Seriously Creamy

On Colonialism and Sexuality

2010-11-14T00:04:00.001+08:00

Singapore is proud to be a sovereign and independent county. We claim to have thrown off the shackles of colonialism. While that may be true geographically speaking, dare I say the case for our minds may not be as cut and dried.

While reading an article on sexuality for school, I was reminded by what my french tutor famously said in class, that although we are geographically free from colonialism, our minds are not. As a form of practice for our french oral skills, he was asking where we were from and some of us replied 'Asians'. He promptly went on to tell us that 'Asian' is merely an European blanket label imposed on every thing east of Europe apart from Africa. Thus, ideologically speaking, to call ourselves 'Asians' is to still submit to the domination of colonialism. Some of us gave him a quizzical look and he responded by challenging us to find what the Chinese and Indians had in common.

Well, my point here is not exactly if we should call ourselves Asians or otherwise, but to argue that in terms of thinking about sexuality, we are still very much a 'colony' of the west.

The term 'homosexual' is first and foremost a 19th century western construct, a term which has little cultural resonance with the major 'Asian' cultures, namely the Chinese and Indians, before widespread western influence in the name of 'progress' and 'modernization'.

A look at Chinese and Indian history quickly reveals a very carefree attitude towards sex and gender.

Another remnant of this colonial hang up is apparent in the inertia to repeal section 377A and the arguments to support keeping it.

The appeal towards public morality and the invocation of this elusive 'Asian values' in keeping 377A is tenuous at best. Where does this public morality come from? Singapore is not a homogenous society, therefore it is very difficult to define a common public morality. To do so, we need to refer to a common experience that everyone shares, namely colonization. I argue that this seemingly strong public morality against sexual minorities would not exist had Singapore not been colonized.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

To Study With Friends Or Not?

2010-09-30T16:11:00.003+08:00

If you want to do well academically in university, it would help a great deal if you don't make any friends whatsoever. I say this from personal experience and I've come to realise friends and academics don't mix. When you are without friends, you tend to be less distracted and you tend to do what you actually set out to do i.e. study. I know some people might say that, "friends can study together what." True. But let's differentiate the kinds of 'study friends'.

The 'positive' study friend is one who is completely focused with his or her work and will not entertain you should you get bored. Hence, with such a 'positive' study friend, you are forced to keep doing your work or simply fall asleep at the table. A 'positive' study friend thus provides the presence of an other, period. Of course there will be less-than-perfect 'positive' friends who will occasionally entertain you, will give you verbal encouragement to persevere with your work. But those are few and far between.

Now, a 'negative' study friend is one who would study with you for all of five minutes and then distract you afterwards. You and the 'negative' study friend would end up doing everything but study in the span of time you actually allocated for studying.

Studying is primarily a solo, anti-social activity. Having a study friend, in this case a 'positive' one, would only serve to provide evidence of 'equality of suffering', that someone other than you is also doing (suffering) this shitty activity of studying. Then I asked myself, can such a 'positive' study friend be considered a friend at all? I mean, how much of a friendship can you forge with both of you drowned in books and study notes? Might as well put a blow-up doll beside you with notes in front of it. It'll probably achieve the same effect.

On the other hand, 'negative' study friends constantly distract you from your work with the juiciest gossips, the occasional bitch-fits and random flights of fantasy. Even the slightest bit of gossip is enough to spark off a self-perpetuating exchange, which will take on a life of its own, veer off in random directions and last for hours. By the time the collective effervescence sizzles out, you'd realise that you've spent the last few hours doing everything but study.

So how? We should find more 'positive' study friends right? Albeit a blow-up doll would do the trick but that's beside the point. Or we really should just not make friends at all, like what I've proclaimed in the beginning of this post.

Try to recall your fondest memories in the time you have been in university thus far. Invariably you'd remember the crazy things you've done right? Or how about looking at photos you took during the studying with your friends because you were THAT bored. What is it that will bring a smile to your face? Can you even remember what you studied at that time? Or do you remember the 'unproductive' conservations and bitching that transpired during the study session?

Foreign Workers, Local Babies

2010-09-17T17:10:00.001+08:00

On the way to school in a cab, I heard over the radio that "'we need to bring in more immigrants to compensate for falling birth rates." Win already. Isn't that implying if Singaporeans don't want to have so many foreign workers (FWs) here, we should all go forth and multiply?

Either way, the ruling elites win already what. Ok, let's say Singaporeans are really not horny these days and are not reproducing enough, then the solution would be to just bring in more FWs. With that, the macro outlook of our economy and our competitiveness rankings will remain oh so rosy.

On the other hand, maybe after hearing what I heard on the radio, Singaporeans realise that, "oh no! It's because WE are not having enough babies that WE are facing this crazy influx of foreign workers. Ok dear, I've had enough of overcrowded public transport and overpriced housing, let's have a baby, or five." If that happens, then our economy would also remain all positive and rosy, albeit not immediately, but it should.

Right.

Playing SimCity ar? Just implement something and some computer algorithm will sort things out on the ground? Shouldn't we ask WHY people are not reproducing enough? It doesn't help if we just accept the problem as it is, seemingly finding the solution to that through liberal immigration policies, and then failing to foresee and prepare for the social consequences of such policies. I mean, whatever happened to the foresight that the government is so renowned for?

I think the problem of falling birthrates is endemic to capitalist and materialistic societies with educated people making up a significant proportion of the population. That is, in some ways, a highly educated population is it's own downfall when located in the current workings of economics and it's associated set of social values. This effect is especially acute in Singapore simply because we are very small and have no other natural resources of our own.

Economics assume that the individual is rational, and by that it means an individual acts for his or her own benefit. In many aspects, that assumption is very true. Of course there are exceptions but can one really proclaim without batting an eyelid that people in contemporary societies are not, for want of a better term, selfish? Also, if the assumption of the rational individual was not true to a large extent, then the study of economics wouldn't have had such a great success at predicting and explaining economic behaviour of consumers and producers.

So combining rationality i.e. selfishness and high levels of education, we get people who

1) know very well how difficult and expensive starting a family can be,

2) have spent inordinate amounts of time and money on their education, which translates into

3) not wanting to just 'settle' for any job because they have been studying so much and because of the amount of money spent and owed throughout the process of education that needs to be repaid. Add to that that the job is now also the person's livelihood in an ever more expensive society, not just something to repay debts owed even before starting work, the person is actually unable to settle for any job lest he or she goes into further debt.

I know some people would say, "haiya why must stay in big house and drive big car? Must learn to live modestly mah." To that I say, "haiya if you don't want people to want these nice things, don't educate them la." I say this because we must realise that education is a middle class institution, regardless of whatever 'stream', hence anyone in the institution would be exposed to and inculcated with middle class values such as the desire to continually do better to improve oneself. It's the common saying we all tell our children, regardless whether you're rich or poor (except maybe the ultra rich, but that's besides the point), that is study hard = good paper qualifications = good job. All that coupled with the rampant materialism everywhere these days and we get people who keep wanting nicer and nicer things. The point is, to bring up and socialise someone with these values and then tell him or her to live life modestly creates a disjuncture in his psyche, a disjuncture between his aspirations he was essentially socialized with and the current lived reality.

Now, it must be made clear that the argument I'm making here is not for or against bringing in FWs, but a critique against the statement made by the government which I mentioned at the beginning of this post. That the justification for bringing in FWs is due to falling birth rates. This statement is but a thinly veiled attempt to shift the blame away from the government to the citizenry. It's subtly telling people that, "look, you don't want to reproduce right? So you leave us no choice but to bring in FWs to help support the economy lo." What this statement fails to address are the reasons behind the phenomenon of falling birth rates, which are actually structural issues like cost of living, affordability and the whole notion of educational inflation i.e. a bachelors degree today is worth less than it was 20 years ago, which is why people tend to want to pursue higher and higher qualifications, essentially extending school life and delaying marriage. And the reason why governments tend to avoid addressing structural issues is because it is a gigantic headache; socially and economically speaking.

Now, after all this lengthy intellectual diatribe, one might ask, "so what's the solution?"

Well for a start, the government might want to stop blaming the populace for everything, in this case, for falling birth rates and start to look at structural issues that led to this problem in the first place. Exactly how that is to be done, I don't really know. What. Don't look at me like that. I'm not one of the highest paid ministers in the world you know. Ask them instead, they should know better. :)

- Posted from my iPhone via BlogPress.

A Post During Lecture

2010-09-14T15:22:00.001+08:00

After a somewhat prolonged hiatus (I think I've used this line somewhere before), I've decided to start writing again. Wait, decide isn't exactly it, more like influenced to.

It all started in the sixth lecture of SC3101. 45 minutes into the lecture, my friend completely zoned out and started fiddling with her iPad and started shopping for apps. Almost completely zoned out myself, it didn't take much to distract me, so I found myself looking over and we started discussing good buys from the AppStore. She introduced me to this very app with which I'm blogging from, BlogPress. It's $2.99 mind, but I got all caught up in the excitement of writing from my phone that I just threw caution to the wind, bought the app and promptly started blogging right in the middle of the lecture. Yay mobile media devices.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Arts Link,,Singapore

Be All and End All

2010-03-19T02:28:00.004+08:00

I know I have been a whiny bitch of late regarding the whole being in the committee again shit and I also realised neither Twitter nor Facebook can take all my rants down at a time, so I'm just going to spill it all here.

Last year, when Adit asked me if I wanted to be the next SL, I said yes because I was still taking in the sights of my new university life and never really thought it through properly. And besides, I thought to myself, how hard could it be? Boy, was I wrong.

People will say that, "oh, I should do this because it's for something greater than myself." Thing is, you only do something like that if you feel for it, and unfortunately, I have lost that passion for a few months now. Towards the end of my term, I felt it dreary to go for practices. I felt as though I did not learn anything nor feel the usual goosebumps. It was mostly just mindless singing. I'm not saying the choir is bad, but I somehow just lost that connection along the way to feel anything from the collective. And so I felt it would have been a complete waste of time if not for the few beautiful friends that I could look forward to seeing and talking to and (notwithstanding a certain someone picking me up) going home with.

Taken from my perspective, selfish though it may be, I felt I had no choice in this matter, which left me immensely bitter about everything because I wanted as much as, or maybe even more than, all the other SLs to be relieved of our duties when our term ends. So because there was 'no one' to take over me, I had no where to go but to be 'volunteered' for this again, despite my vehement opposition. Yes I know, peer pressure does things to you.

So I thought I would just bite the bullet and bare with it for one more semester, what with all my volunteers to 'help' me, bless their souls. Then a few hours ago, Gab called me to ask how many tenors would be willing to go to Europe for $2500 and get those numbers ASAP. A horrifying realisation dawned upon me - I would be responsible for them in Europe if I go! Not only that, I would have to contend with late night meetings after everyone was dismissed to go do their own things for the night. Again, one might argue that since I anticipate this, I could try to make sure it doesn't happen. But come on, which choir trip had the committee all relaxed and late-night-meetingless? And the horrible meetings that plagued Hangzhou obviously did not help.

It would have been a whole lot easier to rationalise this whole fuck-up if I was the only one, but no, somehow my SC also kena volunteered, at the expense of his exchange at that. But if I had to rationalise it to my benefit nonetheless, this is what I would say. That the SC post is a big one; it is going to look good on his resume years later to be a music leader of an entire choir for two straight terms. In other words, it adds tangible value to his future prospects. In comparison, a 'section leader' in the leadership segment of one's resume would warrant nothing more than cursory glance. And I guess one has to play this game of politics right if he wants his conducting future to not be fraught with danger. Another not-so-nice reason would also be that Gab's very reputation is his own undoing; it is exceedingly difficult for anyone to match, or even come close to that reputation. Now before you berate me on conjuring up with such a soulless argument, remember that I no longer possess that, for want of a better term, passion anymore, so these are the arguments I could muster thus far, no doubt cold but I believe to be logical.

Someone told me that I should just quit this position now before the new committee starts. Now if I do that without anyone to take over me properly, it would cause a lot of trouble for the choir, or at least for the section. I don't think I would be able to come to choir and just participate as a normal member for the Europe trip while in blatant knowledge of being the very cause for that missing tenor SL or face whoever unfortunate enough to be thrusted into that position I walked out from. I might be thick-skinned, but my skin is not THAT thick.

