%@*$ Randeep

I am one of the few people....

2009-01-17T20:42:00.002+08:00

Who actually enjoy their jobs! My first week at the law firm was a favourable one. I got to attend the subordinate court and the high court. It was really awesome not being one of those nosy and excessively free members of public, and still be in court. I mean how many people actually get the chance to wear a suit, attend court, obtain "premium" seats unless they are a lawyer, or they've done something which would warrant their attendance in court. Plus the added benefit of coffee making not being part of my job scope. The receptionist is always nice enough to cater for my caffeine addiction.

The first semester of law school, despite it's challenging nature was undoudtedly interesting. But compared to the prevalent realities, legal theory is nothing more than a sneak preview. My knowledge of the law may be really limited at this point, but having the oppurtunity to interact with clients is priceless. Claims of fraud, defamation, civil conspiracy. The list goes on. You get to observe the misconceptions people have about the law. Fallacies about the purpose of a court. The lack of knowledge, or apparent ignorance which the public displays regarding the legal system has been endlessly drilled into law students. We shrugged this off as a conspiracy against lawyers, who are often potrayed as the pantomine villain. However, reality begs to differ. Average members of society are putty in the lawyers hands.

So apparently those ethics lessons were not a waste of time. Okay I did get an hour of sleep every tuesday afternoon, so I actually believe otherwise. One semester gone. Many to come. Hopefully 6 years or so down the road, I would be in front of the judge as a lawyer and not as an intern in lawyers clothing.

Why you have got to love United

2009-01-13T23:00:00.002+08:00

1) Patrice Evra plays a blinder and then dedicates the win to the FA in the wake of his 4 match ban.

2) Rooney and the corner routine.

3) Ryan giggs and Fergie Jnr getting selected ahead of anderson, carrick and scholes. Giggs especially justifies the selection.

4) Veni Vidi Vidic: HE CAME, HE SAW, HE KICKED THEIR FUCKING HEADS IN. Blocking off Terry and Ballack. Brilliant.

5) The Neviller's celebrations even though this time badge kissing was not included.

6) The United fans cheering John Terry's every touch.

7) Drogba kicking air and then having a laugh as "are you terry in disguise" rang out around the stadium.

8) The little united fan with the "John Terry: Legend" sign.

9) A manager who provokes the fat spanish waiter into losing the plot by doing absolutely nothing at all.

10) 3 fecking ZERO. Back in the Title Race. Hopefully the bin dippers retreat to the slums once the title is over.

If Randeep Can Cook

2009-01-05T21:52:00.006+08:00

I'd still doubt that you could too!

The New Year Post

2009-01-01T20:19:00.002+08:00

2008 is finito. Gone with the blinking on an eye unlike 2007 which seemed to drag on forever. I guess it was a pretty decent year, although it was not entirely devoid of dissapoinment and not getting my way at times. The euphoria of ORD-ing. The post ORD trip to the States which was followed by the laziest month of my life as i prepared for Australia, which marked a new chapter in my life.

The first 4months in Canberra way exceeded my expectations. Fears of being unable to adapt to new surrounding and people proved to be poorly founded and being back in Singapore has actually made me miss Canberra. Albeit only a small bit. Getting back to academia was a bit of a stuggle at first but as the semester drew to an end, it was as though the two wasted years playing soldier was purely fiction of the mind. Living alone has bred indepedence. It opens your eyes to the real world. Time managment assumes a role of utmost importance. It's our life after all. And what we choose to make of it should rely entirely on, well... ourselves.

Enough of reminiscing and returning back to real time. 2009 started on a terrible note. Well actually it was more of 2008 ending badly. Night cycling at ECP turned out to be a horror show. My left arm is twisted. My knee is pretty badly scraped. And my ankle...Is so big that it's almost a kenkle. I'm just relieved I didn't fracture it. I actually need crutches but being a couch potato is a lot more cost effective.

Hopefully the rest of the year pans out in my favour. I like to have things my way. But i guess we have to wait and see.

Thinking out of the Boxing Day

2008-12-26T22:53:00.002+08:00

So today was boxing day. 4 years ago a tsunami struck South East Asia. That was also the day that my dog arrived. I remember the little bugger who was then the size of a grapefruit, sitting in his cage (yes baby dogs do live in cages. and yes it did have the hamster bottle, and whining the night through. The next day he was moved to the air-conditioned comforts of my parent's room, where he then proceeded to whine somemore until he entered his phase of believing he was human.

The barbeque at Shiqians house(s) turned out to be pretty fun in the end. The food was great and playing stupid card games where the forfeit was not booze for once. It was utterly hilarious to see T_T choking down pieces of fruit which lack the astronomical levels of artificial sugar and cocoa that she craves. Plus the fact that i rigged the deck to ensure that Weiqi lost on every turn was a good laugh. At the point of losing 4 games in a row she must have thought that everything she learnt in probability was a farce. But its only a 50-50 chances should ceteris paribus hold. Me holding a deck of cards does not equate to ceteris paribus.

Spent the last hour shouting at the television screen. United and stoke was rubbish. The players were rubbish and beside the chaos caused by Delap's ridiculously long throw ins, there was little goal mouth and nothing to shout about. Except at the referee that is.

Today was an utterly useless trip to bras basah with Angel and weiki. Tried looking for textbooks. Found some books which could have been useful. If we were studying law 20 years ago that is! But it wasn't entirely useless. We had a quite a bit of intellectual conversation (gossip). And i ate macdonalds at long last. Boy did that curry sauce taste good. Not having to pay extortion fees for curry sauce served as a bonus.

Ok i'm getting lazy now. And i think i'm going to read a book. ME be Smat. Bye.

The Christmas Post

2008-12-25T15:56:00.002+08:00

Okay so it's Christmas today and naturally I am not excited.. Christmas is just another holiday. Worst of all, it isn't even a holiday technically given that it falls during the school holidays anyway. Plus during army it always meant guard duty, albeit better food being served at the cookhouse. And probably 80% of the people who celebrate christmas have little idea about its significance. They probably think it's the birthday of Santa Claus or something. Talk about commercial holidays.

Anyway the holidays have been running at break-neck speed. It has been a month and 3 days. Scarily precise i know but that is the reality of it. In a another month and a half we're going to be back in Australia, ready to continue the squarish academic life. The legal burden is going to be heavier than before and hopefully i get through it just fine.

Listening to new anberlin songs now. And they're really good. The "new" feel good drag and Soft Skeletons are particularly good. And i'm now pondering whether i should go for a run. The schedule i have on my notebook says it's "cross training" today but my defination of cross-training includes "recovery" or in other words, sleep!

Bad Luck

2008-12-10T21:20:00.002+08:00

The past few days have been shitty to say the least. First it was the stomach flu/food poisoning on saturday which consequently prevented me from running the marathon on sunday. A short summary was that a registration fee, money spent on gear and 2hours in a farcially handled que amounted to nought.

And just when i though i had found respite from the poor luck, i got my tennis racquet cracked today. Okay that was partly my doing having thrown it in the first place but i've done in on countless occassions without my preciously fined tuned babolat suffering anything more than cosmetic damange, but today it got messed up real bad. The tensioning in the strings is off and my dad reckons it'll probably hold up for person another round of tennis before it breaks cleanly! Friday is going to be hunting for a new racquet. Preferably it's going to be the exact same one. Wonder whether it'll feel the same once i have it fitted like the one that i have.

I lasted really well during tennis today. Better than beks did at least. The sun was near scorching in the last hour or so. But beside the crocked racquet it was good. So i get home thinking i had ridden myself of the bad luck which seems to be hanging over me. But alas i was wrong. I proceeded to ram my shin into the corner of the coffee table while getting up from the sofa and now i have a angry bruise to go with the stud marks which some asshole at the futsal court implanted into my shin.

Hmm dinner at suntec tommorrow. Probably going to neglect the main course and pig on desserts instead. Life is total and utter laze now.

Fugly Weather

2008-11-30T17:07:00.002+08:00

the weather patterns prevalent in singapore are a total pain. You cannot plan a days activities without the threat having to cancel. THe clouds seem to be holding up now. Soccer is at 630. It could rain. Then again it may not. Damn. Makes you miss the "seven year drought" in canberra.

The marathon is in a week! And i'm not exactly at the peak of my running prowess. Closer to the pits may be a more accurate description. Hopefully the sports psychology and expensive gear pays off! Crossing that line is going to be an achivement in itself.

Been listening to a lot of music on youtube. My laptop does not have itunes on it and the desktop is being a piece of shit. Anberlin's new album sounds good. The new feel good drag is nice. THe screaming made the first one good but this one is cool as well. Can't wait for my thumbdrive to come back loaded with new stuff to listen to listen to.

Tonight is the manchester derby. I do not really give a shit about football nowadays. But it's still nice when united win. Especially against man shitty. Tennis seems to appeal more nowadays, but the tennis season is on its annual hiatus so it's back to watching football at the moment.

Results are out tommorrow. I know i am screwed for foundations but i'm suprisingly calm. I know i studied as well as i could so i'm just hoping for the best now.

a perfect fit

2008-11-28T17:03:00.003+08:00

the heat, the crowds, the stress. I'm used to it again. I'm finally home.

Home?

2008-11-24T22:15:00.002+08:00

For anyone who thought that you would never experience reverse culture shock, i guess you were wrong. It is funny how we hardly needed to adapt when we got to canberra. But coming back is an entirely different cup of tea. Leaving friends behind was just as bad as leaving our families when we first left.

It has been a mere four months. Four months which seemingly whizzed by without anyone noticing. There were incidents aplenty. The good times, the bad, the dissapointing. Friendships were forged. Some drifted while others were reinforced.

Coming back to Singapore made me feel nervous. Just being inside a singapore airlines flight made me feel like i was in Singapore. The flight attendants speaking to each other in singlish littered with drabs of mandarin. It was all almost alien.

Being away only makes Singapore's flaws more obvious. Some aussies may be cunts and some hurl glass bottles from car windows but the majority of the population have a lot more grace when compared to the singaporeans population. An apology is a foreign concept to most here and uttering a word of thanks takes a lot of force. Maybe it's the heat and the polluted air.

At least we will be meeting for lunch tommorrow! I am dying of boredom. And to those in canberra, take care of yourselves. Don't do anything stupid and remember the sunblock!

Funny

2008-11-24T13:11:00.001+08:00

Jealousy is the green eyed monster which doth mock the ugly meat it feeds on.

Talking the very best Cock

2008-11-09T21:36:00.000+08:00

T-Shirts Show Wallabies, Not Kangaroos: Defence
Posted on Thursday, November 06, 2008
Topic: Local News

by Pak Cham Kai

Lawyers for the three opposition activists being charged for contempt of court have mounted a zoological defence.

“The prosecution accuses my clients of scandalising the judiciary because they showed up wearing t-shirts showing kangaroos in judge’s robes,” said defence lawyer Chin Lau Yah. “Thus implying that our court is a kangaroo court.”

However, that would be an erroneous inference, Mr. Chin said, because the animals depicted on the accused’s t-shirts are in fact wallabies and not kangaroos.

“By definition, any macropod smaller than a kangaroo is a wallaby,” he explained. “Just put the t-shirt right next to an actual kangaroo and you’ll see that my clients’ cartoons are clearly smaller in size. Therefore, they’re wallabies, and not kangaroos.”

“To call our court a ‘wallaby court’ is meaningless and devoid of any derogatory insinuation,” Mr. Chin asserted. “Therefore, my clients are innocent.”

Legal experts, however, believe that Mr. Chin’s argument, though ingenious, is likely to fail.

According to Associate Professor Columbo Kok of the NUS Law Faculty, “Importing foreign definitions, no matter how widely accepted elsewhere, doesn’t always work in Singapore. Look how things that wouldn’t be considered defamation in most other countries are considered defamatory here. Similarly, we say that in our pledge we're building a democratic society. Talk cock! Likewise, I don’t think our courts will buy this wallaby distinction. Instead, I think the accused activists should expect to kena wallop.”

in the middle of the end

2008-11-09T21:29:00.002+08:00

The exams are here. The annoying thing is that i have a 6 day wait between my first and second paper. And then, it's the full whammy of 3 law papers back to back. But i'm not complaining. 5 days and it will be temporary respite. And it will be off to sydney and experiencing a change of environment which i think i really need. Life here has become wayyy too predictable and a chore. To paraphrase that, it sucks.

I have finished going through contract law summaries for the umphteen time. Now i am blasting music through earphones. I'm not trying to clear my head. The last thing i would want is to empty it of all that legal "expertise". Instead i am trying to drown out the sound of a bunch of knucklehead aussie cunts who apparently insist on having a noisy game of pool every night.

Anyone who has ever argued that university education should be free, obviously has not been to Australia. Living here for 4 months has proven that to be a fallacy.

Detached

2008-11-01T10:53:00.001+08:00

Have you ever,
Felt the weight of the "world" on your shoulders?
Life is a sham,
Are you obliged to fix it?
Mutuality is non-existent,
It is always easy to take than give,
Why feel the obligation?
Why be the pin trying to hold the machine together?
When it would probably be a lot more interesting to see it self-destruct.

ANU

2008-10-26T00:20:00.002+08:00

Ok this is the self-promotion of ANU. It might not be credible of course.

The Pros

1) ANU is ranked 16 in the world. And the Law school is supposedly the best in Australia.

2) Living away from home makes you independent. You are forced to learn and often, you grow up faster than you could have imagined.

3) Experiencing a change after being stuck in the Singaporean education system. The learning here emphasises a lot more on independence.

4) The law course are what you would expect. You have you basic modules like Torts, Criminal Law, Contract Law, International Law, Public Law. But do not forget that these appear in an Australian Context. Foundations of Australian Law is going to require a lot of external reading.

5) The areas of specialisation are a LOT more diverse than NUS. You are likely to find areas like Environmental Law which are not likely to be offered at NUS.

6) Canberra is NOT, a rural area unable of supporting human life. It is after all the capital of Australia. It's a small town. And almost everything is within walking distance. The bus networks are also fairly reliable and cost effective. You could easily get by without a car.

7) Sydney is a 3 hour drive away if you ever felt the urge to immerse yourself into th urban jungle again.

8) Canberra is condusive for study purposes. And if you are interested in applying to Law School, studying has to be firmly rooted at the top of your list of priorities.

The Cons

1) Prepare for a fair bit of racial abuse, whether it comes when ordering a pizza, walking down the street or perhaps even simply by entering a Macdonalds.

2) The winters in Canberra are terrible. Walking outside in the night is definately not comfortable.

3) The fees and the cost of living. Chicken rice costs $13. And KFC is far behind at $10 for a value meal. Prepare to be shocked.

4) The feeling of being isolated. Canberra is after all a small city so your entertainment options are limited.

5)Risking your life on board a qantas flight. Qantas is the only connecting international airline which flies to canberra. A flight to and from Sydney is often the better option. Singapore Airlines: Now you're really flying!

Lol. Hope that helped.

Tempting Fate

2008-10-16T21:41:00.002+08:00

Ok life is panning out just fine! Enlightmenet? Well not quite, but close enough. I like it. It's almost empowering. Time for the damn examinations!

Haha and thanks elias and toto for the macs. Although i seriously didnt want to eat at 12 i was so touched i felt guilty. But i relaxed on the fries. Lol.

La Vita E Bella.

Cockington

2008-10-11T13:24:00.006+08:00

the only thing we did in the holidays was go to cockington. and even that was like LAST TUESDAY. But it turned out to be really nice. It beat the stinking flower fest hands down. And for once, i'm going to burn some MBs uploading photos. Lucky you.

Apparently

2008-10-10T20:29:00.003+08:00

18 year old kids cannot read emotions and it's also probably the case that they lack a certain something called common sense. Now to the problem. Which probably a flying lemur at the zoological gardens could decipher in double quick time.

6 people walk into a restaurant. There is a large table which could comfortably sit 6. What's more we have actually sat there as a party of 6 before. All the other tables in the restaurant are meant to seat 4 or 2. Space is not exactly in abundance.

What would you(or the flying lemur) do under the circumstances? If you were 19 or under, you would probably answer the 4 person table! I mean. Why sit as a group when we could leave two people out. And surely we could have a jolly good laugh after dinner over some frozen dairy confections.

I'm totally sure the two of them are not going to mind! Plus they are guys. Guys who don't act their age unlike all the other guy friends we have. And guys don't have feelings anyway.

Rewind.....Into reality my adolescent friends. Grow up and smell the damn coffee. Honestly if it was ladies night, you should've just told us. Indomee in the fenner kitchen would have been better than having to put up with your antics. Call me petty. Yeah whatever. Better petty than having to live with a thick skull i say.

And apparently being 19 also means you are an ingrate. Walking a person home at crazy hours in a crazy neighbourhood. Going to a flower festival which stunk to the high heavens. Entertaining an emotional mess for 4 hours. Nevermind the fact that emotional trauma is often short lived and instead replaced by blackmail against you. And the commercial law hotline is open most of the day even if it means deviating a little. Nevermind the fact that we get comparatively less in return. You see i believe in helping a friend.

Let me now proceed to the topic of ignorance. Ignorance, despite what your GP essay topics might tell you, is not bliss. It's the mark of idiocracy. You can't feign ignorance. It does not take a psychologist to face read. When you try your utmost to avoid eye contact, it reeks of cowardice. You lot knew damn well what you were doing. Don't bother trying to rebutt that. Cutting a piece of chicken does not require that high a level of concentration.

Inaction. The very crux of the problem. Nice job trying to ignore us. Inaction manifests itself in many aspects of ones life. Sometimes you forget to ask someone out. Okay forget sometimes. Let's make that every single time. Putting a stop to inaction of course requires. well duh. Action. One action leads to another and before you know it, a knife has been inserted into your back. A twist. You think it's over. Think again. Make that three more knives.

