavailable, trash bags filled with trash will do the job as well, if you don't mind the rubbish-dump image.

3) Dig a trench around your home. Not only will it slow down the water flow, giving you time to save your precious belongings, it also acts as a trap for potential burglars at night. And in the event of an all out war, a trench provides excellent cover from gunfire :D

4) Seal up your home i.e waterproof every single crevice and hole. The most obvious solution! Plus when the floodwaters subside, you can gloat over your neighbours by showing them your dry interiors. Only problem is, you'll probably be stuck inside your home forever, if the seals were to stay.

5) Get a land rover. Throw away that lousy Ferrali/Lambogini/Linguini - when the floods come their oh-so-powerful-engines become a hunk of scrap metal. The land rover on the other hand, can be partially submerged in water

Better still, get a monster truck. No matter how high the flood is, it will never ever reach the engine/cockpit. Or hark back to the olden days and keep a sampan at home, just in case.



I'd love to see that rolling down on our expressways.

Ok this was a totally random post. :P

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

QUIS and Natsukashii will be playing at the Blujaz cafe this Friday, 23rd July, 7.30pm onwards.

Do join us for a night of Japanese pop, rock, and some Mando/Kpop thrown into the mix!

The place is at 11 Bali Lane, within walking distance from Bugis MRT, opposite Golden Landmark Hotel.

For more information please visit this website: http://www.blujaz.net/

Post-exam activity #1 - Don't Say "Lazy"

What does a guy do alone at home the day after he finishes his exams?
.
.
.
He watches anime!

Alright, I suppose this doesn't apply to the generic "guy" in the street, more to the inner otaku in every one of them.

I've been a huge fan and rabid follower of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood even though the storyline matches the manga word for word. Its got something to do with getting a kick out of watching all the special effects blaze to life, something you can't get from reading the manga.

But even I must admit, I've been watching too much FMA. Its getting too emotional, too serious to really enjoy watching. Its more for the story, really.

Which was why, in the midst of studying for the exams last week, I chanced upon an anime which I knew was around but never bothered to watch. Yes, call me Mr. Lag. This always happens to me, yes?

K-ON!

When I first heard the opening theme song on Youtube, I nearly cringed at the overly cute vocals, even though it matched the entire theme well. I didn't know at that time, but K-ON! was one of the most popular animes in Japan when it was first aired. After watching a few episodes I kinda knew why, and well it sort of made for a good post-studying pre-bedtime activity :P



In a nutshell, K-ON! is about a 2 high school girls, Mio (Bass) and Ritsu (Drums) forming the "Light Music Club" (Kei-on in Japanese) in their school. Short of members, they go on a recruiting spree and manage to recruit Mugi (Keyboard) and Yui (Guitar). Packed into 13 episodes with practices, high teas in the music room, desperate crises, new members, training camps, school performances and many epic, L-O-L moments, I'd say K-ON! is definitely not the kind of anime you'd wanna catch for a strong storyline.

Rather, its that kind of anime that brings a smile to your face after a long day at work/studies, no thanks to the antics of the 4 girls, each with their own set of unique characters. Its more of a brainless, overly cute comedy than a music-oriented anime, even though the music aspect first drew me to it. Not that the music isn't good; the ending song "Don't Say Lazy" is catchy, as well as the songs the girls perform on stage "Fuwa Fuwa Time" and "My Love is a Stapler". Yup, strange song titles indeed.

Its currently into its 2nd season now, and while I can almost predict the story already, I'm gonna follow it just for the laughs and entertainment value. If you happened to walk past my room while I was watching K-ON! in hall, you'd have noticed the wide smile on my face, with the occasional outburst of laughter. I hope it didn't look weird :x

K-ON! is freely available on Youtube for those who'd like a peek, so go ahead and have a laugh :)

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

In other news, Command and Conquer 4 didn't live up to my expectations. After just 4 campaign missions I gave up. More on that in a later post, perhaps.

A list...

of the things I want to do after tomorrow :D

1) Move out of hall. Yeah, bummer. Hopefully I can stay next sem

2) SLEEP.