So if I were to quit the position, I would also very likely quit the choir as well.

Warm and Fuzzy

2009-11-23T20:50:00.001+08:00

It was a yearning that came back swift and fast
in the midst of a show I was watching yesterday.

I reckon many seasons have passed
since the last time I remember feeling this way.

Warm, fuzzy and indescribable,
the heady bliss of something newfound.

I miss that tingle inevitable
when two hands each other surround.

Fleeting though these feelings must be,
why do I desire them to such a degree?

Super MRT

2009-11-01T20:46:00.004+08:00

First it was this...

Then it became this...

And now behold this...

Ecivres Lanoitan

2009-09-30T23:44:00.001+08:00

Ecivres Lanoitan is a rite of passage for the males of the Eropagnis. The boys of Eropagnis undergo this long, drawn out ritual typically during their 18th to 20th year of life. Ecivres Lanoitan is considered by many as one of the most physically torturous period of their lives. Through the use of elaborate ceremonies, rituals and magic, the innocent boys of Eropagnis are molded into men of war.

Upon coming of age, the boys would be forceably removed from their familes, shepherded away from the mainland and on to the foreboding island of Gnoket Ualup. Any refusal to go through with the rite of passage will invite the harshest of punishments from the Fednim, a powerful authority that oversees the defences of Eropagnis.
Once on the island, the boys will be under the control of numerous powerful Warlocks and less powerful Mages who adhere to a strict hierarchy of power. The first of many Men of Magic the boys will encounter on the island is the Chief Warlock, Rednammoc. The Rednammoc casts a spell via a large magic mirror that causes the boys to enter into a collective consciousness and chant the sacred vows as one. After this initiation rite, they are now known as a Stiurcer.

Next comes to ritual removing of all head hair. This is one of the most psychologically painful rituals to undertake as most boys of Eropagnis place great value on their hair. Utilizing a horrific creature of about eight inches long with rows of sharp teeth and long black tail of several feet, the hair is removed when the creature is pressed at the correct spot, rousing to a ravenous buzzing frenzy, violently chewing off any hair that comes too close to its teeth.

Everyday, Mages forcably wake the new Stiurcer before first light and the Stiurcer is expected to immediately perform an elaborate ritual they call Esicrexe, involving vigorous gesticulation, running about in large circles and chanting as one entity. This ritual is believed to improve the Stuircer powers in a fight and is not only carried out before first light but also at different times of the day. When the tropical sun is blazing at its hottest and brightest, the Stiurcer will be compelled to perform the Esicrexe dressed in a ceremonial attire which covers almost the whole body except the head with a kind of thick fabric, no doubt to increase the intensity of the torturous ritual as the fabric traps heat and impairs the body’s natural cooling processes. Esicrexe is considered one of the most dangerous rituals as there have been several cases of boys dying halfway through the ritual. This unfortunate situation is further compounded by the ostensible Healers who will not perform healing magic unless the Stiurcer shows obvious and distinct signs of being close to death, by which time it would have been too late to save the hapless boy.

Another bizarre ritual involve disassembling and assembling a large metal wand, which they use to kill other human beings. The Stiurcer would lay their metal wand on a piece of ceremonial cloth and with a sudden and violent stamp of their right feet, they would proceed to quickly but carefully deconstruct the metal wand and arrange the pieces in strict order. Failure to do so would result in the Stiurcer having to perform some form of Esicrexe as punishment.

There exists a nauseating ritual where the Stiurcer carefully cover their faces with odious green and black mud. This ritual is believed to imbue the wearer with powers of invisibility. Specific magical herbs are then chosen and arranged to form a sort of head dress which is believed to augment the power of invisibility.

Although most effects of the spells wear off upon their return to general Eropagnis society, the males retain a tendency to lapse into an animated confabulation whenever there are more than two of them in the same group. They would speak in an arcane tongue that no one else, especially the females, understands. This results in the oft-heard complaint among exasperated Eropagnis females, that the “males are always talking about Ecivres Lanoitan.”

Toy Commercial Fail

2009-08-17T03:56:00.001+08:00

Censorship

2009-08-07T00:43:00.003+08:00

Finally, a step forward for censorship in Singapore. I just watched Hangover (NC16) and lo and behold, scenes with breasts and dicks were left intact! I know it sounds trivial and bimbotic to rave about this but think about it, a few years ago movies like that would have been slapped with an R21 rating or mutilated so badly that the story-telling loses its rhythm. Just like in our neighbour up north.

A few days ago I decided to watch The Proposal up north and I nearly died when they cut out almost half of scenes in which Ryan Reynolds was naked. So I wish you good luck in your efforts to become a developed country by 2020 dear neighbour.

Gay Trilogy

2009-08-02T14:22:00.001+08:00

Service Me

2009-07-04T04:19:00.003+08:00

After a somewhat prolonged hiatus, I've decided I should start writing again lest my blogging skills (if you can it 'skills') be lost forever.

Ok, let's see...

Today at work, I came face to face with my first CB customer, or CBC for short. For the less-informed, CB stands for Chee Bye, the hokkien version of cunt. This CBC exhibited typical symptoms of most CBCs: acts like royalty, places her order at an almost inaudible volume, exhibits a FUF (say foof), meaning Fucked Up Face (term courtesy of Glenn), when you ask her to repeat because you couldn't make out what the fuck she just said.

So there, CB customer. But that wasn't all she did to earn her place as a CB customer, it's just that the rest needs too much tedious detail in order to explain properly. Really, where do these people come from? If I had the power of mind control, I would have mind-controlled her to go berserk right there and then and have her flash her boobs at anyone and everyone, and of course have photos of her inexplicable outburst online. Stupid slut.

Right, that's all for now. I feel much better already. :)

Phone Call from France

2009-05-20T00:44:00.001+08:00

Science and Faith

2009-04-24T11:56:00.000+08:00

Sweden's Got (Naked) Talent

2009-04-23T01:56:00.002+08:00

Did they erode their values and caused the institution of the family to collapse? No. They all just had a bloody good laugh and a damn good time.

French Men. Car Wash.

2009-03-26T02:36:00.000+08:00

Cheesy video! Now, if only I can find such a car wash service here.

Rubbish Media

2009-03-24T01:59:00.004+08:00

See la, this is why the mainstream media cannot be trusted. The Wayang Party has a copy of the suicide e-mail Dr Allan Ooi wrote before he took his life. Read it and know what sort of rubbish the mainstream media has been publishing about him and his motivations for suicide. Read it also as a vindication of my antipathy towards you-know-wat.

Links are here and here.

Why Terminators Transport Naked

2009-03-18T00:50:00.003+08:00

Again, this is (relatively) safe for work and school. haha.

Watch Why Terminators Transport Naked on CollegeHumor

Mini Mardi Gras

2009-03-17T14:00:00.003+08:00

Check out this amazing video of the Sydney Mardi Gras parade. The way the videographer shot the video made it look as though it was a miniature parade.

PS This video is safe for work and school. :p

I Hate Being Gay

2009-02-26T13:47:00.001+08:00

Can you believe these people?!

Unexpected Access

2009-02-23T00:21:00.002+08:00

Recess week is upon us once again. Five weeks of school have come and gone, but it seems as though I haven't learned anything and the feeling is rather disconcerting. Therefore, I shall embark on this ambitious plan to make maximum constructive use of my recess week (how ironically inapt, it should be called try-to-catch-up-with-your-studies week or something like that). Now that's said and to-be done, let's move on to more interesting stuff.

I just watched the first episode of Unexpected Access on Ch 5 and I was actually rather impressed with the raw-ness of the show. The premier episode was about the funeral business and the process of embalming. I take my hat off to intrepid host Wong Li Lin, and the camera man. I just hope that there won't be these imbecilic people writing in to complain about how graphic the show is and how it would affect young children and family values and other shit.

And since I'm already on a values-damaging topic, I see no harm in inviting you to view this website - http://www.seemoresideeffects.ca/

I do recommend the first, second and FIFTH product.

Goodbye Ma

2009-02-11T13:09:00.001+08:00

I remember the times when my mother used to cane me and you would call her crazy for beating me and then tried to shield me from her.

I remember the amazing food food you cooked, although it was so laden with oil and salt it was criminal.

I remember looking at photos of the younger you, looking rather stern yet resplendent in your sarong kebaya presiding over your children who are of course now my mother, auntie and uncle.

I remember how you would always ask me if I had eaten, how you always seem to have food around (especially curry) and how you would always ask me to eat no matter how many times I told you I've eaten.

I remember your constant nagging - "be a good boy...", "don't always make your mummy angry lah...", "don't always go out so late ar...", "must study hard and don't always make your mummy worry..."

I remember you managed to tell me, just five days ago, that you love me very much even though you were in constant pain, and I said I love you too.

I remember Ah Gong saying a tearful goodbye to you when you lay silent and unmoving in the last office.

I remember.

I know the last days of your life were painful and unbearable, and I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help alleviate your misery. I only wish you are in a much better place now - a place free of pain and suffering.

Bye bye Ma, may you rest in peace.

Amp'd

2009-02-09T01:36:00.001+08:00

Let Me Service You

2009-01-28T01:31:00.002+08:00

Makes you wanna channel Derek from the Catherine Tate Show and say, "what on earth are they insinuating?!".

Comfort Zone

2009-01-24T02:18:00.002+08:00

This is a sad but true story of how a 16-month-old baby crawled to his "comfort zone" to die.

Read it here.

Anecdote

2008-12-22T01:20:00.003+08:00

It is really amazing that people these days can behave so indiscriminately online, naively believing that the internet provides true anonymity. I personally know of someone who was a victim of online misdemeanor. What was supposed to be, I presume, a childish personal vendetta exploded into a case involving the police and defamation law-suits. The story so far was that the original person who started the email apologized but it was too late; he had already received a lawyer's letter demanding compensation for defamation.

So there, a word of caution to these clowns that post on the tagboard on the left. Entertain me and all who pass through this blog and post all you want, it really is just words. But don't be surprised if you find a lawyer's letter from me to you one fine day. And yes, besides teachers, I do know some criminal lawyers as well.

Sad Sad Suicide

2008-11-28T03:06:00.002+08:00

A 15-year-old boy jumped to his death, apparent cause was the disapproval from his teacher and parents to change his CCA from track and field to drama. A very tragic story.

From here.

Teen leapt to death over CCA

No one would have thought Tan Wen Yi was a depressed or troubled teen. A Secondary 3 student of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Wen Yi was often described as a cheerful student who was respectful to teachers, and well-liked by fellow school-mates.

However, on 13 Feb this year, the 15-year-old student jumped to his death when he did not get approval from his teacher and parents to quit his co-curricular activity (CCA), track-and-field.

The incident happened around 9pm at his home, a condominium located along Stevens Road.

What is known is that from the start, Wen Yi was unhappy about being in the track-and-field team and frequently missed training practices as a result. The situation improved a little when he began to do well in the sport, clinching 2 individual medals in the process.

He had expressed his wish to switch to another CCA, but was met with disapproval from both his teacher and parents.

On the day of the 13th, the teacher-in-charge of Wen Yi's CCA, Mr Ng Yeong Joo, 38, saw him in playing soccer in school with friends instead of attending practice. When confronted, Wei Yi revealed his unhappiness and expressed his wish to transfer to the drama club instead. However, this was met with disapproval from the teacher, as he advised him not to.

After the teacher had left, Wen Yi turned to his soccer buddies and confided that he was sick of attending training four times a week as punishment for his truancy, and expressed that he "wanted to die". Brushing off his comment as a joke, the friends continued with their game.

While on the way home at around 6pm that day, Wen Yi's friend, who accompanied him on the journey back, did not detect anything amiss during their conversation. Nothing was out of the ordinary, as they talked and joked as usual.

When Wen Yi got home at about 8.10pm that night, he told his parents that he had lost his interest in running, and insisted on making the switch to drama instead. However, his mother tried to dissuade him.

Dejected, Wen Yi's last words to his mother before returning to his room was, "I'd planned to do this in March, but i will do it now."