By the way for those of you who have not read "blink". The inability to read emotion is also known as autism. Many people who may appear normal may sometimes come off as being mildly austistic. But the chances of 4 austistic 19 year old ANU students sitting at one table tucking into spiced poultry seems extremely remote to me. Surely of the 4 people at a table one person would realise that the two guys who were left out did not find the situation highly amusing. And when the two guys were tired of waiting for you lot to savour the chicken one shread of meat at at time, naturally they stood up. And given that all of you were actually done by that time, surely you would have gotten the hint. But then again your eyes were too focused on the greasy bones and looking into each other's eyes to notice.

Grow up little girls. Yeah i know. Your older guy friend are more mature than me. But i do not think they have to lower their mental age on a daily basis for the sole means of communcation. And probably after i'm done with this, i'll draft a letter to the Ministry of Education. Apparently the longman dictionary has been omitting the word "apology" ever since i left school. And some souces claim that double printings of "ignorance" and "blur" have been aplenty.

It sure does suck when you waste a night of sleep trying to convince a child about the objective thing to do when it gets undone in 5minutes flat. It's totally not worth it. Damn when i got to ANU i sure didn't expect to be entering a pre-school.

i know what you're expecting

2008-10-10T17:32:00.002+08:00

go figure.

yay

2008-10-07T07:53:00.003+08:00

at last i'm happy! No more wall punching. No more not being able to sleep. Haha it comes full circle i guess. Shit happens. Life goes on. Plus i'm not supposed to be an emo potato. Exams are coming. International law essay is thet now. I actually cannot wait to start writing. The outline turned out to be pretty awesome. It flows! It actually flows. Contract law which once was the haziest subject i have ever encountered is now actually worth the interest.

A side note.

HOW TO SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT IN COURT. (a true story)

POPIW v POPIW

The lowdown.
Husband and wife fight. Wife leaves, and the husband goes on his knees. He ORALLY promises her joint title in their home to return. Shes does. Turns out old dogs never change. She leaves again and claims her share of tile in their matrimonial home.

Law.
Consideration only exists in duty is exceeded.
Contracts involving land must be evidenced in writing.

The funny part.
The husband of course submits an affadavit. He admits promising to transfer title. So now the promise has been evidenced in writing and therefore the contract is enforceable. He argues that it was his wife's duty to return home. The court says, living with a SOB like him was a clear detriment, and therefore consideration did move when Helga Popiw returned home.

The joke.
The husband.

what the hell

2008-10-06T22:08:00.000+08:00

i dont know what the hell is going on. I'm depressed. I cant sleep. I feel like shit. I am a clown. I suck. life sure likes to throw the oddball at you. at it sure does suck when one of them hits you in the face.

a song

2008-10-04T19:07:00.001+08:00

There's a hatchet got a knife
When I awoke there was nothing real in this life
But dreams are so intoxicating, (intoxicating)
When you're doing this alone
Gun, rope, brick on the way
But words have no meaning when its you that says
I really do care, no baby I, I really do care!

Innocence gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?
In a sense gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?

Once a skeptic, now the critic
And you think that you finally found a place of your own.
Amongst the cold and timid souls
Where only failure knows your name

Look around for the closest to blame
But look no further than the hands beneath your arms
and now your 6 feet down, buried with,
with your passing fame fame fame fame.

Innocence gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?
In a sense gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?

Oh, oh, oh, you lie
Tell me something more than what you tried to hide
If you can't find yourself, then how can I expect to find you.
Oh, oh, oh, you cry
Tell me something more than what you try
The greatest tragedy is not your death
But a life without reason, your life has no purpose
Your life has no reason, your life has no purpose

Innocence gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?
In a sense gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?

Innocence gone, never take friendship personal
If you can't hold yourself together
Why should I hold you now?

holiday

2008-10-02T17:48:00.002+08:00

So after what seemed an eternity, the "mid-sem" break is upon us. Never mind the fact that we are actually 3 weeks away from the end of school proper, although the much dreaded examinations follow immediately after that! The break has been fully utilised for the moment. The first few days involved a fair bit of sight-seeing and inevitable burning of money. Floriade was utter garbage though. Guys and flowers donnot mix i guess. Plus almost 4 hours on your feet doesn't help.

Holiday week has also been movie week. Tonight's offering is La Vita E Bella also known as "Life is Beautiful". Yeah it's my favourite movie. Well its the closest that a movie is going to get in making my cry.

Everyone has gone somewhere it seems. Angel and co just got back from the Gold Coast. Majority of the rest are in melbourne. Kenn is enjoying local delicacies back home, Tim is back in Melbourne and Steph is in Sydney with her family. Fenner Hall is unusually quiet. No drunk knuckleheads having barbeque just outside my window is the upside of it.

It cannot believe that 3months have just breezed by. On the 22nd of november, it'll be touch down in Singapore, and i'll get the feeling that i could never understand. The sheer joy of being home.

Is it really too much to ask.

2008-09-27T14:22:00.002+08:00

Lets make a few things clear. Being late is a reflection of a person character. It is NOT fashionable, regardless of what you may think. And how in fucks sake can someone be late if the destination is a fucking 50 metre displacement from where you live. And it definately isn't nice to make someone wait like a fucking moron on his birthday. And i guess being the one who told that person to be there at 1230 makes me a fucking moron. Grow up people. you are not five fucking years old anymore. you should be able to judge the fucking time by yourselves by now. If one hour isn't sufficient time to prepare,you do realise you can actually say so. No one is going to force you to meet a timing which you know you cannot meet. In any case one hour is time aplenty. Unless most of it ends up being devoted to wasting it. Then that is just plain fucking irresponsible and nonchalant. It is fucking ridiculous to know that someone had to go all way back to school and yet no one said jackshit about that. Waiting is not fun trust me. And don't mistake silence for a weakness. to be late at every oppurtunity is a fucking disgrace. Don't resolve to change when you don't intend to do it. Talk is cheap. Indifference?

And now getting on to dealing with an extremely annoyed person. Golden Rules Number 1: Never tell an angry person not to be angry. Especially when you know that you are the reason why the person is angry in the first place. Never debate something which is downright obvious. And avoid debating topics which would never have arisen if no one was late in the first place.

I'm just being creative. thats why a stack of post cards ended up in the fucking bin. Goodnight.

Expose

2008-09-23T21:25:00.000+08:00

beet says:
eh did u call
Randeep says:
call what
beet says:
ok not u
beet says:
nvm
beet says:
i called home
beet says:
then its not them
beet says:
hahaha
beet says:
........
Randeep says:
maybe your lesbian lovers?
beet says:
oh yea but too many
beet says:
how i know which one

Taken out of context but true nonetherless.

10 down 9 to go.

2008-09-19T07:57:00.002+08:00

So today marks the completion of 10weeks in canberra. We're within touching distance of the final examinations but before that, there still remain assignments for us to contend with. Life has been pretty mundane. Its almost a routine i have settled into. But i guess i'm here to study.

Celebrated my 21st last sunday. Can't believe i'm 21. I feel so much more mature. Totally. I'm not going to elaborate but what you people did was really touching. Even when i look at it now, i metaphorical tears come to my eyes. So thanks steph, shiqian, elias (color ink i know), T_T, Kris, Christine, Tim, T_T,angel, Kennn, justin (nice pasta btw). The brownies were awesome, and so was the cake, cookies and not to mention zongyao's home made ice cream which is now weighing (pun fully intended) all our conscience.

Gym was bad. Should have eaten breakfast before going. But the weetabrix has filled me up now and we're supposed to be scaling a "mountain" in less than half an hours time. Just hoping no one gets injured or anything. I meant Ainsle isnt exactly mount faber. Gotta make a couple of wake up calls though. Totosia and Kristine are not exactly the best at getting up early!

OMFG

2008-09-11T05:54:00.002+08:00

They have the new ipod nano in orange. Took them almost 5 years to come to their senses

9weeks later

2008-09-10T06:43:00.002+08:00

I absolutely cannot believe that i have been in the land for aussie cunts for close to 9 weeks now. In a couple of weeks it will be the much awaited and perhaps long overdue mid-sem break. Add another 3 weeks to that and the exams would be upon us. And then it will be the holidays, although a flight on a qantas plane does not sound appealing at the moment.

I guess everyone has adapted. It's all about finding a home away from home. I actually refer to the hall as "home" now so i guess the settling in phase is truly over. Life revolves around school and i guess that would be the case when you spend $21000 a year on tuition fees alone. Our domestic counterparts on the other hand always seem to be hanging out at the bar, bottle in hand. While our Hongkee counterparts never fail to be seen at the pool table passing around the sole cuestick. While proclaiming in loud accents that would do russell peters prouds that their english was in fact akin to the Queen's.

Hopefully my tennis racquet arrives in a couple of days together with my suprise present and my street soccer shoes. Then, the two weeks break could be used constructively playing on a grass court. And i even dreamt about playing tennis last night. Damn it has been too long.

United playing loserpool this saturday. Can't wait. Hopefully we'll get to see the front three of tevez rooney and berbs even though that line up would reek of imbalance. I guess fergie could always sit the misfiring Rooney on the bench and start with Nani and Park on the wings.

Mooncake festival falls on my birthday. Does that mean i'm getting a mooncake instead of a birthday cake?

I really should not be doing this.

2008-08-31T20:45:00.003+08:00

I'm taking a "break" from studying but do not expect any further tales of T_T for the time being. Fabrication may provide entertainmnet to the masses at the expense of a few(or one in this case)but it certainly is time consuming. Time is of the essence. I cannot believe there is an actual legal stipulation for the previous sentence. You would expect the legal jargonists out there to be capapble of coming up with something a lot more articulate but i guess even in the case of the academic, inspiration does run low at times.

Today was certainly not a normal day. First of all we had freak weather. Abhor the rumours concerning the seven year drought. That has been proven to be a fallacy. Today literally washed away any sentiments of homesickness we might have had. It poured in typical singapore fashion. The brief glimpses of sunlight were nothing but a false hope or perhaps even a honey trap, enticing one into the open before the heavens proceeded to dump yesterday sewage on you.

Shopping was a pleasant experience. Beside the double choc-chip muffins, nothing else was capable of inducing diabetes or other forms of ailments. Ok i forgot the turkey spam which many suspect is made by the unlikely combination of a turkey(?) and a blender. Catch turkey. Stuff turkey into blender. Turn on blender. Bon apetite.

Everyone is studying for mid-sems. Except me and T_T that is. Do not for one second think that we were spared. Something horrible is due to be released tomorrow. Yes, another assignment. Damn. Submitting an assignment is like hurling shit at a fan. Shit multiplies you see. You don't? It must be the crap blocking your eyes.

Politics is fun. Is the personal political? Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know. Can you repeat that question. Certainly. Is the personal political? Ask me tomorrow. I have decided coming up with line after line of random gibberish certainly does not encourage the creative process when it comes to writing an essay about why lawyers should not strive for profit maximisation and serve in the interest of society instead when in every other protection, people get away with absolute murder.

WeiQi(the T_T) and the Chocolate Factory.

2008-08-26T05:15:00.005+08:00

This is my first attempt at writing fiction but given my prowess of fabrication, it should not be much of a challenge.

So the story goes like this...

Weiqi aka T_T lived a sweet life. Literally that is. When she was just a wee baby, her milk bottle got mixed up with the bottle of Hershey Chocolate Syrup, and inevitably she grew fond of it. While errant teenagers spent their youths picking up nasty habits like smoking and pinching the odd bottle of alcohol out of their parent's cellar, T_T did not stray far from socially acceptable norms and stuck at injecting her veins with molten chocolate. In the case where chocolate was unavailable the intravenous consumption of milo or a other similar chocolate malt drinks was also seen as acceptable.

When T_T fell sick, prescribed medicines just did not cut it. Panadol was no substitute for a M&M which proved to be a potent subtitute. Face cream did little for acne but that was nothing a jar of nutella could not cure. Her career choice was also one based on her lust for the sweet brown nectar. The decision to study law had been down to the fact that studying for the BAR had chocolately connotations.

Unfortuantely, the land of singapore offered little but greasy food drowned in lard so T_T had no option but to pursue her studies, in the land of cadbury (and aussie cunts). The cadbury advertisement(which she believed to be a documentary) was a pivotal factor in her decision.

Australia proved to be a harrowing experience. Racial abuse was a common theme. T_T needed an avenue for relief. And having nothing else to turn to but a trio of PRCs who had coerced her into pot smuggling between sydney and canberra, she turned to her chemical. The chocolate bar(cake, biscut, drink, whatever you get the point) was now a central theme in her life.

Then came an announcement from cadbury claiming that 5 golden tickets had been placed inside their chocolate bars. Also at the bottom of this announcement was a clause claiming that the publicity stunt had nothing to do with a couple of lads named willy and charlie. Anyway, T_T was thrilled. And given that she ate 90% of all chocolate found in canberra the probability of her winning a golden ticket was....90%. Probability expressed itself in reality and T_T soon had her hands on 4 of the 5 golden tickets. She of course did not share the tickets, in the fear that her share of the chocolate would diminish. The other winner was a certain obese man who rather unfortuanately passed away moments after unravelling the golden ticket. Shock, heart disease and diabeties were said to be the reasons.

So T_T found herself at the gates of the chocolate factory, standing alone in her moment of achievement. The gates were opened and soon T_T realised there were no oompa loompas and nor was there a nutjob running the factory. Everyone was...well...normal, counting the hyperactiveness aside. The owner turned out to be a balding man wearing a faded shirt and dodgy tie while the tour turned out to be routine as opposed to the magical that T_T was expecting.

Then came the moment T_T was waiting for. The room of molten chocolate. The lack of a river and a waterfall mixing the chocolate came as a bit of a bummer but T_T was nonetherless captivated by the hundreds of gallons of rich dairy milk chocolate churning in the huge cylindrical tank. T_T noticed that a small amount of the chocolate had splashed onto the floor beside the tank and before anyone took notice, she swooped down like a hawk to prey, like bees to honey, or perhaps simply like a T_T to chocolate. The grime and dirt on the chocolate had done little to tarnish it's taste. In fact, T_T thought it added to the texture and consistency.

The pot of chocolate soon had a hypnotising effect. Very much like the one the ring had on froddo. Soon she was muttering "my precious", eyes rolled up, drool dripping down. The lure of the chocolate had become overwhelming. She threw herself into the chocolate tank with a 2 and a half sommersault move, earning straight 10s from all the judges expect the biased Chinese judge who was rooting for his homeland.

T_T was in heaven. Best part, she did not have to meet 5 people there. "more chocolate for me!" she thought, with a sinister laugh(?). Her moment of euphoria however was soon interupted by a loud noise. The pipe sucking and re-distributing chocolate to the rest of the factory had come into effect. T_T struggled but it was to no avail. The same chocolate which had provided her the pinnacles of her life was now turning on her. The smooth brown perfection now felt more like tar as T_T struggled against her sweet prison.

T_T was soon sucked up by the pipe. Do not expect an augustus gloop tale here. T_T was a lot thinner and therefore provided little resistance to its powers of suction. It was the last anyone saw of T_T. Rumour is traces of her were found it T(im)_T(ams) around singapore. The tale of the T_T is one where sweet pefection turns out to be bitter. No i don't mean dark. I mean worse than baking chocalate.

-END

Mordern Day Apartheid

2008-08-19T17:25:00.003+08:00

Ever wondered how the coloured population felt back in the days of aparthied? Go grab a frozen custard at Dickson, where it's a "crime" for an asian to have to an ice cream. Distrusful looks and glances included!

The Best You've Ever Had

2008-08-19T06:42:00.000+08:00

It is truly amazing how we often stare at a 1800 word assignment in the face deliberating carefully how we were going to squeeze sufficient infomation out of our puny brains. Then we get started and voila. We now have more than 2000 words and thus a very different problem. Then (hopefully) that problem is eased in due course and before you know it, you now have a 2500 word essay eyeballing you. It's a god damn cycle i tell you. "Vicious" just does not cut it in this case. It's more repulsive if anything.

Yesterday was another one of those days which reminds you to be careful with what you wish for. So we were walking back and the sky looked really odd and the temperature was piss inducing even though it was about mid-day. So i casually remark "i hope it'll snow here at least once. Imagine if there was freak weather". Another 20 or so metres down the road and guess what? It starts hailing. At least the hailstone were not the golfball sized ones that are capable of murder. But they were pain nonethereless. Especially when you got nailed in the face.

Hoping to hit the gym later in the afternoon. The last i checked i actually had lost weight. Any muscles which might have been in existence have dissapeared. I have got to do something to set that right. The slab (yes slab) of fruitcake and milo on milk i had for breakfast ought to help.

Headline of the day: PM LEE: FOREIGN "TALENT" ADDS TO THE PIE. NEVERMIND THE FACT THEY EAT MOST OF IT!

Unnecessary perhaps?

2008-08-15T05:55:00.001+08:00

Ok this is going to be a quick one. No photos, but then again what's new with that. When i get back to singapore, i promise to drag my laptop with me so that you guys could see the pictures on a nicer albeit slightly small 12.1inch screen.

Going over to a new place is undoubtedly an enlightening experience. It has been just over a month now and even then you learn something new almost every day. For instance just this week i found out that playing soccer having barely recovered from a slight fever equates to a really nasty one.