3) Play my backlog of games. Others have work backlog. Or homework backlog. I have games backlog :P

4) Watch my backlog of live performances and movies

5) Practice guitar/bass! My fingers are itching now. Especially after watching K-ON! Unfortunately all I can do is to touch my Materials Science notes -.-

6) On the same note, jamming! My ears feel the need to be stuffed with earplugs again!

7) Soccer! I haven't exercised since... well since the word exams found its way into my daily vocabulary.

8) Find a job. Hopefully I'll get down to it as soon as possible. Though considering the amount of stuff I need to catch up on...

9) Buy CDs! I still haven't bought Ayu's latest album D:

10) Celebrate! Spending the whole day in a tiny room studying can get quite claustrophobic.

Oh, wait. I still have another paper this Thursday. *sigh* It'll come soon enough. Soon. Very soon. Very VERY soon....

****

exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams

if that's not enough to drill it into my head, I don't know what will.
I'm going cold turkey, locking myself in Hall 6, 32-3-XXX.

If I don't answer the door, call for help.

:P

Catch me @ Can 2, if you're lucky.

Dreams are(n't) my reality

Its strange how dreams can pop up from nowhere with totally random storylines - you wake up and you go "What was THAT all about?!?!"

Especially since in my case, dreams are about as rare as catching a Mewtwo in Safari Zone.

Which is why most of mine are pretty memorable.

I remember having 1 ages ago during Primary school (yes it was that long ago), where I was standing at the top of a super-long escalator that stretched down in some random shopping mall, and it was snowing. Indoors.

Don't ask me what that means.

Then there were the numerous occasions where I would be falling indefinitely, waking up at the exact moment of landing. That was scary. People say it means insecurity, but I think its just the brain's way of saying "Ok, the alarm's gonna ring pretty soon, so why not I give you a lil' ride just for fun".

And many others which I can't really remember. I can only vaguely remember the characters present in some of them - A polar bear (must have been a really hot night), an elephant (uh, ate too much peanuts?), and random people from my childhood.

Like last night, a fragment of my childhood surfaced yet again. Can't really recall the exact story, but it involved a certain person, a bungalow, a strange proposal, a celebration, Facebook, an interview, a revelation and a dilemma. Its strange right? Having a dilemma within a dream. And I think I actually had to make a decision, which of course affected the course of the dream. WEIRD! Its almost as if I was inside directing the whole thing. (I thought dreams were supposed to be uncontrollable?)

It might be due to waking up at 4am to hunt down a god-forsaken mosquito that was happily slurping up my blood. Just to let you know, I didn't manage to smack it. Yes I know, all future NEA employees should come equipped with mosquito swatting + mosquito breeding site spotting skills. I'll work on it, I promise.

Dreams reflect what our brains have been thinking about, our fantasies, our worries, our hopes, our anxieties. But I really hope they don't reflect reality: Imagine dreaming about giant commando mosquitoes that attack in squadrons.

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

What did you dream of last night?

When we were young...

(QUOTE)
sighz...weekend was spent setting up the new comp...compaq presario, comes wif a 17 inch lcd screen...looks dam big...not used to it...

anyway i discovered the integrated VGA card sux...64mb only...so i opened it up, and guess wad? the slots were not compatible wif my nVidia Geforcefx 5200...gotta live wif lousy graphics until i can get a compatible one...

70GB of HD space...omg thats so gay~ y would anyone need so much space lolx...

loading speed is also gay...2-3 seconds for fifa2005 compared to 10-15s on my old one..

righto enuf of my comp...

i ran 4++ km yesterday...1 round bedok reservoir...surprising that i didnt feel tired, maybe cos i ran xtra slow...

(UNQUOTE)


4 years ago, that was my writing style.

Looking back, I think I was still pretty n00bish in writing a proper, readable blog post.

I've come a looong way haha.

Do take note of "70GB of HD space...omg thats so gay~ y would anyone need so much space lolx... "

Technology is amazing, don't you think?

Reading my old archives can be a pretty amusing (and embarrassing for me) experience.

School work is piling up. Damn.

First post of 2010!