Sensing something was amiss, his mother quickly followed him into his room. She entered just in time to see Wen Yi climbing up the window ledge and pushing the window open before jumping down. She rushed forward to try and grab him, but it was too late.

Still in his school uniform when he jumped, Wen Yi was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics.

Just a day before his death, Wen Yi had messaged his friend at around 5.47pm, extending an invitation to join him in a "crime spree". Wen Yi was alleged to have text messaged his friend that on the last day of his life, he would commit a series of law-breaking activities, "letting the world know of my crazy deeds", before ending his life by jumping off a building. He went on to add, "As my friend, will you join me?"

Concerned, Wen Yi's friend spoke to him about the message the next day. It was then that Wen Yi told him he was tired and found life meaningless. During their conversation, Wen Yi also revealed that he would carry out his "plan" in March. His friend tried to console him, and told him to push any suicidal thoughts out of his head. Sadly, his words went unheeded.

Dress Up For Halloween

2008-11-05T01:24:00.002+08:00

I know I should be like doing my philosophy essay which is due on Friday, studying for my physics test which is on this Thursday, preparing the director stuff for the theatre practical exam, doing another essay/review of a physics book and generally doing school work.

But will you just take a look at the photo below and guess who is it.

No? It's Heidi Klum.

Yes, it's her at her ninth annual Halloween party in New York. That shall so be my inspiration for next year's Halloween.

How Come Like That One?

2008-10-29T01:37:00.004+08:00

This erratum was added on 30 Oct, at 2am. Apparently, the article I cut and pasted here was reported by some stupid journalist who twisted the story to make the poor girl sound so bloody spoiled. You can read here and decide who you want to believe. Sigh, how come I believed the story and reacted so readily ar? Well anyway, the journalist who wrote this article should be fucking fired.

My god. The following article from AsiaOne roused the dormant bitch in me. Read and feel yours being awaken too. One wonders how in the world she got into university with such a cretinous and imbecilic mindset. I seriously hope they do a report on her when her fortune changes for the worst. I need that vindication.

And hello vapid woman, I have never heard of anyone getting a $4000 pay the moment they graduate from university, and with your kind of I-don't-think-I-will-ever-run-out-of-money attitude, I say good luck with your Chanel bag.

Mum & Dad will provide

For 20-year-old undergraduate Agnes Lin, the recession could just be academic.

The Nanyang Technological University first-year student has never been in need: She carries a $2,000 Louis Vuitton handbag to school and uses only Shiseido cosmetic and skincare products.

She carries around the latest mobile phone and goes on overseas vacations with her friends where she would bust $1,000 on shopping alone.

Twice monthly, she shops at her favourite stores - Topshop, Zara and Forever21.

Mum, a private tutor, and Dad, a businessman selling polythene bags, pay for her expenses.

Miss Lin is aware that Singapore faces a recession but the news does not bother her.

She said: 'I think it is okay for me to maintain my current lifestyle. I may be spending a little bit more than my friends but I don't think I'm overspending.'

At the moment, she has her eyes on the latest mobile phone in the market, the HTC Touch Pro, which costs about $700.

Although her mother has said 'no' to her buying yet another mobile phone, Ms Lin has an inkling she will still get it.

'I think my mum will still buy it for me. My birthday is coming up!' she said with a giggle. She confessed that since young, she has never run out of cash. Her parents give her money whenever she asks.

Since she was 16, her monthly pocket money has been $500.

She has an older brother, also an undergraduate. The family live in a four-room flat in Marine Parade.

She thinks a friend of hers, who is left with $20 to last until the end of the month, is silly to consider taking up a part-time job to earn some extra cash.

'I don't understand why she cannot just ask her parents for money,' sighed Miss Lin.

She will enter the working world only after three years but she is already planning ahead.

With her first pay packet, she will buy a $4,000 Chanel bag. 'After that, I will probably get more bags and watches,' she added.

Twenty Reasons

2008-10-27T13:09:00.000+08:00

Do I React Like That?

2008-10-25T23:36:00.000+08:00

Pleasure Factory

2008-09-23T02:57:00.001+08:00

Watch this almost-porn clip at your own risk. Note that I'm not censoring myself this time because this scene is from a Singaporean movie anyway. I have no idea why I am putting this up here, probably because I felt this blog has been a tad too bland for too long. And it's precisely because of these objectionable contents in the movie that I'm going to try my super best to procure the unadulterated version, ie the version that MDA first saw, the lucky bastards.

Pleasure Factory.

On Finance And Instability

2008-09-17T02:29:00.005+08:00

I do not usually touch on political stuff but I cannot help but notice the stark difference in the kinds of news from Singapore and other parts of South East Asia, especially in the wake of the latest happenings related to the US mortgage crisis.

After the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the buying over of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America, the headline news in Singapore almost immediately turned to those concerned with financial institutions of the country, including foreign institutions having operations here. And despite the grim news from the US, it seems that Temasek Holdings could make a potential profit of over 1 billion bucks from the take over of Merrill Lynch.

Then I read news from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. A brief summary would be this - our friendly neighbour up north is embroiled in a dramatic power struggle, Thailand is facing a political chaos that is wrecking havoc on its tourism industry and a suspected bomb goes off in an international airport in Indonesia. What stunned me is that while most other countries are reeling from the fallout from the US and scrambling to salvage, assuage, calm (add more descriptives here) their markets and financial institutions, some are still trying to solve their internal problems, so much so that they seem unaffected by the happenings of global economy. When I say unaffected I don't mean these countries are immune to the effects of the crisis, but rather, there seems to be no news as to how these countries are going to manage their financial institutions.

I think it's times like these that we get reminded of the benefits of a stable and economically (as opposed to socially, where things are obviously left much to be desired. But that's another story) effective government. It is precisely because of the almost authoritarian form of governing in Singapore that we do not see the unfortunate incidences I mentioned above. I think it is also times like these that elucidates what and why Singaporeans are willing to give up certain liberties in exchange for.

Sleepless In NUS

2008-09-11T01:39:00.006+08:00

I don't think I'm the only student in NUS who could do with some shut eye in the middle of the day between long breaks (or even short ones, for that matter). Studies have shown that taking power naps in the day helps boost productivity. Boosting productivity aside, I cannot fathom how one can sleep for a mere ten minutes and then wake up all recharged and un-grumpy. Anyone who has had the misfortune of waking me up ten minutes into my nap would know what I mean. A nap to me requires a minimum of two hours, any shorter is just like a very long blink, but that's just me.

Take a good look around campus; there is hardly a place to get a decent rest. The library seems fine at first, but seriously, I wouldn't want to be caught dead sprawled un-glamorously and sleeping on those weird shaped seats, head lolling about due to the lack of a proper head rest. I will not even mention those benches littered everywhere around school. Firstly, try lying down on one. Not very comfy. Secondly, if some freak decides to sleep on one of those contraptions anyway and the trend somehow manages to catch on, we'll end up looking like an attraction for homeless people. Not very glamorous either.

So to make NUS even more world-class, the school could take a leaf or two out of Changi Airport's book - provide napping areas. You know, the ones in transit where there are special cubicles for you to freaking lie down on thick recliners and/or beds and sleep in. Of course these wouldn't be free, otherwise the whole place would be overflowing with... erm... unmentionables. So my point is if you want to sleep in comfort and in (some) style, be prepared to pay for it, like in glorious Changi.

I've got something else I wanted to say, but damn it, I can't remember. I think I'll just go sleep on it first.

French Connection

2008-09-05T12:44:00.002+08:00

On a cold Monday evening, Michelle, Rhoda and I suddenly found ourselves valiantly trying to converse in French after choir. I think for the most part we sounded plain weird, but we enjoyed ourselves; at least we could (mostly) understand each other even though we sounded weird. We continued this faux conversation up on to the bus and halfway through the journey, a Caucasian sat beside the girls. Paying no need to him, we continued unwittingly embarrassing ourselves with our discordant French.

Meanwhile, Harris proposed a distinct possibility that the ang-moh might just understand French and may go into clinical shock just by hearing how we are butchering the language. I laughed it off saying that it can't be that coincidental. Lo and behold, the man turned to the girls and said something like he couldn't help but overhear and that our French is actually kinda decent or something like that. It turns out that he was a researcher in NUS and he's been in Singapore for only 5 days, again, something like that. The reason why I'm so sketchy about the details is because I was unceremoniously blocked by an massive lump of organic matter that stubbornly refused to budge even though I was obviously craning my neck to its limits trying to get a hold on the French conversation happening behind said organic mass.

Mr Frenchman then offered his help should we need any assistance in the language. (So sweet right, haiz... only from the French). But alas, our conversation was cut short because Mr Frenchman needed to alight one stop before us. Thus no contact information was exchanged. We all went to supper wondering how to procure this vital information.

Fast forward to today.

The queue for 96 at Clementi interchange was insane. Thank goodness SBS had enough sense to send three buses consecutively and so I didn't have a wait a criminally long time for the bus. As luck would have it, Mr Frenchman took the same bus as me and luckier still, he sat just across the aisle from from me. Five minutes into the journey, he noticed me and and actually stood up, came over and asked if I was the one who was conversing in French with the girls on the bus that evening. Then he introduced himself as Philippe. After exchanging pleasantries, he returned to his seat.

I thought to myself, "damn... what are the odds...", and decided that I should try to gather enough balls to ask him for his contact. Which I did, like two minutes before I needed to alight, and mind you, the journey was almost twenty minutes long due to the unholy traffic jam that caused to me to be even later that I already was, so you can imagine how much time I took to gather the requisite number of balls.

I so want to go to France now!

Top 10 Creamiest

2008-08-30T11:53:00.006+08:00

I was lamenting to Michelle how I can't seem to find any topics to blog about these days. I was convinced before this that the dearth of blog-inspiration was due to YKW, where, and this I saw it in some article in school, it's "two years of utter mind decay", and now it seems as though my brain hasn't entirely recovered from the decomposition. Fortunately, Michelle made a random suggestion that I should blog about the top ten creamiest stuff, in my opinion and completely arbitrary of course.

And here they are, in no particular order, the top 10 creamiest!

Ice cream
Nothing beats the sensation of smooth, quality ice cream melting in your mouth on a hot day.

Sour cream
With toast and caviar, anyone?

Guacamole
Mushy. Green. Luscious.

Profiterole
Or more commonly known as cream puffs.

Crème fraîche
With fresh strawberries!

Irish cream liqueur
Pour it over ice. No questions asked.

Crème brûlée
Spinkle some sugar and flame away!

Lobster bisque
Waste not the whole lobster, shell and all!

Butter
It may just be healthier than margarine.

'Man'-made cream
Pun intended.

Makes you kinda hungry hor?

On Good Looks And/Or The Lack Thereof

2008-08-06T00:40:00.003+08:00

I was on bus 58 this afternoon, seated a few feet from the front door, when at this particular bus stop, a pretty lady boarded the bus. Like everyone else, she proceeded to tap her ez-link card on the reader. The device responded with that irritatingly shrill staccato beeps that indicated that your ez-link card is basically fucked-up. In this case, this lady's card had a negative balance. (Don't they always?) She panicked slightly and asked the bus driver if he had change for a ten dollar note. I didn't hear what the bus driver said but from his hand gestures he probably indicated that she should approach her fellow commuters instead, which she did. She turned around and caught my eye and asked if I had change while delicately brandishing the red note in her right hand. I took out my wallet to check and no, I did not have change for ten bucks. I apologised, she said it's ok, smiled and went to approach the others. She looked so helpless that if I had enough coins I'd have just given them to her and said just take it.

Then it hit me. What if she had been ugly as sin? Would I still think the same way I did in that I'd gladly give my loose change to her, no questions asked? Honestly, I wouldn't have. I replayed the scenario in my head and realised that I would have bitched to Keith over sms about this ugly woman who came on the bus and had no money to pay for her trip. And because I would be in the throes of frantically pressing the phone buttons, the ugly woman would be conveniently ignored should she choose to approach me for change. Snapping out of that reenactment, I looked at the bus driver and wondered if he would have let her stay on the bus at all. He would probably have gone "no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" while shooing her out the bus instead of kindly suggesting that she should approach the people on the bus.