Last weekend was the much awaited Sydney trip considering i had never been there prior to this time. Sydney was undoubtedly a fun experience, seeing the opera house and bridge was strangely satisfying although the cost of parking did not cease to amaze or in some cases (at the fish market especially), baffle. Met up with Nick as well. And thanks for bringing us around Nick. If it wasn't for your bad sense of direction we would never have had the chance to take the ferry. Lol. Pancakes on the Rocks has got to be the most overrated eatery ever. The lighting is aweful. The ambience make you feel like you are on the verge of contracting fever or something. I actually thought i was sick, until i realised that almost everyone at the table were suffering from similar symptoms. Only real chocoholicrapidsweethtoothdiabeticmonkeys would truthfully say that they were the best pancakes i ever had. And to actually thing i thought IHOP's 4.90 all you can eat pancakes were gross.

I'm leaving it at this. Gotta get my ass over to the Supreme Court in a while. Hopefully we get seats. And hopefully it doesnt bore the life out of me.

Its Marvellous What Milo Can do for You

2008-08-02T22:40:00.002+08:00

Think of how, singaporeans are somewhat fascinated by the concept of "australian" milo. Consider how they claim australian milo has a supposedly more chocolately body when compared to its inferior malaysian variant. Well guess what............

They could not have been any closer to the truth. And the best part in, i'm surrounded by the chocolatey goodness.

Wind in the Gallows

2008-07-29T07:06:00.002+08:00

So week two has come and gone with suprising haste despite the fact that it marked the opening week of school. Perhaps it was the lack of tutorial for a numer of modules on the first week, or perhaps it was the entire euphoria of starting school again after two year of near mental hibernation. Whatever the reason might be it's pretty apparent the holiday period is truly over. Trust me when i say it's not fun to be thrown into the metaphorical deep end against a group of society, who no matter what you try to do are seemingly always a step ahead. It's almost like there is some monopoly of knowledge and information of which a minority (myself included)are unable to cut a share from.

Other than that, life rolls on as usual. Perhaps a tad "unusual" when you take drag night into consideration. The couple of weeks meant hall activities were bountiful and often the much sought after "free food" was on offer. Booze however often comes at a cost. In more than a financial sense if you asked shiqian.

The weather has been unforgiving. The sunshine and clear blue skies are often a form of deception and walking in the wind is NOT a pleasant experience. What is fun though is carrying 12 litres of juice, and thus 12kg of weight while walking back from the city center to our hall which is a modest 3km away. Not to mention attempting to defrost a kilo of solid frozen chicken parts before attempting to cook all of it at one go just to spare us the trouble of having to cook for the next few days!

Signed up for the standard chartered full marathon a while ago. Decided that it wasn't worth signing up if i wasn't going for the full distance. Inward bound training on sunday was total bummer. I still maintain my stand that it is easier to scale a mountain rather than making your way down!

"UTOPIA: A GOOD PLACE AND NO PLACE"

The first week

2008-07-20T09:02:00.002+08:00

While many have been dilligently posting frequent updates about their new found lives in canberra, i guess i have not found the time, nor the energy or motivation to update this blog. A week has come and gone. And that would of course mean a mere 18weeks left before i return home to Singapore. Do i miss Singapore? Not really. But the first week in a new country is not a good yardstick especially when the lack of school means you have time aplently to explore, thus adding to the whole "holiday" mindset.

I'm not going to post a blow by blow account of the fist week as that would take time, and when internet costs 2cents a megabyte, time does equate to money. Instead this is going to be more of my thoughts of the situation/plight*(delete where applicable) that we find ourselves in.

The first week of course involved settling in thus bringing about pricey overheads. Hopefully the economies of scale kick in over a 4 year period to allow for greater returns on our so called investments.

My room which first looked forlorn now actually has a homely feel to it, and it looks condusive for study as well. I could also safely say that my room is neat. Or maybe neater. Whatever.

Co-curricular activities are aplenty here but finding what that cooperates with your timetable, in temporal and location terms is not. Signed up for inward bound. That would keep my fitness up to the level required for the stan chart half marathon which looms at years end. Inward bound is basically a multi-levelled navigational exercise which involves a four-man team being blindfolded as left in the wilderness to find your way back to the designated end-point. It's almost re-living army all over again, only this time you can add the freezing cold to the list of elements you would otherwise have to brave.

The food issue which rages everywhere in the world manifests itself in a different form here. Here it's about finding value for money. Affordability over taste. But cooking in bulk has allowed for greater cost cutting. The only problem that remains is how one would go about cooking for 10 people in a frying pan which barely holds servings for two.

My timetable has been sorted out. The courses i desire the most coupled with a 4 day week makes for good reading. I'd say my motivation levels are high and i am ready to face the legal monster; which is otherwise known as a contract law textbook.

I'll end it here. The laundry is done i believe and we're heading(walking in case you were wondering) to the city in slightly more than half and hours time.

PS: dont expect photo's unless the internet goes all kookoo again and provides us with "unlimited" bandwidth.

PPS: footage (crappy) of the room is available on webcam!

The final hurrah

2008-07-11T21:11:00.002+08:00

It's almost surreal that in less than 2days i'd be headed off to australia to begin my undergraduate studies. Going into chartered territory of course involves a kaleidascope of emotion. The excitement of a new place, the agony of having to go through the entire friend making process again, and the apprehensive when faced with a new environmental. Culture shock is inevitable. No matter how cliched it might sound, tough times don't last, tough men do.

I'm being positive about moving. I've always been a fan of "tough love" and i believe that adversity brings the best out of (most) people. Plus i'll only be gone for slightly over four months this time. Come november, i'll be back. Back to embrace the shitty monsoon season, a half marathon attempt, free tennis and not to mention rising prices, taxi fares, erp charges.

Is the grass truly greener on the other side? Or does the level of shit we swim in here cloud our vision? I guess it's about time i found out!

Night Cycling

2008-07-06T20:14:00.002+08:00

Friday night was spent in the east of Singapore cycling an astonishing 55km around east coast park and the more recently opened Eastern Park connectors. My initial impression was that the journey would be one which required nothing more than easy pedalling. Reality could not have turned out any more different. Some of the slopes were of such steepness we were required to push the bikes up, and running into countless overhead bridges did not aid the cause either.

The cast was made up of chee, jianyun, luqi, yaokun and myself, although edison and fat(ter) hao did join us initially for dinner at the east cost park food center before they split. The reasons given were not being able to cycle and not being able to find a bicycle to support a tonne of weight respectively.

The route we took somewhat mirrored that of the sundown marathon. From east coast it was first off to changi, where creepy winding roads through dense vegetation were aplenty. The ride took a couple of hours before we got to changi village, just before midnight. Changi village of course meant food. Didnt really care to eat. Tried the hokkien mee which was dissapointing and sampled rival nasi lemaks, which proved you do not need to be good to be rivals. Changi village of course also meant chicks with dicks. Being unable to find the correct trail meant having to pass them at least 3 times. When we were about a kilometer away and away from the overpowering scent of their perfume, we sort of ran into the old changi hospital. Walked up the stairs and had a look without going inside. Then the police came and threatened arrest for tresspassing so that was the end of that.

Next, it was cycling down loyang ave and its long strech of uninterrupted road before we got to the pasir area, namely downtown east. Took a break at macdonalds. The place was filthy and mc-cafe coffee was absolute garbage. Left and headed to tampines where we came to a old skool playground. You know the types that still are sand-based and have swings and slides? Relived a bit of our childhood. Yaokun obviously didn't have a great childhood judging from the fact that he was "wheeing" was he was like barely a metre of the ground.

Tampines led to bedok, and by the time, we were fairly knackered. Decided we were ahead of schedule and took a rest in another playground, before heading back to east coast park. Yelled the now stale "ORD LOH" at the guards at bedok camp as well.

Got to east coast park when it was almost 5 and went to the jetty to kill time. Some china skanks borrowed our bikes so that they could cycle to the toilet although their stilettos meant that was almost impossible. One of them tried to hit on jianyun in a really dodgy cheena-english accent although their boyfriends(?) were only a few metres away. Cycled all the way down to carls junior with the intention of having breakfast, but the breakfast menu looked awful. Headed back to macdonalds, to enjoy conditioned air while waiting for the sun to rise.

In the end we were so tired we just ate at macdonalds. Proud to say that i'm still avoiding McGriddles despite the fact that almost everyone else were having them. Missed the sunrise. Settled for a couple of cups of coffee instead.

We were under the impression the earliest we could return the bikes was 9am but as things turned out, we could actually chain them up outside the shop and drop the key through the "key drop" which was really just a hole in the shutters. That allowed us to leave at 7 and head home to rest, although given yesterdays activities, rest was hard to come by. It's 840 now and already i feel like hitting the sack.

Spaced Out

2008-07-05T22:48:00.002+08:00

A chronic lack of sleep and too many a cup of coffee and can be damaging. It's quite amazing how i have not slept for almost 36hours now yet i find myself with a sufficient frame of mind to actually blog. The over-consumption of jasmine green tea at dinner without realising that it contains caffeine might be the temporary respite after a day dominated by yawns and heavy eye lids.

Dinner was good. Rebecca's recomendation turned out to be worth the somewhat hefty price. Japanese food appeals to me in terms of the variety that it offers. It could be due to the fusion of authentic japanese cuisine with local tastes, that makes it appeal to a array of tastes. From the sinfully deep fried to the healthy raw fish, from the blandness of rice to the power of wasabi, almost all avenues are covered.

I'm really going to miss, a lot about Singapore. The friends, close proximity of almost everything, the food, and even the weather which can fluctuate between the unberable heat to pouring showers, in a matter of a couple of hours.

Night cycling was fun but it would be an injustice to attempt to summarize it in a couple of vague sentences, so a proper long post should be out something tomorrow or monday, depending on when the fatigue begins to kick in.

Making do with the "best"

2008-07-04T14:29:00.002+08:00

"Mediacorp Radio, home of your favourite radio stations"

-or-

"Mediacorp Radio, home of your only radio stations"

Damn you gotta love them confucian minds.

2008-07-02T12:31:00.000+08:00

"It does not matter whether a cat is black or white; if it catches mice, its a good cat."

-Meritocracy as explained by Deng Xiao Peng

The un(COMFORTABLE) Ride

2008-07-02T12:02:00.002+08:00

So the word inflation remains on the lips of many. And this time it came to the forefront in the taxi fare debate. This despite the fact that in has only been a matter of a few months since comfort, and consequently the other taxi companies, in fact did raise its flag down fares as well as the fare per unit distance travelled.

The surge in the price of crude oil cannot be ignored. Today it costs almost $140 a barrel. An exponential increase as compared to its price a few years ago. Inevitably, the price of petrol and diesel has also followed suit. The most recent developments in the taxi fare debate centered on this. Operators were deliberating including a fuel surcharge in a bid to offset the increasing cost incurred by the drivers. The opposition of commuters to such an increase has not a suprise. In a time where wages are stagnating while the prices of almost everything else increases is the main reason.

At a personal level, i feel comforts attempt to raise fares is an injustice especially viewed in tandem with another intiative by the taxi industry. Last week, comfort announced its intention to install entertainment consoles very much alike to those found in aeroplanes in 1000 of it's taxis. And should the system be well received by the general public, plans were in place to extend the changes to it's entire fleet of taxis. Comforts latest initiative comes across as ironic at a time where Singaporeans have been urged to look into ways to achieve greater fuel effiency. It is also highly questionable whether commuters actually need an entertainment system in a taxi when a cross country trip from east to west takes a mere 40 minutes. TV mobile in buses has not exactly been a hit either judging from the fact that complains about the noise level as choice of programming are still a common theme in todays forum pages.

In the narrow minded view of the majority, as we move into the future, so should materialistic indulgence. These are the hedonistic views that might lead to the Earth's carrying capacity reaching breaking point. Higher prices could be justified if changes in the taxi industry were aimed at introducing more fuel-efficient vehicles. The savings which would be enjoyed in the future would dwarf the initial outlay as infrastructure is adapted. Instead, we see our taxi companies attempting to introduce energy consuming devices in 10 year old toyota crown taxis.

What however would come as a greater suprise is the fact that majority of the taxi drivers polled actually were against the implementation of a fuel surcharge. It's refreshing when taxi drivers come to understand the workings of Economic or more specifically, elasticity in demand. Taxi rides are in fact a luxury when you consider there potent alternatives like Singapore's highly efficient bus and train systems. This makes the demand for taxi rides highly elastic which would mean a small increases in the fare would lead to a proportionately greater fall in the demand for taxi rides.

The future looks bleak for me at least. But whether the freak electoral result which MM Lee fears so greatly actually materialises is an entirely different matter. The key word here is freak. Does a possiblity count as a freak result? And the workings of the human mind can baffle even the greatest psychologist. Perhaps its the whole sense of unclarity that makes it bleak. Maybe it's about time we start learning to think on our feet.

coffee-drunk

2008-07-01T19:43:00.002+08:00

Ok, i'm writing this post while enjoying some booze. Coffee flavoured booze. No i have not become a raging alcoholic who has to ease his insatiable need for alcohol at home. It's just that the weeks in the states got me addicted to coffee and now nothing tastes better than it. And the fact that it gives you a kick is sort of an added bonus. Damn if they had this stuff on the menu at starbucks.

Fucking blogger deleted the entire paragraph that i wrote. And i guess i'm not arsed enough to write all that down again. Jist of it. Moving sucks, and so does qantas. Now thats what you call a paraphrasing. Must be the effects of the booze.

The things i hate(/love) about this country

2008-06-29T15:19:00.005+08:00

Downside: The hordes of foreigners who have destroyed the service industry, stolen local jobs and occupied our universities.

Upside: A common enemy, a scapegoat even, which brings out the patriotic best in Singaporeans.

Downside: National Service.

Upside: Two years of mentally unchallenging activity, abundant naptime and a welcomed break from the textbooks after 12 years of school.

Downside: The weather.

Upside: Not having to live in fear of a tornado/typhoon/earthquake, although a harmless water sprout is often enough to strike terror.

Downside: Being spoonfed in school.

Upside: Regurgitate all those spoonfulls of information into a couple of buckets and you have guaranteed success.

Downside: Mundane one party rule.

Upside: Entertainment provided by national clown Chee Soon Juan. Without him the courts might be out of business.

Downside: The lack of freedom in speech.

Upside: Not having to put up with trashy tabloids and presidential elections akin to a first grade class election.

Downside: A national football team that is complete and utter bollocks.

Upside: Being able to watch united score 8 times while Barthez struts his stuff on the left wing.

Downside: ERP.

Upside: Potentially we are paying a lot less than we are going to be in the future.

Finding sanity in a semi-retarded world

2008-06-23T20:27:00.003+08:00

1) Go catch a glimpse of the latest baby-g advert at a bustop near your. It features a blonde girl whom i'm almost certain no one can put a name on. The fine print will make your day. It states in no uncertain terms that the mystery person in the ad is indeed a well known j-rock icon.

2) Is it ironic that Mohammed Sultan which despite it's muslim derived name is also known as the booze capital of Singapore?

3) While Mah Bow Tan blasted Singaporeans demanding fuel subsidies and instead told them to focus on energy conservation at home, he obviously forgot that the average 3 storey bungalow the ministers live in at present are basically as energy-inefficient as an american gas guzzling monster truck. Not to mention the 3litre luxury cars they drive. And unless our F-16 are now running on biodiesel or CNG, the national day celebrations are not exactly aiding the drive towards "energy efficiency".

4) Does the world's biggest dick head Ronaldo realise Scolari wants him to leave for one reason and that reason alone. He's the motherfucking Chelski boss. Its convinient to get ronaldo out of the way. But it's total lunacy for Ronaldo to be swayed by it.

The pain in the assholes

2008-06-22T23:07:00.002+08:00

Being on vacation is no longer seen as an avenue for relexation as we now attempt to take in as many sights as possible such is the rising cost of travel and thus the inevitable desire to attain bang for our buck. And after the hustle and bustle of incessant travelling and a killer flight back home, i find myself submerged in shit, shits, merde, sai, i mean whatever rocks your linguistic boat.

Up to a couple of days back, the whole scenario was akin to shit hitting a fan. And guess what, it does splatter. The hostel issue, bank issue and most importantly the ticket issue was driving me insane, and now that i think about driving i've also just realised i totally forgot about my international liscence application. But satisfyingly, the bigger issues have been resolved and what remains are the more miniscule albeit important issues like a phone line, broadband internet and cable tv. But the entire jammed printer fiasco has left my pockets feeling considerably lighter after the purchase of a new printer and thus a slingbox seems out of the question for the moment as least. Although July 1 and the arrival of my farewell money from good old uncle lee could change that.

Its almost surreal that it slightly less than 3weeks i would be in a foreign land where people refer to women as sheilas and find lighting the barbe to be a social event. Change however may not necessarily be bad, and it's up to me to make the best of it.

"So many deeds cry out to be done, and always urgently. The world rolls on. Time passes. Ten thousand years are too long. Seize the day, seize the hour."

Into the land of Ignorance: Does Reality Tally?

2008-06-13T13:55:00.002+08:00

Being on vacation of course is a valid excuse for not blogging for the past two weeks and a half. The past couple of weeks seem to have gone racing by and the time i have here before returning to singapore is dwindling even as i begin a post from literally, the other side of the world. For those who have been reading the more politically expressive posts in my blog, you would undoubtedly have some form of an inkling towards the fact that i frown upon a lot of the policies of the American administration. Spending the past few weeks here has provided me with greater insight, often in the form of a first hand experience with regards to issues i have previously raised.

First, the obsession with size. From the trucks, the size of the coke bottle (590ml) and judging from the stream of penis enlargement product ads you see on the television, big almost always seems better when it comes to American living. The ever expanding waistlines tends to lend further weight to this. While i could almost always fit a size M or S in Singapore, here it is a struggle to find something that fits in the mens department.