Frankly, it doesn't seem any different from 2009, apart from the fact that school starts in a week :(

Well, I suppose its appropriate to create a(nother) list of new year resolutions....

1) I will not upgrade my PC any further unless something breaks down.
2) Learn Japanese! (This hinges on whether I'm able to successfully bid for HMJ1)
3) Fly to Germany during the summer!
4) Catch Muse live in Singapore! (Well this is almost done, ticket's with me)
5) Play more gigs than in 2009!

I suppose 5 should be enough, yes?

10, 9, 8,.... 3, 2, 1...

Its the annual endless-Top 10-lists post!

Something to reflect on this past year and something to motivate me into the next year!

Top 10 Geeky Exploits!

1) Giving my PC a massive rehaul (half of it off the 2nd-hand market)
2) Getting sucked into the portal that is Hardwarezone.com.sg
3) Overclocking my PC + undervolting my notebook
4) Zhng my notebook cooler!
5) Going to 3 IT shows (missed the last one) and hanging around Sim Lim Sq countless times
6) Getting a "smart"phone (E63)
7) Joining the grid computing network
8) Taking the course "How Computers Work" and actually enjoyed it
9) Taking the course "FE1008 Computing" and didn't actually dislike it
10) Spending hours trying to get the perfect geeky desktop

Top 10 Green Exploits

1) Interning @ Alpha Biofuels Pte Ltd
2) Buying and using a "green" harddisk (Western Digital Caviar Green)
3) Donating processor time to run climate models (climateprediction.net)
4) Being a Karang Guni man for half a day
5) Continuing my abstinence from air-conditioning at home
6) Undervolting my notebook and CPU
7) Studying to be an Environmental Engineer
8) Staying in hall (which prevents me from playing games on my power hungry PC)
9) Sticking to the usual Saturday morning cycling to soccer routine
10) Farting less (and failing)

Top 10 Gaming Exploits

1) Dragon Age: Origins (still in the process of playing)
2) Batman Arkham Asylum
3) GTA IV
4) Modern Warfare 2
5) FIFA 10
6) Left 4 Dead
7) Team Fortress 2 (and its never ending updates!)
8) Atlantica Online + Rappelz (grew tired of both, but great games nonetheless)
9) Old Call of Duty games (Modern Warfare and World @ War)
10) Starcraft / Plants vs Zombies / World of Goo (ultimate nothing-to-do-in-hall games)

Top 10 Artistes (songs)

1) Fukuhara Miho -(Let it out, Yuki no Hikari, Believe my way)
2) Superfly (Ai wo Komete Hanabata o, Alright!, Precious Time)
3) YUI (Again, It's all too much)
4) Ayumi Hamasaki (You were... , Sunrise ~Love is all~)
5) Muse (Uprising, Undisclosed Desires)
6) Bugy Craxone (Come on, Cheeseburgers Diary)
7) chatmonchy (Last Love Letter, Kaze Fukeba Koi)
8) Do as Infinity (Umereyuku Monotachi e)
9) Lady Gaga (Bad Romance, Poker Face)
10) Michael Jackson (need I say more?)

Top 10 Things that affected me in a big way

1) ORD LO!
2) Interning @ Alpha Biofuels
3) Starting school once again
4) Staying in hall
5) QUIS
6) Hardwarezone
7) Turning 21 (not much of a big deal, but well, just to fill in the spaces...)
8) Economic recovery
9) Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
10) I can't think of a last one... Oh wait, does losing Ronaldo and Tevez count?

Goodbye 2009!

All I want for Christmas is....

Its the time of the year again, where endless lists start appearing on my blog.

To start off, here's my wishlist for Santa (although I suspect he might be having some problems fulfilling it)

1) Final Fantasy XIII on PC
I'm still praying Square Enix doesn't confine FF13 to the PS3, something that is very likely to happen. This climbs to the top of my "wanted" list after watching the trailer on YouTube. Oh, and I'd gladly substitute this for a PS3 emulator.