Do a little thought experiment of your own and you'll see I'm quite right. Drop all moralistic pretenses and think because when these situations happen, we wouldn't have time to ponder over our imposed moral conditions. We would react almost by reflex - responding significantly more favourably to the better looking one. It may sound unfair to people who did not choose to be aesthetically challenged but we are all still animals hard-wired to be averse to physical inadequacies because they are manifestations of undesirable genes.

So there. An incentive to try and look as fabulous as you possibly can every time you head out because you never know when you'll be needing change from strangers on the bus.

Hot Thai Boy

2008-07-26T02:39:00.001+08:00

Nothing To Hide

2008-07-26T01:57:00.004+08:00

This is a commercial. Watch and learn.

Click here for the website.

Hot Fate

2008-07-25T00:17:00.004+08:00

Has anyone seen this movie poster recently in MRT stations? Is it just me, or is it quite gratuitously homoerotic? Well in any case, I love it. Advertising should always involve gratuitous displays of the hot male form.

Slipper Nation

2008-07-20T01:14:00.008+08:00

A tipping point. Yes, that's what it is. My explanation to the alarming number of Singaporeans who looked as though they miraculously found themselves on Orchard Road when they had actually intended for the market across the road. I think somewhere not too long ago along the linear temporal plane, a tipping point occured. A very probable contributor to this tipping point would be NUM for whole entire shops selling nothing but slippers. Note that I'm not critisising NUM here, on the contrary, I love their concept and I love those slippers. Also note that I can't say the same thing for the prices.

My thoroughly off the cuff explanation would be that when NUM first started selling those colourful slippers, they cleverly marketed it as slippers that were given out during the erm... Oscars, is that right? Well anyway, the idea was that celebrities in Hollywood were wearing them. So people bought into it, literally. At first the kind of people seen wearing NUM slippers were of a certain type, if you know what I mean. The kind who think nothing of parting with 50 bucks for a pair of slippers that costs only what, US$8 in Brazil or something. So for a while, it was only a certain group of people wearing those flip-flops and they enjoyed the distiction that came with it. Then somehow, somewhere, other sectors of society began catching the slipper-bug as well and as Keith would so subtly describe it, BOOM! The tipping point occured and wearing slippers to Orchard Road quickly became a social norm.

Now the problem with slippers is that they are just that, slippers. How does one dress up with footwear clearly meant for the beach is beyond me. So obviously to match their new found love for flip-flops, people dressed down. They also realised that, hmm, this is actually quite convenient and comfortable! And so it stuck and here we are in this Sloppy Singapore situation. But hey, doesn't this qualify for a Uniquely Singapore thing? It is what, right? So, the next time you hear someone bitch about why Singaporeans have taken their slipper-love one step too far, go up to them, channel The Joker, and rasp (preferably with a knife to the face), "why... so... serioussss?"

Children Of Men

2008-07-09T02:32:00.008+08:00

Was browsing through the movie rental store two days back and G decided to get something called Children Of Men. At first I dismissed the show as being one of those typical apocalyptic, the world-has-gone-to-the-dogs films. The premise was simple enough; it's 2027 and no babies have been born for the past 18 years. Humanity is heading for extinction within a hundred years and suddenly there is a pregnant girl that needs to be saved.

Well, sufficed to say, I could not have been more wrong. The show was an amazing achievement in cinematography depicting themes of hope and faith in a dark, desperate dystopia. There was this one scene, I shall not spoil it for you by telling you which, where the cinematography was so intense I almost broke down because of the sheer intensity.

It's a terrible pity this movie wasn't shown in Singapore, it would have received rave reviews. I think. Anyway I suspect religion being the most probable culprit for the non-screening. Well, no bother, it's now on DVD and up for rent/sale. So go and watch it. Children Of Men.

Hot Flash Game Cum Story

2008-07-07T01:47:00.002+08:00

Heh, try this very sexy, very gay and very porn flash game cum (pun intended) story.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Play it! Part 1

Play it! Part 2

And The Heavens Shall Tremble

2008-07-02T03:11:00.005+08:00

I know this is a bit late, but here is the upcoming Diablo III. Yes yes, I don't look like the Diablo type, but let me tell you I love my dark fantasy games. So there.

My Final Wisdom

2008-07-01T16:50:00.004+08:00

Today, I removed my fourth and final wisdom tooth. It was so big and deep that the dentist had to tear open my gum to get to it, and then he had to smash the tooth to get it out. Amazing ya? I never thought I would actually survive having to remove 6 healthy teeth, all molars in fact. But I'm glad I stuck to the plan and got it all out before school starts. Now my orthodontic treatment can resume course and straighten those damned teeth. My my, the things we endure for aesthetics.

I wonder, will a nose job hurt as much?

Singapore News

2008-06-30T23:02:00.005+08:00

Haiyo. Keith ar, I think you will laugh your cb off over this.

The reader posted on STOMP: "I brought my five year old daughter to East Coast Beach near Marine Parade NTUC underpass on 28 Jun 2008 around 3.15pm and saw this man swimming in the sea and thereafter he decided to take off his swimwear exposing himself. The whole eposide (sic) lasted about 15 minutes before he walked back to the bench to wear his gear. I was surprised that there were some young ladies there but none kicked a fuss over his action."

See full story here.

Seriously, who died over this incident? It may be illegal to swim naked in Singapore but really, who keeled over and died after this episode? You even noticed those young ladies not kicking up a fuss. Good on you! Obviously they didn't give a fuck because they know they won't become depraved perverts or die from cardiac arrest after seeing that man with his balls exposed.

And if this weren't enough to portray the sheer inaneness of these ~~STOMPers~~ people, here's one more. Ok lah, this one not from STOMP but it wouldn't be out of place there either.

Resident Heidi Tan (21, Tele-salesperson) told Shin Min that she spotted the Chinese couple when she was smoking at her window and observed them for about ten minutes. "The woman was sitting on her boyfriend's lap and they were constantly switching in between kissing and petting. The man would put his hands underneath his girlfriend's shirt to caress her, while the woman would run her hands along the man's crotch. It was disgusting to watch them."

See full story here.

Maybe I've already lapsed in a bitch fit by now but will you just look at how this Heidi unwittingly revealed her stupidity in this short excerpt. She was obviously enjoying the thrill that voyeurism brings by observing them for ten bleeding minutes, memorising every move to fine detail. And she goes on to say that she was disgusted to watch them. Wow. I think she probably lives in a parallel dimension where logic is about as concrete as little fairy pixies and where Stupidity (with a capital S, no less) holds sway.

Of French And Education

2008-06-29T20:18:00.005+08:00

Some people may think my desire to learn French seems a little excessive as I cannot even handle my own mother tongue, la langue chinoise, properly. But an article in today's paper may just provide me with the vindication I need. It reported that "toddlers as young as two years are picking up foreign languages such as French." The impetus being that it will be an asset and that they are able to pick up foreign languages more easily in the future.

I mean, if these little ones are picking up foreign languages at such tender ages and we the older folks are content with just two, or in my case, one and a half languages, how are we to compete with the young punks when they enter a work environment that is most probably going to be some sort of global, interlinked hive-mind from the way things are headed, armed with a myriad of languages while we, hopefully somewhere up there in the office hierarchy by then, scramble to stuff alien languages into our dusty heads?

While I'm at this, I hope you do know by now that Singapore is going to have a fourth university. Yay! What this means is that getting that bachelor's degree no longer sets you apart from the rest because they all have it too! I know it is in the goodwill of the government to make sure as many people as possible make it to university and this is an elitist stance I'm taking here but the thing that concerns me is how common having a degree has, and is going to, become. We all know what happens to something that was once "limited edition" but has since become, well, common. Just look at how the effect is slowly trickling down to the lower levels of education. If I remember correctly, 97 out of 100 school-going kids in Singapore has some form of tuition. That is an alarmingly high percentage, as it can only mean one of two things; either 97% of these students are not coping with their work, or these poor kids are not doing well enough.

Take a look around, this is a very small country, which means saturation happens faster than you can say "saturation". So how do employers choose from an unlimited supply of graduates? What sets all these extremely efficient but faceless studying machines apart from one another? I daresay it's inquisitiveness. How many of these poor young adults learn for the sake of learning? How many learn simply to enrich their lives? So many people slog through their education solely to get that impressive string of As, to be in that top nth percentile.

So I ask, yet again, what now? I'm just so caught up and confused in this furore that it becomes so difficult to think clearly just what I want to do with my life.

Gay TV

2008-06-28T05:33:00.000+08:00

Damn! Will you look at the kind of shows they have overseas?

Resetting The Internal Clock

2008-06-26T19:51:00.000+08:00

Today is a great day. Why? It's because this morning was the first time I actually woke up in the morning. Yes. At 6.30am no less. It's no easy feat as I have been waking up past 12 midday almost every day since ORD. Yay. I really need to reset my seriously fucked circadian rhythm.

Olomouc Festa Musicala 2008

2008-06-25T14:44:00.000+08:00

Here are recordings of MJC Choir in the finals!

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And simply because I was from TKSS choir, here is a selection of their recordings as well, though I think it's another competition altogether. I think.

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What Lies Beneath

2008-06-23T03:45:00.000+08:00

While on a recent bus trip back to our homes, Keith and I happened to pass by the MICA building and by way of a conversation that only the two of us can conceive, we came to the conclusion that the departments that made up MICA were as follows - 3/4 MDA, almost 1/4 Board of Censors and a Department of Creativity, which, given the state of creativity in this fair city, we suspect requires a long journey through labyrinthine passages that takes you outside Singapore territory to a tiny solitary room buried deep in the earth's crust, manned by a decrepit old man chained to a pile of dust which was formerly a table and who has been there since the dawn of time.

By the time you reach that godforsaken place, your sanity would most probably have forsaken you as well and you wouldn't be able to find your way back. That explains why most appeals regarding creativity are dismissed so easily.

Creative person
"I want to apply for a permit to perform/do/present this controversial/politically-charged/deviant (insert relevant details here)!"

MICA receptionist
*gives an evil sneer.* "Yoo wahn aply ar? Nah, take dis *presents a street directory-ish book* and use the leef dare."

Creative person
*looks confounded by the arcane squiggles on the book but tells himself that he must get this appeal.*

Two weeks later, an obscure article in The New Paper (won't appear in ST one, cos' ST reports only good and wholesome news) mentions something of a certain missing creative person. Then there will be quotes from interviews done with other creative people regarding the missing person taken horribly out of context; something like "Mr X feels that because creative person was last seen at the MICA building and trying to apply for a permit for his controversial work, he was silenced by the authorities." This poor Mr X, ironically so close to the truth, would then be labelled by TNP as an artist made illogical by the loss of a close colleague. The article closes with a statement that says there is no such thing as applicants being silenced by the authorities.

More Pink Commercials

2008-06-22T03:52:00.002+08:00

15 Crimes Against Fashion

2008-06-18T15:09:00.002+08:00

I saw this recently in the IS magazine so erm... don't come for my head if you happened to be described in there ar... heh..

Peace.

1. Tees with stupid corny prints like "Fuck Me".
2. Baggy jeans, lose 'em.
3. Wife beaters with loads of armpit hair.
4. Unbuttoned shirt with no... or too much... chest hair.
5. Tight T-shirt sleeves.
6. Jeans with track shoes. (You should be shot).
7. White, towelling socks unless you're in the NBA.
8. Blazers that are shorter than the shirt underneath.
9. Flipped-up collars on your polo shirt. You are not Eric Cantona.
10. Board shorts further than 200 metres from the beach.
11. Shades after 6pm. Anywhere.
12. If you wear wallet chains, you have nothing valuable in your wallet.
13. Hawaiian-print tops.
14. Shades in clubs.
15. Vests on fatties. Are you an hourly rated magician? (Don't kill me! My fair plus-sized brethren!)

Keith's Favourite Topic

2008-06-14T13:04:00.004+08:00

Just flip through the papers and you'll see examples of how anal Singaporeans can be. I don't know about you, but there's this advertisement about saving the earth on your telly recently. It's the one where a mannequin gets a chainsaw to his head with blood and tar dripping down his fractured face, then it morphs to a real and live young boy, sad and tearing. Visually arresting right? I think c'est parfait for capturing the attention of ignorant locals to the dire impact of global warming.