The entire rage of consumerism in America however is masked by artificially low prices. While the average american throws a bitch fit when pulling into a gas station only to find that petrol now costs US$4.15 per gallon, many fail to acknowledge that the fuel situation in many other countries has become dire. Petrol prices in Singapore have risen to levels which are forcing the people to look into cars which are more pragmatic and fuel efficient. Yet, our american counterparts do not feel the pinch enough to dissuade them from driving gas-guzzling trucks often towing equally fuel inefficient motor boats and mobile homes.

Inflation of course has been the words on every Singaporean's lips in recent times. The prices of raw materials have risen. And inevitably the prices of secondary goods and services derived from these materials have also risen. Needless to say that i found it mildly amusing that prices here have changed little since the last time i visited. The mexican food i had yesterday still costs US$10 and Macdonalds has actually cut prices! So much for that global food shortage scam everyone has been talking about!

Here we are, nine days away from the june solstice which according to textbooks amany is the peak of summer here in the states? Reality begs to differ. The weather in Washington and Oregon state has been dismal with cloudy skies and constant rain shrouding my stay here so far. And to think that 8inches of snow actually fell east of Portland a couple of days back. And followers of CNN may have also noted the snowstorm at Mt Rainier, Washington, which left a climber dead and two others injured. While the north-west of the country struggles to shake off winter, the east has been experiencing sub 100F temperatures, while the mid-west has once again lived up to its tag of "tornado country". And to think i failed to mention the massive flooding in Wisconsin where dam failure occured as a result of incessant rain.

How long the Bush administration can go on damning Al-Gore and proclaiming global warming a joke is anybodys guess. The evidence is plain and for all to see. Yet there is insufficient public outcry from the masses. Pockets of the population have come to the realisation that not only is global warming a reality, but it is also in full swing. Yet countless others, still refuse to recognise the fact and even if they do, fail to take the necessary action. Signing the Kyoto Protocal would be a step foward on the present policy of attempting to pin the blame on the shoulders of the developing world.

It would of course be unfair to launch into a tirade of accuasations against America without considering what i belief is its greatest merit. It's education system. An education systems which is founded firmly upon providing ample oppurtunities unlike its counterpart in Singapore, where poor A Level results is often deemed the end of the road. Colleges are vast and community colleges provide as inexpensive alternative towards a college degree. The merits do not solely lie in the upper rungs of the education ladder. American children are exposed more to the environment which makes studying a great deal easier in my opinion. While JC students struggle to tell the difference between a stalactite and a stalagmite yet alone explain the formation of limestone features, we have children as young as 7 who possess impressive knowledge of the natural enviroment. The reason lies in the fact that they are able to get upclose with what they study and not have to rely on printed pages bound together in the form of a geography textbook, where diagrams are sketchy and explanations leave a lot to the imagination.

I would have like to write a lot more but it's almost midnight so i'll leave it at this. Hopefully i'll manage to upload a bunch of photos and videos once i get home, which would be in a few days time. Tennis awaits.

Cultural Learnings for the (not so) Glorious State of Singapore

2008-05-24T20:26:00.005+08:00

In approximately 7 hours time, i'll head to changi airport and depart of the US and A. It's kind of funny i guess that my last holiday was to the US as well but of course, it was more than two years ago now. Apart from a day-trip across the causeway back in days when wanted terrorists were not on the loose and thus it did not take hours to clear immigration, i have not left the country.

And now, in the space of 7weeks or so, i'll be visiting two countries, at different ends of the world both in longitudinal and latitudinal senses. The excitement has not really kicked in yet given that i'm dreading a 17 hour flight which only grounds itself for an hour to refuel at Narita, Tokyo. Granted i'm well armed in terms of in-flight entertainment with my Lord of the Rings books and ipod nano but reading does not seem to appeal when you are 5000 feet up in the air. Perhaps i'll make an attempt to catch a few winks on board but it's likely to be futile especially with my poor track record at sleeping on long haul flights.

Before signing off for a temporary blogging hiatus, i'll share something i came across on the bus today. I'll put this across in the form of a conversation.

Bratty Girl: PA! i never toot my ez link.

Man: huh. why you never toot your ez link.

Pardon me but did i miss the day when saying "tapping" became taboo and we had to resort to self censorship albeit with self-produced censorship bleeps. The level of conversation english in Singapore has become a bit of a joke. We have come to substitute proper english for texting lingo and adjetives have been done away with to be replaced by sounds!

Now i'm off to try avoid sleeping at all cost. Less sleep now means more sleep on the plane. But of course it could also pan out to be less sleep now equals to more severe jet-lag when i get to the states.

THE RED ARMY

2008-05-22T20:01:00.012+08:00

It was a long night. So this will be a long post. The triumph of 99 still lives strong in my mind. I remember sitting there at that time, smack in the middle of the exam period, in desperation as the 90 minutes of regulation time were up, and united still trailed to that fluke goal from Basler. The urge to turn the television off was almost irrepressible but something prevented me from doing so. Then came the drama. You can't describe drama like that. Shakespear could not have scripted it better. Seeing is believing. It still gives me the chills, when ole gunnar solskjaer put the ball in the german net.

Foward 9 years to the 21st of May 2008. 50 years since the busby babes lost their lives. Perhaps fitting that united possess potentially their best team for the past few decades. Brimming with a mixture of young talent marshalled by wily vetrans like Rio, Giggsy and scholes. A side worthy of the legacy the busby babes left behind. And a side on the verge of fulfilling their destinity.

The prize?

The task was not so straight foward. Between them and their objective stood a chelsea full of rent boys who nonetherless were desperate to make something out of their season after losing out the premier league to united of the last day of the season.

The line ups were released and besides the inclusion of tevez in place of park for united and malouda in place of kalou for chelsea, they provided little suprise. What chelsea did not expect however, was united playing a 4-4-2 with hargreaves wide right and rooney playing up top with tevez. This element of suprise and unpredictability would offer united the upper hand in the early exchanges.

Paul scholes gets involved with a tangle with makalele, and ends up with a broken nose made all the more painful by a yellow card for leading with is elbow. Then the breakthrough comes just before the half hour. Great interplay between scholes and brown release wesley who finds an amazing cross on his left foot.

No prizes for guessing who's coming in to meet it Ronaldo provides his best micheal jordan impersonation with impressive air time to tower above Essien and plant a delightful header which nestles in the bottom corner. This after terrorising the chelsea fullback for the best part of the match. Indeed a one finger salute to those who claim he "doesn't do it in the big games".

United are in full flow now. A glorious counter sees rooney find ronaldo with a 60 yard pass. Ronaldo's brilliant cross is met by a tevez diving header. Cech saves well. Carrick's rebound draws an even better save from Cech. Tevez then fails to connect with a hopefull cross by Rooney. Could it be on of those nights?

Well it almost seemed so. The deflection king, Fat frank this time sees a weak long range effort from Essien deflect TWICE, as well as seeing van der sar slip, presenting him with a gift that he takes. Chelski are level. United are stunned just before the half time whistle. The second half is squeaky bum time for United. Ski hit the post, the bar, you name it. United offer very little. But importantly, they hang on. 1-1 at the end of regulation time. And even then you could almost come to expect that penalties were the only way to seperate these two teams.

United almost snatch it in extra time. Evra bursts through the chelski defence in typical swashbuckling fashion. The cut back is perfect. Too bad it fall to giggs awkwardly and he does well to get a shot in. Terry off the line.

The comes the moment of madness, we almost have come to expect when drogba is on the pitch. Ski are pissed united don't give the ball back the way they want it, despite the commentator pointing out that ski had been doing the exact same thing all night long. The scumbags ballack and terry are involved in handbags with tevez. A melee ensues. And drogba shows a feminine bitch slap, if you could call it that, on vidic right under the referees nose. The official is left with no choice. Rooney was obviously right when he said drogba's isn't right in the head. Off you go drogba.

Chelsea are left a penalty taker short. Anderson and belleti come on with a second left seemingly with the sole purpose of taking a penalty.

United go first. Tevez finishes with ablomp. Ballack does the same. Both side has been practising it seems. Carrick and Belleti both convert to square it at 2 a piece. Then comes the shocker. Ronaldo almost undoes a season of good work with a terrible penalty. Easy save. Then lampard scores to consolidate the advantage. Hargreaves does brilliantly under pressure and cashley cole holds his nerve. It's down to sudden death. Nani keeps united hopes alive. Then the tide turns. Terry whose header off the line may have kept ski alive, slips and hits the post. It's all square. Anderson does what only brazilians would do and kalou hold his nerve under the pressure now firmly on chelsea shoulders. Giggs remains calm and its down to anelka. Penalty shootouts make heroes out of goalkeepers and this one is no different. Van der Sar spares Ronaldo the blushes and possibly a few tears as well.
UNITED ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE. CHELSEA ARE CHUMS OF WEST LONDON! Let the party begin. Ronaldo gives van der sar a shoulder massage. Possibly one of the many favours he now owes the dutchman.

John Terry has always been and will remain a fucking tool. It was disgraceful the way he spat at carlitos and then tried to cover it up by giving an oscar worthy performance of wiping his mouth with his shirt.

"John terry spat on tevez; and god spat on john terry"

-something i picked off a message board.

And On That Theme... From The Times 'Avram Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, has a perspective on life because of the traumas his family suffered in the Holocaust, but even he was struggling to find the words to ease the pain of Terry, who was white with shock.' Hmmmm. We're not entirely certain that the genocide of an entire people is quite comparable to a macho pr**k missing a penalty, but hey - what do we know?

-football365's mediawatch at it's very finest

It's karma working at its finest. It was fate. With the busby staring starting down upon the class of 08 50 years on, it just had to be. Meanwhile the partay begins. Anderson looks like he has had one can of redbull too many.

Season 07-08 was almost a dream. Had it not been for the debacle at pompey in the fa cup, a treble might have been on the cards. And in all honesty, with the standard of the teams which actually made the semis there, united second string would have strolled through the final. The youngster showed great maturity, and the old heads delivered when it really mattered. Scholes against barca and giggsy against wigan and chelski.

I cannot wait for the season to kick off again. I would be in australia by then and that would mean missing out on a lot of football sadly. Hopefully ronaldo stays, and nani and anderson take another step up next season.

GLORY GLORY MAN FUCKING UNITED!

I'm not going to say he told you so but.....

2008-05-20T14:18:00.005+08:00

Thomas Malthus once hypothesized:

population increases in arithmetic progression (ie: exponentially)

food supply increases in geometric progession

should population fail to find equilibrium with the natural resources that sustain it,

population dieback would occur

These "checks" on population would include private checks or postive(natural) checks, which would of course include natural disasters.

Lets put this a little differently now.

China has the worlds largest population.

China has exploited the enviromental in the race to industrialise at break neck pace.

Nature has its revenge?

Critics of the theory would of course be pro-boserupians who claims that

1) The theory is overally pessimistic

2) It fails to take into account advances in the field of agriculture (green revolution, GM food).

Critics of the above mentioned claims however would claim that

1) Pessimism is not unfounded. The world lives in paranoia. One a many EU and American leader insist the world has become a dangerous place.

2) Irony lies in the fact that technology in fact has led to a fall in world food output, rising food prices, global warming and whatever social, economic or environmental ill we face today.

malthus either got lucky or he was a bloody good fortune teller.

gym-onster

2008-05-14T22:00:00.002+08:00

its kinda weird i guess but going to the gym is killing my passion for sports. Playing tennis no longer has its appeal. Football seems "dangerous" and i'm not going back to hockey given a shoulder operation has laid rest to any hopes i had of playing that game again.

Weight training has obviously made me a lot fitter. I'm faster over shorter distances now. Set some pretty impressive and perhaps suprising timings for running interval of 800m. Where i usually completed each interval in approximately 3minutes 5seconds, i clocked timings of 2mins57, 2mins52 and 2mins51 on monday.

But physically fitness has not exactly translated to success in sports. I once prided myself on my techincal footballing ability. I mean things like passing, crossing and dribbling. Now it has become a matter of just being able to chase and press a lot while comprising the finer side of the game. Think darren fletcher.

Tennis has been sort of a bitch recently too as well. I think i'm getting worse by the day. My backhands are now exclusively netted shots only and coming to the net is akin to suicide. The mental part of playing is dead. It's like i'm taking swings for the sake of it and just going through the motions. It tough to find any sort of consistency.

I feel like ditching tennis and go back to the old days where i was soccer crazy. But soccer is a team game and it isn't easy to find enough players. And playing void deck/court soccer seems a bit weird for a 20 year old.

Clock ticks away

2008-05-14T20:38:00.002+08:00

10 days to USA. 2 months to australia. Can't wait.

urgh

2008-05-13T21:16:00.002+08:00

Tennis was fucking crap.

Getting owned

2008-05-10T21:42:00.004+08:00

So today was the day i took the babolat aeropro drive out for a test drive. Played a set against colin. Got owned 6-3. Considering i only managed to hold my serve once, it didn't turn out too bad. My service games were littered with double faults. The inside out forehand was sweet with the new racquet so most of my winner came from there. My return of serve was not too bad either especially once i could read the serve. Played a lot of long rallies. Not exactly cooperative rallies but instead trying to go for winners if possible. The Aeropro drive offers a lot more option to create spina and angles. The racquet head speed was awesome. The lack of racquet weight though told as my backhand was off the mark more often then not.

The weather was great as well. After the light showers early in the morning, it got cool and nice. Playing singles for 3hours at a considerable intensity did not seem too taxing.

The two semi-final matches in the Rome masters were farcial. One lasted 15mins and the other lasted 21 minutes on court. Roddick's back injury did look pretty bad though. If you see roddick serve a double fault, you know something must be wrong. Stepanek look like he was faking all the way. That pussy got owned by djokovic in the first set. His approaches to the net were being picked off one passing shot after another by djokovic who by contrast had a 100% success when coming into the net. Djokovic is not federer. He does not have a crap backhand which clowns like stepanek can exploit.

Stepanek is disgusting. It's not just the image which is pretty damaged by the dodgy apparel or the vintage racquets. It's his mannerisms as well. He was spitting constantly against federer. Its damn sick man. Spitting on the court. And you could see the bits of saliva flying in the slow-mo replays. Plus he exhibited plenty of hooliganism with his crude shouting to pump himself out. Worst still he did "the worm" in victory. Ironically on the same court upon which he spat!

Eww and to think martina hingis almost got hitched to that monster.

Can you imagine her with that freak above. He ended up with her

But i don't like vaidisova anyway she has this bitchy persona on court.

Lol and anna ivanovic is getting hotter by the day, or should i say tournament. Too bad it looks like she's gonna lose to dementieva.

You're never gonna guess what's on the Nat Geo Cover

2008-05-09T21:55:00.002+08:00

Its CHINA. The whole debate has now reach national geographic levels. It's the same old though. Affluence, income disparities, pollution, human rights. Should have perhaps looked into the unwelcomed migration of the PRC abroad. In case you were worried, no i am not going to break into thousands of words of xenophobic babble.

Tennis tomorrow. Time to put the aeropro drive to the test. Wonder if it'll be a better fit than the pure drive which has served me well.

I was clearing my cupboard just now and came across some photos from the "first three months". Ok they are hilarious. Everyone looks funny. Fat me, gullible face ryan, pull-back hair geri, bimbo fringed joanne, psycho pyscho, longer haired carm. Ave looks exactly the same though! Either that or i haven't seen her in a long time. And brother paul is so white he practically blended right into the white board at the rear. HE looks like a floating wig, eyebrows and eyes on a white canvas.

My sister got me the lord of the rings series minues the last book plus the hobbit. Hope it makes good reading from excrutiatingly long flights to and from the states. 2weeks and 3 days to a deserved break. Boy i can't wait.

Woohoo New Racquets

2008-05-07T21:22:00.002+08:00

Being a broke ass especially since i was conned into beliefing you did not need to register for the GST offset package, a new tennis racquet was more or less out of the question. That is until i discovered the joys of the interent and buying second hand racqeuts. You see a racquet is a tee. Using it 20times is not going to lead to discoloring in the armpits or what not. The babolat was described as "chipped" but the damage was so superficial and limited i had trouble actually finding it. And scuff marks are part and parcel of playing tennis. The Aeropro drive looks awesome. New grip, pro hurricane strings plus the signature babolat desgin is on the strings!

Beka's new racquet looks a hell lot better though! Well it should, it costs 15bucks more. Plus its gripped with federer's grip. How appropriate. The strings are in excellent condition as well.

Lol plus i got a free ride home since the guy lived like a street down from me. Aids the plan to cut down on tranportation to save money!

How time flies

2008-05-07T17:55:00.002+08:00

after this week it will be two more weeks before i depart for the US and A. Which menas roughly 6 and a half weeks of time before i leave for australia. So many things to do. So much time. But totally lacking in motivation.

Gotta try to make full use of the next two weeks. Lots of tennis hopefully. Perhaps with better racquets. Got to go buy the o3 later and i hope either the aeropro drive is in decent condition or i get a knockdown on the price.

The Great PRChinese Debate

2008-05-06T20:34:00.003+08:00

Judging from the opinion on my tagboard coupled with post on other blogs, anti-PRC sentiment is burgeoning. And today, i had my very one encounter with one of parasites!

So i was on my way to safra walking along the pavement when i hear a bicycle bell ringing urging me out of the way along with a grunt which i could barely make out to be "aircue mi". So i turn around an i see this middle-aged PRC man ridding his bike on the pavement, which we all know, however widespread it might be, is illegal in the fine country of Singapore. Dealing with the errant cyclist like i do with all cyclist, i completely ignored him and refused to let him pass, basically by walking haphazardly; although that would not be completely accurate either since i was following a planned direction (whichever his bike went). So the alien decided to make his move and proceeded with an overatking maneuveur which was an inch away from leaving me with a bruised buttcheek. With my short fuse and all i launched into a fouled mouthed tirade against the PRC.