2) PC component upgrades
Including a new sound card (ASUS Xonar!), speakers (Aego M/Gigaworks T3), a bling bling ram cooler (OCZ XTC), lots and lots of LED fans, a new casing (CM5 II). Heck, I'd say dump everything for a totally new PC, but that wouldn't be environmentally friendly, considering I just recently did a major upgrade a few months back.

3) A+++++++ all the way!
NTU exam results release on 30th Dec, which definitely qualifies this as a wish for Santa.

4) Holiday extension!
Apparently January is coming too soon for all of us...

5) Save the Earth
I'd like to see Santa try this one. Maybe he should start by losing weight, for starters. His reindeer would love it.

What do you REALLY want for Christmas?

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

6) An Avatar.

Pre-Exam post

Exactly 1 week to the start of the exams...
First paper - Economics. *panic*

Since I'll be spending most of next week locked up in my room (ok, maybe not locked, if I suddenly drop dead from over-mugging no one would find me until its too late), I figured I'll post pics of the small space that'll hopefully help me get through the exam period.

^View from the door.............................................. ^The workspace.



^Supplies, survival kit and rations....................... ^Objects for mental torture



^My only source of entertainment..................... ^The heart of my setup. Note the wiry mess.



^My source of audio gratification (X-Mini 2!)....... ^How I like my speaker positioned....



^...so that the music is amplified here! It really works :D Thanks to the table being made of wood the sound resonates well. The bass and mids are also projected upwards since I flipped the X-mini, resulting in much clearer bass compared to the normal upright position.

And for visual relaxation...



Wallpaper from the romance-drama animated movie 5 Centimeters Per Second.

Ok that's about it. Exams? Chiong ah!

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

Remember my attempt at modding my Coolermaster NotePal A1 laptop cooling pad? Just a little revamp...



^The exhaust fans................................................ ^View from the back, in action!



^The underbelly of the beast................................ ^Monster fans come to life!

Last geek post before the exams!

Nothing...

Just a little update to keep this place alive...

Been pretty busy lately, was chionging projects and lab reports during "recess" week.

In between practising guitar and joining Hall activities.

Most "breaking" news of the week:

I dented my guitar =(

+1 to ruggedness.

Anyway, shall write something more interesting when I get some inspiration.

See ya!

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

I usually reserve this space for some witty last words. I can't think of any tonight. zzz.

Of birds and bulls***

Its nice to know that our ministers have such a great sense of humour.

From the Electric New Paper, Sept 11:

RADM (NS) Lui titled the story, which was adapted from an Internet joke, Lessons For The Corporate World From The Animal Kingdom, and said there were lessons in the story which were applicable to the media industry.

"The story goes:

It was a beautiful autumn day. At the top of the trees, a bird was enjoying itself thoroughly. The chirping was especially joyous, loud and captivating.

A rabbit came along, gazed up at the bird and said it wished it too could take things easy.

The bird suggested that the rabbit try. The rabbit rested at the bottom of the tree, but a fox came along and ate it.

RADM Lui said: 'The first lesson ... is that to sit around and do nothing, we must be very high up.'

Then a turkey came along, and it also wanted to enjoy itself at the top of the tree.

The turkey consulted a cow, which said that there was energy in cow dung, because the cow had previously seen the farmer use it for fire.

So the turkey started munching on cow dung, felt stronger and, half-hopping and half-flying, made its way up the tree.

It almost reached the bird, but was gobbling the dung so furiously that the sound alerted the farmer. The farmer thought that the turkey would make a wonderful meal for Thanksgiving and shot it.

RADM Lui's second lesson?

'Bullsh** can get you near the top, but it takes more than bullsh** to keep you up there.'

In late autumn, the bird fell to the ground and was half-frozen.

The cow came along and, hoping to warm the bird up, deposited some of its fresh dung on the bird.

The bird started chirping, disgusted that it was in a pile of dung. The bird's din attracted the fox, who got the bird out of the dung, much to the bird's delight.

The fox cleaned the bird, then ate it.

The lesson?

1. Not everyone who drops sh** on you is your enemy.

2. Not everyone who takes you out of sh** is your friend.

3. Sometimes, when you're deep in sh**, it's better to keep your mouth shut."

I'll say this applies to almost every job out there.