Apparently, Mediacorp received a few complaints that the advert was too graphic, asking for it to be taken off air; that an 11 year-old boy got nightmrares after watching it.

Don't you just love how these people think? If at all?

News You Wouldn't Expect To See

2008-06-13T01:42:00.001+08:00

Haiyo. What happened ar, Minlef?

Army recruit collapses and dies during training walk

RSAF pilot trainee collapses, dies during training in Brunei

Weird Dream

2008-06-11T02:11:00.010+08:00

Read this if you want a glimpse of how twisted a scenario my brain can conjure up.

A new roller coaster was built, with tubular steel track painted in an ominous black. The track winded through steep hills and around the sides of sheer vertical cliffs. Due to an advanced block system, there were several trains running simultaneously on the same circuit, one after another. I was already at the platform, seated securely in one, excited and ready to go. While waiting for the train to move off, I noticed in the distance that two trains were abnormally close to one other; the second one pulling off a loop mere seconds after the first. A feeling ate at me, I wondered if it was safe. Pushing the feeling to the back of my head, I shifted my view towards another part of the twisting behemoth. Just as my eyes settled on a crest of a hill, I saw a train, moving fast enough to qualify as a slight blur, disengage from the track. It flew towards the vertical cliffs and crashed into the rock face at full speed.

A horrible realisation overcame me; the train that crashed was the one just ahead of me. If that train hadn't come off the tracks, the one I was sitting in would have most likely done so. They had shut down the coaster, every other train was held at the block tracks. I clambered out of the seat shivering uncontrollably. I broke down, crying over the very real possibility that that could have been me.

Someone lent me her shoulder, I couldn't remember who, but she gently led me out of the station. By the time I reached the exit, I had regained my composure. I looked around me. Somehow, without my knowledge, my surroundings had suddenly morphed into that of a hospital. The kind lady was no longer by my side, and I was carrying a double plastic bag containing what I instinctively knew were the bodies of my twin baby brothers. I also instinctively knew they died in the very accident that nearly cost me my life. (On hindsight, I know it's incredulous but I was dreaming, so you'll have to excuse me). I was looking for the mortuary, knowing that I had to bring the bodies to be embalmed.

The mortuary was at an obscure corner of the hospital. It consisted of two large rooms; the first being very ward-like, connected to the second via an arch doorway lined with wood. The first room had twelve or so beds, most of which were occupied by very old people, with several nurses busying themselves about the ward. At first I thought nothing of the place, but I slowly realised that some of the people lying on the beds were already dead and fully embalmed, and the nurses weren't just busying themselves, they were draining the blood from the corpses of the newly dead. Surprisingly, I remember being just a little uncomfortable at the scene, not the usual terrified-and-rooted-to-the-spot scared.

I walked through the archway and found myself looking at three doors, on the right, in front and on the left, elevated such that you'd need to climb up a few steps to reach them. The ones in front and on the right were wooden doors with a rectangle glass window, not unlike the ones to your Principal's office. They seemed to be offices for doctors. The one on the left was different. It was a double door, made of wood as well, with the word "Mortuary" right on top. A female doctor came out of it and I presented here with my plastic bag. She took out the clear inner bag, and for the first time, I saw the bodies of my baby brothers. They were small. Too small, in fact; they were no bigger than my palm. Oddly, the doctor seemed unfazed. Through the plastic, I can't really describe what she tried to do, but it seemed she was trying to stretch the arms of the baby, as though to determine the extent of decomposition. Satisfied by her examination, she told me that they'll be ready after a few days, and the hospital would call me.

I woke up.

That was the weirdest dream I've ever had. It particularly freaked me out because I never had such a dream before. Usually it's just the typical nightmare of monsters when I was younger, and more sexually explicit dreams when I was older. And for all the other dreams, I would rapidly forget them once I woke up, barely remembering fragments of it minutes later. This one was literally burned into my memory, even as I type this, I can recall the dream with uncanny detail.

Gosh, I wonder what it means. I for one hope it doesn't.

Win Already

2008-06-09T13:35:00.004+08:00

As it is, they are already so big. Yet, they are so sore about losing an island smaller than a football field to Singapore. It seems that loss has, colloquially speaking, wake up their idea. Now they want to make sure they have legitimate claim to all the islands allegedly belonging to them to prevent a repeat of football-field island. See here.

Gosh, why do they need another island? It's not as if they are running out of land. Not say I want to say, but they already have trouble adminstering what they presently have and they die die still want to have their cake and eat it. Just look slightly up north and you'll know what I mean. First got petrol ban, then say don't have, then say don't have don't have ban, so have again. Now the foreigners must pay full price. Wow. This is an epitome of a world-class administration and decision making. Make people so confused until they win already.

The Truth of Christmas

2008-06-07T13:46:00.002+08:00

We should play this in all primary schools to unveil the conspiracy of 'X'mas.

Of C-sharps and Tea

2008-06-05T00:42:00.005+08:00

Goodness knows why I keep posting videos these days but here's two more. The first link is to a MySpace video (I don't know how to embed a MySpace video, so sue me) where Adam Lopez sings a C# above the last key on the piano in front of a live audience. And is it just me, or is MySpace no longer in english?

Click here to watch.

The following YouTube video is an almost satirical commercial to "bring back the tea trolley". I just thought the sexy English baker was reason enough to post it here.

The Love of Siam

2008-05-28T11:24:00.003+08:00

Go and watch "The Love of Siam". It is a Thai movie (mainly) about two very cute boys in love. Be warned, it has a bittersweet ending. As usual, this movie is not shown in Singapore. I say to hell with MDA's ban on this and that. We shall watch it ONLINE. Tudou has it, so does crunchyroll. Missing subtitles? Google it!

I can almost imagine the reason. "Oh, we are a conservative society. We do not want teenagers to emulate the characters in the movie as the two main characters in the movie are good looking teenage boys." Whatever.

Watch this movie for the amazing acting from the two teenage actors, watch it for the beautiful but bittersweet script, watch it to reminisce your first love and watch it to feel again.

This is my favourite song from the movie.

If I said that I wrote this song for you,
would you believe me?
It might not be as well-written or as beautiful
like other songs.
I want you to know that a love song
can't be written if you're not in love.
But for you, my dear
I wrote this song so easily.

You might have heard hundreds or thousands of love songs.
They might be meaningful,
but they are meant for anyone.
But when you listen to this song,
a song that's written for you only.
If you understand the meaning,
then our hearts
will be together as one.

Let it be a song on the path we walk together,
that only has voices of you and me
together as long as possible.
Just like a line from a poem,
as long as you have love, you still have hope.
Everytime your love shines in my heart,
I can see my destiny.

There are so many truths in love.
And in the past, I spent a lot of time
searching for its meaning.
But now I just know
whenever you are near.
I know that if life is a melody,
you are the lyrics
that give it meaning and make it beautiful.

There's a path for us to walk together
and there are voices of you and me.
There's a path for us to walk together side by side
and there are voices of you and me.

Just ask yourself who you think of when you are listening to a love song

Pink Commercials

2008-05-27T04:24:00.002+08:00

Commercials that you'll never see on local TV.

Loving Men

2008-05-25T02:01:00.002+08:00

It's gay I tell you! Gay!

Porn Is Good. Now Ban Me.

2008-05-24T01:02:00.000+08:00

Heng ar! MDA (em-dah) never ban my porn. When I see the news, I was like "siao liao, all my favourite porn habis." Then I go Internet check, wah heng ar, still can load. Haha... I wonder which sway people got their porn kena ban by MDA.

It was reported that MDA bans 100 'mass-impact objectionable websites as a symbolic statement of ~~their~~ our core societal values'. I find that utterly pointless and pretentious. I cannot fathom who or what the 'symbolic statement' is trying to appease. Are Singaporeans really that immature that they cannot practice self-censorship? Do they need ~~nanny~~ government agencies to explicitly ban stuff from the net? Don't like, don't watch lah.

Then there is the excuse of children being able to easily access pornography on the Internet, therefore this excuse is reason enough to come up with this ban on 100 websites crap. The entire argument above is nonsense. If children can easily access pornography, is the ban on 100 websites really going to work? For that matter, they can ban a million websites and still children will find porn. Easily. That's because the inherent nature of the World Wide Web allows new content to be uploaded way faster than governmental agencies can track and ban them.

Seriously people, grow up.

What Now?

2008-05-18T02:59:00.003+08:00

Saw this on asiaone and it made me think, "so what now?".

I say that because, like the young people described in the article, I wanted to get into the business course (which I couldn't) with the idea that I would end up in the finance sector commanding a higher than average salary. If I were to keep up with that idea, the only other option I have now is to take economics in FASS.

Apparently, according to people who took, or are presently doing economics, the subject requires aptitude in a topic which I have absolutely no flair or interest in.

What is one supposed to gain out of a university education? Is it doing a degree that is probably going to land one a well paying job, or doing a degree one is interested in, to further one's knowledge and enrich one's life?

So really, what now?

Economics of choice

What's with university-bound young Singaporeans and their penchant for business degree courses?

For the past three years, business and business-related courses such as accountancy and economics have consistently been the top picks of A-level and polytechnic students heading to university.

Even science-stream students, who are more suited for engineering or computing, sought berths in the business faculty. This resulted in average scorers (with no options but business) being squeezed out of a place.

This year, despite the caution sounded by the universities, the headlong rush into business has persisted. Business and accountancy were again among the top choices at all three universities - National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU). Another hot course was NTU's double degree in engineering and economics.

This does not make sense, given the recent deep losses and job cuts in the financial services sector.

Inherently Evil

2008-05-13T16:56:00.004+08:00

In the third episode of the second season of Supernatural, the protagonists aka the hunters aka the hot, hunky brothers faced a rather unique dilemma. All their lives they have been trained to kill anything that isn't human based on the assumption that all these supernatural creatures are evil. If such creatures do exist, hypothetically speaking, would every single one of them be evil in the sense that they intentionally harm human beings?

In this episode, they came across a group of vampires that refuse to drink the blood of humans, turning instead to cattle for sustenance. In this sense they do not cause harm to human beings and in fact go a step further to intentionally avoid harming human beings.

Humans have the tendency to fear what we do not understand and because we do not enjoy the sensation of fear, we find means to eliminate that feeling. The easiest way to do that is to blast the object of fear into oblivion. But having fear of something that we do not understand does not make it evil. So is it justified to wipe out these hypothetical supernatural creatures because are not understood, and thus feared?

Speaking of evil, we all know humans are equally capable of unimaginable evil as these supposed creatures of the dark. So if there are any supernatural hunters out there, take note - there are individuals from the race you seek to protect that are darker and more evil than any creature you may have come across.

Minority Report

2008-05-11T00:23:00.005+08:00

"Lay-ter der ah-neh cashew how?!"

I never thought I'd hear that phrase being used ever again but I did, at the Singapore Expo when this hysterical mother caught up with her child who was running amok and promptly proceeded to deliver this threat of sorts that roughly translates to - "What if you got lost and a very dark skinned stranger from a minority race decides to kidnap you?!"

*Snigger, snigger. Laugh out loud.*

I found it extremely funny because the last time I heard that being used was on me by my own parents when I found myself wandering off too far from them. That was about a decade ago. And when kids got a little smarter and asked why these people would want to kidnap little children, a convenient add-on story would be that they would sell them off for money. And variations from the story would then come in; from children sold off to become child labour in some Third World country, to becoming organ donors against their will.

Wow.

How do we even start to contemplate racial harmony if parents continue to use this kind of threats to rein in their kids? This is like equating a race of people to the equivalent of bogeymen, honing the kids to think that all ah-nehs are inherently evil and always kidnapping children.

I've always wondered how, when and where this unfortunate urban legend originated. Whatever the case, parents should stop vilifying other races as a convenient way to control their hyperactive progeny.

A tight slap across the face would suffice.

Without Honour And Ethics

2008-05-06T23:40:00.002+08:00

UNSCRUPULOUS refer to lack of moral standards or conscience to guide one's conduct. The UNSCRUPULOUS person is without scruples of conscience, and disregards, or has contempt for, laws of right or justice with which he or she is perfectly well acquainted, and which should restrain his or her actions: unscrupulous in methods of making money, in taking advantage of the unfortunate.