What i said

"Fuck you, go cycle on the road. You bloody fuck chinaman. Singapore illegal to cycle on the pavement you know. Cheebye"

What i think he thinks i said

"How are you. Your bicycle owns the road. You bloody handsome man. Singapore's wanton mee is very nice you know. Good bye"

The language barrier posed a big problem. It's funny how i used to be pissed of with cyclist cycling on the pavement. I always advocated that it was ok for children and the elderly to cycle on the pavement, given their "i can walk faster than that" speed as well as safety concerns. Then it struck me 90% of horror pavement cyclist are in fact PRCS or banglas. Perhaps its the fact that they are either not use to seeing cars on the road so the fear factor kicks in or they think the road is meant for cows, donkeys and what not. Still it irks the hell out of me.

Sidenote: the weather is a bitch. Its so fucking hot. Almost died playing tennis. My t-tshirt was so soaked it could have acted as a mop for the expo or something.

DNA

2008-04-29T21:19:00.003+08:00

Fugly had this on the blog and it was wayyyyy off the mark. So i tried to verify its accuracy and thus its credibility.

My personalDNA Report

Weighing up ANU

2008-04-28T20:37:00.002+08:00

In approximately 3 months, i'll bid farewell (don't expect tears) to the wretched Singapore education system and head towards the great unknown to pursue my dream to become a lawyer. And as always when one ventures into unchartered territory, first comes the process of reasoning, weighing up the postives and negatives of both the point of depature and arrival, before coming to a rational decision. So here's what i came up with

PROs

1) I get to study law at ANU, something which was only possible at SMU here given that the law selection procedures in NUS leave a lot to be desired.

2) A change in the environment might actually be good. Twenty years of urban "warfare" has left me jaded somewhat.

3) The crazy interest rates in australia. Its 7% for a savings account. It's something like 10 times what POSB or the average Singapore bank offers.

4) The whole challenge of venturing into the unknown. I mean i've survived 4SIR. What could be harder.

CONs

1) The vacuum-like effect ANU has on money. The fees are the least of my worries. 8 dollars an hour to play tennis in your own school is daylight robbery as is A$120 to use the gym for 4months. Internet charged by the megabyte should also be confined to 10 years ago, yet it finds it's way into the halls of ANU. Quota based wifi access in school makes for plenty of debate.

2) The food. That is self-explanatory.

3) Possibly picking up some kind of dodgy accent. But as they say, in Australia, do as the aussies do and put some shrimp on the barbie.

As unsuprisingly, like every argumentative social studies essay you have encountered in the past, it comes down to an evaluation of social vs economic factors. Unfortunately this is life and merely knowing the theory is not going to get you top grades.

PS: I ordered a hubstation. That means half-time highlights without having to take in the sight of John Burridge and the rest of the british crackpots on the football channel.

Beyond the Age of Idiocracy: Are American's Really Dumber Than a Fifth Grader?

2008-04-23T23:41:00.003+08:00

By seemingly pure coincidence, i find myself bombarded from various sources of the media regarding the actions of America, on all levels, whether it be individual, micro-collective or macro-collective. Alarming i would not call it. Expected and regretable could perhaps be a more accurate description.

Material that this argument is based on comes from a variety of sources. Firstly they come from the books "beyond the age of innocence", "assault on reason" and "the innocent man". Although the form of media remains consistent given that they are all books, the characteristics and thus motifs of the respectives are largely different. The dean of the LKY School of Public Policy, the former vice-president of America, and John Grisham, an author know more for his works of fictions rather than his political pieces. There is hardly a basis for comparison. And secondly, and rather unexpectedly, it comes from the movie "Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay" which proved that behind all that pot and exposed breast, there lay a political agenda.

The use of fear and intimidation by America has been well documented since the exposes about the torture of political prisoners both at Guantanamo Bay and the Abu Ghrabi prisons. And as Grisham revealed in "the innocent man", physical and mental intimidation was not confined to supposed terrorists and instead took places at grassroot levels of the law. "Innocent till proven Guilty" has now been replaced by its reversal.

Recent american policy has been aimed at the creation of scapegoats and then attempting to pin the tail on the donkey, or in this case goat. Investigation where a series of clues led to the culprit now comprise of investigations where a potential culprit is singled out before the "evidence", if you still wish to call it that, is carefully manipulated in an attempt to fit. Post 911 paranoia on the part of american law enforcement could be the reason, but apparently Grisham's book proofs that such practice was evident since the 80's such were the farcial circumstances under which the Ronnie Williamson murder trial was carried out. Al gore despite his role as a public figure made no attemp to debunks claims regarding the use of intimidation by the present american regime.

The Harold and Kumar movie is intended to serve as a caricature. Caricatures serve to exaggerate traits seen in people. And sometimes, the blow the finer details up to a proportion where flaws which were often overlooked now seem glaring. Amidst, the chase for sex, pot and freedom, the entire "we've a got a man, lets make him THE man we want" is apparent. And honestly only a truly blinkered fool could fail to uncover it's politcal agendas.

The second issue that the world has with America has been with regards to it's self centerdness. Issues such as the dominance of the UN security council or the IMF could easily take precedence but i would rather try to avoid that route. Intead i would choose the route of simplicity and that would be with regards to American Sports. While the rest of the world have sports indigenous to their own countries, what we have come to know as traditional sports are still of greatest importance. Then we have America. The same people who decide football should be know as soccer (pronounced Saaaker; see also soccer mom) are also the proud inventors of "real" football. Yes, football which ironically barely involves the use of a foot. Not to forget its the same folk who brought you the major league world series. The very notion of it is high debatable given it's a world series but it comprises of team from a single country. But given that majority of the American population do not own a passport yet alone travel abroad, perhaps america seen through their eyes, is the world.

America's pre-occupation with itself has also been highlighted in the ATP calender. Given that the all important college basketball season, and the mcdonalds and pepsi endorsements that come with it, had not yet ended, the Miama Masters were pushed back thus creating a jam packed clay court season. Tennis isn't exactly inspiring in the US at the moment with a string of average joes and the occasional pace server coming off the production line. Thus, the rest of the tennis world has to suffer america's disinterest in the sport.

The above mentioned is of course the tip of the iceberg. The full low-down would undoubtedly stretch beyond 200 pages. But before we condemn America to our scorn, we have to delve deeper and understand the foundations of the problem.

The first point to note is that many unhappy noises have actually been coming from inside the American Camp. Gore, Micheal Moore (credibility issues?) and even Matt Groening, the creator of "the Simpsons" whose episode rarely pass without a well concealed jab at the American way of life. Not all americans are what we make them to be. In fact, majority are not. The government on the other hand...........

Bush will be bush. A republican, a conservative, who once described the war on Iraq as a crusade akin to those carried out by the Christian against the Muslims in and vice versa in Medieval times. It is also my view that the very nature of American democracy which america prides itself upon could be the very evil that is working against them. Take for example, the democrat candidate nomination race between Clinton and Obama. One could be forgiven for thinking that the race was the actual presidential elections itself, such is the nature of the competition. A nature which is guaranteed and encourage by american cornerstones of democrary and universal suffrage.

Thus the question i pose: Has the level of democratic competition driven both parties towards making promises which they could eventually fail to keep. It's akin to an auction. You offer the people more and the highest bidder wins. Yet, how many times has an auction buyer found himself paying over the odds due to actions purpotrated in a moment of tension. The situation has been confined within the democrats now, but what would happen during the presidential election? Two of the most likely results would be candidates offering above their capabilities and candidates reducing themselves to introducing politics of fear. Both as i have mentioned throughout are highly undesirable.

Rant! (well you should be used to it)

2008-04-22T20:11:00.001+08:00

Life is still boring, but having all the excitement and fun taken out of it makes you more aware of the social environment. As ironic as it sounds, allow me to explain more.

So in an attempt to toughen up to play football in Australia, i made the effort to hit the gym for once instead of (over)relying on cardio training. The first rant thus involves the poor ettiquete of Singaporeans when it comes to gym usesage. Ok i may not be a gymrat but thats irrelevant when it comes to general sociable behaviour. Examples of good social behaviour would involve

1) Not hogging 4 weight benches for your early morning midlife crisis gossip session. Exercising the mouth does not require the use of the bench.

2) Draping your sweat laden towel over the lat pulldown machine while you take a break between sets should not be the way to ensure you have the machine all to yourself.

3) And is it that difficult to wipe your sweat of the machines after use?

And after the incident with the "aunty and the uncles" at the gym on monday, today was the incident with the mat and the minah at the library. Having a mother who is a teacher meant i was exposed to reading and visiting the library at a young age. And i'm thankful for that given that the above mentioned activities considerably aided my grasp and command of the english language. Unfortunately, according to various sources, this interest in reading has not been passed unto younger generations. Instead the library seems to have become a place for budding teenage romance. Perhaps the cool,(well not anymore) and comfy environment helps. But it sure pisses the hell out of me when i'm trying to decide between books and have to put up with a giggling teenage malay couple at the same time. The young lovebirds were curled up in the corner (how appropriate) armed with two paper-thin books which could have been written in Russian for all you know. On another note, a random book i borrowed turned out to be a great read.

Installment three centres around International Schools namely the Canadian International School. I pass by the premises when i go for runs and the national composition of the school comes as a bit of a shocker. Pardon me but i can't recall when Japan annexed itself with Canada or when Japan was a colony or Canada. So beside the alarming fact that the blond haired blued eyed caucasian has been replaced by the slitty eyed Jap. Plus their dodgy accents are to die for. Sorry i meant to die laughing at. And i don't know whether its the timings of my runs or just pure coincidence that everytime i pass their school gate, there's always an episode of laguna beach going on. But i shouldn't be judgemental. Behind that fake brown floppy hairdo and pale face could be a closet drift king.

Recipe for Disaster

2008-04-19T00:49:00.002+08:00

INGREDIENTS

Ready Made Crumble Mix1
German Prune (well past its sell by date)
4 French Lemons
3 African Melons
1 Spanish Plumb
2 Brazilian Nuts
2 English Gooseberries, if you have them lying around (please note - these fruits are seriously over rated)

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

It is recommended that you adhere to the recipe but as it is an Arsenal crumble some cheating is expected.For a good Arsenal crumble topping the ingredients need to be well beaten before cooking (5-1 should do it).Add all the fruits together in a hot cauldron (Anfield is perfect) and make sure they stew for 90 minutes. You will know that they are properly stewed as they will completely break down and lose all of their structure.Add a generous splash of 'Chateau Wenger' whine to add to the sour taste. Once this has been done cover with the crumble mix and place into a very hot oven (eg Old Trafford) for a further 90 minutes.The Arsenal Crumble is now complete. Arsenal supporters may find this dish very bitter to swallow - if so they can help themselves to a large slice of humble pie.

Topsy Turvy United Victory

2008-04-14T19:55:00.011+08:00

Definately not the best performance of the season. And suprisingly at old trafford as well, which may not have been a suprise given the traditional champions league hangover.

So its begins.

Line Up: Van der Sar, Brown, Evra, Rio, Pique, Ronaldo, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Carrick, Park, Rooney

Subs: Kuszczak, O'Shit, Giggs, Anderson, Tevez

A line up which lacks creativity in the middle for sure. Where the hell is anderson and tevez? They tend to do well against Le'Arse.

United begin playing rubbish. Brown plays the perfect through ball to fabregas. Scholes? Well..........

The arse-wipes are unlucky not to go ahead. United should send a couple of bouquets to adebayor who managed to miss twice, when it looked easier to score. Rooney goes close at the other end twice, thanks to Alex Song who's competence in the middle of defence makes Brown look decent. Dire first half. Would the second be an improvement?

YES

WAS

Meet the black 6foot 5 maradona.

The name is adebayor. Plus a rouge shout of "Keeper" from some arsenal cunt causes confusion which apparently confuses adebayor who decide to take the chance and go with his forearm when using his head would have been easier. But alas, no one sees it. The arse are ahead.

Down the other end, Carrick plays an aimless ball which Gallas decided to handle despite the fact no one was behind him. Penalty united. Lehmann tries to fuck around. But sorry you Nazi dumbass, you aren't up against Daniela De Rossi. The names Cristiano Ronaldo. Two takes. Same result!

Game on. And finally fergie see the light.

Off come scholes and park. Whose level of football befitted that played in his name.

On come

AND

Why all the excitement over anderson you might ask. Well watch and be enlightened.

Cos he shits on Fabregas.

The game changes. United are a lot more competitive now. Passes actually find their target. Then United get a freekick just outside the box.

Prepare for a Ronaldo special or "rocket" as he termed it himself. Lehmann the clown prepares his wall and stands on the right left post.

UP STEPS................................

OWEN HARGREAVES

2-1. United lead. Arsenal are stunned. The pile foward. United repel them. Ronaldo throw the entire locker of party tricks at Hoyte during injury time and gets kicked. But the whistle blows. United win. The live to fight. Nancy boy fabregas does not take defeat well.

Spot the difference

He's a fucking disgrace but then again so his are his team and his short-sighted manager. You can feign ignorance all you want arsene but you can't deny seeing arsenal lose to a more determined, more proffesional, and more hungry United side.

The gooners

2008-04-13T21:21:00.001+08:00

Ok i have a bad feeling about the match. Damn the last time that happened, they drew with the teeside hoofers. 1 and a half hours to kick off. And my starhub connection is fucked. Just like it always is on sunday night. Fucking box seems to hate united.

NTUC (UN)Fairprice

2008-04-07T20:41:00.003+08:00

More often than not newspaper bear headlines and alarming articles regarding the almost exponential rise in the price of basic foods, such as wheat and more recently rice. And as yk claims in his msn nick "rice may be more valuable than oil now". As true as it may be, yaokun may have not realised the greater significance which belies his claim. The whole issue regarding global food output in fact does boil down to the relationship between crude oil usage and food production.

Perplexed you might be initially. How could you draw a relationship between two commodities which at first look only offer general similarities. One they are both crucial component in mordern day survival. And two, you might question whether this has anything to do with fuel cost incurred in the production and subsequent transportation process. But the relationship when revealed is far more direct.

The crux of the crop sufficiency issue lies in the rise of biofuels; Fuel not derived from crude oil and instead from everyday crop such as corn or soyabean. In lay terms, in could also be described as cooking oil petrol. Now arises the problem may encountered first in our economic textbooks. The problem of scarcity. The factor of production occur in finite amounts. In this case land required to grow the crop and labour required to tend to the crop is scarce. Scarcity would inevitably lead to choices being made. Choices regarding type and quantity of output. We have to decide whether we want to produce crop for consumption or crop as fuel. Oppurtunity cost are bound to be weighed. And with the incentives that various governments provide to farmers to encourage the growth of "alternative" fuel souces, its not difficult to see why many farmers go down the biofuel road. Of course the situation now is paradoxical but in reality something has always got to give. Supply of food crop falls. Demands goes up in lieu of an ever burgeoning world population and there you have it. Rising prices.

The issue of this post however, is not to debate the world food shortage. The above written text was meant to serve as a point of interest. So on to the issue at hand.

The documentation of the food shortage in local and often goverment influenced press has been an attempt to manipulate the demand trends among the population. Instead of going for supposedly reknowned brands such as "gardenia" for example, the press has been encouraging the masses to switch to house-brands, which they claim to offer greater value for money, although such a statement itself is highly debatable given that house-brands often have an inferior taste which wouldn't exactly reflect value in a purer sense. Housebrands are often made from inferior materials which account for its edge when it comes to pricing with more established brands. Hands up, everyone who has tasted fish fingers from ntuc which taste like breaded flour stick or crispy chicken which must have come from the fattest chicken alive given all you could chew on was fat. Housebrands in a monetary sense may allow a person to maintain their present standard of living. But in a broader non-material sense, the inferior taste and quality would in fact lower it.

Housebrands however are just the beginning of the issue. The greatest evil lies in the underhand attempts to promote NTUC fairprice products which of course have strong linkages to the government. Numerous chains like Carrefour and ColdStorage too have their own housebrands often of superior quality to those produced by NTUC yet they often (i think i had seen it once. before the whole shortage kicked in) ignored in the local press when it comes to providing substitutes for pricier food. Sinister or good intentioned. It's up to the individual to decide and a lot would boil down to personal attitudes and tastes.

Until the price commodities rise to unreasonable levels, i for one would be sticking to established brands. I like my fish fingers, made from real fish thank you.

The Wonder(bra) of advertising

2008-04-07T13:47:00.003+08:00

Come to Slim Fit
You've nothing to lose but

YOUR PUSH-UP BRA!

LMAO. Needless to say i almost choked on my breakfast when i saw the front page headline of the "life" section. Funny that they failed to mention the $188 loss in the tagline.

Obvious innit PAL

2008-04-04T08:00:00.002+08:00

So the closet homosexual came out with a comeback post which he thought would emphasize his wit and high (altitude sickness anyone) moral ground.

Now I wonder who that rascal could be. He must be really enjoying himself. And perhaps He's got even more things planned. No matter, for I probably won't be able to trace his identity, unless his accomplices decide to back stab him and divulge his secret.

You've got one thing right. We know exactly who he is. We did not know for certain intially but the identity was both suprising and refershingly funny. And no we were not his "accomplices". You just pissed us off so there isn't a chance in hell we're going to cooperate anytime soon. You could have found out who it was with relative ease had you not been a self-righteous blinkered fool.