Read the full article here: http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,213294,00.html?

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

Just realised today is 110909, 8 years to the day terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center. Has it been that long already?

patriotism

After reading today's news regarding the worldwide National Pledge taking ceremony on 9 Aug, 8:22 p.m, I thought to myself, that's a nice way to show our unity and patriotism! Even SMRT said they'll be halting their trains at that point for the commuters (and the train drivers I presume) to say the pledge. A whole country stops to take the pledge! Ain't that cool or what?

I wonder if this will cause an increase in complaints over train frequency and punctuality :x

Anyway it made me think about what I really feel about Singapore, the country where I was born and bred and fed. I don't feel like writing a long essay on it, so I'll say it in a list (hah! another list!)

Besides the obvious reasons, I'm a Singaporean and proud to be one because...

1) I love the food here. Hawker food FTW! cai tao kway, char kway tiao, bak chor mee, wantan mee, nasi lemak, roti prata, laksa, zhi char, blah blah... I think about it start drooling already...

2) I've been through the hell that is NS. And understand what the terms 1206, LOA, SOL, IPPT and KNNCCB mean.

3) I speak Singlish. And I velly good at it hor. dun pray pray. got degree in Singlish i sure 1st crass honours one.

4) Whenever I go overseas, I can recognise a fellow Singaporean immediately from the way he/she talks

5) I understand the whole plethora of acronyms out there. PIE SLE TPE CTE ECP AYE KJE BKE KPE PUB NEA MRT ERP CPF NDP SAF HDB PAP GSS MOE CGH LKY DBS CBD NTU(C) NUS SMU LOL

6) I know that good stuff must queue. But queue doesn't mean good stuff. And yet I queue.

7) As a sign of respect I call strangers who are totally unrelated to me whatsoever "auntie" and "uncle"

8) I am on track to live the "Singapore dream", that is - get a degree (in the process), get a job (not yet), get lots of money (nah), get a wife (not so soon), get some kids (not yet), get to retire (still far), get to die (damn). Might be good to de-rail at some point.

9) I support Manchester United more than our Lions team. But still feel sense of pride whenever they win international matches.

10) Last but not least, I know how to and will recite the pledge come 9 Aug, 8:22 p.m.

Happy NDP in advance!

M&M&Ms

Yesterday while I was getting a haircut, the friendly auntie started to chat, asking me about the usual stuff, "Finish army? Going to uni? Which uni? Study what? When starting school? Now doing what?"

Then she said, "Study uni very good hor, got qian tu (future)".

Naturally I just smiled and agreed.

Then she looked at me in the mirror, stopped her scissors and did the rubbing fingers sign, "Really got qian (money) tu hor!"

That got me laughing. Luckily she wasn't wielding a powered-on razor, otherwise I'd have gotten a bald strip.

Come to think of it, going to University to get that degree simply boils down to money, money and more money. Get degree for what? To get a good (paying) job. Score honours for what? To get a good (paying) job. Chiong CCA for what? To get a nice-looking resume and a good (paying) job. Whack internships for what? To get a nice-looking resume and a good (paying) job.

Or at least thats the common view of us practical Singaporeans. Or rather, our parents. Its hard to blame them. As my dad likes to candidly put it, I'm his long-term investment, and I'd better give him solid returns. And why not? After all they dumped so much capital on us (school fees are a killer!) without any guarantee that they'll get back at least the principle amount.

Really respect those who chose their courses based on their own passions and interests, not just the $ sign.

Me? Mixture of both la :D If can save the Earth and make $$$ at the same time, why not man? Hoot 2 birds with 1 wind turbine.

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

2 weeks to school start! Wonder what's in store for me. What do I see...

Wa kua si mi...

Om Nom Nom Nom...

Random.

Anyway the songs of the first and last vid is by Parry Gripp, a singer/songwriter who takes random words and phrases and turns them into cant-get-it-outta-my-head jingles. Don't say I didn't warn you!

http://www.youtube.com/user/ParryGripp

The middle one is a tribute to TF2's Heavy =)