Of course the primary reason why people are suddenly stripped of their scruples of conscience is money. It's amazing how money can turn friends and family onto each other in a blink of an eye. One really cannot appreciate the entirety of this unsavoury phenomenon as a non-involved third party; it only makes for entertaining drama.

I say that because as I am typing this, I am also a first-hand witness to someone extremely close to me embroiled in this phenomenon. The dark feelings that well up inside cannot be described. Sufficed to say, I now understand why people do drastic things for money - they were unable to contain the demons that spawned inside of them when they were thrust into the situation.

I only hope and pray that this does not burn into a full scale forest fire. But if peace doesn't work out, then shall we say 'evil only begets evil? And I know I am capable of unspeakable evil.

Oh yes.

Glamorously Gay

2008-04-25T20:32:00.004+08:00

MediaCorp fined for airing show featuring gay couple

This is the kind of news that make Singapore look like some prudish backwater country. Instead of trying to improve the nauseatingly appalling quality of local programs, MDA chooses to fault the broadcaster over a few scenes showing a gay couple and their adopted baby. It's a sad irony that they are called a 'development authority'.

It is said that the Free-to-Air TV Programme Code disallows programmes that promote, justify or glamorise gay lifestyles. This is almost like one of a few 'side dishes' that comes with the retention of 377A. I cannot understand why they are so bent on suppressing the media, especially with regards to homosexuality. The conservative majority? That justification is an old turd of an argument.

The fact that a regulatory authority consistently reprimands the media for broadcasting "mature" themes only serves to reinforce the immaturity of immature Singaporeans.

Divine Intervention

2008-04-23T02:35:00.002+08:00

I cannot believe they took one month to basically tell us this; that Mas Selamat escaped by climbing out of the toilet window. Bravo.

All along, as much as it goes against any measure of good sense, I thought that MS escaped through means worthy of a Hollywood script. That he has been digging a tunnel out of toilet all the way to some giant drain for the past goodness knows how long and chose that fateful day to attempt a prison break. And no, he ain't no Michael Scofield. Oh, the trauma. But I digress.

I think the entire month the COI took was to decide if they should make known to the public what an excruciatingly embarrassing lapse of security it was, at an allegedly high-security detention centre no less, to let a limping man in his 40s, literally climb out of the toilet. I mean, I just cannot understand why they couldn't have just said something like "due to a lack of concrete evidence, all we can say now is that Mas Selamat is suspected to have escaped through an open toilet window." Oh no, they decided to do a huge-ass stonewall and say that "it was a physical breach." Period. Do they so underestimate the maturity of Singaporeans? Oh wait, then again, if you've interacted with the average Singaporean on the streets, "lack of maturity" would actually be an understatement. Keith would attest to that.

Anyway...

Firstly, aren't these detention centres supposed to be purpose-built, ie have no windows big enough for a man to crawl through, or at least have wrought iron grilles plasma-welded and triple bolted to the wall?

Secondly, why weren't the CCTVs actively monitored? If they could do such a wonderful job with the CCTVs at the Election Department, why was it that CCTVs at a high-security detention centre housing terrorists that threaten national security and plot to freaking blow up Yishun MRT and Changi Airport so frivolously maintained?

You know, after all this fiasco has blown over, who will be the ones getting the blame? Or to put it in a more ST way, who are the ones responsible for this lapse? I tell you, judging from the way the report was presented, it would be those poor toilet guards earning a pittance of a salary. I can almost see it; headlines in the ST: Guards Responsible For Mas Selamat Escape Sacked. Then there would be peace of earth and those up there will still continue to get their among-the-world's-highest ministerial pay.

PM Lee provided a hint of vindication when he announced today that although he "acknowledges that the Minister is ultimately accountable for the policies and operations of his ministry, ... a rational approach to establish who is responsible for lapses has to be taken."

Suddenly a line from "The Other Boleyn Girl", which in my opinion is a very good movie, comes to mind: "What is treason? Treason is anything the King, or his lawyers, decides to be."

Singapore Voyeur

2008-03-15T01:34:00.005+08:00

I think STOMP has bred a sub-culture of people who are voyeuristic and intolerably self-righteous. Just look at this post. If this isn't voyeuristic, I don't know what is. This STOMPer must have been staring at the couple for quite some time to notice that they were moving in some form or fashion that alludes to an underwater fuck.

I also do not understand the constant fascination with comparing Singapore to "other countries" and then saying things like "maybe in foreign beaches, it is a common sight, but in Singapore, this is a very big deal." A big deal? To whom exactly? The conservative majority? (I hate that term btw). It's probably to the person who took the photos and posted it.

People who claim that excessive sex on screen and at the said beach corrupts a child's development are severely deluding themselves. Children these days know way more about sex than most people would like to believe, given the proliferation of the Internet and the ease of access. Children too young to access the Net won't even notice what those two young adults were doing, under the cover of the turbid water I might add.

The bottom line to this incident is that it is NONE of any one's business. They did not expose themselves; merely moving in some way that the STOMPer interprets as sexual intercourse. Even if Mr D was offended by their actions, I do not think it was justified for him to take pictures of them and posting it on a website such as STOMP. He should just STFU and look or go elsewhere.

Singapore's Future Rail Network

2008-03-09T00:23:00.005+08:00

I do hope the authorities are for real on this! I really wonder how they are going to fit all these lines underneath our already burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

See any difference?

Thoughts. Fragmented.

2008-03-05T23:04:00.003+08:00

It seems an endless struggle; a struggle to make things work. I love you but I don't know how to love you. Does that make any sense?

K said I am insensitive because I am extroverted. Perhaps in all my extroversion you see me as insensitive. I don't know.

I once tried to keep track of our conversations, or lack thereof, for one day. Really, we don't seem talk very much at all. I do not know if it's just you caught up with the present problems that inhibits you from engaging in a meaningful conversation, or that we are operating on very different wavelengths. I think it's a little bit of both.

I like talk a lot. I like to discuss anything from deviant sex to rationalising temporal paradoxes to comtemplating how incosequential humanity is in relation to the universe. I feel so left out everytime I say something and you simply go, "orh". I don't know how else I can relate to you if you keep shutting me out like that.

We cannot go on trying to compromise without knowing what to compromise on. I think we need someone; an arbitrator to look at things from a perspective that both of us cannot see. Like a marriage counsellor of sorts. If there ever were such a thing. Whatever the case, I just think we need help.

Singapore Airshow 2008

2008-02-24T20:03:00.005+08:00

The first thing that hit me was the unprecedented length of the queue lines at Pasir Ris. It wrapped around the MRT station roughly twice before becoming a convoluted mess not unlike the arrangement of your small intestine in the field next to the station. It took G and I almost 2 hours to board the shuttle bus towards the exhibition centre. Most of the queueing was uneventful, until this uneducated and uncivilised imbecile tried to cut our queue by using his mother as a convenient but stupid excuse - "My mother was standing here all along." It probably wouldn't have been that bad if his mother had been standing there, but none of us in the queue saw her. Obviously the group in front of us tried to stop them by saying that the queue actually starts somewhere else, to that he replied he knew and brought up his mother-excuse. So we said none of us saw his mother standing there. His reply was something only stupid, witless barbarians like him could conjure up. In a raised and angry tone, he retorted "then you must be blind or something, lah." Luckily by some swift action on our part, we swooped in on the opening space in front of us, making sure that if that underprivileged thing were to cut the queue, at least he'd end up behind us, which fortunately he did.

I knew there was no point getting pissed with that cretinous moron because lesser beings are not worth the time but I was still seething during the bus journey to the exhibition site. What got to me was how unbelievably rudely he responded when we told him quite nicely that the queue starts way back. These are the people that help make Singapore a city of First World infrastructure but with a Low Class society.

There was an insane traffic jam along the road going into the airshow; it was like trying to clear the Causeway customs during peak hours. Those poor souls walking in the scorching sun towards the show were moving faster than the bus! Going into the airshow proper, I noticed that throughout the entire checking-in process, no one actually checked our tickets! Technically we could have got in FREE. No one scanned the barcodes on the ticket to ensure its authenticity and no one even bothered to look at it more than a second. I think we could have just used a blank piece of paper and no one would be any wiser. With the mammoth crowd as evidence, G and I both argreed that the organisers have oversold the tickets with scant regards to their ability to handle such massive amounts of people. Thus the ticketing system was a huge disappointment.

The flying displays were awesome as usual. But every time two fighters zoomed past within an inch of each other, I got unsettling flashbacks of the videos I've watched where airshows go terribly wrong and the planes come slamming into the crowds in a fiery crash. Then the Airbus A380 came out towards the end of the show. Until today, I am still in awe of the exceptional grace with which the gigantic plane flies and executes her turns. Standing under the A380 when it was grounded was almost like standing under some huge starship.

Taking the train back from Pasir Ris, I finally (though unfortunately) witnessed an act that the Complaints Choir sang about. An act that I did not really believe. Till now. A man, nearing the end of his prime and with a foreign looking woman about three-quarters his age (I won't say half because she clearly wasn't), proceeded to cut his fingernails just as soon as the train switched tracks on the way to Tampines. And by a rude coincidence of sorts, I was sitting directly opposite him. I don't know why nail-cutting - a routine and simple self-maintenance activity - could become so nauseatingly revolting when done in public with nonchalance.

I'm Such A Bad Person

2008-02-22T19:12:00.003+08:00

Today, due to some horrible bad time management and planning on my part, not only did I fail to attend a choir practice which was planned a week ago, I didn't go to D's 21st dinner as well. To this end, I'd like to apologise to everyone affected. Particularly J and D. It was oversight after oversight after oversight. And not to mention my forgetfulness. So yes, go ahead and be angry. I know it was irresponsible of me to do things like this, at the last minute no less.

Youth Elixirs

2008-02-14T12:34:00.010+08:00

On this day of love aka an-excuse-to-raise-the-prices-of-roses-by-900% day, I'll let you in on seven delicious foods to that'll keep you looking young. At least that's what they say, and this taken from msn.com if you must know. And unlike roses and other simliar entities, these stuff won't be costing you a bomb or two on this day. So go, indulge in some self-love cos' if you don't love yourself, who will?

Olive Oil
Four decades ago, researchers from the Seven Countries Study concluded that the monounsaturated fats in olive oil were largely responsible for the low rates of heart disease and cancer on the Greek island of Crete. Now we know that olive oil also contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that may help prevent age-related diseases.

Yogurt
In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have more centenarians per capita than any other country. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of their long lives was yogurt, a food ubiquitous in their diets. While the age-defying powers of yogurt never have been proved directly, yogurt is rich in calcium, which helps stave off osteoporosis and contains "good bacteria" that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness.

Fish
Thirty years ago, researchers began to study why the native Inuits of Alaska were remarkably free of heart disease. The reason, scientists now think, is the extraordinary amount of fish they consume. Fish is an abundant source of omega-3 fats, which help prevent cholesterol buildup in arteries and protect against abnormal heart rhythms.

Chocolate
The Kuna people of the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, have a rate of heart disease that is nine times less than that of mainland Panamanians. The reason? The Kuna drink plenty of a beverage made with generous proportions of cocoa, which is unusually rich in flavanols that help preserve the healthy function of blood vessels. Maintaining youthful blood vessels lowers risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia.

Nuts
Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that those who eat nuts gain, on average, an extra two and a half years. Nuts are rich sources of unsaturated fats, so they offer benefits similar to those associated with olive oil. They’re also concentrated sources of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, including antioxidants.

Wine
Drinking alcohol in moderation protects against heart disease, diabetes and age-related memory loss. Any kind of alcoholic beverage seems to provide such benefits, but red wine has been the focus of much of the research. Red wine contains resveratrol, a compound that likely contributes to its benefits—and, according to animal studies, may activate genes that slow cellular aging.

Blueberries
In a landmark study published in 1999, researchers at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging fed rats blueberry extract for a period of time that in "rat lives" is equivalent to 10 human years. These rats outperformed rats fed regular chow on tests of balance and coordination when they reached old age. Compounds in blueberries (and other berries) mitigate inflammation and oxidative damage, which are associated with age-related deficits in memory and motor function.