I'll be frank with you. These comments you've been writing have really irked me and they're pretty hurtful. I wonder what on earth I could have done to offend you, for you to defame me in such a way. I would like to ask you nicely to cease this. Just imagine how you would feel if you were in my shoes. Thank you.

Here it starts to get ironic. Try reading the above mentioned text then the rest of the post and you will be enlightened. But with the blinkers on and since you suffer from selective vision, i'll be kind enough to make it as obvious as I possibly could.

By the way a message to god, mr jesus, mas selamt, brians or any others out there who want to continue defaming me though I haven't done anything to you. You can insult and mock me but I think I should tell you that God will not be mocked. You might not believe any thing I say now, but I think you should know, that vengeance is His and He sees everything. It might be now or decades later. He might choose to act or not act at all. But we all will have to give an account of our lives at the end. You might find this curious, but He loved you so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for your sins. And through that act He now overlooks our sins and forgives us completely if You choose to trust in Him

Have you for one fucking second in your life considered there are other religions besides christianity? Please refrain from using the word GOD, given that you mock the very notion of it in all the oppresive christian bullshit you spread. Do you really believe Christianity is the only legitimate religion on earth? Do you really think only Christian go to heaven? Is jesus the "son of god". Can you go a day with attempting to impose your beliefs onto others? 99% of other religions acknowledge Jesus as a prophet and nothing more. He WAS NOT THE SON OF GOD DAMMIT. STOP ATTEMPTING TO GLORIFY YOUR RELIGION AT EVERY OPPURTUNITY YOU GET. It's fucking annoying. And stop crying like a little bitch everytime you don't get your way. You are pathetic. Actually i don't know why i'm bring up this debate again since we've had it so many times already often ending with tears from the hypocrite himself. Your narrowmindedness is repulsive. Seriously moron, why not take a trip to Afganistan and spread the "love of thy lord, jesus" and liberate the masses. You would be dead in minutes and wouldn't hesitate to bet a fiver on that. I'm just thankful you are not living in Ireland or something. Your level of extremism and how you take everything written in that book at face value, without considering its implication in a mordern day context. You are fucking blind. Plus you are easy to annoy. Alas, a winning combination.

As a Christian, He commands us to forgive others who have wronged us, just as He forgave us. And to love them just as He loved us. So I forgive you

Yeah yeah. More idealistic nonsense. You forgive us? You expect us to feel downright honoured don't you? Do you really hold yourself on such moral highs. Wow brian forgave us. I don't knowed whether to feel relieved or just plain disgusted. Anyways, gotta get back to watching the idiot box now but before i go, see ya in hell!

Detached from Reality

2008-04-03T15:06:00.002+08:00

Before you start sending messages which make you look like a right prick and spoiling the sleep of others, next time try being certain you got the right culprits. No one in their right mind would devote time to you. We know the culprit. Oh the wonder of using your brain instead of your itchy fingers and sending out mass texts.

Secondly, the fact that you chose to single out me and chee. Reality check. You could find another 15 people who positively cannot stand stand your mannerisms and hypocritical ideals.

Jokes on you. And just to humour your comic-book loving ass. WHY SO SERIOUS?

Never try to Scam a Scammer

2008-03-31T22:08:00.002+08:00

So, the lack of a job and the lack of activities in my life has once again has forced my hand into action and liven up my life. It called started with the job-search (yes again). And coming across an offer, which was too good to be true. Of course, it is often the case that in such a scenario, the offer is likely not to be true. So armed with vast reserves of cash and the urge to indulge in some fun, it begun like this. Btw the email was data-entryjob@hotmail.com. Made me laugh my ass off.

4466. Data Entry
for Home Based Data Entry

Approximate Value: $100-$300

Status: Closed

Job Description
No age limit. No experience is required.

The following skills are desirable:
Basic computer and typing skills
Ability to spell and print neatly
Ability to follow instructions

Requirements:
Computer with Internet access (Printers are not at all required but can be helpful)
Valid email address
Good typing skills
Basic Internet knowledge

There is a "One Time Fee" Non Refundable money to begin. This is the cost of the Training Materials which I will give it to you to teach you how to start rolling. However, bear in mind that you need to be firm to do it, otherwise, even if you will to purchase this training material, you will not be able to start if you do not have the plan to do it.

Those who are interested in this job,please email to
data-entryjob@hotmail.com.

Regards,
Data Entry Team

Take a closer look. "Job" calls itself data entry. Misrepresentation, yes. But a convinient or should i say a common way of masking a scam. "Training materials"? You have got to be kidding me. What could you possibly need to be trained at for basic "data entry"? "One time", "NON REFUNDABLE". The secrets almost out. But for the sake of entertainment, lets proceed. No harm applying

Scammer to Me

Hi Randeep Singh,

Thank you for replying.Basically, you will just be using your computer at your own time to start off this work.

Your pay by your clients will be arrange between you and them, the
training materials will explained in details how you can make sure that
your clients will pay you promptly once you have done each application,
there must be trust and compromise with each other. For example, if you
have done one order, you have to make sure that your client make the
payment that been agreed first, then you will send your complete
application to the other party VIA email.

You will receive your pay through your own personal Singapore's Bank
account which you will get your clients to transfer fund into it.

I will not be involved in any transaction and/or payment made by them
to you. You are not going to be paid on a weekly basis, you will be
paid for each application that you process.

The payment (One time Non-Refundable Fee-SGD$30.00) for the Training
Materials is to be made by Transferring Funds through Singapore POSBank
savings account number:

194-66074-0

Once you have done the transfer, please inform me VIA email, and I
will send you the Training Materials as soon as possible VIA email. Once
you received it, you may start working the very same day.

Thank you,
Nishanthini
Home Based Data Entry Team

Ok stupid move number one. Copying and pasting a template. Stupid move number two. Revealing your bank account details. And the constant use of client and processing applications is all very uneasing. But play along i must!

Me to Scammer

Hi,
Before i make payment for these "training materials", may i know what they comprise of?

Thanks

If the message does not reek of sacarsm then obviously the inverted commas have failed in their part.

Scammer to Me

The training materials consists of what you are supposed to do.Its very similar to what i am doing now.It is just that,it depends on how you use your time finding your clients by advetising it.You get paid by the training materials itself.So that it why you have to pay me for me to give you the training materials.

Thank you

So the cats out of the bag. "similar to what i am doing". Yes of course. Its called multi-level marketing in case you did not know, or pyramid selling. The word client pops up again. You get paid by the training materials? LOl of course its the DUMMIES GUIDE TO SCAMMING FOR HEAVENS SAKE.

Me to Scammer

hi,

i have made payment to the designated account. Reference number 0588. acc number 132-24513-4

regards
Randeep

$30 is well within my means! btw i googled "data entry scams" the day before and most of the template popped out. Plus it also said you should never have to pay to work. Unfortunately you gotta pay to watch a good show. And this was one. The nice part is coming. Just noticed that she calls herself part of a Data Entry Team. And they always said there is no "I" in team.

Scammer to me

Hi,
I have received your payment for the training materials.I have attached the training materials to this email.Thank you for interest in this.

Regards,

Nishanthini
Home Based Data Entry Team

Nothing much here. The much vaunted training materials were basically templates for the ads and phoney emails. No point putting them here. Just think it had like red coloured font explaning how each part works in the scam, before adding to remember to delete the red parts before sending the emails. And it also contained this....

ALSO NOTE: This concept is 100% legal, refer to US Postal and Lottery Laws, Title 18, Section 1302 and 1341, or Title 18, Section 3005 in the US code, also in the code of Federal Regulations, Volume 16, Sections 255 and 436,which state a product or service must be exchanged for money received.

US laws are the biggest pile of bullcrap ever written and it seeks to protect the stereotypical yet scarily accurate description of an american. Fat, lazy and looking to earn a quick buck. Unfortunately what passes off as the exchange of a product or servies in the US of A is classified as multi-level marketing here. Ooh it's about to get juicy.

Me to Scammer

Dear Scammer,

The training materials are a clear misrepresentation of the initial advertisemnt place on www.nineo.com. The advertisement was for a data entry job. Instead the "service" which you have provided is nothing short of a pyramid selling scam where you illicit more people into a fictitious job which you claimed to be on offer. Let me now inform you that although your ad claims this scheme is totally legal, i'm sorry to inform you that while such scams may work in the United States due to the numerous loopholes and technicalities in various laws, such schemes are not viewed as legal in Singapore which has clammed down on pyramid selling as well as misrepresentative ads since the 1970s.

Trust me when i say i knew of your scam after a little consideration. I am of course studying to be a lawyer. I transferred $30 as it consisted of loose change in order to prevent others from falling into your trap. Your emails were obviously scripted and a cut and paste job. I have kept copies of the email exchanges as a form of reference should it be needed.

You were gullible to fall into a US based "data entry" scam. The law in US might let you get away with it. Singapore laws differ largely (which is the reason why US law degrees are not recognised in SIngapore). So i strongly urge you to take down the ad on www.nineo.com, and kindly transfer me back the $30. The account number if you do not already know is 132-24513-4. I accept a transaction within the next 24hours, and failure to do so will lead to me lodging a police report. You of course have provided me with your bank acc number so your identity will not be difficult to trace once the report is lodged.

Kind Regards,
Randeep Singh Koonar

Scammer to Me

Hi,
I am not a scammer.I received this job from someone else too for the training materials.You will just have to give other people the training materials.But if you are not satified with this job.I will transfer you back the money.I am not a scammer for this job.Someone gave this job through the email itself.Please trust me.You will just have to post this job in job sites and give people the training materials.Reply me as soon as possible.Please do not rush into things.

Thank you.

So the scammer knows its the game is poised on match point. Yet the scammer tries a comback with a last ditch plea. Deal or No Deal?

Me to Scammer

Hi,

I understand fully if you were coerced into such a scheme yourself. However i recommend that you quit the scheme given it is illegal in Singapore, and thus is dangerous on your part. Please refer to http://app.mti.gov.sg/default.asp?id=81. What you are doing in illegal in Singapore as it is consider a form of multi-level marketing ie:pyramid selling which is governed by strict laws especially when it comes to misrepresentation. Please return me the money and i consider myself not to be part of this issue and i also urge you to return the money to other involved in the scheme. And please remove the ad on nineo. A speedy re-transfer of my bank funds would be appreciated.

Regards,
Randeep

No deal. Lol the mti.gov.sg. Its really a pile of legal jargon and bombastic terms. Barely made sense of half of it. Obviously the person couldn't make sense of it and the scammer inadequacies led to fear.

Scammer to Me

Hi,
i just started on this job as well.i am doing as what the other person sent the training materials.You are the first who i just got.I am just 17 female as well.I would not plan for any scam.But if you want a refund,please let me know.I will refund you back with no hesitation.But it'll take some time as currently i have to find time to transfer back.Do you want the person's email who passed this data entry to me?I will pass it to you.

Thank you.
and again, since i did not reply.

Hi,
Well,Thanks for understanding me.I will transfer the amount back as soon as possible.Only you were involved in this.Thank you for notifying that this is a scam.I never knew it.But give me an extra day or two to transfer the money back,as i won't be free these days as i got some school issues on.Please forgive me for the delay of transferring.If you would like to confront the person who sent this "data entry job",His/Her email is data_entry@live.com.sg.Her account number which i transferred to is 065-56740-7.Moreover,I will try my very best to transfer asap as my time is very packed in this three days.I hope you understand my situation.

Thank you

Lol too bad i can't charge interest on the repayment since that would constitute blackmail on my part. Btw i do not give a rats ass about who conned you. 17 year old girl? It all makes sense doesnt it. Young, naive, ignorant. There are other ways to make money. That's my advice. Obviously the NUS undergrads that run nineo have to do more to prevent such scams. The ads were shut down immediately though so that's a good thing. Plus i need my $30 back. Equates a to a perfect sum to restring my babolat!

Football 365 Mediawatch

2008-03-31T20:10:00.003+08:00

Non-Football Story Of The Day
'A German woman is suing doctors after she checked in to have wrinkles removed - and woke up with a new pair of breasts. Ingrid Bruelling, 33, had the operation in the German city of Kassel. She wanted to give herself firmer skin and remove the wrinkles after losing 16 stone on a crash diet. But when she woke up after the operation she found doctors had put two silicone implants into her breasts, increasing their size from a C cup to a D. Doctors said the woman should not complain as the best way to tighten the skin and remove the wrinkles was to make her breasts bigger' - Ananova.

The wonders of the internet and the things you find on it!

Arctic Monkeys

2008-03-29T21:24:00.002+08:00

Fluorescent Adolescent

Lol it's one of the funniest music videos around. Plus it helps that the song is catchy

Tennis Euphoria

2008-03-29T21:04:00.003+08:00

So today was tennis at Ryan's house again. The Colin guy joined us again. Pretty funny to see him rushing to the court at 1230 expecting us to have already begun playing only to realise we had just arrived ourselves and were yet to consume our mandatory Macdonalds lunch.

The weather was good, and by good i mean scorching. Heat waves sure beat rainy days. The tennis was good as well. The tennis shoes have been wonderful. Ultra-light for something that is traditionally bulky and the grip on court allowed me to chase down more balls, or should i say lost causes with relative ease. Playing with better players helps us improve at a significantly faster rate given the unpredictabilty of shot selection. Pity ryan had to leave early leaving me and beka to play against colin who in the end ran out of steam having to deal with an array of counter-drop shots, lobs as well as the more than occasional wayward shot. Played 4 hours, but it didn't feel so bad after all the cardio-training i've been affording myself in my recent free time.

United match tonight. It's against villa, who can sometimes proves to be a suprise package. But united have beaten them twice already this season so i expect more of the same. They better not be too clever though and fluff it by playing second rate players like Sir John o'shit of ireland.

I need a job soon as well. I received offers for two jobs but turned them both down, citing crappy pay and unfavourable schedules as my excuses. But i wouldn't be devasted if i couldn't find one. I'm loaded enough as it is and it wouldn't hurt much to cut down on my expenditure a little.

Back to bindipping, loserpool!

2008-03-23T23:30:00.002+08:00

So the super sunday clash kicked off with benitez claiming that fergie was trying to influence officials while fergie called for respect for referees. Mind-games, check. Result.....Fergie wins again.

Then we have some liverpuddlian blinkered moron claiming mascherano was a much better aquisition compared to hargreaves. Newflash, losers. We didn't even need owen. We have a wealth of midfield talent. Plus whats the use of that argentine when he can't keep his gob shut and last one half on the pitch. Surely he read the whole controvesy about respect towards referees. Oh sorry, bindippers from those parts don't read!

I know i'm ranting but after a 3-0 win who can blame me! Ronaldo header, nani wondergoal. Torres barely getting a sniff against vidic who is the best defender in the world dammit. All that's left now is the title and ronaldo hitting 40 just to prove kaka is an overated sack of shit.

After a Day of Paperwork and Babysitting in Vain

2008-03-18T21:26:00.001+08:00

This story made me laugh real hard.

'A Chinese woman forced her boyfriend to have breast-reduction surgery because his man boobs made her look flat. Xiao Feng, of Chongqing, threatened to break up with Zhang Jianguo unless he underwent surgery. Zhang, who is 5ft 7ins tall and weighs 15 stone, explained: "She said that whenever we went out, she felt embarrassed because my breasts were eye-catching compared to hers." Doctors at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University sucked out more than 200ml of fat and tissue from his breasts, reports Chongqing Business News' - Ananova.

LMAO.

How to catch a MAS (mat-acting-suspiciously)

2008-03-15T21:25:00.003+08:00

PS: once you've got him cornered do not give in to his pleas to be allowed to take a piss, no matter how weak he claims his bladder to be.

The 4 year wait

2008-03-14T19:38:00.002+08:00

So the bad weather trend seemed to over yesterday morning, but alas it was a false pretence and more like the eye of the storm. The morning sunshine was encouraging, but whatever hopes of fair weather were crushed when the heavens opened once again and it poured throughtout the afternoon. Another afternoon wasted at home when much was needed to be done.

The evening plans though were not affected, given the state of singapore's shelter infrastructure. I mean i made it from my house to Plaza Singapura without an umbrella, and more importantly, without getting wet. So it was the post-ORD celebrations yesterday. The turn out was normal. The normal faces. Beks, vone, carm, ryan, yijun. Had dinner at swensens after taking half and hour to decide where to eat! Then took another half hour or so to decide what to eat. Women are supposed to have fickle minds and unfortunately, us ORD-personnel too encounter that problem after two year of not having a choice. Perhaps, saying we haven't had we choice for two years is pretty harsh. Yes we did have a choice. To eat or not to eat (and order macdonalds in). Now that is the question. Swensens food was pretty good, especially since we had the walking menu, directory, and whatelse, yvonne with us.

After dinner we were left with 4, with vone going off for a birthday and ryan going home to sleep after a day of cramming in the perrenial shithole also known as SMU. Decided to watch leap years. Had ben and jerry before that. Finally got to eat the merlion-monster thingy since it made the most financial sense for a party of 4. Boy was it sinful. The fudge, the brownies, the cookie dough, strawberry cheesecake, mint and what not.

Leap years was garbage. The quotes in between were ok, the acting was suprisingly good but the story line dragged so much, that it made the length of the movie akin to a leap year. The first two leap years were ok. Then came the third and it was like urgh. And the fourth was almost painful. The ending was dissapointing though not entirely unexpected. What would it take for Singapore director to quit with the fairytale ending and actually let someone die for a change. Plus there were some issues regarding logic in the movie. You see Li-ann expected Jeremy to wake from his coma on febuary 29 given that they once made a pact to meet every leap year. But on the 3rd leap year, he proposes and proclaims "With this i break the tradition of the leap year" or something along those lines. Since he broke the damn tradition, why was he expected then to keep his promise to meet on the leap year. Plus the pact included a time and venue. So thats another flaw. But since it a fairytale, it's suppose to defy logic anyway so what the heck. Plus the tickets were $6. You can't really complain about that.