My Pink IC

2008-02-06T21:30:00.000+08:00

After one year and ten months of agony, it is finally over. It was rather uneventful really, compared to all that hoo-hah when I first enlisted. I just went back, signed a few things, took my pink IC and a Certificate Of Completion and that was it. Done. Finished.

I have looked forward to this day so badly and yet when it is finally here, I am surprised at myself for not feeling as crazy about it as I think I should. Maybe it's because it dawned on me that although I may have gotten out from the god-forsaken place, I have also, at the same time, lost my major source of income for the past one year and ten months. Bummer.

I looked back on the time I ~~wasted~~ spent in the hell-hole and I thought, it isn't all that bad because of these things.

1. Leave days.
2. Off days.
3. MC days.
4. Days when boss not around so that I can be...
5. sleeping the whole morning or day away.
6. One hour breakfast from 8am.
7. Two hours lunch from 11.30am.
8. One hour high-tea from 3pm.
9. Booking out.
10. Staying out.

This Train Is Not In Service

2008-02-01T11:13:00.000+08:00

Singaporeans may be a well-educated lot, but it appears as if they are not very intelligent. Just this morning at Tanah Merah MRT station, there was an empty train in the middle platform that was not for passenger service, one would know that if you bother to look at those plasma screens on the platforms. I assumed no one read those screens because everyone was crowding around the doors. I guess it really isn't that bad if they did not see those huge flashing words and thus do not know that the doors are not going to open no matter how hard they try to crowd around it. What really floored me was that even with the repeated announcements by what seems to be a station control officer (I thought so because it was not that familiar alto voice that used to do all the announcements. That is until it was recently replaced by a shrill, frivolous sounding and over-enunciating Ah Lian) over the PA system, people still persisted around the doors. The announcement was as clear as day - "The train at the middle platform is not for passenger service. For your own safety, please stay behind the yellow line."

When I sauntered past the station control at ground level, I saw the aforementioned station control officer nearly going hysterical with the PA system microphone whilst staring into the CCTV monitors. I could almost hear him scream - "What is wrong with you people?! Get the fuck away from the train! It is not for you, dumb asses!"

He must have had great patience and tolerance not to explode into that tirade in a situation involving hordes of brainless commuters.

And since I'm on the topic of mass transport, what is up with the new voice? Yes, that shrill, frivolous sounding and over-enunciating Ah Lian. What was wrong with the previous one? The familiar, regal, assertive yet not over-bearing voice that announces every station name and rather useless reminders with aplomb. My apologies to the new lady whose voice is now being heard in more and more trains and stations; you are probably not an Ah Lian by most standards, but all we're hearing is your voice and the way you speak and by golly, it sounds as though you've got the fake accent thing going on compared to the previous announcer.

And I just realised Har shares the same sentiments with me!

An Internal Security Threat

2008-01-30T01:29:00.000+08:00

This is an article a good friend of mine contributed to theonlinecitizen.com. He was so excited to do an article when he heard that the police banned foreigners from singing just because the song was "too local".

This is the very first time the Complaints Choir Project came to Asia and what an outstanding reception they got from the authorities. Welcome to Uniquely Singapore.

Police: Foreigners not allowed to complain

By Joel Tan

Singapore residents have made notable complainers over the years, in what may, along with eating, be described as the nation’s favourite past-time.

Over the weekend, however, an interesting twist on this seemingly harmless activity has arisen - the local police have made it clear that foreigners are not allowed to complain in Singapore.

What might have been a light-hearted few days of fussed-up performance was turned into bitterness for a group of singers known as The Complaints Choir. A community arts project initiated in Birmingham, UK by Finns Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, the Complaints Choir is an open-invite group that gets people to, you got it, complain, through song, about life in their countries.

Since its UK debut, the project has gained popularity around the world, and Complaints Choirs from Helsinki, Melbourne, Jerusalem and several other countries have sprung up since 2006.

Read the rest of this entry.

After The Recital

2008-01-28T21:08:00.000+08:00

Having accompanied H for his recital at NAFA, we headed to Seah Street Deli at the Raffles Hotel for dinner after some deliberation as to where to eat. It's an American diner and boy do they serve them in American-sized portions. Just check out the Corned Beef Sandwich and the Foot Long Hot Dog we ordered. Lovely ain't it? I kind of regretted eating there, not because the food wasn't good, but it slipped my mind that I cannot chew large pieces of food because of the stiches for my wisdom tooth surgery. So in the end, I had to cut the hot dog into really petite, dainty pieces and took an eon to finish. Not that H got through his over-sized sandwich in record time either.

An eon later, we headed up to New Asia Bar for post-dinner drinks. If my memory serves me correctly, the minimum age to get into that bar was 23 years. But H and I positively breezed past the counter on the first floor and got up to the 71st with no fuss whatsoever. This can only mean one of two things - either we are beginning to look 'chao lao' or the age limit was reduced. I do hope it's the latter. The view from up there at night was breathtaking. If only I had a tripod with me, the pictures would have turned out really beautiful. But what to do, make do, lah.

Random Effluvia

2008-01-22T21:23:00.001+08:00

I just went for my very first wisdom tooth removal yesterday and it wasn't all that traumatic. The actual operation itself took barely twenty minutes and it was almost entirely painless. It was only when the anaesthetic wore off two hours later that I felt a very bad toothache at the surgery site.

Twenty-four hours later, I'm pain-free and eating normally. And the MC is until Friday! How cool is that!

And with that, I'd be a week and a half from getting out of that blasted YKW. Goodbye to one year and ten months spent rotting away in that hell-hole. To mark the end of one of the darkest periods in my living memory, I am going to recover my zest for life, my mad streak I had when I was in school, my ability to hiao non-stop, the never ending exposure to culture and aesthetics (of which YKW had nil, none whatsoever, zilch).

But in those times of darkness, there was one I got to know who was to become my silver lining. Although times have changed, at least he is still part of my life and I'm grateful for that.

2008 looks poised to be an exciting year, no? In fact, I've already started it by being auntie and appearing at Changi Airport's T3 on its opening day (if you haven't been there, PLEASE DO. It is really quite beautiful), being part of the Complaints Choir (come and hear us sing!), viewing the Greek artefacts from the Louvre at the National Museum (that was as close I'm going to get to the Musee du Louvre, at least in the near future).

What's up and coming is the Singapore Flyer, the F1 night race, starting University, and I'm sure there's many more which I just cannot remember now.

I know this is a little late, but here's to 2008! May it be filled with joy, fun and laughter!

Complaints Choir Singapore

2008-01-17T23:14:00.000+08:00

It started out as a last-minute-impulsive decision. I think it was one of the best last-minute-impulsive decision I have ever made. We had absolutely nothing in the beginning, just a bunch of complaints. Just three sessions later, we have a full length performance piece with eclectic lyrics like "we don't recycle any plastic bags, but we purify our pee", set to music that is rather catchy and of a surprising standard given the severe time constraints the two young composers had to work with.

The Singapore's Complaints Choir will be the Asian premiere for the Complaints Choir Project and part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2008.

Come and hear us! I'm telling you, you are so not a Singaporean if you cannot identify with any of the complaints in the song.

Sat 26 Jan
3pm - Chamber at The Arts House
4.30pm - Speaker's Corner
5.30pm - HDB Estate (Eunos, TBC)
6.15pm - City Plaza Complex (810 Geylang Road, Singapore 409286)

Sun 27 Jan
3.00pm - Chamber at The Arts House
4.00pm - Merlion Park
4.45pm - Esplanade Waterfront Canopy
5.45pm - VivoCity

News article @ Channel NewsAsia

Gimme More

2008-01-10T10:13:00.000+08:00

Since quite a few people have been doing it, I shall do it too. Heh... I shall shamelessly whore the list of things I want for my 21st birthday.

It makes for easier pressie buying, don't you think? If you must know, this list is by no means exhaustive; more and more things will appear on it when I remember what they are.

What I want for Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and My Birthday

2.2 GHz Macbook
80GB iPod
Tres chic nomade leather wallet
Tres chic leather bag
Time pieces, not watches mind, but time pieces
The entire run of Star Trek Voyager on DVD
The entire run of Enterprise (Star Trek) on DVD
Book vouchers
Shopping vouchers

After reading a particular person's email about what not to buy for his 18th birthday, I feel I should do one too, as unabashedly sounding that may be, so that I won't get awkward stuff and things like that. And everybody will be happy. :)

Then again, most people who know me and read this blog and care enough to buy something would already know what I do not like. But for the generous yet utterly clueless folks, three words - generally meaningless stuff.

Spontaneous Trip

2007-12-27T01:15:00.000+08:00

I just came back from an incredibly last minute trip to Malaysia with G. After driving around so much, I realised that you can go to many places spread miles apart in under 48 hours with a car. That realisation made Singapore feel positively claustrophobic.

I love kaya toast. That crisp bread with luscious kaya and fragrant butter. Don't you think that's a very nice photo of it? It looks better than it tastes though. Hmm, it was curious how they were selling something called a 'fengshui broom'. There was also something called the 'halal paintbrush' (I kid you not), but I haven't been able to get my hands on that photo. Goodness, I cannot understand how can a brush be halal.

Johor Bahru, Jusco, Kota Tinggi Town, Kota Tinggi Waterfall, Desaru, Jason's Bay and many others in between. And we barely ventured out of Johor proper.

I wanna do it again!

PS: I think I'm prone to a little car sickness recently. I never had it before!

A Cold Winter

2007-12-15T01:27:00.000+08:00

I think the last thing anyone would do is to associate me with an inferiority complex. Depressed, yes. Suicidal, yes. But never one having an inferiority complex. Or is it?

Almost everyone I know seems happier, richer, smarter or cuter than me. Let's not talk about those who possess more than two of those attributes. It's just... Gosh... Sigh...

I feel really lousy

Older And Richer

2007-12-06T02:06:00.000+08:00

I have a friend, Jay (that is so not his real name). He got to know a few people who are older than him, and by no deliberate action on his part, they turned out to be folks who are rather well-off. And by a fortunate coincidence, these people are by no means described as old and decrepit. In fact, they are rather attractive people in their own right. There was obviously some mutual attraction that enabled Jay and his new-found-'friends' to hit it off and hang out more than once. While Jay maintains that what he feels is purely platonic, the other party(s) apparently feels more for him than he does in return. Although Jay describes himself as unattractive, the actions of his... acquaintances say much more than that.

As time passed, his friends asked Jay if he wanted to come along on overseas trips. Destinations on offer included nearby Batam, all the way to Taiwan and as far as the Mediterranean. Now, it was quite obvious to me that these people never intended for Jay to pay for these trips because they know full well he wouldn't be able to afford a trip to Taiwan in such short notice, let alone the Med. Jay could probably do Batam but that's not the point here.

So these well meaning folks wanted Jay to just 'come along'. They said they enjoyed his company and that he would make a wonderful travelmate.

Jay flatly refused all of them. I nearly fainted. He told me it was because he saw them as friends and that he doesn't want them to feel that they were buying hope should he agree to go along. I said, if the other party knows that you treat the relationship as a platonic one and they would still would ask you to 'come along', it means that they kinda really like you. And if these people can comfortably afford a trip for two without resorting to cutting off a piece of their own meat, then I say go for the trips Jay! I think it would be a great opportunity to get to know more about each other. And if things really don't work out, as in romantically, at least you got your case across and the other party knew your position at the start. So you wouldn't be at fault. Not much anyway. And as an added incentive, you got to travel to these places!

One of Jay's oft used lines is to live life to the fullest. And if there are others out there who would make it 'fuller', why not?

Disclaimer - as with all dealings with older and richer human beings, please proceed with extreme caution and do so at your own risk. The writer will not be held responsible for any form of conflict, monetary or otherwise, arising from Jay's acquiescence to the aforementioned overseas trips. Laalalaaalalaa...

Why So Lazy?

2007-12-02T23:48:00.000+08:00

I'm so lazy to the point that I can't bring myself to finish photoblogging one of the most memorable trips I've ever been on so far. The nine days in Taiwan may have sounded like a long time at first, but time just flew by when I was there. I've never felt so carefree in a long long time since YKW. It was one of the most spiritually and emotionally uplifting things I've done. I don't know when I'm going to finish the photoblog of my Taiwan trip but I will.

I want to learn driving, brush up on my cooking, start doing something serious about my French learning, continue my music education and at the same time, earn enough to pay for all those and more, and have a rocking social life. With YKW coming to an end, I think I'll be a step closer to achieving that.

Reconstruction

2007-11-25T22:28:00.000+08:00

I guess I've gotta start piecing together the life I had before the 8th of April, 2006, when it was so cruelly shattered in front of me. I'm getting increasingly delirious at the thought of my ORD drawing so tantalisingly close. Of course, being one of those who 'checked in' much later than my peers, I will check out correspondingly later as well, ie almost everyone would be 'checking out' within this year, while I'll have to wait till the wonderful day that is 7th February 2008. That date, if you haven't realised it, is the first day of the Chinese New Year, which means it's a holiday, which means my 'check out' date magically becomes the day before! Thus I WILL NOT have to relive that horrible memory of having to do duty on the second day of CNY. Thus I WILL NOT have to spend another birthday in YKW.

And so the reconstruction shall begin with me trying to locate that elusive determination to keep fit. If I've never mentioned it before (I'm sure I did actually), I kinda like lost the enthusiasm to work out and swim and keep myself active after I got thrown into YKW. Goodness knows why such a paradox exists but it does. Against all odds, YKW seems to make me lazy-er...

Then comes something which I'd like to call 'Financial Sustainability'. Simply put, I shall get a job which pays like MORE than what I'm getting now, damn it. With more bling, I shall then embark on my rejuvenating and beautifying processes. How this is going to be carried out, I shall think about it closer to the end of, or after I finish my liability.

73 absolute days more! And counting! I shall not kid myself and count only the work days, which will probably be like just 2 days or something after factoring in all the weekends, holidays, leave days, off days and MCs.

Mischief Managed

2007-11-01T23:26:00.000+08:00

NTUC Fairprice to file police report for tampering of pork packet

NTUC FairPrice said it will make a police report over what it called "a deliberate and wilful act of mischief" to tamper with its packaging of "Pasar Fresh Pork".

A photo sent in by a viewer showed a packet of pork under NTUC's Pasar brand with a "halal" sticker from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS).

Muslims are forbidden from eating pork and such "halal" labels are reserved for food products that do not contain pork or other non-permissible products.

"Halal" means permissible for Muslims to consume.

NTUC Fairprice has clarified that the original packaging does not come with a "halal" sticker.

It added that this matter is serious and it will take all necessary steps to make sure such act of mischief is stopped and will not be repeated.

I know this sounds like a joke but it's not! From CNA.

Bizarro

2007-10-14T12:39:00.000+08:00

Sounds familiar?

Ten Upon Ten

2007-10-10T22:10:00.000+08:00

I don't know what to type in this entry, but I guess this will serve as something like the sms you talked about eh? A time-stamp of the event that happened on the 10th of October 2007 at 10:10pm.

Il faut plus d'amour dans le monde

Simply Brilliant

2007-10-07T23:26:00.001+08:00

I'll never know why the intention to post this video eluded me when I first heard about it. It was only today, when I was telling kY and xr, that I realised I've failed to put this up! So here it is, for those of you who have not seen it yet. Such poetry, is it not? :p

Do Something

2007-10-07T04:40:00.000+08:00

Click on it and become a signatory to the Open Letter To The Prime Minister. Albeit not immediately upon clicking. Duh. So take a look, then sign.

I did.

Version 1.1

2007-09-22T00:36:00.000+08:00

I am typing this entry in Global Sounds, in a room which was once the beautiful piano studio. Several enthusiastic people have since come aboard and are now fervently transforming and injecting new life into the place, especially the severely underused upper level. The room I am sitting in will become another dining venue, but with an drastically different ambiance from the main cafe. I will miss the old studio, where hours just flew by whenever I practiced in it, but admittedly, the room is utterly underutilised. By converting it into a dining space, they effectively increased the capacity of the cafe and turned the space from 'underutilised' to 'usable'. The entire venture is admirably adventurous. So come down to the cafe and see it for yourself!

By the way, this is for the boys who so enthusiastically came down to play the marimbas every Wednesday evening - the marimbas, as you know (or not), are currently housed in the very glamourous Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, whereupon this particular kind soul, yet unknown to me, took it upon himself to majorly touch up the rough and rickety instruments. From what I heard, I suspect the term 'touch up' would be an understatement. Ty Constant has kindly acquiesced to my proposal that we go down and try out the spruced up marimbas one day.

It's so sanity-restoring-ly refreshing to once again deal with civilised, helpful people which are polar opposites of the feral and degenerate organisms that exist in YKW.

Evade Me

2007-09-20T01:35:00.000+08:00

"Evasive manoeuvres!" That is a phrase oft uttered by starship captains when they want to dodge enemy fire. I've always thought it cool when Janeway or Picard says it with such palpable gravity. But when the people around me perform 'evasive manoeuvres' whenever there's a question from me or otherwise that needs answering, I guess I feel what the captain on the offensive starship feels - frustrated that one keeps missing the target.

I feel that whenever someone deliberately avoids your questions and queries, he almost definitely has something to hide. This hide and seek isn't necessarily a bad thing; the other person may be planning a surprise, a surprise that you weren't supposed to have heard a whisper about. Thing is, whenever I get evasive and/or vague responses from people, it usually ain't nothing good. Either I improve my targeting scanners and increase my rate of fire, or I give up firing.

On a totally different tangent, I'd just like to put a few questions out to the world at large - what am I? Am I just a good-to-have-around-but-it-doesn't-really-matter-if-I-died-anyway kind of person? Am I just being paranoid and cynical or are people around me really becoming colder towards me? Or is it the other way round? Have I become so detached that I can no longer sense subtle emotions from the people around me, which then causes me to think that there are no emotions at all?

What am I?

NanoTouch

2007-09-15T00:18:00.000+08:00

It was d who alerted me to this new iPod Nano. Some people think the stout appearance of the new Nano is ugly but I think these babies look absolutely cute! The tech-specs of these Nanos seemed to have been improved upon by Apple and what I like most is that it now plays videos! The first time I saw the original Nano, I thought it a pity that it couldn't play video since it had a nice colour screen. Now, not only can it play videos, the screen has also become slightly larger. Nice.

And then there's this iPod Touch. It really is the iPhone sans the phone part but it's still a looker nonetheless. It is thinner (duh) and more angular than the Phone.

At the rate things are going, I won't be surprised if Apple comes up with the iPod NanoTouch or something - an iPod Touch compressed into the space of an iPod Nano. Can't wait for it.

Days Of Our Lives

2007-09-09T01:38:00.000+08:00

It's scary how much you don't know about the people around you. I played a truth game today with my mates and what transpired from the game play disturbed me.

We watch soap operas and drama serials and think that those events and situations we see on TV happen only on TV. But sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction. The innocent-looking classmate sitting next to you have have dark secrets as disturbing as those on Desperate Housewives.

So in a certain warped perspective, we are all living out our very own drama serial. If there were an omnipresent and omnipotent sentient being able to observe all of us at the same time, it would certainly be quite thoroughly entertained. Days of Our Lives suddenly sounds like a very fitting title.

But I love knowing things about people I never knew before. As disturbing as it may be, it enlightens you about that person. And I find that if you can accept that aspect of the person, it brings the relationship a notch higher.

Piss Off And Die

2007-09-02T19:16:00.000+08:00

He doesn't have a life, that pathetic freak. His work attitude dictates that every one working under him owes him something, and would clean up the shit after every one working above him if need be. Only a low-life like him would come back on a Sunday to work. And bloody hell, he ruined my appetite by calling me on a Sunday to throw 'arrows' at me!!! Motherfucker.

I wish he were DEAD. No one will give a shit damn anyway. From the looks of things, he probably doesn't have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter. If he had, he wouldn't be working till like 10pm every weekday and coming back during reservist and the freaking weekends to do work. The only people who would give any semblance of a fuck care are the two people working under him in his office, ie me and the other clerk. We would both be overjoyed beyond words.

Why do those people who drop dead from running or get run over by vehicles have to be the young, promising ones? Why can't they be people like The Black Shit Stirrer or Mr Fin Off? And if they do (I hope by this week), the wonderful upshot would be that we'll probably get a few days off to mourn or something since they are such important people to the hell-hole I'm in, and I'll obviously use it for a much more meaningful activity like shopping.

I hope you get run over by a bus tomorrow morning my dear Fin Off aka NLL so that we can get our much sought-after Off days. :)

No Grace Period

2007-08-21T01:53:00.000+08:00

The tires screeched as he navigated the sharp corners in The Cathay carpark, and promptly slotted the car into the nearest available lot in one fell swoop. Literally flying out of the car, and with flippers flip-flopping noisily, he headed to the nearest mall entrance with great haste.
"Quick! Got only fifteen minutes grace period!" said he when he saw the incredulous look on my face; the frantic flip-flopping of slippers continued unabated.
"Got meh?" I asked innocently.

I was never privy to the fact that The Cathay's carpark ever had a fifteen minutes grace period of free parking but seeing that he was so convinced that it had, I never argued the point. So we reached the box office in like two seconds and happily, albeit in a frenzy, bought our tickets for a movie scheduled two hours later and proceeded to run like mad monkeys in the direction we came from. I swear we made good time as the clock in the lift barely registered ten minutes from the time we stepped out of and back into it.

Like two people rushing for their flight after they'd done the last call, we approached the car and threw ourselves into the seats. I'd barely closed the door and he was already racing the car to the exit barrier. Squealing like a little girl about to meet her idol, he gingerly edged the car nearer the card reader and for a moment nothing happened; it looked as though we'd really gotten our free parking. Then lo and behold, blinking red LED lights arranged in the pattern of $1.07 flashed before our eyes. He was still squealing, but in a more irritated manner, when he moved the car past the now raised exit barrier.

I could not stop myself laughing and as I did so, I turned around to see if there was any indication of the unfortunate lack of the alleged fifteen minute grace period and there it was, as clear as day and in full uppercase no less - NO GRACE PERIOD. It was there and then I announced to the both of us that I had to write down this insane and hilarious incident.

Yes, we do the craziest and malu-est of things sometimes.

Ambigram

2007-08-20T01:50:00.000+08:00

I got an ambigram of my (our) name(s)! :p

I Hate Myself

2007-08-14T20:21:00.000+08:00

I feel inadequate. Like severely lacking in EVERYTHING; from money to luck, to this and that. Well all right, I was never rich but I've never actually felt it so acutely before. And even though I wasn't financially rich, I thought I was at least mentally rich, or emotionally rich, or some other ethereal stuff rich. If what I felt in the past is defined as being rich with ethereal stuff, then what I'm feeling now can be very succinctly described as poor. That's right. I feel inadequate and poor.

Maybe it has got to do with YKW (I sure it does), or perhaps it's due to a series of unfortunate events. I will not deny it is exciting (in the most neutral sense) dealing with the evils of YKW or effecting reparations/revenges to the series of unfortunate events, but it is nonetheless extremely taxing on my mind, body and soul.

I may appear all fine and dandy with myself right now sans the occasional depressive mood, but I think I hate myself. I look into the mirror and I honestly loathe the person I see in it. When bad things happen to me outside the confines of YKW, in which case everything bad that happens in it is YKW's fault, I tend not to blame the other party. I somehow feel that in all that, something went wrong on my part; it was my fault that bad things happen to me.

So what happens after a prolonged period of self-directed blame? You end up hating yourself. Am I wrong to say that it was my fault? Why shouldn't it be? In any case, it liberates the other party from any blame or fault right?

Sometimes I just want to be in a permanent state of numbness, where the weariness of life cannot get to me. But that doesn't happen as I'm still a sane human being, for the most part. So when I suddenly feel something after numbing myself to the happenings around me, I'd feel as though a dam had burst, flooding every crevice of my mind, threatening to drown me.

So yes, I do hate myself.

Damn, my entries are getting emo-er by the day.

But what the hell, life is screwed up. And that's a fact.