Dampener

2008-03-12T19:51:00.002+08:00

Well the weather has been a real bitch and kind of a wet blanket, pun fully intended. I mean where was the damn monsoon when we were suffering with all the pt and training in preperation for ATEC? Where was the rain when the sheer heat at night made it difficult to catch a proper sleep. Well whether it was then is besides the point now since the damn rain sure has decided to show up and ruin my post ORD plans. What's more it made its apperance when i had fully intended to make full use of my week before i commenced work on the 17th of the month. Major bummer although i hope the trend deviates a little tomorrow. I still need to get more pair of formal work pants and i intend to visit the bras basah book fair and pinch a couple of bargain buys after blowing close to $70 on two kishore mahbubani books.

And the rant ends here with my books calling for me. Although if i feel like it later on i might get an ORD pictures and videos(yes the skanky one included) post up. But seriously don't bet on it.... Even if your name is Ah hock.

Popstar

2008-03-11T21:44:00.000+08:00

OMG this has got to be one of the best spoofs of all time.

When the feeling sinks in

2008-03-10T19:52:00.002+08:00

So it has been 3days into post-army and boy has it been great. Mornings which were once exclusively occupied by 6am wakings and arduos pt regimes have been replaced by breakfast which does not limit itself to bread and kaya. Afternoon and lazy once again. The television or should i say computer has become my best friend. Watching flags of our fathers and next two spanking new episodes of ugly betty makes for contenment.

Work starts in a week though and although it would certainly not be as mundane an experience as national service, it still means having less time for leisure. But not working would of course mean being financially incapable of supporting many forms of leisure. So i guess it's all about achieving balance. The looming of work also means having to make full use of the spare time afforded to me for this week.

Part of the effort to be thrifty has been concentrated on eating out less which means cooking my own meals. So lunch today was a self made Ramly burger with a small side of fries. Should have taken a photo of it given that it looked delectable and all but the slr was the only camera option available to me and i thought otherwise. Plus i was too hungry to cast admiring glances at my food which i then proceeded to devour.

The weather the past few days has been atypical of what we usually get in march. It threatens to rain the entire day yet little pericipitation occurs although its still cold. Weather better not be a bitch although special dispensation is given on days where i feel like staying at home or doing nothing the whole day.

New Beginnings

2008-03-07T22:05:00.002+08:00

ORD is akin to rebirth where the once oppressed, are freed from their shackles and allowed a new rein. The whole ns experience ineviatably would influence the way we choose to function and what we choose to make of our lives from now on. Some may choose to dwell on past sufferings and seek pittance while other may choose to learn from adversity and inculcate their new found discipline (don't deny it) into their so called outside lives.

The feeling after we slowed marched through the camo netting was one rarely experienced. The joy, exhilaration and although i grudging say this, sense of pride ranked favourably in my book. Of course the dampaner was soon imposed on the bouyant moods as a SOC test was placed as an obstable between us and the treasured pink i/c. I greeted this pink ic with a kiss and the monkey (crap) was lifted off my back.

ORD functions were greeted with mixed feelings. The company one was great. Good good, cosy ambience although we could have done without the annoying waiter whose sole purpose in life seemed to be ensuring that we had finshed every single morsel of food (garnish included). The battalion one was utter load of bollocks. Crap food, skanky girls all around and rifleman doing their utmost to dress like pimps surely contributed to this. Photos however we plentiful and expect a mega-picture/video post once chee sorts out issues regarding resolution and red eyes.

Simply put, the entire army experience was good. The camaraderie and bonds forged are invaluable and isnt easily found elsewhere. Army life took me back to secondary school life where being in a boys school meant doing an array of thing which we would not have done in a co-ed environment such as that of a junior college. And to the signals platoon of 4SIR. Fuck "towards greater heights" and all barbabric barking that goes with it. To us it will always be SPEED THROUGH SKILLS.

Quote(s) of the day

2008-03-06T16:29:00.003+08:00

"do they have such THICK skulls that no logic can pass through it? they don't understand simple logic and believe in their own thinking that if you KEEP trying you WILL pass. MY ASS"

-Edison Teo; campaigner of hard work over results, who ironically once commented "sometimes i feel that people don't appreciate my hard work and effort in doing things."

"it's already DOWN there, like in hell. no matter how many good things we do, it's no way it will turn into heaven. it will remain as one big piece of shit, and it will, so long as they are around."

-Edison Teo, who failed to realise that a big piece of shit is made up of a large number of smaller shit particles, ie: ourselves.

Manhunt

2008-03-02T18:45:00.002+08:00

So this years manhunt did not involve the stereotypical "hunk" and instead focused exclusively on a short malay man without a dodgy leg, haircut and goatee to boot. Global alerts have been raised by interpol, such is the danger this guy poses. Before considering his escape and attempting to conjure a load of conspiracy theories regarding his location and what not, it would be better to lay the simple guidelines which should be religiously adhered to when dealing with a terrorist.

So here goes the random thought process

1) Never let a terrorist go to the loo alone, even if the subject pleads that he cant go with another man looking at his dick.

2) Learn from experience. Don't be the rat who tries bitting the electrocuted cheese repeatedly.

3) Get policemen to wear shorts again. The pants might have contributed to their poor mobility thus getting outrun by a partial cripple.

4) Put a fucking bounty on his head for heavens sake. And quit with the "you would be commiting a grave offence if you render him assistance" bullshit. People need real incentives to rat out that lunatic.

5) Sri lankan illegal immigrants who still try crossing the border stowed away in the luggage compartments of a bus obviously do not read the newspaper.

6) Police national sevice should be increased by a year given that all the coffee eating, newspaper reading and frequenting of mama shops have not served to increase competence. Thank god the donut craze hasn't caught on with the Singapore Police.

Jokes aside. The consequence of this fiasco are likely to be far reaching both internally and internationally. The local population would undoubtedly want culprits to be identified and scrutinised. I support this given that the negligence of a few, whose salary is paid by public funds derived from taxation, has led to the endangerment of the majority. The guards failed at their job and have potentially put lives at risk. Singapore reputation as a hardliner against terrorist activity is also in limbo and it risk becoming the object of ridicule from the rest of the world. The amusing headlines from foregin dailies already illustrate this.

As our luck would pan out, impending ORD means finding the terrorist is not of our concern. Of course if something in Singapore actually gets blown up in the next few days, it would be an entirely different matter. But for now, 4 days (3 working) left to ORD.

Employment flaws

2008-02-29T22:16:00.002+08:00

National Service drawing to an end has placed finding a job high up on my so called list of priorities. The search was pretty much futile and the securing of a job as a teachers assitant could be attributed more to knowing the right people rather than going through the tedious job-hunting process. What the search has done though is to make me more aware about the state of Singaporean society which i feel is ais shambolic and trust me, i'm being mild here.

The predictament i found myself in is as follows. I despise monotonous tasks like data entry, administrative work and phoney scams also known as telemarketing. What however did appeal to me was a tutoring job which would allow me to sharpen my academic skills which was appealing given the impact two years of national service which is often an idle mind.

Motivation was high and expectations followed suited. That is until i discovered how crucial a role the color of ones skin plays when being considered as a potential tutor. Often assignments called firstly for female tutors. Perhaps based on the belief that female tutors are less likely to be sexual predators? Fine. Fully understandable in my book. But requesting exclusively for a chinese tutor just reeks of discrimination and racial bias. Try listing that as a requirement in the states and you are more likely than not presented with a law suit. But alas this is Singapore where the issue was brought up for a brief fleeting moment and then swept under the carpet when no one was looking just like a variety of other issues.

The observation lingered in me for a while. But what really made my initial suspicions concrete was this. Its a cut and paste job not a fictious fabrication.

Advert 1

4117. O Levels Geo & SST (elective) Tutor Wanted At Geylang East
for TUition Agent

Approximate Value: $100-$300
Skills Required: Geography, Geog

Status: Available

Job Description

O levels Geo & SST (elective)

Blk 130 Geylang East - 10 mins walk from Aljunied Mrt

1/wk 2hrs

Fridays only - anytime, other timings welcome to suggest.

Local Male tutor with good grades for Geo in A and O levels.

Prefer a tutor who are currently doing geo- related degree.

Rates to be discussed.

Local? check. Male, check? Good grades? Does an A1 for geography, A1 for combined history, A for A level geography and being the top geography student in my batch suffice? I for one would think so. Anyway i was the only applicant so surely i stood a chance.

But no. Look what appeared two days later.

4171. O Levels Geo & SST (elective) Tutor Wanted At Geylang East
for TUition Agent

Approximate Value: $300-$600
Skills Required: Geography

Status: Available

Job Description

O levels Geo & SST (elective)

Blk 130 Geylang East - 10 mins walk from Aljunied Mrt

1/wk 2hrs

Fridays evenings only

Local Male CHINESE tutor with good grades for Geography/Social Studies in A or O levels.

Rates to be discussed.

Pls email me ur contact details and exp and will contact u shortly.

Notice the insertion of the word chinese. Also note that the fees offered for the same job has gone up! Conclusions drawn would include that people out there would actually rather pay more an hire someone of their own race rather than hire a person who would seem qualified for the job, but has superficial differences. Is pathetic although not entirely unexpected that Singapore's society has declined to its present state.

PS: there is a terrorist on the loose.

when nothing seems to hurt

2008-02-27T19:34:00.002+08:00

So the much anticipated and vaunted ORD is just around the corner. I mean i can actually count the left with my 10 fingers! And true to the 4SIR way, SSG voon is making life as big a pain in the butthole as he possibly can. Sorry voon, time for a newsflash! No one gives a shit anymore. FUCK your SOC, FUCK area cleaning. And more importantly, fuck you. Damn i felt a burst of pride saying all that. All that stands between us and ORD is like 8 days, a bunch of signatures from the bigwigs and little else. Of course the pain and misery makes ORD a hell lot sweeter so thanks a fucking bunch for that! Just be there when it's time for all of it to end. Don't bother trying to sabotage the occasion. It won't work twice.

ORD personnel, soon to be normal again.

Pool for you?

2008-02-23T15:35:00.005+08:00

I bought a pool table! It's damn fun having people over to play.

Ok well not exactly. More like this.

Go on laugh all you want. But once you've tried it i bet you'd want to play somemore!

Lessons of life

2008-02-23T15:23:00.002+08:00

1) Bird shit and dust and decomposing leaves do not make a good combination when accumalated on the floor.

2) 90% of pizza hut staff are malays.

3) Shrinking pizzas illustrate rising wheat prices. Or do they just illustrate hungry ns-men getting ripped off by greedy pizza joints.

4) "logistics" can be a termed used to represent about just every god-damn thing on earth.

5) No pork no talk.

6) Doing area cleaning without the assistance (rightful) makes for swelling pride!

7) Teenagers (16 and above) celebrating wildly the triump of Singapore in staging of the youth olympics have no idea that when it actually comes around they would not be eligible.

8) There is always a miniature solution to everything. (see next post)

9) Why do it today when others could do it tomorrow(when you are on off)

10) Getting owned over the internet sure does suck. Divert attention top left.

The (defective) Product of National Service

2008-02-18T22:18:00.012+08:00

So beka's blog debated the plight or should i say the decline of the Singaporean Male. Since the evolution of man from the "macho" type to the beckham type has not been received with too much enthusiasm from some, let me dissect the argument to its grassroots and attempt to explain the problem.

Of course while beka's post could easily be brushed aside an over-generalised critique, generalisations would not develop unless there were grounds for such observations. Trends can develop slowly then tip overwhelming and escalate into an epidemic should certain factors be present. And if anyone was wondering; yes i did get that idea from "Tipping Point". It a bloody good read but anyway, back to the issue at hand. So the rise of sissyboys has begun but what are the factor(s) behind it. The intended group beka's post was aimed at i assume was largely males aged 19 and above. And this would also be the group who are either currently served their national service and those who have already completed their metaphorical jail terms. So is the link between National Service and the accused a coincidentally one? I would tend to think not which would bring me to the paradox of National Service.

National Service of course was introduced primarily for the security of Singapore. And from that grew a secondary benefit(or perhaps otherwise when considered further). National Service could also be seen a tool in shaping juvenile teenagers into mature men who would be more valuable and desirable to society. Surely all the footdrills, hasty fall-ins, as well as command school training would serve to instill discipline, independence and resilliance into Singaporean men. For some(myself included), the intended outcomes of military training have shown themselves but of course in every experiment things are bound to go wrong somewhere in the process and this would be discussed in detail later.

For the sake of convinience i'll dissect beka post in excerpts and then attemtp to prove or perhaps falsify the claims.

"he mentioned sth about singporean guys not being adventurous enough and shy. i think that singaporean guys mostly, just lack initiative. trust me i have a few close guy friends, and suffice to say, ive seen the wishy washiness of indecision, being too heck care and what have you. its almost like personal opinions are sent to the depths of hell to be burnt into oblivion."

Lack of initiative? Indecision? Shy? Would you agree that these are attributes born out of the heavy regimentation imposed by the military on its masses(ie the men)? Regimentation causes the mind to work as a routine. A so called finely tuned machine. But the problem here is that remove a bolt from that machine and watched the chaos as it all falls apart. Ironically regimentation was implemented as a means to instill discipline among youths. It has become the very menace it was once trying to fight. How many time have you heard the phrase "i no know. I am just a man". No matter how 3G the army claims to be now, reality proves that the men are just too passive, unwilling and unable to take matter in their own hands. Lets think of these groups of soldiers as the "infected". When the infected are let out of their camps, they tend to allow this condition to affect many part of their civillian lives as well. The condition is not exclusive among the lower ranks but is just as prevalent among the higher heirachy. 4SIRs atec proved that excessive training in highly controlled environments mean that disaster awaits when faced with something which closely mirrors reality. The army regimentation which was supposed to take us out of our comfort zones has now instead created a new comfort zone. A comfort zone which is disturbed when the soldier faces the outside world and it problem like proper human relationships and so on.

"singaporeans guys just lack balls. (THOUGH NOT ALL, im generalizing here. but its been a trend) oh and didcha see the gazillion and one couples on vday in town or whatever. girls with flowers in hand, guys with their girls' handbags. WHATS UP WITH THAT guys are losing their marbles. not referring to their minds here."

The lack of balls problem stems from two issues. First, it occurs when the "breaking down" method is employed where the soldiers has his self confidence brutually destroyed before it is built up again.(see specimen below.my apologies that no recent photo was available).

Labelling someone as swine is just one of the means through which this is accomplished. Unfortunately sometimes the building up part of the deal is forgotten or sometimes, two years does not suffice in building up the person self-belief leaving the man with wounds difficult to heal. Regimentation can be thought of figuratively as castration. And you know, the chopping part is easy the growing back ain't so. The more obsecure part of the "lack of" issue would be how the army promotes metrosexuality. Many guys could not be bothered about how they looked or what kind of shape they were in before enlisting. I am not exempted from this either. Training leads to an improved physique and sometimes this leads to guys being more self consious about looks and apperance(see below)

From this

to

If anyone begs to differ, the above specimen serves as concrete evidence to my case. The broken windows argument would then come into play. One guys turns to metrosexuality. He buys magazines like Mens Health, others read them, and soon the epidemic begins to spread.

"girls like guys who can take charge but not control, guys who'll never appear emo on the outside but someone who'll never fence them out, guys who arent petty but never is a pushover"

Now the metrosexual issue would unravel itself further. And all examples illustrated in this part are actual occurances. This is not hypothetical verbal diarrhea. Emo, otherwise know as emotional. Traits which have in the past often been associated with the female species but has now spread to their male counterparts. Lets trace this back to the root of all problems. No prizes for guessing. It's the army. The tough life was meant to harden the Singapore male and instill resilliance which would hold in good stead in the outside(real) world. Has a paradox emerged in the sense that the difficult life has actually led to the average soldier instead seeking pity from whoever or whatver willing to offer it. Sometime the avenue for self pitance takes the form of a blog (see www.edisonteo.blogspot.com) Or it could bethe girlfriend who would then have to endure countless hours of the guy wallowing in self pity. The whole self-pity problem stems from the nature of the average singaporean. The passive type who would rather be contented with a "bo pian" or would rather go suck their thumbs(tears rolling down cheeks included) instead of facing up to their problems and finding a way to circumvent them.

The whole crying is "in" and makes a guy "sensative" and not sissy is associated with changing trends in teenage culture in singapore. Narrowed down, its the rise of Japanese subculture. It's quite impossible to fathom but scarily true when you see guys adding Anime, crappy jap food, collecting childish figurines of wide eyed girls in miniskirts(dammit real japs have slitty eyes!), learning the japanese language, worshipping japanese inventions like the DDR and para para machine to their list of Japanese realated interest which was once confined exclusively to japanese pornography. I'll never understand the lure of Japanese sub-culture but what i do understand are the factors that lead to it's escalation among teenage boys, no i mean "men" serving their national service. Life in an army camp can be more mundane than one could imagine. And before televisions were allowed in camp, entertainment was confined to video capable mp3 players. On these mp3 players of course were loads of Anime or sometimes for the desperate factions, hentai. Then came the age of the television and the option of watching local programming(or the rare movie on a malaysian channel) for a change. But alas, our subject had tasted the sweet poison and now found it hard to let go. The television meant the purchase of an av cable allowing the subject to now view his material on much larger screen. Playstations meant the subjects could now enjoy DDR in the comfort of their beds instead of a crowded arcarde, even though button bashing on a controller is nothing short of moronic.

Maturity would come into question. Maturity is supposed to follow an upward curve. Has cartoon culture caused this...............

What went wrong?

Boys used to buy these

Now "men" go after these

and this

not to mention........these

The spread of culture of course prevails throughout society and thus is diffcult to stop or even control.

My opinions have been revealed and let me stress they are opinions based on observations. The link may not be all so apparent but it exists. There isn't much of a point trying to conclude given that many people would react differently to the issue. Biasedness is inevitable in such an argument based largely on gender issues. Beka wrote seeking answers. And these are mine.

You better Believe it Gooners

2008-02-18T09:42:00.003+08:00

4-0. Take that suckers

Little Miss Cokehead Speaks

2008-02-18T09:38:00.002+08:00

The very best of Martina Hingis

Referring obliquely to Amélie Mauresmo's lesbianism on the eve of their 1999 Australian Open final, Hingis told reporters, "She's here with her girlfriend. She's half a man already."

When asked in the late 1990s how she felt about the budding rivalry between herself and the then-up-and-coming Anna Kournikova, Hingis responded, "What rivalry? I win all the matches."

After the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) had complained of discrimination against them, Hingis told Time magazine in 2001: "Being black only helps them. Many times they get sponsors because they are black. And they have had a lot of advantages because they can always say, 'It's racism.' They can always come back and say, 'Because we are this colour, things happen.'"

At the peak of the Williams sisters and Hingis' competitive and fierce rivalry, Hingis stated in a press conference during the 1999 U.S. Open referring to the sisters' remarks, "They always have big mouths. They always talk a lot. It's happened before, so it's gonna happen again. I don't really worry about that."

On the long-dominant player, Steffi Graf, Hingis said, "Steffi has had some results in the past, but it's a faster, more athletic game now than when she played. She is old now. Her time has passed." (Hingis made this comment in 1998 while Graf was on an injury-related hiatus from tennis.)

Responding in a 1999 press conference on why she terminated her doubles partnership with former Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, Hingis remarked, "She's old and slow."

During her speech after winning the 1997 Australian Open women's singles final, Hingis, referring to her win in women's doubles the previous day, said, "Next time I have to play mixed doubles, but I have to give someone else a chance to win an event."

Gotta love the one about Mauresmo. And i never knew she was a lesbian.

Army 101

2008-02-15T21:40:00.002+08:00

so that past week i found out that

1) i hate area cleaning

2) i hate footdrills where repititions rule the roost

3) i hate task which are outside the required jobscope of the average soldier. I'm just a stupid. Now you remember that

4) i hate guard duty

5) i like watching tv till way past our bedtime

6) i like playing games centered on senseless adrelaline inducing speed

7) i play too much crazy taxi. it gets scary when you navigate without the arrow.

8) rotten rubbish smells rancid after 5days

9) rotten rubbish is often associated with the existence of maggots. Which then turn to flies which are a lot more annoying being airborne and all

10) shits(no the scholar could not find a collective term ie a pile or; a heap of) happen

For the record this is the first post on my new 2ghz, 3GB, i dont know how big hardrive, vista blah blah blah, yeah go ahead eat your heart out, laptop.

The Flowers of Munich

2008-02-07T21:25:00.001+08:00

Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the Munich distaster. Been following the tributes a lot on MUTV. The tragedy was really a dark day for united. Among the dead was 21 years old duncan edwards who was tipped to be the greatest player ever to have played the game. Forget Pele or Maradona, Edwards was supposed to be the real deal. Sadly, how good he could have been will never be known when his life was taken at such a young age. For those that cannot understand the significance of the incident. Imagine Ronaldo, Rooney, Scholes, Giggs, Rio, Anderson, Vidic and Tevez perishing at the same time. Puts things in perspective doesn't it.

The problem with Chinese New Year

2008-02-07T20:59:00.000+08:00

Is that all that damn food stalls are shut, often for periods which extend beyond the official public holiday. Yes i refuse to live on frozen food/instant noodles/pratas/macdonalds for 4 days straight, and if you knew what was good for you, you would follow suit. So after a strenous 11km run which included scaling the not so dizzy heights of Mount Faber, i was left with a dreaded choice of having to choose between tuna fish or instant noodles for dinner. And before anyone makes this suggestion, mixing the above mentioned food is plain digusting. Left with little choice and the refusal of my dad to let me drive his car out of the parking lot (which together with bak kwa and sharks fin is one of the highest prized possesions this chinese new year), i had to take a dreaded 10minutes walk for burger king.

Saw a kid wearing those sneakers with red "brake lights" implanted near the heal area. And boy did it bring back flashbacks of the past where not having lights in your shoes meant you weren't cool. Of course nowadays it's different and i guess it's pretty diffcult to pull off the lighted shoes gimmick without being ridiculed by the general public.

Anyway the past week saw 9 platoon mates leave us reducing the platoon strength to 7. The coming week is going to see more changes with the reshuffling of bunks. The 7 man platoon thing was fun though during the trial period. So hope everything goes well and by well. Should everything go to plan, edison should be caged up before we ORD!

The ORDisease experienced by majority in camp seems to be finding a way into my civillian life as well. I've been lolling about at home too lazy to do anything. I need to get a laptop and book tickets for the US trip but somehow i keep putting things off. And just for the record i'm blaming it on Chinese New Year. I mean it's difficult to function at an optimal level when majority of society is now gorging on tarts, pork, washing it down with beer while getting rich by means of a red packet. It sticks if you know what i mean.

Saw something that is bound to piss beka off! PARAMORE IS THE BUZZWORTHY ARTISES OF THE MONTH ON MTV. It's inevitable. Everyone sells their soul to the devil (MTV).

Check out the song bubbly. Usually this kind of music doesnt appeal to me but this song is really catchy. Lol and is it me or does Colbie Caillat (pronounced "Kole-bee Kal-lei") look like a cross of jessica biel and michelle branch.

Do it once. Fuck it up. Then do it again!

2008-02-02T21:58:00.000+08:00

So the highlight of the past week was making ammends for the debacle mentioned previously in the post entitled "fiasco". And given that 4SIR might struggle in a fire-fight with the NCC, perhaps it was fitting we were made to take on the might of the 2SIB signal company. You can't say victory was routine. Routine involves regular occurance. So perhaps we should just say we lay the ghosts of ATEC to rest. The short duration of the exercise was an added bonus too.

Camp life is in transition, albeit a gradual one. "5BX" now actual consists of less than 20 exercises. The book-in timing has been lengthened by a whole 30minutes. And gone are the days where a SOC test is followed immediately by remedial training. Thus gone are the days where chairs flew down from the third storey of the support company premises. The changes might look insignificant to a neutral observer. They may even make us look pathetic. But when you fully grasp the plight of the 4SIR soldier, trust me when i say you would understand.

On a random note; Singapore has a ever burgeoning problem when it comes to the issue of noise pollution. Specifically, that on public transport. Travelling between Choa Chu Kang and Tiong bahru stations now mean that i have to endure 45minutes of

1) Some ah beng blasting his techno from earphones which produce enough decibles which could easily hold a candle to your state of the art hi-fi system.

2) A skinny jeans cool kid who's handphone reaction to an incoming message is to churn out half of the mtv top 20 countdown. Dance moves on the handphone owners part included.

3) Group of obnoxious teenagers who are motor-mouths or as danny calls them 7-11mouths (they open 24hours you see), when in the company of those bearing the same feathers. When places in isolation the above mentioned subject often indulges in the hobby of gazing at their cock.

4) The list goes one. It's like an episode of my sassy neighbour. The content change s but the reaction to it is un-altered.

Away from flashbacks and back to the present. Today was tennis day. The weather held out pretty well and it only started raining when we were about to call it a day. Tennis was good as always. At the moment it surely beats running long distances and having to breathe in a concoction of pollutant from an array of motor vehicles.

Found this of beka's blog. quite funny. And since this is blogger and not livejournal, you don't have a choice on whether you want to see it or not.

Wow the time sure flies when you blog. United kick of in about half hours time. Hope they win against those wretched spuds.

-END-

Football is a fickle game

2008-01-26T16:59:00.000+08:00

So i was playing Football Manager. In two years(fm years of course) and after two league titles, two champions leagues, two fa cups, a league cup, a community shield, A europearn super cup, a world club championship and not forgetting to mention breaking various records while allowing the club's monetary reserves to swell to a healthy $200m..............................................

I now find myself out of work!

Fuck

2008-01-24T11:37:00.000+08:00

why do i have to do everything the hard way? the incessant pain in my stomach isn't doing anything but adding to the driving test nerves. But one and a half years of driving experience is going to be a trump card! Or at least i hope. Here goes nothing.

Finding Form

2008-01-19T21:37:00.000+08:00

So it's been a slow past week, explaining the loss of my desire to blog. But now that i feel like it, and mainly because there is still an hour and a half before the United-Reading match gets under way, i'll get back to blogging ways.

Important things first. I've been offered a place in ANU law school. I am pretty much set on ANU so i guess its odds on i'll be accepting the place. As much as i'm excited in being able to pursue a legal eduction, studying overseas would also mean drawbacks aplenty. The lack of cheap good food, the need to forge new aquantances and the abscence of garuanteed tennis on the weekend are some, just to list a few. But change sometimes is for the better. I've never been one to back down from a challenge and i do not intend to start now.

Driving test is approaching rapidly. Plus the issue of the re-range means the test date has been place in limbo. Expect the problem to be resolved soon though. I'm pretty darn sure i know where my priorities lie. Passing first time is highly appealing obviously and confidence wise, i feel good. Hopefully all the experience gained driving garbage vehicles; ie the landrover, over rubbish terrains; ie sungei gedong, holds me in good stead for the test.

The past week panned out to be something like an extended blocked leave. Falling sick right at the end of the officially allocated leave meant a 3day extension. Can't really call it a blessing given that the headaches were anything but dandy and the conjuntivitis was more of a butt ache as well.

Anyway i felt i recovered sufficiently by today so the day was set aside for a spot of tennis. Turns out my diagnosis didn't really hit the mark and by the hour mark i found myself floundering from weakness unable to hit easy forehands. Red Bull did the trick though. Tennis was great on the whole. The rallies were longer than usual and somehow the shots seemed to be hit more crisply. The whole Australian Open fever adds to the enthusiasm to play . Imagine parking your arse on the sofa watching federer, nadal and co painting the lines with great shots. Makes you want to unglue your behind from its comfy perch and get on the court. But given my illness and all it wasn't possible. So today was pretty much making up for lost time!

Anyway i found this paramore video on youtube. Acoustic version of Misery Business. you know the one where the orange haired chick has a showdown with the brown haired bitch, pulls out her silicone implants(?!) and so on? I always thought paramore was good but felt Haley's voice was electronically enchanced. Proves a lot of doubters wrong this video

FIASCO

2008-01-12T19:34:00.000+08:00

No i am not here to discuss the wheeling and dealings of george bush in Iraq. I'm here to piece apart the debacle previously known as 4SIR: Atec stage 2. So after weeks of running around looking like a complete jackass in our pt kits and boots, scaling grassy slopes and wall like objects; albeit in a bid to foster "cohesiveness", we found ourselves in Lam Sam for the supposed pinacle of every National Servicemens NSF experience. Stage 1 results were mixed to say the least with the competence of support company barely making up for the apparently lack of from the rifle comapanies.

This post is going to be long and if you're not from the army, i suggest you do not read it.

Lets begin with a quote often drummed into us by the battalion cheerleader. "When the chips are down, the morale must be up". Undoubtedly the chips were down with 5 potentially challenging days ahead. And somewhat suprisingly, the morale was up! Albeit in my opinion for a very different reason. ORD is within touching distance. A looming ORD in the SAF means one thing. ORD moods and mentalities can be potentially disruptive for a high key event such as ATEC. I shudder when i think what might happen in the Brigade live firing. I mean ATEC involved blanks and TES equipment; the latter would involve live rounds. So brings the question. What would unfolded had ATEC been scheduled earlier? Would the men have exhibited such nonchalant attitudes given the larger period of time in which they could have been made to suffer before their liabilities ended? ATEC was a case of "serve and fuckoff". Had it been earlier it might have been "serve, fuck it up, get fucked, before fucking off". Doesn't seem as good a scenario as the previous case does it. So now we question the scheduling of the ATEC date. According to a reliable source the problem lay in the fact that we couldn't decide whether we were a coastal hook battalion, motorised battalion or helibourne battalion. Poor planning is evident. Whether it lies at a micro level or a macro level is not easily determinable. What is crystal clear though is that we are a fucked up battalion.

Now one may question, why was the battalion unclear about it's function and role in the SAF? One of the prime causes could be the battalion's obsession with being the first. Yes we were the first battalion to host two bilateral exercise exercises in the space of a few months; Yes we the supposed to be the pioneer infantry batch to undergo motorisation and no one would challenge the claim that we were the first battalion to conduct a battalion live firing locally for a number of years. But when you hear an officer saying "we might be the first battalion to have to re-ATEC", the outlook looks bleak, even scary.

4SIR is now in danger of becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none. Instead of focusing on the real deal and channel our energy into the required channels, we instead dabbled into one too many domains and the lack of focus cost us dear. And did stage one not broadcast to the masses that our rifle companies were in shambles and their in-adequacies were apparent even during a 4 hour mission. By laws of proportion, incompetence in 4hours tend to mulitply and manifest themselves more glaringly over a 4 days period.

So the argument is now rolling along nicely, which is fitting since it brings me to the dominant problem. An overheard quote directed at a higher up included "this is not PSLE or O levels. This is atec". How true we found that to be. Atec aims at simulating war conditions. These conditions i have often stressed in previous post are difficult to re-produce artficially but nonetherless, Atec does provide a reasonably accurate guide in regards to the operational readiness of a battalion. Stage 2 in particular revolves around the planning and tactics implented by higher authority as opposed to stage 1 where the skills of individual soldiers came to the forefront. Failure to plan adequately and accurately must thus be a burden bourne by the higher ups.

Inside information from commander ATEC was heralded by the battalion. And guess what. Their information could not have been more wrong. Talk about being led onto a false trail. When will we learn that "war" is not a series of pre-determined stages. Situations change and adaptability should have been drilled into all instead of bogus fortune telling schemes. I still cannot come to terms that certain factions actually started planning for the next mission when the preceeding one had not even commenced, let alone ended. Is it a sign of confidence? Or perhaps over-confidence translating to cockiness? Wrong and wrong again. It was just foolishness and ignorance.

Now the battle, albeit a pathetic one, has ceased and the post-mortems have begun. Scapegoats are bound to emerge to shoulder the blame. Scapegoats are often the weak and the incompetent. They are often contributary factors to the failuire due to their inadequacies. But notice the word contributary. They were NOT the trigger factor. Often the indequacies of scapegoats lie in the fact that they are unable to stand up for their own right due to oppression of the ruling body or the masses.

The purge of VOON begun on friday. The victim was not suprising although it was totally undeserving. Edison for all his flaw and negative attributes, is not someone who would intentionally fall out. Plus, he's known for effort no matter how aimless that effort turns out to be. The argument in Edison's favour is overwhelming

1) At least edison made it outfield contrary to some of enciks bootlickers from the bootlicking platoon.

2) It is not worth risking permanent injury for the sake of the army.

3) The debacle was not down to edison, it was due to the numerous factors i listed above.

4) Seriously Voon, after treating someone like Vermin for two years (the applies to more than an individual), do you seriously believe that person is going to put the battalion (national pride? whatever you want to call it) before his physical well being?

The woes of the signal platoon are apparent. Yet our opinions are still met with bemusement from higher authority who actually believe in their absurd idea of reality which deviates widly from the truth. The only saving grace behind all this is the imminent arrival of freedom, emancipation or whatever one would like to coin it. Until then the woe of the signaller is likely to continue.

So the war starts. Can we go home yet?

2008-01-02T01:08:00.000+08:00

Next week marks the beginning of the end. We move out for "war". War in this case involves a teletubby suit complete with spastic antennas for the head and an effin suit which beeps incessantly once the batteries are inserted. Yets people, ATEC is here. Honestly i don't give a crap about what happens. I'll just do what i normally do and not let the assesors get to me.

United won just now. Largely unconvincing. Ronaldo's confidence is low, and nani despite the showmanship and skills lacks end product. At least they did not concede late set piece goals again.

Tonight or should i say yesterdays dinner was great. Absoulutely stuffed. The dessert bar was really to die for. Got to catch a few winks now before getting up early to book in. Fuck. by the time i get to blog again it'll be almost two weeks times. So in the mean time make do with reading other blogs ie the links or go read www.singsoong.blogspot.com from back to front.

In 2008 i will

2007-12-31T23:08:00.000+08:00

1) Start school or otherwise find a stable decent paying job. And i'll work hard at it, whether it be school or work.

2) Run 2 marathons. Tentatively this would be the sundown marathon come end may and the standard chartered marathon at the end of the year. I will try to push my timing down to 4hr15mins.

3) Be less hostile and open up more to people whether they be strangers.

4) ORD in peace. I will remember the good and learn from the bad and forget the ugly.

5) Go back into training seriously for a sport. Could be soccer, tennis or golf. I haven't decided yet.

6) Get my lisence hopefully at my first try. Then it all depends on coaxing my dad into lending me the car.

7) Try to fulfill the above resolutions instead of just writing fruitless rubbish.

And before i end, i was digging through the old soong blog and some of the crap i wrote there was absolute gold. It's amazing to me that i came up with so much material despite writing from the perspective of a third person. Go check it out.

www.singsoong.blogspot.com